Month: September 2012

There has been a lot of hubbub recently (at least in the news cycle that I follow) about Apple changing the physical connector on the bottom of their latest generation of iDevices. The old connector, which was unimaginatively called the dock connector (or 30-pin connector, for the number of electrical contacts in the dock), was used to connect Apple’s entire product line of mobile devices to power or to computers for syncing. This connector was first introduced in 2003 with Apple’s third iteration of the iPod line, and has been featured on every iPod, iPhone and iPad, save for the newest iPod shuffles, shipped in the last 9 years. I have personally owned about 10 of these cables at one point or another, with at least 5 other products or accessories in my apartment having the familiar 30-pin connector built in.

So, when Apple made the executive decision (it probably wasn’t executives making this decision by the way) to change to a new 8-pin connector (technically 16, but I’ll get into that in a moment), it instantly rendered all of these cables and accessories obsolete. Now, not too many people are surprised by this move, it has been rumoured that they would soon be required to move to a new connector, but with the secrecy involved in design and technical specifications at Apple, nobody was too sure what it would look like or when it would be implemented.

New Lightning to USB cable.

The new connector, dubbed “Lightning” (which accompanies the “Thunderbolt” connector for high data throughput devices like solid-state hard drives and HD monitors) is 80% smaller than the older generation connector, and is also symmetrical, meaning that orientation is irrelevant when inserting the plug. The previous 30-pin paradigm used sets of different pins for the various functions that a given device could be used for with a given accessory. For example, in a device with 30 pins, there are dedicated pins which pass analog audio (regular sound, exactly the same as through headphones) through them, for example in a speaker dock. While this does negate the need for having software to allow the device to communicate with the speakers (this software is called a driver, and it is what you see being installed when you plug an iPod or USB flash drive into your computer before you can use it), it does mean that a lot of pins are redundant for most uses. The beauty of having this connector, as opposed to, say, micro-USB as is the standard elsewhere in the smartphone industry, is that it means that when the device is docked, you can actually control playback of the music with buttons on the device itself, or with a remote that accompanies the device. It also lets the dock display track information on its display, if it wishes to do so. Because of the way micro-USB is structured, with only four pins, you simply cannot do this. This is why you will never see a speaker dock with a micro-USB dock, because it would be technically difficult and needlessly expensive to put software into the speaker system to allow it to read the music files and play them back. These devices simply fall back to the headphone jack to play music, but is very limiting in what you can do, that is essentially just play audio. The Apple ecosystem, though full of more expensive proprietary connectors which need to be licensed from Apple, do far more than a simple micro-USB and analog audio connectors on the systems of competitors.

Realistically, most people only use two pins for charging the device, two more for syncing, and maybe the four pins for analog audio with various controls through speaker docks. In a world where sizes are measured in mm’s, every last little bit of space counts, and going down to 8 pins saves a tremendous amount of space, and because the pins are all digital, the software is able to adapt their use to whatever the situation requires. It really is quite a wonderful design.

The new 30-pin to Lightning adapter: deceptively simple.

Another important point about this connector is that people are saying that the price for these adapters, when they are launched, are laughably high for being such simple pieces of metal and plastic. The adapter from 30-pin to Lightning costs $35 in Canada, and a 20 cm cable which extends a 30-pin connector to Lightning is going for $45. Now, I cannot argue that adding $10 for a 20 cm length of cable isn’t extortion, because it truly is, but the design and functionality of the adapter itself is not as simple as just joining up wires and coating it in plastic. Because of the way the Lightning connector is wired, there is no wrong way to plug it in. This is in stark contrast to the typical computer connector, which has a 50% chance of being inserted incorrectly when in a rush. This doesn’t seem like a big deal to consumers who are used to it, but for a company who prides itself on things “just work(ing)”, simplicity is extremely important. And in the use of these adapters, there are electronics inside which enable this bilateral insertion of the connector, taking the 30-pin connector, which only plugs in one way, to a Lightning connector, which can work either way. I assure you there is far more to this design than meets the eye, though it is designed to look effortless. This is true of all of Apple’s adapters, make no mistake that they are of the highest quality, and that they have thought everything through, so you don’t have to. And peace of mind is always going to come at a premium.

