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New and Improved Siri

Posted on May 21, 2018 by admin Posted in Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Siri has given clues as to upcoming improvements.

Every year at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, they reveal new software updates, features, and sometimes even new products. This year, Apple’s focus seems to be on improving Siri, their voice assistant. The huge problem with Siri is that while it was the first voice assistant on the market, it’s no longer considered the best compared to Amazon’s Alexa. Even though Siri understands more languages, Alexa is considered more conversational.

So Apple will likely improve Siri’s capabilities because that’s one of the weakest features of HomePod. Perhaps what Apple should really consider is how many people rely on Siri through an iPhone, Macintosh, Apple Watch, or HomePod. Each use of Siri will likely be slightly different.

For example, Siri on HomePod will likely focus on getting news or controlling devices in a smart home. That’s slightly different from someone using Siri on an iPhone or a Macintosh. On an iPhone, someone might use Siri to get directions to a restaurant or park. On a Macintosh, someone might use Siri to retrieve contact data or to open a program. For Apple to improve Siri, they need to improve Siri’s understanding of context and the ability of Siri to respond intelligently to more types of questions.

HomePod has gotten rave reviews for audio quality but poor marks for Siri. By massively improving Siri, Apple can massively improve HomePod. Siri’s capabilities are holding HomePod back but not affecting iPhone sales. That brings up the question on whether people use Siri often or not.

Here’s the real question. How many people even use voice assistants? Out of those people who use them, what do they use them for? Voice assistants are a new form of user interface, but they represent hands-free computing. The key is how to take full advantage of hands-free computing.

Laptops helped free computing from the desk and desktop PCs helped free computers from mainframes locked in separate rooms. What will voice assistants free computers to do that they couldn’t do before? Until Apple answers this question, Siri may get better, but it still won’t be a must-have feature for anyone but HomePod owners.

What Are Smart Speakers For?

Posted on May 20, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple reportedly holds 6% share of the smart speaker market.

Amazon helped define the smart speaker market and Google and Apple followed. The basic idea behind a smart speaker is that it sits on the counter and lets you talk to it through a voice assistant like Alexa or Siri. The big question is what do most people use a smart speaker for?

One way to look at a smart speaker is to think of it was a two-way radio. With traditional radio, you can listen to weather and traffic reports, but if you miss a weather or traffic report, you can’t ask the radio to repeat that information again. If you tune in late, then you might miss a traffic or weather report. Radio is a broadcasting medium that’s one-way.

Smart speakers are like interactive radio. You can ask questions and get the information you want now, not later. Need a traffic report? Ask for it. Need a weather report? Ask for it. Want to listen to music? Ask for your favorite songs.

That’s the main appeal of a smart speaker as an intelligent, two-way radio. Ideally, smart speakers would be most useful in a car than at home. Hop in a car and ask for traffic reports, news, or music and you can get it. People spend far more time in their car than at home.

So you can see that the smart speaker concept is still in its infancy. Apple is promoting its HomePod as offering superior audio quality, and they’re right. The trouble is not everyone values superior audio quality. Amazon’s Echo is cheap and that makes it easy for people to buy one. Yet what will they do with one once they get it? Will they tire of it? Find it’s not as useful as they thought? At the very least, they’ll be out only a small amount of cash. Buying Apple’s HomePod and not finding it useful means losing a much greater amount of money.

The future of the smart speaker is to control a smart home. Because the smart home isn’t here yet, the full potential of the smart speaker is lost. This would be like having the first Facebook or Twitter account and having none of your friends available for you to connect with.

The smart speaker market is still shifting to find its niche. Right now, Amazon is dominating because of its low cost. Apple’s HomePod will only appeal to a small niche of Apple users who value superior audio quality. That means the smart home concept is still lagging and the full use of two-way radio hasn’t been explored yet.

Smart speakers are useful, but they haven’t found their “killer app” yet that makes people rush out and buy one for its features. tomorrow that will change but for today, smart speakers aren’t a must-have buy for anyone.

