Category Archives: Apple

UPS = Un-Professional Service

Apple, Rant, Technology, , ,

You be the judge

My wife has suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for decades. She is a shut-in with limited mobility. Her iPhone 5s began to reboot continually, and since it is her ONLY PHONE I decided to get her the latest iPhone Xs MAX. It was supposed to arrive this Friday (September 28 or later).

UPS (United Parcel Service) sent me an email notification over the weekend telling me it would arrive Monday September 25th between 3 PM and 7 PM. It needed to be signed for. HOWEVER the driver arrived a few minutes before 2 PM, knocked lightly on the door and immediately left one of those “stickies” saying they would attempt ONE more delivery on the next day.

So I called to complain. By the time I finally got through the automated phone system to a real person I was well and truly steamed. Although attempting to assure the person on the other end of the phone that I knew it wasn’t his fault, I asserted in no uncertain terms how I felt about their automated phone system and the difficulty in talking to a human being. I also explained the situation and asked when the package would actually be delivered. The advice given to me was to be ready at 1 PM.

So while I was at work, my wife dutifully began waiting by the door at 1 PM for the UPS man. At work I tracked the progress of the UPS truck on a map via the “handy” UPS tracking website. At around 3 PM his truck was on my street a few houses down and I FaceTimed my wife on her iPad (recall that her iPhone does not work) to let her know that her new phone was almost there. Then for some inexplicable reason the UPS truck left our neighborhood. I tracked it continually until 7 PM when it finally got back to our house. Throughout this time I texted and FaceTimed my wife with updates. She was ready when he came to the door.

When the UPS guy finally got to the door my wife met him and asked why he didn’t come to our house at 3 PM when he was right there. His answer … he was specifically told by his supervisor to make us the LAST delivery of the day. UPS was punishing me for complaining!

Think about that for a minute.

So I called back UPS, navigated the phone system, and got through to another human. I rehashed all of the above and asked if it was UPS corporate policy to retaliate against customers who have complaints about service quality. I was of course assured that this was not the case and that someone higher up the management ladder would get back in touch with me. That was 24 hours ago. Nothing nada zip zilch.

What would you do if you were in my position?

Lint

Apple, Essay, Stuff, Technology, Video,

So …

I have an iPhone 6s Plus. The lightning plug port had stopped charging – sort of. The plug wouldn’t stay in and I would have to carefully hold it “just so” to get it to charge. I had the same problem with my original iPhone 5s. It was the reason I upgraded to the 6s Plus.

So I called my local Batteries + Bulbs. $80 to replace the charging port. BUT the nice lady I spoke to suggested using a toothpick to clean out any lint. I used a toothpick and compressed air (computer dust spray) and cleaned out a fair amount of lint.

PROBLEM SOLVED

The charging plug snaps briskly in and charges. Son’s iPhone … same problem … same solution.

 
PS – I also cleaned out my old iPhone 5s … problem solved.

Apple Support

Apple, Essay, Internet, News, Opinion, Rant, Reblog, Technology, Welcome to the Future, , , ,

Apple Support Rocks

Saturday March 27 approximately 1:00 PM … sanity is restored

It may be a while before this posts, that is, between now and when I finish it.

In my previous post I commented: Arthur C. Clark once said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” except when it f*ck$ up, then it is like a curse from Marie Laveau. (I added the Marie Laveau bit)

Note: My friend also updated his iPhone 6s Plus and thought it went without a hitch. HOWEVER he just discovered that his App Store app is gone. He just called Apple Support and was told that he needed wipe his iPhone and and restore from scratch. Based on my experience there may be another approach but after three days of this I told him I would help him another day. That will be another blog post. UPDATE – my friend had set up Settings > General > Restrictions to turn off access to the App Store and that is why the App Store app disappeared. Sadly he only discovered this after resetting his phone to factory default … TWICE.

