“Here’s a riddle to test somebody’s knowledge of Apple. Where is Apple’s only wholly-owned manufacturing facility in the world? Cupertino, you venture? Shenzhen, perhaps? No, it’s Cork, Ireland,” David Phelan writes for Forbes. “That’s the Irish city, population 125,622, where Apple employs over 5,500 people, many working in the factory.”
“This is the place where Apple staff assemble the iMacs which are CTO (that’s configure-to-order), models for sale in Europe, Middle East and Africa,” Phelan writes. “There are other manufacturing facilities but these are owned by other companies.”
“Inside the iMac is a rubber gasket, a strip of rubber in an L shape which runs up and along on the right hand side of the machine. It’s to prevent electro-magnetic interference. It’s only needed on the right-hand side. But this is Apple, so a similar gasket is placed on the other side of the rear of the enclosure, making a pleasingly symmetrical effect when you look at it,” Phelan writes. “And the level of attention to detail that this represents is magnified when you realize that this is something almost nobody will ever see, as it’s inside a sealed unit!”
More things nobody has told you about Apple’s iMac here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back in March 2015:
The insides of your non-Apple PC, your non-Apple cellphone, and your non-Apple tablet all look like crap. If you don’t understand why that’s important, you deserve to be stuck using those things until you figure it out.
—
You’re asking, where does aesthetic judgment come from? With many things—high-performance automobiles, for example—the aesthetic comes right from the function, and I suppose electronics is no different. But I’ve also found that the best companies pay attention to aesthetics. They take the extra time to lay out grids and proportion things appropriately, and it seems to pay off for them. I mean, beyond the functional benefits, the aesthetic communicates something about how they think of themselves, their sense of discipline in engineering, how they run their company, stuff like that. — Steve Jobs
I think the same philosophy that drives the product has to drive everything else if you want to have a great company. Manufacturing, for example, […] demands just as much thought and strategy as the product. If you don’t pay attention to your manufacturing, it will limit the kind of product you can build and engineer. Some companies view manufacturing as a necessary evil, and some view it as something more neutral. But we view it instead as a tremendous opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. — Steve Jobs
We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build. When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through. — Steve Jobs
Id rather not have the unnessary gasket inside ( for symmetry and internal beauty reasons…..)
But have a spell check and contextual word recognition that is not in the jurassic world compared to the competition …… and a consistent top notch AI implementation across the ecosys..
I rather see Perfection Applied to the dismal state of Apple’s AI… from the most fundimental spell check( mind boggling) to more sophisticated AI implementation than extra gasketts inside for beauty reasons.
Apple is misrably and dengerously behind in Every area of AI ..imo
come on Apple, u still dont have spell check right ? Thats a jurassic issue..
Why should to resort to google or bing constantly…
add on top more sophisticated AI Applications…
AI…….Its do or die for Apple !
(ps.. to me sometime asymmetry can be just as intriguing)
Sorry correction ,… meant to say :
sWhy should I have to resort to google or bing constantly…
And Add on top for more sophisticated Ai Applications…..
Exactly that’s their problem too much pretty not enough substance
Yup.. but fanboys will cheer on with zero concern .
and whiners about spellcheckers and contextual word recognition tools will continue to need grammar checkers etc,
Yup, genuis .. its the whiner’s problem that spell check and contextual word recognition suck,… not that Apples Problem..
its the winers problem that i have to resort to google and bing.. while i use Apple products …right.
Whats the purpose of spells check and contextual undertanding? … moron !
Lets not whine and have shitty product.
Wisen up kido.
Fundamentally, you should not spell fundamental incorrectly. Spelling it “fundimental” is, well, mental.
Why have spell checks… everyone should spell perfectly and never have typos.. right…..wisguy
Who cares about AI.. who cares about contextual understanding
The level of fanboy stupidity is truly shocking !
