Back when Steve Jobs ran Apple, they were regarded as an innovator in consumer electronics. (Actually it took a $150 million dollar cash infusion from Microsoft and Jobs returning to save Apple a few years after he had left the Board of Directors but I digress.) It was shortly after this period that they began marketing the iPod and Apple Store. A few years later, they came out with their big cash cow, the iPhone.
Now that Tim Cook is caretaker of the Apple brand, the company is much different. They are years behind the competition and shamelessly copying the ideas of leading technology companies and incorporating proven technology into their existing devices.
5G
We have thoroughly documented this in regards to their purposeful refusal to demonstrate or market any true 5G devices in 2019 and beyond. But there are more examples.
Folding Phones
Samsung reportedly supplied a set of foldable displays to both Apple and Google. And if sources are to be believed, the displays delivered to Apple is quite similar to what you see on Galaxy Fold except for the fact that Apple got 0.1-inches smaller in size.
“We know that Samsung Display has supplied a set of foldable drives to Apple and Google in order to fully expand its folder-based display business and uncover customers,” an industry source familiar with the Samsung Foldable Display told ETNews. Samsung playing a part in Apple’s upcoming foldable device, in turn, rejects the possibility of the Cupertino-based company indigenously developing its own foldable displays and slapping it on the Folding iPhone.
“Apple has been a leader for quite a long time in a few areas such as Touch ID, Face ID, and easy payments with the phone,” Wozniak said. “They’re not the leader in areas like the folding phone, and that worries me because I really want a folding phone.” –Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
If Samsung is charging $1,980 for their low end foldable phone, what do you think Apple will charge for theirs?
Unified App Platform
Back in 2017, Bloomberg first reported that Apple is planning to follow this same path as Microsoft to create an unified app platform that will allow developers to target iOS and macOS devices. This project is code-named “Marzipan.”
Marzipan is expected to be revealed in 2021. Given its smaller PC ecosystem, tighter restrictions on diversity of hardware and software, virtualization done on other operating systems (Windows and Android) by other companies, and ability to learn from their competition, Apple is better positioned to attempt this unification. However, they are last to the dance in this area also. This roll-out will be about a decade after a similar announcement from Microsoft.
Apple Ditching Intel
Apple used to make their own CPUs and then gave up and went with Intel products. Of course Apple charged more than other manufacturers for the same hardware. This arrangement has severed them well for over a decade; however, in the last few years, they have decided that it might be time to follow HP, Microsoft, Dell and others and get away from an Intel only model. Next year they are expected to roll-out their first ARM-based MacBook.
We all know that Apple will be replacing Intel processors in their Mac lineup with their in-house designed ARM processors in the future. According to a latest report by Axios, developers and Intel officials have privately confirmed that this transition will start as early as next year. Next year, you can expect Apple to release at least one ARM-based MacBook that can run iOS apps natively.
Please note that going with an ARM processor for their PCs will make it easier to write code to achieve the goal for a unified app platform; however, currently, ARM processors lack the “horse power” to do intensive computing tasks. Apple might find itself with both ARM and Intel devices needing support. This is something that would complicate their stated goals.
I find that a full program on a PC is much superior to a stripped-down app that tries to do the same thing. I think Apple will encounter some real problems in trying to unify their phone and PC experiences. There is a real danger of “dumbing down” their PC to make it just an extension of their phones. This defeats the reason to have the PC.
Look for them to copy Microsoft and Samsung and allow their phones to hook-up with PC monitors which will also support a mouse and keyboard. Again, a decade after the completion first did it.
Apple is a “me too” company. The irony is that they will claim all the stuff that they copied from others as their new innovations. The Apple faithful, who know no better, will gleefully drink the Kool-Aid from Cupertino.
Facing a cash payment of over $900,000,000 that is due and payable today (March 1st), yesterday Elon Musk took to Twitter and announced that Tesla was reshuffling the deck chairs. Tesla announced that they were eliminating their brick and mortar showrooms and opting for an online only purchasing option. Buy now and take delivery in June, (he hopes).
