by Richard Maize | Sep 15, 2021 | Uncategorized
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center got its start with two small community hospitals that opened at the start of the 20th century. Its mission expanded over the decades to focus on meeting the full range of the healthcare needs of both the Jewish and general communities.
Today, the massive hospital complex is the largest not-for-profit medical center in the western part of the United States. Its teams continue to provide research, patient care, and community outreach of a quality that has made it one of the world’s leading centers of breakthrough science, medical education, and service to its community.
It embodies the spirit of tikkun olam.
The hospital began by serving the Jewish community, fulfilling the highest social value of tikkun olam (“repairing the world” in Hebrew), but it didn’t stop there. It continues to work in the spirit of the Jewish ethical tradition, as it concentrates on reaching out to those most in need from every background across the diverse fabric of the Los Angeles area.
It is nicknamed the “hospital to the stars” thanks to its status as hospital of choice for numerous Hollywood celebrities. However, Cedars-Sinai further expanded its service to struggling communities in 2020 by broadening the income requirements necessary to receive free or reduced-cost services.
It was originally founded to treat Jewish patients with tuberculosis.
Cedars-Sinai as we know it today was formed from the merger of Cedars of Lebanon Hospital (originally Kaspare Cohn Hospital) with Mount Sinai Hospital (which developed out of the Bikur Cholim Society’s hospice). Kaspare Cohn Hospital opened its doors on Carroll Avenue in Los Angeles in 1902, out of the home of its founder and namesake. Kaspare Cohn was a businessman and founder of Union Bank who donated the residence located in the neighborhood now known as Echo Park.
The hospital’s original mission was to treat Jewish patients who had contracted tuberculosis. A pioneer in more ways than one, Kaspare Cohn included on its staff one of the area’s first-ever women doctors, Dr. Sarah Vasen, who served as medical director from 1906.
In a 2002 article tracing the Cedars-Sinai story, the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles noted that TB was a widespread problem among American Jewish communities of Eastern European origin. Many migrated west from the crowded tenements of New York and other eastern cities, hoping for a cure for the contagious disease then often referred to as “consumption.” The idea was that the cleaner, drier air would have a healing effect.
These “lungers,” as the slang term called them, produced a surge in the Los Angeles Jewish population, which quadrupled from the turn of the century to reach 10,000 by 1910. Several local Jewish benevolent organizations joined forces to try to help their new community members. Vista Del Mar, for example, now a broadly focused social service organization, originated in 1908 as an orphanage for Jewish youth who had lost their parents to tuberculosis.
It was a refuge from anti-Semitism.
The need for hospitals devoted specifically to the American Jewish community was great in the 19th century and much of the 20th. Most new Jewish immigrants were poor, with no other recourse to obtain professional medical care.
Many Jews also wanted to be treated in a hospital that would respect their religious and cultural traditions, such as keeping kosher and observing Shabbat. And due to the presence of widespread anti-Semitism in America at the time, Jewish patients could not always count on receiving equal treatment—or sometimes any treatment at all—at non-Jewish hospitals in their communities.
Jewish hospitals also existed as a way of offering top-flight medical training to Jewish healthcare professionals. Even in the 1930s and 1940s, it was often impossible for a Jewish doctor, regardless of experience or credentials, to get hired at a non-Jewish facility.
In 1918, Los Angeles’ Bikur Cholim Society (the literal translation of the Hebrew is “visiting the sick”) began treating hospice patients. Located in a residence in Boyle Heights after 1921, it remained the Bikur Cholim Hospital until its relocation to Beverly Boulevard in 1955 as Mount Sinai Hospital. It was on this site that the current Cedars-Sinai Medical Center began to expand after the hospitals merged in 1961.
It continues to pursue its mission in new ways.
Until the mid-20th century, Cedars-Sinai’s sole goal was direct patient care. While that has continued as the core mission, it expanded into research and medical education after the mid-1950s. Now, working as part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, it employs more than 12,000 staff, and admits about 50,000 patients in a typical year.
