zimmie

randominternetperson said:

I'm not a hater by any means, but what happens when you put an iPhone 12 in the same pocket as a hotel keycard?  I've had these get messed up from time to time when I wasn't carrying a strong magnet around with me.

Maybe it won't matter since hotels barely exist post-Covid.  Or it will force them to support using iPhones to open hotel doors (as a very few hotels do already).

Actually, screw hotel key cards, what about the credit cards in my (mini) wallet?  I routinely have credit cards in a leather sleeve in the same pocket as my phone.  Will I have to replace that with a shielded sleeve?

saarek said:

zimmie said:

saarek said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

saarek said:

Just checked with my daughter in South Africa, not released there either. Perhaps the poster of this article can state where exactly it is available?

At present, Virginia, US; Quebec, Canada, and London, UK.

Out of interest, and I genuinely am interested here, why would it be available in London, UK, but not, say, Cardiff, UK.

What magic let's the update mechanism know or care where in the UK a person is from?

Services exist to take an IP address and spit out approximately where in the world it is. This sometimes goes very, very wrong, but is usually good enough to get city-level resolution.

Certain DNS servers have the ability to pick between a bunch of records to hand clients based on things about the client or about the servers. For example, this technique is sometimes used to send clients to less-loaded servers. In this case, it's used with a geolocation guess about the client to send clients to a CDN server which is physically close to the client (really most CDNs care more about BGP hops, but that's like geolocation).

This problem appears when not all of the servers in the CDN have the same files, and the DNS redirection sends some people to one which does, and others to one which doesn't yet.

So, if I was to use a VPN that is London based I could theoretically trigger the update. Might try it for shits and giggles.

** Nope didn't work. Oh well, was worth a shot.

saarek said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

saarek said:

Just checked with my daughter in South Africa, not released there either. Perhaps the poster of this article can state where exactly it is available?

At present, Virginia, US; Quebec, Canada, and London, UK.

Out of interest, and I genuinely am interested here, why would it be available in London, UK, but not, say, Cardiff, UK.

What magic let's the update mechanism know or care where in the UK a person is from?

cloudguy said:

tmay said:

cloudguy said:

tmay said:

I don't imagine that Apple has concerns one way or the other. Apple is likely at a point where they have in house capability and have licensed necessary IP to create their own proprietary ISA, while also large enough to create the design and validation tools needed to fab at TMSC, or whomever.

I would prefer that ARM reside in Japan or the UK, and not Taiwan, simply for National Security reasons.

You can't create any ARM designs without licensing from ARM Holdings. Even if it were possible somehow, Apple's existing line of processors - A, T, S, U, W, H - are all based on designs that they currently licensed from ARM. Creating 6 new lines of processors in a way that doesn't infringe on the MANY RISC-based CPU patents - and there are tons as RISC has been around since the early 1980s - would take years, and one would have no idea about such real world issues as performance, heat and scalability. Speaking of real world issues, Apple would be responsible for things like creating a new instruction set, architecture, microcode etc. as well as publishing all that stuff and securing patents for it. They also would need to build an entire application stack on top of the new architecture AND migrate their existing applications for their hardware to it, while still supporting the 2 billion iOS devices on the previous architecture for the 5-6 years that all those devices last. 

Another thing: basic R&D like this isn't Apple's deal. It is amazing that so many people are convinced that it is. In fact, Apple doesn't do originality. Instead they take existing technology - stuff that has been around for awhile and has been proven - and incorporate them into their existing design language. At most, one could say that they excel at taking parts innovated or improved by others and using them to make new great products. But the truth is that nothing in Apple's present existence or their previous history indicates that they are capable of coming up with a "new" CPU design, or even a major advance on an existing design. Even their own CPUs, in addition to being based on the existing ARM design, were the result of acqui-hiring PA Semiconductor. Even something MUCH SIMPLER such as a fingerprint scanner, they had to buy a company that already had the tech, where Qualcomm and Samsung created their own using their own R&D departments (which is why they were able to make under-the-screen fingerprint scanners so quickly). 

You do realize that Apple created the first 64 bit ARM implementation before ARM actually provided its own ARM 64 bit implementation.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/12/02/a7-how-apples-custom-64-bit-silicon-embarrassed-the-industry

Apple has never been challenged in SOC's since.

"Apple doesn't do originality" is a bullshit meme.

What are you talking about?

1. That is still an iteration of the original ARM Holdings design. It is just a better one than Qualcomm and Samsung's.
2. It is ALSO the result of Apple BUYING the PA Semiconductor company. Not Apple's own unique design. So your rejoinder only confirmed my original comment. I repeat ... there is NOTHING that indicates Apple having the ability to create its own original ARM CPU design, especially a design that maintains the power and performance advantages that the ARM Holdings and PA Semiconductor designs have.