Apple's 3 story mystery building

[CZroe]

If it were just an iPod Nano that you could run apps on, that would be nice. Remove the strap and it's a little Raspberry Pi. Have one in the car for keeping track of this, keep one in the desk for monitoring that.

Ugh. You keep saying this when that's the problem with all the smart watches today. The Sony Ericsson LiveView, Sony SmartWatch, SmartWatch 2, Motorola MotActive, etc all look/function like a small square iPod nano that runs apps. They are pretty much just iPod nanos watchbands that run apps, though THANKFULLY dropping local media storage/playback.

Even so, since the launch of the square iPod nano that people make watch bands for, I have said that Apple should have made it work with the iPhone so that at least iPhone users would have a reason to buy one. IOW, augment the phone instead of only offering something the phone does better.

I DON'T want my smartwatch to "run apps" or do a bunch of gaudy stupid functions my phone can do better. I want it to tap my phone's potential with remote functions instead. This is even more possible to power with today's mobile tech and yet this is what the wearables market has completely ignored since Sony Ericsson stopped making the MBW line. No daily charging with hourly runtime.

 

[herm0016]

With most smartwatches I've seen, the manufacturers make them exactly as you describe...and that's the problem. It should merely be an auxiliary display with a few buttons on it.

Instead, the Galaxy Gear was a big fat thing with a big fat battery, smartphone processor, smartphone storage, smartphone camera...UGH! That leads to terrible battery life and it spends most of the time with the display off, not even showing the time. Gestures to make it show the time fail repeatedly. In other words, it fails to even function properly as a watch.

The CPU should be a super simple low-power ASIC with absolutely minimal storage for its own firmware. It's basically just meant to display the time and basic information, received from the phone via Bluetooth. All I would want it to do is:

1. Show me who is calling
2. Allow me to reject a call
3. Show me what song is playing.
4. Allow me to control music (play, pause, next/previous, ff/rew, vol+/-)

One of the first smart watches is over 10 years old. It was by Sony/Fossil and looked like a stylish watch. It had a tiny OLED display hidden in the otherwise-normal analog watch face. Fails because it was designed to work only with Sony Ericsson phones instead of using standard Bluetooth protocols (phone book, AVRCP, etc).

I want a design that's still meant to look like a normal watch (I know we won't get that from Apple). Controls can be simplified to exactly the types of manipulation points we already have on normal watches. The glass/sapphire face should work as a button (physical click, so it works while wearing gloves). Tap to play/pause or answer/end. Hold it down to reject a call or activate voice assistant (which runs on your PHONE, but you can speak through your headset if you have one).
Like many digital watches, there should be 2 buttons on each side, but even that is not necessary. Music controls could be done by tapping the glass/sapphire display repeatedly (as it does for in-line headphone remotes):
Tap: Play/Pause, Answer/End
Hold: Reject call, activate voice assistant
Double-tap: Skip forward
Double-tap+Hold: Fast forward
Triple-tap: Skip backward
Triple-tap+Hold: Rewind

Instead of spinning infinitely, the dial/ring around the glass could twist a little bit each direction, allowing skip / seek music functions and such. Or it could spin infinitely and be used for list navigation and/or rapid volume control.

i would be interested in this sort of product. i have similare feelings to the others here on smart watches. I wear a normal watch to know what time it is without having to get out my phone.

 

[CZroe]

I just realized that I was wearing the watch when I made this video last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbxzCiGhwPM

 

[Zodiark1593]

Perhaps the building was a condition to get anand onboard?

 

[MarkXIX]

I want a "fitness phone" that I can wear on my forearm or something.

What I mean by that is, small screen, GPS, heart rate, ability to take a call with minimal capability (inbound calls only?), and streaming music ability. Maybe is a forearm type device with a touch screen and is water resistant.

I hate wearing a device AND carrying my phone in a band or elsewhere.

 

[Howard]

My friend's dad is working on the structure. Pretty interesting, seems bird poop proof but the water stains after a few years are going to be an eyesore. I wonder why they are so crazy about the color white.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-cleaning_glass

 

[Miramonti]

Apple's new product, iLeak.

