Of course blaming everything on bugs and general bad programming isn't good either, hardware is a problem. Here the number one issue with IOS is the lack of RAM. Apple needs to move all devices to at least 2GB and preferable 4 GB on the iPads. IOS just fails terribly with a couple of tabs open in Safari, something that more RAM does address.
New iPad already has 2gb of ram. I'm sure iPhone will too, but despite being technical, as a consumer I've had little reason to care about the amount of ram in my phone. And if I don't, I can't believe my girlfriend does, or my parents, etc...
What percentage of cars aren't being sold through dealerships? A very small percentage. I have nothing against doing what Tesla is doing there, but the realistic situation is that he doesn't want to give dealerships some of the money.
And? Why should one business want to give away money to another business that doesn't offer any value to the first?
Few people buy cars outside dealerships because in many places that's the law -- as the recent events have shown us the auto lobby has cemented protections for dealers into state laws and fights to keep it that way. it will take time to undo this. In my own state we have similar laws for casket manufacturing, which had to be done by an association-approved network of dealers, I mean morticians. The monks had to take their right to make and sell wooden caskets direct to consumers to the state Supreme Court, where they won, of course.
So I select the coffee shop wifi hot spot, which changes password every few days. Access fails. What then?
What version of OSX are you on, anyway? When I change my home network's credentials, all my devices automatically prompt for the new password when they try to reconnect...
Wait a minute... is your coffee shop' hotspot triggering a browser window to authenticate? And this is cached by your browser, leading to later confusion, and so on?
Not sure if anyone has said this already but to me it seems like apple will be designing electric power trains and/or other key subsystems for the car that other manufactures can customize into whatever kind of vehicle they want. This enables apple to basically control the operating system and ecosystem just like they do with their phones, etc. Then there is the synergy of everything including software like home kit, car play, etc.
All of this is just another way to eventually trump Google - their main competitor.
My Macbook still can't change its wifi password at the coffee shop. That would be acceptable if it were 1997. But wifi is a mature standard. Apple still hasn't caught up to the basics of wifi.
Most of the MacOS upgrades in the past 10 years were bloated graphics shells, nothing more.
Haha! Nice try at trolling. Score: 2 of 5.
Personal anecdotes as "proof": yes
Use of logical fallacies: yes
Use of rhetorical arguments: no
Use of popular trolling meme: no
Claiming to know Apple's business better than Apple: no
Not sure if anyone has said this already but to me it seems like apple will be designing electric power trains and/or other key subsystems for the car that other manufactures can customize into whatever kind of vehicle they want. This enables apple to basically control the operating system and ecosystem just like they do with their phones, etc. Then there is the synergy of everything including software like home kit, car play, etc.
All of this is just another way to eventually trump Google - their main competitor.
And which manufacturers are going to sign up for this? Has any auto manufacturer indicated they want Apple to control this in their vehicles? Only in fantasyland will automobile companies give up this control to Apple (or Google).
More likely I could see Apple partnering with Magna Steyr to build a car. The rumors did say the guy leading Apple's car project has met with Magna Steyr.
Sure. It's been a theme in science fiction for a long time that people, for the most part, won't own a vehicle. I don't know if it could be called a car anymore. Have your home personal assistant call for the ride, which appears.
This would be a hard change for the industry all around, and there would be resistance, at first, at least. But then, there was a lot of resistance to the automobile, at first. Every complaint we hear about electric cars now, were said about cars in general back around 1900. It's also interesting to note that one of the largest car manufacturer at the time was the Electric Car Company of New York. They didn't sell cars, they rented, or leased them. So what happened to them? Due to greed and stupidly, the owners were found to be doing major market manipulation of their stock, and the company collapsed. But if they hadn't done that, who knows? There were a lot of electric cars back then. I just bought an Ad for a Studebaker from 1907 which was electric.
The problem was that after the company collapsed, most research went into internal combustion, and electric cars were essentially forgotten for decades. Otherwise, it's possible that much of the money moving into gasoline engines would instead have gone into batteries and more efficient motors and mechanisms.
The oil companies, carmakers, and tire companies are all part of a toxic symbiosis. Almost a multi-industry oligopoly.
