Hey.

All the same, everything has changed, the wheel of time has turned again, and now I am amazed at how quickly a young girl can type on the phone. She looks you in the eye, listens attentively and does not pay attention to her smartphone at all. He holds it in two hands and quickly writes down what I say, the text is typed quickly and without errors. I can’t do that, I need to feel the physical keys, but my children are typing in exactly the same way. They look out the car window and scribble something without looking at the screen. I caught myself thinking that in the 90s my ability to blindly type text on a computer keyboard seemed to be the same curiosity. Then people asked how I learned this, myself or thanks to Shahidzhanyan’s book “Solo on the Keyboard”, it just appeared on the shelves. He joked that he had only read “1001 questions about it” and that is how he learned to type. But the answer was that from childhood I had computers at home and a keyboard and mouse did not seem like something surprising and inaccessible. Today, young people have grown up with telephones, they are familiar to them from the cradle, and their ideas about beauty are completely different from ours. The physical touch of the keys is an old-fashioned desire, a tribute to habit. You can live without it, and live comfortably. But not for everyone who is over 30 years old, we are a little outdated in this aspect, and a few of those who have learned new tricks only confirm this rule.

Today’s release is largely about Apple, since the company lived by inertia after Jobs’s death, and today this power reserve is starting to fizzle out. The myth has faded, the gilding has departed, and therefore Apple is attacked from all sides. Jobs’ legacy will be taken to the corners over the course of a decade, and there are all the prerequisites for this, but we will talk about current affairs. Let’s start with an amazing observation of Yandex.Taxi. Go!

Content

1. Yandex and storage of personal data in Russia – an adventure with points
2. Free iPhone 11 screen replacement, AirPods Pro replacement – Apple branding
3. Environment, charging from Apple and officials in different countries
4. Falling sales of iPhone 12 in Russia, another look at history
5. Titanium Galaxy Watch3 – new watch impressions
6. Why the Galaxy S21 are showing up so early, what does it mean
7. Books. Hannah Fry, “Hello world – how to be human in the age of machines”

Yandex and storage of personal data in Russia – an adventure with points

I actively use Yandex.Taxi, the reason is the number of cars, how quickly they arrive. The quality of service is acceptable for the tariff that I use, although I cannot say that everything is excellent and for the top five. Before the pandemic, the quality was higher, now the savings are clearly visible and the fact that the company has abandoned full-time training, now all drivers take online courses in the program.

Not so long ago, Yandex launched cashback points, they can be spent on anything. The child without hesitation chose the “excellent” offer, there was no way to go back, more precisely, I did not bother with it. Cashback in my case is a form of taking money under the guise of profit. In a taxi there is a discount for a Yandex.Plus subscriber (minus 10%) plus a discount from MasterCard (minus 15%), which means that each trip is 25% cheaper. A tangible discount that gives you a fundamentally different cost of the trip.

Why did you enter points? The answer lies on the surface – to cancel any discounts. For example, a trip costs 1 rubles, in my case it will be 000 rubles. With points, it turns out that instead of a 750% Yandex.Plus discount, exactly the same number of points is awarded, in our example it is 10 points. Sounds exactly the same as a discount? Exactly until you try to use these points. After all, no discounts when traveling for points are valid, and you need to spend more than if you paid in real money. For example, the same trip of 100 rubles will cost 1 points. And it is clear that the discount is always more profitable.

Accumulated about 5 points, I decided to spend them on trips. And suddenly I saw that all the points in the application had disappeared, they simply were gone. He shrugged his shoulders, but noticed that all discounts were returned in full. On the other phone, the picture was normal – all the points and the ability to use them remained. For two days, the support service offered different solutions to the problem – delete the application and cache, log out of the profile and log in again. I did all this before prompting, and the result was always the same.

It was not clear to me how the same application with the same Yandex profile could behave so differently. But the answer was found in the same support service, on the second day I was informed that I need to turn off the VPN and everything will return to its place. See how the menu differs with and without a VPN connection.

Despite the fact that Yandex understands that I am on the territory of Russia, the company turns on a different mode of access to data if my smartphone accesses them through European servers. In particular, I cannot see my points, various promotional activities, some settings and my data are not shown. It sounds strange, to say the least, but in practice everything is exactly like that. I think that the company complies with the law on the storage of personal data in this way, I can think of no other reason for this.

