Technology

Apple Watch Moves Internet Out of Your Pocket

Published

10 years ago

March 10, 2015

Apple CEO Tim Cook talks about the new Apple Watch during an Apple event on Monday, March 9, 2015, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

BRANDON BAILEY, AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple wants to move the Internet from your pocket to your wrist.

Time will tell if millions of consumers are willing to spend $350 on up — there’s an 18-karat gold version that starts at $10,000 — for a wearable device that still requires a wirelessly connected smartphone to deliver its most powerful features.

But CEO Tim Cook is selling the Apple Watch as the next must-have device, able to serve people’s information needs all day long, like no other tool has quite been able to do.

“Now it’s on your wrist. It’s not in your pocket or pocketbook,” Cook said before unveiling the new line on Monday. “We think the Apple Watch is going to be integral to your day.”

Apple wants this wristwatch — which piggybacks on a nearby smartphone’s Internet connection through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth — to be seen as so revolutionary that it requires its own new lingo.

So while the watch face provides most of the same information as smartphones do, the back of the watch sends “taptic feedback,” tapping the wrist to remind the wearer to get up and burn more calories.

“It’s like having a coach on your wrist!” gushed Cook, touting the potential health uses of a computer that sticks to your skin all day.

The gadget also introduces “digital touch,” a new way of messaging that enables people to draw and send little figures with their fingertips and have them arrive on a friend’s watch face dynamically, in the same way they were drawn.

Convincing consumers they can’t live without an expensive new device isn’t easy, but Apple’s strongest selling points include “convenience and immediacy,” along with high-end design features and some useful new apps, said Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst with Kantar Worldpanel.

“If you don’t have to be fumbling around for your phone, that can make a difference,” agreed analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy.

Initial consumer reactions ranged from die-hard Apple fans vowing to buy the watch immediately, to naysayers who don’t see the point of paying so much to see updates on their wrist instead their smartphone.

“I think it’s a tough market they are trying to get into, and I don’t see much promise that is going to come out of it,” said Joshua Powers, 21, a junior at Emerson College in Boston who owns an iPhone, an iPad and a MacBook computer.

As expected, the previously announced starting price of $349 is only for the entry-level Sport model. Prices range from $549 to $1,100 for the mid-range watch. That’s not out of line for a high-quality watch, analysts said.

But Cook did not answer a key question for price-conscious consumers, Moorhead noted: How will Apple update the watch when it releases new models?

Apple did answer another vital question, promising an estimated 18-hour battery life before the watch needs to be taken off and attached to a magnetic recharger.

Numerous tech companies are already selling smartwatches, from the Samsung Gear and Motorola’s Moto 360 to the Pebble Steel and other models made by smaller startups. Many run on Android Wear, the software platform from Google, and range from $100 to $500 or more.

But most don’t have as many features as the Apple Watch, and they have not been big hits with consumers.

Apple executive Kevin Lynch walked through a simulation of a typical day, checking the watch for messages and calendar items, responding to a WeChat message, scrolling through some Instagram photos and speaking with Siri, Apple’s voice-activated digital assistant, through the microphone on the watch.

More impressively, Lynch presented an airline app with a bar code that acts as a boarding pass, another app that opened a garage door by remote control, and still another that promises to enable wearers to check out at the grocery store with a single tap on the watch face.

Cook also showed off features that can be found on many fitness bands already on the market, such as a heart rate monitor and accelerometer that can track a wearer’s movements and log daily exercise.

But some design functions seem uniquely Apple: Twist a small knob, and the wearer can quickly select the face of a friend, then sketch an image with a fingertip that shows up dynamically, just like it is being drawn, on the friend’s watch face. Swipe the watch face to bring up an email, then with a single tap, turn that email into a calendar item.

Cook hinted at bigger goals when he announced Monday that Apple has worked with leading medical institutions to develop an open-source software platform for iPhones to assist with medical research. He stopped just short of saying that Apple Watch, in combination with the iPhone, could be a key conduit for two-way delivery of health care information, sending data about a person’s metabolism to researchers while also reminding wearers to take their medicine or go exercise.

