mike eggleston

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mike eggleston
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  • Apple in 2019: surviving iPhone challenges like the 1990s Microsoft

    A lot of the "doom-and-gloom" surrounding Apple is nothing more than social media drama deliberately created. Apple will push the boundaries of what we consider as personal computers. John Srouji is doing great work hardware-wise when it comes to Apple Ax chipset. The only thing Apple has to do is keep evolving iOS into a more robust mobile operating system and unlock more features that we know it can handle. I really look forward to a day when I can do all the work I would usually do on my PC right on my iPhone XS Max or iPad.
    I agree with iOS evolving.  It might be time to fork iOS into one for tablets, and one for phones.  Or, the ability to toggle on advanced features, like a proper file system.

    The expectation is for Apple’s A series chips to power MacOS laptops.  The alternative is for iOS to “grow up” in functionality.  In my mind, the 12.9” iPad & the A Series laptop need to run the full Office 365.

    I’d also like to see iWork become something more like Office 365.  It had promise but the effort has fizzled...  If Apple wants services revenue to grow, that would be a good place to start.  Microsoft knows business and sustainable revenue.  People will cut video & music subscriptions when money gets tight.  Business’s can’t cut the tools to let the people do their jobs.

    Apple is all about the ecosystem, but the customer lock-in isn’t as great as they hope.  Currently, their is nothing they make that is as “sticky” as MS Office.  Without that, there is nothing to prevent them from becoming the next Blackberry.

    For example, if I switched to Android devices it would be annoying, but after a month it would be business as usual.

    I’m not in the “sky is falling” crowd.  Apple remains dominant in several areas, but they can’t sit on their laurels.  The most interesting thing Apple’s been working on is medical records and devices, those have the potential to be “sticky” and helps them keep their dominance in the other areas.
    There is no need for iOS to run the full Office 365. There is almost no need for it, unless you are really attached to Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. At that point, it is now a matter of preference. Also, that desire is on Microsoft's shoulders to make it the full experience, not Apple's. I do agree that Apple should put more work into their iWork suite of tools. They are an excellent toolset that does need some serious love.

    One thing I did want to mention is Project Marzipan (I think that is how it is spelled). This alone should be a huge indicator as to where Apple is heading. It isn't that iOS and macOS are merging, but instead allowing for applications to be built on both easily. If Apple can pull this off, and I have zero doubts that they can, this will be huge. As a software developer, I can tell you that if the only thing that I have to do is some slight tweaks to a bit of code and I can migrate my application to another platform, that is a huge win; and once the apps come people will have no problems going back to the Mac.
    StrangeDaysapplesnorangesmacplusplustmaykitatitberndogradarthekatwatto_cobrabakedbananas
  • Google CEO 'Lord Farquaad' lambasted for giant pay raise after 12,000 layoffs

    I think the most damning part of the article is right here:

    Large companies have complex financial systems, so it isn't going to be clear how the money saved from laying off those employees will be used. However, it is damning when a $70 billion stock buyback program was announced in one week, then SEC filings show the CEO got a raise in the next.

    This is the smoking gun right here. A CEO knows that if they do layoffs, stock prices usually rise because the P/E ratio rises; then on top of that, a stock buyback means that Google (read: Sundar) knows that the price per share for that stock will skyrocket because there are fewer shares in the wild. As a result, the number of shares he gets (usually a fixed number of shares, depending on how well their stock is doing) will be worth substantially more.

    In summary, I think the SEC should investigate his ass and see if insider trading laws can be applied to him.

    StrangeDaysCluntBaby92chadbagAlex1NfrankieOferAlex_Vwatto_cobrajony0
  • Nike teases Tuesday reveal of new iPhone-controlled self-lacing sneakers

    DAalseth said:
    Oh for crying out loud. How f****** hard is it to tie your bloody shoes.
    For a child who has disabilities, either mental or physical (or in the case of my youngest daughter, both); this could be a game changer for her. Right now, she has to have daddy or mommy tie her shoes, when all of her peers can do it themselves. For her, she would feel more independent just because she can tie her own laces.
    ctt_zhavon b7racerhomie3caladaniandoozydozenSolibeowulfschmidtwatto_cobra
  • Apple pulls Fortnite from App Store for sidestepping commission fee [ux2]

    JMaille said:

    When are people going to realize this isn’t about reducing the cost to consumers, this is about getting as much money out of consumers as they possibly can.  Epic and the other companies that are protesting the “Apple Tax” aren’t trying to eliminate or even reduce the cost of being in the App Store for themselves.  What they are trying to do is force Apple, either through their own decision, through the courts, or through legislation, to change the way they charge developers for being in the App Store.  They want to do away with the competition from free apps.  They want Apple to change to an approach where any developer that wants to put an app in the App Store has to pay for it, which in turn will eliminate almost all free apps and almost all developers they may have to compete with.  Or better yet, they want to force Apple to allow, or be force to allow, alternate App Stores on every single IOS device so they can stop having to live with the privacy restrictions Apple forces on them.  Then they can get to what they really want, harvesting user data so they can make the user what they think all users should be – the product rather than the customer.

