Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Hiring Engineers to Work With Liquidmetal Alloys
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Highly unlikely. While using soft aluminum for MBPs was a stupid idea it was less stupid than using glass for iPhones. iPhones should be redesigned first.
Please!!
For all that is holy and sacrimonious! Please let this mean Jonny Ive is on his way out.
The new materials need a new and cutting edge designer. Not like the current hack who has brought shiny, magical, hideousness and design flaws to EVERY product.
Combine the science and the art, it will be awesome. No more bad art from subpar materials from the feminine mind of Jonny Ive.
For all that is holy and sacrimonious! Please let this mean Jonny Ive is on his way out.
The new materials need a new and cutting edge designer. Not like the current hack who has brought shiny, magical, hideousness and design flaws to EVERY product.
Combine the science and the art, it will be awesome. No more bad art from subpar materials from the feminine mind of Jonny Ive.
For all that is holy and sacrimonious! Please let this mean Jonny Ive is on his way out.
The new materials need a new and cutting edge designer. Not like the current hack who has brought shiny, magical, hideousness and design flaws to EVERY product.
Combine the science and the art, it will be awesome. No more bad art from subpar materials from the feminine mind of Jonny Ive.
who did you have in mind?
If you can't get a name then how about just name a company that has flawLESS cutting edge design, I'd love to check it out =)
As far as i understand it, anything which is transparent must consist of "big" crystals, like normal glass. Liquid metal seems to be the opposite, so i do not see transparent liquid metal in the near future.
A relative unknown. There will be more innovation and motivation.
Experience is irrelevant when it comes to fields like design. Experienced engineers and a young, new designer with little technology experience.
True. Plus, the glass back will definitely stay. Apple is getting people used to the idea of cases with no back. The iPhone5 will have the same design but the glass back will be multi-touch for scrolling and gaming.
Imagine it while you hold your phone now and tell me it isn't coming. I dare you!
For all that is holy and sacrimonious! Please let this mean Jonny Ive is on his way out.
The new materials need a new and cutting edge designer. Not like the current hack who has brought shiny, magical, hideousness and design flaws to EVERY product.
Combine the science and the art, it will be awesome. No more bad art from subpar materials from the feminine mind of Jonny Ive.
Stevo will not fire his bff Johnny Ive, sorry.
No T2 jokes yet? Remember, it can only be formed into stabbing weapons, not complex machines.
Arnold won't be Governor forever. He has a little experience with liquid metal.
The next Apple computer won't be named Lisa, It will be named Sarah.
You're more likely right then wrong. Apple has got to have much more hard evidence that this technology is the way to go then a simple SIM card removal tool.
The first interation of LM being used could well be a simple switch from using a tooled component to a LM component. Right now, Apple is making their aluminum components the brute force way...even having some manufactured on equipment designed to make prototypes.
The next step beyond that would be to use LM methods to make components that couldn't be tooled. At any rate, Apple should be able to cut costs and production time with LM to be more competitive with knock-off brands and still maintain their insane margins.
It's possible it will find its way into iDevice and Macbook Pro lines. It all depends on the cost and machinability of the material in bulk. That's why they're hiring these guys.
That is completely backwards. Emphasizing engineering experience over design experience is why there are so many ugly products in the technology market. It takes serious design skills developed over time to resolve human factors and end up with products that are as clean and minimal as those achieved by Apple. Their reliance on software to strip away buttons and mechanical controls requires a hand-in-glove relationship between industrial design and software design, and some young new designer with little tech experience is not going to be able to handle the rigors of that process.
The problem with design is that experience can hamper design thinking in some ways, and a sense of what is "right design" is not really teachable but does come with experience.
The junior designers at Apple, slaving away under Jonny Ive, are getting the kind of experience that comes from sitting at the feet of a master designer, while an experienced designer coming out of Microsoft has learned the wrong stuff, if anything.
Fixed.
Happy now Mac21ND?
LOL....can't wait until I can store my entire iTunes library on Skynet!
MLook it up; glass is not a crystal, it's amorphous solid, like liquid metal. If one were to make a crystal out of pure aluminum you would have the basis of rubies and emeralds, but clear.
The Corning Glass company does have a type of glass that is right for portable devices, called gorilla glass. It gains its strength chemically. It too is not a crystal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM-Y-aaFb_o
I agree but this new technology and material may well be used across their entire product line....but more like 2012 or after once they have time for R&D.
Thinking that aluminum is soft shows you have no knowledge of aluminum alloys or how differently aluminum behaves after it's been anodized. It's a remarkable material in the hands of a metallurgical engineer/designer.
Glass, on the other hand, it an excellent choice of material that won't absorb the RF energy of the antenna, thus giving the user a stronger signal with less draw on the power source. The other choice would have been ceramic.
When a company is pushing the envelope with design it is often also pushing the envelope of the materials it uses. It's risky territory, which Apple has been very fortunate to have ventured into without serious mishaps so far.
duh, really ?
( Sorry, I can't help myself. It's just common sense isn't it?
They've acquired the company so of course they are going to use it for either macbooks and iphones,
ipads and other future products. One doesn't need a former liquidmetal executive to confirm what should be plain obvious)
Can't stand this type of reporting.
My thoughts too. Unibody devices without the expensive tooling now required, both MacBooks, iPads and hand held devices!
The need to use expensive and relatively slow equipment to manufacture current Apple hardware has to be replaced if production is to ramp up dramatically and more quickly. This is the perfect solution. I have never seen a product made with LiquidMetal, I hope it has the feeling of solidity that the current MBP et al. have with the machines aluminum block approach which is due to a mix of both the tactile and a sense of weight. I assume it does. Getting used to a lighter product may take some time for our brains to believe it is a strong but I am sure we will all adapt.