CivilianZero

6 năm trướcdiscuss

I'm curious how often this has actually occurred in the App Store? I can't think of too many apps that Apple has released that have many competitors. Sure, there are the built in apps (which you can remove) but I certainly haven't seen any lack of To Do or weather apps on the App Store.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

This is patently false. Most "streaming only" tv shows do get dvd/blue-ray releases. But this is a bad-faith argument anyway, imagine all the times this has been said about new formats of any kind. Streaming is an option and does not prevent people from owning things and it isn't hurting you so maybe just let the people who want to stream things...stream them?

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

We're not discussing how a luddite is going to watch a movie at home. That's a completely different discussion. And if you are genuinely worried about privacy or security there are other ways around that that don't involve stealing.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

I don't think that follows. I'm technically savvy and am fully capable of torrenting files, but the amount of effort I have to exert to get it done problem free (and the amount I have in the past) means it is not easy or simple. Just because you have the ability to perform an action, even if you find it easy to do, does not mean it is intrinsically easy or simple.

And it definitely is never easier than opening an app on your smart tv/console/etc and clicking play.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

I really have to ask: Is everyone in the comments apart of an organized troll? Because I feel like I’ve lost my mind reading most of these comments.

It seems like everyone here thinks torrenting is as easy and simple as using streaming services actually is, and that streaming is as complicated as torrenting actually is.

I used to torrent stuff all the time. Constantly. I have several HDs laying around filled with torrented movies and tv shows. Why? Because I was in college and couldn’t afford them.

The day I started making enough money to just sign up to services and buy copies of the movies I wanted I stopped torrenting forever. It’s easy and I’m not stealing.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

“It’s easier to setup and purchase and manage a shared server, write and manage scripts, and develop a frontend for managing the content than it is to search an app/a couple apps.”

Can you just admit you don’t want to pay services out of spite? No one could possibly rationalize this as being easier.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

This is incredibly disingenuous. Before you download that movie you need to make sure it’s not being tracked, make sure it’s the format you want (which may be a lie), possibly setup a VPN (another service you’re now paying for and which are never simple), possibly convert the movie to a file format which your chosen video player can stream to your chosen device (both of which you’ve definitely tinkered with in the past) and if any of these steps are off/not done properly, you have to just go find another valid copy which is not always easy. Also, some of the best torrenting libraries are not free and often require you to seed a certain amount which eats up bandwidth and may just not be an option if you have a data cap/slowdown at certain times of day (most ISPs do one or both of these).

Most Smart TVs and Apple TV (or your iPhone/iPad/Mac) let you do a search across all streaming platforms and their library and if it’s available you just click to open the app and start playing. It takes exactly 15 seconds.

Piracy is not “the most convenient answer” and considering the shocking lack of familiarity with everyday technology in these comments, it’s laughable that anyone would claim it is. It’s greed, plain and simple.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

This is what happens when management still thinks they can just instill "loyalty" in their employees and we'll happily putt along without raises as they slowly cut more and more benefits and throw more "pizza parties" to compensate.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

Apple isn't doing anything to drive development of "free-to-use ad-driven apps that prey on user tracking data...", that would be people being unwilling to pay more than 99 cents for anything and believing subscriptions are a rip off.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

You can count on anything about Apple to be considered controversial, especially if it's not a blanket and unconditional bashing of Apple, even if what you say isn't even positive towards Apple.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

Was looking for this to be in the comments somewhere. Thumbs up.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

Just a heads up: Facebook already does this. You don't need to have a Facebook account for them to know who you are.

CivilianZero

7 năm trướcdiscuss

I'm going to start this comment by saying that I don't agree with or approve of most of/anything Facebook has been doing. Security and Privacy are very important to me when it comes to the internet. I don't have a Facebook account.

So now I'd like to point out that the article has a couple mistakes. You don't actually need to provide anything but a phone number to use Facebook Messenger, but not many people know this, it seems. Related to this is a lot of hand-wringing about "oh no this will mean Facebook is watching us in all these apps now". Well, I'll address this in a second. I want to talk about this quote in the article:

"Matching Facebook and Instagram users to their WhatsApp handles could give pause to those who prefer keeping their use of each app compartmentalized."

This is already impossible. WhatsApp and Instagram collect information on you whether you have a Facebook account and whether or not you are logged in if you do have one. They know who are you are (this is the reason why I don't really care how encrypted WhatsApp is, I'm not going to use it). So if this really bothers people, well, I've got some bad news.

CivilianZero

8 năm trướcdiscuss

This is what always bugs me about recommendations to buy older devices as a solution to all problems. Updates = security.