What is Digg?47 Comments
- chkdg8, on 10/05/2008, -8/+27Already dugg here: http://digg.com/apple/The_Brick_is
This story was a link from the original 9to5mac.com article that was posted hours in advanced. I think Digg users are able to read. - ZombieSociety, on 10/05/2008, -0/+8Just like it was about eight hours ago when I read it on here? Right on.
- garths, on 10/05/2008, -3/+8So few companies understand the importance of the physical properties of a device. By this I mean the heft, the texture, the solidity, the feeling of the bumps and curves. Apple understands this. As a contrast, my Nokia phone is mostly plastic, the sliding mechanism feels cheap and sloppy, and the tactile feedback from the keys is unsatisfying. Everything works, it just feels cheap.
Maybe if this new process is real then Apple can up the ante again when it comes to the physical pleasure of computing. - MacParrot, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5What part of making a facility in the US to hedge against possible future problems with China doesn't make sense. If it is mostly automated, labor costs are reasonable. Apple has higher markups than anyone else in the industry and can afford this better than say Dell or HP.
You really are an idiot jabby. Railing against some company or technology just because you don't use it is so last decade. - ZombieSociety, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5No, everybody got it. It was just stupid both times you posted it.
- BashiBazouk, on 10/05/2008, -0/+317.6% of the notebook market and the 3rd largest notebook shipper is not enough volume to justify the expense?
- bipolarruledout, on 10/05/2008, -0/+3So what your saying is Apple should start making dildos? Not exactly their core business but OK.
- madroc, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Apple sure gets the idea
- newbill123, on 10/05/2008, -0/+2Reminds me of some other arguments...
... Those Apple Stores don't make a lot of sense.
... They're just trying to capitalize on Gateway's idea.
... They don't have enough products to fill the capacity.
... The cost is more than what they could possibly earn.
Even if the rumor is right, there are many things out of Apple's control. But the Apple Store's have been pretty successful compared to some of their expectations. - DaffyDuck, on 10/05/2008, -0/+2Bury > Duplicate Story
- jkaechler, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2While I am a Microsoft fanboy to the core, this is a cool idea.
and Apple would be the right company to pursue such an insane project.
It might even persuade me to buy an iPod after all. - eatporktoo, on 10/05/2008, -0/+2Haha, iBrick made me think that the new generation of macs were just going to look good and do absolutely nothing... like a brick....
- madroc, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2i have an iphone(2g) and a nokia 6120 classic and it feels dirt cheap,
tiny plastic keys that even smaller for a baby finger. touch screen is way better than that keypad.
The battery cover is worse than an old gameboy battery cover.
Paint comes off the navigation pad. - illuuu, on 10/05/2008, -0/+1physical pleasure
- ligius, on 10/05/2008, -1/+2While an idea it could mean balance of (former and rising) superpowers. Right now we depend upon cheap labor and little innovation is carried towards making things with high quality manufacturing and skilled people.
This could only be achieved if Jobs (or some other entrepreneur) has a lot of cash to spend and is worrying about the country's economical demise. Reducing offshore labor, adding value to imported products is the last hope of USA recovering some of its current deficit.
Disclaimer: I'm no US citizen, just an inhabitant of some Eastern Europe country. Things are heading south for all of Europe and US right now, China will be heading south in 20 years from now. - cthellis, on 10/05/2008, -0/+1Unused volume can always be leased, you know... Especially since there would be a number of takers for a new design process that they could use imaginatively, and that they themselves have no capacity to build a factory for.
However, considering that the same process slightly retooled could easily apply to iMacs and iPods and iPhones... do you REALLY think they'd have trouble shifting enough units for a single factory?
Unless it is magical and runs off unicorn farts, I don't think they'd have that concern. One wouldn't be undertaxed and would be a grand experiment, and if it works...? They can build however more they need up TO their volume, and in the meanwhile both the design and technology can be patented and licensed, so if other major players want to follow suit... The experiment pays off in spades even for OTHER people's production. ;-) - AmusedToDeath, on 10/05/2008, -0/+1Introducing the new iBrick from Apple - carved from a solid block of awesomeness!
- tinus, on 10/05/2008, -1/+2The average wealth/person in the US isn't that high when you take all loans into account.
- cdigioia, on 10/05/2008, -1/+2Singapore isn't a cheap place for manufacturing, they're the richest per capita nation in Asia, just barely behind the US in wealth/person.
- Blandyman, on 10/05/2008, -0/+1Don't use Spanish. You're making my people feel embarrassed.
- bipolarruledout, on 10/05/2008, -2/+3Um no, but nice try at an anti-union joke.
- bipolarruledout, on 10/05/2008, -0/+1Frankly I just don't think this makes a lot of since. The concept is good and one ironically predicted by Bill Gates. But I don't think it's a good idea for Apple, I'm not sure they ship the volume to justify the expense, it's not unlike the reason they moved to commodity hardware in the first place.
It's more likely that they are trying to move to "just in time" manufacturing or trying to standardize more of there key components such as mainboards.... they are of course interested in custom chip sets for whatever reason.
If they can in some way pull this off I will freely grant Steve Jobs the god like status normally bestowed only by hardcore fanboys. - mal1964, on 10/05/2008, -2/+3My ipod feels scratchy
- madroc, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1No, the arguments were made when Apple didn't have 17.6 % of notebook market and they weren't 3rd largest notebook shipper when they opened a lot of Apple stores. They pay a lot of attention to what they do and that pays off well for them.
