Apple overhauling its 30 pin connector

[007]

[AustinChief]

From a pure technical aspect... there are some slight advantages to having a proprietary solution like Apple has. That is FAR FAR FAR outweighed by the inconvenience of it. The ONLY reason they can get away with it at all is because #1 they were the only major successful player int he iPod space so their proprietary bullshit became the de facto standard. and #2 most Apple users (even the ones that THINK they are tech savvy) are NOT tech savvy enough to reject Apple's bullshit excuses for why they don't use STANDARDS like the rest of the world.

*rant*
Seriously, **** Apple.. and Sony too.. they try to pull this shit as well. USE THE ****ING STANDARDS ASSHOLES. Steve Jobs can go to hell... ooops too late.
*/rant*

[DaFace]

Nerd fight!

[Fish]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Nerd fight!

My bow tie hides multiple blades bitch......

[Fish]

Also interesting relating Apple...

Per their patent activity... Kinda cool...

Why Apple Will Turn to Holograms

Look around your office hallway or college campus and you’ll see people holding interactive panes of glass. Smartphones and tablets, so revolutionary a few years ago, are quickly becoming commodities. Apple (AAPL) is now locked in a fierce patent battle with Samsung over tablet designs—a sure sign that, whoever is right, touchscreens are converging into gadgets that look like everything else.

So as Apple prepares to launch its next iPhone in September, with a slightly bigger screen, here is a prediction—Apple devices will soon project holograms like you’ve never seen. This is not mere speculation, but insight based on Apple’s patents, recent acquisitions, and the business imperative to do something to break free of the tablet clutter.

In November 2010, Apple patented a three-dimensional display system that would “mimic a hologram” without requiring special glasses. The patent narrative is fascinating, noting that one current market gap in screen technology is the ability of a device to project stereoscopic 3D images to multiple viewers at the same time.

Apple proposed an elegant solution: match a forward-facing camera/sensor that tracks the location of different viewers’ eyes, similar to how Microsoft’s (MSFT) Kinect monitors body movements or new digital cameras recognize human faces, with a screen that can send out beams of light at different angles. Voilà! Each eye of each viewer receives a different angle of the image, and suddenly Princess Leia would appear to beam out of R2-D2 and float in the air.

I know what you’re thinking—3D screens have been around for a while, but consumers have not flocked to them. Overall, television sales are in a slump (LCD sales were down 3 percent worldwide in the first quarter after years of 20 percent growth), and consumers who recently upgraded to flat panels did not rush out to buy the 3D versions manufacturers dreamed would goose the market. Even 3D tech that doesn’t require glasses has not sold well; Nintendo (NTDOY) sales of its 3DS gaming device, which floats images without glasses, were so anemic in 2011 that it dropped the price from $250 to $170 just five months after launch.

If 3D has been such a yawn, why would Apple get involved? There are three main reasons.

Apple is the second-mover that makes failed first-mover ideas work. Apple lifted the idea for the mouse from Xerox, streamlined it, coated the rotating ball in rubber so it would be quiet on a desktop, and dropped the price. Apple launched its touchscreen iPhone and iPad years after Microsoft tried to go to market in 2002 with a pen-based Tablet PC. Apple redesigns technology to remove the rough edges, and consumerså respond in droves. Toshiba is now selling a 55-inch 3D television in Asia that doesn’t require glasses for viewing the effect. Do you think Apple will let such advances in screen technology pass it by?

Second, Apple’s hologram technology will be different—and completely realistic. The Apple patent states, “Each viewer could be presented … with complete freedom of movement … without the need for special viewing goggles or headgear.”

Read that as the hologram will remain realistic even if you and your friends move around the room, and you won’t look like a doofus watching it. The Apple patent also explains how the monitoring sensor would pick up and replicate ambient lighting in the room—creating, say, a projection of a business colleague floating at your conference table with light from the window gleaming in her hair.

Finally, in perhaps its most unique trick, the Apple hologram system would detect who is watching, and be able to display different images to different people. The patent says “individual observers … can be uniquely identified based upon distinctive personal characteristics (e.g., height, shoulder width, distinctive outline, etc.),” allowing outbound beamed projections to be changed for each observer. This would enable everything from private holograms to personalized advertising. In business video calls, you could project yourself in a suit for the upper executives in the room and a more relaxed view of yourself in jeans for the younger tech hipsters.

Apple must forge a new direction, because not only will its patent lawyers have difficulty claiming rights to all tablet designs, the touchscreen may soon be obsolete. Walt Disney (DIS), not known for being a gadget leader, recently announced its R&D division has developed “swept frequency capacitive sensing” that turns virtually any material into a touchscreen. Called Touché, the system would allow couches, doorknobs, clothing, and even water to sense your movement or finger swipes, making touchscreens irrelevant. If you can type on a tabletop, the need for a tablet may disappear.

Beyond its 3D patent, Apple has acquired 3D modeling businesses such as C3 Technologies and Poly9, both known for building photorealistic images of the world. C3 Technologies, for instance, used declassified military technology and aerial photography to model any potential mountain, building, or home in three dimensions—reportedly accurate to within 6 inches. Apple’s upcoming map apps could be more interesting than you expect.

