cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/6745228

TLDR: Apple wants to keep china happy, Stewart was going after china in some way, Apple said don’t, Stewart walked, the show is dead.

Not surprising at all, but sad and shitty and definitely reduces my loyalty to the platform. Hosting Stewart seemed like a real power play from Apple, where conflict like this was inevitable, but they were basically saying, yes we know, but we believe in things and, as a big company with deep pockets that can therefore take risks, to prove it we’re hosting this show.

Changing their minds like this is worse than ever hosting the show in the first place as it shows they probably don’t know what they’re doing or believe in at all, like any big company, and just going for what seems cool, and undermining the very idea of a company like Apple running a streaming platform. I wonder if the Morning Show/Wars people are paying close attention.

  • BertramDitore@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Bummer. That’s some weak and feckless megacorp bullshit. Just like something Stewart would cover, which is why this show was such a great power move. And yet? Infinite profit over all else, so never mind.

    Look at John Oliver, he talks shit about HBO constantly. Do they care? Nope, because he has more Emmys than anyone could know what to do with. Respect your talent and reap the rewards. Pretty basic stuff, Apple.

    • Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world
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      The difference is HBO is a media company that largely operates in the US, and Jon Oliver making fun of them isn’t going to hurt their business at all. Apple is a hardware company that also makes media. And selling hardware in China is critical to their business. Since the CCP owns China, they can get their panties in a twist and just ban Apple. Like they did with government devices.

      As a publicly owned company they have a legal responsibility to maximize profit for shareholders. It’s the same reason why Twitter had to agree to the sale to Elon Musk and why they had to force it. It was a terrible move overall but since Elon was buying all outstanding shares and taking it private, the board literally had no legal choice but to take it since he was offering well over market value.

      Public companies don’t get to take moral stands when there’s money on the line. They legally have to put shareholders first.

      • Whatisawaffle@kbin.social
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        “Public companies…legally have to put shareholders first.”

        I thought this too, but it is apparently a myth.

        "There is a common belief that corporate directors have a legal duty to maximize corporate profits and “shareholder value” — even if this means skirting ethical rules, damaging the environment or harming employees. But this belief is utterly false.

        To quote the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in the recent Hobby Lobby case: “Modern corporate law does not require for-profit corporations to pursue profit at the expense of everything else, and many do not.”

        https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/04/16/what-are-corporations-obligations-to-shareholders/corporations-dont-have-to-maximize-profits

          • darmabum@lemm.ee
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            well-being of the business…ahead of well-being of his employees.

            Hey, I mean, like, corporations are people too, man.

            • SlopppyEngineer@discuss.tchncs.de
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              1 year ago

              So corporations too should have to go to jail if they break the law. Or in this case close down the building and not perform any commercial activity for a certain time

              • Arghblarg@lemmy.ca
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                Funny how that worked out huh? All the benefits of personhood, but none of the downsides, like mortality, having to pay fair taxes, incarceration for crimes, possible death penalty for killing citizens …

                • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
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                  That is literally the whole point of corporations, they’re designed to allow people to take more risk. Business law 101.

                  (If you grossly abuse it, they will “pierce the corporate veil” and arrest those responsible, but again, that’s only if you’re grossly abusing it)

              • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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                Still a sticky problem from labor’s perspective, unless the corporate time-out includes salary and healthcare payments. Maybe except the C suite?

                But then you might as well keep the company open (Unless it is currently doing harm), and throw the directors in jail.

                I always understood stock investing as assuming the risk something like that could happen (I’d a director fucks up, you lose, or vote him out of the job). But now that all of our retirement is tied to the fucking thing it can’t work that way.

        • nfh@lemmy.world
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          Specifically, the thing that is wrong is the idea that the only way to uphold their fiduciary duty to shareholders is to maximize profit. They have a legal obligation to put their shareholders’ interest first, and maximizing short term profit is not the only way to do this. Benefit corps give some of their revenue to a cause, sometimes companies invest in long-term stability or profitability.

          • kirklennon@kbin.social
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            It’s a good line in what is otherwise a very, very bad SCOTUS decision that a for-profit corporation can ignore laws protecting female employees because of the corporation’s religious beliefs.

