MacNN reports, “Apple has subtly modified some promotional material for the iPhone 4 to remove references to FaceTime, reports note. In Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen, as well as Egypt and Jordan, official pages for the iPhone 4 no longer show a woman and man having a video conversation. Instead, Apple has substituted content promoting the device’s Retina Display.”
Full article here.
Michael Rose reports for TUAW that “restrictions on VoIP technology in Saudi Arabia and the UAE… could create a regulatory block for FaceTime… [or this] may represent merely a cosmetic tweak, keeping the cultural sensitivities of these largely Islamic countries in mind.”
Full article here.
Detonating a roadside bomb? There’s an app for that.
VeilTime™
BurkaTime™
Burkawear
@ChrissyOne…
Yes… it’s called “Bump”.
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Can’tShowMyFaceTime?
Middle earth, middle east, middle ages. We’re in a muddle that’s for sure. He’ll, try drinking a mc donalds thick shake with a veil on. That’s thaking consumer commitment to an extremist level. Let’s facetime it, Yousif will use the tech to show his bits to Fatima live, instead of via blue tooth like he does today. It’s fine. It’s what god intended.
it’s actually OK to respect other culture’s full marks to Apple
Apparently, the chador, burqa, niqab and similar all-covering clothing is now creating more and more serious security nightmare for large swatsh of Middle-East. It seems that some of those dimwitted terrorists have figured out that they could carry a lot of firepower if they were to wear these women’s garments and hide it all beneath it. Get an innocent looking man to escort you in such clothing, and nobody in the Muslim world can dare come near you.
The greatest irony of it all is that nowhere in Quran does it specifically say (nor imply) that a women must cover her hair, face, neck, hands, feet or any other part of her body, for that matter. There is only a very vague and general requirement to dress ‘modestly’, and it is identical for men and women. Leave it to the radical imams to vent their sexual frustrations by interpreting away their holy book…
Playstation Network is hosed and offline.
DO NOT apply latest PS3 System Update, it’s screwed up royally. Play offline until the mess gets cleared up.
Twitter has been totally hacked too. All 500,000 accounts compromised.
All Linux 64 bit boxes are pwned.
Flash is pwned yet again. Disable it. No update yet.
Ain’t computers wonderful?
See Threatpost
You can add asp.net to that list:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/18/important-asp-net-security-vulnerability.aspx
@Not American… It’s actually ok to point out asinine absurdity as well.
Selling 21st century phones to an 8th century culture.
I’m using a 4G in Bahrain and FaceTime is working fine. As far as I know the only reason Apple have removed any mention of it in Saudi Arabia is because of VoIP.
Another walled garden coming to an even bigger walled garden.
And you said walled gardens are good for us.
It’s mind-bottling that groups of people constrain and enslave themselves like this.
@Predrag,
AND, Mohammed’s wives (yes, plural – some gig, eh?) were the only ones who were supposed to wear veils. I’ve always wondered why this practice wouldn’t be considered blasphemy.
Matt, it’s all in the name of religion. Boggles the mind.
Actually, the Quran says it is best for women to pull their veils (which is a face covering) over their entire bodies. So you can easily imagine that turns into a burqa and therefore has basis in the Quran.
Still barbaric.
While we want to be respectful of other people’s cultures and beliefs, not all cultures are equal.
Never understood why men in the Middle East don’t also have to cover up totally so that women don’t lust after the good looking guys…
No voip allowed and FaceTime uses voip. Nothing to do with cultural sensitivities.
The reason why women are covered up in Islamic societies is because the human need for sex is the only thing religion hasn’t conquered yet.
You can brainwash a young boy from as early as five years old with any propaganda you wish, until they meet that pretty girl next door.
Men have killed and gone to war over women, worked their butts off their entire lives, lose fortunes and even committed crimes for the right to be the one that passes his seed on with her.
Then when he does have kids, he takes pictures of them and shows them off to all his friends like trophies. “Here, cigars for everyone, I just had another kid!”
The poor, or ugly, or too smart, or too geeky, or strange guy isolating himself with his computers in a low rent apartment someplace, you see he’s considered a loser; or if he’s good looking, selfish for not making some woman happy.
Bizarre?, you better believe it.
@Not equal
it’s just not the same. but it’s equal. I bet the divorce rate in western country is much higher than in middle east. There’s always trade-offs. That’s what make it equal. you can’t say it’s not equal. how do you measure it?
cultural relevancy is bullshit. it’s ok to judge other cultures (I hear non Americans judge Americans all the time, believe it or not). it’s ok to say that it’s not okay for there to be a near 50% pedophilia rate with Pashtun afghan men. the problem with islam is that the religion developed simultaneously with the governance (ie sharia law). that was their greatest strength in the middle ages and it’s why theyre still stuck in the middle ages. I’m tired of having to tiptoe around Muslims sensitive feelings when they continually burn the american flag and leaders in effigy and declare fatwas against cartoonists. it’s bullshit. and it’s pussies like “not an american” that allow it to continue. it’s not a coincidence that the majority of the worlds violent conflicts involve Muslims. darfur comes to mind. there are a lot of great people who are Muslim, I know a few myself, but there are a lot that are not, and I believe that we should speak out when there are obvious problems.