- mrBitch, on 10/08/2008, -0/+1btw, FTA comments section :
http://blogs.computerworld.com/apple_brick_is_a_ma ...
" 1) Casing: Apart from minor changes, the biggest being an integrated iSight camera, there has been no redesign of apple’s laptop casings for the past five years! This is huge amount of time to stagnate for a retail tech product, Such a wait deserves a big revelation! Granted Apple and consumers have been very proud of the laptop design, but being the proud owner of a Powerbook that was part of the initial redesign five years ago, it still does not feel right to buy a new Macbook Pro when the product casing looks exactly the same. Sure intel is dramatically more preferment than Power PC but if your computer life cycle is 3-5 years that means you will have been with the same aesthetic computer design for 6-10 years, which is virtually unheard of in the tech industry. " - BrendanSheehan, on 10/05/2008, -0/+1This is such a crock.
- tbechtx, on 10/05/2008, -0/+1dupe!!! DOH!
- jamesdew, on 10/05/2008, -1/+2iGasm
- mrBitch, on 10/08/2008, -0/+1@HiVoltRock RE: " Function over form is the most important part. "
I agree, but when you spend your days running apps under OS X running on Mac hardware then you get BOTH form AND function.
You obviously haven't used BOTH (Windows and OS X) for a few years, otherwise you would already know this. - mrBitch, on 10/08/2008, -0/+1FTA :
" Such a plant, run by robots and Macs, would be expensive to build.
... Imagine Steve Jobs taking the next president of the United States on a tour of a plant that makes its own electricity, cleans its own water and cranks out millions of iPods and iPhones each month. And sends power back into the grid on occasion to power our plug-in hybrids.
Could it be that Apple's acquisition of PA Semi is the first step in this line of thinking? "
If Steve Jobs can persuade the US government to take on some of the costs of fabrication, then could Skynet be a MacNET reality ?
" The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997.
Human decisions are removed from strategic defense.
Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug... " - HiVoltRock, on 10/07/2008, -0/+1I can see it now...everyone's just going to talk about how "cool" or "wonderful" it looks or how it's such a great idea instead of really caring about what's inside the case. Function over form is the most important part. We can talk about cheaper manufacturing and proper investing but Apple already drives up their prices. Does the end validate the means?
- mrBitch, on 10/08/2008, -0/+1@MacParrot, I second that motion.
@jabber RE: " Wo long as Apple cane have the highest ... "
You poor fool.
If you were using OS X (or FireFox), your poor spelling and language skills would have been picked up and corrected for you before you hit the "Save Reply" button. - madroc, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1may be its faster, or takes way less power. And it takes very few ppl to operate. no one knows whats happening exactly.
- yanwg, on 10/05/2008, -2/+2The idea would only work if robots did the manual labor. Eventually, some union would force them to pay someone $25.00 per hour to perform the same 6 steps over and over.
- mal1964, on 10/05/2008, -4/+4It's called greed and Its now sad to say pretty much Americans way of life.
- madroc, on 10/05/2008, -4/+3The real idea behind an idea is not to be just an idea, but to make it a reality. Unfortunately some people do not get that idea.
- norick, on 10/05/2008, -6/+5If it's true, it's a good idea. It will increase the quality of the mac, which has decrease since the introduction of the macintel.
But, there is a question: how to make a cheap mac "made in usa", since it's made for years in china/singapore? - R33E8, on 10/05/2008, -1/+0I don't understand how using 3d laser and water jetting is cheaper than a press... I guess now you won't even be able to take the battery out of your macbook?
- inactive, on 10/05/2008, -1/+0Well if ppl stop posting the same crap then ppl would put other crap. COME MIERDA!
- inactive, on 10/05/2008, -5/+1you can't have any pudding if you won't eat your meat.
- HarChim, on 10/05/2008, -11/+5lol, I love how the article makes it sound like them building a factory in America will somehow revolutionize everything. The only thing this factory really means is that in a few (many) years, the price of macs might go down after they've made up for the cost of the factory. That, or prices could stay the same and Jobs could make more moneys.
- inactive, on 10/05/2008, -7/+0Finally someone gets the Floyd reference. Started feeling a little bit old.
"If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding.... - inactive, on 10/05/2008, -12/+3dude... honestly, we don´t care
we just want to read the story - Meheren, on 10/05/2008, -12/+2Such a great idea, unfortunetally it's only in idea
- inactive, on 10/05/2008, -17/+4Wo long as Apple cane have the highest markup of any vendor of computers out there. So long as Job's can keep his sheep in its flock... he will definaately go down this path to milk as much of the money out of retards with money as possible.
Just because fools have money doesnt make them smarter, it makes the targets for marketing. And boy does Apple have good marketing to part those fools from their money. - anyone4apint, on 10/05/2008, -18/+3One comment and 63 diggs and this makes the front page...
- inactive, on 10/05/2008, -17/+2Stevey's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Stevey what else did you leave for me?
Stevey, what'd'ja leave behind for me?!?
All in all it was just a brick in the wall.
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.
"You! Yes, you! Stand still laddy!"
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