One component of Cedars-Sinai’s multi-strategy pandemic response is its innovative COVID-19 Recovery Program. Launched at the beginning of 2021, this effort works specifically with patients dealing with the symptoms of “long COVID” months after their recovery from SARS-CoV-2. The related Cedars-Sinai Cardiology Program assists people with lingering heart problems, and its Post-ICU Post-COVID Clinic supports those with post-intensive care issues stemming from COVID or another critical illness. This work falls squarely within the original mission of the Kaspare Cohn Hospital from 1902: to bring healing to patients stricken with infectious diseases and other ills, using the best-available scientific treatment and the highest standards of care.
by Richard Maize | Sep 8, 2021 | Uncategorized
Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services has served the people of Southern California for well over a century. The organization grew from a very small Jewish orphanage in 1908 to its current network of state-of-the-art services spanning mental health, education, adoption, autism spectrum outreach, early intervention programs, and more for people of all faiths and backgrounds.
Vista Del Mar has changed as the community around it has changed, yet has always strived to meet people where they are, and to provide what they need with understanding and compassion.
A haven for Jewish orphans
It started with a dream of safety.
By the first years of the 20th century, millions of Jews were desperate to escape the antisemitic pogroms in Eastern Europe. Those who were lucky found their way to America. But even in this land of relative security, newcomers were crowded into dank tenement apartments where polio, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases often ran rampant. Those who could move farther west hoped to find in those then-wide-open spaces the climate that would provide a cure.
When many of the adults newly arrived in Southern California still died of these illnesses, their surviving children were left without refuge or care.
Enter Sigfried Marshutz.
The German-born Marshutz was an accomplished optometrist and a leader in the B’nai B’rith Lodge #487 in Los Angeles. He and his fellow members worried about the fate of these Jewish orphans, many of whom could be found living on the streets. In 1908, they opened the doors of the Jewish Orphans Home of Southern California in an old mansion formerly owned by wine merchant Alfred Stern. Marshutz served as president until 1914.
After a fire destroyed this first building (fortunately without injury to the children), the orphanage relocated to, first, a boardinghouse near Hollenbeck Park, before designing its own buildings based on modern ideas about child development.
A new standard of care
In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt led a White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children, which promoted the value of an enriched, loving, homelike atmosphere for any children in institutional care. The conference urged adults in charge of creating group housing for children to model their buildings on the “cottage plan.” And in 1912, President William Howard Taft’s administration established the Children’s Bureau, the first federal agency providing up-to-date professional guidance on the wellbeing of children and families.
Within this atmosphere, Marshutz and his team built a new home for the children in their care on 10 acres in Huntington Park, at the intersection of Miles (then Irvington) and Gage Streets. The fresh, contemporary look of the cottage homes was revolutionary in 1912, offering a stark contrast to the typical orphanages that crowded numerous children into a single building.
In these cottages, sibling groups stayed together whenever possible. All children in a cottage lived under the supervision of a “house mother,” who taught them to prepare meals, clean, and care for their home just as if they lived in a traditional family. Their own cows and hens supplied the children with fresh milk and eggs daily.
A ranch with some famous neighbors
By 1925, the orphanage had moved to expansive new quarters at Vista Del Mar in West Los Angeles, with five two-story cottage homes for the children, as well as a ranch house and a barn amid more than 20 acres of rolling hills.
The new site was also close to the studios of 20th Century Fox and MGM Studios; a connection to Hollywood was also forged when director George Cukor and producer Louis B. Mayer joined the board of the organization. The children enjoyed movie screenings, donations of costumes, and Hanukkah presents courtesy of these connections. Moreover, it was the film community’s support that helped the orphanage survive the Great Depression relatively intact.
Facing new traumas
The dark days of World War II and the Holocaust saw a flood of new arrivals at the orphanage: Jewish child refugees from Nazi Germany. After the war, displaced children whose parents had perished in the fighting or the concentration camps continued to join the Vista Del Mar family.
