Posted on 10/25/2016 2:08:16 PM PDT by Swordmaker
One other thought. Years ago I bought a "broken" Mac laptop at a garage sale for $10. It booted to a screen that presented the "?" indicating there was no bootable hard drive available. I found I could boot it from a floppy boot disk. Obviously the problem was a bad hard drive.
I bought a replacement hard drive for $65 and installed it (easy to do) and then installed the latest MacOS operating system on the Mac laptop. Voila! I had a working Mac laptop that just cost me only $75.
A few years later, we had someone pilfer quite a few things out of our house. . . guns, power and hand tools, books, just a lot of stuff that you wouldn't notice were missing until you started noticing they were gone. We suspected the caregiver we had hired to take care of my mother-in-law, but could not prove it. One of them was this old, garage sale Mac laptop.
I dutifully made a list of everything we could not find (a hard thing to do. . . how do you prove a negative? There's suddenly a hole where something once was.) I added that laptop to the list and explained where I had gotten it, relating the $10 price and $65 hard drive I had put into it to get it working, figuring I'd get $75 for it's value. I hadn't really touched it in a couple of years.
About two weeks later, I came home and there was a box for me in our entry way. I asked my wife what it was. She said it had been delivered by UPS and required a signature. I opened it and it was a BRAND NEW, top of the$2500 Apple Lombard Mac Laptop computer. I called the insurance adjuster who was working with me on the theft and asked her "what gives?"
She reminded me that I had a replacement value rider on my homeowners policy and since the laptop I had purchased at that garage sale for $10 had been, when new, a top of the line model, that was what they were replacing it with: a brand new top of the line Mac laptop!
For the next several weeks, it was like Christmas morning, every day as more and more stuff was delivered to our house to replace the stolen stuff. . . my Dad's tool box full of old Craftsman tools I'd inherited was replaced by a complete set of Craftsman PRO tools in a five foot rolling cabinet! All the small hand power tools, by Craftsman PRO tools, etc.
The insurance companies no longer buy the stuff on the replacement policies, they have you buy it and then reimburse you for what you replace. Not as full service as they were before. RATS. It was sure nice when they did it!
Funny thing, six years later, someone punched the lock out of the trunk of my car and stole that Lombard Mac Laptop. . . and my insurance company bought me ANOTHER $2500 top of the line Mac laptop to replace it!
Another change is that the insurance company has changed its customer service drastically. Four years ago I was burglarized and the thieves only took BlueRay movies. They stole over $12,000 of them from me, going through my movie collection and creaming out every single BlueRay movie I had, leaving behind the DVD movies. The police said they had had more than 650 residential burglaries in North Stockton between June and September of that year in which only BlueRay disks were stolen!
I had a complete inventory on my computer of the disks I had, both DVD and BlueRay to give to the Police and my insurance company, so I knew exactly what was stolen. The police also knew where they were going to be sold. . . Rasputin. I went over with my list to Rasputin to give my list to the manager. I was amazed at what I saw. . . low-life, after low-life, pants hanging off their asses, coming in with garbage bags full of BlueRay disks to sell, "extras from their collections" they claimed. The clerks at Rasputin KNEW THEM BY NAME and were buying these disks with no questions asked! I saw why my DVDs were ignored. The few DVDs brought in were purchased for 50¢ each while BlueRays were $3 to $5 and 3D BlueRays were $7 to $10 each! The store manager, when she showed up, was not interested in looking at my list.
In any case, my insurance company treated ME as if I were trying to perpetrate fraud on THEM! They were very suspicious that I even had any BlueRays at all. . . and demanded proof! They demanded RECEIPTS for every single one! Who keeps receipts for under $20 purchases over multiple years? The insurance company told me to get copies of the receipts from the vendors. Walmart doesn't keep receipts beyond 90 days. . . and even then only by the last four digits of the credit card number and you have to KNOW the date of purchase to find it. Do you know how many people share your last four digits in a Walmart purchasing zone? I found out. Oh, and the products are listed not by name but by UPC code! Good luck,
The insurance company did not care that such burglaries were rife in my area of Stockton. . . so, this time, even though I had "replacement value" and a contemporaneous to purchase list of everything stolen, they refused to pay replacement value on my BlueRay collection unless I could come up with receipts to prove I actually owned every single one they would pay on! Out of the more than $12,000 purchase value stolen, they finally paid of a depreciated value of under $4500. I changed insurance companies for that treatment!
