Linked List: March 7, 2015

Saturday, 7 March 2015

HelloTalk 

My thanks to HelloTalk for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed. HelloTalk is an iOS (and Android) app for learning new languages. Your teachers are native language speakers from around the world. You just pick the language you want to learn — there are over 100 from which to select — and almost instantaneously you’ll be in touch with native speakers of that language and you’ll start learning and practicing immediately. Learning by chatting. It’s clever and fun.

It’s a free download — check it out and start learning a new language today.

Apple Gold 

Fascinating piece by Dr. Drang:

Apple’s patent application is for a method that allows them to make 18k gold that has, on a volume basis, less gold than regular 18k gold.

How can this be? It’s because Apple’s gold is a metal matrix composite, not a standard alloy. Instead of mixing the gold with silver, copper, or other metals to make it harder, Apple is mixing it with low-density ceramic particles. The ceramic makes Apple’s gold harder and more scratch-resistant — which Tim Cook touted during the September announcement — and it also makes it less dense overall.

According to their patent, one of their mixtures uses just 28 percent as much gold as a standard 18-karat alloy. This, in turn, has reignited hopes that Apple Watch Edition pricing will be significantly lower than consensus estimates.

It’s fascinating that Apple is doing cutting edge materials science like this, but I do not suggest holding your breath for a sub-$5000 Edition. The price of luxury gold watches is not based on the price of the gold. Even if it were made of pure 24-karat gold, the gold might only cost $2000. If Apple is using less gold than standard 18-karat alloys, that’ll go toward higher margins, not lower prices.

Also, for what it’s worth, at the September event, it was easy to feel by hand that the Apple Watch Edition models weighed more than the stainless steel ones (and likewise that the steel ones weighed more than the aluminum ones). Some quick math suggests that wouldn’t be the case if Apple were using a composite with just 28 percent as much gold as standard.

Debug 62: On Watches 

Fun episode of Guy English and Rene Ritchie’s Debug podcast, with watchmaker and developer Jon Edwards and me as guests, talking about the Apple Watch and watch culture in general.