GAB'er 201905

GAB’er Page: 1 May 14, 2019
THE
GAB’ER
Newsletter of the Greater Albany AppleByters:
May, 2019
GAAB is celebrating its 35th year (20182019) with our informal meeting
format. The next meeting will be:
Tuesday, May 14, 2019

7:00 PM
At Panera Bread
161 Washington Ave Ext, Albany, NY
A map can be found at the GAAB website at
http://applebyters.com/index.php/meeting-information/meeting_map/
GAAB Meeting Agenda

Greetings and Dinner
Discussion of the Annual June Dinner

Discussion: Topics presented by members and
News from Apple including Mac OS X and iOS Updates
Contact GAAB at our Website: http://applebyters.com

GAAB Help Desk: Bring your questions

Apple Was Never Going To Have A 5G Phone In 2019, And

That's A Good Thing
May. 7, 2019 8@00 AM ET | Apple Inc. (AAPL) | MTZ,
QCOM... |
Summary
 Apple was never going to make a 5G phone in 2019, and Iʼm beginning to
have doubts about 2020.
 Apple will release a 5G phone when they think the 5G ecosystem is mature
enough that it will not detract from the overall user experience. We are far
from there.
 Samsungʼs S10 5G is a mess of compromises - it is more of an advanced

prototype, like the Fold.
 Qualcommʼs 5G hardware comes with a range of design conundrums.
 Despite their victory, events have laid bare that Qualcommʼs customers
hate them. This is a bad thing.
Soup Nazi has competition. Apple The 5G Event Horizon
If the only information you got about 5G came from watching Verizon (VZ) and
AT&T (T) ads, you would think that 5G towers blanket the country, and we are all
ready for a brave new world where you can stream an MLB baseball game in 20
angles of 8K simultaneously along with your favorite sports blogger's live snark.
Hooray?
But this is far from the truth. US 5G networks are far behind much of the
advanced world, and the full 5G experience will never exist outside of densely
populated areas.

No one at Apple (AAPL) pays much attention to any ads but their own, so they
understand all this - 5G in 2019 is not much to look at. They have time, and they
will make a 5G phone at the time of their choosing.
Focusing is about saying no.
Let's start off by looking at how The Company of 1000 "Nos" for every "Yes"
approaches product development.
How Apple Makes a Phone, Or Anything Else
Unsurprisingly, Apple's product development is somewhat different than their

competition's. Let's start with a few general points on that.
 They focus entirely on the user experience and customer satisfaction. This
is the most important thing.
 Their internal product roadmap is years ahead. They are likely working on
the 2021 iPhone right now, and maybe even the 2022. Things change as
circumstances change, of course, but the engineering and design teams at
Apple live in the future.
 Marketing has nothing to say about what goes into the product (looking at
you, Samsung (OTC:SSNLF)). They always prioritize the real-world user
experience over marketable features.
 Control as much of the core technologies as possible.
 They are usually not the first to adopt new technologies. They generally
have been willing to wait for them to mature a bit before it goes in an Apple
product.
The number one contributor to the user experience in a mobile device is

battery life - no matter how good the device is, without power, it is just a
nice slab of glass and silicon. Space inside a modern smartphone is at a
premium. Any additional hardware not only draws additional power but also
steals space that could be used for more battery. Apple strongly prefers
more battery.
Remember, Apple is the company which told us we couldn't have a 3.5mm

headphone jack, because it was taking too much space from the battery.
All this adds up to one thing: Apple never intended to have a 5G iPhone in
2019, and looking at the current state of the technology, I'm not 100% sure
they will have one in 2020. And, this is a good thing.

Apple is not often the first to adopt new technologies. It's not because they are
risk- averse in that respect, but because they only care how the technology
impacts the user experience and satisfaction, not marketing the newest tech.
First, examples where they did lead the way: USB and WiFi. USB showed up first in
the original iMac. This removed a major pain point that Apple users had for years:
the Apple serial ports. Everyone said, "good riddance." And because it was in a
desktop, albeit a small all-in-one with a fat CRT in it, the added hardware did not
cause major design challenges or compromises due to power or heat concerns.
Similarly, Apple was the first to adopt 802.11 WiFi in their products. Again, it was
to solve a problem for users. It showed up first in the original iBook (AKA,
"Barbie's Toilet Seat"), and brought a true wireless experience to their users, for
at least as long as their batteries held out. Also, the iBook was pretty big by
today's standards, so there was plenty of room for this 1st generation hardware.
Barbie's Toilet Seat holds a prized location in my mini-Apple Museum. They all still
work! © 2019 Trading Places Research
So, the point here is that Apple is not averse to new technologies, it's just that
they must serve a real purpose that makes the user experience better and
doesn't detract from the experience with too many compromises. But the smaller
the device, the bigger the challenges.
The best example of how this works is the development of the original iPhone.
There was already great pentup demand for an "iPod Phone" by 2004, but Apple
waited until 2007 to release a phone. Why?
Jobs appeared at the 2004 All Things D conference, and during the Q&A, a man
shook his crappy Palm Treo at Jobs, begging him to make a better Treo to the
applause of the crowd. Jobs deflected the question with the blend of humor and
condescension he used when he was hiding something.

