Author: Rick Sutcliffe
Further On Apple’s latest iterations The Spy notes that Apple parts suppliers have been notifying shareholders of massive reductions in their order books. Stocks have fallen, and Apple shares in turn have led the whole premium high tech stock sector into a deep downward spiral. Indeed at this writing, Apples market cap, having lost some 20% was below that of Microsoft for the first time in many moons. Should anyone be astonished? Christmas buying season is well advanced and Apple…
by Rick Sutcliffe Technology News and Views Since 1983 November 2018 Apple’s latest iterations are anything but Halloween scary, much less insanely great. Rather they are mere steps along an already well-worn path of mediocrity–by dint of a loyal installed base temporarily insanely profitable in a strictly stock value-enhancing way, but not industry-leading in any sense. Consider: Phones The Spy opined on these last month. Apple tweaked its line somewhat, but debuted no groundbreaking technologies in either hardware or software….
by Rick Sutcliffe Apple’s new introductions this month are the iPhoneXR and XS, plus the Watch series 4. The latter is becoming more interesting with each new generation, and smart watches seem to have found their principal niche as fitness assistants. The Spy notes, however, that some insurance companies are offering special rates for customers who give them ongoing access to their watch data. Like many things in modern technology this has its advantages–reduced premiums presumably for people who stay…
By Rick Sutcliffe Last month The Spy detailed issues with his university-owned mid-2015 MacBook Pro. He had thought nothing of the fact that the keys were beginning to imprint on the screen (it could be wiped clean), but when he realized that the machine would no longer stand on its own four feet, but was wobbling unsteadily on a bump in the lower case, he realize it had the dreaded swollen battery condition. So in some trepidation (a first timer…
By Rick Sutcliffe Record Breaking Heat in numerous parts of the world has been a staple of the news for several recent years, including 2018. Shifting weather patterns and a steady general temperature increase have combined to see some locales with record-breaking heat waves and produce devastating wildfires, most notably in Canada Greece, and the western U.S. But weather and fires are not the only hot topics. Apple has a long history of heat problems with its devices. The switch…
First mentioned here back in 2005, and oft referenced since, the Spy’s Fourth Law: Marketshare lags mindshare by two to five years. has proven a robust marketplace staple, applicable to both entire technology companies and individual products. On the way to becoming the global technology giant, Apple earned mindshare with meticulously designed and executed hardware and software. Not everything Apple did was truly innovative, but their products worked better, lasted longer, won people over, made friends who then bought their…
The Spy’s garden is kinda dusty these days, as this past month has been the driest May on record here in the West of the frozen North. Apple has its own problem with dust–in its MacBook Pro keyboard switches. Seems once it accumulates sufficiently, the butterfly switches cease functioning. Good thing the Spy thought of that possibility and bought a JCPAL keyboard overlay when his machine was new. True, the extra printed information was one motivation, but he’d had dust…
May 2018 The Spy has oft noted the old proverb “He who dies with the most toys wins”, and responds with “Wins what?” But in any manufacturing space, and confined to this life only, the company making the most toys wins-at least for a while, at least for the immediate bottom line. At one time, this was IBM, but that venerable corporation, which could once have bought Apple Corp. for $1B, ditched its small computer line and tried to reinvent…
The Spy notes and passes on verbatim with little comment (it is its own commentary) the following advertisement: Is your target audience completely persuaded? Let Vologda Analytica do it for you. Our extensive data sets and state-of-the-art algorithms can analyze any target population and build your campaign. Whether your product is political, household or industrial goods, or your services, our techniques have proven effective with a wide variety of clients and situations and will work in yours as well. We…
Bad news for the iPhone X continues to hit the net–both by way of fact and rumour. Apple has severely scaled back its orders for displays from Samsung–indicative of the ongoing disappointing sales of the X. The falldown is extensive. Samsung will now have surplus capacity and can both use those displays itself and sell them to Apple’s competition, who will in turn retail phones challenging the X but at much lower price points. They won’t make as much money,…
