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Apple |OT| TV/Arcade/iPad/mac/iPhone

RoboEight

Member
I have a question regarding Apple Watch. I wanna buy a smart watch primarily for music when I go to the gym/run and I want to know does the Apple watch allow offline playback with apple music? I don't wanna take my phone with me and I don't wanna stream because we have terrible data plans in Canada for cellular which I'll blow through fast, I've watched a bunch of videos but like no one seems to answer that question. I'm fine subbing to apple music if offline play is allowed. I was looking at the Garmin because I do have Spotify but like it's almost the same price as the apple watch and a lot of my other stuff is Apple so I'd like to stay in that ecosystem.
 
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dottme

Member
I have a question regarding Apple Watch. I wanna buy a smart watch primarily for music when I go to the gym/run and I want to know does the Apple watch allow offline playback with apple music? I don't wanna take my phone with me and I don't wanna stream because we have terrible data plans in Canada for cellular which I'll blow through fast, I've watched a bunch of videos but like no one seems to answer that question. I'm fine subbing to apple music if offline play is allowed. I was looking at the Garmin because I do have Spotify but like it's almost the same price as the apple watch and a lot of my other stuff is Apple so I'd like to stay in that ecosystem.
Check here: (tldr: you’re good)

and here:
 
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Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
I have a question regarding Apple Watch. I wanna buy a smart watch primarily for music when I go to the gym/run and I want to know does the Apple watch allow offline playback with apple music? I don't wanna take my phone with me and I don't wanna stream because we have terrible data plans in Canada for cellular which I'll blow through fast, I've watched a bunch of videos but like no one seems to answer that question. I'm fine subbing to apple music if offline play is allowed. I was looking at the Garmin because I do have Spotify but like it's almost the same price as the apple watch and a lot of my other stuff is Apple so I'd like to stay in that ecosystem.
Yep. I leave my phone at home when on runs. I use AM to listen. It’s so nice.
 
Any one here already installed the public beta on their devices? I'm thinking if they're ok to install.

I have all the devices, but I'm afraid some problem may arise but I'm super excited about it hahahaha
 

dottme

Member
Any one here already installed the public beta on their devices? I'm thinking if they're ok to install.

I have all the devices, but I'm afraid some problem may arise but I'm super excited about it hahahaha
I’m trying to convince myself not to do it this year. The Mac update looks especially good.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Nah, I'm skipping all betas. I can wait.
Smart.. apple OS is not something you want to use in beta

also.

i owned several android tizen based smart watches..

Then i went for the always in display from apple watch.. never going back.. apple watch is the best smart watch imo.

Esp when used in combination with some airpod pro’s
 
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Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Smart.. apple OS is not something you want to use in beta

also.

i owned several android tizen based smart watches..

Then i went for the always in display from apple watch.. never going back.. apple watch is the best smart watch imo.

Esp when used in combination with some airpod pro’s
TBH the watch is what got me. I used Android exclusively since it came out. Never going back and the watch is the biggest reason why.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
New MagSafe battery pack for iPhone 12. I'm curious about the magnetic hold if your phone is sporting a case.
MJWY3_AV4

 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
New MagSafe battery pack for iPhone 12. I'm curious about the magnetic hold if your phone is sporting a case.
MJWY3_AV4


Ive seen some accessory makers get a real strong hold by over sizing the magnets beyond the specifications, but who knows what Apple will have done.

I’m more interested as to why these charge at 5w and not the 15w the MagSafe supports…
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Ive seen some accessory makers get a real strong hold by over sizing the magnets beyond the specifications, but who knows what Apple will have done.

I’m more interested as to why these charge at 5w and not the 15w the MagSafe supports…
Heat issues would be my guess, but even the puck charger gets super hot when charging. Maybe the increased size is the issue?
 
Has anyone been following the CSAM thingy from Apple? Are we allowed to discuss this on the forum or is it considered political?
 