It was then that superintendent Joseph Bonapart, a teacher with advanced degrees in psychology and sociology, noticed many of his newer orphans arriving with severe emotional and behavioral conditions with a variety of causes. So, in the 1950s, Vista Del Mar began focusing on caring for these traumatized youth, building a special treatment cottage directed by well-trained psychiatric and teaching staff.
An updated campus for a growing mission
The 1970s saw the development of Vista Del Mar’s own school to serve its children unable to attend public schools. The ‘70s and ‘80s were also the era of extensive renovations to construct modernized “cluster cottages,” even as Vista Del Mar further developed its focus on serving youth with developmental disabilities and other special needs. Mergers with the Reiss David Child Study Center and other progressive local agencies supported this growth, bringing in a burst of new expertise in child development, counseling, and mental health services.
In the century since Vista Del Mar’s founding, tuberculosis, polio, and orphanages have faded into history. As it has changed with the times, the organization has expanded both its reach and its heart, and continues as one of the Los Angeles area’s most beloved and valued service providers.
by Richard Maize | Jul 28, 2021 | Uncategorized
Business casual got quite the rebrand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to Zoom and other video communication platforms, what now passes as “business appropriate” is a button-down shirt and boxer briefs, or perhaps even pajamas or cozy loungewear that technically passes as an outfit. While some opted to continue on with getting ready and dressed each day just to log into a meeting from a makeshift office in their home kitchen, others took advantage of working from home and saw it as a chance to slow down a little bit and get their work done in a more relaxed manner.
Within weeks after nationwide stay-at-home orders were announced, loungewear sales skyrocketed. For many people, “dress for success” became an antiquated notion during a time when stress levels became beyond comprehensible. The definition of success shifted as so many people had to learn how to juggle managing their children’s homeschooling while showing up to video conferences on time and meeting various deadlines. To some, “success” was showing up at all, dress slacks or not. Employers understood this; after all, they have families, too, and we were all going through the same mindboggling reality shift.
Whether working from home was a juggling act for you or simply a chance to sleep in and show up to the 9 am Zoom meeting wearing yoga pants and a hoodie, the question on everybody’s minds as they head back to the office seems to be: What am I supposed to wear now?
Offices are opening their doors once again after more than a year of functioning remotely, and some companies are switching it up a bit. Employees are coming back to work to find new, relaxed dressed codes and hybrid work arrangements, effectively blurring the lines between what was formerly considered work attire and leisurewear. After all, if we were able to be productive wearing less constricting clothing, why not have the option to continue? Of course, button-downs and boxer briefs are out of the question now that we can see each other’s entire bodies, but the fashion industry took note of the change and are making quite a few changes of their own.
In an interview with the Washington Post, chief brand officer Ana Andjelic for Banana Republic said, “We are seeing hybrid dressing: workwear meets evening wear meets leisurewear. All bets are off.” Retailers that formerly sold work attire have shifted to designing more comfortable and expressive options for their customers, such as flowy dresses and brightly-colored shirts meant for the office. But what exactly is this new dress code? Certainly, pajamas are out of the question, but what about yoga pants? Shorts? How do we navigate another “new normal?” The short answer: we have to communicate.
The pandemic sparked a conversation about whether or not “business attire” is still relevant. Many people realized they could get their work done just as well in a less restricting outfit as they could while wearing full penguin suits in a cubicle– maybe even better. Perhaps people feel more seen when they’re able to wear something that better reflects their personalities and style, or maybe it’s just a complete drag to wear something uncomfortable all day long and then realize it’s “dry clean only” after ruining it in the washing machine.
Whatever the case, the people have spoken, and they don’t want everything to return back to how it was pre-pandemic. Instead, they want hybrid work options and the ability to splurge on luxury loungewear instead of slacks and a blouse.
