I admit it, I'm an addict

[BeauV]

My alarm as set for 11:55 Oct 26. Got my Admiral's iPhone X order by 00:12 Oct 27, got mine ordered by 00:18 Oct 27, now to wait until Nov 17-24 for delivery.....

Who gets up in the middle of the night to order an unseen product?

An addict, that's who.

[Olaf Hart]

I will bet my son got his orders in before you.

I get some of the hand me downs.

[LarryHoward]

My alarm as set for 11:55 Oct 26. Got my Admiral's iPhone X order by 00:12 Oct 27, got mine ordered by 00:18 Oct 27, now to wait until Nov 17-24 for delivery.....

Who gets up in the middle of the night to order an unseen product?

An addict, that's who.

I predict it will be at least IOS 11.21 before it works well.

[BeauV]

My alarm as set for 11:55 Oct 26. Got my Admiral's iPhone X order by 00:12 Oct 27, got mine ordered by 00:18 Oct 27, now to wait until Nov 17-24 for delivery.....

Who gets up in the middle of the night to order an unseen product?

An addict, that's who.

I predict it will be at least IOS 11.21 before it works well.

Could be. But I'm already running 11.0.3 without problems. So I'm more optimistic than that.

[LarryHoward]

My alarm as set for 11:55 Oct 26. Got my Admiral's iPhone X order by 00:12 Oct 27, got mine ordered by 00:18 Oct 27, now to wait until Nov 17-24 for delivery.....

Who gets up in the middle of the night to order an unseen product?

An addict, that's who.

I predict it will be at least IOS 11.21 before it works well.

Could be. But I'm already running 11.0.3 without problems. So I'm more optimistic than that.

New hardware makes early adopters beta testers. It took 4 software drops in 2 weeks to make 11.0 actually function as 11.03 on existing hardware. Still seeing some weird stuff on my iPad Mini with 11.03.

My niece was in Manhattan for the release of the 8, the new watch and 11.0. I was there for medical stuff. We had to reschedule dinner a couple of times when "stuff happened" those first couple of days following release. Good luck with the X.

[Orestes Munn]

I get amazingly little joy out of tablets, phones, and computers these days. My government-issue iPhone 5se still feels fast and, best of all, it fits in my pocket. Wife will have to have the new one eventually and then I'll see whether I want it.

My latest indulgence was to spend about 80 bucks and a few very pleasant hours of work on new and used gear to make my commuting bike fit like my old road bike, the better to play racer boy on my way to work. I've been looking forward to every commute this week and I'm finding excuses to go down to the basement and peek at it.

[kdh]

I'm running 10.3.3 on an iphone 5. Works great.

[Jamie]

I love the 5SE - for exactly that reason: it fits in my pocket.

[BeauV]

LOL! Y'all don't understand. I live in the swamp of SiValley and I'm considered a lead-edge (bleeding-edge) player. It would be utterly unacceptable for me to use last year's iPhone! Geeeesh!!! One has to keep up, especially when one is over traditional retirement age. The only thing worse than putting a two year old iPhone on the table over a power-lunch with a big-time VC, as I'll be doing today, is wearing Dockers with pleated fronts or (god forbid) a tie!

All kidding aside, I've been buying leading edge junk for over 45 years. So far, iOS-11 is absolutely wonderful compared to the first release of Windows NT!! It's a part of being an addict. I'm on a number of mailing lists that let's me help find problems with various products, Apple is actually one of the lightest load (when it comes to buggy early releases). You should have seen the traffic in the early days of Android, or Linux, or Unix V7, or etc..... These are not just pocket sized computers, they are amazingly fascinating puzzles. The fact that they work at all, let alone that we actually count on them working, is amazing to me and heaps of fun. For 11.0.0 I got to file three of the key bug reports that helped find a lock-up after the customer pressed the sleep button. It doesn't get more fun for an addict than that.

Perfection is highly over rated - mostly, it's boring.

(I do agree the iPhone 5 remains my favorite form factor. Two reasons, fits better in my front pocket and the square corners make it MUCH easier to hold onto. But, what do I know. The market has decided and it's not a sharp edged small phone that won.)

