auxio

crowley said:

The article didn't mention it, but the costs are:

25 compute hours/month 
Free (through December 2023, then US$14.99 per month if you choose to subscribe at that time.)

100 compute hours/month
US$49.99/month 

250 compute hours/month
US$99.99/month 

1000 compute hours/month 
US$399.99/month

From: https://developer.apple.com/xcode-cloud/

I'm not sure why this is particularly useful unless it is substantially faster than on a local machine, and Apple don't seem to be making any claims about that.

It's really about the automation and maintenance side of things.  As a developer, I'm iterating and testing my app against the particular hardware configuration that I've set in Xcode.  However, to ship my app, I may need to build and test on 20 hardware configurations.  Sure I could set up a local Xcode server to run those 20 builds on each code change, but then I need to configure and maintain that server every time there's an Xcode or macOS update, deal with hardware upgrades, failures, etc.  Basically you're paying Apple to maintain a build server for you.

Seeing tech leaders like Zuck and Musk simply become mindless mouthpieces for the money which controls their companies just keeps reminding me how unique Jobs was. Seeing the bigger picture of humanity, your small role in it, having foundational principles, and sticking to a vision of how to move things forward. A lost breed in today's tech business world.

hodar said:

Who said that LGBTQ or minorities cannot be qualified?  How about hiring the brightest, the best and most talented without regard to their skin color, their plumbing or things that have absolutely nothing to do with things unrelated to the job?  Hire by merit, that's how Apple got out of the garage.

The problem is that if there are never role models or opportunities from the get go, then that potential will never be realized, even if a child is born with it. Study history and think a bit. African Americans didn't even have civil rights until the late 1960s (i.e. were pretty much reliant on white people for any chance in America). Same with women being reliant on men since they didn't have civil rights either. And think about how many LGBTQ people had to hide who they were from society in order to have opportunities (never mind if they were someone of color, which you can't hide). Discrimination happens whether it's written in laws or not.

By having companies publicly declare "yes, we hire marginalized people", and hopefully even investing in education and business opportunities, it creates an attainable path to success for those people. It's not just about hoping they get to that point at the time of hiring.

gatorguy said:

chasm said:

Anilu_777 said:

I still wonder why Google even cares about this and then why it’s pushing so hard. I don’t trust Google. 

Oh, let me clarify that for you. Google wants to a) collect data from messages, and b) push rich advertising into messages, which of course they would benefit from.

I didn’t make this up — it’s been referred to in previous articles talking about Google’s version of RCS. Apple would never allow crap like that, so Google was never going to get Apple to adopt their version of RCS.

I am actually starting to feel bad for Android users, because if Google gets its way their experience in messaging is about to get a lot crappier.

Google cannot collect user data from Google Messages RCS. End of story. So yeah, you made that part up.

They know who is messaging who, which is still worth something since it builds knowledge of connections between people.

darkvader said:

It's already been shown that USB C will work in the older iPhones. 

Apple should get their act together.

Unbelievable. If they care so much about it, why didn't governments step in when there were a ridiculous number of different USB-A/B connectors for different devices (which are now clogging landfills)?



That's the very reason why Apple chose to go with Lightning instead of USB in the first place. And boy did people complain about the switch from Dock to Lighting at the time! Now suddenly everyone is fine with buying all new USB-C accessories because Android users and governments are cheerleading USB-C. Gimme a break!

foregoneconclusion said:

Unified memory IS more efficient than DDR. There’s no 1x1 comparison between the two. 

DDR (double data rate) is just the data throughput of RAM, which doesn't say anything about how much memory is required by applications.

However, the point about unified memory being more efficient (apps require less overall RAM) is correct. Without it apps which need to, for example, display an image on the screen need to store a copy of that image in both CPU memory (RAM) and GPU memory (VRAM). With unified memory they only need one copy because both the CPU and GPU can access the same memory. The same holds true for machine learning and the NPU (neural processing unit).

All that said, people without critical thinking skills (i.e. the majority of the population) simply follow the "bigger is better" logic. And so if Apple hopes to sell to such people, they'll have to bump the specs, even if those people will never need that extra memory.

Pema said:

we shall see. 
1) Apple Car
2) Apple Vision Pro
3) iPhone 16

Apple needs a few hits to help us forget the duds. 

If Apple doesn't try anything new, the media says they're not innovating. If they do, and it's not an immediate success, then they're a dud. Those who can, do, those who can't, critique.

It's an admirable quality of someone in a position of power to understand that diverse opinions from passionate people are actually a good thing and typically lead to better outcomes for whatever you're trying to accomplish. Jobs was strong willed, but as you can see from some of his core beliefs, he wasn't driven by his own ego or amassing wealth. Something leaders of today could learn from.

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

Can you imagine what would happen if all the engineers who check bridge designs, buildings, engines in cars, etc thought this way?

There is a reality out there which has undeniable facts about how things work, despite what all the crooks in the world seeking money/power are trying to convince you of for their own personal gain.

robin huber said:

sflagel said:

it is ludicrous for a car manufacturer to give Apple access to all its car systems, which will invariably lead to Apple becoming the gatekeeper to the entire tech stack of a car. This in addition to the branding impact. CarPlay is not the end of evolution, for example, the music app is well on CarPlay. Audi music controls are much better. 

Who said all? We’re talking about user-facing information systems. Car manufacturers have farmed out components and subsystems from day one. Brakes, batteries, transmissions, gauges, radios, generators, on and on. More to the point, putting Bose, Harmon-Kardon and many other name brand audio systems is a selling point. Why should this be any different?

Exactly this. Apple has brand recognition and decades of expertise in UI design. Something car manufacturers can leverage by integrating CarPlay Ultra, especially with computers becoming central to the experience of driving a car. And from the looks of it, they get to choose the level of integration they're comfortable with. Seems like a win-win to me.