How about some service improvements:
- Improved Maps: navigation is on par with Google Maps in my city now. But POI are still lacking, and major roads are still shown in white, making them hard to pick out.
Maps is fine by me.
- Better iCloud: iCloud sync'ing is hit and miss. Many third party developers hate it
This is by far the biggest issue, in my estimation iCloud is a complete failure both in concept and implementation. Apples own products, like iWorks, are a terrible example of implementation with their iOS specific ile versions. As for the concept, why does the software assume that I want everything on the cloud??? The inability to designate where files are stored in iOS devices makes the whole platform a bit useless. Related here is iOS significant shortcoming of no way to browse file systems from apps, at least not a clean Apple supported API.
- Faster Siri: no need to say more
Siri needs to move some of that AI to the device locally.
- Siri coming to Mac OS X
On Mac I'd like to see Siri or more specifically voice parsing, become a gateway to a system AI.
As hardware become increasingly commoditized, services, services will be the selling point.
We have been hearing that one for years. The problem is few want to pay for such services.
Unfortunately for Apple, Google still has a leg up in terms of online service. They have been an online service since the start.
Frankly all the bluster about Google services is just hot Air.
Why? Why? You have all three of the apps? I have never used TextWrangler but I like TextMate just fine although I did have to use BBEdit once recently to open a really big file that TM choked on. It was over a gig. It was a diagnostic output from a machine. Even BBEdit took its time opening it, but it eventually did it.
Well, it's just my preference/opinion. I got pissed off at BBEdit a few years ago for something I can't remember and tried TextWrangler and I liked it much better although it's very similar. I don't do any programming or even much scripting anymore and basically just use these apps for cleaning up data. TextMate is too programming focussed for me and more tool than I need.
Let me just post this again incase Apple is reading /s
Maps:
Route Caching: The ability to cache initial route in the event you enter into a cellular dead zone. The ability to continually cache alternate routes so when you miss a turn, Maps will quickly give new directions. This is of particular interest in a city where recalculating takes longer than it does to drive a block.
Pit Stops: The ability to map a direction and then add pit stops along the way. Example: Map directions between my house and the Zoo. Oh, now we want to stop for coffee, where is the nearest coffee on the way to my currently mapped destination? The ability to spontaneously add a pit stop along the way. Example: On the way to the Zoo, the wife notices in the tour book a museum near by. Maps should be able to route us to that pit stop and then onto the zoo.
Pivot Points: I am now at Disney at my hotel and I want to set my location as my new pivot point, or temporary home.
Maps on Mac so that we can plan a trip on our Mac and send to our other devices.
Siri:
The ability for Siri to be localized so that basic commands don't have to loop through Apple HQ.
Siri voice recognition to be much stronger. To sit Siri down in front of a TV with Closed Captioning and have her hear the words and compare that to the closed captioning to strengthen her ability to understand a multitude of voices. This can be applied across multiple languages and accents.
Siri able to function on any Apple platform, and to understand which platform she is on. I.E. Home iPhone vs. Work iPhone vs. Home Mac vs. Work iPad
Siri to have the ability to function across these platforms to perform tasks. Siri, move this document to my Work iPad and place onto iCloud. Siri, rent this movie and start streaming it on my Apple TV. Siri, place on my Work iPhone a meeting with the design team from 9am - 12pm Saturday and include (...), and also mark that time on my home Calendars as at the office.
The ability for Siri to process tasks and reminders such as a to-do list.
The ability to understand shopping lists. Siri, remind me to pick up Creme Fraiche next time I'm at (...). Siri, remind me to pick up a card before X date. These should not be calendar appointments, but tasks.
iCloud:
iCloud Auto Sync, having the ability to sync any documents, folders, apps, or settings from any device. Instead of choosing where to save something, have the ability to save to multiple places and sync the data so that one may retain a local copy and an iCloud copy. Much like Calendar and Contacts works today.
A check box (much like the one when saving an iDoc that asks if you want to save a preview) that when saving a document, or save as, you can select to have this document synced on iCloud also.
I will concede that if iCloud was much stronger, then much of the syncing I mentioned above could happen on its own. However, I still have contacts on my iPhone that don't appear on my Mac's contact list. I am also no where near comfortable enough to trust documents only to iCloud and not have them local.
Overall Maps and Siri needs to be more intuitive to how people interact with their devices day by day, and iCloud needs to instill greater confidence and allow localized copies without heavy user interaction.
Why? Why? You have all three of the apps? I have never used TextWrangler but I like TextMate just fine although I did have to use BBEdit once recently to open a really big file that TM choked on. It was over a gig. It was a diagnostic output from a machine. Even BBEdit took its time opening it, but it eventually did it.