Based on personal evidence I conclude that the iOS 10.3.2 upgrade is flawed. I now extremely reticent to upgrade my other devices. 

Additionally I still don’t have all of my ringtones back. I now have most of them but not all. It may be less frustrating to just buy them again if I really want them. You see ringtones are entirely different from music or apps (or iBooks?) purchased from iTunes. Perhaps they are a throwback to the early days of cellphones. Ringtones cannot re-downloaded after purchase. It is a onetime thing. Backing them up requires syncing your iPhone to iTunes on a PC or Mac. I only got back the ones I did through the effort of upper level Apple iTunes Support.

My problem with this entire debacle is that I am so spoiled when it comes to Apple. I expect these kinds of issues with Windows and Linux. With Apple I expect it to “just work”. It always has for me. This time – for me – it failed to “just work.”

Anyway … back to Apple Support … throughout this entire ordeal every Apple Support person I have dealt with from Tier One to Upper Levels has been gracious, calm, and absolutely committed to resolving my issues. I don’t expect technology to function flawlessly at all times (Apple excluded – as I said I’m spoiled), but what do appreciate are companies dedicated to having happy customers. Apple certainly qualifies in this regard. Attention Tim Cook – you should be very proud of your support team.

Hell week continues

Apple, Essay, Internet, News, Opinion, Rant, Technology, Welcome to the Future, , ,

Oh for the good olde days 

 
Maybe Jim Stafford had it right …

     Well, I think of that girl from time to time

     I call her up when I got a dime

Or maybe a cocoanut telegraph?

Arthur C. Clark once said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” except when it f*ck$ up, then it is like a curse from Marie Laveau.

 •  •  •  •  • 

Re-configuration continues slowly and methodically. Now I need to call Apple to figure out how to get all of my ring tones back. Mañana. I’m going to bed early tonight.

iPhone Hell Continues

Apple, Internet, News, Rant, Stuff, Technology, Welcome to the Future, , , ,

And so it goes 

In order for my iPhone to see my Apple Watch I had to reset it to factory settings and now begin the task of reconfiguring it back to the way I liked it. I was on phone with Apple until 2 AM last night.

Now I begin the task of remembering, downloading, and reconfiguring every <expletive deleted> app on my iPhone and Apple Watch. Setting up email and remembering or changing passwords. Not how I had planned my day.

One thing is certain … my iPhone and watch will be leaner and meaner.

 UPDATE – I am installing the latest Apple Watch version now (might as well there is no reason not too)

iOS 10.3.2 Trashed My iPhone

Apple, News, Rant, Stuff, Technology, Welcome to the Future, ,

WARNING – RANT ALERT

The latest iOS 10.3.2 update has completely trashed my iPhone 6s Plus and by “trashed” I mean blasted it back to factory settings. I spent over five hours in online chat and phone calls with Apple support working between my iPad, MacBook, and iPhone. Only now do I have a semi working iPhone.

Here’s what happened – I set my iPhone up to upgrade to iOS 10.3.2 at about 6 PM before walking next door to have a beer (or two) with the neighbors as we often do. When I got back expecting all to be OK, my iPhone was in continuous reboot mode. It would briefly display the logon screen then immediately flash to the spinning wheel icon before re-displaying the logon screen, over and over and over again. The only way to break the cycle was to connect it to my MacBook and follow the instructions in the links below (provided by support).

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203899   and   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201412

I finally got it to the point of restoring from a backup and after going through all of the steps and waiting for everything to restore, it eventually went back into continuous reboot mode again. I ended up starting over from scratch several times and even attempting a restore from a backup made two days ago. I eventually got all the way to the end and … continuous reboot mode … again.

Arrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh

So start over again, but this time set it up as new iPhone without doing a restore. Luckily all of my contacts, photos, iTunes, and notes are safely in iCloud and available on my other Apple devices. They also appear to be mostly available on my iPhone, but I still need to reconfigure my email settings, selectively download and reconfigure apps (most of which require logon ID and password configuration), reset and reconfigure my alarms, and set my icons back to where I like them. I had also saved many web pages as icons so I will need to reconstruct these as well.

