Top Bananas | Tag Archives: user experience

Apple Acquires a Virtual Animation Company

Posted on October 10, 2019 by admin Posted in Business, Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple acquired U.K.-based iKinema, which provided 3D motion animation tools to movie and game developers.

The best way to see the future of Apple is to track its latest acquisitions. Long before Apple introduced the iPhone and iPad, they acquired a company called Fingerworks, which specialized in touch gesture interfaces.

Then before Apple introduced augmented reality through their ARKit framework, they acquired a German company called Metaio, which specialized in augmented reality.

Now Apple has acquired a UK company called IKinema, which creates tools for creating virtual characters in animation. This technology could be used to beef up Apple’s game frameworks but will also likely help Apple improve their augmented reality features by allowing the creation of virtual characters.

Augmented reality is likely a target for Apple’s other recent acquisition of Akonia Holographics, which made augmented reality lenses. Combine all of these technologies together and you can see how augmented reality and smart glasses are going to appear in the near future.

Of course, it could be years before we see any products based on iKinema’s technology since Apple will take time to integrate it into their current frameworks, but you can be certain those technologies will arrive soon.

The future is continuing to look bright because whatever Apple introduces, Google will likely follow and advance the state of mobile and wearable technology. The next time you read any news about Apple, it could be through an augmented reality set of smart glasses.

Smart Bands are the Future of the Apple Watch

Posted on September 4, 2019 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: Apple recently patented smart bands for the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch has always been constrained by its smaller size that needs to fit comfortable on a user’s wrist. While the Apple Watch provides sensors to detect heart rates and skin moisture, there’s only so many sensors Apple can put on the physical size of the Apple Watch. Even worse is that some people may not want certain types of sensors while other people do.

That’s why Apple has patented smart bands that work with the Apple Watch. The main idea behind smart bands is to provide extra sensors that the smaller size of the Apple Watch can’t accommodate.

One long-rumored sensor that Apple is working on is non-invasive glucose monitoring. This would provide a way for diabetics to monitor their blood sugar level without breaking their skin to get a blood sample. Since only diabetics would want such a sensor, it makes sense to offer it as an optional smart band that can work with any Apple Watch.

Right now, the band that holds an Apple Watch to a person’s wrist does nothing else. By adding smart capabilities, a smart band offers more space for adding sensors to compliment the Apple Watch. Today the Apple Watch is dependent on the iPhone but soon the Apple Watch will be independent of the iPhone. With the addition of smart bands, the Apple Watch will soon be more capable as a biometric device as well.

The Apple Watch isn’t the only type of wearable computer Apple is working on. The less obvious rival is Apple’s AirPods, which could detect blood vessels in the ear canal, which is supposedly easier to access than blood vessels in the arm.

Still another potential wearable computer will be smart glasses. With so many wearable computer models to choose from, it’s likely people will choose one or more for different activities.

The Apple Watch will be focused on real-time health monitoring. AirPods will be focused on hearing and real-time health monitoring. Smart glasses will be focused on real-time information overlaid against the real world.

Mobile computing (smartphones and tablets) are slowly taking over the traditional PC market just as PCs gradually took over from the mainframe and minicomputer market.

Now wearable computers offer the next big leap forward as people start wearing their computers instead of carrying them with them.

The future of the Apple Watch is smart bands and the future of computing will be wearables whether strapped to your wrist, stuck in your ear, or propped on your face.

To learn more about Apple’s latest patent involving smart bands, click here.

The Future of HomePod

Posted on August 26, 2019 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Music, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: HomePod has a small share of the smart speaker market, but it has the potential to continue growing.

Amazon introduced the first smart speaker with Alexa as its voice assistant. Because Alexa speakers are so inexpensive (often as low as $30), more people are willing to try an Alexa smart speaker. In the meantime, Apple introduced a $349 (now $299) smart speaker called HomePod.

In pure unit sales alone, Alexa is dominating the smart speaker market. However, in our unit sales alone, Android devices dominate the smartphone market too. So judging on market share alone isn’t an accurate measurement of a product’s success.

