I've done Objective-C since before the release of the iOS App Store, and Swift almost full time since Apple released it last year...

Some of the things you mention beginners do not have to use (generics, and struts for example). To keep things simple to start with, they could just use classes instead.

I will agree that optionals might be a bit rough on the beginner - but perhaps not as starting from nothing, the concept of a bucket that holds a value instead of just using the value directly, would not be so foreign...

You also mention different ways to specify params, and shortcuts - but I see those as a major plus. You can just pick a level of detail that makes sense to you and work with that, until you feel comfortable with reducing further the syntax you use.

I think the function syntax is one of the cleanest and easiest styles to understand... I believe a few other languages have this form also, but in swift you just say something like "a function named takes in these params, and outputs those params" So it looks like:

func myFunc (a:String, b:Int) -> (a:String, b:Int)

it's just so balanced that you can have any number of things in or out.

There are a few things I think make Objective-C less approachable.

The separate header files, and the heavy modern use of private categories to define most internal properties confuse people as to where they need to define things.

Simply more verbose syntax all over. I like verbosity myself, I love named parameters... you get that with Swift though with a lot fewer characters typing.

Part of that extra syntax in ObjC is the shorthand to make arrays like @[] and @(value) to make NSNumbers... but in Swift Integer is treated the same as String, both are first class objects that you can do things with so it's more consistent. That in particular is I think a large benefit for newcomers.

Wrapping it in foil means it won't function as anything.

But it also means the work application will not record any downtime for the app running.

If you are "on call" then you are technically working, so that phone needs to be 100% functional and they have the right to track it.

True enough (I totally agree the company as the right to track their own equipment) but if a boss said something creepy like "I can see how fast you are driving" in the bag it would go when I was driving anywhere and I'd just blame bad cell reception on the dropoff... I could pull it out every 15 min or so to see if there were any messages. But it would technically be dereliction of being on-duty...

It is important to note, however, that putting the phone in the Faraday bag emulated loss of signal, instead of loss of power,

I was mulling that over after I posted, but after some thought I think that ends up being OK also as it's easy enough to claim your car blocks cellular signals really well or just were in a bad area... at any rate the app wouldn't show it had been shut down which I think would be the main trigger they would get onto you about.

That's a great point but it does seem like a company should have the right to enable GPS tracking for company assets. Perhaps a good compromise would be that you could indicate when you were off-work to avoid tracking, but if required the device could be signaled to turn back on tracking.

I personally would probably get one of those signal shielding bags and drop it in there when I wasn't to be on-call. Then you could carry it with you even. Then it also appears just as if it lost power for a while, so it would be hard to get in trouble over it...

Reading is one thing, browsing quite another...

Also worth considering - the Pebble display is 30x50mm on the old Pebble, just 20.1x23.44mm on the Time.

The Apple Watch 38mm has a 21.2x26.5mm display, the 42mm version has 2.3x30.8mm...

So the old Pebble is substantially larger than any of the new models, and somewhat easier to read as a result.

I have a Pebble Time on order, it will be interesting to compare... but I just can't see browsing on any of them at all useful beyond something like an RSS feed worth of info.

and frankly you can always bring the watch closer to your face.

You have an unpleasant surprise in store for you as you age. Minimum close focus gets further back, to where you really cannot just bring the tiny screen closer...

Go into an Apple Store, reading the web on that display is just not practical.

I used to browse the web on a Palm Treo with almost the same number of pixels as the Apple Watch has.

  I didn't have the Treo but I seem to remember the screen being a lot larger, and it also had a keyboard too...

It's funny because they acknowledge that a really cool and fundamental feature

If you see a browser on a watch, they have failed.

If I'm relaxing on the beach and a bunch of drones keep flying over me to deliver crap I'm not going to think its very awesome at all.

Even if they are bringing you drinks?

But really there's not a problem, you simply augment your trip to the beach with a Hololens and headphones. The Hololens literally can erase the drones from your by painting over it with sky, while the headphones cancel out all noise from the drones leaving only pleasing ocean waves and the sound of the 4000 other people around you on the beach you get to hear today.

Think about ALL of the political sites you have seen - they all have one thing in common. They like to ridicule the "Other".

Only to do so, you end up reading both sides.

Now it's true your first source is going to be pushing you to believe something a certain way. But rather than only seeing things you agree with, instead you are CONSTANTLY reading things you disagree with in order to laugh at or complain about it.

The end effect is basically no bubble whatsoever, at least in terms of input. Ideologically people drift further one way or the other than they used to, but it's not because of lack of information but rather a surplus.

If this thing bails you out of forgetting a towel, it deprives you of learning an important lesson about preparedness and generally not being a careless ass.

But if Amazon Drones means there are literally no consequences for being ill-prepared and a careless ass - then why does the lesson need to be taught? Just as most of us now are not taught how to milk a cow or till a field, the art of being prepared is a skill of yesteryear in a world with ubiquitous drone coverage.

The movie 127 hours would be a lot different when the guy can just call in a rescue drone to lift the boulder - or at least have Amazon send him a high-quality bone saw and a good quick-clot bandage!

Well the IPCC thinks warming has paused, but I guess you know more than they do.

The funny thing is, you fell right into the trap. Like the sun rising each morning, telling a warming alarmist there is any kind of pause brings about the same result every time. "yes it is" "here's a graph showing a steady rise".

Only you forgot one important thing - what is under discussion is NOT warming itself, but warming in relation to CO2 levels.

So the best you can do even hunting for the most data-twisted cherry-picked range you could find, was that there's an ongoing linear increase. Let's pretend that's true!

Your problem then is that it simply proves what I originally said - warming is unrelated to CO2 increases. The whole POINT of your ilk trying to scare everyone with CO2 is that it's supposed to trap heat and amplify warming levels. You show endless scary graphs about exponential increases in CO2 levels of the atmosphere...

OOPS. Because if CO2 is increasing exponentially, and has been for some time - why is there not an even GREATER increase in temperature, or anything even resembling the same increase? Instead it just chugs along at roughly whatever rate it was going, instead of reacting at all to CO2 spiking at all.

As I said, there's no reason to be afraid of CO2 because the Earth has a lot of systems built to deal with CO2. The warming we are seeing isn't looking to even be a problem for several generations, and there's no sign the upper limit is at all an issue - and as we know from historical data, a 2C rise in temperature (if we are that lucky) will lead to massive boosts in agriculture (which the CO2 rise only assists with).

Stop your fear peddling for just a moment and THINK.

"What if you're in a car"

If it can't deliver something through my sunroof while I'm on the highway, don't even bother.

I came to say the same thing. How awesome would it be to be at the beach, realize you forgot a towel, and have one drop in within a half hour...

It's totally like all those care package drops in FPS games are coming to reality.

After all, it would only be tracking your location with your permission, after you had ordered something... there's a clear benefit to giving up some temporary privacy for a little temporary convenience.

The only thing is, I don't see how this service works if it's very windy, or there's much weather... and what if you can't get outside during the delivery window. Would it just leave the box in a parking lot? Or cart if back to the warehouse? So many questions of implementation I have trouble seeing it come to pass.

The French Press is to prepare his skin for the straight razor - by compressing shaving foam directly into his pores, hair literally leaps from follicles into the path of the blade.