Be Excellent To Each Other

Any recommended cases / accessories?

Although you get super duper warranties at John Lewis.

I've got the official Apple Smart Case for my mini. It's very swish, but a bit spendy at £40.

Apple to refund $32.5m to parents whose kids made in-app purchases

Apple will refund customers at least $32.5m (£19.9m) after a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The refund agreement settles long-standing complaints over in-app purchases made by children without their parents' consent.

Apple will also be required to change its billing procedures to make sure customers have given consent before they are charged for in-app purchases.

The company said it had settled rather than take on a "long legal fight".

"This settlement is a victory for consumers harmed by Apple's unfair billing, and a signal to the business community: whether you're doing business in the mobile arena or the mall down the street, fundamental consumer protections apply," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement.

"You cannot charge consumers for purchases they did not authorize."
'Tens of thousands'

The FTC's complaint alleged that Apple failed to inform parents that by entering a password they were approving a single in-app purchase and also 15 minutes of additional unlimited purchases their children could make without further consent.

It also said that Apple often presented a password prompt screen for parents to enter their details without explaining that this would finalise any purchase made in the app.

The FTC also noted that Apple received at "least tens of thousands of complaints" about unauthorised in-app purchases by children.

One woman said her daughter had spent $2600 in one app.

This refund settlement only covers customers who have made purchases through Apple's US app store but the BBC's technology editor Rory Cellan-Jones says Apple has previously almost always refunded parents in the UK who have complained about big bills from their children's in-app purchases.

The changes to Apple's billing process, which means express consent must be obtained before in-app charges are made, must be in place by 31 March, said the FTC.

In an internal email obtained by the website 9to5Mac, chief executive Tim Cook told Apple employees that the FTC's proposals were in line with the company's own intentions.

"The consent decree the FTC proposed does not require us to do anything we weren't already going to do, so we decided to accept it rather that take on a long and distracting legal fight," he said.
Promise

He also explained that Apple began setting out a process to refund customers last year.

"We wanted to reach every customer who might have been affected, so we sent emails to 28 million App Store customers - anyone who had made an in-app purchase in a game designed for kids.

"When some emails bounced, we mailed the parents postcards.

"In all, we received 37,000 claims and we will be reimbursing each one as promised."

Apple's App Store offers many games for children, a large number of which allow in-app purchases to be made. These purchases can include virtual items or currency, and typically allow faster progression in the game.

In-app purchases can range in cost - from 99 cents to just under $100.

I didn't realise they had that fifteen minute period thing, that does seem like it was a bad idea. Relatedly, is the entry of a password to buy stuff mandatory on iOS? I think it's still only voluntary on Android.

I didn't realise they had that fifteen minute period thing, that does seem like it was a bad idea. Relatedly, is the entry of a password to buy stuff mandatory on iOS? I think it's still only voluntary on Android.

I didn't realise they had that fifteen minute period thing, that does seem like it was a bad idea. Relatedly, is the entry of a password to buy stuff mandatory on iOS? I think it's still only voluntary on Android.

Completely depends on your settings. It will always ask for a password by default but there are settings around turning off in-app purchases and the like, possibly even turning off the 15 minute thing.

but the giving back of the money will also hit those developers, as they will be clawing back their commission no doubt.

You can easily set it up so it always asks for a password.

So if you do a vanilla install of iOS it'll prompt for a password before it'll let you buy stuff?

I bought a few cheap cables to charge my iPad. they come up with not charging. Do I really have to buy official cables?

I bought an unofficial adapter from 30pin to lightening, and that works, just looks inelegant!!

I bought a few cheap cables to charge my iPad. they come up with not charging. Do I really have to buy official cables?

The Apple charger it came with will work with any figure of 8 cable too, regardless of where in the world you are (though obviously you'd need a compatible figure of 8 cable for each place).

Just get a travel adaptor?

Anyone trying to charge an iPad through USB pretty much deserves the results they get!

I bought a few cheap cables to charge my iPad. they come up with not charging. Do I really have to buy official cables?

Everyone else's advice re: charging voltage and the "not charging" message is correct but probably not why you're seeing what you're seeing. iOS 7 introduced stricter handshaking with the cable's ID chip that means most third-party knockoff cables don't work any more. Officially licenced third party cables (eg the Amazon basics ones) still work however.

Everyone else's advice re: charging voltage and the "not charging" message is correct but probably not why you're seeing what you're seeing. iOS 7 introduced stricter handshaking with the cable's ID chip that means most third-party knockoff cables don't work any more. Officially licenced third party cables (eg the Amazon basics ones) still work however.

Wow, what a cunt's trick.

What, stopping cheap and nasty knockoffs that could potentially be unsafe? It's not like they're forcing you to buy their own - as the Doc says, you are still free to buy third-party cables as long as they have been licensed correctly.

You can still plug your official cable into a cheap and nasty and unsafe USB charger though. Which is where the danger is anyway.

The new kindle fast charger cable is super-thick because it delivers 2 amps.

The new kindle fast charger cable is super-thick because it delivers 2 amps.

stick more than an amp through an inadequate ('normal usb') cable and you have a fire. Probably while you're asleep. There's a reason charging cables are thicker.

since upgrading to yosemite, os x keeps asking me to install Java runtime.. i did, both 7.0 and 8.0, but it keeps nagging me. any idea?

since upgrading to yosemite, os x keeps asking me to install Java runtime.. i did, both 7.0 and 8.0, but it keeps nagging me. any idea?

Install Windows or Linux.

Hmmm, a choice of viruses and malware or poor consumer support? No ta.

The malware and viruses thing doesn't really count anymore - there's plenty of viruses for OS X due to its popularity now.

Name three that have caused any significant issues in the last 6 months.

Pfft, I don't even know anything on windows. :-P I just know that it's no where near as rare for a Mac to get a virus as it used to be.