Tesla also announced that it is shifting sales worldwide to online only to “achieve these prices while remaining financially sustainable.” “Shifting all sales online, combined with other ongoing cost efficiencies, will enable us to lower all vehicle prices by about 6% on average, allowing us to achieve the $35,000 Model 3 price point earlier than we expected,” the company said in a statement. “Over the next few months, we will be winding down many of our stores, with a small number of stores in high-traffic locations remaining as galleries, showcases and Tesla information centers,” the statement continued. “The important thing for customers in the United States to understand is that, with online sales, anyone in any state can quickly and easily buy a Tesla.”
Somehow this attempted misdirection was supposed to make Wall Street forgot that a huge chunk of their cash reserves evaporated today.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA – Get Report) shares traded sharply lower Friday after founder and CEO Elon Musk said a move to offer a cut-down version of its flagship Model 3 sedan will likely result in a first quarter loss, only weeks after telling investors he would turn the clean energy carmaker into the black.
“Given that there was just a lot happening in Q1, and we’re taking a lot of one-time charges and there are a lot of challenges getting cars to China and Europe, we do not expect to be profitable in Q1,” Musk told journalists on a conference call late Thursday. “But we do think that profitability in Q2 is likely.” That view was reiterated in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.
After my last post on February 6th, I was given a lot of grief about being pessimistic on Tesla but three weeks later their shares went from an opening of $316.50 on 02/06/2019 to a close today 03/01/2019 of $294.79.
Tesla week of 02-25-19
Please note the share price yesterday on the graphic as opposed to today’s close.
Elon is also being accused of violating securities laws because of his behavior yesterday.
If you want a cold, honest assessment of socialism you will not do any better than David Chilton’s forgotten book, Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators. Written at the height of the Cold War (1981), it is more relevant now than it was when he wrote it.
I have owned my copy of the book since I met David back in 1989 but I never read it. Why? Back in 1989 is when the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed. I considered reading it back then, but we thought socialism, like the Soviet Union, had been disgraced and relegated to the scrap heap of failed human experiments. Sadly, like a bad movie or a fatal case of cancer, socialism is back.
David Chilton 1951–1997
One reason that I like reading the book is because Chilton is far removed from the current controversies raging in our country. This makes him a disinterested party free from opinions on Bernie Sanders and A.O.C. He is looking at the facts of socialism from a philosophical and historical perspective.
David goes further by not just describing the disease but the cure. In his writings, all things are measured by Scripture including governments and their ideas. On its surface, the book is a rebuttal of a “Christian Socialist” named Ron Sider.
I’m not done with the book, but I just had to blog on it after reading the excerpt which I quote below.
Envy is the greatest disease of our age. It is often confused with jealousy and covetousness, which have to do with wanting the possessions and privileges of others. Envy is much more insidious – and deadly. Envy is the feeling that someone else’s having something is to blame for the fact that you do not have it. The principal motive is thus not so much to take, but to destroy. The envier acts against the object of his envy” not to benefit himself, but to cut the other person down to his own level-or below. The American Puritan divine Samuel Willard defined envy as “a man’s repining at his neighbour’s Prosperity, looking upon himself to be Hurt by it.” In his massive study of envy, Helmut Schoeck points up this central factor: “the envious man’s conviction that the envied man’s prosperity, his success and his income are somehow to ‘blame for the subject’s deprivation, for the lack that he feels. ‘ It can be summed up in Pierre-Joseph Proudhon‘s famous epigram: Property is Theft!
This explains why “Envy and Malice are inseparable”; as we can see from the example in Genesis quoted above, the envier’s goal is destruction. Henry Hazlitt writes: “The envious are more likely to·be·mollified by seeing others deprived of some advantage than by getting it for themselves. It is not what they lack that chiefly troubles them, but what others have. The envious are not satisfied with equality; they secretly yearn for superiority and revenge.”
And it is this envious, destructionist mentality, nursing itself on the notion that ”your wealth is the cause of my poverty, “that is the basic ethos of socialism. For socialism does not…..and cannot – build up capital. It seeks only to expropriate or destroy the capital of others. It exalts a malignant, misanthropic disposition into an article of political economy, a machine for tyranny. Socialism is institutionalized envy. Pages 139-140
Wednesday, I was browsing my email account when this gem from former Pennsylvania US Senator, Rick Santorum, showed up in my IN Box. Folks, when I read it, I had about the same reaction that I do when Chef Gordon Ramsey is pillaging a restaurant’s walk-in refrigerator on Kitchen Nightmares.