        • TheDarkKnight@lemmy.world
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          Lol try being a CEO and answering to your shareholders about how you’re not trying to maximize profits and growth. Like it may not be legally required but you’re kind of required to just by the nature of the role itself.

      • kirklennon@kbin.social
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        It’s the same reason why Twitter had to agree to the sale to Elon Musk and why they had to force it. It was a terrible move overall but since Elon was buying all outstanding shares and taking it private, the board literally had no legal choice but to take it since he was offering well over market value.

        It was put to an actual shareholder vote. The individual shareholders voted yes because he was overpaying. The board was fundamentally irrelevant.

      • Rhoeri@lemmy.world
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        Where’d did this “legal responsibility to maximize profit” bullshit come form?

        There is no such law, an no entity to enforce the responsibility.

        • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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          ~Court precedent. Shareholders have sued and won for corporations “failing to uphold fiduciary responsibilities” and other similar bullshit. So, now it’s baked into corporate culture.~

          Update: See reply below. Courts have upheld that corporations have no requirement to seek profits over all else.

        • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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          It’s frustrating but very much a real thing. You might google “fiduciary duty to shareholders.” Basically, once a company is public, the board has to act in the best interests of the shareholders (which means maximizing returns and/or shareprice.)

          This is terrible for the world but pretending it doesn’t exist doesn’t help.

            • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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              I would re-read that article a bit more closely. The point they’re making is that recently there have been developments such that maximizing profits is not seen as the SOLE principle behind decision making above all else.

              For example, they cite Hobby Lobby which has Christian practices that doubtless cut into profits but are allowed as part of the company’s mission.

              But my apologies, a more accurate phrasing would’ve been duty to shareholders and the company.

              Still, unless Apple has a really interesting company charter, annoying a capricious manufacturer of almost everything the company needs that is ALSO one of the world’s largest markets, well, not that tough a multi billion dollar decision.

            • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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              Duty is a legal concept, silly Billy.

              You can commit a crime by violating a duty. A common one of which you’ve probably heard is “duty of care” I.e., a doctor can be charged with a crime by not fulfilling their duty of care to a patient.

              https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/personal-injury/breach-of-duty/

              I almost want to look up confidently incorrect. Just maybe learn from this and try googling when you are unfamiliar with a term, you look less silly!

                • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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                  You’re getting confused or you might not actually understand how companies work, so I’ll break it down.

                  There is no law forcing a company to profit. (Though Companies are generally formed for that purpose.) A private organization could do whatever it wants within legal bounds. (This is how non profits, charitable foundations etc exist.)

                  But, what happens next is many companies go “public” by selling shares. In essence, they put a percentage of themselves on the market and people by shares in that company, such that they, legally speaking, own a tiny percentage of that company. Part of that purchase is that the company now has a fiduciary duty to the shareholders. As noted before, a duty is a legal concept like assault, negligence etc. And I explained fiduciary duty earlier, you can look through.

                  Here is kind of a classic example of a company losing a case because its directors breached their fiduciary duty to minority shareholders:

                  https://casetext.com/case/ebay-domestic-holdings-v-newmark

      • treadful@lemmy.zip
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        Apple is a hardware company that also makes media.

        Apple is a lifestyle company. The hardware is just the base layer.

            • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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              Meanwhile every major cloud provider is investing in designing and deploying their own ARM silicon. I’ve benchmarked graviton and T2A, the cost per performance is great and only going to get better.

            • fosforus@sopuli.xyz
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              Performance per watt, my dude. But sure, x86s can still heat your house better than Apple silicon.

              • WldFyre@lemm.ee
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                Performance per watt is a CPU metric I’ve never seen anyone use before lol

                It’s wild what Apple marketing comes up with

                • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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                  Yes, measuring the consumption of electricity for a given performance benchmark is totally irrelevant to datacenter providers, who get their electricity for free from the electricity fairy, and thus can harvest pure profit without operational costs.

                  It is also totally irrelevant for portable devices, because batteries last forever, and every smart phone has a huge fan inside to dump all the heat waste via dual XTREME exhausts.

                • fosforus@sopuli.xyz
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                  It’s wild what Apple marketing comes up with

                  Performance per watt has always been a major concern of chip manufacturers. Sure, they have increased the amount of watts you can throw at a chip without melting it (8086 used 1-2W) , but the most significant improvements have been towards making less watts give more power.