The following year at All Things D 2005 was the infamous Orifice Exchange, where
Jobs intimated that Apple was interested in making an "iPod phone" in Kara
Swisher's words, but that they were having trouble shoving it into the four
"orifices" that are the mobile carriers. He complained that the carriers had totally
disintermediated the handset makers from their customers, and Apple didn't play
that game. He also used the word "orifice" as many times as he could, and he
meant exactly what you think he meant by it.
At the end of the exchange, Walt Mossberg asked a long-winded question about
whether the iPod phone was in development, to which Jobs deadpanned, "I
thoroughly understand your question, but I'm going to have to leave the answer
to our actions in the future." I still laugh at that one.
A year later, AT&T (NYSE:T) was desperate, and opened up their orifice for Apple.
The rest, as they say...
So, what's the moral to this story? It tells us everything we need to know about
how Apple approaches and nurtures new opportunities. Even today, when Apple
can afford misses the way they couldn't then, they still approach new product
development in the same cautious, iterative way. Let's go over Jobs' Lessons of
Product Development.
1. Focus entirely on the customer experience.

2. Don't let anyone get in between you and the customer. People often don't
know what they want until you show it to them.
3. Don't just make a better Treo, even if that's what people are screaming for.
4. Don't compete directly against successful incumbents, but figure out what
Apple's contribution is.
5. Don't release a new product or feature until you are ready to, no matter
what analysts or the tech press say you should do. Corollary: do not care
about the stock price.
6. Find a way to dip your toe into the market first, gauge customer reaction,
and slowly keep adding year after year. Again, focused entirely on customer
experience - nothing goes in until it's ready.
7. Have relatively few SKUs.
8. Don't be afraid to ditch old but popular technologies like the hardware
keyboard or the iPod interface if they create too many compromises.
9. As much as possible, own all the key technologies in your devices.
10. Hardware and software development are concurrent and work

together. Marketing has nothing to say until the product is done and ready
to be sold to a happy public.

11. .Do not worry that a new product is displacing another source of
revenue.
12. This all began during a deep recession. Increase CapEx during
recessions.
13. Last but most certainly not least: loose lips sink ships. Omerta.
The iPhone was in secret development for years. They dipped their toe into
mobile devices with the iPod and slowly added hardware and software features
that they thought their customers would like and gauged reaction. They gained
experience in miniaturization and low power software design, in concert with one
another. When all these pieces came together, and AT&T was ready to cut a deal
that left Apple in control of the device, only then did they release the iPhone, 3
SKUs only differentiated by storage capacity.
That's what patience looks like.
Our final example is the recent cancellation of the AirPower wireless charging
mat. They couldn't get it to work the way they wanted, in a way that would
differentiate it from other mats. They could have kept it as vaporware, or released
a crappy product that is not ready like Samsung just did with the Fold. The better
thing to do is admit it wasn't working and move on. I expect they will address a
charging solution at another point in time.
What We Mean By "5G"
"5G" is a marketing term adopted by the wireless industry to describe a group of

technologies, mostly centered around "millimeter-wave" radio. LTE, AKA "4G,"
operates in the sub-6 GHz bandwidth, which is a pretty useful part of the
spectrum. Data speeds, distance, and penetration (going through things) are all
pretty good.
"mmWave," as the industry refers to it, is a big chunk of the spectrum at much
higher frequencies, from 24-100 GHz. The wireless industry saw two advantages
to this portion of the spectrum:
1. Higher data speeds than the sub-6GHz bandwidth, about 100x the theoretical
peak per channel. (The key word is "theoretical.")
2. It was available.
Why was this giant chunk of the spectrum still available in the 21st Century?
Because it sucks. The signal does not travel far. Higher frequencies also have
penetration problems. They can be knocked down by just about anything,
including your hand, which is problematic for a device you hold in your hand.
mmWave frequencies are not only knocked down by solid objects, but by rain,
fog, and a small slice around 60 GHz is absorbed by oxygen. For reals.
One of the companies I follow is MasTec (MTZ), which is a telecom construction

