Apple new product rumours and general news

[editor]

I don't like it, but the Surface Pro (which Apple have clearly copied here) looks much better value all round and comes with the advantage of being able to run full fat versions of desktop software, so there's no learning new interfaces or compromises needed. Of course, if you're hooked in deep into Apple world and have the spare cash, then the iPad Pro is the only choice.

 

[skyscraper101]

What I don't like about the MS surface pro, or this iPad copy of that design, are those soft keyboards with the sticky-out back support which means they're only really suited for using on a desk with the keyboard

They should've taken a leaf out of ASUS Transformer book and made a more solid keyboard that clicks in securely and lets you tilt the screen further, and carry from the base keyboard, so you can use on your lap/in bed etc with the keyboard without it collapsing on itself.

 

[editor]

What I don't like about the MS surface pro, or this iPad copy of that design, are those soft keyboards with the sticky-out back support which means they're only really suited for using on a desk with the keyboard. They should've taken a leaf out of ASUS and made a more solid keyboard that clicks in and lets you tilt the screen further, and use on your lap/in bed etc with the keyboard secure an entact.

I don't like them either. Fiddly.

 

[elbows]

What I don't like about the MS surface pro, or this iPad copy of that design, are those soft keyboards with the sticky-out back support which means they're only really suited for using on a desk with the keyboard

They should've taken a leaf out of ASUS Transformer book and made a more solid keyboard that clicks in securely and lets you tilt the screen further, and carry from the base keyboard, so you can use on your lap/in bed etc with the keyboard without it collapsing on itself.

They are letting at least one third party make a more solid keyboard - logitech, though I haven't checked its spec and design features in full.

 

[elbows]

Regarding Jobs and the stylus - the point about those sort of utterances from Jobs was not whether he got it wrong, made a bad prediction or whether Apple would have u-turned if he had still been alive. His modus operandi on this front was pretty clear - regardless of what products Apple may come out with one day, the aim was to convince people that the product they were coming out with at that moment in time was great, and that competitors were shit. The nature of his personality and 'reality distortion field' means he wouldn't have a problem (in his own mind) saying the complete opposite a few years later.

 

[skyscraper101]

They are letting at least one third party make a more solid keyboard - logitech, though I haven't checked its spec and design features in full.

My wife has a bluetooth logitech keyboard for her ipad, and to be fair it's pretty solid and does the job as well as anything could. However, it doesn't lock in like a proper keyboard needs to if you're using it in various different situations, so it has quite often fallen out when tilted or moved too quick. Plus you can't angle it.

I still say the ASUS Transformer has got it just about right in that regard. The problem still remains that tablets locking into keyboards are always top heavy unless you make a counter-weighted keyboard to balance it, which is just unnecessary weight.

So for me, the macbook air is pretty much perfect.

 

[editor]

So for me, the macbook air is pretty much perfect.

Tis a wonderful machine but once you get used to a touchscreen on a small laptop, there's no way you can go back, and I've never been impressed with any of the bolt on Bluetooth keyboards. The Asus has got it pretty much spot on - I don't really get the toppling over thing but I can see how it's possible. If the keys were backlit it would be nearly perfect (I don't mind it being slightly chunky - in fact I find its metallic girth reassuring when it's rammed into a full backpack).

 

[Vintage Paw]

*conspiracy theory hat on*

There have been 3rd party styluses for iPads for ages, for creative types. People have been making spectacular work on their iPads for years. With the release of the Air things started getting a bit sketchy (fnar). With the Air 2 almost all pressure sensitivity control was lost, due to the way the screen was bonded. Cue lots of grumpy arty types. Indeed, I plumped for a reconditioned Air 1 because it still had decent stylus support, although an older pre-Air model would have been even better.

And now we have the new model announced, with their own stylus, said to be great for creative types.

I'm calling it. They broke stylus support for one and a half generations so they could ensure 1) people would definitely upgrade when the new one comes out since they won't have done to the Air 2 at the very least; 2) they can corner the stylus market afresh, since companies have all but shelved their iPad stylus development in the past couple of years because they wouldn't work.

AND I bet they are responsible for 9/11.

*takes off loonspud hat*

 

[elbows]

If memory serves me correctly they also messed around with app developers who had used stuff like 'detecting amount of finger touching screen' as a crude but somewhat effective way of emulating a few levels of pressure, e.g. in some music apps. They told the developers they had to remove such functionality from their apps.

 

[editor]

Looks like Jony Ive is as big a twat as Jobs.

Apple's Jony Ive gets his panties in a bunch over a puppet soundboard

 

[mhendo]

Looks like Jony Ive is as big a twat as Jobs.

Apple's Jony Ive gets his panties in a bunch over a puppet soundboard

To be fair, there's no evidence in that story that Ive even knew anything about this.

Big companies like Apple have teams of lawyers looking out for this sort of shit all the time. I'd be willing to bet that they sent out the legal notice without even discussing it with Ive.

