In case you haven’t seen the news today, users started noticing that Netflix no longer offers AirPlay compatibility for Apple devices, such as the Apple TV. Later, the company confirmed that they removed this feature that has been a part of their app for the last five years because of a “technical limitation.” However, they were not forthcoming as to what that limitation was.
Photo Source: Apple via YouTube
A couple of days ago, Apple released a new Ad entitled Privacy on iPhone- Private Side, which takes a lighthearted approach to bragging about the company’s current all-in approach to user data privacy.
Apple doesn’t always respond immediately to situations where they are attacked or criticized. They don’t usually make pointed public responses, either. However, Tim Cook and company have made an exception in the case of Spotify, releasing a detailed and aggressively worded press release that not only answers each of their competitor’s complaints, but also takes shots for them for some of their own recent activities.
I like the fact that Apple has taken a pro-privacy stance in recent years. Considering how the rest of the big tech giants treat users and their data, it is a positive to have some type of check against that power. However, I don’t have any illusions about what Apple is doing. It is very simple. They don’t need to monetize our data, while their primary competitors do, so their stance on privacy has nothing to do with any altruism on their part. It is a position of convenience. A bat they can swing at the high, hanging privacy fastball that companies like Facebook and Google hang right over the plate for them.
DuckDuckGo has staked its reputation on being the privacy-centric search engine, putting it at the opposite end of the spectrum from Google and their appetite for all of your data. Up until recently, DDG had used a conglomeration of services, including OpenStreetMaps, for mapping and location information related to search queries. Now they have made the move to Apple Maps.
I make no bones about the fact that I’m an Apple fan, and have been for years. I don’t claim to be objective when talking about them, or about tech in general. However, I know enough to take a step back from time to time. There is a difference between being a fan of a company and their products, and being a shill.
Sure, I can stray too far over that line at times, as many tech bloggers do. It is easy to be a fanboy, at times. However, I understand one very important fact that keeps pulling me back where I need to be: There is nothing to be gained from blind love and devotion to Apple, because they don’t love me back.
The demise of the Apple’s AirPort WiFi Router has been like watching something fade away in slow motion. The AirPort line hasn’t been updated since 2013, which is an eternity in the tech world and Apple actually disbanded the team that worked on these products back in 2016. Based on those facts alone, I’m kind of surprised that Apple let the line linger this long.
While this a bit off the beaten path here at iPad Insight, a discussion about Google is still fitting anywhere technology is covered. Never mind the fact that Apple and Google are head-to-head rivals in many areas, but there are still many iOS users who take advantage of multiple Google services on their devices. Despite pulling back in some areas over time, I still use a few myself.
Photo Source: CNBC
So Apple made a bit of a splash out of nowhere this week. Google originally released a statement that John Giannandrea, their former Chief of Search and AI, would be taking a step back, but still working on some projects for them. However, it wasn’t long after when Apple turned the tables and announced that they had actually hired Mr Giannandrea to head up their machine learning and AI efforts. It’s a high profile and MUCH needed win for a company that has faced continuous challenges in this space.
I have never engaged in substantive political discussion here on the site, and its not something I plan to make a habit of. I only bring this issue up now, since the current re-awakening of the gun control debate has curiously intersected with Apple in a way that I doubt they ever would have foreseen.
In case anyone either wonders or cares, here is my baseline- I am not a Republican or a Democrat. In fact, I absolutely loathe the modern incarnations of both mainline political parties and the weak and pathetic candidates they routinely trot out. If that offends you, then you should probably stop reading now, because I am not sorry for it. I am a card-carrying Libertarian, and I am a Conservative by the classic definition, not the strange and decidedly not Conservative Republican one.
As for guns, I will say this for the record. I am a lifelong gun owner and shooter. I have hunted with my Dad since I was a kid. I received a lot of valuable instruction on how to handle and respect firearms while I was young, so I know what they are capable of and handle and use them accordingly. I still own many guns, but none of them are what you would call “assault weapons.” I am not an NRA member because I don’t approve of their use of fear tactics to hold a hard and unrealistic line on gun control.
With the HomePod showing up on my doorstep next Friday, I’ve been doing some thinking about Siri lately. Why is the overall impression of Apple’s digital assistant so negative? There are recent surveys and tests showing it as being competitive with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana in some areas. There is real evidence that many “normal” users aren’t as dissatisfied with it as we in the tech community and the “Apple bubble” are. So what is the problem? Where is the disconnect?