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Paul Thurrott, writing at his eponymous website:

Ultimately, I concluded that this isn’t just about looks, though
that obviously plays a role. Instead, it’s a sum of its
attributes, the total package. It’s the feeling of incredible
lightness, given its size, when I pick it up to move to another
room. The way it can sit on a bed or other soft surface and never
get too hot or fire up some loud fans that aren’t even necessary
or present in this device. How the battery just lasts and lasts
and lasts, and makes a mockery of other companies’ “all-day
battery life” claims.

It’s the little things, like effortlessly opening the lid with one
finger and seeing the display fire up instantly every single time.
Or the combination of these daily successes, the sharp contrast
with the unpredictable experience that I get with every Windows
laptop I use, experiences that are so regular in their
unpredictableness, so unavoidable, that I’ve almost stopped
thinking about them. Until now, of course. The attention to detail
and consistency I see in the MacBook Air is so foreign to the
Windows ecosystem that it feels like science fiction. But having
now experienced it, my expectations are elevated.

I want to be clear about this. There is nothing like this in the
PC space. Any laptop that’s configured such that it can handle
workstation-class workloads will fire up jet engine-class fans for
the duration, while any laptop that gets decent battery life and
is reasonably quiet is incapable of those higher-end workloads.
The MacBook Air does it all, in silence, without breaking a sweat.
And it does so all day long on battery power.

Fascinating perspective. Spot-on review.

 ★ 

Paul Thurrott, writing at his eponymous website:

Ultimately, I concluded that this isn’t just about looks, though
that obviously plays a role. Instead, it’s a sum of its
attributes, the total package. It’s the feeling of incredible
lightness, given its size, when I pick it up to move to another
room. The way it can sit on a bed or other soft surface and never
get too hot or fire up some loud fans that aren’t even necessary
or present in this device. How the battery just lasts and lasts
and lasts, and makes a mockery of other companies’ “all-day
battery life” claims.

It’s the little things, like effortlessly opening the lid with one
finger and seeing the display fire up instantly every single time.
Or the combination of these daily successes, the sharp contrast
with the unpredictable experience that I get with every Windows
laptop I use, experiences that are so regular in their
unpredictableness, so unavoidable, that I’ve almost stopped
thinking about them. Until now, of course. The attention to detail
and consistency I see in the MacBook Air is so foreign to the
Windows ecosystem that it feels like science fiction. But having
now experienced it, my expectations are elevated.

I want to be clear about this. There is nothing like this in the
PC space. Any laptop that’s configured such that it can handle
workstation-class workloads will fire up jet engine-class fans for
the duration, while any laptop that gets decent battery life and
is reasonably quiet is incapable of those higher-end workloads.
The MacBook Air does it all, in silence, without breaking a sweat.
And it does so all day long on battery power.

Fascinating perspective. Spot-on review.

Read More 

Stephanie Farr, writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer (News+):

But his big break came when the downstairs bartender broke a
bottle over an unruly customer’s head (the patron had reached
behind the bar to serve himself). Doyle had to cover the bar when
his coworker was hauled out by police in handcuffs.

And that’s how Doyle, 79, a married father of two and grandfather
of four, came to be the longest-serving bartender at Philly’s
oldest-operating bar. This month marks 50 years for Doyle at
McGillin’s, which opened on Drury Street near 13th in 1860,
and in true Philly fashion, the bar is throwing a yearlong party
in his honor.

If you ever visit McGillin’s — and you should if you can — their exclusive McGillin’s 1860 IPA is the beer to order. Good food too. Back when I was in college they had some sort of ridiculous Friday night wings special — 100 wings for $10? — that never ceased to seem too good to be true.

 ★ 

Stephanie Farr, writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer (News+):

But his big break came when the downstairs bartender broke a
bottle over an unruly customer’s head (the patron had reached
behind the bar to serve himself). Doyle had to cover the bar when
his coworker was hauled out by police in handcuffs.

And that’s how Doyle, 79, a married father of two and grandfather
of four, came to be the longest-serving bartender at Philly’s
oldest-operating bar. This month marks 50 years for Doyle at
McGillin’s, which opened on Drury Street near 13th in 1860,
and in true Philly fashion, the bar is throwing a yearlong party
in his honor.