Removing macOS Malware mshelper

Posted on May 18, 2018 by admin Posted in Software Leave a comment

What it is: There’s a new macOS malware called mshelper that’s infecting macintosh computers.

Most malware (viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, etc.) are written for Windows because Windows represents the largest share of computers worldwide. That makes the Macintosh a much safer alternative because there’s less malware that can attack macOS. Of course, that doesn’t mean that some malware won’t attack a Macintosh and apparently someone wrote malware to target macOS called mshelper.

This mshelper malware gobbles up your CPU’s processing time, which can result in slowing down your computer. Fortunately, it’s a simple process of finding and removing it. First, you can use the Activity Monitor program to identify if mshelper has already infected your Macintosh. Most likely you got infected by downloaded a strange file. If you find mshelper on your Macintosh, the next step is to delete it.

As always, the best security against malware is to keep constant, up to date backups of your critical files. That way if malware wipes out your computer, you’ll always have backups of your important data. Then look to see if mshelper has even infected your Macintosh. Finally, reduce your risk by avoiding shady and suspicious files to download.

The Macintosh can never be immune to malware because anyone can write malicious software for any operating system. The Macintosh may isolate you from the vast majority of malware in the world, but don’t rely on it to protect you from all types of malware. Any computer can be infected but at least Apple products are less likely to be infected than rival products like Windows and Android.

Target Using Augmented Reality for Makeup Purchases

Posted on May 17, 2018 by admin Posted in Software Leave a comment

What it is: Target has created an augmented reality app to let you experiment with different colors and types of makeup.

Putting on makeup can get cumbersome if you put on the wrong type of makeup, which you’ll then need to wipe off before trying another type of makeup. While it’s easier just to have a professional makeup artist help you determine what looks best on you, most women simply experiment to use what they like best.

Such a trial and error method can be time-consuming, which may keep most people from trying everything available. That’s why Target is using augmented reality to let people see how different colors and types of makeup will look on their own face without actually applying anything to their skin.

Target’s augmented reality app lets women play with different makeup options in a fast, simple, and accurate manner. Now people can see exactly how they look with different makeup options. This gives people more freedom to experiment until they find the right combination for them.

Augmented reality has progressed from games (Pokemon GO) to interesting applications such as Target’s latest makeup augmented reality app. Eventually, expect augmented reality to expand further into must-have applications that will cement augmented reality’s use for good in everyday use.

Augmented reality may seem like a luxury at the moment, but keep watching. Augmented reality will one day be a crucial part of technology much like the Internet. If Target can figure out a way to use augmented reality to help sell cosmetics, imagine what other industries can do with augmented reality in the near future.

Can Microsoft Compete Against the iPad?

Posted on May 16, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: In response to the iPad’s success, Microsoft is rumored to be readying low-cost versions of their Surface tablets.

When Apple introduced the iPad, Microsoft felt safe backing netbooks. Netbooks ruling Linux had earlier threatened the laptop market so Microsoft encouraged computer makers to shift netbooks from Linux to Windows. The problem with these Windows-powered netbooks was that they ran slower Atom processors, offered minuscule, cramped keyboards, and tiny screens that made using them as laptops clumsy.

Yet netbooks thrived initially because they were cheap, light, and easy to carry. Then Apple introduced the iPad that redefined the tablet market and essentially killed the netbook market. No computer maker actively markets netbooks any more because the iPad and other tablets killed that market for good.

As the iPad thrived, Microsoft kept trying to offer a competing product. They offered Windows RT, which bombed. Now Microsoft is supposedly readying lower cost Surface tablets to compete against the iPad. Can such lower cost Surface tablets compete against the iPad? Nope, and here’s why.

Right now, the Surface tablet is actually a super portable, lightweight laptop that just happens to offer tablet-like capabilities. Ask what most Surface tablet owners use their devices for and most of the time it’s as an ultralight laptop. How many people are buying Surface tablets solely to use them as tablets?

