https://techlife.app/tag/App https://techlife.app/archives/minimalism-is-boring.html 2022-08-11T04:02:00+08:00 Minimalism has finally become so popular that it's unbearable.Whether in public or private homes, whether things are placed horizontally or vertically, the minimalist style of bare columns, rectangles, and rectangles are everywhere - 'presented to the viewer in their original form'.▲ The minimalist pillar on the right has been criticized for its lack of detailThe widespread popularity of minimalism for its 'absolute neutrality, lack of detail, and lack of identity' and its consequent vilification not only illustrates the 'repressive' nature of mainstream aesthetic interests, but also suggests that it does have a psychological function in meeting contemporary needs.▲ Floating bench vs. minimalist bench, doesn't the right one look better?In fact, the best way to make 'minimalism' less ubiquitous to the point of disgust is to learn less from Netflix and avoid blind obedience.Popularity is "mandatory"Don't rush to criticize minimalism for making everything look the same just yet. Because the point isn't minimalism, it's that it's popular.Once a style becomes popular, everything in the world will look pretty much the same.In the years when Impressionism was popular, France was at war with Prussia. The most famous work, Sunrise - Impression (1872), depicts the port of Le Havre in northern France, where the painter Monet spent his childhood.In the scene, an orange sunrise rises lazily from the sea, just like you and I rising from our blankets on a back-to-south day in the Lingnan. The sun's glow is so faint that it takes great effort not to dispel the grey-blue haze that envelops the small ship and the small sculling boat, while leaving a yellow reflection on the sea. Beyond that, there were no details to ponder.Impressionist paintings looked like coloured gas and flows of light. Before that, it was popular to have highly 'perfect' classical art, made up of layers and layers of detailed brushwork, like Donatello's sculptures of saints, where a single finger pulls which bundle of muscles in the small arm is rendered as it is, compared to the Impressionists' work, which is similar to someone's sketches.Impressionism was popular in its own right. With the German nation-state replacing France as the dominant force on the continent, the end of the emperor's rule in France, the beginning of republican politics, and the uprising of the Paris Commune - an 'egalitarian' modern age was emerging.Monet or Manet, Van Gogh, Renoir or Cézanne, the buildings, rivers and skies are transformed into blurred landscapes that lack subtlety and clarity but inspire the viewer's rich imagination. The scope for imagination is so great because people are experiencing a downward shift of power, something never seen before in history.By the time the Bauhaus became popular, the world was full of buildings that were horizontal and vertical.▲ 100 Years of Bauhaus, Top 10 Greatest Works, How Many Can You Recognize?After World War I, Germany struggled to meet its obligations under the Treaty of Versailles, with high reparations and a divided country. Proclaiming 'art and technology, a new unity', the Bauhaus ushered in a fascinating simplicity that proved to the world that Germany was less aggressive - but a progressive, bold, open, pioneering, rational and sophisticated republic.Of course, the artists were particularly stingy with their materials, presumably because raw materials were so tight in Germany at the time.Today, in Berlin, Moscow, New York and Beijing, the Bauhaus-style buildings still have an admirable glory. People book the doors of the museum's 'Impressionist' exhibitions, even if they queue for hours.A popular style can become an overwhelming 'mainstream' trend for a certain period of time; when it's no longer popular, it still gets a following. The only time it might get annoying is when it's popular for a while andMinimalism is backMinimalism was first popularized in the 1960s. Minimalist artists sought to see things as they were, and particularly hated the idea of carving marble into human figures and the like, where stone was still stone and wood was still wood, and could not be any other 'object'.Art, in a way, always has to do with making some logic out of some phenomenon. Even anarcho-nihilism like Dadaism has its purpose - to remove decadence from the world and establish a new order.Minimalism is merely a continuation of this order 'purified', while the artist's creation is more compartmentalized, with plans made, orders given, and production supervised, which doesn't sound romantic at all.Like Donald Judd, most of the works are titled Untitled, and besides not revealing any emotion in the work, the artist is even worried that the names of the works might distract people. Red copper boxes, a dozen unsupported shelves ...... Judd is shaking up some inner truth with repetitiveness.▲ "Untitled", Donald Judd, 1967Frank Stella, almost ten years younger than Judd. In The Marriage of Reason and Vulgarity 2 (1959), one can only see black and white lines, of varying thickness, twisting around each other.▲ BILIKA I, Frank Stella, 1973Carl Andre's Equivocation 8 (1966), is 120 refractory bricks arranged in two rectangular layers. He didn't want the viewer to think the work had any deep meaning - it's 120 refractory bricks!▲ Karl André's Equivalents 8, 1966Sol LeWitt's Sequence Project 1 (1966), shows a white cube of trees in a grid. The author states that the best way to view the work is to pace slowly around the sculpture, looking at it from different angles and with different ways of thinking. As long as the viewer's eye adjusts to the atmosphere, the information gained can continue to grow.▲ Saul LeWitt, Sequential Engineering 1, 1966These masterpieces of minimalism, also called 'space age art', are precise, relentless and dispassionate. Minimal artists explore the same principles of matter, systems, volume, and order as the scientists who sent humans into space.The 1960s and 1970s, with the hippie movement, the May Storm and the oil crisis, all created a desire to find some sort of order.Minimalism was also popular in the design world at the time, and a series of home furnishings from Braun in Germany not only won many awards at the time, but also inspired Apple in the future, bringing minimalism back to life in the 21st century.Working on demandThe minimalist style, led by Apple, has been popular for a little over two decades, and has been growing in popularity for the last decade, though opposition has also grown.Minimalism is growing because there is a real anxiety about too much identity. This anxiety is particularly evident in the 21st century. The popularity of the Internet has filled the world with stories of overnight fame, and even the most ordinary people have hopes of becoming stars.And with the number of people who desire to be noticed and admired far outweighing the number of people who achieve that desire, minimalism has emerged as no less than the best soother, because its philosophy is 'focused on reducing consumption and excess in life so that individuals can focus on prioritizing their own values'. In a sense, consumer minimalism is a 'return to self'.▲ Frank Stella's "Die Fahne Hoch!", 1959, a monochrome work that is one of the most famous works challenging the Abstract Expressionist movementAt the same time, minimalism has the illusory effect of 'pulling together' spending power. a 2012 psychological study found that voluntary simplicity was associated with increased life satisfaction among low-income participants, but not among high-income participants.To put it bluntly, people without money can hide the fact that they can't afford luxury goods or convince themselves that they "don't need" those things through minimalism or "cutting out"; but rich people never engage in minimalism and buy more "useless" things without worrying about the lack of space at home.Also, political correctness is an important factor. Too much detail on items highlights race, gender, status, class, occupation, and other identities, and if everyone is minimalist and neutral, it looks more worldly.People today need minimalism in order for minimalism to remain popular. But I'm afraid the choice is also in people's hands as to whether minimalism should be a dominant force.Home design, for example, has been popular for several years now with the minimalist style. Often it's a concrete self leveling floor, then put some iron framed furniture and black and white grey throughout the house. Or small white tiles on the walls and black rock slab sinks, the home is chosen.The credo of minimalism is function over form. But when it went viral, it became form over function.Small white tiles on the kitchen wall, wipe the fumes will be exhausted, and the smaller the tile seam, the more cleaning work is not easy to do. Black easy to show water stains oil stains, rock slab basin with a long time to fall off the bottom. As for whether the concrete floor, iron shelves are good or not, it varies from person to person, but the home is engaged in playing screw industrial style, should not be suitable for most people.Going with a certain style because it's popular naturally spawns too many cookie-cutter items. Minimalism may not be so universal if you start with your own preferences and needs.In fact, as a general rule, minimalist items are really better than items with too much detailing, and not every designer has a good grasp of the scale of detail. Lots of useless details, much like the old saying "Fu Erlang is the brother of Da Lang, the brother of San Lang, and the son of Lao Lang. The temple has a tree. People say that the tree is in front of the temple, but Yu only says that the temple is behind the tree ......" https://techlife.app/archives/google-is-angry-at-apple-and-will-be-sidelined-if-you-don-t-use-the-iphone.html 2022-08-10T04:02:00+08:00 Earlier this year, American teens were caught in a 'social rift' over the blue and green of text message bubbles.Green bubbles and blue bubbles, divided into different camps, are used as color metaphors for the miscommunication of text messages between iPhone and Android phones. On either side of the rift, one is the prehistoric era of text communication and the other is the contemporary era of media abundance.Here, blue is more noble than green, and the way to 'give up the dark for the light' is to have an iPhone.If the mountain doesn't come to me, I'll come to the mountain. 