Roseanne Barr blames Ambien for Racist Tweets→

She must take a LOT of Ambien.

“She tweeted, “guys I did something unforgiveable so do not defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting — it was memorial day too — i went 2 far & do not want it defended — it was egregious Indefensible. I made a mistake I wish I hadn’t but...don’t defend it please.”

She cited Ambien again in a later tweet, saying, “Not giving excuses for what I did(tweeted) but I’ve done weird stuff while on ambien — cracked eggs on the wall at 2am etc.”

Oddly, she later deleted all of her references to the medication. Nevertheless, Ambien became the #1 trending topic on Twitter on Wednesday morning, leading to Sanofi’s public rebuke. Barr’s explanation was deemed laughable.”

— Brian Stelter and Ivana Kottasová / CNN.com

Best part about this?   Sanofi,  the maker of Ambien (a sleep aid medication),  later responded with this statement:

“While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”

— Sanofi

Sick burn.

iOS 11.4 released with support for AirPlay 2, stereo paired HomePods, and more→

For the three people who purchased more than one HomePod,  I guess this is a big deal?   I dunno, this doesn't do anything for me.

“Just days before iOS 12 is unveiled to the public, Apple is fulfilling two promises made a year ago in iOS 11. First announced earlier this morning, iOS 11.4 is now available for iPhone and iPad. The new update includes AirPlay 2, HomePod stereo pairing, Messages in iCloud, and more...

...iOS 11.4 is available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models capable of running iOS 11. The update introduces AirPlay 2, the next-gen version of Apple’s media streaming technology, which reduces latency and supports multi-room playback from iOS for the first time.”

— Zac Hall / 9to5mac.com

"Roseanne" cancelled after Rosanne Bar tweet scandal→

UPDATE 4:30pm EST:

Welp.   That was a lot faster than I was expecting.

---

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

So much for "bringing conservatism back to television".   At least now she's free to become what she was always destined to be:  A contributor to Infowars.

From Variety:

“ABC has pulled the plug on the revival “Roseanne.”

The move comes after series star Roseanne Barr made a comment on Twitter Tuesday morning referring to former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett as the “offspring of the ‘Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.’”

“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in a statement.”

— Joseph Otterson / Variety.com

Apple charges customer $871.42 to replace a key on a MacBook Pro

Yet another victim of what I have begun to call "Crumbgate".

Twitter user Dustin Curtis posted about his recent experience with Apple's repair service and his MacBook Pro.  He stated that his "T" Key stopped working on his 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro,  and that the estimated repair cost from Apple to fix that single key would be $871.42.   You will find his original tweet embedded below:

The “T” key stopped working on my 15-inch MacBook Pro keyboard last week.

This is how much Apple quoted me to replace the key:

$871.42 pic.twitter.com/YayoSiOPZ4

— dustin curtis (@dcurtis) May 24, 2018

He is not the only one.   In fact there is a class action lawsuit regarding the "butterfly-switch" keyboards in the 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models.   Even the generally positive bunch of Apple pundits have been grumbling about this as a problem for over a year.   Many posting to twitter about how their own keyboards had failed and had to be replaced (most for free under AppleCare).

Now the cost of $871.42 is NOT the cost to replace a single key.   Not in the least.  The issue with this model of keyboard is that it is in fact, nearly impossible to replace a single key.   The course of action to replace a broken keyswitch on a modern MacBook Pro is to replace the ENTIRE TOP OF THE COMPUTER.   Which all said and done (if you don't have Applecare) will apparently cost you $871.42.   Dustin Curtis himself, in a later tweet put it best:

Dear Apple,

When replacing a single key on one of your product’s absurdly fragile keyboards costs nearly $1000, you 1) very poorly designed the product, and 2) are insulting your customers by charging them that much to deal with your mistake.

Your loyal friend,@dcurtis

— dustin curtis (@dcurtis) May 24, 2018

This keyboard first appeared in the 2015 12" MacBook.   I have to think that they have been aware of this problem for some time.    As far as I know, they tried to mitigate the issue with the 2017 models by adding a small bit of rubber under each key.   Though that doesn't seem to have helped.   As a cursory search of twitter finds people with broken MacBook Pro keyboards on nearly a daily basis.   