I decided to play with other services, in Yandex.Disk the priorities of access and the speed of access to the service changed (via VPN they are noticeably lower, like the European channel is slow – there is no such thing with other cloud services, this is clearly a priority given by the service). Surprisingly, this is something that does not come to mind when using a VPN.

I’m used to the fact that many sites adjust the language to the gateway of the country that is selected in the VPN, for example, Reuters constantly throws me on the German version of its page. And Google offers to translate sites into German, but then, however, this help disappears. Life without a VPN in conditions of blocking of certain resources in different countries is impossible, this is part of the necessary tools of a modern person.

My dream is that for VPN there will be automation at the level of mobile systems, the ideal option is when you specify with which programs you need to use the VPN. For example, you launch Yandex.Taxi, and your VPN connection is turned on so that you will not receive cashback points, but a full discount. When you are in China, the VPN will automatically turn on when you start Facebook or another social network. But for other applications, it does not work. I would like all this to happen in the background, and everything could be configured once. But nothing like this exists today, you turn on the VPN and it just starts working for all your connections. You can’t run the same Facebook as an app to trigger the initial VPN connection. It’s a shame.

Many companies and services have already become victims of the law on personal data. For example, users of Google voice speakers knew that, despite their official absence in Russia, they could choose Russian from the menu and chat with the speaker in their native language. Recently, the Russian language has disappeared, it simply has disappeared. The reason is exactly the same, so that the company could not be accused of collecting data on the territory of Russia. The feeling that Google is starting to blow up, fearing any problems with officials and accusations of collecting data.

In 2021-2022, we will see a noticeable impact of Russian laws on any services that work with user data. I cannot say that this is bad, since European markets are going exactly in the same direction, the European Union has become a pioneer in this aspect. In Russia, for now, officials are very cautiously probing the ground, but it is already clear that American corporations are ready to work with the state and are afraid of any bans, as this directly leads to the loss of the market. For the first time in 2020, the same Apple turned out to be so pliable that it agreed to all the requirements of the law on the pre-installation of software, negotiated with officials in Russia. But the funniest thing that is not mentioned anywhere is the obligation from 2021 to provide full access to their services within the framework of Russian laws (as Yandex and others are already doing). This is Openel’s secret, everyone, without exception, will have to comply with Russian laws, this is already a necessity. The only difference is how companies will do it – on their own or under duress and various fines. In the same Apple could not defeat the ideas of officials, and therefore decided to comply with them. For the company, the Russian market remains one of the key markets in Europe for all products; it is the largest market.

Free iPhone 11 screen replacement, AirPods Pro replacement – Apple branding

How do I like Apple’s approach to marriage in its products? The fact that he always touches a small number of devices, this is exactly what the company claims. Remember the massive user reviews that the sensor on the iPhone 11 periodically does not work, it stops responding to taps? There were a fair number of victims, but most of them were refused service, since the defect did not appear constantly.

Apple’s traditional algorithm is always the same:

• There is no problem (you are not holding your phone like that!);
• After a long time, recognition of the problem for “a small number of devices”;
• Extension of warranty for affected models, replacement of a defective component.

This was the case with the MacBook and the butterfly keyboard, and it was with dozens of other products. And just last week, the company admitted that iPhone 11 released between November 2019 and May 2020 may have screen issues. The warranty against screen malfunction is extended by two years from the date of retail sale. The extended warranty only affects the display; you can have it replaced at an authorized service center. To check if this problem affects you or not, you can enter a number on the Apple website here.

The reason Apple starts doing something is always the same – the threat of class action lawsuits in the US and some other countries. When a critical mass of those who are upset and know for sure that they have not done anything wrong with their devices is recruited, Apple begins to address the issue, but not until then. Another recent example is the poor sound and performance of the AirPods Pro. A factory defect (more precisely, a flaw in the design and assembly) led to the fact that extraneous noises, clicks were heard in the headphones, the noise reduction system did not work correctly. Any AirPods Pro can be replaced for free at a service center, just mention the signs of these problems. This applies to any headphones manufactured before October 2020.

The description of the program can be found here.

