Home Forums Software and Equipment Apple eliminates 3.5mm headphone jack

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    • #17848
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      been rumored for a while, now finally happened

      The new iPhones feature a 64-bit four-core A10 Fusion processor, stereo speakers positioned on opposite ends of the device, a flush Force-sensitive home button with a Taptic Engine for haptic feedback, and IP67-standard water and dust resistance – but no headphone jack. Wired Lightning in-ear EarPod headphones and a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter are included in the box. Apple is offering Siri-enabled wireless earbuds called AirPods as a separate accessory, available for $159 in late October. https://www.macrumors.com/2016/09/07/apple-unveils-iphone-7-and-7-plus/

      In just a few years the headphone jack will be gone from everything new..

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #17849
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      Yepp, things are going wireless. What I anticipate are little mini adapters that you can buy that you plug your wired headphones into and they will then have Bluetooth or some other form of signaling going to the device.

      Bring hair metal back!

    • #17851
      Will Flaherty
      Participant

      Bluetooth headphones are nothing new, charging a ridiculous amount for things, classic apple, though. I bought a great sounding set of Bluetooth headphones/wireless mic years ago. I think they were about $45 used. Still use them to control everything on my android phones hands free, 4 phones later.

    • #17852
      Igglepud
      Participant

      I prefer a wired connection. Every wireless speaker I have used ended up blaring static at some point.

      MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

    • #17853
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      The downfalls of wireless are,
      1. latency. analog has zero latency.
      2. cost
      3. less battery life, in both transmitter and receiver, and need to recharge both
      4. probably compromised digital to analog conversion
      5. cancer, from having an antenna stuck right next to the brain. bluetooth is the same frequency range as a microwave oven.
      6. digital rights management from digital shopping cart all the way to the headphone speaker.
      7. others? maybe

      the main benefit is, everything in the phone can ultimately be shrunk into the size of a watch (except the battery, which is the #1 limitation) with no chord dangling to the headphones.

      Digital rights management is lame. I remember how minidisc recorders would not allow personal recordings to be played back digitally, which is a complete artificial handicap making them useless compared to an analog recorder, just for the sake of enforcing digital rights.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #17859
      Will Flaherty
      Participant

      Not trying to argue, but some counterpoints. With the streaming everything format, you’ll likely never notice a loss in fidelity between the two. The bluetooth causing cancer is a myth. There has been zero peer reviewed papers establishing any kind of link. Cell phones, potentially, bluetooth, none.

      As for the digital copyright protection, that alone is why I stay away from closed systems like apple. With an open software platform like android, even if they implemented such a thing, it’s easy to program around.

    • #17860
      Igglepud
      Participant

      What is the DRM issue? I can listen to anything I have on iTunes anywhere, on anything.

      MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

    • #17862
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      There’s many points against DRM with few pro’s, but, it’s true with streaming, there wont be much noticed, because streaming is already limited quality and locked-in to the cloud streamer, whoever that is. I dont stream because I dont want to be connected to a cloud and always handcuffed to some hotspot or tower somewhere – plus for that privilege of being handcuffed, it requires paying $$ monthly. Using bluetooth results in multiple decompression steps. That means the extra wireless is further bitcrunching the audio quality. Is bluetooth audio the same as analog CD quality? No absolutely not. It has to compress again to send wireless. Does it matter if streaming already? Sure. it’s like taking an mp3-256k file, decompressing it, copy-pasting it, re-saving it as another mp3-256k audio file, so, there’s going to be new artifacts and the quality is compromised, in addition to already sounding like a junky mp3 file.

      Some points against DRM:
      1. music has to be put into a master database. you cant just copy files yourself. This means using whatever software is provided (iTunes in this case)

      2. because of #1, normally the file storage is hidden. you cant access the directories. This was true with sony’s system. Or the directories are buried in a duplicate file tree under the covers.

