I love that they teased this announcement with "Wish we could say more". Uh, last I checked no one was stopping you, assholes.
If the iWatch is going to usher in the age of people everywhere talking to their wrists, I'm going to be a little upset.
Regular watches are wearable technology. Regular glasses are wearable technology.
And I have no interest, none, I tell you, in those things. Sometimes they are foist upon me.
Even clothing is wearable technology! Technology is all around you (even if you are not wearing a zentai suit)!
Also, let me be the first* to snicker about "iWatch".
* surely not the first
There's an iWatch? Is it the same as that Kickstarter thing that never ended up existing?
iWatch was a porn Kickstarter, wasn't it?
Wearing an iWatch would be awkward for me, because I (for complicated reasons, possibly explained here previously) wear my watch on the wrist of my dominant hand. Of course, I could just start wearing the iWatch on my left wrist, but CHANGEBAD.
They're going have to come up with something really f-ing special to overcome everybody everywhere's "meh, who needs it" response to smart watches through all time. (To be sure, that's what everybody said about smart phones too.)
2: What do you have against Dick Tracy?
I'm pretty stoked about it, but am also worried that all of the data the thing collects will turn into part of the surveillance state.
I'm just not used to wearing a watch anymore. I stopped once I realized my phone had the time and now watches feel awkward even though I wear a watch on my non-dominant hand.
9: The Pebble exists. My business partner wears one. It talks to his iPhone over Bluetooth and can do like two things, plus being marine-rescue orange, but he's weirdly enamored of it.
If you wear it on your dominant hand the NSA will know precisely how often and for how long you masturbate.
Frequency and duration stats are all right; the problem is they can cross-check it with your ISP, which then gives them sufficient cause to send in the NMM squad.
You could shake-weight to C-SPAN videos every so often, to throw off the data.
Macej has been hilarious on thus silly build up.
I used to wear a very mini 1940s watch from my grandmother but my skin reacted to the metal in the clasp. The Swiss guy who worked on it couldn't get a purer clasp. But he did replace a couple of astonishingly looooong springs over the years, just amazing they could fit in such a miniscule device. Fun to unwind them!
I have a pocket watch that's very much like what the iWatch seems like it will be. It includes phone capabilities.
I quite like the idea of an iWatch, or the Pebble, in principle, but in practice I don't see myself buying one any time soon for a number of reasons:
a) They're surprisingly expensive and I've never paid more than £60 for a watch, and normally I'd just wear one of those cheap plastic Casios.
b) The battery life sucks. Like, worse than a smartphone on standby.
c) My company's Exchange security policies are likely to render half of the functionality useless.
d) Most of the ones released so far are butt ugly.
I have a pocket watch that's very much like what the iWatch seems like it will be. It includes phone capabilities.
That's a phone.
25: I do believe that was the joke.
I do think it's funny that we call them phones. I mean, I have a tiny computer in my pocket and I don't actually use it that much as a phone.
My wife has a Pebble. Its main job, aside from being a wristwatch, is being a better way to notice incoming calls and texts, which she used to miss a lot, because the phone's buzz or ring is too subtle or it was in a bag or coat pocket. It's pretty good for that.
These things are always limited by their batteries. If I was on the team, I would be working on a watch band that contained a bunch of power cells.
29: That, or some kind of piezoelectic charger that harnesses the energy of the swaying of your arm as you walk. Surely someone has patented technology like that already.
Ordinary watches (well, posh ones anyway) have had that tech for years. I doubt it generates anywhere near enough charge to power these things though, given how long their batteries last.
In nerdy moments, I wonder, if you described the functions of a smartphone to someone from the 1950s, what they'd call it. I came up with 'data plaque' as sounding appropriately Astounding Science Fiction.
That depends on how vigorous you are.
I think I would have gotten in trouble if I'd worn one at my old job. If I had pulled a flip phone out of my pocket to tell the time, they would have thought I was goofing off. I bought a watch just to function.
That's just a long way of saying that I think that I would have gotten in trouble for wearing an iWatch.
In nerdy moments
...says the MIT grad.
A friend has been heavily promoting a gadget that functions as described in 28, except without the watch. I really don't get the appeal of a bracelet that lights up when you get a call or message and changes color to match your clothing.
I'd rather see people talking to their watches than having earpieces. At least it would be obvious what they're doing.
That's clearly a fashion thing though rather than a particularly functional wearable. There's not a whole lot of (non-gimmicky/aesthetic) point to something that just tells you you have a notification without telling you what it is. You know what else can do that? A ringtone. Whereas something that lets you see the content of a notification at a glance, and maybe fire off a quick action in response without pulling out your phone and unlocking it etc? That makes sense, if everything else about the device is well executed.
. I interpreted your remark as referring to solar cells.
Nothing so fancy. I was just thinking batteries.
My Indian manservant would tell me when I have a call, if I hadn't instructed him to tell everyone to fuck off.
I know someone who uses one of these and obsessively tracks his number of steps and hours of sleep, aiming for on average no more than 4 hours of sleep per night and over 25,000 steps per day. He's a little odd.
34: Not "a communicator"? Or is that too 1960s sci fi?
Somebody tweeted a picture of that new oversized smart watch, set up to look like the watch in the N64 Goldeneye game, with health/armor bars and what not. (No laser, sadly.) As near as I can tell, that's the only use of these things, and for someone who doesn't have that particular nostalgia they're just wastes of money.
||
iVote: I have been too lazy to follow this and dithering about decidign who I should vote for today.
(1.) I want to vote for Berwick but I think he might lose to Baker.
(2.) I'm totally confused about the attorney general's race.
(3.) Lieutenant Governor?
(4.) Treasurer?
(5.) Councillor?
|>
45: Nah. Anything called a 'communicator' is a one function talking device -- a phone or a walkie-talkie. Something that does what a smartphone does, the 'communicator' function isn't primary.
If you have your communicator, you can be beamed up. I think that's more important than being able to read a wikipedia page while waiting for the bus.
I don't want to be the guy who scoffs at the iWatch, only to have half the world wearing one in a few years. Today is the day we find out if the Jobs reality distortion field has truly died with the man.
That, or some kind of piezoelectic charger that harnesses the energy of the swaying of your arm as you walk. Surely someone has patented technology like that already.
DARPA and others are all over it in their desperate attempt to stop squaddies having to carry 10-15 kg of batteries each around the place. God bless you, DARPA guys.
34: well, as you know, Heinlein had mobile phones in "Space Cadet" (1947), including the social norm that when it rings you step aside and excuse yourself to answer it.
The British author Peter Hamilton had "cybofax" in the 1990s, which seems like an almost comically outdated failed SF attempt at being futuristic. It's like a fax you can use in cyberspace!
Hand computer? Pocket computer? What did they call those tablet devices they carried around in Star Trek?
Most of what a smartphone does is communication, ignoring Candy Crush Saga. And I think the communicators did other stuff...
..okay, I just goggled "communicator tricorder single device" to see if that was canonical. I am apparently @RikerGoogling.
I mean @RikerGoogling. I'll preview it this time.
50: what happened to Grossman anyway?
52. last PADD = Personal Access Display Device.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/PADD
51 gets it right. The Pebble is probably the wrong model. A fitbit that doesn't look like ass might be the right model, but who knows.
I'm just excited to have an iPhone that's the size of my car.