If you ever visit McGillin’s — and you should if you can — their exclusive McGillin’s 1860 IPA is the beer to order. Good food too. Back when I was in college they had some sort of ridiculous Friday night wings special — 100 wings for $10? — that never ceased to seem too good to be true.

Read More 

Long story short, if your phone drops out of a plane, hope that it lands on grass.

 ★ 

Long story short, if your phone drops out of a plane, hope that it lands on grass.

Read More 

Chance Miller, reporting for 9to5Mac:

There appears to be an increasingly widespread Apple ID outage of
some sort impacting users tonight. A number of people on social
media say that they were logged out of their Apple ID across
multiple devices on Friday evening and forced to reset their
password before logging back in…

We received our first tip about this around 8 p.m. ET. In the
hours since then, the problem has gained significant traction on
social media.

Apple’s System Status webpage doesn’t indicate that any of its
services are having issues this evening. Still, it’s clear based
on social media reports that something wonky is going on behind
the scenes at Apple. A few of us here at 9to5Mac have also been
directly affected by the problem.

Apple’s separate Developer System Status dashboard lists “Account” has having undergone maintenance and also having additional maintenance scheduled for later today. Apple ought to provide an explanation for exactly what’s gone wrong here, but has not yet.

The lockout hit Michael Tsai (again) and he copiously documented the entire experience, including being required to wait an hour before setting a new password because he has Stolen Device Protection enabled — despite the fact that he was at home, which is supposed to be a trusted location.

I just checked on my own iPhone, and the only two “Significant Locations” listed in Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → System Services → Significant Locations are “Work” and my favorite (and truly oft-visited) grocery store. But the “Work” location is centered three entire city blocks (~0.2 miles) from my home, which leaves my home just outside the radius that counts as that location. Luckily I wasn’t hit by this account lockout, but this also reassures me that I’m right to not yet have enabled Stolen Device Protection.

 ★ 

Chance Miller, reporting for 9to5Mac:

There appears to be an increasingly widespread Apple ID outage of
some sort impacting users tonight. A number of people on social
media say that they were logged out of their Apple ID across
multiple devices on Friday evening and forced to reset their
password before logging back in…

We received our first tip about this around 8 p.m. ET. In the
hours since then, the problem has gained significant traction on
social media.

Apple’s System Status webpage doesn’t indicate that any of its
services are having issues this evening. Still, it’s clear based
on social media reports that something wonky is going on behind
the scenes at Apple. A few of us here at 9to5Mac have also been
directly affected by the problem.

Apple’s separate Developer System Status dashboard lists “Account” has having undergone maintenance and also having additional maintenance scheduled for later today. Apple ought to provide an explanation for exactly what’s gone wrong here, but has not yet.

The lockout hit Michael Tsai (again) and he copiously documented the entire experience, including being required to wait an hour before setting a new password because he has Stolen Device Protection enabled — despite the fact that he was at home, which is supposed to be a trusted location.

I just checked on my own iPhone, and the only two “Significant Locations” listed in Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → System Services → Significant Locations are “Work” and my favorite (and truly oft-visited) grocery store. But the “Work” location is centered three entire city blocks (~0.2 miles) from my home, which leaves my home just outside the radius that counts as that location. Luckily I wasn’t hit by this account lockout, but this also reassures me that I’m right to not yet have enabled Stolen Device Protection.

Read More 

Scott Hanselman and Jeff Wilcox, on Microsoft’s Open Source Blog:

Ten years ago, Microsoft released the source for MS-DOS 1.25 and
2.0 to the Computer History Museum, and then later republished
them for reference purposes. This code holds an important place in
history and is a fascinating read of an operating system that was
written entirely in 8086 assembly code nearly 45 years ago.

Today, in partnership with IBM and in the spirit of open
innovation, we’re releasing the source code to MS-DOS 4.00 under
the MIT license. There’s a somewhat complex and fascinating
history behind the 4.0 versions of DOS, as Microsoft partnered
with IBM for portions of the code but also created a branch of DOS
called Multitasking DOS that did not see a wide release.

