Slogging through the Verge's transcript of the Apple presentation (http://live.theverge.com/apple-iphone-6s-tv-event-live-blog/), we see:

- Cheaper iCloud storage. A buddy of mine is spending a lot of coin there, and he'll be thrilled.

- Next-gen iPhone 6S / 6S Plus: the new shiny is "3D Touch", aka measuring the force with which you touch and behaving differently. One of the snarky Verge comments is that they've invented the right-click. 12 megapixel main camera, 5 megapixel front camera. 4K video. Notably, prices have not come down.

A base-model 6S with 16GB of memory is $199 with a two year contract. A loaded 6S Plus with 128GB is $499 with a two year contract. Now that low-end Android phones are coming in at $199 without contract, and fancier ones are more like $400 without contract, Apple is positioning itself way, way upmarket.

- Next-gen AppleTV, now with "tvOS", which allows you to port iOS stuff to run on the TV. That means that Apple is now competing against Xbox, PlayStation, etc. The remote control has a touchpad and a microphone as well. In short, it's very much "game on" versus Google's Android TV.

- New iPad devices, topping out in a 13" model with optional magnetically-attaching / folding keyboard and pressure-sensitive stylus pen. Fully decked out, it's over $1300. Basically, it's Apple's version of the Microsoft Surface. Among other notables, the bigger screen has enough space that they'll run two apps side-by-side.

- Apple Watch: new watchbands (yawn) and new apps. Intriguing is a live viewfinder for GoPro. That's very cool, especially with the newest, tiniest GoPro being quite inadequate in this regard. Unclear if they're allowing third-party developers to write their own watchface apps or not.

- OS X El Capitan is apparently shipping September 30.

Not present:

- Any new Mac products. I'm particularly curious what's going on when we've got a Macbook with a smaller screen than an iPad.


Curiouser and curiouser:

- The new remote control for the new AppleTV charges via Lightning, not USB-C. No mention on The Verge about what connectors are on the new iPad and iPhone models. I've had fantasies about the world standardizing on USB-C and the one cable to charge them all. Apparently not yet.

Personally, I think that could get confusing. I'd rather separate the discussions. It's not like we have dozens of threads to sift through these days


Much needed! I believe that iCloud has always been the most expensive of the bunch. I think it's still the most but it's better. They should also add options for more than 1TB.


I don't think it's "way, way upmarket." Apple charges that much because they have the best phones. The hardware just beats out everything else. Yes, Android phones have never been better, but they're still not as good as the iPhone, IMO. I think it's great that there are budget Android phones, and I tend to think that they're enough for most people, but the iPhone is still king, and I don't see them changing their prices for a long time.


This could be a huge success or a giant flop. I think the biggest obstacle is that we're heading away from TV in general, with millenials preferring to watch everything on their mobile devices. Then of course they have to contend with streaming video devices that are nearly free. Clearly this new device is a monster, but it's hard to sway people from a $35 device that they perceive as being able to do the same stuff. I'll be very interested in what developers make for it, though.


Wow! I know this has been rumored for a while, but I'm still a little surprised there's a market for this. The difference between this and the Surface is that the latter is running a full desktop OS. Is this another sign that Apple would like to drop OSX altogether?


Is this just different departments not communicating with each other? It would seem like a huge oversight to not standardize, particularly since the MacBook was announced almost six months ago...

.

About the new iPad Pro:
I spend too much time in airports. I see an awful lot of people using iPads with aftermarket Bluetooth keyboards of various sorts. These are entirely capable for a large variety of tasks, and now Microsoft is shipping a decked out version of Office specifically for this platform, which really does cover most users' needs.

Does this speak toward the death of the general-purpose laptop? Hell if I know, but it's certainly suggestive.

Please create separate threads for separate discussions.
Also please remember to keep threading working by making use of the quick reply buttons.

I'll try to clip this thread up into the placeholders. Doing this after is more work then doing this at post time.

And, now that Apple has the "tech specs" for the new machines online, it's as I feared: they're all using the Lightning connector, not the newer USB-C.

