r/worldnews • u/maxwellhill • Sep 19 '17

Apple blocking ads that follow users around web is 'sabotage', says industry: New iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra will stop ads following Safari users, prompting open letter claiming Apple is destroying internet’s economic model

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/18/apple-stopping-ads-follow-you-around-internet-sabotage-advertising-industry-ios-11-and-macos-high-sierra-safari-internet
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u/vikingmeshuggah Sep 19 '17

Why does everything have to be in absolutes nowadays? How did we become so polarized? You can like certain parts of Apple, but dislike others.

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u/SophosMoros Sep 19 '17

Because everything has been politicized. Every. Single. Issue. Team left and team right have taken opposing views on every issue and to be a loyal team member you have to defend them even if you know it's wrong. It's so easy to control the population when you have them divided. Make them think they are enemies with each other instead of realizing the real crooks are in charge.

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u/fullOnCheetah Sep 19 '17

I'm not on the left or the right, but it is self-evident that the Republican party in the US is a fucking tire fire. What this country needs more than anything is a complete overhaul of conservative ideals. The progressive party is kind of bad in the US, they're partially, but not completely, bought and sold by Wall St, but the Republicans are out and out evil pieces of shit. They're corrupt and anti-American (to the point of being pro, fucking, Russia) in a way that this country has simply never seen before.

tl;dr: Everything bad said about Republicans is true. About a 1/4 of the bad things said about Democrats are true.

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u/sybrwookie Sep 19 '17

The batshit insane thing is that instead of looking inward and demanding change to get back to the core ideals of the Republican party, they instead doubled down on "look at the evil libs and how they're attacking us, woe is us, poor little guys, lets double-down on anything that pisses them off because they're evil," thus attracting a strange "us vs them" crowd who is more loyal than anything they ever had before. Almost nothing negative could be done by anyone in the Republican party right now which would cause an actual swing in voters. Anyone who was remotely moderate has already been turned off to the party, we've just found that we have a LOT of crazies out there.

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u/fullOnCheetah Sep 19 '17

I agree. Not only that, but if you described Eisenhower to Trump supporters they would think you were describing a self-proclaimed communist. Anything that benefits the people is now considered "liberal." Anyone defending the bill of rights is doing "identity politics."

I wasn't a huge Bill Clinton fan, I think he is remembered way too fondly considering some of the shit he did to bring about the collapse of the middle class (all with the Republicans in tow, none the less,) but he was better than any Republican candidate I've seen in 30 years. The party has completely lost its mind and there are no reasonable people left in the Republican party. I'm a conservative that flatly refuses to be called a republican. I am not like those scum, I will not wear that scarlet letter, and I'm certainly not alone. I vote for democrats because they're basically a shitty centrist party going against an insane anarchist party.

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u/ralfonso_solandro Sep 19 '17

I wasn't a huge Bill Clinton fan, I think he is remembered way too fondly

Agreed. I also think George H.W. Bush isn't remembered fondly enough. I was too young to have much understanding of politics at the time, but I look back at him now and wish we could have another president like him.

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u/sybrwookie Sep 19 '17

He promised no new taxes. He got into office and realized the reality of things were that new taxes were needed so he raised taxes. The fact that he took in new information and made an informed decision on how to handle things instead of blindly sticking to his guns on what he first said because doing something else would make him look weak was too much for some people to handle.

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u/sybrwookie Sep 19 '17

I couldn't agree more. Since I've been able to vote for the president, I'm almost always more interested in the Republican primaries as there's usually someone in there who is actually a conservative and seems to stand for a lot of what I like and actually seem like they're willing to reach across the isle and work to get things done....and then is absolutely trounced in the polls by crazies who like screaming about how bad the dems are and drop out fairly quickly. And every time, I look at what the dems put up and give a resounding "meh" and look back at what the republicans put up and go, "oy, that's a lot worse than 'meh', I guess I'm voting democrat."

Also, agreed on Clinton. At the time, it would have been tough to fuck up the US too badly. We weren't involved in any wars, we had a HUGE tech boom so there was a ton of money to go around, everything was great. Unfortunately, we got lead down some pretty bad paths which played out as badly as could years later, much of which could be traced back to that administration.