I don't think it'll be tight. I think Baker will crush Coakley because she is widely loathed and he is genial and moderate-seeming. Oh well.
59: I did meet him once. Last time, Baker had the welfare queen crap. A long-time family friend (Dem, Unitarian) is one of Baker's cousins. For reasons I won't go in to, I feel personal animosity toward his Dad who worked in the Reagan administration.
I think I agree with the OP. It wouldn't surprise me if whatever they've done fails, but I also tend to trust that they wouldn't bother if they hadn't gotten it right (in this case "right" means "so compelling that even people who have no interest in wearables are tempted/inclined/sucked in").
"Wish we could say more". Uh, last I checked no one was stopping you, assholes.
The person who wrote that copy would be fired if s/he said more. Literally true statement.
52.1: The battery problem, incidentally, is to be solved by carrying a microturbine generator, basically a tiny jet engine, around. Ten ounces of fuel is enough to power all your stuff for six days. Georgia Tech's built one the size of a coin that could power a mobile phone.
The trucks that dispense jet fuel are going to need smaller nozzles.
A friend of Buck's designs that sort of thing. I was kind of astonished to hear that the energy density of carrying literally combustible fuel around is way, way, way better than batteries.
I think the people trying to make electric cars wouldn't be surprised.
Anyway, what happens with TSA when your laptop is powered by jet fuel?
Okay, obvious when you put it like that, but the idea of powering stuff with eyedroppersful of gasoline or similar still seems weird.
69: design it right and it could burn several different fuels. So you just take your laptop on board empty and pour a bit of vodka in to the top.
Moby need no longer worry about running out of battery while barblogging. "Rusty Nail for me and a Stoly, no ice, for my little buddy Motorola."
Oh, sorry, ogged, this conversation is probably too boring for you again.
Vodka is more than 50% water. More than 75% water if you buy it in grocery store in Ohio.
70: Actually, it was surprising to me also. Not because of the energy density of the fuel itself, but because I figured that whatever you need to keep the burning fuel from starting a bigger fire or burning the holder would remove that density advantage.
As I'm sure many of you know, there's been a surge of indications that Apple is going in a more fashion-oriented direction (with this product, at least); I'm very curious to learn whether the device ends up breaking (almost) completely with the Apple aesthetic, or if they somehow make something that looks identifiably Apple-y and yet still looks good on a wrist to a non-geek*.
*it's sort of funny to see that every mockup is clearly done by a geek with a geek's eye view of style; maybe everyone you know wants a glass bracelet with app icons on it, but I'm pretty sure that's not the way to get 300 million people to wear such a thing always and everywhere
75: true. Still burns though, so I reckon you could manage it.
The watch that burns twice as bright burns half as long. (Smartphones, off the shoulder of Orion.)
All I can think is great, yet another fucking light emitting device that people are going to be obsessively checking in the movie theater.
Smartphones, off the shoulder of Orion.
Heh.
Does 40 proof vodka burn? I don't think I've tried.
if you described the functions of a smartphone to someone from the 1950s, what they'd call it.
Portable memex. Not really the concept conception and misses the communication part but Vannevar got a lot right:
Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified.
It is unfortunate that Vannevar Bush didn't live long enough to be turned into an eternal, all-mighty digital mind. He seems like he'd have been quite good at it.
(I'm of course assuming that his being is not recorded in the machinations of an analytical engine somewhere in the basements of MIT.)
I practiced concept conception a lot as a teenager.
We just have to wait for the first Seldon Vannevar Crisis to find out.
I like how you consistently refer to him by his first name.
|| Why I don't support ever merging the city and the county. Good on Fitzgerald. |>
The last name's been subsequently ruint.
The first comment contains a remarkable blend of various ignorances.
88: Yeah. And it's a cool first name.
89: The greatest thing about newspaper comments is that with Facebook most of them are signed with real names. I've been considering accumulating a list of "local idiots" just in case.
Yeah, that sort of article is so firmly on my list of "do not read the comments" that I barely read the last paragraph.
91.2 would be hilarious. "Nice to meet you... Matt Cochran did you say? Hold on a second... yeah, OK, see you later, douchebag."
Apparently, the first comment changes there. So 89 is only 75% likely to be correct.
The watch that burns twice as bright burns half as long. (Smartphones, off the shoulder of Orion.)
Speaking of, some boffins just worked out the best estimate yet of when Betelgeuse is going to go supernova - less than 100,000 years, apparently.
93: One of the biggest changes in buying a house is that this sort of setting-down-roots behavior now seems rational to me.
94: I think I figured out which one you meant, but fortunately it does apply to most of them.
95: Woot! Results need a big asterisk: that assumes we don't get there first. (Yes, essear, I know, you presumably disapprove of galactic expansion just so we can prematurely blow up stars.)
Fortunately it's well out of range. 200 light years is a good minimum safe distance and Betelgeuse is 642 light years away.
Whereas something that lets you see the content of a notification at a glance, and maybe fire off a quick action in response without pulling out your phone and unlocking it etc? That makes sense, if everything else about the device is well executed.
and also:
All I can think is great, yet another fucking light emitting device that people are going to be obsessively checking in the movie theater.
Maybe this is what people need to be convinced that Google Glass isn't that bad.
Results need a big asterisk: that assumes we don't get there first. (Yes, essear, I know, you presumably disapprove of galactic expansion just so we can prematurely blow up stars.)
You are false data.
All I can think is great, yet another fucking light emitting device that people are going to be obsessively checking in the movie theater.
But they're not going to be checking it in addition to their phones. The whole point is that you check it instead. Though I'll grant it may be (even) harder to persuade people to turn them off (or put them in the cinema equivalent of airplane mode) than it is for phones.
I think what he means is that some people are going to be checking their watches and some people (who don't have that kind of watch) are going to be checking their phones so it makes for additional devices. And then some people are going to be saying "Ok, Glass" at seemingly random times.
100: What? You don't want to blow up a star? Or are you refuting my existence?
I don't object to blowing up a star, as long as you don't do it from the middle of the movie theater.
100: What? You don't want to blow up a star?
On the contrary. I must explode in 75 seconds.
101, 102 What FA said and also there's going to be a lower threshold for looking at your watch than taking out a phone to text someone or check the time during a movie (though god knows there are enough assholes who do that already). And what with the stupid watch alerting you every time someone texts, tweets, or otherwise internetically hails you it's going to get worse. I haven't seen anyone with Google Glass in a theater in NY yet.
99: except for the movie theater owners, who won't let Glass wearers in 'cause they might pirate the films.
And what with the stupid watch alerting you every time someone texts, tweets, or otherwise internetically hails you it's going to get worse.
But phones do that anyway and the watches only connect via the phones (OK, maybe this iWatch will have its own cell radio, but I doubt it). Agreed on the lower threshold point, but again it's not like there aren't plenty of phone using people in the cinema already - it's not going to make their behaviour any worse.
108: This is true, to be sure. I was anticipating a blissful future where everybody chills the eff out about "face computers."
109 I think it will lower the threshold for such behavior. I suppose we'll see. I've seen people obsessively take out their cellphones in the theater every 10 minutes just to check that another 10 minutes had elapsed. If you're that bored leave the fucking theater. It's like a tic or an itch that has to be scratched. I fear smart watches will make it more common and worse. And I'm not talking the local multiplex, this is in art house revival theaters. My stentorian please-stop-checking-your-cell phone-sir-thanks voice, let me project it to you.