Wrong about the iPhone XWell, it has happened before…back in ’83. See, from a feature point of view, the iPhone 8 look doomed beside the X. But price points do come into play in such matters. Apple is curtailing the production of the X, and the Spy assumes it will be discontinued once the X year is done. As the physician said to the 12-year old Spy when he came into his office looking like scarlet fever: “Allergic to the…
January 2018 The Spy thinks he understands a little about a lot of things, and quite a bit about a few things, but he does not understand… Why some people’s reactions are so ridiculously extreme? Leaving ordinary politics (if there is such a thing) aside for the moment, and as detailed here last month, the Spamhaus reaction to spam emanating from a handful of servers at the NewTek/Deerfield/Atjeu facility was to ban an entire range of 65536 IP addresses. Despite…
December 2017 Under his hat as a sometimes web hosting and domain name provider (Webnamehost.com and WebNameSource.com) the Spy must monitor the spam arriving at his server. Numerous filters and subscriptions to spam services cut the volume of mail by forty percent in a slack month and as much as ninety-five precent during time when the BlackHats think they’re on to something new. Usually, this is a good thing. But recently, spam sent out from another server at the data…
Technology News and Views Since 1983 November 2017 The soft sound of a pair of occupied boots landing on the table behind me as I toiled over this column alerted me to my visitor. Good thing she doesn’t wear spurs when she comes here,” I thought. “Nice of you to drop by, Nellie. What’s up?” “You mean besides the rookie goof-up you just made in your code?” “Eh? Shame on you Nellie Hacker for looking over my shoulder. I tested…
by Rick Sutcliffe September 2017 unless it reflects reality All real world activity generates observable data, and such data is the necessary starting point for information. The term “fake data” is an oxymoron, for alleged data not rooted in real wold activities and events simply isn’t. In his long and hopefully not too misspent life, the Spy has occasionally encountered people who believe they possess data that is no more than their imagination working overtime. Even by people who…
August 2017 Of Technology are relative to an individual’s “normal”. Just now, the Spy has finished his annual task of pressure washing the house, then put some water on the squash and cucumber patch. To someone living in Western society, small engine machines like pressure washers, string trimmers, generators, chain saws, lawn mowers and tractors are low technology–even to a city slicker who may not have heard of, much less used any of these. Seen in use, all would be…
Birthdays engender delays, which is why this tome is a few days late, being written on the third of July. Canada Day number 150 falling on a Saturday this year, meant the national holiday substituting for it fell on the Spy’s own birthday. Nice of the country to celebrate for me, but really… ‘Course, that other fractious country to the south has its birthday tomorrow. In view of recent national and other elections, the questions of course for pundits and…
June 2017 In a reprise of previous comments on the subject, the Spy has resolved his issues with his Synology 4-bay 1815+ NAS, that he purchased for home use (yes, yes, overkill, but one cannot have too many backups, especially when one of them fails). This unit worked worked well for over a year, but became flakey, started to beep, and when the Spy investigated, he found the volume had crashed. Attempting to turn it off and on again yielded…
By Rick Sutcliffe May 2017 The Spy has become one (a technology driver that is) for as reported in his March column, he and wife Joyce recently purchased their first new car in over two decades–a Subaru Forester–and it is technology rich. Typical of mind-range SUV crossovers, it has a rear camera with dash display for same, multiple information screens, steerable fog lights, smart air bags, blind spot detectors in the mirrors, keyless entry with secure fob, always on all…
I heard someone plop in one of my chairs and creak it back. A pair of boots heels thumped on my table. “Hope you’re not wearing spurs today,” I said without turning. Nellie Hacker is…rather informal. “That table is for helping my students with their assignments. Gouges would be counterproductive.” “Calculus, no doubt. What’s the topic de jour? Lemmie see. ‘Given an elliptical cross section with axis lengths 10 and 15 centimetres, the formula for the depth of the water,…