The email in question stated that Santorum has started a campaign to get Conservatives on board with supporting paid family leave. Rick apparently is proud to attach his name to this idea. “Little Marco Rubio” is also attached to this venture. Here is a screenshot of the email from Santorum.
Santorum’s email promoting Paid Family Leave
Santorum, like the Republican Party in California, has jettisoned the old notion of less government and exchanged it for more tyranny. Apparently the old adage “if you can’t beat ‘em…” still rings true. When “conservatives” are offering more government as the solution to the problems created by government, then you know that something is amiss.
Folks the entire concept of paid family leave is nuts. The only reason that women must work is due to the confiscatory taxation of our population. If you added everything up, half of what you earn goes out in taxes of one form or another. If you don’t believe me, just make a list. FYI there are about 30 different taxes on your telephone. I don’t even think the “Sith Lord” could list them all but he’d probably get closer than our average reader.
What real Conservatives believe or at least they used to, is that you should keep more of your money because you can spend it better than someone in Washington or Sacramento.
The idea that a Conservative Political Action Committee (C-PAC) would ever give Santorum, Rubio & Company a place at their event is proof that their values are eroded.
In case you went to public school or weren’t paying attention, we threw the British out of here in 1776 because of a three percent tax! Boston Tea Party ring a bell? The cry was “Taxation without representation.” So how has the “taxation with representation” worked out?
Oh, speaking of three percent tax rates, that was the maximum tax proposed on the very rich in 1917 when the temporary tax called the Federal Income Tax was adopted to pay for our involvement in World War I. Again, how has that taxation with representation worked out?
Many years ago, I did contribute to Santorum’s failed Senate re-election bid. In light of recent events, it’s a good thing he lost. If this is what it takes to stand out in Republican circles these days and gives you the “street cred” to claim the conservative mantle then Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell aren’t the only guys stinking up the once Grand Old Party.
Oh, if you check Rick’s website, they are talking about letting you tap your Social Security Trust Account to pay for this. No, really.
The plan is relatively straightforward — new parents could borrow against their future Social Security benefits by taking up to twelve weeks of payments after the birth of a child.
Back in the last year of the Bush Administration, I looked up the government’s statistics on unfunded mandates of the Federal Government. Social Security was the lion’s share of underfunded mandates totaling about 55 trillion dollars and now “Little Rubio” wants the snowflakes to tap it? Great idea.
I like President Trump but apparently he supports this idea too.
If this does get implemented, how much will you bet me that the Democrats find a way to take all the credit? This has been one of their pet issues for many years.
Hey Rick, way to throw the next generation under the bus by claiming to save them. Oh wait, I sense another government program on the horizon to fix this mess…
Recently, I have found myself reading more books and watching less television. Cord cutting has the advantage of not distracting me as much with nonsense. For those in the “snowflake” generation, a B.O.O.K. is also known as “Bio Optical Organic Knowledge”.
Background
In the last few weeks I read two books about the same era that have a remarkable amount of overlap. I started with Larry Norman: Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music. This book is about the original Christian rocker. The book discusses the good, the bad, and the ugly of the music industry and also Norman’s very flawed and human trek thru this world.
Norman got his musical start in the 1960’s in San Jose, CA. In the early days he shared the stage with Janis Joplin and many other names that you might recognize. He eventually moved to Los Angeles and made a name for himself. In the book you learn about Norman’s street preaching, Bible study, and other endeavors. I highly recommend the book.
So you may be wondering why I start with Larry Norman in a discussion about a Bob Dylan book. Because their lives are incredibly linked together.
The Apostle Paul spoke about spiritual growth in these terms:
For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. I Corinthians 3:4-7.
Larry Norman sowed many seeds that grew and matured which eventually touched Bob Dylan’s life in a way that only God can. Larry is never mentioned in the Dylan book and that is a shame because the two men clearly knew each other, if only at a distance.
Norman includes Dylan in his song, Song For A Small Circle Of Friends which he released in 1971. Why Dylan is part of this “small circle” remains unsaid in either book.
Dear Bobby watch your fears all hide And disappear while love inside starts growing, You’re older but less colder Than the jokes and folks you spent your childhood snowing.