If you’re anxious about what you can now wear and what is better suited for your work-from-home days, talk to your colleagues and superiors. It’s likely they’re in the same confused boat as you, and having open discussions about what is acceptable and what isn’t is the best way to navigate yet another change in our lives. Hopefully, you know your colleagues and superiors well enough to gauge the change.
A more casual environment will still have its limits, and it may be in your best interest to test the waters with care before walking through the door looking like you confused your first meeting with a Netflix binge. But with the biggest department stores and retailers rapidly changing their inventory to incorporate these new, more relaxed dress codes, finding what works best for you shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Signed,
Richard Maize
by Richard Maize | Jul 1, 2021 | Uncategorized
Viral dances, concise skincare tutorials, fashion, and humor are all part of what has made TikTok a sensation amongst its users. Primarily, the popular social media app consists of members of Gen Z, who seemingly spent most of the last year uploading and sharing these short, creative videos. It would make sense if you’ve already written off TikTok as a nonsensical medium better meant for silliness and trivial content– but you’d be making a hefty marketing mistake.
Some of the most viral videos showcase extravagant mansions with infinity pools, massive home gyms, home theatres, and driveways lined with Range Rovers and G Wagons. These videos are packed with more than just appeal; they aim to sell a lifestyle millions and millions of people are working to achieve.
And if you think Gen Z is the only group flocking to the app, you need to take a closer look inside this unbelievably hot social medium.
Building A Brand
When you hear the term “influencer,” you may picture a young creative with a keen eye for what makes content go viral. Maybe her avenue is lifestyle or quick, healthy meal recipes, and she may be easily dismissed by older generations. In fact, I can confidently say she has been dismissed. But why? In an age where building your brand on social media has led to success for countless influencers, why are we dismissing their pioneering efforts?
Simply put: we have underestimated their power, and somewhere in the process, we told ourselves to fear it.
Dylan Brush, a Los Angeles-based real estate agent with SJF Group, began sharing luxury properties on TikTok in late January and quickly went viral. His videos have amassed millions of views, and his follower count has grown to influencer status. But it didn’t just take a quick upload or two to make that happen.
Brush worked on his brand with a constant stream of luxury properties and an edge to go with it. His simple, yet clever “Client Says” captions such as, “Client says I want a place to entertain,” followed by a gorgeous view of the property have helped him cement who he is on the app, and mostly, what he represents: himself. Brush says he gets his listings more exposure than any other platform. This exposure spreads more than just the addresses he’s selling; it’s getting his name out there to people across the globe.
Leads, Leads, Leads
As salespeople, we love our leads. Since the Covid-19 pandemic shut down agents’ abilities to host open houses, other avenues of marketing became the new norm. But even with 3-D and self-guided tours, options seemed limited. Dylan Brush’s trendy vibe attracted him leads from all over, with people DMing him on the platform asking for help or referring him out to friends looking to buy or sell their homes.
“TikTok is creating that Million Dollar Listing and Selling Sunset buzz, which in turn is getting people to reach out to me. The market I work in is Los Angeles, and people love that vibe,” Brush says.
Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok all share one major roadblock to viral success: challenging algorithms. Even with all the right planning and content-capturing tools, a post can still flop thanks to the algorithms designed to either help or hurt your view count. What agents find works for them the most is posting daily, and oftentimes, reposting content. The trick is to keep going, keep posting, and ensure the content is, for a lack of a better word, cool.
Attracting Millennials
It’s not some industry secret that Millennials conduct much of their lives through social media. Whether looking for new skincare tips, the best spots to vacation, or showcasing their own wannabe luxurious lifestyles, Millennials use various social media sites to gather their information.
While TikTok may seem intimidating outside of its primary audience, industry experts believe agents should invest their time and money into the platform. For one, you never know who is watching your videos. It could be a teen fantasizing about his future, or a Millennial investor looking to grow her fortune. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Myspace all started out with a young audience viewing and engaging with the posts of young users. And while Myspace is no longer with us, the other platforms have rocketed their users to success.