9 August, Google calls out Apple - It's because Apple doesn't support RCS (Rich Media Communication Service) that the 'blue-green bubble debate' is happening.Why is Google asking Apple to support RCS?When an iOS user receives a cross-device message from Android, the text message is displayed in a green bubble box.This would have been no surprise; before Apple launched its free communications service iMessage in 2011, bubbles were basically green.To differentiate iMessage from traditional SMS messages, Apple designed the bubble in blue, setting the stage for future blue-green battles.Americans who love to chat by text message don't like the green bubble, they prefer the blue bubble of iMessage. The color itself is neutral, but it represents a very different experience.iMessage offers end-to-end encryption, supports text, picture, video, voice, group chat, and adds effects such as invisible ink, shrink, zoom, screen echo effects, and data transfer via traffic or Wi-Fi. These features are needed for modern communication.The problem is that text messages sent between iPhone and Android users are converted into SMS (Short Message Service), which sends plain text messages between devices, and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), which can only include limited images, background music, and is described by Google as "outdated technology from the '90s and '00s".The first SMS message was sent in 1992.Going back to SMS and MMS from iMessage is a fall from luxury to frugality, with compressed photos and videos, no read and incoming alerts, no support for end-to-end encryption, and hard-to-read white text on a bright green background ......"The 'green bubble' discrimination has even become a social issue. Some American teens are so socially pressured that they have switched their phones to iPhones in order to use iMessage.But Google argues that there's no need to spend money switching phones, and that the poor experience of texting each other on iOS and Android is caused by Apple, which should fix the problem by switching from SMS/MMS to the modern industry standard RCS.RCS is a cross-platform messaging protocol and is seen as a successor to SMS and MMS. Google says that most carriers and more than 500 Android device manufacturers support RCS, but Apple does not.SMS, born in 1992, is basically useless for anything other than receiving verification codes, advertisements, and delivery notifications. iMessage, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, etc., are not universal solutions, either by downloading an app or by limiting the operating system.So, with RCS, an upgraded version of traditional SMS, Google hopes to truly enable cross-platform messaging.RCS is much richer than traditional SMS, supporting a variety of instant messaging features such as image, text, voice, video, group chat and file transfer, and letting you know if the other party has read and is typing. It also supports B2C services, where companies can push graphic messages to users, providing an interactive 'applet'-like interface in the form of cards.In short, RCS is like a cross-platform iMessage without the app dependency, but integrated directly into the OS and tied to the phone number. In theory, users from different carriers know each other's phone numbers, don't need to friend each other and can chat for free.And in essence, RCS is a protocol that works on iOS and Android and offers many of the features of iMessage, and is not the same as an instant messaging service.RCS has most of the features of iMessage, but not all. rcs does not yet support end-to-end encryption in 2019 , end-to-end encryption is now available for one-to-one chats, and end-to-end encryption in group chats will be available later this year.▲ Image from: the vergeIn recent months, Google has been asking Apple to support the RCS, even building a 'Get The Message' website and launching an advocacy initiative on 9 August calling on users to speak out.If you're texting with an Android user, you won't be able to change the bubble color or bypass the SMS, MMS restrictions. But Apple can take the RCS and make those conversations better. You can @Apple and tweet with the #GetTheMessage hashtag.There's no reason Apple has to support RCS yetIs it possible for Apple to respond to Google and support the RCS? In response, The Verge reporter Jon Porter weighs in."The implication is that it's unlikely that "Apple's adoption of RCS will feel like Americans abandoning iMessage en masse and moving to WhatsApp or Signal.From a competitor's perspective, Apple's iMessage is seen as a "soft monopoly." Hiroshi Lockheimer, a senior vice president at Google, believes that the closed environment of iMessage is a business strategy for Apple.This is evident in the behavior of American teens switching iPhones and actively committing to the "iOS Wall of Service" in order to use iMessage.What's more, for Apple, iMessage is close to the RCS, whether it's the richness of the instant messaging software or the convenience of the system of tying your phone number, so there's no need to destroy your own prestige.So conversely, is it possible for Apple to launch an Android-enabled version of iMessage? After all, Apple doesn't have a closed strategy for all of its services.This question has been answered long ago; in 2016, Phil Schiller, then director of marketing, admitted that 'porting iMessage to Android has done us more harm than good'.With more than a billion active devices of Apple's own, there's enough data for Apple to use for AI learning research, and the benefits of porting iMessage to Android would be more limited.Interestingly, Google's focus on RCS comes after Hangouts, Allo, and other chat apps faltered.In 2018, Google said it wanted "every Android device to have a great default messaging experience," but the truth is that some of the products it has made still can't beat iMessage.After Google called on the public to speak out, one Twitter user asked rhetorically.I rarely use iMessage, but how many different chat apps has Google built and closed since iMessage was released?Domestic carriers are getting into the game, do we need RCS?Disliking Google's chat app is one thing, and the RCS, which brings carriers into the fold, is another, and they're not the same thing.Back in 2008, the GSMA, the global communications industry association, defined the RCS standard. While iMessage, WhatsApp and WeChat have replaced traditional SMS, RCS still hasn't caught on, but the country's operators aren't giving up.In July 2018, China Mobile and Huawei partnered to launch RCS "Enhanced SMS", a traffic data-based instant messaging service that can send graphics, voice, video, location and other content.At that time, China Mobile also offered 10GB of "Enhanced Messaging Exclusive Traffic" per month. After all, apart from SMS, traffic is also a big part of the operator's business.In April 2020, RCS rocketed to be called '5G messaging' in China. In this month, China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom jointly released the "5G Messages White Paper".5G messaging is "a new upgrade of the terminal's native basic short message service," and the message content will not only break through text limitations and length restrictions, but also enable the effective integration of text, images, audio, video, location and other information.5G news is not a solo act sung by operators, as ZTE, Huawei, Xiaomi, Samsung, OPPO, Vivo and other terminal manufacturers have all paid some attention to 5G information.And a test in late 2020 showed that only 5G phones could send and receive RCS messages properly, while 4G phones sending and receiving RCS messages would automatically be converted to SMS or MMS, amounting to a strong association of RCS with the rollout of 5G phones.RCS seems to be very much in line with our imagination of "small but beautiful", similar to the ready-to-use small program, with the advantages of no registration, no login, no installation, real name system, etc. Users do not need to download a lot of apps, through the native message portal can complete all kinds of operations, to achieve "message as a service".But for now, it seems that the social attributes of RCS for acquaintances are not obvious and have more value for business services and government services than the head instant messaging products that focus on social.On the one hand, every shopping holiday, SMS from major e-commerce companies come one after another, and RCS is able to package such SMS in a more graphic, smart and high-end way.On the other hand, as Zuo Pengfei, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, in practical applications, apps are common in finance, education, taxation, healthcare and other fields installation cost is high, retention rate is low, and user activity is low, RCS may be able to solve this thankless situation.However, the "harassment property" of traditional SMS is too prominent, and once the mobile phone number is stolen, the marketing SMS is like a faucet that can't be tightened. whether RCS can block spam messages such as casinos and online loans is directly related to user experience, iMessage users have long experienced the "Macau casino" bombing.Until the arrival of the RCS, which offers a "one-stop service experience," text messages that you don't want to open except to check the captcha are still a necessity. https://techlife.app/archives/issey-miyake-dies-the-man-who-designed-steve-jobs-black-sweater-leaves-behind-a-timeless-piece-of-cloth.html 2022-08-09T04:03:00+08:00 Just learned that world-renowned fashion designer, Issey Miyake, died of cancer on August 5 at the age of 84.The world-class designer is known for his highly crafted and innovative clothing designs, exhibitions, and the "Water of a Lifetime" fragrance, of which Steve Jobs, Zaha Hadid, and Tadao Ando are all huge fans.When I heard the unexpected news, the classic words of Issey Miyake were still ringing in my ears.A piece of cloth (A-POC) is my starting point.The life of this Japanese design master began with an innovative 'piece of cloth' and left behind an eternal 'piece of cloth'.It's a design concept that continues to this day at Issey Miyake, which is to use recycled polyester fibers designed for origami clothing to make clothes that fit everyone in one simple piece of fabric.A simple piece of cloth, broken, crumpled and folded in a unique and surprisingly unstructured pattern of reverse thinking and innovation, and finally recasting the garment.I always thought it was the space between the fabric and the body that created the garment, and by folding it by hand, we created a new, [irregular] undulating