Thread: Apple's Frivolous Patent Bullying tactics doing it no favours

>Harry Barracuda casts a spell of "Fuck off you droning retard" at Gameboy

*Chortle* indeed. That highlighted phrase is quite scary. Screw your employees by brainwashing them into thinking they don't deserve proper reward. Ugh.

The low-wage ‘genius’ of Apple

By Emi Kolawole

A sign for the iPhone 4S at an Apple Store in New York. (BRENDAN MCDERMID - REUTERS)





Apple salesroom workers are paid less than their Tiffany & Co. counterparts, even as they may offload as much as $750,000 in merchandise on behalf of the multibillion-dollar company.
Even in light of the disparity between what they make and what they sell is a sense among Apple employees that working for Apple is not so much a job with long hours, loud crowds and a less-than-stellar paycheck — it is a calling.
David Segal of the New York Times writes:

If there is a secret to Apple’s sauce, this is it: The company ennobles employees. It understands that a lot of people will forgo money if they have a sense of higher purpose.

The picture Segal paints of Apple’s storefront workforce, as ennobled as it may be, is a bleak one born of early exclusivity — a time when there were fewer Apple stores than could be counted on one hand even as the company’s products were rising quickly in popularity.
This is not the first time Apple has come under scrutiny for labor-related issues. However, earlier reports have focused on the production workforce in China, particularly the Foxconn factories. And focus on Apple’s “secret sauce” has rested mostly on how the company’s products are made, not on who sells them.
The news comes less than a week after Microsoft announced Surface, a Windows-powered tablet that stands to compete directly with the iPad. In the meantime, Microsoft storefronts look eerily similar to Apple’s. Perhaps the paychecks of its retail workers may be a way to further distinguish itself, building an Apple-esque fan-boy culture all its own.

I particularly like the use of the word "geniuses" to describe someone with the intellectual capacity of a gnat who knows how to turn wifi on and off on a frigging iphone.

5 signs that Apple is a cult

According to a New York Times expose, the company's retail stores are staffed with true believers, many of whom tolerate paltry paychecks to answer a higher calling

posted on June 25, 2012, at 12:07 PM

Clad in holiday red, employees await the opening of Apple's Grand Central Terminal store in New York City in December 2011. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images SEE




The average salesperson at an Apple store racks up nearly $500,000 in revenue per year for the gadget purveyor, says David Segal at The New York Times. But that same salesperson's yearly salary comes to just $25,000 or so — better than Gap, but far below the six figures that commission-earning employees at Verizon can rake in. Delving deep into the culture of the Apple store, Segal says Apple's 30,000 retail employees are often worn out by the hectic pace of sales life and frustrated by a dearth of opportunities to climb the corporate ladder. Yet Apple's retail success continues, largely because it has a "built-in fan base that ensures a steady supply of eager applicants and an employee culture that tries to turn every job into an exalted mission," says Segal. The result is a workforce that in many respects eerily resembles a cult. Here, five signs that Apple is a religion unto itself:
1. Applicants are readymade acolytes
Apple stores are inundated with job applications, mostly from "true believers" who "skew young," says Segal. They are huge fans of the iPhone, iPad, and other Apple products that have changed the computer industry, and eager to fuel the "greater good" that the company is supposedly achieving in the world. "You've always been an evangelist for Apple and now you can get paid for it," Graham Marley, a former Apple salesman, tells Segal. Upon learning that they've been hired, many newly minted employees burst into tears.
2. New employees are indoctrinated
The training for new Apple employees is more like an "indoctrination process," says Philip Elmer-DeWitt at CNN. New recruits are greeted with standing ovations, and told over and again that their mission is to "enrich" people's lives, says Segal. "The idea is to instill in employees the notion that they are doing something far grander than just selling or fixing products…[Apple] understands that a lot of people will forgo money if they have a sense of higher purpose." Shane Garcia, a former Apple store manager, tells Segal that he thought of Apple as a place that "wanted you to be the best you could be in life, not just in sales."
3. Employees aren't allowed to speak to the media
Apple has implemented a virtual cone of silence over its retail operations, barring employees from speaking to the press. However, the company made an exception for Cory Moll, a "vocal labor activist" who tells Segal that he recently got a raise from the Apple store in San Francisco. "Apple wants to show that it cares about its workers," Moll says, "and show that it knows how much value you add to the company, by offering a bigger raise than in previous years." The suspiciously timely raise has observers asking "whether Apple was just trying to pad itself before [Segal's] story dropped," says Salvador Rodriguez at the Los Angeles Times.
4. Apple is immersed in weird lingo
The help-desk technicians at Apple stores are known as "geniuses," and Segal reveals that Apple also has a Scientology-like title for its sales staffers, who are known as "specialists." Employees are required to take a satisfaction survey known, in more cultish jargon, as "NetPromoter for Our People." Employees rate, on a scale from 1 to 10, how likely they are to recommend a job at Apple to friends and family members. Those who reply with a 9 are marked down as "promoters" — those who put down 7 or below are considered "detractors."
5. Rapture gives way to disillusionment
The low wages, the lack of career advancement, and the frenetic workday tend to cool the average employee's fervor, says Segal. There are reportedly far more "detractors" than "promoters," and many seem eager to leave the job after a couple of years. However, it's unlikely that Apple will soon find itself understaffed. "People will always want to work for Apple," says Garcia.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I particularly like the use of the word "geniuses" to describe someone with the intellectual capacity of a gnat who knows how to turn wifi on and off on a frigging iphone.

