New Apple Lust Objects for 2010 and onward

Still feeling kind of :\ about the beats acquisition/partnership. Wish they had paired with a legit audio company instead.

If they acquire a legit audio company, it'll be a tiny one working on compression/encoding, possibly to develop Apple-owned on-chip audio IP, and it won't be remotely high-profile. Apple seems to have acquired Beats do to what Apple saw as a brand with immense strategic value, not to mention a streaming music service.

One of the cliche knocks against Apple products is that they're all flash and no substance. That this actually seems to be true of Beats headphones might be a risk to Apple, but there's no reason Apple couldn't invest in improving what goes into Beats. I think we could see Dre on stage at an Apple event introducing something kinda cool.

I'm curious but skeptical about them entering the streaming biz. They seem a little late to the table and it's hard to imagine what they could offer that vastly improves on Spotify, although maybe they're counting on a significant market in people that haven't entered streaming at all but would do it with Apple holding their hand.

As far as the strategic value otherwise, I don't quite get it. Apple products with "Beats Audio Inside"? Seems out of character, plus I think some other PC maker did that and it wasn't a major success. I feel like Beats is a little like the U2 album -- a product that only appeals to one slice of Apple's customer base, where it would be a mistake to push it on everyone.

I never started paying for Spotify because I guess until recently they had two tiers and my regret-minimization circuits were overloaded.

I feel like it might also be a slightly hamfisted play to stay "relevant," avoid looking like purely a boomer company.

well, put it this way, iTunes has sort of screwed the pooch branding-wise, witness everyone itt complaining about it every year, and Apple's music sales ecosystem is bound up in it, and that business is shrinking rapidly YoY. Picking up Beats just for Beats Music, a streaming service with a valuable brand attached (with an Android app no less) could be strategically valuable just for that reason. $3 billion valuable, who knows, but it's not like Apple is worried about wasting shareholder value on an acquisition of that scale given their cash reserves.

lol @ "legit audio company"

afaik beats are pretty ehhh when it comes to sound quality but they're very iconic, have strong build quality, and imo have better artist engagement than the iTunes festival and Apple's repeated U2 interaction. I can't imagine an acquisition of a high-end DAC company or a good independent shop like Grado. Who else would they have bought, Bose? (ugh)

just wanna be clear, nobody here is excited about AppleBeats 'phones, right?

like sure, maybe they'll sell. great.

I don't really see a point in them buying an audio company period, tbh, different competencies. I doubt the "strength" of the Beats brand too, it's still on the new and trendy side, could easily seem dated in a few years (and I already don't see the headphones out that often anymore where I used to see them all the time).

All speculative, I know. Definitely not a huge risk for them in any case.

microsoft windows back again
― pplains, Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Some retailers, including Best Buy, appear to have removed their NFC terminals, while CVS and Rite Aid have turned them off

good luck lolmerica

Beats purchase seems like an obvious attempt to get back the music cachet they've lost, with the disappointments of Ping and iTunes Match

Like they got pretty lazy with iTunes Store being dominant, focused on the apps instead of the music

I wonder what the breakdown is in revenue between apps and music/movies/etc. for the iTunes store

we should sell ILX to apple

It's an opinion aggregator in the cloud

CurrentC hacked already!

MCX, the company behind CurrentC, sent out the email on Wednesday, revealing that its security systems were breached by unauthorized third parties within the last 36 hours. The company says its investigations suggest that only users' email addresses were obtained, but not any additional information.

Multiple AppleInsider readers sent a copy of the note that MCX sent to pilot program participants on Wednesday. Currently in trial, CurrentC is expected to launch at some point in 2015.

The system has found itself in the midst of a controversy over both Apple Pay and Google Wallet, as retailers participating in CurrentC are forbidden from offering alternative mobile payment systems. As a result, both Rite Aid and CVS shut down their NFC-based payment systems this past weekend, blocking the recently launched Apple Pay.

I've had the iPhone 6 for about two weeks and it's cracked :( I don't even know how it happened. i was going to get a fucking case! But now it's too late. ;__;

Guessing it happened when somebody parked to close to a car I was getting into and I had to squeeze between them.

Seems awfully delicate. Will Apple show pity?

whoa, that sux. Have you taken it to the apple store? If you explain to them what happened they might replace the screen or the phone free.

maybe the particular screen had a flaw, does seem like that shouldn't have happened

Buy Applecare and you can then get it replaced for like $75 or w/e the deductible is

is it the screen? if you look upthread I already busted mine. $75 + tax if you have applecare+, $110 if you do not

Does applecare actually give you a new phone unlike shitty ass asurion refurbished bullshit?

also, if they have the capacity it's like a 45 minute replacement

the people in your suburb of schaumburg were very helpful

oh you mean screen replacement

I've never had any problems with Apple refurbs, and they have an additional refurb warranty

for broken glass on the new phones, they replace the glass and hand your phone back to you

like if for any reason the refurb is not as good it has a 90 day warranty on top of whatever warranty you have

whoa, that sux. Have you taken it to the apple store? If you explain to them what happened they might replace the screen or the phone free.

I haven't taken it in yet - I just discovered it last night. I think I signed up for Assurion crap, but I forgot that Applecare (plus?) now covers accidents.

iPhone 6 is hard to use one handed

MOTHERFUUUUUUUCK dropped it on concrete and broke the screen FUUUUUCK

This versh is the first one I've felt paranoid about dropping

What if I just downgrade to a 5S

Would you still love me

I had a case on it too, one of those spiegen "slim" cases, totally worthless

5S vastly superior product, says unnamed Apple employee in the family. Also confirmed a physical damaged screen repair $109, less w/ AppleCare.

You can replace yourself for <$109 ime

buy five rucksack-sized bags of meat, stack them vertically, pierce the top one with a carrot so it looks like a nose

croup will tell those bags o meat exactly why they are wrong and I will read it during reruns of The Office

5S vastly superior product, says unnamed Apple employee in the family. Also confirmed a physical damaged screen repair $109, less w/ AppleCare.

― moonstone (soda), Sunday, November 2, 2014 12:09 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

Was thinking about it maybe fuck it, get an iPhone 5s

But it'll probably only be current and adequate through the next two years at most before it's slow

Don't think Apple is gonna go smaller any time soon unless in 3+ years with like an 'iPhone mini" (lol)

Think I'll try to stick it out with the 6

Might as well learn to love the bomb imo

But it'll probably only be current and adequate through the next two years at most before it's slow

Only if you constantly upgrade.

It's a very nice phone but, as I've mentioned elsewhere on ilx, dropping it face down on a rock does not bode well

xp App developers almost always shoot for the high end - you find your apps stop being upgradable or usable, not being able to get new apps designed for the latest iOS, etc. I just upgraded from a 4S so I was starting to feel that. I used to run an old iPod touch that was obsoleted for years

I like my 6 more than my wife's 5s, in spite of it being fucking cracked right now. Really it does make me kind of angry at myself that I didn't just get one of those "goofy" cases. But the whole thing kind of makes me angry -- I'm going to wind up having spent about $500 on this thing (subsidized) with the screen repair and the SECOND case I will now be buying since my first one was worthless.

you probably dropped it b/c you were holding it wrong

You need to magnetize your hand - takes about a week

Nah it actually fell out of the car off the seat -- I never drop my phone when actually holding it.