I don’t know. But I’m clearly not really happy with the news. It’s something done on my device completely out of my control without anyway for me to review what’s going on.
Me neither. For a company that puts "Privacy" in everything they do, this might be the most anti-privacy thing I've seen a company do in a long time. I'm not a privacy lunatic but I do value if a company doesn't try to play the police role on devices that I own. I work with some network security algorithms and never crossed my mind doing any sort of check on my clients mobile phone. In my mind it's such a messed up concept when it comes to privacy that I have no idea on how Apple even thought of it. Not even here in China, the biggest platform in the country, WeChat, checks on a mobile phone level. Everything is done on the cloud (from what I've noticed).

I'm even considering abandoning Apple for good.
 
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Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
It's two things they're doing, RoyalLaFlame RoyalLaFlame

First, the CSAM scan is done on icloud saved photos, only, based on hashes of known CSAM material: in other words, it searches for known things. If enough content flagged as CSAM is encountered and/or viewed by the icloud account owner, apple will notify authorities.

Second, on iMessages they scan any image sent and if the AI concludes it's pornographic and the iphone/account is flagged as belonging to a minor (which I don't know how it works, maybe if you activate parent mode or something?) it blurs and if the user decides to view it the parents will get notified.

So, the second thing seems to be opt-in and part of parent device management but nothing stops apple from having it run silently to know who's sending and receiving sexually explicit images on their iDevice, through iMessages. The problem is the auto scanning of icloud - Apple insists it will only load hashes of CSAM material by reputable institutions, but nothing would stop someone feeding apple with hashes of photos of a known dissenter to locate people who might know them, or hashes containing religious imagery to locate people who belong to a certain creed, etcetera. Apple insists it won't accept these kinds of hashes but that's up to you to believe that.

Someone said Apple is rolling out mass surveillance for every iDevice owner and I do agree.
 
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dottme

Member
I'm even considering abandoning Apple for good.
I’m not convinced about this part. For the moment the only other viable option is Android but that’s worst. HarmonyOS is trying to rise but I don’t expect much in term of privacy.
i feel bad however, as I’m not choosing my next phone because it’s doing what I want but because it’s the less worst option.

So, the second thing seems to be opt-in and part of parent device management but nothing stops apple from having it run silently to know who's sending and receiving sexually explicit images on their iDevice, through iMessages. I don't think many people will object to this. The problem is the auto scanning of icloud - Apple insists it will only load hashes of CSAM material by reputable institutions, but nothing would stop someone feeding apple with hashes of photos of a known dissenter to locate people who might know thing, or hashes containing religious imagery to locate people who belong to a certain creed, etcetera. Apple insists it won't accept these kinds of hashes but that's up to you to believe that.
The issue is the horse armor effect. Everyone is kind of ok for the initial proposition but you let it go through, then it will be expanded to stuff you don’t want.
 
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Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
I’m not convinced about this part. For the moment the only other viable option is Android but that’s worst. HarmonyOS is trying to rise but I don’t expect much in term of privacy.
i feel bad however, as I’m not choosing my next phone because it’s doing what I want but because it’s the less worst option.


The issue is the horse armor effect. Everyone is kind of ok for the initial proposition but you let it go through, then it will be expanded to stuff you don’t want.

Oh yeah, I'm 100% sure Apple is gonna be pressured by governments to add non-csam related hashes to the system and we have ample examples of the company caving to governments.
 
It's two things they're doing, RoyalLaFlame RoyalLaFlame

First, the CSAM scan is done on icloud saved photos, only, based on hashes of known CSAM material: in other words, it searches for known things. If enough content flagged as CSAM is encountered and/or viewed by the icloud account owner, apple will notify authorities.

Second, on iMessages they scan any image sent and if the AI concludes it's pornographic and the iphone/account is flagged as belonging to a minor (which I don't know how it works, maybe if you activate parent mode or something?) it blurs and if the user decides to view it the parents will get notified.

