4 ms·

The article points out some very high visibility things that Ive was either responsible for, or at least signed off on. The author though misses what I think i

The article points out some very high visibility things that Ive was either responsible for, or at least signed off on. The author though misses what I think is the one that has had the most impact on people - Apple's insistence on removal of strain relief on cables. Apple's cables have for generations now been fraying and cracking all because someone decided that strain relief was an unsightly and unnecessary thing. It could be forgiven if it was on one era of products, and learned their lesson when people started getting electrical shocks, devices started dying, and things being set on fire - but no, they persist. Even today they've only made the most minor of attempts at introducing strain relief.

ghostpepper 7y ago
I'm afraid I can't picture what a cable with strain relief would look like. Can you post an example photo?
- CaliforniaKarl 7y ago
  For an example, see http://www.blogquail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/pic-1.jpg http://www.blogquail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/pic-1.jp... The part circled in red is the strain relief, separate from the cable itself, and from the connector. Image taken from http://www.blogquail.com/strain-relief/ http://www.blogquail.com/strain-relief/
- mrandish 7y ago
  http://www.interpower.com/ic/InfoPower/images/flex-style-02.png http://www.interpower.com/ic/InfoPower/images/flex-style-02.... http://heyco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/PG-M-Type-Nylon-Cable-Glands-with-Strain-Relief.jpg http://heyco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/PG-M-Type-N...
- x3haloed 7y ago
  https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Vy2liiLaL._AC_SY400_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Vy2liiLaL...
- paranoidrobot 7y ago
  Good question. Others have already helpfully provided pictures of the common stuff. It's used where you have a flexible material in contact with a rigid material. Most commonly on electronics it's on cables - between connectors and either connectors (when removable) or into the case/device (when fixed). The strain relief prevents all the stress (from bending, induced by movement or just gravity) being placed on one location and spreads it out. Once you know what strain relief is, and you look around at all the cables/hoses/etc in your life - you start seeing them everywhere. Headphones, Keyboards, Network cables, power cables, USB cables. Just sitting at my desk I can see a dozen or more of them.
samstave 7y ago
This was completely intentional. As they make a fuck-ton on resale of these accessories. (planned obsolescence)
- paranoidrobot 7y ago
  Perhaps. I'd be inclined to believe more if it wern't for Apple and Ive's focus on the beauty of their products at the expense of everything else, including usability. The article itself goes over a bunch of examples of this. Strain relief is, or can be, somewhat ugly. More angles, thicker cables, varying widths - it all adds up to muddying the lines of their product. Compared to how much they make on device sales - selling a few more adapters is peanuts. How many people do you know that have downright dangerous cables which they persist in using? I'm sure I know dozens.
  - skohan 7y ago
    It might not be one or the other. In a profit driven company, outcomes which result in a material benefit to the bottom line have an easy time being justified even if the justification used is not explicitly related to profit.
- skohan 7y ago
  I had the same feeling about the evolution of the magsafe connector. The second generation, for which the cable ran parallel to the edge of the laptop where you plugged it in, was an upgrade in every way over its predecessor. The way it was constructed, and the forces you would typically put on it from day to day use made it much more robust than the T-shaped design. But despite the obvious advantages, the next generation went back to the old design, but a little bit smaller, and back to all the old issues. I probably spent a few hundred dollars on replacement 3rd gen chargers alone, while the 2nd gen charger which came with my laptop is still in perfect working order in a box in my closet. The cynical of me honestly wonders if they didn't see a decrease in peripheral revenue after the first iteration, and reverted to the old design only because of that.
js2 7y ago
I don't think strain reliefs is the issue as much as the thinness of the cables. The magsafe power supplies do have minimal strain reliefs[1] but the insulation cracks at the end of the relief. If you tape up or reinforce the ends with tape, as I've done on numerous cables, they'll eventually crack and fray at the end of the tape. I've learned to just be very careful winding and unwinding mine and have them last for years. My kids aren't as careful so I just keep adding tape to theirs. 1. https://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4974/as-images.apple.com/is/image/AppleInc/aos/published/images/M/C5/MC556/MC556 https://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4974/as-images.apple...
- paranoidrobot 7y ago
  > do have minimal strain reliefs That's the redesigned magsafe2 cable with longer and slightly more flexible strain relief. The original magsafe power adapters had almost nothing, and it was a much harder plastic. While material choice and thinness may be an issue, it's exacerbated by the strain relief being insufficient.
- andreareina 7y ago
  It's not just the lack of strain relief. As 'paranoidroibot noted in a sibling comment, the magsafe2 cables have more of it, but there seems to be some sort of degradation in whatever they're using as insulation -- the magsafe end of my cable is noticeably yellow and stiff compared to the rest of the cable. In fact this is my second cable, the first one having failed due to the insulation splitting after showing the same symptoms. This is in contrast to my earphone cables that have thinner insulation and more wind/unwind cycles yet are still going strong.
justsee 7y ago
All because they optimise for short-term design over long-term function, because there's no decent negative feedback loop into consumer decision making at point-of-purchase for many minor defects (and even major ones such as the Apple butterfly keyboard disaster). If there was a requirement for manufacturers-at-scale to display visual overviews of potential defects over time due to normal use - and with the same prominence as the marketing material: * a laptop with stressed / broken cables * a defective keyboard * inputs in iPhones that appear to fail due to microscopic dust / debris accumulation then you'd have a forcing function which addresses the information asymmetry in consumer transactions and perhaps you'd quickly see a lot more attention directed at these kind of product defects. Of course this kind of thought-bubble regulation might be totally unworkable: how do you determine thresholds of wear and tear considering 'correct use' as considered by manufacturer vs 'real-world' use by user base. But then again doesn't good design consider the practical over the theoretical reality wrt product usage?

ghostpepper 7y ago

I'm afraid I can't picture what a cable with strain relief would look like. Can you post an example photo?