I've pretty much stopped watching arthouse films in the cinema anyway.
99: except for the movie theater owners, who won't let Glass wearers in 'cause they might pirate the films.
So there IS an upside to our intellectual property regime!
112 For me it's one of the best things about living in NYC and one of the things I'll miss the most if/when I move away.
You people have no idea how to liveblog/comment.
Ion-strengthened glass, guys!
I just find the general cinema experience so unpleasant these days (and the home cinema experience has become so good) that it's only films that really need to be seen on the big screen that merit a visit (or if I get invited by someone who really wants to go). Otherwise I'll just wait until I can watch it at home for less money and in a better environment. If I didn't live on the other side of London from the Electric cinema, things might be different.
Oh, yeah, if you're still going to manual cinemas, those suck.
I just spent ten minutes skimming last year's iPhone-unveiling liveblog by accident and being unimpressed.
Honestly a bit bummed that the new camera lens sticks out. I suppose an acceptable tradeoff for thinness, but I've never like it in other phones.
"iPhone 6 Plus has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 with 401 pixels per inch. That's full 1080p HD resolution."
If I didn't live on the other side of London from the Electric cinema, things might be different.
Still Auer burners on your side of the river, then?
except for the movie theater owners, who won't let Glass wearers in 'cause they might pirate the films.
Who's your hero now, fools!! Honestly, whatever your position on intellectual property, you have to thank us for the incidental benefit of work done against public wearing of Google Glass.
And I was even pwn'd by someone who now is clearly on Team Halford.
I'm a 20-25 minute walk from the Museum of the Moving Image which screens a lot of really great films with an all you can watch $75 dollar annual membership. They have two theaters and the larger one is one of the best in the city. According to the curator they designed it specifically for showing "2001: A Space Odyssey" in 70mm. Which I saw there. Also, there's a 1 1/2 month long Hou Hsiao-Hsien retrospective coming up and there were Patrick Lung Kong and Kenji Mizoguchi retrospectives in the last few months. I caught a couple of Harun Farocki's films on Sunday and stuff like "Portrait of Jennie," "Rebecca," "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors," "Written on the Wind," and "The Wicker Man" screens regularly (I've seen them all there in the last month or two). So it's like heaven for a film buff on a tight budget. Which I am.
They haven't mentioned pricing yet, have they?
Raise your hand if you've ever actually seen somebody wearing Google Glass. Now lower your hand if they've ever actually done something to annoy you. Any hands left?
iPhone 6 Plus starts at 299 for 16GB, 399 for 64, 499 for 128GB.
127 -- still waving proud and free. Admittedly, most of what they did to annoy me was wearing fucking Google Glass.
125 to 115 &116, obviously I'll leave you to talk about your new iGadgets. Now where's Bob?
When I get bored during a movie in the theater, I just watch a different one on my phone. What else am I going do, walk out? That seems rude.
130 gets it right.
On the other hand, I have also (a couple of times) seen somebody wearing google glass where they didn't annoy me!
132: If I had a dollar for every time I've been told that, I could buy some numbing cream.
299 for 16GB, 399 for 64, 499 for 128GB
Huh. So 32->64 and 64->128 with no price bump. Interesting.
The watch that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
My iwatch burns at both ends.
It will not last the night.
But ah my friends and oh my foes
It lets me use Grindr in work meetings.
139: Dude standing in the middle of the grocery store aisle blocking traffic trying to get some aspect of the camera working. (I think. He kept looking up at a sign, looking back down and fucking with the temple, then looking back up.)
Payments!
The Verge quoting Apple: "We're totally reliant on the exposed numbers and outdated and vulnerable magnetic stripe interface." Only in the US, assholes.
We're totally reliant on the exposed assholes.
I'm not sure I've seen anyone wearing Glass. It doesn't annoy me, just seems limited in its benefits, outside of some handsfree use cases.
It'll be interesting to see if Apple can use the Reality Distortion Field to make NFC payments happen where others have failed. From what I understand the problem to date has been both consumer indifference and payment provider intransigence. I.e., on the first point, "tap a phone to pay" really isn't much more convenient than "swipe a card to pay" on modern cashier systems, so why would I bother absent some other value-add? On the latter, you have to either cut Citibank out of the transaction or buy them off. Cutting them out is hard and buying them off probably means screwing the customer, one way or the other.
142: Doesn't sound much different from "stuck behind a guy texting on the sidewalk."
148: You scored your point. I'm just saying.
I've see Glass. It annoys me the way seeing topknots and heavily waxed handlebar mustaches annoy me. Now get off my stoop.
Wow that watch is ugly as hell.
Maybe that's just a bad picture? It looks pretty dopey so far.
151 gets it exactly right. Remind me again how tasteful everything Apple does is, Gr/uber?
SOme of the pics don't look too bad. A couple of others are awful.
Huh, that doesn't look horrible.
Huh, that doesn't look horrible.
I dunno, seems a little big.
That looks okay-ish as well.
This screenshot really made it look bad.
That interface is unusable for lefties. Lucky for me I don't wear a watch anyhow.
157 isn't unspeakably awful, but it all depends on real world proportions.
It is presumably intentional that they just showed a picture of a female teen wearing it; doesn't look too huge.
I am feeling very peeved about the size increase on the phone. Go suck an egg, bighandos.
I'm just pleased they aren't calling it iWatch.
This shot makes it legitimately look pretty nice.
163: That girl's actually the center on UConn's women's basketball team.
Seriously though if they don't have a leftie version that thing is just 100% useless for me. Not even remotely tempting. Does the name "Leftorium" mean nothing to you, Apple?
Yeah 166 does look pretty good. I guess everyone in the building will have these by Christmas.
Unless you were referencing the inherent clumsiness of lefties.
164: Isn't there a bigger one and a little one? It's nice to have a choice, it seems to me.
Relevant to 154, as is this one.
Maciej is really outperforming us on this one.
Well, it all depends on proportion, but if it's anything like the size in 163 (and, I guess, is functional in some way but whatevs) I'll take bets now that the thing sells well.
176: the little one is quite a bit bigger than the current size.
doesn't look too huge.
I dunno, that looks pretty huge. And 166 would be way better with a different-colored strap and definitely if the exterior of the watch weren't trying to be all Olde Fashioned in color and detail (unless the knobby guy on the top right really is for winding it).
181: the knobby guy is one of the main UI controls, it sounds like.
179: Is it bigger in total size or just screen size? Because current iPhones waste a stunning amount of their face size on not-screen.
189: Soon to be an urbandictionary entry.
They are going to sell a fucking boatload of these, that's for sure.
191: I still don't see it being an iPad-like market-creating hit. It's a fancier version of a thing I choose not to own.
Everybody look under your seats. YOU GET A WATCH! AND YOU GET A WATCH! AND YOU GET A WATCH!
(Actually just Josh.)
192.1: ... you realize that is exactly, word-for-word what people said about the iPad when it was launched, right?
It'll be interesting to see if Apple can use the Reality Distortion Field to make NFC payments happen where others have failed. From what I understand the problem to date has been both consumer indifference and payment provider intransigence. I.e., on the first point, "tap a phone to pay" really isn't much more convenient than "swipe a card to pay" on modern cashier systems, so why would I bother absent some other value-add?
