tjwolf

SpamSandwich said:

The day before 9/11? That seems like a tone-deaf choice of dates.

Doodpants said:

We had contactless student IDs when I was in college in the 90's. A barcode scanner doesn't need physical contact. :-)

Neither do TouchID/FaceID.  Not sure why they keep saying "tap to..." Been using contactless payment on iPhone for years now and never once had to "tap".

BMW's explanation is just so much baloney as others have pointed out.  They need $80/yr when other car manufacturers selling cars at half or even 1/4 the price of a BMW can throw it in for free?

Last year I was thinking of replacing my aging BMW with another (I ended up getting a 2019 Nissan Leaf Plus a month ago) - looked into The Audi A5 Sportback and the BMW (can't remember the model name - their sporty hatchback).  Audi included CarPlay for free - BMW didn't.  Not only that, but before you could even get CarPlay, you had to buy their $2,000 navigation system!?!  One of the main points of having CarPlay is to navigate using its apps rather than the dealer's maps (which also charge for keeping those updated - at least they did back when I bought my BMW).

cgWerks said:

AppleExposed said:
"We can only hope a visionary with some sense off reality is waiting in the wings somewhere to take over the reins."

Sorry but inventions under Cook are taking off. Did you not read the financial report?
ApplePay, AirPods, Services, Apple Watch are increasing revenue by the billions.

I think an issue for longer-term Apple fans, is that half (or more) of that list don't do much in terms of innovation or 'changing the world' which we got used to seeing Apple do. If you're talking about Wall Street, then maybe it is a different story. Two different objectives.

Hm, with Jobs in charge, Apple produced how many "changing the world" products?  Apple II, Mac, iPod, iPhone.  Roughly one "changing the world" product every 10 years.   Tim Cook has been at the helm for roughly 10 years and Apple has come out with Apple Watch and AirPods and a bunch of services.  I'd classify the watch as a "changing the world" kind of product  as any of those under Jobs, except maybe the iPhone - the most successful product in the entire history of the word.  And, from a human health perspective, it's obviously even more world changing for those whose lives were saved by it already.

So I think people give Tim Cook too little credit.  It's a heck of a lot harder to run a $1T company than it is a $1b company - and with one "changing the world" product already under his belt, Tim has managed to keep the rate of innovation at least similar to what Jobs accomplished.  With AR coming, he may even outdo the success of the iPhone.

"This Apple Watch charger is better than Apple's in every way" - well, except cost.  Apple's charger comes free with the watch :-)

I guess this $50 accessory makes sense for road warriors, but for the rest of us - who travel 1-2 a year - the charger that came with the watch is just dandy.  It ain't gonna fray or break when it sits next to your night stand 99% of the time.  We interact with it a total of, what, 3 seconds every day, so its slipperiness or its tendency to tangle isn't going to matter either.