      3. playlist are not open format. I prefer a player that simply just goes thru directories and plays files. Moving files to another device wont preserve the same order of files from a playlist etc. Seems like a silly thing but if spending a lot of time setting up a list of tracks for a specific purpose, that playlist represents hours of busy work.

      4. you can’t just use VLC, when the player (or memory card) is plugged into USB, because, VLC doesn’t do the DRM. And DRM devices sure aren’t going to mount themselves as common USB devices (problem #1 again). Or if DRM is disabled, the DRM software (like iTunes or previously Sony’s) has moved the files who knows where, so it is much more of a pain, than simply dragging a directory on top of VLC to play an album – back to problem #2.

      5. I dislike mp3 or lossy compression. all my stuff is lossless whenever possible, tho less often I switch to mp3 to fit more stuff. Switching between formats is harder with DRM, not like just copying a different directory to the device or memory card.

      6. it used to be, if you made an audio recording on a DRM system (minidisc example), it applies DRM to your own audio recording, so then, you can’t get it out of the locked system. With minidisc example, you could make a ‘perfect digital’ recording, but couldnt upload the digital to a PC, only playback and record analog version (loss of quality and also, took as long as the recording). minidisc did allow an option to buy a computer reader/writer drive for 20x the price of a consumer device, which no one could afford except pro studios. Make a recording on an iphone, now, how to play that back immediately to aux-in on some speaker system? ..well, hope the dongle is handy.. is the quality going to be reduced? Maybe.. what’s the bit width of the dongle’s DAC compared to the old iphone DAC? Is that dongle really going to convert at 96 kHz and 24 bit?

      7. now that DRM is going all the way to the headphones, that means the data format, or wireless protocol, is also part of the standards nightmare. Apple-certified headphones will work.. others wont even if they are wireless. Because Apple is a business, they need to charge extra $$ for the certification to make their profits, so, it is basically an extra tax on consumers for no real gain.

      Meanwhile the only “pro” for DRM is, it supposedly reduces theft yet that hasnt really been proven because it actually resulted in huge gains in piracy due to the hassles of using the DRM in daily life. Consumers feel better about stealing the files rather than deal with all the hassles.. even when it is not about paying $$. It’s like consumers feel better about stealing pizza direct from a pizza shop because otherwise the box that the pizza is delivered in, is so annoying and troublesome to open.

      I guess no one focuses on recording much, but, eliminating the Headphone jack also means, eliminating the Microphone-in/line-in jack. Apple already didnt include real line-in for previous DRM reasons probably, and got rid of real line-out when 30 pin connector went away (need additional apple-licensed external products, like an audio dock). Where’s the microphone-in now? I record stuff almost every day.. new riffs or practice or rehearsals or performances etc. Using the microphone is bad quality. Using microphone-in jack is a compromise. Using line-in is really the best way.

      This is just info to the discussion, I’m on the losing end of this argument, I know. Consumers in general dont rate audio quality as a high priority, or free interchange of information highly at all, etc, and are more interested in convenience, glossing over the details of the compromises to gain the convenience. Ultimately the corporate world is moving back to a 100%-streaming-locked-up music business because that is how they make the most money, like FM radio used to be – music that you can’t hold in your hand, that you have to pay to access (or listen to ads to access). Once they started selling the lossless audio format (CD’s) that never wore out, they eventually started losing money – way before internet piracy started up. They want the old days back, when the corporate world could control who, what, where, how music is listened to, in return for constant flow of $$.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #17876
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      Hehe phones don’t cause cancer. Visible light and UV rays are waves with much higher frequencies. In other words.. The light that you see would end up hurting you before your phone would. xD

      Bring hair metal back!

