Saturday, December 26, 2020

Apple Perfected Its Future - Cars, AR, and Health

 Apple's future seem secured.  It's making billions and there seems to be no end to how many iPhones it can sell.  And now, it's making Macs based on its own internally designed chips.  And the next steps for Apple will be critical for both the company and consumers like ourselves - staying in touch with our iPhones, consuming (sometimes working) media on the iPad, trying to stay healthy with the Apple Watch (or trying to avoid being connected too much), or creating, coding, editing on the Mac.  

What is the most likely to come out of Apple?  One would think it's going to augmented reality but you would be wrong.  It's health.  Whether this is on the Apple watch or in the background working with insurance and healthcare companies (whatever they are), it will be health that will impact Apple users for decades.  

HEALTH

The Apple Watch is the face of Apple's health push.  With Apple Watch 6, it has solidify it's place among consumers - people who want an extension to their iPhone, health conscious users, and athletes.  Personally, the Apple Watch 6 with its speed, cellular connectivity, and added health sensors (blood oxygen meter) has been critical in the last month (got Covid).  It has allowed me to stay in touch as well as being able to monitor my health.  Prior to that, I used it to keep track of weight loss and workouts.  

One of the most under appreciated part of Apple's health initiative is the Health app on the iPhone.

I have been using the Health app more in addition to the Activity app but it is in the Health app that I am able to find more information.  Some numbers are daily updates like the number of calories burnt, steps, and workouts while others like VO2 max and weight can be changed over time through hard work.  

Furthermore, Apple will add more sensors to the Apple Watch in the future - two Holy Grail features users are looking for - glucose level and blood pressure monitoring.  It will happen over time.  

PRIVACY

Privacy is the war being waged now between Apple on one side and the other side being lead by the likes of Facebook.  Although privacy does not have a tangible price tag that we see like on the Apple hardware, it is a feature that is going important to users as law makers all over the world are seemingly unable to come up with common sense legislation to protect consumer privacy and data.  Hence, Apple has stepped up to the plate - in the face of public opinion, Apple seems to be winning the privacy battle (Facebook employees point out Facebook hypocrisy in battle with Apple over privacy and Electronic Frontier Foundation sides with Apple against Facebook over privacy).

The main battle is the new privacy feature in iOS 14.3 that will offer users details on what information apps are syphoning from users - it will be like looking at nutrition information when you buy products from markets - privacy nutrition labels.  Not only is Facebook and other companies that trade and sell user information against such transparency, App Tracking Transparency is a new feature that will give users even greater control - it requires that users opt-in (instead of opting-out that is favored by social media apps) to allow apps to begin collecting user information (Apple Developer).

We will heard and learn more about this in 2021.  This is a multi-year battle between tech titans with a lot of proposals from Congress and the EU as well as additional hearings, lawsuits, and antitrust cases.  

AUGMENTED REALITY

Apple will be pushing hard in this realm - it's a decade long push.  As anything with Apple, we will not know what the company's full vision.  With each iOS update, each iPhone upgrade, and perhaps even new hardware like the rumored Apple Glasses, we will see Apple open up doors for users across the spectrum in many markets - cars, research, health, daily tasks, and, of course, mobile computing.  

It's likely the iPhone you already own already have some AR features.  And this year with the introduction of the iPhone 12 Pro joining the iPad Pro with LiDAR, Apple is pushing further into this potentially vast market.  

So far, my AR experience has been limited to placing furnitures in the house, having dinosaurs show up in the living room and having a moving Baby Yoda using Google in the driveway.  I look forward to experiencing more in the coming year especially if Apple does release new hardware to support it.

Even now, Apple's own website is limited (Apple Augmented Reality).  The Warby Parker is one of the most useful apps I've used.  The rest is placing plants, furnitures, and other objects in an area.  There are AR games and I have not been all that impressed with them.  Apple's own list of AR apps is a bit short (Apple).

APPLE CAR

If you're waiting to see if Apple will develop and manufacture its own car, I would bet against it at this time even though Reuters came out with an article professing that Apple will be releasing a car by 2024 with a new generation of battery.  I'm sure by now, you've heard of Project Titan, started as far back as 2014.  PT has changed and morphed over the years - from Apple developing a Tesla killer to just creating its own AI driving system that other car makers can use in their vehicles to improves in Car Play to making a car again or not.  

