Funny... I was watching Steve presenting the iPad last night, made for some really emotional viewing, and inspiring...
I remember the built up anticipation, from years of waiting for it... Every dime a dozen blogger, pundit, anal-yst, competitor, proclaimed that apple was launching a large iPod Touch, and mocked Steve for using the word magical.
When Tim Cook says Steve Job's created the canvas upon which creative people can work on, he's being quite literal as well as metaphorical. Steve did create that canvas. Because it was his vision that had him figure out, a long time ago, that a touch screen interface means complete UI design freedom, that a slate form factor means an intimate device. That one button to take you in and out of apps means everyone can use it, it means driving a stake to the notion that computers need to be needlessly complex to use (as opposed to being as complex as they should be to get your job done). Super powerful, super versatile, intimate, and dead simple to use. That's a device created after decades of refinement.
Hell, even MS Office looks and works great on the iPad, Why? Because it forced them to drastically re-think their way of doing things.
Listened to the the conference call yesterday too. It was a great chance to hear some unsung heroes that are running apple, such as Luca Maestri.
Above all, via listening to the call, I once again realised, that apple has a LEADER, period. Who not only understands supply chain demands, but also product design, release cycles, strategic purchases and alliances, finance, management (that is having the right people in charge to make the right choices, and, which is more important, correcting erroneous choices swiftly and decisively), what not to do, customer experience, markets, decoding figures and sales numbers... even if he says fashion is not his strong point, that was really funny btw... It's ok Tim, plenty of folk out there who've never liked to wear their shirt tucked in. May he be well.
The iPad has become what Steve would have imagined it all along:
As thin and light as it should be, with an incredible apple cpu to drive it, with a screen that's close to perfect with bonded, antireflective glass, great storage and cloud to go along with it, a great gpu and metal to go along with it, having the richest app market on the globe, richer than any other computer before it, interacting most seamlessly with the Mac, getting a close to perfect design make over by Jony and his team, with a great new programming language to go along, and Xcode becoming probably the best developing environment on the planet...
...and all that while retaining the no brainer ease of use of the original iPad.
I am convinced the 12.9" iPad, as well as IBM, will further the distinction that there are tablets, and there is the iPad, like there were computers and there was the Mac.
(In the meantime Sony for example has managed to shut down their computer manufacturing unit because about 20 years since Steve's return to apple they didn't manage to take a hint and simplify their product line up, and stayed with tens of computers trying to do everything, not being able to be compared against each other thus making a buying choice almost impossible, nor did they figure out that at some point they had to get a software team together and at least start offering some software on top of what their partner MS was offering that managed to offer clear value for them instead of just bloatware.
And let's not talk about the bag of hurt that is MS, taking out the start button, bringing back the start button, thinking it's a good idea to further strain one's carpal tunnel syndrome by having them touch the screen to get needless functionality on a computer with a keyboard and multitouch, still not having an iBookstore equivalent (let adobe take care of that...), still no software to begin to compete with iTunes, and rushing to finally get their own version of preview in 2014 (because of course acrobat reader is not the epitome of a resource hog)...
For the love of God... The damage that Ballmer did to this company...
I won't even go into what Samsung is doing... I couldn't care less, they are beyond critique.
The only other company I respect for having a focus on their strong points, and bringing something to the table based on their business model, as well as some really good products, is Amazon. )
Sorry for the diatribe rant, had to get it out of my system.
Don't you just love it when AAPL pays for your toys
Edit: WOOT! One of those toys, my continue iMac 27 5K is on the truck for delivery -- a day eary!
"Let the good times roll"... would work out better as "Prendre du bon temps" or "Profiter des bons moments", actually. Also, I'm a bit miffed to not have seen an iMac Monitor upgrade. I have a gorgeous Pro on the table that is connected to a DELL screen (a good screen, but ... iMac Retina... no... comparison... possible...)
Yeah, the retina monitor will come ... I think they are supply-constrained -- the iMac went from 2-4 days available to ship to 5-7 days.
