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Disappointed Woz Sells His "Worthless" Galaxy Gear Watch
curtwoodward (2147628) writes Apple co-founder and legendary nerd Steve Wozniak is a huge gadget enthusiast, often appearing in lines with mere mortals to purchase new Apple products. So you can bet he's tried out most of the smartwatches on the market today. The worst one? By far, the Samsung Galaxy Gear, which The Woz says he sold on eBay after half a day's use. "It was so worthless and did so little that was convenient," Wozniak said at an appearance in Milwaukee. "You had to hold it up to your ear and stuff." So maybe the watch sucked, but just imagine being the one who bought Woz's used Gear---do you think they know?
I did the same, except I returned to ti Best Buy and got a Pebble instead.
Works a LOT better for what a smart watch is good for, critical Information display.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
More than you can say about yourself for sure. Your biggest achievement in life is probably this post on Slashdot.
The Woz is too pure to give in to petty brand based allegiances, even if he helped start one of those brands.
Hi did you get the newsletter that Woz left Apple like 20 years ago and has nothing to do with the company anymore? And that he's a huge tech/gadget geek and doesn't care if the device is not Apple? And has even publicly spoken out against Apple?
Well now you do.
He invented the universal remote control.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CL_9
You mean besides building a disk controller in software that was faster and far more adaptable and reliable than the hardware versions at the time, and cost a tenth as much?
Yeah, I can't figure why that would be important in 1977.
Don't forget about the resolution he got out of a video controller. Or the way he mercilessly attacked the IC count. Woz is a populist geek hero to anybody who wants to maximize performance while minimizing cost.
The big iron folks always look down their noses at the little people with their little computers, but they don't start any revolutions.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Apple co-founder..."Galaxy Gear...worthless"
Well, "Apple co-founder buys Galaxy Gear watch" was news that made the Samsungphiles happy, so surely when the same Apple co-founder says the watch is worthless, that's just as newsworthy.
I won't delve into the details, I'll just say that calling Woz an "Apple insider" is both misguided and unfair. He hasn't been part of the company in almost 3 decades and has many valid criticisms of the company and Jobs in particular.
Convenience. It takes me a second or so to read my watch whereas it takes probably 15 seconds total to take my phone out of my pocket, wake the screen up, tell the time and then put the phone back in my pocket. What's more, a typical wrist watch will keep time for the better part of a decade with a single charge.
Good luck finding a phone that keeps a charge that long.
No one else designed the circuits and firmware/software of a 6502 based computer system with output that worked on a home TV.
He holds four patents as sole inventor:
No. 4,136,359: Microcomputer for use with video display
No. 4,210,959: Controller for magnetic disc, recorder, or the like
No. 4,217,604: Apparatus for digitally controlling PAL color display
No. 4,278,972: Digitally-controlled color signal generation means for use with display
Please post link to your major contributions to the field of personal computing, we're looking forward to it. Unless as I suspect your biggest contribution is the dried and crusted mass on the underside of your system's desk
Wiz is an infamous gadget hound. Go to youtube to see clips of him babbling over androids, google glass, whatever.
It'd probably have a 5" display, quadrophonic sound and an octacore CPU and run an unmodified Windows RT. Due to weight concerns most of the battery had to be sacrificed, limiting its life to an etimated fifteen minutes - but no other smartwatch has both Office and HDMI and you can always use the USB port to hook it up to an external power source if you want to use it on the go. You see, Microsoft gets mobile devices.
Or they decide they actually want to make money and release a generic Android-based smartwatch. Their Nokia arm doesn't seem too hung up about reinforcing the Windows hegemony if it gets in the way of business.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Apple does I'm sure... he is still a full time paid employee of Apple, receiving about $120K a year.
He doesn't actually do anything there, he just gets paid... well, because... :)
Woz likes to stand in line with everyone else and buy them because it makes him feel normal. He doesn't have Job's ego, and for that, I applaud him.
