In our age of technology, many are used to streaming videos, music, and other content. Amazon has been selling eBooks for its Kindle devices for many years. Folks like the convenience of content being delivered to their electronic devices; however, there are some drawbacks. I have mentioned some of these before but two more examples have surfaced lately that are worth noting.
If you have ever bought a Blu-ray or DVD movie, you often will see a sticker on the box that says free digital copy included. OK, so what happens when the digital copy company goes away?
The go to service for many years has been UltraViolet but UltraViolet is going away in July. So you can either transfer your digital content to one of three other providers or let your library expire. Since the physical disks have DRAM encryption on them, you can’t just rip your own copy to your computer.
If this is true of physical media with a digital counterpart, what about people that purchased a digital only copy of something? What happens when your eBook company draws its last breath or decides to get out of the business?
Enter exhibit number two, Microsoft.
It will come as little surprise to our readers that Microsoft is exiting another consumer market. Today Microsoft posted a rather brutal announcement regarding the US-only ebook Store which they launched in 2017, saying “The books category is closing.” Microsoft is not giving users a lot of time to ponder – the decision is effective today, with Microsoft writing “Starting April 2, 2019, the books category in Microsoft Store will be closing.” More worrying is the second bit, however. “Unfortunately, this means that starting July 2019 your ebooks will no longer be available to read, but you’ll get a full refund for all book purchases.” Presumably, due to some DRM scheme, Microsoft will be remotely deactivating books readers already purchased and downloaded. Microsoft says they will be giving full refunds, and if you used Microsoft’s much-touted inking feature to make notes, Microsoft will still be burning your book, but will give you a $25 store credit.
So just like that, the “velvet sweatshop” as its employees call Microsoft, just clicks a button and kills all you digital content. What if Apple or Amazon decides to kill your music library or eBooks?
If you dig into the terms of use and legal nonsense for such things, you paid money for the content but surprise, you don’t really own your copy! Thus they can keep your money and kill your content later. Please note that this is not just a matter of killing future downloads but they can click a mouse and kill the existing content of all your devices.
The truth is that Amazon has done this in the past with certain eBook titles. Just because something is on your phone, PC, or Kindle does not mean that it stays there. Oh this also means that existing eBook content can be edited on the fly to add, alter, or remove content. Talk about ‘Big Brother.”
So next time you think I’m old fashioned because I actually prefer physical media, at least I own what I paid for.
For the second time in less than a month, media reports have surfaced of Tesla cars have been hacked. This time the autopilot—which isn’t really an autopilot—got hacked.
One series of hacks was with stickers. Yes, stickers like your children like to use instead of crayons in those kid’s meal booklets. Here’s the story:
Autopilot Hack #1
Elite hackers from China have found a way to trick a Tesla Model S into going into the wrong lane by strategically placing some simple stickers on the road. Keen Labs, widely regarded as one of the most technically ingenious cybersecurity research groups in the world, developed two kinds of attack to mess with the Tesla autopilot’s lane-recognition tech. First, the researchers sought to make alterations to lane markings, first by adding a large number of patches to the line to make it appear blurred. It worked, but as the patches looked much too conspicuous, the Keen hackers decided that it’d be too difficult to carry out in the real world.
Autopilot Hack #2
So the researchers tried to create a “fake lane.” They discovered that Tesla’s autopilot would detect a lane where there were just three inconspicuous tiny squares strategically placed on the road. When they left small stickers at an intersection, the hackers believed they would trick the Tesla into thinking the patches marked out the continuation of the right lane. On a test track, their theory was proved correct, as the autopilot took the car into the real left lane.
Tesla Hacked, Vehicle Operated By Remote Control
In other attacks, the Keen crew claimed to have the ability to remotely control the steering wheel and start up the windscreen wipers. In the former, via a complex series of steps that broke through some of the security barriers put up around the onboard network, Keen discovered a way to control the steering wheel with a gamepad, though they were in the vehicle at the time. While that initially sounds serious, the attack didn’t work when a car had been taken manually from reverse to drive mode at any speed above 8 km per hour. However, when in cruise control, the attack worked “without limitations.”
Two weeks ago, Tesla was hacked in a much different way.
Pwn2Own is a competition aiming to highlight the vulnerabilities of modern day systems and products, and since the Model 3 is one of the most digitally advanced cars in the world, it was a natural target for the organizers of the event and the hackers attending it.
Most of the goals set by the organizers were not met by the competing teams, but one of them reached their goal: Fluoroacetate, a duo comprising hackers Richard Zhu and Amat Cama. To get the prize, the two had to launch the attack from inside the car and “achieve code execution by browsing to malicious content.” Zhu and Kama were able to hack into the car’s Internet browser and have it display a message of their choice on the car’s screen: pwned by Fluoroacetate. For their achievement, Richard Zhu and Amat Cama were awarded a $35,000 prize, but most importantly got to drive away in the Model 3, complete with the hacked browser.