So, the second thing seems to be opt-in and part of parent device management but nothing stops apple from having it run silently to know who's sending and receiving sexually explicit images on their iDevice, through iMessages. The problem is the auto scanning of icloud - Apple insists it will only load hashes of CSAM material by reputable institutions, but nothing would stop someone feeding apple with hashes of photos of a known dissenter to locate people who might know them, or hashes containing religious imagery to locate people who belong to a certain creed, etcetera. Apple insists it won't accept these kinds of hashes but that's up to you to believe that.

Someone said Apple is rolling out mass surveillance for every iDevice owner and I do agree.
That's the thing: Apple has created a tool that can be abused. They say they will deny any other misuses if not for CSAM. I highly doubt it, there are many countries that can now force Apple to either use that tool for something they want, or Apple can say goodbye to that market. It's crazy how easy it is.

This system, if I were to design it, I would make it as generic as possible (which I bet Apple did)- the hash itself is basically just being compared to entries in a known database. This can easily be changed to whatever the hell you want - religious groups, minorities, opposition. Just have a database of known images hashes, and the rest is done. Of course it's not this easy, but it's how simply this thing works.

New photos that are not in the database will not be flagged, so there's no risk of having photos of your kids in the bathtub or in the beach, as some people were wondering.
I’m not convinced about this part. For the moment the only other viable option is Android but that’s worst. HarmonyOS is trying to rise but I don’t expect much in term of privacy.
i feel bad however, as I’m not choosing my next phone because it’s doing what I want but because it’s the less worst option.
It's really easy for me to change to another phone here. Xiaomi just launched the new Mix 4, it's gorgeous, and I already played with it, so I'm already thinking about it.

To be honest, it's not about what Apple is doing, but how Apple has been called the Privacy king in tech and suddenly comes with this bullshit. This just tells me how quickly they will bow down to someone just to keep profiting on that market. Also, other ridiculous decisions made by Apple in recent times have me hating them more and more.
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
If I buy my family an Apple TV 4K, can they use it with apps like Youtube without needing to sign in with an Apple account?
 
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Whoever is conserned about their privacy just now, you gave that up aaaaaaaages ago. The first time you signed up to a forum with real personal details, you left your footprint. Now imagine all the other places over your lifetime, the subscription, myspace even...dont worry they already have all your info.

There was a good short docu on Vice of a hacker explaining just how long ago this all started and how permanent your single detail entry is on the internet. Going back as far as mid 90s.
 
Whoever is conserned about their privacy just now, you gave that up aaaaaaaages ago. The first time you signed up to a forum with real personal details, you left your footprint. Now imagine all the other places over your lifetime, the subscription, myspace even...dont worry they already have all your info.

There was a good short docu on Vice of a hacker explaining just how long ago this all started and how permanent your single detail entry is on the internet. Going back as far as mid 90s.
No one is saying that. One thing is you deliberately wanting to join a forum and you know what comes with it. The other is having a Company checking the inside of your phones for things they don't like.

One you give up your privacy, the other takes away your privacy.

Right now, Apple is nothing taking away your privacy, but this implementation can have serious ramifications that can eventually force the user to give up privacy for good.
 

Anki

Banned
Right now, Apple is nothing taking away your privacy, but this implementation can have serious ramifications that can eventually force the user to give up privacy for good.
I actually canceled my icloud subscription and deleted everything from there because of this new scanning "feature". I like apple products but I am against this.
I will not update to ios15 or update my mac.
 

dottme

Member
I’m having a lot of fun with FANTASIAN. Part 2 is great for the moment. I’m making slow progress but l love:
-> the open order of the mission
-> the combat are interesting and often there’s a need to understand a strategy to beat a boss
-> the story is ok. I probably need to see more to have a final point of view on it.
-> I enjoy i can play it anywhere on my iPad. But i would love the iPad to support full screen when connected to a monitor or a TV :(
 
I agree. I never finished Fantasian, but I loved what I played. Apple Arcade could be an amazing place for JRPGs like this, but instead they keep feeding us shitty games with no progression incentives.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
Got a Mac mini m1 the other day, man that thing rocks. first time having a truly silent system. So nice. And with my new LG monitor the ability to hook up my laptop from work (using a lighting dock).