Wasn't it only a year or two ago about how we were congratulating ourselves on not having to wear watches, because hey, everyone's got a smart phone and you can just check the time on that.
I don't wear a watch day-to-day. When I do wear one, it's with a suit as a fashion accessory. And I seriously doubt smart watches will ever look classy. Flashy, yes. Classy, no.
It's pretty amazing how short the average consumer's attention span is. I guess I can't blame companies for gettin' while the gettin's good.
Wozniak is still an Apple employee with a salary of $120k/year and he still has a bunch of stock. I doubt he has much if any involvement in Apple operations, but saying "he has nothing to do with the company" is not true.
You are correct that he calls them like he sees them, regardless of brand. I generally love Samsung and have owned a bunch of their phones, but the Gear has no interest for me for exactly the reasons Woz states.
I'm the guy who supplies Woz with his Nixie tube watches. I've had to repair a few of them after too many Segway polo matches. They get just as crusty as anyone else's watch.
I briefly thought about selling the broken parts on eBay, but it seemed a bit too squicky. Although you know the auction would end up on Reddit.
The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
This demonstrates the fact that people who are very smart in one area can mistake themselves for experts in an unrelated area where they're totally incompetent. Jobs over-estimation of his own abilities wound up killing him when he confidently went for fantasy-based fake medicine due to his total lack of expertise regarding medicine.
So you're telling me that if somebody gave you a $120,000 yearly salary in return for doing absolutely nothing (or, to look at it another way, whatever you damn well please) you would turn them down? Because only a narcissist would take the money? "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not a narcissist. I only accept gifts of rainbows, sunshine, and feelgood vibes."
> It is just a way of looking for applause from the plebs.
That's extremely cynical. Maybe you should talk to your therapist about your negativity, you might get more out of life if you were a less bitter person.
It's more likely that he just likes to spend time in line with tech enthusiasts.
You'd be surprised how many people wipe boogers under your desk!
Ezekiel 23:20
He holds four patents as sole inventor: No. 4,136,359: Microcomputer for use with video display
So with this patent alone, wouldn't he be able to patent troll the entire computer industry out of existence? I'm only half kidding.
Well jeeze, Woz, with salesmanship like that, I'm surprised you managed to sell it at all!
I have to agree. This makes slashdot sound like a bunch of One Direction groupies. Woz is a good dude and all, but seriously, no need to gush like a teenage girl.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
No, my toilet does not need a IPv6 connection. I promise you I can still take a shit without it.
Sorry, as part of the "pay per flush" sewer service billing not only will it be monitored it will also have an override to disable it in the event of a police raid...
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
There aren't any current cellphones that fit in the pockets of the sort of clothes she wears. Size zero/one fashion clothing often doesn't even have pockets, much less ones that'll fit the half-tablet-sized cellphones these days. She had an HP Veer, the size of a credit card, that she loved, until it died. So now she has the same smartwatch and has what she calls a GIANT cellphone in her purse or stuck in her desk at work, and takes calls using her watch.
Size zero clothing is probably not on Woz's radar, but there are people who want tiny connectivity.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
Hi did you get the newsletter that Woz left Apple like 20 years ago and has nothing to do with the company anymore? And that he's a huge tech/gadget geek and doesn't care if the device is not Apple? And has even publicly spoken out against Apple?
Well now you do.
Not to mention that every time he says something remotely bad about Apple or an Apple product, you can be sure to find a Slashdot story about it.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
He wears his Nixie tube watch every day on the left wrist. His right wrist has held a variety of smartwatches, including an iPod Nano. (I make the Nixie watch, so I'd know.)
The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
He wrote Apple Integer BASIC in 6502 machine code with no prior experience. Designed the Disk ][ (I still have working ones - these suckers were/are robust!) with trivial prior experience. Convinced Jobs to put all those pesky expansion slots in the Apple ][.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."