anome

I didn't realise this was meant to be a "Global Flagship" store. I'm not surprised they've given up on Federation Square, though. Melbournians are very conservative and parochial. Comes from their inferiority complex over Sydney. Kind of like Chicago and New York.

Apple, if you're reading this, if you want to open a bigger store in Canberra, I'd be willing to go there. And at least a few hundred other people would, too...

Just don't put it in Perth. No-one wants to go to Perth.

sog35 said:

jbdragon said:

sog35 said:

Good.

Curved screens are so stupid.

The early TV's were all curved.  Then it was a HUGE deal when we got flat TV's. Now we want curved iPhone screens? Hell no.

We leave those crappy curved screens with Samdung

I havn't seen 1 TV Reviewer that said the curved screen added anything to watching experience and in fact made things worse for those sitting off to the sides. I see them in Best Buy and I just don't get it. It's beyond dumb. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should do it. I don't get the whole Edge thing either on the Samesung phones. I've looked at them and I don't get it. Really, all it is, it yet another Gimmick from them. That's because if it's not a part of Android, it's a part of TouchWiz and so really has no 3rd party support. That would be a advantage for Apple as it would actually be a part of iOS, but even then I still would think of it as a Gimmick. Plus really flat out COPYING if Apple did the same dumb thing. If that is what Apple had planned, shame on them. We're 6 months away from a launch so most of these RUMORS are really a load of crap.

Actually I was talking about the CRT TV's from the 70s and 80s. It had a curve to them.

Then in the 90s flat TV's were coming out and everyone was so excited. Makes no sense to go back to curved displays.

And yes those curved modern TV's are pure stupidity. So much so most manufacters don't make them anymore.

TVs used to be curved outwards because a) a curved screen was easier to manufacture, and b) the curve provided structural integrity given that it was one big vacuum tube. Producing a Cathode Ray Tube with a flat screen was difficult, the best solution was the Sony Trinitron which was a cylindrical section of glass, rather than a spherical section. The reason we suddenly went to "flat" screens was that LCD displays suddenly got a lot cheaper. LCDs were easier to manufacture as flat sheets, and since they didn't have a massive vacuum behind them there was no reason to make them curve. Also, it avoided problems with the electron gun losing focus, and spherical aberration of the image at the edges.

Modern curved TVs are curved inwards, because of some idea about having all parts of the screen equidistant from the viewers' eyes (provided they sit at the focus), or providing a "surround" image. It costs way too much for basically putting an LCD screen on a curved bit of plastic (yes, I know there was some clever engineering that went into doing that, but really...), and is mostly of any value as a marketing gimmick.

Curved phones, though, are a different matter. Is the whole screen curved? Is it just at the edges? Is it concave or convex? Does it serve any actual function, rather than showing off your manufacturing ability? Does it improve the way the phone feels in the hand? Does it make it easier to accidentally activate interface objects because of how you hold your phone? To me, it seems like a solution in search of a problem. It will add cost to manufacturing, and not really deliver any value in usability.

opinion said:

Wishlist:
-No chin
-No external power brick
-Height adjustable stand

I don't get, and have never got, this obsession with "no chin", "no bezels", and all that nonsense. As for the external power brick, I think that ship has sailed. I'm guessing hey want to use the new MagSafe adapter for it, and that isn't just a dumb power plug. Plus, if they moved the power supply back to being internal, then they'd probably have to give it a bigger chin, so there goes your first wish.

Height adjustable stand they might do, or they might just sell a plate so you can install it on a monitor arm.

johnbear said:

nytesky said:

The reason Epic can make so much money, is that Apple, Google, Microsoft and Sony have put a lot of R&D and marketing into iOS, Android, Xbox and Playstation. If Epic wants to sell direct to the consumer, they should make their own hardware. They want to leech off Apple and Google, but are willing to pay 30% to Microsoft and Sony (for now). 

The shoplifting analogy that Apple uses isn't very good. It is more like Epic setting up shop and selling things inside an Apple Store without paying any rent; Epic cries in the store that they made the products they are selling not Apple, so Apple should let them stay there for free. 

