Tag Archives: iPod Touch

AI, Tech

iPhone 11, AirPods Pro, All Software and Services not seeing weak sales after all? It’s the ecosystem, (stupid)

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https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/airpods-pro/2019/1299e2f5_9206_4470_b28e_08307a42f19b/films/product/airpods-pro-product-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080h.mp4
iPods Pro clip – produced by apple

Same song and dance? First all the negative predictions and then….

In the 80s and 90s there was an almost unanimous consensus that Apple was inferior to Microsoft and that Bill Gates was a genius for choosing to forgo building hardware and creating an empire on selling operating system software and a suite of office applications. 

The choice and steadfast refusal by Steve Jobs to change the basic idea that Apple would build and back all aspects of the product and experience has, practically to this day, been seen as, at best, short sighted.

Ironically, the current wave of products for 2019: iPhone 11 Pro and Max, the Mac Pro with Pro Display XDR, the new MacBook Pros and Air and new iPads, AirPods Pro (still more to come) are all getting “better than expected” reviews and sales (at least the products that are available to date).

Although this is not an usual pattern. Like a blockbuster movie (Lion King?), as often as the negative reviews come flooding in, so the performance of the actual product shines in virtually inverse proportion to the dire predictions of the pundits and “experts”.

But this year, for Apple, it goes beyond that knee-jerk pattern. This year the chickens have truly come home to roost. 

At this very moment millions are upgrading to iOS 13+ (don’t worry, the bugs will be ironed out soon enough) and next we will see iPad OS and Mac OS Catalina.

Just because these are all “free” upgrades, don’t be fooled by the price. The beauty of a complete ecosystem is that the benefits of one entity within the system (such as system software) accrue in great measure to all others. 

And this year the interdependent innovations are nothing short of spectacular. Just take any individual device, service or function and the accelerated improvement virtually explodes in your face. 

MacBook Pro 16 inch

Buy another iPhone? Is that really necessary? Only for a better camera?

The iPhone 11 Pro? “Just” has a great camera? Really? Well yes, it’s 3 cameras, 3 lenses and looks like a TV news camera from the 60s. But it is the combination of the evolution of the processing software, the “deep fusion”, machine learning within the photos app, also interwoven through iCloud and proprietary internal components, that make features like that unbelievable night mode possible, and make it possible to shoot 60fps 4K videos with all three cameras simultaneously (wait, say that again?) and all of this is just the tip of an iceberg that can only be rendered if you happen to be the company that also designs and builds its own chips (A13 Bionic with neural engine).

But wait, that is just the headline, under the hood, all of these improvements and upgrades are echoed and mirrored in every apple produced stand-alone software application, every third party developer product quick enough to ride the waves that the new system and processor makes possible, every app, every add-on all the interconnected functionality, on and on and on. 

The buyers sense value – not just window dressing and hyped up bells and whistles but a complete ecosystem that was always better but now threatens to evolve at a pace that will be as mind-blowing as the original iPhone was just 12 years ago. 

Because it’s the sum of the entire system – a “feature” that can not be marketed or even listed on a stat sheet – that is the most powerful force that will draw in users and surprise the nay-sayers again and again. 

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All across the device galaxy the upgrades are more than incremental, they are transcendental 

Take the iPad – particularly the iPad Pro, Not only will it take a quantum leap forward with added iPad OS features that push it into laptop-like functionality, but all the lame comparisons with the Surface are completely meaningless once you factor in the “Sidecar” function within Mac OS Catalina, not to mention the constantly evolving interconnected software (example: Photoshop and Affinity Photo both now on iPad). Sidecar allows the iPad to be used as an external, extra screen, or, if you have a recent Mac, for example a MacBook Pro or an iMac or a Mac Mini, and you are within 10 meters of it, you can use a mouse or Apple Pencil and you, literally, have a tiny mac in the form of an iPad Laptop. 

So, in essence, you have a mostly iPad touch system device with all the special uses that implies, and yet, with iPad OS you also have the option to use it as a touch screen Laptop or, using Sidecar, you can switch to an actual Mac with all the associated functions and capabilities. And, yes, did I mention that if you already have an iPad and a Mac this has a cost of $0 for the double upgrade?

During the coming months features of this type (benefits of the eco-system) will expand and improve and, yes, next year there will be yet another quantum leap. I am writing this on an iPad Pro from 2015 and it has improved in functionality constantly for the last 4 years, and that’s before this huge step forward coming in the next 30 days. Added cost, zero. A product that improves for years after you buy it for free? Only Tesla is even attempting to match such a business ethos.