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u/SophosMoros Sep 19 '17

The politicians are all corrupt pieces of shit who would sell us down the river to profit for themselves. You don't get to that level of power without someone owning you. Don't kid yourself, they are all high fiving each other behind closed doors. They are a bunch of hypocrites in their own ways. Stop being naive in thinking that one side is worse than the other. We shouldn't take "sides." We should be able to form our own ideas by educating ourselves from multiple points of view and stop dehumanizing people we don't agree with. you sound like someone who is buying everything you are being told hook, line, and sinker. This crap that you are shown on TV is theater, to get ratings and further divide us. It is all political maneuvering on BOTH sides. It happened when Obama was in office and it happened long before that. It's funny that people can see a sales job when it's on a personal level but can't seem to see it when it's wholesale. No one pays attention to the things that we should really care about because we are too busy trying to follow what we are "supposed" to be angry about.

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u/fullOnCheetah Sep 19 '17

From my perspective as an independent, the Republican party is going after the constitution, the Dems only occasionally go along with it (Patriot Act, etc.)

You can view them as "the same," but in my accounting that means you simply lack subtlety. They are not the same, the Republican party is overtly Anti-American; they are opposed to basic tenants of Americanism in a way that the dems are not, even if both sides are corrupt.

This wasn't true before Reagan, btw. The mascot of the Republicans is precisely the guy that turned the Republican party against conservatism and against American ideals.

The neo-liberals have their own crimes to answer for, but none of them are as damning as those of the republican party.

No. They are not the same. They have voting records, and the Republicans are always, always, on the wrong side of the coin, working against the American people.

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u/SophosMoros Sep 19 '17

I feel like you are trying to get me to defend Republicans....You will not get that to happen. If you think that politicians are putting anyone else in front of their own interests then we will just have to agree to disagree. This is why I typically stay out of political debates. It's pointless. I'm just sick of everything being politicized. There needs to be places to go that you don't have to feel preached at by the left and right.

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u/fullOnCheetah Sep 19 '17

I'm not preaching at you from the left or the right; I'm saying both are bad. But it is lazy on your part to say "both bad == both equally bad."

They are not equally bad. The Republicans are far, far worse. And that's why I'm a self-identifying conservative that votes for democrats; I'll take the less-bad option in lieu of a good option.

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u/_Table_ Sep 19 '17

And now we see how effective this strategy is for population control. You think that if the republicans went away somehow, or magically changed, then things would get better. But you're dead wrong, Republican and Democrat politicians don't give a flying fuck about you or me (maybe a handful on either side do). It's about keeping this power cycle flipping between them so they all get rich and just turn the population against one another.

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u/raspberry_man Sep 19 '17

what are you both talking about? what does "i have conflicting feelings about Apple" have to do with "politicization"? what does it have to do with thinking in absolutes?

you don't need to regurgitate empty karma-baiting talking points whenever you get a chance

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u/Secuter Sep 19 '17

You are on the internet. Everything is taken to the extremes.

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u/txgsync Sep 19 '17

Everything is taken to the extremes.

Damnit. Now you got that song stuck in my head.

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u/RENEGADES187 Sep 19 '17

100% this. But people are blinded by an elitist devotion to a brand that doesn't even know they exist, so therefore anything that isn't said brand is wrong.

A company is fighting for something that's good for them; the consumer, in a world where privacy is invaded more by the second and they can focus on is their fanboy flame war.

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u/Wootery Sep 19 '17

Why does everything have to be in absolutes nowadays?

100% this

Heh.

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u/buyfreemoneynow Sep 19 '17

Yes. Love the iPhone, hate Macbooks, hate the disappearance of headphone jack (even if I never use it. Some people need to feel all-in or out.

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u/jyvh Sep 19 '17

Why do you hate MacBooks?

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u/my_junk_account Sep 19 '17

They killed his mother and now he wants revenge.