I got mine -- Looks great! I haven't played too much -- waiting for migration assistant to finish ... Another 33 minutes.
I think you want a tablet that is not a tablet and likely don't "get it". I suggest you use a laptop as that is what you really want. MacBook Air would likely be your best choice.
No I want a tablet, I love touch screen devices. I have a Surface Pro 3, Nokia 2520, Lenovo X230T, Panasonic 20" 4K tablet, Kindle HDX, iPad Air and now an iPad Air 2, will order two more when I get back home and have also ordered a Nexus 9 to replace my Nexus 10 which I sold last week. I had a Nvidia shield for a little while but it was always meant for my son who is the gamer, which until I see the Nexus 9 is the best Android tablet on the market. I also have a Mac Book Air but in all honestly my Surface Pro 3 has really replaced it, especially now that I have OSX installed. The iPad though is a very large part of music studio because of all those awesome music creation apps that just aren't available anywhere else. In fact I really don't think I can live without one now, so you can kind of understand why I am so upset about not being able to run what I want too in the background, I need the ability to use more than 3 apps at once, period. So much so that I am willing to buy 2 more iPad Air 2's to achieve that goal, expensive yes but like digitclips said, Apple is paying for them, actually they have been buying me my gadgets for the last 10 years. That still doesn't mean that I wouldn't rather put that money towards a Mac Pro which I also plan on getting when I finally leave the hospital. That extra grand could have been put into memory or a external ThunderPort case to use with my Tesla card, which I'll need since I cannot link the two built in cards with Crossfire simple because OSX doesn't support it, thank goodness I could still use it with Windows and Linux or the Mac Pro wouldn't be a viable option for me either. Do you guys think the Mac Pro update will get the new 14, 16 or even 18 core Xeon's, hey if your going to spend 10 grand on a computer it might as well be the fastest their is.
Here is a list of possible Xeon CPU's that could be use in a Mac Pro
One of the great benefits of the iPad is that it makes computers accessible to a vast number of people who were excluded by the complexity of the types of hardware and software developed to suit only the needs of business and IT professionals, and allowed the malware industry to flourish for decades.
It would be a tragedy, and I really mean that, if the needs of business and IT professionals was to overtake the needs of ordinary people and once again exclude them from simple access to mobile devices and the vast amounts of information now available on the Internet.
So any work involving IBM and Apple MUST NOT compromise the hardware and software design principles that have enabled the iPad to empower so many people on this planet.
One of the great benefits of the iPad is that it makes computers accessible to a vast number of people who were excluded by the complexity of the types of hardware and software developed to suit only the needs of business and IT professionals, and allowed the malware industry to flourish for decades.
It would be a tragedy, and I really mean that, if the needs of business and IT professionals was to overtake the needs of ordinary people and once again exclude them from simple access to mobile devices and the vast amounts of information now available on the Internet.
So any work involving IBM and Apple MUST NOT compromise the hardware and software design principles that have enabled the iPad to empower so many people on this planet.
I agree, totally!
Apple will not compromise -- nor allow IBM to embrace and extend (subsume) their tech.
Apple knows where they are going ... More accurately where they want to go ...
It is to empower the individual ... It has always been to empower the individual!
Be at work or at play -- doing stuff for others or for yourself ... You have the option to "get it done" or to do "something that no one has done" (and anything in between) -- your choice every time you approach an Apple [computer] tool.
Ain't gonna' be no Apple Big Assed Table ... Nor any bastardized Apple Small Assed Tablet (Surface).
