Top Bananas | Tag Archives: innovation

Apple to Design Own Health Processors?

Posted on August 14, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Apple may be designing their own processors for health sensors on the Apple Watch.

It’s no secret that Apple wants to custom design their own processors to optimize the performance of their products. Unlike Android smartphones and tablets that use off-the-shelf components, Apple uses optimized processors that allows the iPhone and iPad to run faster than similar Android devices even if those Android devices sport more RAM and faster processors.

Now Apple may be designing their own health processors for health sensors embedded in the Apple Watch. The main goal is to offer a non-invasive glucose monitoring sensor that could be used on the Apple Watch. Such a proprietary sensor would not only create a huge market worldwide, but also lock any competitors out from using similar technology.

The Apple Watch and wearable computers are the future. Just as the iPhone surpassed the Macintosh as Apple’s primary product, so will the Apple Watch eventually surpass the iPhone as Apple’s primary product.

Microsoft isn’t competing against the Apple Watch, having abandoned their Microsoft Band product after two generations. Samsung and other Android device makers keep trying to push wearable devices but they lack the same level of integration that Apple can offer through the Apple Watch in unlocking your Macintosh or paying for products through Apple Pay.

The combination of the iPhone and Apple Watch will fuel the future for years to come. If Apple can perfect non-invasive glucose monitoring using proprietary sensors, that’s the time when Apple will become a health company and less of an iPhone company. That’s why Apple is really pursuing proprietary health processors because that’s the future and that’s the big prize if they’re successful.

Apple Pay Has Over 252 Million Users

Posted on August 10, 2018 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Apple Pay continues growing with over 252 million users, mostly overseas.

According to Loop Ventures, Apple Pay adoption continues to accelerate exponentially overseas compared to the U.S. Out of the 252 million worldwide users of Apple Pay, 85% of users are outside the United States with only 15% in the United States.

The biggest advantage of Apple Pay is security. During most credit card transactions, the credit card number gets transferred to the merchant’s computers. Since most merchants lack adequate security, big merchants like Target, Walmart, or Home Depot, become instant targets for hackers. If a hacker can break into a single large retailer’s computers, the hacker can steal thousands of credit card numbers.

Apple Pay avoids this problem by never giving a credit card number out. In this way, Apple Pay is far more secure than using a traditional credit card. The big problem is that security is rarely a selling point. As a result, many people don’t use Apple Pay because they don’t see the advantages and they don’t want the hassle of setting it up.

That means Apple Pay adoption, while slow in America, is increasing rapidly in other parts of the world because credit card transactions are far more inherently insecure in many parts of the world. In comparison, credit card fraud is just as high in America but because banks easily remove fraudulent charges, it’s far easier for Americans to dismiss the idea of greater credit card security.

Apple Pay isn’t a must-have feature, but it’s an extremely convenient one once you get used to making payments through Apple Pay. As more merchants start accepting Apple Pay, more people will find it’s far more convenient to use it by simply holding an iPhone or Apple Watch to pay for your purchase. Rather than carry around a wallet full of credit cards that someone could steal, Apple Pay lets you pay for everything using your iPhone or Apple Watch that you’ll likely have with you anyway.

Apple Pay will gradually convince more people to stick with Apple products over time. That’s why rivals like Android Pay and Samsung Pay are trying to compete, but Samsung Pay is limited to Samsung products so Android users are far better off using Android Pay.

Whatever digital payment system people use, the long-term means that credit cards will increasingly become obsolete. Now thieves won’t be able to steal your credit card number or your credit cards if you don’t have to carry them around and give up your credit card numbers every time you make a purchase.

Apple Pay is the future of digital payments. If you haven’t started using Apple Pay, yet, get started. It will keep your credit card more secure and security is one feature that too many people only think about after they need it.

Magic Leaps Headset (Or How Not to do Augmented Reality)

Posted on August 9, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Magic Leap released their augmented reality headset and it points the way to the future both good and bad.