I also need to reconnect my Apple Watch, Fitbit Scale, and on and on and on.

UPDATE – can not get my Apple Watch to connect

iOS 10.3 | APFS

Apple, News, Technology, ,

Apple has deployed iOS 10.3. All I can say is … WOW.  OK … I can and will say more. Still … WOW.

Off course iOS 10.3 supplies all of the security features I mentioned earlier, but more importantly it is the first deployment of the new Apple File System (APFS). I will try to summarize below, but the following links do more justice to an explanation than I ever could.

http://appletoolbox.com/2017/03/manage-apple-id-account-details-using-ios-10-3/

http://appletoolbox.com/2017/03/apple-file-system-apfsthe-big-ios-10-3-feature-youve-never-heard/

https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/APFS_Guide/Introduction/Introduction.html

To put things in perspective the HFS+ file system currently in use on Macs and iOS 10.2.x iDevices is over 30 years old*. HFS+ is more than one and a half human generations old. Most people using iDevices aren’t that old. In the computer world 30 years is OLD. Think about it … what level of technology were you using 30 years ago?

From the Apple document …

HFS+ and its predecessor HFS are more than 30 years old. These file systems were developed in an era of floppy disks and spinning hard drives, when file sizes were calculated in kilobytes or megabytes.

Today, people commonly store hundreds of gigabytes and access millions of files on high-speed, low-latency flash drives. People carry their data with them, and they demand that sensitive information be secure.

Apple File System is a new, modern file system for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. It is optimized for Flash/SSD storage and features strong encryption, copy-on-write metadata, space sharing, cloning for files and directories, snapshots, fast directory sizing, atomic safe-save primitives, and improved file system fundamentals.

…

Apple File System is a 64-bit file system supporting over 9 quintillion files on a single volume. This state-of-the-art file system features cloning for files and directories, snapshots, space sharing, fast directory sizing, atomic safe-save primitives, and improved filesystem fundamentals, as well as a unique copy-on-write design that uses I/O coalescing to deliver maximum performance while ensuring data reliability.

…

Apple File System is uniquely designed to meet the needs of Apple’s products and ecosystem. Apple File System provides strong encryption, ultra-low latencies and limited memory overhead. It is optimized for Flash/SSD storage and can be used on everything from an Apple Watch to a Mac Pro.

The following graphic is from https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/APFS_Guide/VolumeFormatComparison/VolumeFormatComparison.html


 

As I said, the links provided above explain the benefits of APFS much better and in more detail than I can. I am in fact still digesting much of it. Suffice it to say that AFPS is a file system for the twenty-first century and beyond, a world of mobile devices and solid state storage. 

And it all starts with iOS 10.3. Download and install it now.

 
* 30 dog years is over 130 human years. Ask Maggie.
See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_File_System

ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH

Apple, Internet, Rant, Technology, ,

Rant for December 11

Comcast Internet tech came to house. Richard was very diligent. Comcast staff, not contractor. Spent much time monitoring signal. Identified spurious transmission errors. Determined that I was the only one of four on the “node” – good news. Bad news – the other three connections were “unterminated”. Richard terminated them. He also replaced the cable from the house to the node. Problems “appear” fixed.

…

Got email from Apple from AppStore Re: purchase of Burley Men at Sea

WTF????? – I didn’t buy this.

Hours on chat / phone / website to Apple. AppleID compromised. Got a refund. Changed my password.

Filed from http://www.ephesusgrill.com/ Katy TX
PS … I ordered a $40 bottle of Turkish wine with the intent of having some and bringing it home. Ha ha – I drank it all. Safely home now.