Funny... I was watching Steve presenting the iPad last night, made for some really emotional viewing, and inspiring... I remember the built up anticipation, from years of waiting for it... Every dime a dozen blogger, pundit, anal-yst, competitor, proclaimed that apple was launching a large iPod Touch, and mocked Steve for using the word magical. When Tim Cook says Steve Job's created the canvas upon which creative people can work on, he's being quite literal as well as metaphorical. Steve did create that canvas. Because it was his vision that had him figure out, a long time ago, that a touch screen interface means complete UI design freedom, that a slate form factor means an intimate device. That one button to take you in and out of apps means everyone can use it, it means driving a stake to the notion that computers need to be needlessly complex to use (as opposed to being as complex as they should be to get your job done). Super powerful, super versatile, intimate, and dead simple to use. That's a device created after decades of refinement. Hell, even MS Office looks and works great on the iPad, Why? Because it forced them to drastically re-think their way of doing things. Listened to the the conference call yesterday too. It was a great chance to hear some unsung heroes that are running apple, such as Luca Maestri. Above all, via listening to the call, I once again realised, that apple has a LEADER, period. Who not only understands supply chain demands, but also product design, release cycles, strategic purchases and alliances, finance, management (that is having the right people in charge to make the right choices, and, which is more important, correcting erroneous choices swiftly and decisively), what not to do, customer experience, markets, decoding figures and sales numbers... even if he says fashion is not his strong point, that was really funny btw... It's ok Tim, plenty of folk out there who've never liked to wear their shirt tucked in. May he be well. The iPad has become what Steve would have imagined it all along: As thin and light as it should be, with an incredible apple cpu to drive it, with a screen that's close to perfect with bonded, antireflective glass, great storage and cloud to go along with it, a great gpu and metal to go along with it, having the richest app market on the globe, richer than any other computer before it, interacting most seamlessly with the Mac, getting a close to perfect design make over by Jony and his team, with a great new programming language to go along, and Xcode becoming probably the best developing environment on the planet... ...and all that while retaining the no brainer ease of use of the original iPad. I am convinced the 12.9" iPad, as well as IBM, will further the distinction that there are tablets, and there is the iPad, like there were computers and there was the Mac. (In the meantime Sony for example has managed to shut down their computer manufacturing unit because about 20 years since Steve's return to apple they didn't manage to take a hint and simplify their product line up, and stayed with tens of computers trying to do everything, not being able to be compared against each other thus making a buying choice almost impossible, nor did they figure out that at some point they had to get a software team together and at least start offering some software on top of what their partner MS was offering that managed to offer clear value for them instead of just bloatware. And let's not talk about the bag of hurt that is MS, taking out the start button, bringing back the start button, thinking it's a good idea to further strain one's carpal tunnel syndrome by having them touch the screen to get needless functionality on a computer with a keyboard and multitouch, still not having an iBookstore equivalent (let adobe take care of that...), still no software to begin to compete with iTunes, and rushing to finally get their own version of preview in 2014 (because of course acrobat reader is not the epitome of a resource hog)... For the love of God... The damage that Ballmer did to this company... I won't even go into what Samsung is doing... I couldn't care less, they are beyond critique. The only other company I respect for having a focus on their strong points, and bringing something to the table based on their business model, as well as some really good products, is Amazon. ) Sorry for the diatribe rant, had to get it out of my system.
Not really a rant at all, all just true.
BTW what did you write that in? You have some seriously over-worked color tags in there!
Apple will not compromise -- nor allow IBM to embrace and extend (subsume) their tech.
Apple knows where they are going ... More accurately where they want to go ...
It is to empower the individual ... It has always been to empower the individual!
Be at work or at play -- doing stuff for others or for yourself ... You have the option to "get it done" or to do "something that no one has done" (and anything in between) -- your choice every time you approach an Apple [computer] tool.
Ain't gonna' be no Apple Big Assed Table ... Nor any bastardized Apple Small Assed Tablet (Surface).
Hopefully IBM won't turn around and partner with Google down the road too in the name of openness or some such crap. I hope Tim has them contractually sewn up tighter than a duck's ass. Apple are in the driving seat now.
Hopefully IBM won't turn around and partner with Google down the road too in the name of openness or some such crap. I hope Tim has them contractually sewn up tighter than a duck's ass. Apple are in the driving seat now.