company. I listen to their calls, and also the AT&T and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) calls,
since they are the customers here. Every quarter since this push began, all three
calls have contained some version of "5G buildout is going to be much more
complex than anyone imagined, even a few months ago." This is likely because of
the distance and penetration issues that are creating connectivity problems in the
real world.
So, there will be no mmWave outside of cities, because of the distance issues. The
plan here is for upgraded LTE on all those towers - 5G Lite. But inside of cites,
your chances of getting a 5G signal are not great because of the distance and
penetration issues. It's pretty clear you will not be getting the signal indoors
unless you are standing next to a window. So most of the time, even city dwellers
will be on 5G Lite until the density of radio towers is much greater.
But for a mobile device that you hold in your hand, the issue is even greater,
when the mmWave signal cannot penetrate it. Moreover, most users use a case,
which adds an additional layer to penetrate.
Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) solution to this problem is one Apple would never

accept in their design - three or four large RF antenna modules that sit
perpendicular to the motherboard on each edge of the phone. Good God.
The current Apple A12 SoC in the iPhone XS/XR is packed with technology, but the
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) LTE chip lives elsewhere on the motherboard.
It remains to be seen whether Apple will integrate LTE into the next iteration of
the A- series. But let's get back to Qualcomm. They have already told us that 5G
smartphone design is going to be "exponentially" more complex than LTE design.
If you're designing an LTE Android phone, all you will need is the Snapdragon 855,
and likely antennae that snake through the motherboard. But 5G changes all that.
Not only will the x50 modem chip be required but 3-4 RF antenna modules as
well. The x50 plus a single antenna module take up more space than the entire
SoC.
But the silly doesn't stop there. The reference design that Qualcomm released in
December has three of these antennae (the Moto Mod 5G has four).
So, to make a 5G phone using current hardware, Apple would have to take up a
bunch of space that they prefer to pack battery into, use plastic, which they abhor
and may lead to another bendgate, and not be able to have the tapered edges
that Jony Ive loves so much.
The Apple Design

Let's dig a little deeper into how Apple designs a phone. The good folks at iFixit
buy pretty much every new smartphone and sacrifice it to our collective
knowledge with a complete teardown. Of course, the iPhone is no exception.
Starting with removing the screen, we can see that the batteries are taking up the
lion's share of space
That's a lot of battery. Moreover, we can see that, since the tiered battery design
of the MacBook, Apple is getting more creative in filling every cubic millimeter of
space with battery.
Since the iPhone X, Apple uses a 2-sided, 2-layer PCB sandwich (4 sides all
together) for its motherboard to, you guessed it, save space. The front side of the
bottom board is where the RF action is.
The point is that Apple is not looking to put more hardware on their motherboard,
they want less. Adding the x50 plus 3-4 antenna modules in a non-starter for
Apple.
They were never going to have a 5G phone in 2019.
Let's see what sort of compromises have to be made for the 2019 crop of 5G
phones. I'm going to use the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G as an example here,
because they have the most mature smartphone design team. .
To be clear, Samsung uses their own 5G chip, not Qualcomm's, but the
compromises that a team with a decade of smartphone design experience had to
make are telling.
So, the Galaxy S10 5G. The name is a bit of a misnomer, because it implies that
it's just an S10 with 5G capabilities, which it is most certainly not. This thing is a
giant, even by Samsung standards, so the relevant comparison is to the S10 Plus.
Galaxy S10 Plus Galaxy S10 5G
157.6 × 74.1 × 7.8 162.6 × 77.1 × 7.9