    Sorry but you are wrong. Epic did lower the price by 20% if purchased through the online payment system. For instance, 1,000 V-bucks, which is roughly equivalent to $10 in-game Fortnite currency, now costs just $7.99. 
    Do the math for a second. So, for the Apple version of that package is $9.99. Their "Epic Store" pricing is $2.00 cheaper (or 20%). They make MORE by having you go through their system than the Apple ecosystem. This is 100% so Epic can make more money, and not pay anything (or close to anything) for being on someone else's hard work and infrastructure. JMaille is absolutely correct.
    Beatsjdb8167ericthehalfbeeGabyrandominternetpersoncat52lolliverJanNLaderutterwatto_cobra
  • Liquid Glass is more than skin deep on macOS Tahoe

    I had a hard time reading this article. The captions below the pictures are repeated (sometimes more than once) nor do they make sense (for instance: "The old volume indicator (right) and the new" was repeated 4 times, and the new was on the right and the old was on the left; the way the sentence is structured, it sounds like the old was on the right). Right now, I am depending on articles like these to get myself prepared for what to expect with the new releases. Some checking of the articles before posting them would be greatly appreciated.
    yyzguyheadfull0wineStrangeDayshubbaxAlex1NM68000libertyandfreemacgui
  • Texas passes App Store age verification law, despite Tim Cook's concerns

    As a parent, I can definitely say that this is a bad idea. Apple already lets me mark accounts as a child account. As such, when one of my kids asks to be allowed to download an app, it has to get permission from me or my wife. This is already a simple enough solution to this problem, and it puts the onus of the situation where it belongs: WITH THE PARENTS.

    The moment that you are having additional age verification, you are having to store sensitive information. Since the App Store (and Google Play for that matter) would be known for having to store not just the date of birth but some other verification of the age of a child, you now have a known location to try to get all sorts of PII (Personal Identifiable Information). So, by doing this "for our children" you have in effect made them LESS SECURE.

    Also, the argument of "parents can't be bothered or ill-informed" is making other entities or people responsible for your kids instead of the parents. It is a nonsense argument at best; and a dangerous one at the worst.
    hlee1169JanNLknoxDavidiOS_Guy80bonobob9secondkox2grandact73damn_its_hotmacguiexceptionhandler
  • iPhone & Mac game engine Unity putting the screws to independent developers

    Marvin said:
    danox said:
    I hope this doesn’t turn into another one of those Apple must roll up its sleeves moments again, with Apple getting into gaming engines, Apple has enough on it’s plate working towards GPU parity with AMD, and Nvidia, oh and that little business with Qualcomm regarding modem replacement.
    It wouldn't need to be Apple this time, it can be the big game studios that have their own engines - EA, Activision, Take Two, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Crytek, 4A Studios, Amazon, Guerilla Games, Bethesda, id, Square Enix, CD Projekt Red, Valve.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines

    All these companies tried to reinvent the wheel making an engine of their own, solving the same problem over and over to end up with dozens of buggy proprietary engines that work for one product or franchise and with very little transferrable skills for the people who work with them.

    A lot of them have reached a point where the saw how much effort and pain was involved maintaining an engine internally that many of them are now looking at Unreal engine but they don't control the engine.

    If all of the studios pooled their resources together, they could make a strong, reliable core engine that everyone could use and know that it would be supported everywhere.
    There is one that is really well made, open source, and free to use. Godot.
    FileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Blender is building a full-featured iPad app, but it's not clear when it will be released

    This is very exciting! I know that 3D Printer designers will love the ability to use touch to manipulate 3D objects!
    gregoriusmdanoxmattinozAlex1NAlex_V
  • Apple will try to talk its way out of a $40 billion fine on Tuesday

    Maybe it has been a while since going over the ApplePay developer docs and what not; but I don’t recall that the developer is charged with a fee from using ApplePay, any sort of fees come from the credit card companies. As such, it seems to me like the EU is making a false claim here. Are they going after Google for GooglePay? What about Samsung and their SamsungPay? Wait, what about WalmartPay (which I can do from my iPhone)?

    This seems like complete bullsh*t, if you ask me.
    dolfkekillroywilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, & Magic Mouse may soon be upgraded with USB-C

    I know I am in the minority, but I thought that the Magic Mouse (especially the second one with recharging) was an excellent mouse. Well, to be fair, it became excellent once I had BetterTouchTool installed. I could do a whole lot with it! I had to switch to a vertical mouse due to potential carpal tunnel, but I did love that mouse!
    williamlondonlotoneswatto_cobra