Stupidification Part Deux

Apple, Economic Issues, Internet, News, Technology, , , ,

Not that Congress needs help to be stupid … 

 
Line by line, how the US anti-encryption bill will kill our privacy, security

El Reg takes latest Burr-Feinstein legislation apart

Line by terrible line

Here at Vulture West we’ve gone through the legislation to see what exactly is in the bill. Here, for your delectation, are the worst bits:

All providers of communications services and products (including software) should protect the privacy of United States persons through implementation of appropriate data security and still respect the rule of law and comply with all legal requirements and court orders.

This is the crux of the issue. The senators want to have their cake – by requiring tech companies to protect their customers’ data – and eat it too – by insisting that law enforcement can break the code.
According to the best minds in cryptography this simply can’t be done – it’s not a moral or legislative issue but a mathematical one. Once you introduce a flaw into an encryption system, it’s impossible to stop others finding it, especially since you are mandating it is there by law and the prize is free access to all US data traffic, as evidenced in the Juniper case.

Burr and Feinstein don’t specify how this police backdoor could be managed and still protect data. Instead they have just said: “Here’s what we want – do it.” 

More at:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/13/burr_feinstein_antiencryption_bill_is_out/

As for the American public’s reaction, well that’s less certain. The US populace are largely complete pussies when it comes to terrorism and have – time and again – shown themselves willing to abandon hard-fought-for liberties whenever the T word comes up.

Good sense may prevail in the Land of the FreeTM, but don’t bet on it.
  

 

We’re doomed

Power of gold …

Apple, Humor, News, Opinion, Review, Technology, Video, , ,

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015) Gold

I ordered one of the new MacBooks. It arrived on Thursday. 

For many years I have not had a computer at home, just various iPads and iPhones. This was all I needed for my online activities. I had multiple computers at work, I didn’t need one at home.

All of that changed a week ago Friday. It is easier to update one’s resume on a laptop than on an iPad.

Let’s just say that I was as excited as a little girl with a new pony to get it, but don’t take my word for it …

“and a hard drive of five hundred and twelve megs” megs??? I hate it when I do that … Gigs! Not that bad considering it is all solid state.

  

Wish me luck on coming up with a kick-ass resume otherwise I may end up like this guy

 
  

One millimeter

Apple, Essay, Opinion, Rant, Review, Technology, , , , , ,

[begin rant]

One fucking millimeter. There I said it … millimeter … or if you prefer millimetre.

iPhone 6s   The only thing that’s changed is everything

No … not everything.

My old iPhone 5s died. OK so it didn’t really die, but the female charging port on the phone got damaged from accidentally ripping the charging cord out of the phone … one … too … many … times. Getting the phone to charge involved just the right amount of ceremonial incantations, fiddling with the Lightning connector, and careful positioning of the iPhone and cord. On the Monday before my birthday the phone died and would not charge. So I ordered a new iPhone 6s Plus, which as luck would have it arrived on said birthday. (Happy Birthday to me, etc., etc, etc.)

I love everything about it … except …

Sir Jonathan Paul Ive, can I call you Jony?

So Jony, the whole world knows how fucking brilliant you are. There, I did it again … brilliant. Yes, you … are … brilliant. You’ve even been knighted for brilliance, for Christ’s sake.

You are brilliant … and you are obsessed. Obsessed with industrial design. Obsessed with elegance. Obsessed with perfection. You are also obsessed with thinness. Obsessed.

But when does obsession cloud judgement? When does the obsession for thinness negate superb industrial design?


One fucking millimeter. If you had made the iPhone 6 series one millimeter thicker, the camera lens would be flush with the case … like the iPhone 5 … and EVERY other iPhone before it. No one … and I do mean no one … would have noticed or cared if the iPhone 6 series was one millimeter thicker.

What could you do with an extra one millimeter of thickness? Make the case a tad thicker and stronger. Make the battery thicker and add a few extra minutes of run time. Who knows? Who cares?