Since I don't code well I just use Xcode for that. I have never used TextMate but have tried BBEdit. It was nice but just too much app that I really didn't need, especially at $50. TextWrangler is more than sufficient for my needs and it's free. Creating Cisco IOS* startup configs is pretty much all I use it for. Even the Cisco IOS Language Module for BBEdit is loadable for TextWrangler.
* It's a capital 'i' for Internetwork Operating System and predates Apple's use of iOS by at least 15 years.
Siri, rent this movie and start streaming it on my Apple TV.
Currently I wouldn't trust Siri with my credit card or that she would rent the correct movie. She needs to be a lot smarter. For me she is batting around 500 which is pretty good for baseball but almost useless for a personal assistant.
Currently I wouldn't trust Siri with my credit card or that she would rent the correct movie. She needs to be a lot smarter. For me she is batting around 500 which is pretty good for baseball but almost useless for a personal assistant.
Siri asks for confirmation...even to just send text messages or schedule reminders. If you used Siri, you would know that.
I'm definitely buying a MBA this summer. I've switched from driving to biking as my primary mode of transport, and my rMBP is too heavy for carrying around. Especially in this humidity; it makes my back all sweaty.
Currently I wouldn't trust Siri with my credit card or that she would rent the correct movie. She needs to be a lot smarter. For me she is batting around 500 which is pretty good for baseball but almost useless for a personal assistant.
CC is already stored on the iTunes account so she would not have direct access to that.
Currently I wouldn't trust Siri with my credit card or that she would rent the correct movie. She needs to be a lot smarter. For me she is batting around 500 which is pretty good for baseball but almost useless for a personal assistant.
Siri asks for confirmation...even to just send text messages or schedule reminders. If you used Siri, you would know that.
Just a poor attempt at humor on my part.
Would you like me to search the web for...? Why does she need to ask that question? Shouldn't she just do it automatically? Her constant need for confirmations can become a bit tedious. Honestly, I have pretty much given up on Siri.
I'm in California, and earlier today I asked her what the weather was like in Minneapolis because [ ] is flying there today. Siri displayed the info correctly. Then I asked Siri where the nearest Honda dealer was as I'm supposed to get her car worked on while she is gone. That came back fine as well providing dealers in California...but then she adds that "all of them are pretty far from Minneapolis". Huh? Whenever I want her to continue a series of interactions she usually forgets what we are talking about. The one time she remembers, it is completely irrelevant. Like I said, she needs to be a lot smarter.
CC is already stored on the iTunes account so she would not have direct access to that.
I think his point is that using Siri buy things with such a simple command as "Siri, rent this movie and start streaming it on my Apple TV." could result in a lot of incorrect purchases which would result in a lot of issues for Apple and a drop in customer satisfaction, even if every incorrect rental was reimbursed.
Seems like everyone is in general agreement on the fixes we'd like to see. I'll add two.
1. A top to bottom review of Apps in the OS, with the aim of reducing mouse travel. Example, iTunes. All the categories are on the left. If you select Apps, there are further options across the top of the window. The critical UPDATE button is in the lower right. In iPhoto it's even worse. It'd be nice if mouse travel could be reduced. There'd be less carpal tunnel and happier mice.
2. I have adapted to everything Apple has thrown at me over the years, including reversal of the scrolling direction. But I always stumble when trying to change a document and attempting to save it with a new name. Duplicate...what's that again? Hmmm..... does it change the original? Hmm...... wait.... is autosave on?
Maybe it's age, but I'd like to have Save As... back, by default. I know I can get to it with the Option key, but the paradigm seems confusing.
I'm really excited about the upcoming previews of OS X and iOS. Apple has done the heavy lifting getting all the main goodies in there. The iPads are fun and useful and productivity boosters. Now comes the fun stuff. The tweaks. There are some big things to fix (sync) but in general, I feel like some energy can be spent on refinement and usability enhancements.
Expect GPS and cellular capabilities on upcoming Mac lines, and higher speed wifi. Expect increasingly common features in OS X and iOS and the applications. Expect improved touch control input for Mac laptops and keyboards.
Don't count it. The existence of a retina pro suggests that the Air will be their 'MacBook' and will likely never get retina displays or even huge SSDs etc
That is silly. Everything will get retina eventually. It is the future (and I hope sooner than later).
Don't count it. The existence of a retina pro suggests that the Air will be their 'MacBook' and will likely never get retina displays or even huge SSDs etc
That is silly. Everything will get retina eventually. It is the future (and I hope sooner than later).
Exactly.
Apple always pushed for the best screens and while the pro-line kicks ass on that department, the air has been surpassed by other similar machines (screen). Apple is lucky they lose on every other metric... But a TN panel on such Machine is inexcusable. It already was when I bought mine and officially became an Appletard, October 2011.