    • #17885
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      whoa, whoa, whoa.. slow down there. These opinions are pretty dangerous. Let me quote directly from an FCC technical note
      ( Questions and Answers about Biological Effects and Potential Hazards of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields OET BULLETIN 56). The summary is that no one should ever say these things are safe because health links have not yet been found. Saying EMF is safe is not correct without specific context. I say not yet for a reason. Since bluetooth, wifi, cellular, has only existed a very short time, and usage (exposure time) keeps increasing every year, it is not possible for medical research to prove much about them, really. These studies take decades to complete (30+ years) because it has to be relative to a human lifespan. Bluetooth-in-the-ear technology of today has not been around 30 years, not even 10 years. The only thing medical research can do, is use a computer model (which has big limitations) or do tests on similar animal with short lifespan – most often used is mice (also has big limitations).

      Dont make the mistake of saying “it’s safe”. Currently the status is unknown. If you use it, you are the guinea pig.

      I didnt mean to imply it was proven as unsafe – just that there is uncertainty, which is a downfall (personally, I’m not going to use it).

      Seriously I have had convos directly with people in biotech startups who said that they would rubber stamp research studies anyways. Like they need to meet some limit for the study or startup funding to continue, so they just fill in a number slightly above that limit. Think about that kind of stuff going regularly under the covers, across the board, it is one reason why medical research seems so slow and new results often conflict with old ones. The researchers literally do not really know what they are doing anyways. Talk to top researchers directly and cut thru the b.s. and they will admit, they know very little about what goes on with biology and medicine. Often because they simply do not have the techology to study things well. Or often because they are blocked from what they want to do, by political bias.

      Then when studies are done, they will make assumptions: “Lets assume the average user uses their in-ear wireless headphones for 20 minutes per day.” Then they might draw a conclusion from that. But anyone in music, or a big fan of music, might use the headphones for 6 to 10 hours a day. Or more. So the study is flawed. I can post real examples of this but it is rather off topic. Everyone can see that the average kid with a phone, keeps it in their pocket for like 12 hours a day– right next to their baby-making equipment too– and even sleeps with it beside their head on their pillow. The important point is that: power level, number of hours of use, distance from transmitter, are just as important as frequency. Regardless of frequency. And genetic differences in those people being studied too are very important yet basically never put into the studies.

      Anyways here is what the FCC says. There are probably better and more up to date official documents out there but this one has a good short summary.

      More recently, other scientific laboratories in North America, Europe and elsewhere have reported certain biological effects after exposure of animals (“in vivo”) and animal tissue (“in vitro”) to relatively low levels of RF radiation. These reported effects have included certain changes in the immune system, neurological effects, behavioral effects, evidence for a link between microwave exposure and the action of certain drugs and compounds, a “calcium efflux” effect in brain tissue (exposed under very specific conditions), and effects on DNA.
      Some studies have also examined the possibility of a link between RF and microwave exposure and cancer. Results to date have been inconclusive. While some experimental data have suggested a possible link between exposure and tumor formation in animals exposed under certain specific conditions, the results have not been independently replicated. In fact, other studies have failed to find evidence for a causal link to cancer or any related condition. Further research is underway in several laboratories to help resolve this question.
      In general, while the possibility of “non-thermal” biological effects may exist, whether or not such effects might indicate a human health hazard is not presently known. Further research is needed to determine the generality of such effects and their possible relevance, if any, to human health. In the meantime, standards-setting organizations and government agencies continue to monitor the latest experimental findings to confirm their validity and determine whether alterations in safety limits are needed in order to protect human health. https://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet56/oet56e4.pdf Questions and Answers about Biological Effects and Potential

      Then take into account emerging research on metagenomics which says long term health may be affected by personal environment far more than ever previously thought, it’s not just about what happens to basically sending microwaves into ear and brain tissue.

      But to put things in relative context. Wireless tech is probably no worse than regularly drinking alcohol (beer, wine, liquor) or milk, all of which are already proven to be relatively horrible for health. Or maybe even eating at McDonalds once a week or more. These are things normal people do all the time, but then again, 1 in 10 men gets prostate cancer by 70 yo right, so it could also be said, that is a normal thing guys get too ( https://www.cancer.org/cancer/prostatecancer/detailedguide/prostate-cancer-key-statistics ). Is it any worse than carrying a small child into a rock n roll venue and probably blowing out their eardrums before age 10(I see parents do this from time to time).. maybe not.