I am reminded once again that I somehow managed to get a computer science degree despite being utterly baffled by assembly code.

 ★ 

Scott Hanselman and Jeff Wilcox, on Microsoft’s Open Source Blog:

Ten years ago, Microsoft released the source for MS-DOS 1.25 and
2.0 to the Computer History Museum, and then later republished
them for reference purposes. This code holds an important place in
history and is a fascinating read of an operating system that was
written entirely in 8086 assembly code nearly 45 years ago.

Today, in partnership with IBM and in the spirit of open
innovation, we’re releasing the source code to MS-DOS 4.00 under
the MIT license. There’s a somewhat complex and fascinating
history behind the 4.0 versions of DOS, as Microsoft partnered
with IBM for portions of the code but also created a branch of DOS
called Multitasking DOS that did not see a wide release.

I am reminded once again that I somehow managed to get a computer science degree despite being utterly baffled by assembly code.

Read More 

Brian Heater, writing for TechCrunch:

If there’s one overarching takeaway from last night’s Rabbit R1
launch event, it’s this: Hardware can be fun again. After a decade
of unquestioned smartphone dominance, there is, once again,
excitement to be found in consumer electronics. The wisdom and
longevity of any individual product or form factor — while
important — can be set aside for a moment. Just sit back and
enjoy the show.

I ordered one back on January 9, but still haven’t even gotten a shipping notice. But a slew of people have theirs already. Some first-look videos I enjoyed:

iJustine
Stephen Robles
Dan Barbera at MacRumors

 ★ 

Brian Heater, writing for TechCrunch:

If there’s one overarching takeaway from last night’s Rabbit R1
launch event, it’s this: Hardware can be fun again. After a decade
of unquestioned smartphone dominance, there is, once again,
excitement to be found in consumer electronics. The wisdom and
longevity of any individual product or form factor — while
important — can be set aside for a moment. Just sit back and
enjoy the show.

I ordered one back on January 9, but still haven’t even gotten a shipping notice. But a slew of people have theirs already. Some first-look videos I enjoyed:

iJustine
Stephen Robles
Dan Barbera at MacRumors

Read More 

While I’m on a follow-up kick today, my item yesterday regarding Ed Zitron’s compelling essay on the corruption of Google Search quality by putting it in the hands of Prabhakar Raghavan, formerly head of ads at Google, reminded me of this oft-cited quote from Walt Disney:

We don’t make movies to make money. We make money to make more movies.

Can’t say it better than that.

 ★ 

While I’m on a follow-up kick today, my item yesterday regarding Ed Zitron’s compelling essay on the corruption of Google Search quality by putting it in the hands of Prabhakar Raghavan, formerly head of ads at Google, reminded me of this oft-cited quote from Walt Disney:

We don’t make movies to make money. We make money to make more movies.

Can’t say it better than that.

Read More 

Another follow-up post, this one regarding my post yesterday regarding how “greasy”-looking keyboard keys are not, in fact, in need of cleaning, but instead are worn away because they’re made from soft ABS plastic, not hard PBT plastic. DF reader Brian Barefoot Burns wrote me:

Hey, John. Even on keyboards made with PBT key caps, the space
bars are usually still made with ABS. The reason is that PBT
shrinks more than ABS does during the manufacturing process. For
the smaller key caps, this shrinkage can be managed, but it’s so
significant on large keys like the spacebar, that even the IBM
Model M and similar keyboards that used PBT still had ABS
spacebars.

That explains both the visible erosion and yellowing of the space bars on my Apple Extended Keyboard II’s.

Also, there was a discussion on ATP episode 562 back in November about keycap wear, and one of their listeners pointed out that ABS can be made transparent to let backlighting shine through, but PBT cannot. You can make PBT keycaps with clear (ABS-filled) cut-outs for the letters, but that would undoubtedly add cost and complexity. My beloved Apple Extended Keyboard II has no backlighting at all. It’s quite possible that this entirely explains why Apple sticks with ABS despite the shiny-when-worn factor.

It’s also the case that some people’s natural skin oil wears away ABS plastic more than others. That same ATP episode’s show notes link to this extreme (and extremely gross) example. Jiminy. (Poor U, the least-typed vowel.)