[BeauV]

NERD ALERT - Do not continue if you're not heavily into CPU architecture and performance stuff

To put a few things into perspective, the last generation Apple iPhone CPU is basically a super computer in your pocket. The word size, at 64 bits is twice as large as the Cray Y-MP of the '80s. The caches are larger, the memories are faster, and it's a LOT more reliable.

I once got in a lot of trouble with my boss by saying: "All computers run at the same speed when they're broken." in public. I was pissed off that I couldn't get him to invest enough in my Cray operation to make the T-90 reliable. Every time their T-90 stopped working, Toyota had a day-for-day slip in the launch of a car. That's a lot of $$$$$$$s evaporating due to an unreliable computer. Eventually, my SGI server division managed to get the application running on a cluster of MIPS CPUs (which are only about the speed of a iPhone5) and we killed off the T-90 entirely.

To put this all in perspective, if automobiles had done what computers have done in the last 30 years, you'd be able to order a Formula 1 car on the internet, it would get about 20,000 miles/gallon, run for 500,000 miles, be four times faster than it used to be, and if you wanted it to be tiny you could put it in your pocket. I'm actually understating the gain here.

Another fun perspective: the Apple Watch has almost the same number of bits on the watch face that the original iPhone had, has better resolution, better color, a 4X faster CPU, a 20X faster cell network processor, a 6 axis gyro, and can read your pulse. Folks think the Watch is somewhat silly, but in 10-years it's quite clear that we won't be pulling a screen out of our pockets to look at it and see what the temperature is, or what our next appointment is.

Apple CPU Description

Cray Y-MP Super Computer from the '80s

[Orestes Munn]

I think people are wearing clothes without useful pockets. What's up with those skinny leg pants that make guys' asses look huge?

[kdh]

I don't get the big phone thing. I have an iphone 5 and an ipad pro. The phone fits in my pocket but the screen is small. The ipad doesn't fit in my pocket but the screen is big.

[BeauV]

I think people are wearing clothes without useful pockets. What's up with those skinny leg pants that make guys' asses look huge?

I agree - I always ask my Admiral if my jeans make my butt look big!! I have a total luddite view of jeans. There is only one official Levi it's the 501 original cut with buttons. No freaking zippers for important parts to get caught on. None of these skinny legs, relaxed fit, whatever. I was genuinely pissed off when they started screwing the the design of the 501, and let a couple of the board members know it was idiotic. No idea if that had any effect, other than making me feel better. But they now have 501s most places again.

I don't get the big phone thing. I have an iphone 5 and an ipad pro. The phone fits in my pocket but the screen is small. The ipad doesn't fit in my pocket but the screen is big.

Yes, I issued a BIG sign of relief when the iPhoneX came out as basically the same size as the iPhone7. I have relatively small hands - and using the larger phones (phablets) is a real pain when using one hand. It turns out I one hand the phone more than 1/2 the time. It is turning out that since buying the 3-gen Apple Watch I'm doing more and more and more verbally with Siri. She just navigated me to the next available charging spot in Palo Alto, no mean feat. She also gives me weather, movie, routing, etc... advice. The charger in the parking lot accepts Apple Pay, so two clicks on the side of the watch and I'm charging at 6Kw. Things are getting easy.

[Olaf Hart]

I love the 5SE - for exactly that reason: it fits in my pocket.

Mine also has longer battery time than the 6 my son gave me.

[Olaf Hart]

I don't get the big phone thing. I have an iphone 5 and an ipad pro. The phone fits in my pocket but the screen is small. The ipad doesn't fit in my pocket but the screen is big.

That’s my strategy as well.
The latest iPad also has a nifty plug in keyboard/cover as well.
I occasionally have to use a pc at work, these days I am really hopeless..

[LarryHoward]

NERD ALERT - Do not continue if you're not heavily into CPU architecture and performance stuff

To put a few things into perspective, the last generation Apple iPhone CPU is basically a super computer in your pocket. The word size, at 64 bits is twice as large as the Cray Y-MP of the '80s. The caches are larger, the memories are faster, and it's a LOT more reliable.

