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The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

arstechnica.com

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Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#221

Post by grimblee »

pfannkuchen wrote: post #193
grimblee wrote: post #191

Oh, look what "over-regulation" does, forcing companies to comply to standards so they can't vendor lock-in their users (this happened with the iphone charging port too, from the apple specific port to usb-c). Guess this type of consumer-benefic changes wouldn't happen in the land of "freedom".

A positive effect from regulation does not rebut the general argument against government regulation of industry. The problem with regulation isn’t that there are never any positive effects, of course there are. The problem is it’s impossible to reliably avoid adding substantial friction to life via overly broad regulation that is not applicable but has to be followed anyway, or outdated but still-in-effect regulation…

I mean, housing and medical treatment are more expensive in the US because the market is unregulated and so the capital exploits the poor who can't do otherwise for those basic needs.

You defeated your own argument ? Thanks !

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#222

Post by leosanchez »

grimblee wrote: post #221
pfannkuchen wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A positive effect from regulation does not rebut the general argument against government regulation of industry. The problem with regulation isn’t that there are never any positive effects, of course there are. The problem is it’s impossible to reliably avoid adding substantial friction to life via overly broad regulation that is not applicable but has to be followed anyway, or outdated but still-in-effect regulation…

I mean, housing and medical treatment are more expensive in the US because the market is unregulated and so the capital exploits the poor who can't do otherwise for those basic needs. You defeated your own argument ? Thanks !

> housing and medical treatment are more expensive in the US because the market is unregulated

Is it really unregulated though?

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#223

Post by lwkl »

echelon wrote: post #116
nozzlegear wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They shouldn't be strong arming [...] the entire automotive industry. Yes they should, the automotive industry is much shittier. I have a 23 Chevy Bolt EUV with wireless CarPlay. Chevy/GM have been emailing and snail mailing me relentlessly trying to get me to pay for their $150 update to my car's navigation maps, which no longer work in my vehicle (presumably because they're out of date). This is quite the deal, a…

> With all this emphasis they're putting on upselling these $150 map updates, it doesn't take a genius to understand why GM is no longer making vehicles with CarPlay or Android Auto. Because cars are a low margin, high capital business with ruthless competition. Because a trillion dollar duopoly gets to spend a billion dollars on mapping software and give it away completely for free as part of an ecosystem / platform…

Before CarPlay and Android Auto we had TomTom for $130 and map updates costing about $40. The map updates from car manufacturers were always sold at a premium.

I bet Google Maps pays for itself through ads alone. In addition Google Maps gains a lot of invaluable data from its users like new businesses, reviews, pictures, updated opening times, traffic data and more. So no Google Maps isn't really "free" it's paid for by its users with ads and free labor to improve the mapping data.

Having the users split between different navigation software is a worse user experience because the mapping data will be worse. So I welcome a monopoly in this case.

The hard work of mapping is done by the government in most countries and paid for by the tax payers. So you are just paying the car company to convert the mapping data you already paid for into their proprietary format.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#225

Post by sharperguy »

grimblee wrote: post #191

Oh, look what "over-regulation" does, forcing companies to comply to standards so they can't vendor lock-in their users (this happened with the iphone charging port too, from the apple specific port to usb-c). Guess this type of consumer-benefic changes wouldn't happen in the land of "freedom".

It's likely that without laws such as the DMCA, there would already be easier, legally legitimate ways to circumvent Apples technology preventing interoperability. So as usual the new regulations try to cancel out the problems caused by the previous regulation, while having their own side effects that require future regulation to cancel out, ad infinitum.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#226

Post by teekert »

k310 wrote: post #2

I'll be happy when Airdrop works reliably on Apple equipment. It can't reliably work between two adjacent rooms in my home without arm-waving. A hundred or thousand mile trip through iCloud works tons better.

Yes same, you bump, you put iPhones on to op each other, you enable "findable by other". And still you may be messing around for minutes. Then a larger transfer starts... But fails half way for 6 times.

It's the best way (if it works!) to transfer full quality live images quickly, but otherwise I'd be happier just using Signal.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#227

Post by lwkl »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #162
anamax wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is very weak a priori arguing. I could just as well argue that USB-C has the center blade shielded instead of exposed and so is more durable. The unshielded Lightning center blade is on a $5 connector. If it breaks, I'm out $5 and it's reasonable to have spares. The shielded USB-C center blade is part of an expensive device. If it breaks....

Have you ever seen either kind of port break on the inside? This speculation is just as weak without any evidence.

I have seen multiple USB-C ports break on Lenovo and HP laptops. About 1 in every 50 laptops over the span of 2-3 years. I don't know if it was the users fault or a manufacturing issue. But the manufacturers fixed these under the extended warranty.

It might be an issue with the USB-C port used in these laptops since the ports on MacBooks feel less wobbly to me. But in the end this is just speculation and anecdotal.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#228

Post by kubb »

sharperguy wrote: post #225
grimblee wrote: post #191

Oh, look what "over-regulation" does, forcing companies to comply to standards so they can't vendor lock-in their users (this happened with the iphone charging port too, from the apple specific port to usb-c). Guess this type of consumer-benefic changes wouldn't happen in the land of "freedom".

It's likely that without laws such as the DMCA, there would already be easier, legally legitimate ways to circumvent Apples technology preventing interoperability. So as usual the new regulations try to cancel out the problems caused by the previous regulation, while having their own side effects that require future regulation to cancel out, ad infinitum.

That’s unlikely.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#229

Post by pjc50 »

Longhanks wrote: post #220
isodev wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny how we’re all trying to piece together the stack from bits and obscure clues. Would be so cool if Apple and Google finally embrace their role as “essential public infrastructure” and release their specs, interoperate, etc.. so one doesn’t end up trapped one way or another when picking a personal device.

> "essential public infrastructure" If people wanted these devices and services to be public infrastructure, they should be developed and maintained using public funds.

Once something becomes so widely used that almost everyone has one, the public interest is involved. In the same way that cars are essential public infrastructure and have to comply with public safety standards, interoperable fuel nozzles, etc.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#230

Post by pjc50 »

echelon wrote: post #95
internet2000 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's frustrating how much people want this to be an EU win they'll fabricate evidence. The same happened with RCS in iOS, everybody jumped in to credit it to the EU, when you can find the document spelling out how RCS is a requirement for China.

I don't care which sovereign state or union forces the trillion dollar tech giant to behave. I'm just glad it happened. And I applaud China if this was their victory. I want it to happen with a thousand times more intensity for Apple and Google. We should own these devices. We shouldn't be subsistence farmers on the most important device category in the world. They need to be opened up to competition, standards, righ…

The sad thing is that you and the person you are arguing with are both right: Apple and Google are lock-in monopolists, and the legacy telcos were much worse monopolists (remember paying for ringtones?), and the car manufacturers want to foist terrible software on people with their own brand of lock-in.

Really there should be something like DIN rails for car electronics other than audio, so you can just swap out the manufacturer kit if you don't like it. Then there would be an actual market.

(DIN being a German standards body..)

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