Gak! I had to pause my reading. Every single tech advance in the past century from automobiles to TV to Jet Planes to antidepressants has ALWAYS been touted as "bringing us closer together." I need a break. Appreciate your work Matt!
Matt, don't get captured by the hype. A very small number of people will buy and walk around with goggles on their face.. It's technically appealing but like the meta verse, it's anti-human and will suffer the consequences thereof.
Incredibly interesting article. I am stoked to try the Apple Vision Pro. I’m a huge fan of Apple tech, but the implications discussed here are very thought provoking, and obvious cause for concern.
The closed Apple ecosystem made me think about the little discussed lack of electronic health records (EHR) data interoperability between healthcare institutions. I don’t think it’s a “weird” monopoly, per se, but it is impactful and ultimately harms people. This Epic Systems monopoly relies, in part, on the CareEverywhere interoperability function which allows doctor and nurse caring for patients to review history, meds, prior labs and imaging reports done at other institutions… so long as all other institutions use the Epic Systems EHR as well.
This is very interesting topic that is with your evaluation and analysis, and apologies if you already covered it. It’s another example of medical businesses and institutions working together to maximize profit, create waste in the system and stick patients with the bill.
"In other words, the Apple Vision Pro, with its breathless feature set, is built in a way designed to foster a hot war with China."
The word 'designed' there suggests intent on the part of Apple to foster such a war. While I agree with most everything else in your post, that claim strikes me as unsupportable. Couldn't Apple (or anyone else) plausibly respond: "Hey! Better we manufacture our high-end chips in Taiwan than in China!"?
This is so important to highlight in this time. Spacial computing is likely the next big breakthrough, especially with the upcoming of AI. This feels like the "calm before the storm". Super glad we're having this conversation now, I'm definitely mentioning this to my Congressman the next time we talk. He's an Ag guy so I doubt he'll act on it, but it should be known.
Stop and think a minute before condemning Apple. I've been a user of Microsoft PC equipment and related software since the early 1980s. All of this stuff is/was based on "open source" design and compatibility. In my extensive experience this has led to nothing but conflicts, errors, compatibility issues, and a host of other problems. Enter Apple: They have a basically "closed source" system and products despite the efforts of government and other actors to try and infiltrate their integrity. This has resulted in Apple products being reliable, safe, non-buggy, free of conflicts and generally a pleasure to use. Of course, those who wish to infiltrate and abuse the Apple system and products rail and complain endlessly.
I was not an early adopter of the iPhone. I experimented with Motorola, Microsoft and Blackberry products thinking that Apple stuff was merely a passing fad. After all, how could some little Silicon Valley upstart run by an egomaniacal dictator (Jobs) ever beat the establishment. Well guess what? He did, and his successor Tim Cook is masterfully continuing the legend including product quality, innovation and the undeniable fact that Apple stuff "just works - all the time - few if any bugs - trouble free".
Just a couple years ago I decided to make the switch to 'All Apple' and purchased my first Mac. I already had the phone, iPad, and watch. All I can say is "I should have done it much sooner". I still keep an old PC in the house for the odd occasion where something out there simply won't allow itself to work with a Mac. There are always a few holdouts but they are few and far between. Bottom line: If Apple wants to control all their supply chain, make their own chips like the newest Apple Silicon M2 and so on, That's Great! Keep up the good work Apple.
And let's not forget, until the government broke up the greatest monopoly of all time - AT&T in the 1980's - America had the best and most reliable communications system in the world. We no longer do. Bell Labs created many, if not most, of the technological advances of the 20th century. And, the Bell system always worked, rain or shine, hurricane or not, snow storm or not, even with power failures. That isn't the case today. Since the breakup there have of course been many new technological advances. My money says that they would have happened anyway had the original AT&T not been broken up. The only thing that the breakup guaranteed was that ultimately the American consumer is paying more and more for less and less of almost everything
"By 2020, Apple was dictating to government leaders all over the world how the smartphone maker would allow their health departments to manage contact tracing during a pandemic. That’s too much power. Far too much."
Private companies deciding that they don't want their products used in a way that they feel is too invasive of people's privacy is a bad thing? Should they also give the NSA encryption keys to private messaging? What am I missing here?