Scott Durkin, president and chief operating officer at Douglas Elliman, believes that TikTok’s younger user base is actually an advantage. “This is the exact audience we want to be targeting,” Mr. Durkin said. “Millennials are said to buy the most real estate in the next year.”
That’s right: the generation so consumed with dropping their hard-earned cash on avocado toast is the next group gearing up to buy homes. While Millennial millionaires make up only 2 percent of the total millionaire population in the United States, their wealth and influence will continue to grow ahead of the Great Wealth Transfer. Many are turning to real estate to further build their wealth, and more than nine in 10 millennial millionaires are homeowners as of 2019
Millennials may not feel they share much with their younger cronies, but they do have one major thing in common, and that’s a borderline obsession with social media. I don’t make this point to drag these people– quite the opposite. They know that these platforms are what make or break a brand.
Where To Start
TikTok is the most downloaded app of 2020, and if you’re not on that long list of users, you’re not just missing out on some mindless entertainment; you’re missing out on learning more about what makes a product or service sell.
The first obvious step is to download the app and get to know its users through their captions, comments, and content. Next, follow the users who are already doing what you aim to do: create your brand, build on it, and use it to your advantage. Much like with any project, it’s in your best interest to do your research. And when it comes to social media, your research never ends.
Keep up with the trends, comment and engage on posts, and upload the best content that reflects not only your listings but your ideal brand as well.
by Richard Maize | Mar 25, 2020 | Uncategorized
With the unwelcome introduction of COVID-19 into the world, we have not only found ourselves in incredibly uncertain times with regards to healthcare and pandemic responses, we have also found ourselves facing economic uncertainty. This week alone, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco have temporarily closed all non-essential businesses. This includes film sets, bars, restaurants, gyms, salons, and so on, leaving many people temporarily out of work. It’s quite easy to feel concern for our economic future, so let’s break this down a bit shall we?
Over the last several decades there have been severe downturns in all sectors of the economy. The worst that I have experienced in my lifetime thus far, was back in 2008 which in essence was truly a depression. The banking debacle was caused by the ease of the credit market and the false valuation of the US real estate market by way of mortgage lending to unqualified borrowers with interest rates being based on inflated real estate values. I knew we were headed for a total disaster when I was getting my shoes shined by a wonderful man and he was telling me he just bought a house with 100% financing and easily qualified for a mortgage. It was later blamed on the sub-market of sub-prime mortgages. The bond traders loved having these higher than average interest rates that were touted as AA bond type with little risk. Everyone was at fault and the domino effect on every aspect of the marketplace was astronomic. After the market crashed, short sales were happening left and right and large pools of defaulted properties and defaulted loans were sold for pennies on the dollar. Loan rates dropped and the credit checks with more stringent requirements for borrowers were put back into place. A sense of normality came back into the mortgage market, while the bond traders got greedy and were left holding the bag.
Eventually, Henry Paulson, an American banker who served as the US Secretary of the Treasury was able to implement policies to save the banks in the US as a whole; while proactive investors during this time (who believed in America) were buying solid real estate or stocks in sound companies.
This crisis caused by global pandemic COVID-19, is a whole different animal entirely. By and large, the economies of the United states (and many of the economic leaders worldwide) were rolling along at such a high levels that there were really no real signs of an upcoming downturn; certainly, not an abrupt one. Who would have thought a virus would put our country (and the entire world) on its knees? No one quite knows what to do, which makes it feel debilitating. So, let’s talk about how to take advantage of this crazy downturn. Real estate for now will not, in my opinion, drop as quickly as the rest of the market. It would take more time to bring down the market to a level that would be worthwhile to pick up a bargain. Sellers largely paid too much for their properties and won’t be willing to let it slip away so quickly. There will be exceptions to this, but not in prime real estate areas. Therefore, let’s start by having a look at the stock market; the market hates uncertainty. It is my opinion that the stock market will continue dropping until a solution is in the wind, however, I believe that will happen sooner rather than later. The most important thing as a person, a neighbor, and as a potential new investor in these troubling times is going to be to stay calm. Should you be prudent, and stock up essentials? Yes. Should you obnoxiously hoard items and leave nothing for others? Of course not, and the same mindset goes for stock. Would you be comfortable if your neighbor had nothing? The world will not dramatically change, if people remain socially responsible and prudent. It is in these times of disaster, and yes, this is a global disaster, that leadership and a calm disposition is most critical.