U guys will resort to saying anything regardless of how stupid it is .. as long as it is in some way a comeback to someone criticizing Apple. To no avail.
Listen you all.
Being a mediocre is not how Apple became Apple. ….
Brushing off legit issues and shoving problems under the carpet does not solve problems..
Regardless of how I spelled fundImental ….
For Apple , catching up with AI is Do or Die.
If apple dies.. so do u all blind fanboys.
If you want to be taken seriously, I suggest you learn proper punctuation, spelling, etc.
Anybody who has to resort to fanboy, socialist, libtard, arrogant, hitler, do or die, name calling and all the other insulting generalizations needs, I think, practice in making concrete points and backing them up with logic.
It’s too late, John, they’re out of school and ain’t learning any new argumentative skills. And another thing: nobody, but nobody, tells MDN commenters what to do. Got it?
Hope springs eternal…
John and Herself, wake up and get real.
All the insults ‘started’ by others… not me…. evidance is in the thread.
I presented my concern and argument about apples short commings..
Its the fanboys that turned it around to insults without a single ‘logical argument’ … facts are above….. thats basiclay what fanboys are. They have no ideas of their own.. they are the epitome of herd mentality…. they just follow a prejudice regardless of how stupid it may be…. and resort to insults when challanged .
Review the thread .. and if u guys are able to seperate yourselfs from your ‘prejudice’ u will see the truth of who started the cheep insults or who presented a civil counter argument and yet received an i sult from me before insilting me..
Look in the mirror u all!!!
‘Do or die’ is not an insult you genius elitists… its a call for serious concern.
‘Fanboys’ well those are prople who support everything blindly.. good or bad… in this case Apple fan boys’. Funny , prejudice bunch ….. its the truth.
The thread is there.. and proof is in the puddng.
U guys throw a punch first.. dont except not to get hit back… .. it feels a bit left !
Pathetic is what comes to my mind reading some of the posters here.
Look in the mirror ….
Yup Apple AI at any level is patheticaly behind even at the very fundamental level of spell check.
Thats massivly concerning… when there is a Google and MS bing, Amazon ready to eat Apples lunch and dinner. Its ‘do or die’ pathetic.
But yup u fan boys .. go ahead and hide behind your empty elitist snob comments!.. and insult and cheer on blindly .
‘Shocking’ is what comes out of your minds.
And ‘herself’ .. please drop the irritating poetism .. this not a literature forum.. its an international technology forum focused mainly on Apple.
And yes i reiterate:
Fanboys are blind, and are the ones who offer no logical counter argument… but just stupid comebacks and hollow insults..
Its all over the forum.. if u have not observed that then i suggest you work on your observational skills.
And Yes.. Apples Spell check, contextual understanding and AI are Not judt bad.. they are Dismal !
Or i would not have to constantly resort to Google or Bing since Apples AI gives me so many retarded answers and suggestions.
Or you poor sould eould not have been subject to my misrable typos and soelling errors.. Apple’s Ai would have cought tyem and corrected them or given me a warning and suggestions.
Your i sults towards my doelling errors and typos are actually the proof for my claim …..
Yet you elitist genius Cant even connect those two simple dots….. and choose to condescend instead.
Per your logic… there should not even be a need for spell check or contextual understanding… no one should need it…..
Laughable !
I can understand you just fine, and that’s the main requirement of communication. I apologise for seeming to insult you.
What I was really trying to do was make fun of herself, myself, any self that is a “grammar nazi” or “spelling scold.” That used to be me, but I got caught making the exact same errors.
It really is fun being a smug know-it-all. Being unmasked as a hypocrite is less fun. Not admitting it is cowardly or self-delusional.
To err is human, to forgive divine — Alexander Pope
The reason Apple resonates with people is that there’s a deep current of humanity in our innovation. I think great artists and great engineers are similar, in that they both have a desire to express themselves. In fact some of the best people working on the original Mac were poets and musicians on the side. In the seventies computers became a way for people to express their creativity. Great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were also great at science. Michelangelo knew a lot about how to quarry stone, not just how to be a sculptor. — Steve Jobs
Two things ..