What makes Surface tablets so attractive as laptops is that they run Windows, so whatever Windows programs you run on a desktop, you can run on a Surface tablet. What makes Surface tablets far less attractive as a tablet is that they run Windows.

Windows can be configured to run on a tablet, but is that what people really want? When people want a tablet, they want a portable computer. They don’t necessarily need Windows compatibility. Ask yourself what types of programs a typical Windows user might want to use on a computer and you might think Photoshop, Excel, Word, and Visual Studio. Now ask yourself what types of programs a typical tablet user might want to use and you probably aren’t thinking of Photoshop, Excel, Word, or Visual Studio running on a tablet.

In short, the tablet form factor requires different expectations. Windows isn’t optimized for tablet use and its software library isn’t either. While many programs like Microsoft Office can run on a tablet, it’s not optimal. People don’t think of a tablet to run Word or Excel. They think of a tablet to solve a problem. Many survey takers use iPads to record answers from people. Could they use a Windows-powered Surface tablet to do that? Yes, but it’s a far clumsier solution that doesn’t need Windows compatibility.

In other words, people want software optimized for tablet use, not software that can be tortured to run on a tablet. When you offer people a less than optimal user experience, don’t be surprised when customers fail to make the Surface tablet a runaway success.

Microsoft’s bid to lower the price of its Surface tablets can only appeal to people who want a tablet and want Windows. Most tablet buyers simply want a tablet and the best one on the market today is the iPad. Anyone attracted to a Surface tablet for Windows capabilities probably isn’t interested in using the Surface tablet solely as a tablet.

So there’s the problem. The Surface tablet appeals to laptop users, not to potential tablet users. Unless Microsoft wants to lose money selling Surface tablets, they can only lower the price by so much and still maintain a profit. Just don’t expect the world to shift en masse to using Surface tablets instead of iPads. When people think of a tablet, they think of an iPad. When people think of a laptop, they think of a Windows PC such as the Surface tablet.

Despite its name, the Surface tablet is more of a laptop than a tablet. Trying to get people to buy a Surface tablet instead of an iPad is like trying to convince people to ride the bus instead of driving their own car. Few people are going to make the switch.

Artist Switches to iPad and Apple Pencil

Posted on May 14, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Professional artist Mark Ulriksen had switched to an iPad and the Apple Pencil.

For many people, the iPad can’t replace a laptop because it lacks a physical keyboard. While the addition of an external keyboard can remedy this problem, many people still prefer laptops. Yet the lack of a keyboard can actually be a benefit for people who don’t want or need a keyboard in the first place.

That’s why professional artist, Mark Ulrisken has been excited about his recent conversion to an iPad and the Apple Pencil. As a professional artist who has drawn covers for magazines such as The New Yorker, Mark doesn’t need a physical keyboard so much as he needs a versatile drawing surface that he can take wherever he goes. The iPad and the Apple Pencil meets his needs perfectly because the iPads acts like a portable canvas that he can store multiple pictures on and edit them as his convenience. That’s not nearly as simple to do with a pad of paper with drawings that might get damaged if you spill liquids on the pages.

“I’m technologically illiterate and I’m still trying to learn how to paint,” Mark said. “But I really wanted to eventually work digitally because it seems like that’s what the art buying public is looking for in the world of illustration these days, and I like the speed of it.”

What used to take him days to accomplish using traditional paper methods now takes him hours. That makes him more productive as well as giving him a canvas to let his creativity run wild. While most people may not be artists, you can se that the iPad’s form factor attracts a different audience than laptop users.

If you absolutely can’t live without a keyboard, you can either get a laptop or an external keyboard. For those who don’t care about a keyboard, the iPad is perfect without one. Even for those who do need a keyboard, the external keyboard can be a handy accessory if you’re constantly on the go and need something light and easy to carry.

The iPad is simply defining a new computing experience. Not everyone will need it just like not everyone needs a laptop, but for those who do, the iPad is simply irreplaceable.