The time that an “App Store” existed and didn’t have adverts was very minimal. Like OP I haven’t browsed the iPhone App Store for over a decade. Occasionally a web page will send me to their app directly and if I want it (very rare) I’ll get it, same with installing specific apps - Spotify, YouTube, WhatsApp etc.
Apple used to charge money for a premium product where the customers were customers and not the product. It’s moving away from that.
> The time that an “App Store” existed and didn’t have adverts was very minimal.
The iOS App Store was introduced in 2008. Ads in it began in 2016. We’re in 2026. The App Store has had ads for longer than it didn’t, but the early period was not “very minimal”, it was almost half its current life time.
Did ads on search appear in 2016? I vaguely remember the change to the “curated” pages with ads but I thought searching for a specific app and getting an ad for it (or something else) before the first search result was even newer.
That cutoff doesn’t matter at all for the reality of the situation, and your math is off. The moment smart phone use becomes a majority does not mean the majority of people have only started experiencing something at that point. And we’re talking specifically about the iOS App Store ads, and you’re ignoring the iPod Touch and iPad…
Yes. My wife’s mother keeps buying crap in game using my card and I have no reasonable way of blocking her from doing so if I want to keep app purchase sharing.
It’s insane. Does no one at apple have senile in laws? Or is this acceptable?
Not an issue for many of us, other than possible issues with export restrictions, then again that applies to any US based technology now, if the administration keeps getting creative. They went after penguins after all.
Once you get far enough in ANY sport, you start considering tradeoffs between risking long term health and improving performance. If you are a competent adult, you can evaluate your drivers, consider risks.
But without fail, in ANY competitive sport, you realise that you have to risk health in order to achieve that next performance tier, there is no other way.
Once you get into that 1-10%(depending on sport) elite level, you realise that there is no way you can compete without PEDs.
I've participated in (taken myself) and have been a witness to this in weightlifting(olympic and strongman), soccer, cycling and swimming. Starting young. Real young.
Coaches of different sanity levels are trusted to make the right choices and not often questioned by busy or absent parents.
Everyone cheers on when medals are won and records are broken, without consideration for how it happens.
I personally had no idea I was taking hormone modifiers until about 16, it started at 11.
My coach just gave me what he said were vitamins and I never questioned it, he was the closest thing to a father I had, his authority was absolute.
At 16 I found myself in a hospital yellow as a banana on the brink of liver failure, that's when I found out.
Everyone on our team took what the coaches gave. Once a while we'd see a parent get into a shouting match with one of the coaches about something we didn't understand and that kid would never come back again.
Some of the guys I trained with went on to become highly recognisable names in their respective sports. One even has a supplement brand. Those I've kept in touch with continue PED use, that is the price of being at the top of the game.
Want to turn on your fancy seat vents? 3 taps on the large screen in the middle.
Want to change some temps/fan speed? Swipe(not as nice as iOS) right, look through 10 identical looking icons and arrows, to find the right one.
Honestly, I thought people were exaggerating how bad it was until I got to experience it for myself. As a long term fan of the brand, it’s utterly disappointing.
This AI is basically a search engine layer for the wix library of components.
It uses pre-defined colour palettes, with minor modifications.
I hope you’re right, but I don’t understand how, by design it’s not supposed to come up with completely new things (even though that’s what the marketing blurb says).
We all project/assume based on the bubble we live in.
In my 18 years of in-house software dev experience (several countries, companies of different sizes), not once have I even heard (in the real world, not online) of people using any sort of drugs like the ones mentioned in the article.
I'm not saying that you're wrong. But based on my personal experience, I also could bet the opposite of what you're saying and feel just as confident.
I know some people who take party drugs. I know alcoholics. But coworkers who routinely take performance enhancing drugs other than caffeine at work, not one.
I guess it depends on your environment. Silicon Valley seems particularly prone to it.
A whole new generation has never known an App Store without ads.
To them this is the norm.