https://techlife.app/tag/Apple 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/ipad-will-be-the-new-line-of-apple-computers.html 2022-08-07T20:02:00+08:00 "Your next computer, why should it be a computer."That's a somewhat awkward-sounding, but straightforward tagline that defines the new product that Apple is giving the iPad Pro in 2020 after its release.However, the iPad Pro, which boasts of being a "computer", has been met with little more than a chuckle.The iPad Pro, or iPad line, was still parasitic on the iPhone, and the difference between the two wasn't that great, except for the size of the screen.In particular, both use A-series chips (M-series chips are not yet available), and iPadOS is still figuring out how to nicely neutralize iOS and macOS.Even though iPadOS previously drew on many of the renderings found in macOS, it's still essentially more of an iOS large-screen adaptation.Back in 2010, when the first iPad was created, Steve Jobs described it onstage as "a revolutionary device that created and defined a whole new category.▲ Steve Jobs with the first generation iPad Image from: macrumorsSince then, "innovation" has been a central part of iPad's development. At the time, smartphone screens were just 4 inches in size, and iPad's 9.7-inch screen was a perfect fit between the Mac and iPhone.As smartphone screens got bigger, they also started to crowd out the original market space of iPad. After a steady stream of product lines, Apple also tied 'productivity' to iPad with the Pro series.The iPad Pro has also been living up to Jobs' idea of a "revolutionary" category.The Two Rises of the iPad ProThinking back, the initial iPad Pro, released in 2015, had an A9X SoC built in and a 12.9-inch screen size that put it close to Pro-class in terms of hardware.▲ First generation iPad Pro image from: futurecdnBut at that point, the iPad Pro still ran iOS and was not too far removed from the iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, or even the iPhone in terms of system capabilities.The separation of iPadOS from iOS came four years later at the WWDC developer conference, and it was clear from the naming that iPadOS was not intended to be an offshoot of iOS, but a standalone system on par with macOS and tvOS.It's almost as if the iPad Pro lineup has been changed, with hardware innovations first and then software systems to complement them.In this way, the iPad Pro is also gradually becoming what we are now familiar with.To get closer to being a 'productivity' creation tool, Apple first gave the iPad Pro a USB-C port and designed the 'battle-hardened' Magic Keyboard.Finally, the iPad Pro waits for Apple's own M-chip, built with the same M1 chip as the MacBook, giving it even more potential and a landmark upgrade to the iPad Pro in recent years.After upgrading the chip, peripherals, and interface, iPadOS also saw "big changes" at WWDC this year.The "Front Desk Scheduler" feature and optimized support for external displays make iPadOS 16 fully productive. And the usage scenarios for these features are starting to overlap with personal 'computers' like the Macbook Pro.iPadOS 16 also functions increasingly differently from iOS, gradually going its separate way, not shadowing iOS, and the independence of iPadOS comes to the fore.Functionally significant, needs a good polishAfter showing off at WWDC, Apple is also rolling out a Beta version of the system for the M-chip iPad as expected.However, during the testing period, the "Front Desk Scheduler" feature was not stable and would frequently cause system crashes and errors. In addition, "Front Desk Scheduler" was limited to iPads with M chips, and the compatibility was so poor that it was criticized by many users and developers.iPadOS 16, which was originally intended to launch with iPhone and iOS 16 in September, will most likely be delayed to October for a better and more stable experience.Bloomberg, which first reported the software update delay, also believes that with the staggered push of iOS and iPadOS updates, Apple will have more energy to polish iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 separately.In the past, Apple has tended to provide system updates for five major pieces of hardware - the Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV - at the same time after a fall event.But as each system gets more complex, some cross-platform features are generally delayed, like the previous iPhone dual camera portrait mode and the 'universal controls' feature that took a long time to adapt and optimize for last year's launch.In recent years, the stability of several major Apple systems is not as stable as in the past, is due to more features, adaptable devices are also very cumbersome, but also due to several major systems online at the same time, the software team is difficult to focus on optimization and polishing.This time, the staggered push of updates to iPadOS with iOS can be seen as a stress reliever and a benefit to the stability of the new system.Also, longer optimization and polishing will most likely not leave some new features missing, and the system will be fully functional when released.Ultimately, however, Apple will still keep the 'front-of-the-stage scheduling' limited to the M-chip to bring a better 'experience'.iPad, Mac have become two lines of Apple computersIf the official update to iPadOS 16 is made in October, coincidentally, macOS Ventura, which also has a 'front-of-the-stage scheduler', is also thought to be pushed out in October.And it's also possible that a MacBook Pro 14/16 iteration will be released in October, with the M2 Pro and M2 Max also launching at this time.There are also rumors that the new iPad Pro with M2 will arrive as scheduled, also in October.▲ It's time to replace the MacBook Pro 14.The M-chip-based iPad Pro and Macbook are also updated at the same frequency as the M-chip. As a rough estimate, unlike the iPhone, which is updated every year, the iPad Pro and MacBook are updated on a cycle of about 18 months.October will coincidentally be a point in the update cycle where new systems come with new hardware, in keeping with Apple's usual tradition.In this way, the iPad Pro will pull away from the iPhone in terms of update frequency, as traditional computers like the MacBook generally do.In addition, iPad and iPadOS, which had previously been hidden behind iPhone and iOS, are finally coming to the forefront, and the positioning of their products and systems are starting to approach that of Mac and macOS.It could even be argued that iPadOS and macOS, which also have "front-of-house scheduling", are only approximate systems that exist on different hardware.Presumably also from iPadOS 16 onwards, in Apple's plans, the iPad Pro will play a similar role to the Mac, mainly as a 'productivity' tool.