A top manager of one large retail chain explained the increase in the cost of AirPods Pro in Russia precisely by a flaw in the headphones that were produced before October of this year. The replacement is supposed to be so massive that the cost of AirPods Pro has grown from 21 to 25 thousand rubles. This is also a story about savings and how to siphon money out of customers in order to eliminate the consequences of their own mistakes.

Environment, charging from Apple and officials in different countries

Apple continues to claim that they are very concerned about the environment and for this very reason they do not want to complete their smartphones with chargers. Allegedly, abandoning the charger will lead to a decrease in CO2 emissions. In my opinion, today they are trying to explain anything by ecology, but in the case of Apple it is just a hidden price increase. I am especially touched by the behavior of SMM specialists, who were instructed to repeat the same thing: “After Apple, all manufacturers will refuse to charge, they will not be included in the package.” We have several such SMMs on our site, we carefully store them, as this is an ideal opportunity to find out the theses of the opposite side. On my own behalf, I note that all products that are released in the first quarter of 2020 and will directly compete with Apple have fast charging in the kit, no refusal has occurred. I am sure that the next line of defense will sound like this: “They haven’t refused yet, but then they will definitely refuse.”

By touching on the environment as a cover for their exercise, Apple has unwittingly drawn the ire of many officials who deal with exactly these issues. There are dozens of cases around the world in which government agencies directly accuse Apple of dubious practices. The last one that immediately comes to mind: the British parliamentary committee on environmental audit said that Apple saved on their products, as they increased the cost of their maintenance, as well as the prices for such services. Apple was “disappointed and surprised.”

Another disappointment for Apple was the situation in Brazil, so far only in the state of São Paulo. The State Department for Consumer Protection (an analogue of our Rospotrebnadzor) asked Apple to explain why 12 iPhones do not come with a charger. In particular, Apple was asked to prove by calculations that buyers will not suffer from this, and the environment, on the contrary, will benefit. This is the most correct approach when you do not need to take the word for it, but you need to ask for numbers that can be checked. Words are always words, another thing is when you have the calculations of the company and they can, one way or another, be checked.

Apple echoed what it said before, customers already have chargers, and carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced. The answer did not seem thoughtful and satisfactory, Apple was ordered to return the charger in the box. Brazil’s Minister of Consumer Affairs said a similar decision would be made throughout the country, as Apple’s actions were contrary to the interests of buyers.

In Russia, several people turned to Rospotrebnadzor to find out the department’s position regarding the missing charger included with the iPhone. The answer of officials who are called upon to protect the rights of Russian consumers makes us cry, they cannot influence a foreign company, since Apple is not a Russian manufacturer!

Excuse, there is no other name for this letter. Apple products are sold in Russia, but officials believe that they should not protect buyers, and this is the prerogative of the courts. Some kind of stone age, when officials live in the paradigm “my house is on the edge.” And here they clearly do not fulfill their immediate duties. The consumer wrote a statement and indicated Apple Inc, not Apple Rus LLC, but this should not play a role for the officials, they had to find out on their own who was supplying the goods to Russia and selling them. This is their area of ​​responsibility, not the buyer. Alas, while officials work like this, or rather, in this case they do not work.

At the same time, officials are increasingly punishing Apple with a ruble, they are not afraid in other countries to assert that Apple is behaving incorrectly in the market. Let’s take a look at Italy, where the antitrust authority fined the company 10 million euros. The reason is Apple’s claims about the presence of water protection in a number of smartphones without indicating that the warranty does not cover the repair of devices flooded with water. What’s interesting is that Apple is forcing it to post on its own website clarifications that will be created by antitrust officials. It seems like a mosquito bite for Apple, but there are dozens of such stories, and they create an overall picture of the world. For Apple, alas, it is not very happy, the company is forced to spend huge resources to fight officials and consumers around the world. Russian officials have so far taken a wait-and-see attitude, but they will soon join this campaign for Apple’s money, there are too many problems that lie on the surface, and money that can be easily collected in favor of the state (read, earn a medal).

Falling sales of iPhone 12 in Russia, another look at history

The Kommersant newspaper published a note that the demand for the new generation of iPhone 12 in Russia is three times less than for the previous models. Let me remind you that Kommersant is today the country’s leading business publication. The impact on the market, on the minds of the maximum.

