Monday, August 27, 2012

FLASH: Apple Declares Bankruptcy



In a surprise move,  Apple today declared moral bankruptcy (financially, of course, they are doing quite well):

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/apple-seeks-order-blocking-sale-of-samsung-products/?ref=global-home

This, in addition to socking Samsung for a billion bucks.

Pride goeth before .... well, an appeal, at any rate.

[More here:
 http://worldofdrjustice.blogspot.com/2012/08/apple-vs-samsung.html ]

[Update 20 IX 12]  Too funny:

Welcome to the new world of Apple Maps that greeted iPhone and iPad users when they downloaded the highly anticipated update to the consumer giant's mobile software platform, iOS 6.

Apple Inc's home-grown Maps feature was introduced with much fanfare in June by Apple's software chief Scott Forstall and is a direct challenge to the same service offered by ally-turned-rival Google Inc.

But the app is already facing criticism from users globally for a number of geographical errors, missing information and because it lacks features that made Google Maps so popular, including public transit directions, comprehensive traffic data or street view pictures.

Apple Maps has replaced Google Maps, which is no longer available on iOS 6.

Many users who downloaded Apple's iOS 6 software, released on Wednesday, took to Twitter and online forums to express their frustration at the glitches.

"The people who thought the world was flat were more accurate cartographers than Apple Maps," @RayneBradley said on Twitter.

"Apple Maps also have errors in business listings. I went to call a local taxi driver and it was a taxidermist (seriously)," said @TomDavenport on Twitter.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the company launched the new service knowing it was a major initiative.

"We are continuously improving it, and as Maps is a cloud-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will get," she said. "We're also working with developers to integrate some of the amazing transit apps in the App Store into iOS Maps."

"We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better," she added.

The criticism comes as Apple's iPhone 5 hits stores around the globe. The iPhone 5 comes pre-loaded with the new iOS 6 software and Maps.

Users have created a Tumblr blog sarcastically dubbed "The Amazing iOS 6 Maps" where many have posted screen shots of the errors (theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/). Pictures showed the Norwegian town of Leknes in the Norwegian sea, the entire city center of Stratford-upon-Avon is labeled as a hospital.

Some of the errors have even irked politicians. Irish Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said he was surprised to discover that Airfield - a 35-acre estate with working farm and café in center of his constituency in Dundrum, on the outskirts of Dublin - has been labeled with the image of an aircraft.

He said this could be dangerous for pilots and suggested in a statement that Apple use the image of "a cow, a goat, a sheep, a flower" instead, and that an "aircraft is an entirely inappropriate flight of imagination".

Users in Asia were surprised to see two sets of the disputed islands known by Japan as the Senkaku and by China as the Diaoyu. Some joked that this was Apple's effort at providing a diplomatic solution to Japan and China, both of which claim the islands.

I've never really understood this "Cloud-based" mantra;  at my workplace, it is used in a way that makes no sense at all.  Is Apple saying that, say, what country Paris is in, should be decided by a consensus of user opinions?  -- Well if so, my ten billion penguin friends  are about to weigh in with the information that the Center of the Universe is in Antarctica ...


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[Update 30 Nov 2012]
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/11/itunes_11_it_s_time_for_apple_s_horrible_bloated_program_to_die.html

1 comment:

  1. The day APPLE declares bankruptcy would be the day, technology owns the people.

    ReplyDelete