Top Bananas | Tag Archives: user experience

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.

Breaking Up iTunes

Posted on April 6, 2019 by admin Posted in Business, Music, Software Leave a comment

What it is: For years, iTunes has been used to play music, movies, audio books, and podcasts. Now Apple is rumored to be breaking iTunes into separate apps.

The iTunes app began as a music player and a way to store songs on an iPod. Then Apple started adding more features to iTunes to play all types of audio and video files including movies, podcasts, and audio books. Not surprisingly, iTunes is now a clumsy, monolithic program that tries o do everything but does none of it well.

That’s why the latest rumor is that Apple will break iTunes into several smaller, specialized apps. That way if you don’t listen to podcasts, you don’t have to worry about podcast features. If you don’t listen to audio books, you won’t have to wade through audiobook features.

Part of the reasoning behind this rumor is that Apple is creating a cross-platform tool that will allow iOS developers to create macOS apps. Apple already announced this cross-platform tool last year so everyone’s expecting them to release it this year.

iTunes is a perfect example of a dedicated program that simply grew too big with more and more features until it became a mess. Few people will mourn the loss of iTunes for doing everything so it’s likely this is a low-risk move on Apple’s part to make everything easier for everybody.

Keep your eye on Apple’s cross-platform tool. This will likely become a major focus at the upcoming Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), which will allow iOS developers to turn their apps into Macintosh apps as well. This will give iOS developers another way to profit from their work while giving Apple more apps to market and entice others to buy and use a Macintosh.

The future of Apple is iOS. To read more about Apple’s plan to break up iTunes, click here.

Real-Time Health Monitoring is the Purpose of Wearable Computers

Posted on March 18, 2019 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: The “killer” app for the Apple Watch is real-time health monitoring.

When the Apple Watch first appeared, critics dismissed it as a gimmick. That’s because even Apple couldn’t define a specific use for the Apple Watch at first.

The whole purpose of technology is to solve a problem that was too difficult or impossible to solve previously. The PC made computers accessible to more people beyond the mainframe and minicomputer users. What made the PC useful was the spreadsheet, first embodied by VisiCalc and then by Lotus 1-2-3. People bought PCs specifically to use spreadsheets.

When the iPhone first came out, it represented a giant improvement over existing mobile phones, but also gave you a computer in your pocket. Combined with mobile location tracking, the iPhone defined how smartphones work, which eventually led to location tracking services like ride-sharing services.

The Apple Watch first appeared with no specific purpose in mind, but the latest Stanford study indicates that the Apple Watch does a decent job detecting heart abnormalities. To detect this usually requires expensive equipment at a doctor’s office, but the Apple Watch is bringing this capability to the masses. That makes real-time health monitoring the real killer app for wearable computers.

If you’re concerned about your health, then the Apple Watch is for you. For people who still refuse to buy and use a wearable computer like the Apple Watch, they’re essentially telling the world that they either can’t afford a wearable computer or they don’t think their life is worth a few hundred dollars.

The next step for wearable computers will be health enhancement. That can come with smart glasses that enhance a user’s vision while also tracking health conditions at the same time. Real-time health monitoring and enhancement is the ultimate goal of wearable computers.

Apple’s Augmented Reality Smart Glasses Project

Posted on March 7, 2019 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple filed more patents for smart glass wearable computers.

Two years ago, Apple acquired an eye-tracking company called SensoMotoric Instruments. The company’s Eye Tracking Glasses were capable of recording a person’s natural gaze behavior in real-time and in real world situations with a sampling rate up to 120Hz. A YouTube video that has since been removed showed how an athlete could wear such smart glasses to evaluate their performance.

Now Apple has recently filed patents for cooling smart glasses by blowing air to cool the user’s head, making the smart glasses more comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

Perhaps one of the more interesting patent filings is eye tracking to monitor the distance between the lenses and the display assembly and the user’s eyes. This could detect the relative motion of the headset to the eyes to produce a more accurate visual experience when in motion. That’s likely where SensoMotoric Instrument’s eye-tracking technology is being used.

If you want to see the future of Apple, simply look at which companies they’ve acquired. When Apple acquired Metaio’s augmented reality technology, it was obvious they would eventually release augmented reality technology, which later appeared as ARKit.

While ARKit is limited to iOS devices, augmented reality is really suited for wearable smart glasses. Hence the future of ARKit is learning to develop apps for Apple’s smart glasses.

That requires learning the Swift programming language first, and ARKit second. When Apple releases smart glasses, they’ll likely expand ARKit’s capabilities to include eye-tracking. That means developers will soon be in demand to create smart glass apps as yet another spin-off from iOS like watchOS and tvOS.

If you want to profit from the future, you can’t go wrong learning to develop apps in ARKit.

To learn more about Apple’s smart glasses patents, click here.