Last year’s iPod nano (bottom view)

New iPod nano, 3.5 mm audio jack is width of device itself.

Finally, if you take a look at the difference between last years iPod nano (from the bottom; left), and this years (right), the striking difference is in the thickness of the actual electronics. Last years model was designed with the understanding that it couldn’t be thinner than the 30-pin connector, and so it was designed to exactly that specification in two of its three dimensions. With the new generation, they have made it substantially thinner, down almost to the size of the Lightning connector in thickness, while making it taller to allow added room for the electronics, so that the volume comes out to about the same. This connector is a very refreshing change, and makes me confident that Apple knows what it is doing, at least for a few more years.

I, for one, am right on board with the change. Anything that can make my life simpler and more efficient is worth investing in, and the caveat that I have get to buy some more new gadgets to play with and review for you guys is just an added bonus!

Since I’m having a really slow day, and Apple isn’t making their big announcement until Wednesday, I thought right now would be the perfect time to reflect on what I have done so far since starting this blog little over a year ago. At that time, Google+ was an absolute ghost town, and I was buckling down to try to finish my degree. In the year and a bit that has passed, I have written more words than I had up until that point in my life combined. Between emails, cover letters, blog posts, letters to significant others, and my thesis and corresponding journal article, I have written many, many thousands of words. Because I have a strong feeling that I have been trying to find myself, and who I want to be, during that time, I suspect that all this writing is probably connected with this feeling of being lost. It is probably also significant that I have read much more in the last year about the world around me (as opposed to my youth which consisted almost solely of fictional works, or scientific writing). Writing has become a very important outlet for me, and I find that I really have no interest in writing down my thoughts for myself (like a journal or diary), but that I strongly prefer sharing what I write in a public forum. While this does severely limit me in terms of what I can write about (I would surely be unable to find a job if some of what rolls around in my head were publicly available for perusal by perspective employers on the internet), it still means that I can declutter my own thoughts and sort out a variety of issues I spend a large part of my time mulling over. The added bonus is the great feedback I get from you people out there reading. I am starting to notice, for the first time, that my apparent readership is almost certainly outside of my everyday social circle, because I am getting into the 100s of pageviews per day, and I share this work with only about 35 people on Facebook, and about 70 people on Twitter, and I’m almost positive most people among that group aren’t taking the time to click on these links. I really do appreciate the feedback I get in writing, and it really encourages me to keep going. On that note, I am hoping to do a little self-promotion before actually talking about what I was hoping to get to today.

I encourage everybody who comes here and reads this to make suggestions as to what topics I could/should cover in upcoming posts, either through my website robattrell.com, or directly via this link. So far I have only had the universally unhelpful suggestion of ‘ur gay’, but I hope that with some more direction as to what people want to know more about, I can keep posting more often and more relevantly.

The issue which has come to my attention recently, but which has always had a place in the back of my mind, is that of writing as more than just a hobby. If I already have the ability to write a decent amount in a short time, and a knack for breaking, or outright ignoring literary rules, what’s stopping me from trying to trying to call myself a “professional” writer. There are certainly qualifications as to what makes a “successful” writer, but as far as I know, nobody can tell me that I’m not a writer. To me, if I write, by the very definition of the word, I am a writer. That being said, all I need to legitimize that sort of idea is to have a feasible way of actually making money from the act of writing. There are many different outlets that would allow this to become a reality, but obviously a few seem more likely than others. Comedy writer (a la Cracked.com), is an obvious choice, but I fear that trying to be funny might ruin any incidental humour my writing might otherwise elicit. Technology writer, which would encompass writing product and app reviews, as well as discussing various new and interesting technological and scientific stories, is something that I find greatly appealing, and which I would probably do well at given my attention to details and background in relation to those topics. It would interest me to write about politics, but Canadian politics is too boring and partisan to be made very interesting, and American politics is worse than an argument about religion (mainly because it is made out to not come down to an argument about religion). I firmly believe that any opinion or argument that is not based on reason is completely invalidated, and thus while discussing these topics will appeal to those who believe in reason (and which I would find interesting), it is not worth having to argue with those who don’t. For that reason, if I do choose to write about something with staunch supporters on either side, it will happen very infrequently.