I think Hoy and Fuchs should have told Apple to take a hike. It seems pretty clear that their puppet soundboard would, in the US at least, be considered a transformative use and probably also satire or parody, thus protecting it from an intellectual property lawsuit.

Of course, in IP law, often the most important thing is not whether or not the merits of the case are on your side, but whether you have deep enough pockets to cope with the trial. You can have all the fair use arguments in the world at your disposal, but it's still going to cost you a five- or even six-figure sum to fight the case, and when your opponent has a market capitalization of about 600 billion dollars, that's not exactly a fight you want to have.

 

[editor]

To be fair, there's no evidence in that story that Ive even knew anything about this.

Big companies like Apple have teams of lawyers looking out for this sort of shit all the time. I'd be willing to bet that they sent out the legal notice without even discussing it with Ive.

I think Hoy and Fuchs should have told Apple to take a hike. It seems pretty clear that their puppet soundboard would, in the US at least, be considered a transformative use and probably also satire or parody, thus protecting it from an intellectual property lawsuit.

Of course, in IP law, often the most important thing is not whether or not the merits of the case are on your side, but whether you have deep enough pockets to cope with the trial. You can have all the fair use arguments in the world at your disposal, but it's still going to cost you a five- or even six-figure sum to fight the case, and when your opponent has a market capitalization of about 600 billion dollars, that's not exactly a fight you want to have.

I have some first hand experience in coming into dispute with major league US lawyers over a parody piece, in my case Microsoft.

Not Barney the overstuffed glove puppet purple dinosaur. No sir.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Yup, cheap set top boxes may be an important part of the gaming market with everything streamed. We need far better fast broadband provision outside big cities for that to happen though.

Indeed although given how much better broadband is today compared to half a decade ago suggests that in five years time the infrastructure will be there.

 

[Lazy Llama]

I have some first hand experience in coming into dispute with major league US lawyers over a parody piece, in my case Microsoft.

Not Barney the overstuffed glove puppet purple dinosaur. No sir.

What's Barney got to do with Microsoft? That article doesn't mention them, just Barney's owners the Lyons Group.

 

[peterkro]

I finally got round to sticking my debit card onto Apple pay and used it in a 24hour convenience store at Waterloo,piece of piss certainly easier than getting card out and putting pin in.
Thoroughly Modern Millie me.

 

[editor]

I finally got round to sticking my debit card onto Apple pay and used it in a 24hour convenience store at Waterloo,piece of piss certainly easier than getting card out and putting pin in.

You didn't already have a contactless card?

 

[editor]

What's Barney got to do with Microsoft? That article doesn't mention them, just Barney's owners the Lyons Group.

The Barney 'interactive toy' was a Microsoft product.

 

[peterkro]

You didn't already have a contactless card?

No I don't. I've got a basic bank account with Nationwide (due to a long fight with the banks they redlined me in the eighties).It's easy and will make my life better.

 

[Lazy Llama]

The Barney 'interactive toy' was a Microsoft product.

Yes it was, but you said it was Microsoft lawyers who were after you.
Maybe they were upset by the competition in the punching stakes from your competing interactive flash game and asked Barney's owners to pursue you on their behalf....

 

[editor]

Yes it was, but you said it was Microsoft lawyers who were after you.
Maybe they were upset by the competition in the punching stakes from your competing interactive flash game and asked Barney's owners to pursue you on their behalf....

There was something from Microsoft in the original letters I got - I think they may have sent me the original cease and desist stuff before the other lot steamed in.

(Bit of background here)

 

[editor]

The World Finally Admits Microsoft Surface Is the Shit

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I finally got round to sticking my debit card onto Apple pay and used it in a 24hour convenience store at Waterloo,piece of piss certainly easier than getting card out and putting pin in.
Thoroughly Modern Millie me.

Yep I've been using it a fair bit, incredibly fast. Much faster than pulling out my card and certainly faster than tapping in a pin.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Just started downloading iOS9 for my iPad. Minutes later remembered I need the iPad for work tomorrow.

Let's hope it a) works and b) doesn't break any of the apps I need

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Left it going overnight, all seems to have worked. Nothing seems to have changed much tbh, as it's an older iPad4 so none of the multitasking stuff works. There's the new Siri bits but I've never once used Siri and can't see that changing anytime soon

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Oooooh, folders now show 4 icons wide instead of 3. Now that's genuine innovation right there

 

[sim667]

I didn't know iOS 9 was out yet

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Seems to be, just put it on my phone as well.

So finally I will have no fucking ads on webpages on my mobile devices as well as my laptop. About time...

 

[editor]

Seems to be, just put it on my phone as well.

Sonfinally I will have no fucking ads on webpages on my mobile devices as well as my laptop. About time...

(((independent bloggers)))

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

(((independent bloggers)))

Tough, I'm afraid. I loathe adverts, in any part of life.

Want me to pay for something? Ask. I'm happy to pay for things I have an interest in or use for. Don't shove bollocks at me for something I have no interest in and will never click on out of principle anyway.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

The new system font is odd. It's almost identical yet different enough to make things look weird for a bit, if that makes any sense