No 3rd party watch-faces in watchOS 2, though there is ClockKit for developers to make 3rd party complications for the existing watchfaces. My guess is full 3rd party watchfaces may be a watchOS 3 or further addition.

I don't quite get the new watch straps that wrap around twice, but seems there is interest in them from some on my twitter feed. It's been interesting watching the traditional tech press still not grasp the fashion angle and how this leads to even folks like yourself Dan dismissing that aspect with a (yawn) in the middle of the post. The watch with the wraparound band is notable as Apple is cobranding with Hermes to release their own unique watchbands sold only through Hermes stores or a few Apple stores.

There is also new watch base colors available, with the sport model offering fake gold models. So far I've bought one alternate color watch band, and swap it out from time to time.

watchOS 2 should be interesting to see what real native 3rd party apps can do. The GoPro demo was great to see, curious to see how that works in practice.

Most, but not all, commercial wristwatches use standardized lugs of standardized sizes, allowing you to install off-the-shelf straps, bracelets, and whatnot from any watch onto any other. I've currently got a 3rd-party nylon strap on my Moto 360. No big deal. Many people who wanted a metal bracelet installed the aftermarket Pebble bracelet on their Moto watches. Perfect fit.

So, yeah, I'm just not all that excited by Apple Watch straps. They're straps. For a watch.

Gotcha, thanks for expanding on your thoughts. The aspect I do appreciate about Apple's specific watch bands is the ease at swapping them out. No tools, no tiny parts, just a quick few second operation. I have seen adaptors to allow more traditional straps to also work with the Apple Watch. Makes it easier to color coordinate outfits for those who do so.

Can anyone tell from looking what this thing's ASPECT RATIO IS?

I can't tell from the pics if it's 16:9 or if it's 4:3 or what.

If it's 12.9" at the 4:3 aspect ratio, it might soon be time for me to use an iPad as my songbook. (Despite all the time I spent working on getting that Sony 15" folding laptop working just perfect for the job.)

It's 4:3. When a 9.7 inch iPad is in portrait mode, it's height matches the new iPad Pro in landscape orientation.

Okay, if it's square pixels (that's a pretty good assumption, but not certain), the 2732 x 2048 size puts it one pixel off from 4:3. (perfect 4:3 would be 2732 x 2049).

This is a very interesting development. I was almost certain that if they came out with an oversized iPad it was gonna be 16:9.

This is a really good thing.

Given everything else in our household is Apple (and we'll get a new AppleTV) I... am surprised neither of us finds the watch compelling. $spouse got a Fitbit Charge HR and feels it was the right choice. I'm debating whether to get a new Moto 360 Sport, or to buy a used original.

I love my Moto 360, and they're pretty cheap these days. My take has been that I think tech companies and the public have been making too much of the possibilities of wearables. I'm just happy to be able to to easily handle my email and other notifications right from my wrist, and have other glanceable data at the ready.

There were some nice products at the keynote, but nothing that got me overly excited.

iPhone 6s: indeed, 3Dtouch is the only true novelty. Well, apart from the new CPU which is supposed to be 70% faster than the iPhone 6' CPU. I'm not all that impressed. Indeed, it seems they have re-invented the right click. But why go through that much trouble? They could've just as well implemented that by using a long press or something. Seems like a lot of trouble to implement something that could've been done much easier through a UI change if you ask me. Prices also only seem to go up. Especially here in Europe, where the strong dollar has be responsible for hardware prices to rise up to 20% higher already. This makes this a really, really expensive phone. (and I'm saying this as somebody who loves his iPhone 5). I must admit: the price, and only the price, has been pushing me to glance at Android solutions like the One Plus One eg.