space. (https://www.sohu.com/a/253790249_100256148)Free, self-effacing, self-contained.Simple, comfortable and wearable.This made people start to wear a piece of clothing and then start to really focus on the feeling of the wear itself.A piece of cloth that is the origin of clothing design and the force that has swept the fashion world for decades with his designs.In a situation where American exaggerated fashion was covering the world at that time, he emphasized the relationship between clothing and the body, telling people that clothing could be something else.This created a new frontier in fashion and influenced the world of clothing craftsmanship.Let's go back to the very beginning of the story -The designer, who was born on April 22, 1938 in Hiroshima City, graduated from the graphic design department of Tama Art University in Tokyo in 1964 and has remained seemingly obscure.He worked with Givenchy until 1968, and then for Gauffrebien in New York, before returning to Tokyo in 1970, when he officially established the Miyake Design Office.This office, too, is the source from which Issey Miyake's designs began to gain global popularity.The following year, the brand "Issey Miyake" was born.At the time of the 1972 launch, he introduced a new concept: the second skin.What is Bodywear?What's bodywear?It also means: the garment is an extension of the flesh, and the flesh is the outline of the garment.This broke with the traditional idea of Western clothing - in 1973, Issey Miyake started to bring his own creations to Paris Fashion Week, and the 'piece of cloth' designs wowed the audience.In the late 1980s, Issey Miyake began experimenting with a new method of making pleated textiles that not only made the wearer feel flexible and comfortable, but were also easier to produce and maintain.Traditional and pioneer combination - rich in Japanese origami art sentiment, but also very modern oriental gentle and delicate beauty.This new technique eventually became known as the Miyake pleat (also known as the lifetime pleat).One of the most popular pieces in the history of clothing, "Pleats Please" by Issey Miyake, with fine pleats throughout the surface, is still loved and admired all over the world.In 1995, Issey Miyake and young designer Daichi Fujiwara developed "A-POC" (A Piece Of Cloth).It carries on the spirit of a piece of cloth and uses advanced computer technology to create garments that require no sewing and can be shifted by the wearer.A style of clothing that best conveys a sense of comfort and the interaction that arises between the human body and the clothing can constantly tap into new possibilities.It's a clothing revolution. When you hear people say, "Steve Jobs wore the same clothes every day," the idea behind it is from Issey Miyake.At the time Sony hired Issey Miyake to design uniforms for them, and Steve Jobs saw that he also wanted Miyake to design a vest for Apple's employees, though everyone at the time disapproved of the suggestion.Jobs asked Issey Miyake to make him some clothes, and Miyake ended up designing hundreds of pieces for Jobs at once. "I could wear these for the rest of my life," Jobs said.To Issey Miyake, "Food affects the body, and clothing affects the mind, but clothing is just clothing."In October 1999, he took over the "Issey Miyake" brand, which bears his name, and continues to be active in the design line.Piece after piece of 'universal clothing' is seen and worn by more people, all in any place and for any occasion.When Issey Miyake was already famous in the fashion world, he still said.I'm not designing fashion for fashion, I'm just designing clothes.In order to spread and preserve design in a more diverse way, Issey Miyake also crossed the border in 2007 to establish Japan's first design museum, 21_21 Design Site, of which he is the director.The museum was designed by world architect Tadao Ando, who had this to say about Issey Miyake.Miyake has an unrelenting passion and insistence on exploring the possibilities of every fabric. In addition, his designs go beyond mere aesthetics - they are not only stylish and inspiring, but also comfortable and personal.Issey Miyake is over 70 years old, yet he has more design ideas than ever.To this day, Issey Miyake is active on the design front and is also designing new clothes made from recycled fibers.Only a while ago Issey Miyake launched the "Dirty Lou" bag, which is being talked about all over the internet by young people, and is constantly innovating, but what remains the same is what is most true about the design.This bag is also made entirely of just one thread.It is also a continuation of Issey Miyake's famous "a piece of cloth" concept, where "a piece of cloth" is derived into "a thread".He has always believed that.It's my life's work to make clothes that everyone can wear and understand.Whether it is for clothes or for people themselves, Issey Miyake is more concerned with the essence behind it.For the new members of his team, he would constantly think about how he could push them to improve, and he wanted them to be the future.I would tell them what you can express if you do this.He designed 'invisible spaces' in clothing and bodies, and also left spiritual inspiration and unlimited freedom for posterity and the future.The last time I saw him in the documentary, he had white hair, a big smile, and a hale spirit that seemed to never stop designing.And today, we remember "a piece of cloth", the essence of life, the freedom of self, and the everlasting Issey Miyake. https://techlife.app/archives/the-new-ipad-pro-interface-is-getting-a-major-overhaul-and-the-wonderfully-controlled-keyboard-will-be-updated-with-it.html 2022-08-08T18:02:00+08:00 Bringing the Mac back to "utility" is the change Apple has made to Apple computers as they enter the M-chip era.Even with the M1 Series chips with excellent power efficiency, Apple designed the new MacBook Pro, Mac Studio with Pro-level people in mind and prioritized the internal Pro Workflow team.So we have a Pro-class Mac with a stronger active cooling system, and room for cooling.And since it's not all about "thinness," Apple has also optimized the much-criticized butterfly keyboard, TouchBar, and sparse ports to turn the MacBook Pro back into a productivity tool rather than a "work of art.Quietly, the MacBook Pro 14 has become Apple's most cost-effective Mac of the moment, bar none, and even subsequent M2-chip offerings have failed to shake its status.▲ The MacBook Air that focuses on thinness, not performanceIn some ways, the new MacBook Pro may not be as thin and light as the MacBook Air, and it may not have the performance of the Mac Studio, but there's no denying that it's the 'most versatile' option available today.Such a trend may very well carry over to the iPad Pro lineup as well.The current iPad Pro has a shortcoming.After Apple announced iPadOS 16, the features began to align with macOS and began to pull away from iOS, as if iPadOS was a mobile system spun off from macOS.The horizontal screen represents the Pro-level sceneiPadOS 16 also emphasizes "landscape" operation, either standalone or with an external keyboard, or even with a large display "on fire"."With this feature, the iPad Pro is closer to a "personal computer" than it is to half productivity and half Lovecraft.In our previous experience, with iPadOS 16, the iPad Pro was more than capable of replacing our traditional Mac workflow at the moment, and iPadOS has somewhat unlimited potential.But it's the USB-C port that limits the iPad Pro's ability to play a more "productive" role.This is not a reference to the form of the interface, or the rate of the interface, rather, the iPad Pro already has the Thunderbolt 4 interface on it, which is already the highest specification for Apple products.Rather, the number of ports on the iPad Pro is so small that, similar to many smartphones, it offers only one USB-C port.Even though the Thunderbolt 4 has a decent amount of bandwidth and can be used for many needs all in one, for the Pro class, the single interface really limits the tooling attributes of the iPad Pro.In fact, as the iPad Pro has become more of a productivity tool, Apple has begun to make up for the number of ports.In addition to the universal connector USB-C (Lightning), the iPad Pro has been designed with a "three-pin smart connector" on its body since the first generation to facilitate the external smart keyboard.The "Smart Keyboard" category has been gradually expanded to three types: Smart Keyboard, Keyboard Smart Clip and Smart Control Keyboard.The keyboard has a USB-C port on the spindle, which is used to charge the iPad Pro via a "three-pin smart connector" between the body and the keyboard, so that the Thunderbolt 4 on the body can be used for expansion.But, the three-pin smart connector is only designed for connecting keyboards, perhaps because of bandwidth issues, and can't be used to transfer data and fast charging.The three-pin smart connector is arguably even more "closed" than the Lightning connector, so the expandability speaks for itself.Three stitches to four, one to twoAccording to conventional thinking, adding a Thunderbolt interface to the iPad Pro would turn it around, but the iPad Pro has its own "plans" for future interface configurations, as well as the Wonder Control Keyboard II.In terms of expandability, Macotakara, based on reliable supply chain sources, says that the new iPad Pro series will not change the design style, but will upgrade the "three-pin smart connector" to a "four-pin smart connector" and increase the number by one, on the top and bottom edges respectively.The "three pin" to "four pin" basically extends the bandwidth of the original connection and does not rule out a speed increase. And the increased number will most likely bring new accessories and new features to the iPad Pro.Previously, to ensure expansion, Apple was rumored to be considering introducing MagSafe magnetic charging for the iPad Pro.It was more commonly thought that the MagSafe on the iPad Pro would be similar to the iPhone, existing in a fixed area on the back and compatible with the current MagSafe charger.However, combined with Macotakara's report, the MagSafe on the iPad Pro may actually more closely resemble a similar charging form factor on the MacBook Pro, with MagSafe and Thunderbolt working in tandem.And the four-pin connector on the back cover not only brings fast charging to iPad Pro itself, but also powers peripherals attached to iPad Pro.To this end, iPadOS 16 also allows device manufacturers to create drivers for iPad by adding DriverKit.The new 'four-pin smart connector' is different from universal connectors such as USB-C, it will still be exclusive to iPad Pro and will need to be used with an additional official accessory.Back in April of this year, Apple was also granted a patent for the next generation of the Myriad Control Keyboard, which was published along with it. From the patent image, we can see that the biggest change of the new generation of Myo-controlled keyboard will probably be the folding form, as well as having Apple Pencil storage space.The iPad Pro's second keyboard now opens up to just one angle and laptop form, which is slightly one-dimensional.And the patented keyboard adds a "drawing pad mode" that provides a drawing pad form without disassembly.