Apple also has a monetary incentive to chase 3D: True screen differentiation would boost sales of all Apple products. Apple could finally break into the television market and own the living room; holography could unlock revenue streams from business communications, with Apple “reality projection” videoconferencing making Skype look like a telegraph. Apple has been rumored for years to be developing real TV sets, but needs a way to break into the saturated big-screen market. If its holography were to top Toshiba’s design, there surely would be interest.

As tablets become commodities, it’s not hard to predict the design battle will move from hardware to the virtual visual realm. Even Sir Jonathan Ive can take glass panes only so far. I don’t know if an iPhone 5 will hold holograms, but eventually Apple will serve us 3D images—because while anyone can copy a glass tablet, not everyone can make the world float in your hand.

[Silock]

Hey, who gives a shit, really? If you get a new device, you'll get the new connector. If you don't, you won't have to worry about it.

What's the big deal? Every phone is going out of date eventually.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by Silock

Hey, who gives a shit, really? If you get a new device, you'll get the new connector. If you don't, you won't have to worry about it.

What's the big deal? Every phone is going out of date eventually.

The big deal is that it is proprietary bullshit. Which DOES make it a money grab and a blatant attempt to lock people into a format that only works with their licensed products. YAY! Let's all by bullshit Sony products so we can use their shitty memory sticks instead of what everyone else uses.

micro USB 3 (as a connector) can do everything you need to get done...

[Silock]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

The big deal is that it is proprietary bullshit. Which DOES make it a money grab and a blatant attempt to lock people into a format that only works with their licensed products. YAY! Let's all by bullshit Sony products so we can use their shitty memory sticks instead of what everyone else uses.

micro USB 3 (as a connector) can do everything you need to get done...

Even if it is proprietary, why does it matter? My PC doesn't have a floppy drive any longer... Should I be pissed about that? Point is that things change. Even standards die out. How is this really any different, except that it's made by Apple?

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by Silock

Even if it is proprietary, why does it matter? My PC doesn't have a floppy drive any longer... Should I be pissed about that? Point is that things change. Even standards die out. How is this really any different, except that it's made by Apple?

I included Sony in my rant. proprietary crap is bad for the consumer. period. floppy drives became obsolete... micro usb is far from being analogous to any outdated tech. If Apple gave a shit about the consumer it would work with the industry instead of against it. Look at IBM, Intel and even Microsoft in recent years.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

Look at IBM, Intel and even Microsoft in recent years.

None of them became the biggest company in the world /shrug

I'm just saying that I own PCs for my computing needs, and some Apple mobile devices. None of the proprietary connectors have ever negatively affected my life or the way I use my Apple products with my PC.

I guess I just don't get it.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Silock

Hey, who gives a shit, really? If you get a new device, you'll get the new connector. If you don't, you won't have to worry about it.

What's the big deal? Every phone is going out of date eventually.

Apple is a shitty greedy company for using the same adapter for every single one of their mobile devices over a 9 year period of technology change. Providing nearly seamless driver free connectivity to an entire host of media interfaces throughout those 9 years. This is a terrible thing.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

Apple is a shitty greedy company for using the same adapter for every single one of their mobile devices over a 9 year period of technology change. Providing nearly seamless driver free connectivity to an entire host of media interfaces throughout those 9 years. This is a terrible thing.

Yes they are a shitty company for not using STANDARDS. Any tech company ..especially hardware... that doesn't use available standards (that can do the job) are assholes.

I never complained about the original connector... one can argue that it was necessary because there wasn't anything else at the time .. one would be an idiot and wrong.. but that's not the topic. The topic is the CURRENT switch from a shitty proprietary connector to ANOTHER shitty proprietary connector... when they could just as easily adopt a standard.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

Yes they are a shitty company for not using STANDARDS. Any tech company ..especially hardware... that doesn't use available standards (that can do the job) are assholes.

I never complained about the original connector... one can argue that it was necessary because there wasn't anything else at the time .. one would be an idiot and wrong.. but that's not the topic. The topic is the CURRENT switch from a shitty proprietary connector to ANOTHER shitty proprietary connector... when they could just as easily adopt a standard.

The number of Apple appliances exceeds the number of components that are adopting STANDARDS. They don't really need compliance. It doesn't serve them any profitable advantage. That's an emotionless asshole corporate Apple response, but it's the truth. And they have the user base saturation to be able to demand a connector change and get away with it. And of course, there will be an adapter available to use existing 30 pin connectors with the new 19 pin connectors.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

The number of Apple appliances exceeds the number of components that are adopting STANDARDS. They don't really need compliance. It doesn't serve them any profitable advantage. That's an emotionless asshole corporate Apple response, but it's the truth. And they have the user base saturation to be able to demand a connector change and get away with it. And of course, there will be an adapter available to use existing 30 pin connectors with the new 19 pin connectors.

Are you ****ing insane? The number of components adopting standards outweighs Apple by a ****ing immense margin. How many phones use micro USB versus apple's shitty connector? If you're talking about gadgets that connect to an iPod, then you're right... but who the **** cares. iPods are dying off as people use their phones as mp3 players.

I've shown conclusively that there is no legitimate reason other then typical Apple bullshit involved yet you continue to defend them... you are a true believer!

Keep living in the past while Apple settles into its comfortable sub 20% share.

Btw iPads are now well under 50% (if you include all tablets...ie white box)