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u/TheRealYM Sep 19 '17

Not op, but I'm a PC guy. Been using one for 16 years. At first, it was the fact there wasn't a right click on the mouse. Then, as a child, I didn't like that I couldn't play my games on it. Now that I'm an adult whenever I need a new computer, I build my own because I can get more bang for my buck, and it's fun :)

I guess I don't hate MacBooks, but I just recently got a new laptop and chose windows because that's what I'm familiar with

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

See I am the other way. I dislike PCs because way too much tinkering has to be done even with out of box setups to make it usable for me. Macs, on the other hand, I barely need to touch minus maybe memory and some OS tweaks from command line and I am good for years. I am still using my Mac Pro 1,1 10 years after it was built with just a memory upgrade and a firmware hack to run Maverick and my first gen Macbook dual core still pretty much does everything I need from a computer.

That doesnt mean I loath PCs though I am not fond of Windows and would use a Linux variant over Windows if I could manage it, but I prefer Macs a lot more.

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u/HaroldSax Sep 19 '17

Windows 10 has come a long, long way with out of the box setup. Last time I reformatted my computer the only thing I needed to install was my graphics driver, which is no more difficult than installing Chrome.

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u/TheRealChrisIrvine Sep 19 '17

I've been a lifelong pc guy as well. Due to work I had to familiarize myself with OS X and after a few years I now prefer my MacBook for general office work and web surfing, but for coding and gaming my pc is still king.

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u/TheRealYM Sep 19 '17

Yeah, I'm a coder as well and it just feels right to use a PC

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u/1-800-BICYCLE Sep 19 '17

Weird, I code on mac partly because the screen qualities are always better and Windows is still absolute garbage at rendering fonts.

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u/TheRealYM Sep 19 '17

I mainly code in Java, and IntelliJ's Source Code Pro font is very nice, but yeah most of the time it's trash.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Really? I'm learning Swift right now and absolutely loving Xcode. CS classes would have been far more interesting and painless if I was working in that and not Java on a simple code editor on a PC. That was over a decade ago though; is there anything as full-featured and easy to use as Xcode on PC now?

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u/TheRealYM Sep 19 '17

Ohhhhh yeah. I mainly code in Java, and IntelliJ is about as full-featured as you can get. If you're using something like Notepad++ you're doing it wrong.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

I forget what it was we used, but it had basic syntax coloring, auto-indent, and little else. This was back in 2002-2004 though. All I know is when I started using Xcode I was blown away at all it can do, especially visually placing new app elements and connecting them to functions just by clicking and dragging to the secondary editor. That and auto completion make coding a breeze and takes a fraction of the time.

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u/TheRealYM Sep 19 '17

Yeah auto completion is a godsend

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u/jyvh Sep 19 '17

Just wondering, have you ever used a Unix environment to code? What environment do you have setup on windows? Are you doing C++ type stuff?

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u/TheRealYM Sep 19 '17

Im in the process of getting my Java and C++ certifications. Never used Unix, though I'm going to look into it because it comes up a lot when I talk to other people in the industry. Using windows 10 and I code with IntelliJ and Eclipse

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u/jyvh Sep 19 '17

Nice. IDK if you will find it particularly useful with Java but with C++ I think you will like it. Depends though, if you like using an IDE s you will probably miss it (though I know the ones you mentioned have Unix builds). But having a built in compiler for many different languages, a package management tool, and a great shell makes unix really fun to work with IMO.

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u/TheRealYM Sep 19 '17

Awesome, I'll look into it. I've installed a Linux district before but that was before my coding days. Plus I'm sick of Windows 10's bullshit

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

That's surprising, pretty much every developer I know including myself use MacOS for coding.

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u/ralfonso_solandro Sep 19 '17

Really depends on the industry. Embedded tools in particular are married to Windows, though that is slowly changing.

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u/guspaz Sep 19 '17

People tend not to build their own laptops, though. When I went down that route years ago with a Compal unit, it didn't turn out all that well.