There used to be a trolley system in the SF Bay area called the Key System that crossed the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge.
It was replaced in the late 50's by paved roads and the AC Transit bus system. There's still a Key Route Blvd. near me.
And the transition to buses was funded by ... wait for it ... Standard Oil of California, Philips Petroleum, General Motors,
and Firestone Tire. All of whom either sell or rely heavily on petroleum-based products.
Perhaps, probably not. I think they'll just use the open source patents, the same way OS X is built on Unix.
The fast charging mode also bakes and kills the accelerometer.
Sorry the came out ambiguously. I meant a joint selling 'dealership model', not vehicle model.
I don't understand your point. Every product costs money to R&D, build, ship, warrantee, etc. Yes, we're told that profits in the automotive industry are lower than Apple's, and therefore, Apple won't want to get into this. That's total BS!
Just that your numbers were an oversimplification. You did multiplication, and said that's what they'd make ("I think Apple could work with that.") They'd clear about 60-70% less than your number as margin after all the costs are taken out (Roughly. Hard to predict channel margins when vehicles largely aren't sold through retail channels, exactly.)
I'm not suggesting Apple will or won't get into this.
They'll go wherever they think they can solve a problem better than anyone else has before. Vehicles are ripe territory. Car manufacturers have generally felt protected from newcomers due to high costs of entry - both in manufacturing and in meeting government regulation, not to mention protectionism around dealer-as-the-distribution-channel.
It's entirely possible people are overthinking this. Perhaps Apple doesn't want to get into making the whole car, and the "intervention" is really a way of saying, "You car manufacturers have made a mess of in-car telematics. CANBUS is a fragmented nightmare. Just as we made it possible for people to follow our in-car entertainment spec with CarPlay, we're going to expand this and issue a spec for all telematics (covering all passenger compartment amenities, and maybe even getting involved in engine management.)"
We saw the Chrysler (FIAT-owned) minivans equipped with test equipment. We know they have auto shop space. But none of that says they have to make a car - maybe it's about using CarPlay as a wedge to integrate with every system in a car, and make all the interfaces and interactions better? After all, they already have almost all of the major car manufacturers on board with CarPlay.
Historically, Apple benefits from deeper integration in cars. iPod support was a big deal for car purchasers. FM transmitter sales are way down. CarPlay and some speculative even-deeper-integration cements the iPhone and car symbiosis.
It's entirely possible people are overthinking this. Perhaps Apple doesn't want to get into making the whole car, and the "intervention" is really a way of saying, "You car manufacturers have made a mess of in-car telematics. CANBUS is a fragmented nightmare. Just as we made it possible for people to follow our in-car entertainment spec with CarPlay, we're going to expand this and issue a spec for all telematics (covering all passenger compartment amenities, and maybe even getting involved in engine management.)"
I like this line of thinking.
An in-car wireless internet of things could save a lot of copper and a mare's nest of complexity.
Apple has amassed its cash hoard and high stock price from the sizable margins it makes on its products, rather than dominating a market by volume. With cars, there's little other path to follow, sell top end luxury cars only for just the crowd who can afford to buy the $17,000 ?Watch, or sell enough volume at lower margins and compete with all the other car makers. Clearly Apple is not the only tech company that will be entering the automobile market in the future, so that's even more competition for extremely low profit margins. Add to that the enormous startup costs and infrastructure, and its not likely to make wall street, or stockholders happy.
More sinister BS. Apple makes a decent but not excessive margin, ~ 38 %, but it sells a lot of phones and other computers. It does not need to dominate in its markets in order to accumulate some strategic cash reserves. And the reserves are not a "hoard." And many would not agree that its stock price is high.
Apple does, at times, get ahead of itself, moving forward without fixing bugs and other issues that were shared on blogs. That said, OS X 10.10.3 finally fixed a problem that began with Yosemite: image/screen distortion when using Safari and only Safari. It wasn't an issue with either Chrome or Firefox. Blogs had been reporting this for many months, and Apple finally resolved this problem. They need to address these user concerns sooner rather than later.
What version of OSX are you on, anyway? When I change my home network's credentials, all my devices automatically prompt for the new password when they try to reconnect...
