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Apple Sneaking Into the Health Records Industry

Posted on July 19, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Medical, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Cedars-Sinai hospital is using iPads for both storing and displaying health information.

The huge mistake rivals make is that they try to duplicate and surpass the hardware features of their products compared to Apple products. That’s a huge mistake because it’s easy to shove more advanced hardware into a product. What’s more difficult is giving people a reason to use that advanced hardware.

In the smartphone and tablet market, rivals try to compete against Apple with lower prices and better technical specifications. That’s a recipe for failure. While rivals worry about prices and hardware specifications, Apple is moving towards making their products useful. One huge market that doesn’t care about prices or hardware specifications is the medical and health industry.

Cedars-Sinai hospital is using iPads for several purposes. One way is to use FaceTime to allow parents and children to interact when the children have infection diseases and need to be kept separate from other people. However, a far more interesting use for the iPad is to store and display medical information. Of course, any tablet or computer could do that. What Apple hopes to do is store medical information in a standard electronic format that’s also secure.

Now when you talk about security and online access, there can never be complete security. However, the availability and accuracy of medical information stored digitally means that health records can be accurately and quickly transferred among doctors and hospitals.

Right now, medical records are far more secure when stored in separate databases and pieces of paper. However, the huge drawback is the lack of accuracy and inability to transfer crucial information to others when needed. More than once, patients have been given penicillin or other antibiotics even though their medical records show they’re allergic to those medication. Today’s paper and half-solutions on a computer trade security for inaccuracy and inability to share.

By itself, there’s nothing special about the iPad when it comes to inputting and displaying medical information. What’s important is how that information gets stored and accessed securely, and that’s where Apple can make the iPad more secure than much cheaper Android tablets. First of all, iOS is far more secure than Android. Second, Apple can design security in rather than slap it on at a later date.

Hospitals are far less likely to be swayed by lower prices and better technical specifications than they are with devices that work and securely display information as sensitive as medical records. The iPad is never going to reach sales records it hit when it was first introduced. Instead, the iPad will find a new market in the enterprise world where price and minor hardware improvements matter far less than security and simplicity.

Apple’s big future lies in health. Real-time health monitoring will boost sales of the Apple Watch while health records will help boost sales of the iPad. While not everyone has a need for an Apple Watch or an iPad, everyone does have a need for maintaining their health. The only question is whether you’re willing to pay the price for better health or not.

Watch for Augmented Reality Apps From Apple

Posted on July 17, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware, Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple released ARKit at their developer’s conference to pave the way for augmented reality apps from third-parties.

There’s a lot of confusion on what virtual reality and augmented reality are good for. Generally, virtual reality is great when you want to stay in a limited space and need to immerse yourself completely in an artificial world such as training simulations. Flight simulators are a crude sort of virtual reality system that works perfectly well, although you don’t see similar simulators used in public because it’s too expensive and bulky.

Virtual reality headsets are fine for limited use as well, but nobody’s going to carry a virtual reality headset with them at all times on the off chance they might need it. That’s where augmented reality comes in because you can view it on an iPhone or iPad. The demonstrations of augmented reality and the current use with Pokemon GO are fairly trivial. Where the real focus will come is creating augmented reality apps such as mapping directions.

Most likely, Apple will introduce its own augmented reality apps on the next iPhone, which will also work on the iPhone 7 and later and the iPad Pro and later. By seeing Apple’s own augmented reality apps, you’ll get a better idea how augmented reality can be useful instead of just a gimmick.

One likely use for augmented reality will come from the Map app and possibly an indoor mapping app that shows you directions in an airport or museum. The regular Map app will show you street names and landmarks on a map as you drive.

In case you’re wondering, one huge reason why Apple needed its own Map app and not rely on Google Maps wasn’t just to take control of its own apps, but to gather mapping data for augmented reality. Without its own map app, Apple wouldn’t be able to add augmented reality to a third-party mapping app. When Apple acquires or develops its own technology, it’s not just to replace an existing third-party solution but to plan for the long-term future.

Think of Apple’s latest move away from graphics processors to its own in-house graphics processor. That’s not just to get rid of a third-party dependence but to plan ahead. Graphics processors are useful for machines learning and that’s why Apple needs its own in-house graphics processor technology so it can customize its chips for machine learning and artificial intelligence.

In the augmented reality world, the introduction of augmented reality apps on the next iPhone (iOS 11) will drastically change the smartphone market. If you want augmented reality, you’ll have to get an iPhone or iPad. If you want an inferior augmented reality framework that only works on a handful of Android smartphones and tablets, then you can stick with an Android device.

