CultCast #327 - Our WWDC ’18 hardware predictions!

This week: 

• Leander goes to the Spaceship campus and he’s back to tell us all about it.
• Siri sucks, Apple knows it, and they’re not sure how to fix it.
• Our 2018 WWDC hardware expectations!
• And you asked, we answer:  Has Tesla become more innovative than Apple? Plus our very honest opinions about the price, features, and value of the MacBook Pro with Touch bar.

  This episode supported by   Easily create a website by yourself, at Squarespace.com.  Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.   Print postage from your office and take advantage of special shipping discounts at pb.com/cultcast, and beat the postage rate increase with exclusive discounts on letters.  Plans start at just $5 a month!   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   On the show this week @erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace   WWDC 2018 returns to San Jose, runs June 4 to 8 https://www.cultofmac.com/534629/wwdc-2018-kicks-off-on-june-4-in-san-jose/

• Apple will kick off its 29th annual Worldwide Developers Conference on MondayJune 4. keynote at 10am?
• The week-long event, which will offer the first previews of Apple’s next big software updates, will again be held in the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose.

  Alt-conf! https://www.cultofmac.com/534701/altconf-2018-offers-a-free-alternative-to-wwdc/   New improved MacBook Air and 9.7-inch iPad could debut at WWDC https://www.cultofmac.com/534141/new-improved-macbook-air-and-9-7-inch-ipad-could-debut-at-wwdc/

• According to a new Digitimes report and also Apple Analyst Ming Chi Kuo, Apple is prepping a new entry-level 13-inch MacBook that will debut in the second quarter of 2018.  The price?  A mere $999.
• One other interesting tidbit in today’s report is that Apple’s upstream supply chain has supposedly started shipping components for a new iPad Pro upgrade and cheaper 9.7-inch iPad. The 9.7-inch iPad is reportedly set to be released in the second quarter of this year (making WWDC a likely candidate for its debut), while the refreshed iPad Pro will come some time in the second half of 2018.
• I’ve seen a ton of sales on the 9.7", and also the iPad Pro more recently.
• June is the 6th month in the year, so technically all these products could be unveiled at WWDC.
• If you remember the 10.5” iPad was announced at the last WWDC.

    Apple might give Siri a total makeover https://www.cultofmac.com/534915/siri-makeover/

• Under the veil of anonymity, some current and former Apple employees are admitting Siri sucks, and Apple knows it.
• Apple’s AI assistant is way behind the competition, and a new report indicates that Cupertino’s coders can’t agree on how to fix Siri — or even if it should be fixed.
• Siri had so much promise… How did we get here?
  • Bugs and infighting
• • Multiple sources told The Information that Apple "rushed Siri into the iPhone 4s before the technology was fully baked,"
  • According to The Information, the problem is so severe that Apple can’t decide “whether to continue patching up a flawed build or to rip it up and start from scratch.”
  • Bugs and other problems reportedly began almost from the time Apple acquired the voice system back in 2010. Part of the problem was Siri’s instant popularity. The backend servers weren’t prepared for the demand coming from millions of iPhone users. The company has struggled ever since to make Siri’s code more efficient.
• Lack of vision
  • Well, like so many things, it’s due to a total lack of vision for what Siri should be.
• • Steve Jobs spearheaded the acquisition of Siri and the integration of the technology into iOS.
  • Siri was unveiled as the signature feature of the iPhone 4s in 2011. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died the very next day
  • “When Steve died the day after Siri launched, they lost the vision,” one of The Information’s sources said. “They didn’t have a big picture.”
  • Since that time, multiple project managers have come and gone, none with Jobs’ vision. There’s allegedly an internal debate over whether Siri should be a system for answering short questions and following simple commands, or a more full-featured digital assistant capable of handling more complex queries.