Right to Repair

If you buy, say, an iPhone and it should need repair, should you have the right to have it repaired anywhere, and not just at an Apple store? Or, if you have a printer that needs an ink refill, should you be able to purchase and use a recycled/refilled cartridge? 

Well, the Supreme Court says yes.  Read here. In a laughable and ridiculous argument, read what John Deere argued: 

"In 2015, the company made the case to the U.S. Copyright Office that individuals who buy their tractors don’t actually own them, but are licensing them from the company and thus don’t have the right to do their own maintenance." 

How about the books and music you've downloaded? Do you own them, or merely lease them? Here's an article with more info on this subject.

Anyway, thank goodness the Supreme Court ruling is in the user's favor.

Jim Hamm

Apple Park

Here is a drone's short aerial view of Apple's new world headquarters -- Apple Park. Quite impressive, and so huge. From what I've read it is designed to be very eco-friendly.

Just think: by buying that iPhone, iPad or Mac, you've contributed to paying for this.

Jim Hamm

Chargers for iPad and Phone

It's possible at some point you may need or want to buy another charger for your iPad or iPhone. As you do a bit of shopping you'll find quite a disparity between prices. The genuine Apple chargers are more expensive, but definitely worth the extra cost, in my opinion.

Why is this, you might ask? Read this aricle to find out why. Remember the old adage "You get what you pay for?" In this case this is really true. The article states: "Apple's charger is expensive compared to other chargers, but is a high quality product. You should definitely stay away from the cheap counterfeit chargers, as they are low quality and dangerous."

Don't buy the cheap, counterfeit chargers -- why take a chance on a fire or something worse?

Jim Hamm

iPad Comparison and Help

If you may be in the market for a new iPad, here is an article comparing the different models. It's also rumored that Apple might release a new version of the iPad Pro sometime this year. 

Now, to go with your new iPad here is an article with troubleshooting tips that will be helpful if your iPad should act up a bit. Might be a good idea to place an icon of this article on the screen of your iPad for future reference. That's what I will do.

Jim Hamm

Is Your iPad Obsolete?

No doubt if you have an iPad, you enjoy it for its versatility and lightness. I sure do enjoy mine. Then I came across this article asking if my iPad is obsolete? What? Not my iPad, for sure, I thought. Then I checked, and sure enough I'm using an obsolete iPad -- well, technically obsolete, at least according to this article. 

You might check your iPad to see which one you have, then check the article for its status and what you can expect as far as updates go. Just open 'Settings' then click 'About' to find out.

Jim Hamm

 

Apple's Investment

Yes, Apple's products are considered on the expensive side, and there are many reasons for that.  Recently Apple invested $200 million in one of its suppliers. Can you imagine a company using its money to help one of its suppliers, to the tune of two hundred million dollars? For more information read this article.

Additionally, Apple has established a $1 billion fund to promote U.S. manufacturing. Article here. Ironically, although Apple has over $250 billion in cash, most of that is sitting overseas, and they had to borrow the $1 billion locally to establish the fund.

Jim Hamm

Improve Battery Life

Here's a helpful article from Computerworld on how to improve the battery life on all your Apple devices. Here's one example, which I wasn't aware of, and just now did, that reduces the amount of 'juice' drawn from your iPhone: switch off AirDrop. I never use this feature, and it has been just sitting there, hour after hour, sipping 'juice' from the battery on my iPhone!

There are other tips in the article that may help keep your devices from losing battery life so quickly. Read the article to find out more.

Jim Hamm 

Opera Web Browser

If you might like to try another browser, here is an article with a review of the Opera web browser. I have it installed, occasionally use Opera, and I like it fine, especially the free VPN feature. Having said that, though, I must admit I'm not fond of having Opera's server in China. 

Remember, by using a VPN, your data is encrypted until it reaches the VPN's server, where it is unencrypted before it is sent on. How much do you trust the Chinese not to peek at your data? Of course, this is true for any VPN, so use your own judgement.

Jim Hamm

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iPad or iPhone Charging

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For your possible interest, here is part of an article written by Hadley Markoski of Small Dog Electronics (http://www.smalldog.com/) that provides info on the charging of your iPhone or iPad. Note especially the last paragraph.

Jim Hamm

"all devices with lithium ion batteries have on-board charge controllers that regulate the charging. Many modular lithium batteries have protection circuits built into them by default. So no matter how much charge current is available, the controller will always have the last say about how much of it hits the battery. This is why you can charge your iPhone with a larger iPad charger. Just because the larger charger is rated for 10-watts (2 amps) doesn’t mean it’ll be delivering that all the time. It means it can deliver up to that if necessary. There is some portion of the iPhone’s charging profile where the extra power can be safely used, but it’s only some portion of the charge process, not all of it. This is why your iPhone will charge faster, but not twice as fast.

Can you go the other direction and charge your iPad with the iPhone charger to extend it’s battery life by charging it more slowly? No. This will not work because the iPad’s larger battery requires the extra power to charge it. The battery cannot be properly charged without the full 10 watts being available. This is why you’ll often see USB chargers say that they can or cannot be used to charge tablets. All tablets, not just Apple’s, typically require 2 amps. USB ports on most computers follow the USB bus protocol which means they can only output 0.5 amps or 0.9 in some cases. USB-C can output up to 3 amps. This is why your iPad may not charge when plugged into your laptop (though it can still transfer data over USB).

These charging rules basically apply across Apple’s entire line of products. You can always charge a smaller device/battery with a larger charger, but not a larger device with a smaller charger. Obviously this only works if the voltages are the same. You cannot charge your iPhone with the charger for your MacBook because the voltages are different (as well as the plugs)."