Apple's retina display is driving the industry

Nearly a month ago at its annual World Wide Developer Conference, Apple introduce its next generation Macbook Pro. The biggest selling feature (in my opinion) of the new notebook was the absolutely gorgeous retina display. With a mind blowing resolution of 2880x1800 pixels, the 15 inch display was a wondrous assault to the human eye like never before seen in any consumer notebook device. The new Macbook Pro was the third Apple product to receive the retina display treatment following the iPhone and the iPad.

The first time I saw one for myself at an Apple store, I was immediately sold (sadly my wallet didn’t agree). This new Macbook Pro is the perfect computer for the creative type (web designer, photographer, videographer, etc) that needs something powerful and mobile for their various projects. Never mind the fact that this is the next evolution of Apple’s famed unibody notebook design, the spectacular screen alone is worth every bit the heavy price of entry ($2,199). What Apple has done with the display of this product is will change the entire mobile computing landscape for the better - and I’ll explain why. 

THE STATE OF LAPTOP DISPLAYS

While the majority of consumers may not know it, but laptop displays of today are generally just terrible: incredibly dim, low contrast, atrocious viewing angles (the all too familiar LCD color shift), low resolution, and inaccurate colors. How consumers have put up with it for so long really boggles my mind. As an amateur photographer I have always wanted to edit photographs on the go with notebooks but I can’t because there isn’t a laptop on the market with a proper screen (unless I pay through the nose for a professional one) fit for photography work. The screens of the current crop of laptops (using cheap TN LCD technology) are all lackluster and passible only for Internet surfing.

There are multitude of blame to go around for the sad state of mobile computer displays. Price is of course the biggest. The average laptop price have really bottomed out in recent years as consumers generally expect to spend only around $400 - $500 for a brand new one. At those prices, manufacturers simply cannot afford (so they claim) to put quality panels in them. But what about the higher end models? Surely computer makers ought to put the best they can into their flagship products. Sadly that is not the case. Sure the screens on the more expensive models are better (though usually only in resolution), most still use cheap TN screens thus at the core its still average at best. Even Apple is guilty for this, though they have been using markedly better TN LCD in their line of notebooks than the rest of the industry. 

APPLE AND IPS TECHNOLOGY

With the introduction of the iPhone 4, Apple started a display revolution within its own product line. The first of what they would call “retina” display was put into the phone: a 3.5 inch, 956x480 resolution LCD panel utilizing IPS technology. IPS LCD technology has been in use for a long time in really high end displays (usually for professional creative work - I use one myself for photography) and is a massive improvement over its cheaper TN counterpart. IPS offers better colors (and accurate), higher contrast, brighter screen, and 178 degrees of viewing angle.

By making this move, Apple made a big statement: consumers deserve the best technology out there, and we are the ones to deliver. Even naysayers have to agree, no single consumer technology company can dictate to the customer what they want as much as Apple. The iPhone 4’s display showed customers the beauty and importance of a quality display in a smartphone, and that created a driving force for the rest of the players in the industry. No other mobile phone manufacturer henceforth would be caught dead introducing a smart phone with a subpar screen (Samsung’s AMOLED technology being another prime example of quality displays in phones).

Apple of course did not stop with the iPhone. When they introduce its segment defining tablet device the iPad, they equip it with a high quality IPS LCD screen right off the bat. Apple could have easily saved plenty of money by offering a cheaper and inferior screen (since the iPad was the first of it kind, consumers naturally had very little expectation), but fortunately they were adamant in their principle of offering the best for the consumers and zero compromise in user experience. The screen has become the main interface in consumer electronic devices (apologies to the Blackberry crowd), and putting a low quality display in one just completely torpedos the user experience. 

Consumers benefitted hugely from Apple’s bold move - even if you did not purchase an iPad. By putting an IPS screen on their own tablet, Apple forced the hand of other manufacturers (most of them caught flat footed and was busy rushing out tablets of their own to compete with the iPad) to also put similar quality displays into their tablets. Just as it were with the iPhone, Apple has taught the consumer public to expect nothing less than quality displays on their devices.

RESOLUTION MAXIMUS

In addition to pushing the industry into offering displays with better colors, contrast, and viewing angles with IPS technology, in parallel Apple is also leading the way in screen resolution. Even the most non tech savvy of consumers understand this simple paradigm: higher the resolution of a screen, the better it looks to the eye. Text becomes smoother, and pictures pop with sharpness and clarity. Apple understands this innately and has, since the introduction of the iPhone 4, put forth the “retina” class of displays in their devices. A retina display is so called because the pixel density of the display is so minute that the human eye is unable to discern them at normal usage distances (varies based on the type of device).