I once got in a lot of trouble with my boss by saying: "All computers run at the same speed when they're broken." in public. I was pissed off that I couldn't get him to invest enough in my Cray operation to make the T-90 reliable. Every time their T-90 stopped working, Toyota had a day-for-day slip in the launch of a car. That's a lot of $$$$$$$s evaporating due to an unreliable computer. Eventually, my SGI server division managed to get the application running on a cluster of MIPS CPUs (which are only about the speed of a iPhone5) and we killed off the T-90 entirely.

To put this all in perspective, if automobiles had done what computers have done in the last 30 years, you'd be able to order a Formula 1 car on the internet, it would get about 20,000 miles/gallon, run for 500,000 miles, be four times faster than it used to be, and if you wanted it to be tiny you could put it in your pocket. I'm actually understating the gain here.

Another fun perspective: the Apple Watch has almost the same number of bits on the watch face that the original iPhone had, has better resolution, better color, a 4X faster CPU, a 20X faster cell network processor, a 6 axis gyro, and can read your pulse. Folks think the Watch is somewhat silly, but in 10-years it's quite clear that we won't be pulling a screen out of our pockets to look at it and see what the temperature is, or what our next appointment is.

Apple CPU Description

Cray Y-MP Super Computer from the '80s

Oh, I get it and I’m impressed that Apple has been able to convince millions who use and need the tech in an iPhone 4 to spend $1,000 for an X and will stand in line to buy one. My niece at Apple does think I’m a Neanderthal with my beloved 5S that fits in my pocket and is totally disgusted that her aunt carries a Surface Pro when she travels while I have an iPad Pro still in the box in preference for my Mini with a life proof case.

[Rob McAlpine]

My son the computer scientist describes Apple products as "defective by design". He's a Linux person.

He bought Apple stock for his own account, and convinced me to do the same about 10 years ago. His reasoning was that Apple is not a brand or a company, it's a cult, and if you can buy stock in a cult, you do it.

I turned over my ancient blackface Princeton amps, one reverb and one non, to a repair tech today to get rid of some strange noises that were freaking out my wife, and to finally have to old 2 prong plugs replaced. In my dotage I'm developing greater reverence for yestertech.

[kdh]

Rob, my new Alembic bass will go through my modeling preamp (Zoom B3n) and a Bose F1 Model 812. The preamp is set for a little compression, that's it, for now, but practically everything else can be done with it.

To me there's no question I can do anything old tech can do with this setup. Just me.

Beau, I haven't worn other than 501s in 40 years.

[BeauV]

I love the 5SE - for exactly that reason: it fits in my pocket.

Mine also has longer battery time than the 6 my son gave me.

That makes perfect sense. The 5se has a much newer (and thus less power hungry) CPU and various other features that extend battery life. The 6 was pushed to get max speed, not battery.

[BeauV]

My son the computer scientist describes Apple products as "defective by design". He's a Linux person.

He bought Apple stock for his own account, and convinced me to do the same about 10 years ago. His reasoning was that Apple is not a brand or a company, it's a cult, and if you can buy stock in a cult, you do it.

I turned over my ancient blackface Princeton amps, one reverb and one non, to a repair tech today to get rid of some strange noises that were freaking out my wife, and to finally have to old 2 prong plugs replaced. In my dotage I'm developing greater reverence for yestertech.

I adore tech folks. As a young programmer I contributed to the core of the Unix kernel and various other "important" bits of software. That lead me to become rather arrogant about what was "good tech" and what was "bad tech". It took me almost ten years to discover that the product aesthetic competence of tech folks like me is in low single digits on a scale of 1 to 100.

Customers decide what's "good" and what's "defective", not technologist like me. Thank god. The customers have certainly proven that Apple is "better for them" than any linux product ever built - full stop. As of last year, Apple was extracting about 90+ percent of all the profit in the entire smart phone market and steadily growing their share of the PC market in a declining market place.

[BeauV]

Rob, my new Alembic bass will go through my modeling preamp (Zoom B3n) and a Bose F1 Model 812. The preamp is set for a little compression, that's it, for now, but practically everything else can be done with it.