 ★ 

Another follow-up post, this one regarding my post yesterday regarding how “greasy”-looking keyboard keys are not, in fact, in need of cleaning, but instead are worn away because they’re made from soft ABS plastic, not hard PBT plastic. DF reader Brian Barefoot Burns wrote me:

Hey, John. Even on keyboards made with PBT key caps, the space
bars are usually still made with ABS. The reason is that PBT
shrinks more than ABS does during the manufacturing process. For
the smaller key caps, this shrinkage can be managed, but it’s so
significant on large keys like the spacebar, that even the IBM
Model M and similar keyboards that used PBT still had ABS
spacebars.

That explains both the visible erosion and yellowing of the space bars on my Apple Extended Keyboard II’s.

Also, there was a discussion on ATP episode 562 back in November about keycap wear, and one of their listeners pointed out that ABS can be made transparent to let backlighting shine through, but PBT cannot. You can make PBT keycaps with clear (ABS-filled) cut-outs for the letters, but that would undoubtedly add cost and complexity. My beloved Apple Extended Keyboard II has no backlighting at all. It’s quite possible that this entirely explains why Apple sticks with ABS despite the shiny-when-worn factor.

It’s also the case that some people’s natural skin oil wears away ABS plastic more than others. That same ATP episode’s show notes link to this extreme (and extremely gross) example. Jiminy. (Poor U, the least-typed vowel.)

Read More 

It’s downright bizarre to think that come this fall, all iPhone 16 models will sport as much RAM as base model Macs.

Following up on (a) my post earlier this week regarding on-device LLM features being RAM-hungry, and (b) my post regarding Mark Gurman’s claim that M4 Macs will start shipping late this year, I will direct your attention to a report from MacRumors back in January that all iPhone 16 models will include 8 GB of RAM. With the iPhone 15 models, the non-pro models have 6 GB and the Pro models 8 GB. If true, one incongruity will be that new iPhones will have the same amount of RAM as most base-model Macs.

This came up on the most recent episode of ATP, and their show notes include these two charts posted to Mastodon by David Schaub, showing (a) the base RAM for all-in-one Mac desktops from 1984 onward; and (b) the base RAM in consumer Mac laptops from 1999 onward. It has always been the case that Apple has been open to criticism for base-model RAM being “one click” too low. E.g. when base RAM was 1 GB, it should have been 2 GB; when it was 2 GB it should have been 4 GB; etc. But it was also always the case that Apple increased the base RAM every two years or so. Not anymore. iMacs have been stuck at 8 GB of base RAM since the 27-inch iMac from late 2012. MacBook Airs have been stuck at 8 GB base RAM since 2017.

I do think it’s true that Apple silicon changed this equation. Perhaps even, as a rule of thumb, by a factor of 2 — that an Apple silicon Mac with 8 GB RAM performs as well under memory constraints as an Intel-based Mac with 16 GB. But base model consumer Macs have been stuck at 8 GB for a long time, and it’s impossible to look at Schaub’s charts and not see that regular increases in base RAM effectively stopped when Tim Cook took over as CEO. Apple silicon efficiency notwithstanding, more RAM is better, and certainly more future-proof. And it’s downright bizarre to think that come this fall, all iPhone 16 models will sport as much RAM as base model Macs. (Supercomputer pioneer Seymour Cray on virtual memory: “Memory is like an orgasm. It’s a lot better if you don’t have to fake it.”)

Read More 

Kyle Chayka, writing for The New Yorker:

Two years ago, they both tried Apple’s Screen Time restriction
tool and found it too easy to disable, so the pair decided to
trade out their iPhones for more low-tech devices. They’d heard
about so-called dumbphones, which lacked the kinds of bells and
whistles — a high-resolution screen, an app store, a video camera — that made smartphones so addictive. But they found the process
of acquiring one hard to navigate. “The information on it was kind
of disparate and hard to get to. A lot of people who know the most
about dumbphones spend the least time online,” Krigbaum said. A
certain irony presented itself: figuring out a way to be less
online required aggressive online digging.