Remember the name Magic Leap. It’s likely to become a historical footnote like other companies such as Eagle PC, Paperback Software, and Digital Research. That’s because Magic Leap recently released their augmented reality headset in an attempt to gain first-mover advantage. Here are the problems.

First is the cost: $2,295. That’s not only more than the price of most computers, but you could buy a laptop and an iPad and maybe even a smartphone for that same amount. Everyone already knows the features a smartphone, laptop, and iPad can offer them. Few people know what an augmented reality headset will give them. For that amount of money, it better off a compelling advantage but Magic Leap hasn’t identified any such advantage. That means most people will ignore it, both the general public and developers.

Second is the headset covers your entire face. That means it’s not something you can use without taking it on and off. So if you want to use it in public, you’ll have to lug the headset around and then strap it to your face to use it. Then take it off again. Given the fact that the Magic Leap headset doesn’t offer a compelling feature, why would anyone carry it around with them to use? The simple answer is that they won’t. Especially not for $2,295.

With a high price tab, inconvenience of using it, and lack of a compelling reason to use it, there’s little chance the Magic Leap will suddenly become a best-selling product that defines the augmented reality market. Instead, this Magic Leap headset simply shows what’s possible today, and what’s possible today is like looking at early black and white photos of airplanes that could barely take off, let alone carry any passengers safely.

Magic Leap won’t make money selling augmented reality headsets and they likely won’t last long because they can’t make money selling something nobody wants. This is simply an interesting product that has no practical use whatsoever, making it destined for obscurity. If anyone at Apple, Google, or Microsoft are studying this product, they can see exactly what not to do.

To learn more about the Magic Leap augmented reality headset, click here.

Apple Patents Augmented Reality Windshield

Posted on August 8, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple filed a patent for a windshield that displays augmented reality images.

At what time, people used to get driving directions on a PC and print out the directions on paper to take with them. Then with smartphones, people can get driving directions paired with a voice that tells them when to make upcoming turns and what streets to look for.

Of course, just hearing directions is fine, but it can also help to see directions. Apple has been pushing augmented reality for walking directions so you can see where to go, and now they’re applying that same idea to cars with a patent for augmented reality images displayed on a car’s windshield.

Now you’ll be able to keep your eyes on the road and see exactly where to drive at any given time. Such an augmented reality view is similar to what pilots have been using for decades so they can keep their eyes on the sky without looking down at their instrument panel and possibly losing sight of an enemy plane.

Augmented reality will only get better on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, and will be coming to cars and wearables such as smart glasses. Pretty soon, looking at reality will seem plain and confusing when you can look an augmented view of reality instead.

Why the iPhone Exists

Posted on August 3, 2018 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Steve Jobs initially didn’t want to design a smartphone, but he changed his mind.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he was focused on building up the market share for the Macintosh. That meant streamlining the Macintosh models and eliminating distractions that didn’t make much money but sucked up a lot of resources like the Newton hand held device. Yet today, Apple is known mostly for being an iPhone company. How did that happen?

First, Microsoft had been pushing Tablet PCs for years, which were essentially laptops with screens that swiveled to fold flat and allow your o hold and use a laptop as a tablet. Unfortunately, this made the laptop hard to hold because it was heavy and not optimized as a tablet. Even worse, there was little software that run on Tablet PCs as tablets, so there was little reason for anyone to use a Tablet PC as a tablet. Since Tablet PCs cost more than traditional laptops, most people simply bought ordinary laptops and ignored Tablet PCs.

Steve Jobs wanted to show how a tablet should be designed so Apple started working on what’s now known as the iPad. The idea was to design a tablet that would work as a tablet, and not be a clumsy combination of a laptop and a tablet. While developing the touch screen interface of the iPad, Apple started looking at smartphones.