▲ Touch support and the Apple Pencil are an advantage of iPad ProBut they interact differently and have different market segments, with iPad Pro being closer to the 'creative crowd' and Mac offering the traditional PC way of working.Apple computers are no longer just Macs. iPad Pro is getting closer to being a non-traditional personal computer, and iPadOS is evolving into a new system that is independent of iOS.When we previously reviewed the iPad Pro, we argued that iPad was gradually redefining and expanding the scope of the personal computer. And in experiencing the iPadOS 16 beta, with the display and desk scheduling, it almost perfectly replaces the MacBook Pro for the appropriate tasks.When you hook up iPad Pro to a monitor and start acting as a "productivity" tool, the process of discovery is a lot like it once was when you first started using a personal computer.And as iPad's market share continues to soar and the new generation continues to grow up, iPad is what the 'personal computer' was meant to be for them. https://techlife.app/archives/everyone-who-holds-a-phone-is-a-director-of-life.html 2022-08-04T02:06:00+08:00 On January 25, 1896, in the Grand Café de Capucine in Paris, people were frightened to see a train roaring towards them, thinking it was about to burst off the screen.This was the first screening of the Lumière brothers' Train Coming in, which lasted only 50 seconds but is considered to have kicked off the history of cinema.In fact, before that, Louis Lumière was the progenitor of what would become a drama in another film, The Watering Gardener, which brought out the dramatic conflict and character relationships in 44 seconds.As director Jia Zhangke says, short films are the original form of cinema, and the history of cinema itself began with short films.But unlike the past 100 years, the right to visual expression no longer belongs exclusively to professional creators. The increased performance of mobile phones has not only lowered the threshold of creativity, but also brought about a greater variety of expression.The creator of the recently screened "Second Uncle" tells the story of Second Uncle's uneventful and twisted life with slightly crude images and plain language, and although there is a lot of controversy, it is undeniably a highly compelling video work.Images with realistic tensions like this are emerging all the time. I was at the Xining FIRST Youth Film Festival these days, and this feeling was even stronger.FIRST has produced well-known filmmakers such as Wen Muye and Xin Yikun, and in this year's vivo x FIRST Super Short Film Competition, I saw a more diverse range of creators, high school students, dessert chefs, bank employees, bards ......Many of them shoot with the tool of a mobile phone, and the de-elitist creators and tools bring instead a sincere and vibrant quality, which is the biggest difference from the feature films in the main competition.The founder of FIRST Youth Film Festival, Song Wen.In the words of FIRST Youth Film Festival founder Song Wen, mobile phones and other devices allow everyone to find their own creative voice in a much less expensive way.The value of images is being reinvented.Five minutes of ultra-short films, the realistic tension of lifeThe FIRST Ultra Short Film category is limited to 5 minutes and does not accept entries that use professional-grade equipment for the entire film.This means that creators need to make the most of different mediums, from cameras to mobile phones and even car recorders, which in turn leads to wildly creative expressions, and lighter expressions do not mean shallow, as director Liu Kuan, who won FIRST Super Short Film of the Year last year, says.Five minutes is a seemingly light volume, but it's actually heavy because it requires you to be more precise and think more.In these five-minute slices of life, there are sharp insights into social issues, subtle recognition of universal emotions, keen insights into the living conditions of contemporary people, and bold breakthroughs in creative forms and techniques.I also want to talk about a few of the ones in there that impressed me.The LingeringFirst up is the opening film in the FIRST Super Short Film section, "Lingding," which is almost exclusively a two-shot front-and-back, with one actor playing two roles and a couch, using a TV screen as a window to connect reality and heaven.The seemingly open-minded grandfather is still regretting his past regrets, and the missing family chooses to "lie flat" as the chart of an ordinary family unfolds.The pale light illuminating a corner of a dimly lit room and the snowy paradise of the television set creates an atmosphere of absurdity and fantasy, with a sense of loneliness spreading through the images.In a story that relies on dialogue to move forward, the somberness of the real space, the brightness of the virtual world, the detail of the characters, the shifts in light and dark, it actually demands no less from the director's scheduling and equipment shooting performance.So much so, that at one point, I had a hard time believing that the footage was shot entirely on my phone, knowing that I was watching this short film on the big screen.In fact, even director Najazo was surprised by the shoot, saying that the film was created using the vivo X80 Pro, which "includes a lot of detail in the representation of our scenes, and in the representation of the characters.""Lingering" can be described as an exploration of the limits of mobile phone image creation by the director. ▲ "Lingding" creators Na Jazo (right) and Zhou You (left)Having previously made more feature films, and having been selected for the Cannes Film Festival last year with Street Child, Najazo can also see how the new generation of filmmakers are using new media and tools to expand the imagination of 'narrative'.The phone is more of an exercise in thinking, the immediate reaction of the moment. It will have some serendipity to it, in a way that traditional movies don't quite do.Planet B602The five-minute time scale is stretched out in the film, just as our perception of time has been altered by the epidemic over the past two years.Planet B602 builds a simple yet powerful metaphor, with the doohickey becoming the planet that unites the home and isolates the dull life, just like planet B612, where the young prince is, and you can see the echoes of both from the title of the film.This B602 planet has 24 months in a year, and the rhythm of the seasons is controlled by a seemingly strange clock, which is actually a day in a realistic dimension.This is a visual expression of "from life, above life", as mentioned in the award speech of this work.This super-short film is a meditation on the relationship between ourselves and the fleeting and tedious nature of time, and our desire to experience the world beyond our boundaries.HighwaysA short film adapted from a true story, when Yu learns that his parents' van will be passing the highway south of the city the next day, he decides to cross the school fence, through the woods, graveyards and fields, just to be at the bottom of the highway hill, just to say hello to his parents who are passing by.After 30 seconds, there are almost no lines, but the purest and most sincere emotions of the teenagers are presented. And the horn of the big truck at the end is a response to this emotion.This super short film makes full use of the different features of the mobile phone as a tool for visual expression, which is an important reason why the film won the Best Creation Award in the Super Short Film category for vivo mobile phones.Ayu's run towards the highway is a pile-up of pining emotions, and the handheld follow-up footage with the vivo X80 Pro is stable enough.This video stabilization is made possible by vivo's unique Micro Cloud Station technology, as mentioned in our previous review, which improves lens stability by offsetting some of the shake through mechanical structural movement, and excellent motion stabilization and portability for the average creator, while lowering the threshold for implementing complex mirroring. ▲"Highway" by Zhang ZhongchenZhang Zhongchen also mentioned a behind-the-scenes feature at the Super Short Film Forum, in which a lightning shot in the film was actually recorded offhand with a cell phone, and then the script was adjusted based on