Apple has done it again!

[Sam1]

Their advanced engineering department has created a $99 stylus before anyone else did!

 

And to think these other companies have been giving them away for 20 years now for free.

 

 

As much as I like my Mac, this company is just really turning into a laughing stock with all of the outdated capacity of the hardware they're releasing, and stupid things like the <queue the heavenly music> Apple Pencil

[GlockSpock]

Really? It's the Apple Pencil that discourages you?

 

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/accessories/surface-pen

 

Microsoft sells a similiar stylus for $50. However, the Apple version has integrated charging circuitry and obviously a rechargeable battery. I believe that the Apple Pencil also has more sensors inside than the Surface Pro 3 Pen.

 

Personally, I'll be picking up the new Apple TV 4.

 

With all of this being said, keep in mind that I am on my 2015 rMBP, with my iPhone 6 nearby, while my Wife and myself are watching a movie on the Apple TV Gen 3. I might be biased.

 

I will agree that they should have at minimum 32 GB storage for everything, arguably 64 GB for most products.

[Raoul]

Apple sucks

[Sam1]

Microsoft didn't hype up some huge event with rumors of some awesome new technology that allows you to 3d print a zero turn lawnmower for $75... They just released it.  We had this same thread last year when Apple claimed to have invented stuff that had been on the market for years previously.

 

But hey, they wouldn't sell the stuff if people didn't eat it up.

[MacGyver]

I'm kind of excited about the new iPad Pro.  For my particular use case, it may fill a need that a laptop cannot.

 

And, that's kind of interesting when you think about Apple and their continued growth.  To some, they're victims of their own success.  How do you continue to innovate with these revolutionary devices - of which I'd really argue they haven't done since the iPhone.  What they are executing on well is fitting devices to particular niches.  The MacBook may not appeal at all to me writing code, running a couple different VMs or doing forensic work.  But to my wife who needs none of that, it's about perfect.  So long as they keep growing incrementally, they'll be fine.

 

I think the biggest announcement today was them taking control of phone payment plans - basically their selling you a phone at a monthly rate with AppleCare and a new phone every year.  That's huge.  And I'm sure all of the carriers were calling Apple bad names today.

[GlockSpock]

Show me any phone on the market that has technology or programming behind it that is similar to "3D Touch". Or...Touch ID at that.

 

Apple innovates...

 

Sure, they do take good ideas from other manufacturers and Google/Microsoft, but they also innovate and what they are really, really good at is creating a near seamless ecosystem.

Edited September 10, 2015 by CZ9MM

[MacGyver]

I did find it odd today to see Microsoft and Adobe in the launch event.  It was kind of like they were parading out conquered rivals to have them pay homage or something.

[GlockSpock]

I did find it odd today to see Microsoft and Adobe in the launch event.  It was kind of like they were parading out conquered rivals to have them pay homage or something.

 

I wondered about one of the Microsoft reps. I am pretty sure he was wearing an Apple Watch. I wonder what happened behind the scenes there...

 

Kirk Konigsbauer

 

Edited September 10, 2015 by CZ9MM

[Sam1]

 

Show me any phone on the market that has technology or programming behind it that is similar to "3D Touch". Or...Touch ID at that.

 

Apple innovates...

 

Sure, they do take good ideas from other manufacturers and Google/Microsoft, but they also innovate and what they are really, really good at is creating a near seamless ecosystem.

 

From a security perspective, using your fingerprint for security is not that secure. You only get 10 choices for the remainder of your life. From a legal standpoint, there have been cases in the news where a person can legally refuse to give an unlock code, but others have been ordered to unlock the device with their fingerprint because a fingerprint is not protected.

 

Air gestures have been around for years and years as well, nothing new and exciting about them.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Sam1

[GlockSpock]

From a security perspective, using your fingerprint for security is not that secure. You only get 10 choices for the remainder of your life. From a legal standpoint, there have been cases in the news where a person can legally refuse to give an unlock code, but others have been ordered to unlock the device with their fingerprint because a fingerprint is not protected.

 

Air gestures have been around for years and years as well, nothing new and exciting about them.