Dimensions
mm mm
Approx
91 cubic cm 99 cubic cm
Volume
Weight 175 gr 198 gr

Screen 6.4 inch 6.7 inch
3,040 × 1,440 (526 3,040 × 1,440 (502

Resolution
ppi) ppi)
Battery 4,100mAh 4,500mAh
US Price 512
$1,250 $1,400
GB
You like giant two-handed phones that don't fit in a pocket? Samsung gotcha
covered. So, what compromises did Samsung have to make to design a 5G phone
in 2019? My take is that they made a super-giant phone because it was the only
way they could get 5G to work.
The phone has only recently been released in Korea, where the 5G networks are
much more mature than in the US, and the phones might actually be useful. It
won't be available in the US until May, so our knowledge is a little thin still.
To start, the battery gets a 10% bump in storage with some of that extra volume.
We have sparse details on battery life, but I'm willing to bet that between the
larger screen and 5G hardware, that battery life will not be as good when using
5G heavily. In 2019, that means you would have to live and work in downtown
Seoul in a glass penthouse with no WiFi. So, basically, no one. I don't expect it to
heavily impact real world battery life versus the Plus, and it may even be better,
because it will just be using LTE or WiFi most of the time like the Plus. Indeed,
Verizon is advertising 44 hours of battery life versus the Plus' 40 hours, a 10%
bump like the battery capacity.
But I firmly believe that 5G chip and the large battery it needs drove all the other
design decisions, so let's take a look. As of 4/29, we have two teardowns: one
from the PBKReviews YouTube Channel, and one from Tech Insights. The former is
more geared towards repairs; the latter is more technical, but they are still
working on it. The last update was 4/15. They will be our main sources here.
So, let's look at Samsung's radio hardware. They have adopted the PCB sandwich
like the iPhone. First, the back side of the main board:
Tech Insights
In contrast to the S10 Plus with one, the S10 5G has two of Samsung's Exynos RF
5500 transceivers, squared in orange. These chips do all cellular radio up to and

including upgraded LTE, AKA "5G Lite," AKA "Fake 5G," AKA "5Ge." They do not,
however, do mmWave; everything on these chips is in the sub-6 GHz portion of
the spectrum.
On the other slice of the sandwich, which is oddly shaped, we see Samsung's
Exynos RF 5100 which does everything, up to and including mmWave. The other
side of this board is pretty empty.
Tech Insights
This leads to an interesting conundrum. If the RF 5100 supports everything from

1G to 5G, why do they need 2 of the RF 5500s? Adding to my confusion: I can't
find the antennae modules anywhere. Maybe Samsung solved this thorny issue,
but it would be entirely unlike them to be quite that innovative in design. Also, the
S10 5G has a much thinner metal bezel on the exterior edge than the S10 Plus,
and I imagine this has something to do with the 5G antennae.
So, I'm not 100% sure what's going on here, but I think this is a power-
consumption compromise.
The odd shape of that second board leaves a lot of empty space in middle of the
PCB sandwich, and the other side of it (not pictured) has very few components
and a lot of empty space. That tells me the components on the pictured side of
that board are power-hungry beasts, kicking out lots of heat, and the likely culprit
is the RF 5100. Moreover, the side of the board with the RF 5100 has two layers of
heat shields, the top one in contact with the backplate, acting as a heat sink. The
S10 Plus has just one more typical heat shield on its chips. The RF 5100 needs its
own heat sink.
So, I believe Samsung made a decision to design it like the internals of the A12
SoC, where Apple has 4 low-power cores for most things, and 2 high-power cores
when needed. The phone will use the RF 5500s 99% of the time, because no one
is going to have consistent mmWave any time soon, except that dude in his glass
penthouse with no WiFi in downtown Seoul, whomever he is. This is a mmWave
phone, but Samsung is counting on that RF 5100 being used infrequently.
Still, where 'dem antennae?
On price, the only capacity that both phones currently come in is the 512 GB. The
S10 Plus is $1,250 and the S10 5G is $1,400. So, if you are a fan of giant two-
handed phones that don't fit in your pocket, an extra $150 (12% more) gets you
an ever gianter phone, with a better camera system and maybe better battery life
if you lay off the mmWave, which won't be too hard in 2019. From Tech Insights
estimates of the bills of goods, it seems like they will have similar gross margins,
though there was also likely extra capex and manufacturing costs on the S10 5G
that are not counted in the bill of goods. In any event, more or less a wash on
margins.
To sum up:
 Samsung started with a 5G chip and a large battery needed to power it and
built a phone around it.
 Samsung's 5G chip seems to be a power hungry heat monster that they are
hoping gets used infrequently.
 There is empty space in the phone.
Does any of that sound like Apple to you?
Also, where 'dem antennae?
But What About 2020?
This is, of course pure speculation. If Apple can get their WiFi/BT and LTE
modules into the next A-series, they will have some more space to play
around with. Their strong preference here is to have a smaller motherboard,
and use this space for more battery.
But they also want to provide valuable features to their customers. If the 5G
networks are mature enough, and that's a big if, then Apple may be inclined
to include 5G in the 2020 iPhone, which they are already working on right
now.
However, unless Qualcomm can reduce the space and orientation needed
for those antenna modules in their next generation (another big if), or Apple
can come up with a solution, I could see Apple taking a pass in 2020. If that
happens, they will likely frame the decision in terms of the real world
speeds of 4G vs 5G, which at that point will likely not have a high delta.
Moreover, streaming 4K video, which is the most demanding use-case in
the near term, uses a tiny fraction of LTE bandwidth. If HVEC ("MP5")
becomes more common, it will be an even tinier fraction.
Is it any wonder Apple is such a control freak? Their vendors never give them
what they want. Could you image the situation if Apple was still using Snapdragon
SoCs?
Upshot of All This
Mostly, status quo ante.