Gak! I had to pause my reading. Every single tech advance in the past century from automobiles to TV to Jet Planes to antidepressants has ALWAYS been touted as "bringing us closer together." I need a break. Appreciate your work Matt!
Matt, don't get captured by the hype. A very small number of people will buy and walk around with goggles on their face.. It's technically appealing but like the meta verse, it's anti-human and will suffer the consequences thereof.
I had not heard the chip angle before with Apple.
Apple Vision Pro sounds like a glorified Skype. I'll pass.
The green bubble thing is how Apple pushes teenagers to iPhones. It's kinda vile.
Incredibly interesting article. I am stoked to try the Apple Vision Pro. I’m a huge fan of Apple tech, but the implications discussed here are very thought provoking, and obvious cause for concern.
The closed Apple ecosystem made me think about the little discussed lack of electronic health records (EHR) data interoperability between healthcare institutions. I don’t think it’s a “weird” monopoly, per se, but it is impactful and ultimately harms people. This Epic Systems monopoly relies, in part, on the CareEverywhere interoperability function which allows doctor and nurse caring for patients to review history, meds, prior labs and imaging reports done at other institutions… so long as all other institutions use the Epic Systems EHR as well.
This is very interesting topic that is with your evaluation and analysis, and apologies if you already covered it. It’s another example of medical businesses and institutions working together to maximize profit, create waste in the system and stick patients with the bill.
"In other words, the Apple Vision Pro, with its breathless feature set, is built in a way designed to foster a hot war with China."
The word 'designed' there suggests intent on the part of Apple to foster such a war. While I agree with most everything else in your post, that claim strikes me as unsupportable. Couldn't Apple (or anyone else) plausibly respond: "Hey! Better we manufacture our high-end chips in Taiwan than in China!"?
This is so important to highlight in this time. Spacial computing is likely the next big breakthrough, especially with the upcoming of AI. This feels like the "calm before the storm". Super glad we're having this conversation now, I'm definitely mentioning this to my Congressman the next time we talk. He's an Ag guy so I doubt he'll act on it, but it should be known.
Stop and think a minute before condemning Apple. I've been a user of Microsoft PC equipment and related software since the early 1980s. All of this stuff is/was based on "open source" design and compatibility. In my extensive experience this has led to nothing but conflicts, errors, compatibility issues, and a host of other problems. Enter Apple: They have a basically "closed source" system and products despite the efforts of government and other actors to try and infiltrate their integrity. This has resulted in Apple products being reliable, safe, non-buggy, free of conflicts and generally a pleasure to use. Of course, those who wish to infiltrate and abuse the Apple system and products rail and complain endlessly.
I was not an early adopter of the iPhone. I experimented with Motorola, Microsoft and Blackberry products thinking that Apple stuff was merely a passing fad. After all, how could some little Silicon Valley upstart run by an egomaniacal dictator (Jobs) ever beat the establishment. Well guess what? He did, and his successor Tim Cook is masterfully continuing the legend including product quality, innovation and the undeniable fact that Apple stuff "just works - all the time - few if any bugs - trouble free".
Just a couple years ago I decided to make the switch to 'All Apple' and purchased my first Mac. I already had the phone, iPad, and watch. All I can say is "I should have done it much sooner". I still keep an old PC in the house for the odd occasion where something out there simply won't allow itself to work with a Mac. There are always a few holdouts but they are few and far between. Bottom line: If Apple wants to control all their supply chain, make their own chips like the newest Apple Silicon M2 and so on, That's Great! Keep up the good work Apple.
And let's not forget, until the government broke up the greatest monopoly of all time - AT&T in the 1980's - America had the best and most reliable communications system in the world. We no longer do. Bell Labs created many, if not most, of the technological advances of the 20th century. And, the Bell system always worked, rain or shine, hurricane or not, snow storm or not, even with power failures. That isn't the case today. Since the breakup there have of course been many new technological advances. My money says that they would have happened anyway had the original AT&T not been broken up. The only thing that the breakup guaranteed was that ultimately the American consumer is paying more and more for less and less of almost everything
"By 2020, Apple was dictating to government leaders all over the world how the smartphone maker would allow their health departments to manage contact tracing during a pandemic. That’s too much power. Far too much."
Private companies deciding that they don't want their products used in a way that they feel is too invasive of people's privacy is a bad thing? Should they also give the NSA encryption keys to private messaging? What am I missing here?