And Someone died for all your friends But even better yet, He lives again. And if this song does not make sense to you, I hope His Spirit slips on through, He loves you
An example of their intersecting worlds is the Bible study that Norman started in Los Angeles in the late 1960’s. This study morphed into the church that Dylan attended prior to releasing his Slow Train Coming album in 1979. Other people and actions in the Norman book impact the life of Dylan or those around him. Other folks that are common to both men and in ways most unexpected include Billy Graham, President Jimmy Carter, and Jews for Jesus.
Another interesting overlap of both men’s worlds is not documented in either book. Larry Norman produced an album of up and coming Christian musicians. On that album was a track by Leslie Phillips called Beyond Saturday Night. Leslie’s first LP was later released and titled Beyond Saturday Night but was a different studio recording of the same song. Leslie released four Christian albums before changing her stage name to “Sam Phillips” and “going secular.” As this transition was happening in her life she married a fellow named T-Bone Burnett who was a member of Dylan’s touring band and frequently played with Dylan over the years. T-Bone converted to Christianity while touring with Dylan.
Enter Bob Dylan
After completing the Larry Norman book, I ordered the book Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life
by Scott Marshall. Cost $16.95
The publisher describes the book as:
Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life bridges the gap between purpose and meaning in grand fashion. It offers readers an informative, entertaining, and nuanced look into Bob Dylan’s spiritual odyssey. Today, there is not a Dylan book in existence that exclusively focuses on his spiritual odyssey through years of research and original interviews with those who know him and his journey well, such as Barry Beckett, Arthur Blessit, T-Bone Burnett, Carolyn Dennis, Dave Kelly, Regina McCrary, Maria Muldaur, Scott Ross, Jerry Wexler, and Paul Wasserman. The evidence abounds and Dylan’s friends and fans provide a plethora of insight into this veritable music icon’s spiritual side.
The book is exhaustively footnoted and generally follows Dylan’s career in chronological order.
Dylan Controversy
Many folks in Christian circles have voiced their concerns about Dylan and his profession of faith.
The two songs that come to mind as critiques of Dylan are Steve Taylor’s title track from 1984, Meltdown and Dave Edward’s 1981 song, Commercial Suicide.
Elvis and the Beatles have seen a better day Better off to burn out than to melt away Dylan may be fillin’ the puddle they designed Is it gonna take a miracle to make up his mind? –Steve Taylor
He was the prophet of a generation They watched his every cryptic verb People everywhere in every nation Would bow and worship every word
He gave them songs and made them wild with passion They would leave his name is history Then he sang a little out of fashion And so he gave them one more mystery
And then they cried – Commercial suicide… Watch how you say it We’ll never play it –Dave Edwards
From reading A Spiritual Life what you discover is that Dylan’s story is confusing, not so much for what he says, but more for what those around him want to be true. Often what you’ve heard about Dylan is what others are projecting onto him and not his words.
Scott Marshall does a good job of separating the wheat from the chaff. He looks not just at Dylan’s words but his music to show that Dylan is actually rather consistent. Dylan will respond to stupid interviewer questions with obtuse answers but when treated respectfully he can be rather forthcoming about his faith. When it comes to Dylan’s answers about his faith, however; the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew come to mind, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Many folks just don’t understand Dylan’s answers and their Biblical references.
After reading the book, I not only think I have a grasp of where Dylan is spiritually but can understand his point of view.
Marshall has responded to the criticisms of Dave Edwards and Steve Taylor (quoted above) and his answer is one that I appreciate. If you want to meet the man behind the mystique then Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life is well worth your consideration.
On internal combustion vehicles, the front end is often called “the grill” because it has an area that allows air to flow thru the radiator to cool the engine. But now Californians may mean something entirely different when talking about their automobile and “the grill.”
Custom Corvette Grill
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Get ready to break out your recipes for roadkill. Eating wild animals killed by a car could soon become legal in California. State Senator Bob Archuleta introduced a so-called “you kill it, you grill it” bill at the Capitol this week. The bill reads, “each year it is estimated that over 20,000 deer alone are hit by motor vehicles on California roadways. This translates into hundreds of thousands of pounds of healthy meat that could be utilized to feed those in need.”
Ok, so thought number one was the parody that Rush Limbaugh did many years ago on the subject. He illustrated serving roadkill with a parody of diners eating the special of the day at mythical Furs Cafeteria. About the third day of running the parody, he got a polite cease and desist letter from Furr’s Cafeteria letting him know that they were offended. Rush had to alter the parody as a result.