The situation for Project Titan is fluid with many changes in leadership as well as what Apple hope to eventually develop and release.  Will App ever release a car?  Personally, I doubt it.  We will have to see what the market is like in 4-5 years.  Apple certainly is capable of changing a market once it decides to enter it.  What's less certain is that there is a vast demand for an Apple branded vehicle even if it manages to develop one that is better than what Telsa and other automakers will develop by 2024.  Even now, late comer Toyota with its hybrid only push will be develop a prototype EV this year and could potentially have something on the marker by 2024.  And even now, traditional auto makers are taking the EV market seriously as more consumers demand electric cars with some governments like California are looking to phase out gasoline car sales as soon as 2035. And where California goes, so goes the country.

The most likely scenario is this.  As Apple continue work on Project Titan, what Apple is learning is also being translated to features on the iOS, OS X, and Car Play.  There could also be hardware improvements as the result of Titan research.  And it works the other way as well - mobile tech from the iPhone and iPad teams could end up in an Apple car.  So the research regardless of whether Apple will eventually make a car or just release a Car OS for automakers is helping Apple improve its line of products.  Even AR tech Apple is developing will work across all of its hardware.

I'm hoping Apple does release a car, plane, or even a personal transportation device (better than Segway).  But I would bet against that happening for now.

So that is where we are with Apple.  I am sure Apple will be leading the technology push for years to come.  Apple will continue to be predictable in some areas and surprise us in others.  Just make sure to check your expectations and expected to be surprised in the sense that there could be no surprises.  Apple has been some what predictable during the Tm Cook era.

Thursday, December 24, 2020

COVID Update: I think I Am Getting Better But Not Out of the Woods; Apple Watch Helped Me Find Trend (Downward and then Back Up)

 My Apple Watch oximeter has been return values of 91-93% during ongoing battle with COVID-19.  Prior to my infection, I have never seen anything lower than 94%.  So, something definitely is affect my ability to breath properly.  If I breath too deeply, I would get into a coughing spell that affects my upper body and it would ache all over, feeling as though my body is going to fall apart.

I have been getting chills and spikes in temperatures, usually signaling that it was time for another Tylenol.  And last night, I woke up after finding myself in heavy sweat but feeling much better than any other night.   I am still trying to determine if that is a good thing or not.  It happened again this morning as I was working.   I felt cold but it was not the type of chills I was feeling earlier during the week - they felt like the cold embraces of death's fingers.

And then this:

I saw a few in the range of 86-91% for a day before climbing back up.  The 86% was the lowest.  I was about to emailed my doctor but I decided to wait it out and see if my condition continue to improve.  Luckily, it did.

I don't know how accurate my Apple Watch 6 oximeter really is.  I have definitely used it as a general guide to see how the trend goes.  Prior to getting Covid, I had been running a lot on November and had seen my oxygen level gone up a couple of percentages to 98-99%.  I was pretty excited by it and the weight loss I was losing.  December was supposed to be a continuation.  But then...

As these last few days, I saw a downward trend when I started developing breathing issues and the trend back up.  

Overall, I'm really glad I got the Apple Watch 6 just for its ability to measure the level of oxygen in the blood.  Again, as far as accuracy, well, Apple may need to work on it.  I really don't know (I have read a few articles regarding the accuracy of the oximeter but not really seen anything support its accuracy) if Apple needs to or not.  

What I find most annoying are the unsuccessful measurements.  I'll have to test the placement of the watch on my wrist to see if I get more successful readings than not. Or else, Apple has do something for users to get better and successful readings or through better hardware upgrade on the Apple Watch 7.

Again, if you're contemplating whether to get the Apple Watch 6, hands down - Yes!  Get it!  

And to my dear readers, stay safe and head all safety protocols and public health guidelines and warnings. Covid sucks.


MacBook Air M2 - I Love It And Any Laptop You Get Will Always Be Right For the Time

The 2016 MacBook sitting off to the side still has some value as I gleefully starting using my MacBook Air M2 that I got for a decent price ...