 

3D Touch has nothing to do with "Air Gestures".

 

The good thing about using Touch ID is that it is optional. If you are a high security operator, then you can not use it and instead setup a more secure hexadecimal password if you chose.

 

I'll be out of this conversation for a bit...I'm hitting the install button on the OS X El Capitan GM:)

[Dustbuster]

I'm kind of excited about the new iPad Pro. For my particular use case, it may fill a need that a laptop cannot.

And, that's kind of interesting when you think about Apple and their continued growth. To some, they're victims of their own success. How do you continue to innovate with these revolutionary devices - of which I'd really argue they haven't done since the iPhone. What they are executing on well is fitting devices to particular niches. The MacBook may not appeal at all to me writing code, running a couple different VMs or doing forensic work. But to my wife who needs none of that, it's about perfect. So long as they keep growing incrementally, they'll be fine.

I think the biggest announcement today was them taking control of phone payment plans - basically their selling you a phone at a monthly rate with AppleCare and a new phone every year. That's huge. And I'm sure all of the carriers were calling Apple bad names today.

i was a hardcore blackberry user and finally gave in, it doesn't hurt so bad except for the confusing stupid crap the carriers started w i phone leasing ad nauseum.... screw the carriers.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk, its either this or smoke signals!

[Sam1]

Ah I thought you were talking about air gestures, which apple sucks at.  So this 3d touch thing is what Samsung patented a year and a half ago? More court cases over patent wars, and in the end Apple will end up paying as usual.

 

I don't really watch the releases, just surf the web afterwords to mock their claims of inventing new things that exist years before they release.

[GlockSpock]

Ah I thought you were talking about air gestures, which apple sucks at. So this 3d touch thing is what Samsung patented a year and a half ago? More court cases over patent wars, and in the end Apple will end up paying as usual.

I don't really watch the releases, just surf the web afterwords to mock their claims of inventing new things that exist years before they release.

http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/05/iphone-6s-3d-touch-screen/

I do not know anything about what you speak of. A comment on that thread suggests Apple patented the idea in 2008.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sam1]

http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/05/iphone-6s-3d-touch-screen/

I do not know anything about what you speak of. A comment on that thread suggests Apple patented the idea in 2008.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

There's a bunch of different types of them, I just ran a quick search on google patents and the one from 2008 requires multiple devices to detect touch (a bunch of other companies before then had similar applications for that all the way back to 2000) the Samsung one is a singular device.

[No_0ne]

This thread has some potential, a pissing contest for fanboys ...

[Sam1]

This thread has some potential, a pissing contest for fanboys ...

What makes it legit is that I only use Macs, but have a full understanding that their stuff is not groundbreaking.

Was watching a video of the release this morning and hearing the crowd cheer over a stylus was comical. I expect a Southpark episode to cover it pretty soon.

[maroonandwhite]

Well I for one will be ordering the 6S Saturday. It's will be the first time I have bought the latest up to date iPhone and I am EXCITED. I like Apple products for there simplicity and with the new functionality of the Apple TV I will also pick one of those up.

[Hozzie]

I was one of those guys who used an Iphone up until the last time I upgraded (a year ago) and thought "unh, I will give Android a try for something different".  Worst mistake I ever made.  I hate it.  I will also be ordering a 6S as soon as I hit US soil on Saturday.  I don't care what it costs I hate Android so bad.   It has been a hard 6 months not just getting a 6, but I stuck it out (which is very unlike me).

 

I will have to check out the Apple TV's.  Can't say i know much about them or have looked at them before, but I hear a lot of people who really like them.

[GlockSpock]

I was one of those guys who used an Iphone up until the last time I upgraded (a year ago) and thought "unh, I will give Android a try for something different".  Worst mistake I ever made.  I hate it.  I will also be ordering a 6S as soon as I hit US soil on Saturday.  I don't care what it costs I hate Android so bad.   It has been a hard 6 months not just getting a 6, but I stuck it out (which is very unlike me).

 

I will have to check out the Apple TV's.  Can't say i know much about them or have looked at them before, but I hear a lot of people who really like them.