      I’m not normal, for a reason..

      Of course one other angle on this,

      Organizations such as Wireless Technology Research (funded by the cellular radio service industry) and wireless equipment manufacturers, such as Motorola, Inc., have been investigating potential health effects from the use of hand-held cellular telephones and other wireless telecommunications devices.

      From the same document. Now knowing what anyone here knows about human behavior. There should be no question that medical studies which are funded by the wireless industry itself, are going to be biased towards promoting the technology. Want the research money? Then prove it has no problems, or fudge the numbers to show it has no problems, otherwise, the money goes away. Quite simple. This happens all the time everywhere people are involved. Whether it’s government, university, corporations, law enforcement.. even supreme court judges and u.s. presidents.

      It’s a free world (at least in the u.s.) and people can make their own choices, so do what you like, after educating yourself. Oh wait. Because of how medical insurance works, and now obamacare, it is no longer a free liberty world. I’m now paying medical bills for people who make wrong choices. So then. I insist on everyone making good choices. In essence I am subsidizing people’s choice to eat regularly at McDonalds and then get sick and other poor decisions like being an overweight couch potato, and that is wrong. 😛 (Not that anything’s gonna change, but it’s still wrong.) Therefore I am biased. Do everyone’s pocketbook a favor and make healthy choices.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #17888
      Sean
      Participant

      Wow did this original topic take a left turn!

      Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

    • #17890
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      In a way it is all connected. It is about what consumers choose. Apple only takes the step when they feel the consumer is ready, when the market is ready, and also when the early stage technology is mature. Sometimes Apple seems to wait a longer time. Like with wireless charging, which other phones have, and Apple doesnt, yet – so in that case, Apple must be thinking of specific ways that either wireless charging technology is not ready, or people themselves are not yet ready to know how (or comfortable with it) to use it. If many people were standing up and saying commonly, Hold on we don’t want wireless headphones because we love the sound of cables, then Apple wouldn’t make a phone with the new tech. Well.. maybe in that case they would anyway, but they’d just include cable modelling in software 😛 But you know what I mean. Streaming is being pushed by tech companies, but it is also being adopted at a huge rate.. consumers in general are not refusing to use it (even tho it sounds worse 🙁 ), so the tech keeps advancing on all fronts. In some cases the consumer is not educated, but in general, the consumer just doesnt mind the tradeoff, or really know what they are giving up. (Possible tiny increase in health risk, vs more convenient to wear, ahh, hmm, let’s pick more convenient and stylish to wear.)

      of course I love new technology of all kinds, but often, it is rolled out way too fast, before the end results (I mean health or environment long term stuff) are really known. So it is always like a big health experiment, done on real, everyday people. Sometimes new trendy tech works for the good. When I run into tobacco smokers these days I encourage them to vape instead (much much healthier in comparison to tobacco altho still may have small risk and still rather yucky), but, that technology advantage was an accident, not planned by the tech companies.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #17891
      safetyblitz
      Participant

      Streaming is being pushed by tech companies, but it is also being adopted at a huge rate.. consumers in general are not refusing to use it (even tho it sounds worse ), so the tech keeps advancing on all fronts. In some cases the consumer is not educated, but in general, the consumer just doesnt mind the tradeoff, or really know what they are giving up.

      Media companies are also big on the streaming push, because the cost/risk of publishing is relatively low compared to printing physical media, and more importantly, it “puts the genie back in the bottle” as far as controlling what people watch and when they can watch it. Things like Netflix create the false impression that everything is available at your fingertips at all times, except that content rotates on and off Netflix regularly. So something that was readily available yesterday can become “digitally out of print” overnight. People have a tendency to assume things that are abundant now will continue to be abundant in the future; it’s part of a cognitive bias called “normalcy bias”.