                  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Performance_per_watt&action=history&offset=&limit=500

                  I can appreciate not liking Apple, there are plenty of valid reasons. This is not one of them. Their CPUs are state of the art and took both Intel and AMD with their pants down.

      • atrielienz@lemmy.world
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        Nah, Apple is an ad aggregation company same as Google. They use hardware and software to lock users into their products so they can show them ads and collect their data to make the ads more targeted. In return ad companies pay them to serve ads to their users. That’s how they make money.

  • zecg@lemmy.world
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    definitely reduces my loyalty to the platform

    You are either paying the subscription or not, your inner states mean nothing to them or us.

    • UPGRAYEDD@lemmy.world
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      I can think of an old great daily news show that still doesnt have a permanent host… please!!!..

      Or run for president.

      • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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        I’ve been saying, “Stewart for President” for decades now. He is perfect for the job. He would never want that job, which I just see as further qualification.

        • Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world
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          He fought congress for two fucking decades for 9/11 first responders and the families to get paid, he comes more than prepared to every talk, and he’s not afraid to shut someone down and call out bullshit.

          I’d say he’s over qualified for work in politics

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            Ukraine got their version of Jon Stewart to become their president and he’s successfully fighting off a Russian invasion. Sounds like an endorsement to me.

        • FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world
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          It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job

          Let’s just kidnap Jon and pressgang him into the Oval Office. He’d be the best president since that peanut farmer, maybe better

        • Pxtl@lemmy.ca
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          Back when he was hosting the Daily Show? Yes. Now? I’ve watched his show a bit and… I think he went a little nuts on that farm of his.

          He sounds like vegan Joe Rogan now. Too much conspiracy, too much long anticapitalist ranting while his guests sit awkwardly and say “uh, okay”.

          He’s a good guy and what he did for 9/11 first responders was amazing, but he’s not the man he used to be.

    • maegul (he/they)@lemmy.mlOP
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      Well sure, point is producing Stewart’s show was a notable choice that indicated favourable things about the platform/studio.

  • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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    “Let’s talk about all the cheap Chinese labour that Apple uses despite being the 10th richest company in the world.”

    “Let’s not.”

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      Chinese people deserve jobs too. Comparative advantage is a good thing that helps everyone involved.

      The Yuan is currently trading at 7.32 to 1 USD

      Companies that appease the CCP are the problem, not companies that leverage exchange rates to better lives globally.

      • deaf_fish@lemm.ee
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        Chinese people deserve good jobs, not jump off of a building to kill yourself, but wait your the 4th person to do that this month so they installed a net jobs.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          I am questioning where I supported Chinese government policies here?

          Because the initial concern was pay, and that’s due to not understanding economic factors. I don’t support Chinese labor regs at all.

          In fact I said

          “Companies that appease the CCP are the problem” which I also thought was a nice little pun, given the show being discussed.

          • isles@lemmy.world
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            I don’t support Chinese labor regs at all.

            I wonder why labor is cheaper in China.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              Two big reasons

              1: currency exchange rates

              2: China is sill fundamentally agrarian and industrializing, and many workers are looking for (comparatively) higher pay

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              The show that Stewart walked out on is “The Problem with Jon Stewart”

          • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee
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            Yes, fuck the Chinese government.

            And the corporations, both Chinese and American, that help support it.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              Depends on what that means imo. Global trade theoretically supports the Chinese government, because money is fungible, but is a net positive all around.

              The Chinese will never stop clinging to autocracy without wealth of their own.

              • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee
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                The “Chinese” will never have wealth, ask Jack ma.

                The ccp would burn China to the ground before releasing an ounce of their power and stolen wealth.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  That is not an excuse to stop trying to empower the Chinese to rise against their hellstate.

                  Capitalism broke the USSR and it will break the CCP.

      • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
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        The Yuan is currently trading at 7.32 to 1 USD

        That means nothing without knowing the total supply

          • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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            For that you need 2 data pieces:

            • The median pay of chinese workers in Yuan.
            • The Yuan - Us Dollar cross currency exchange rate.

            You then use the second to convert the first into US Dollars so that you compare the Chinese salaries in USD to American salaries is USD.

            Merely the second piece of data wIthout the first means nothing if you’re trying to compare salaries.