 

If you have lots of iTunes content, use Netflix, Hulu, etc, like a small bombproof set top box, then the Apple TV is for you. The new one has an App Store, so in the coming months you will see all sorts of things flood to the device, really opening it up.

[Hozzie]

I don't use Itunes, Netflix, or Hulu hardly at all right now.  I like my current DVR as I can get all of my HBO and Starz Movies on demand.  I will probably always still have a cable plan so it may not be for me.

[MacGyver]

Apple is able, as a byproduct of their size to do one thing well - scale.  As such things like using a limited NFC capability for Apple Pay will likely work where others have failed.

 

I wouldn't call myself a fanboy by any stretch - when it comes to tech, I'm pretty agnostic and moreover am pragmatic.  I'm going to use what facilitates getting the job done best.  That said, our family has chosen to generally step into the Apple ecosystem, and we're pretty happy there.  Some thoughts:

 

1. I was a PC guy for 35 years.  My dad got one of the first 300 IBM PCs off the line back in 1979-80, and I've generally stayed there over the years.  It wasn't until the first of this year that I replaced my work machine with a MacBook Pro.  Most of the reasons for me staying on a PC for so long were wrapped up in the fact that the forensic tools we use are generally PC based.  That, and I was comfortable with what I knew - despite suffering a lot of little frustrations over the years.  While I am not an IT support guy on a day-to-day basis, I would call myself an expert tech.  And the fact that my high end factory built Dell workstation would regularly lock up, blue screen, fail to come out of sleep mode, etc... just added up.

 

2. When I decided to replace my $7,000 workstation, frankly there wasn't anything in the PC space that was really that compelling.  A legitimate point to Apple - they're making better hardware than anybody out there.  Period.

 

3. There are some issues with that great hardware - mainly that it's made by exploited Chinese workers with the little fairylike hands needed to put this stuff together.  That's not a problem that's unique to Apple - but it's one that we should likely require them to take a lead in addressing - again because of their size and ability to scale.

 

4. Apple's generally closed OS is better for my family - and as a result for me because I don't have to spend a ton of time troubleshooting their stuff.  The 'it just works' may be a stretch for everything I want to do, but for my kids and my wife it seems appropriate

 

5. Sticking with one ecosystem works well for me.  I hardly ever even open my MacBook Pro.  When I come into the office in the morning, I plug the power adapter and a thunderbolt cable in.  That powers two Cinema Displays, and I go about my day.  If I want to work at home, I plug a thunderbolt cable into my family's iMac and take over that screen.  Couple that with storage in the cloud, and it's seamless.  Our business has really reached the point where we can work from anywhere.  We likely could have pulled that same feat off on Windows, but Apple has made it easier.

 

6. An $80 license of VMWare Fusion is the best way to consume Windows.  Truthfully, I don't know that I'll ever use Windows in another way again.  We have clean images for all of our use cases in the cloud.  When we need to use a Windows machine, we pull an image down from the cloud, boot it up, do what we need to do, shut it down and delete it.  We use a new image every time.  And, since we've got specific builds for everything we do, stuff runs fast.  Couple that with a few Linux images and we've got amazing capability.

 

7. I'm a Microsoft supporter.  I think they're an amazing company that is still capable of doing some great stuff.  I've worked for them and with them.  Apple needs good competition in the OS space and elsewhere.  I'm old enough to remember Microsoft's 'evil empire' days.  I find it interesting to see some of that same language being used around the periphery with Apple right now.  Over the next couple of years I would expect that to escalate - probably in the form of more targeted malware, greater discontent around innovations or lack thereof, and finally with some big antitrust suits.  Empire is hard.  Tim Cook has a tough job.

 

8.  Apple's move to more subscription-based offerings is significant.  Stuff like them financing phones, Apple Music, etc... moves their revenue away from being solely dependent on hardware and gives them the coveted monthly recurring revenue.  As crazy as it sounds, with current Silicon Valley and Wall Street models, if they can make that switch, then they're likely undervalued.

