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Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

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Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#331

Post by lh7777 »

askafriend wrote: post #286
lh7777 wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd never understood the appeal of wireless headphones, and I guess I kind of do now that I have AirPods. Mine fit fine and stay in while running, but that's the only use I've found for them. Anywhere else and I'd much rather use my 15 year old Sennheiser earbuds because I have so many problems with the AirPods: * like pretty much all Apple earbuds, they don't seal to my ear so they're totally useless in loud places…

You should take them into the Apple store. A couple of those points are not my experience at all. My audio never drops out unless I'm far out of range or in a weird weather environment and my mic quality is excellent (in fact, I take calls regularly).

They're over a year old, so probably not worth the trouble. Just dug the AirPods out of the junk drawer and they seem to be working better than I recall. Recently got a new iPhone, so perhaps some of my problems were the old phone's fault instead of the AirPods. I don't have any other bluetooth devices so there wouldn't have been anything else to tip me off.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#332

Post by aesclepius »

FireBeyond wrote: post #205
bloorp wrote: post #35

Two months ago, Apple announced an ECG sensor for your wrist. A year before that, they announced face detection for the purposes of identity with enough accuracy that it can be used for financial transactions. Also, AirPods are incredible. I'm not saying Apple has a monopoly on invention, but to say they 'used to be an inventor'? That's weird.

> A year before that, they announced face detection for the purposes of identity Somewhat like Windows Hello, that also existed, based on technology from the Xbox Kinect? > Two months ago, Apple announced an ECG sensor for your wrist. Okay, so this is cool. But, putting on my paramedic hat for a moment, there is _SO_ much disinformation about what this does and what it is capable of detecting, what the difference is…

Having said that, an incidental 1 lead EKG on a wrist that can be brought up to your primary care and cardiologist at a later date is a game-changer. In clinical practice we will often use a Holter monitor (4 lead wearable EKG) to look for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, but having a passive monitor such as this on for months at a time will help doctors have more information regarding tachycardias like atrial fibrillation. I disagree profoundly with the assessment that the Apple Watch is just a glorified fitbit. (Source: medical resident)

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#333

Post by toasterlovin »

bhandziuk wrote: post #301
toasterlovin wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And TouchId. And FaceID. And Apple Watch. And Airpods. And Apple Pencil. And TrueTone. And Swift. And the new file system. Anybody who thinks Apple isn’t innovating is an ignorant jackass.

> Apple Pencil huh...not a joke

Not an artist, but apparently the pencil is way better than the pen and tablet solutions shipped by companies like Wacom. And apparently the new version could possibly be the smallest inductive charging system yet produced.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#334

Post by dorian-graph »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #244
zjaffee wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, when apple released the iphone, they changed the face of what smart phones would ultimately become. The touch experience they pioneered really shouldn't be overlooked, and add that on to future technologies like the ipad, where both were deeply immersive devices that people were able to generate new and exiting feelings towards. Since then, apple has migrated from being a brand focused on the shear love o…

they changed the face of what smart phones would ultimately become I get that, but they didn’t “invent” the smartphone. They executed an existing concept far better than anybody else had been able to up until then, and the result of that was a complete industry change. It’s great, but they weren’t there when the first smartphones appeared - they came along with a much better implementation of the concept. I think the…

This really sounds like people are splitting at hairs doing gymnastics to give Apple as little credit as possible.

What does 'invent' even mean to you, and the others, then?

If Apple didn't do what they did, where would we be?

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#335

Post by JoeAltmaier »

dorian-graph wrote: post #334
matthewmacleod wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they changed the face of what smart phones would ultimately become I get that, but they didn’t “invent” the smartphone. They executed an existing concept far better than anybody else had been able to up until then, and the result of that was a complete industry change. It’s great, but they weren’t there when the first smartphones appeared - they came along with a much better implementation of the concept. I think the…

This really sounds like people are splitting at hairs doing gymnastics to give Apple as little credit as possible. What does 'invent' even mean to you, and the others, then? If Apple didn't do what they did, where would we be?

Its really easy to find out this stuff by googling it. There were smart phones back in 1993. Apple's came out years later. That hair is half a decade wide?

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#336

Post by wlesieutre »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #275
wlesieutre wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was 4 years ago, so that was probably as reasonable an amount of memory as 8 GB is today. And the Macbook Airs start at a 1.6 GHz dual core, so Apple isn't above using slower processors in new products. It'll work fine for some people. The SSD is non-negotiable today though, I'll give you that one.

4Gb is good for a media server and not much else.

Between memory compression and very fast SSDs, I bet you could do it. Especially if you aren’t running a bunch of Chrome/Electron stuff like developers tend to.

Of course a lot of the target market for Macs like that would be better served by iPads now.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#337

Post by [deleted] »

dorian-graph wrote: post #334
matthewmacleod wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they changed the face of what smart phones would ultimately become I get that, but they didn’t “invent” the smartphone. They executed an existing concept far better than anybody else had been able to up until then, and the result of that was a complete industry change. It’s great, but they weren’t there when the first smartphones appeared - they came along with a much better implementation of the concept. I think the…

This really sounds like people are splitting at hairs doing gymnastics to give Apple as little credit as possible. What does 'invent' even mean to you, and the others, then? If Apple didn't do what they did, where would we be?

[deleted]

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#338

Post by dorian-graph »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #335
dorian-graph wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really sounds like people are splitting at hairs doing gymnastics to give Apple as little credit as possible. What does 'invent' even mean to you, and the others, then? If Apple didn't do what they did, where would we be?

Its really easy to find out this stuff by googling it. There were smart phones back in 1993. Apple's came out years later. That hair is half a decade wide?

http://time.com/3137005/first-smartphone-ibm-simon/

http://thedoghousediaries.com/3345 ;)

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#339

Post by natch »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #315
natch wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conditions like "must log in to a Google account to use this" and "must agree that Google can harvest your private data for financial gain so we can pay off those executives" yes that is harmful.

I've yet to see a product that requires that. Let's compare Apple's devices against devices that actually exist instead of terrible devices that exist only in fantasy.

Relevant:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17944311

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#340

Post by yesenadam »

fetus8 wrote: post #160
Apocryphon wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of that stuff is great, and does not explain why the Mac Mini, an entry-level Apple computer, is somehow proportionally worth $300 more than it used to be.

Well, it's going from a laptop based dual core CPU, to a desktop based quadcore CPU. Not a great reason to increase the price dramatically, but it is a big difference in terms of performance. The other thing I think people are failing to realize, is who is the Mac Mini for? It used to be for Windows switchers who wanted to plug in a small box to their existing mouse/keyboard/monitor situation. It was an introduction…

I use one from 2006 or so. Was planning to get a 'new' 2012 one sometime soon. :-) Now, not sure which to get! I just like them. (You sure picked me - its my first Mac, am a programmer/'creative')
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