561–570 of 818 posts
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You're starting to realize that not all cultures are that great. >I think it’s more that you’ve valued the low per unit price over having a healthy contract. Well, when the choice is to either play ball or go out of business, it's not a tough decision.
> You're starting to realize that not all cultures are that great. That's sounding pretty racist
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> I wonder what reason Apple has to hide. The perception is that Apple is perfect and worth paying 3x the cost? EDIT: Curious if all of these Apple comments are going to disappear. I believe they have a strong marketing team to hide dissent.
Or people recognize that statements like "The perception is that Apple is perfect and worth paying 3x the cost?" are hyperbolic nonsense.
I have worked in card payment industry. We would be getting products from China with added boards to beam credit card information. This wasn't state-sponsored attack. Devices were modified while on production line (most likely by bribed employees) as once they were closed they would have anti-tampering mechanism activated so that later it would not be possible to open the device without setting the tamper flag. Once…
Wait a minute... So your company has a Chinese equipment supplier, finds out that the supplier is tampering with your purchased equipment, and your solution is to add criteria to the incoming inspection? No wonder China keeps screwing with you guys. You aren't supposed to eat that cost! Write a PO with tons of fine print that says "We will disassembly units at random for compliance inspection. Non compliant products…
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There were other considerations like the fact we were actually buing it from large reputable company and what happened was that some employees were doing it with no involvement of the company. The fact is, doing any kind of hardware production in China, you have to be aware Chineese have different value system and you would not be suited doing any business if you throw tantrum at any sign of apparent dishonesty (assu…
> some employees were doing it with no involvement of the company Again, I don't see why that matters. I understand the latter part, but if this is one employee without the knowledge of the company, then pushing it on them forces them to add checks, not you.
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I understand the indignation etc etc. And the suggestion to not use these kind of companies anymore. And that sounds really reasonable, until you realize that pretty much all contract manufacturers in the Far East will source cheaper or off-spec components than those on the BOM if they can get away with it. One of my friends supplied small widgets for a well known consumer electronics maker. He routinely gets widgets…
How much do you think you would have to pay them to make it worth their while to not use cheap components (so as not to risk losing you as a customer)? It’s amazing how people never consider using economics. Edit: But let’s not get away from the matter at hand. The issue wasn’t cheap components, it was full-on credit skimmers installed in yor hardware (IIRC). Should be easier to incentivize the conpany into halting t…
All of these things are extremely cost sensitive. Your suggestion that people don't consider using economics is simply wrong. If you can manufacture a million pieces for a few cent less per piece, and the only negative is having to paying a bunch of inspectors who are fixed cost, it's an easy choice.
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Damaging how? People will stop buying iPhones? Be realistic. Assuming the story is true, you lie lie lie until something bigger in the news happens then you quietly relent.
Personally I buy Apple because they are more private than android. I would look at alternatives if Apple was caught lying here.
Apple: "We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order."
PRISM: "Collection directly from the servers of these US service providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple" A later slide claims that Apple joined the program in October 2012.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-... for those documents.
So, was Apple lying about PRISM? The Snowden documents certainly seem to support that position[1]. If they lied about PRISM, why would you trust them now?
[1]: Obviously there are possibilities like Snowden documents were wrong, or deliberate hoaxes, etc. Spy games are fun!
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You're starting to realize that not all cultures are that great. >I think it’s more that you’ve valued the low per unit price over having a healthy contract. Well, when the choice is to either play ball or go out of business, it's not a tough decision.
> You're starting to realize that not all cultures are that great. That's sounding pretty racist
Not all cultures are great. If you are claiming “all cultures are great”, then perhaps “great” has lost any useful meaning.
Discrimination, as the ability to discriminate features to identify useful pattens, is not *-ist; it’s a critical skill that is being sullied by some neo-intellectual BS that passes for “equality” or something.
The ability to identify patterns of behaviour prevalent to a class of suppliers and avoid them, rewarding other supplies — even from the same area of the world — who are better; even “great” perhaps, is a valuable skill...
But perhaps I’m wrong. They’re all great. Carry on.
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Clockless CPUs exist.
grain-sized? and they still need power.