New Apple-TV. I've got an Apple TV 3 here (received it as a birthday present), and since no jailbreak has ever been released for this model all I'm using it for really is as a "Netflix interface" for my old dumb-tv. But that TV will probably be replaced sometime next year... by a smart TV of course, which will have the Netflix app already installed. So no more need for the Apple TV then.
I've seen the vid and it's nice to see it can be controlled via Siri, but that only seems to work in a couple of languages, Dutch not being one of them. Well, that's the main selling feature gone for me then. I'm not interested in playing games, and if I would be, I'd buy a PS4 or Xbox.

iPad Pro: nice, but crippled in its potential because it runs iOS instead of OSX if you ask me. Basically it's a Microsoft surface that isn't running a desktop OS, so you can't use it as a complete laptop replacement. Microsoft also tried this with their Surface RT series (running on ARM), but it failed completely because all people wanted was the Pro version which did run a desktop OS. Microsoft learned from this and their new Surface lineup only uses the desktop OS anymore. No more Windows RT. I think the same is going to happen with this iPad Pro, but I don't have a glass sphere and Apple certainly isn't Microsoft. It's a nice try to have Microsoft develop an Office version especially tailored to this device, but I do more stuff with my laptop than just Office work. (and I don't think I'm the only one)
In my opinion, in it's current state, it's just a large iPad which is probably nicer to use because of the larger screen. Surfing the net will be easier because of the split screen option. Viewing a movie on it will also be a nicer experience because of the larger screen. But is that worth the extra cost? I doubt it.
Oh, and the stylus (can I say stylus? 'cause it is a stylus!) doesn't ship with the iPad Pro in the box? Really? And there's no slit somewhere in the iPad Pro so you can tuck it away? You're bound to loose it pretty quickly then. (Steve jobs thought so as well in 2007). No, I don't see this becoming a big success in its current state. We'll see.

Apple Watch. New watchbands and version 2 of it's OS, which will allow it to run native apps. I'm curious to see to what this will lead, because so for I haven't been terribly tempted to want one. I hope this will change with the native apps.

http://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/

(Note the publish date too)

Mine has a habit of barely making it from the start of the day to the end of the day, but then I have "ambient mode" turned on. I'm probably going to upgrade to the new Moto 360 Sport. Any of the new Moto 360's will (hopefully) have better battery life, but the Sport also promises some new fangled screen that's readable in broad daylight. That would be a win if it worked.

Interesting. I easily make it through an entire day and more. For me it was turning off the fitness features, which didn't seem very accurate to me anyway (I question the accuracy of all wrist-worn fitness trackers).

Curiouser and curiouser. I had previously disabled all of these things, blocking notifications and whatnot, but in the upgrade to newer Wear versions it appears that the "Fit" app turned itself back on. I was still blocking its notifications, so I never noticed.

I've now turned it off. (Damnit!) And I don't have "Moto Body" installed at all. I'll see if this fixes my battery life concerns.

That makes sense. I can't remember why, but at some point I needed to reset my watch. This re-enabled all the crud I disabled earlier. It still bothers me that by default BOTH Motorola and Google's fitness trackers are enabled. So there are two things counting my steps and sending data back to my phone. What's even worse is that I don't believe there's any way to completely turn off Motorola's stuff. For example, if I take my watch off sometimes and leave it face down on a desk, I'll notice a little green light on the back. I believe that's to measure heart rate, even though I've turned off everything I can think of. Argh.

This bothers me because I'm the type of smartwatch user who really wants a minimal amount of utility from my watch. I want it to give me notifications and some glanceable data and that's it.

I'm pretty much the type of smartwatch user who wants to know what time it is, and every once in a while figure out which roll of toilet paper at Costco gives me the most sheets per peso. These smart watches are expensive though, this one cost more than $15 USD, and the custom genuine leather band I had to get after the original plastic one broke was another $1.50. Battery life is OK, about two and a half years, but of course that's with all the extra stuff (i.e., the alarm chime) disabled.

I think my smart watch requirements are of a different nature from most of yours.

tanstaafl.

Anybody knows if the new iPhone 6s finally supports USB 3.x ? Every time I update my current iPhone I think this feature is long overdue.

I doubt it, there is little point given that the flash RAM on the iPhone can't exceed the speed of USB2 transfers.

I'm sure I've read that the iPad Pro is going to support faster USB transfers, which would make sense given that they claim to have doubled the flash RAM speed on it over previous devices.

I guess you're right Andy. It's probably not going to happen soon for the regular iPhone/iPad range.

Oh yes, a fair warning to those who are still using an iPhone 5 / DON'T UPDATE TO IOS 9!!! I was stupid enough to do so and it has made my iPhone as slow as thick mud through a funnel.

