All Things Mac/ Apple
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Well, a larger screen almost necessarily means a larger battery…
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#bendgate is BS? (via DF)
Consumer Reports:
All the phones we tested showed themselves to be pretty tough. The iPhone 6 Plus, the more robust of the new iPhones in our testing, started to deform when we reached 90 pounds of force, and came apart with 110 pounds of force. With those numbers, it slightly outperformed the HTC One (which is largely regarded as a sturdy, solid phone), as well as the smaller iPhone 6, yet underperformed some other smart phones. […]
Below you can see the pictures of the smart phone carnage, but bear in mind that it took significant force to do this kind of damage to all these phones. While nothing is (evidently) indestructible, we expect that any of these phones should stand up to typical use.
Consumer Reports is the outfit that made Antennagate a thing. If anything, their reputation is such that you’d expect them to fan the flames on this, not extinguish them. They’re saying the iPhone 6 Plus is even more bend-resistant than the regular 6. This should put an end to Bendgate — but it won’t, because in the minds of the deranged, the new iPhones bend like a chocolate bar left out in the sun.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/09/consumer-reports-tests-iphone-6-bendgate/index.htm
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What's interesting to me is that Apple's and their testing seems to have done by stressing the center of the phone. The weak point is off-center, near the volume controls. Were I Apple, my tests would run a roller along the long axis of the phone under pressure so that I could identify such weak points.
But yeah, it does appear to be a non-issue.
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There's a review of the Apple Watch on aBlogToWatch:
http://www.ablogtowatch.com/apple-watch-hands-on-review/
And they posted a video too, but that looks like an Apple commercial, rather than something they put together.
The Watch looks less nerdy than the Android equivalents, and the design is a lot slicker. Then again, no-one makes technology as nice as Apple.
I like the look of the zooming in UI, but whether the UX works well in practice is something I can't tell from here. I suspect it will, because that's another of Apple's strengths.
Where the Android devices will win out is in the Google notifications. The card system you get on the current (KitKat, Ice Cream Sandwich) versions is translated directly onto the watches and Glass. Google is using its expertise in data and its stalker tendencies to predict what you want, and I'm not sure Apple can compete with this.
Lastly, if you compare the back of the Apple Watch with something like the Basis Fitness Tracker, it looks as though there's a heart rate sensor built in. I suspect it's going to be ahead of 90% of the market on being able to monitor your activity.
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Definitely can monitor heart rate. The review is strange. I don't think there are any real review units, and a lot of it is very speculative, for example the discussion on battery life. At best anyone's "hands-on" wasn't with an Apple Watch, but an Apple Watch prototype.
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Just got a new 13" Macbook Pro to replace my mid 2010. Wow, what a difference
Decided I'm not replacing my 3 year old iPad when the new one comes out as I take my Macbook everywhere. It was nice to have the iPad when I was on travel for work since I already have my work laptop with me, but in the last year or so I haven't traveled for work at all so the iPad has been relegated to being the jukebox in the living room and nothing more
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That's good to hear. I'm planning to buy the same 13" MB Pro this month to replace my 2007 15" MB Pro.
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That's good to hear. I'm planning to buy the same 13" MB Pro this month to replace
my 2007 15" MB Pro.2011 13" MBA
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I have an aging MBA that's nearing its end. I'll have to get a new one, probably the same 10" model with more storage.
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i'm waiting for the new broadwell chips so i can finally get the 15"MBPr to replace my already dead 2010 15"MBP. the geniuses told me it was something to do with the graphics system or something like that. hope the new MBPr doesnt disappoint.
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Not actually quieter, they just flatten out harmonics so that it's less noticeable and piercing (the "illusion" of quiet).
Here's an article on the patent filing: http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/12/20/patent-filings-detail-retina-macbook-pros-quiet-asymmetric-fans
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Fan noise can certainly be an issue if you are recording using a half decent microphone and don't have the luxury of a booth/live room….
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Yeah… As a recovering field recording geek, I wouldn't record direct to a laptop anyway. Fan noise is but one problem of many. At the very least you'd need microphone preamps and a decent digital interface between the mics and the computer (no laptop's sound card that I'm aware of is sufficient to do serious recording). Then you have to get into storage considerations (today's frequency rate and bit depth demands lead to obscene file sizes just in stereo, not to mention of you're doing B-format or other formats with still more channels) and account for crashes and the like. In my view, your recording system should be as low level as it can possibly be while meeting your requirements, the higher up the application stack you go the more complexity and risk there is... and the more necessary fans are because of all that complexity.
Been out of the game for a while, but I'm sure they make solid state field recording devices that would be far more reliable and with no fan noise.
