Opinion – The Adventures of ChipheadMike

Stolen iPhones

Please Note: The following applies equally to iPads as well.

If your iPhone gets stolen and you’ve done a few simple things — the phone is useless to anyone. The phone cannot be used and wiped without your authorization. The iPhone essentially becomes a brick. The most important thing you can do is to make sure that “Find my iPhone” is turned on.

ZDNet has a pretty good article about how a thief can actually use your stolen iPhone but it requires that the iPhone owner do some pretty bad things.

In order for a thief to get your credentials to unlock the stolen phone you would have to give the credentials to them. Most folks wouldn’t knowingly do that but that is exactly how phishing works.

The best thing you can do if someone steals your phone is for you to conduct all business related to it through the official Apple website portal for iCloud. Do not follow any links in an email or elsewhere. Even if the email looks like it comes from Apple, go over to your browser and log in to Apple’s iCloud website that way.

When someone steals an iPhone, the odds are against them. It is exactly the same as if they’d stolen a brick from a construction site. Of course, most bricks do not have a built in GPS tracker.

If your iPhone gets stolen, play it cool and don’t panic. Instead of thinking about it negatively let’s call it a “forced upgrade.”

Reporting on Non-Existing Consumer Products

The one thing I absolutely love about Apple is that they don’t announce something that they don’t have. You might not be able to buy it for a few months until production ramps up and they gauge how many units they can sell, but they’ve presented a REAL item.

Having said that, Stanford University is working on/developing a new type of battery storage. It is not ready to be purchased — hell, it may not even work on the scale they think it will so my question is — why report it?

There is plenty of “pie in the sky” in the article. It could do this…It might mean this…

There is even a COULD in the article’s title “Liquid metal battery could lower cost of storing renewable energy.” …and if your Grandmother had wheels she’d be a wagon.

EU is a Big Fat Bully Who Wants Your Lunch Money

I equate the European Union (EU) to the bully at school that beats kids up and takes their lunch money.

Follow the Google link below for the latest bullying tactic.

They have fined Apple, Google, and Microsoft just to name a few. The reasoning is pretty weak and they just seem to be using their bullying tactics to extort money from the wealthy American companies. I’m pretty sure they care more about the revenue stream than protecting the rights of the downtrodden.

The EU declares war on American companies pretty much the same way that the small country did in the movie “The Mouse That Roared.” The whole premise of the movie was that if this small country could declare war on the United States and lose — the United States would pay them reparations which would boost their economy. My guess is that the officials in the EU have seen that movie and have taken it to the next level.

Engadget has a pretty good article giving you the background on the latest round with Google. The whole idea that Google is a bad guy for trying to get you to use its content is counterintuitive. Of course Google wants you to use its services. In case you missed it, that is how they make money. Taking that money from Google is how the EU makes money.

Getting out of the EU is probably the best thing Great Britain ever did. No-one wants to be associated with a bully when you want to make friends.

I think it would be awesome if the United States sued the EU for extortion.

They are a criminal organization that deserves NO less.

Update: 07.23.2018 – This little snippet from Engadget is extremely telling…

Google reportedly offered to make changes to its Android policies in August 2017, not long after it received an EU antitrust penalty for its product search practices. Although Google didn’t dive into specifics, it had offered to “loosen restrictions” in Android contracts and had considered distributing its apps in “two different ways.”

The EU wasn’t having it, according to the sources. Officials reportedly said only that a settlement was “no longer an option,” and that Google’s offer was “too little too late.” It couldn’t even mention the possibility of paying a fine as part of an agreement — regulators had effectively locked in their course of action.

Robocall Relief Possible

Great article over at Engadget about congress trying to pass stricter laws against Robocallers.

I get about a dozen of these per day. I wish Apple would just allow us to block any number that is not in our contact list.

Yes. I like using “asides” to post. I think bigger posts should be handled differently. Asides are great for quick posts. Love. Them.

Dumbing Down of America

I found a pretty good article that talks about why Americans seem so dumb today compared to what they were just a few decades ago.

The article points to the education system but I disagree about why Americans aren’t as smart as they used to be.

The number of American citizens who can do very high-end research who also can easily get security clearances is limited,” Ignatius says. “The ability of our schools to produce American students at a world-class level, that’s an important national challenge.

Again, I disagree to a point. I believe the problem is something else entirely. Do college graduates really need to remember anything? In the age of “just Google it” do we really need to even try to retain information? I believe the answer is no. If I can’t remember a song, there is an app for that. If I can’t remember what camping gear I need to take with me — again I can just Google it.