You know what I think is far more likely?
A tighter working alliance with Microsoft, their Azure platform... and Microsoft finally seeing the writing on the wall and developing best in class software utilizing both IBM's and Apple's strengths to deliver backend services and efficient front-end software. They are currently constrained by a very vocal and vociferous consumer user base, that is not making them the money that they envision is there right to access, nor are any of their investments going to be fruitful for now or in the future.
An enterprise triage and fusion of strengths. One the other hand, if you're in the Google camp cursed as....... an Unholy Alliance of _____ (fill in the blank).
OH!... and I just ran across this little nugget of info from John Gruber's blog:
[INDENT]The Air 2 is noticeably faster than the iPhones 6 in single-core performance, but it’s simply in an altogether different ballpark in multi-core. I couldn’t get an answer from anyone at Apple regarding whether Geekbench is correct that it’s a three-core CPU,1 but the multi-core results certainly bear that out.
It is remarkable not only that the new iPad Air 2 is faster than the iPhones 6, [B][COLOR=red]but also that it’s faster than a three-year-old MacBook Air, and within shooting distance of a two-year-old MacBook Air.[/COLOR][/B] It’s more than half as fast as today’s top-of-the-line 13-inch MacBook Pro, especially in multi-core. (Let’s not get carried away regarding this apparent third core. Single-core performance is a better measure for most of the things typical consumers do on an iPad. But still.)[/INDENT]
It doesn't take a genius to figure out where Apple is heading to in the future of the iPad(!)
Phil, have you really pushed the likes of Garageband or Midi Guitar on the iPad? I use Logic Pro X on Macs and the iPad ancillary app but I have used GB too and opened in Logic Pro X later. The potential for iPad in music is phenomenal, especially if we ever get a larger iPad Pro. I drool at the thought of virtual instruments on a really large iPad.
I haven't used any musical apps, no. But I do get Relic's point on wanting to touch the screen as the 'workflow' is so much easier with these music creation apps.
Glad to hear about the iPad case order... and of course you'll be sure to give us all a great review of an Apple-centric product just as you do for those other fun toys from the "Other Guys".... right? :smokey:
Yes please Relic, give us your unbiased review of that Clam.
A tighter working alliance with Microsoft, their Azure platform... and Microsoft finally seeing the writing on the wall and developing best in class software utilizing both IBM's and Apple's strengths to deliver backend services and efficient front-end software. They are currently constrained by a very vocal and vociferous consumer user base, that is not making them the money that they envision is there right to access, nor are any of their investments going to be fruitful for now or in the future.
An enterprise triage and fusion of strengths. One the other hand, if you're in the Google camp cursed as....... an Unholy Alliance of _____ (fill in the blank).
I think the consumer market does very little to their revenue. A Windows license is something like $30 for OEMs. And I would assume much of their software is simply a torrent from a legal copy someone brought home from work.
Yes, I can envision what you write here, and this could be executed quite well by them. If you look at Azure; seems to be a solid product/service. Their Machine Learning looks promising: http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/machine-learning/
I haven't used any musical apps, no. But I do get Relic's point on wanting to touch the screen as the 'workflow' is so much easier with these music creation apps.
She's anything but a troll. She appreciates tech, likes gadgets and gives many insightful posts on stuff I never heard of before.
Yes please Relic, give us your unbiased review of that Clam.
She did fantastic doing that scene!
[VIDEO]
I think the consumer market does very little to their revenue. A Windows license is something like $30 for OEMs. And I would assume much of their software is simply a torrent from a legal copy someone brought home from work.
Yes, I can envision what you write here, and this could be executed quite well by them. If you look at Azure; seems to be a solid product/service. Their Machine Learning looks promising: http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/machine-learning/
First, thanks for the link to "I'll have what she's having"
Second, the display is everything they say it is ...
