While much of the recent Apple announcement was focused on the Watch, there was something else that piqued my interest in the form of a new Macbook.
I don’t want to dwell on specs, USB-C and all the other miscellaneous criticisms much of the tech press have focussed on (except to say that I think there’s a large number of my clients for whom this laptop would be absolutely perfect – not everyone needs the connectivity that seems to be missing on the new Macbook), but I was particularly curious about the new Force Touch trackpad that features on the new model, and that I expect will be slowly rolling out across the rest of the range.
So what’s Force Touch? It’s Apple’s name for Haptic Feedback technology – which is electronic feedback that simulates physical interaction. In this case, the trackpad is no longer a movable button – it’s now just a solid glass plane that senses the user’s force against it, and reacts accordingly. What’s extremely clever is that by using vibration devices under the glass, the device ‘feels’ like you clicked it. The advantage of this is that the whole trackpad is now ‘clickable’ (but it doesn’t click at all of course).That’s the theory, and it sounded great, but I was really curious as to how it worked in practice. So I took a trip to my local Apple store to check it out.
Currently the Force Touch trackpads are installed in just the 13” Retina MacBook Pro, so I headed straight for them. Unfortunately though, the ones I checked were the regular trackpads. I clicked the trackpad, and it definitely moved. But wait….it also clicks higher on the trackpad. Could this be? I went into System […]
Force Touch review: Feeling is believing
My thoughts on Apple Watch (1st Generation)
Today may be the day that Apple finally release full details about the Apple Watch; when it’ll be available, how much it’ll cost etc. With that in mind, I thought I’d put down in writing my thoughts about buying this first generation product.
Disclaimer: I have no inside knowledge of today’s Apple Event, and because of that I won’t be speculating (any more than I have in the opening paragraph) on it’s contents.
In readiness for when the Watch arrives, I’ve been thinking about it since the original announcement back in , trying to get my head around how I’d use it, what I’d use it for and based on that, what I could justify paying for it. The honest answers are I’m not sure, I don’t know, and an uncertain amount! Here’s why:
This is a first generation device, and despite Apple’s undoubted design expertise, like all ‘first attempts’ it’s undoubtedly not going to be the finished article. Think of the first generation of iPhone (no 3G, no apps), and iPad (bulkier, heavier, slower, no camera) and you get an appreciation of how far these devices have come in their subsequent iterations.
But that’s not the only improvements that have come through time. When the iPhone and iPad were first released, nobody knew what they could do, and many of the fantastic apps that are available now hadn’t even been conceived, let alone developed, used and improved.
For me it doesn’t matter how great the product is, until it’s out in the wild with people (other than Apple employees), not all of the uses and future enhancements will have been fully conceived. When end users and third party developers (other than Apple’s favourites, who may, or may not, have […]
iExcited?
If you didn’t know by now that Apple has an event lined up for tomorrow evening (6pm UK time), where have you been these past few weeks? The rumour mill has been rife, the component leaks plentiful and for the first time in a couple of years my interest is very much piqued.
During my time in the Apple market, I’ve seen some spectacular launches; iPod, iPhone, iPad being the obvious ones. And they’ve all had an air of something special leading up to the announcement. Sure, all Apple events are touted as being special, but every couple of years you feel they have something major, and groundbreaking to put out to the world. We felt it with the iPod (not the first disk based audio player, but the word iPod became ubiquitous, like Hoover and vaccum cleaners, to the devices function), the iPhone (not the first “smartphone”, but it sure as heck was the first that grabbed the public’s attention and grew the trend towards smart and away from feature phones), and the iPad (not the first tablet – are you seeing a pattern here?). And there’s definitely that feel in the air this time.
Everyone knew there was a phone coming, and a tablet when they were finally launched, but despite all the talk nobody had really made accurate predictions of what Apple would offer. In the same way, we’ve been hearing of the Apple TV (not convinced the time is right for that now) and iWatch for the past couple of years, so maybe this the time for Apple to release something new onto the world.
We know that Apple executives have talked about new products in new categories, and having their best product pipe […]
Mac Pro Available
Well, this morning I have good news……….Finally, after a long wait in the UK and Europe, we have a new model Mac Pro available to order!
The new model is a radical change to the stereotypical desktop computer, as you’d expect only from Apple, disposing of (entirely) the last bastions of 90’s technology (spinning hard drives)and moving into late 2013. Now, this new model is not going to appeal to everyone (that is for sure), but for the seriously power-hungry, these machines are going to be the way forward. Realistically I’m expecting 3D artists, video folks and scientists to want the new Pro, but of course there’ll be the few Mac fans with a lot of spare money who ‘just have to have one’ (and with funds available, why not?).
Starting at £2,499 (rising to nearly £8,000 for the real high end, and that’s without important stuff like a monitor….), will you be my first client to be transferred to one?
One final thought for today – following on from my post the other day, I was reminded of a recent job where a client was being harassed by an ex-employee over matters they shouldn’t have known anything about. Turns out that they were monitoring their employer’s email! Additionally, most services with financial information allow you to reset their passwords by them emailing you a link. If someone knows, or guesses, your passwords, imagine how easy it is for them to do this and delete the evidence. If this resulted in credit or debit card fraud, you may also find it difficult to reclaim any money stolen. So, bear that in mind when you set simple passwords for email. Change them today if there’s any danger anyone […]
Apple & Quidco
Morning all
No big post this morning as we were short on time yesterday. However, we just wanted to point out that the Retina iPad mini finally went on sale this morning at the Apple Store (stores and online). For those of you who prefer the size of the mini, you’ll be running the same spec as the new iPad Air with this new model, and we can tell you the Air is absolutely awesome.
Now that’s not the message I wanted to get across today. There’s a little tip I wanted to pass on regarding purchasing stuff from Apple. For those that don’t have the option of any discount (educational or otherwise), I suggest you subscribe to a service called Quidco. They offer various deals on all sorts of Web sites, and at the moment I believe they give 3% cashback on purchases from Apple (please check their Terms & Conditions as they do change on a frequent basis). I’ve been using Quidco personally for a long time, and it’s a great way of getting a little discount on products (by way of a payment into your account some time later and/or an actual discount).
Hope this recommendation helps, not just with Apple purchases, there’s all kinds of retailers on the site that you may want to use for Christmas presents!
One last thing; if you don’t have to buy today….don’t. Apple typically offer 10% reductions for a couple of days around Black Friday (29th November in 2013), and you’ve been able to combine this discount with Quidco cashbacks in the past.
Have a great day, tomorrow I hope to put out part 3 of our Backup & Storage series.