Furr’s claims it doesn’t really serve roadkill
In the old days roadkill was given to jails and prisons as a way to supplement the menu. Since Jerry Brown let so many felons out of prison without serving their sentences (over 50,000) maybe this is the Democrat’s way of making them feel at home in the “real world.”
However, there is more to this juicy story…
UC Davis has maintains a website documenting roadkill incidents across California. In 10 years, the California Roadkill Observation System has recorded 60,000 cases of roadkill collisions, mostly with deer.
Ok, color me shocked. Did you know your tax dollars were hard at work funding the California Roadkill Observation System? Is the guy running this vital government agency a double major in environmental studies and traffic engineering?
Please note that you’ve been paying for this for at least the last ten years. Does that mean Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized this boondoggle too?
Next please note the math in this story. Bob Archuleta claims there are 20,000 deer killed each year on California highways while the taxpayer funded California Roadkill Observation System claims that 60,000 animals—mostly deer—have been murdered by passing autos in a ten year period.
Using Bob’s statistic, we should expect over 200,000 deer to be killed in a ten year period. That sounds like we are supposed to celebrate deer genocide by destroying the evidence that there were ever any deer in California.
As a former deer hunter, I’m saddened by this issue. In many parts of the state, deer are almost as scarce as jack rabbits these days and now government is trying to give you an incentive to run over them with your car. Need a bambulance?
Bambulance–Actual 9-1-1 call
The bill, notwithstanding any other law, would authorize (a) a person who unintentionally strikes and kills a deer, elk, antelope, or wild pig on a roadway in California with a vehicle to recover, possess, use, or transport the whole animal and salvage the edible portions of the animal…
First, after hitting a deer with my vehicle, how does anyone know what my intent was? The only other witness to the carnage (good word choice in this context) is dead.
Second, besides a town baring the name, are there any antelope in this state?
Third, this bill discriminates against other species of animals commonly hit by vehicles and consumed by groups living in the state. Rabbits, coons, and possums come to mind. But why stop there? What about cats and dogs? If they can’t stay on the leash and happen to wok in front of you then aren’t they fair game too? Cows and horses are both consumed in this state and occasionally wander in front of vehicles as well.
I personally have hit one dog, one cat, two owls, one pheasant, at least one snake, and a possum since getting my license at age sixteen. Oh, the owls and pheasant were all airborne when the fatal blows were struck.
If you look at the economic direction of this state, are they anticipating a time when we will be like Venezuela and need to eat anything we can grill just to survive? Is this the end-game of healthcare for all and other utopian ideas?
Lastly, don’t you find it curious that vehicle insurance statistics are not cited to prove the widespread slaughter of furry mammals by motorized vehicles? We are all required by law to have our cars insured so clearly hard numbers exist as to the actual number of such collisions that occur annually.
For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Luke 8:17
For those of you that think you have privacy any more, here’s yet more proof it’s an illusion.
According to a new report, Google “unintentionally forgot” to mention the existence of a microphone on the Next Guard. The report mentioned that Nest users were unaware that the Nest Guard comes with a microphone as it was not mentioned anywhere including the website and the spec sheet.
Oh, Google’s justification was:
The spokesperson also mentioned that the on-device microphone was never on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option. Moreover, Google stated that they added the microphone as a way to allow for future developments and to add more security features to the device through software updates.
In early February, Google announced that its home security and alarm system Nest Secure would be getting an update — users could now enable its virtual assistant technology, Google Assistant. The problem: Nest users didn’t know a microphone even existed on their security device to begin with. The existence of a microphone on the Nest Guard (which is the alarm, keypad, and motion sensor component in the Nest Secure offering) was never disclosed in any of the product material for the device. On Tuesday, a Google spokesperson told Business Insider the company had made an “error.”
OK folks, pop quiz, what else has Google or someone else put a microphone in without telling you? Your “Smart TV” or gaming console? You mesh network gizmo?
Isn’t there enough microphones in your house already?
Cell phone
Smart watch
Laptop
Children’s toys
Plus any speaker not in use can also act as a microphone. Think stereo, clock radio, television, sound bar, etc.
Please note that Google only needed a software update to turn on the microphone and that means others with ill intent could access it too.