Remember before Apple invented this lucrative AppStore scam, games and software were downloaded and paid directly to the developer. Then Google & Microsoft followed as the service is very lucrative. The gov needs to step in to protect the consumers and developers from these draconian anticompetitive and monopolistic practices. 

On the other hand Epic acted out of desperation and not in a very wise and strategic manner. 

Actually - no. Before Apple came up with the App Store, developers actually had to sell their games through a publisher, who took a hell of a lot more than 30%. The App Store was seen by most developers as a better deal.

Some developers did do direct sales, but that meant they had to do, and pay for, the distribution, delivery, marketing, and financial transactions themselves. I know some people who did it with shareware and the like. The difference in cost (and profit) of their shareware version, and the boxed version put together for them by a distributor was substantial.

With the App Store, Apple was offering to do all of that for them in return for a mere 30% as opposed to most publishing companies taking ~80%. The App Store was a way that developers could bypass publishers, resulting in lower costs, and, theoretically, higher profits for development.

Now, what Epic is doing, is working as a publisher and distributor. True, they have developed their own games, but they also sell games from other developers. How much does Rockstar pay them for sales of GTA or Red Dead Redemption through the Epic Games Store? (Serious question, I'd like to know.) We know how much they have to pay Sony and MS for access to the Playstation and XBox marketplaces (30% - what a coincidence), but they're not complaining about that.

It's really hard to see how any of this has to do with stifling innovation, rather than impacting Epic's profit margin.

mikethemartian said:

charlesn said:

These predictions never make sense. Since when does Apple update the same products twice in the same year? Exactly right. Never. The Mini just got the M2 AND a complete overhaul in January--so Apple's going to update it again 9 or 10 months later? Ridiculous. The MBPs just got speed-bumped to the M2 in January--and Apple never makes another processor change this soon. I would have guessed that *maybe* the 13" MBA, which has been out just over 1 year, would have gotten the M3 this fall. But with the release of the 15" M2 model, I don't see Apple having the two sizes of MBAs on different processors--I think both models stick with the M2 until maybe next summer. 

I remember back in 2008 they released the Early 2008 MBP and then later that same year the Late 2008 MBP.

2012 they released the 3rd Gen iPad in March, and the 4th Gen in October.

It's rare, but it has happened, especially when there was new technology they wanted to push. The 4 Gen iPad was the first with a Lightning connector and a Retina display.

gatorguy said:

MacPro said:

gatorguy said:

It's a sad reflection on the fear-mongering negativity one side is using. Personally, I'm a huge fan of lifting us all up instead.

Above all: Don't believe whatever comes out of the mouth of a selfishly-guided politician just because he said it. Most are all too happy to promote half-truths, mostly lie, or outright lie in order to "win". I'm sorry, but it is no win for us to be misled, and only find out what we were buying after he's already in office; telling us what we can and can't do without being asked again. They don't care if we agreed. They will be the ones in the power chair and will tell us, dictator style, not ask. 

Agreed.  Yep, he should focus on aliens eating cats and dogs and Governors executing live babies; you know, real news that's fact-checked. /s

And a few minutes ago, I believe Mr. Trump announced he will do no more debates, not even in the friendly confines of Fox News with Fox moderators. Probably for the best. 

Well, he has to spend some time before the election recovering from being beaten to a pulp on live TV.

Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo seem to be in a backwards bicycle race with all this backpedalling going on.

I can't even tell if prices have gone up in the Australian store, since there are no paid apps on the front page.

And I'm not entirely sure where to start looking for them. This might take a while.

On the other, other hand, a quick check shows we might be marginally up against the US$ this morning. Still pretty low, but higher than the last time I checked a few days ago.

robin huber said:

Will believe big iMac when I see it. Lucy has pulled the ball away one too many times. 

It's the current "Apple TV Set" at this point.

I didn't think hotel booking apps used the Apple In-App purchases infrastructure. I mostly use Hotels.com, and I'm pretty sure that charges my credit card directly, and not via my Apple ID. You're only required to use In-App purchases for digital goods, not for physical items. That's why Amazon's app will happily sell you a physical book, but not the Kindle version. Does a hotel booking or holiday experience count as a physical item? Maybe not, but all the other apps I use for making that kind of booking avoid the In-App infrastructure, so I don't know what Expedia is doing differently.