“If you ain’t out on a iPhone 13 Pro nature walk, then where you aaaat?”
I think by now many know the new iPhone has macro and closeup capabilities. They are really cool. But just how cool? I’ll show you some first shots but the real cool is the march of innovation. 1/
2/ When portrait mode came out wrote this on how the phone is a revolution in tools and tools are what come to define the changes in the world we live in. Cinematic mode shows how much this has evolved. ♻️ “Nikon versus Canon: A Story Of Technology Change” link.medium.com/QRaWOdlAQjb
3/ Some shots with the new macro mode.
4/ And some more…
5/ And some more still…
6/ OK, this was a long walk.
7/ Still walking…
8/ So why is this so cool? You might have seen the meme “everything in this 1991 radio shack is now built into an iPhone”.
9/ And if you add the watch then think of how many more things are now in one integrated experience. Photography is just one part of that ad, but digging into it one can see the incredible depth of innovation in one category. Macro, portrait, pano, slo-mo, time lapse, …
10/ This is the premier Nikon film camera from 1971. I marked up all the elements of this image that are part of the iPhone now. Not only would you need a truck to carry this around, but you’d need about $500,000 (3M today).
11/ While pros have lots of needs not met yet by the iPhone, for sure the only one not even possible in the best of talented hands are (in teal) ultra wide angle (“fish eye”) and long range telephoto (100-2000mm). The latter have some physics issues :-)
12/ And that’s not even including the fact that you don’t need a dark room. And it is all right there in your pocket.
This kind of chart tells the story—so many fewer cameras sold while so many more photos and photographers. Now they have almost all the gear!
13/ Cinematic mode deserves a whole other thread and a different kind of nature walk :-) // END
PS/ And 3X is great for my favorite!
PPS/ A doctor just mumbled to me, this is going to be a big breakthrough for dermatologists and telemedicine (and file upload to MyChart). Yikes.
14/ While consistent w/overall approaches when possible, fact that iPhone close-up/macro mode has no UX is super cool. It is incredibly difficult to resist the temptation to have the feature be “modal” or “controllable”. Move close enough and with no futzing you’re in macro mode.
/ From when portrait mode was released a view of how tools are the start of a revolution. Bringing all these photo capabilities that used to take a trunk of gear to the iPhone is itself a revolution. ♻️ medium.learningbyshipping.com/photos-how-too…
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Today OpenAI put out an AI Action plan for the government.
OpenAI’s proposals for the U.S. AI Action Plan
Recommendations build on OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint to strengthen America’s AI leadership.
It is a broad document that covers many topics. I want to highlight copyright.
In the document there is a call for permissive AI training, noting the carveouts that exist in other countries. Summarized is a call for a "Freedom to Learn".
I mean who is against freedom? Against learning? Against a freedom to learn? No one. Except... cdn.openai.com/global-affairs…
First notice how much they have pivoted to China away from the "please regulate us to save jobs". This is noteworthy. Still this is a call for regulatory capture. Just a different mechanism. Instead of blocking others it is enabling others on the assumption scale wins.
Early-Childhood Tablet Use and Outbursts of Anger - // This study is out today and getting broad media play piling on to more evidence tech is bad. It is so dumb a read it should be getting coverage for how bad it is at science not as a way to "exercise caution in tablets." 1/
2/ This study appears to be instantly generalized to all screens and all content. The underlying tool used to measure the use of *tablets* is a survey+tool described in this referenced study ("CAFE"). Today's paper clearly takes a subset of this data, which is itself questionable.
3/ The underlying study as of 2020 says it monitors content on Android devices. I can't tell and there's no open data available to confirm that for today's study (that I could find.) This is a minor point perhaps but has obvious issues with sampling. But there are other issues:
Today the US DOJ+16 states/DC (HA we had 19+) filed suit against Apple over abuse of market position ̷b̷y̷ ̷m̷a̷k̷i̷n̷g̷ ̷a̷ ̷v̷a̷s̷t̷l̷y̷ ̷b̷e̷t̷t̷e̷r̷ ̷c̷o̷m̷p̷u̷t̷e̷r̷ in an effort to keep customers reliant on iPhone.
🧵contd until I lose steam
1. This is scary/concerning/freaky if you work at Apple. My first thoughts go to them. What I can say is heads down, be patient. It’s an ultramarathon.
2. If you are a competitor cheering then history tells us down the road you will either become a faded memory or will be sued.
Of course I am not a lawyer and don’t pretend to be one. When the Microsoft case first started in the early 90s. MS’s GC said to me “you have to remember, people who chose to practice antitrust (AT) law not only believe in it but see ‘monopolies’ and ‘abuse’ everywhere.”
So much of the evolution of technology can be summed up by “what’s new, was already done before…but being first (or early) if often no different in result than being wrong.”
Of course being done before is never ever the same as the new things… 1/
2/ New things that appear to have been done before have a different perspective, bring unique market forces to a problem, and rely on technologies that are often more mature, not brand new.
Many latest and greatest inventions fail and need to be reinvented in new contexts.
3/ I lived through too many Microsoft examples where we were “first”—even “innovative”—only to watch other companies come along and capitalize on something conceptually close/identical but implemented entirely differently.
Their patience and choices made all the difference.
Apple's 'Mother Nature' sketch was a complete dud, and didn't belong… // No, no. Issue is much more subtle and practical. Need to separate weird marketing from reality. This is greenwashing but the green is…profit. This isn't Bud Light. Or even "woke" 1/appleinsider.com/articles/23/09…
2/Sure the presentation might have been awkward or even a dud to some. A quasi-religious tone viz. Mother Nature isn't everyone's approach.
At the same time, every fact or position put forth is a strategic, margin-positive, and innovative effort from Apple. Super important.
3/ Start with packaging. Most people haven't thought much about packaging. Even most who have made something needing a package haven't thought about it. Packaging is *expensive* and necessary. It is also a whole discipline. How many knew you could get a PhD in packaging?
Why are people so quick to proclaim failure for new products? It seems a dumb thing to ask. I mean knowledgable people look at a new product and think it doesn't cut it and will fail. Much more going on. Innovation is nearly impossible to deliver. Harder to predict/analyze. 1/
2/ Regardless of the era, predicting failure has always been easy, always been attention grabbing, and always kind of fun. Some say it's necessary simply to counter the marketing and power of the launch. Silly. A launch still has to battle the market. The market is really brutal.
3/ Predicting failure is a form of social credit, a way of elevating oneself above the company. It is in effect a power grab. It is also a form of grift. A con. These are harsh words but let me explain.