    • #17904
      OldSchoolV86
      Participant

      I got an iphone 6s last week when I head the 7 would lose the headphone jack. What’s really terrible is that you can’t charge your phone and use wired headphones at the same time.

    • #18669
      rorygfan
      Participant

      I bought the 7 32 gig actually on impulse as I was in a large chain store in europe the day they went on sale and got the last one in black.  I purchased it then kept it in the box thinking with all the demand I might just resell it.  Well, a couple days went by and I decided to just use it and now using it for the camera panoramas and higher res photos I do like somethings about it alot.  Regarding the headphone jack, you just use their adapter provided and bought an extra.  Saw this video about another product today:

      https://youtu.be/v-BVV3sX1pk

      Everything works pretty well out of the box.  The screen resolution is a lot nicer than other phones Ive owned.  The panoramas are stitched together by the iOS 10 software and it is really forgiving with moving or shaking your hand.  180+ degrees too.  The icloud feature was disappointing to me (i dropped out of upgrading with my last apple iphone was the original 3) so using it was new to me and did not realize it was syncing only to other apple stuff and not like amazons photo/cloud storage unlimited for $60 a year.  Anyway iTunes had the Zeppelin remasters which sound great on it and the earbuds I purchased.  However Not being able to take out the battery and memory card like Android model from Samsung I also use …. sucks.   Guitarpro will get installed on it eventually and the inexpensive ipad mini i bought which syncs well with the 7.  Syncing though is not that interesting as I mistakenly though i could use the pad to back up and receive the phones fotos… ugh. so transfering files between devices isnt an option.  Disappointing but looking at the screen resolution here as I type and general use I have say even though I hated to upgrade, it is pretty slick.  My 2 cents…

    • #18672
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      The teardown sites published a comparison of audio quality between the versions. There is a tiny DAC in the headphone adapter, it’s 16 bit. No details anywhere on the microphone connection thru the adapter.. there must be an ADC in the adapter too, for wired headsets with mic, but no one talks about that.

      macrumors_apple_iphone7_audio_quality

      iphone7_adapter_lightning_DAC

      If it’s 16-bit then that’s fine especially for streaming quality however if going thru the trouble of having 24-bit lossless audio tracks on the phone, then, the audio benefits will be lost. Maybe it will be awhile before the cost of 24-bit drops enough to put into the phones and adapters. Or probably the market will shift again, it seems consumers usually choose convenience over quality.

      It makes me wonder because Apple is finally going to come out with new high end macbook laptops finally (it is rumored to be USB-C ports only, nothing else) and I’m planning to get one, now I gotta wonder though.. for audio maybe it won’t have jacks either. Which also means, no optical link – something which apple has always had inside all their computer audio jacks.

      Note all this tech is moving in one long term direction: voice operated computers. Yup, in the not so distant future, everyone will have wireless headsets on most of the day, and be talking to their Siri’s either on their laptops or watches or tablets (by then, hopefully the phone will be gone), without taking off their headphones.

      I dont want to derail the discussion back to the health topic but just to follow up the previous comments about health and wireless tech. Check out the sites which have factual summaries on cell phones and cancer. It is simply a much better idea to use a cell phone with a headset instead of pressed up against the ear and it is not a great idea to carry it around in a pocket next to baby making anatomy. And don’t sleep with the phone on the nearby pillow (which I’ve heard is the habit of many people today.) Anyone selling bluetooth accessories will immediately say: bluetooth is much much lower power than even the small power transmitted by cell phones and the danger drops exponentially with distance away from the transmitter. Those are true facts. The problem is that a bluetooth headset has zero distance between transmitter and some pretty important body parts.

      What do expert organizations conclude about the cancer risk from cell phone use?