▲ Surface Laptop StudioIn fact, these two forms are very close to the '3-in-1' form of Microsoft's Surface Laptop Studio.With more forms of the new Wonder Keyboard, and a more expandable iPad Pro, and with iPadOS 16, the iPad Pro has a brighter future.Has it really become practical?With a richer interface and a more powerful iPadOS, the iPad Pro is theoretically becoming 'practical' as well.Unlike the MacBook Pro, however, the extra four-pin Smart Connector is not a universal connector, and Apple has no plans to open up the protocol.Also, the reliability of the similar magnetic pin contact interface remains in doubt, with the first generation iPad Pro, and now the wonderfully controlled keyboard, having poor contact conditions.Extending connectivity by adding contacts is indeed easily achievable, but it's rather unprofessional for a Pro device to still use a less reliable interface instead.With the addition of the contact port, it is difficult for the old accessory to be compatible with the new device, very similar to the iPad Pro when the design was changed and the contacts changed position, connecting the official keyboard must require a new purchase.After the changeover, old accessories, old keyboards, etc. also tend to raise corresponding 'environmental' issues.The main change that makes the new MacBook Pro so "practical" is the variety and versatility of ports, from SD card slots to HDMI, and the availability of MagSafe 3 and Thunderbolt 4 for fast charging.▲ Image from: The VergeBut when it comes to the iPad Pro, if the rumors are true, the introduction of the "four-pin smart connector" is just an enhancement for today's needs, not a comprehensive consideration for the future.For the new iPad Pro to become even more useful, it's really just a matter of adding another USB-C to the body. https://techlife.app/archives/15-years-ago-today-no-one-believed-the-iphone-would-work.html 2022-06-30T22:03:00+08:00 Fifteen years ago, the first iPhone went on sale and crowds filled the Apple Store, a sight that has lasted until the current iPhone launch.▲ Image from: wiredApple has always had this magic of gathering crowds outside Apple Stores around the world when new products go on sale. They even [stay] outside the Apple Store (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gruber/662408737/in/photolist-21x2pn-21x23i-21x1PH/) a day early to get a head start.On the morning of June 29, 2007, many Apple executives went to Apple Stores in different cities to witness this historic moment.▲ Steve Jobs at the iPhone's first sale day Photo from: paloaltoonlinePhil Schiller (VP of Global Marketing) went to Chicago, Jony Ive (Chief Designer) and the design team went to San Francisco, and Steve Jobs showed up at the Palo Alto Apple Store, just a mile and a half from his home news/article-2051060/Steve-Jobs-life-celebrated-Apple-stores-close-America.html).Jobs was joined by former Mac team spirits like co-founder Steve Wozniak and Bill Atkinson.▲ Steve Jobs at iPhone launch day Photo via: Yahoo!The iPhone is undoubtedly the most important product in Apple's history, and it's rare to see Apple executives, or the creators of the iPhone, all together at the Apple Store, along with many other users.No one believes the iPhone will workThere was a six-month gap between its release in January 2007 and its launch in late June 2007.The iPhone was officially launched at MacWorld 2007 Photo from: MashableIt wasn't just the development team that was suffering to meet the schedule during this time, outside analysts and senior media weren't idle either, though they weren't cheering Apple on or giving it credit.Rather, it's a complete move to the opposite side of the spectrum, a collective bearishness.Microsoft CEO, RIM CEO, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, etc. all think the iPhone simply can't win, and is an overkill in front of BlackBerry, Nokia, and Motorola.The reason for this lament is essentially the form and logic of the first iPhone.In the fourth quarter of 2006, a total of 22 million smartphones were sold worldwide, largely split between Nokia, BlackBerry, Motorola and Palm.At the time, their phones were basically a rectangular box with a screen on the top half and buttons on the bottom half. And, at that time, people had already decided that this was what a phone looked like, and that one-way access to information from the screen and input on the keyboard was the way people were used to interacting.Before the iPhone came along, no one probably knew that you could flip through photos like a book, pinch to shrink pictures with your fingers, and tap an avatar to make a call directly.▲ Image from: voxAt the January 2007 MacWorld conference, after Jobs clicked on Ive's avatar and spoke to Ive in the audience at the [MacWorld]() conference in January 2007, many compared the call to the Bell call from a century ago, a snapshot of the era.But it's interesting to note that when Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world, it was still an unfinished product with significant problems with both the hardware and the iPhone OS.In order to make the Jobs demo go smoothly, the iPhone development team has developed a strict process, such as playing only part of a song or video, sending emails before going online, etc.▲ Crowds waiting to buy iPhones Photo from: wiredAnd in the less than six months that followed, even with all the industry opposition, on June 29th, Apple still solved many of the problems and delivered as scheduled.Unexpectedly, the iPhone faced the biggest problem of being too popular, and the AT&T network nearly crashed due to excessive data access.Richard Sprague, then senior marketing director at Microsoft, was certain that the iPhone wouldn't sell more than 100,000 units by 2008. In reality, however, the first iPhone sold more than 1 million units in just 74 days.▲ Steve Ballmer image from: gifcenSteve Ballmer, then CEO of Microsoft, in an April 2007 USA Today interview, similarly argued that the iPhone had no chance of doing well in the marketplace.Fifteen years later, the iPhone alone accounts for 40 percent of the global mobile phone market, contributes nearly 60 percent of Apple's revenue, and there are already more than 1 billion iPhones in the world.iPhone was born, actually for the music businessIt's only been two years since the idea of building a phone was conceived and finally brought to market. And this two-year development process is almost a microcosm of Apple's thirty years of technology accumulation.In 2004, the iPod was on a roll, almost single-handedly disrupting the entire traditional record industry.▲ iPods: Photo by: musictechBut instead of getting carried away by the victory, Apple VP of marketing Greg Joswiak is monitoring other phone makers to see if they're ready to integrate music players into their phones and thus threaten the iPod's status.Rather than wait, Apple didn't want to build a phone because Jobs thought there were too many rules and regulations for carriers to build and design the way they wanted, but it didn't want to give up that part of the music business as it watched the phone market grow.▲ iTunes Phone with Motorola Image from: CultofMacSo Apple found Motorola to implant the iTunes Store service into the Rokr, a compromise of sorts for Jobs.In parallel, Apple software VP Scott Forstall has also formed a small team to develop the corresponding software for what is still Project Purple, the software.▲ Jobs loves purple Image from: dialoguereviewFor the next few months, they would brief Jobs in a small room on the 2nd floor of Apple's headquarters, impress Jobs, and then present to other Apple executives.In 2005, the Motorola Rokr performed rather poorly (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/223401/becoming-steve-jobs-by-brent-schlender-and-rick-tetzeli- with-a-new-foreword-by-marc-andreessen/), coupled with the Apple software team bringing very forward-thinking interaction ideas, allowed Jobs to push Project Purple forward.You can see almost all of Apple's products in the iPhoneThe multi-touch interaction led by the iPhone has actually existed within Apple for a long time, but it came about by accident when Apple engineer Brian Huppi solved the problem of not having a mouse to control the computer.Initially, Jobs dismissed the idea, arguing that dropping the Mac's interface onto the trackpad would look clunky. And the trackpad was not elegant enough for the size of a desktop.▲ Ten out of ten Ive's Leica TOn a side note, Ive switched gears and said that if this technology appeared on the back of the camera, the buttons on the back of the digital camera would be able to be removed so that a whole screen could be used.The "multi-touch" technology that was eventually retained became the basis for what would eventually become iPhone interaction.The idea of a whole screen on the back of the camera eventually appeared in the Leica T. The one-piece CNC cut, combined with the interaction logic of the whole screen, is the same as Ive's original idea.Leica's designer Andreas Kaufmann also said in an interview that, as a fan of Ive's design style, he was just trying his best to emulate Jony Ive.