iWatch Prototypes Could Be Ready, Apple Hires Fitness Physiologists For Tests 100
SmartAboutThings writes "Recently, Apple has been on a hiring spree, allegedly adding to its 100+ team of members of the iWatch team a sleep expert, a former expert in pulse oximetry and many others. Now, according to a recent job listing on Apple's own website, it seems that Cupertino is looking for physiologists for fitness and energy tests. In my opinion, this can only mean that the iWatch is nearing its final stage and that experts are required to assess how it fares."
first post (Score:1, Insightful)
F' beta.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
F' beta.
Why in Odin's name would a company buy a site whose user base was historically so anti M$ and expect that they could make money from it by changing it to a M$/advertising oriented site. It reeks of affluenza enhanced megalomania. Someone's gonna buy this site for pennies in a few months.
And have you noticed the polls? 1 out of 4 has something to do your employment status or conditions. Can you spell market research? I'll bet your resumes' IP, writing style and any other identifying data is being matched to
Re: (Score:3)
Apollo 13 was kind of Beta...
Re:first post (Score:5, Informative)
Why in Odin's name would a company buy a site whose user base was historically so anti M$ and expect that they could make money from it by changing it to a M$/advertising oriented site. It reeks of affluenza enhanced megalomania.
Because sites like Slashdot were VERY influential in communicating public opinion on just how bad Vista was.
Microsoft recognized that, and engaged Waggener Edstrom and Burson-Marsteller to manage Social Media Marketing (SMM) for Windows 7 onwards. They used huge numbers of sock-puppet teams to quash any suggestion that Microsoft products were not stable or optimum in their roles. As well as promoting Microsoft, they heavily attacked competitors like Firefox, Google, Linux, Libre Office, Android etc. Any posting of FOSS or alternative products attracted a storm of FUD talking points that made it impossible to have a rational discussion.
Because the discussions became so polluted with marketers, most of Slashdot's readership left the site in the years between the Windows 7 release and now. The marketers have stayed though, and still post and moderate to present as rosy a view of their sponsors proprietary products as possible, while spewing FUD about Open Source. If you look at Slashdot's current demographic, most visitors are from call-centers in Mumbai and Pune in IndiaMumbai and Pune in India [alexa.com]. They rarely contribute directly to discussions, but copy/paste/post the SMM talking points at every opportunity and moderate their partners into visibility and competitors to oblivion.
Dice gets most of their income from companies like Microsoft, Apple etc who pay for their products to receive favorable and frequent attention.
Re: (Score:3)
"Dice gets most of their income from companies like Microsoft, Apple etc who pay for their products to receive favorable and frequent attention."
Do not forget Google (How many GoogleGlass Articles this week?).
US5722418
+
US5644363
+
GoogleGlass
+
Acceptance
=
????
If history is any sort of an indicator, any rights we sell today, our children must buy back with blood tomorrow
Re: (Score:1)
While this is certainly cool, is there a list where I can cite specific accounts of who are paid marketers rather than unaffiliated customers? Is this theory simply somebody's fantasy?
Fucking Shill (Score:1)
The new site responds better, looks better, and has some nice features.
I especially like how you don't actually list issue you have
Exactly like how you don't actually list what the "nice features" are. Or what you consider "better looking". Or how you're measuring the "response".
Because for most of us, the response time is either no different, or MUCH slower since you have to keep "loading more" comments over and over, instead of just "loading all".
And I don't think it looks better, it wastes a shitload of screen real estate and looks like some high school project that was slapped together after a late-night masturbatory session with y
Re: (Score:2)
Wait, how do you load all comments? At some point, Slashdot has (always?) broken into 'pages', at some weird place.. It's breaking by sub-threads or something, which seems reasonable, except that the subsequent pages usually/always have tons of repeated content..
To be clear, I'm talking about Classic view.
Re: (Score:3)
nice features?
the threading is shit. the use of space on screen is shit. (NONE of the article pictures are relevant!)
loads of empty space where there used to be useful links and snippets of nerdy information.
even the javascript is broken. (the advert only pops on when scrolling a bit down, when header goes into sticky mode)
Re: (Score:2)
Better question (Score:2)
A better question would be why do ACs keep posting this shit against the beta, when in a separate article, the powers that be said they were backing down and re-evaluating?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
because for a number of use the response to
WHAT DO YOU WANT
ends with a wave and "Can you and your associates arrange that Mr SoulSkill??