So, we should consider you a "genius", then?

Well compared to you, probably yes, but in the wider picture, no.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

According to a New York Times expose, the company's retail stores are staffed with true believers, many of whom tolerate paltry paychecks to answer a higher calling

and they say Religion was dead, it just needed a revamp

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Upon learning that they've been hired, many newly minted employees burst into tears.

oh Christ

Understandable, they've probably just read the contract they signed.

[QUOTE=harrybarracuda;2139712]*Chortle* indeed. That highlighted phrase is quite scary. Screw your employees by brainwashing them into thinking they don't deserve proper reward. Ugh.

The low-wage ‘genius’ of Apple

(BRENDAN MCDERMID - REUTERS)
a sense among Apple employees that working for Apple is not so much a job with long hours, loud crowds and a less-than-stellar paycheck — it is a calling.

ITARDS.

Again, what is it to you?

It beats flipping burgers, or having to lie to your customers when peddling Android phones or PCs in shitty stores....

You've probably never even been inside an Apple Store.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

And don't forget Apple Corporate lie as well, as proven by the multimillion dollar fine handed to them by an Australian judge for telling people their shit phones would work in Australia knowing that they wouldn't.

What phones are those? I must have missed that bit of news. Could you maybe refresh your knowledge base, there?

So, have you ever been in an Apple Store?

All I see, so far, is that you lie pathologically. You claiming others lie is pretty amusing.

Oh you're right. It's the iFad they LIED about. As if it makes a difference.

It still proves what a money-grubbing bunch of leeches they are.

Apple fined in Australia for misleading iPad advertising






MELBOURNE | Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:50am IST

(Reuters) - Apple Inc was fined A$2.25 million ($2.29 million) by an Australian court on Thursday for misleading advertising of its latest iPad.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took legal action against Apple in March, after the computer and gadgets maker rolled out the first wave of new iPad tablets in the Australian market.
The competition watchdog accused Apple of misleading customers with the description of its new iPad, which said it was compatible with a 4G mobile data network when it was not.
The court determined Apple had implied "that an iPad with WiFi + 4G could connect directly to the Telstra LTE mobile data network in Australia, which it could not do," according to the verdict emailed to Reuters by the regulator.
Apple "engaged in conduct that was liable to mislead the public," it said.
A spokeswoman for Apple in Sydney could not be reached immediately for comment on Thursday. Apple has already promised to email all buyers of its new iPad in Australia to offer them a refund and agreed to post warnings that its new iPad "is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks and WiMAX networks."
Telstra Corp's network operates on a different frequency to the 4G on Apple's new iPad.
Apple rolled out the first wave of new iPad tablets on March 16. ($1 = 0.9815 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Miranda Maxwell; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

And why would I actually go in a Apple shop? It demonstrates the same shallow, superficial and overhyped properties as the products it sells.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Oh you're right. It's the iFad they LIED about. As if it makes a difference.

Ah, okay - so you don't actually know what you were talking about, and you made stuff up. Good to know.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

And why would I actually go in a Apple shop? It demonstrates the same shallow, superficial and overhyped properties as the products it sells.

How do you know, if you have never been?

So you don't actually know what you were talking about, and you made stuff up. Good to know.

Ah, okay - so you don't actually know what you were talking about, and you made stuff up. Good to know.

And poor Apple have been forced to change yet another LIE.

Mac OS X security fears? Apple backs down on ‘virus-proof’ claims

June 26, 2012 10:28 am by Joe Svetlik

Apple has tweaked the marketing blurb on its website, making less of a fuss about how safe Macs are from viruses. Has the recent Flashback trojan made Apple a little less sure of its security skills?

