I don't think it's an issue with the design of the vehicles. If BMW can design an EV that requires an active subscription to use the DRM protected seat heaters, surely they can engineer an AM antenna that works while the motor is simultaneously operating.

But for the majority of people on earth in developed nations, AM radio is not the only viable option, nor even close to the best option. It seems sensible that the corner cases find work arounds rather than everyone working around those corner cases.

The way I read it, it was electric motors that interfere. Fossil fuel burning engines doesn't seem to be a problem.

That said, elderly people who can't ask Google or Siri to play the stream of a local AM station via Bluetooth are probably not the demographic buying high tech EVs with giant touchscreens that require more skill to operate than Siri (albeit skills that most nonelderly people can easily learn).

My 90+ year old grandma told me just days ago that if her late 90s Honda breaks down, she'll just stop driving. She claims to be too old to be capable of learning how to use intuitive touch controls. Yet she can use the Xinifty and Roku remotes and smart TV features just fine, so I don't buy the "too old to learn new things" excuse.

Whereas the production unit has been coddled in the ideal environment of outer space? It's not like that one's been exposed to massive amounts of radiation or anything. It's a marvel than 1977 components were so resilient that even hardened versions can still function at all.

When I worked there, the colloquialism for involuntary separation was "promotion to customer," as in "we are promoting you to customer so please grab your things and go."

I thought the same thing. Even most of the entry level computers at Walmart come with 8GB RAM. If Teams and Widgets using 5% of that is a problem for someone, they should probably add more RAM, or buy a computer with more RAM already installed. And few computers have mechanical hard drives anymore, so the worst case is that some of that gets offloaded into VM on flash storage (yes, I know what swapping to flash does to its lifespan) isn't going to make a huge speed impact anyway. This just isn't the issue it used to be.

iCloud Drive is automatically setup when a macOS or iOS user creates an iCloud account. macOS encourages users to store their Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud Drive, and their Photos library in iCloud Photos, and sync them to their computers. iMessage and FaceTime are enabled by default on those OSs as well. These iCloud features services have a free tier with adequate cloud storage for many very casual users; and they are deeply integrated into the OS.

How is iCloud Drive on macOS computers and iPads different from OneDrive on Windows PCs and tablets? OneDrive suggests users turn it on and store their Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders in OneDrive? The only difference I see is that OneDrive is a bit less aggressiveâ"it uses notifications to recommend users enable it, rather than being presented as a default during the first run experience. (To be fair, both Windows and macOS make it difficult to setup a computer without using a Microsoft account or Apple ID, respectively, but macOS pushes users a bit harder to enable the cloud features.) iCloud Drive and Photos are accessible via a web client using most modern desktop browsers or the iCloud Control Panel for Windows, but full syncing of Documents and Desktop aren't as fully supported outside Apple systems with iCloud Drive as with OneDrive. There is no native Android or Linux client.

How is Teams different than iMessage and FaceTime? Like those, Teams allows chat/IM, video and audio calls, and screen sharing. For most non-enterprise users, the products would seem to have a substantially similar feature set. Like OneDrive, Teams is less aggressive than it's counterpart; not fully enabled as a default part of the setup experience. Teams doesn't bind to users' mobile numbers and intercept SMS and MMS from anyone who also uses it. Furthermore, Teams doesn't make itswef difficult to stop using by continuing to intercept those messages for weeks or months after the last time a user has been signed in. And it seems fair to mention that Teams is available on Windows, Linux, iOS, iPadOS, and Android. It also has a web client that works in any modern browser to support any other OS that doesn't have a native client, or for temporary or guest access on someone else's or a public device, and even on some devices with older operating systems which Teams native clients don't support. This provides access to one's instant messages even if they temporarily don't have access to their personal devices. iMessage and FaceTime are proprietary to macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, only run on Apple branded hardware, and only on newer models or OS versions. No other devices or systems are supported, and there is no web client.

So the differences I see are that Apple's similar services have been a built-in part of their OSs for longer, they are slightly more aggressive in prompting users to enable them, and they may be more difficult to stop using without short-term lingering consequences (unless a user follows specific steps they may be unaware of). Granted, Windows on phones isn't really a thing right now, but it's in use on a lot of desktops, notebooks, and tablets. macOS is in use on most of the remaining portion of desktops and notebooks. iPadOS is on more tablets than any other tablet OS. Despite the OS vendors deeply integrating these features for users who enable them, none of the OSs require their use. Windows and macOS can't prevent a user from installing clients for competing services, but Apple potentially could with iOS/iPadOS, since those systems only allow users to install apps from the App Store, which allows Apple to effectively block entire apps, or require features to be changed or removed before approving them.