Either they are going to delay whatever this building is about or it's going to be one of their sh!ttiest announcements ever, as all anyone is going to want to talk about is the storm raining on iCloud.

 

[Vapid Cabal]

With most smartwatches I've seen, the manufacturers make them exactly as you describe...and that's the problem. It should merely be an auxiliary display with a few buttons on it.

Instead, the Galaxy Gear was a big fat thing with a big fat battery, smartphone processor, smartphone storage, smartphone camera...UGH! That leads to terrible battery life and it spends most of the time with the display off, not even showing the time. Gestures to make it show the time fail repeatedly. In other words, it fails to even function properly as a watch.

The CPU should be a super simple low-power ASIC with absolutely minimal storage for its own firmware. It's basically just meant to display the time and basic information, received from the phone via Bluetooth. All I would want it to do is:

1. Show me who is calling
2. Allow me to reject a call
3. Show me what song is playing.
4. Allow me to control music (play, pause, next/previous, ff/rew, vol+/-)

One of the first smart watches is over 10 years old. It was by Sony/Fossil and looked like a stylish watch. It had a tiny OLED display hidden in the otherwise-normal analog watch face. Fails because it was designed to work only with Sony Ericsson phones instead of using standard Bluetooth protocols (phone book, AVRCP, etc).

I want a design that's still meant to look like a normal watch (I know we won't get that from Apple). Controls can be simplified to exactly the types of manipulation points we already have on normal watches. The glass/sapphire face should work as a button (physical click, so it works while wearing gloves). Tap to play/pause or answer/end. Hold it down to reject a call or activate voice assistant (which runs on your PHONE, but you can speak through your headset if you have one).
Like many digital watches, there should be 2 buttons on each side, but even that is not necessary. Music controls could be done by tapping the glass/sapphire display repeatedly (as it does for in-line headphone remotes):
Tap: Play/Pause, Answer/End
Hold: Reject call, activate voice assistant
Double-tap: Skip forward
Double-tap+Hold: Fast forward
Triple-tap: Skip backward
Triple-tap+Hold: Rewind

Instead of spinning infinitely, the dial/ring around the glass could twist a little bit each direction, allowing skip / seek music functions and such. Or it could spin infinitely and be used for list navigation and/or rapid volume control.

I like how you think!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Holy crap, you've got to be kidding me. Why the hell do websites do this shit?



There's actually a scroll bar, there's more script domains than what can fit the screen.

 

[Raduque]

I wear a nice Timex timepiece. It was only $40 but I get compliments on it almost daily.

I'm really hoping for a nice smart watch, that's around $200 or so, and mostly operates like Ichinisan described - that to me, would be the holy grail for a smart watch.

Unfortunately, these manufacturers want to pack as much junk into the smart watch as they do into their phones, and throw battery life and ease of usability out the window in the process.

The Moto360 and possibly LG GWR are devices to watch this holiday season, but hopefully more exciting things are on the horizon for next year.

Till something that's truly interesting comes out, I'll keep rocking the Timex.

 

[Ichinisan]

Holy crap, you've got to be kidding me. Why the hell do websites do this shit?



There's actually a scroll bar, there's more script domains than what can fit the screen.

The solution is to stop running noscript. It's more hassle than the scripts themselves. These days, the web just doesn't work right without JS functionality.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Holy crap, you've got to be kidding me. Why the hell do websites do this shit?



There's actually a scroll bar, there's more script domains than what can fit the screen.

Don't you love that? That's generally a good indicator of it being a site I want nothing to do with.

The solution is to stop running noscript. It's more hassle than the scripts themselves. These days, the web just doesn't work right without JS functionality.

Maybe for you. Why the fuck would I want shitty websites to "work right"? They're shit even if you ok the scripts. Most sites that have more than 5 scripts run like shit and are just clickbait factories.

 

[zinfamous]

It's just Anand's new office