Folks what you need to understand about hacking the display of the Tesla is this, there are no instrument panels or gauges in this particular car. The display screen (liquid crystal touch screen) is the only information that the driver has on the car. This is also where everything is controlled by the driver. If the screen can be hacked, it can be used to trick the driver by providing false info to the driver. Could this be used for malicious purposes? It may only be proof of concept for now but…
Folks I’m just gonna excerpt two paragraphs and commend that you look at the source article for more.
The social network is heading to court in Belgium on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports. Its goal is to fight a court order that would force it to stop using cookies and other tracking technology to follow its users as they navigate around the internet to serve them ads–at least until Facebook explains exactly how and why it collects data and what it does with the information. The original court order required the social media giant to stop tracking users, delete all data it had gathered illegally on Belgian citizens–including people who were not Facebook users themselves–or face fines of up to €250,000 ($281,625) a day. It may be a tough slog, as Facebook’s tracking technology is applied not only to people who willingly signed up for the site, but also to millions of people who aren’t signed up or have closed their accounts. Belgium’s court order, meanwhile, may be bolstered by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which allows penalties as large as 4% of a company’s annual revenue.
now emerges a story that Facebook has stored your password in plain text available to any employee and anyone with access to the house that Mark built. This has been their practice since 2012 and at least 600,000,000 passwords are involved.
“Security rule 101 dictates that under no circumstances passwords should be stored in plain text and at all times must be encrypted,” said cybersecurity expert Andrei Barysevich of Recorded Future. “There is no valid reason why anyone in an organization, especially the size of Facebook, needs to have access to users’ passwords in plain text.” Facebook said there is no evidence its employees abused access to this data. But thousands of employees could have searched them. The company said the passwords were stored on internal company servers, where no outsiders could access them. But the incident reveals a huge oversight for the company amid a slew of bruises and stumbles in the last couple of years. The security blog KrebsOnSecurity said some 600 million Facebook users may have had their passwords stored in plain text. Facebook said in a blog post Thursday it will likely notify “hundreds of millions”…
Apple has no plans for a 5G phone in 2019. We have reported that several times on this blog but recently more information has come to light. The truth is Apple has no supplier for the technology. Why, because they have burned bridges with everyone.
Apple has four choices for 5G
Qualcomm – Apple has disputes with this competitor. Source
Intel – Apple is dropping Intel as chip supplier. Source
Samsung – Apple’s direct competitor in cell phone mfg. Samsung #1 in the world, Apple #3
Make their own – starting from scratch and not running afoul of existing intellectual property and patents is problematic and years from concept to production
Once upon a time, many in the West were fond of quoting the proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” A biblical admonition also comes to mind “without a vision, the people perish.” Both proverbs contrast the idea of a life with immediate gratification versus long term goals.
Likewise, once upon a time, American companies spent a considerable amount of money in research and development. These businesses thought in terms of years into the future and what they could contribute to the betterment of their fellow man and make a profit by providing goods and services that made our lives better.
Sadly this is no longer the case. Modern corporations are only concerned with hitting their numbers for the next quarterly report. Should they miss the estimates of Wall Street there is financial hell to pay. No company has any real investment in or vision of the future. Business is only concerned with immediate cash flow.
I like technology but I get frustrated by the number of projects that get prototyped and cancelled because the idea can’t be monetized in the next quarter or two. Anything beyond that window of time is deemed risky and not viable for investment.
Here’s a few examples:
Microsoft Microsoft has been toying with foldable phones and tablets for at least five years but every project they attempted has been cancelled. All they have to show for their efforts is a large portfolio of patents. Microsoft is playing the 90-day game and anything that might be on a longer time horizon is likely to get cut as a risky investment.
Apple Apple under Steve Jobs wasn’t an innovator in hardware. Jobs took existing stuff, tweaked it and found ways of marketing it to the masses. In a sense, he sold “the sizzle”. Jobs could look at an idea and see a future benefit worth investing in and bring it to fruition. Under Tim Cook, Apple is playing the 90-day game like everyone else. Apple has ceased being a leader in technology, they can’t risk being wrong about the next big thing.
Google Google too is cutting long term R & D.
Google admits that its hardware business is not profitable enough to accommodate a large number of employees and therefore has decided to trim the fat. Google told dozens of employees working on its hardware division to find new jobs.
An internal source close to Business Insider told that Google is currently going through “roadmap cutbacks” and hence the decision. This will have a massive impact on Google’s hardware business as BI reports that projects on which the company was actively working on are now cancelled.
It’s more like the search giant wants to put a full stop to its long-term projects that were in development.
Everywhere you turn, it’s the same story. Long term projects are toxic in today’s business environment and nobody wants to spend on them. Instead, there is constant pressure to cut, trim, and reduce both employees and products. This is not just free market forces at work, something else is afoot.
But why?
Two big reasons come to mind.
First, Wall Street is the only place that most people can put their money and get a return on their investment. Wall Street is geared around getting an immediate return on dividends each quarter. The measure of a company is cash flow to investors. The way to attract and maintain investors is via immediate return. The so called “Blue Chip Stocks” don’t really exist anymore. The Wall Street logic is this: no return, no investors, then no company.