Without arguing the merits of the complaint, I would argue that this action singles out Microsoft for doing essentially the same things Apple has been doing for much longer, and impacting a similar enough number of EU residents. Apple and Microsoft both enjoy privileged positions as OS vendors, which makes them experts on deep integration in their respective systems. Except with iOS, neither goes out of their way to prevent competing services from making similar apps. And unless either refuses to allow developers to sign their apps, none of their OSs go out of their way to make it difficult to install a third party app. Except for iOS and iPadOS, none of the systems have a mechanism for these vendors to prevent installation, and I haven't seen evidence that any such apps have been refused distribution through the respective app stores.

TL;DR: If anything, the allegations against Microsoft in this case cover behaviors similar to things Apple has been doing for many more years, in arguably more pervasive ways, and resulting in stronger lock-in to their ecosystem. For a case that centers around software and service vendors enjoying a fair environment in which to compete, singling out one vendor when another is using similar tactics, impacting a similar number of people in similar ways is the epitome of hypocrisy.

I've been using Windows 11 on one of my primary desktops for a few weeks. The computer is a small form factor Dell OptiPlex with a 6th gen quad i5 CPU. It was trivial to flash the TPM to 2.0. I had to replace one dll or something in the installation source with a file from a Windows 10 ISO to dispense with the CPU check. Stability is impressive for a beta. It's a little buggy compared to the very mature Windows 10 but the bugs are tiny. The biggest changes are to Windows Explorer (including the taskbar and Start). The context menu in Explorer is simplified, which would make it easier for my grandma to use, but is super annoying to me. You have to click a "show all" item at the bottom of the menu to see more than the most basic functions. I discovered that you can use the application key to the right of the spacebar (if your keyboard has one) or Shift+F9 to show the real menu from the start, but it bugs me dozens or hundreds of times a day. Also, Alt+Tab is a mess. When the current app loses focus, it still thinks the Alt key is down. When you switch back, the menubar is in focus and you have to press Esc or click in the window to put the insertion point back before you can type. Aside from those annoyances, it's like a polished version of Windows 10. I miss Live Tiles a bit (mainly the weather) but I guess the Widgets thing does that. Also, at least in the Enterprise version, I don't see Cortana anywhere, although it can't be fully uninstalled. The upshot is, once it's finally released, I won't hesitate long to upgrade my other computer.

This is the first I've heard of Google rebadging Galaxy products. I wonder if they do that anywhere besides the UK... Do you happen to have a photo of the Google-logoed Galaxy phone? For those of us in the US whose Galaxy phones have a Samsung logo, it would sure be a novelty to see! Also, do they sell Pixel products alongside the rebadged Galaxy phones in the UK? I can't figure out the business advantage of selling products developed by a competitor in competition with a company's own directly competing products.

"No Person except a natural born Citizen [...] shall be eligible to the Office of President" --US Constitution (Sir Jony was born in London)

I know this isn't the main point of the article, but I don't think Google can really claim the largest deployment of Macs. I think Apple's own deployment must be far larger. Per the 2013 annual report, Apple had 80,300 full-time equivalent employees. Then consider the possibility that Apple may outsource a large portion of their customer service, tech support, sales, and other customer-facing (non-retail) workers. Those people might work in remote locations, but would have to be using Macs connected to Apple's corporate network. I think 120,000 Macs would be a conservative estimate for worldwide deployment covering HQ/corporate, Apple Retail, AppleCare, Apple Online Store, iTunes/App Store, plus the staff that serve niche markets like education, enterprise and public sector. So I'm afraid Google can't claim #1. However, I can't think of any other company that could even come close to Google's number, so they're probably secure in the #2 spot. Plus, this number says "Apple devices" so if you include mobile devices, Apple's own number would almost certainly surge past 200,000.

The difference HERE is the monthly savings. If you compare T-Mobile with AT&T for monthly services, you save about $60 at the high end (AT&T's high end plan). So even with $20 monthly installments, you save $40 a month. The 32GB phone is $749USD, so after 18 months, the phone is paid off and you save $60 a month for the last 6 months of the 2 years that would have been a contract with AT&T. By my math, that saves $1,080 over the 2 years.