the lightning footage.The best thing about working with a mobile phone is that I can shoot the material forward, which was not possible when I was shooting with a professional camera And the rendition of the child in the film adds to the climactic burst of emotion; it's actually a vegetarian actor, and it's not easy for the director to capture the emotions of a normal person who is often intimidated by facing the camera for the first time.The common device of a mobile phone instead dissolves the fear of the vegetarian actor and allows him to maintain a natural state in front of the camera. Director Zhang Zhongchen said that for one of the crying scenes in the dormitory, he talked to the young actor before filming and the child naturally started wanting to cry because he was so homesick.This is the biggest difference between mobile phone photography and camera photography. Zhang Zhongchen told us that the whole state of both the photographer and the children in front of the camera is more natural when they are facing a mobile phone lens.I let the camera capture the scene at the time because the phone shot was very light. If it was a camera, it would actually be difficult to capture the real state, after all, there would be a sense of pressure. "The Wanderer is much unafraid "It was just mentioned that mobile phones make it easier to establish a sense of trust with the subject, bringing about a realistic representation that more closely resembles a documentary. This characteristic of the medium is even more evident in "Many Wanderers Are Not Afraid," which reflects life in Wuhan's post-epidemic era.Early in the morning, a swimming team of middle-aged and elderly people met to swim in East Lake. After the crowd jumped into the water, the recovered newly crowned patient "A Handful" was still hesitant to enter the water, and "A Handful" finally took off his mask and jumped into East Lake. The crowd chanted in unison.Swim, swim forward!The director of "The Wanderer is Not Afraid", Zhang XiaosharkDirector Zhang Xiaoshark completed his sketch of a group of ordinary people with a mobile phone lens, and he found the experience very 'freeing'.We are like craftsmen who carve jade, when we find a piece of jade and perceive that it is well suited to be carved with a small carving knife, then a handy device like a mobile phone is like this small carving knife, perhaps this is the time when we can convey our feelings and expressions to the audience with only the proper processing Two Hundred on a SpitSpitting Two Hundred was arguably the most striking of the current super-short films to me in terms of visual form and visual creativity.An online taxi picks up a drunken man late at night and completes a 'Fast and Furious' adventure to keep him from throwing up in the car.The blue decorative light strip inside the Netflix car gives a disorienting light and shadow style at night, which nicely shows the state of the drunk and the driver's inner anxiety.The rich colors, the shaky camera, reminded me of the same moody color language in Chungking Forest.Only this time director Ikramu is using his mobile phone to complete such a shot, with the help of vivo X80 Pro Zeiss Color 2.0 tuning and self developed chip V1+'s extreme night noise reduction algorithm. In the night scene shooting scenes without much auxiliary light source, it still presents clean and realistic picture colors, presenting the wonderful light and shadow of late night.And one of the most impressive shots in the film for me was the use of a drunken man's perspective to show drifting. The director said the shot was straightforward, having the actor grab his phone to 'take a selfie' and shake it as the vehicle moved, which turned out to be surprisingly effective with motion stabilization.I didn't think I might be able to use this kind of lens, and it turns out it can still be done, and it did open up some inspiration and some angles on this.In these ultra-short films, I see the creators exploring video experimentation through new media and tools. But the essence of video narrative has not changed, it still wants to make the audience feel the tension of reality and human emotions that concern the present.The public and social nature of image expression is not limited by durationShort videos have become the most popular form of expression today, but many people have the impression that they are quick, superficial and eye-candy.What is the social and cultural significance of hyper-shorts in today's Internet environment?Without the rituals of the offline scene, the extremely compressed narrative time, whether the public and social nature of the image can still be maintained, the famous film scholar Dai Jinhua believes that these two films can continue to survive the key.At FIRST Youth Film Festival, I also try to find answers through the exchange of these creators.Post-90s director Zhang Zhongchen won Best Feature Film and Best Director in the FIRST main competition last year for his debut film The Last Goodbye, and this year he is participating in the Super Short Film category.After working on feature films and ultra-shorts, Zhang Zhongchen has gained a new understanding of both mediums, telling us that content and emotion are not limited by duration, "as long as it's brave and true images, it's enough, don't care about the form, care about what you say. ".Whether you are a professional director or a writer exploring, the genuine expression is not limited by portable devices, and the length of time does not prevent the creation from extending. Even in the face of countless "unattainable" scenes, creativity continues to grow in the images.The indie film Orange, which received critical acclaim back in 2015 at Sundance, was shot entirely on mobile phones. Acclaimed director Soderbergh, who has been working on the big screen, also went on record in 2018 saying, "I think mobile filming for movies is the future."▲ Image from: The Color of OrangeTime Sickness, which won jury honors in the Super Short Film category this year, is shot and directed by a non-college student, but manages to make the audience feel the cutting pain of her being crushed by time, with a human touch in the images.I was struck by a quote from director Zhou Baiyu after winning the award, "Images shouldn't exist on a pedestal, whether it's a super short or a big feature film, as long as the content is sincere it can move people. "No matter how the tools of creation and the medium of communication change, the tangible recording and observation of realistic emotions will always resonate.The change of tools and forms has brought a new audiovisual language to the creators. Facing this generation of digital natives who grew up with the Internet, it is perhaps more direct and effective to use this image language to express sociality and publicness.Every person with a cell phone is a director of lifeThis is the third year of the vivo x FIRST Super Short Film Competition, which coincides with three of the most torturous years in the film industry, with a large number of film projects being put on hold and a large number of cinemas struggling to survive.However, in the Super Short Film section, we see more and more enthusiastic creators joining the ranks of video creation, even with non-professional equipment, but still insisting on thinking and expressing the reality of life.According to the organizers, 55.21% of the submissions received for this year's Super Short Film category were shot on mobile phones, compared to 21% in the first edition in 2020. The identity of the creators is also