I remember hearing elsewhere that the order you attach USB-C devices can be used to express which device should get charged. It was a discussion between a laptop and a phone. Even that seems like an easy mistake to make (without LEDs or some other cue). You pack up and your phone is completely dead because it charged up your laptop.

Where do you get this? Why would companies do this? The only things I can think of are: subpoena (this would only apply to a single case, so the lock company would have to proactively do this...why?), to sell access back to the government (ISPs do this but you don't have a choice, it would be suicide for lock companies to do this), or a law or regulation (can you cite one?)

When I bought my house I called a locksmith because I didn't have a key to the garage. He drilled the old lock, gave me a new one and rekeyed it in front of me. There was no talk about calling the company or looking in some registry.

Off the shelf locks from Home Depot have instructions for the average person to rekey their locks without help:
https://www.kwikset.com/smart-...

What evidence do you have companies keep a key registry that they provide to law enforcement?

I'm glad you're happy with Windows.

Pulse Audio was released 13 years ago. I haven't heard of any issues over 5 years. Gnome 3 was released in 2011 (there were widely used alternatives). If you go by Linus, who swore off Gnome since 2003, he switched back to Gnome in 2013 saying "has been getting less painful" and "things are better than a year ago."

I'm not going to defend every part of systemd, or even that it was a net win, but I don't think it was a frivolous change, either. Starting and stopping services asynchronously has obvious wins (as well as obvious pitfalls). Personally, I would hit problems where the user's environment would bleed into the services they started and stopped.

Other than systemd, the changes you mentioned are well behind us. All of them had alternatives and distros set up around avoiding them.

If you're happy with what they've been releasing, I'm genuinely glad it works for you.
Wikipedia groups all of the Macbook Pros between 2012 and 2015 under "Third Generation (Retina)" [1]. They all had Ivy Bridge and later Haswell chips (that started shipping from 2012 and 2013)[2]. I was holding out for Kaby Lake--or, honestly, just something compelling enough to upgrade my 2011 laptop. If I waited 5+ years, I don't want to pay for a new laptop where the architecture is only 1 or 2 years newer. I've regularly gone to the Apple Store to see if they were noticeably faster or had features I'd like and haven't been compelled. I don't feel like I was alone in holding out for what Apple released last year.

While I like the idea of USB-C, I'm just not ready to move yet. While you can get breakouts from USB-C to legacy ports (why do I want to upgrade to a computer where I'll need a dongle for every single thing?), I haven't see USB-C to multiple USB-C (from my research it seems to be a technical restriction). So if I did want to go all USB-C I a) might not have enough ports and b) can't use a single cable to "dock." I really like magsafe (including the charging indicator light) and just dont see USB-C charging as an upgrade. I like the battery level indicator lights they got rid of, I'm not a big fan of the newer keyboards, and while I like touch id I don't like the soft ESC.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

In a rare statement, they pre announced they're making a new form factor for the Mac Pro in the next year. Partially because the from factor didn't work out as expected, but the pre announce seemed to be because consumers were so unhappy.

I think the new Macbook Pro pushed them over. Yes, they claimed "the most orders" (or preorders) or something for the Macbook Pro, but everyone knows that's because of the demand buildup because they hadn't shipped a new Macbook Pro in awhile. The actual reception was tepid and I'm sure longer-term sales showed that.

I was waiting for this new Macbook Pro, but now I'm seeing if I can wait for the next one. It made me look seriously at other laptops (but I haven't found one I liked out there, either).

Yes. When a company comes up with a solution, they will usually approve it for a set number of years...not changing anything (i.e. upgrading every 6mo to 1 yr) because that would mean recertifying a new model, sourcing new cases, dealing with heterogeneous inventory. Apple hardware generally has longer production/support runs than Android. Most of the iPod Touches seem to be available new from retail sources for 3-4 years[1] (I couldn't find a similar source for Android). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Funny, I was thinking the opposite. Apple seems to support their hardware for much longer periods of time than Android devices--both in software updates and in the ability to purchase replacement hardware. Androids aren't enough of a commodity to swap out different devices and expect software or hardware (which likely includes a form-fitting case) to work. I can see ditching iPod Touch, though. I wouldn't be surprised if Touches gets discontinued and iPhones or iPads aren't worth the cost.

Haven't thought this out very far, but you could just not install /usr/bin/python by default. If you need python2, you get "command not found" instead of something that /might/ work at first, but error pretty quickly. I think modern Fedora even recommends the package to install. Then, you just install the python2 package and /usr/bin/python works for your Python2 scripts.

I can't imagine Apple adding another physical button. Didn't Android ditch the physical button for a software button a few years ago? Looking online (in general and the Pixel specifically), it looks like the "home" button is software now as well. I would expect Apple to do that, if anything.

I haven't used an Android as a daily-driver in years, but I never liked the physical back button (I agree the IOS solution is a kludge). Reasons being is that "back" navigated both in the app and between apps and you didn't know if you were at the back of the stack, so I'd just mash on it. I can see those getting addressed by a software button.

I think Android got it right by having navigation at the bottom and can see IOS moving that way, too. It made sense in 2007 when the phone was small enough and it mirrored navigation on a desktop computer. Now phones are too big (Reachability is a hack)...but I can see if them not making big changes now.

Any idea if Windows Phone has the same implementation as Android? They used the back button to navigate inside the application as well as changing to the previous application...I never knew which it would do. Also, the back button doesn't do anything when your at the back of the "stack" and being a physical button there's no indicator. Browsers grey out the back button (or in the case of Firefox omit the forward button). But I believe Android moved from a physical button to a software button...not sure how much else has changed about it.

I also sit with people like my parents and see them double-click on everything. When I say "left click" on something it always takes two tries to get it right. I guess it's all about who you're designing it for because I'm glad 3-button mice have been the norm since scroll wheels became popular.

It's easier for him to not walk away because he's not on any of those committees--it's on his terms. If you're just going to be ignored, you're (in many cases a rich and busy person) wasting time that could be better spent elsewhere. Even Cook says he's focusing on what would be mutually beneficial. I don't blame someone from walking away if they feel like they're being exploited but never listened to. There were some great photo ops for these special meetings and councils. These people are associating with the administration in the hopes of making a change.

whoops. replied to the wrong thread =)

Can't we judge both on their merits? By all accounts the Samsung recall has been hamfisted. Yes, they announced a "replacement program" quickly, but waited a week (and after airlines in multiple countries called out that model phone for a ban) before telling users to stop using the phone and didn't call it a recall. They failed to coordinate with U.S. safety authorities. Only yesterday did they officially recall the phone.

There's a preference to compensate for magnetic north inside the compass app. So I don't think that's the issue. I've also seen the compass not work or be completely wrong on multiple generations of iPhones.