Crazy how HN flips out over the Intel ME then turns around and applauds this.
I have more trust in Apple than I do Intel.
iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
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Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#62Please stop saying that Apple is secretly recording your conversations for nefarious purposes with Hey Siri. It’s been around for 2 years and there has been nothing world-ending found about the feature. A reminder about how Hey Siri privacy works: https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/11/apple-addresses-privacy-qu... > In no case is the device recording what the user says or sending that information to Apple before the feat…
As long as there is an always-on CPU with non-permanent firmware that has access to the microphone in my device, Fort Meade will find a way to hijack it and subvert this security model. I would rather not give them more attack surface.
Always-on CPU with non-permanent firmware with access to the microphone... sounds like every cell phone made in the past couple of decades.
Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it will be probably only be used initially for iOS emulator for developers This is quite a large technical undertaking, with a very small pay-off given the tiny percentage of users who develop on their Mac for iOS devices. I can't see this being something that happens until x86 CPUs have been removed entirely.
At the rate Apple is increasing its iPhone SKUs every year, it won't be long until all iOS app companies will need to purchase like 20 different-generation iPhones. I think they'll need the emulator eventually.
Not sure why is this being downvoted.
Apple is currently selling 8 models across 4 lines (6s, 7, 8, X and SE), and the iPhone 6 line is still being sold by carriers.
This is pretty much the first time when 8 primary models are available from Apple + at least 2 models are still being sold.
If the model trend continues to grow as it has been since the iPhone 6, there might be actually a need for device model emulation for development...
Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#64Crazy how HN flips out over the Intel ME then turns around and applauds this.
Strange, I didn't see in the article any suggestions that this chip had full access to all data flowing throughout the computer. Almost as though it's not at all similar in any way to the Intel ME discussions.
Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
As long as there is an always-on CPU with non-permanent firmware that has access to the microphone in my device, Fort Meade will find a way to hijack it and subvert this security model. I would rather not give them more attack surface.
Always-on CPU with non-permanent firmware with access to the microphone... sounds like every cell phone made in the past couple of decades.
Yeah, the situation is pretty bad.
Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
As long as there is an always-on CPU with non-permanent firmware that has access to the microphone in my device, Fort Meade will find a way to hijack it and subvert this security model. I would rather not give them more attack surface.
Always-on CPU with non-permanent firmware with access to the microphone... sounds like every cell phone made in the past couple of decades.
And the power source is built-in with no way to detach it when you want. Brave new world
Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Converging the Mac and the i products sounds like a terrible idea, as long as iOS insists on running non-windowed apps. Serious workloads is very inefficient without a proper windowed desktop environment combined with a Finder and a Terminal that can access files across all apps. Also, having an x86-compatible CPU at the core enables high enough performance for virtualbox/vmware, which is a huge enabler in that it al…
> A converged ARM-based Macbook sounds very much like a toy computer; a facebook+youtube media consumption station with an option for perhaps doing limited creative work such as composing an iMovie or touching up some photos at the most. What you describe as a "toy computer" is actually an indestructible and hella-great main business computer for a huge majority of people. Most people aren't designers or videographer…
A chromebook has windows and a file browser and a terminal. It doesn't fit that "toy computer" description at all.
Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#68Steven Sinofsky had an interesting tweetstorm throwing a bit of cold water on the notion that this was a sign that Macs were moving to ARM. https://twitter.com/stevesi/status/932116692620079104
> 12/ Or do you allow cross-compilation? Then the access to underlying system undermines "iOS" walled approach. Only "certified apps" isn't so interesting to most people.
I don't get this point. How does ARM translate to "walled garden"? I see no reason to tie ARM and the walled garden-approach together, just because that's the way it is on mobile. Non-certified apps would work just fine on OSX if the developers build for ARM.
Assumption 1: Most interesting OSX apps are active ones, where the authors have the source code, and are thus able to cross-compile and publish ARM binaries.
Assumption 2: Due to volume (and using an indenpendent foundry) the A11 chip is at least 10x cheaper than an Intel CPU.
I'd love to see a Macbook with 10xA11s, for a total of 20 high-performance cores, even if it can only run non-legacy apps ("legacy" meaning apps that depend on x86 code somehow).
Does anyone know how much space the four inefficient cores on the A11 take up? Perhaps the A11 volume is just so large that Apple can spit them out at a cost so low that it doesn't matter if four of the cores remain unused? I don't think they'd be of much use in a Macbook -- at least not the 40 of them that would be available in a 10xA11 setup.
Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#69This is huge. While it starts with just powering things like boot security and Hey Siri, I guarantee you this is the first step toward Apple getting rid of Intel on the Mac. How much longer before they release MB/MBPs with the same chip, doing the same thing? How much longer after that before we see SDKs released for writings apps that run on Mac, but are completely executed within the ARM processor? I think this is…
Here is what I think will occur : New Macbook Pro (not a refresh) will probably have this chip in but it will be probably only be used initially for iOS emulator for developers. The next release of macOS will probably have iOS apps that you can run on a mac. Then they will replace the Macbook Air line in to a Macbook Arm as a new product launch at the beginning of 2019.
> The next release of macOS will probably have iOS apps that you can run on a mac.
Why? iOS apps are designed for touch. Macs don't have touchscreens.
Re: iMac Pro Appears to Include A10 Fusion Chip for Always-On ‘Hey Siri’
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it will be probably only be used initially for iOS emulator for developers This is quite a large technical undertaking, with a very small pay-off given the tiny percentage of users who develop on their Mac for iOS devices. I can't see this being something that happens until x86 CPUs have been removed entirely.
At the rate Apple is increasing its iPhone SKUs every year, it won't be long until all iOS app companies will need to purchase like 20 different-generation iPhones. I think they'll need the emulator eventually.
Have you seen how many Samsung Galaxy variants exist in comparison?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy#Phones
That's just one manufacturer.