Okay heres the deal when the US elects a President that actually does what s|he promised when s|he was on the campaign trail then you can shut down Classic Slashdot.
Re: (Score:1)
Please keep it coming.
That is exactly what we are doing. You'll see what happens when we stop keeping it coming between February 10th and 17th.
I know what will happen (Score:1)
Actual discourse among intelligent adults why all the whiny complainers are away.
We will be able to have an actually Apple story without people like you going on long rants, be able to have discussion about climate with all the idiot who think they matter are away.
It will be glorious.
Any chance we could get you to extend that date, to say... the year 3000?
Re:They've responded! (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's give them a chance, folks.
We did. BozoBeta has been around for quite some time. Aside from a few minor cosmetic changes and a few (very few) functional improvements, it's been the same pile of fail. There have been precious few positive comments about it. When Slashdot started pushing the Beta design, the negative comments became more numerous, more strident and more detailed.
So what we get from Timothy is a bit of marketing babble liberally sloshed on to a smidgen of comprehension.
The ball is in your court, Slashdot. Figure it out, it's not really all that hard.
No, we MUST keep the pressure on. (Score:5, Insightful)
No, we need to keep the pressure on.
I learnt a important lesson about a decade ago. Here in the UK there were fuel price protests which _really_ scared the government of the day.
However, the protesters let the momentum disappear after some promises were made and by the time they realised their mistake and organised another protest, the new protest display turned out to be only a shadow of the original protests and nothing really got changed.
I've never forgotten that lesson.
Re: (Score:2)
I was going to mod you up, but I think you'll get to 5 anyway, so instead I will add to your astute observation.
Firstly, it pleases me for Slashdotters to recognize the need for joint organizing and pressure on management, aka, a form of *union*. I'm downright impressed.
Secondly, I think there are several nations in crisis today where the protesters are acting on your words; while the sitting powers seek to divide and distract them with partial and vague promises, the protesters are taking this as the momen
Re: (Score:1)
I fully aggree, fuck beta
Re: (Score:2)
It's a small step in the right direction. But they've mishandled this thing so badly that it'll take more than one vaguely worded post to quiet people down.
Re:They've responded! (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a perfectly valid alternate design for Slashdot already:
http://web.archive.org/web/20000305021033/http://slashdot.org/ [archive.org]
Still looks great -- I prefer it to this design and to Beta. Admins, please bring back the design used around 2000. There is little whitespace, so little wasted space, larger clearer fonts, and still a lot on each page, and little or no JavaScript cruft. Besides those significant improvements, it looks warmer and more classic.
BETA SUCKS. FUCK BETA.
Re (Score:2)
>http://web.archive.org/web/20000305021033/http://slashdot.org/
oh that page made my heart a flutter
(posting from the beta OMG WTF BBQ)
Re: (Score:2)
No shit:
In conclusion: Fuck Beta.
Re: (Score:2)
Am I the only one who really misses those old days and still thinks that the older layout was better? Remember when the pages just loaded all the comments without JavaScript bullshit? Remember when it was still fast despite offering so much, because it was simple? It was easy on the eyes and seemed to be teeming with life and information. :-)
The current design is not as good as that older design, but one thing is certain:
BETA SUCKS. BETA SUCKS. BETA SUCKS. DICE ARE HORRIBLE UNTHINKING MONSTERS, AND SO IS A
Feature request (Score:3)
There's a perfectly valid alternate design for Slashdot already:
http://web.archive.org/web/20000305021033/http://slashdot.org/ [archive.org]
Still looks great -- I prefer it to this design and to Beta. Admins, please bring back the design used around 2000. There is little whitespace, so little wasted space, larger clearer fonts, and still a lot on each page, and little or no JavaScript cruft. Besides those significant improvements, it looks warmer and more classic.
BETA SUCKS. FUCK BETA.
