
Captainant
Certifiably Surly-
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Everything posted by Captainant
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It really is impressive the fidelity that Gilroy has brought to a dyed in the wool story about revolution. It's wonderful that the show isn't just action or drama, they're woven together beautifully and pays off long running threads very satisfyingly. I can't wait to see how Dedra works out in 1BBY. That scene with Syril and her in the ISB headquarters was some WILD shit, it really effected her and did something to who she is
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Rex, I don't think you're ready. You may need to call a doctor after seeing so many protesters get teakettled and stormtrooper'd
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All things Apple, the tech not the fruit
Captainant replied to sachick's topic in Business and Markets
The sticking point here is that iOS users could always just open a browser tab and interact with patreon.com as a webpage - and iOS developers were systematically blocked from even informing their users that it was an option. When Apple breaks the rules and perjures themselves to the court, it's gonna be an uphill push for them to argue that they deserve to get paid for doing no work to produce, deliver, or maintain the digital content that's at issue here. I feel like it's being framed as if Apple was solely responsible for delivering digital content. They aren't. They provide app package downloads in a "safe and secure" manner through the app store, and justifiably charge a fee for doing so. They incur real, actual costs in doing so and provide an actual utility to developers AND customers. Once that app is downloaded, it's no longer Apple's problem to keep it running - that's on the developer's side of their shared responsibility model. If Apple isn't responsible for it or incurring the costs, WHY are the entitled to arbitrary add-on fees? And one step further, if your position is that they are entitled in the iOS ecosystem, why aren't they also entitled to do so on MacOS platforms and Microsoft entitled to charge a platform "rake" fee for every peice of business conducted on a Windows machine? Should I be responsible for cutting MS a check for a quarter of my closing costs on my new home in a couple days, because I'm doing the transaction on a PC that Microsoft has spent time securing the OS on? -
All things Apple, the tech not the fruit
Captainant replied to sachick's topic in Business and Markets
Here's a specific case in point that JUST changed: Patreon users could not subscribe to a creator on iOS platforms unless the creators agreed to charging 30% extra. The second this new ruling came out, Patreon changed and presto you can subscribe to creators at the same price on iOS as everywhere else. https://9to5mac.com/2025/05/01/spotify-patreon-among-major-apps-already-working-to-bypass-apple-fees/ In both cases, iOS does not provide any sort of novel utility for Patreon or Spotify users. Does Microsoft deserve 30% of every transaction you complete on your Windows PC? Why doesn't Apple's policy apply to MacBooks? They put in the same level of effort into MacOS, if not more than what they do for iOS. I haven't really heard or read a good reason for why they get to seek rents aside from "it would hurt their business model if they couldn't" -
All things Apple, the tech not the fruit
Captainant replied to sachick's topic in Business and Markets
Yes, the ruling and court order stated as much. The problem is that apple actively worked to undermine and not comply with the order, and the judge has them on paper doing it. The result of their bad faith is customers then being exposed to apples 27% take for zero value add (with digital add-on content) as described above -
Moisture farming has never been big bucks, plus your farmhands keep bucking to leave for the Imperial Academy or go muck around in Anchorhead
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You're telling me that running DoD like elon musk's twitter takeover is not a good idea for our warfighting and deterrance posture?
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Gotta say, invoking lebensraum as a national policy for Israel was not on my bingo card. "Voluntary emigration" (the phrase quoted in the linked AP article) isn't really voluntary when it's that or getting JDAM'd https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-cabinet-approves-expansion-gaza-offensive-broadcaster-kan-reports-2025-05-05/ The decision to expand the operation was immediately hailed by Israeli government hardliners who have long pressed for a full takeover of the Gaza Strip by Israel and a permanent displacement of the population, along the lines of the "Riviera" plans outlined by Trump in February. "We are finally going to conquer Gaza. We are no longer afraid of the word 'occupation'," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told a pro-settler conference in an online discussion.
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Denying Ukraine the aid already promised and paid for has some new details... https://www.reuters.com/world/us/order-by-hegseth-cancel-ukraine-weapons-caught-white-house-off-guard-2025-05-06/
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America's Foreign Policy & Other Shit Going On Around the World thread
Captainant replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
I mean, it generally connotes being at worst an outright lie or at best a dishonest representation of the facts. Neither of those is great, imo -
All things Apple, the tech not the fruit
Captainant replied to sachick's topic in Business and Markets
Apple had policies such that they would not approve updates for an app if it included any messaging informing users they could go to a different platform to make a purchase. This isn't about their appstore rake at time of app purchase and download. This is about how they're actively preventing developers from even communicating to their customers that they can pay for digital content in a different way if they choose to. Mind you, that digital content isn't even served by Apple's servers. That cost to service the digital content is covered by the developers, not Apple. So WHAT is that "proprietary infrastructure"? Once an app package is downloaded from the app store, it's not an Apple-owned device spending the computing cycles - it's a personally owned device. Is apple entitled to a peice of EVERYTHING that occurs on an iPhone because the iPhone itself is "propriety infrastructure - backed by intellectual property"? It certainly doesn't work that way in literally any other personal computing paradigm. I think you're jumping past this pesky little technical detail, because moots Apple's whole claim. -
Tracking Trump Administration and Cabinet picks
Captainant replied to PenelopeWitherspoon's topic in Cloak Room
It really is wild how the Chris Rufo thread here on Surly was a bellweather for national politics yet to come. -
Like the national forests? Go while they're still there.