Yeah, I like that they're trying something, but I foresee a load of hurdles at least in the UK context (in the US, it's not like the payments system could get any worse, so why not?). First, it seems pretty damn proprietary. In the UK (and doubly so elsewhere in the world) if this isn't available to non-iPhone users (and non-iPhone 6 and above users at that), it's probably a non-starter. No way are retailers going to install new terminals (again) for at most 20% of the market (circa 30% of UK smartphone users). They made some nods to piggybacking on existing tech, so maybe they can do it via software updates to existing NFC terminals, but that seems pretty situation dependent - there are a lot of different terminal types in the UK and some look very basic.
They also didn't talk about Apple's cut of the payments, at least not from the liveblog I was reading. Amex has very low penetration among smaller retailers in the UK precisely because of their higher interchange fee. If Apple's taking a meaningful chunk on top of the card providers, I can see retailers balking, but maybe they're not - they seemed to have a decent selection of US chains on board.
That said, I like the idea in general - contactless payments are limited to £20 here for fraud prevention reasons, so if Apple Pay does take off that would make the concept more useful. And they've applied the system to online payments as well (in-app only to start with, it seems), which is potentially the most innovative part of it - Paypal have to be at least a bit worried. Though in the wake of the celebrity photo incidents people might be a bit warier about making your Apple account hacker target number one.
193: The rest of us are totally reliant on the exposed assholes.
Yeah, I reckon they're going to sell pretty good.
Widgets!
Dude, not cool. You're supposed to call them wittle people.
If Apple's taking a meaningful chunk on top of the card providers, I can see retailers balking, but maybe they're not - they seemed to have a decent selection of US chains on board.
Word is that Apple has talked the providers into taking a haircut so they can keep retailer rates competitive with (the same as?) card-present.
194: Yes, sort of. Mostly, it seems like people though "Why not just get a laptop" about the iPad, and underestimated how fun it was and how it could do just enough to largely replace a laptop in everyday life. This... it seems neat but essentially useless.
You can also quickly reply to texts. The watch actually analyzes the text to give you quick, tappable answers.
Dooood.
204: quick, tappable animated emoji
Hi what happened to the rest of that comment? Oh well.
As a lady person with lady clothes, whose phone is often not on my person, the wearable element is appealing! Also the fitbit part. Sadly, or luckily, I have such teeny wrists that I think even the smaller size is still too big for me.
So people are going to be talking into their wrists like Dick Tracy all the time now?
How much text analysis is required? "Yes" "No" "idk" "lol" "fuck you"
The gimodo liveblogger points out that this phone makes it super easy to send people's watches drawings of dicks.
As a lady person with lady clothes, whose phone is often not on my person, the wearable element is appealing!
Seems like it would be easier for Apple to disrupt pants. The demand is there. Rarely does a day go by that I don't hear a woman bemoan her lack of pockets and tell me how lucky I am.
So people are going to be talking into their wrists like Dick Tracy all the time now?
That's when you can punch them in the face. But one for everyone you know!
211: First thing I thought of. Also the "send someone else your pulse": I didn't think Apple was in the sex toy business.
I think they will sell a bunch at Christmas, but I don't see these as being much of a game changer. Basically, the Apple TV.
Is the payments thing any different than Google Wallet's approach? Jus with more people able to use it? I think I could set up that kind of account on my phone but it seems pointless unless more people are on board, plus I'm never going to risk not having a way to pay because the battery ran out so it won't replace a card for me as long as cards exist.
That's when you can punch them in the face.
It will be a lot easier when everybody's staring at their wrists. Joe Rogan taught me it's the punch you don't see coming that knocks you out.
The tactile map directions are pretty next-level. That is a thing I in fact want.
214: Like it's not hard enough to get a lady off with one's somatic nervous system.
I am enjoying Spike and Yawnoc playing carefully to type.
They're going to sell a fucking zillion of these, guys. Zil Yon.
plus I'm never going to risk not having a way to pay because the battery ran out
No in that case you just give the other person your phone.
Is the payments thing any different than Google Wallet's approach?
They collect no info. Beyond that, I don't know.
I haven't looked at any of the links, but I can't imagine an interface on anything that small that wouldn't make me want to hurl it against the wall constantly. An inch and a half square touch screen, or tiny tiny little buttons?
it seems pointless unless more people are on board
Apple's been awfully good at shaping markets to their advantage. I bet this happens quickly.
Just you wait. The iWatch 6 is going to be the size of a shoebox.
223: (only going from possibly dodgy liveblogs) it sounds like most of the UI things are either turning the "crown" or a single directional swipe. Not much precision touching.
"If your friend has an Apple Watch, you can give them a gentle tap on the wrist, even if they're thousands of miles away."
Siri, text Ogged: quick, put your watch in your butt.
216 is what I was getting at in 146. Google has been working at this for almost 4 years. What Apple brings to the table is: (1) they cut better deals with retailers and providers or (2) they hypnotize customers into actually using it.
I'm really curious about the interface, come to think. Is the claim that a tiny tiny touchscreen won't be bad, or is there some new wizardry?
220: The one thing that makes me wonder is that you have to have an iPhone for it to work. I can totally see them selling a shit-ton to existing Apple customers, I'm a little more skeptical that it'll be the thing that gets people to switch. But betting against Apple for the past 15 years has been a bad idea so... maybe?
The iWatch 6 is going to be the size of a shoebox a grandfather clock.
Crossed with 226. At that point, the software has to be beyond beautiful and perfect, to be anything but maddening with an interface that simple. I don't think I'm going to even think about this until everyone else in the country has one.
227: That puts a whole new spin on the Christopher Walken scene in "Pulp Fiction".
225: I wish they had the vision to go full bracer.
As a lady person with lady clothes, whose phone is often not on my person, the wearable element is appealing!
But most of the cool stuff requires you to have your phone on your person.
The most exciting thing about the watch, to be honest, is that after years of stagnation in iOS, to the extent that I actively dislike using my iPod these days, Apple appears to have finally created an OS that actually seems appropriate for what the device can do and better than its competition. It would be nice if they put the same energy and vision into iOS again.
That said, is it me or is "force touch" just another way of saying "long press"?
I'd need more info to be sure, but 222 sounds like meaningless FUD.
230: yeah, I dunno. If they get all the people who wear a fitbit and have an iPhone, though, that's still a crapload of people. And I bet they'll get a lot more than that.
What ever happened with Google Glass anyway? Is it still just used by those thousand people who filled out an application packet?
The Engadget liveblog says that it'll only work with an iPhone. I still think they'll sell a jillion.
"Apple Watch requires iPhone. It works with iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6, and 6 Plus."
210, what kind of positive, validatey tappable auto-text options do you want? "omg so cute" "oh that's rough, hang in there sweetie" "funniest thing i've heard all day" "i love you" ?
Sweet Jesus $350. Starting at.
238: I believe they'll sell it to anybody with $1K to spare now. Obviously, that's not a mass market play.
Phone in my pocket, watch on my wrist, would be most useful for checking things quickly (or, making a very short, unobtrusive call from the wrist) while in a meeting, at a dinner or some other social interaction and ... driving. That does seem pretty useful, assuming that any of this works easily. It's too bad, I really like my current watch.
