I no longer care about exciting, just put a new chip in the Mac Mini for chrissakes! How hard can that be?
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Jobs Biographer Walter Isaacson: Apple 'No Longer the Most Innovative Company'
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I felt the same way when I got my iPad Pro. At first, I was like - "this level of refinement is nice!" But then it was a chore to do anything important. I couldn't even arrange my icons on the homescreen!
No thank you. I have a $1,000 piece of junk sitting on my desk. Ridiculous toy computer.
Depends...
Are you asking a PC manufacturer who knows how to update their computers several times a year?
Or are you asking Apple of the early 2000's who in their prime usually only updated any particular model approximately one time per year?
Or are you asking Tim Cook, who almost forgot that Apple even made computers?
I'd argue the opposite.
- Charitable matching
- Labour rights work
- Recycling programs
- Renewable energy programs
- Getting involved in political areas (FBI privacy case, LGBT issues etc.)
Making a dent is more than just releasing products (which they also seem to be doing fine with).
And if he is a bean counter he's rubbish at it:
“When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI,” Cook said.
Little things seem to find their way out. The bump on the iPhone battery case. No backlit latest gen wireless keyboard. The way the Apple Pencil charges in the iPad. The MacBook not having Lightning ports. The design of the AV dongle. Some things Apple get really, really right. But lately it's easy to spot glaring blemishes in their products, and its confusing trying to understand how they got out to market that way. What used to be 'magical' is, these days, sometimes a little ugly.
Yes, now show me where those are used in millions of consumer facing products. Then tell me where the devices running a previous filesystem were converted over to one of those listed en masse, at the same time.
Frankly I think you're dismissing exactly what Apple has done here. Just because other filesystems exist doesn't discount the amazing logistical feat that was pulled off seemingly in the background for millions of people.
Saying other file systems exist that share some of the same features isn't impressive (because why wouldn't you include features that make sense?) is like saying building a car like a Tesla in-house isn't impressive because, well even Teslas have tires right?
bec you have a surface book, like i had, that doesn't mean it is popular...is not even sold officialy in many countries
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Surely he has done enough research
For his books to see that Apple generally doesn't innovate, it defines and refines.
For his books to see that Apple generally doesn't innovate, it defines and refines.
The amount of work they've done to become a more sustainable company has been impressive too.
Not sure if anyone listened to Gruber's The Talk Show when he had Lisa Jackson on from Apple. Some really interesting/impressive tidbits:
-Park: 75% of the year there will be no need to run HVAC (heating/cooling) of any sort
-currently 80% of all products manufactured are built using recycled materials, and they're on track to eventually build all products from 100% recycled materials
This, this, and this. Anybody who knows their toffee about AT understand it's an industry where people rob the users blind (no pun intended). AI Squared, Freedom Scientific; frankly they're all a bunch of stuck-up, support-silent cowboys who are only in the industry because there's no alternative.
A vast majority of their stuff just utilise the built in accessibility features on macOS/Windows anyway. They'll charge you ludicrous upgrade rates if you were running something and, say, updated from 8.1 to 10 - even if it works fine, you'll get a message that'll say it's not supported and you're forced to spend another ridiculous price to upgrade.
I absolutely loathe those companies. They don't give a flying **** about making this world better or helping the industry, or really caring about the people they purport to assist. They just know they can charge a stupid rate and they'll bloody well do it. For about 2 years ZoomText didn't even support IE 9 and their solution was to uninstall it and use 8 instead. Then when they finally 'patched' it, it was a brand-new version you had to pay through the nose for.
The fact that Apple have just as much, if not more, AT functionality built into their ecosystem says a whole lot. They ensure that anybody, no matter how able bodied, can use their computers or devices as well as anybody else can. Apple are only getting better and better with this too, which is why we thankfully see a lot less of these applications for macOS as there's no need.
But no, if you dare ship a phone with a few ****ing bezels around the screen then you're a short-sighted uninnovative company that does nothing to better the world. I'm just about sick of reading horsecrap like that around here, especially coming from people who don't know their arses from their elbows about the unique things Apple continue to do that no other company care about -- things other companies don't do because it isn't profitable, or it's not as flashy as a phone without a few bloody bezels on the front.
/rant
Samsung: Bezel-less display (useful)
Apple: 3D Touch (useless; why would pressure sensitivity be natural in a TOUCH interface, stupid Apple, it's so overrated but I'm sure Samsung and Google will do it better)
Samsung: Samsung Gear IconX (incredible)
Apple: AirPods (ugly and nothing special)
Samsung: Samsung Gear S3 Smart Watch (sexy as hell)
Apple: Apple Watch (ugly as hell)
Samsung: Staedtler Noris S Pen (cool and beautiful)
Apple: Apple Pencil (ugly, useless)
Samsung: Bixby (super smart)
Apple: Siri (super dumb, NEVER understands me, not hyperbole whatsoever)
Samsung:
Apple: Swift (I had spaghetti for dinner)
Samsung:
Apple: APFS (my favorite color is blue)
Tragic to see where Apple is now.
Apple: 3D Touch (useless; why would pressure sensitivity be natural in a TOUCH interface, stupid Apple, it's so overrated but I'm sure Samsung and Google will do it better)
Samsung: Samsung Gear IconX (incredible)
Apple: AirPods (ugly and nothing special)
Samsung: Samsung Gear S3 Smart Watch (sexy as hell)
Apple: Apple Watch (ugly as hell)
Samsung: Staedtler Noris S Pen (cool and beautiful)
Apple: Apple Pencil (ugly, useless)
Samsung: Bixby (super smart)
Apple: Siri (super dumb, NEVER understands me, not hyperbole whatsoever)
Samsung:
Apple: Swift (I had spaghetti for dinner)
Samsung:
Apple: APFS (my favorite color is blue)
Tragic to see where Apple is now.
