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“If you want to have a good time, you can of course spend a lot of money going out to fancy restaurants with big floor shows, but I believe there’s more than enough good wholesome fun to be had with just a few close friends and an 80-ton hydraulic press.”

 ★ 

“If you want to have a good time, you can of course spend a lot of money going out to fancy restaurants with big floor shows, but I believe there’s more than enough good wholesome fun to be had with just a few close friends and an 80-ton hydraulic press.”

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In case you’re in need of a video-ad palate cleanser, you won’t find a commercial more delightful than this one.

Cinematography by Linus Sandgren, of No Time To Die and Saltburn fame. More details at Vogue Business, including the fact that Montblanc found out only on set that Anderson had designed his own pen, the Schreiberling (“Scribbler” in German).

 ★ 

In case you’re in need of a video-ad palate cleanser, you won’t find a commercial more delightful than this one.

Cinematography by Linus Sandgren, of No Time To Die and Saltburn fame. More details at Vogue Business, including the fact that Montblanc found out only on set that Anderson had designed his own pen, the Schreiberling (“Scribbler” in German).

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Andy Allen and Thomas Williams, from Not Boring:

Sound is an outcast in Software Design. We may embrace the
aesthetics of animation and visuals, but sound is different. It’s
intrusive. Unlike visuals on a screen, you can’t look away or
ignore it. It’s enough to make you rip the batteries out of a toy
or frisbee an iPad across the room (speaking from experience).

And yet, play a video game without sound and its powerful punch
lands with no force. Without music, once moving moments in a film
become dull, even comical (Jurassic Park, Rocky). Sound holds an
immense power to elevate any experience — including the most
boring of software.

Sound in software isn’t inherently bad. It’s just been really
badly designed.

We use sound in every !Boring app, and many have called it out as
one of their favorite aspects of our apps. We’ve learned a few
things about when to use sound, how to design it, and how to
implement it. When done right, sound unlocks a path to much richer
software experiences.

Previously: “The World’s Most Satisfying Checkbox”.

 ★ 

Andy Allen and Thomas Williams, from Not Boring:

Sound is an outcast in Software Design. We may embrace the
aesthetics of animation and visuals, but sound is different. It’s
intrusive. Unlike visuals on a screen, you can’t look away or
ignore it. It’s enough to make you rip the batteries out of a toy
or frisbee an iPad across the room (speaking from experience).

And yet, play a video game without sound and its powerful punch
lands with no force. Without music, once moving moments in a film
become dull, even comical (Jurassic Park, Rocky). Sound holds an
immense power to elevate any experience — including the most
boring of software.

Sound in software isn’t inherently bad. It’s just been really
badly designed.

We use sound in every !Boring app, and many have called it out as
one of their favorite aspects of our apps. We’ve learned a few
things about when to use sound, how to design it, and how to
implement it. When done right, sound unlocks a path to much richer
software experiences.

Previously: “The World’s Most Satisfying Checkbox”.

Read More 

Even the user manual brings back memories. (“This manual contains sarcastic language that some readers might find condescending.”) From the “Performance Notes” section:

For Power Mac Users
If you need more speed, you better call the Apple Dealer where you
bought your computer, ’cuz he probably sold you a Centris in a
Power Mac case. Keep in mind however, that as of System 7.5 the
sound drivers in the Power Mac are still running under emulation.
You will, therefore, see speed gains by decreasing the number of
sound channels Marathon uses. […]

For 68020 Mac Users (Mac II, LC, LCII)
Unfortunately you are at the bottom of the food chain here. You
will probably want to run in low res at 50% screen size with no
floor or ceiling textures, no music, one channel sound, and with
the every other scan line option selected. In all honesty though,
you’ll probably want to run on a Power Mac. Look on the bright
side, Apple just lowered their prices again…

I owned an LC at the time, but played all my Marathon at the Drexel student newspaper on Power Macs. They really shouldn’t have even claimed it ran at all on 68020 Macs.

 ★ 

Even the user manual brings back memories. (“This manual contains sarcastic language that some readers might find condescending.”) From the “Performance Notes” section:

For Power Mac Users
If you need more speed, you better call the Apple Dealer where you
bought your computer, ’cuz he probably sold you a Centris in a
Power Mac case. Keep in mind however, that as of System 7.5 the
sound drivers in the Power Mac are still running under emulation.
You will, therefore, see speed gains by decreasing the number of
sound channels Marathon uses. […]

For 68020 Mac Users (Mac II, LC, LCII)
Unfortunately you are at the bottom of the food chain here. You
will probably want to run in low res at 50% screen size with no
floor or ceiling textures, no music, one channel sound, and with
the every other scan line option selected. In all honesty though,
you’ll probably want to run on a Power Mac. Look on the bright
side, Apple just lowered their prices again…

I owned an LC at the time, but played all my Marathon at the Drexel student newspaper on Power Macs. They really shouldn’t have even claimed it ran at all on 68020 Macs.