Dude, walkie talkie. And a remote for the Apple TV. Maybe I do want one.
246: Weren't you just bitching about people talking to their wrists?
243: Compare to a nice-ish Citizen watch, that doesn't seem too bad. It's the top end that I wonder about.
They're going to sell a fucking zillion of these, guys. Zil Yon.
Well, like I said, they have a pretty huge appeal as Christmas gifts. But I think "convincing people they need to wear a watch again" is a tough sell, especially among the youngs, who have never worn a watch to begin with, and who aren't exactly shy about whipping out their phones anyway.
And a remote for the Apple TV.
That's enticing.
So, besides the new and shiny, what's the unbelievably cool thing about these watches that's going to convince non-fanboys that a smart watch is actually a thing?
Projected sales: one zillion minus Spike and me.
It's just like using your phone while driving, except you take both your hands off the wheel! Convenient!
Also, at this point isn't the whole reason to have a watch is so you don't have to carry a phone around? I sort of figure that when you see someone wearing a watch that's what they're to tell you.
252: You don't get the kids these days.
251: For me it's the Fitbit stuff + notifications + maps without having to get my phone out. Maybe controlling my car stereo once I get a car with Bluetooth? I'm sure it's one of those things that the use case will expand as time goes on.
254.2: "Don't have to carry a phone": No. "Not have to take a phone out just to check the time": Yes.
Fitbit plus tactile directional cues plus message notification sounds great. TOTALLY UNUSABLE FOR LEFTIES does not sound great.
U2? First Coldplay, now fucking U2?
Forget the youngs, they are definitely going for the fourtysomething market.
especially among the youngs, who have never worn a watch to begin with,
I don't think this is true. "Wear a wristwatch" is totally conventional wisdom among young men who want to look slick. Or at least hapless nerdy young men who want to look slick and ask Reddit how to do so (e.g. 100% of the young men that I know socially).
wrist-siri wouldn't be bad. And I'd kind of like a stopwatch on my wrist again. But TOTALLY UNUSABLE FOR LEFTIES trumps those, too!
U2 is now old people music? Unpossible.
Well, yes but then you still have to tweet about how you checked and it was 2:45 or whatever right? That's how having smartphones/twitter/whatever work, right?
It can't possibly be unusable for lefties. Unless they're explicitly saying that they're only selling it in one orientation? Because that would be so weird.
Weren't you just bitching about people talking to their wrists?
I don't want other people to do it.
All the kids today seem to wear watches for fashion (as, of course, do all lawyers, for different reasons). And I started again, it's actually incredibly nice and useful not to have to take the additional step of dragging one's phone out of a pocket to check the time, plus it looks pretty nice. Assuming these look good and nonobtrusive, I don't think you'll have much problem creating wearers.
I'd see the problem more as what do you do with the Rolex/Patek Phillipe/fancy watch wearers who aren't going to want to have to shelve their zillion dollar fashion items, and will therefore have a vested interest (maybe) in making these things uncool. OTOH at least some of the pics make them look good enough to not be hopelessly and immediately dorky, which is the real issue.
what kind of positive, validatey tappable auto-text options do you want?
There's no recipe for kindness, old friend.
Don't worry Ogged, I'm sure you can adjust the settings so that people can just look in the direction of their wrist and speak really loudly.
262: Why couldn't you just flip the damn thing upside down? It's got a whatchamacallit that senses orientation.
Radiohead is old people music. And they didn't play Live Aid.
267: yeah, I mean, you sell an 18k gold coated version and you (presumably soon) create a secondary market in fancy/unavailable bands and/or exclusive/status-signalling watch faces. Probably the Rolek Phillipe crowd will continue to dismiss them but the one-step-down business asshole on-the-go will find them fancy enough.
especially among the youngs, who have never worn a watch to begin with
I think it's the opposite: the olds think it's neato to be rid of watches, the youngs will think watches are a neato new gadget.
THANKS APPLE I DON'T REALLY WANT A NEW U2 ALBUM THAT'S OKAY.
I'm not saying they won't rope in some happless reddit nerds with $350 to spare. But I think its more likely these become an emblem of middle-aged people. They will not be cool.
Ny main reason to still wear a watch is to tell the time easily. I don't like taking out the phone, especially when some of the times I'm most reliant on the watch are travel days where the phone battery gets close to running out.
the one-step-down business asshole
You mean the hoo-ha?
Maybe more to the point, Coldplay, who started out as a third-rate Radiohead and morphed into a second-rate U2, are old people music.
I'm most reliant on the watch are travel days where the phone battery gets close to running out.
Good news! Now your watch battery gets to run out too!
But I think its more likely these become an emblem of middle-aged people.
Seriously. "Ooh, a heart-rate monitor? Can it check my blood pressure too?"
Also, people who are reading whatever thing is providing information, how does the battery life work? A watch that needs charging at anything like the rate of my current Iphone is pretty useless to me. It'd have to reliably have at least 16 hours of battery life, so you could wear it all day, and I'd hope for more so that you didn't absolutely have to remember to charge it every night.
exclusive/status-signalling watch faces
Wait you mean now you can pirate watch faces? I'm intrigued and you may have just found Halford's weak spot.
281: They specifically didn't address battery life.
You just have to feed it eyedroppersful of vodka occasionally. Not too much, though, or it gets confused.
284 would be so great if it were true. "This bottle in my desk's not for me, it's for my watch."
If you get the pirate version, rum.
Instead of a low-battery signal, it could get the shakes.
Ending with U2 doesn't really shout "hip and cutting edge", but maybe El-P and Killer Mike were busy.
If only they could have gotten Flavor Flav to come on stage with an Apple Watch on a chain around his neck.
A tiny Flava Flav. And instead of gold teeth, bluetooth.
playing the music of our youth
I was always amused at Keegan's hockey games that every time the action stopped, the PA would play music from 20 years before any of the players were born.
291: I felt shockingly old the first time I heard "How Soon Is Now" as background music at the gym. Of course, that was probably a decade or so ago itself.
To the earlier questions about what can Apple do to spread NFC: presumably roughly the same thing that enabled them to get the record companies to sign onto iTunes, and then to abandon DRM. Apple has a track record here. It also has something like half a billion credit cards already on file, which isn't part of the solution, but is part of their leverage: they basically have a plausible story* to tell Visa et al about how they can do a proprietary payment system that undermines the traditional payment system (in part because paying with TouchID is, in fact, way safer than paying with a physical card), or else Visa et al can get on board.
FWIW, 4 of the 5 retailers at which I probably spend the most money have just recently upgraded their POS payment thingies, and I think they all include NFC. Coincidence? Who knows.
Oh, and wasn't Google Wallet getting dicked around by the carriers? I don't recall the details, but I seem to recall there was interference (like, Verizon wanted a cut). Apple is basically immune to carrier leverage.
Also, Google's record on making this sort of thing happen is incredibly weak (both on hardware and software sides), so I don't think their failure proves anything about Apple's ability to make it happen.
All that said, maybe not. Apple has also failed lots of times (Newsstand, Passbook) , and there's so much fucking inertia in US payment systems. OTOH, Square seems to have revolutionized payment, and they're kind of a smaller deal than Apple, so maybe. Actually, now that I say that, maybe the key to making NFC work is a dongle for iPads so that your local taco joint can now do NFC transactions.
