It’s been a big day for Apple, what with the new iMacs, Mac Pros, and the Magic-est Trackpad ever to set foot on the Internet. But if you were immersed in specs, you might have missed out on an even bigger deal—Apple changing its boilerplate PR text. Then again, that might not be news given that the company caters to selfish elites. And a court judge hands down a second win against DRM this week, even as Apple maintains its stance on jailbreaking. The remainders for Tuesday July 27, 2010 are a heavy load—remember to lift with your knees.
A few folks noticed that Apple recently changed the boilerplate text about the company at the end of its press releases (it apparently started last month with the iPhone 4). The paragraph no longer starts by saying “Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II.” Well, maybe that explains why the Genius Bar wouldn’t troubleshoot my glitching IIgs when I lugged it in the other day.
iPad Owners Are ‘Selfish Elites.’ Critics Are ‘Independent Geeks.’ Discuss. (Wired)
So, consumer research study of the opinions of 20,000 people yielded the somewhat questionable statistic that iPad owners were “selfish elites” and critics tend to be “independent geeks”…who don’t own an iPad. Look, let’s take this one step further: buying an iPad will excise your altruism from your very soul. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Apple’s official response to DMCA jailbreak exemption: It voids your warranty (Cult of Mac)
Despite Monday’s ruling by the Librarian of Congress granting a pass to jailbreakers, Apple’s holding tight to its company policy that the practice voids your phone’s warranty. Not exactly shocking news—I mean, it’s legal to hurl your iPhone onto the ground and hop up and down on it, but Apple ain’t going to cover that either.
Court: breaking DRM for a “fair use” is legal (Ars Technica)
Despite Apple’s stance on jailbreaking, the anti-DRM movement got a win from another source this week as a federal appeals court judge ruled that merely circumventing technical safeguards shouldn’t trigger the DMCA—rather, it depends on what one does after breaking the access controls. In other words, ripping DVDs from Netflix is still a big no-no.