▲ Ive in Supervision Photo from: iMoreThe Apple design team led by Jony Ive used to be one of the souls of Apple products. As an industrial designer, Ive has not only studied lines and curves.Over the years he has also refined his and his team's understanding of industrial materials. Since 2004, he has been working to control the black streaks that occur in the manufacture of aluminum, even delving into the supply chain to learn how to dope a quantitative amount of magnesium and iron to maximize the original color and hardness of the aluminum.After the release of the iPhone, Ive's design team became increasingly populated with materials experts, even acquiring Chicago-based QuesTek Innovations, which holds the patents for making the appropriate steel for racing cars and rockets.For this reason, on the first Apple Watch, Apple also introduced three different materials in one breath, appearing in stainless steel and solid gold cases in addition to aluminum and magnesium.The iPhone is the result of Steve Jobs' control of software and Ive's attention to detail in industrial design, but behind both of them is Tim Cook, the man who brought the iPhone from his desk on the second floor of Apple's headquarters to Apple Stores around the world.In December 2006, on the eve of the iPhone launch, Ive traveled across the Pacific Ocean to Foxconn in Shenzhen, and in a conference room, selected thirty of the hundred or so pre-production iPhones to bring to the launch event.Nick Forlenza, Ive's vice president of design for turn and pass, said that any one of these could have gone to Jobs and they would have been as exquisite as a camera made by Canon.Foxconn's production process gave Ive the confidence that Apple could build millions of equally sophisticated phones and he wouldn't have to travel thousands of miles to supervise the work.Tim Cook, the man behind the iPhoneTim Cook was famous for managing the supply chain at Compaq before joining Apple, and choosing Shenzhen Foxconn for OEM was also part of Tim Cook's job description.Not only that, but early iPhones had a touch screen that wasn't glass but plastic, and Jobs happened to notice that it was easily scratched. So in the production version, the decision was made to use glass.Then, Jobs called Corning, and the two companies hit it off, not only bringing strong glass to the iPhone, but also saving Corning.But behind the scenes, it's not easy to take a technology that's never been mass-produced and produce enough glass in less than six months. Together with Corning, Cook has done the near-impossible by turning a glass factory in Kentucky into a manufacturer of iPhone screens, and on time for the first sale.▲ Apple has subsequently continued to invest in Corning to develop new glass for it Image from: cnetThese jobs aren't as glamorous as the software engineers and industrial designers in the front office, and are secret jobs that are hard to see for the common man."His unseen work has become Apple's secret weapon."For the 1984 Super Bowl finale, Apple aired the famous "1984" commercial, alluding to the Mac's challenge to old-time IBM to re-establish the PC.The iPhone, released and launched in 2007, ushered in a new era of "smartphones" and a new digital lifestyle.Reference.On the Origin of the iPhone Becoming Steve Jobs After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company https://techlife.app/archives/can-this-overnight-app-help-american-women-take-back-their-abortion-rights.html 2022-06-29T22:01:00+08:00 A few days ago, the U.S. Federal Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, declaring that "the Constitution does not grant a right to abortion" and allowing states to decide for themselves whether abortion is legal. The move triggered a global cultural 'earthquake': President Joe Biden said 'this ruling sets America back 150 years', people in the US took to the streets in protest, and leaders in the UK and France publicly criticised it.Since the appointment of three conservative justices by former US President Donald Trump, coupled with the rising tide of conservatism for years, and the 'leak' of the draft conservative Justice Alito decision in May this year - Roe v. Wade was overturned and everyone in the know knew it was only a 'matter of time'.Ostensibly fighting over the right to abortion, Roe v. Wade has long gone beyond health and women's rights to become a constitutional, legal, moral and political 'life and death proposition' in the United States.The top concern of American women is reflected in the 'explosion' of the physiological tracking app Stardust. At one point, the app soared to the top of the Apple App Store in the US and promised to encrypt user data and not hand it over to the government.App, can it help people take back their abortion rights?Flipping the right to abortion"Roe v. Wade was overturned, affecting women of childbearing age first.The Republican-held "red states" have already banned abortion across the board and have been planning legislation to ban women in their states from going to other states for abortions, while the Democrat-held "blue states" have no guarantee that a blanket ban will not be issued at the federal level in the future, and may be saddled with lawsuits with other states as a result.With the legal risks of abortion already much higher for women of childbearing age, and the inherent health risks of abortion, it makes sense to use technology such as software applications like Stardust and Clue to watch and record your cycle and pregnancy dates.In addition to downloading tracking apps, women are stocking up on emergency contraceptives in droves. CVS and Rite Aid Corp pharmacies in the U.S., announced this Monday that they are limiting purchases to a maximum of three pills per person to ensure they can keep up their supply.At the same time, demand for IUDs that provide long-term contraception is surging, and more and more consumers are making appointments to buy them online.Second, for women who are already pregnant, the process of giving birth or having an abortion becomes difficult. An editorial in The Lancet noted that about 120 million unintended pregnancies occur worldwide each year, three fifths of which end in abortion, and that abortion is likely to be safe, provided it is done using medically recommended methods and by trained professionals.After abortion rights were banned in several states, it became less 'probabilistically safe' for patients to abort, what circumstances make abortion appropriate, and how to define the difference between abortion and miscarriage. In Texas, where 'facilitating an abortion' carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, doctors are simply afraid to make recommendations that 'cross the line'.Abortion groups in "red states" such as Mississippi and Texas have to seek help across state lines. The average distance to receive care has increased from 25 miles to 125 miles. These people are often marginalized groups such as minorities and are not wealthy.In addition, insurance companies and clinics are affected. The former have to research legal procedures to help pregnant women get abortions across state lines, and also leave employers and public interest groups to deal with higher employment cost issues and logistics. Clinics and doctors face additional clinical dilemmas, such as deciding between 'hysterotomy' and 'evacuation abortion procedures' - the former does not trigger a 'right to abortion' ban, but increases the risk of complications for patients.Data persecutionThe demand for abortion is high among American women. One third have experienced an "abortion" in the broad sense, including the use of abortifacients.This part of the need, while tech companies offer physiological period tracking apps that provide part of the solution, also implies a high level of risk. Data from apps about physiological periods, pregnancy periods, hormone fluctuations, etc. can now be used to prosecute women who intend to have an abortion. Those states with 'abortion bounties' can also use this data to engage in political persecution.Texas passed a law last year that any citizen who successfully prosecutes a woman who is six weeks pregnant and planning to have an abortion, a health care worker, or anyone who helps with an abortion can receive a bounty of at least $10,000. Other 'red states' have the idea of copying it.This scenario makes sense that Stardust is 'on fire'. That's because the founders make a big deal about the app using encryption and that the data is not controlled by the government. According to Sensor Tower, on June 24, the day Roe v. Wade was upended, Stardust reached 135,000 new installs, a 4,400 % increase over the previous day's installs. The next day, it added another 200,000 installs, moving from #119 in the app store to #1.The concerns are not unreasonable. Similar body data recording apps have a previous 'history' of sharing data with third-party tracking and analytics companies. Last year, an app called Flo violated privacy policies and required a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. Another app, called Glow, settled with the state of California for exposing medical information about women.There is no definitive proof that Stardust's encryption is reliable. Its official description has removed the words 'end-to-end encryption' - which was previously trumpeted.The scary part is that not only physiological tracking apps, but browsers, search history, email, text messages, logs, and other commercial apps that need to be opened every day, can expose users' physiological data. The Supreme Court's ruling sharply amplifies the fear of user privacy exposure.The Register recently reached out to Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Twitter to ask "What will your company do to ensure that the data collected is not used to prosecute women seeking abortions, as well as individuals or organizations that provide abortion support?" The tech giants are not responding at this time.Where do human rights beginThe right to abortion is important and sensitive because it implicates the jurisprudential question of how rights are derived.This comes after the full text of a draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (Mississippi 15-week abortion case), suspected to have been written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito (Alito), surfaced online. Alito, a hardcore conservative, took a direct shot at Roe v. Wade, saying it made a "grossly absurd error" to begin with.His opinion is that the right to abortion is neither a constitutional right nor a right so deeply rooted in the history of American society that it makes no sense for the Supreme Court to "legislate" it. In other words, this is an "originalist" view - the Supreme Court can only interpret and interpret the Constitution and the law, it is not a legislator.And the radical 1973 decision, when the Supreme Court legislated by precedent - directly declaring the right to abortion legal throughout the United States. The decision also left an unbridgeable 'gap' by not treating the right to abortion as a fundamental right and thus giving it full constitutional protection, but by using the inherently controversial right to