1-This is not an english grammer forum.
2- Not everyone has english as their first language, including me ….
And….. hence…. the need for a properly functioning and reliable ai, in form of spell check , contextual understanding and AI in general in all forms.
Your snumb elitist answer to me is actually the proof for what i claim is one of the problems with Apple AI
In this day and age.. a computer should be able to assist the writer in A much more advanced level….. Not apples jurassic pathetic level.
Think about that rather than insult my english in a ‘tech’ forum….
iI speak four languages… at this level more or less and can hold an argument in sll four . how many can u ? Or u Herself?
Get your heads out of your elitist holes .
( i guess before u guys go to a doctor to have an exam, u guys ask him to write an essay in english before before u assess his medical expertise ha! ? let me yell u if true u should stick to self medicating )
Its hilariosly stupid logic . (And has hints of old old isolated world written all over it )
You are an overly dramatic doomsayer. I disagree with your premise and most of your opinions on the state of Apple.
Apple certainly has room for improvement, but what company doesn’t? Compared to Apple’s breadth and depth, what is Google really doing? What is Microsoft or Amazon or Samsung really doing? Apple can successfully compete with all of those companies and many more. Tell me, what company has a chance of pushing Apple aside?
Spell check. Contextual understanding are not cutting edge issues…. yet apple is still way behind. That is extreamly concerning.
Concerning in a world where AI is the future and Google and MS , Amazon, are miles ahead.
Yes… No one company is perfect… but to be so behind in such a fundamental area as spell check and contextual understanding for sooooooo long (40 years) is inexcusable, negligent … or arrogant( if it is due to denial ).
Yes.. no one is perfect.. nothing can be….. but one does not get close to it by brushing issues under the carpet..
Specially when u have a google or a Microsoft chasing your butt.
Its extremely dengerouse.
Hence i will raise a red flag till i see a difference.. …. thats my way of helping….
.
Not refering to your post but otheres……. fanboy blind cheerleading belongs to kindergartens not a company at Apple’s level .
Plus… im not dramatic doomsayer …….. im not complacent! do u know what complacency leads to? Starts with a Giant F…..
U choose to approach life as u like..
I vocalize problems….
Specially when they are as fundamental as the issue at hand that needed to be addressed decades ago… not still be in a dismal state at this stage of the game.
(Or maybe you are are one of those who does not need these tools?…. in that case good for u ……But let me tell u.. not everyone is in your boat !)
Right. Let us get that engineer who engineered that gasket to instead work on AI, since he is obviously wasting time on designing a symmetrical gasket, when his time and design talent could be better utilized by improving Apple’s inadequate AI…
There is a very valid reason why Apple’s AI will never catch up to Googles, and possibly even MS. It is the attitude Apple has towards its users’ privacy. Google can crowdsource anything and everything, and by giving stuff for free, they feel entitled to use customers’ data for anything and everything they do. AI is much easier to develop when you can harvest hundreds of millions of user queries (and subsequent responses to those queries) every day. You can easily understand what works and what doesn’t when you can follow your users around wherever they go.
Apple has purposefully painted itself in that digital corner by rigorously pursuing the idea of users’ privacy. Researching AI is much more difficult when you don’t have that rich trove of user interaction data that Google (as well as MS) have.
PreDrag
Spell check and contextual understanding have ‘zero’ to do with privacy …. it has to do with understanding language and having the proper algorithms to recognize and address language problems/ issues/mistakes.
As for general AI;
Justification is not a path to solutions PreDrag… when one stops justifying innovation kicks in for solutions!
Have u heard of ‘differential privacy’ ….u know why it is there? Becouse someone inovated a way around the justification….