Somehow when Jesus spoke those words in Luke, I don’t think he had Google in mind however, I guess we don’t have to wait until judgement day any more for our private deeds to be made public, just get the wrong organization or nation state to pay attention to you and the future can be now. Jesus tells us that we will be condemned by what comes to light and I’m sure that would be true in this life as well.
Apple is such a target rich environment of bad news that it’s no wonder that they have fallen in value and deservedly so. Apple’s Store is full of spyware and security flaws, they have legal troubles that are concerning, they have quit innovating. Below I will give you a brief summary of each article and a link to read it for yourself but be ready to be shocked. I don’t own any stock in FAANG companies but if you do, now would be a good time to sell.
FAANG is Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google
Apple App Makers Spying on You
Many major companies, like Air Canada, Hollister and Expedia, are recording every tap and swipe you make on their iPhone apps. In most cases you won’t even realize it. And they don’t need to ask for permission.
Apps like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hotels.com and Singapore Airlines also use Glassbox, a customer experience analytics firm, one of a handful of companies that allows developers to embed “session replay” technology into their apps. These session replays let app developers record the screen and play them back to see how its users interacted with the app to figure out if something didn’t work or if there was an error. Every tap, button push and keyboard entry is recorded — effectively screenshotted — and sent back to the app developers. Or, as Glassbox said in a recent tweet: “Imagine if your website or mobile app could see exactly what your customers do in real time, and why they did it?”
Apps that are submitted to Apple’s App Store must have a privacy policy, but none of the apps we reviewed make it clear in their policies that they record a user’s screen. Glassbox doesn’t require any special permission from Apple or from the user, so there’s no way a user would know.
Glassbox is one of many session replay services on the market. Appsee actively markets its “user recording” technology that lets developers “see your app through your user’s eyes,” while UXCam says it lets developers “watch recordings of your users’ sessions, including all their gestures and triggered events.”
Apple has released an iPhone update to fix a software flaw that allowed people to eavesdrop on others while using FaceTime. The bug enabled interlopers to turn an iPhone into a live microphone while using Group FaceTime. Callers were able to activate another person’s microphone remotely even before the person has accepted or rejected the call. Apple turned off the group-chat feature last week, after a 14-year-old boy in Tucson, Arizona, discovered the flaw. The teenager, Grant Thompson, and his mother said they unsuccessfully tried to contact the company about the problem for more than a week.
FYI: Apple will never admit fault or flaws with any product or service until it has been made public and the publicity has embarrassed the crap out of them. This and the fact that their PC market share is so small has allowed them to falsely claim that they are more secure than Windows. Their iPhone apps are a mess despite their claims.
Turns out is not just Facebook and Google who are misusing Apple’s Enterprise Certificate Program to distribute apps which would not pass Apple’s App Store approval process. Techcrunch has discovered that hundreds of companies are distributing pornography and gambling apps to members of the public using the certificate system designed for only internal use.
The news, however, underlines that the supposedly safe and secure iPhone ecosystem has a rather seedy underbelly…
As previously reported on this blog, Apple iPhones have been banned for sale in China and Germany due to patent infringement. Here is an update on the story from a German Court.
Apple and Qualcomm have been at loggerheads for a while now, with the firm suing Apple over its alleged patent infringement. Qualcomm won a victory against Apple in Germany, acquiring an injunction which would stop Apple from selling iPhone models that used Intel chips in their retail stores, forcing Apple to pull their devices from sale both in-store and online.
Apple as of now has resumed sales of its iPhone 7 and 8 family of devices with Qualcomm chips in Germany.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has brought suit against Gene Daniel Levoff, who was Apple’s senior director of corporate law until September 2018. Levoff is accused of using his position to make illegal trades of Apple shares. Levoff was part of Apple’s Disclosure Committee—one of the people who could review the company’s quarterly financial reports ahead of their publication. The SEC maintains that he used nonpublic information obtained as part of the committee to inform trades he made of Apple shares. For example, in July 2015 he learned that Apple was going to miss analyst estimates for iPhone unit sales. Between July 17 and July 21, when Apple published its quarterly earnings report, he sold nearly his entire holding of Apple stock, totaling nearly $10 million. When the news became public, Apple’s share price dropped by more than 4 percent—selling early avoided losses of approximately $345,000.
Considering what they did to Martha Stewart for $50K, they better throw the book at this guy.