      In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a component of the World Health Organization, appointed an expert Working Group to review all available evidence on the use of cell phones. The Working Group classified cell phone use as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” based on limited evidence from human studies, limited evidence from studies of radiofrequency energy and cancer in rodents, and inconsistent evidence from mechanistic studies (5).

      The Working Group indicated that, although the human studies were susceptible to bias, the findings could not be dismissed as reflecting bias alone, and that a causal interpretation could not be excluded.

      https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/cell-phones-fact-sheet

      Also see https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/cellular-phones

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

      Attachments:
      1. macrumors_apple_iphone7_audio_quality.png

      2. iphone7_adapter_lightning_DAC.jpg

    • #18677
      rorygfan
      Participant

      Thanks for posting that, I need to read it later.  Before reading this now I did my own test because I cant seem to get the volume up high enough to intentionally damage my ears as I would like to have Bonhams Drums on “When the Levee breaks” slam me in the head and gut.  Well the direct output 3.5 mm jack on the ipad is louder than the iphone 7 lightning jack.  Not sure if 1db more or so but not much. Neither are ear splitting capable as I assume the Apple Lawyers are involved to prevent hearing loss lawsuits, lol. i will buy some amplified earbuds like in the video maybe.

      On another note, I stopped in an old school Apple independent repair guys shop I found on the street here in Vienna. He had caught my attention with all sorts of antique Mac, G3-4 etc stuff in display window.   i got alot of unbiased Apple answers about Mac oriented questions, unattainable previously at an apple store from their corporate robots.  All my assumptions about current state and trends for the future of built in obsolesence he seemed to agree and gave me some suggestions like a different browser for use with ios 10.5.8!   One that will comply with current security on on line banking which I recently stumbled into.

      Mac4u.at is his website.  Great resource for older Mac tech parts sourcing, compatibility issues, old tech support, etc. been into Macs since 1985….

      on a final note, he mentioned that Apples latest offerings on these super thin notebooks and tablets are all DISPOSABLE ONLY!  None are servicable anymore. So bashing the keyboard too hard damaging a key for example and the result isnt to be able to repair but replace.  I found that already with an old compaq netbook as well… it is the future.

       

    • #18680
      rorygfan
      Participant

      Note all this tech is moving in one long term direction: voice operated computers. Yup, in the not so distant future, everyone will have wireless headsets on most of the day, and be talking to their Siri’s either on their laptops or watches or tablets (by then, hopefully the phone will be gone), without taking off their headphones.

      I hope you are wrong!! I would detest that. Can you imagine a world in public places which the ambient noise level and chatter annoys you, added this new behavior of everybody yapping commands into their microphones instead of typing?  I’ve been constantly on the go now for nearly 2 months in trains, planes and buses and in line everywhere.  The entire world seems glued to their smartphone screens, while I sit and watch with mine in my pocket instead. Its amusing and even on some public transport I just cant see this working well unless it is some cranial nervous sensor chip implanted where it is silent.. lol.  Can you imagine?
      If that holds true, I hope I expire before that happens.  I hate not having a real keyboard human interface like this stupid smartphone I am typing right now with a virtual keyboard.  I never intend to use siri, imho it is simply not for me.

      I actually know a guy 67 years old who comes to Latin America and cannot type, cannot read,  nor write english! let alone study or read or or write spanish.  This major dufus actually will walk into a store not speaking any spanish and ask the clerk to type or speak into his phone or he will speak into it.  He can talk of course and is not disabled and I am not making fun of some disadvantaged person. This clown made $50. an hour as an overpaid union machinist and could not read blueprints either.  Somehow he retired wealthy.  I just view the entire scenario of his ineptness and laziness to be stuck as pathetic so something like Siri… well it’s perfect for him but he is a small minority.  But the rest of us?  Talking only to control the computer?  I just find it all bizarre after so many years of troubleshooting computer OS problems how weird it would to do that verbally only.  Can you imagine recording music with 2 microphones? One for software commands on protools and the other for vocals and guitar… in your one man home studio.. and all the software and recording material resides solely in a “cloud” somewhere, since Apple wants to “Help” protect our data???? It all is getting scary to me.