With the advent of working from home the combo of monitor and Mac mini got a lot more interesting, hope it forces Apple to make a cheaper monitor that's working hassle free with windows laptops.
 

Star-Lord

Member
So I’m having this really weird issue where the brightness will just drop and increase randomly. Auto-Brightness is set to off, so it’s not that, and my phone screen is set so it doesn’t switch off if left for a while. Anyone else have this? I’m on an iPhone 12 Pro, on 14.6.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
My PC melted down the other day so I've been forced to use my Macbook as a replacement desktop, using a dock, as I wait on a new PC. I feel myself beginning to prefer the Mac environment and Apple ecosystem for productivity over Windows. I use the Microsoft Remote Desktop client to access our WVD environment for everything that I cannot access outside of our network. As a fall back I can use the HTML client for our VMware Horizon environment, or even resort to our slow-ass VPN client.

Most of the apps I use on a daily basis also have native Mac versions as well: Edge for accessing the Azure Portal and Outlook 365, Microsoft Teams, Powershell can be installed natively though it's imperfect but fine for quick editing and testing for most of the snap-ins I use. The only thing I can't reasonably do is isolated virtualization for testing and personal projects because a Macbook Pro isn't exactly a powerhouse, nor does it have much local storage.

There's also the manner in which I can work across my Macbook, iPhone, and iPad, improving the overall QoL of the daily routine.

So yea, I think I may be an Apple-primary user from here on out. When my new PC arrives I think I will set up a larger desk, and pretty much only use the Windows PC for gaming and virtualization.
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
At first I was tempted to upgrade since the new phones will have 120hz, but I’m just going to keep my 12 Pro after all. I love this pacific blue color and I don’t think a higher refresh rate would make a big difference in what I use my phone for. Still looking forward to seeing the Apple event though.
 

Star-Lord

Member
At first I was tempted to upgrade since the new phones will have 120hz, but I’m just going to keep my 12 Pro after all. I love this pacific blue color and I don’t think a higher refresh rate would make a big difference in what I use my phone for. Still looking forward to seeing the Apple event though.
Yeah, I originally regretted getting the 12 just before they announced the new phone, but now I’ve spent time with my 12 Pro, I’ve come to love it. I’ve even sorted out my dimming issue. I’m not too fussed about 120Hz.
 

Topher

Gold Member
At first I was tempted to upgrade since the new phones will have 120hz, but I’m just going to keep my 12 Pro after all. I love this pacific blue color and I don’t think a higher refresh rate would make a big difference in what I use my phone for. Still looking forward to seeing the Apple event though.

I went from Note 20 Ultra to iPhone 12. The 120hz is nice, but my eyes adjusted very quickly and I don't even think about it being 60hz anymore. I definitely won't consider a new phone just for that refresh rate. At this point, it would have to be something incredible for me to consider it.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
My PC melted down the other day so I've been forced to use my Macbook as a replacement desktop, using a dock, as I wait on a new PC. I feel myself beginning to prefer the Mac environment and Apple ecosystem for productivity over Windows. I use the Microsoft Remote Desktop client to access our WVD environment for everything that I cannot access outside of our network. As a fall back I can use the HTML client for our VMware Horizon environment, or even resort to our slow-ass VPN client.

Most of the apps I use on a daily basis also have native Mac versions as well: Edge for accessing the Azure Portal and Outlook 365, Microsoft Teams, Powershell can be installed natively though it's imperfect but fine for quick editing and testing for most of the snap-ins I use. The only thing I can't reasonably do is isolated virtualization for testing and personal projects because a Macbook Pro isn't exactly a powerhouse, nor does it have much local storage.

There's also the manner in which I can work across my Macbook, iPhone, and iPad, improving the overall QoL of the daily routine.

So yea, I think I may be an Apple-primary user from here on out. When my new PC arrives I think I will set up a larger desk, and pretty much only use the Windows PC for gaming and virtualization.
Yeah, I switched over to MacOS last year and haven't looked back. My PC now sits in the livingroom as my gaming rig only.
 
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