Wait a minute... is your coffee shop' hotspot triggering a browser window to authenticate? And this is cached by your browser, leading to later confusion, and so on?
All versions, recently from 10.6-10.10. Currently 10.10.3. I remember when System 7 came out if that means anything to you. You know, not a troll, actual fan, etc.
No, mine usually does not prompt for new passwords. It just hangs and fail-connects with "no internet available." I assumed all Macs do this because mine has done it for years across multiple OSes, when the underlying password changes.
I do not want to set it to "never remember" any networks, because that would be dumb. I just want MacOS to work like iOS, which handles Wifi password changes very well IMO.
It's entirely possible people are overthinking this. Perhaps Apple doesn't want to get into making the whole car, and the "intervention" is really a way of saying, "You car manufacturers have made a mess of in-car telematics. CANBUS is a fragmented nightmare. Just as we made it possible for people to follow our in-car entertainment spec with CarPlay, we're going to expand this and issue a spec for all telematics (covering all passenger compartment amenities, and maybe even getting involved in engine management.)"
What exactly is wrong with the CAN bus? It's simple (there are chips that are self-contained to handle CAN for you and interface easily with microcontrollers), it's cheap and reliable.
And there's no way Apple will get into engine management. That market is pretty much locked down by companies like Bosch or Siemens (or OEMs who make their own). And the microprocessors used in ECUs only come from a small handful of companies that make custom processors designed specifically for engine management. For example, having the types of inputs to handle popular engine sensors, systems to determine engine timing (a very processor intensive function that's now often being off-loaded to FPGAs) and even having multiple CAN bus ports built in.
Further, Apple doesn't have an OS (more like firmware) suitable for high-speed real-time processing that is required in something like an engine ECU. iOS isn't suitable so they'd have to come up with their own. Not likely when there are already solid alternatives on the market.
I still think Apple wants to take over your dashboard for you. Everything from the instrument cluster/display to climate control to navigation/infotainment. Apple are masters at human interfacing/interaction and I think they could really clean up the mess that modern vehicles have for controls.
Apple should "intervene" in the slow performance and bugs of iOS software. Just stop making stuff and fix your software!
All my iPhone's with iOS before 7 and 8 were fast and fine. iOS 7 and 8 actually made me think of getting an Android based phone in the future
Troll alert which is me. Several times this weekend tried to use my iPhone 6+. Photos went into blur mode and had to force quit photo app. Don't trust it anymore. Overall photo app is flaky as all get out.
Sure. It's been a theme in science fiction for a long time that people, for the most part, won't own a vehicle. I don't know if it could be called a car anymore. Have your home personal assistant call for the ride, which appears.
I really doubt that would work in the USA with such a large population in rural areas. In congested areas we have public transportation already. It is in the cities where I see a great need to modernize public transportation. Buses are just an ugly throw back to the last century.
This would be a hard change for the industry all around, and there would be resistance, at first, at least. But then, there was a lot of resistance to the automobile, at first. Every complaint we hear about electric cars now, were said about cars in general back around 1900. It's also interesting to note that one of the largest car manufacturer at the time was the Electric Car Company of New York. They didn't sell cars, they rented, or leased them. So what happened to them? Due to greed and stupidly, the owners were found to be doing major market manipulation of their stock, and the company collapsed. But if they hadn't done that, who knows? There were a lot of electric cars back then. I just bought an Ad for a Studebaker from 1907 which was electric.
Companies with good products fail all the time due to idiot management teams.
However the problem with electric cars is the same now as it was back then, batteries suck as power sources. That is the real problem with electric cars that won't be overcomed anytime soon. Having worked in manufacturing technology for years I'm fully familiar with electric motors and as such realize they are ideal for transportation. The problem is once you put them in a car you couple that highly reliable machine with a power source that is very bulky and for many simply doesn't last long enough to support their daily needs.
The problem was that after the company collapsed, most research went into internal combustion, and electric cars were essentially forgotten for decades. Otherwise, it's possible that much of the money moving into gasoline engines would instead have gone into batteries and more efficient motors and mechanisms.