The important thing is that one millimeter is the difference between a smooth backside and one with an ugly zit that keeps the phone from laying solidly on on flat surface without rocking. One millimeter means not worrying about scratching fine old wooden finishes. One millimeter is the difference between obsession and … perfection.

Any chance of fixing this in the iPhone 7?

[end rant]

iOS 9 Keyboard

Apple, Essay, News, Technology, , , ,

When iOS 9 came out for iPad and iPhone, the default appearance of the keyboard changed. The Mrs is visually challenged and did not like the new look of the keyboard. She wanted the old one back. The difference is that the old keyboard displayed CAPITAL LETTERS all of the time. The new one displays either lowercase or UPPERCASE depending on whether or not the shift key was depressed.

OLD KEYBOARD

 

 
New Keyboard 

 

Although not obvious it is possible to revert to the old keyboard default as follows:

Settings > General > Accessibility > Keyboard > Show Lowercase Keys 

Toggle Show Lowecase Keys off

 
Let me know in the comments below if this was useful to you …

Don’t google ‘Autocorrect Fails’ if you have anywhere to be soon…

Apple, Extreme Humor, Humor, Internet, Reblog, Technology

The joy of autocorrect and/or dictation on the iPhone/iPad.

I once dictated a letter to some old family friends who happen to be staunch Baptists. Thankfully I proofed it before sending. When I tried to tell my wife about it it, it took about a dozen attempts before I could get through it without bursting into eye-watering laughter.

Actual message: She is suffering from an MS exacerbation
As dictated/autocorrected: She is suffering from excess masturbation

A Girl In Europe

or don’t want to pee your pants laughing.

i hate autocorrect, autocorrect makes me sound ducking stupid! But I do have to  admit she’s been pretty kind to me unlike to these poor and unsuspecting people…

imageimageimageimageimageimageimageimageimageimage

There are worst ones but I can’t risk my mum telling me of soo….

Love ROHN

(Thanks autocorrect)

View original post

iTextEditors

Apple, Edits and Updates, Review, Technology, , ,

What do you use your iPad (or iPhone) for? 

Ever had a need to edit text files or code?

Brett Terpsta maintains a list of iOS text editors and features that is nothing short of phenomenal. Titled iTextEditors, this webpage lists each text editing app in a dynamically filterable matrix of features.

 

Touching (or clicking on) the app name opens a pop-up window with additional information not captured by the feature matrix. Touching the More info … link takes you to a review of the app.

  
  
I am currently using his page to decide which text editor(s) might be worth adding to my stable of apps. 🙂

http://brettterpstra.com/ios-text-editors/

Giant iPad Spotted

Apple, News, Technology, , , ,

Numerous sites are reporting that Apple may release a giant iPad dubbed the iPad Pro.

Contrafactual.com has just received these images of the new giant iPad being tested by NASA, despite Apple’s attempts at secrecy.  
  
  
Contrafactual.com can neither confirm or deny the validity of these photos.

Happy Aniversary

About, Apple, Art, Blogging, Cats, Day 42, Economic Issues, Edits and Updates, Electric Vehicles, Essay, Extreme Humor, Fashion, Fiction, Filler, Film, Games, Grammar, Health, History, Horror, Humor, HZV, Internet, Mars, Music, News, Opinion, Photography, Poetry, Rant, Reading, Reblog, Review, Rum, Russia, Satire, Science, Science Fiction, Scotch, Social Issues, Space Travel, Technology, The Nudist War, Twitter, Video, Welcome to the Future, XKCD, Zombies,

To me …

  

Monolithic Memory

Apple, Essay, Internet, Opinion, Science, Technology, , , , , ,

I am neither a software engineer, hardware engineer, nor electrical engineer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (obscure, questionably humorous ad reference). Technically I am a Data Wrangler, an Oracle DBA (Database Administrator), a SysAdmin (Systems Adminstrator), a troubleshooter, yada, yada, yada. I have a keen interest in all things technological. I am a geek (if that is a positive accolade) and was a nerd (a negative accolade) as a kid. I have some cred.  