For example, Apple executive Jeff Williams showed a new iPhone app that can track indicators of Parkinson’s disease by using a phone’s accelerometer to measure a user’s walking gait and its microphone to test for voice tremors. The watch also has both an accelerometer and microphone, so extending the app to the wrist would not be a major leap.

Apple reportedly studied the possibility of adding more sophisticated medical sensors to the watch, but held off because of technical and regulatory hurdles. If the watch catches on, however, Apple and medical device-makers will undoubtedly find ways to measure skin temperature, glucose levels or other indicators, said Murray Brozinsky, chief strategy officer at Healthline, an online health information service.

“If you’re building those sensors right now, you’re building them for hospitals. But you’d like to build more of them for 25 million Apple Watches,” Brozinsky said.

Apple Watch will be available for viewing at Apple stores on April 10 and go on sale April 24.

___

Associated Press Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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Advanced Conductors Provide Path for Grid Expansion

Utility companies in the United States could double electric transmission capacity by 2035 by replacing existing transmission lines with those made from advanced materials, according to a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Published

4 days ago

October 29, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy UC Berkeley News.

By Matthew Burciaga

UC Berkeley News

Led by Duncan Callaway, professor and chair of the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), and Amol Phadke, an affiliate and senior scientist at the Goldman School of Public Policy, the first-of-its-kind study details a faster and more cost-effective way to expand the grid and connect the more than 1,200 gigawatts of renewable energy projects awaiting approval. The analysis was first published last December as a working paper by the Energy Institute at Haas and has been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Heatmap News, and other news outlets.

“Expanding transmission capacity is critical to decarbonization, and we sought to study ways to build it faster and cheaper,” said Callaway.

It currently takes 10 to 15 years to build a new power line and the U.S. is building transmission lines at a lower rate than it was in the past decade. Without sufficient capacity, renewable energy projects often sit in limbo for years as transmission operators study what upgrades—if any—are needed to accommodate the increased loads.

The authors modeled various scenarios to determine if replacing existing transmission conductors with those made with advanced composite-core materials—a process known as reconductoring—could provide a pathway to faster grid expansion.

Several reconductoring projects have been initiated in Belgium and the Netherlands, and utility companies in the U.S. have used the material to string transmission lines across wide spans like river crossings. That technology, however, has not made its way to the majority of overhead power lines that feed residential and commercial customers.

“As we learned more about the technology, we realized that no one had done the detailed modeling needed to understand the technology’s potential for large-scale transmission capacity increases,” said Phadke.

Based on the authors’ projections, it is cheaper—and quicker—for utility companies to replace the 53,000 existing transmission lines with advanced composite-core materials than it is to build entirely new transmission lines.

They assert that doing so would reduce wholesale electricity costs by 3% to 4% on average—translating to $85 billion in system cost savings by 2035 and $180 billion by 2050.

“The level of interest we’ve received from federal and state agencies, transmission companies and utilities is extremely encouraging, and since our initial report, the Department of Energy has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to reconductoring projects,” said co-author Emilia Chojkiewicz, a PhD student in ERG and an affiliate of the Goldman School of Public Policy. “We are looking forward to learning about these projects as they unfold.”

Additional co-authors include Nikit Abhyankar and Umed Paliwal, affiliates at the Goldman School of Public Policy; and Casey Baker and Ric O’Connell of GridLab, a nonprofit that provides comprehensive technical grid expertise to policy makers and advocates.

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Black History

A Life of Inventions: Engineer and Physicist George Alcorn

George Edward Alcorn Jr. was born on March 22, 1940, in Indianapolis. Growing up in a family that valued education, Alcorn developed an early love for science and mathematics. He excelled in school, and attended Occidental College in California, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1962. He received a master’s degree in nuclear physics in 1963 and a Ph.D. in atomic and molecular physics in 1967 at Howard University.