Now, if you’re aiming to purchase stock in the downward slide (and it is my position that you should if you can), you don’t want to look back and say “wow, I could have purchased stock in Disney at $100 or less”, rather than looking at the price of stock as the sole decision making factor, look at companies that are well suited to come back quickly; the ones that have a solid balance sheet. There is great opportunity right now in the stock market. This downward slide in the market is likely to last a few weeks or months, but the market works on the future valuation of companies and once we get a handle on a direction and how to handle this virus, we are on our way back to stability.
On the macro side, we will undoubtedly see a downturn in the economy, and major economic indicators and statistics will start to trend downward. However, we will bounce back. If a simple statistic like national GDP suffer, quite frankly it is not the end of the world. Perhaps, the sector of the market which will suffer the most will be credit. With rates next to zero, bad companies have continued to borrow. Some of these companies will not survive unless there is staggering government assistance.
It is my hope that those with hourly wages, living paycheck to paycheck are given government support through programs or tax breaks. Equities on the other hand will certainly rebound. If you don’t need the money (and it’s understandable if you do), now is not the time to sell your stocks. When investing in equities you need a medium-term outlook; you are not there to pick the bottom of the market. Companies with strong balance sheets will undoubtedly survive., in fact they will thrive. Especially if we are stuck in our houses for a while, talk about pent up demand! Earnings outlooks for every company will be adjusted. Quite frankly, it’s already priced in. Now is the time to get back into the market, the rise up is often as vicious and fierce as the fall down. Stay calm, be kind, America is strong, and we will come through this.
We will come back. We always do.
by Richard Maize | Feb 15, 2017 | real estate
Los Angeles is a city that is constantly changing. Whether we are building new rail lines or new housing developments, we are always growing. This week some key changes are occurring and as you know, I always like to stay informed! Here are my picks for must-read articles of the week.
– Richard Maize
by Richard Maize | Feb 2, 2017 | Business, Entrepreneur
Starting a business — or even getting involved as a professional — when you’re young can be intimidating. You might have knowledge about business from school, books or practical advice from sources online, but there’s a big difference between understanding business fundamentals on paper and gaining wisdom through actual experience.
By the end of your career, you’ll have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and hundreds of lessons, but there are some lessons that you should learn early on — ideally before you turn 30.
This article by Jayson Demers of Entrepreneur.com outlines the 7 lessons everyone should learn before they turn 30.
Click here to read the full article.
by Richard Maize | Jan 19, 2017 | Uncategorized
Every week I make sure to read multiple articles from a plethora of news and tech websites to stay up to date with what is going on in the business world. This week I chose my top 5 to share with you!
- Venus Williams inspirational story of how and why she became an entrepreneur on top of being an Olympic athlete. http://www.inc.com/magazine/201702/jeff-haden-bill-saporito/venus-williams-cover-story.html?utm_content=buffer4abf6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
- What are the best countries to start a business in? https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/287908
- Housing starts jump more than expected in the start of 2017.http://www.businessinsider.com/housing-starts-building-permits-december-2016-2017-1
- 15 things you never knew about Elon Musk. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/288010
- Don’t get sucked into the content trap! https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/287737
by Richard Maize | Aug 22, 2016 | Business
From delivering your groceries to helping you decompress after a long day, the latest advancements in artificial intelligence aim to make everyday life easier for humans. The latest news from the forefront of warehouse and home robotics technology indicate promising developments on the horizon. Just think, soon we could be having our groceries bagged by robots, then sitting down to dinner with a robot companion capable of much more than just passing the salt and pepper.