One, oddity though, is the maps program. With the display set at retina, I started the 3D Flyover tour of San Francisco -- with 11ac, it can [mostly] keep up with tile retrieval -- but it strobes noticeably -- everything from Giant's Stadium, downtown/Transamerica building, to the Embarcadero ... It appears to be panning too fast to keep up with rendering the large amount of pixels.
I ran it side-by-side with my 3.4 GH i7 mid 2011 iMac 27" -- no strobing on the older iMac. On the Retina iMac, I had to change to the largest size to minimize strobing:
Then, the new iMac finished the tour 10 seconds ahead of the old iMac :???:
Trying any scaling higher than Retina (More Space) -- made my teeth itch!
Aside: I did a retina flyover tour of NYC and, frequently, maps could not render the tiles fast enough ...
Since the maps are rendered back-to-front you would often see, say, a fully-rendered park in the background -- only to be obliterated a fraction of a second later -- by the rendering of a building in the foreground.
To me. this is an amazing capability of Apple's 3D map tech -- that they should exploit ... For example, it is almost impossible to get a full frontal of St. Patrick's Cathedral (am I allowed to say that?) because of intervening buildings. I think the maps app could allow you to draw a geo-fence around St. Patrick's (in our example) -- then allow you to pan/zoom/rotate and change the camera (viewer's) position -- but not render any tiles outside the geo-fence ... you'd be able to do a virtual 360-degree round-about tour that is impossible to do by other means.
Here's an example -- This is as close as I could get to a full frontal without eliminating buildings by geo-fencing:
Finally, here's another classic line (several, actually) link -- "That is not my dog.":
To me. this is an amazing capability of Apple's 3D map tech -- that they should exploit ... For example, it is almost impossible to get a full frontal of St. Patrick's Cathedral (am I allowed to say that?) because of intervening buildings. I think the maps app could allow you to draw a geo-fence around St. Patrick's (in our example) -- then allow you to pan/zoom/rotate and change the camera (viewer's) position -- but not render any tiles outside the geo-fence ... you'd be able to do a virtual 360-degree round-about tour that is impossible to do by other means.
Here's an example -- This is as close as I could get to a full frontal without eliminating buildings by geo-fencing:
I think that this should be common sense for both city tours (where the point is to see the landmarks) and for individual buildings when they are the subject of a search or the start/endpoint of directions, certainly! Otherwise it makes sense to render everything as-is.
Hopefully IBM won't turn around and partner with Google down the road too in the name of openness or some such crap. I hope Tim has them contractually sewn up tighter than a duck's ass. Apple are in the driving seat now.
I suspect that Apple and IBM will share ownership of any jointly-developed IP -- including enhancements to hardware and system system software. I suspect both IBM and Apple will write apps based on that IP.
The most exciting Apple enterprise app is currently disguised as a consumer app -- Apple Pay ... Think about it!
As to Google -- no advantage to IBM there -- inferior hardware, OS, ecosystem ...
Unless, IBM has completely changed -- they don't offer alternative [competitive] choices ... the entré to their services is the iPad hardware/apps -- why waste time and $ on unnecessary, likely unprofitable diversion?
You know what I think is far more likely?
A tighter working alliance with Microsoft, their Azure platform... and Microsoft finally seeing the writing on the wall and developing best in class software utilizing both IBM's and Apple's strengths to deliver backend services and efficient front-end software. They are currently constrained by a very vocal and vociferous consumer user base, that is not making them the money that they envision is there right to access, nor are any of their investments going to be fruitful for now or in the future.
An enterprise triage and fusion of strengths. One the other hand, if you're in the Google camp cursed as....... an Unholy Alliance of _____ (fill in the blank).
Aren't IBM and Microsoft direct competitors for the services market -- including things like Azure?
Also, I am certain that an alliance of Apple/MS/IBM would draw the attention of Justice!
Finally, in answer to both your concerns -- remember the elephant in the room -- Swift.
Swift is the vehicle (on top of iOS and OS X APIs *) that IBM and Apple will use to deliver enterprise solutions.