You can read the original note here.

The article is based on data from oneFactor, this research company analyzes the data of operators, including seeing both the activation of devices on the network and the profiles of subscribers (not only what is indicated, but in fact who it is by behavior, for example, children often use SIM cards registered for the parents). More accurate data simply does not exist, and they include all devices without exception, including the gray market (these are registrations in operators’ networks, not checking sales channels).

I will quote a piece of text: “The drop in demand for new iPhones this year is due to high prices, a shortage of Pro models, an increase in the period of use of devices and a pandemic, because of which people save on smartphones,” said Maxim Voevodsky, director of analytics and algorithms at oneFactor. Compared to the end of 2019, sales of new smartphones have declined by 15% overall, with high-end device makers experiencing the biggest drop in sales, he says. Apple sales fell by almost 20%, Huawei – by more than 30%, Samsung – by only 10%, Mr. Voevodsky estimates.

To begin with, there is an incredible shortage of new iPhones, impossible to buy. Apple completely failed the production plan, so many countries received less volume than the market needs. It’s just a fact, and the scarcity is solely due to this. At the same time, the gray market has all options for devices, in any colors from the first days, but there are no noticeable sales, even at prices equal to Russian ones. At the beginning of December, there is no shortage at all, you can buy anything you like, and the devices are available. But the difference from previous years is that Apple partners do not put iPhones at most points, they buy them much less. And the reason is trivial – the high price of the devices, low sales expectations. Do you know what is the funniest thing about this story? The fact that Apple itself does not believe in the 12th generation of the iPhone and therefore supplies it in such volumes. This is just a reasonable approach when you do not want to create warehouses with illiquid assets.

I quickly ran through the websites of different stores and saw that you can buy any color, the amount of memory of the iPhone 12 of all models in Moscow, there is no problem. Moreover, many places offer discounts of one kind or another, just buy it!

It is interesting that Yulia Tishina, the author of this article, encountered an audience of bloggers defending Apple until their last breath, I really liked the questions. Check out the post from Julia’s social network about this.

Of course, I was especially pleased that the person could not read the article and even understand what was written there (hint: everything is chewed up there). The myth around Apple is gradually fading and collapsing, and the article in Kommersant is just one of the events, far from the main thing in what is happening, but at the same time significant. It is rare that a sales failure of a commercial product is brought to the front page. And the reason is exactly one thing: Apple has been creating a myth around the company for a long time, but now it works against them. Something similar happened with Nokia, the parallels are obvious and lie on the surface.

But do you know what happened to Apple in terms of sales? They have grown, and at the same time due to the demand for old models! Let’s talk about numbers, since I’ve never seen anything like it in recent history. In week 42, Apple shows the entire iPhone 12 line, announces prices for these models, while simultaneously adjusting the cost of previous devices. Key models in sales up to this point are iPhone 11 128 GB, iPhone 11 64 GB, iPhone Xr. The share of sales from all Apple sales (they are plus or minus unchanged week to week) is 41, 15 and 10% in the 7st week, respectively. After the announcement from Apple, there is a spike in sales of older models (a price cut is a good factor, but in previous years there was nothing like that). Already on the 42nd week, the share of these devices in sales is growing: 22, 16 and 7%. In the 43rd week, sales increase in absolute numbers, it is these three models that are growing and pushing them up. By mid-November, the trend is undeniable, Apple is selling these three devices more than ever in history, other models just make up a long tail, including new items. On average, Apple shipped to partners about 58 thousand smartphones per week in the fall (the same 41st week), by the end of November it is about 70 thousand smartphones, demand is growing only for old models, their shares are growing with an increase in absolute numbers.

There is no unique situation in that old iPhones are selling better than new ones, since 2016 this is the norm for the market. The uniqueness is in how the sales of the iPhone 11 are growing, how much they have become in demand. At the end of November, this even gave a market share of 15% for Apple, let me remind you that before that it was about 9%. Within a year or quarter, the share will not exceed 10%, but the very fact of local growth is remarkable. This is a characteristic of how the company missed the mark with the 12th generation, it just does not need a noticeable mass of loyal audience, and it chooses the old devices. Something similar is happening in other markets, but this is explained to us by the deficit. I think that the shortage is a direct consequence of the understanding within Apple that these devices are not for sale at such prices. And therefore, in fact, production is increasing not for them, but for old models. The puzzle is easy to fold.