Its good to know there is some effort there recently on Apples side to circumvent privecy using that technology….. but that does not concern the main Issue i addressed here for which there is no excuse to be so behind.
Also… dont forget Apples arrogant approach of isolating themselves from the whole AI community ( until Recently ) which is hugly to be blamed for them to be so behind in AI… their arrogance brought it to themselves.. not a user privacy policy.
But thank god they realized they are on a sucidal path and adjusted course somewhat.
Bottom line is.. its not an option to fall behind AI .. for any reason!
Justifcation will only lead to Apples demise in this area and then spill over everything else in the company…. poor Ai is not an option in the new future… so your approach of justifying it is justifying suicide. Imo
But good news is Apple is aware and is making sime corrections in their approach…
My point is ..’ it’s do or die, Dont justify’.
Put all possible resourses behind it.
But when i see sometging as jurassic and fundamental as spell check and contextulal word recognition still being in jurassic age … all kinds of alarms get turned on.
There is absolutly zero reason for that.. it has zero to do with privacy concern. Its arrogance to neglect it and not address it and bring it up to date ……and even make it better than the competiion. Its about language not my personal habbits.
I, as an Apple product user should not constantly resort to Google or Bing to find answers to language and spelling issues.
It discredits Apple and gives credit to the competition..
Wrong in anyway u look at it .
I still don’t understand the relevance of this article. Who cares about minutiae of insignificant details? What matters of importance are revealed?
I care, having relatives working in the Apple plant there, having once owned machines assembled there, and having myself been born in Cork. But you are probably right, to anyone else it is of no importance. 😕
When done right and spread throughout an organization it is emblematic of a “mindset”. The pervasive concept of doing things in the best possible way. That strip is not as useless and ornamental as the article’s author implies, but it is less necessary than the primary one. It is a matter of completeness as well as symmetry. I tis the mindset of just doing it right. Period.
The problem at Apple is this mindset is not as pervasive as it once was under the Pirate Flag and during the climb out from the dark days. (Unfortunately, even then there were a few notable cases where this mindset didn’t take hold.)
Even when the mindset did take hold, the current Apple establishment has abandoned some of those products–perfect example: Apple’s Airport series of WiFi routers. I know people who wouldn’t be caught alive or dead with any other Apple product other than an Airport router. They have been that stable for them. Offer these people a free, maxed out MacBook Pro or iMac and they’ll go sell it on eBay and buy a Windows or Linux machine. But, they’ll stick with those Airport devices until those devices die. So… Apple abandons that entire line of products.
Yet, today, it seems like the mindset that should be the hallmark of Apple has been relegated to small niche areas of the company. It seems to be nearly completely gone from the software teams. It certainly was gone from the 2013 Mac Pro development. (Why else did Apple have to come out years later and admit they had designed themselves into a corner from which they could not escape without a complete redesign of the Mac Pro?)
Therefore, the importance is the pervasiveness of the overall mindset. It really isn’t about a little rubberized strip of material that the vast majority of people will never see or even know is there.
Is everyone using this site using Apple’s Siri to dictate?
No way, they can’t be because Siri is god awful.. Oh wait…… I see your point!!!! HAHAHA.
No way, they can’t be because Siri is god awful.. Oh wait…… I see your point!!!! HAHAHA.
On a lighter note, yes, yes I knew aapl manufactured in Ireland as my Powerbook 170 was made there. Just a great piece of gear for me.
Second: “And the level of attention to detail that this represents is magnified when you realize that this is something almost nobody will ever see, as it’s inside a sealed unit!”
Steve Jobs inspiration lives on in this attention. From his biography:
“Fifty years after the fence (in his childhood home) was constructed, Jobs showed it to Isaacson, still standing and recalled a lesson about making things of quality that he learned from his father. Touching the boards of inside of the fence, he said that “He loved doing things right. He even cared about the look of the parts you couldn’t see.””
perfect SJ quotes, MDN bravo zulu