Second is the high burden of government. Companies must take baby steps to keep from getting crushed by all the rules and regulations that they are required to follow. This makes them risk averse. Making a profit is no longer enough motivation to pursue a project. If the return is not immediate and drastic, the project will never see the light of day. This stifles innovation. In a sense, corporations are trading security for freedom.
This 90-day cycle mentality is destructive to the market but in order for businesses to survive, they are forced into this attitude. People instinctively know this is true but often don’t perceive why.
Elon Musk seems to transcend this lethargy of innovation that people sense in the marketplace. The attraction of Musk is that he is unencumbered by the baggage that besets others. He talks of what should be and rejects the status quo. The problem is that Musk’s business model can’t succeed on an even playing field, he needs the heavy hand of government to intervene on his behalf with taxpayer money in the form of investments from public retirement funds, tax breaks, and rebates to consumers. However, government can’t really pick winners and losers in the market, when it tries it fails. Socialism always loses at the point where promises far surpass declining resources and productivity.
The 90-day cycle is an interesting phenomenon to watch but only in the same way that people will invariably slow down to stare at a traffic accident. It is an aberration to the normal way of markets and finance. The problem is that the longer this continues, the less that people remember or perceive the deviance from the ideal of what the market should be.
In our current environment, both business owners and consumers have lowered expectations of market capability. The farther from free markets that we get the better that the lie of socialism looks.
The business cycle has been reduced to the minimal form necessary for survival. The 90-day cycle is the sum total of management concern. Thought of the future is hard to envision when you don’t know if you’ll be here tomorrow. First world companies with third world values are a harbinger of bad tidings for all of us.
In “A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking,” a 3,200-word essay that Zuckerberg posted to Facebook on March 6, he says he wants to “build a simpler platform that’s focused on privacy first.” In apparent surprise, he writes: “People increasingly also want to connect privately in the digital equivalent of the living room.”
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that Facebook would commit to building a new “privacy-focused platform” that would serve as a model for future interactions on the social network.
However, Facebook is lying. Should that be a thing on Twitter? ( #FacebookIsLying )
Facebook doesn’t care about your privacy—more on that in a minute—but they do care about shareholders & money and in that department the trend is unfavorable. The 90-day people are worried.
Facebook has lost 15 million subscribers in the last two years. While that is bad, the underlying demographic information is horrible for them because overwhelmingly, the younger generation is tuning out. Most don’t even have Facebook accounts.
In 2017, 67 percent of the total US population over the age of 12 used Facebook, the data says. In 2018, that number dropped to 62 percent, and then it dropped again, to 61 percent, in 2019. That comes out to an estimated 172 million current users, according to Edison Research. The drop-off has been higher among younger users. In 2017, 79 percent of Americans between the ages of 12 and 34 used Facebook, the data says. That number decreased to 67 percent in 2018 and 62 percent in 2019. That equates to around 82 million 12- to 34-year-old Facebook users in 2017, compared with 65 million users today.
Meanwhile, among users aged 55 and up, Facebook use increased from 49 percent in 2017 and 2018 to 53 percent in 2019.
Facebook is marching out Mark Zuckerberg to calm the masses and stem the bleeding. His talk of privacy is as much directed to the shareholders as to his user base. Sadly, what Facebook says publicly has never been the truth in this regard—a fact we have documented previously.
Today, more evidence has come forward to disprove the notion that Facebook cares about your privacy. The fact is they only care how to monetize your information.
According to a report published by Privacy International, major apps on Android are sending your personal data to Facebook. Worse, these apps do not require your permission for your valuable data to make it to the Facebook datacentre. The report exposed seven Android apps that are caught up in the mess. Here, we are talking apps with millions and millions of install. The apps include Duolingo, Yelp, Indeed, Qibla Connect, King James Bible app, Muslim Pro. Don’t have a Facebook account? Doesn’t make any difference though. The report also revealed that users who don’t even have a Facebook account are also under Facebook’s surveillance. That’s right, these apps are sending your data to Facebook even though you are not a Facebook user.
Zuckerberg describes Facebook as a town square. It isn’t. Facebook is a company that brought in more than $55 billion in advertising revenue last year, with a 45% profit margin. This makes it one of the most profitable business ventures in human history. It must be understood as such. Facebook has minted money because it has figured out how to commoditize privacy on a scale never before seen. A diminishment of privacy is its core product. Zuckerberg has made his money by performing a sort of arbitrage between how much privacy Facebook’s 2 billion users think they are giving up and how much he has been able to sell to advertisers. He says nothing of substance in his long essay about how he intends to keep his firm profitable in this supposed new era. That’s one reason to treat his Damascene moment with healthy skepticism. “Frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services,” Zuckerberg writes. But Facebook’s reputation is not the salient question: its business model is. If Facebook were to implement strong privacy protections across the board, it would have little left to sell to advertisers aside from the sheer size of its audience. Facebook might still make a lot of money, but they’d make a lot less of it.
Facebook says they want to fight “fake news” but sadly the most fake news out there is the claim that they care about your privacy.
When it comes to tech companies, will Donald Trump be the Trust Buster that Teddy Roosevelt was a hundred odd years ago? If it turns out that way, I think “Big Tech”will have Mark Zuckerberg to thank.
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.
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.