The myths around Apple were once good for the company, but as it got weaker, they hit it painfully. This is already a given, and there is no escape from this.

Titanium Galaxy Watch3 – new watch impressions

I got a titanium Galaxy Watch3 instead of the usual version, from old memory I thought that I would like the metal bracelet.

Let me remind you that such a watch in a stainless steel case with a leather strap costs 35 thousand rubles, a version with a titanium case – 50 thousand. The first thing you notice is that the strap is made of stainless steel. It closes exactly the same as on many Swiss watches (press in the middle).

Completely black watch, bracelet made with metal stripes, quite comfortable. It is not difficult to adjust it by hand, but, of course, silicone straps are much more comfortable and ergonomic. For lovers of metal bracelets, this statement will not be obvious, but here everyone chooses their own and focuses on their habits. The bracelet does not cause discomfort.

In the meantime, I looked for metal bracelets for this watch, I realized that hundreds of different options from third-party companies offer them. They look very good in the pictures, but these are photographs, and nothing more. The range of prices is from 500 to 4 rubles, it is not clear which brands are worth watching and which are not. Therefore, if you have already faced such a choice, purchased something from third-party manufacturers, perhaps ordered in China, then share your experience. I want to replace the silicone strap with something else on ordinary Watch Active000.

I’m not sure if I need to write a separate review for Watch3 in the titanium version, but rather I will supplement the review that we have already published. Probably, this will be more correct, since the materials differ, but not the watch itself.

Why the Galaxy S21 are showing up so early, what does it mean

We are accustomed to the fact that life goes on as usual, in February Samsung shows the S-series, in August – the Note line, in the meantime other models come out, complementing the flagships. But 2020 has become unusual in every sense, production in China has stopped, the pandemic has prevented Apple from launching a line of 12 iPhones on the usual dates, it appeared a month later. The sanctions against Huawei forced the company to withdraw from parts of the markets, the share began to sink almost everywhere except China. This is a time of opportunity, since Samsung has not been as badly affected by the pandemic as Apple, there are no sanctions against the company. By accelerating the development of the next generation of devices, Samsung is banking on starting the year with new flagships. And it is possible that now the new S-series will always appear in January.

There are enough leaks relative to the line, everything was told about the plus or minus models. I note that the early launch of these smartphones forces Samsung to release OneUI 3.0 earlier, including for previous models (most of the current smartphones will receive this update, it will be available gradually). There are many differences from 2.5 in the design of individual windows and applications, but it cannot be said that this is a completely updated version, in which many new things are hidden. Probably, the feeling of switching to 3.0 will be the same as when switching from OneUI 2.0 to 2.5. For fans of Android versions, I note that this is Android 11.

S21 flagships come out on new chipsets, they are very fast and quite economical (5 nm), but AI algorithms are worth paying attention to. A noticeable update and the addition of new services are planned for the middle of the year, which will reveal the capabilities of the chipsets (as usual, Exynos and Qualcomm). I’m really looking forward to the camera update, which should bring the 108MP module to the next level, including on the Ultra models that have already been shown. What is planned to be done in the field of computational photography gives hope that we will see interesting findings in this area.

Charges from the kit have not gone anywhere, fast charging in the kit is the norm, and it’s stupid to refuse it. Samsung will not act as petty as Apple.

The base Galaxy S21 / S21 + models will have screens in 6.2 and 6.7 inches (FullHD +, 120 Hz). The older Ultra model has WQHD + resolution, also 120 Hz, 6.8 inches (LTPO). On the battery, the information is as follows – 4000, 4800 and 5000 mAh. All fast charging options, wireless, including reversible, there are no changes here.

The cameras in the basic versions are the familiar 12-megapixel sensor, the same wide-angle module, and a 64-megapixel telephoto. You have already seen this configuration on a number of models.

Ultra is much more interesting in this regard, since, in addition to the usual 108 megapixel sensor, the device will receive a 3x telephoto, as in the younger models, as well as a 10x optical zoom (a different periscope design, better aperture and a clearer picture).