In my opinion, they should use those resolutions of the retina models on the 11 and 13 and go IGZO on Pros, or even 4k.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
True. And from everything reported so far it doesn't seem like the grid of icons or home button are going anywhere.
Nor should they.
Maps is fine by me. This is by far the biggest issue, in my estimation iCloud is a complete failure both in concept and implementation. Apples own products, like iWorks, are a terrible example of implementation with their iOS specific ile versions. As for the concept, why does the software assume that I want everything on the cloud??? The inability to designate where files are stored in iOS devices makes the whole platform a bit useless. Related here is iOS significant shortcoming of no way to browse file systems from apps, at least not a clean Apple supported API. Siri needs to move some of that AI to the device locally. On Mac I'd like to see Siri or more specifically voice parsing, become a gateway to a system AI. We have been hearing that one for years. The problem is few want to pay for such services. Frankly all the bluster about Google services is just hot Air.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
Why? Why? You have all three of the apps? I have never used TextWrangler but I like TextMate just fine although I did have to use BBEdit once recently to open a really big file that TM choked on. It was over a gig. It was a diagnostic output from a machine. Even BBEdit took its time opening it, but it eventually did it.
Well, it's just my preference/opinion. I got pissed off at BBEdit a few years ago for something I can't remember and tried TextWrangler and I liked it much better although it's very similar. I don't do any programming or even much scripting anymore and basically just use these apps for cleaning up data. TextMate is too programming focussed for me and more tool than I need.
Let me just post this again incase Apple is reading /s
Maps:
Route Caching: The ability to cache initial route in the event you enter into a cellular dead zone. The ability to continually cache alternate routes so when you miss a turn, Maps will quickly give new directions. This is of particular interest in a city where recalculating takes longer than it does to drive a block.
Pit Stops: The ability to map a direction and then add pit stops along the way. Example: Map directions between my house and the Zoo. Oh, now we want to stop for coffee, where is the nearest coffee on the way to my currently mapped destination? The ability to spontaneously add a pit stop along the way. Example: On the way to the Zoo, the wife notices in the tour book a museum near by. Maps should be able to route us to that pit stop and then onto the zoo.
Pivot Points: I am now at Disney at my hotel and I want to set my location as my new pivot point, or temporary home.
Maps on Mac so that we can plan a trip on our Mac and send to our other devices.
Siri:
The ability for Siri to be localized so that basic commands don't have to loop through Apple HQ.
Siri voice recognition to be much stronger. To sit Siri down in front of a TV with Closed Captioning and have her hear the words and compare that to the closed captioning to strengthen her ability to understand a multitude of voices. This can be applied across multiple languages and accents.
Siri able to function on any Apple platform, and to understand which platform she is on. I.E. Home iPhone vs. Work iPhone vs. Home Mac vs. Work iPad
Siri to have the ability to function across these platforms to perform tasks. Siri, move this document to my Work iPad and place onto iCloud. Siri, rent this movie and start streaming it on my Apple TV. Siri, place on my Work iPhone a meeting with the design team from 9am - 12pm Saturday and include (...), and also mark that time on my home Calendars as at the office.
The ability for Siri to process tasks and reminders such as a to-do list.
The ability to understand shopping lists. Siri, remind me to pick up Creme Fraiche next time I'm at (...). Siri, remind me to pick up a card before X date. These should not be calendar appointments, but tasks.
iCloud:
iCloud Auto Sync, having the ability to sync any documents, folders, apps, or settings from any device. Instead of choosing where to save something, have the ability to save to multiple places and sync the data so that one may retain a local copy and an iCloud copy. Much like Calendar and Contacts works today.
A check box (much like the one when saving an iDoc that asks if you want to save a preview) that when saving a document, or save as, you can select to have this document synced on iCloud also.
I will concede that if iCloud was much stronger, then much of the syncing I mentioned above could happen on its own. However, I still have contacts on my iPhone that don't appear on my Mac's contact list. I am also no where near comfortable enough to trust documents only to iCloud and not have them local.
Overall Maps and Siri needs to be more intuitive to how people interact with their devices day by day, and iCloud needs to instill greater confidence and allow localized copies without heavy user interaction.
Thanks for letting me rant
Since I don't code well I just use Xcode for that. I have never used TextMate but have tried BBEdit. It was nice but just too much app that I really didn't need, especially at $50. TextWrangler is more than sufficient for my needs and it's free. Creating Cisco IOS* startup configs is pretty much all I use it for. Even the Cisco IOS Language Module for BBEdit is loadable for TextWrangler.