Samsung did the Samsung thing and made a phone with the latest technology
that is more of an advanced prototype, and likely few will buy. Even if they do, it
will probably just cannibalize sales of the S10 Plus. They keep doing this, twice
this year with the S10 5G and the Fold. They never learn their lesson, but at
Samsung, what marketing wants, marketing gets. Currently, at the US Samsung
site, the S10 5G leads the landing page, and the main mobile phone page has the
Fold front and center. Oh, Samsung.
Apple will continue to do what they think is best for their customers. 5G is clearly
not ready for prime time in 2019, and I'm even starting to have doubts about
2020 at the rate things are going. Apple was "late" to 4G in 2012, and it made
very little difference. They are the most patient company in the world, and they
will make a 5G phone when they think the 5G experience will not detract from the
overall user experience.
Qualcomm is a bit of a different story. They are celebrating what they perceive to
be a victory, and it is a big victory in the medium term. But it also revealed that
Qualcomm's customers think that they derive monopoly profits at their
customers' expense, and that they hate them. This is not a good thing.
Eventually, their customers will figure out how to cut them out.
If you can catch him at a Clippers game, you can ask Steve Ballmer how it worked
out for him.
Thanks for reading. Questions? Comments? Insults? Have at it, but please save
the insults for Twitter, where they belong.
Disclosure: I am/we are long MTZ, AAPL. I wrote this article myself, and it
expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than
from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose
stock is mentioned in this article.
macOS 101: AirDrop Tips for Mac and iOS Users
Tuesday, April 24th, 2018 | Author: Tom Nelson
AirDrop is a peer-to-peer file sharing system for local Mac and iOS users. It’s easy to set up
with just a click or two; no special information or settings are needed. Just drag-and-drop a
file to share with others.

In this Rocket Yard Guide, we’re going to take a look at AirDrop’s history, the basics of its use,
and a tip or two for improving its use, including adding AirDrop to the Mac’s Dock for easy
access.
AirDrop History
Originally developed for the Mac and released with OS X Lion, AirDrop made use of a new
Wi-Fi standard called PAN (Personal Area Network) that allowed for the creation of an ad-hoc
wireless network. To make setting up the network automatic, Apple made use of its Bonjour
service, which allowed Macs to broadcast that they were part of the Wi-Fi network and could
receive files from others.
When iOS 7 was introduced, it included its own version of AirDrop, but replaced the use of
Bonjour with Bluetooth LE, and kept peer-to-peer Wi-Fi for sending and receiving, though it
dropped the use of the PAN protocol.
When OS X Yosemite was released, it included support for both sets of AirDrop protocols,
allowing supported Macs to use AirDrop with other supported Macs, as well as iOS devices.
Not all Macs or iOS devices are compatible with AirDrop. You can check this AirDrop support
document to see if your Mac or device supports AirDrop.
Using AirDrop
AirDrop requires the use of either Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, depending on the version of
AirDrop being used.
You can open an AirDrop Finder window by selecting AirDrop from the Finder sidebar, or from
the Finder’s Go menu.

(The AirDrop window displays nearby devices that have AirDrop enabled.)
AirDrop appears as a special Finder window folder that displays any nearby Mac or iOS
devices that have AirDrop enabled.
You can drag any file or folder onto a device listed in the AirDrop window. You can also use
the share button within an
app to send a file via AirDrop. Depending on the version of AirDrop being used, you may be
asked to confirm that you wish to send a file to the selected user.
The destination device will display an alert, asking the user if they wish to accept the files
being sent.
On the Mac, files being sent will appear in the Downloads folder, once accepted. On iOS
devices, the files will be associated with specific apps, such as images being placed in the
Photos app.
(Can’t find one of your older Macs? Later versions of AirDrop changed the method
used to detect AirPort-enabled devices. You may need to use the Search for an Older
Mac option.)