Sadly enough. we are stuck asking TC. I have come to the conclusion that Macs are just a lip service product. The new Macbook Pro was their attempt to look like providing innovation and trying to stay relevant in the markets other than handhelds.
Are they printing their own money at this point , for the time being yes, How long will that last, only till they get surpassed in phone tech on scale not seen yet.
These are some great social things, but none of that replaces their core business. Steve Jobs brought Apple back from the ashes by making it the company that came up with incredible innovative things everyone loved, and that competitors copied. Then when the competitors started to get sort of close, and sales were still strong, Apple would replace it with something even more fresh and awesome. For years under Jobs, competitors were generations behind what Apple was doing. Compare that to today, when the narrative is people begging Apple to merely update a CPU in an existing product, or change course on a 3 year old design that clearly didn't work.
Also, they may be releasing products, but when was the last time they came up with something truly unique and awesome? I would argue it's the AirPods, but those are just a small accessory. The Apple Watch may be leading that tiny category, but only because there are a lot of people who love watches and really want the idea to work. I have an Apple Watch - many days I don't wear it, and can't even notice the difference.
Alexa is an awesome example of other companies getting this right. I'm constantly amazed at all of the things my Echo can do. Just this week it gained the ability to make phone calls for me and read me text messages I received. Unlike the broken Siri, Alexa actually understands voice commands and I can consciously notice ways its' voice detection gets better over time. Apple was in this space in a really visible way long before Amazon, but they completely squandered that by doing nothing unique with it.
Or maybe you just need better parenting skills.
All that access to Steve and that was produced. What a gigantic missed opportunity, that no one will ever have again.
Nonsense. The guy is a has-been who's trying to stay relevant by trashing Apple, king of clicks. Predictably it worked perfectly on the vast army of MR haters.
Excellently put analogies there. And I fully agree that as things stand even the Applephiles can't deny they're now on catchup instead of once being leaders. However. Having said all that I still stick by prediction that 2017is make or break year for them. And so we can't really say for definite until September whether the decline will lead to a fall. In the Fall. If they innovate the iPhone instead of update as they do with all their lines now and radically produce a computer range again then it will boost them to future stability and back in the game. If however the ominous silence surrounding the lack of announcements isn't based on beefed up security and there really isn't an upcoming renaissance of new designs then yes 2017 will be the year the Apple gravy train crashed. 4 months to go then before we can really say. I'm a Samsung convert phone wise but still a iPad and Mac user. I'd still go back to iPhone again but it'll take a lot of convincing once you realise your paying a lot more for less.
Really? We (USA) have been doing roughly that with the space program since the 60's. Only real difference is instead of landing in the ocean we put it on a platform. Which with today's technology should be expected. Heck, the Space Shuttle is more innovative than that.
Space travel is hard and while SpaceX is making grounds I'm not sure what innovation he's done. Refinement is more like it.
Don't forget crap quality and questionable long term durability. But even that is nothing new - long strings of little batteries working together in unison is nothing new. I don't think I'd call solar charging stations innovative - need huge expenses in resources and space for little return.
Musk, like Jobs is a great showman but I don't know if much he has done is true innovation. Tesla is losing money hand over fist and is struggling to put out something affordable.
It wasn't a chance, it was stupid and an opportunity to increase dongle sales. Mr. Dongle implementation of jack removal was horrible!
My thoughts:
- TouchID - Was a good implementation
- Apple Pay - about 3 years too late. NFC was already out in countries such as Canada. So not that innovative
- Stepped batteries in the MacBook - What do I care about a stepped battery when I have ONE FREAKEN port. I would trade it the stepped battery for more ports ANYDAY!!!!
- The A series of SoCs - agreed
- ResearchKit - too bad the world is moving towards andriod
- Swift - agreed
- AFPS - agreed
- AirPods (in particular the magic of the W1 chip) - yes, that was there only saving grace. However, Macbook, macbook air, & mac pro all suck! Iphone 7 was boring, and let's not talk about the Apple companion (Tim called it the Apple watch)
Yeah all they do is emojis and balloons. /s
- Here I agree with you!
What an ignorant post.
3D Touch is useless for YOU. Not for many like myself. What's unnatural about pressure? It's part of touch as well!
The next three are all subjective (superficial) opinion:
Samsung: Samsung Gear IconX (incredible)
Apple: AirPods (ugly and nothing special)
Samsung: Samsung Gear S3 Smart Watch (sexy as hell)
Apple: Apple Watch (ugly as hell)
Samsung: Staedtler Noris S Pen (cool and beautiful)
Apple: Apple Pencil (ugly, useless)
Anyway your check is in the mail from Seoul.
Samsung: Bixby (super smart) <--Really? Better than Google Now? Also probably also sucking all your personal data.
Apple: Siri (super dumb, NEVER understands me, not hyperbole whatsoever)
Samsung:
Apple: Swift (I had spaghetti for dinner)
Samsung:
Apple: APFS (my favorite color is blue)
Again WTF??? APFS is an advanced file system VERY DIFFERENT FROM BEFORE that was implemented without a huge hitch. Swift is a programming language but tech stuff is above your head for sure.
Honestly, I fail to see what is innovative about building a talking portal to your amazon shopping account. Oh, I guess other than that it can tell you the weather or give you a google definition....
Let's not pretend these products aren't just data collection (for advertisers to buy) devices.
Let's not pretend these products aren't just data collection (for advertisers to buy) devices.
What revolutionary product has google recently released???? Name 1 , because I can't think of any