Apple

That the DMA makes sense for opening up ecosystems is shown by the case of Paris Buttfield-Addison. Dr. Paris Buttfield-Addison writes in »20 Years of Digital Life, Gone in an Instant, thanks to Apple« for hey.paris: No Information: Support staff refused to tell me why the account was banned or provide specific details on the decision. No Escalation: When I begged for an escalation to Executive Customer Relations (ECR), noting that I would lose the ability to do my job and that my devices were useless, I was told that “an additional escalation won’t lead to a different outcome”. ...

The following support document makes life so much better for MacBook owners. Prevent a Mac laptop from turning on when opening its lid or connecting to power on apple.com To prevent startup when opening the lid or connecting to power: sudo nvram BootPreference=%00 To prevent startup only when opening the lid: sudo nvram BootPreference=%01 To prevent startup only when connecting to power: sudo nvram BootPreference=%02 ...

For those hunting for an offbeat Lego set that stands out from the standard kits, the “iMac G3” by user Terauma on ideas.lego.com could be just the thing. A real hidden gem for Apple nerds and Lego lovers alike. The text was automatically translated from German into English. The German quotations were also translated in sense.

Jason Koebler in »Condensation Death Is Breaking $550 AirPods Max and Driving Users Nuts« for 404media.co: Apple’s $550 flagship headphones have a problem: They can malfunction, or suddenly stop working entirely, because of users’ sweat, or because of the condensation that can build up when people exercise in them or wear them for long periods of time. I’ve now had to buy new ear cushions for the AirPods because they’ve started to smell of sweat. I still hope the AirPods Max will last a long time. ...

Apple announced new products a few days ago. As always, stock in the stores is limited. If you’re smart, you check online whether the product you want is available at your local Apple Store. If you’re lazy, use the following Python script to automate that. Note: Pushover is required. #!/usr/bin/env python3 import requests import os import time def fetch_availability(product_number, store_id): payload = { "store": store_id, "little": False, "mt": "regular", "parts.0": product_number, "fts": True, } url = "https://www.apple.com/de/shop/fulfillment-messages" r = requests.get(url, params=payload) data = r.json() stores = data["body"]["content"]["pickupMessage"]["stores"] store = next(store for store in stores if store["storeNumber"] == store_id) avail = store["partsAvailability"][product_number] return { "store_name": store.get("storeName"), "available": avail.get("pickupDisplay") != "ineligible", "store_pickup_quote": avail.get("storePickupQuote"), "pickup_search_quote": avail.get("pickupSearchQuote"), "pickup_display": avail.get("pickupDisplay"), } def assemble_availability_text(product_number, store_ids): avail_text = "" for store_id in store_ids: avail = fetch_availability(product_number, store_id) avail_text += f'{avail["store_name"]}: {avail["store_pickup_quote"]}\n' return avail_text def create_file_if_not_exists(filepath): if not os.path.exists(filepath): with open(filepath, "w") as f: f.write("") def do_it(part_no, store_ids, **kwargs): availability_text = assemble_availability_text(part_no, store_ids) create_file_if_not_exists("/tmp/cache.txt") with open("/tmp/cache.txt", "r+", encoding="utf-8") as f: if f.read() == availability_text: print("No Changes", flush=True) else: print("Changes detected", availability_text, flush=True) if kwargs["pushover_enabled"] == "1": requests.post( "https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json", data={ "token": kwargs["pushover_token"], "user": kwargs["pushover_user"], "message": availability_text, "title": "CHANGES DETECTED", }, headers={"Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"}, ) f.truncate(0) f.seek(0) f.write(availability_text) if __name__ == "__main__": while True: do_it( os.environ["MONITORED_PART_NO"], os.environ["MONITORED_STORES"].split(","), pushover_enabled=os.environ["PUSHOVER_ENABLED"], pushover_token=os.environ["PUSHOVER_TOKEN"], pushover_user=os.environ["PUSHOVER_USER"], ) time.sleep(int(os.environ["POLLING_DELAY_SECONDS"])) The script is in the repository dprandzioch/apple-store-notifier on GitHub. ...