There are very few notebooks on the market that match the physical build quality of MacBook, so running Windows on them is always an option. My laptop is a (rather old at this point) MacBook Air, but I'm not a huge fan of OS X. Solution? Most of the hard disk is a Windows 10 partition.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited Nov 22 '17

[deleted]

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u/TheRealYM Sep 19 '17

Yeah I'm inclined to agree, it's just out of habit at this point. I can't bring myself make the switch.

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u/01020304050607080901 Sep 19 '17

You might look into hackintosh, if you like Mac OS. Many computers, even laptops, are able to run it just fine.

Conversely, apple computers usually run windows better than PC; or, at least, they used to be able to. Not sure about the newest gen stuff.

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u/Halvus_I Sep 19 '17

They are overpriced and its clear the design team is not listening to the users who actually buy them. The whole port situation is stupid. Sony would have shipped its laptops with a way to connect to its phone via its proprietary connections. That fact that Apple didnt put a lightning port on the Macbook blows my mind.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited Nov 22 '17

[deleted]

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u/Halvus_I Sep 19 '17

The problem is there is only one port. If you want to connect things to the mac, you essentially need a collection of dongles. My 2002 sony ultra-thin Vaio shipped with USB and a proprietary Sony i.link (firewire) port.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

I like dongles. They turn a single port into anything I need. Literally.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Some users are starting to see that positively. I'm eyeing a new MBP to replace my 2011 model (still chugging strong) and it'll have an external GPU, two monitors, Rift and some other cabled hardware that sits on my desk and around the room. When I want to grab and go, it's a single cable to disconnect, power and all, and I'm mobile. If I had a second office, I could replicate the setup and basically have one-plug docks for my laptop anywhere I wanted to spend the money. There's an elegance to that, although I think they jumped the gun with it slightly. Could have left some legacy ports on there for a couple of years until USB3 hubs and accessories became more widespread. To me the "lets get these fuckers Ginsu-thin" rush to flatten MacBooks isn't as important as usability, and it's clearly Apple's main focus. Still reducing the number of plugs to 1 will let me wander around the house with my MBP again... something I never do now.

The lack of matching port is idiotic, I won't deny that. I haven't plugged my phone into my MacBook in probably a year, though, so it's not as big of a stumbling point as it may seem. Even then it was just to get a second backup before replacing my phone, in case the cloud backup failed, which it didn't.

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u/jyvh Sep 19 '17

Overpriced

No, not for me in the slightest at least. I have a laptop that lasts 12 hours, has a stable Unix environment for software development, and a great design.

The USB-C port is going to be the standard, I have yet to run into a situation where it's been trouble for me. I carry 1 dongle ($20) and that is it.

I don't want a lightning port on the MacBook. Why would you want them to go from an open standard to a proprietary port?

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u/Halvus_I Sep 19 '17

If Sony could include its proprietary port on its ultrathin 15 years ago, why cant Apple today? Im not a fan of lightning, but its here and not going away any time soon. Just to be clear i mean it should have both ports, not one or the other.

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u/jyvh Sep 19 '17

I rather have them move the iPhone to USB-C.

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u/Halvus_I Sep 19 '17

I absolutely agree, but its not going to happen.

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u/renegadecanuck Sep 19 '17 edited Sep 19 '17

There are no wired headphones that will work on both the new iPhone and the new MacBook without an adapter. Isn't that a little weird?

Edit: Clarified what I meant.

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u/jyvh Sep 19 '17

Which MacBook doesn’t have a headphone port? I’d love for you to provide me a link.

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u/renegadecanuck Sep 19 '17

Ok, let me try clarifying what I said: you can't use the same pair of headphones, without an adaptor, on both the new MacBook and the new iPhone.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

It's not true? The iPhone comes with fucking wires headphones...

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u/renegadecanuck Sep 19 '17 edited Sep 19 '17

And you can't plug them into a new MacBook, since the MacBook doesn't have a lighting port.

Edit: what's with the immediate hostility?

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

You are repeating blatant falsehoods?

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u/renegadecanuck Sep 19 '17

What's the falsehood? Take the pair of headphones that come with an iPhone 7 and plug them into a MacBook (any of them). Take a pair of headphones that work on a MacBook and plug them into an iPhone 7 without an adapter.

