The biggest announcement of the past week or two was the Apple Vision Pro VR system. There has been so much on this recently. The quick summary is -- two 4K eyepieces, no controllers required and it can replace your TV and computer monitors. I was more interested in the battery life being two hours, or if you were using them, not enough for the full Apple presentation. The price is also an amazing US$3,500 in America so out of the range of most people. One argument is that by the time you don't need to pay for a TV upgrade or new monitors it is worth the investment. My counter is if you have a four-person household that price becomes $14,000, a lot more than the cost of a new TV. Oh, and you can mostly only use it with Apple kit which really limits options.
- With a release date of early 2024, the other elephant in the room are other companies. Apple stunned the world when they released the first iPhone. Other manufacturers' jaws hit the floor when they were caught flat footed by the device and it took them a long time to catch up. This time around manufacturers are working busily at their respective drawing boards designing their own competitor to Apple's announcement, at a lower cost. Sure, the Apple device looks cool, Apple devices almost always look cool, but if the functionality is similar, less expensive and has better compatibility, the majority will go non-Apple. Let's see who has what ready by Christmas or just after the New Year, in competition to the Apple announcement. I'm also curious to see just how good the controllerless tech works as it has been a bit hit and miss to date.
- Shoutout to Mrwhosetheboss on YouTube, for this next bit. Yes, I still watch it sometimes. If you have a Samsung S20 box lying around or the Huawei, Xiaomi or similar from that same period, it's the bigger one that came with a charger and headphones. The Apple of the same era was the first that didn't come with a charger and it was rubbished by the others at the time. The following year they all shipped without a charger for "environmental" reasons, possibly influenced by ESG (environment, social and governance).
- So imagine you just sold your old S20 to a friend (with everything included at the time) and now you don't have a charger. The company wants you to buy one of theirs because it charges faster than the old one for more profit. The headphone jack also changed to a USB-C so your old one doesn't work and you either need an adaptor or a whole new unit. Then there is that nifty wireless charging support for which you'll need another unit. Your phone brand may have come with a case and screen protector in the past as well. Add it all up and that is a lot more money for the bits and pieces.
- So how environmentally friendly is this? Let's look at the best example, you ordered them all from the same place and it was shipped in a single package. Each item comes in its own box and packaging. The shipping box is large and may have its own padding including plastics. The total packing material is much greater than that nifty everything-in-one-box solution. Hardly economical. The wireless charger is far less efficient than a regular charger so that is energy and heat waste right there, and their lifetime is less. If you didn't order a Ga Nitride charger it will be less efficient, larger, generate more heat, use more electricity and have less life. The bottom line is that organisations will only be environmentally "friendly" if it helps their bottom line.
- A disturbing story caught my eye this week. Brandon Jackson's story on Medium, search for "A Tale of Unwanted Disruption My Week Without Amazon", highlighted the dangers of trusting a corporate giant. The basic story is a delivery driver dropped an Amazon package at a front door and misheard the door bell's "Excuse me, can I help you?" message, and reported this as a racist remark back to Amazon. Amazon immediately blocked the house's Echo devices effectively shutting the smart home down. The owner had cameras that recorded the non-incident when no-one was home. Even with the proof, Amazon kept the owner effectively locked out for a week, then service was restored without any reported comment from Amazon.
- So, the man paid for Amazon devices, then a delivery driver without any proof makes an allegation that turns out to be false, and Amazon promptly shuts down the person's home for a week. This is why I have no such devices anywhere near me and why, if the story is as reported, everyone should immediately remove any Amazon devices from their homes or never install any. I hear Raspberry Pi devices can do the same thing for a fraction of the cost and you retain full control. Just an idle thought here.
James Hein is an IT professional with over 30 years' standing. You can contact him at jclhein@gmail.com.