privacy as the supporting theory for the right to abortion. This is a very 'activist' approach.However, not all conservative judges prefer "originalism", while liberal judges prefer "activism". We still follow our own values, and jump across the line repeatedly when we need originalism, and when we need activism.After Roe v. Wade legalized abortion rights throughout the United States in 1973, the issue of abortion was "expanded" from a health issue to a constitutional and political one.20 The activism of the liberal wing of the U.S. Supreme Court during the affirmative action wave of the 1960s and 1970s was phenomenal. At the same time, anti-abortion forces went from local to national, expanding from a very small segment of Catholicism to evangelical Christianity and among social conservatives.Since the right to abortion back then was derived from the 'right to privacy', the prohibition of the former also meant that a range of privacy rights became less 'stable' along with it. Including the associated right to same-sex marriage and the right to contraception, all became precarious.People think more about the ownership of the right to abortion. Whether a woman's (pregnant) body belongs to herself or to the public sphere, such as the state/society, is interpreted differently in different countries, regions, and cultures. At the same time, to whom does the body of the fetus belong?Biologists from 15 countries provide the biological answer: life and the right to life begin with the union of the sperm and the egg.From where human rights begin, morality and law must also begin. However, where do human rights begin? No one knows exactly.Technology, on which people once relied so heavily, can hardly be effective when rights are undefined. https://techlife.app/archives/beggar-s-edition-m2-macbook-pro-hard-drive-speeds-cut-in-half-basically-say-goodbye-to-productivity.html 2022-06-28T20:03:00+08:00 In 2007, Steve Jobs changed the name of Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. and the focus shifted from Macs to mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad.At that time, the Macintosh, which had made Apple's name, also receded into the background.However, with the release of the M1 family of chips, the introduction of ultra-high power efficiency has also brought the Mac back to center stage after a complete shift to Arm in recent years.▲ Craig Federighi, Apple's VP of Software, exclaimed twice at the launch event about the M-chip: How cool is that?In this way, the Mac, which has ushered in a new era of Arm, evokes the "Apple computer" era that many people once had.At WWDC, which ended this year, the M2, as expected, and the newly designed MacBook Air really stole the show from iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, and a host of other software.▲ WWDC is over and all I remember is the newly designed MacBook AirMuch of the discussion after the conference also focused on the hardware, with a new core design and a new process for the M2, which completely brought Apple computers into the Arm era.While the MacBook Air, the most expensive Air series ever, still features an 8GB+256GB combo that lags behind Windows PCs in its price range, there's still a lot of buzz among wait-and-see users about how to spend their limited budgets on the 'cutting edge'.Should I upgrade the memory or the SSD capacity? I'm sure this is a question that many Mac users struggle with during the purchase process.▲ Same $1,500 price increase, what's your choice?Thoughtfully, Apple's official website uses an even upcharge of $1,500 for both doubling the memory and doubling the storage.In Apple's measurement system, memory is just as important as storage, there is no higher or lower or more expensive.In the past, when making Mac consumer recommendations, I've been more inclined to double my limited budget on memory - after all, storage can be external or in the cloud, so there's a lot of flexibility, and $1,500 is enough to buy two 1TB high-speed removable drives.The memory that has been packaged on the motherboard for a long time is difficult to expand by any reasonable means, not to mention the unified memory architecture used in the M-chip, which makes expansion even more difficult, so it's better to spend $1500 to get it all in one step.▲Amazing image via: ifixitOnly, the M2 MacBook Pro may have completely changed the focus of the memory priority upgrade.During our tests doing M2 MacBook Pro videos, the M2 MacBook Pro lagged far behind the M1 MacBook Pro in decompressing a 13GB zip (7z) archive (containing small files, large files, and a clip project).▲ Left: M2 MacBook Pro, Right: M1 MacBook Pro Image from: MaxTechIn addition, YouTuber Max Tech directly tested the read and write speeds of the standard 256GB versions of the M2 and M1 MacBook Pro with BlackMagic and found that the M2 MacBook Pro was half as fast.The 512GB, 1TB version of the MacBook Pro, on the other hand, is unaffected and is on par with the M1 MacBook Pro. ▲ Dell XPS 13 Plus vs M1 MacBook Air SSD Read/Write Speed Comparison Image from: MaxTechThe original M1 MacBook Pro's SSD isn't exactly fast, being close to PCIe 3.0, so cutting it in half would be a bit unworthy of the Pro name.Today, many Windows laptops are already using PCIe 4.0 SSDs for a better experience. The drive's read and write speeds are already well beyond those of the M1 MacBook Pro.Remember that at the MacBook Pro 14/16 launch last year, Apple marked the new device with a new SSD that spikes storage speeds to 7.4GB/s directly on the Keynote.In subsequent real-world tests (also for BlackMagic), only capacities over 4TB will reach such peak write speeds, with the standard 512GB and high 1TB writing at roughly 4600MB/s to 5800MB/s, which is probably at the level of high-speed PCIe 4.0.▲ It's always right to pull the configuration to the top Image from: MaxTechThe MacBook Air/Pro pulled ahead with a high-speed SSD before solid-state was commonplace in Windows notebooks.By the M2's MacBook Pro 13 (256GB), its hard drive speeds were already lagging behind Windows laptops by a significant margin - less than a decade, and the tide is turning.▲ An empty plate space is reserved for imagination Image from: MaxTechAnd to find the reason for the M2 MacBook Pro's storage slowdown, Max Tech and Create Tech took it apart and compared it to the M1 MacBook Pro.In the original SSD socket, the M2 uses just one NAND flash particle, while the M1 uses two 128GB NAND flash particles.▲ Don't Blink Image from: MaxTechSuch an approach is most likely the reason why the M2 MacBook Pro storage has been dramatically slowed down.The principle is actually similar to that of dual-channel and single-channel memory, with more NAND storage particles having more channels and naturally higher data throughput and speed.And for the first time, a configuration with just one NAND flash particle is available in a MacBook Pro product.▲ 128GB are made up of two 64GBs Image from: ifixitIn checking iFixiit's MacBook Air/Pro teardown tutorials from 2016 to 2021, both the 128GB entry version and the 1TB high end, Macs are paired with at least two NAND flash particles on the motherboard to achieve normal and reasonable speeds.A single NAND flash memory particle configuration can help reduce costs somewhat. But for the MacBook Pro, which doesn't cost much, such savings can significantly impact the experience.Today, the M2 MacBook Pro has a write speed of 1400MB/s, which may not be as noticeable in many light experiences as it is in the numbers.▲ The M2 MacBook Pro (left) multitasks frequently and there is a delay in loading web pages, which is acceptable Image from: MaxTechBut the M2 MacBook Pro has only 8GB of memory, so when it's full and the SSD is used as virtual memory, there's a world of difference that can dramatically affect normal use. ▲ M2 MacBook Pro I won't win as long as the memory is full Image from: MaxTechIn testing, the M2 MacBook Pro lagged significantly in both exporting photos in Lightroom and exporting videos, and even crashed outright when composing HDR photos in Photoshop.Admittedly, the M2 onboard makes the MacBook Pro extremely competitive, but that, coupled with low-speed storage that's already out of step with mainstream standards, makes it hard to justify the near $10,000 price tag.For now, the storage drop is limited to the M2 MacBook Pro 256GB standard, with the 512GB premium version unaffected. Whether this is the case with the new MacBook Air, which will be available in July, is unknown at this time.Those who are ready to get their hands on a MacBook Air first might want to wait and see the first wave of feedback, or just upgrade to 512GB capacity to circumvent the storage slowdown.When you add in the $1,500 memory upgrade, the new MacBook Air starts at $12,499, and it seems like the MacBook Pro 14 2021 smells even better.After the M-chip era, there are corresponding scaled-down versions of the M1 and M1 Pro in the lower MacBook Air/Pro devices, which can be interpreted as the i3, i5, and i7 versions of Apple's M-chip.Technically speaking, such different configurations don't make a world of difference to the experience, it's nothing more than an 85 to 95 point difference. The same is true for higher capacity storage (2TB, 4TB), it's the upper limit that is raised.The M2 MacBook Pro's storage speed reduction is instead a dip in experience, bringing the original base model (8GB+256GB) 75+ points below the pass line and reducing it to a high-end netbook, which it really shouldn't be.Whether the new MacBook Air that follows circumvents this, or whether the subsequent MacBook Pro 13 will retain this configuration, will have to wait for Apple's next move.For the average user, it's best to avoid the M2 Mac with 256GB of storage for now. https://techlife.app/archives/aiming-at-apple-watch-google-to-develop-multiple-bands-for-pixel-watch.html 2022-06-22T14:04:00+08:00 The Pixel Watch was teased at Google I/O 2022 last month. The smartwatch, which will be available this fall alongside the Google Pixel 7 line, is also the first smartwatch built by Google.Equipped with Wear OS and deeply integrated with Fitbit functions, it is a reflection of Google's strength in the field of wearable devices. But in today's industrial design, there is an inevitable convergence in both functionality and appearance, and smartwatches are no exception.