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I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
411–420 of 575 posts
Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
#412I bought a remarkably similar mug (last advert shown) from an add from different site [1]. Everything about it was a fake. Almost every feature they advertised did not exist (including the fact that it did not come in a gift box.) That was from a site I visit a lot and I wanted to show support. BTW the AI generated animation is quite cool, too bad it is not real... Do not buy this!! [1] https://kenmiso.com/products/%…
At least you got a mug!
Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which makes it even more tragic that the few good streaming shows produced recently are all on a network no one watches. I am glad that they bought the rights to Brandon Sanderson's books, because I know Netflix wouldn't do them justice and Amazon prime would be far worse than that, but it also means that it will have a tenth of the available audience that a Netflix contract would have brought.
Hmm, your comment resonates in principle [caring about quality production of worthwhile narratives], but your specific examples show how much YMMV when it comes to subjective preferences. I was so grateful that Amazon Prime somehow did justice to The Expanse [I highly recommend the novels, and feel the show was one of the best-ever translations of sci-fi to the screen] and could never get into the Wheel of Time book…
Amazon didn't start The Expanse as a TV show, though. They bought it after Sci-Fi ran it then cancelled it. They didn't screw it up after that, but that's a very different sequence from creating it themselves.
Compare to their much-ballyhooed exercise in lighting money on fire that was their LOTR series.
Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that Arcade is poor. However, I’ve been subscribed to it since its inception because it is the best way to have games that my kid can play without shady ads or engagement practices. I know that is not going to last, as my kid is now a pre-teen and likes other types of games (like Hollow Knight) that are not available on Apple Arcade. But the current state of the gaming industry is terrible, especially on mobi…
Taste is subjective. I get it. There are Triple A games on Arcade. Things like Civilization 7, for example. I don't know what the current standalone price is because we use Apple One Family, however, it used to cost $5/mo. Apple one is a steal IMO. Apple TV, Fitness+, 2TB, Arcade, and other smaller perks like News+ make it an easy sell. Compared to something like Netflix? Netflix is $25/mo for their top tier streamin…
> I don't know what the current standalone price is because we use Apple One Family, however, it used to cost $5/mo.
They raised it a while back to $7/month.
Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
#415I wonder if there is a point where signal to noise in advertising gets so low that the industry itself collapses. Many people actively ignore advertisement at this point, but there is still enough attention to make paying for them profitable. I don't see any reason that couldn't change in a sufficiently noisy environment.
If demand for advertising drops too low as a whole, and ad supported content goes away as a result, is there enough of the internet left to maintain critical mass and keep existing?
Maybe spam really does win in the end.
Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
Arcade is comically poor value. I can't tell if Apple doesn't care, or they're just so deluded due to their insular nature and crap attitude towards gaming that they genuinely think its a good service to offer mediocre mobile games for a premium.
I agree that Arcade is poor. However, I’ve been subscribed to it since its inception because it is the best way to have games that my kid can play without shady ads or engagement practices. I know that is not going to last, as my kid is now a pre-teen and likes other types of games (like Hollow Knight) that are not available on Apple Arcade. But the current state of the gaming industry is terrible, especially on mobi…
Just forget that mobile gaming exists? I think one of the cheapo Linux retro handhelds offer a better portable gaming experience than 99% of mobile games, ads or no.
Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
#417Earlier quoted context omitted.
Generally if all the ads you see are scammy, it means you probably are using some form of tracking/privacy protection. When an ad network has a strong profile on you, legitimate companies pay good money for those ad slots. When they don't really know who you are, only bottom feeders bid on the ad slots you see. In a way, it almost acts as retribution for not submitting to the anti-privacy machine.
I used to run YouTube with “ad targeting” turned off. The ads were 100% scams. Lots of AI slop. Deepfakes of celebrities pitching all sorts of scams. Lots of nsfw products and even occasionally illegal things like drugs or guns. Also lots of ads in languages I do not speak. I recently learned that if you turn on ad targeting you can block certain ads and never see them again. So I’ve turned it on just to block the wo…
Most ad blockers, like ublock, also block trackers. Ublock definitely blocks Google's tracking
Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
#418I don’t know if it is just a symptom of growing up during the days of the net’s Wild West and navigating through sites like gamecopyworld or what, but I just seem to have some inbuilt filter which doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of ads. It’s hard to explain but it is like some subconscious filtering that occurs on a preRecognise hook or something. Weird.
Whether you're filtering it, or it's subconsciously working is a bit hard to say. Plenty of people think they're 'immune' to advertising - but the goal is often very simple. Just putting the name of a brand in your head can pay off months or years later when going to buy something. That associating of X brand with Y product is already there, even if you've long forgotten the source.
Point taken for existing established brands.
Surely this can't be said about "brands" that got spun up in last few weeks and will be gone soon.
Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
#419Apple News and News+ represent everything wrong with modern Apple: a ham-fisted approach to simplicity that ignores the end user. It is their most mediocre service, jarringly jamming cheap clickbait next to serious journalism in a layout that makes no sense. The technical execution is just as lazy. While some magazines are tailored, many are just flat, low-res PDFs that look terrible on the high-end Retina screens Ap…
At what point did the old Apple cross the threshold to "modern" Apple? I agree with your point I just find the distinction hard to pinpoint. It's like the (incorrect) analogy of the boiled frog, I know it's a cliché but I really feel things started downhill in overall quality and wow factor with the advent of Tim Cook. SJ had failures like Ping and MobileMe, but they seemed to pick up on the criticism back then and e…
> At what point did the old Apple cross the threshold to "modern" Apple?
Probably showing my age here, but for me it was the introduction of the iPhone.
Yes, it was a wildly successful product. But it was a product primarily for consuming media (and I will grant taking photos). The iPhone marked Apple's transition from a computer company that focused on computers for creative people to a consumer electronics company.
Certainly a wise choice from a business perspective since there are a whole lot more people consuming things than making them.
But I do miss the old rainbow Apple days when I felt like they really cared about making hardware and software to empower creative people. I still use Macs, and I think they're still the best for creative work, but the company's not the same.