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Hardware, Chips and Components, Software, Services, Os’s All Evolving in Concert

It will take a series of articles to go into any kind of depth at all regarding how the machine learning and AI within the Apple ecosystem is evolving with amazing speed, how the various hardware design improvements are being optimized for just those uses. How a system which not only has constantly upgraded operating systems, but a growing and deepening array or application software (also “free”) all benefitting from each other.

“Buy any part, piece or product and you are pulled into a vortex of virtuous and redundant improvements, which obliterate cost comparisons.”

– D.L.

What this all adds up to is “just” better performance, functionality and expanded feature sets (as well as entirely new capabilities) across the entire constellation of devices, applications and services. Buy any part, piece or product and you are pulled into a vortex of virtuous and redundant improvements, which obliterate cost comparisons. Could this be the reason the most expensive iPhone is, once again, leading in sales volume? Why are people buying an iPhone 11 Pro Max with 256 GB? Why, indeed.

So, the genius idea to charge people every year or two for another bug filled monstrosity of an operating system is truly genius if you only care about money for nothing (hello windows and android universe).

If, on the other hand, you care about improved user experience, satisfaction and productivity, and have the increased creative and technological capabilities of the new cyborg army (that is the new human race) as job 1, well, to paraphrase a certain former President, it’s the eco-system, stupid. 

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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Tech

Apple TV+ – Preview Clips and All That’s Been Revealed So Far about the Upcoming Launch

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https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/apple-tv-plus/2019/c5a05301_ed18_47f6_a7f8_bba47bf3e0f4/films/sneak-peek/apple-tv-plus-sneak-peek-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080h.mp4

Secretive Media Giant about to Awaken?

Although it’s been quietly hovering in the shadows since WWDC in May, Apple TV+ is about to explode onto the scene very soon, it would appear. As can be seen in the various teasers we’ve assembled here – big, nay, huge names and stars are onboard.

What’s not so well known, is that there are many, many productions already in the pipeline, presumably to be released over the next year. How many? Already outlined in available information are over 30 original series or features that are at various stages of production.

Here are just a few headline titles:

  • Amazing Stories (Spielberg revisits classic series from his childhood)
  • The Morning Show (see above, all star cast: Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell and Billy Crudup)
  • See (directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2), production budget rumored at $15 million per episode)
  • Little America (topical series of human stories that feature immigrants)
  • Helpsters (An educational entertainment series aimed at pre-schoolers)
  • Little Voice (J.J. Abrams executive produced comedy/drama series)
  • Truth Be Told (10-episode series based on the bestselling book: Are You Sleeping: A Novel)
  • Servant (produced by M. Night Shyamalan, 10 episode drama series)
  • Dickinson (comedy series about the early life of Emily Dickinson)
https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/apple-tv-plus/2019/ca7883f2_885a_42c7_b0cc_529b287c1925/films/morning-show/apple-tv-plus-morning-show-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080h.mp4
Preview Trailer for “The MOrning Show”, Starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon (Apple)

The service will be available in over 100 countries world wide, and the production war chest is rumored to be upwards of Six Billion Dollars.

The size and scope of this “hobby” project, as Steve Job’s once called the Apple TV device, is far larger, from all indications, than the somewhat underwhelming reactions from the press would have one believe.

“There’s truth pumping through your veins and into the story that you’re telling”

– Jennifer Aniston

Although there has not been much noise or hoopla yet, there are many indications that this could be a sleeping giant. Not necessarily an overnight success, but a long grinding campaign that will eventually reach higher and further than anyone is imagining at present.

https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/apple-tv-plus/2019/c5a05301_ed18_47f6_a7f8_bba47bf3e0f4/films/creative-minds/apple-tv-plus-creative-minds-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080l.mp4

The Evolution of an Ecosystem, Decades in the Making

Sharing the “plus” with its smaller sister Apple News +, it looks like the plus designation will mark the first foundational bricks of a possible future media empire, while in hardware everything “pro” begins to emerge.

Current rumors indicate that a new “pro” model iPhone is imminent to go along with the already established iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, iMac Pro and newly updated Mac Pro.

It would stand to reason, therefore, that, in the very near future, the “gang of Pro” will meet up with the Plus sisters, and a new extended services based media, software expansion will unite with the upper echelon hardware empire, and, if successful, will reveal a truly balanced spectrum of offerings.

“A story should make you forget your surroundings, forget your agenda, your day and, hopefully, makes you forget yourself”

– Steven Spielberg

And for a company that invented desktop publishing, pushed digital music transmission and photography into the mainstream, not to mention, put the smart into smartphone, there is an unavoidable logic and symmetry that is emerging. As Apple increases its focus on service income, original entertainment and educational production a balance across all sectors begins to take shape.