▲Image from: GoogleIn terms of the health monitoring function of smartwatches, different brands may have different indicators and accuracy, but all of them can meet the daily use of users. As for the appearance, the rounded case of Pixel Watch is also recognizable, but there are no more than these smartwatches on the market.If you want to make the product more recognizable, but also to meet the user's quest for personalization. Smartwatches are coincidentally aiming here - the strap.▲Image from: GoogleAccording to the 9to5Google website, Google is working on a variety of bands for the Pixel Watch, a smartwatch launching this fall, and there will be at least seven, including the one shown at I/O.▲Image from: GoogleThe Pixel Watch that was shown at I/O is supposed to use the common silicone strap. Beyond that, Google is working on a couple of high-end bands. One is a Milanese style band with a woven stainless steel mesh, similar to the Apple Watch, and a magnetic closure between the clasp and the band.▲Apple Watch Milanese band, image via: AppleThere is also a chain strap that is also used by watch brands such as Rolex and Omega, and the Apple Watch has a similar product that allows the strap to be adjusted by pressing on the interconnected rectangular metal pieces. There are also two leather-textured straps, as well as braided straps and stretchy straps that will be more affordable.▲Apple Watch braided, leather, chain strap, image via: AppleSilicone, metal chain style, stainless steel mesh, 2 leather textures, braided fabric, and an elastic band are just a few of the bands that Google may be working on for the Pixel Watch right now.Since Google has not officially revealed its plans for the Pixel Watch, it's not yet known if all of these bands will be available. But from what we've heard, it seems that Google is apparently going to use the Pixel Watch to "compete" with the Apple Watch.▲Image from: GoogleApple Watch can be said to be the pioneer of the rich "band culture" of smartwatches. Not only does it have almost all the materials that the Pixel Watch might have, but it also has always captured the hearts of users in terms of color and pattern design, such as the "rainbow band" that comes out every year but is different.▲2022 New rainbow strap, image via: AppleIt's also worth noting that Google has equipped the wearable with a proprietary wristband system that makes it perhaps easier to swap out compared to other devices. From the previously published video, it appears that the Pixel Watch uses not a simple snap-in style, but requires twisting to insert the strap before returning it squarely for snapping into place.▲Image from: GoogleUntil the product is officially launched, all the specs and parameters of features, bands and replacement methods are still uncertain, making it even more curious to see how the Pixel Watch will "compete" with the Apple Watch when it launches this fall. https://techlife.app/archives/apple-app-store-allows-subscription-apps-to-automatically-renew-when-prices-go-up-sparking-controversy.html 2022-05-17T16:22:00+08:00 In Apple's App Store, apps that are subscription-based always leave users hanging. There was an uproar when Nobility, a note-taking software, planned to switch from a buy-to-own system to a subscription system.Unexpectedly, now Apple has also 'eyed' the subscription-based mechanism and has published an 'update subscription notice' to all developers, with the biggest change being the renewal mechanism for subscription-based apps.▲ Image from: UnsplashUnder the updated subscription model, developers can choose to automatically renew subscriptions for price increases that require certain conditions and advance notice to the user, so that no user action is required and the service is not disrupted. In other words, it means that as long as the user does not cancel the subscription, it will 'automatically renew' even if the app increases in price.With such a subscription system, it is clearly detrimental to users if developers raise prices unchecked. Therefore, this mechanism also imposes certain restrictions on developers. The specific conditions are that the price is not to be increased more than once a year and that the increase does not exceed $5 and 50% of the subscription price, or $50 and 50% of the annual subscription price, and that local laws are observed.And, Apple will inform users of the price increase via email, push notifications, and in-app messages. Apple will also notify users how to view, manage and cancel their subscriptions if they wish.▲Image from: MacRumorsThere are restrictions on developers, but it still seems to be 'unfriendly' to users compared to the current subscription mechanism. Currently, when the price of an auto-renewing subscription goes up, subscribers must opt-in before the price of the app goes up. For subscribers who do not opt in to the new price, the subscription will not be renewed for the next billing cycle.A comparison will show that the change in the subscription mechanism is to change the user's subscription initiative from 'active subscription' to 'active opt-out'. Although it can avoid the situation that some users inadvertently interrupt certain services, it actually inadvertently increases the subscription cost and learning cost for users who only have a short-term need for these subscription applications.▲Image from: AppleLooking at the changes to the subscription model, Apple seems to be 'giving users a hard time'. But for developers, Apple's app update strategy for the App Store has also caused a lot of controversy.App developers who have not updated in the past three years and have not met the minimum download threshold (meaning the app has not been downloaded at all or has been downloaded very few times in 12 consecutive months) will receive an email notifying them that an app they developed has been identified for possible removal from the App Store.▲Image from: TwitterIn order to keep the app on the App Store, the App Store team contacts developers to ask them to make any necessary changes, and updates must be submitted within a specified time frame; failure to make changes on time will result in the app being removed from the App Store until the developer submits the update and gets it approved.If it is an app that crashes on startup, it is immediately removed from the App Store.▲Image from: AppleApple has since said that it actually started an App Store improvement process back in 2016, at the suggestion of developers and to ensure a great user experience, to remove apps that no longer work as expected, don't follow current review guidelines, or are outdated. Over the past few years, more than 2 million apps have been removed.Apple has also now changed some of the details in the program, extending the time for developers to update affected apps from 30 days to 90 days.▲Image from: AppleOriginally, to get an app on the App Store, developers had to pay a fee (RMB 688) to become a member of the Apple Developer Program. However, due to various reasons, some developers are unable to update their apps on time, and their hard work will "disappear" from the App Store.Although the app is still associated with the developer's account after it is removed from the App Store, current users can continue to use it. But it seems to be a 'lost cause' for the developers who paid for it and went through the trouble.▲Image from: TwitterSo, overall this improvement is good for the user experience, but some developers think this solution is a bit harsh. The best situation for Apple's App Store as a platform to connect developers and users should be a win-win situation for all three parties.But these successive changes make one wonder if the cost to users and developers seems to be higher and the only 'real winner' seems to be the App Store. https://techlife.app/archives/the-mac-has-no-game-and-the-m1-is-useless.html 2022-05-16T19:53:00+08:00 The closest the Mac has come to the gaming market would be when Steve Jobs first returned to Apple and reorganized the Mac product line.▲ Image from: bekiaAt the time, Jobs said they had "launched a new program" to bring gaming back to the Mac, and was adamant that "gaming are very great for the Mac".And at MacWorld in 1999, a high-profile presentation of the upcoming Mac debut of Halo by Bungie Studios was held. (Halo) by Bungie Studios.▲ Halo demo shown at Macworld. image via: AppleFor this masterpiece, Steve Jobs had high hopes, as much as introducing Apple's products, saying that Halo would be the coolest game ever.However, Halo has since become a Microsoft Xbox exclusive, and has directly contributed to Microsoft Xbox becoming one of the "Royal Three" in the console market today.The Mac, on the other hand, brushed aside 'gaming' and never had a 'highlight' again.All the way to the advent of the M1.A few days ago, game developer Feral Interactive brought two of its games, Total War: Rome Remastered and Total War: Warhammer 3 ported to the M1 series for the Mac.It's also one of the few game development teams that has been aggressive in porting games to the Mac platform. Back in the days of Intel, Feral Interactive was very active in migrating a number of games to the Mac platform.▲ Image from: 9to5macAdapting games for the Mac is a lot of experience.In the interview, Feral Interactive was outspoken about how the power of Apple's M1 chip combined with the Metal API has greatly improved game development on the Mac platform.The Feral Interactive team is very optimistic about the future of gaming on the Mac platform, which has moved to its own chips, and believes that there are new opportunities for the Mac in the gaming market.If you read it that way, it's kind of like the Mac is getting close to the gaming market again.It's just that it's a different time, and while it was lamentable that the Mac platform lost Halo before, this M1 Mac is a missed 'moment'.A good opportunity for MacAfter its high-profile debut at Macworld 1999, many Mac users were looking forward to Halo, and likewise, Bill Gates took a glance at the game.▲ Image from: gamerantUnlike many Mac users who waited patiently, Bill outright acquired Bungie Studios to improve Halo into an FPS game and became an Xbox exclusive hit, becoming a phenomenal combination for the gaming market at the time.Robbie Bach, who was the head of Xbox at the time, has recalled in the book, that snatching Halo from Steve Jobs back then was one of the three most important things the Xbox could do to survive in a fierce gaming market.