* It's a capital 'i' for Internetwork Operating System and predates Apple's use of iOS by at least 15 years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Getz
Siri:
Siri, rent this movie and start streaming it on my Apple TV.
Currently I wouldn't trust Siri with my credit card or that she would rent the correct movie. She needs to be a lot smarter. For me she is batting around 500 which is pretty good for baseball but almost useless for a personal assistant.
No one would buy a similarly sized 13" MacBook Pro w/Retina display, if the Air went Retina. Perhaps that is what you really want: the Pro Retina.
Siri asks for confirmation...even to just send text messages or schedule reminders. If you used Siri, you would know that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
Currently I wouldn't trust Siri with my credit card or that she would rent the correct movie. She needs to be a lot smarter. For me she is batting around 500 which is pretty good for baseball but almost useless for a personal assistant.
CC is already stored on the iTunes account so she would not have direct access to that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
Currently I wouldn't trust Siri with my credit card or that she would rent the correct movie. She needs to be a lot smarter. For me she is batting around 500 which is pretty good for baseball but almost useless for a personal assistant.
Siri asks for confirmation...even to just send text messages or schedule reminders. If you used Siri, you would know that.
Just a poor attempt at humor on my part.
Would you like me to search the web for...? Why does she need to ask that question? Shouldn't she just do it automatically? Her constant need for confirmations can become a bit tedious. Honestly, I have pretty much given up on Siri.
I'm in California, and earlier today I asked her what the weather was like in Minneapolis because [ ] is flying there today. Siri displayed the info correctly. Then I asked Siri where the nearest Honda dealer was as I'm supposed to get her car worked on while she is gone. That came back fine as well providing dealers in California...but then she adds that "all of them are pretty far from Minneapolis". Huh? Whenever I want her to continue a series of interactions she usually forgets what we are talking about. The one time she remembers, it is completely irrelevant. Like I said, she needs to be a lot smarter.
I think his point is that using Siri buy things with such a simple command as "Siri, rent this movie and start streaming it on my Apple TV." could result in a lot of incorrect purchases which would result in a lot of issues for Apple and a drop in customer satisfaction, even if every incorrect rental was reimbursed.
Seems like everyone is in general agreement on the fixes we'd like to see. I'll add two.
1. A top to bottom review of Apps in the OS, with the aim of reducing mouse travel. Example, iTunes. All the categories are on the left. If you select Apps, there are further options across the top of the window. The critical UPDATE button is in the lower right. In iPhoto it's even worse. It'd be nice if mouse travel could be reduced. There'd be less carpal tunnel and happier mice.
2. I have adapted to everything Apple has thrown at me over the years, including reversal of the scrolling direction. But I always stumble when trying to change a document and attempting to save it with a new name. Duplicate...what's that again? Hmmm..... does it change the original? Hmm...... wait.... is autosave on?
Maybe it's age, but I'd like to have Save As... back, by default. I know I can get to it with the Option key, but the paradigm seems confusing.
I'm really excited about the upcoming previews of OS X and iOS. Apple has done the heavy lifting getting all the main goodies in there. The iPads are fun and useful and productivity boosters. Now comes the fun stuff. The tweaks. There are some big things to fix (sync) but in general, I feel like some energy can be spent on refinement and usability enhancements.
Quote:
Originally Posted by waldobushman
Expect GPS and cellular capabilities on upcoming Mac lines, and higher speed wifi. Expect increasingly common features in OS X and iOS and the applications. Expect improved touch control input for Mac laptops and keyboards.
I hope so. Those would all be solid enhancements.
That is silly. Everything will get retina eventually. It is the future (and I hope sooner than later).
Quote:
Originally Posted by iRun262
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
Don't count it. The existence of a retina pro suggests that the Air will be their 'MacBook' and will likely never get retina displays or even huge SSDs etc
That is silly. Everything will get retina eventually. It is the future (and I hope sooner than later).
Exactly.
Apple always pushed for the best screens and while the pro-line kicks ass on that department, the air has been surpassed by other similar machines (screen). Apple is lucky they lose on every other metric... But a TN panel on such Machine is inexcusable. It already was when I bought mine and officially became an Appletard, October 2011.
In my opinion, they should use those resolutions of the retina models on the 11 and 13 and go IGZO on Pros, or even 4k.
Quote:
Originally Posted by matrix07
A direwolf. Or maybe a Lannister.
lol, can't wait for episode 9 this weekend. Brace yourself for the R.W.
What I would like to see beside new iOS et OS-X:
- New retina MBA with IGZO screens, new intel CPU's. 4g or LTE build in (option)
- New MacPro
- Apple TV app store. Apple TV UI revamp.
- New Apple TV box.
Some other material than aluminum for the MBA? Carbon fibers?