more diverse and grassroots, with the post-00s accounting for 41.5% of the participants, forming the youngest video creation community. Smartphones have lowered the threshold of image creation, and mobile phone manufacturers such as vivo continue to close the gap with professional devices in terms of photography performance, which is changing the ecology of image narratives.Mobile phones are making the process of image creation easier and more enjoyable, said Liu Yinwei, senior image effects product manager at Vivo, Vivo imaging technology has always adhered to a human-centric philosophy, not to keep stacking hardware for performance, but from the actual needs of creators.Liu Yinwei told that Vivo will adjust its R&D direction through face-to-face interviews with creators to meet the different needs of entry-level to professional-level creators.For example, the development of the V1+ chip to address brightness and sharpness performance in low light environments for night scenes was based on feedback from creators shooting at night. We also intuitively felt it in the night scenes of "Lingering" and "Highway".We hope that through image technology development, more people from different industries can experience the fun of image creation and more professional mobile image quality, and use superior mobile images to convey the concept of the joy of humanity.A new generation of young creators is discovering that the five-minute super-short is the video medium narrative that everyone can create.Nowadays video-based expression has become a habit for many ordinary people. As Zhang said, video-based expression should be a theme in the content field in the next decade, and the era is moving towards video-based expression.With a platform like vivo x FIRST Super Short Film, more ordinary people have the opportunity to express themselves and enjoy the fun of video creation. For creators who want to go further in video creation, they may collide with new forms and techniques in the creation of super short films, and innovate traditional film and television narratives.Over the past hundred years, cinema has been constantly colliding and merging with various arts and media - theatre, literature, games, the silver screen, television, mobile phones - and now meeting a medium like the ultra-short film opens up new possibilities.An era in which 'everyone is an artist' is dawning, a future envisioned by the famous German artist Joseph Beuys."Everyone is an artist" does not mean that everyone is already an artist, but that everyone has the potential to be creative and to be an artist. If one can draw strength from the most familiar and felt things around them, rethink and recreate, one can become an artist.The mobile video ecosystem built by vivo based on humanized professional video technology and the FIRST creator community is to provide tools within reach of the "everyone is an artist" society, allowing everyone to have the freedom of video creation.As Twitter has changed the way public expression is done. The public has given even the smallest individuals their own brand. The vivo mobile video ecosystem is allowing everyone with a phone to become a director of life . https://techlife.app/archives/after-iphone-ipad-and-mac-the-next-apple-watch-comes-in-a-pro-version.html 2022-08-01T18:08:00+08:00 The Apple Watch is arguably a new product from Apple in the post-Jobs era.The fashion journey of a "watch"Even before its release, Jony Ive, who leads the Apple Watch product, sent it to many celebrities in the fashion world and wanted to get their opinion on the product.▲ From left to right: Colette creative director Sarah Andelman, fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Jony Ive, industrial designer Marc Newson Photo by: businessinsiderAnd during the launch of the first Apple Watch, Jony Ive invited many fashion insiders to join him in building a plain white building at the Flint Center to better showcase the Apple Watch.▲ Photo from: CBSCompared to the previous, or even since, Apple's new product launch sessions, there has never been such a 'hustle'.In many public appearances and interviews, Jony Ive has expressed his hope that the Apple Watch will have an impact on the traditional Swiss watch industry.▲ Jony Ive image via: ideviceThe subsequent promotion of the Apple Watch has been more fashion forward, with frequent appearances in fashion magazines and frequent co-branding with luxury goods.Even in the Edition collection, the case is made of reinforced 18-karat gold, and with the leather strap, the price soars to a luxurious $10,000 (in this case, the price).Not only that, but Apple has designed a separate display for the Apple Watch in the Apple Store, located in the center of the store, in the most prominent place.In addition, to create a boutique image, in addition to the Apple Store, Apple has also set up Apple Watch counters with high-end department stores in France and the UK.Before, during, and after its release, the Apple Watch was planned by Apple or Jony Ive to be more of a "Watch", and hopefully one that could be compared to a Patek Philippe.But these "halos" aside, the first-generation Apple Watch is more of a "big bracelet," with heart rate monitoring and IPX7 water resistance that's not too far behind the competition, but lags significantly behind its Android Wear contemporaries in terms of battery life.Positioned in favor of fashion and without enough functional differentiation, even though it received 1 million orders within 6 hours of pre-order, the mere feature of "Watch" to lead the continuation of multiple generations of updates is far from enough for Apple, which mainly plays the technology ecology card.No more fashions, health is paramountA year later, Apple has made a rare 'reboot' of the Apple Watch.At its fall 2016 event, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 1 and Apple Watch Series 2.The Apple Watch Series 2 is the regular iteration, while the Series 1 has a few upgrades and modifications for the initial generation.▲ Image from: wareableAnd to distinguish it, the first-generation Apple Watch was given the special model number Apple Series 0 by folk. In fact, the Apple Watch Series 0 is called more like a beta version of the product.After the "reboot," the Apple Watch is no longer about "Watch" as its core selling point, but about health and exercise, transforming it from a fashion darling to a health assistant for everyday people.But the associated fashion attributes remain, such as the unique displays in the Apple Store and the joint customization with Hermès.But the luxurious 18-karat gold of the Edition has been replaced by more expensive materials with "technological" properties, such as ceramic and titanium.▲ The official material also favors functionalityOn the whole, Apple Watch is no longer geared towards the average consumer with a high profile, but cuts into the lives of individuals with a "smart device" that is as close to the iPhone and Mac as one would like.In terms of features, Apple Watch Series 2 has built-in GPS, enabling it to accurately record movement tracks; Apple Watch Series 3 adds eSIM functionality to receive information independently; Series 4 adds an ECG electronic heart sensor, allowing regular users to check their ECG at any time; Series 5 updates the Series 5 has updated its screen, using LTPO, so that its screen can always be lit; Series 6 adds a blood oxygen saturation sensor.The Apple Watch Series 7 has a built-in "contoured" dial, and from a side angle, you might even think the words are spilling off the screenIn terms of looks, the Apple Watch has changed size twice and the screen has been enlarged twice, all the way up to the latest Apple Watch Series 7.The changes are divided by the Series 4, with 40mm replacing 38mm and 44mm replacing 42mm, while the display area of the screen has increased by more than 30%, which intuitively means a complete 'full screen'.