Because so few Android devices will be able to use augmented reality, people will either upgrade to an Android device that does support augmented reality or switch to an iPhone. Most likely people will do both and some may upgrade from an old iPhone to a newer Android smartphone as well. However, Apple’s augmented reality solution will be more refined at the start and that will give it a huge head start with less hassle for most people. Expect augmented reality to be a limited feature on Android devices, limited mostly to high-end devices that cost nearly as much as an iPhone. That means if people want augmented reality, they’ll likely choose an iPhone.

This fall will be a crucial time for the iPhone. Augmented reality offers a software feature that will be difficult for rivals to duplicate. First, you need the software framework from Google. Then you need the hardware support from companies like Samsung and HTC. Since hardware specifications differ, it will be harder for Google to optimize their augmented reality software to work with so many different hardware platforms. That will just make augmented reality even harder and less refined on Android.

Augmented reality will separate the iPhone from Android as much as the original touch screen interface separated the iPhone from Blackberry, Nokia, and Microsoft. Augmented reality is the next killer app for smartphones and it will be difficult for rivals to catch up when it arrives.

Seeing AI

Posted on July 13, 2017 by admin Posted in Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Microsoft has released a new app called Seeing AI, which helps blind people “see” what’s around them.

The main purpose of technology isn’t to focus on incremental improvements in a laundry list of technical specifications. Instead, technology is meant to improve our lives. As smartphones have become common with built-in cameras, Microsoft has taken advantage of these developments with a new app called Seeing AI.

The idea is that by pointing your smartphone camera at people, objects, or even text, the Seeing AI can tell you what the camera’s looking at including descriptions of people, buildings, or reading text. More amazing is that Microsoft is giving the Seeing AI app away for free.

When you see enabling technology like Seeing AI, you realize how technology can make people’s lives better. Even if you have decent eyesight, you could still use the Seeing AI for reading text out loud. Instead of relying on another person to watch your back while playing a game like paintball, you could strap a smartphone to your arm and let the Seeing AI provide another set of eyes to scan for approaching people.

Seeing AI is proof that Microsoft can innovate. If Seeing AI had been available on the Windows Phone platform, that could have been a major game-changer. As it stands now, Microsoft has seemingly given up on their mobile operating system plans and seem content to focus on making great apps for Android and iOS. That’s great for all smartphone users (at least if you’re running Android or iOS) because now you get the benefits of using Microsoft’s apps without the drawback of being stuck on Microsoft’s operating system.

With apps like Seeing AI and OneNote, Microsoft has consistently proven they can innovate on the mobile computer platform. As long as Microsoft focuses on making technology offer clear benefits to people, they can’t go wrong. It’s when they (or any other company) forgets about providing benefits to actual people that any product will ultimately fail.

Competing Against Apple By Being Stupid

Posted on July 12, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Luxury fashion accessory maker, Louis Vuitton, plans to offer a smart watch to compete against the Apple Watch.

Apple products are considered a luxury brand because they’re expensive, but in return for their high price, you get better build quality, better technical support, and a simpler user interface. The way rivals try to compete against Apple is to copy their products but at a lower price, cheaper build quality, less technical support, and a more complicated user interface. Not surprisingly, most of these competitors never come close to achieving the success that Apple has reached.

The latest competitor to the Apple Watch is Louis Vuitton, which hopes to sell a Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Horizon smart watch with a starting price at $2,450. (In comparison, the Apple Watch ranges in price from $269 to $1299.) Strangely, Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Horizon smart watch will rely on Android Wear.

So here’s the dilemma. You can buy an expensive luxury watch running Android, or you can buy a far less expensive smart watch that also runs Android Wear. The only difference is that a Louis Vuitton smartwatch will look nicer and cost more but have largely the exact same features as a typical Android Wear smartwatch.

Will people buy a Louis Vuitton smart watch largely for the brand name and superior material quality? Or will they simply buy an Apple Watch instead? Given the fact that Android Wear smart watches haven’t come close to toppling the Apple Watch, it seems unlikely that the Louis Vuitton smart watch will convince many people to abandon the Apple Watch either.

For the high price of a Louis Vuitton smart watch, you get good material quality, probably less technical support, and an okay user interface. Is that something worth paying for?

Will anyone even recognize a Louis Vuitton smart watch when they see it? More importantly, will anyone care?

Louis Vuitton is trying to compete against the Apple Watch by taking a struggling wearable operating system (Android Wear) and stuffing it inside a luxury smart watch design. Louis Vuitton may sell some smart watches but you can be certain nobody at Apple is worried that they’ll eat into the Apple Watch market.

Right now, few companies can compete against the Apple Watch. Fitbit is superior for its lower price and simpler focus, but that’s like comparing a computer to a pocket calculator. A pocket calculator is easier to use but also more limited, just like a Fitbit is simpler than an Apple Watch but more limited.

Louis Vuitton isn’t trying to compete against the Apple Watch so much as they’re trying to create a smart watch luxury product. The big question is whether anyone will consider Android Wear a luxury item. Most likely, people won’t care about the operating system and just focus on the physical appearance. Whether Android Wear works well or not is largely irrelevant when you want to show off the expensive jewelry wrapped around your wrist.