Dear Slashdot management,
Can we please get a button, located at the top of each thread next tot he 'Post' button, that filters out any posts with the word 'Beta' in them when you press it?
Sincerely,
Those rest of us.
Re: (Score:1)
Apple iWatch can't load Beta (Score:4, Funny)
they tried to load Slashdot Beta on the iWatch and it exploded, taking out several hipster Apple testers.
Re:first post (Score:4, Insightful)
WE HEAR YOU We did tell you we wanted feedback. Here's our response.
Your response shows that you didn't hear. The beta is an experiment that has failed. Accept that and move on.
Re: (Score:1)
F' beta.
Yep, i don't often comment, but that thing called /.BETA is hard to look at..No way i want that in my casual browsing future...
Agree (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I need a few hundred moderator points to troll-flag posts.
So you dont like the beta. Stop polluting every frickin news story. Some of us would like to read and comment.
We Are Not Your Audience (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering the news is days to weeks old the only value here is the COMMUNITY. We do not clap for your poorly worded couple paragraph news scrapes like a bunch of mindless buffoons, we are here to debate, and find a common ground on topics that we find interesting.
There is plenty of things to fix on slashdot, beta does not address a single one of them and makes the site pointless to visit. Your move...
*slow clap* (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
And this is what I still don't understand: Why? What was the motivation for the redesign? What problems was it supposed to solve? (And if the answer is 'to better serve ads', then you might as well tell us, because we'll find out anyway.)
Re:We Are Not Your Audience (Score:5, Informative)
Managers have an intrinsic need to manage shit. With no new projects and business as usual they feel useless and threatened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P... [wikipedia.org]
read under "The duck technique"
Re: (Score:1)
Are you not entertained! (Score:5, Insightful)
Try us Slashdot.... if you want to proceed with Beta then let's do the following test:
1.) Disable comments for a day
2.) Post stories that are "more accessible" for your "wider audience" to consume
3.) Watch your stats (we know you are obsessing over them.)
4.) Tell us how you like your numbers
Don't screw this up DICE... I've enjoyed Slashdot as a community for 16 years but I am not afraid to move and it sounds like much of the community feels the same way.
#IamSlashdot
Re: (Score:2)
I've enjoyed Slashdot as a community for 16 years but I am not afraid to move and it sounds like much of the community feels the same way.
I'm not afraid to move, it's just that I don't think anything else will be as good. reddit is good if you turn off the default subreddits and subscribe to AskHistory and such, but the commenting system comes no where near to Slashdot's (there's just so much shit on there). I guess that's why I'm commenting on this so much: I care. I want to stay here.
I will leave though.
Re: (Score:3)
If there is one thing I know about this community it is that, unlike the vast majority of other communities out there, we have a huge concentration people with the knowledge, skillset, and passion to create and preserve our community without need for a corporate minder. Perhaps Slashdot beta was the kick in the pants we needed to find out how much we truly valued it. I am already looking into how I can assist in creating a new home for our community if Dice decides that they are not going to listen the comm
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree. However, while it wouldn't be hard to replicate the system and start over anew, we would lose the years of discussions that slashdot has archived. Don't overlook the value of over a decade and a half of the discussions that have made this site what it is lo these many years.
And the value, for what it's worth, of someone with a 3-4 digit ID coming into the discussion to smack someone with his/her cane. We know what that low UID means, not that the person is speaking the gospel, but mayb
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. You are correct about this and it would be regrettable to lose it. Hopefully DICE is sensible and starts treating the community with more respect and comes up with a solution that makes everyone happy.
The biggest challenge here is being willing to lose that historical treasure trove. If you are not willing to lose it then you have no power over the changes others are making that affect you. I would have been quite happy to stay lurking as I normally do. However, the unanimity of the response from o
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Are you not entertained! (Score:1)
Hell, might as well use the opportunity to shill my own stuff (seems like that's what /. is for these days, anyway)...
I was one of the first 5,000 /. users, and like most of you, I too am fed up with all the shenanigans since Dice took over.
That said, I'd like to personally invite the whole, babbling mess of you to come on over to The Register at www.theregister.co.uk.