▲ Left: Apple Watch Series 4, Right: Apple Watch Series 3 Image via: cnetIn last year's Series 7, the screen size was expanded by 1mm to 41mm and 45mm respectively, and the display area became larger accordingly.Not only is Apple introducing more health sensors to the Apple Watch and continuing to work on healthcare, the Apple Watch is also partnering with healthcare providers to gradually become a monitoring device with an endorsement.Also in light of the Apple Watch's capabilities in exercise logging, Apple is getting into the exercise content market with the launch of Fitness+ fitness service.It's the constant investment around in healthcare and sports that has given the Apple Watch a 30% market share, well ahead of the competition.▲ It's hard to tell who's Apple Watch Series 7 without a direct comparisonHowever, in the latest Series 7, Apple has not come up with newer features (or sensors) and the range level is almost the same as before, the changes and perceptions in the new product are more in the tiny size.Apple Watch product line is about to change dramaticallyCompared to previous years, when each generation had unique new features, the Apple Watch's subsequent updates are starting to get a bit lackluster.Mark Gurman, who has been following Apple on Bloomberg and has a high prediction accuracy rate, also recently shared his strategy for the next updates to the Apple Watch product line.In fact, not only Apple, consumer electronics products when the function can not do innovation, always in the design or appearance of the first change.▲ Apple Watch Series 8 HypotheticalThe Apple Watch Series 8 will do the same, and like the Series 4, will feature a new design, but still revolve around a square dial and a rounded body (not excluding an almost enlarged screen), rather than the right-angled edges that were rumored prior to the Series 7's release.In addition, a new product line, Apple Watch Pro, is being introduced. similar to the iPhone's Pro line, which focuses on imaging, Apple Watch Pro will focus on 'sports'.The Apple Watch Pro line will challenge Garmin's professional-grade sports watches with a larger dial and a more rugged profile than the current one, and the case will be made of titanium similar to the Edition.▲ 47mm Size Apple Watch Dial Size ComparisonThese features are in line with previous rumors that Apple will launch a larger (possibly 47mm) Apple Watch aimed at outdoor and extreme sports.In addition, the Pro will also have a breakthrough in battery life compared to the regular version, perhaps due to the larger size of the body which brings a larger capacity battery.But the sensors remain the same as the Series 7 and Series 6, and the previously rumored blood pressure and glucose sensors may not appear in the Apple Watch until 2025.The Apple Watch Pro could cost as much as $1,000 after a series of buff additions, almost similar to the iPhone's Pro line.Paired with the traditional 41mm and 45mm sizes, the Apple Watch product line will feature three new models for the first time, again similar to the iPhone, which was upgraded from a single model in the early days to a dual model, eventually evolving into the current dual series of four.▲ Apple Watch Size EvolutionAs for the regular iteration of the Apple Watch Series 8, the upgrades will likely revolve around looks as well, with few changes to its processor and sensors.Combined with watchOS 9, which is already in public beta, Series 8 will most likely be similar to Series 7, which may make it difficult to motivate older users to update their iterations.The Apple Watch has a longer lifecycle than the phone, and even years ago the Series 4 was still able to run watchOS 9 and offer most features in health and exercise.With the possible launch of the Pro series this year, it's definitely aiming at a professional niche and remains a market segmentation act.And for the regular model, perhaps similar to the iPad Pro, extending the update cycle to 18-24 months might make a more noticeable difference to the product.After the Apple Watch shifted its positioning from fashion to health, popular demand allowed it to gradually capture a large share of the market and further consolidate the Apple ecosystem.But after Apple Watch updates became lackluster and began to change around the design, it took aim at niche (outdoor, extreme) groups from the masses.If Apple continues to want the Apple Watch to continue to grow, it needs to find a popular demand that is similar to health monitoring and exercise logging, in addition to making design changes. Otherwise, it's likely to return to the growth "dead end" that the first Apple Watch faced. https://techlife.app/archives/apple-replaces-the-small-mini-with-the-larger-max-then-sells-the-iphone-for-more.html 2022-08-01T18:03:00+08:00 In [fall] 2020 (https://www..com/1377719), Apple surprisingly introduced the iPhone 12 mini, both as Apple's first four new iPhones in a year and as the first mini model of the iPhone.Instead of 'scaled-down' hardware specs, the iPhone 12 mini is simply smaller and almost indistinguishable from the iPhone 12.It also became the most talked about and discussed new product at the launch that year, and even though its smaller size made its battery life a concern, as well as its inability to dual SIM, etc., it still had many 'small screen' lovers salivating.▲ iPhone 12 mini is smaller than iPhone 8 Image from: macworldThe iPhone 12 mini also seems to give the mobile market a touch of freshness, as it turns out that 'small screen' phones can also be fully equipped.If the iPhone 12 mini is able to gain some market favor during an update cycle, it's highly likely that many Android manufacturers will refocus on these specific needs.iPhone mini series replaced by large screen MaxYet while the ideal is rich, the reality is skeletal.The iPhone 12 mini is hot, but it doesn't translate into real sales, and most consumers are 'too smart for their own good'.▲ mini series is not on the list Image from: CounterpointTwo months after its release, the iPhone 12 mini only accounted for 6 percent of the overall iPhone 12 series sales that year, and Apple discontinued it early.After a year, Apple still released an iteration of the iPhone 13 mini, made with a similar idea to the 12 mini, which is a scaled-down version of the iPhone 13.▲ iPhone 13 Series Image from: XDAThe iPhone 13 series was already more of an S-enhanced version without the big innovations that would have made it difficult for mini users to iterate. iPhone 13 mini accounted for an even lower 3 percent of total sales.Unlike the iPhone 13 (12), which is a "jack of all trades", the mini series has a distinctive character, a Phone Life Banlace, and a sense of relaxation and reclusion.However, this is not a mass market demand and is limited to a small group of users.For the consumer electronics industry, making products smaller and more sophisticated is far more difficult than making them larger, and the need for more precise machining will obviously come at a significant cost.The mini series, which has been getting weaker and weaker for two years running, will likely not appear in the iPhone lineup this year or even beyond.Back in March of this year, there were many sources claimed that Apple would be dropping the mini from the iPhone 14 lineup and replacing it with a Max (Plus) lineup with a larger screen.