Captainant replied to Captainant's topic in Daily Texan
https://www.npca.org/articles/8495-president-trump-s-proposed-budget-could-decimate-at-least-350-national-park Goddamn I'm so pissed my daughter won't get to see National Parks like I've been able to.- 204 replies
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All things Apple, the tech not the fruit
Captainant replied to sachick's topic in Business and Markets
Realistically speaking though - what is the value that Apple is bringing to customers by forcing payments to go through their payment system instead of directly to the vendor they're dealing with? They seek rents on all digital good sold, even if they're not the ones paying for the bandwidth. An old example was how you couldn't buy a Netflix membership on your iPhone, but you could sign into an existing membership. Apple supplies ZERO utility to Netflix customers, aside from happening to be the device you're using to access a 3rd party service. In this particular lawsuit and legal action, Apple LIED ON THE WITNESS STAND IN COURT about their policies in place and the court was able to identify and record the internal policy Apple had through contemporaneous business doucmentation. From the CBS news article that I guess you didn't read: "In stark contrast to Apple's initial in-court testimony, contemporaneous business documents reveal that Apple knew exactly what it was doing and at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option," the judge wrote on Wednesday. She accused Apple's vice-president of finance Alex Roman of "outright" lying under oath. Since the injuction in 2021, only thirty four of Apple's 136,000 developers have even APPLIED to be able to process their own payments. The judge agreed that contemporaneous business documents show definitively that Apple actively worked to prevent developers from directing customers to their own websites or payment platforms. edit: if you lie to the court, you're gonna incur some adverse consequences and punitive response from the court. I don't see how they're gonna be able to make an argument and be taken seriously when they've already perjured themselves as a corporate entity -
The Houston Chronicle just won a Pulitzer, here's some more of their excellent reporting: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/dps-troopers-allegedly-questioned-palestine-20310952.php State troopers apparently questioned their ability to arrest students during a pro-Palestinian protest last spring at the University of Texas at Austin, according to an audio recording obtained by the Houston Chronicle. ... The audio recording appears to take place as some students found themselves boxed in by officers on a major pedestrian area on campus, the plaintiffs' attorneys said in the lawsuit. They identified the speakers as troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety. “What are they doing illegal?” a first unidentified law enforcement official said in the recording. “What if this was after a game or something? … We do this after the Aggie games?” A second trooper responded, "No." “The ones on the side here are students, they’re just watching," one of the troopers said. "These back here are the protesters they want gone.” Much of the recording then becomes inaudible against the backdrop of students. Eventually, a third trooper indicated they should begin making arrests. “Alright, let’s s--- or get off the pot," he said. “We’re going to do it so they won’t get agitated,” a fourth trooper said. “Which one are we going after?” the third trooper said. "I don’t know. Gray shirt, long hair."
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All things Apple, the tech not the fruit
Captainant replied to sachick's topic in Business and Markets
I mean, she's got em on paper saying they don't intend to abide the court order. That's pretty black and white, or at least it used to be -
All things Apple, the tech not the fruit
Captainant replied to sachick's topic in Business and Markets
Apple is gonna get its peepee whacked pretty hardfor acting in bad faith with the courts. Their business model relies on the revenue stream from the captive transaction processing on their platform, it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out through appeals https://www.cbsnews.com/news/apple-violated-injunction-antitrust-case-judge-finds/ Although Gonzalez Rogers had rejected the monopoly claims, she ordered Apple to lower the barriers protecting its previously exclusive payment system for in-app digital transactions and allow developers to display links to alternative options. The Supreme Court rejected Apple's appeal in the case in January 2024. "In stark contrast to Apple's initial in-court testimony, contemporaneous business documents reveal that Apple knew exactly what it was doing and at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option," the judge wrote on Wednesday. She accused Apple's vice-president of finance Alex Roman of "outright" lying under oath. "Internally, (longtime Apple executive) Phillip Schiller had advocated that Apple comply with the injunction, but (CEO) Tim Cook ignored Schiller and instead allowed Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri and his finance team to convince him otherwise. Cook chose poorly," Gonzalez Rogers wrote. The judge referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California to investigate whether criminal contempt proceedings are appropriate. -
Papers, please. Surly thread of deportation cruelty dominance
Captainant replied to Captainant's topic in Daily Texan
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Everything is Shit: Tracking the Great Enshittening
Captainant replied to 956 Worldwide's topic in Daily Texan
This is predatory against idiot executives who don't know how genAI technology works but they're staking their market positioning on it -
Along those lines, Sabrina Carpenter showing up in ads with the Empire is pretty funny
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The supreme Court that presides over our entire court system was certainly receptive to Trump's bullshit. They made him untouchable
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Everything is Shit: Tracking the Great Enshittening
Captainant replied to 956 Worldwide's topic in Daily Texan
It's two parts: antitrust suit is reactive, and the data privacy is proactive -
Everything is Shit: Tracking the Great Enshittening
Captainant replied to 956 Worldwide's topic in Daily Texan
True to form, DOJ is about a decade late to the party to prevent the actual market harms. Much of the erosion of our fundamental privacy has been driven by their need for user data to enable finer and finer microtargetted ads. Goddamn we need a US GDPR so badly -
And yet, the entire legal profession takes him at his world and treat his words as serious, even when it's clearly a lie. Thats how we got into this mess
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The Leopards Eating Faces and Unlubed Dildo of Consequences Thread
Captainant replied to Horn Dog's topic in Cloak Room
He's just gonna keep repeating #bothsides like he did in the article
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