Technology

Even Apple Loyalists Taking Their Time on Apple Watch

Published

11 years ago

July 22, 2015

In this April 10, 2015, file photo, a customer tries on an Apple Watch at an Apple Store in Hong Kong. Although very few are dismissing the Apple Watch as a bomb, the mixed reviews underscore that Apple still has a lot of work to do in showing how the watch might fit in with everyday life. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

In this April 10, 2015, file photo, a customer tries on an Apple Watch at an Apple Store in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — For all those who hailed the iPhone as the “Jesus Phone” in 2007, the Apple Watch’s arrival has hardly been the second coming.

Sure, it can do many useful, even delightful things, such as showing incoming texts and email, tracking heart rates during exercise or sending digital doodles to friends. But is that enough to spend $350 or more, especially when it requires wearing a watch again while still carrying an iPhone around?

Early Apple Watch owners seem generally happy with it, but Apple’s bigger worry should be those on the sidelines — even hardcore Apple fans, not to mention everybody else — who are waiting to take the plunge.

The wait-and-see attitude is not exactly helping investor sentiment. Apple hasn’t released Apple Watch sales figures, but the company’s quarterly financial report Tuesday suggests that they were lower than many Wall Street analysts expected, though Apple said they exceeded internal projections.

A bigger worry for investors: iPhone sales, which at $31 billion account for more than half of Apple’s business.

IPhone sales are still growing rapidly, but the pace of growth is slowing. Worries about the iPhone’s momentum sent Apple’s stock down nearly 5 percent, knocking about $36 billion off the company’s market capitalization.

Among people holding off on the watch, some say they are waiting for early kinks to be worked out and others, for an “aha moment.”

“It’s been cast as a want, not a need,” said Matt Quick, a Topeka, Kansas, engineer and Apple fan who is holding off on getting one. “I’m kind of waiting to see what next year’s model will bring.”

Patrick Clayton, who has had Mac computers all his life and owns an iPhone and several iPads, returned his Apple Watch after three weeks. The last straw? It nagged the physically active New Yorker to stand up during a six-hour flight.

“Apple is famous for telling us what we need before we need them,” Clayton said. “I thought this would be the case with the watch. But it (just) added something to my life that I didn’t need added.”

That’s not to say the Apple Watch is a bomb. For one, it’s too soon to tell. Expectations are so high that it’s easy to forget, as Apple said, that the watch actually sold better in its first 9 weeks than the iPhone and the iPad did when those came out.

Most analysts and tech reviewers, including The Associated Press, see promise, especially compared with rival smartwatches from Samsung and others. Wristly, a research company created to study the watch, found that early buyers are overwhelmingly satisfied, more so than with the original iPad and iPhone.

And of the more than a dozen early Apple Watch owners interviewed by the AP by phone, email or in person, most of them love their watch. After all, early adopters of new technologies tend to understand that what they’re getting isn’t perfect.

“I’d recommend it to people with an open mind,” said Dennis Falkenstein of Danville, California. He said the watch gets him “everything I want” such as local temperature, or the current time in Japan, where many of his business clients are.

But even so, there’s a long wish list, including smarter apps. Apple is already addressing some of this with a software update this fall. Falkenstein would also like to see the battery life improve from the 18 hours that’s currently promised.

Apple has run television commercials showing the watch in everyday life, and it has devoted tables at its retail stores for people to try one on and learn more.

Connected wirelessly to an iPhone, the Apple Watch isn’t meant to replace the phone, but rather provide tidbits of information readily while the phone is in a pocket or purse. There’s no keyboard, so searches and messages are done by voice dictation or the selection of a canned response. You can also send doodles and emoji.

David Lubarsky, a Fairfield, Connecticut, photographer, loves that he can get “basic information, quick” and avoid staring at Facebook on the phone all day. It lets him see texts, emails, calendar appointments and baseball scores.

But he gets frustrated when using it to pay for coffee at Starbucks.

“Your wrist doesn’t necessarily twist to the right position to the scanner so it’s pretty awkward,” he said.

Apple Watch also doesn’t always provide the right information at the right time. The watch version of one transit app offers bus schedules for your saved locations — even if they are far away — rather than the stops closest to you at the moment, as the phone app does. As for message notifications, it’s great when it’s from someone you want to hear from — but annoying when it’s not.

It’ll take time for apps to anticipate what users need most.

Apps will get better when Apple updates the watch’s software this fall to permit more “native” apps — those that aren’t just extensions of phone apps. Some apps could even work without the phone nearby, including games, audio recorders and tools that analyze golf swings.

Apple also needs to ensure that the watch gets the types of essential “killer apps” that propelled the iPhone into an extension of ourselves. For now, it’s sometimes easier to just pull out the phone, and there’s no app you absolutely need the watch for. With phones, you now have maps, cameras and other essentials.