Apple Stops Innovating iPhone
Apple’s cash cow—the iPhone—for the last decade is running out of steam and new ideas. As reported here previously, they have no plans to release a true 5G phone in 2019, they are reportedly going to shift to USB-C connector in 2020 (more on this in a minute), they have announced no R & D for a foldable tablet or phone, and they are shifting to an Android style display. But still no micro USB memory slot.
As per the report, Apple is also planning to shift its display technology to OLED for the 2019 iPhone family of devices. OLED displays are more visually appealing than LCDs subjectively speaking and show deeper blacks and greater contrast. In other words, they ‘pop’ more and look prettier in stores. They also tend to feature on higher-end Android smartphones, something Apple may be reacting to as sales fall in China and India as consumers prefer their own homegrown, full-featured Android smartphones.
Apple has stopped reporting sales numbers for any devices on their quarterly stock reports due to declining sales but since they have fallen into the 90 Calendar trap, they are trying a new way to improve their cash flow. The new idea is to fleece their flock by offering subscription services. As such they are rolling out two new services, a subscription news service and a streaming service.
Apple, is expected to have a March 25 event at its Cupertino campus, where it could introduce the entertainment service, a new magazine subscription app and an update to its popular AirPods wireless earbuds. Apple, coming off declining iPhone sales, is looking to make up the difference.
…Apple will offer the service for free for the first three months, as an app, like iTunes, available on iPhones, iPads, computers and via the Apple TV set-top box and then begin charging. His prediction: $3 monthly if bundled with Apple’s current $9.99 Apple Music offering, or $6.99 as a stand-alone product. That’s a good deal cheaper than industry leader Netflix, which charges $11.99 for its most popular rate, but then Apple will have a tiny library in comparison. CBS, which also debuted with a smaller library for its All Access offering of originals (new Star Trek, and a sequel to the Good Wife) and library titles like Perry Mason and Cheers, charges $5.99 monthly, with ads, or $9.99 ad-free. Apple’s track record in entertainment isn’t stellar. It debuted two new series in 2017, the widely panned Planet of the Apps reality show in 2017 and an extended version of the CBS late night comedy bit Carpool Karaoke. It also debuted in 2017 with five episodes, but hasn’t been heard from since. Apple reported falling iPhone sales in its most recent earnings report, down 15 percent for the holiday quarter, but a booming business for its Services, which includes iCloud online storage, Apple Music and iTunes movie rentals. The company said Services revenue rose $10.9 billion, or 19 percent, over the previous year.
Are people really willing to pay $7 or more to watch shows they can only view on their phones? Color me skeptical. At lest with USB-C phones, you can hook them up to a computer monitor or television and view the content but a phone only person? You already have Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, CBS All Access plus Disney and Warner are starting their own streaming services; all of which you can watch on any device that you own. Apple is late to the party and they only plan to let you watch on their devices. Lastly, as mentioned above, content is going to be a problem. Heck Netflix is suffering due to the content pulled already for services that aren’t even live yet.
Apple is planning to launch an all-you-can-read news subscription service, but is running into resistance from The New York Times Co. and Washington Post, both of which want better terms, the Wall Street Journal reports. Apple’s negotiators are reportedly floating an all-in-one news subscription plan that would cost consumers $10 per month, with Apple keeping half, and the remaining money getting split among all the other publishers on the platform, based on how much time people spend reading stories from each outlet.
Apple keeps half and gives crumbs to everyone else. Also please note that they are the ones that decide how much to pay all the news contributors based on how many hits each story gets.
Conclusion
I keep saying Tim Cook is just a caretaker and I think I’ve been vindicated in spades on that claim. Apple is no longer a leader in next generation technology, instead, they are just interested in making the current generation more comfortable in their old age.
Finally, several weeks later and after two different articles written by me on this blog, the Wall Street Journal and CNBC are catching up to the fact that many people are either not getting a tax refund at all this year or a smaller one based on changes stemming from Trump’s tax cuts.
First the WSJ article.
FYI, I found that saving said articles from WSJ as PDF files is important because after their first day on the web, they are embargoed behind a pay firewall. As usual, I quote extensively to prove my comments and analysis art in context, something the Main Stream Media will not do.