    • #18683
      rorygfan
      Participant
    • #18685
      safetyblitz
      Participant

      and all the software and recording material resides solely in a “cloud” somewhere, since Apple wants to “Help” protect our data???? It all is getting scary to me.

      Friends don’t understand why I want to be able to sync my phone’s calendar with my computer without using Google Calendar.

      A smarter-than-average friend posted this recently:
      https://d21ii91i3y6o6h.cloudfront.net/gallery_images/from_proof/3442/large/1418280711/die-cut-stickers.png

    • #18688
      rorygfan
      Participant

      Friends don’t understand why I want to be able to sync my phone’s calendar with my computer without using Google Calendar. A smarter-than-average friend posted this recently: https://d21ii91i3y6o6h.cloudfront.net/gallery_images/from_proof/3442/large/1418280711/die-cut-stickers.png%5B/quote%5D

      Good one.  Don’t you want the NSA syncing their calendar with yours? Ha.  This message was brought to you by the fiberoptic y splitter located underwater by the NSA partnering with all the techcorps. Well, sorry I need to cut this post short to get back to watching the Kardashians. Lol.

    • #18766
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      New apple laptops announced today, they still have the headphone jack (no mention of line-in though! also no mention of optical)

      apple’s latest page on them says,

      Stereo speakers with high dynamic range
      Three microphones
      3.5 mm headphone jack

      (the laptop also recharges thru the USB-C port, so, goodbye power connector)

      IBM published another report recently saying that apple laptops were still $500 cheaper than competing equipment overall because of lower support costs. I’d say it’s even more savings than that, if counting lost productivity due to down time on competitor systems. The critics can complain all they want, meanwhile apple products have highest ROI.

      So apple has gotten rid of 3.5mm on iphone, but not laptops, that means iPad, as a mobile device, is probably next for getting rid of the jack.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #18768
      rorygfan
      Participant

      This adapter works fine.  It is just a matter of not losing or misplacing it.  Sound quality is just about the same as direct.  I don’t believe it is a design mistake as the thinner case and larger battery capacity and size are great.  The waterproofing rating is pretty cool also.  The camera image hdr quality and anti shake, panorama dummy-proofing software, I feel make it a worthwhile purchase.  My real gripe is the ipad -iphone ios 10 won’t display many webpages that are not html5 or flash.  Stupid news sites with tons of ads seem to be the worst.  The LCD’s are far superior to the Samsung grand prime i still use.

      Attachments:
      1. IMG_0009.jpg

      2. IMG_0008.jpg

    • #19522
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Samsung’s Next-Generation Galaxy S8 Won’t Include a Headphone Jack
      Tuesday December 6, 2016 9:58 am PST by Juli Clover

      Like the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy S8 will not feature a 3.5mm headphone jack, reports SamMobile. Samsung will instead use a single USB-C port to deliver both power and audio capabilities, using the space once taken by the jack for other components.

      Samsung often takes design inspiration from Apple, something that’s caused legal problems that are still ongoing today, but the decision to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack is curious given Apple’s move was so controversial.

      According to Apple, removing the headphone jack in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus took a lot of “courage.” Apple executives have claimed that the 3.5mm jack is outdated technology that was taking up essential space and holding Apple back from implementing features like a new Taptic Engine and waterproofing.

      Still no comments from any journalists/reviewers about mic-in.. always so focused on headphone-out.

      The newest apple laptops do not have mic-in jack but they still do have headphone-out jack (and only the highest end laptop has the optical-out inside the headphone-out).

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #19523
      MotleyCrue81
      Participant

      I wonder if people will just start making headphones with USB c. Then the issue is solved.

      Bring hair metal back!

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