The history of the internal combustion engine is very interesting in its own right. However you seem to think that no research has gone into battery technology. The fact is a great deal of research has gone into all sorts of batteries. I follow many engineering trade magazines and so forth, as such I can say there is more money going into battery research then you might imagine. The problem is that there simply hasn't been a viable solution for automobiles that would allow them to replace gasoline powered transportation. The other big problem is there is no electrical infrastructure in place to handle every body plugging their cars in at 7 PM.
I really believe that the only way to get off gasoline completely is to go nuclear. Of course that freaks people out often the result of being ill informed but I don't see many alternative. As such we would need to develope a clean fusion process with it going into large trucks and trains first.
I think the secret of what Apple is up to has to do with why Apple is so interested in hiring Tesla talent, and why Tesla came out with the PowerWall, I believe, a tad early. Just look at how long it'll take Tesla to fulfill pre-orders – mid 2016 – over 1 year away!!).
Apple has great interest in the home ecosystem and what better way to seriously get into the home than through an enhanced "Applefied" version of the PowerWall – with software hooks into your iOS devices (including the AppleTV)? What Apple is doing with Health Kit and the the watch, they could do with something like a PowerWall and Home Kit.
Apple also has a huge interest in green energy that might come into serious play with consumer-based home appliance(s). They might very well be designing an electric car, but I think their Tesla interest is more related to green energy and a product utilizing Home Kit. We'll see soon enough.
New iPad already has 2gb of ram. I'm sure iPhone will too, but despite being technical, as a consumer I've had little reason to care about the amount of ram in my phone. And if I don't, I can't believe my girlfriend does, or my parents, etc...
The problem is RAM directly impacts the ability of iOS devices to work properly. You can stick your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't matter but that is hardly an adult approach to technology.
Comments
Sounds good. So I select the coffee shop wifi hot spot, which changes password every few days. Access fails. What then?
Please don't say open System Preferences > Network > Wifi > Advanced > Select wifi (remove) > Apply > Reselect > Enter password.
Why can’t we say that?
System prefs > Network.
Select Wi-Fi. then click Advanced...
Click the Wi-Fi tab and uncheck Remember networks this computer has joined
Next time (and every time) you need to connect, you will be required to select the network and input the password.
New iPad already has 2gb of ram. I'm sure iPhone will too, but despite being technical, as a consumer I've had little reason to care about the amount of ram in my phone. And if I don't, I can't believe my girlfriend does, or my parents, etc...
And? Why should one business want to give away money to another business that doesn't offer any value to the first?
Few people buy cars outside dealerships because in many places that's the law -- as the recent events have shown us the auto lobby has cemented protections for dealers into state laws and fights to keep it that way. it will take time to undo this. In my own state we have similar laws for casket manufacturing, which had to be done by an association-approved network of dealers, I mean morticians. The monks had to take their right to make and sell wooden caskets direct to consumers to the state Supreme Court, where they won, of course.
Old boys clubs don't like to play nice.
So I select the coffee shop wifi hot spot, which changes password every few days. Access fails. What then?
What version of OSX are you on, anyway? When I change my home network's credentials, all my devices automatically prompt for the new password when they try to reconnect...
Wait a minute... is your coffee shop' hotspot triggering a browser window to authenticate? And this is cached by your browser, leading to later confusion, and so on?
Not sure if anyone has said this already but to me it seems like apple will be designing electric power trains and/or other key subsystems for the car that other manufactures can customize into whatever kind of vehicle they want. This enables apple to basically control the operating system and ecosystem just like they do with their phones, etc. Then there is the synergy of everything including software like home kit, car play, etc.
All of this is just another way to eventually trump Google - their main competitor.
Haha! Nice try at trolling. Score: 2 of 5.
And which manufacturers are going to sign up for this? Has any auto manufacturer indicated they want Apple to control this in their vehicles? Only in fantasyland will automobile companies give up this control to Apple (or Google).
More likely I could see Apple partnering with Magna Steyr to build a car. The rumors did say the guy leading Apple's car project has met with Magna Steyr.
Sure. It's been a theme in science fiction for a long time that people, for the most part, won't own a vehicle. I don't know if it could be called a car anymore. Have your home personal assistant call for the ride, which appears.