Watching Louis Vuitton try to sell their smart watch should be interesting. In a few years, you’ll know how successful they were if they continue making smart watches or drop the idea altogether.

The End of Windows Phone

Posted on July 11, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Today, Microsoft officially ended support for Windows Phone 8.1.

How did one of the most dominant computer companies in the world manage to completely miss the mobile computing market, despite being a leader in that market? Easy. What Microsoft did at first was duplicate their Windows desktop business model by licensing Windows Mobile to multiple phone manufacturers. Windows Mobile used the Start menu interface introduced in Windows 95 and essentially put the Windows desktop interface on a mobile device.

Not surprisingly, this wasn’t an optimized user interface for mobile phones so when Apple introduced the iPhone, Microsoft suddenly found themselves trying to sell an outdated user interface to compete against the iPhone. This would be like trying to sell a more advanced horse carriage while everyone else is buying a car.

So the first mistake was simply coasting along with Windows Mobile and offering incremental improvements to a poorly designed user interface. Then Microsoft made a second mistake by taking so long to offer Windows Phone 7. By the time Windows Phone 7 appeared, most of the world had already adopted Android or the iPhone.

Here’s where Microsoft compounded their mistakes. To create Windows Phone 7 apps, Microsoft chose Silverlight, their Flash clone. That’s because Flash was slowly losing popularity and Silverlight was dying too. That meant Microsoft needed to find another use for Silverlight and they chose to make it into the Windows Phone 7 development language.

So as Silverlight died along with Flash, Silverlight only had a future as a Windows Phone 7 programming language. Then Microsoft made another mistake by introducing Windows Phone 8, which was incompatible with Windows Phone 7 and relied less on Silverlight and more on C# to create apps. That meant all those developers who used Silverlight to create Windows Phone 7 apps had to rewrite them in C# to get them to work on Windows Phone 8.

Then Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 8.1, which still didn’t attract much market share. With a sliver of market share, Windows Phone 8.1 couldn’t attract many customers. Without customers, developers had no one to sell to. Given a choice between learning to write Windows Phone 8.1 apps or make more money writing Android and iOS apps, most developers chose to follow the money and develop for Android and iOS instead of Windows Phone 8.1.

Then Microsoft switched things around with Windows 10 Mobile. Now Windows Phone 8.1 apps couldn’t work on Windows 10 Mobile, forcing developers to rewrite their apps yet again. Not surprisingly, most developers gave up constantly rewriting apps for a nearly non-existent market.

It’s no surprise that Windows Phone 8.1 is officially dead. It’s been unofficially dead since its arrival. Microsoft’s mobile strategy now focuses on making apps for Android and iOS. Windows 10 Mobile still exists, but it’s unlikely to grab any significant market share any time soon. Expect Windows 10 Mobile to quietly fade away. Look for any developers and most will be creating apps for Android or iOS. There’s no room for another mobile operating system at this point. The era of Windows Phone is over for good and Microsoft’s mobile phone operating system strategy looks like it’s gone for good as well.

The Next iPhone Feature

Posted on July 6, 2017 by admin Posted in Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Metaio, a German augmented reality company, posted demos of their technology long before they were acquired by Apple.

As the fall approaches, many people are speculating on what the next iPhone feature will be. Some say it will be facial recognition, others point to wireless charging. Perhaps the obvious answer that most people are overlooking is augmented reality.

At Apple’s developer’s conference, they already announced ARKit, a software framework for letting developers create augmented reality apps. Now it’s only obvious that Apple will eventually release their own augmented reality apps on the next iPhone.

ARKit requires the latest hardware (an iPhone 6s, SE, or 7; or an iPad Pro), which immediately creates a need to upgrade, especially for people who have older iPhones or iPads. Augmented reality will drive sales of iPhones and iPads while being the major focus of the next iPhone.

Just browse through various Metaio demonstrations on YouTube and you can see how augmented reality worked years ago. Now imagine those demonstrations refined to work even better today and that’s what you can expect from the next iPhone.

Augmented reality will be useful for the Maps app to show you various features of streets and buildings such as where a restaurant or hotel might be. The Camera app can also be handy for inserting virtual objects in a picture, letting you pose on the Riviera with a cartoon Pokemon character or morph your face to look like a lizard. Expect Apple to demonstrate their own augmented reality apps with the announcement of the next iPhone and highlight indoor mapping in public places like airports, sports stadiums, and museums.

Metaio is the driving force behind Apple’s augmented reality plans so just look at old Metaio videos, links, and PDF files to see what Apple is planning this fall. The future is already here in plain sight. While wireless charging and facial recognition may still be a major focus of the next iPhone, augmented reality will be the star.

To read about why Metaio sold itself to Apple, click here.