* things like Continuity, Extensions ... those things are there for a purpose -- and it ain't just for consumer apps!
Just off the top of your head, who do you think will be one of the first developers with access to Apple Pay APIs?
Why, IBM of course! Think about IBM's contacts in retail, banking and credit card companies ...
Anyway, Swift is a real biggie here -- and neither Google nor MS has anything close (including the underlying infrastructure).
Hopefully IBM won't turn around and partner with Google down the road too in the name of openness or some such crap. I hope Tim has them contractually sewn up tighter than a duck's ass. Apple are in the driving seat now.
Since IBM just sold off their chip making business, maybe an Apple acquisition is really in the works? Imagine Apple buying IBM... That's one way to instantly own the enterprise business.
Comments
Yeah, the retina monitor will come ... I think they are supply-constrained -- the iMac went from 2-4 days available to ship to 5-7 days.
I got mine -- Looks great! I haven't played too much -- waiting for migration assistant to finish ... Another 33 minutes.
Because XCode doesn't run on an iPad, for example ...
Heh, I iSSH into the Mac Pro from the beanbags. I'm such a lazy guy ^^'
Maybe I'll post a pic of the setup here
I think you want a tablet that is not a tablet and likely don't "get it". I suggest you use a laptop as that is what you really want. MacBook Air would likely be your best choice.
No I want a tablet, I love touch screen devices. I have a Surface Pro 3, Nokia 2520, Lenovo X230T, Panasonic 20" 4K tablet, Kindle HDX, iPad Air and now an iPad Air 2, will order two more when I get back home and have also ordered a Nexus 9 to replace my Nexus 10 which I sold last week. I had a Nvidia shield for a little while but it was always meant for my son who is the gamer, which until I see the Nexus 9 is the best Android tablet on the market. I also have a Mac Book Air but in all honestly my Surface Pro 3 has really replaced it, especially now that I have OSX installed. The iPad though is a very large part of music studio because of all those awesome music creation apps that just aren't available anywhere else. In fact I really don't think I can live without one now, so you can kind of understand why I am so upset about not being able to run what I want too in the background, I need the ability to use more than 3 apps at once, period. So much so that I am willing to buy 2 more iPad Air 2's to achieve that goal, expensive yes but like digitclips said, Apple is paying for them, actually they have been buying me my gadgets for the last 10 years. That still doesn't mean that I wouldn't rather put that money towards a Mac Pro which I also plan on getting when I finally leave the hospital. That extra grand could have been put into memory or a external ThunderPort case to use with my Tesla card, which I'll need since I cannot link the two built in cards with Crossfire simple because OSX doesn't support it, thank goodness I could still use it with Windows and Linux or the Mac Pro wouldn't be a viable option for me either. Do you guys think the Mac Pro update will get the new 14, 16 or even 18 core Xeon's, hey if your going to spend 10 grand on a computer it might as well be the fastest their is.
Here is a list of possible Xeon CPU's that could be use in a Mac Pro
DUAL 6-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2620 v3, 2.4 GHz, 85W (12 Cores)
DUAL 8-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2630 v3, 2.4 GHz, 85W (16 Cores)
DUAL 8-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2640 v3 2.6 GHz, 95W, (16 Cores)
DUAL 10-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2650 v3, 2.2GHz, 105W (20 Cores)
DUAL 10-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2660 v3, 2.6 GHz, 105W (20 Cores)
DUAL 12-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2670 v3, 2.3 GHz, 120W (24 Cores)
DUAL 14-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2683 v3, 2.0 GHz, 145W (28 Cores) <- this is the most likely candidate
DUAL 12-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2680 v3, 2.5 GHz, 120W (24 Cores)
DUAL 8-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2667 v3, 3.2 GHz, 135W (16 Cores)
DUAL 10-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2687W v3 3.1 GHz, 160W (20 Cores)
DUAL 12-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2690 v3 2.6 GHz, 135W (24 Cores)
DUAL 14-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2695 v3 2.3 GHz, 120W (28 Cores)
DUAL 14-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2697 v3 2.6 GHz,145W (28 Cores)
DUAL 16-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2698 v3, 2.3 GHz, 135W (32 Cores)
DUAL 18-CORE INTEL XEON E5-2699 v3, 2.3 GHz, 145W (36 Cores)
It would be a tragedy, and I really mean that, if the needs of business and IT professionals was to overtake the needs of ordinary people and once again exclude them from simple access to mobile devices and the vast amounts of information now available on the Internet.