▲ Rumored iPhone 14 Series Image from: theapplehubIn this way, the digital series for the masses becomes iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max (Plus), while the Pro series remains iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the screen sizes of the two series correspond.As for the smaller mini series, it will be cancelled and should not appear in the SE. iPhone SE is more inclined to the older iPhone models, most likely iPhone XR, iPhone 11.The root cause of the ### mini series' poor sales is still too expensiveThe cancellation of the mini series can be attributed to poor market performance, but the deeper reason is 'pricing'.The mini series corresponds to a "small screen" and small size, and many users have the impression that such a configuration should also come with a more "reasonable" pricing.The mini series, which doesn't come with a simple package, is actually classified as a "flagship series" and is priced the same as the regular-sized iPhones, starting at $699 ($5,499).Going forward, that's the same price as the iPhone 11, Phone 8, and iPhone 7 pricing, all of which were entry prices for flagships back in the day.Before the mini came along, the "small screen" line was actually taken over by the iPhone SE line. The iPhone SE is also the lowest-priced iPhone.▲ iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone SE 3With the launch of the iPhone mini, it's a real "volume and price increase." At nearly $700, the distinctive mini is no longer the best choice, preferring instead to go with the larger iPhone 12(13) for another $100.As for the flagship mini series, it ended up being the choice of small-screen 'enthusiasts' only.Under the high price, the product disadvantages of the mini are infinitely magnified, the inconvenience of the small screen, the battery life due to the small battery, the aging of the lithium battery caused by frequent charging and discharging, and the frequent jump in pricing due to poor sales.▲ iPhone XR was the best-selling phone in the world in 2019This is the same situation as the iPhone XR ($749, $6,499), which was previously 'priced against the odds'.After the official adjusted price, the iPhone XR's bezels and screen resolution are no longer flaws, instead the colorful color scheme made it the popular model of the year.If Apple wants to boost the mini lineup's performance, dropping the price to a reasonable range is one (and probably the only) viable option.▲ iPhone SE 4 could replicate the look of the iPhone XRBut under $699, there's the previous generation, and the iPhone SE sequence, and the price cut is likely to affect sales of the others.Also, an unprecedented price drop for an iPhone (especially a flagship) when no subsequent updated model is on the horizon.As a result, the mini line of iPhones is likely to go down in history.The increasingly expensive iPhoneFrom the advent of the iPhone 12 series mini to the iPhone 13 series mini, both generations of iPhone followed a pricing gradient of $699, $799, $999, and $1099 for an upgrade for an additional $100.The Max (Plus), which comes in the iPhone 14 series, is likely to break this setting.The iPhone 14 maintains $799, while the iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max is $999/1099.The iPhone 14 Max (Plus), which has a larger screen than the iPhone 14, could be priced at $899, thus completing the overall price increase for this year's iPhone lineup.The larger-screened iPhone 14 Max (Plus) is also very likely to be the breakout model of this generation and a growth area for iPhone this year.In this way, even if overall sales of the iPhone 14 series don't increase, the iPhone 14's customer price per unit will go up overall due to the overall price adjustment, which will ultimately generate enough sales for Apple.In fact, it's not just the iPhone 14 series as a whole that has seen an increase in price. Throughout its history, iPhone pricing has been cranked up.Prior to the iPhone 6, Apple would only release one flagship per year priced at $649. Starting with the iPhone 6, Apple implemented a dual-phone strategy, and the Plus version logically went up in price to $749 (a $100 price increase).By the time the iPhone X came along, the $999 Pro-level price tag also became the pricing for Apple's premium lineup.At that time, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were more of a lineup for the masses, while the iPhone X was Pro-level.▲ iPhone XS MaxThe following year, the iPhone XS Max made the iPhone hit $1099 ($9599), making it the most expensive iPhone ever.To follow, the iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone 13 series all maintain a pricing strategy starting at $699 and capped at $1099.While the product line continues to segment and prices as a whole rise, the iPhone XR, iPhone 11, and iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini, which are the lowest priced, are actually a 'price anchor' for the iPhone.These tend to have more obvious 'flaws', the thick bezels of the XR and 11, the size and range of the 12 mini and 13 mini.Under the 'price anchor', users' perceptions develop a certain 'proportionality bias' and they are more willing to pay $100 more to get a better 'value' in comparison.Among the iPhone 14 series, iPhone 14 will soon be the new 'price anchor'. iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max (Plus) are rumored to still use the A15 SoC, so adding money for a larger screen and a more recognizable look will make many users feel like they're getting a 'bargain'.Apple's business practice of constantly setting up price anchors to increase "customer price per unit" is actually not limited to the iPhone, but has extended to mass consumer product lines such as Apple Watch, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.Looking at previous years' product lines, Apple's product line has been tweaked and upgraded with a similar upgrade strategy to that of the chip industry's Tik-Tok, with changes made almost every two or three years.The core of the change revolves around how to get higher sales, profits, and increase 'customer price per unit'. https://techlife.app/archives/your-airpods-can-use-the-usb-c-port-with-just-a-billion-dots.html 2022-07-24T20:02:00+08:00 The advent of the iPod changed Apple as well as disrupted the traditional recording industry.Apple also grew rapidly as a technology company as a result, and the traditional recording industry was eventually replaced by digital music.In 2004, Apple created a series of "Silhouette" commercials for the burgeoning iPod.Whether it's a dynamic TV commercial or a traditional outdoor ad, the format is much the same, with silhouetted characters dancing against a colorful backdrop and only two subjects being highlighted.White iPod and white headphones.In Jony Ive's recollections, most consumer electronics were arbitrary in their materials and design, and the iPod was conceived with the intention of counting the headphones and the body as a whole, using the same design language.This unique design quickly made the iPod an "icon" to be remembered without the need for a giant logo and company name on the product. From a distance, the white headphones and white body are the iPod.In May of this year, Apple announced that it was officially discontinuing its iPod product line, bringing an end to an era.But the iPod + iTunes way of listening to music has been replaced by iPhone + Apple Music, and in a way, the road to "disrupting" the traditional way of listening that started with the iPod hasn't stopped.The white wired headphones, which used to be an icon, have likewise been replaced by the AirPods, introduced in 2016, as Apple's new street icon.Similar to most of Apple's products with the 'disruptive' tag, AirPods have suffered a lot of criticism after their launch.