OS X Yosemite and later support both sets of protocols, but are set to Bluetooth LE/Wi-Fi as
the default. To access older Macs, you must select the option to search for older Macs. This
will reset the
protocol to the older version, allowing you to connect with older Macs, but not with iOS or
newer Macs using Bluetooth LE/Wi-Fi. In OS X Yosemite and later, you’ll find this option
labeled “Don’t see who you’re looking for?” at the bottom of the AirDrop folder window.
Clicking in this text will bring up the option to Search for an older Mac.
AirDrop Privacy
With the newer version of AirDrop, you can set who can see you on the AirDrop network to:
No One: This prevents you from appearing on anyone else’s AirDrop folder, though you can
still see others. Contacts Only: Only those users who are listed in your Contacts app can
see you.
Everyone: You will appear on all nearby devices that have AirDrop turned on.
The original version of AirDrop allowed anyone nearby to see you, although you had to
accept any file transfer before it could be successfully sent.
(Modern versions of AirDrop allow you to control who can see you on the AirDrop
network.)
Wired Ethernet Networks and AirDrop
AirDrop was designed specifically to use Wi-Fi, leaving out anyone using a hard- wired
Ethernet network.
There is, however, a workaround that will allow you to participate in AirDrop file sharing, but
with the restriction that your Mac will be treated as an older Mac using the original AirDrop
protocol. If the limitations of not being able to share with iOS devices, and that other Macs

must use the Search for older Mac option are acceptable, then you can enable AirDrop on a
wired network.
Why Qualcomm's return to the iPhone is a huge win for Apple customers
For Apple to lead in the 5G space, it needs Qualcomm. And it knows it.
By Jason Perlow for Tech Broiler | April 17, 2019 -- 11:19 GMT (04:19 PDT
Qualcomm finally decided to bury the hatchet, just as the two were entering a possible new
phase of continuing lawsuits in US federal court.
Apple, after losing yet another judgment of patent violation in its ongoing battle with the
wireless technology firm last month, was facing the very real possibility of import bans. The
settlement, as described by Apple, includes a six-year licensing agreement on Qualcomm
technologies, with a two- year option to extend, as well as a multi-year chipset supply
agreement.
As far as I am concerned, there couldn't be a better possible outcome for everyone involved.
The biggest winner? Apple's customers.
Many of the company's customers will attest that the quality of Apple's wireless chipsets in
the iPhone and iPad have declined substantially since the company switched entirely over to
Intel baseband processors in late 2018, with the introduction of the iPhone XR, iPhone XS
and iPhone XS Max.
As a result of this settlement, Intel, losing its only customer in this segment, has now
shuttered its 5G wireless chipset business.
Will the iPhone XE be Apple's next big thing?
Apple began to flirt with Intel chips around the time of the iPhone 7, in September of 2016,
where it had released two versions of the model -- one for GSM- based LTE networks such
as AT&T and T-Mobile, which used an Intel baseband processor, and one for Verizon, which
used a Qualcomm chipset instead.
The last time that Apple used Qualcomm in all of its iOS products was at the launch of the
iPhone 6S, in September of 2015.
Throughput benchmarks on the two chips has varied considerably, and lab-based
performance tests have indicated that the Intel chips may have actually been about the same,
or even faster than their Qualcomm counterparts on LTE networks.
However, many users have complained about overall LTE (and Wi-Fi) reliability and signal
strength, particularly in newer versions of iOS. Much of Qualcomm's lawsuits with Apple have
been on software-related patent issues, and Apple has been quick to make modifications to
their stack to remove those infringements -- almost certainly at the cost of reliability and real-
world performance on the iPhone and iPad.

Going forward, this settlement has a number of implications. First, if the settlement involves
software patents covered by the litigation, then these features, codecs and other
optimizations for wireless connectivity can be folded back into iOS, even if it means these are
running strictly as software on top of Intel's baseband chips. In turn, owners of current Apple
devices, going back as far as the iPhone 7 or possibly even earlier, can take advantage of
them -- and Apple could roll these fixes back into iOS within weeks.
But while LTE baseband performance and reliability is important, the real key developments
are going to occur over 5G.
Qualcomm is the undisputed world leader in 5G chipsets, particularly in products so in the

