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EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

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Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#801

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> And we are stuck on AC which is a terrible and wasteful way to move electricity. That's a really strange thing to see here on HN. Where did you get this idea? BTW Europe having 3-phase AC to the home is brilliant. Wish we had that in the U.S.

Three phase to the home?! Whaattt?! If you want to rectify yourself some DC power, 3-phase is awesome. Are there three phase sockets available? I'd think you could build things like high power audio amplifiers or power supplies at radically better price points, if this were actually usable from the wall in places.

There is IEC 60309, but those are too bulky to be practical for home use. Three-phase power is basically only used for permanently installed equipment, like an electric stove, heat pump, car charger, or solar panels.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#802
post #796

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair to Apple, micro-USB was an inferior standard to lightning. Lightning is a more durable design (in terms of plug/unplug cycles), had higher power capacity originally, and was reversible.

USB-C is also inferior to lightning for laptops, but here we are. It's got this stupid internal tongue on the recepticals that will break if you try and clean the port with an office standard paperclip with any real force. Hope you don't do anything involving tiny particles like sand or wood or cloth (like is found inside of pocket in the form of lint)!

That "stupid internal tongue" is why USB-C can now carry 160 Gbps, while Lightning can only do 0.45 Gbps. Yes, it kinda sucks for cleaning, but it makes it future-proof.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#803

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why they did replace lightning in ipads and didn't use it for macbooks to create a full lightning ecosystem? Suggestion: because it is not capable and they know that lightning is nothing more than a cash cow for overpriced accessories

Or because they knew their "power-users," as in people with laptops and iPad Pros, would prefer USB-C. They probably wanted to keep control over accessories on the iPhone not only for straight up financial reasons, but also to make sure "it just works." Anyways, USB-C is obviously technically more advanced - but it doesn't really matter for phones much, does it? Most people only ever transfer data on their phones fro…

It does matter. Much faster charging, much faster transfer for prores 4k videos. The fact that a lot are using cloud doesn't mean few use cable for data transfer

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#804
post #183

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By definition, we cannot know the creations and innovations we are missing due to the unintended second-order freezing effects of regulation. This is why we need to be extremely skeptical of regulation and only accept it in truly important and non-trivial cases (unlike a damn charging plug). There is a clear push from European elites for a halt in progress, aiming to maintain a status quo and preserve their existing…

We can't know what innovations are missing due to corporate greed or the ubiquity of AC power transmission either. You're making the same argument as people who think Tesla had the secret of cheap and abundant wireless power transmission but the knowledge was suppressed by shadowy elites. It's kinda hard to believe you seriously believe you might end up living in an Amish village. Perhaps you should visit the US and…

I know that if a corporation fails to innovate competition and free markets ensure other more innovative companies have the opportunity to come up and eat their lunch. That mechanism simply doesn't work with governments and regulation because they are absolute monopolies without competition.

I lived in the US and while Europe (where I live now) has pretty old towns and manicured lawns I know that nothing modern and innovative comes from here: iPhone, software, SpaceX, even Tesla. Largest European company is a luxury brand and the most powerful economy in the EU turned out to be an empty shell controlled by and built on on cheap Russian energy. California alone dwarfs the largest EU countries put together.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#805
post #726

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Lightning connector is smaller, more robust being a straight male connector as opposed to some weird female-in-male contraption. The port is beveled so it slides easier unlike USB-C whose edge catches and I always have to fumble around. Not as bad as the old USB connector were, with their legendary 3 flips to find the right orientation, but still. No idea what corrosion you are talking about as I never encountered it…

So your only argument why type c is inferior is that it is smaler and slides easier and you deliberately choose to ignore all it's advantages... I had used both and I don't really see a difference in connecting a cable to the phone, both are easy to manage. Corrosion is a problem for lightning, if you didn't get it, you are very lucky, but you can find a lot of complains with a google search. You want to preserve bat…

> they gave consumers a choice

Choice is exactly what we had before the usb-c authoritarian mandate. Now it's only that for devices that are size-limited.

I am glad you are happy about your connector - but please understand I am not. I was happy with lightning and now I have to throw a bunch of cables away and replace them with an inferior (for me) alternative.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#806
post #789

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LibreOffice and other free and open source alternatives to Microsoft Office are definitely not a "wasted effort". LibreOffice is able to handle just about all of the home and small business use cases of Microsoft Office, and many people are able to skip buying Microsoft Office licenses because this free alternative is available to them. Also, Microsoft Office still does not support Linux outside its feature-limited w…

In my experience, the moment you bring a non-MS Office document to a meeting with people who pay you for the content of your document you are always risking to have problems/complains about one or more images going missing, the fonts acting strange, the print (either on paper or as a PDF) coming out wrong. Granted, the latest episode was more than 5 years ago, but at 75USD for a local (i.e. non-cloud) licence I prefe…

An office suite is an essential tool that people expect to have in a computer. Being able to use this tool without needing to pay a license fee makes computing more accessible to everyone. While $75 (USD) might be affordable to someone in the U.S., the price for a Microsoft Office license is considerably higher in developing countries relative to average incomes. (Also, the U.S. retail price for a Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 license is $149.99.)

Sure, if your employer or client expects you to use a particular piece of software, you're more than likely going to use that software to meet their expectations whether it's Microsoft Office or LibreOffice. However, many people use office suites outside of these specific business arrangements and LibreOffice is there for them if they don't want to pay that $75 to $150.

Tying this back to the original discussion about device connectors, if Microsoft ever neglects Microsoft Office like it once did with Internet Explorer, I can see alternatives eventually overtaking Microsoft Office in the office suite market just as Chrome overtook Internet Explorer in the web browser market. In the USB-C vs. Lightning situation, Lightning is the Internet Explorer of connectors, the proprietary connector that has a much lower maximum data transfer speed and much more limited device compatibility than USB-C. Although USB-C is now the de facto standard for device connectors, just as Microsoft Office is for certain business use cases, neither is guaranteed to stay that way forever. If the design of the USB-C connector is unable to incorporate some important technological advancement, it will certainly be replaced by an alternative just like Internet Explorer was replaced by Chrome and just like Lightning is being replaced by USB-C now.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#807
post #555

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Clarifying what the spirit of the law isn't "childish". Law isn't software. Judges always take the spirit of the law into account when making decisions, and precedence is as important as the actual written text. This is true in both the US and the EU.

spirit of the law is not the actual law however. "Spirit of the law" carries 0 consequences, nor does anyone have to follow the spirit.

That's not true. Judges consider the intent. Law is not software.

I found this on Google from Cambridge: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/judgment-and-decisio...

> Study 4 illustrated the importance of breaking the spirit above and beyond the letter, as individuals can incur culpability when breaking the spirit of the law even without breaking the letter

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#808
post #720

Apple can defend itself, but that being said, I think the hype here is absurd: > which had led many – including us – to speculate that these Apple-produced chargers would enable faster charging speeds on the iPhone 15 than third-party chargers from other manufacturers. I believe the hysteria comes from a no-technical blogger not understanding the difference between the USB-C e-marker chip and MFI. Apple has nothing t…

The 85W Apple USB-C charger does not offer 15V, which is a violation of the spec.

Re: EU sends Apple stark warning over USB-C charging on new iPhones

#810

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then Facebook forces you to use their "web installer" that simply allows them to spy on everything you do on the phone :-)

Losing arbitrary code doesn't magically remove iOS's sandboxing.

No, but it would permit the use of private frameworks.
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