I'm trying to bring it back to 8.4.1 now, but I've never done that before and of all the IPSW files I can find, the restore program says they are "not compatible". I'm guessing this is because I'm using a Belgian iPhone?

Each year I become increasingly convinced that this is a deliberate act on their part, timed to coincide with the release of the newer, faster phones.

I firmly disagree. My iPhone 5 and iPad mini 2 are just as fast on iOS 9 as 8.

What "restore program" ? All you need at the moment to get back to 8.4.1 is iTunes and the right ipsw.

In my experience iOS 9 is as fast on old devices as 8. However, it can be very slow for the first day as it rebuilds indexes, photo thumbnails etc etc

I meant the "restore phone" part of iTunes.


You're the second one to tell me that. Ok, I'll give it another day or two then...

Cheers!

Don't wait too long though, they will stop signing 8.4.1 soon and then there is no going back.

And just to be clear I'm not claiming that iOS8 and 9 aren't slower on things like the iPhone 5 than iOS 7 was, but then the newer versions do more even on old devices. They have to strike a balance between adding stuff and making old devices slower, I think they many make reasonable decisions. Though there have been the occasional exceptions in the past.

Has it been at least 24 hours since you upgraded, and has the device sat in a charger unused during that time?

iOS major upgrades (8 to 9 here) wipe all device cache, and frequently wipe the spotlight DB. The slowness you are seeing right now may be tied to those caches and optimizations needing to be rebuilt. The phone is doing some of this in the background, and can usually complete it overnight when sitting in a charger.

iOS 9 has some changes in it specifically meant to make older devices at least stay at iOS 8 performance, and overall will improve performance and battery life a little bit.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/09/ios-9-on-the-iphone-4s-a-stay-of-execution-nothing-more/

Ok, it turns out this was effectively the problem. Yesterday (even a few hours after the update), when I pressed the home or power button eg, it took the phone 5 seconds or more to respond. Writing text was next to impossible because it took the keyboard 10 seconds to show up and seconds to respond to every single tap.

But now all seems fine, so I guess you were right Tom! (thank God!). I've been updating my phone with every possible update since iOS 6, but this is the first time this was the result, hence my initial reaction. But all seems fine now, it indeed doesn't seem slower than iOS 8.x was.

I retract my initial statement.

It's not all gold that glitters though... My main reason for updating was because iOS 9 finally supported ad blockers. Unfortunately, this only seems to work from iPhones 5s and up. I've read somewhere this is because the phone needs a 64 bit CPU for this to function properly. Oh well...

I'm applying my usual rule for the moment: no jailbreak, no update.

This is the usual problem; unless you have a saved TSS and there are current tools to do it, going backwards is a limited time only deal.

Between the malware on the jailbreak side and the ability to sideload code as apps without cracking the phone, I'm wondering how it will impact the number of people who still jailbreak.

I believe the provisioning profiles for apps built by people without developer accounts will expire after a short period, though I can't remember at the moment where I read that.

Also, surely almost all of the Jailbreak stuff does things that simply aren't possible on a non jailbroken device, being able to sideload apps won't allow those apps to do the funky stuff that you can do on a jailbroken device.

Ouch, looks like for at least mostly Chinese apps so far, malware can hit your phone without being jailbroken due to the hackers targeting Xcode.

http://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.c...hits-app-store/

http://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.c...lions-of-users/

I didn't know about that. HEAD. DESK. SLAM.



So, do you....

. Blame the Great Firewall? Because it forces devs to use random third-party sites that are in-country.

. Blame Apple? Because they don't validate digital signatures on their own packages. Or because their App Store isn't rejecting apps with bogus libraries like this.

. Blame the devs? Because devs.

The devs may have disabled the digital signature validation (Gatekeeper on OS X). The second version of the signing protection implemented for OS X 10.10 (and patched into 10.9.5) will validate every file in Xcode.app. First gen signature checking was just checking the runtime binary (The executable in Contents/MacOS inside the .App bundle).

