The state of auto-suggest and auto-correct for anything but English (or maybe French, German, not a speaker so I don't know) is appalling. Auto-suggest is either not even an option or if it is it takes you to type almost the full word before suggesting something sensible. The auto-correct is way worse though. It sometimes suggests corrections to a wrongly spelled word even on basics like pronouns and such. But also let's not forget iOS/macOS don't even have all languages of the EU (when speaking of Europe) available as a system language. For the world's largest tech company it's beyond me why can't they put a team of 1-2 people per language to take care of properly localizing their software.
I for once love Swedish cashless society and have rarely been inconvenienced by it. People close to me have had issues due to not having a personnummer (thanks Migrationsverket). But then there are things like Revolut for example or Transferwise. This is how we got around it. Although for stuff like rent you're fresh out of luck if it's not second hand. And the fees for foreigners are for converting currency. Those you pay anyways regardless if you're converting cash or each of your electronic payments. I've also seen so called blackouts that people portray as the boogiemen and the result was not being able to pay for a couple of minutes. But I've also seen those with cash when electronic checkout systems were not functioning and the cashier could simply not print your receipt and take your cash money. And growing up in a more dangerous neighbourhood as a kid I can tell you all about what cash on you or in your house means :)
Yeah, I know that in Sweden it's for sure ok to give out handwritten receipts but I also know of a couple of countries that have a bit of a higher rate of tax avoidance schemes to not allow it. However even when allowed I doubt people would be eager to do it unless it was an exception and not the rule. We are moving to the new normal.
I know about them only from the numerous podcast commercials. Here in the Nordics all supermarket chains have had that service for a while now and it's quite convenient. I can see the value of it but all these supermarkets have their supply chain built and they started a similar service in no time. So I can't see how Blue Apron can compete in Europe for example.
The new maps data is covering only Southern California now and according to Apple is gonna be covering all of the mainland US in the following year. So for the rest of us in the remaining parts of the world, it will be a long time before we see any updated maps.
I've been using FastMail for several years now. The reason I switched was specifically to move away from Google's services and I'm glad I've made the switch. I have recommended FastMail to people over these years and whoever has switched has stayed with them and is pretty glad with them from what I hear.
From personal experience the deal they make with the host city is usually a win-win (for the municipality and for the citizens). The experience is great, JCDecaux gets to use some billboard locations, and the citizens get a dirt cheap public bike scheme. Here in Sweden it costs something like 8 euros per year. Yes, per year.
Oh, no argument there, I quite enjoyed using Villo, and it's really dirt cheap (not 8, but still just 30€).
That said, and while it's probably built on top of that API, Brussels has an even better API: it lets you submit a geographical area (which you can design manually on their site) and get info on all stations inside it in a single request/response, and you don't even need registration: https://opendata.bruxelles.be/explore/dataset/stations-villo...
To quote - "Under EU rules you always have the right to a minimum 2-year guarantee at no cost.
This 2-year guarantee is your minimum right. National rules in your country may give you extra protection: however, any deviation from EU rules must always be in the consumer's best interest."
This is also on Apple's customer support pages when you check if you're still in warranty. It says that local rules apply when you're out of Apple's limited 1 year warranty.
People keep misunderstanding what this 2-year warranty is. It's not a blanket 2-year warranty where if your product develops a fault the manufacturer has to fix it - it's a warranty against manufacturing defects and manufacturing defects only. And the onus of showing that something is a manufacturing defect is on the customer, sadly. So if you bought a macbook, and 1.5 years into the ownership the screen dies, apple is under no obligation to fix it, unless you can prove that it died because of a manufacturing defect.
To directly quote from the article you posted:
"But, after 6 months in most EU countries you need to prove that the defect already existed on receipt of the goods, for example, by showing that it is due to the poor quality of the materials used."
True. When it comes to parts that don't usually die on their own without visual problems (like a cracked screen) this is not such a big problem. Usually it comes down to convincing whoever is behind that desk and being firm and calm about it. That's my experience at least.
I'm experiencing something really similar to what your friend has described. The moment the outside temperature is below 20ºC and my battery is around 30-40% chances are it will die immediately. This started months ago with the update to iOS 10. I tried some of the final public betas of iOS 10.
After several trips to a service point, eventually Apple told me that this is not a hardware issue but a software one and to expect an iOS update that will resolve the issue. No estimates as to when that would be. I asked if it's ok to try the public betas to see if the fix was in and an Apple support rep said it's fine. Unfortunately the latest public beta doesn't fix this. As of now I just assume that my battery indication is off by 40% and I treat my phone as if the battery is empty when I'm out and I see it drop below 50%.