Read More 

Sam Altman, on Twitter/X:

not gpt-5, not a search engine, but we’ve been hard at work on
some new stuff we think people will love! feels like magic to me.

monday 10am PT.

 ★ 

Sam Altman, on Twitter/X:

not gpt-5, not a search engine, but we’ve been hard at work on
some new stuff we think people will love! feels like magic to me.

monday 10am PT.

Read More 

The Times sent me a news alert for this story — under the three-way byline of Tripp Mickle, Brian X. Chen, and Cade Metz — but I don’t think there’s a single sentence of news in the entire thing. The gist of it is that Apple recognizes that ChatGPT makes Siri look even dumber than it did before and that they plan to use LLM technology to improve it. That’s it.

Determined to catch up in the tech industry’s A.I. race, Apple has
made generative A.I. a tent pole project — the company’s special,
internal label that it uses to organize employees around
once-in-a-decade initiatives.

This is niggling, I know, but if “tent pole projects” only come once per decade at Apple, that means, by the Times’s count, there’ve only been 4 or 5 since the Macintosh debuted 40 years ago.

 ★ 

The Times sent me a news alert for this story — under the three-way byline of Tripp Mickle, Brian X. Chen, and Cade Metz — but I don’t think there’s a single sentence of news in the entire thing. The gist of it is that Apple recognizes that ChatGPT makes Siri look even dumber than it did before and that they plan to use LLM technology to improve it. That’s it.

Determined to catch up in the tech industry’s A.I. race, Apple has
made generative A.I. a tent pole project — the company’s special,
internal label that it uses to organize employees around
once-in-a-decade initiatives.

This is niggling, I know, but if “tent pole projects” only come once per decade at Apple, that means, by the Times’s count, there’ve only been 4 or 5 since the Macintosh debuted 40 years ago.

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Anna Tong, reporting for Reuters:

OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter, raising the stakes in its competition with search king Google.

The announcement could be timed a day before the Tuesday start of Google’s annual I/O conference, where the tech giant is expected to unveil a slew of AI-related products.

Remember the thing about Netflix being in a race to become HBO before HBO could become Netflix? My money here is that Google can become OpenAI (with generative AI) before OpenAI can become Google (with search), because I just don’t think OpenAI has any sort of moat around ChatGPT. They’re ahead but everyone else is nipping at their heels.

But: Google has left itself vulnerable by allowing the quality of Google Search results to degrade so much in recent years. Google remains dominant in search, but their share has started dropping.

 ★ 

Anna Tong, reporting for Reuters:

OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter, raising the stakes in its competition with search king Google. […]

The announcement could be timed a day before the Tuesday start of Google’s annual I/O conference, where the tech giant is expected to unveil a slew of AI-related products.

Remember the thing about Netflix being in a race to become HBO before HBO could become Netflix? My money here is that Google can become OpenAI (with generative AI) before OpenAI can become Google (with search), because I just don’t think OpenAI has any sort of moat around ChatGPT. They’re ahead but everyone else is nipping at their heels.

But: Google has left itself vulnerable by allowing the quality of Google Search results to degrade so much in recent years. Google remains dominant in search, but their share has started dropping.

Read More 

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

The Combo Touch for the 11-inch iPad Air is $200, while the Combo
Touch for the 13-inch model is $230. The iPad Pro versions are
priced at $230 and $260, respectively, for the 11-inch and 13-inch
models. The keyboards can be purchased from the Logitech
website.

Apple itself charges more for everything with the iPad Pro models — e.g. it costs $200 to add cellular to an iPad Pro, but only $150 to add cellular to other iPads — but I don’t think there’s any difference between Logitech’s Air and Pro models other than the depth of the case.

 ★ 

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

The Combo Touch for the 11-inch iPad Air is $200, while the Combo
Touch for the 13-inch model is $230. The iPad Pro versions are
priced at $230 and $260, respectively, for the 11-inch and 13-inch
models. The keyboards can be purchased from the Logitech
website.