Back then, smartphones were clumsy devices that few people used. While business people gravitated towards Blackberries and other business people relied on Nokia or Palm smartphones, smartphones were simply clumsy to use. That’s when Apple thought they could transition their work on the iPad and make it fit the smaller form of a smartphone, which would become the iPhone.

Steve Jobs was initially against the iPhone because he didn’t think Apple could sell many of them. The main reason he changed his mind was because he realized that the iPod was doomed. Smartphones were the future and eventually people would use smartphones to play and listen to music and not carry around a separate iPod. Because the iPod had no future, Steve Jobs knew the iPhone would have to replace it. By using the iPad as inspiration, Apple created the iPhone with a touch screen interface.

Initially, few people cared about the iPhone but as its popularity grew, competitors realized that the smartphone future lay in touch screen interfaces, not buttons like Blackberries. Once Apple got familiar with the iPhone, they easily transitioned to the iPad, which no other smartphone maker could do gracefully.

Because Apple had started with the iPad and redesigned it for the iPhone, making a tablet was easy since it used the exact same operating system. In comparison, Google struggled to make Android work on tablets and Microsoft didn’t even bother trying to convert their Windows Phone operating systems for tablets. Instead, Microsoft created Windows RT for tablets, which bombed in the market.

So essentially the iPhone came about because Steve Jobs realized the iPod would be killed by smartphones eventually. If Steve Jobs had tried to protect the iPod, it would have been a losing battle. The iPod is dead and the iPhone has replaced it. If Apple hadn’t invented the iPhone, smartphones in general would have replaced the iPod so there was no future in the iPod anyway.

The lesson is simple. Look for what might replace a product and then be the ones to replace that product. Apple did it with the iPhone and now nobody cares about the iPod. What will replace the computer of today? Apple hopes it will be the iPad eventually, but we’ll see if that turns out or not.

CVS and 7-11 Accepting Apple Pay

Posted on August 2, 2018 by admin Posted in Business, Software Leave a comment

What it is: CVS and 7-11 now accept Apple Pay.

At one time, a consortium of merchants including Walmart, CVS, BestBuy, and Target tried to create their own digital payment system called CurrentC. The idea was to eliminate credit card fees and keep the money for themselves. The problem with CurrentC was that it required getting consumers to adopt it. That’s why so many companies banded together with the idea that if several big merchants offered it, more people would likely adopt it.

Then Apple introduced Apple Pay, quickly followed by Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Instead of limiting digital payments to merchants, these new payment systems limited digital payments to specific devices. The popularity of the iPhone and Apple Watch helped spur growing acceptance of Apple Pay to the point where Apple Pay killed CurrentC before it could even get started. Now CurrentC holdouts like 7-11 and CVS are finally accepting Apple Pay because CurrentC is likely dead forever.

Apple Pay is steadily growing because it offers a secure ay to use a credit card without giving a merchant your credit card number. Hackers target merchant computers because they know merchants know little to nothing about security. With thousands of credit card numbers stored on a merchant’s computer, it’s an easy target for hackers to attack.

If nothing else, people should use a digital payment system like Apple Pay solely for the security. Of course, that means people will need to use an Apple product as well such as an iPhone or Apple Watch, which is what Apple really wants people to do. Once people get used to Apple Pay, it will be harder for them to switch to a rival system like Google Pay or Samsung Pay. Thus Apple Pay not only makes Apple steady money, but it also helps keep people from switching to rival products.

That’s exactly why Google Pay and Samsung Pay exist, except that Samsung Pay and Google Pay are competing against each other in the same Android market. Why use Samsung Pay if you can just use Google Pay and switch to rival Android products in case you don’t want another Samsung phone?

For security, use Apple Pay. Whenever you see Apple Pay available, try it. It will keep your credit card secure and encourage more merchants to offer Apple Pay (along with Google Pay and Samsung Pay). The more people use digital, secure payment systems like Apple Pay, the less likely hackers will steal your credit card. The choice is simple. Do you want security or not. If so, then use Apple Pay.