timmillea

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timmillea
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  • Apple demonstrates its commitment to AI with new open source code release

    timmilleatimmillea
    "because Apple calls it Machine Learning instead of AI"

    Machine learning is a minuscule sub-field of the field of AI! It so happens that the speed of devices affordable to consumers have made ML feasible in recent years so it is currently making all the headlines. Neural networks, upon which ML runs, have been around for many decades. Their uses and limitations are well understood but that doesn't stop billion-dollar valuations of startups claiming a new 'AI'-based application. 

    The best ML app will never approach the best equivalent human behaviour, even with learning supervised by the best human expertise. Most ML is not supervised so ML apps are fast, impressive at the moment but they will never be 'intelligent'. The real potential of AI is in evolutionary algorithms (a.k.a. artificial evolution) whose results can exceed those of humans. And to think I was 'growing' neural nets within an evolutionary algorithm almost 30 years ago and no one, not even in the field of computer science, was remotely interested :-( 
    byronlwilliamlondonAlex1N

  • Apple's updated M4 MacBook Air could arrive sooner than expected

    timmilleatimmillea
    I won't be 'upgrading' my M1 MacBook Air ('the last of the wedges'). I welcome the Center Stage addition but I already have Center Stage with the Studio Display that my MBA drives. I still regard the M1 MBA as the pinnacle of Apple design. After Jony Ive was ejected by Tim Cook, the design aesthetic has taken backseat and Apple is all the worse for it. It would take a truly generational change to make me buy a new Mac and I think those days are over. Even MacOS is going downhill - witness the new Calculator app, an affront to anyone who has ever used a calculator. Without extreme design-focus, rather than merely technology updates, peak-Apple has passed. 
    canukstormwilliamlondon

  • Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs hit every one of Apple's international manufacturing part...

    timmilleatimmillea
    Forgivably, this report and subsequent discussion has been totally US-oriented. Apple is a truly global multi-national with US sales a minority. I cannot imagine that Trump's authoritarian decrees will much influence Apple's business model - they will just make Apple products more expensive in the US. It will be interesting to see if US citizens obtain passports and travel overseas to buy cheaper Apple products.

    As has been pointed out, isolationism has been tried before and resulted in recession. History is repeating. Let it all play out and current voters never make the same mistake in their lifetimes. The best way of learning is from experience of one's mistakes. 
    mattinozglnffastasleepronndewme

  • After 14 years, Apple has finally retired the famous MacBook Air wedge shape

    timmilleatimmillea
    I believe the (wedge) M1 MacBook Air is likely to prove the greatest MBA ever and become a collectors' item.

    I just have to wait 10-20 years for most to have been disposed of and for mine to be worth a small fortune :-) 
    sflagelMisterKitdewmewatto_cobra

  • Apple aims to reinvent the battery with high-performance cathode technology

    timmilleatimmillea
    bsimpsen said:
    tyler82 said:
    What about solar battery regeneration? A lot of people use their phones outside. Would it be possible to install solar cells behind the display?
    The math doesn't work. Full sunlight on an iPhone 15 screen would produce about 9W. High efficiency solar cells might convert 22% of that, giving you about 2W of electric power. A transparent display is impossible, so you're going to block a lot of sunlight with the light emitting pixels. LEDs can't be transparent, as the light would emit in all directions, not just towards the viewer. Even with transparent areas between opaque pixels, I doubt you could get a fill ratio of less than 80%, and the transparent layer and screen surface will reflect a few % each. So you might get 100mW of power in full sunlight. I imagine such a display might consume more than that in extra power to make the transparency possible.

    Just get a cheap solar PV panel with USB output from Aliexpress. Sit in the shade with device to better see the screen and avoid it over-heating, put the panel in the sun et voila. A panel about iPad size does the trick. I often do this with my MacBook Air & iPhone connected for battery worry-free use when 'semi-working' outside at hotels. 
    Alex1Nthtwatto_cobra

  • Trump Mobile's made-in-US iPhone 17 competitor is really made in China

    timmilleatimmillea
    Buy one, or several! This is destined to be a collector's item in10+ years from now when Trump is dead along with this mis-judged vanity project. 

    For maximum return, keep the box un-opened. 
    ronnwatto_cobra

  • A Mac mini can be made portable for about three times the cost of a MacBook Air

    timmilleatimmillea
    The beauty of the MacBook Air is that it is totally silent, has a decent display and built-in great keyboard, the battery means you don't need a UPS in the event of a power cut and it can drive huge external display. I use mine as my desktop computer most of the time with wireless Magic Keyboard and Trackpad but it also travels very lightly with me alone. 

    I have had a couple of Mac Minis over the years but it was, and still is, the cheapest way to get a Mac, aimed firmly at switchers.

    Just as flat-screen vs. CRT monitors halved the size of investment banking dealing rooms, the silence of the MBA means recording studios no longer need a separate 'control booth'. Silence is Golden.
    williamlondonrezwitswatto_cobra

  • Apple Pay Express Mode comes to New South Wales

    timmilleatimmillea
    What is a "transit terminal"? The term is not in the Cambridge English dictionary online. 

  • M4 MacBook Air review: More power than ever, at a lower price point

    timmilleatimmillea
    I see no reason to downgrade my M1 16GB/2TB MBA to a cheaper, non-wedge design. The predicted M5 upgrades will not be enough to tempt me either. I am waiting for a physical design better than I already have! 
    tiredskills

  • MacBook Air update arrives with lower starting price & M4 performance boost

    timmilleatimmillea
    bluefire1 said:
    Does the average citizen need the M4 instead of the M3, M2 or M1 MacBook Air? 
    No.

    I have the M1 MBA with 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD and the superior wedge design. I see absolutely no reason to downgrade to the latest model. It will take a physical re-design and higher base SSD to even tempt me. I may never change even if the latest MacOS is no longer supported.
    williamlondonronn