I present for your consideration that monolithic memory is the holy grail of computing and within our grasp in the next few years. This is good news for consumers, not so much for old guard industries.

Consider the modern computer. By computer, I include desktops, laptops, servers, tablets, phablets, smart phones, whatever … running any operating system including but not limited to Windows, Linux, Unix, MacOS, iOS, WatchOS, Android, DOS … you get the idea. Regardless of manufacturer, these systems are all remarkably similar. They each have one or more CPUs (Central Processing Units), each CPU having one or more levels of dedicated ultra-high-speed memory called cache. 

Next, they each have a shared block of high-speed RAM (Random Access Memory) which is dynamic (hence DRAM). DRAM is fast. But that speed comes at a price. All data is lost when power is turned off. Recall the time you forgot to save that epic document or spreadsheet and the power went out? Yeah, that drawback.

Finally there is storage, usually in the form of a hard disk drive (HDD), although more and more computers use some form of solid state or flash storage (SSD for Solid State Drive). Mobile devices make heavy use of flash storage. Storage is persistent, but slow. Historical forms of storage include floppy disks, magnetic tape, and even paper punch tape and punch cards. Slow, but persistent.

The term memory is used contextually to describe each of these “data buckets”. The statement “I have 16 gig of memory”, is ambiguous without context. Do you have 16 GB (gigabytes) of RAM in your laptop? Or 16 GB of storage on your iPad? The former is a lot unless you are a gamer or scientist. The later is woefully small especially if you want to store a video or audio collection. RAM is currently supplied in tens of GB and usually in powers of 2: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 GB. Storage on the other hand is now commonly hundreds and thousands of GB.

Modern computer systems have evolved the subsystems necessary to route data between the CPU, cache, dynamic RAM, and persistent storage. These subsystems are comprised of both hardware (controllers, data busses, I/O channels, etc.) and software (drivers, modules, packages, etc). Data flow is a well choreographed dance between low, medium, and high-speed subsystems and pipelines. A true monolithic memory system would eliminate the need for all of this. No more need for swap or page files. No more paging of memory out to disk. No more “saving” work out to disk. No more disk.

In the previous post, I addressed claims by Nantero that their carbon-nanotube-based NRAM offers the tantalizing possibility of lower power, higher data density, faster response, and lower cost than all other types of conventional memory. NRAM has the potential to provide the basis for true monolithic memory. But it won’t happen overnight. Even assuming that NRAM (or a competing technology) is up to the task, no existing operating system or hardware platform is up to the task. A complete redesign of memory management of both the hardware and operating system would be required. 

As a consumer, this is great news. All consumer computer devices will become like smart phones and tablets from the user’s point of view. Always on, instant “save”, super fast. Except that now the amount of storage will be many times greater. Power consumption will be primarily a factor of display efficiency. Speed and power will be better in every way. Prices will fall as capability increases. The consumer wins all the way around.

Not everyone will be a winner. Old school RAM, flash, and hard drive manufactures will have an uphill fight to remain relevant. Their investors will suffer as the share value of these companies fall. Mergers and acquisitions will contract the industry like a collapsing blackhole. History repeats. How many steam locomotive or buggy whip manufactures can you name?

Upgrade

Apple, Technology,

 

 

  

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

iPad Air 2 

Yesterday I stopped by the local Apple Store and purchased an iPad Air 2, gold, with 128GB storage, and a cellular connection (Verizon). Compared to my old original iPad or even my nearly two year old iPhone 5s … wow. The two benchmarks above are from Geekbench 3 run on my new Air 2. My original iPad isn’t even listed.

I had read the reviews and watched the videos, but they do not do justice to the thinness, lightness, and performance of the iPad Air 2. I am very, very impressed.