The big problem with HomePod is that it, like the first iPhone, is more of a novelty than a necessity. When Apple first introduced the iPhone, more people still relied on other smartphones from Nokia or Blackberry. Only until the third generation of the iPhone (after Apple also lowered the price of the iPhone) did the iPhone slowly start taking over.

The iPhone took over the smartphone market because it represented a vast improvement over existing smartphones of the time that relied on tiny screens and physical keyboards.

However, HomePod will likely need to pursue a different approach to succeed. HomePod’s sole advantage over Alexa is its higher quality audio. A far distant advantage is that Siri, on HomePod, understands close to thirty languages compared to Alexa’s seven languages.

For people whose language Alexa understands, there’s no advantage in using Siri, but for people whose language Alexa does not understand, they’ll have no choice but to chose HomePod and Siri.

HomePod right now is a novelty, much like the original iPhone. While the iPhone offered clear-cut advantages over existing smartphones of the time, HomePod does not offer such clear-cut advantages over Alexa. HomePod cannot compete against Alexa on price, and audio quality is more of a luxury than a necessity. So how can HomePod compete?

The first solution might be to focus on defining why the average person would ant to use a HomePod. Essentially, HomePod’s prime advantage is hands-free computing through voice commands.

In the home, HomePod’s advantage won’t be apparent until smart homes using Apple’s HomeKit become more popular. When you have a smart home, then it will be easy to control it with HomePod. If you do not have a smart home, then there’s little reason to use HomePod.

Since not everyone will want or use a smart home, the second way HomePod could grow is by offering tighter integration with the Macintosh. Put a HomePod next to your Macintosh and now you have superior audio quality.

More importantly, put a HomePod next to a Macintosh and you also have a microphone, suitable for talking through video conferencing or for controlling your Macintosh through voice commands.

Given the slow growth fo the smart home, HomePod’s greatest future lies in working with the Macintosh as a smart accessory.

HomePod should also work with the iPhone and iPad, offering superior audio quality as well as a wireless smart speaker. Perhaps if HomePod offered a place to put in an iPhone or an iPad, more people would think of using the HomePod in conjunction with an iPhone or iPad.

Today, HomePod is mostly a curiosity. Tomorrow, HomePod has the potential to grow, but only by integrating itself with other products. By itself, HomePod is a great audio speaker, but when connected to other products, HomePod will become a crucial product that more people will want.

Watch HomePod. It’s going to grow over time just like the iPhone did.

To learn more about HomePod, click here.

The Real Use of Augmented Reality

Posted on July 10, 2019 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Medical, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple filed a patent for a unique use of augmented reality that warps images so they can be seen in a person’s blind spots.

Look at any technology and it’s only as useful as the problems it solves. One huge reason why virtual reality hasn’t taken off is because it doesn’t solve a pressing need.

People adopted mobile phones and dumped land lines because mobile phones offered far greater convenience. People adopted cars because cars are easier to use than horse and carriage. People adopted electricity because it’s easier than lighting lamps with kerosene.

Right now, augmented reality has mostly been used for games and entertainment, which is fine because that’s how people experiment with new technology. However, eventually there must be a practical use for technology or else it simply fades away, much like 3D TV never went anywhere.

Apple’s latest patent points out how augmented reality could be used to help people with poor vision. Many partially blind people cannot see in certain areas of their eyes, creating blind spots. Apple’s patent points to warped images that allows augmented reality to display the areas that a person’s blind spot might be blocking, thereby granting them full and complete vision.

Augmented reality is more than just games. It’s a technology to enhance vision and correct faulty vision whether it’s just in people who need corrective lenses or people who are partially blind.

By using augmented reality to solve real problems, augmented reality will be far more useful than virtual reality. The future is augmented reality and Apple appears to be leading the way.

To learn more about Apple’s latest augmented reality patent, click here.

iPadOS Means the iPad is the New Personal Computer

Posted on June 10, 2019 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: Apple announced that they’re splitting iOS and coming out with a special version of iOS just for the iPad.

