As an Authorized Retailer technician having the back glass be replaceable is so nice. For the older models we just replace the whole frame the glass is attached to rather than only replace the back glass so it makes repairs not only easier but something that can actively be done at our store(as we dont keep frames in stock).

Technically most of the weather data is derived(within the United States) from the National Weather Service, all of this data is a matter of public domain under federal law(so it’s being subsidized by taxpayers). What companies like the weather channel or accuweather can do is increase the accuracy by adding more stations and providing more compute power to run more powerful simulations(something the NWS can’t do because of budgetary constraints) or what an app like Carrot can do is allow you to add your own weather station and interpret the data to give predictions.

Additionally if no one is buying products from heavy polluters then it doesn’t make sense to burn the fuels. It either requires people to take action and change their buying habits or for governments to tax carbon to both make the environmentally friendly options economically viable to most people and to get companies to reduce emissions so they can stay competitive.

Air travel is more difficult to get environmentally friendly at this time due to the limited options as electric consumer planes are still in the testing and development stage and would struggle with international flights however train travel in Europe can be a solid option over plane travel but from a US perspective air travel is still generally the best way to go as trains are just not the best in the US and a car trip will take longer then both planes and trains and emit more fossil fuels per trip per person.

Serialization is only on certain parts so things such as housings or charging ports still have good value and serialization is on a specific chip so while those parts do sell for less, a skilled repair technician could move the chip over assuming the whole part isn’t fried and it’s just damaged. There is less value in locked phones but there is still material value and they often steal the phone then get the phone number for the device and try to trick the user into removing the device or phishing their Apple ID as find my doesn’t require two factor to remove, only the password.

The exploit would be on Apple’s backend servers rather than on device, with some jailbreaks you can bypass activation lock but your unable to use Apple services or even some functionality such as cellular. For an activation bypass there either needs to be a backend server exploit or an apple employee working with the service.

I can only vouch for Apple certified repair technicians but we need to have the customer provide proof of purchase such as a verified receipt and we can fast track the unlock process by sending it directly to the iCloud support department but we can’t unlock the device in our store and we can’t even take the device in for repair if the customer is unable to prove the device is their own(generally this is just unlocking the device or logging into their iCloud account and checking that the serials match but a original receipt also works)

The Apple Arcade version is a seperate app meanwhile the paid version will remain available, it seems like the only difference is that diagnostics data isn’t collected in the Apple Arcade version

Ok so basic question you should be able to answer then how do you stop a foreign government from spying on other countries citizens? WhatsApp is not just a western world app. For example it’s used in Russia and the US and the UK so if Putin went to Meta and said “I want everything you have on Ex prime minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson and you can’t tell them” what reason would meta have to deny his request if the precedent by the UK is that this data needs to have a back door and if you say then the user should be notified then anyone under investigation is just not going to say anything incriminating and if it includes old messages then you risk the political espionage if anything is shared under the assumption everything is end to end encrypted. What about trade secrets, a corrupt government official could get a companies trade secrets for a business friend from anywhere in the world.

There is a great video by Tom Scott that talks about this exact situation when the UK tried to break encryption 5 years ago but that failed because it wasn’t feasible from a security standpoint. There is also a great episode from Last Week Tonight talking about encryption and government attempts to get around it. We’ve seen from things like the Pegasus malware that repressive governments will use this little break in encryption to jail protestors and journalists and spy on their political rivals, having an official way will just make it easier.

Generally tech companies now have agreements with law enforcement so they don’t have to deal with all the legal mumbo jumbo. Some data does still require a warrant such as if there is any protection laws(such as HIPAA protected data) or if the company considers it highly sensitive data but for a lot of data it’s easier to just hand it over then get legal involved.

It’s generally a question about what’s best for the user, your general user would likely be more mad losing all their messages because they forgot their password then they are calmed by the fact that no one else can read the data. Same for photos and files, however for sensitive categories such as health and passwords they are always end to end encrypted as it’s determined it’s worse for anyone else to get that data then it is for the user to lose it.

For anyone that truly cares to have complete encryption there is advanced data protection but for the general users the defaults are a good balance between security and ease of use.

Also know that if you still want iCloud backups but want everything stored encrypted you can enable “Advanced data protection” which means that Apple doesn’t store the encryption key, you do need to setup a recovery method such as a recovery key or recovery contact however if you lose your device and recovery method your data is forever lost and Apple can’t help you like it can in standard data protection mode.

Also note certain sensitive categories such a health and passwords are always encrypted as it’s determined it’s worse for someone else to get access to that data then it is for the user to lose it meanwhile generally a user losing their photos and messages if they forget their password is worse then if a hacker resets the password and gets access.

If a user wants more protections there is “Advanced Data Protection” which fully encrypts all iCloud data however Apple knows you might lose your password or something so they require a recovery method before turning it on and make sure you know Apple won’t be able to help you if you lose your password and recovery method.

Also for certain sensitive data such as health data or passwords full end to end encryption is enabled even in standard mode as it’s determined it’s worse for someone else to get access to that data then it is for you to lose it where as generally losing your photos are worse then someone else getting access to them.

Apple Pay Cash is actually run by Greendot bank and not Goldmans Sachs. Apple is bound by the local laws, the reason Apple Card gets the rewards as it does is because the US doesn’t have fee limits for credit cards like other countries do.