Published

5 days ago

October 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Portrait of George Edward Alcorn Jr. Debbie McCallum, Public domain.

By Tamara Shiloh

George Edward Alcorn Jr. was born on March 22, 1940, in Indianapolis.

Growing up in a family that valued education, Alcorn developed an early love for science and mathematics. He excelled in school, and attended Occidental College in California, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1962. He received a master’s degree in nuclear physics in 1963 and a Ph.D. in atomic and molecular physics in 1967 at Howard University.

Alcorn began his career in developing scientific technology in private industries, starting a career as a physicist for IBM. His career took off when he joined several prestigious companies and research institutions, such as the Aerospace Corporation, where he developed important technologies for spacecraft. In 1978, he accepted a position at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where he worked for the remainder of his career. There, he developed technologies for space stations and private institutions across the nation, becoming a key figure in the field of physics and space exploration.

Alcorn is well known for his groundbreaking work on X-ray spectrometers. An X-ray spectrometer is a device used to identify different elements in materials by analyzing the X-ray wavelengths they emit. His improvements allowed the instrument to detect X-rays with greater accuracy and efficiency. This invention has been critical for NASA’s space missions, aiding in the analysis of planetary atmospheres and surfaces, including Mars and other planets in our solar system.

He also contributed to the development of plasma etching, a process used in manufacturing microchips for computers and electronics. His work in this area advanced semiconductor technology, which powers everything from smartphones to satellites.

Another accomplishment was the development of new technologies used in the Freedom space station in partnership with space agencies in Japan, Canada and Europe, though their projects never made it to space.

Throughout his career, Alcorn received several awards and honors, including NASA’s Inventor of the Year Award in 1984. In 2010, he received the highest honor from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. In 2015, Alcorn was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his invention of the imaging X-ray spectrometer.

In addition to his work in the lab, Alcorn dedicated much of his time to teaching and mentoring young scientists. As one of the few African American scientists working in advanced fields like physics and space exploration, he has been an inspiration to young people, especially those from underrepresented groups in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). He taught at Howard University and worked to encourage more African Americans to pursue careers in science and engineering.

George is quoted as stating, “The big thing about being in science and engineering is that if you have a good, interesting project going, work is not coming to work, it’s coming to an adventure.”

George Edward Alcorn passed away June 19, 2024.

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Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

Gov. Newsom Touts California Economic Success

In a 20-minute interview on Oct. 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California’s economy is in great shape due to achievements in certain areas. The Governor was speaking at the 2024 California Economic Summit event hosted by California Forward in Sacramento. It was attended by more than 100 leaders from industry, community, and the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

Published

2 weeks ago

October 21, 2024

Oakland Post

Gov. Gavin Newsom. File photo.

By Antonio Ray Harvey

In a 20-minute interview on Oct. 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California’s economy is in great shape due to achievements in certain areas.

The Governor was speaking at the 2024 California Economic Summit event hosted by California Forward in Sacramento. It was attended by more than 100 leaders from industry, community, and the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

“It is an exciting and dynamic time,” said Newsom. “Thirty-two of the top 50 AI companies are all here in California. We dominate in tourism – record breaking tourism last year.”

“It isn’t by accident that California is an economic powerhouse,” Newsom continued. “Whether it be around education, infrastructure, or immigration, we’re following a formula for success.”

In Newsom’s overview of the state’s economy, he didn’t include why two companies decided to leave for the state of Texas. SpaceX and Chevron announced their departures over the summer.

Billionaire Elon Musk is moving the headquarters of his companies X and SpaceX from San Francisco to Texas. After 140 years of doing business in California, Chevron is heading to the southwestern state as well.

Chevron employs 2,000 workers in San Ramon. It operates crude oil fields, technical facilities, two refineries, and services more than 1,800 retail stations in California.

“There will be minimal immediate relocation impacts to other employees currently based in San Ramon. The company expects all corporate functions to migrate to Houston over the next five years. Positions in support of the company’s California operations will remain in San Ramon,” Chevron shared in an Aug. 2 press release.