Walmart, CVS, others boycott Apple Pay

Apple, Economic Issues, Essay, News, Opinion, Social Issues, Technology, , , ,

Think about what they’re doing.” wrote Daring Fireball’s John Gruber on Saturday. “They’re turning off NFC payment systems — the whole thing — only because people were actually using them with Apple Pay. Apple Pay works so well that it even works with non-partner systems. These things have been installed for years and so few people used them, apparently, that these retailers would rather block everyone than allow Apple Pay to continue working.”

…

“I don’t know that CVS and Rite Aid disabling Apple Pay out of spite is going to drive customers to switch pharmacies” writes Gruber. “But I do know that CurrentC is unlikely to ever gain any traction whatsoever.”

CurrentC is the app MCX developed for use on smartphones. Josh Constine gave it a close look in Techcrunch yesterday and came to the same conclusion Gruber did: It’s a system designed not to make consumers’ lives easier, but to do an end run around the credit card companies.

Source: Fortune

Rubicon Technology

Apple, Technology, Video, , , , ,

With the demise of GT Advanced Technologies, one might ask where Apple will get its Transparent Aluminum? Perhaps more accurately, who is currently supplying Apple with sapphire, since there is some question as to whether GTAT ever got the Mesa Arizona plant up and running.

One answer might be …

Rubicon Technology

 

IMG_3435.PNG

To harvest the crystal, we use a very thin diamond-cutting wire.

Pay close attention to the 4:00 minute mark of the following video about Rubicon Technology’s sapphire production.

 

Perhaps Rubicon was and is the manufacturer of the sapphire Apple uses for the camera lens, fingerprint scanner cover, and watch crystal … with Apple planning to transition to GTAT once production was up to quality and capacity.

Elon Musk

Apple, Electric Vehicles, Mars, Opinion, Space Travel, Technology, , , ,

is the next Steve Jobs. 

There … I said it.

Where to begin? Have you ever watched  a Steve Jobs product unveiling? Watch Elon Musk as he unveils the model D or Dragon V2. They are both on this blog.

Jobs: changed the industry with his first company; Apple.

Musk: changed the industry with his first company; PayPal.

Jobs: was simultaneously CEO of two companies; Apple and Pixar

Musk: is CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and … Solar City.

Jobs: gave us amazing technology that changed our lives

Musk: electric cars, coast to coast free charging stations, freakin’ rocket ships, man. How amazing is that!

Jobs: “the journey is the reward”

Musk: “Mars”

I could go one, but you get the idea.

Elon Musk is the next Steve Jobs.


The Bloomberg View | GTAT

Apple, Economic Issues, News, Opinion, Technology, , ,

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-10-06/apple-sapphire-supplier-breaks

Bottom line of the above article (my words):

Apple loaned GT Advanced Technologies money to build the sapphire plant which GTAT would pay back out of the monies Apple paid for the sapphire. BUT if certain conditions were not met, Apple could demand all of its money back … NOW.

Bloomberg and other analysts interpret this as a collapse in the Apple – GTAT relationship. Very bad for GTAT.

At one dollar a share, GTAT could be a takeover target play … or it could fold its tent and disappear into the night.

Are you a gambler? 

Apple Responds

Apple, News, Technology, , , , , , , , , ,

Bent

Apple Responds to Bendgate

Via The Huffington Post

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5883298

Only nine customers (plus one intentional YouTuber) … out of ten million … have complained.

Full statement from Apple:

Our iPhones are designed, engineered and manufactured to be both beautiful and sturdy. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus feature a precision engineered unibody enclosure constructed from machining a custom grade of 6000 series anodized aluminum, which is tempered for extra strength. They also feature stainless steel and titanium inserts to reinforce high stress locations and use the strongest glass in the smartphone industry. We chose these high-quality materials and construction very carefully for their strength and durability. We also perform rigorous tests throughout the entire development cycle including 3-point bending, pressure point cycling, sit, torsion, and user studies. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus meet or exceed all of our high quality standards to endure everyday, real life use.

