Tag: car

Novice computers

Car enthusiasts (and genuine experts like race car drivers) still drive cars with manual transmissions. They offer more control; they’re more efficient. But the vast majority of cars sold today are automatics. So too it’ll be with computers. Eventually, the vast majority will be like the iPad in terms of the degree to which the underlying computer is abstracted away. Manual computers, like the Mac and Windows PCs, will slowly shift from the standard to the niche, something of interest only to experts and enthusiasts and developers.

                  <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2010/01/various_ipad_thoughts" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daring Fireball: Various and Assorted Thoughts and Observations Regarding the Just-Announced iPad</a>

iBrick

 

I agree with Jeff Gruber regarding all the hullabaloo around the iPhone software updating breaking the phones.  I don’t like his analogy but I agree with his sentiment.  Apple did not intentionally break hacked iPhones.  These hacked phone users knowingly screwed with the product ( in violation their warranty ) and Apple gave them fair warning that said “modifications” may break the device when the patch was applied. My analogy is this:  You buy a low-end Honda Civic and drive it home.  A month later you decide that what you really want is a sports car so you surf the net buying thousands of dollars of super chargers, springs, titanium spark plugs, and a hacked ECU.  You “hack” the car and turn it into a rocket of death.  Honda announces a defect in some engine component and says that owners can have the part replaced.  You take your little rocket into dealership and the mechanic warns you that they can not warranty their work unless the engine is re-calibrated back to Honda specs which may “break” some of your enhancements.  You agree to the replacement part and on the way home decided to let her rip on the highway.  Your engine explodes in a ball of fire.