*not right now, but with focused effort; they don't need to have a scheme ready to go to make this argument
It's going to bomb. Nobody wants to wear a watch like their grandpa did. Apple doesn't actually have superpowers. They couldn't make big band music cool again either.
Nobody wants to wear a watch like their grandpa did.
On the belt, right next to the onion?
Actually, now that I say that, maybe the key to making NFC work is a dongle for iPads so that your local taco joint can now do NFC transactions.
Don't they already have that? Or basically that, anyway - the Apple store uses a dongle strapped to an iPhone.
I've seen three, maybe four Glassholes here. Of course I've seen just that many Segway tours.
Early onset senility. "Stupid vehicle from the 90s that never caught on" turns out to be a bad search string because 2001.
Not strictly on topic, but can someone explain the advantage of credit cards that you wave in the air over credit cards you swipe? People in other countries say "Oh, you poor dear, you still have credit cards you swipe". What the heck is the difference? I presume there's some difference for the retailer, but why is it an improvement?
Segway tours
This is a thing?
The view from my office window, let me show you it (both glassholes and Segways)
At some point wearables will make it possible to read the Onion on your belt.
pander to us by playing the music of our youth
Last night at Target we saw a toddler dress printed with the Nirvana logo and a closeup of Cobain's guitar. Sorry, kid, mom and dad are picking the signifiers this year.
Minneapolis has regular segway tours along the bike paths in summer. I had no idea I could want a bicycle mounted flamethrower as much as I do when I have to navigate around them. (It doesn't help that they get around the 'no motorized vehicles' rules by exploiting an exception that was clearly created to let people with motorized wheelchairs use the paths as well as pedestrians/etc.)
Nobody wants to wear a watch like their grandpa did.
On the contrary! Of the five (???) watches I own for some reason, three, I believe, were formerly owned by my grandfather, and one of them I would definitely wear on formal-enough occasions and one of the others I would consider wearing if it presently worked.
I don't particularly want to wear Apple's watch, though.
Segway tours are the only tours specifically advertised in downtown Lancaster, PA. I presume you can also walk, but they really make a big deal out of the convenience and comfort of Segways.
Not strictly on topic, but can someone explain the advantage of credit cards that you wave in the air over credit cards you swipe? People in other countries say "Oh, you poor dear, you still have credit cards you swipe". What the heck is the difference? I presume there's some difference for the retailer, but why is it an improvement?
Well, you're conflating two things there (chip and pin, and contactless ), but mainly security. Magnetic strip/signature security is really weak. Contactless is in principle faster than either signature or chip and pin, though as mentioned above it can't be used for everything (maybe it can in topless enlightened Finland).
The whole discussion has reminded me of Mr. Jones watches, the copy for one of which states "Cyclops can be read with a relaxed kind of accuracy that offers up the time on a more human scale than a traditional watch (after all everyone has a mobile phone for purely functional timekeeping)." Indeed.
302: As I understand, there's some underlying technological/security improvement, but beyond that, I've never understood the condescension either.
Although my dad/Exxon poo-poo'd the idea before the merger, Mobil's tap-to-pay system, reliant on a little keychain dongle, at least made sense because, when you're getting gas, you're holding the keychain in your hand, but not your credit card. But once I've dug my credit card out of my pocket, precise method of interaction is pretty meaningless.
Just as the Segway revolutionized urban transport, the iWatch will revolutionize looking up the time.
At least I'm consistent in my poor spelling.
Oh wait, I actually got that right.
306 I live in NYC and I've yet to see a Segway tour.
but they really make a big deal out of the convenience and comfort of Segways.
If I can't take a leak in one then don't talk to me about comfort.
311: I like the idea of that watch face more than the execution, and IMO the watch is poorly scaled to the band (although maybe it's slim enough that IRL it would fit well).
313 is certainly possible. My take is that they've fit so much function into it that, if they get the engineering* of it right, a broad enough cross-section of users will be enticed to make it at least a modest success.
What did they say, 300M compatible phones already sold? Sell one of these to 1 in 10 of those people, average sales price of $450, and you've got $13.5B in revenues. Not a ton in Apple terms, but a nice hobby.
*that is, battery life, weight, interface
317: My FE was in Ottawa during the big blackout in 2003. There was nowhere to get food, and he didn't have enough cash. One of the hotels was serving a buffet so that their food didn't go to waste.
They had an old manual credit card machine. I mean, anyone could have swindled them, since the charge wasn't even being authorized, but he was deeply grateful that there was a non-electronic backup.
billmon wrote a post once about a trip to Egypt. Basically, there are a few places I might go where I would still want to take traveller's checks.
2 other things: unless it's a 100% flop, Apple will keep iterating, and the 2nd or 3rd generation will start to wash away many concerns raised here (in particular size/battery life; also maybe a lefty version), presumably bringing in some skeptics.
Also, even if function doesn't improve rapidly, I could certainly see this as an item of which, if you're wearing it as a "one asshole down" status symbol, you'd buy a new one every year or two (in contrast to the iPad, sales of which have plateaued because, by the 3rd version or so, it was really well engineered, and not at all obsolescent after 18-30 months). As I noted before the event started, Apple has made a big push into fashion, and 90% of fashion is getting people to spend a lot of money on new things to replace perfectly functional old things.
I just pissed off heebs, right?
I really don't want my phone to have a much bigger screen unless it bends over and folds up. I'll get a smaller iPad, but taking out my phone (which is encased in an Otterbox, because I'm a klutz) is already too much of a hassle anyway.
I'm really excited about the return of metal and rounded edges. I loved my original iPhone, and none of the models in between have been as nice to hold.
316: Turns out that there is no Segway tour in NYC; this one is actually over in Jersey: "Experience the NYC Skyline from a different perspective"
322: Yeah, I'm not thrilled that they're killing the 4" size, which I'm very happy with. Maybe the 4.7" won't seem too much bigger. Or maybe I'll be getting a plastic phone when this one is done. Although I don't really want old tech (my current phone is a 5s, less than a year old; most likely, when I'm ready to replace it next winter, the plastic phone will be the same exact internals, just in plastic).
I have been thinking of this product throughout the thread as the Chauncey Gardiner i[liketo]Watch.
Just thought I'd share that.
I paid for a hostel stay in Norway in 2001 with a credit card and they had to do an imprint. I also had to pay earlier in the stay than if I'd used cash because confirming the payment took long enough they wanted to be sure I hadn't checked out yet if it hadn't gone through.
325: I have a 4S still.
I might get an iPad mini for reading or something.
I'm pretty unhappy about the lack of a 32 gig model though.
three, I believe, were formerly owned by my grandfather
Please tell me he hid one of them in his ass while a POW.
I have a 4S, I'll probably get a 32GB of one of them- maybe 6+ for the image stabilization and resolution but not if it can't fit in my pocket.
I'll sign on to 318, with the caveat that "if we only take X% of [gigantic market], we'll be trazillionaires" is a well-known business plan pipe dream.
Look at the Apple TV. It does very well in it's niche, and does numbers that Roku would kill for, but it's not a significant product compared to the iPhone. In my opinion, the watch won't be a total flop, but it will be more like Apple TV than the iPad.
That seems reasonable. It's success might depend on how well one can text on it.
The Apple TV blows mainly because you can't watch Amazon Prime movies on it. I need to throw mine away and get a Roku.
