Dmian

The blue led was released in 1993. I remember reading an article in Wired magazine (back when magazines were published on paper) about the invention. Gladly, the article is still available online: https://www.wired.com/1995/03/blue-laser/

I talked with some friends about the “true boo-roo” led, and the phrase stuck with us (that’s why I still remember the article). At the time (almost 30 years ago) we had no idea how important the invention was, even when we realized that it allowed for rgb led light.

But we had no idea leds would be miniaturized to be used in screens and be as ubiquitous as they are today. Living through all this technology evolution has been quite the ride.

First iteration. I’m sure it’ll improve with time. I guess we all remember those solid gold Apple Watches… XDDD

That’s interesting. It’s a bit funny that new technology can take us closer to those far, and at the same time take us far from those close. :P

I don’t want to make predictions because I may, most probably, fail. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. Some products need more times than others, and some need to get something (and innovative app, for example) that justifies its existence.

Time will tell. But still, it’s a first generation. Even the iPhone was not that good in its first generation. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes.

I’m not claiming that this is the end of western civilization or anything like that. What I mean is: the ads sell it like “you will be able to interact with those around you without problems”, and I think that’s not entirely true.

I’m not judging people wanting to isolate themselves, but in my opinion taking this thing off or putting it on is not as easy as putting your smartphone aside, or a newspaper aside.

My thinking is that this will be way more an individual experience than Apple sells. So people should take that into consideration.

The biggest problem I see from these kind of devices is: you’re isolating yourself. For example, it looks very cool that you can see a movie with a similar experience to a theatre, but you’re completely isolated using it. I don’t see a family, each with one of these devices on, watching a movie on the couch at the same time. It’s complicated enough when people have their smartphones out while eating with others…

That doesn’t mean that it hasn’t its uses, but it’s more limited than what the try to sell to you. You’re by yourself when you’re using this device, even if you can see others.

Exactly. Basically the most common YouTuber reaction to putting this device on for the first time is “Oh! it’s heavy…” XD

This is a first generation modern Apple product: expensive, flawed, lacking in features. I’ve been a long time Apple user, and if I had the money to buy something like this (I don’t), I would definitely avoid it, and wait for iteration 2 or 3 of it. The review is good, and highlight all the reasons why you should avoid buying this device, unless you wan to develop something for it. Guess we’ll only see YouTubers using it.

From the article (did you read it?):

Since you’ll mostly experience the Vision Pro in there, the most noticeable thing about the hardware after a while is that it’s just… heavy. You’re supposed to wear this thing on your face for long stretches of computer time, and depending on which band and light seal you use, the headset alone weighs between 600 and 650 grams. I keep joking that the Vision Pro is an iPad for your face, but it’s heavier than an 11-inch iPad Pro (470 grams) and pushing close to a 12.9-inch iPad Pro (682 grams), so in a very real way, it’s an iPad for your face.

And…

[…] but it’s also very Apple that the battery is not actually bigger so it can provide more than two and a half hours of run time.

He took measures in his first days that produced rises in both food and fuel, two of the biggest components of inflation. You think that may have influenced or not? I mean…

Billionaires are the cancer of the system.

“Make more money, faster, at any cost” seems to be the motto of a lot of companies these days… Stockholders are there, waiting for their returns, like hungry hatchlings. And CEOs will do anything to try to keep them happy. This system is shit.

I just looked at a mobile plan in Movistar (Spain). The page is in Spanish, but I guess you can understand the part I marked in red.

Really? Why is that? Why you can’t compare two instant messaging apps? What is so hilarious?

Btw, WhatsApp was made by a different company, and then bought by Meta, when it was already the most used instant messaging app in the EU. And it has a lot of really nice features. There’s a reason so many people use it.

But it’s not “most”, it’s more like half of Americans use iMessage (that’s not an app, it’s a service, the app is called Messages), and the other half uses SMS with different apps.

The factor that moved people away from SMS in the EU was telecom companies charging for it. SMS is virtually free for telecom companies, but European companies got greedy, and people moved to WhatsApp. They tried to block it, but accepted defeat after a while.

In the US, SMS is free with your phone plan, and it became popular with young people until iMessage appeared. Since iPhones are still subsidized by US telcos (afaik, correct me if I’m wrong), a lot of young people have iPhones and use iMessage, that’s far superior to SMS.

Guess you’re right. I’m not justifying them, but trying to put a bit of light into why a lot of people don’t care. I’m not the kind of person to express such a moot opinion, but I guess some people get tired of seeing a conversation that only affects only a portion of people and feel the need to express their feelings. Again, I’m the kind to remain silent, but there are all kinds of people out there.

It’s interesting: in all my ignorance, my perception is that it’s the Germans the ones that feel more and more like the Americans (other than the British). But it may be just a wrong perception on my part. I honestly don’t know for certain.

Edit: a small note: you still gave the Greens and the Pirate Party to the EU Parliament, that are the best thing to ever happen to it. :D

…and an old fart, hahaha!

We are lucky the EU is forcing them to adopt standards and not abuse their power. Maybe we’ll see some progress. New iPhones coming with USB-C is a good start and, ironically, I think it will make them sell more phones. But regarding blue vs green bubbles, the massive adoption of WhatsApp in the EU (fuelled by the greed of European Telcos charging per SMS) made us immune to this discussion.

But remember: instead of going with DOS, or a PC compatible system, they developed their own OS. It’s always been closed. And doing things “their way”.

I’ve been a Mac user for more than 30 years, and I’ve always been isolated from the PC ecosystem. No PC Card was ever usable with a Mac, until they changed to Intel processors in 2005, and even then, you didn’t have drivers for those, you have to rely on some outside development. You could barely read PC files, and most PCs couldn’t read Mac files without external software until Apple changed to Mac OS X in 2001. PC peripherals were incompatible (different connectors and electrical requirements) until Apple introduced USB with the iMac in 1998 (and the PC ecosystem caught up with it).

While Macs were (somewhat) upgradeable, you needed to buy Mac specific parts to do it, made by Apple approved vendors.

So, It’s always been a walled garden. I know, I was there before the iPhone, before the iPod. They’re doing nothing different from when they started. The difference is in society: internet appeared, and we now expect everything to work with everything. We expect to be interconnected. But Apple? They always liked to be their own thing, to be different (“think different”, remember?).

So, it’s just normal Apple behaviour. Expecting anything different is not knowing what Apple really is. Fortunately, the EU thinks doing things “the Apple way” is no longer valid, and is forcing them to adopt standards, and don’t abuse their position. But they’re doing it reluctantly, complaining, and putting a fight.