WASHINGTON—The first tax-filing season under the new tax law got off to a slower start than last year and filers so far are seeing smaller average refunds, according to early Internal Revenue Service data released Friday. With about 10% of households filing their returns, the percentage of households getting tax refunds is similar to last year, but average refund size is down 8%, to $1,865. The number of returns filed so far—16 million—is down 12% from the similar point a year ago.
The article points out that early filers are typically the ones expecting a refund and those numbers are down. Yep, no kidding.
Please note the next section carefully, overall you may have gotten a tax cut but that is not the same as a large refund because you had less withheld over the year and thus had more spendable money through-out the year.
About two-thirds of households are getting tax cuts for 2018 under the law, and just 6% are paying more, according to the Tax Policy Center. But the size of those tax cuts may not be reflected in refunds, which are just the end-of-year reconciliation of what a taxpayer owes and what was withheld or paid during the year. Many taxpayers received much of the benefit through reduced paycheck-withholding throughout 2018. On average, refunds should be larger than usual according to estimates from Evercore ISI and Morgan Stanley . Still, tax experts and preparers expect many households to be surprised by the size of their refunds—in both directions—and, on balance, millions of people may shift from getting refunds to owing taxes.
Though the 2018 filing season only started on Jan. 28, some early filers are discovering that they either owe the IRS or they’ll be getting a smaller-than-expected refund from the taxman.
About 30 million people, or 21 percent of U.S. taxpayers, are expected to owe money to the IRS this tax season, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office, a legislative agency that provides data to Congress. “The people who are most likely to be surprised this year are the ones who lost some deductions they had last year and who didn’t make changes to their withholding,” said Nathan Rigney, lead tax research analyst at the Tax Institute at H&R Block.
If you owe this season, consider it a lesson learned and do what you can to head off the same troubles in 2019. It’s generally a good practice to review your withholding, especially if you’ve been through major life changes, including getting married or having children.
If you do owe Federal taxes, TurboTax will let you eFile now and schedule payment anytime until April 15th.
Occasionally here, our posts do beat the Drudge Report, Wall Street Journal, local television stations and others by hours or even days. For a guy that runs this blog in my spare time, I think that’s kinda cool. Oh, and in fairness I do have a little help.
Folks this action should disturb you greatly. We are told backing up our personal information to “the cloud” is smart, secure and safe; except for Google which admits that it scans your personal data so they can target you with advertisements but then assures us that nobody human really reads your stuff.
Anyway, this news story surfaces today that Apple is giving away private iCloud passwords just to be nice to people that Tim Cook agrees with politically.
Three years after Apple refused to give the federal government access to the devices used by the San Bernadino terrorists who killed and injured dozens in a mass shooting event, the company has given the office of the Special Counsel complete access to Trump advisor Roger Stone’s iCloud account, reports Apple Insider. According to the Washington Post, Apple objected to giving the federal government backdoor access to the shooters iPhones, claiming it would “set a dangerous precedent.”
Fast forward to present, and we see that Apple no longer seems to have the same privacy concerns it once did in 2015. Without any fight, they simply turned over Roger Stone’s iCloud passwords and God knows what else, because Orange Man Bad. The fact that Apple views a political persecution less of a hill to die on than protecting the rights of terrorists who killed and maimed dozens of Americans is quite telling.
You may not like Roger Stone and you may not agree with him. However, he has been charged with non-violent process crimes…
Folks, our Republic is in trouble. On one hand Apple is willing to turn your data over to the government because your political party is different than their CEO but simultaneously they defend the privacy rights of terrorists and murderers that killed American citizens in cold blood. What’s going on?
If you thought Facebook and Google were the only tech companies that didn’t care about your privacy you might want to re-evaluate that idea.
Apple is living off the legacy of Steve Jobs, Steve is dead and whatever goodwill he may have had died with him. The company that he created is emerging from his shadow and it a quite a different and inferior thing.
Final Thought
If Mr. Stone is using iCloud then presumably he is using Apple’s iPhone. Did Apple give Mueller all their tracking data and telephone logs on him as well? FYI — phone manufacturers and app developers can use the GPS of your smartphone to track all your movements and use algorithms to develop information about your daily routine. This data is frequently monetized.
FAANG is Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google
Tim Cook and the boys in Silicon Valley know way more about American citizens than J. Edgar Hoover ever did and on an unimaginable scale. Liberals are OK with Cook et al. but not Hoover? Makes you wonder…