The couple — Stults is twenty-nine, and Krigbaum is twenty-five — saw a business opportunity. “If somebody could condense it and
simplify it to the best options, maybe more people would make the
switch,” Krigbaum said. In late 2022, they launched an e-commerce
company, Dumbwireless, to sell phones, data plans, and accessories
for people who want to reduce time spent on their screens.

Chayka’s story ran under the bold headline “The Dumbphone Boom Is Real”, which is incongruously clickbait-y for The New Yorker:

Stults takes business calls on his personal cell, and on one
recent morning the first call came at 5 a.m. (As the lead on
customer service, he has to use a smartphone — go figure.) They
pack each order by hand, sometimes with handwritten notes. They
have not yet quit their day jobs, which are in the service
industry, but Dumbwireless sold more than seventy thousand
dollars’ worth of products last month, ten times more than in
March, 2023. Krigbaum and Stults noticed an acceleration in sales
last October, which they speculate may have had something to do
with the onslaught of holiday-shopping season. Some of their
popular phone offerings include the Light Phone, an e-ink device
with almost no apps; the Nokia 2780, a traditional flip phone; and
the Punkt., a calculator-ish Swiss device that looks like
something designed for Neo to carry in “The Matrix” (which, to be
fair, is a movie of the dumbphone era).

$70K/month in sales is legit, but far from a boom.

The two things that get me when I ponder, even for a moment, carrying a dumbphone: audio (podcasts/music) and camera. Pre-iPhone I’d leave the house with both a phone and an iPod, and sometimes a camera too. I actually just bought a new pocket-sized camera last year, but it seems ludicrous to even consider carrying a dedicated device just for audio, and with music streaming, people expect their portable audio player to have always-available networking. Also: AirPods. I’m not going back to wired earbuds, especially in the winter.

 ★ 

Kyle Chayka, writing for The New Yorker:

Two years ago, they both tried Apple’s Screen Time restriction
tool and found it too easy to disable, so the pair decided to
trade out their iPhones for more low-tech devices. They’d heard
about so-called dumbphones, which lacked the kinds of bells and
whistles — a high-resolution screen, an app store, a video camera — that made smartphones so addictive. But they found the process
of acquiring one hard to navigate. “The information on it was kind
of disparate and hard to get to. A lot of people who know the most
about dumbphones spend the least time online,” Krigbaum said. A
certain irony presented itself: figuring out a way to be less
online required aggressive online digging.

The couple — Stults is twenty-nine, and Krigbaum is twenty-five — saw a business opportunity. “If somebody could condense it and
simplify it to the best options, maybe more people would make the
switch,” Krigbaum said. In late 2022, they launched an e-commerce
company, Dumbwireless, to sell phones, data plans, and accessories
for people who want to reduce time spent on their screens.

Chayka’s story ran under the bold headline “The Dumbphone Boom Is Real”, which is incongruously clickbait-y for The New Yorker:

Stults takes business calls on his personal cell, and on one
recent morning the first call came at 5 a.m. (As the lead on
customer service, he has to use a smartphone — go figure.) They
pack each order by hand, sometimes with handwritten notes. They
have not yet quit their day jobs, which are in the service
industry, but Dumbwireless sold more than seventy thousand
dollars’ worth of products last month, ten times more than in
March, 2023. Krigbaum and Stults noticed an acceleration in sales
last October, which they speculate may have had something to do
with the onslaught of holiday-shopping season. Some of their
popular phone offerings include the Light Phone, an e-ink device
with almost no apps; the Nokia 2780, a traditional flip phone; and
the Punkt., a calculator-ish Swiss device that looks like
something designed for Neo to carry in “The Matrix” (which, to be
fair, is a movie of the dumbphone era).

$70K/month in sales is legit, but far from a boom.

The two things that get me when I ponder, even for a moment, carrying a dumbphone: audio (podcasts/music) and camera. Pre-iPhone I’d leave the house with both a phone and an iPod, and sometimes a camera too. I actually just bought a new pocket-sized camera last year, but it seems ludicrous to even consider carrying a dedicated device just for audio, and with music streaming, people expect their portable audio player to have always-available networking. Also: AirPods. I’m not going back to wired earbuds, especially in the winter.

Read More