Naturally, coming “late” on the heels of the extremely successful growth of Netflix Original productions, Amazon, HBO, Hulu and now Disney’s Streaming Service, many will say that Apple is behind the curve and not likely to dominate.

Now, it would be wrong to mention Nokia, Blackberry, or Steve Ballmer, and say that Apple is not a company that you’d be wise to underestimate, but, after all, coming “late” with a significantly better product is what Apple does best.

“Life often makes no sense. There is something about stories, that brings a sense of order and purpose to the world and allows us to live other lives than the life we’re living”

– J.J. Abrams

The hardware, software, media content production and distribution networks are, over a period of decades, evolving into the only ecosystem that has a benign, if not heroic purpose in it’s relationships with its user base as well as its professional partnerships.

Constant complaints that Apple earns too much money or somehow takes advantage of customers often have a hollow ring. When you look at the innovative accomplishments and world changing technology created, and compare that to empty, corrupt almost meaningless advertising empires such as FaceBook or Google, somehow it seems a different level of trust has been earned.

Yes, in a sense Apple is following the lead of other tech behemoths that have upended the Hollywood Power structure, but, at the same time, one gets the sense that the slow, deliberate moves can be traced all the way back to Steve Jobs, his days at Pixar and that, somehow, his superior vision guides the entire evolution, even the new “plus” wing, of the ecosystem to this very day.

https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/apple-tv-plus/2019/c5a05301_ed18_47f6_a7f8_bba47bf3e0f4/films/o/apple-tv-plus-o-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080l.mp4

In then end, the broad array of product and service offerings that Apple is building, now being expanded into the realm of not just entertainment and educational distribution (as iTunes has had in place since 2001), but also into the production and financing of original programming, marks the beginning of a more complete and potentially better functioning ecosystem.

Overall, this is extremely positive, not only for Apple’s financial health but, indeed, for the vast legion of Apple adherents around the globe.

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Cutting Edge, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Tech

8-core MacBook Pro and iPod Touch with A10 chip Released to Coincide With iOS and macOS Upgrade Announcements at WWDC

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AHEAD OF WWDC, APPLE QUIETLY RELEASES TWO UPGRADED MACHINES

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Hiding behind the search for earth-shattering hardware improvements, the whole apple ecosystem, using a combination of incremental speed and power increases, coupled with major system software improvements, is the real emerging story to watch from this year’s WWDC

Before Mojave, the macOS version that began, in earnest, the process of integration with iOS apps and features, a simultaneous upgrade to iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 Catalina would have perhaps yielded a yawn.

With a new MacBook Pro featuring an 8-core, 9th generation chip, and a new iPod Touch with the Apple A10 processor and With a new Mac Pro likely to be announced this week, there appears to be a pattern emerging.

Read More: 2019 Was a Huge Year for Apple: Here are some Milestones that will Lead to the “Apple Decade” in the 2020s

With iMacs upgraded in March and the Mac mini already last October, it seems the entire Apple inventory will be refreshed by the end of 2019.

The one missing piece to the puzzle could be software. And, as if on cue, WWDC this week is expected to drop news on a variety of projects, but perhaps the best will be the two system software upgrades for iOS and macOS.

‘ONE MORE THING’ SYNDROME?

Doesn’t it seem, at times, as if the magic of hardware advances and even inventions of previously non-existent technology were expected to be a “given”? Suddenly, the absence of astoundingly new devices, created from thin air, is treated almost as a failure. 

Anyone who attended CES 2019 would have noticed that we are in an era of gradual, incremental change. Many decry the lack of “innovation” yet seem to miss where the real action is and, even more, where it likely will be. 

“The Future Might Be Sexier Than You Think”

– D.L.

Read More: Big Tech headed for a Storm of Changes once the Novel Coronavirus Fades from Center Stage

Based on the various updates alluded to above, Apple has set the stage for a year of incremental hardware improvements. 

The Mac Pro is expected to be a complete re-design, iPhones are always a mixed bag or upgraded with some new features. But what all of these share, is the dependence on, and ability to benefit from, improvements in system software and apps, both free from apple and at various cost from third parties. 

THERE’S A REASON SYSTEM IS IN ECOSYSTEM

Quietly, almost imperceptibly, macOS has been improving in leaps and bounds. Mojave was the first version of macOS where many long evolving technologies began to ripen. One need only look at the iCloud saga to see an example. Born as “Mobile Me” almost 20 years ago (!!) only with the Mojave / iOS 12 partnership did it really begin to show its potential.

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photos by Apple

Naturally, the more machines and devices connected to the same iCloud account the more useful it is. But, in a small business setting, with a few computers, iPhones, and iPads, it really begins to shine and becomes more useful with each (free) upgrade.