Ocado: The UK-based grocery delivery service, which logged 1.5 billion USD in 2014 revenue, is developing automated humanoid robots to assist with warehouse operations. “The ultimate aim is for humans to end up relying on collaborative robots because they have become an active participant in their daily tasks,” said Dr Graham Deacon, Robotics Research Team Leader at Ocado Technology. The robots will assist human mechanics in keeping the shipping facility running at optimum speed and efficiency. By evaluating the poses of their human counterparts, these robots will eventually be able to anticipate the needs of their human co-workers. If successful, Ocado’s humanoid robots will be the first to offer intuitive support in a warehouse setting. The company also filed a recent patent for robots capable of selecting and packing grocery orders, which could drastically alter the warehouse needs of large scale shipping companies.
Pepper: Japan based SoftBank Robotics Corp. recently sold 1,000 units of its much buzzed about home robot helper, Pepper, in one minute on its first day of consumer sales. Pepper aims to be a part of the family, offering conversation and even the ability to read and form emotions, thanks to sensors and cloud-based artificial intelligence (the algorithms for which have been closely guarded thus far). With a $1600 price tag, Pepper is a bargain compared to comparable robots, but is a robot companion a worthy investment? While it may be a novelty in its initial stages, SoftBank anticipates rolling Pepper out worldwide next year, with projected applications in office environments. Pepper could also pave the way for automated caregiver and nanny robots, with emotional intelligence being an essential component from taking robots from the warehouse to the home.
by Richard Maize | Jul 10, 2016 | Business
Due to hit stores in September, the next generation iPhone—presumably to be called the iPhone 7—has a lot of people excited for its latest innovations such as a waterproof frame and wireless charging capability. But one of its new features, the removal of the standard 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of making the new phone slimmer and sleeker, has at least 300,000 people outraged.
“Apple is about to rip off every one of its customers. Again,” reads an online petition that calls on the tech giant to restore traditional headphone jacks to its next phone.
Though the change is still only a rumor at this point, mounting evidence suggests that the headphone jack is history. But you need not worry if the rumor turns out to be true. The new iPhone will come with brand new Apple earbuds that will allow you to plug into your music by using the phone’s Lightning port.
Connecting headphones to the phone this way will actually help improve sound quality. By using the power from Lightning cables, headphones can power built-in amplifiers for a much smoother listening experience. A source close to Apple also indicated that the iPhone 7’s new Lightning audio system will also include noise canceling technology.
But despite the benefits of the new system, some fans are unhappy because they fear having to leave their favorite standard headphones behind or spend more money to be able to use them.
Though its products sell supremely well, Apple has been known to upset customers with many past feature changes. Back in 2012, the company removed the 30-pin charge connector that was used in all its products to that point in favor of the 8-pin Lightning charger its products use today. Though many people were upset about having to stop using their old charging cables, everyone eventually adapted to the better system. Apple’s computers also lost their optical drives some time ago. More recently, the company removed all but one port from its 12-inch MacBook Pro. The remaining port triples as a charger, USB, and device connector.
Like it’s done before, Apple appears to be paving the way for the future. Several overseas Android phones are also making use of new USB port technology in place of traditional headphone jacks to deliver higher quality digital audio to their users, signaling that headphones jacks are simply becoming outdated. Apple may just be the first company to make this change in the United States.
Fortunately, a number of options are available to help you if you’re among those people wishing to use your standard headphones with the new iPhone. Firstly, it is highly likely that standard headphone jack to Lightning port adapters will hit the market at the same time the new iPhone does. They should be available on Amazon or eBay very cheaply. For a more sophisticated option, you may plug your traditional headphones into a Bluetooth audio receiver, which will beam music to you from your iPhone 7 with exceptional sound quality.