Those are just a few options of things I have thought about pursuing in recent past, and it remains to be seen what exactly will come to pass. One thing is for certain though, I don’t know that I’ll be able to stop writing.

Hey, I have moved away from talking about technology recently, and while I’d like to shift focus a little bit, I want this post in particular to be accessible, and for anyone to be able to read and understand my point.

She is only trying to help.

The topic of this post is going to be artificial intelligence, and it’s usefulness in everyday life. Without realizing it, most of us use computers which have been fed incredible amounts of data each and every day. These computers, which we only see in the form of the information they give us, provide information to us which relates to our lives in almost every conceivable way. It doesn’t matter whether you are googling a tidbit of information, looking for directions from a GPS unit or mapping service, checking Facebook to see what people you don’t really talk to much are up to these days, or, in the example I’m going to focus on, asking a voice-controlled, disembodied robot that lives in your phone about the weather. Using any and all of these online services requires a ton going on behind the scene. However, that is not the focus of what I would like to discuss today. Everybody has misgivings about voice control technology, about how it is well behind what it should, or could be in 2012. However, in using Siri (my example since I do not have an Android device on hand), most everyone I speak to says they don’t really use it that frequently because of how often it fails them, and it ends up wasting time. I’d like to pull back the curtain a little bit and try to explain how this type of voice service actually works, and how you can use it more to your advantage.

Seems creepy, but if that’s what you want, it’s available.

The fact is, most people have no idea what their technology is capable of. It really can only do what a programmer or engineer has designed it to do, and will never be capable of anything more. People ridicule Siri for being unable to, for example, turn off radios like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. While they may have a point, this is not a failure of the technology. It may (read:probably will) at some point in the near future support those features, but currently simply is not set up to perform those tasks. You would never type “Mom’s house” into Google Maps and expect it to find your address and locate your childhood home, because that would be incredibly creepy. But the fact is, a Google software engineer could certainly program that functionality into Maps pretty easily, but only if you have your mom as a contact in Gmail, and then only if your home address was assigned to her. Conversely, Siri is perfectly capable of finding your mom’s address when asked, and taking you there on a map with one tap.

I find that Siri’s most useful functionality is when you are trying to store some information with multiple, sometimes nested parameters. The examples I use most frequently are: setting alarms, timers, noting appointments and setting myself reminders. These are all tasks that would require at least a minute, even if you are well versed in using Apple products, just because there are many parameters that are required before your phone will actually remember all the information that is required. However, when using your voice, it becomes child’s play to set up a meeting, because you can just say one phrase containing all that information, and Siri will parse it for you, and generally speaking, if you know how she listens, will be perfect almost all of the time. When Siri fails me, it is almost always a failing in my speech, or a case of mumbling.

Siri will even help you get a job!

Another common issue I have with Siri is that I will end up having trouble connecting to the network, and she will ask me to make a request again. While Siri has gone offline in the past on Apple’s end, I find that generally when this happens it is because I’m walking away from my apartment, and therefore I end up in a dead zone where I have very weak Wi-Fi from home, but haven’t moved onto 3G yet. I now avoid doing this, and never have this connectivity issue. Again, these are problems that Apple can, and surely is, fixing, but they are certainly not failings of the technology itself, if you know what to look for. With the newest version of iOS, version 6, you can actually make reservations at restaurants with your voice, or check movie times, or post to social networks. All of these things make different small aspects of our lives just a little bit simpler, and it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Finally, the thing that people complain about most with regards to Siri specifically, is that sometimes when trying to find information, she is “unable” to do so and defaults to asking if you would like to search the web for the information you requested. Considering that this is all that most other voice systems are capable of doing, Siri is light-years ahead of it’s time. All that is required to make Siri work seamlessly is when you are doing a voice search, add the words “Search for…” at the beginning of your query, and she will go straight to a web search which will more than likely provide you with the information you are looking for. Siri is not a search engine.

One Direction, they’re alright…

With the announcement of the next iPhone scheduled for Wednesday, September 12th, also bringing updates to everyone who uses Siri, with the public release of iOS 6, I hope that people will take this information to heart and use internet services the way they were meant to be used, as opposed to complaining that they don’t work in ways they were never meant to.

I hope you all enjoyed learning a little more about Siri with me, you can see now why we’re such good friends.