I HATE APPLE

go off the grid

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/05/senators-turn-tim-cook-hearing-apple-store-visit/65455/

love it

thought from the headline that they literally left the hearing to go to the Pentagon City apple store or something on a field trip, disappointed

apple is horrible and has been for many years but i knew they had jumped the shark, aesthetically speaking, when they named their in-store customer support the "genius bar," thereby joining the best buys of the world in snookering ignorant people with the mystique of computer savvy.

on the other hand I have had a good experience literally every time I've been to the Genius Bar, including getting free replacements of out-of-warranty batteries. So idgaf if they want to call it a Genius Bar.

at the local apple store there's a tendency of the support folks to at once (1) replace or fix stuff free of charge and (2) remind you that they're only doing this as an exception and normally they wouldn't do this kind of thing. i feel like they are trying to guilt me into buying something else?

last year i came in with my macbook's (in-warrant) power adapter which wasn't working. the "genius" told me "well, this is probably due to wear and tear so we won't cover it. but i guess i'll make an exception this time...." do they actually train their employees in this kind of passive-aggression? i finally responded that they should just establish a policy and either cover this sort of thing or not, and not try to make everyone feel like apple is (to cite a phrase) doing them a solid.

"do they actually train their employees in this kind of passive-aggression?"

having worked in retail i know that this is the general tactic for companies who want to se seen as having good customer service, i wouldn't exactly call it passive-aggresive though unless this particular genius was. It's more like damage limitation.

"But for you, my friend" is how my old boss referred to it, and he, I'm sure, picked it up from some nu-Dale Carnegie book.

having explicit standard replacement policy would let me replace my phone for free every few years as if it were a jansport backpack.

amateurist: i'm pretty sure it is a worldwide strategy. when i had to get an ipad replaced six days out of warranty, the apple guy on the phone (philippines) was all 'oh but it's out of warranty now, sorry for you etc', so i explained how australian consumer law works and recited the clause that blew away his obstruction, and he's gone 'oh, well, we'll be nice to you THIS TIME' like he had a choice

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/316144_10151583690630750_190460805_n.jpg

yeah but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YQXDQeKDlM

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/05/22/why-apple-should-have-a-0-tax-rate/

brb killing myself

http://i.imgur.com/iBa8Nns.png

eh, that article is way too linkbait/trollish

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-may-22-2013/tax-men---apple

i'm oddly annoyed at the clever way apple has managed to turn half of everybody else's ads into ads for apple (available on the ipad! download our app from the istore, etc)

http://uk.think-drink.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/facebook.png

apple should be broken up for monopoly issues IMO

monopoly over what?

i think they wield the power of itunes in a monopolistic fashion

or at least brazenly anticompetitive fashion

how does iTunes let them act anticompetitively?

impossible to setup a competitor to iTunes unless prepared to lose crazy amounts of money to do it, which discourages people I bet.

There are a half-dozen popular services that do music very well, either playlist-style or radio-style, to the point that iTunes looks like a laggard.

I'm not sure the power of iTunes, in terms of music at least, is that big of a deal. If Spotify-style services ever figure things out as far as profitability and label earnings, future generations aren't going to want to pay $1.29/song when they only listen to their phone; music nerds will still rather pay for vinyl.
As far as smartphone accoutrements (podcasts, apps, etc.), Google and Microsoft have their own versions of those.

For the first time since ~2002 my main computer is a Windows (7) desktop, the old way of going to a maker's web site to download software feels weird (okay, so does needing third-party apps for so much shit) after years with the App Store.

i think they wield the power of itunes in a monopolistic fashion

yeah i disagree with this too. apple has a music monopoly if you have an ipod, but even then you can buy drm-free music elsewhere, and there's an arseload of streaming services out there too. it's a similar story with tv and film access (in the us, at least). ios is less common than android in phones, and samsung and google are mounting fairly convincing competition in tablets.

I successfully replaced the glass on my ipad just the other day. Only problem I've noticed so far is that there is a tiny speck of dust stuck between the glass and lcd screen which is noticeable when the screen is black. I'm tempted to open the ipad up to remove it, but considering how much I broke the (already cracked) previous glass when removing it, I think I'm just going to try to live with it.