With normal use a bend in iPhone is extremely rare and through our first six days of sale, a total of nine customers have contacted Apple with a bent iPhone 6 Plus. As with any Apple product, if you have questions please contact Apple.

Bendgate

Apple, Essay, Internet, News, Opinion, Science, Technology, , , , , , ,

Op-Ed

No pictures, no links, no embedded videos.

By now surely you and everyone else in the world has heard of Bendgate. The iPhone 6 Plus can be bent. It’s thin, it’s light, it’s a large, it’s flat, it’s aluminum. The laws of physics and material strength properties apply.

For Apple to have made a phone this large and thin and light and also have it be impervious to bending, one of the following things would have to change: the material the back is made of, the shape of the back, or the thickness of the back.

Thicker aluminum would make it stronger and heavier and more expensive. Titanium would make it stronger but much more expensive. Steel would make it much stronger and much heavier. I can only assume that Apple choose the grade of aluminum that they did based on a combination of strength and price point.

A curved back would make it stronger. A corrugated back would make it much stronger. Either would make it thicker. Either could be considered less aesthetically pleasing.

Making the iPhone 6 Plus thicker or at least making the back thicker would make the phone … well, thicker … and heavier.

There’s another way to make the iPhone 6 Plus stronger and thicker and heavier. Buy a case for it. There are sure to be a variety of cases for the iPhone 6 Plus. Many people religiously buy cases for their phones anyway. Why should this be any different?

If you watch the videos you see that a fair amount of stress must be applied to bend the iPhone 6 Plus. It’s not like you laid it on the table with half of it on the table and half of it off and came back in an hour and found it bent at 90 degrees as if it were in a Salvador Dali painting. You have to try very hard to bend it. Or you have to sit on it. Or do you have to wear very tight pants.

I sport a naked iPhone 5S. It gets its own pocket … in the front. I often take it out of my pocket when I sit down. I don’t want to put it in the case, so I have to be extra careful with it. The same would be true for an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

This is much ado about nothing. This is in the same category as people who intentionally microwave their phones. Or shoot arrows at them. Or see what it actually takes to destroy them. On YouTube, where the goal is to get as many views as possible.

Might be a good time to buy some AAPL stock, what with the price drop and all …

The Cost of Ignorance

Apple, Essay, Humor, Internet, News, Opinion, Reblog, Satire, Science, Technology, Video, , , , , , ,

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.

We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

Carl Sagan

Continue reading The Cost of Ignorance →

Bragging Rights

Apple, History, Reblog, Technology, ,

My how time flies. One year ago today I entered the modern age. It’s been a good year. Still using my iPhone 5s to maintain this blog, organize my life, get my news and information, taking lots of pictures, watching videos, listening to music.

Siri is by turns amazingly helpful, surprising, and frustratingly stupid. Somewhere along the line I got a tiny crescent moon shaped crack in the upper left corner outside of the screen. My son dropped his and the damage is worse but the phone is still usable. Mrs uses her iPhone continuously to play her music collection. Her gold 5s is pristine.

Contrafactual

20130921-132842.jpg20130921-132905.jpg

What you see above is (was) my old phone. Your basic 5+? year old bog standard Samsung flip-phone as issued by Verizon. I have been a Verizon customer since it was GTE back in the ’90s. In fact my first product was a pager, not a phone (but I digress).

Anyway, remember back a few posts ago when I said that YOKS (Ye Olde Kid Sister) got me the first generation iPad for father’s day out of pity because the all time geek did not have an iPhone?

20130921-135627.jpg

Yesterday #2 son and I got up at 7 AM and drove over to the new Verizon store on the edge of town. I had stopped by the previous evening to confirm that they would have the iPhone 5s in stock. We got into the short line (# 0010) and waited the half hour until they opened at 8 AM. We each…

View original post 401 more words