Apple acquires Dark Sky

Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by cageface on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @06:18PM (#22743320)

Apple's walled garden is more and more a shiny cage. Vote with your dollars and support more open alternatives. I switched to a Note 10 recently after using iPhones for years and I'm really enjoying the overall experience and the flexibility to do many things with my hardware that Apple feels I shouldn't be allowed to do.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by vertis on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @06:52PM (#22743641)

I ended up having to use an Apple device temporarily after my previous phone died. While there are things I really enjoy about Apple, the lack of choice is a dealbreaker for me.

I can't buy a kindle book through the app on my device, because iBooks.

Added: Ended up back on an Android device pretty quickly.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by michaelmrose on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @01:53AM (#22746104)

It's possible to strip drm from kindle and other books to avoid getting tied to a platform by prior purchases.

https://github.com/apprenticeharper/DeDRM_tools

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by vertis on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @06:03PM (#22753978)

Absolutely, and I do this when buying from Kindle. I don't consider Kindle to be perfect either, but it's still MY choice to make, not Apples. If I want to buy from Kobo or from Kindle, why should I have to do that in a web browser or on my desktop.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by doctoboggan on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @08:39PM (#22744450)

Actually you can buy the kindle book, you just have to use the web browser (not ideal I know, but just letting you know in case you find yourself in that position again)

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by benhurmarcel on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @05:53AM (#22747143)

> because iBooks

It's not because of iBooks, it's because Amazon would have to pay 30% to Apple if they sold through the app.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by scarface74 on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @08:01PM (#22744191)

So you switched to an Android device that runs proprietary Google Play Services and proprietary Samsung bloatware....

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by cageface on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @08:07PM (#22744234)

Yes because it allows me to do the following things:

1. Sideload apps that my government has decided they don't like and want banned.

2. Use real firefox to support diversity on the web

3. Use open audio codecs like FLAC without tying myself in knots

It's not perfect but in the respects that really matter it's a lot more free.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by scarface74 on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @08:19PM (#22744317)

At least for #3

https://vox.rocks/resources/ios-flac-player

And then there is that whole running an operating system written by a company whose whole m.o. is to invade your privacy.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by cageface on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @08:30PM (#22744389)

I consider that tying myself in knots. On my Samsung I just copy the files over and play them

Privacy and openness are two independent, orthogonal concepts. I agree Apple has a better overall story on privacy but I care more about openness, especially in the current political climate.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by balladeer on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @10:55PM (#22745150)

At this point the only two things that are stopping me from leaving Apple:

- The hope that iPhone 9 will not be a gigantic phone and it might actually be around the size of SE.

- There's nowhere to go to. Can't go back to generic Android. That's just a non-starter. There are no OEMs who supports a privacy focussed Android ROM and sends "timely" patches and OS upgrades (there are some niche ones but they will either never start direct service/support in my country or in a decade maybe).

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by saagarjha on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @03:25AM (#22746508)

> The hope that iPhone 9 will not be a gigantic phone and it might actually be around the size of SE.

Rumors point to a big phone :(

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by tw04 on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @06:36PM (#22743489)

So you move from apples to googles? At least Apple pretends to care about privacy.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by vertis on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @06:59PM (#22743682)

Privacy is an interesting argument. Apple theoretically respects privacy more, but you have to take their word. You don't have control of your device.

Android phones on the other hand at least have the option of installing a variant that is more privacy focused, such as Copperhead[1].

I can install F-Droid and follow some of the other recommendations on the Free Software Foundation website to "Free my Android"[2]. All without having to jailbreak my device.

Now, granted this is an expert action, but it allows people that care about it to accomplish it. Do you lose a lot of functionality? Sure, but all Security and Privacy is about trade-offs.

[1]: https://copperhead.co/android/ [2]: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/liberate.en.html

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by dublinben on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @09:40PM (#22744785)

For every "expert" who takes advantage of those options on Android, there are thousands upon thousands of Apple users who get better privacy by default.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by ernesth on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @04:58AM (#22746902)

So all in all, you have three options: No privacy used by billions (Android), a little privacy used by millions (iOS) or some privacy used by thousands (Android derivatives).

If you are willing to sacrifice privacy, why not go android? If you do not want to, you must buy an android phone and tweak it. Using Apple is but a compromise.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by cageface on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @06:44PM (#22743560)

We talk about privacy as an absolute but privacy from whom? I'm mostly concerned about the government getting and abusing my data and if I use iCloud backups all my data is right there for them to take. With Google's activity controls I feel like I have more control over what they're storing.

That said I do wish there was a third option besides Apple and Google.

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Re:Apple acquires Dark Sky by toss4732 on Wednesday April 01, 2020 @05:50AM (#22747125)

maybe in 10 years pine or purism will have usable phones.

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