We're different. We're a little weird. We like to write headlines that pass people off. A lot of the site is pitched from a UK perspective,
Not an idle threat (Score:3)
If you think this contributor won't pack up and leave when things get sucky, just hop on over to my Flickr [flickr.com] page and note the date of my last picture.
Lotsa luck getting that ad revenue without contributors. News aggs plastered with ads are a dime a dozen. You're Digg4ing your grave.
Cool (Score:1)
Now instead of wondering if you're a douche I'll know you are.
Or just an enhanced fitness product (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Or just an enhanced fitness product (Score:4, Funny)
Don't forget that Apple has been offering fitness accessories with Nike since 2006.
What does that have to do with the Beta?
Yeah GP keep on topic! (Score:2)
We have very pressing matters at hand that happened this week, not last week.
Re: (Score:1)
Thanks Obama!
Mother fucker! I knew it!
Re: Listed has been removed (Score:2)
Boycott Slashdot (Score:1)
Dear Timothy:
We don't want this crap you call a beta. We will leave! You will be out of a job! Your wife will leave you.
Beware the ides of March! This beta will be the death of Slashdot. Beware the ides of March!
Boycott Slashdot
I'm still joining the Boycott, are you? (Score:1)
I hardly saw any real words of action in his post. I would rather have heard something along the lines of.. "We have mistakenly pushed beta on 25 percent of our users prematurely. We will be directing those users back to the classic site while we action your feedback regarding, fully functional commenting, over spaced generic design and fixing reported bugs. We do not intend on directing users to the beta site ag
beta needs... (Score:1)
iWatch (Score:2)
What is with this anti-readability trend? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, I noticed the gray on gray too, and gave them feedback.
So, I just checked the current site. Background is okay at ff/ff/ff but the text is 31/37/39. I don't get it, that's just plain nuts.
Pulse Oximeter (Score:1)
elementary (Score:1)
Maybe those experts Apple hired were not to oversee the development of iWatch but to diagnose a mass disorder that had hit its employees hard.
Hey, think differently, after all.
A modest proposal (Score:1)
Perhaps instead of spamming "fuck beta" in the comments of every article, instead we could just comment as usual except with an extra phrase at the end or in the sig. The phrase in question is "Ceterum censeo Beta esse pedicandum," which basically translates as, "By the way, I think the Beta must be fucked." (Anyone who actually knows Latin should feel free to improve the phrase's grammar if necessary.) I think this would be a good way to protest now that Dice is starting to get the point. Keep doing th
I like the more intellectually difficult route (Score:2)
Which is in the spirit of many Amazon reviews, where the comment is sort of on topic but then goes on to discuss how it might be an analogy for (or direct cause of) Slashdot's beta site sucking. Some of the posts I've seen in this vein were absolute gems.
Longtime lurker here (Score:1)
Our community transcends any mere "place". (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
look forward to some other new site/wiki/blog/Fuhrerbunker/casino where I can digitally rub shoulders with y'all in the VERY near future. There are already several posts in other current threads about a possible Altslashdot.org; who knows what other new purpose-built destinations might come to be? But I truly have very little further hope for this fascinating & enlightening place that I've been visiting since before 9/11. It's a place that I miss already, if you know what I mean.
Whenever it's ready! I'll subscribe too.
The design process - iwatch vs Beta (Score:4)
"this can only mean that the iWatch is nearing its final stage and that experts are required to assess how it fares"
Or alternately, they're getting physiologists in at the early design stage so it's actually designed around user needs not marketroid fantasies.
Somewhat unlike the process that led to Beta.
The beta interface is terrible! (Score:3)
I've been a slashdot reader for a good 15 years now and I really hope that the new beta design changes substantially before being pushed to production.
1) FAR too much white space, only two or three stories fit on my screen! This is not Windows 8 and most of us don't have the attention span of a goldfish....
2) Titles have the same background as the story text. This makes it much more difficult to quickly skim the site. Look at this, I made three paragraphs and there's about an INCH of space between them!
3) The comment system has been thoroughly broken.
Launch a poll for the new design and see what happens...
paragraph issue seems to be fixed (Score:2)
hmm, they seem to have fixed the paragraph issue
apparently