            For example, before the Euro the Italian Lira used to have a cross currency exchange rate with the dollar which was thousands of lire per dollar and that didn’t mean Italians in the 80s were incredibly poor: because for every dollar the average US worker received in their salary the average Italian worker got thousands of lire, all put together mean they got about 1/2 to 1/3 of a US salary rather that the 1/1000 that by your the exchange rate alone suffices “logic”.

            By the way, that cross currency exchange rates are meaningless to compare incomes or costs without the actual incomes and prices in the local currency, is really, really, REALLY basic financial knowledge.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              You then use the second to convert the first into US Dollars so that you compare the Chinese salaries in USD to American salaries is USD

              You don’t need to do this because you only need to look at the fact that those jobs are competed for to see that they are desirable.

              Wage parity isn’t a meaningful discussion when discussing comparative advantage. Too many other factors come into play.

              • Bernie_Sandals@lemmy.world
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                Okay but you realize that any job would be competitive in situations of poverty right? That’s why you need the second data point.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  That’s specifically why comparative advantage is a good thing - lifting people out of poverty is a good thing.

              • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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                To fully measure Comparitive Advantages, you must include the differences in manpower costs, which brings us back to salaries (plus, since this is to compare manpower costs, you also need things like the employer-side tax costs such as social security payments), which then needs to be converted to a single currency using cross-currency exchange rates.

                Further, every single monetary elements of calculating Comparitive Advantage which is in local currencies needs to go through those cross-currency exchange rates in order to be comparable.

                There is no way you can calculate comparative advantage merelly with the single datapoint which is a cross-currency exchange rate because all that tells you is the relation between two units of measurement and says nothing about the actual quantities being measured.

                As I said, this is incredibly basic financial stuff.

                To give you a really basic non-financial example which hopefully will make you understand it:

                • Two farms produce milk, one in Britain and the other in The Netherlands. The farm in Britain measures milk by the pint. The one in The Netherlands measures milk by the liter.

                What you wrote in your original post is equivalent to saying that “The farm in Britain produces more milk because 1 pint = 1.759754 liters”.

                You don’t know anything about how many pints the British farm produces, or about how many liters the Dutch farm produces, yet you claimed the ratio between two measurement units is enough by let you draw conclusions about production numbers even though you used no prodution numbers.

                If I was to bet I would say you’ve read some articles about how the exchange rate of the Yuan vs USD is kept artificially low to increase the competiviness of Chinese exports, didn’t quite understand how it works and still thought you knew enough and applied it were it wasn’t applicable and/or in the wrong way.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  No I just work in international business and know hy we outsource certain roles.

                  You keep pretending you know more about this, and you’re describing irrelevant things. I took econ/IB in college too, bud. Lots of people do.

      • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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        Companies that appease the CCP are the problem, not companies that leverage exchange rates to better lives globally.

        Companies in China ARE the CCP. Nothing is actually privately owned. Everything is owned by the government, so giving any money to a company in China is supporting the CCP.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          Lots of foreign companies have branches in China, including most global corps

          • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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            True, but that is completely irrelevant to the topic of whether it is ethical to use cheap Chinese labor. Those branches are not the ones employing cheap labor from the blue collar workers in China. Those are almost entirely white collar jobs, and many of them are in place specifically to work with the local companies who DO employ the blue collar laborers. The sweatshops aren’t OWNED by Nike or Gucci or Apple. They are contract facilities owned by a CCP-backed corporation.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              Sure but that level of contracting is not contributing to the CCP so much as to the Chinese people

              It’s ethical to employ any sort of labor

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  Slavery isn’t employment

                  the condition of having paid work. “a fall in the numbers in full-time employment”

  • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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    reduces my loyalty to the platform

    Why the fuck would you have any loyalty to Apple? They sure as shit don’t have any loyalty to their customers. In fact they piss in the face of their customers and tell them it’s raining.

    • Troy@lemmy.ca
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      No, but they have at least two good sci fi series.

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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        Yeah I’m not gonna lie, their streaming platform is incredible but I ain’t giving them any money LOL

        • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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          They have one or two good shows, but it’s a HUGE stretch to claim the entire offering is “incredible”.

          I’ve gotten it for free through tmobile for over a year now, and it’s the least used platform I subscribe to.