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photos by Apple

A few items from the list of functioning features already present in the Mojave / iOS 12 iCloud system:

  • Synchronized Desktop and iCloud folders, accessible also on iOS
  • Synchronized and shared notes with virtually any content
  • Synchronized photos and videos across all devices
  • Synchronized passwords and usernames when using Safari on any device
  • AirDrop also between devices and machines in or out of the account
  • Hand-off between nearby machines and devices
  • Various app Sync and hand off features: Apple News, Books, GarageBand, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Find Friends, and more

IS THAT ALL?

It’s not so much the length of the list but the way the depth of the functionality of each part of the software expands over time. Every function or app listed above was, admittedly, barely ready for prime-time when first released.

But, with each update, including the “minor” ones, the functionality increases and often new features are added. Sometimes one has to dig for them and other times they ‘just work’, only better.

The one caveat is that relatively ‘fast’ internet access on all devices at all times is mandatory. With overall improvements in connectivity coming with 5g, not to mention all the satellite systems being built, the triumvirate of hardware muscle, software sophistication and hi-speed networking will be the “one more thing” of the era to come.

Will it be sexy like the first photo-pinch on the first iPhone ? Perhaps not. But with layering software systems, S.a.a.S. for businesses and AI infusing more and more ‘everyday tasks’ (tasks that once required expansive hardware, software and a computer science degree) with a ‘wow’ factor as yet to be measured, the future might be sexier than you think.

HOW’S THAT FUTURE LOOKING AGAIN?

Apple is leading the way with serious simultaneous improvements in 2 of the 3 pillars of the golden triangle: more muscular hardware such as the new MacBook Pro and iPod Touch, shown here, and a new galaxy of capabilities that will grow out of iOS13 and macOS 10.15 Catalina, both announced and showcased this week at WWDC.

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Business, Entertainment, Lifestyle

Before there was iPhone there was…iPod

New iPod Touch Released: Increased Power, Performance and Features –

Finally, a new iPod Touch release from Apple. Available immediately online (at Apple.com) and hitting stores later this week, with features like a speed bump, provided by Apple’s A10 Fusion chip. The added oomph will enable better gaming, group FaceTime and AR capabilities and a general performance increase. Soon, of course, the power under the hood will also have iOS 13, expected to debut in June at WWDC, to extend software quality and features as well.

With a lowest price of $199 and a max storage up to 256GB available (for an additional $200), the sleek beautiful form factor will be on a higher functional level than ever. So thin and light, due to the intentional omission of iPhone elements for telephony, on a trip to Europe people will think you have an iPhone 12 and beg you for a closer look!

Sometimes Less is More

It has been a closely held secret that the thinner form factor, lower cost and full software functionality are all a huge plus for anyone who wants to enjoy an iPhone-like computing experience without the cost and size of the real thing.

Now with the improved power of the A10 fusion chip and additional storage available, it’s an improved alternative, even if you have an iPhone and just want a thin, light non-phone device to surf news aggregators or check emails and add to notes, etc. With iOS 13 and full iCloud synchronization across all your devices, the usefulness of this new iPod is increased even more.

The new iPod touch also provides fun and productive AR experiences across gaming, education and web browsing. AR is even more engaging and immersive with the new capabilities of shared AR, persistent AR, which is tied to a specific location, and image detection, making it possible for the new iPod touch to magically bring to life 3D objects like toys and sculptures.

It is very good news that Apple made the decision, after several years without an update, to continue with the iPod Touch line, like they did by resurrecting the Mac mini last October.

Read More:

Apple Spruces Up Old Favorites

After new iMacs, iPads and iPad pro, as well as AirPods, were released in March, and with the Mac Pro promised before the end of 2019, this might just be the year of Apple’s ultimate upgrade redemption. Great news for lovers of these special products, somewhat neglected and needing updates for so long. In this case we can agree with Greg:

“The ultra-thin and lightweight design of iPod touch has always made it ideal for enjoying games, music and so much more wherever you go.”

– Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Product Marketing

With Apple Music, subscribers can gain access to a catalog of over fifty million songs, Beats 1 Radio, thousands of playlists and daily selections from the world’s best music experts. Apple is offering the new iPod touch in Pink, (PRODUCT)RED, Space Gray, Silver, Gold, and Blue.

Pricing and Availability

  • The new iPod touch starts at $199 (US) for the 32GB model, $299 (US) for the 128GB model and $399 (US) for the 256GB model from apple.com, in the Apple Store app and Apple Stores, and is also available through Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers (prices may vary).
  • The new iPod touch models are available to order starting today from apple.com and in the Apple Store app in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE, UK and US.

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