336: You can stream them to your ATV from an iPad.
They had an old manual credit card machine. I mean, anyone could have swindled them, since the charge wasn't even being authorized, but he was deeply grateful that there was a non-electronic backup.
Chip and pin cards still have the stripe and you can still do the imprint. It's just that you can use the more secure method first.
337 -- yeah, but I think only if you have "AirPlay" set up, which seems to be a gigantic pain in the ass and constantly cuts out and generally doesn't work well at all. It's extremely possible/likely this is due to something stupid I'm doing.
What's Amazon's deal with Prime? I thought they were a "content above all" company, but they're very selective about what platforms you can stream video on.
What did they say, 300M compatible phones already sold? Sell one of these to 1 in 10 of those people, average sales price of $450, and you've got $13.5B in revenues. Not a ton in Apple terms, but a nice hobby
Except 300m phones sold isn't 300m people. iPhone buyers tend to buy more than one iPhone.
Apple decided to kill whatever airplay software compatibility allowed my sister's old iPhone to stream to Apple TV. because progress, I guess. None of the hardware changed.
342 I hate when they do shit like that.
341: But "compatible" only applies to phones released in the last 2 years, almost all of which are sold on a 1:1 device:consumer basis. There's some fraction that buy every single year, but a small one, given the price premium for doing so (at least in the States and much of Europe).
342 is very frustrating.
339: IME "setting up Airplay" is trivial. I have had trouble with it cutting out, but not to the extent that you seem to have (audio only, though).
What's Amazon's deal with Prime? I thought they were a "content above all" company, but they're very selective about what platforms you can stream video on.
I think for a while they wanted to push their proprietary devices, but literally today they let other Android device users download the streaming app. Having done that, I presume they'll put an iOS version out soonish.
Sifu: Gizmodo says that you can set the watch up as either left- or right-handed.
Having done that, I presume they'll put an iOS version out soonish.
Narf? I've had Amazon's Instant Video app on my iPhone and iPad for a while now.
I'm pretty unhappy about the lack of a 32 gig model though.
Why? They're giving 64 at the old 32 price and 128 at the old 64 price.
349: Yeah, at first I thought they weren't changing the memory sizes, but now I realize they're just keeping the (too low) entry level sizes, but boosting all the rest, which is reasonable.
Ah, maybe I'd forgotten the old prices. What I want is 32GB for $250.
348 is right.
Airplay works great for me; we have investigated in the past Halford's painfully wonky home wireless.
I would really like to know what's going on right now in meeting rooms at Polar, Garmin, and Suunto b/c I've been pricing heart rate monitors recently and they are generally ugly with fakakta UI's and cost more than one feels they should. I wonder should I buy the pretty expensive Apple one (assuming it works well as a hrm) which also does many other neato-if-not-especially-needed-by-me things, or wait for death-spiral prices from the sports monitors brands to start coming in.
(From what I recall, one of the earliest juicy iwatch rumors was that Nike decided to get out of the business entirely once briefed on Apple's plans)
353: FWIW wrist-based HRMs don't generally work anywhere near as well, nor in as wide a range of situations, as chest-band ones.
Then again the whole notion of heart-rate monitoring is kinda wonky anyway. I was just having this conversation at my workout class this morning; I can comfortably run at *above* my nominal max heart rate (going by the 220-age formula) for minutes at a time.
That formula is a very rough guide. If you have a monitor, you can get your true max (don't die).
I have an HRM and have kinda sorta tested for my true max. It's irrelevant at this point, since these days all my exercise is either kettlebell training or soccer, and in both of those cases the better gauge is "do I feel like I'm going to die doing this?".
I can't get above 180 without dying.
I did a stress test some years ago and was 212. Post-ablation, I don't seem to be able to break 180. So much for my professional sports career.
354: That does not surprise me, and is exactly what I needed to know but did not know, thx.
Hm. Kicking this decision down the road, I guess. Easily enough done since I can't buy the pretty one yet anyway.
354: That does not surprise me, and is exactly what I needed to know but did not know, thx.
Hm. Kicking this decision down the road, I guess. Easily enough done since I can't buy the pretty one yet anyway.
I've never even had an ablation. I can cruise at 150 for quite some time. Laydeez. Maybe.
Swope FM is a pretty good pseud. "The smooth sounds of Putney Swope, coming at you."
362: Smoove, smoove sounds.
Sorry about that double-post, not sure if the hosts tidy up that sort of thing here but if not, put me on the record as saying god dammit.
Seriously, though, while heart rate monitors and related sports sensor-ware are probably not a huge market being overturned by Apple here, I know I would be sweating right now if I worked for one of these companies and not in the healthy exercisey way.
I wonder *how much better* the chest-band ones work? Enough to save these companies?
Was trying to think what might make me swap an iPhone 5 for a 6/6+. Have they improved the audio?
Hanging on to a 4s has made this decision much easier. I think I won't get the enormous one, though.
Nearest I've ever been to a HRM is during labor and it really PISSED ME OFF, but then context - any impediment to free movement during labor was enraging. Pity the phlebotomist darting in between contractions.
I had a 3G then waited until the 5, so I've tended to skip a couple or more generations. I am due a contract upgrade, though.
I still have a 3G, which seems to produce mockery even though I have zero idea why I'd need a more advanced version. Everything I want to do (and I use it all the time, including for commenting here right now) seems to work fine.
Hang on to it long enough and it'll be exotic because no one will know what the hell you have. That's what happens with my Treo.
I have a 5. I'm actually kind of pissed at the form factor change. The 5 fits nicely in the front pocket of my dress pant ( a purist might say it breaks the lines, but wevs). These things seem like they'll just be too huge to fit comfortably in the front pocket.
373: That's why you buy the watch. Then you can keep your phone in your jacket pocket or bag.
364: You make a compelling case.
367: Thanks, although I'm disappointed. I thought I had the perfect excuse to buy the pretty Apple one, and ffs, the mainstream chest-belt ones are awful in terms of useability and design, for the most part. Echh, I don't know how to pick among them when they all sort of suck, but I don't want to pay an Apple premium if it doesn't actually do what I want.
368 - 371, minus 369 (although all sympathies)
I'm also looking to upgrade from a 3G, so the 5s is looking like kind of a great move all around from where I stand. Though I agree with RH that the 3G still pretty much does it for me, it's really only the obviously diminished battery life and the imagined scorn that makes me wanna move.
What if you don't wear a jacket or carry a bag?
FWIW the improved processing power was a massive improvement going from a 4S to a 5S. Simply clearing a bunch of notifications on the old phone took a noticeable amount of time; on the new one it's almost instantaneous.
It's too hot here for a jacket from April through October (approximately) and I only carry a bag if I have to bring in my lunch.
I see lots of adults who aren't in school and wear backpacks around town. It doesn't make them look ridiculous all of the time.
375: I wear a jacket approximately 3 weeks out of the year (the rainy season). I don't carry a bag except from my cube to the car and into the house, then back the next day. And I only do that maybe twice a week when I want to use an Adobe application I don't have on my home machine.
FWIW, I have an HRM watch (that I never wear). It seems to work reasonable well. (I mean, I don't care if it's off by a beat or two per minute, I just want it to tell me when I'm getting close to target zones.) I assume that Apple can at least match the functionality in my $40 digital watch.