western hemisphere.The company is also NorthAmerica's most importantcarrier equipment
provideror both LTE and 5G equipment, particularly now that Huawei, its largest international
competitor,appears to be increasinglyout of favor with US and foreign carriers as a result of
legal scrutiny in the US for alleged export violations and possible corporate espionage. Had
Apple continued protracted litigation with Qualcomm, the situation would almost certainly
have turned untenable, as it would have faced the very real possibility of having iPhones,
iPads and the
Apple Watch operate on future North American and other carrier networks using almost
exclusively all Qualcomm 5G equipment.
These carriers in turn would also be reselling future competing 5G handsets from Samsung,
Google, LG and others that will also use Qualcomm's Snapdragon SoCs and LTE/5G
baseband processors, which would be fully optimized to run on those networks. Apple would
be at a clear disadvantage, and there would be situations where interoperability and
throughput of Intel baseband chips could be compromised.
This is an aggravation Apple would have had to constantly battle with -- and if not using Intel's
chips, having to design their own. This would have been at a likely cost of billions of dollars
with no guarantee of success technologically or legally. Alternatively, having to do business
with Huawei as a 5G chip supplier to ensure interoperability in the current political climate
would also be unthinkable.
Regardless, this is all in the past and Apple can now move forward. It seems that their future
with 5G and their relationship with Qualcomm and the ongoing use of Qualcomm technology
is now secure. And Apple's customers can now breathe a collective sigh of relief that this
unfortunate and counterproductive period of the company's history is finally over.
Sheridan students repair school devices as part of class

By Ryan Patterson The Sheridan Press Via Wyoming News Exchange

Apr 20, 2019 0
Sheridan High School senior Nathan Petzold fixes a laptop during a recent computer repair course at
Sheridan High School.
Ryan Patterson Photo/The Sheridan Press
SHS business education teacher Shirley Coulter teaches the yearlong electives — A+
computer repair and Networking — that give students the chance to learn more about
computers while also repairing all of the Chromebooks used by Sheridan County School
District 2.
Coulter said the courses began around 2010 as a way to help the school district’s employees
with technology fixes, but now the students handle all the repairs. As SCSD2 moved to a one-
to-one ratio of students and computers — the school district has about 3,500 students —
more and more devices needed fixing.
Coulter said the overall goal of the two courses — both of which can be taken for college
credit — is to provide students with future job skills, even if they don’t go into a career directly
related to computers right away.
The classes are structured so students can somewhat work at their own pace, with weekly
assignments and quizzes based on video tutorials. If students finish assignments early, they
can work ChromeBooks that need to be repaired.

All of the students said repairing computers is the best because of the hands-on aspect. Most
of the fixes only take a few minutes to complete and are fairly straightforward, like a cracked
screen or faulty trackpad. Other problems involve more work, like when a battery is damaged
or the pointer cursor moves on the screen without anyone touching the mouse.
“You have some special cases with computers [that] come in with wacky damage,” SHS
junior Stephen Leonard said.
“Some of them had wires that caught on fire, or we had one case where a kid bit a computer.”
Students also said replacing the “enter” key on a keyboard is one of the more challenging
tasks because of the key’s small size and fragility.
The repairs are not strictly limited to Chromebooks, either. Students sometimes clean out
dust filters on projectors or help teachers with iPad issues.
The high-schoolers can also receive certification through Dell — the company that makes the
Chromebooks used by SCSD2 — which allows them to order parts for laptops and record
repairs in a database.
The courses also strengthen students’ chances of a computer science internship. That is
exactly what happened for Leonard, who secured a summer job with the school district
technology support services this year to work on various tasks in different schools.
Leonard took a thought-provoking computer course in seventh grade and wanted to keep
learning.
“I like computers and how they work, and it just seems really interesting to me,” Leonard said.
SHS senior Nathan Petzold is considering a career in computer engineering. Petzold took the
class under the impression that he knew a fair amount about computers but soon found out
he didn’t. Despite the learning curve, Petzold said the course has helped him with computer
repairs at home and said he might do something related to computer repairs as a side
business in the future.
SHS junior Dawson Morris wants to pursue a career related to information technology or
networking. He called the courses fun and applicable.
“This class actually gives me an idea of what I want to do whenever I get out of high school
(and) college,” Morris said. “... I’ve always wanted to build my own computer, and because of
this class, I’ve actually gained the knowledge to know how to build my computer.”
Morris said it surprised him how complex computers are. They contain more aspects than he
anticipated but he now has a better sense of how they work.
“There was so much more to computers than I originally thought,” Morris said. “The computer
itself, it seems so simple. It just seems like a few components put together to make
something that you use on a regular basis. But whenever you go into the settings on a