▲ Meme that mimics the Silhouette ad Image from: tbsMostly centered around the 'weird' form factor, high price tag, audible sound quality, and weak battery life.The final market feedback, like the first generation iPhone, completely set off a wave of real wireless headphones, and revitalized the real wireless headphone market by itself.Today, AirPods have become almost synonymous with TWS and have a considerable hold on them.Unlike smartphones, AirPods feature a one-piece enclosed design with very low serviceability. With frequent use and charging and discharging, the batteries in the headphones and case are highly susceptible to deterioration, rendering them unusable.Apple does not offer repairs for AirPods, but rather replacements instead. Even within some private repair facilities, the AirPods headphones body can be extended by replacing the battery, but for the tightly-fitted charging case, it can only be replaced in its entirety.Six years after the release of the original AirPods, there are a significant number of AirPods in need of repair, and even if they were upgraded or replaced, they would create a significant amount of electronic waste.Ken Pillonel, who once replaced the Lightning connector with a USB-C connector on an iPhone X, explored a solution for the non-repairability of AirPods when he modified them (or changed the connector).After revamping the iPhone, Ken Pillonel took to his blog to tease that the next target of the revamp would be AirPods.It's just that the time span is a bit long.Only after a gap of eight months did Ken announce the progress and results of the project to the public. Interestingly, he gave the project the somewhat ironic name of 'AirPods Dirty Secret'.With such naming, it's actually an allusion to the fact that Apple isn't doing enough for the environment, and that the environment has to give way in the face of profit.▲ Rarely do you see spoiler disassembly in iFixit Image from: iFixitTo replace the USB-C port for AirPods, you first have to disassemble the charging case perfectly, except that Apple didn't make a redundant design for AirPods for the sake of 'unity', and to disassemble it, you have to break it down destructively.Not only Ken, but also iFixit, a well-known teardown repair facility, has failed to find a perfect way to remove the AirPods charging case and gave the AirPods a 0 out of 10 rating for serviceability.The iPhone, on the other hand, is almost always around a 6, which is not a bad score in the iFixit product library, relatively speaking.The aforementioned, nearly unrepairable AirPods charging case will essentially be abandoned after two years, becoming high-risk electronic waste with its own lithium battery.To that end, Ken is replacing the USB-C port while also considering ways to make the AirPods more repairable.He first made a rough case using a 3D printer to gather data on the corresponding case to get as close to Apple's design and materials as possible.Ultimately, Ken designed a custom flexible PCB, also using 3D printing, to reconfigure the housing of the AirPods charging case.Unlike the disposable design of the original, Ken has made a snap on housing to facilitate subsequent replacement of internal components.In the interface section, the PCB charging module for the USB-C interface can also be relatively similar in size to Lightning as it does not involve exchanging data.After mapping the pins on the AirPods' motherboard to the USB-C, Ken was almost done replacing the connector.Among the videos he released, replacing the USB-C port only takes up a small part of the video, with more really revolving around how to reconfigure the charging case for the AirPods.In addition to the motherboard and LiPo battery, Ken's project pretty much redesigned the AirPods charging case with a removable design for the motherboard fixing, and USB-C PCB circuit board.To just make AirPods easily repairable, rather than a whole replacement.Likewise, similar to his iPhone X project, he has open sourced the PCB schematics and CAD files for the case on GitHub.And in the video, it says that everyone can use this data to complete a reconstruction of the AirPods.Of course, what he fails to mention is that even with the raw data, we still need a billion dots of hands-on ability.Ken also offers his musings in the video, as he is simply an engineering and robotics student studying to make the AirPods repairable with just a simple idea.This move may help many AirPods users simply replace components, reducing throwaways, reducing electronic waste, and ultimately being environmentally friendly.The AirPods replacement port project is also no longer just about USB-C having better versatility, but rises to a sustainable repairable design.Apple, which has been committed to promoting its considerable efforts to be environmentally friendly, has become increasingly integrated and non-repairable in the design of many of its products, and Ken believes that these 'disposable' product ideas run counter to Apple's original intent of being environmentally friendly.As is the case for AirPods, Apple does not have a repair plan or recall program for them.In addition, the EU IMCO agency has introduced laws and regulations requiring Apple to move to USB-C in AirPods and iPhones by the end of 2024.It also means that Apple will have to switch from Lightning to USB-C on the iPhone by the fall of 2024 if it wants to continue shipping in the EU.▲ Ken Pillonel Photo from: YouTubeIn this way, older devices based on the Lightning interface may be rendered obsolete without subsequent upgrades, leading to the abandonment of older devices and also to environmental problems.It's true that many consumer electronics have introduced integrated design for the sake of design sense, but are increasingly neglecting serviceability, and it's better to turn your head towards good product sustainability and design as opposed to making a big deal about progress in the environmental cause.Making electronics have a longer lifespan and a certain recycling program is perhaps the most important "environmental protection" that cannot be ignored. https://techlife.app/archives/the-biggest-change-to-the-new-macbook-air-is-the-design-not-the-m2.html 2022-07-19T20:03:00+08:00 Apple's position on the MacBook Air lineup is always changing.