AI And Robot: Apple Unveiled A Robotic Tool To Take iPhones Apart For Recycling - How About Putting an iPhone Together?

Sure, tech and Apple-centric pundits are not impressed with Apple's announcement today with the game changing iPhone SE with powerful specs and 6S Plus-like battery life and the 9.7" iPad Pro that should make investors very happy. But what most missed today is Liam, Apple's robotic tool, that if it works as advertised in the video below, could be the most revolutionary thing out of today's announcement.

Liam, designed to take apart old iPhones Apple received for spare parts and reclaim rare and expensive minerals, may well be just the beginning of robotics for Apple and its future factories.  If Liam could be designed for sophisticated tasks as pulling apart nuts and bolts and separating batteries and metals,

Liam could potentially have an even more sophisticated sibling that will one day put together our iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches.

This could be the next major step in manufacturing from Apple that could revolutionize robotics and, perhaps, even AI.

iPhone SE Has Plus Size Battery Life - Very Promising For iPhone 7

Look at the battery specs for the new
IPhone SE. It has a battery life comparable to the iPhone 6S Plus. This bodes well for the next iPhone 7 Plus. 

What does this mean? For mobile warriors such as myself who are constantly worried about battery life, the iPhone SE can be an excellent daily driver.

This was truly unexpected. At best, I expected to see iPhone 6S numbers of 10 tip 11 hours of use. But with 12 hours of estimated Internet use, this was beyond anything I had hoped for. 

What does this mean? For mobile warriors such as myself who are constantly worried about battery life, the iPhone SE can be an excellent daily driver.

What this means is that we can expect even better battery louder from the next iPhone 7 or Pro update this fall.

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Apple Watch: Bands Are Nice But We Need More Pocket Watch Options

Why aren't there more pocket watch accessories for the Apple Watch?  That's what I want to know.  And for that matter, just something that you can loop around your belt or pant loop would suffice. The only accessory I can find is this one that started off as a Kickstarter project.

 

Bucardo, the company behind these pocket watches that allow you put use the inserts for the bands that let you substitute the top for the cover and the bottom for the chain.  For $199 each, it's more than I'm willing to pay for.  It's not bad but I feel there could be less expensive options.  Unfortunately, there are none after a couple of Web searches months apart.

if anyone knows of other designs and options, please us all of us know.  I'm sure there are quite a few who would love this optional use of our Apple Watches.

Why It Is Worth Waiting For the Next 12" Macbook Update - Graphics Update in the New Intel Skylake

By all accounts, the 11 month-old 12" Retina Macbook is an engineering and design marvel from Apple.  And by most accounts, the Macbook is an adequate computer that performs to the likely of most owners and reviewers.  However, there are more than a few who found the Macbook to be underpowered at times.  How that is the case varies and certain tasks may not have been the intended use from Apple.  Saying that, with this Macbook now in need and likely close to being updated with new Intel chips, the Skylake chips, the best recommendation is to way.  Not just for the new CPU muscles but also the boost in graphics performance.

According to Intel (by way of Macworld), its integrated graphics processors can hold their own against 80% of discrete graphics cards on the market.  This could not have been the case even a couple of years ago.  And Apple likely has an influence on this advance from Intel.  More and more, consumer class PCs require more processing power for not only daily computing needs but where the future of computing is headed.  VR, anyone?  Artificial intelligence? 4K monitors?

And with rich media continuing to be a part of the computing experience, not to mention multi-tasking, more CPU and graphics power would be greatly appreciated.

For gamers, integrated graphic setups from Intel will not work for the most part in that some compromises are demanded from users to not being able to play the games at all.  A much more powerful Macbook Pro with discrete graphics chips from AMD or Nvidia are needed.  Perhaps, even a Windows machines.  But for games that are couple of years or older, it is possible the Macbook can labor through it, albeit, some requires that the settings be lowered.  

Furthermore, there is the likelihood that with the new chips, the Macbook will have a slightly more improved battery life.

The Macbook was introduced in April of 2015. With Apple holding a press event for Apple Watch and the iPad, many hope that Apple would also refresh the Macbook line, including the 12" Macbook.  

FBI Used iPhone Wrong and Locked Themselves Out of iPhone Belonging To San Bernardino Terrorists

Apple and the FBI, and, by extension, the rest of the federal government has been locked in an epic battle that will define what privacy in America means. Parsing through the carefully worded statements from both sides and smoke created by the media and tech pundits, the government does want a backdoor or a key to the whole iOS walled garden so they can access user data whenever they want while Apple is fighting to prevent that from happening.

Despite claims to the contrary, making tech companies build backdoors to their devices or platform is the ultimate goal of the government. However, a recent development in the fight between Apple and the FBI shows that the government cannot be trusted to use the technology correctly much less responsibly.

The government has a tough job fighting crime and keeping the public safe in light of the recent events of terror on both sides of the Atlantic. With both the Paris and San Bernandino attacks fresh in minds of the public, the government is making a push to gain a technical advantage over an increasing use of encryption in operation systems and apps that prevent government intrusion.