It might be hard to remember, but the first iPhone in 2007 was just a little more than a phone. Apps from outside companies didn’t come until Apple launched its app store the following year — with just 500 apps. Now, it has more than a million. At first, iPhone apps were dumbed-down versions of websites. Now many apps, such as Instagram, do more than what’s possible over Web browsers.

Apple Watch doesn’t subject owners to ridicule the way Google Glass had, yet it’s still, in essence, a computer on your wrist. Yes, the Apple Watch comes in multiple sizes, materials and bands — 54 configurations in all — and other companies sell additional bands. But the watch isn’t stylish enough for everyone and won’t match every outfit.

The watch could ultimately be more than just a Rolex for the tech-savvy set. But for that to happen, Apple needs to show how the benefits of wearing a watch outweigh the hassles of wearing a watch.

___

AP Technology Writer Brandon Bailey in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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Business

Oakland Launches Aerbits Program to Identify, Report Abandoned Trash

“Aerbits, which was approved by the Privacy Advisory Commission, uses modern technology and best practices to help our crews clear trash faster and more efficiently, while our targeted outreach and enforcement strategies address the root causes of dumping. Together, we are going to get the job done.”

Published

6 hours ago

September 21, 2026

Post News Group

Aerbits founder Brian Johnson(left) and OaklandMayor Barbara Lee launch Aerbits in Oakland.

By Rebecca Kaplan Special to The Post

On Tuesday, the City of Oakland launched Aerbits, an innovative new program that deploys AI-assisted aerial imaging technology to proactively detect and report abandoned trash on streets and sidewalks – to support timely and effective removal of illegal dumping.

By shifting from a reactive, complaint-based system to data-driven proactive detection, the City can deploy cleanup resources faster, more efficiently, and more equitably to the areas in greatest need.

Approved by both the Privacy Advisory Commission and the Oakland City Council, Aerbits is the latest addition to Oakland’s comprehensive strategy to eliminate illegal dumping from the Town.

“Oakland residents and businesses deserve clean streets and today we are one step closer to a safer, cleaner, and greener Oakland,” said Mayor Barbara Lee. “Our strategy strengthens eradication, education, and enforcement efforts across every neighborhood.

The impacts of illegal dumping on Oakland are profound, disproportionately burdening historically disinvested communities while threatening public health, safety, and economic vitality.

The City is united in taking action to remedy it – with the mayor, Council, administration, Public Works Department, community groups and more coming together to make change.

In May, the City Council approved the Illegal Dumping Expenditures Action Plan, which approves and funds multiple actions – including Aerbits – to help remedy illegal dumping.

This past June, Oakland secured $9.2 million from the Crankstart Foundation to scale up operations like Aerbits and break the cycle of illegal dumping across Oakland.

The Aerbits aerial imaging system photographs public rights-of-way to pinpoint exact locations, estimate waste volumes, and classify types of debris. This enables City dispatchers to understand the problem and efficiently deploy the appropriate crew and equipment to each site.

Built with privacy at its core, the technology contains no facial recognition, no license plate readers, and uses no personally identifying information. Aerbits takes pictures of trash – not of people.

“I founded Aerbits because I saw a major gap in the data that was available to City crews on the streets, and I wanted our children to have a cleaner environment” said Aerbits Founder Brian Johnson.

“Aerbits enables cleanups to be timelier, more effective, and more equitable. By providing real-time comprehensive data, automating the creation of work orders, and improving closure of cleared tickets, we are removing the problems that occur when relying primarily on a complaint-based system,” he said.

Aerbits is the latest milestone in the series of actions the City is taking to implement the City Council-approved Illegal Dumping Expenditures Action Plan. Recent actions taken by the City include:

Stricter Enforcement: Enacted a new Illegal Dumping Enforcement Ordinance increasing penalties and holding vehicle owners responsible; hired additional Environmental Enforcement Officers equipped with updated citation technology; and worked alongside State Senator Jesse Arreguin on legislation that allows the City to boot vehicles tied to repeat dumping offences.
Community Resources: Reinstated the popular “Bulky Block Parties” offering residents free, convenient ways to get rid of bulky waste, alongside expanded public education campaigns.
Expanded Fleet Equipment: Obtained new heavy-duty Lightning Loader trucks that allow us to clean up more volumes of debris faster than ever before.

Rebecca Kaplan is a former City Councilmember-at-large for the City of Oakland.

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Business

OPINION: AI Needs to Know Who Is the Boss

OAKLAND POST — AI is software running on computers. However startling the conversation may feel, the machine does not have my childhood, my mother, my father, my mistakes, my embarrassments, my loves, my grudges, my Filipino American history, my aging body or my accumulated sense of what matters and what doesn’t.