CaliforniaKarl 7y ago
For an example, see http://www.blogquail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/pic-1.jpg http://www.blogquail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/pic-1.jp... The part circled in red is the strain relief, separate from the cable itself, and from the connector. Image taken from http://www.blogquail.com/strain-relief/ http://www.blogquail.com/strain-relief/
mrandish 7y ago
http://www.interpower.com/ic/InfoPower/images/flex-style-02.png http://www.interpower.com/ic/InfoPower/images/flex-style-02.... http://heyco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/PG-M-Type-Nylon-Cable-Glands-with-Strain-Relief.jpg http://heyco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/PG-M-Type-N...
x3haloed 7y ago
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Vy2liiLaL._AC_SY400_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Vy2liiLaL...
paranoidrobot 7y ago
Good question. Others have already helpfully provided pictures of the common stuff. It's used where you have a flexible material in contact with a rigid material. Most commonly on electronics it's on cables - between connectors and either connectors (when removable) or into the case/device (when fixed). The strain relief prevents all the stress (from bending, induced by movement or just gravity) being placed on one location and spreads it out. Once you know what strain relief is, and you look around at all the cables/hoses/etc in your life - you start seeing them everywhere. Headphones, Keyboards, Network cables, power cables, USB cables. Just sitting at my desk I can see a dozen or more of them.

samstave 7y ago

This was completely intentional. As they make a fuck-ton on resale of these accessories. (planned obsolescence)

paranoidrobot 7y ago
Perhaps. I'd be inclined to believe more if it wern't for Apple and Ive's focus on the beauty of their products at the expense of everything else, including usability. The article itself goes over a bunch of examples of this. Strain relief is, or can be, somewhat ugly. More angles, thicker cables, varying widths - it all adds up to muddying the lines of their product. Compared to how much they make on device sales - selling a few more adapters is peanuts. How many people do you know that have downright dangerous cables which they persist in using? I'm sure I know dozens.
- skohan 7y ago
  It might not be one or the other. In a profit driven company, outcomes which result in a material benefit to the bottom line have an easy time being justified even if the justification used is not explicitly related to profit.
skohan 7y ago
I had the same feeling about the evolution of the magsafe connector. The second generation, for which the cable ran parallel to the edge of the laptop where you plugged it in, was an upgrade in every way over its predecessor. The way it was constructed, and the forces you would typically put on it from day to day use made it much more robust than the T-shaped design. But despite the obvious advantages, the next generation went back to the old design, but a little bit smaller, and back to all the old issues. I probably spent a few hundred dollars on replacement 3rd gen chargers alone, while the 2nd gen charger which came with my laptop is still in perfect working order in a box in my closet. The cynical of me honestly wonders if they didn't see a decrease in peripheral revenue after the first iteration, and reverted to the old design only because of that.

js2 7y ago

I don't think strain reliefs is the issue as much as the thinness of the cables. The magsafe power supplies do have minimal strain reliefs[1] but the insulation cracks at the end of the relief. If you tape up or reinforce the ends with tape, as I've done on numerous cables, they'll eventually crack and fray at the end of the tape. I've learned to just be very careful winding and unwinding mine and have them last for years. My kids aren't as careful so I just keep adding tape to theirs. 1. https://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4974/as-images.apple.com/is/image/AppleInc/aos/published/images/M/C5/MC556/MC556 https://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4974/as-images.apple...

paranoidrobot 7y ago
> do have minimal strain reliefs That's the redesigned magsafe2 cable with longer and slightly more flexible strain relief. The original magsafe power adapters had almost nothing, and it was a much harder plastic. While material choice and thinness may be an issue, it's exacerbated by the strain relief being insufficient.
andreareina 7y ago
It's not just the lack of strain relief. As 'paranoidroibot noted in a sibling comment, the magsafe2 cables have more of it, but there seems to be some sort of degradation in whatever they're using as insulation -- the magsafe end of my cable is noticeably yellow and stiff compared to the rest of the cable. In fact this is my second cable, the first one having failed due to the insulation splitting after showing the same symptoms. This is in contrast to my earphone cables that have thinner insulation and more wind/unwind cycles yet are still going strong.

justsee 7y ago

All because they optimise for short-term design over long-term function, because there's no decent negative feedback loop into consumer decision making at point-of-purchase for many minor defects (and even major ones such as the Apple butterfly keyboard disaster). If there was a requirement for manufacturers-at-scale to display visual overviews of potential defects over time due to normal use - and with the same prominence as the marketing material: * a laptop with stressed / broken cables * a defective keyboard * inputs in iPhones that appear to fail due to microscopic dust / debris accumulation then you'd have a forcing function which addresses the information asymmetry in consumer transactions and perhaps you'd quickly see a lot more attention directed at these kind of product defects. Of course this kind of thought-bubble regulation might be totally unworkable: how do you determine thresholds of wear and tear considering 'correct use' as considered by manufacturer vs 'real-world' use by user base. But then again doesn't good design consider the practical over the theoretical reality wrt product usage?