G'day Mart and others, This may be a bit heretical, but I have concerns how Apple is locking things down to its commercial benefit.
Let me give you a concrete example. I've just returned from a month hiking through Switzerland. (If you have the interest, check out http://www.everlater.com/raphillips1). To prepare for this, I bought an iPad to: use to display Swiss topographical maps and record our track by GPS; to maintain a trip blog; to store and process Rita's photos; and do general web surfing. The iPad was great except for one element. Photo management. I was able to purchase an adaptor to download photos from the camera to the iPad. I had 15GB of DropBox space to backup the photos to the cloud. Everything was sweet. Then I downloaded the first lot of photos, and I could see them on the iPad, but they weren't in the 'camera roll'. Only items in the camera roll can be synched to DropBox and Mobile me. By default, only photos taken with the iPad camera go in the camera roll. The only way to get access to these photos seems to be to connect the iPad to a Mac registered to me, then upload/ download the photos to that machine. I didn't have one of these with me! Why does Apple restrict the functionality of powerful devices like the iPad so that it can only be used in ways that Apple determines, and which require other hardware. The underlying OS should enable me to do much more. I spent hours at nights trying to find apps to work around this, without much success. It shouldn't be so difficult. I am concerned that I am being manipulated by Apple. Cheers Rob On 17/09/12 9:30 PM, Peter Crisp wrote: > G'day Martin, good dialogue on this one. > > Email me off line about Land Rover key fob replacement. I'm doing a battery > replacement myself and new shell, all for <$40 I hope. I hope I'm not too > late for you. > > Sorry for hijacking but wanted to help a fellow mugger. > > Regards > > Pete > petercr...@westnet.com.au > > > On 17/09/2012, at 8:52 PM, Martin Hill <marth...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > >> Merv, my apologies if I expressed myself a bit too strongly in my comment. >> I do in fact agree absolutely about the importance of ethical business >> practices but feel the examples given in the article were just so inaccurate >> as to damage the author's cause. >> >> I have been frustrated in recent years at the amount of unbalanced >> commentary in much of the media about things like this. The continual >> tendency to tear down those who do well that is such a feature of the >> Australian psyche is unfortunately all too evident on the Internet as well. >> >> In the case of Apple it almost seems to be an orchestrated campaign for many >> elements of the media to fixate on some manufactured negative issue with >> each product release and blow it out of all proportion. Examples include >> the lack of a keyboard on the original iPhone, the non-removable battery, >> the supposedly *hot* iPad which was cooler than most other tablets, the >> Aussie 4G issue and now this $35 adapter. >> >> Where was the outcry when Samsung changed their adapter from their 30-pin >> dock connector (which they copied from Apple) in the Galaxy S2 to the Galaxy >> S3 without a free adapter for S2 owners? What's wrong with buying a cheaper >> third party adapter than Apple's for the new iPhone 5 - they're already >> being advertised. >> >> Why should Apple give it away free? Apple already gives lots of free or >> cheap stuff out - far cheaper OS update prices than Microsoft, far cheaper >> app prices than desktop software, free iCloud services, the cheap >> cloud-hosted iTunes Match service even for pirated music, free iOS system >> updates, free Find My iPhone and Find my Friends apps, free Maps GPS >> navigation app, free iTunes Remote app, etc etc. How many gestures of >> goodwill does Apple have to make? What's the big deal about this adapter? >> >> What other company has stuck with the same adapter and port on their devices >> for a decade? Why is there no outcry over the ridiculous number of >> different USB port sizes and shapes out there that you have to buy different >> cables and adapters for each different device? Why did I have to pay $400 >> for a new remote key fob for my Landrover(!!!!). ;-( >> >> It is this unbalanced commentary that just gets my goat! >> >> -Mart >> >> >> On 17/09/2012, at 5:53 PM, Merv Bond <m...@iinet.net.au> wrote: >> >>> It is a common ploy to defend oneself by saying that everybody else is >>> doing it. Throw in some adjectives such as silly, ridiculous and tall >>> poppy syndrome to add to the mix. The issue of ethics in business is the >>> sub-text of the article. At the more literal reading the author of the >>> article was suggesting that a $35 adapter was a small amount for a >>> company at the top of profit list in the world and would have been a >>> gesture of goodwill to its "devoted" customers. >>> Merv >>> >>> On 17/09/12 5:25 PM, Stephen Chape wrote: >>>> Well done Martin ! >>>> >>>> On 17/09/2012, at 2:31 PM, Martin Hill wrote: >>>> >>>>> This is the reply I posted to the article below: >>>>> >>>>> I'm sorry, but complaining about a $35 adapter is frankly silly. Why >>>>> don't you go complain about car manufacturers charging an atrocious $400 >>>>> for a replacement key remote instead - a far more nefarious example of >>>>> corporate greed than Apple's little adapter. >>>>> >>>>> NFC has been termed "Not For Commerce" because it has been dead in the >>>>> water as it requires huge changes by retailers. Apple only supports >>>>> these sorts of standards once they become widespread enough to be useful >>>>> - witness the time Apple took introducing 3G and 4G in their devices - >>>>> they waited until there was enough 3G and 4G coverage to be useful for >>>>> consumers saving them the terrible battery life impact inherent with >>>>> jumping in too soon on early chipsets. >>>>> >>>>> Likewise, the ACCC's crusade against Apple re 4G was ridiculous as the >>>>> International Telecommunications Union classes Telstra's HSPA+ dual >>>>> carrier NextG network as 4G even if Telstra doesn't advertise it as such >>>>> locally. > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > -- -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