computer, there’s so much more, and before I actually took this class, I had no idea what any
of it meant. It’s actually kind of amazing how much detail is in these types of things.”
As computers become more and more common in classrooms, local high-schoolers are
keeping the district’s devices up and running.
K-12 Leaders Unite for ‘Check the Privacy,’ a One-Stop Shop for Safe
Classroom Tech
By Emily Tate May 1, 2019
For years, the privacy community has been urging educators to be more intentional—and
careful—about introducing new tech tools in their classrooms.
But expecting teachers to wade through the legalese of every vendor’s privacy policy may be
too much to ask for. And requesting that they apply for, then wait for approval on, each new
app that catches their eye? That can prove tedious and inefficient—especially with most
districts now running more than 500 edtech products per month. Even efforts to rate and
review products’ privacy features have been stymied, with so much competing, contradictory
information now available.
But a coalition of K-12 privacy leaders promises a better solution. Called Check the Privacy,
the initiative, announced Wednesday, aims to provide a one-stop shop for educators
searching for safe, secure tools to use with their students.
Check the Privacy contains a searchable library of more than 7,000 edtech products, with
information about their privacy protections, compliance with major student data privacy
legislation and endorsements by major organizations and privacy projects.

A screenshot of Check the Privacy's searchable library of more than 7,000 edtech products.
The idea for something like this has been bubbling for a long time, says Marlo Gaddis, chief
technology officer of North Carolina’s Wake County Public Schools and a founding member of
Check the Privacy.
“Part of this is born out of social responsibility,” Gaddis tells EdSurge. “It doesn’t matter if it’s
my kids or Miami-Dade’s—student data privacy is an important piece for us to look at as a
community. We’re all trying to solve the same problem.”
Indeed, thousands of schools and districts have tried tackling this issue on their own, as have
nonprofit organizations. States like California and Connecticut have developed their own
hubs where educators can find software that has been vetted for compliance with privacy
rules. Common Sense also maintains a database of education apps with information about
their privacy practices.
But such efforts deserve more collaboration and coordination, says Karl Rectanus, co-
founder and CEO of LearnPlatform, the edtech system that is powering Check the Privacy’s
digital library.

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GAB’er Page: 1 May 14, 2019

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

161 Washington Ave Ext, Albany, NY

A map can be found at the GAAB website at

GAAB Meeting Agenda

Discussion of the Annual June Dinner

Contact GAAB at our Website: http://applebyters.com

GAAB Help Desk: Bring your questions

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Apple Was Never Going To Have A 5G Phone In 2019, And

 Samsungʼs S10 5G is a mess of compromises - it is more of an advanced

 Qualcommʼs 5G hardware comes with a range of design conundrums.

Soup Nazi has competition. Apple The 5G Event Horizon

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Focusing is about saying no.

How Apple Makes a Phone, Or Anything Else

Unsurprisingly, Apple's product development is somewhat different than their

 Control as much of the core technologies as possible.

The number one contributor to the user experience in a mobile device is

Remember, Apple is the company which told us we couldn't have a 3.5mm

Contact GAAB at our Website: http://applebyters.com

Contact GAAB at our Website: http://applebyters.com

1. Focus entirely on the customer experience.

7. Have relatively few SKUs.

9. As much as possible, own all the key technologies in your devices.

10. Hardware and software development are concurrent and work

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That's what patience looks like.

What We Mean By "5G"

"5G" is a marketing term adopted by the wireless industry to describe a group of

One of the companies I follow is MasTec (MTZ), which is a telecom construction

Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) solution to this problem is one Apple would never

The Apple Design

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They were never going to have a 5G phone in 2019.

Galaxy S10 Plus Galaxy S10 5G

157.6 × 74.1 × 7.8 162.6 × 77.1 × 7.9

Weight 175 gr 198 gr

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Screen 6.4 inch 6.7 inch

3,040 × 1,440 (526 3,040 × 1,440 (502

Battery 4,100mAh 4,500mAh

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This leads to an interesting conundrum. If the RF 5100 supports everything from

Still, where 'dem antennae?

 There is empty space in the phone.

Does any of that sound like Apple to you?

Also, where 'dem antennae?

But What About 2020?

Upshot of All This

Mostly, status quo ante.

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macOS 101: AirDrop Tips for Mac and iOS Users

Tuesday, April 24th, 2018 | Author: Tom Nelson

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Wired Ethernet Networks and AirDrop

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Will the iPhone XE be Apple's next big thing?

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Qualcomm is the undisputed world leader in 5G chipsets, particularly in products so in the

Sheridan students repair school devices as part of class

By Ryan Patterson The Sheridan Press Via Wyoming News Exchange

GAB'er 201905

GAB'er 201905