I work in San Joaquin County but live in Sacramento now. I have a house in Stockton as well.
And how exactly is that “magic”?
“Well, for the iMac, look at the Apple refurb store . . .”
10-4, Swordmaker. Looked at Apple refurbushed iMacs. Too expensive. Bought a 2013 iMac on eBay for $1100, saving about $500 over Apple’s offer. The eBay mac offered Applecare good till 5-17. Just need to swap out the Apple drive for an OWC SDD and add another 8 gigs of memory.
Now it’s onto the hunt for a Macbook pro.
"Any technology, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic." — Arthur C. Clarke's third Law.
If you cannot see the advancement in a keyboard in which the key caps can dynamically change, in color, appearance, and function, to the needs of the apps that are running, or the entire keyboard can suddenly become a multitouch trackpad, then I can't help you see it and the advantages it offers.
Clarke’s point is that there is no such thing as “magic”, unless by that term one is referring to show business stage trickery, or advertising hype.
Personally, I dislike that term, but it works well to impress the ignorant.
And as for Apple’s so-called Magic Keyboard, the concept of entry devices modifiable under software control for function and appearance is a decades-old concept, though obviously it’s much more practical, effective, and cheaper to implement with current technology using electronics rather than optics (as was done half a century ago).
But I’m glad they are doing it, and you are dishonest in accusing me of not seeing the advantages of that approach.
Now if Apple would design and program their Magic Keyboard to be comfortable in an ergonomic sense for someone like myself who tends to type a lot, then they will really get my attention.
No, Fresh Wind, you misconstrue Clarke's point. Clarke's LAW is that any technology when it becomes advanced enough appears so smooth and seamless that to the layman using that technology, it appears to all extents and purposes that it IS magical and that it will seem to work without the trappings of technology. THAT is what Clarke meant, not that magic did not exist. He could have easily said that in his Three Laws, i.e. "Magic is just technology we do not yet understand." He did not couch his third law in that fashion. His Third Law assumes that magic exists.
And as for Apple’s so-called Magic Keyboard, the concept of entry devices modifiable under software control for function and appearance is a decades-old concept, though obviously it’s much more practical, effective, and cheaper to implement with current technology using electronics rather than optics (as was done half a century ago).
Please demonstrate for us any such existing keyboard that actually works. Even Apple has not yet released such a keyboard. I've seen prototypes that were not ready for prime time because they just did not work. The closest that works is the iPhone's virtual multitouch keyboard/screens which revolutionized the mobile phone input systems. . . But still do not approach the fully realized concept possibilities.
I disagree that such a keyboard was ever made a half-century ago.
You were the one arguing that such a keyboard would not be such a huge advantage. I debated your point, perhaps a bit too strongly, in rebutting your claims. There is no dishonesty in rebuttal.
I, too, would wish that Apple would take on ergonomic keyboards. I think they could do it right where others have not, if they would put their research department on it.
I always believed that he was alluding to the tendency of primitive cultures to assign magical, or even god-like explanations for technologies or events outside their realm of understanding. That is certainly a topic that a science fiction writer would address.
After all, (Apple) already has a Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse.
As quoted above from the article you posted, there is the statement that Apple had a "Magic Keyboard". Then you stated that Apple had patented a fully programmable keyboard that you assumed would be the "Magic Keyboard", something that you admit doesn't even exist beyond the prototype stage. Sorry for my confusion over this point.
I disagree that such a keyboard was ever made a half-century ago.
I never said there was a keyboard of that type (you ASSUMED I meant a QWERTY device) at that time. I was talking about the CONCEPT of an entry device the appearance and function of which could be modified under software control. I am not aware of any QWERTY keyboard of that type, but arrays of entry devices (generally referred to as "multifunction switches") that consist of a number of tiny incandescent (T1 size) lamps projecting through pieces of film onto frosted glass screens which also serve as the operating surfaces (the buttons themselves), were widely used in military applications in the 60s and 70s. The software controlled which bulbs were illuminated and hence which legends were displayed to the operator.