In order to achieve such lofty standards, the resolution on the screen of devices have to be increased dramatically to levels never before seen. As previously mentioned, the iPhone 4’s 956x480 resolution was twice as many pixels as most phones out on the market at the time. Same with the third generation iPad's 2048x1536 retina screen, and of course the new Macbook Pro’s 2880x1800 resolution display. 

ADVANCING THE INDUSTRY

With the introduction of the next generation Macbook Pro and its IPS retina display, Apple is once again leading the industry in a display technology revolution. No doubt the 15 inch version is only the beginning. It is clear that Apple will continue the permeation of retina display onto other notebook in their line and on the iMac desktops. Other manufacturers will have to answer the call. Long have they argued that it is price prohibitive to put IPS technology in their consumer computing products - but Apple has shown it can be done. When the purchasing power of the entire industry pushing LCD suppliers (like Apple has done to its own), price is no long an excuse.

Screen resolution will also follow suit. For the past couple of years it seems the HD standard have put a cap on the increase in resolution because consumers are satisfied with anything that is labeled “High Definition” - it has been taught to them that it is the highest standard currently possible. Of course, gamers and creative professional alike knows the importance of resolution and have long used screens that are “beyond” HD in resolution. However, the new Macbook Pro’s resolution shatters even the highest end of monitors (2560x1600 pixel 30 inch). Once consumer has seen what a retina class display of high resolution looks like, they will understand the value in it and push the entire industry forward from the downstream.

(Almost) mid-year update

Hard to believe it is already mid May of the year that is 2012 (cue the obligatory "where did all the time go?" spiel). I think it is the proper time to give an update on this very blog of mine just what the heck have I been doing so far this year. Since this is the first paragraph of this blog post, I am suppose to give you a preview of what is to come right? Well, I have only one word for you: busy.

BLOG? WHAT BLOG?  

So busy in fact that the amount of blog post of far this year on this very blog has diminished to an alarmingly low rate (according to my own personal standards) compared to previous years. However free flowing are lack of grammatical correction my blog posts are, they usually take quite a decent amount fo time to write. 2,000 words (about the average amount of words I write each time I blog) of anything just does not write itself within the hour, no matter what the procrastinating college student tells you otherwise (been there, done that). So apologies to myself (new years resolution was to write plenty) and the readers of this blog (count of which can probably be done with the digits on my limbs) for the lack of content these past months. 

Sidebar: I have to say though, that piece about my experience with jury duty was probably the longest blog post I have ever wrote. Took me three days to completely flush it out and begrudgingly edit it.

HARDLY WORKING

What was I so busy with? Mainly work. I of course still work for O'BON; pandering our Eco-friendly school and office supplies to the United States consumer market. My role with the company has shifted and expanded a lot from the guy with the still camera that I was originally hired for (and would not have otherwise graduated undergrad if not for that). That tend to happen often in these small startup companies, where in order to save on labor cost, employees are forced to wear many hats (and not paid nearly as much as they should - America's false sense of high productivity). So yes, I took on many more hats on top of the photographer's hat I was already wearing: social media, marketing, design, email sales, shipping, and office admin.

It has been great to be present for so many facets O'BON (not really all the hard when the company is three people small), and learning from it constantly. I very much enjoy looking at the macro level of things - seeing how all the different compartment fits into the whole picture. Perhaps that is just the "control freak" personality trait that is innate within me (played too much of Sim City during my childhood). Granted, I think few that aspire to start their own company haven't got that obsessive compulsive nature of wanting to control everything, right down the most minute detail.

So that is my day job, if you want to call it that. I only get a little more than half time kind of work hours at O'BON (26.5 hours) so it is not exactly what you would like to refer as satisfactory - especially since I am not longer in school. I was okay with this situation for a bit though (extremely proud to contribute to the under employed statistic), because like many of my recently graduated peers, the job market is just not all that vibrant for us (go to college they said, you'll get a job they said.) Honestly though the pay is absolutely at the bottom of what can be considered as "entry level", and while I am frugal as frugal gets (excluding consumer electronics), I share my mother's worries about not earning enough to befit my college level education (hello there, sense of entitlement). 

WORKING HARD

As luck would have it, early February I found another part time job to supplement my paltry income. Thanks to my hard work and dedication during my four year tenure as a student assistant at the Academic Technology department of San Francisco State University (ha!), I was lucky enough to get brought back into the fold as the night staff for AT distribution. It was familiar and surreal at the same time to be back at the place of employment during my college years. Thank heavens all the knowledge I have ascertained did not escape me even though I was more than nine months removed from having last worked there. 

