Posts by ZeroPete

Apple seeks patent for 'innovation' resembling the ZX Spectrum, C64 and rPi 400

Atari ST ?

Wait...Apple are trying to patent an Atari ST ?

The end of free Google storage for education

Re: Until when?

When 3.5K for 700 licenses 'isn't bad', what - in your opinion - constitutes 'good'. Or 'excellent' ?

Thanks for helping out,

ZeroPete

Top Chinese Uni fears Middle Kingdom way behind on tech – and US sanctions make catching up hard

Let me correct that for yu

The report came from the Peking University Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS) and was curated by Wang Jisi, a former dean and professor at IISS, whereabouts currently unknown, although a senior CC party official has insisted he is free and fine.

No thanks required.

ZeroPete

Apple Mac sales break records amid ex-86-odus to Arm-compatible M1 silicon

Aspentech, Smartplant, ProDok, EpCon, not to mention an endless array of vendor specific calculation tools, DCS and PLC programming tools, the list is endless.

Somehow people that use Macs seem to think software is limited to a spradsheet, a wordprocessor, a presentation tool and software for lawyers and doctors that charge 1500 USD an hour in a crappy US tv show. And watching porn

Farm machinery giant John Deere plows into two right-to-repair lawsuits

Different approach

In my country (and probably neighbouring ones) the brand 'importers' (= main agents) of major automobile brands (like the VW group) are buying up the larger dealerships thus cutting out the middle man. They are cleverly allowing *some* smaller dealers to continue. Only then, in case of warranty handling or parts supply, the independents are in direct competition with the 'importer owned dealerships'.

Of course you can immediately imagine how this will lead to fairer competition and better customer service !

ZeroPete

US Senator Marco Rubio calls Intel cowards for scrubbing remarks about Xinjiang and apologizing to China

Re: What would happen if

In short : Chinese industrial output would plummet, influx of foreign currency would grind to a halt, China would call in the overseas debts to plug the hole (they own half the world and about the whole of the US), they would dump their stock portfolios sinking the stock markets, collapse the major economies of the world and then there would be war.

But whatever you did, you would not unseat the Chinese government, and you would not 'free' the 1+ billion Chinese.

Pete

Truck, sweet truck: Volvo's Chinese owner unveils methanol/electric truck with bathroom and kitchen

Re: Truck or jail cell

Renumeration ? Is that when you add digits to paper money to compensate for daily inflation ?

China Telecom booted out of USA as Feds worry it could disrupt or spy on local networks

Re: Meanwhile.....

It is impossible to 'compete' with the Chinese : they do not play by the same rule book, they don't even value their currency on a transparent basis.

And they have a 'unique' position on IP.

Unvaccinated and working at Apple? Prepare for COVID-19 testing 'every time' you step in the office

Update : 2 shots = unvaccinated

There is apparently a plan afoot that considers anyone that has not had a 6 month boostershot as 'unvaccinated', even after the first two shots (or single in case of e.g. Johnson).

So if y'all thought you were done with this you are sadly mistaken.

I imagine the next step will be 'required vaccination *by the company physician*'

Pete

Google Pixel 6, 6 Pro Android 12 smartphone launch marred by shopping cart crashes

Re: "Experts have rated Pixel 6 as the most inclusive camera available"

An what does 'inclusive' actually mean ? Inclusive of what . Pedophiles ? Murderers ? Priests ? It all sound very diverse. Which is another word that means nothing.

Apple arms high-end MacBook Pro notebooks with M1 Pro, M1 Max processors

I'm out

I just configured the 16" max with nothing but an SSD upgrade. It was over 4K Euro. I'm out.

Chinese tech minister says he's 'dealt with' 73,000 sites that breached the law

Re: Only 4,200 out of 1.83 million ?

I think we first need a definition of 'breaching the law' to be able to do that, geographically interpreted.

Android OS vendor variants transmit data with no opt-out

Re: there's no way to opt-out of this data collection.

Europe doesn't have GDPR either. They've included the concept of 'legitimate interest'. These are 'default on', every time, sometimes you *can* disable them, but some websites then require you to individually disable 100's of 'partners'.

There's websites that ignore the whole GDPR thing, 'accept or leave'.

It was a good idea, but it was a gamable system and thus it gut gamed. Right quick.

Pete

Apple beat Epic Games 9-1 in court. Now it's appealed the one point it lost

Re: Is it going to matter ?

I may be very much mistaken, but if I read this correctly this is about how the Apple store gets paid, NOT about an alternative to the App store.

Is it going to matter ?

Apple is always going to want its 30%. At some point, Apple will need to get paid for the use of their infrastructure (read : the appstore). So they're going to look at the sales price of an app, and are simply going to charge the maker 30% for the service. For a given app that costs, say, 10 (choose currency of choice) they're not going to charge 30%, but charge 3 (chosen currency) for platform use ( I know it sounds the same, but there may be a difference in the way trade law defines it). Only now the payment provider is going to tack their charge onto that.

So offering 'payment platform' choices sounds great, but how is it going to make the software cheaper for the end user ? I'm pretty sure Apple is not going to take a smaller fee.

Microsoft shows off Office 2021 for consumers ahead of the coming of Windows 11

Re: Standalone versions need an MS Account . . . BUT

These 9 downvotes are fantastic, and show exactly why there are no real Excel and Word alternatives in the Linux ecosystem for a certain level of user.

Re: Standalone versions need an MS Account . . . BUT

Now, if all the 'office' developers on 'nux would throw in together and come up with a working alternative to Excel and Word you might actually have a chance.

As it stands, these things aren't up to the requirements of professional Excel and Word users. Anyone who tells you different is telling porkies.

Develop a professional grade spreadsheet and word processor on 'nux and I'll migrate my 5 user company tomorrow. And that's a promise.

Pete

EU readies 'antitrust charges' against Apple Pay for locking rivals out of iPhone NFC chip

My 2 Eurocents

As an EU tax payer I think I'm entitled to an opinion here.

From all the fines the EU doles out for 'anticompetitive behaviour', 'consumer rights violations', 'unrightful gouvernment subsidies' and what have you not a single penny ever goes back to the citizens they are supposed to protect. The money does however end up in their own pockets for subsidizing their endless junkets, back and forth travel from Brussels to Strasbourg, bloated administrations, and generally other toys designed to line their own pockets by screwing over the people they're supposed to protect.

The Apple Walled Garden (c) may or may not be in violation of Euro legislation, but that is not going to benefit you or me.

Pete

Anonymous: We've leaked disk images stolen from far-right-friendly web host Epik

Re: anon who?

No. 'Woke' is a moniker to describe post modernist identity politics. Since you claim to be woke, but leave everyone guessing as to why you consider yourself woke, implies two things :

- You yourself have decided on what woke means to you, which is in line with aforementioned identity politics, where everything is 'personal', and

- you are being dishonest, which is exactly what is to be expected from the woke crowd.

So whatever you think of yourself, you're at least half way on your way to being woke.

Kind Regards,

Pete

As Google sets burial date for legacy Chrome Extensions, fears for ad-blockers grow

Confused..

Even if they ever did, is there anyone that even remotely believes that Google has good intentions when they change things ? Google is a money making machine. All they care about is lining their pockets. They do not care about privacy, safety, health or anything else if it doesn't generate more income. And as they own the space they can pretty much do whatever they like. They own the users. There are no meaningful alternatives to Google left.

And there's nothing the EFF or anybody else can do about it.