So any work involving IBM and Apple MUST NOT compromise the hardware and software design principles that have enabled the iPad to empower so many people on this planet.
Sir Watson?
Sir Watson?
Remember the movie, "When Harry Met Sally"?
I agree, totally!
Apple will not compromise -- nor allow IBM to embrace and extend (subsume) their tech.
Apple knows where they are going ... More accurately where they want to go ...
It is to empower the individual ... It has always been to empower the individual!
Be at work or at play -- doing stuff for others or for yourself ... You have the option to "get it done" or to do "something that no one has done" (and anything in between) -- your choice every time you approach an Apple [computer] tool.
Ain't gonna' be no Apple Big Assed Table ... Nor any bastardized Apple Small Assed Tablet (Surface).
Yeah ... "I'll have what she's having ... " [Rob Reiner's mother] ... Best line of all time ...
Better than "Here's kidding at you, Luke"
Not really a rant at all, all just true.
BTW what did you write that in? You have some seriously over-worked color tags in there!
Hopefully IBM won't turn around and partner with Google down the road too in the name of openness or some such crap. I hope Tim has them contractually sewn up tighter than a duck's ass. Apple are in the driving seat now.
You know what I think is far more likely?
A tighter working alliance with Microsoft, their Azure platform... and Microsoft finally seeing the writing on the wall and developing best in class software utilizing both IBM's and Apple's strengths to deliver backend services and efficient front-end software. They are currently constrained by a very vocal and vociferous consumer user base, that is not making them the money that they envision is there right to access, nor are any of their investments going to be fruitful for now or in the future.
An enterprise triage and fusion of strengths. One the other hand, if you're in the Google camp cursed as....... an Unholy Alliance of _____ (fill in the blank).
[INDENT]The Air 2 is noticeably faster than the iPhones 6 in single-core performance, but it’s simply in an altogether different ballpark in multi-core. I couldn’t get an answer from anyone at Apple regarding whether Geekbench is correct that it’s a three-core CPU,1 but the multi-core results certainly bear that out.
It is remarkable not only that the new iPad Air 2 is faster than the iPhones 6, [B][COLOR=red]but also that it’s faster than a three-year-old MacBook Air, and within shooting distance of a two-year-old MacBook Air.[/COLOR][/B] It’s more than half as fast as today’s top-of-the-line 13-inch MacBook Pro, especially in multi-core. (Let’s not get carried away regarding this apparent third core. Single-core performance is a better measure for most of the things typical consumers do on an iPad. But still.)[/INDENT]
It doesn't take a genius to figure out where Apple is heading to in the future of the iPad(!)
I haven't used any musical apps, no. But I do get Relic's point on wanting to touch the screen as the 'workflow' is so much easier with these music creation apps.
She's anything but a troll. She appreciates tech, likes gadgets and gives many insightful posts on stuff I never heard of before.
Yes please Relic, give us your unbiased review of that Clam.
She did fantastic doing that scene!
[VIDEO]
I think the consumer market does very little to their revenue. A Windows license is something like $30 for OEMs. And I would assume much of their software is simply a torrent from a legal copy someone brought home from work.
Yes, I can envision what you write here, and this could be executed quite well by them. If you look at Azure; seems to be a solid product/service. Their Machine Learning looks promising:
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/machine-learning/
[VIDEO]http://video.ch9.ms/ch9/7557/1f9db43b-925b-4012-8e6c-f5d9813c7557/MachineLearning_mid.mp4[/VIDEO]
Enjoy!
