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Should Apple Make The iPad User-Serviceable? Nope, That’s Anti-Consumer | TechCrunch

The very nature of this new world demands products are replaced rather than put on life support. Without the quick purchase turnaround time, the innovation cycle will slow and perhaps cause the fast growing movement to collapse altogether.

Yes, I just suggested that if Apple made the iPad user-serviceable, tablets could fail.

Innovation is fueled by profits. Without profits, companies cannot invest into research and development. If you do not buy a new tablet every several years, these profits will dwindle and cause innovation to slow. Companies like Apple do not make money on servicing products. Money is only made when they sell you a new product. For better or worse, this is the way of the consumer electronics world.

Source: Should Apple Make The iPad User-Serviceable? Nope, That’s Anti-Consumer | TechCrunch

UK petrol station CCTVs will check insurance/tax status before you are allowed to fill up / Boing Boing

Under a pending proposal, the license-plate cameras at UK filling stations will soon begin to trigger automatic lookups of every motorist’s insurance and tax records. Drivers whose insurance and tax records can’t be located or verified will not be allowed to fill their tanks.

Source: UK petrol station CCTVs will check insurance/tax status before you are allowed to fill up / Boing Boing

RE: CCTV at petrol stations will automatically stop uninsured cars being filled with fuel – Mirror Online

Austin’s Other Event: A Class Action, Mobile App Privacy Lawsuit Filed Against Facebook, Twitter, Apple, 15 Others | TechCrunch

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but it looks like all the heated conversation we’ve seen over user privacy in mobile apps has now finally boiled over into a class action lawsuit

The suit’s intention is summed up in a quote that kicks off the 152-page complaint: “Don’t take things that aren’t yours,” from Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.

Source: Austin’s Other Event: A Class Action, Mobile App Privacy Lawsuit Filed Against Facebook, Twitter, Apple, 15 Others | TechCrunch

How Frictionless Sharing Could Undermine Your Legal Right to Privacy – The Atlantic

You might not think of the Fourth Amendment while you’re using Facebook and other online tools, but you probably should.

What we do in this realm will have an impact on our lives as citizens. Norms of privacy we establish for convenience or to up our friend counts will be the norms of privacy that are applied on much weightier issues.

Source: How Frictionless Sharing Could Undermine Your Legal Right to Privacy – The Atlantic

 

Without a reasonable expectation of privacy, there will be no warrant requirement for law enforcement to obtain that information. This analysis is troubling; sharing information with your friends should not mean that you expect it to be shared with law enforcement.

— Margot Kaminski, executive director of Yale’s Information Society Project