vmarks

About

Username
vmarks
Joined
Visits
77
Last Active
Roles
editor
Points
905
Badges
2
Posts
762

Reactions

343Like0Dislike92Informative

  • Hands On: Fantastical 2.4 for Mac adds attachments, Facebook calendar integration

    vmarksvmarks
    Worth every penny. This past January, I had to set up back to back meetings every day of the week that I was at CES. I was arranging them with retail buyers, product managers, and CEOs. I had Outlook 2016 at my disposal, but chose not to use it. Instead, I managed the whole schedule, invites, and everything out of Fantastical. I would do it again. Managing multiple time zones, invites, locations, and schedules was excellent. The product support I got from while doing this was excellent - because I was having issues with someone's exchange server, and wanted to make sure nothing was going to go wrong, especially with timezones involved. In years past, I've used a spreadsheet in iCloud numbers to handle my schedule at CES. That was in response to other calendar apps that have failed me. Fantastical nailed it, and worked perfectly. If it seems expensive, you haven't felt the pain of calendars that screw up and embarrass you. No one's going to get laid over a calendar app - but if they were, it would be due to Fantastical.
    bshankquadra 610

  • Alpine delivers first in-dash wireless CarPlay receiver you can install yourself

    vmarksvmarks
    xamax said:
    How is this better than having your iPhone do it? I mean, I have a really dumb really simple Sony car radio with a USB. I get in the car, place my iPhone in its stand, connect it to the radio via USB but I could simply use Bluetooth for wireless and I can have my own paid for Sygic GPS App that's better than Apple's or Google Maps Apps. Can do anything.

    This Sony radio was €80 many years ago, if any I can buy better for cheaper. Even if I purchased an used iPhone 6 Plus just for this task, I would still spend half as much. And I could tuck it in safe in the glove compartment or wherever out of sight.

    Cos would I instal this only to see my car broken into?! I mean, I don't even leave the €80 unit faceplate on - because broken windows and such are much more expensive than that.

    Seriously, Alpine & Co better reinvent themselves and fast! This is not the way neither it is to come up with overpriced gear upfront, that's not how you win market share. It's like these companies don't put their brains much into what they do. And that's the Apple difference, I must say... So no, Alpine, no!
    Apple has been accused in the past of coming up with overpriced gear upfront. Apple's path to success has not been to price themselves cheap to gain adoption.

    Using an iPhone is an awkward solution for driving. You can do everything you'd want to do with an iphone - handsfree calling, music, maps, 'hey siri' for texting and placing calls.. but it's an interface and screen size designed for a 30cm viewing distance. When you're driving, it's further away, off to the side, and you want to be able to interact with it while taking as little attention as possible away from the road. For a touch screen that means things need to be in consistent locations so that you don't have to look, or don't have to look much. It means voice with good handsfree, which some cars don't have, so using an aftermarket CarPlay solution solves it well. It's the difference between a hacked together experience that is non-optimal, and an optimized integrated experience that is up to date with every update to your phone. 
    bb-15gregoriusmStrangeDays

  • AppleInsider podcast talks iPhone at 10, in-display fingerprint readers, reviews, more

    vmarksvmarks
    JohnDee said:
    I switched off as soon as somebody said that google plus was the greatest thing... There is no company more intrusive, privacy invading, etc. than that bl**dy lot.
    Good - had you listened past that very short bit of having a go at Google, you might have had to listen to 30 minutes of talking about the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. I'm glad you were spared that. 

    It's called parody. We were making fun of Google by talking up one of their biggest failures as if it had been a success. That's the joke.
    lordjohnwhorfincornchip

  • Alpine delivers first in-dash wireless CarPlay receiver you can install yourself

    vmarksvmarks
    StrangeDays said:
    what is the text “Text” to the right of the volume number?
    I photographed a beta unit in January at CES. This is one of my photos. I did not edit the photos to add text, so I can't be sure where that came from. 

    We're on the list to get a review, and will be able to photograph the volume control on a production unit.
    longpathwatto_cobra

  • Apple's first iPhone was also the first to realize the potential of the smartphone

    vmarksvmarks
    Soli said:
    BTW, I'm loving these articles about the last decade. I'd like to see more of these as Apple has has many, many milestones over the years. For example, next year on 23 April 2018 will be the 10th anniversary of Apple buying PA Semi. Remember when people said that was a wait of money and that Apple couldn't possibly make a decent chip? In 2010 Apple introduced the iPad with the A4 chip and we've seen nothing but just success from Apple in this area. So much success that Apple's power per watt and lithography is besting the expensive and heavily wasted features on Intel's offerings.

    This wasn't even the first time they were rumored to have been buying a semiconductor company. They were originally meant to be doing it when the iPod was king, before there was an iPhone. People at the time were worried Apple would make it impossible to produce an mp3 player without licensing chips from them. 
    Soliwatto_cobra