dtoub

About

Username
dtoub
Joined
Visits
17
Last Active
Roles
member
Points
237
Badges
1
Posts
23

Reactions

53Like1Dislike17Informative

  • Apple says the 2018 MacBook Pro keyboard doesn't improve reliability, and that's not great...

    dtoubdtoub
    I have a late-2013 MBP and have no plans to upgrade. Whether or not the “new” keyboard has a fix for the issues that have been plaguing the earlier models and they just won’t say for legal issues, the fact remains that one cannot fix the keyboard without a pretty nontrivial process and expense (which will not be borne by Apple after its repair program ends). These MBPs are not cheap, even at the low end, and for that price a consumer should expect reasonable durability. There is dust in my office-it’s unavoidable. Never has caused any issues with my MBP, but again, I’ve had this since 2014 and it’s been rock solid. 
    aylkavon b7dysamoria

  • Apple's Siri history was plagued by infighting, mistakes and developer alienation, report ...

    dtoubdtoub
    thrang said:
    Truth or click-bait, none of this matters, as the need/desire to speak commands to your electronics is so miniscule compared to the totality of all other methods of inputs and interactions. Saying Amazon is winning is like saying a team than went on a 6 game winning streak in May is destined to win the World Series. It's soooo early in the "season" - and I suspect voice recognition, while increasing in importance over time, will remain niche compared type, touch, and perhaps much more advanced forms of AI interpretation (location, proximity, body, facial, eye analysis, sensors, habit analysis..) Part of the limitation for wider home adoption currently is feedback is very limited (assuming one does not want to keep picking up their iPhone or iPad). But an Apple TV, which can become the visual side of an enriched Siri response, is very intriguing.
    Oh, this does indeed matter. Very much. And to deny it is to have one’s head in the sand and just be a cheerleader for Apple. Sorry but I like to think for myself. I rarely use Siri these days except to set an alarm or reminder. Too many times Siri is either “not available” or gets something totally wrong. I have a contact entry for a sushi restaurant and it’s even in my phone favorites. Yet all Siri does if I ask “Call Vic Sushi” is to pull up a web search that shows the restaurant’s web site. I don’t even bother to use Siri on my MacBook Pro since it seems even less capable than on my iPhone and iPad. At this point it’s a bad joke. I don’t have an Alexa or Google device but I am not hearing anything much that Siri does better and in some cases Siri falls far short. Maybe if Cupertino cared more about user experience than OS updates to add more emoji symbols things might be different. 
    muthuk_vanalingambloggerblogfeudaliststanhopeatomic101[Deleted User]larryaSoli

  • Apple planning lower cost MacBook Air for second quarter of 2018

    dtoubdtoub
    zoetmb said:
    tipoo said:
    What makes the most sense to me - 

    -Air goes away, Macbook takes over 999 starting tier  
    -Non touchbar/two TB3 Macbook Pro just becomes the 13" Macbook, maybe introduces a non retina display as a  further budget model as this rumor. 
    -Macbook Pro is differentiated by touchbar, 4 ports, and now ULV quad cores 

    Without paring down the line like that, it becomes redundant and un-Apple with a 13" Air, 13" Pro, 13" new budget model, and 12.9" Macbook. 
    The Air can only go away if Apple is willing to lower the MBP 13" (without Touch Bar) by $300, which isn't going to happen.   The Air can still have a place if the lower model is reduced from $1000 to $700, but that's not going to happen either.   But if it did, I'd bet Apple would sell tons at $700.    It would be a good way to get computer users to buy into the Apple eco-system with the strategy that their next computer would be a model up the line.  

    And you're not going to see a 2TB machine in this price range from Apple for a long time.   Apple charges a $1200 differential to get from 512GB to 2TB and $1400 to get from 256GB to 2TB.   These prices are only made possible by Apple's choice to not use standard storage modules that are plug and play.   This and the inability to replace batteries and memory as one used to be able to do in MBP's gets me so angry that my current late-2016 MBP is probably going to be my last Apple computer.   And for my money, the Touch Bar is a complete waste - I'm sorry I opted for that as it accomplishes almost nothing.  
    Completely agree. I’m still using my late-2013 MBP that has MagSafe, a big much of useful ports and a 1 TB SSD. No dongles. And the keyboard is reliable. 
    MplsPbaconstangaylkEcky-ThumpBrianJewettLatko

  • Readdle's popular iOS email client Spark arrives on the Mac App Store

    dtoubdtoub
    I have used pretty much everything out there and was very wedded to Airmail until it just got too buggy and the developers became nasty and useless. Spark isn’t (yet) all that Airmail is in terms of functionality. But it works reliably with pretty few bugs. And more features are coming, plus the UX is so much better. Yes, Spamsieve isn’t yet supported. But it usually was unreliable in Airmail as well (Airmail would stop moving spam to the spam folder; it was not a SpamSieve issue). I leave Mail open in the background and that works well for now.
    paxman