Time was you could buy a Mac safe in the knowledge it would stay virus-free. But as Macs become more popular, they become more of a target for those looking to spread digital nasties, as the recent Flashback trojan showed. It seems Apple is aware of this, and is admitting its computers aren’t quite as secure as it once thought.

The Cupertino company has changed the marketing spiel on its “Why you’ll love a Mac” page. Whereas once the page claimed: “It [a Mac] doesn’t get PC viruses”, now the blurb reads: “Built to be safe”. And where once it said you could “Safeguard your data. By doing nothing”, it now just says: “Safety. Built right in.”

That’s quite a climbdown.

By all accounts Macs are still more secure than PCs, but that’s more down to the fact they number far fewer than PCs worldwide. Those making the viruses go for the big score.

The Flashback trojan was so newsworthy because it was one of the very few Mac viruses to have spread successfully – it infected about 600,000 Macs earlier this year. Apple pushed out an update to everyone using the Snow Leopard and Lion versions of its operating system in April, then those on the older Leopard version received their security fix in May.

That's a fucking good hitrate, actually.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

According to a New York Times expose, the company's retail stores are staffed with true believers, many of whom tolerate paltry paychecks to answer a higher calling

Reminds me of the staffers I worked with a schlumberger during a contract.


^One big fat lie, that must have been a red flag to the virus writers

A company that lies is quite fitting for delusional users!

I think Quack Quack has a point, we shouldn't be blaming Apple, they are in their good right to abuse the gullibility of their consumers

Whoops!

Judge Koh issues injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 | Electronista

Judge Koh issues injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1


Sales ban effective after Apple pays $2.6 million bond

Northern District of California Judge Lucy Koh has issued an injunction against Samsung to stop it from selling the the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United States. The judge's order becomes effective once Apple posts a $2.6 million bond to protect Samsung against damages if the injunction is overturned.

The judge had previously denied Apple the requested injunction, which it says has caused harm to the company because Samsung has infringed on patents as well as copied the look and feel of the iPad. A federal appeals court overturned that decision with a statement suggesting that Samsung had infringed with the tablet. Her judgement today was clear in saying that "although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products."

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 line, currently on sale, is considered a separate product line, and not affected by today's injunction. There are still intellectual property issues at stake that do involve the Galaxy Tab 2, but these are due to be ironed out in the trial at the end of July.

Samsung has not released a comment on the injunction. Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet reiterated a previous statement saying that Samsung's "blatant copying" is wrong. The judge has given no reason why she issued the injunction tonight, rather than during the scheduled hearing, which was set for Friday.

Whoops indeed.

Apple lawsuit preventing sale of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

June 27th, 2012 Roy Smyth


A US judge has raised a preliminary injunction that says once Apple coughs up a $2.6 million dollar bond, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 will have to be removed from store shelves.



Fortunately due to the speed of the American legal system, the device is now over a year old and the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is already available. The $2.6 million would be in case the injunction is reversed and Apple then has to compensate Samsung.


So Apple, is it all really worth it?

Whoops again!

LIKELY APPEAL
Samsung will likely seek to appeal Koh's ruling to a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, which has exclusive jurisdiction over intellectual property disputes.
"Apple sought a preliminary injunction of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product's overall design," Samsung said in a statement. "Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted."
The South Korean firm said it would take necessary legal steps, and did not expect the ruling to have a significant impact on its business, as it has a broad range of products. It brought out three tablet models last year alone.

Whoops the Market likes it!

In Seoul, Samsung shares rose 3 percent in a flat market, rebounding from 4-month lows early this week amid concerns over second-quarter profit growth.

No, I think you're going to have to wait for the trial before you get thrilled.

apple and lawsuits, they just fucking love it, since the win311 days

And they got an injunction banning the Nexus. Are they still selling those in the US?

Perhaps if they spent more money on development, we wouldn't have stuff like this hitting the news. Poor Uyghurs:

New Mac virus making the rounds, uses MaControl backdoor

Published on Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 16:17 | Source : Tech2.com
Updated at Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 16:25




Earlier this year, Macs around the world were infected by a malware called Flashback and it looks like there’s another one on the way. Kaspersky Lab has now detected a malware that seems to be targeted at Uyghur activists using Macs. Kaspersky Lab is terming the attack as an APT (advanced persistent threat). It appears the virus spreads via email. Victims get a mail with a zip file in it, the zip file contains a JPG image and a Mac OS X application. The application present in the zip file is a MaControl backdoor and it infects both i386 and PowerPC Macs. Once the user runs the application, the virus is connected to a control server on the internet from which it is sent commands. Other operations such as listing and transferring files can also be done. Remote command orders can also be sent from the control server. Kaspersky detects the virus under the alias - Backdoor.OSX.MaControl.b.