It was one of the best things to happen to me so far this year. 

There was a running joke at the time back in my college years that if I was there to see SFSU's new library finish and use it, then something is wrong (ie. still haven't graduated undergrad after five years - my apologies to those in majoring in bio or chemistry as the standard operating procedure for you guys is like six years plus). Well, these kind of things have a funny way of unravelling themselves because due to me being hired as the night staff for AT, it meant that I will be working at, that's right, the new library. In fact a week after I was hired, the whole department moved into the new digs. Who would have thought.

Cumulatively then, I went from working 26 hours a week to now a bit over 50. While it was financially awesome, it was definitely not physically or mentally awesome (commuting sucks no matter how you slice it). 12 hour work days takes a toll on you as I have already been sick three times so far this year. My usually exercise schedule is all out of kilter, as nowadays I have to force myself to wake up at 7am to get the workout in. Weekdays I don't get home until 11pm, and then I immediately get ready for bed because I value sleep so damn much (muscles don't repair themselves, you know). At this point I would like to give a shout out to caffeine, because without it, none of this would have been possible.

As you can see, I really haven't got much time these past months for anything else. In fact I have only gone out shooting (photography, not guns) once, which is a great shame. Weekends are definitely for recharging, with the Saturday night to Sunday morning 10 hours of slumber being especially awesome. With the summer months coming up and me ceasing to work night hours due to regular university semester being over, I hope to use the extra time to devote back to my hobbies and other activities. 

ONE DISTRACTION

Of course, that means plenty of baseball. 

As previously blogged, nothing quite compared the joys the Giants baseball season provides. While I won't rehash what I said here, let's just say it is a wonderful outlet and distraction from the all the "normal" stuff. It has been a great shame that due to my work hours, I have not been able to go to games during the weekdays (I am still peeved I missed the Phillies series). Not only did I missed a few key match ups, most important of all weekday games are MUCH cheaper than weekend games and I could have gone to multiple of them for the cost of one. Cannot wait for the summer time (one week away!) when I no longer work night time hours and I can finally go to weekday games again - because living in San Francisco is awesome for this: eat dinner, drive to park, park bit a way for free, and walk to the park just in time for a 7:15pm start time. Yeah, summer nights are awesome like that.

Remember one of my new years resolution for 2012 is to go to more baseball games than the previous year (20+). While I am off to a slow start due to my work schedule, having only gone to a grand total of four games, at least the team's winning percentage while I am at those games is already tremendously better than last years abysmal record. Yes, going to the ballpark, no matter win or lose, is an infinitely better experience than watching it on the tube, but honestly seeing a Giants win live at the ballpark and hearing the sweet sounds of Tony Bennet singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" as you exit is like nothing else. 

PHOTOGRAPHY IS PROHIBITED

Sad to say with all the business going on, my main hobby of photography was horribly neglected to far this year (not as severe as my gaming hobby though - I don't think my PS3 has been turned on at all this year). One bit of good news (for me) is that I finally ditched my entry level Canon Rebel XSi camera and stepped up to the big leagues with a professional grade Canon 7D (yes, it's a crop sensor. I haven't got the cash at the time for a full frame 5D Mark III). The difference in just handling and build quality of the two camera is absolutely night and day, not to mention the functionality and higher quality components. The limited shooting I have done with the 7D have been a joy (of course I am saying this partly because I spent a relative fortune on it), and the only negative thing is that it makes me want to reshoot everything that I have already shot with the XSi (not going to happen). 

Happy to report that my photo a day 366 project (due to this year being a leap year, it's a 366 project, not 365) is still going extremely well. But it goes without saying that for the rest of this year I need get back into the swing of things and go out and shoot much more often than I have (lest I risk blowing another of my new years resolutions). I am also looking forward to actually making some prints of the stuff I have done, either through a commercial entity or buying a photo printer for myself (oh, be still my wallet). 

(HALF) MID-LIFE

So what are the plans for the rest of this year? Definitely more of the same with regards to work (and baseball!). You can say I am basically in work and save money kind of mode right now. I am still contemplating the merits of a MBA graduate degree (outside of appeasing the hopes and dreams of my parents - how filial of me) so I think I will put that off another year just to be sure I am not dumping a few tens of thousands into tuition just for the sake of it. 

I turn 25 at the end of the year, and I guess that is a symbolic number as it signals the quarter of one's life (even though it does not make mathematical sense since the average life expectancy in the United States is still somewhere in the mid 80s). I have ask around and it seems like having a quarter life crisis is not all that uncommon these days (granted, not exactly a statistical sound kind of polling i did). I guess age 25 coincides quite coincidentally with most people's end of higher education (or imminent end) and thus they are stuck in the chasm between all they have ever known (education!) and full on adulthood (work for the rest of your life!). Age 25 is the "ho lee shit" moment.  