This would be a hard change for the industry all around, and there would be resistance, at first, at least. But then, there was a lot of resistance to the automobile, at first. Every complaint we hear about electric cars now, were said about cars in general back around 1900. It's also interesting to note that one of the largest car manufacturer at the time was the Electric Car Company of New York. They didn't sell cars, they rented, or leased them. So what happened to them? Due to greed and stupidly, the owners were found to be doing major market manipulation of their stock, and the company collapsed. But if they hadn't done that, who knows? There were a lot of electric cars back then. I just bought an Ad for a Studebaker from 1907 which was electric.
The problem was that after the company collapsed, most research went into internal combustion, and electric cars were essentially forgotten for decades. Otherwise, it's possible that much of the money moving into gasoline engines would instead have gone into batteries and more efficient motors and mechanisms.
The oil companies, carmakers, and tire companies are all part of a toxic symbiosis. Almost a multi-industry oligopoly.
There used to be a trolley system in the SF Bay area called the Key System that crossed the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge.
It was replaced in the late 50's by paved roads and the AC Transit bus system. There's still a Key Route Blvd. near me.
And the transition to buses was funded by ... wait for it ... Standard Oil of California, Philips Petroleum, General Motors,
and Firestone Tire. All of whom either sell or rely heavily on petroleum-based products.
Key System: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_System
Oh, and the asphalt used to pave roads is a solid form of petroleum. It's everywhere. The petroleum industry is
?deeply entrenched. They've made themselves a part of our infrastructure. Electric cars are just part of the solution.
I guess you never heard of zipcar. Check out their website http://www.zipcar.com/
Have heard of ZipCar, but never used them. Nearly the same as any other rental car agency.
They'll be interesting when their cars drive right to where you're standing.
With no driver.
"The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed."
- William Gibson
Sorry the came out ambiguously. I meant a joint selling 'dealership model', not vehicle model.
I don't understand your point. Every product costs money to R&D, build, ship, warrantee, etc. Yes, we're told that profits in the automotive industry are lower than Apple's, and therefore, Apple won't want to get into this. That's total BS!
Just that your numbers were an oversimplification. You did multiplication, and said that's what they'd make ("I think Apple could work with that.") They'd clear about 60-70% less than your number as margin after all the costs are taken out (Roughly. Hard to predict channel margins when vehicles largely aren't sold through retail channels, exactly.)
I'm not suggesting Apple will or won't get into this.
They'll go wherever they think they can solve a problem better than anyone else has before. Vehicles are ripe territory. Car manufacturers have generally felt protected from newcomers due to high costs of entry - both in manufacturing and in meeting government regulation, not to mention protectionism around dealer-as-the-distribution-channel.
It's entirely possible people are overthinking this. Perhaps Apple doesn't want to get into making the whole car, and the "intervention" is really a way of saying, "You car manufacturers have made a mess of in-car telematics. CANBUS is a fragmented nightmare. Just as we made it possible for people to follow our in-car entertainment spec with CarPlay, we're going to expand this and issue a spec for all telematics (covering all passenger compartment amenities, and maybe even getting involved in engine management.)"
We saw the Chrysler (FIAT-owned) minivans equipped with test equipment. We know they have auto shop space. But none of that says they have to make a car - maybe it's about using CarPlay as a wedge to integrate with every system in a car, and make all the interfaces and interactions better? After all, they already have almost all of the major car manufacturers on board with CarPlay.
Historically, Apple benefits from deeper integration in cars. iPod support was a big deal for car purchasers. FM transmitter sales are way down. CarPlay and some speculative even-deeper-integration cements the iPhone and car symbiosis.
I like this line of thinking.
An in-car wireless internet of things could save a lot of copper and a mare's nest of complexity.
More sinister BS. Apple makes a decent but not excessive margin, ~ 38 %, but it sells a lot of phones and other computers. It does not need to dominate in its markets in order to accumulate some strategic cash reserves. And the reserves are not a "hoard." And many would not agree that its stock price is high.