I would refer you to this 1977 document which addresses this topic. Yes, that technology was primitive, expensive, and clumsy, but it existed and it worked. And knowing how slowly military technology evolves, I wouldn't doubt that it is still in use.
You were the one arguing that such a keyboard would not be such a huge advantage.
That is a FLAT OUT LIE no matter how you sugar coat it.
And finally, I didn't claim that Apple stole the "Magic Keyboard" name from another company that used it years ago, in this case referring to push-button tuning of a radio. I understand that copyrights expire if not periodically renewed and I checked the USPTO database. I was surprised to learn that Stewart-Warner never copyrighted that name anyway, and Apple is now the legitimate owner. I thought it was interesting that the same name resurfaced after 80 years, but you assumed that it was an attack, as is your wont.
Did I claim you said Apple stole it? I thought we were having a discussion. I made no accusation against you. Not one. In fact, it turns out that Apple is not even using the name Magic Tool Bar. As announced today, it's just "Touch Bar."
You seem to be the one who is assuming things here, not me.
What Clarke said wasn't a "LAW" in the same sense as something like Ohm's law, or the laws of thermodynamics. If anything, it would be closer to Murphy's pseudo-law. It was a clever, amusing remark to be sure, but to claim, as you did, that Clarke believed that magic existed is pure baloney. To believe that magic exists is in the same realm as believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Again, I don't mean stage magic, or use of the word "magic" in advertising.
Arthur C. Clarke wrote the three adages as "LAWS" and they have been referred to as Laws ever since he penned them. You want to argue that point, go ahead. I know what he was referring to, even if you don't seem to know. The wording is quite explicit. It assumes the existence of a functional thing called "Magic" that technology could aspire to be the equivalent. It was a known comparative. Whether such a thing is real or not is irrelevant except in your mind. Whether Clarke believed in it or not is also irrelevant. You don't know what Clarke believe and neither do I. The man is dead.
Again had he meant what you said, he would have said it. He did not.
I don't see where I attacked you. . . You don't like the word "magic." Fine. I disagree with your interpretation of Arthur C. Clarke's laws, something that in Science Fiction is well established as Laws. Do you even know what all three are? If not, here they are:
"You were the one arguing that such a keyboard would not be such a huge advantage."
That is a FLAT OUT LIE no matter how you sugar coat it.
It seemed to be implicit in your posts criticizing the entire concept of the nature of the Touch Bar and the "Magic Keyboard" as I described it and questioning how that technology would seem to be "magic". . . conjuring up primitive versions from the past as if they were somehow equivalent. That implies that there was not a huge advantage in the new versions. I don't see a lie. Again, we were discussing the improvements. I was challenging you to produce the products of the past. You did step up there with the 1977 document on cockpit keyboards and that is a legitimate example. Thank you.
I just placed my order for a 13-inch MacBook Pro that will replace my SIX YEAR OLD MACBOOK AIR. I cannot believe I used the Air for six years. It still works, but cannot do anything productive in video nor can it run Sierra...
So, what was “implicit” in my statements is fair game for criticism, but what was “implicit” in your statements isn’t.
I understand now.
I never said one word about the Touch Bar, formerly the Magic Tool Bar.
I never said one word about whether I thought the “Magic Keyboard” concept was good, bad, or indifferent, only that the word “magic” isn’t a particularly appropriate description for anything that has been (or will be) created by the efforts of man, no matter how good it might be.
Obviously, some marketing people would disagree.
But actually I think it’s a great idea, it’s just not one that is totally new. For example, one physical keyboard could serve the entire world market, regardless of language. Anyone who has to operate in multiple languages would love it.
Perhaps you should ask 100 people on the street who carry iPhones whether they think that the phone or any aspect of the phone’s operation is “magic”. I’m betting that not one will say that it is.
I think you might be surprised in your bet. I think you'd lose. Just a quick search of the word "magic" in user comments on iPhones brought up quite a few hits. . .
"iPhones are like magic. People who don't believe that have never had occasion to use them. Magic people Magic!"
LOL! Probably the same people who think Obama is a “magic Negro”.
That they did. . . and HE was all smoke and mirrors. . .
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