Well, in Stephen Colbert fashion, I am determined to have my OWN quarter life crisis, but not in a negative kind of way. I am going to embrace the ambiguity that exist between now and the future, and just take things as they come. Like the midlife crisis, I am going to buy a sports car. All in all, there is only one way I am determined to go:

Onwards and upwards.  

The milieu of baseball season

Now I realize I am probably using the word “milieu” incorrectly (once you read I am about to write) but the whole title just made sense when I sounded it in my head. Besides, who doesn’t want to sound more classy by integrating other lingual derivations of the Latin root into the English language? 

Baseball season is just the best time of the year for me, and people like me. People like me that have recently graduated from university (and thus forsaken the burden of that evil thing called homework), found our first steady job, and other than that haven’t got much going on in terms of anything consistently time consuming. Oh, having an extreme affinity for the game of baseball is a must. 

Why is it so special?

Because everyday there is a new game. Unlike other major sports, there is literally a game every day for six whole months out of the year. That means there is something to look forward to everyday (games are usually during the night time). Of course there are those out there that bemoans the fact a baseball season is 162 games long but I say that is just perfect. For almost half the days out of the year I get to have that anticipation of game time; when I can relax and enjoy the game. All that makes the other parts of the day that are trying (you know, work?) that much more endurable.

Of course it helps that the team that you root for is in contention and is winning games on a fairly consistent basis. But even if that was not so, I’d would still (try to) watch every  single game that comes on each day. For I am no bandwagon (or fair weather) fan - I am a genuine fan of the game of baseball. Even in defeat there is much to digest about the pitching, hitting, and the nuance of the game. Besides, because there are so many games the crush of defeat only last for a few minutes until you get renewed hope for victory in the game that will be played the next day.

Some will say haven’t you got better things to do than waste three hours each day watching a “game’? Well, it is all down to the circumstances. For me there is no more perfect time in my life to take in the baseball I can get. As mentioned before I have zero obligations outside of going to work everyday (and those are 12 hour work days my friend) and keeping myself alive and clothed. If not now then when? When I have a family with kids to take care of? (Sorry darling, your father can’t bathe you right now because the Giants are on television.) 

There is nothing quite like waking up during the baseball season, when I know I have a game to look forward to watching later on that day. It makes everything else, that much better. 

The Hong Kong dessert cafe quandary

Hong Kong dessert cafes that offers the kind of delectables seen in the picture above to the sweet cravings of the young Asian populous. Every time I pass by one of these establishments during the wee hours of the night, I am sure to find throngs of Asians in their twenties or late teens stationed inside, enjoying a night snack (what we Cantonese speaking Chinese people call 燒夜 “siew yeh.”)

Now I am not going to go on a diatribe about the health detriments of eating carbs and sweets late in the night, because I myself have partaken in the patronage of these dessert places. Quite honestly they are not all that terrible because I would be eating the same kind of dessert at home. My mother makes practically the same thing, though any desserts related to fruit certainly will not have the presentation panache those dessert places offers. I mean what is the point? Here is a mango, peel it and eat it. I am not going to cut it up all nice into uniform cubes just for the sake of vanity when I know I will just down it within one minute anyways.

So what am I on about?

I am on about how it all looks to those on the outside. It is a widely known stereotype that the Asian gene carries these benefits: looking younger than we really are (until one hit that proverbial wall and then it goes downhill really quick) and having a metabolism so insane that we can eat whatever and still manage to stay thin (my condolences to Asians that are not blessed with the latter.) It is easy to see why there would be some resentment from non-Asian people, because isn’t staying young looking and eating whatever you want, without any consequences, the holy grail? I’m surprised they haven’t locate the specific trait in the Asian gene and turn it into a magic bullet pill for aging and weight gain just yet. 

Asians eating at these HK style dessert places late into the night is just another taunt and slap in the face to those that are not blessed with such desirable genes. It is a “come at me bro” declaration to the populist health propaganda that you shouldn’t eat carbs and sugar, and definitely not after the hours of 6pm. A taunt that says we have evolved the stomach enzymes to break down these supposedly horrible things known as carbs because our ancestors have been eating rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past three thousand years.

So while other Asian stereotypes may have us as docile, sexually impotent (or subservient if you are a female) nerds that knows martial arts and speaks with a weird accent, at least we can still have our cake, and eat it too.