    • RageAgainstTheRich@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Hell, they tell them its apple juice and people are swallowing as if their lives depend on it. A few people i know use apple products like the iphone, and then complain when certain software doesn’t run on it. I told them thats why they should have stayed with android. And they just get angry because apparently Android is for poor people?

  • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Insert South Park Disney Mickey Mouse China meme

    Big props to John for walking away.

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      How did Apple not see this coming up as future conflict with it’s talent. Its almost like they didn’t watch the fucking show, or the causes he devoted himself to after retiring. It’s a rare thing I know, but not everyone can be bought. His entire platform that he’s built up over the years, would have collapsed if he had pulled a John Cena.

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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        Stewart was “edgy” in the 00s but is largely a safe bet these days. More Kimmel than Oliver.

        China was always a danger but also seems like the kind of thing that can be “this is the one topic you aren’t allowed to talk about” and nobody would ever really notice.

        The real issue is AI. You can’t NOT talk a bout AI at this point and that is where even liberal leaning centrists tend to have very vocal takes about the implications on labor and media.

        • AdamHenry@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          I also disagree with the Kimmel comparison, as his facade as a nice guy became transparent as his show progressed. I am not a Stewart fanboy in any sense, and while he may have lost some edge due to maturity, he has stayed true to what he thinks is the right thing.

          • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            I am not talking about whether you like them as a person or want to go to their birthday party.

            What I mean is that Kimmel will go hard on a “safe” topic like trump but is not going to be causing controversy. That is more or less where Stewart has been since The Daily Show (honestly, kind of during it too).

            Whereas people like John Oliver are very much the kind of people you hire knowing that the ratings will be worth the controversy.

        • AdamHenry@discuss.tchncs.de
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          I will admit I really haven’t considered the implications of AI being a real threat. I am aware that it is a potential tool to cut labor costs, but havie not gone further into the rabbit hole.

  • 0xb@lemmy.world
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    Let this be the regular reminder that any time that a gigantic for profit corporation seems to be doing the right thing it’s a mere coincidence and they are following their bottom line. The moment those two depart, they will look after their bottom line right thing be damned. There are no moral corporations.

    Maybe those good things they do while are convenient to them are moral and bring real benefits and can be followed and celebrated, but ultimately they are a convenient mask to trick customers. So don’t ever be loyal to a brand, be loyal to principles.

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    But I thought Apple was the good guy, looking out for us folk and doing privacy-focused things!

    What? That’s just marketing garbage? Nah, surely Apple wouldn’t just be a shitty company just like everyone else. Better buy some more overpriced products to support them!

    • steltek@lemm.ee
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      The privacy thing was always hiding the real truth. Apple will never be able to compete with Google on ads or tracking: they have neither the engineering chops nor the reach. By being “privacy first”, it saves Apple money and cuts off a little of Google’s revenue stream.

      The benefit to customers was a secondary effect.

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        Apple’s stance is more effectively like “Let’s get to know each other in private, babe” than “privacy first”.

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      Has anyone ever really believed that? It became very apparent very quickly that their MO was getting customers to buy only Apple products and then to replace them as often as they could get away with.

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        I dunno the state of stuff now, but my MacBook Pro is from 2011 and I still use it (with some upgrades)

        And my phone is five years old, on its original battery, and is still faster than most of my friends’ phones lawl

          • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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            People hate on them because they are overpriced and they want complete control of your hardware and software.

            You cannot repair or upgrade anything and you cannot install software they have not approved.

            The experience takes a back seat to all of that. Never owned any Apple products and never will, unless the market or the EU puts sufficient pressure on them to cut out the bullshit.

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            If you work in audio, media, want to come across as fancy or want something with a dash of Linux functionality then a Mac is a good option. Otherwise, stick with a PC or a Linux compy.

          • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            I hated them when I was a teen, but I suppose that was PowerBook era. I got older and realized that I only hated them because they couldn’t play games and were expensive.

            Bought my first MacBook (ironically for playing games on the go—PC laptops were shit back in 2007) and after an unfortunate soft drink accident had it replaced in 2011 (for free woooo!) That’s the one I’m still using today.

            I don’t use any Google products or services so my only choice is an iPhone, and I fucking love it. Each iPhone I’ve had lasted more than four years, while still running great. That’s more than I can say about my HTC Dream lawl, but that was first-Gen so I give it some leeway.