Apple itself has posted a knowledge base article on this issue,  stating that you should hold your laptop up in the air at a certain angle and spray compressed air in between the keys in the hope of dislodging any crumbs.   That knowledge base article would be truly hilarious if it wasn't a nearly thousand dollar problem for each user who encounters Apple's own design flaw.

The fact that Apple itself has the gall to be charging full price for repairs on a problem they themselves designed is unconscionable.   Especially when people have had to bring their laptops back to Apple 2 or 3 times for the same issue.   Even if the customer HAS Applecare Insurance and the repair itself is covered,  it still means that you will be without your $1000+ computer for nearly a week.   Most people who purchase laptops at those kinds of price points need them for their work.   While some people may be able to afford to have a backup machine on hand,  I know I don't have the means for that.

This is a huge issue for the MacBook Pro.   And I have to recommend highly at this time that you do NOT purchase one.    If for some reason, you absolutely NEED a MacBook Pro right now,  find a 2015 model with the old style keyboard on Ebay.   Otherwise,  wait for the next generation.  And then wait a month for the longer term reviews to come out.  I can't stress this highly enough. 

I used to think you could buy almost anything sight un-seen from Apple.   You used to KNOW that they made good stuff,  and that while it was expensive,  you knew you were getting your money's worth.    I wish I still felt that way.

Christopher Robin Trailer

Feeling miserable from the existential dread we seem to face on a daily basis lately?

Watch this.   You'll feel better, I promise.

Woman says Amazon Echo recorded private conversation, sent to one of her contacts

This could be seriously bad for Amazon.   If this story gains traction (I have a feeling it will), this could be a disaster that is billions of dollars in size.

Gary Horcher from KIRO7.com wrote:

“A Portland family contacted Amazon to investigate after they say a private conversation in their home was recorded by Amazon’s Alexa — the voice-controlled smart speaker — and that the recorded audio was sent to the phone of a random person in Seattle, who was in the family’s contact list.

”My husband and I would joke and say I’d bet these devices are listening to what we’re saying,” said Danielle, who did not want us to use her last name.

”We unplugged all of them and he proceeded to tell us that he had received audio files of recordings from inside our house,” she said. “At first, my husband was, like, ‘no you didn’t!’ And the (recipient of the message) said ‘You sat there talking about hardwood floors.’ And we said, ‘oh gosh, you really did hear us.’”

Danielle listened to the conversation when it was sent back to her, and she couldn’t believe someone 176 miles away heard it too.

”I felt invaded,” she said. “A total privacy invasion. Immediately I said, ‘I’m never plugging that device in again, because I can’t trust it.”

If this is true,  it's a total and complete breach of trust with Amazon.   We've been told over and over that the Alexa only records when it hears the trigger word and waits for a command.   While it is doing that,  it has a light ring on the device that lights up to alert the user that it's recording.

If it was able to record without the light being on,  and sent that recording without the user's permission to someone in their phone contacts.   Well, this could put Amazon in a world of trouble.

The most annoying part of this article is the fact that there are so few details.   HOW was the information sent?  Via text,  via email?   It seems like an awfully strange path for a bug to take.

I have a (unfortunate) sneaking suspicion that this may be something malicious that was added by someone in the staff at Amazon,   and that was accidentally triggered somehow
(a certain phrase or frequency of sound perhaps?).

Amazon for their part issued an apology for the incident stating:

“Amazon takes privacy very seriously. We investigated what happened and determined this was an extremely rare occurrence. We are taking steps to avoid this from happening in the future.”

Pretty weak considering the magnitude of this issue.   I have an Amazon Echo in my home.   I'm considering unplugging it for good after this.   I suggest you consider the same.

Terry Pratchett's "Troll Bridge" Trailer

I've waited all my life to see some of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series hit the big screen.    For those who don't know it,   Discworld is kind of a Monty Python-esque take on your typical "swords and sorcery" fantasy universe.   It has spanned dozens of books ranging from stories about wizards to stories about private detectives.

In 2011, there was a Kickstarter to put together a short film based on one of Pratchett's Discworld fables.   Recently the trailer for the film finally made it's way out.    And it looks like that signature Pratchett humor has made the transition well.

I can still hope to see a big budget version of a Discworld story one day,  but for now this is absolutely wonderful to see.