Back in the days of laptops, the netbook briefly caught on as a small, lightweight, inexpensive alternative. Netbooks cost a few hundred dollars and ran Windows XP or Linux. The problem was they ran slow processors and the keyboards we’re cramped and tiny.

When Apple introduced the iPad, they killed the netbook market. Today, you can’t find a single manufacturer of netbooks even though Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and other major computer companies once sold netbooks.

Now the iPad is taking on the traditional laptop market. Right now, most laptops are expensive, heavy, and lacking long battery life. The iPad is still more expensive than many laptops, but the iPad is far lighter with a longer battery life.

Even better, the processor in the iPad is getting more powerful, rivaling even Intel’s processors. When the iPad processor consistently runs noticeably faster than Intel’s processors, that’s when the iPad will truly take over the laptop market.

What has held the iPad back for years was its reliance on iOS. Originally, iOS was designed for tablets like the iPad. Then Apple show an opportunity to enter the smartphone market and they created iOS based on OS X, the Macintosh operating system.

When Apple introduced the iPhone, it took over the smartphone market. Later, Apple returned to their tablet designs and released the iPad, which killed the netbook market.

Yet for years, iOS has to be designed for both the iPhone and iPad, despite the larger screen of the iPad. Now Apple has created a version of iOS specifically for the iPad called iPadOS, which means they’ll likely rebrand iOS as iPhoneOS soon just to remain consistent.

By creating a separate iPadOS, Apple can optimize the operating system just for tablets, which they couldn’t do with iOS. That means the iPad will gradually get more unique features to make advantage of its touch screen interface and its larger size. This will likely give the iPad custom features that are unique to the form factor of the larger screen of tablets.

As the iPad grows in capabilities, that means fewer people will rely on laptops just as the iPhone helped reduce people’s dependency on access to a PC at all times to send messages or browse the Internet. Essentially, the iPad will help reshape the mobile computing market.

The world of PCs will always be around, but mobile computing (smartphones and tablets) are taking over. For many people, all they need is a smartphone and a tablet to do all of their computing needs.

iPadOS is just apple’s first step to making the iPad a full-fledged computer. Today’s generation might still cling to the familiar mouse and pull-down menu interface, but tomorrow’s next generation will be comfortable with touch screens. That means computing is shifting to the mobile market.

By creating a special iPadOS, Apple can optimize the operating system for the iPad. That’s good news for everyone, except any computer still trying to sell laptops in a world that’s embraced mobile computing.

To learn more about iPadOS, click here.

Should HomePod Get an App Store?

Posted on April 11, 2019 by admin Posted in Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: The HomePod is a stand-alone device, but rival smart speakers offer apps so the HomePod should too.

Every time Apple introduces a first-generation product, you can be certain the second and third generations will be more capable. Initially, the iPhone didn’t allow you to install apps. Only later did Apple give the iPhone the ability to add apps, and this has turned into a billion dollar industry.

Now with the HomePod, Apple is in a similar situation. The HomePod represents a smart speaker that offers hands-free computing. The only problem is that HomePod does little more than play music or answer telephone calls.

If Apple opens up the HomePod to its own App Store, that would allow third-party developers to create unique voice-activated apps solely for the HomePod. Such apps could also work for the iPhone/iPad as well as long as users are willing to speak to control the app.

Unless you absolutely want a speaker with excellent audio capabilities, there’s little reason for most people to buy and use a HomePod. Wait for the second or third generation of the HomePod to appear that will offer more features and possibly an App Store of its own.

For HomePod to really become popular, Apple needs to figure out a must-have use for HomePod. With the Apple Watch, the must-have use is real-time health monitoring. With the HomePod, there is no clearly defined must-have use. Because there’s no must-have use, there’s little reason to to use a HomePod.

Until Apple makes a compelling case for using a HomePod, an App Store can give third-party developers a chance to give HomePod unique features that people might want. At the very least, an App Store can give people a reason to customize HomePod.