To me there's no question I can do anything old tech can do with this setup. Just me.

Beau, I haven't worn other than 501s in 40 years.

Keith, if you kick your modeling pre-amp in the side does it make that great crashing squealing sound a twin-reverb does when you kick it??? I love that sound!

I knew there was a reason I like you! 501s are the only real jeans! IMHO.

[Rob McAlpine]

I haven't owned a pair of jeans in 20+ years. I wear climbing pants, Gramicci, Royal Robbins or Prana. Far more comfortable and practical for me. YMMV.

K, there's a 6 string Alembic lefty guitar for sale on Reverb. I'm thinking. The guys were over tonight, we just finished 2-1/2 hours of blues fun through tube amps.

[kdh]

Rob, nothing like being in the same room with classic tube amps, but their characteristics are easily modeled.

[Tucky]

Modeled, but not matched:-)

[Rob McAlpine]

(Shhhhh, don't tell Keith, but I'm with you)

[Ajax]

I get amazingly little joy out of tablets, phones, and computers these days. My government-issue iPhone 5se still feels fast and, best of all, it fits in my pocket. Wife will have to have the new one eventually and then I'll see whether I want it.

My latest indulgence was to spend about 80 bucks and a few very pleasant hours of work on new and used gear to make my commuting bike fit like my old road bike, the better to play racer boy on my way to work. I've been looking forward to every commute this week and I'm finding excuses to go down to the basement and peek at it.

I'm with you.
I'm running a Galaxy S4 phone, an 8 year old Sony VAIO laptop and a nearly 8 year old iPad2. If I could, I'd take a sledgehammer to every single one of them and never buy another one.
There's no way in hell that I will allow one of these spying little shitboxes (Alexa etc.) into my house either. Alexa? Sounds like a fucking porn star.

I'm not some curmudgeon who hates technology because he doesn't understand it. I come by my hate honestly- from working in the industry and believe me, I understand it.

It's all crap. Created for profit, not for the "betterment of mankind," glitchy, unreliable, unsecure, poorly supported, manufactured by indentured servitude and overpriced for what you get. The design cycle is so fucking short that a middle class citizen would go bankrupt trying to keep up with all the technology trends. These tools haven't "freed" us, they've utterly usurped what little free time we used to have. Employees are so connected now, that they essentially work 24/7 but are still compensated for 8/40 pay periods while pay has stagnated. What a grand bargain for employers!

The tools have also become status symbols which define a person's self worth in many social circles. Who the hell needs that artificial pressure? It used to be the car you drove or the size of the home you owned, now you don't have the iPhone X? Loser!

Beau, if I could find an environmental group that would pay me the same salary digging ditches or planting sub-aquatic vegetation for what I do as a network engineer, I'd pull the ejection handle in a nanosecond and never look back. Enjoy your phone.

[Anomaly]

I'm with Ajax on this. I'm still mourning the aborted Ubuntu phone....

[Tucky]

Ajax, tell us what you are really feeling:-)

[BeauV]

Ajax, for many many years I've bought Apple products because I'm willing to pay more for higher quality and security. They seem to be continuing to do that, we'll see.

I think that the tech industry is about where the auto industry was in about 1920. There are dozens of really terrible products, reliability isn't great, and only the absurdly expensive products (like a Packard) are reliable. I'm guessing that we'll be able to get to something like the 1980s in another decade and maybe the year 2000 a decade after that. Debugging complex things takes a long time.

In the meanwhile, there are WAY too many jobs for folks that sound like yours, Ajax. Fixing stuff that never should have been allowed to escape as a "product". BTW, I have noticed a big improvement in quality over the last 10 years in various areas. Keeping old tech is a lot like me keeping my old '65 Morgan and complaining about how unreliable it is.

[Jamie]

Those are some great lines, Ajax.

There's no way in hell that I will allow one of these spying little shitboxes (Alexa etc.) into my house either. Alexa? Sounds like a fucking porn star.

I'm not some curmudgeon who hates technology because he doesn't understand it. I come by my hate honestly- from working in the industry and believe me, I understand it.