joe28753

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joe28753
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  • Intel pushes USB-C as 3.5mm jack replacement, touts better sound, thinness & power management

    melgross said:

    eightzero said:
    I call bullshit on "better sound." It's digital. 1s and 0s going down that wire.
    Well, you can make the case either way, depending on your proclivities. Both have advantages. The big advantage to digital is that the signal doesn't deteriorate while moving between steps, or going down the wire. Really, the best case is that the signal remains in digital form until the last amplification step. The closer that last step is to the transducer, the better.

    so, digital to an on headphone amp is the best we can hope for in the present.
    And to expand on this, an analog signal going down 3 feet of headphone wire will only have a negligible effect on the sound. You probably won't notice. The noticeable change is the DAC. Right now it's converted to analog inside the iPhone and you have to do the best you can with that signal. If you plug in really high-end headphones to the analog headphone jack on the iPhone, it won't sound optimal. If the output is digital, then the headphones or device you plug in will be in charge of taking those 1's and 0's and converting them to what you end up hearing. So you could potentially have phenomenally better sound than currently possible.
    doozydozenlostkiwibaconstangchia
  • Apple Pay gains 30 more US banks amid wait for more retail chains

    I think Apple not only needs to get more merchants on board to accept the payments, but maybe somehow educate the ones who already have it and don't know, don't care, or don't understand it. The one place I'm thinking of is Subway. I've been to about 4 different locations in my area who have Apple Pay, but they keep the card reader on their side of the counter, hidden near the register under the POS terminal on their side. They are used to you handing them your card and they swipe it. It's not even an option to pull your phone out and quickly "ding" it. What am I going to do? Try to explain to the person why I need to reach under their terminal on the other side of the counter? The one time I pulled out my phone and tried to get the hint across that I needed the card reader for my phone, they pressed the QR Code button so Apple Pay didn't work. I guess Subway has some coupon program where you can scan the reader with your phone or something? I had to explain, "no not that. Just press your credit card button on the terminal." *Blank stares*
    patchythepirate
  • AT&T hikes smartphone activation & upgrade fee to $20, matching Verizon

    Everyone else is asking why the fee is increasing. I'm sitting here wondering why there's a fee at all. Isn't that why you pay them every month for service? That should cover all the associated costs of having the account. If anything, they should give me the $20 as an incentive for choosing them. Like a sign-on bonus or yearly bonus you'd get for sticking with an employer. Just seems so backwards to me.
    nolamacguyking editor the grateretrogustonetmage
  • Apple Maps used 3x more often than Google Maps on iOS, logs 5B requests per week

    mcfloyd49 said:
    I live in the UK and until Apple come up with anything remotely useful or as good as street view, faster/slower re-routing, accurate traffic mapping and satellite imagery that has a history option then google maps will remain literally 'streets' ahead. Only reason Apple maps is served up on my iPhone is because the apps take me there by default, not by choice. 
    I agree, the faster/slower routing is killer. I love seeing the alternate routes as I'm driving. And if the faster router is more than a few minutes, you get the "we've found you a better route" prompt, and they seem better on Google Maps. I may give Apple another shot though.

    The other killer "feature" for Google is the searching. I could use the wrong name of something and also misspell it, and it still knows what I'm talking about. Last time I tried Apple Maps, you basically had to type in the name of the POI letter for letter exactly as it is. Partial searches and different words or misspellings gave you either no results, or results on the other side of the country (why would I want results in California if my map is zoomed into New York?)
    afrodricali