▲ The famous scene of MacBook AirKnown for its thin and light design at its inception, the Air became the 'entry' base model for Apple computers as Retina screens became more popular and the MacBook Pro rose to prominence.Even though in 2018, Apple redesigned the MacBook Air again with a Retina screen, the positioning was not changed.The Air is still the 'affordable' Mac.Until this year (2022), the MacBook Air changed design again, ditching the classic 'wedge' design in favor of a design similar to the MacBook Pro.In theory, the new MacBook Air is still Air enough and slightly less powerful than the new MacBook Pro, but it's no longer positioned as an 'entry' model.The burden of getting the M chip to the old molded MacBooks, and the new MacBook Air and Pro make up Apple's new MacBook line.If the MacBook Pro focuses on practicality and professionalism, the no-longer-affordable MacBook Air begins to lean toward "style," or "looks.The biggest change is the design, not the M2Similar to iPad Air, the new MacBook Air comes in Starlight and Midnight colors. It's not quite as colorful as the iMac, but it's still recognizable from the Pro line.Using different colorways for different product lines is something Apple has always done.For example, in the Pro sequence, a color scheme with technological attributes like gray and black is usually used, while in mass-oriented products, colorfulness is favored to show the vibrancy of the product.After seeing the new design of the MacBook Air, many people thought that the lack of continuity of the "wedge" design took away the soul of the Air.It's not. With the full shift to M chips, the design language of the MacBook line is less aggressive and more practical, and that's true of the new Air.The "uniform" design style gives MacBook Air more internal space, so the battery doesn't have to be stepped for a wedge shape.As a result, the new MacBook Air has a higher battery capacity than its predecessor, and its internals have been made neater and simpler.Unlike the M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro, where the M1 MacBook Air is still a combination of a new chip and an old mold, the M2 MacBook Air is a combination of a new chip and a new design.▲ Left: Intel version of MBA, Right: M1 MBA Image from: ifixitInside the M1 MacBook Air, Apple has replaced the spot originally reserved for a fan with a cooling fast, and the other side is attached to the M1 SoC via silicone grease, which has limited cooling efficiency but is still a reasonable cooling configuration.▲ M1 MacBook Air's cooling block Image from: ifixitIn particular, the M1's energy efficiency ratio was much higher than what was understood at the time for PC chips, and the performance of the original Intel chips was really weak.By the time you get to the M2 MacBook Air, the theory is that the more spacious space will have a more rigorous layout and design.▲ Much like the iPad Image from: MaxTechAnd with YouTube blogger Max Tech taking it apart, the M2 MacBook Air is quite similar to the iPad in terms of how it's put together and its cooling configuration inside.The motherboard consisting of the SoC, memory and hard drive only takes up a small portion of the motherboard, with the vast majority of the space being taken up by the battery.To be sure, similar to the iPad Air 5 and iPad mini 6, the battery features an easy-to-repair, easy-to-replace adhesive configuration.The motherboard is shielded and passively cooled by a thin layer of metal, and the SoC is indirectly in contact with it via silicon grease.If this cooling design is standard for iPad, it's a bit "spartan" when put on a PC.You could even say that the M2 MacBook Air has taken a step backwards in terms of cooling configuration compared to the M1 MacBook Air's cooling block.There is no denying that the M chip has an excellent power efficiency ratio compared to traditional x86 chips. It has lower heat generation in light to medium duty conditions, and completes Apple's idea of abandoning the "fan".It's just that on the M2 MacBook Air, the spartan cooling setup takes the performance boost out of the M2.Some reverse escalation is in orderAmong comparisons with the M2 MacBook Pro, the M2 MacBook Air has greater temperature fluctuations, with a clear cycle of heat buildup, downscaling and heat buildup again.MacBook Air's speed continues to drop when you do heavier tasks for longer periods of time.▲ Image from: GregsGadgetsEven when compared to yourself, there is still a significant gap.The new MacBook Air comes in two M2 SoCs - an 8-core CPU paired with an 8-core GPU in the base version, and a 10-core GPU in the premium version.In GregsGadgets' test, the base 8-core GPU slightly outperformed the premium 10-core GPU in the same Tomb Raider game, due to poor cooling, which caused the 10-core The reason for this is poor cooling, which allows the 10-core GPU to have more heat build-up, and then quickly go into a slowdown phase.In addition, the M2 MacBook Air's CPU dropped from 3.2GHz to 2.65GHz and core temperatures spiked to 94°C under MaxTech's extreme operating conditions with continuous CineBench R23 runs.Likewise, the GPU experienced the same in multiple rounds of 3D Mark, with the lowest frequency coming in at 900MHz, which is not too far off the initial 1398MHz base frequency.It's not just these intense score tests, but the new MacBook Air has likewise experienced degradation from poor cooling in many external media and in our own testing and use.▲ Same as M2 MacBook Pro, still single NAND particle Image from: MaxTechOn top of that, the same SSD slowdown that exists in the base M2 MacBook Pro is also present in the new MacBook Air 256GB version.Whichever way you look at it, the thin and light nature of the new MacBook Air is a trade-off for consistent and stable performance release. It's better suited to light office situations, and even more bluntly, the new MacBook Air is more like a netbook.The MacBook Air's positioning is starting to lean towards 'stylish' and based on its performance.A bias toward fashion makes the new MacBook Air a narrower audienceThroughout Apple products, it would be the first generation of Apple Watch that carries the fashion label.▲ 2014 Apple Fall Launch Venue Photo from: CBSFor the launch, unlike traditional tech products, Jony Ive invited celebrities from the fashion world to join him and spent a lot of money building a pristine white building at the Flint Center for the Apple Watch.Subsequently, the Apple Watch also appeared frequently in fashion magazines and co-branded bands with major luxury brands.At the time, the Apple Watch was more of a trendy accessory on the wrist, and Jony Ive wanted it to be a shock to the traditional Swiss watch industry.And then Apple started setting up Apple Watch counters in high-end department stores in France and the UK, in an effort to gradually break into the boutique market itself.It's just that the first generation of Apple Watch wasn't much different from anything else on the market in terms of functionality, and the so-called 'boutique' strategy didn't convince the masses to spend it.A year later with the Apple Watch Series 2, Apple also began to position the Apple Watch with a practical orientation to exercise, health monitoring, and more, which continues to this day.Today, the Apple Watch continues to be health-oriented, evolving from heart rate in its infancy to a range of personal health assistants such as blood oxygen, ECG, and sleep monitoring.The Apple Watch has become one of the most essential devices in many people's lives today. And the shift in Apple Watch's positioning is a twist that has made it so successful today.With the Mac's full shift to its own M chips (especially with the performance of the M1 MacBook Air), it seems Apple has finally found a balance between thinness and performance that doesn't lose most of its performance to excessive thinness.But in the M2 MacBook Air, with its weak cooling features, it seems to be back to the old ways of giving up a lot of performance in the pursuit of thinness and lightness, even though the M2 has a far better power efficiency ratio than the Intel chip.In this way, the M2 MacBook Air is more of a cosmetic design change than a two-way upgrade that takes advantage of the power efficiency of the M chip.The M2 MacBook Air is also positioned somewhat similarly to the first Apple Watch in that they are more trendy and stylish than functional, a position that will likely remain with the M-chip MacBook Air.