It's possible the hacked Xcode versions did properly validate as well. The leaked CIA documents indicating the US government was doing similar hinted at an OS X installer hack too. http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/10/leaked-cia-documents-hacked-xcode/

Hopefully Apple can quickly add this detection to their app review process. Makes me wonder if Apple will also utilize the system to kill these apps in the wild. As far as I know, they still haven't made use of that yet, instead just pulling impacted apps off the store.

The fun where I took Xcode 7 and suddenly my code (which assumed it wanted to use the SDK for the current build platform) failed to build was fun.

It appears that Apple threw together a system to detect this class of malware and remove it from the store (details).

It's just all kinds of amusing that the Great Firewall can be blamed as part of the problem here. No firewall and there would be no third-party sharing of dev tools. The same issue applies for Android. No firewall and the Google Play Store would be dominant in China. Instead, there are crappy Chinese app stores which "repackage" legit apps and add malware (typical article).

Agreed. What kind of smartwatch doesn't use RPN?

There's a great troll on this Apple support page for the watch.

(Read the initials clockwise...)

I almost feel sorry for Rick Astley. Almost.

Cool, an operationless calculator.

Hitting the blue button swaps to displaying the operators. Using RPN with this setup saves a swap back and forth when working with 2 numbers.

I'm assuming 2 or more. How deep is the stack?

I stopped trying to fill it after 70 entries. A handy aspect of the app is at any time you can move the entire calculation/stack to the phone.

It took me longer then it should to see it - fantastic!

The new OS X release is out, CDN propagation delays may cause it to take some time. For now this direct link is working here:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-yosemite/id1018109117

(Oddly the link has the older OS name in it, but it will lead to the 10.11 El Capitan installer)

Every new iPhone in September seems to be followed by some sort of Nixon and Hotel Watergate scandal by October to help raise more click revenue.

Looks like after "bendgate" for the iPhone 6, it's now "chipgate" for the 6s. Apple is sourcing their A9 processors from both Samsung and TSMC this time, likely to help meet their record breaking 13 million phones sold in the first weekend. Initial claims stated a 2 hour battery difference between them. Further testing and Apple's own statement is indicating it's more of a 2-3% difference at most.

I installed El Capitan on my work machine and it fixed a bug where my shiny new Philips 4K monitor wouldn't wake up from sleep. So yeah! I made sure to update/upgrade my Homebrew beforehand, and had no troubles there at all. About the only minor annoyances were:

. My old, free, perfectly functioning iStats Menu didn't work. The new one costs money. Grumble.

. I had to reinstall the drivers for my Wacom touchpad.

And that's about it. Not bad, all things considered.

Now, the thing I dread is doing this to my home computer, which has a perfectly good Teac USB DAC/amplifier thing for which Teac hasn't released new drivers. So I'll have to wait on that.

I installed IOS9 on my iphone 5 after reading here that the performance was ok. Which it is.

What I now get is a hard crash every 2 or 3 days. Sometimes the phone notices this and reboots it's self, but most of the time I have to give it the two finger salute.

Apple definitely peaked at IOS6.

Whoops, newer goodies!

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/13/9512501/apple-imac-magic-keyboard-announced-mouse-2-trackpad-2

New trackpad, mouse, & keyboard: these address my #1 complaint with the old ones -- AA batteries that need to be replaced all the time. The solution, though, is that they get power over... lightning cables. I almost don't mind this, since you'd just have them plugged into some random port on your computer, so they'll be compatible with everything. Still... is Apple moving to USB-C or not?

Also, spec bumps to the iMac line. No updates to the laptops.

I don't expect the connector to change on the phone or tablet, Apple already caught flack over moving from the decade old 30 pin connector to Lightning 3 years ago.

It is a little odd seeing it pop up on accessories now. The pencil for the iPad Pro makes sense for charging right off the iPad for a few seconds when needed.

The Apple TV remote and the new trackpad/keyboard/mouse charging is a bit strange. The new Apple TV has a USB C port for diagnostic use only, and bundles a USB A to Lightning cable for charging the remote. Charging right off the AppleTV would have been nice, but no USB C to Lightning cable exists yet.

