This week Apple released new MacBook Pros to the world. And I told you why you might want to hold off buying one, assuming that buying one is even a viable option. But something else happened at the same time that those MacBook Pros were being released. Apple also expanded their service program for people who have issues with the butterfly keyboard. And if you look at what’s covered by this service program, you’ll note something interesting:
If you look at the picture, you’ll note that included on the list are the 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pros that were just released this week. Those models are the last two on the list.
Think about that for a second. A brand new product already has a service program attached to it. That’s strange is it not? It’s even more strange when you consider that Apple told media outlets like The Loop the following:
To address the problem, Apple said they changed the material in the keyboard’s butterfly mechanism that should substantially reduce issues that some users have seen.
Clearly Apple doesn’t feel that this change in material will address the problem completely. Otherwise they would have made a bolder statement than the one above. Which means that you can draw a couple of conclusions:
- Apple knows that the basic design of the butterfly keyboard is flawed and any tweaking that they do won’t move that needle to the point where the keyboard isn’t a massive problem for them anymore.
- Apple knows that only a complete redesign or the total abandonment of the butterfly keyboard will truly address this issue. And clearly they can’t do either at the moment.
If those two points weren’t true, Apple would not have bothered to add these new MacBook Pros to the service program to repair these keyboards.
Now you could argue that Apple is trying to instill confidence in its products by saying “Look we improved the keyboard, but if you have issues we’ve got your back.” But consider this. Apple has a department called Early Field Failure Analysis that looks into the quality of products after they ship and sounds the alarm to the Tim Cook’s of the world when things start to go off the rails. So with that in mind, they could have let these ship and gathered data to see how they were operating in the field. From that data they could have made a decision on whether to add them to this service program or not. Or if they need to take additional actions beyond that. But they didn’t do that. They instead added these new MacBook Pros to the service program the second that they were announced. That says to me that they know that they know that they still have a problem with the butterfly keyboard that they cannot fix.
I think it’s clear at this point that the butterfly keyboards are not only horribly flawed, but they appear to be unfixable. Because of that, those who are considering a new MacBook should stay far, far away from these notebooks and any notebook in the Apple lineup that uses the butterfly keyboard. Because Apple clearly can’t provide the reliability that you should expect from a premium product like the Apple MacBook Pro, and consumers should not have to suffer for that.
Snapchat Caught Spying On Its Users
Posted in Commentary with tags Snapchat on May 24, 2019 by itnerdVice has a report that based on ‘multiple sources’ and a cache of internal emails, Snapchat employees were spying on users:
Two former employees said multiple Snap employees abused their access to Snapchat user data several years ago. Those sources, as well as an additional two former employees, a current employee, and a cache of internal company emails obtained by Motherboard, described internal tools that allowed Snap employees at the time to access user data, including in some cases location information, their own saved Snaps and personal information such as phone numbers and email addresses. Snaps are photos or videos that, if not saved, typically disappear after being received (or after 24 hours if posted to a user’s Story).
And:
One of the internal tools that can access user data is called SnapLion, according to multiple sources and the emails. The tool was originally used to gather information on users in response to valid law enforcement requests, such as a court order or subpoena, two former employees said. Both of the sources said SnapLion is a play on words with the common acronym for law enforcement officer LEO, with one of them adding it is a reference to the cartoon character Leo the Lion. Snap’s “Spam and Abuse” team has access, according to one of the former employees, and a current employee suggested the tool is used to combat bullying or harassment on the platform by other users. An internal Snap email obtained by Motherboard says a department called “Customer Ops” has access to SnapLion. Security staff also have access, according to the current employee. The existence of this tool has not been previously reported.
SnapLion provides “the keys to the kingdom,” one of the former employees who described the abuse of accessing user data said.
What makes this really bad is that Snapchat users choose the platform specifically because of its perceived privacy. And what this report proves is that Snapchat users potentially have none. Though the company would rather that you didn’t think about that based on this statement:
A Snap spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement “Protecting privacy is paramount at Snap. We keep very little user data, and we have robust policies and controls to limit internal access to the data we do have. Unauthorized access of any kind is a clear violation of the company’s standards of business conduct and, if detected, results in immediate termination.”
Sure. Right. I’m not buying that and neither should you if you use Snapchat. And once again this highlights that companies like Snap need to be reigned in and regulated. Otherwise this sort of thing will simply keep happening.
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