            Still a PC builder all the way, have four of them. But people shitting on Apple for their products’ longevity are silly. The cost is high (usually) but they’ve got some quality shit that lasts.

            • Globulart@lemmy.world
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              My pc has lasted 14 years (and I expect another 40) and been capable of playing every game in that time because I’ve been able to upgrade it without dropping thousands at once.

              Apple products are good for sure, but they don’t let the consumer choose very much. Sometimes that’s good (I always advocated apple products for my grandparents) but more often than not it’s just annoying.

              I buy a new android phone every 3ish years and give my old one to my mum, she’s never had one break yet so all mine have had at least 5-6 years life before she upgrades to my latest old one (and possibly it still has years left). I don’t buy the idea that Apple phones last longer than Android at all.

        • Globulart@lemmy.world
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          What upgrades? Not doubting you, just curious what you’ve been able to do.

          That was kinda the point I was making because apple don’t really let you upgrade hardware so if you want an improved computer better go spend a couple grand on our shiny new one with a 0.2mm thinner screen!

          They definitely make good products, and I advised my grandparents to stick to apple because it’s more intuitive for a non techy person, and because they’re all identical and customer support would be easier to deal with.

          Phones matter a bit less I suppose because we’re not all upgrading hardware in android phones, they did recently lose a court case for deliberately throttling speeds on old devices though didn’t they?

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    Canceling Apple TV over this, knew they were spineless, but this is pathetic since it’s one of the few shows I watch on it. Growing really tired of all these service subscriptions as it is.

    • littlecolt@lemm.ee
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      Same. This is my 3rd to last subscription. The ones left standing are Spotify and Shonen Jump. Because they still deliver what they are supposed to without bullshit.

    • AdamHenry@discuss.tchncs.de
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      I had Netflix and then cancelled it as a cost saving measure during COVID. I also have Prime which I never even bother with, because of it’s fucking format. I wound up with an early sub to YouTube because I got completely enthralled with Time Team. I found that it pretty much has everything I want to watch. I never thought that would’ve happened because I initially considered YT a lower tier service.

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    Damn that’s a real shame, no surprise Jon walked out. That man actually has standards, he don’t need the money he was there because he cared and wanted to put out a positive voice that analyzed the bullshit we all have to deal with and his platform enabled that perfectly, just like his work for vets and burn pits.

    I hope he transitions elsewhere but keeps the content as-is

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    Because we all know how easy it is to silence Jon Stewart.

    Something tells me he could get more funding for a show with a gofundme than Apple+ is authorized to spend.

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    Meh, realistically I don’t think Jon does it because he needs money.

    He seems like the kind of person who does things because it’s the right thing to do. So taking away his platform isn’t going to make him go away or shut him up.

    It might take a while for him to get another one but I’m confident this guy will be on his deathbed telling people in power they suck & should do better.

    We need more people like him

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    According to The Hollywood Reporter, ahead of its decision to end The Problem, Apple approached Stewart directly and expressed its need for the host and his team to be “aligned” with the company’s views on topics discussed. Rather than falling in line when Apple threatened to cancel the show, Stewart reportedly decided to walk.

    Good for Jon Stewart. He held the line even when the money people demanded that he compromise. Maybe a VP pic. I could see it.

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      He is successful enough, old enough and made enough money, that he can just retire. Threatening him is an empty threat. He is 60 and probably given his long career earned more than he can spend in rest of his life, unless he goes super yacht and private jet crazy.

      The whole show was a come back from retirement essentially. A voluntary indulgence on his part. Surely lucrative indulgence, but indulgence still. Apple needed him, he didn’t need Apple.

      Most of the crew probably will leave for other project with a letter of recommendation from John in their pocket.

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    We are in a dystopian future, where cooperate interests trump reporting.

    Independence or the free media does not exist anymore, they are all governed by the economic interests of the 1%. Democracy is hereby dead, and nobody is fighting to save it anymore.

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      Democracy offically died in America the day Citizens United was approved by the Supreme Court.

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    There is something particularly amusing and very ironic that a mega-corp like Apple, the most valuable company in the world, is standing up to defend a communist dictatorship and won’t accept any dissent.