▲ Microsoft Xbox Series X.The other two are the creation of the Xbox Live business and maintaining strong partnerships with gaming companies like EA and Activision.Later, many media and analysts lamented that if Halo debuted on the Mac and was platform exclusive, the Mac and Apple would surely be the head player in the gaming market.The reason for this is that it was in the 'golden age' of end-game and console gaming.At that time, not only was Microsoft's Xbox on fire, but Windows PCs for the masses were also becoming popular, even as they began to eat their way up the enterprise market that Macs prided themselves on with their lower barriers.You know, Steve Jobs only returned to Apple in 1997, and before that, Apple had become a mature capitalist company, where profit and profit were the motivation for many of Apple's decisions.The Power Mac G3 with expansion support was released at MacWorld 1999.This was also true of the Mac, once a popular platform for game developers, which was a popular platform for game development thanks to its graphics performance and scalability.At the time, Macs were primarily for enterprise users, providing work PCs for employees. Apple executives didn't want to associate Macs with gaming, and marketing began to portray them as synonymous with "productivity.▲ Macintosh promotional page "Macintosh is Productivity". Image from: appleinsiderAfter the PC was gradually brought into the home, the Mac was advertised as a 'learning machine' for the student community, with no mention of gaming.Apple didn't take advantage of the rapidly changing opportunity, but Microsoft's Windows did. Contrary to the Mac, Windows is primarily a home platform and gaming is their top priority.Bill Gates even took it upon himself to go down and make TV commercials for Doom (Doom), which is powered by the Windows platform.In the same way that the Mac was a hotbed for game developers at the time, the Windows platform, with its lower barriers, greater developer friendliness, and official willingness to optimize for developers, became the new 'hotbed'.And the Mac is also equated with 'productivity' and 'work machine'.▲ Image from: fastcompanySteve Jobs returned, and even as he began to work his way back, both Apple and the Mac were in a state of disarray, and it was difficult to compete with the growing Microsoft.A series of business decisions and business competition have cost the Mac a 'great opportunity' to enter the gaming market.Bad chance for the MacTime is a wheel, and the market for games lost on the Mac is finally being won back on iOS.A good opportunity for the Mac is actually when endgames started to sprout. And the release of the iPhone was the night before handheld gaming exploded.With the advent of smartphones and innovative interactive experiences, the iPhone has revolutionized the way people interact with machines. As a result, many new interactive forms of handheld games have come on the scene.Unlike Android, the iPhone has prided itself on being a closed ecosystem since its release, with all software needing to be downloaded from the App Store and subject to a 30% cut to Apple.This rule later also pitted Apple against Epic. In a survey report on App Store games, Apple made about $8.5 billion in profits from games in 2019.That figure is $2 billion more than the profits Sony, Activision, Nintendo and Microsoft made from games combined in the same year. And according to Sensor Tower's [data](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-28/apple-terminates-epic-s-developer-account-in-midst-of- lawsuit?srnd=technology-vp&sref=9hGJlFio), Apple will make $15.9 billion in revenue from the App Store in 2021, and games will make up 69 percent of that.App Store revenue is still growing steadily, and the number of game apps in it is gradually improving. At Pocketgamer's stats, there were nearly 30,000 more games in May this year than a year ago, and the total was over 1.01 million.More crucially, the overall handheld gaming market is likewise still growing, with Newzoo's just-released report shows that handheld gamers are expected to reach 3.09 billion this year, increasing total revenue to $20.31 billion and projecting revenue to come to $222.6 billion in 2024.For comparison, PC gaming revenue will top $41 billion, up just 2% year-over-year.In other words, it's already a great opportunity for handheld gaming at the moment, and for PC platforms like the Mac, the big picture is gone.Even though the M1 series is a big jump in power consumption ratio and even GPU performance (compared to core) compared to previous Intel processors, it is not attractive enough for the PC gaming market, which has limited growth and low market volume.The 'attraction' here is the PC gaming market, but also macOS, input and output, etc.You know that many of the big 3A titles use Microsoft DirectX, and macOS previously only supported OpenGL, and its gaming experience was poor until 2018, when Apple dropped OpenGL and developed Metal, and the big ports became possible.The PC market has actually been shrinking so far this year, with SA stating shrank by 7% overall in the first quarter, but with a strong M1 series chip, Apple bucked the trend by growing 4% to fourth in the world, though with only 10% of the market share.In contrast, the Windows platform has an 84% share. macs still haven't reversed the 'niche' label and are far less total than Windows PCs.With the need to re-adapt the low volume Mac on one hand, and the high volume of handheld games on the other, it's more likely that game studios will prefer to focus their resources on handheld games, or stay with the original Windows platform and focus on subsequent 3A development.Regardless of the trade-offs, making Mac games is not the best option. macs are under a not-so-great opportunity right now.ARM architecture is not the 'savior' of Mac gamingIn addition to being Apple's own chip, the M1 series also has the distinct feature of not being a traditional X86 architecture, but an ARM architecture similar to that of the iPhone and iPad.The upside is that the power consumption ratio is excellent. The downside is that absolute performance is not as good as traditional X86, and that much of today's software is also poorly compatible with ARM.▲ Initial work on Maya on M1 Mac via Rosertta 2 translator. image via: appleinsiderBut for Apple, the software migration has been experienced before, and Rosetta 2, which was introduced two years ago for the platform switch, worked much better than expected.As for absolute performance, it's addressed directly with a stacked core count, and even in some scenarios, the M1 series SoCs are capable of wrestling with professional-grade desktop GPUs.▲ Double the chip, double the performance.In fact, the key thing is the ARM architecture, which means that the M1 series Macs can run iOS apps directly, so the number of Mac games that were lacking explodes straight away, and there seems to be a bright future ahead.In reality, the gaming ecosystem in the App Store isn't that glamorous. To expand its 'handheld' business, Apple launched its game subscription service Apple Arcade in 2019.At launch, it was backed by veterans such as Ubisoft, Capcom and Sega, while also allowing gamers to experience the new game at a lower price.Many game developers are very positive about Apple Arcade, saying that with Apple's support, they are able to focus on game levels, plots and interactions, rather than spending their energy thinking about making money.Whether it's hardware like game consoles or services like paid subscriptions, it's the games themselves that are central to the gaming business, and Nintendo is a prime example of this.▲ Games Wonderbox.Apple Arcade is a big deal, debuting over 50 games and expanding to 100 by the end of the year, with updates at a frequency of 4-5 games per week.But as we enter 2020, updates are slowing down, with just over 30 new games added in 10 months. To add insult to injury, there are no big debut titles like Pascal's Contract in the Apple Arcade, and only a few new titles from established studios, with games of varying quality.The M1 plus XGP might be the right way to go.SensorTower had statistics on paid game revenue within the App Store in 2015, which was about $642 million, or 5.4% of total revenue. For Apple Arcade to reach that level, it would take roughly 11.7 million users subscribing for 11 months to turn it around.However, the game subscription real estate model has a lot of potential in the U.S. According to App Annie, subscriptions make up 7% of the handheld game market.The Xbox Game Pass subscription service, went from 10 million to 15 million subscriptions in less than six months.The problem with Apple Arcade is still the 'game'. Apple is too keen on exclusivity and over-vetting, and many game studios are not as enthusiastic about development, and the home office for the 2020 epidemic is slowing down development.Now, it seems that Apple has also started to change the mindset of Apple Arcade, instead of relying on "exclusives", it has lowered the bar and introduced some classic IP ports and "big titles" that were already available in the App Store, trying to improve the lack of Arcade games.But for now, Apple Arcade isn't enough to carry Apple's gaming business, and as for the ARM-embracing M1 Mac, it's going to be a bit hard to turn it around on Arcade in the near future.Mac is not the platform of the future for the gaming business eitherWhether it's the Mac that brought Apple back from the dead during the Steve Jobs era or the M1 Mac that now embraces the ARM architecture, Apple has been keen to make a big splash in the gaming business since the beginning.But whether it's the misguided loss of Halo, or Apple Arcade's somewhat pushy exclusivity strategy, Apple's proverbial kick in the pants always falls short.Apple's self-published SoC is well established, and it's just a few 'phenomenal' games away from 'igniting' the gaming business. But for the desktop Mac, it may no longer be the center of all Apple's business.▲ Apple AR Glasses Hypothetical. Image via: wccftechThe highly anticipated 'phenomenon' game is more likely to be based on Apple's next AR business, which is set to replace the iPhone. Compared to traditional desktop games, AR virtual reality will have a new logic and presentation of game interaction.This is more of an advantage for Apple, who has been following along, after all, now that they have their own chips, they are able to start building their software environment earlier and are able to invite game developers to adapt and debug ahead of time.It's like the Mac in the beginning, with a good enough hardware platform to attract enough game developers to build a lineup of games for it, only this time Apple might not get 'poached' so easily.As for the Mac, the strongest label may still be 'productivity'.