While Apple believes it stands on the right side of the issue, the bottom line still figure into Apple's opposition as well. Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, has made privacy a theme that Apple takes to heart and why users should buy iPhones and iPads over competing devices where intrusion on almost every level is expected (a claim rightly made or not is still subject to debate).

For the government, in a presidential election year, this seems like the right time to change the dynamics of this discussion over backdoor access, use of encryption, and striking the right balance between privacy and protecting the public from acts of terrorism.

What Tim Cook said about backdoors is correct: if the government has access, any government, criminal syndicate, hacker group, or anyone else regardless of their intent will find their way to these backdoors as well. On a whole, it makes user data vulnerable. It will not only the good guys with good intentions with access but bad guys as well. Any claim that the government will protect the key as closely as Apple or Google should they ultimately be forced to provide the pertinent information to the government is false.

Consider the latest development over the fight regarding the iPhone 5C owned by one of the San Bernardino terrorists: the government mishandled the iPhone by resetting the password to the iPhone resulting in themselves not being able to access the latest data on the mobile device and locking themselves out, leading them to go to Apple. If the government's own experts could not even handle a routine every day task a major of iPhone users are capable of performing, how can Apple expect the government to save guard a backdoor and make sure they do not misuse or mishandle it?

Telcoms Don't Like Whatsapp: What They Don't Like Is Change and Competition

Source:  Bloomberg.

When the mobile phone companies owned every aspect of their customers' experiences, it was a blissful world.  They get to maximize their investment, squeeze every last cent out of their customers, and hardly had any competition.  Along came Silicon Valley, and the struggle continues to this day over the mobile experience which has largely been revolutionary.  So, what else is new when telecoms complained about Whatsapp, a $20 billion buy by Facebook, that continues to be one of the top go-to app for messaging and voice calls.

Here is the real news alert:  telecoms don't like Skype, Facebook, Google Hangout, iMessage, Line, and any dozens of messaging and voice apps that exist.  No longer can companies charge 10 cents per  message or charge users a monthly allotment of texts.  No longer are voice calls metered (most plans anyway).

And here is the shocker to come:  mobile payment.  More control will be wrestled away from telecoms and the users will have more choices over how they pay for apps and products.  And telecoms will continue to devolve into the dump pipes that they deserve to be.

All of this is their own doing.  Had they treated users better and at more reasonable prices, users would not be looking elsewhere for apps and services as much as we do today.

If anything, telecoms should promote competition on their platforms that encourage usage.  Continue to innovate in ways that they can.  The best ways they can.  That is how they can best serve us.  And yes, we may even one day learn to appreciate them.

Apple's Focus On The Experience - A Very Delicate Balancing Act

Just works is the mantra many attributes to Apple and its products and services.  For the most part, it is a very true statement.  But because of the nature of its successes, when something does not just work as advertised, it gets amplified in the media -  traditional and social.

First, it is important to state that with more than 1 billion devices in the wild still being used and who knows how many Macs there are, it's quite obvious that people are using Apple's products and services including, yes, iCloud and other cloud related services. 

Now, it does not mean that Apple's implementation works as well as, say, when Apple introduced the world to the iPod and iTunes. Back then, yeah, it just works.  It was air tight as far as what Apple wanted the iPod and iTunes to do for the user. 

Today, with more services, it is a much harder task to accomplish.  Many still do not care for Apple's native mail app for instance.  While vastly improved, other apps have done a better job.  It's why there are other calendar apps, to-do and reminder apps, and even music and podcast apps.  Personally, I think the podcast app from Apple needs a lot of work still. 

Oh, and let's not forget the dozens if not hundreds of variants of the weather app to choose from.  There are even Siri alternatives.

One might say this is proof that Apple has taken its eyes off the ball.  Another might say that Apple provided just the basics (quick access to information versus other apps that have better and maybe prettier presentation of the same information)  and allow the users to go to the App Store to download the apps of their choices that best meets their needs.

Pre-iCloud was a mess.  You had issues with Contacts missing or you're filled with duplicates.  Or updates either are slow to propagate through out the network and devices or it does not happen at all.  That's mostly gone now.  Fixed. 

One of the most complained apps seems to be the Music app.  A couple Apple pundits (without naming names) have been quite vocal about it to the point of grand display of arrogance feeding off what little influence they have.  However, how do you then explain the 11 million paying customers to Apple's new streaming service?

It's a very delicate balancing act that today's Apple has to perform that the pre-iPhone Apple did not have to worry about. Apple is still in the beginning of the whole cloud and app services.  It is growing new apps and features while trying to maintain an experience equilibrium for new and experienced users as well.  One glaring example of this is the suite of office apps like Pages and Numbers.  Apple can add hundreds of new features at a time like Microsoft does but that could erode the experience of how the apps work and at the same time overwhelm new users who simply want to write or put together a small presentation. 

In my experience, Apple's apps and services still "just works" but with an asterisk.  Apple admitted recently there is a lot of room for improvement and they have made efforts internally to address that.  On the whole, there is a lot of hope things are going to get even better.