― silverfish, Friday, May 10, 2013 12:33 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Mine was smashed repeatedly by a 3 year old in a snit over god knows what. my screen splintered the fuck when I removed it too. I have removed and replaced the new digitizer a few times now (home button kept slipping) without any problems

anyway, in keeping with the spirit of this thread, it is really annoying that it is so complicated to open up an ipad and fix it. I really should make an effort to support companies that make hardware that is easy to open up and has components that can be replaced relatively easily.

― silverfish, Friday, May 10, 2013 12:38 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ipad is like kindergarten next to replacing an iphone 4s screen. i mean you have to go from the back and remove everything to get the the screen. so freaking ridiculous.

spent a bit of time last night trying to get a macbook pro to output to a projector, after another guy spent 2 hours trying the same. total effin mystery, some dark art that not even the internet has yet solved. seemed like the projector was expecting 70Hz, which the MBP did not have a output setting for. guess he shoulda bought an apple projector.

There's a hidden setting in the Displays system preferences pane - hold down the option key and you should see a "Detect Displays" button appear. That's helped whenever I needed to connect to a strange projector (using a rMBP w/10.8.x fwiw)

Really annoyed with the "I'm from Apple, and I'm here to help" attitude w.r.t. certain OS functions. Trying to make things easier on the novice (are there ANY novice computer users left out there?) ends up making things exponentially harder on the folks who know how to do this.

thx, will try that!

started with an "out of range" msg on the projector. I turned on mirrored displays, which fixed that. then it was "no input". tried every onscreen variation, then found a bunch of threads on the apple forums which were pages and pages of poor bastards desperately trying to get their projectors to work.

(are there ANY novice computer users left out there?)

More than you can possibly imagine. Some people are permanent novices at computers, because computers have shitty interfaces.

clicking shit is hard

you laugh but seriously, there are so many.

my mother and my daughter have the same vice when it comes to computers. many times ive heard "Kate/Mommy, why isnt the computer working? Come fix it!" while clicking the mouse like they're hector salamanca with a bomb strapped to his wheelchair.

i don't hate apple but i have an apple-related question and don't know who else to ask:

i have some .avi files that i reeeeeeally want to watch, and they don't work with quicktime so i followed apple's advice and downloaded DivX but there is NO AUDIO enabled for some reason
so i've been told that VLC player for mac is preferable, so i downloaded that but
it won't let me install it because there's apparently a setting i have that won't allow installation b/c it's "not from an approved developer"

please look past the fact that this may be a stupid question, but wtf do i need to do in order to watch these files with sound? i have been shamed by failure enough, now i just want help.

There's a setting you can change to allow installation from unapproved developers.

It was part of Apple's plan to push you further into using the App Store for everything.

System Preferences -> Security -> General -> Allow applications downloaded from: Anywhere

then run vlc and drop your files in there.

xp

(you will probably have to click the lock in the lower lefthand corner and enter a password to change that setting. i forget about that little lock sometimes.)

yaaaaay thank you -- problem solved! i could have fiddled around with it and gotten more frustrated and maybe solved it on my own, but i am glad i asked
no shame in not knowing everything, that's for sure

thank you!

do you have to pay to be an approved dev? vlc seems like it should be approved by everyone

It was part of Apple's plan to push you further into using the App Store for everything.

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, 13 June 2013 06:55 (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think you're otm, but there's a valid counterpoint about apple protecting inexperienced people from any old malware/spyware/adware/etc

do you have to pay to be an approved dev? vlc seems like it should be approved by everyone

Hm maybe you have to pay the $99 a year.

Perian is usually the solution to watching just about anything in QuickTime player. VLC is useful but a little clunky; I've had better luck with Movist (now a paid app in the App Store, I think?) and MPlayerX.

If you just want to run something unapproved without changing the security settings, right-click on it and choose "open". It'll ask if you're sure, then let you do it.

Good to know, all of it. Thank you. Now I will be over here enjoying some programs about plants :)

Just as FYI, development has completely stopped on Perian. It works fine now, but may have future issues.