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Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

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321–330 of 715 posts

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#321
post #3

When I see Apple putting forward as a key feature the number of bits in their processor in a general public announcement... I'm really feeling the "new" product is not really new. In the past Apple was always laughing at the PC ads boasting processor speed and memory capacity.

Going to 64-bit is a lot bigger deal than adding a few hundred MHz in terms of what it enables for the platform.

Such as?

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#322
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably when the NSA stops illegally spying on the citizens it is supposed to serve.

I guess if you want to constantly complain about the NSA spying on you, you are entitled. However, some of us have had enough of the complaining. After all, you're probably going to be doing it for the rest of your life. I'd rather not spend mine listening to it. So, can we clearly tag a thread as NSA rant, so those of us who don't want to hear it ad nauseam, we can skip the rehash.

[deleted]

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#323
post #293
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not snarking at all. I'm observing that comments about the NSA are entirely apropos given the current climate we live in. Yes, you're right, at this point, it would take something extremely radical to convince us that the NSA isn't spying on us anymore. Therefore, we should expect comments about the NSA and spying to become a part of the common dialog regarding technology and personal information. Asking them to…

"Asking them to go away is just asking people to stick their head in the sand and ignore it." I think what's happening here is that you are being asked to go away. Your comments aren't adding anything to this discussion about a new iPhone.

And yet, the OP's comment is the top-voted comment in the thread, which would indicate the the democratic consensus of the HN readership is that this is worth talking about.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#324
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure you can find a way to explain, it is not that hard. Touch ID is a lot! No more password entering on iTunes. A godsend for someone who has a 26 characters passphrase like me.

If you're cautious enough to use a 26 character passphrase, why are you comfortable revealing how many characters your passphrase contains?

It would be kind of ingenious to publicly reveal a false character count.

(A little paranoid, though.)

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#325
post #73

Now that we have to consider the iPhones to be backdoored by the NSA, I wonder whether I really want to give them my fingerprint together with the rest of my data. I'm also not so sure whether a fingerprint can't still be easily faked (like it was possible on that Mythbusters episode for example). Personally, I think I'd rather stay with my passcode. Did you btw know that you can turn off "simple passcode" and then u…

The government already has your fingerprints... DMV, TSA...

Nobody will realize this until Glenn Greenwald publishes it.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They probably already have your fingerprint. I believe you usually have to give it to the DMV to get your license.

Source? I have obtained drivers' licenses from NY and PA, neither of which required me to be fingerprinted.

http://seclists.org/politech/2002/Nov/64

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#327
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess if you want to constantly complain about the NSA spying on you, you are entitled. However, some of us have had enough of the complaining. After all, you're probably going to be doing it for the rest of your life. I'd rather not spend mine listening to it. So, can we clearly tag a thread as NSA rant, so those of us who don't want to hear it ad nauseam, we can skip the rehash.

This is the exact sort of attitude that has permitted us to get to the point where we even have to have a conversation about the government being engaged in massively intrusive spying programs. "I don't want to hear your whining about it" is a means of condoning these actions through silence. You are a part of the problem. If you can comprehend what is going on here, you should be loud and obnoxious about it. Get peo…

Essentially, you are asking me to discuss my politics here, where I draw the line, etc in a thread about the iPhone 5s. I know where you stand. I heard you the first ten times.

I'm not trying to stop you from having the discussion. Can you just label the thread "NSA can get your fingerprints off that iPhone 5S" and have at it. There is a time and a place for everything. Everyone here has heard about the NSA situation by now. The word is out.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#328
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not snarking at all. I'm observing that comments about the NSA are entirely apropos given the current climate we live in. Yes, you're right, at this point, it would take something extremely radical to convince us that the NSA isn't spying on us anymore. Therefore, we should expect comments about the NSA and spying to become a part of the common dialog regarding technology and personal information. Asking them to…

Are the comments that will never go away helpful?

Comments about the virtue of weight and thinness never go away, are they helpful? Comments about the importance of good UI design never go away, are they helpful? Comments about IT security never go away, are they helpful? Comments about performance never go away, are they helpful? Comments about the importance of battery life never go away, are they helpful? Comments about privacy never go away, are they helpful?

The answer to all of the above, if we assume that talking about a product is 'helpful' to begin with, is "Yes." Privacy is simply something that people are going to consider and discuss from now on. There is no reason we should treat it differently from the other things we consider.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#329

In most previous Apple iterations, when they release a cheaper/multi-colored version of a flagship product, they also release a new (more premium) product line. This time they didn't. This is disappointing to Americans (hence the drop in share price) but also shows Tim's direction: China. His expertise in the company under Jobs was in supply chains and Asia, and now he is orienting (pun not intended) the company towa…

"Gold" has much more of an appeal to many Asian populations than the US given that Asia has been the cause of exploding actual gold demand. In the US I know few people with garish gold widgets. However, in Asia where the Apple product is a status symbol, the gold iPhone 5S (not the lump of coal 5C) will certainly bolster the image of the premium version.

As much as Asia loves gold they HATE fake gold.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#330
I don't have a problem with the fingerprint scanner, since people can choose to use it or not. The larger problem I see for the 5S is a marketing one: while the A7 processor and internal redesign are significant technical achievements, consumers won't understand that or care. They know that their existing iPhone 5's are relatively fast, and that will be enough for most people. They needed to add features - not necessarily speed - for this phone to have the kind of success that its predecessors have achieved.
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