John Moltz has released his review of the iPhone 6. If you don’t normally read phone reviews then this is for you, it’s concise and addresses all the important issues consumers care about:
I got the 64 GB model and can now fill it with more crap, much of which I’ll never look at. I’m very happy about that. I have a friend with a 32 GB 5s and he’s a total loser now.
You’re Ted Melfi, a first-time filmmaker, and you’ve written a movie about a cantankerous old guy who comes to realize the meaning of his life through the help of a lonely 12-year-old neighbor kid. It’s called “St. Vincent,” and you think Bill Murray would be a great fit in the lead role. One problem: Murray doesn’t have an agent or manager. The only way you have of reaching him is a 1-800 number that one of your producers, Fred Roos, gives you.
A great story about a great actor, I can’t wait to see the film.
A thoughtful piece by Zac Cichy on Apple’s iterative approach to everything it does, why it works so well and how it will shape the future direction of the Apple Watch:
With each Apple product, one can draw a line from the begining to the most recent iteration and find a common, predictable pattern: Each new version of each product is the culmination of all that came before, plus something new. Each new version transcludes (transcends and includes) the prior. Each adds features, but does so in a way that does not betray the integrity of what worked in prior iterations.
Well worth a read.
A great piece by Bill Gates I discovered the other day talking about the book, ‘Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization’, by Vaclav Smil.
[Smil] argues that the most important man-made material is concrete, both in terms of the amount we produce each year and the total mass we’ve laid down. Concrete is the foundation (literally) for the massive expansion of urban areas of the past several decades, which has been a big factor in cutting the rate of extreme poverty in half since 1990. In 1950, the world made roughly as much steel as cement (a key ingredient in concrete); by 2010, steel production had grown by a factor of 8, but cement had gone up by a factor of 25.
I’m fascinated by the fact China produced more concrete in three years than the USA produced in one hundred. Check out the short video too – I like Smil’s quote: ‘Everywhere we have the chance, we should look at promoting quality and longevity’. Great stuff.
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber is having a bit of fun with his iPhone rumour “jokes”. His latest cryptic joke, on an article by Re/Code’s John Paczkowksi, suggests that NFC will be included in the soon to be released iPhone 6.
I’ve been working on a new joke — about NFC and a new secure enclave where you can store your credit cards, so you can pay for things at brick and mortar retail stores just by taking out your iPhone, but only if it’s one of the new iPhones — but no one seems to get my sense of humor.
He’s since updated his post with a “follow-up joke” hinting the NFC capabilities would be available on the (also joked about) wearable device rumoured to be unveiled at the September 9 event alongside the iPhone 6.
Follow-up joke: It would be cool, and would make a lot of sense, if the new wearable thing had the same magic payment apparatus.
There’s a good chance John is just having a bit of fun, but with his close connections with Apple and Apple’s habit of drip feeding select commentators with carefully leaked information, its likely his “jokes” may well prove correct.
With just over ten days to go until the event, this could well be the most hyped Apple event since the original iPhone in 2007.