We can safely say that the screen in the S21 Ultra will be perceived as such in the Note20 Ultra, they are practically the same, they have an additional touch layer for the S Pen. Inside, Samsung believes that Ultra models should incorporate all the capabilities of all devices, without any compromises. Hence such an experiment in the form of adding support for the S Pen, but there will be no connector on the case. You will have to buy the S Pen separately, as well as the case to hide this pen in it. At the software level, the S21 Ultra will completely repeat the capabilities of the Note20 Ultra.

Does this mean the death of the Note line? I don’t think so, as these devices will appear in the fall, as before. At the moment, the development of the Note21 is not phased out, work is underway on all five models of the Note line of 2021.

By the way, about the names: many expected that there would be a leap and from the S20 we would move on to the S30 and so on. But Samsung decided to stick to the names by year of release, that is, now the 2022 models will be S22, 23rd – S23, and so on. If marketing plans do not change, then everything will be exactly like this.

Spurring the release of the new S21 line, the company also wants to reduce the cost for the S20s, in Russia we already see this in the form of sales. The situation is repeated that happened with the Note line, when, before the release of new models, the market was cleared of the previous generation, some devices simply disappeared (for example, the Note10 + was very good for the money offered, and it simply did not become available in federal retail). Now the situation is repeating itself, and therefore those who are looking for a profitable price for themselves should focus on the models of the 20th year, they will be very profitable in December within the framework of sales (this is already the case). But then many of them may simply end, as they will be replaced by new devices. At the same time, the price level for new items will be kept exactly the same (plus or minus, it’s too early to talk about this). Definitely cheaper than smartphones from Apple, and significantly, with great opportunities.

The market, to some extent, is becoming boring and predictable, there are not very many differences from the previous line. Once again, the A-series comes to the fore, which becomes excellent in terms of price / quality ratio, the same A52 promises to become a bestseller, like its two predecessors. But I am looking forward to a compact model, which should appear in the spring, a niche device, but interesting for certain tasks and scenarios.

Books. Hannah Fry, “Hello world – how to be human in the age of machines”

Every day I read news, articles, scientific publications, I am mired in the information flow and become a part of it. It is difficult to surprise me with something, most of the events pop up in memory right there, although these are rather notches in memory that allow you to navigate in the past. Deep immersion in individual events that flicker on the periphery of perception never happens, there is simply no time for this. Do you remember that for the first time in chess a computer beat Garry Kasparov and it was the Deep Blue supercomputer? In my memory this milestone is marked, although I can name the year approximately, but no one needs it. But what I never knew was a little trick that was put into Deep Blue by its creators – they imitated “thinking” when the computer was ready to make a move, it did not make it and was playing for time. Created the feeling that he had to think about how to go. And this confused Kasparov, created uncertainty in his position. Deep Blue’s victory was not so much in the field of mathematics, or rather, not only in it, but also in how people set up the machine, knowing the psychology of their own kind. These are the accents that change the perception of events, highlight them in a completely different way.

Hannah Fry is a mathematician, and she talks in a book about algorithms, about AI, about how our world is changing. The book is small, filled with stories that illustrate the penetration of machines, our trust in them. Many stories are known, something fell out of my field of vision, but reading small chapters, I enjoyed it. The book is very well-placed, showing the impact of technology and whoever is behind it. Hint – there is always a programmer behind every black box!

This is an amazing property when complex concepts are described in simple and understandable language. Probably, this book in the old days would have been called “for middle-aged and older schoolchildren”, but in fact it is for everyone. And even for those who in technology feel like a fish in water. We do not notice a lot, we do not have time to think about many things and put them on the shelves of our consciousness. And the book “Hello World” will definitely allow you to while away one or two evenings and take a different look at familiar stories. And it also has a very long aftertaste when you remember what you wrote and smile. Good book, I recommend reading to anyone interested in technology.

PS The year turned out to be unusual, in a constant race and struggle with circumstances, yourself and the world around you. I hope that illnesses have bypassed you and that everything is fine in your life. Starting this week, we will be summing up the results of the year in terms of technology, this will be a series of different articles. So if you remember something, suggest these events (as an option, products and devices) in the comments.

And I traditionally wish you good health, good mood and a sunny sky overhead. Be healthy! And take care of your loved ones, appreciate the communication that we all have today. Good luck!

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