I don't seem to be able to break 180. So much for my professional sports career.
Wait, isn't this good? Like, more fit = lower heart rate while doing a given activity? I assume this is the case, because I am hellaciously unfit and anything that feels like exercise will get me to 180 no problem. I die at like 210.
more fit = lower heart rate while doing a given activity?
Yes, but. It's true that if a given activity raises your heart rate a little rather than a lot, it's a sign that your heart is efficient and powerful, which is to say, you're fit.
Maximum heart rate is something different. It's just a measure of how fast your heart beats at maximum exertion, and there doesn't seem to be any correlation between max heart rate and fitness--some very fit people have high max heart rates, some have lower. But if your max heart rate is artificially lowered, as happens sometimes with an ablation, you lose the ability to sustain the exertion that previously put you above your new max.
Mulling it over, I'm betting the iWatch will be fairly disappointing in sales. I trust Jobs, not Apple, and $350 is a lot for an iPhone accessory.
From what I understand, the Perceived Exertion Index is incredibly accurate, and in nontrivial ways. Like, heartrate and calories burned and watts output and whatever else are all secondary measures for intensity of exercise, and the PEI gives more consistent data in whatever studies. (Sort of like how thirst is an incredibly good indicator that you should drink water. Bodies are clever.)
The Poop Alarm works pretty good also, except that on the veldt, there were no lines or long car trips.
I am hoping that the release of the iPhone 6 family floods the market a bit with used 5s, because I could use a cheap 5 to go with the FLIR One IR camera, and I'm not holding my breath for an Android flavor of that device.
"Wear a wristwatch" is totally conventional wisdom among young men who want to look slick. Or at least hapless nerdy young men who want to look slick and ask Reddit how to do so
Reasons why I personally wear a wristwatch:
1) the battery on my phone lasts 48 hours. The battery on my phone lasts two years. If I'm going away from mains power for more than 48 hours, which I do quite a bit, the watch is helpful.
2) watch is waterproof. phone isn't.
3) watch doesn't give off radio signals which allows me to feel safe while wearing it around things that don't react well to being around things that give off radio signals.
4) watch is disposable (costs £7). Phone isn't.
5) I can check the time on my watch while driving or cycling, when it's a bit trickier to get a phone out of my pocket.
I never understood people who don't wear watches.
I don't have a car. Most of the time the vehicles I'm driving don't have clocks.
I'm thinking that maybe your needs are atypical.
There are plenty of people/situations for whom watches make sense. And I don't have any ideological objection to them. It's just that when my last one broke I realised I personally didn't need it. Any run-of-the-mill situation in which I really need to know the time I'll either have my phone on me (and generally if it's out of battery that's a bigger problem than not knowing the time) or will have a clock nearby. If I were going somewhere where charging wouldn't be possible/practical, eg camping, I'd take a watch.
Also, per 391.1, Ajay has a really shit watch battery and an amazing phone battery.
I like wearing watches, or at least I like watches. I have half a dozen, largely 1960s Soviet-made ones, which are attractive to look at, and at least three of which keep excellent time. I got out of the habit around baby-time [taking it off to change nappies, etc], and do tend to rely on my phone.
You never actually own a Roleks Ekranoplan. You just take it off when you're changing the nappy of the next generation.
I have an early 70s self-winding water-proof military one. Sadly the self-winding is broken, so you have to wind it by hand. I expect the waterproofing is probably buggered, too.
the battery on my phone lasts 48 hours. The battery on my phone lasts two years
You got your battery from Ray's House Of Stochastic Electronics?
I always wear a watch, mostly because otherwise my wrist feels strange and I check the spot constantly, and I like how they look.
I'd think that most people who teach would wear a watch. You have to be aware of time and you probably shouldn't be pulling out your phone.
Classrooms usually have clocks.
True. But they're almost always the kind with hands and you can get a digital watch.
I have an early 70s self-winding water-proof military one. Sadly the self-winding is broken, so you have to wind it by hand. I expect the waterproofing is probably buggered, too.
Q: Is it true that ttaM has a self-winding water-proof Soviet military watch?
A: In principle, yes...
So why isn't my iPhone waterproof? Specifically, the lovely first generation model that I absentmindedly pocketed before swimming in the Pacific.
And it helps students identify with the teacher when they notice that she is also constantly checking the clock to see when class will finally end.
You need to download the Waterproof app.
I tried coating it in linseed oil but now my screen is unresponsive.
Apparently, you can make a perfectly nice floor with linseed oil and cob. That type of floor is mostly for when you build the floor directly on the ground. If you build the floor on the ground, according to the hippies, the temperature of the floor will always be the average annual temperature of your area. I think maybe 52 degrees is too cold for a floor.
I felt shockingly old the first time I heard "How Soon Is Now" as background music at the gym
You go on your own
and you stand on your own
and you go home
and you cry and you want to die
> your workout evidently lacks intensity. try crossfit?
On the Apple/credit card thing, apparently Apple has persuaded the top 5 US banks to let them have a cheap deal on interchange fees, in exchange for wearing some of the fraud/chargeback risk.
Remembering that Apple has an insane amount of cash on its balance sheet, in some sense they're using part of the cash as a reserve against that, which is probably a far better investment than putting it in the top 5 US banks or somewhere.
> You have been eaten by a Grue seeking to avoid carbs
Not even "A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours"?
> You have been eaten by a Grue seeking to avoid carbs
I wasn't aware carbs were a major part of the ordinary grue diet. Or is actually that human adventurers are the salt lick of the grue world? Most of the time they live out in the open eating pasta, but every so often they have to venture into the caves to nibble on some tasty human protein and to get some essential minerals.
I worked my quads
I worked my delta
I found a runner's high
But I can't help the way that I feel
Oh yes, you can kick me
And you can punch me
And you can spot me when I lift
But you won't change the way I feel
I was happy in the haze of a hot yoga hour
but heaven knows I'm hella jacked now
I was looking for my abs, and then I found my abs
and heaven knows I'm hella jacked now
In my life
why do I give valuable time
to people who don't care if I do max reps
I wasn't aware carbs were a major part of the ordinary grue diet. Or is actually that human adventurers are the salt lick of the grue world? Most of the time they live out in the open eating pasta, but every so often they have to venture into the caves to nibble on some tasty human protein and to get some essential minerals.
Whereas they're the core diet of dragons, and highly digestible... http://www.unfogged.com/archives/comments_11606.html#1357006
I am now envisaging a tabletop RPG setup for dietary obsessives. Exploring dungeons and fighting bandits are secondary; the game mechanics really centre around glycemic index and body fat percentage.
411: Yeah, it's generally inadvisable to have an unheated, uninsulated floor directly on grade. However, if one wanted to do that, one could install vertical subgrade insulation around the perimeter of the building, essentially capturing the first few feet of the floor in the thermal envelope. But you're still perpetually losing heat to the deep earth.
I think the people who write the cob books come from warmer places and want the connection to the grade to keep the place cool in the summer.
Looks like it's not unusable for lefties. You can flip it around backwards and the only difference than for righties is whether the knob is above the button or vice-versa.
424: my problem is solved! Now I can... still not get one, really.
I did order a phone. Hopefully I don't need to go back to rave pants and cargo shorts to get sufficient pocket capacity.
Have some dignity. Get a fanny pack.
McConaughey's bringing 'em back!