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8623/hands-on-apples-imac-with-retina-display
It supposedly beats the low end MP:
http://9to5mac.com/2014/10/21/triple-core-ipad-air-2-pegged-as-60-faster-than-any-other-ios-device-retina-5k-imac-top-score-beats-low-end-pro/
Thanks for the links... I'll have to look at them later because I'm having what Meg had*..... :smokey:
*Lunch
First, thanks for the link to "I'll have what she's having"
Second, the display is everything they say it is ...
One, oddity though, is the maps program. With the display set at retina, I started the 3D Flyover tour of San Francisco -- with 11ac, it can [mostly] keep up with tile retrieval -- but it strobes noticeably -- everything from Giant's Stadium, downtown/Transamerica building, to the Embarcadero ... It appears to be panning too fast to keep up with rendering the large amount of pixels.
I ran it side-by-side with my 3.4 GH i7 mid 2011 iMac 27" -- no strobing on the older iMac. On the Retina iMac, I had to change to the largest size to minimize strobing:
Then, the new iMac finished the tour 10 seconds ahead of the old iMac :???:
Trying any scaling higher than Retina (More Space) -- made my teeth itch!
Aside: I did a retina flyover tour of NYC and, frequently, maps could not render the tiles fast enough ...
Since the maps are rendered back-to-front you would often see, say, a fully-rendered park in the background -- only to be obliterated a fraction of a second later -- by the rendering of a building in the foreground.
To me. this is an amazing capability of Apple's 3D map tech -- that they should exploit ... For example, it is almost impossible to get a full frontal of St. Patrick's Cathedral (am I allowed to say that?) because of intervening buildings. I think the maps app could allow you to draw a geo-fence around St. Patrick's (in our example) -- then allow you to pan/zoom/rotate and change the camera (viewer's) position -- but not render any tiles outside the geo-fence ... you'd be able to do a virtual 360-degree round-about tour that is impossible to do by other means.
Here's an example -- This is as close as I could get to a full frontal without eliminating buildings by geo-fencing:
Finally, here's another classic line (several, actually) link -- "That is not my dog.":
[VIDEO]
Here's an example -- This is as close as I could get to a full frontal without eliminating buildings by geo-fencing:
I think that this should be common sense for both city tours (where the point is to see the landmarks) and for individual buildings when they are the subject of a search or the start/endpoint of directions, certainly! Otherwise it makes sense to render everything as-is.
I suspect that Apple and IBM will share ownership of any jointly-developed IP -- including enhancements to hardware and system system software. I suspect both IBM and Apple will write apps based on that IP.
The most exciting Apple enterprise app is currently disguised as a consumer app -- Apple Pay ... Think about it!
As to Google -- no advantage to IBM there -- inferior hardware, OS, ecosystem ...
Unless, IBM has completely changed -- they don't offer alternative [competitive] choices ... the entré to their services is the iPad hardware/apps -- why waste time and $ on unnecessary, likely unprofitable diversion?
Aren't IBM and Microsoft direct competitors for the services market -- including things like Azure?
Also, I am certain that an alliance of Apple/MS/IBM would draw the attention of Justice!
Finally, in answer to both your concerns -- remember the elephant in the room -- Swift.
Swift is the vehicle (on top of iOS and OS X APIs *) that IBM and Apple will use to deliver enterprise solutions.
* things like Continuity, Extensions ... those things are there for a purpose -- and it ain't just for consumer apps!
Just off the top of your head, who do you think will be one of the first developers with access to Apple Pay APIs?
Why, IBM of course! Think about IBM's contacts in retail, banking and credit card companies ...
Anyway, Swift is a real biggie here -- and neither Google nor MS has anything close (including the underlying infrastructure).
Since IBM just sold off their chip making business, maybe an Apple acquisition is really in the works? Imagine Apple buying IBM... That's one way to instantly own the enterprise business.