^

So most MacTards are gonna run an antivirus sweep, find they have a backdoor virus, and blame it on that drunken night they spent with Greg from the genius bar.

Apple's patent absurdity exposed at last

US appeal court judge Richard Posner has finally said the unsayable: that Apple's and other tech firms' patent battles are a ridiculous abuse of intellectual property law


Sunday 1 July 2012


US appeal court judge Richard Posner ridiculed Apple's arguments in his landmark dismissal of its patent case against Google. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian




There are, I submit, good grounds to argue that Richard Allen Posner, judge of the United States court of appeals for the seventh circuit, is the most infuriating man on the surface of the planet, but they are not the ones you'd expect. He is not, for example, a horrible human being: on the contrary, people whose judgment I respect describe him in unequivocally admiring tones. Professor Tim Wu of Columbia Law School, for example, calls Posner "probably America's greatest living jurist". And my friend Larry Lessig of Harvard once wrote of him that "there isn't a federal judge I respect more, both as a judge and person".
So the problem with Posner is not his awfulness, but the reverse: his astonishing intelligence, energy and provocative creativity. For in addition to being a very senior judge, he is also a distinguished legal academic at the University of Chicago Law School (the Journal of Legal Studies describes him as the most cited legal scholar of the 20th century). With Gary Becker, a Nobel laureate in economics, he maintains an extraordinary blog in which the two men exchange thoughtful, essay-length arguments on an almost daily basis. He is the author of more than 40 books, many of them on legal matters, but also ranging over much wider topics: a study of public intellectuals, for example; a treatise on ageing; and works on terrorism, law and literature and democracy. And – here's the really annoying bit – none of them are crap. So to those of us who struggle to produce a book a decade, or even a column a week, Posner stands there as a permanent, reproachful reminder of our inadequacies and indolence.
What makes him such a stimulating thinker is that he has little time for conventional wisdom or political correctness. He's not enamoured of animal rights, for example, and is famous for his belief that economics provides a useful perspective for thinking about law. Thus in a recent argument with Becker about New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to ban the sale of large sugary drinks, Posner writes: "I am not particularly interested in saving the obese from themselves. I am concerned about the negative externalities of obesity‚ the costs that the obese impose on others. Obesity kills, but slowly, and en route to dying the obese run up heavy bills that, to a great extent, others pay."
What brings Posner to mind this Sunday morning, however, is not his views on obesity but on intellectual property. You may have noticed that in the last few years the world's biggest technology companies have become lavish patrons of the legal profession. Apple, Google, Samsung, HTC, Microsoft, Oracle, HP, Amazon and others have being suing one another in courts around the globe, alleging that they are infringing one another's patents. The resulting bonanza for lawyers has long passed the point of insanity, but up to now the world's courts seem powerless to make the litigants see sense. As a result, judges find themselves allocated the role of pawns in what are effectively business negotiations between global companies.
Until now. What happened is that Posner, in an unusual move, got himself assigned to a lower court to hear a case in which Apple was suing Google (which had purchased Motorola in order to get its hands on the phone company's patent portfolio) over alleged infringement of Apple's smartphone patents. Posner listened to the lawyers and then threw out the case. But what was really dramatic was the way he eviscerated the legal submissions. At one point, for example, Apple claimed that Google was infringing one of its patents on the process of unlocking a phone by swiping the screen. "Apple's argument that a tap is a zero-length swipe," said Posner, "is silly. It's like saying that a point is a zero-length line."
Posner's formal judgment was issued on 22 June. He dismissed the case, writing in his opinion that neither side had proved any damages caused by the other party. More significantly, his ruling came "with prejudice", which means neither side can reopen the case to attempt to prove damages for a second time.
This is a landmark judgment, one of those moments when someone – in this case an eminent judge rather than a small child – points out that the emperor is indeed stark naked. Patent wrangling between technology companies has become both pathological and pointless. It is also a gross abuse of intellectual property law that uses the courts as tools for gaining competitive advantage. The people who should be deciding whether Apple's phones are better – more functional, reliable, easier to use – than Motorola's are consumers, not judges. By striking a blow for common sense in what had become a madhouse, Posner has set a really encouraging precedent. The only downside is that he will now probably write a book about it. And I bet it will be a bloody good read too. Some people are just too annoying for words.