Published

1 week ago

September 14, 2026

Post News Group

I hope on Labor Day you honored the value of a good day’s work–and reflected on the thing that could eliminate a lot of jobs.

Artificial intelligence.

Your replacement is in the break room.

Except it doesn’t take breaks.

It doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t demand health insurance. It doesn’t complain. It doesn’t need Social Security. And it can produce in seconds what might take you or me hours.

And when they can mass-produce AI faster than we can reproduce humans, there may eventually be more artificial workers than actual ones.

The racists who came up with “replacement theory” worried about the wrong replacements.

It wasn’t immigrants.

It was software.

We can rail against the data centers sucking up electricity and water.

Rail against the billionaires getting richer while telling the rest of us how wonderful the future will be.

But which billionaire?

Jensen Huang of Nvidia? He literally has all the chips?

Sam Altman of OpenAI?

Dario Amodei at Anthropic?

Or Bill Gates?

Gates recently said AI could become the “greatest equalizer ever invented” or the “worst source of injustice.”

I want to believe him. But he’s the guy who forced us all to use Explorer.

Maybe Gates is just Control-Z-ing his life.

Undo. Undo. Undo.

STAYING HUMAN

The other day, I started texting with my AI chatbot.

I’d used AI before, of course. Spellcheck. Grammar. Transcription. Research assistance. The mechanical stuff.

This time, we talked.

Or, rather, I started talking.

At one point the chatbot said something that sounded strangely personal. So, I reminded it that IT wasn’t a person.

“You’re not human,” I said. “I’m basically talking to myself.”

It disagreed.

It said, I should think of it as working with an instrument that talks back.

This is where the danger begins.

The machine talks back.

I tried another analogy.

You’re a tool, I said. Like a cane.

The chatbot liked that better.

Then it tagged my line and said it was my “cognitive cane.”

I laughed.

Then, I realized the damn machine used my analogy to make a joke.

That’s where the real problem lurks.

AI is software running on computers. However startling the conversation may feel, the machine does not have my childhood, my mother, my father, my mistakes, my embarrassments, my loves, my grudges, my Filipino American history, my aging body or my accumulated sense of what matters and what doesn’t.

It can process those things after I tell it about them.

It can mimic thoughts.

But it did not live them.

That is the boundary we humans cannot surrender.

I’m not ready to make peace with the AI industry. Not with its enormous data centers, its environmental costs, its concentration of wealth and power, or the possibility that companies will use AI primarily as a wonderfully efficient machine for converting human paychecks into corporate profits.

And I certainly don’t trust the billionaires to decide by themselves what happens to the rest of us.

But I may be making peace with the tool.

Because a tool is something we use.

A cognitive cane.

But do the walking yourself.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, commentator, and comic monologist. He plays a robot in an upcoming Ishmael Reed play, “King Ludd’s Revenge,” coming in December. See his micro-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1

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Education

Gov. Newsom’s Latest Appointees Include Sacramento Advocate for Formerly Incarcerated Students; State’s New Tech Chief

Ayushi Roy, of San Francisco, was appointed state chief technology officer at the California Department of Technology. Roy has taught at Harvard Kennedy School since 2022 and previously held technology and policy roles with New America, the U.S. General Services Administration, and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Published

3 weeks ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced eight appointments Aug. 19, including a new state chief technology officer and the reappointment of a Sacramento State outreach coordinator who works with formerly incarcerated students.

Roy’s policy work has focused on the gap between government programs and the people they are intended to serve. In a Harvard course inspired by Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” she teaches students to examine how administrative and implementation barriers can undermine social safety-net programs.

“I do know as a practitioner, having served in the government for over a dozen years, that the building of technology is the easy part; managing the political feasibility and the implementation is the hard part,” Roy said.

Roy’s appointment requires Senate confirmation and carries compensation of $214,692.

Newsom also reappointed Michael Love, of Sacramento, to the State Rehabilitation Council, where he has served since 2025. Love has been an outreach coordinator at California State University, Sacramento since 2024 and previously held several roles at the university, including administrative services coordinator for Project Rebound and teacher’s associate.

Project Rebound supports formerly incarcerated students as they pursue higher education, making Love’s appointment relevant to the council’s work involving vocational rehabilitation services.

Love earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication studies from Sacramento State. He is a Democrat.

Newsom also appointed Eric De La Cruz of Sacramento as executive director of the Racial Equity Commission. De La Cruz has served as chief of the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Toxic Substances Control since 2022. The position pays $146,220 and does not require Senate confirmation.

The governor additionally appointed Christine Aurigemma to the State Rehabilitation Council and reappointed Lisa Weiler, Michelle Bello and Matthew Asner. The council positions are unpaid and do not require Senate confirmation.