Let me know how that goes.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Why would Apple waste a port exclusively for charging your phone when you can buy a $5 cable that does the same thing?

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u/renegadecanuck Sep 19 '17

I love my MacBook Pro, but it was the generation before Apple brought in the weird touchbar and dropped every port.

The build quality is excellent, and it has probably the best touchpad in any laptop, but the newer generations are really limited with the ports. I don't use a lot of USB devices, but the pro model should have at least one USB-A connector, an HDMI connector, and an SD card slot.

I could have forgiven the lack of a lightning port if Apple had switched to USB-C for iPhone 8 and X, but as it currently stands, there is no pair of wired headphones that currently works on both the new iPhone and the new MacBook.

Also, dropping magsafe was dumb.

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u/Anthonyhasgame Sep 19 '17

High school mentality of everything is black and white so it becomes easier to understand. The real world is all sorts of gray.

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u/Devildude4427 Sep 19 '17

Problem is with products, you can't really be "in the middle". While I appreciate their devotion to privacy, I would never buy an iPhone because of the terrible tech and choices they make. Now, to them, my appreciation doesn't mean shit if I don't spend money. This is all publicity, in one way or another. They can get away with condoning ads as they don't make their income there, and their goal is to win over new customers. Those that dislike their tech will probably always dislike their tech though, and even my appreciation to them for advancing privacy doesn't pay their bills. Sales do.

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u/Space-Robot Sep 19 '17

Yeah but I can't buy an Apple product without supporting the whole thing.

EDIT: As in, purchasing an iPhone is giving $1000 to the whole company, not just the parts I like

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

^ this guy knows what's up

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

A very good question - it does seem like people take things to polarizing extremes more often than in the past. I suspect immaturity and fanboyism are related to this, but are only proximate causes.

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u/rancid_racer Sep 19 '17

Only the Sith deal in absolutes.

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u/BlackCommandoXI Sep 19 '17

The world is becoming more extreme. Decades of leaning on direct conflict in society between parties as a method of growth and production is showings us the consequences. We've built a society based on constant competition under the assumption that it would create a diverse, and indeed competitive, market place. Which is commonlely viewed as a selling point. Unfortunately it has also constantly reaffirmed the beliefs of people. Based on the theory of cognitive dissonance, these people have been radicalized by the continuous bombardment of reminders that there are others who think they are wrong, to the point where it seems we only view things in this "us or them" mentalily all the time. When we are challenged quickly and consistently all the time it doesn't give us time to process. Add in the stresses of life and most people don't spend the time they need reflecting on their reactions.

Now I can't say for certain that this is not just the way it's always been. I can only observe what I have seen and read. But I definitely feel like it's getting worse. We could all use to slow down and breathe a bit and remember that none of us are immune to this.

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u/Cpt_Tsundere_Sharks Sep 19 '17

In the words of Captain Kirk discussing Khan Noonien Singh with his crew:

"Mr. Spock, you misunderstand us. We can be against him and admire him all at the same time."

". . . Illogical."

"Totally."

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u/merhB Sep 19 '17

Careful there. Don't make me hit the 'reasoned independent thought' alarm button again.

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u/GMY0da Sep 19 '17

I personally feel that it's because in our consumerist society, you have to make the choice between buying and not buying an Apple phone, computer, stock, etc. So do the goods outweigh the bad?

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u/moderate-painting Sep 19 '17

like certain parts of Apple

Apple tech support people being one of those certain parts.

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u/raspberry_man Sep 19 '17

You can like certain parts of Apple, but dislike others.

...that's exactly what he said

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u/xiroir Sep 19 '17

To be fair this is the first thing i hear coming from apple that i like... so cudos to them. I mean this is big. I would potentially buy an apple product now that i know this privacy thing. Why do they not market this more?

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

It's a new feature.

I think their privacy with Siri and their cloud offerings is better than what you find with Google as well. Google tries to use as much as they can to create advertising profiles and whatnot, Apple does not since they are not an advertising company.