 

9.  They're going to need focus in the OS/app space.  A lot of their stuff is increasingly bloated.  Thankfully, they're still controlling the ecosystem and their stuff isn't shipping with a bunch of third-party bloatware like most Windows machines these days.  But, stuff like iTunes needs focus.  You can't say that iTunes today is more usable than it was five years ago.  There's more content available - but the usability is lacking if you have a memory of how it used to be.

 

10.  I like Tim Cook's recent thoughts on user privacy and the fact that they're starting to implement things in a way that neither Apple or other interested parties can get access to without users' permission.  This is a significant difference between them and Google - at least right now.  For Google - we're still the ultimate product.  If the current power grabs within government in the name of 'national security' and 'finding terrorists' continue - then Google is going to need to struggle with this as well.  There is some significant stuff going on right now in the courts - actually Microsoft is taking the lead in the current cases.  It is worth watching where it goes.

 

11.  Nobody has a monopoly on innovation.  Thankfully.  I laugh when I see announcements like yesterday's about the Pencil.  The cause may be a bit different.  Flash back to the 'evil empire' Microsoft ripping of Xerox, buying out competitors, etc...  There's nothing new under the sun.

 

12. We're not big TV watchers - but the Apple TV works great for our cord-cut home.  My kids can operate it well - even my 4 year old.  Coupled with a Netflix subscription with a kids profile enabled, and it's about everything we need.  

 

13.  TV is one place where we had to make a choice on an ecosystem, and we chose iTunes.  All the studios are trying to get their own formats/ecosystems out there - and most of them won't last.  Ultraviolet, whatever.  We just decided to download movies on iTunes.  Coupled with their cloud storage - and the fact that they're generally priced the same as anywhere else, we decided to step into the ecosystem that has the highest probability of being left standing when the dust settles.  I know there are ways that I could accomplish the same thing as a techie - but for $69, I've got enough other stuff to screw with in my life.  I don't need to add TV to that list.

 

14.  The MagSafe power adapter has to be out of patent protection by now.  Other manufacturers should be using this.  It's a better iteration on power adapters. 

[Hozzie]

2. When I decided to replace my $7,000 workstation, frankly there wasn't anything in the PC space that was really that compelling.  A legitimate point to Apple - they're making better hardware than anybody out there.  Period.

 

 

I agree with you on most points other than this.  They don't make or even use better hardware, they simply integrate their OS with it more efficiently.  This is also by locking down much more what people can do and you usually have less flexibility overall.  I am ok with that if it works for you,

 

I recently built a Video editing PC for half the cost of a comparable MacPro and have much more processing power and overall encoding capabilities.  If you don't want to build a PC, Mac's are certainly more plug and play, but you pay dearly for it on the high end machines.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Hozzie

[MacGyver]

I agree with you on most points other than this.  They don't make or even use better hardware, they simply integrate their OS with it more efficiently.  This is also by locking down much more what people can do and you usually have less flexibility overall.  I am ok with that if it works for you,

 

I recently built a Video editing PC for half the cost of a comparable MacPro and have much more processing power and overall encoding capabilities.  If you don't want to build a PC, Mac's are certainly more plug and play, but you pay dearly for it on the high end machines.

Yeah, this comment should be taken within my particular use case.  That is, I want our business to be able to consume hardware out of the box as a general rule.  This is important for scalability and support in our shop.

 

If you want to roll your own, there are a lot of great components out there.  We've got specific machines for specific use cases that we've built using specialized hardware, and they're great.  But, that shouldn't be the expectation to get a great user experience out of the box for day-to-day office use.  That was our reason for moving over to Macs.

[Caster]

Everything I have is Apple. My tablet I'm currently typing on. My desktop. My phone. My iPod.

That being said, I often fanticize seeing Apple catch fire and roll off a bluff. Edited September 10, 2015 by Caster

[56FordGuy]

I have a MacBook and an iPhone, work supplies me with an iPad. I'm a big apple fan because I'm not a tech guy and don't care to be. I want something I can turn on, use, and turn off without having to mess with it.

That said, I hate apple music so much if I could find an android app that was like the old iTunes used to be I would probably switch. That one forced change (came on my iPhone 6) has done more damage to my interest in apple than anything else.