Apple does, at times, get ahead of itself, moving forward without fixing bugs and other issues that were shared on blogs. That said, OS X 10.10.3 finally fixed a problem that began with Yosemite: image/screen distortion when using Safari and only Safari. It wasn't an issue with either Chrome or Firefox. Blogs had been reporting this for many months, and Apple finally resolved this problem. They need to address these user concerns sooner rather than later.
What version of OSX are you on, anyway? When I change my home network's credentials, all my devices automatically prompt for the new password when they try to reconnect...
Wait a minute... is your coffee shop' hotspot triggering a browser window to authenticate? And this is cached by your browser, leading to later confusion, and so on?
All versions, recently from 10.6-10.10. Currently 10.10.3. I remember when System 7 came out if that means anything to you. You know, not a troll, actual fan, etc.
No, mine usually does not prompt for new passwords. It just hangs and fail-connects with "no internet available." I assumed all Macs do this because mine has done it for years across multiple OSes, when the underlying password changes.
I do not want to set it to "never remember" any networks, because that would be dumb. I just want MacOS to work like iOS, which handles Wifi password changes very well IMO.
Quote:
It's entirely possible people are overthinking this. Perhaps Apple doesn't want to get into making the whole car, and the "intervention" is really a way of saying, "You car manufacturers have made a mess of in-car telematics. CANBUS is a fragmented nightmare. Just as we made it possible for people to follow our in-car entertainment spec with CarPlay, we're going to expand this and issue a spec for all telematics (covering all passenger compartment amenities, and maybe even getting involved in engine management.)"
What exactly is wrong with the CAN bus? It's simple (there are chips that are self-contained to handle CAN for you and interface easily with microcontrollers), it's cheap and reliable.
And there's no way Apple will get into engine management. That market is pretty much locked down by companies like Bosch or Siemens (or OEMs who make their own). And the microprocessors used in ECUs only come from a small handful of companies that make custom processors designed specifically for engine management. For example, having the types of inputs to handle popular engine sensors, systems to determine engine timing (a very processor intensive function that's now often being off-loaded to FPGAs) and even having multiple CAN bus ports built in.
Further, Apple doesn't have an OS (more like firmware) suitable for high-speed real-time processing that is required in something like an engine ECU. iOS isn't suitable so they'd have to come up with their own. Not likely when there are already solid alternatives on the market.
I still think Apple wants to take over your dashboard for you. Everything from the instrument cluster/display to climate control to navigation/infotainment. Apple are masters at human interfacing/interaction and I think they could really clean up the mess that modern vehicles have for controls.
However the problem with electric cars is the same now as it was back then, batteries suck as power sources. That is the real problem with electric cars that won't be overcomed anytime soon. Having worked in manufacturing technology for years I'm fully familiar with electric motors and as such realize they are ideal for transportation. The problem is once you put them in a car you couple that highly reliable machine with a power source that is very bulky and for many simply doesn't last long enough to support their daily needs.
The history of the internal combustion engine is very interesting in its own right. However you seem to think that no research has gone into battery technology. The fact is a great deal of research has gone into all sorts of batteries. I follow many engineering trade magazines and so forth, as such I can say there is more money going into battery research then you might imagine. The problem is that there simply hasn't been a viable solution for automobiles that would allow them to replace gasoline powered transportation. The other big problem is there is no electrical infrastructure in place to handle every body plugging their cars in at 7 PM.
I really believe that the only way to get off gasoline completely is to go nuclear. Of course that freaks people out often the result of being ill informed but I don't see many alternative. As such we would need to develope a clean fusion process with it going into large trucks and trains first.
Apple has great interest in the home ecosystem and what better way to seriously get into the home than through an enhanced "Applefied" version of the PowerWall – with software hooks into your iOS devices (including the AppleTV)? What Apple is doing with Health Kit and the the watch, they could do with something like a PowerWall and Home Kit.
Apple also has a huge interest in green energy that might come into serious play with consumer-based home appliance(s). They might very well be designing an electric car, but I think their Tesla interest is more related to green energy and a product utilizing Home Kit. We'll see soon enough.
The problem is RAM directly impacts the ability of iOS devices to work properly. You can stick your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't matter but that is hardly an adult approach to technology.