Notable, the new keyboard and trackpad can work in wired only mode. Someone tested turning off bluetooth with them while cabled and they continued to work. Useful for environments that may ban wireless input devices.

*edit* Computer wise, they may be holding off on USB C ports until they can add in Thunderbolt 3. TB3 moves to the USB C connector, and will likely be the point I upgrade off my 2008 Mac Pro to a new Mac desktop. TB3 will have specific support for external GPUs, something Intel wouldn't certify under TB1 or TB2 for some reason.

I can't believe that's the reason, as that's never stopped them from moves like that before.

Fair enough, and an understandable point of view from someone who doesn't follow Apple closely. I'll expand on why I don't believe USB C will be in the iPhone 7-9 (including s models)

Announcement of the Lightning connector, Phil specifically states it's a connector for the next decade. https://youtu.be/h7Qtp6Iv7a0?t=36m5s . First iPhone with it was the 5, and now up to the 6s has us at the start of the 4th year of a possible 10 year possible lifespan. This could of course change, and Apple does change it's mind at times.

Another aspect is Apple using the proprietary connector and Made for iPhone labeling as a way to help increase ethical manufacturing of accessories. Any certified device has an authentication chip in the lightning connector that is only sourced direct from Apple, and the entire supply chain for the accessory manufacturers has to adhere to these guidelines.

Between those two factors, and seeing Lightning now appear in more then the phone and tablet, it's my belief that it's going to be around for a while.

Just like chips in printer cartridges. Same rationale, too.

I've not heard this before. Which printer manufacturer is applying both technical and political actions to enforce ethical manufacturing in their supply chain?

*edit* Looks like HP has a site with info on their efforts, haven't dug much into this though. And I don't remember it coming up when I was an HP employee. My job was far away from the printer division though (thankfully).

Same actual rationale, not stated rationale.

Peter

For Apple, I believe these to be the same. Don't get me wrong, I also understand and know that being able to have that control in other areas is a reason that chip in the lightning cable exists too. And I'm not here to defend those reasons. But I'll take and applaud the reasons that do improve situations for people working in the supply chain of the products I purchase.

Look, I know it's easy to hate on Apple and just lump them into a pile of bad companies for many people. And the tech crowd in particular seems to like to latch onto that negativity and let it become part of their personality. Just please put aside that cynical nature every once in a while.

I'm not encouraged by the words of Apple under Tim Cook, instead I'm encouraged by their actual actions in many areas.

Looks like you are now good to go as well, even on a new 6s. Pretty quick turnaround time for a major new version.

First, I think it's silly to proclaim that anything in technology is going to last a decade. We haven't even had the iPhone for a decade. Mini USB didn't last a decade. Micro USB is seeing its end in USB C about 8 years in. The 30-pin lasted that long, but honestly, should it have? Nobody is going to shout "but you said ten years!" And if they do, that'll be nothing new for any move Apple makes.

And yes, Apple is pretty great at changing their minds. From the iPod with video to the iPad Pro stylus, they change their minds all the time.

The question is whether the moves are good for the consumer. No matter which way you slice it, it's extremely odd to commit so much with USB C on the MacBook and then not put it in a single product released since. How great would it have been to put USB C in the new iMac, and charge your MacBook with a single cable to the back of your desktop?

Basically, I'm willing to accept your reasoning for why they're sticking with thunderbolt on the iPhone, but there's something odd about what they're doing here, and I don't think there's a good explanation for it.

Personally, I'd love to see USB C on every device from every company. Thunderbolt isn't going to be that standard, so lets abandon it ASAP.

Yes. Long living standards help minimize confusion, product waste, allow more products to be created in the ecosystem, and many other benefits. That's why it's worth putting in the time and investment into something that can last that long.

Seeing USB fumble around with connectors/plugs for years is not helping the U(niversal) part of the name. It's not even as simple as going from normal to micro, to mini. Mini had some odd variants, USB Go complicated plugs, and micro ended up needing to be reworked with USB 3. None of these designs showed much forward thinking beyond what was done for USB 1.0.

HDMI in my mind has done a little better here. And it's improved home theater setups as a result, since Firewire never really took off in this area as intended.