Apple itself charges more for everything with the iPad Pro models — e.g. it costs $200 to add cellular to an iPad Pro, but only $150 to add cellular to other iPads — but I don’t think there’s any difference between Logitech’s Air and Pro models other than the depth of the case.

Read More 

Chance Miller, reporting for 9to5Mac:

In a memo distributed to Apple Store teams on Tuesday and viewed
by 9to5Mac, Apple explained that Apple stickers will not be
included in the box for the new iPad Pro and iPad Air. The company
says that this is part of its environmental goals, as it strives
to ensure its packaging is completely plastic-free.

Apple Stores, however, are receiving shipments with a limited
quantity of Apple logo stickers that can be distributed to
customers who buy a new iPad Pro or iPad Air, but only upon
request. So, if you buy an iPad Pro or iPad Air from an Apple
Store, you can request an Apple sticker at the time of purchase.

When Apple Stores run out of their supply of stickers, they can
order more from Apple.

Boo hiss. The fun of those stickers outweighs their environmental impact, I say.

 ★ 

Chance Miller, reporting for 9to5Mac:

In a memo distributed to Apple Store teams on Tuesday and viewed
by 9to5Mac, Apple explained that Apple stickers will not be
included in the box for the new iPad Pro and iPad Air. The company
says that this is part of its environmental goals, as it strives
to ensure its packaging is completely plastic-free.

Apple Stores, however, are receiving shipments with a limited
quantity of Apple logo stickers that can be distributed to
customers who buy a new iPad Pro or iPad Air, but only upon
request. So, if you buy an iPad Pro or iPad Air from an Apple
Store, you can request an Apple sticker at the time of purchase.

When Apple Stores run out of their supply of stickers, they can
order more from Apple.

Boo hiss. The fun of those stickers outweighs their environmental impact, I say.

Read More 

Chris Welch, The Verge:

Then there was the fact that the folio keyboard was so damn light.
It kept the iPad Pro feeling like an iPad in my bag. That has
never, ever been the case with a Magic Keyboard attached. When it
goes on, you’ve entered MacBook weight territory. I’m not saying
there’s any problem with that, but with the Smart Keyboard Folio,
there was something special about toting around such a powerful
combo that always stayed so airy on my back.

At best, Apple is being somewhat stubborn in assuming that every
iPad Pro buyer wants the tablet to feel like a laptop (and be a
similar weight to one) whenever a keyboard is attached, which is
what the Magic Keyboard gets you. If you want to view it with
more pessimism, the company is intentionally doing away with what
was a compelling, more affordable accessory — one that was easy
to take anywhere — in hopes that more people will cave and fork
over $300 for the only first-party keyboard that’s available for
the new Pro.

I suspect if it had been more popular, Apple would have made new ones for the new iPads. But I know Welch is not alone in his affinity for it. The textile-covered keyboard was far from ideal for typing feel, but the whole point of the Smart Keyboard Folio was to be a “good enough” keyboard when you need it — and the nature of that sort of keyboard made it perfect for use in a kitchen, with wet or dirty fingers. It was a keyboard cover you could just leave on your iPad all the time — and the Magic Keyboard isn’t that.

 ★ 

Chris Welch, The Verge:

Then there was the fact that the folio keyboard was so damn light.
It kept the iPad Pro feeling like an iPad in my bag. That has
never, ever been the case with a Magic Keyboard attached. When it
goes on, you’ve entered MacBook weight territory. I’m not saying
there’s any problem with that, but with the Smart Keyboard Folio,
there was something special about toting around such a powerful
combo that always stayed so airy on my back.

At best, Apple is being somewhat stubborn in assuming that every
iPad Pro buyer wants the tablet to feel like a laptop (and be a
similar weight to one) whenever a keyboard is attached, which is
what the Magic Keyboard gets you. If you want to view it with
more pessimism, the company is intentionally doing away with what
was a compelling, more affordable accessory — one that was easy
to take anywhere — in hopes that more people will cave and fork
over $300 for the only first-party keyboard that’s available for
the new Pro.

I suspect if it had been more popular, Apple would have made new ones for the new iPads. But I know Welch is not alone in his affinity for it. The textile-covered keyboard was far from ideal for typing feel, but the whole point of the Smart Keyboard Folio was to be a “good enough” keyboard when you need it — and the nature of that sort of keyboard made it perfect for use in a kitchen, with wet or dirty fingers. It was a keyboard cover you could just leave on your iPad all the time — and the Magic Keyboard isn’t that.

Read More