Ugh, the stylus thing (and this is directed at both sides as I've seen Apple fans trash the Samsung Note over this). This isn't a case of Apple changing their minds. Jobs take was that styluses should not be the mandatory way to operate a touch screen. The iPad Pro, and Samsung Note stylus are optional additional input methods. Much as a physical keyboard is an optional accessory to the iPad. The products still work fine with finger input. The products that came before like the Newton, Palm Pilot, and Pocket PC devices had mandatory styluses for touchscreen input.



I agree that use case would be nice. And in time it will come. Though I'm not surprised USB C hasn't spread into the rest of the product line yet. The Macbook is a forward thinking computer they put on sale now. Just the same way the Macbook Air was rolled out. Apple essentially does these one off products to help figure out how to standardize the tech at a lower cost in the rest of the line. This is a common strategy with vehicles. The MacBook Air in particular was important for Apple due to the unibody construction method now standard across the line.


I agree with wanting to see USB C spread far and wide. I don't agree that Thunderbolt should go away though. Again, Thunderbolt 3 uses USB C connectors. Any computer with TB3 will have USB C plugs with USB 3.1 compatibility. Along with adding faster speeds for further PCIe growth, and faster DisplayPort for powering higher resolution monitors. Audio producers in particular don't want to lose the latency advantage PCIe still offers over USB 3. Apple is waiting on Intel at this point to release TB3 in chipsets they use in their products.

Fair enough on all points.

I still think it's an odd move though, and I don't think the comparison to the MacBook Air is quite the same situation.

Anandtech wrote a nice article on USB-C back in June:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9331/intel-announces-thunderbolt-3

Intel's vision: we'd have USB-C rolling out by end of 2015 and with more volume in 2016. That seems to be what's happening.

Of course, this means that we'll have three variants on USB-C-to-USB-C cables: "charging cables" (i.e., USB 2.0 only), "data cables" (i.e., 10Gbps) and "active cables" (much more money, supporting 4K video, etc.). And from my initial dive into Amazon, we already see a huge absence of standardized labeling. You pick up a random cable, you'll have no idea what's inside. Sigh.

Still, it's impressive to imagine a world where every single port on your computer is USB-C (plus perhaps a mini-phono jack), including the power connector. It's also pretty wild to think through the security ramifications. You buy a cheap 120V wall wart for charging your laptop and... what's really going on inside that wall wart? There will need to be active electronics to support all the different charging standards. Could you hack a charger to hack your phone? Oh boy.

Aw man, you had to go and ruin my perfect standardized port utopia, didn't you?

I had forgotten about this part. Shows how much power Intel has lost with USB, though overall I see this as a good thing.

One thing that always bothered me with the design of USB 1 and 2 was it's dependance on the CPU on the host side. This was somewhat a power play by Intel to try and preserve their hold on the PC market at a time they feared PCs switching away from x86. It took until USB 3 for the protocol to offer device to device communications without involving a host CPU, and to bring over the latency benefits that can bring to time sensitive uses. (Audio and video production being one of the markets wanting low latency).

If USB-C cannot tolerate a 'charging only' cable with literally NO data link, just power, then the security issue may become huge.

I can foresee special prophylactic cable end adapters, sold by trusted names, that allow you to access charging power from untrusted (data-wise) sources. Or device manufacturers (Apple, et al) having to create a USB 'firewall' within the device to prevent unwanted attacks.

The Bad-USB attack vector may become a bigger, more difficult risk if every thing with a USB-C connector MUST have electronics inside.

Benchmarks from the iPad Pro are impressive. The A9x in it has a near equal single core CPU benchmark to my 2.6 GHz Core i7 processor from 2012, which needs a fan and much more power to achieve the same computing power. It's a dual core though compared to quad core of the i7. The iPad Air 2 with it's A8x is a bit odd in the lineup having the only tri core CPU.

Reviews of the drawing tablet use case seem to all indicate a better experience then the Wacom Cintiq devices. I'll be curious to see how much of the creative industry moves over. Cintiq was becoming the standard at my more recent game jobs over the screen-less drawing tablets.