charlesn

sdw2001 said:

Oh, look, calling his tariffs “nonsensical” and using scare quotes.  Shocker.

Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs are nonsensical as defined by the silly and preposterous "formula" used to determine them. Honestly, the sooner the empty shelves can get here, the better, because maybe that will finally wake Americans up to the real consequences of an idiot running the country into the ground.  

flydog said:

charlesn said:

"From this chair, Apple's 5K Studio Display is a nice monitor. It just delivers a beyond terrible price to delivered value ratio."

You've said it all in two short sentences. And there's nothing up for debate in this assessment--it's a perfectly "fine" monitor that--even by Apple standards--delivers nothing but appearance to justify the lofty price point. And even if the webcam issue can be fixed via software update, it's just inexcusable to ship such a premium-priced monitor in the age of Zoom with crappy webcam performance. 

There is no other monitor below $5,000 that can even match the brightness, contrast levels, and color range of the Studio Display, and when there is no substitute, $1,600 is a bargain. A comparable monitor simply does not exist. 

Extreme pricing based on lack of competitive availability is also called price-gouging. Look: Apple's own 27" iMac has the same display (except slightly lower brightness) and it includes keyboard, mouse and a whole danged computer for just $100 more (list price) than the Apple Display. 

I really expected this to get settled quickly once Kiani was out of the picture. "Getting" Apple had become a senseless, great white whale obsession for him, as evidenced by his expenditure of over $100 million in legal fees for which he got nothing of tangible value, only a pyrrhic victory in Apple disabling blood ox readings via software in watches sold in the U.S. starting Jan 2024. But the $100+ million in legal fees was nothing compared to Kiani's $1 billion dollar purchase of a high end audio company comglomerate. If you're wondering why the hell a medical devices company would spend a billion on high end audio, the hedge fund shareholders of Masimo were wondering the same. Supposedly, Kiani did this to get access to retail channels (think Best Buy, etc) through which he hope to sell Masimo watches and other consumer products. What, you never saw the big Masimo display of products at Best Buy? Exactly. And this insane purchase led to the hedgies giving Kiani the boot. Masimo finally unloaded Sound United in May but could only get $350 million for it, a loss of over $650 million in the three years since the purchase, all thanks to Kiani. What a guy!

GM has already shown it cannot be trusted with the data collection possible in its new system. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that GM drivers around the country were finding themselves hit with inexplicable, sharp spikes in their auto insurance premiums. The reason? The onboard computers in their GM cars had been tracking and collecting data on their driving habits--speeds driven, hard-braking events, overly sharp turns, etc.--then secretly transmitting that data back to GM via the OnStar connection, and GM sold it to insurance companies. The WSJ's lead tech reporter also documented how difficult it was to opt out of having the data collected--that permission for GM to collect and sell it is buried in the pages of paperwork you sign when buying the car. Supposedly--but only now that it has been caught--GM claims it has ended the practice, but how can you believe a company so willing to cross such an egregious line in the first place? This also does little to help all the GM drivers saddled with increased insurance rates for years because their car was spying on them. And this abuse of customer privacy pre-dates the new Ultifi system, which provides a whole slew of new opportunities for the collection and sale of data about GM customers. NO THANK YOU. 

If I could run two Apple watches on one cellular plan, I'd be picking up that black Ultra 2 tomorrow to go with my natural Ti Ultra 1--it just looks THAT good, especially with the Ultra Modular face, which happens to be my fave, as well. It's interesting that for the Watch 10, Apple chose to go with a thinner case rather than keep the same thickness of Watch 9 and give users a bigger battery to fill the available space. Even at 2 years old, I'm still getting well into my second day on a charge with my Ultra 1. Overall, I'd say my Ultra is one of the most satisfying Apple products that I've ever owned. 

By the way: glad you called out the features Apple keeps adding to the Airpods Pro 2. Not nearly enough has been said about Apple adding FTC-approved and clinical grade hearing test and hearing aid functionality FOR FREE. About a year ago, I experienced SSHL in one ear (sudden sensorineural hearing loss), and by the time it was properly diagnosed (I thought I had allergies or a head cold), it was too late to correct. This new functionality in APP2 allows me to monitor the state of my hearing on an ongoing basis and to assess the sound and performance of a hearing aid, before investing thousands in one of the high-end, near-invisible aids on the market. I don't see APP2 as a real hearing aid solution as yet because of the size and limited battery life--no one wants to run around with APP2 in their ears at all times--but I hope this is a first step in Apple jumping more seriously into the huge hearing aid market. Yes, I giet the irony of Apple "fixing" a problem it helps create, but it's a market ripe for disruption, and I can't think of any company with more miniaturized audio knowledge, or with greater R&D resources, than Apple. When you consider that high-end, near invisible in-ear-canal aids fitted by an audiologist can cost $5,000-$7,000 per pair--yeah, the price of a Vision Pro PER EAR--this is the kind of high margin business that Apple loves. 

I've worked in television development and production for almost 30 years. I have close friends who have been working in development and production at Apple TV+ since it launched. So I'm going to be very kind here and state simply that this article, for the most part, is incredibly naive and ill-informed about how television, in general, and Apple TV+, in particular, work. But let's start with this sentence: "The show's frequent use of "owners," long and uninterrupted shows with a single camera..." It reads as nonsensical because it is. What it should say is, "The show's frequent use of "oners," long and uninterrupted shots with a single camera..." The term is oners, not owners, because it refers to ONE long and continuous shot. And the reason I start there is because if you can't get an obvious and common industry term right, you're an unreliable narrator for the rest of the story. 

Here's how it works: executives at the entity putting up the money to get a project made--whether it's a big movie studio, a streaming platform, a broadcast network, or a cable channel--get a say in how it gets made through a process of script readings and pre-production meetings before anything is shot, to make sure everyone is on the same page, and then notes are given after the show is shot on cuts as they come in. This isn't "meddling." This input is responsible management of anywhere from millions to hundreds of millions of dollars spent for a project. You don't just write a giant check and hope for the best. Good execs working with a good creative team will not see a need for excessive notes, what they do note will be actionable and there will be an explanation for why the note was given. Bad execs--and they do happen--seem to estimate their self-worth in how many pages of notes they can give, calling for changes in even the most infinitesimal details. There's even an industry term for this--execs who give voluminous notes like these are said to be "frame fucking" the production company. 

So, getting back to Apple: they're entitled to have a say because they're not only paying for the shows to get made, but Apple is pretty much #1 when it comes to the amounts they're willing to pay for a show they want. $200 million estimated for the second season of Severance. Lavish and expensive sci-fi series. The show Pachinko had four other bidders besides Apple, but Apple won as the only company willing to cover the entire production budget estimated at $13 million per episode. Compared to its competitors making shows and movies, Apple TV+ has an excellent reputation in the creative community for the amount of freedom it gives to creators and the trust it places in them. But what about confirmed issues with Jon Stewart and rumored ones with The Studio? Fair question! Well, consider why Apple is in the television business, which almost certainly isn't profitable. It's there to burnish the Apple brand and image and to provide another way to keep the Apple user base engaged with the Apple ecosystem. So considering those goals, why would Apple want to support a project that reflects poorly on the brand in some way or is upsetting to relationships and partnerships it needs for its businesses that actually generate the profits that make Apple TV+ possible? With Jon Stewart, who I think is great, being political and controversial is part of his brand, so I'm not sure why Apple greenlit a show with him in the first place. Someone at Apple didn't think that one through and that it ended badly isn't a surprise. With the rumored "meddling" in The Studio, this is another case where I understand where Apple is coming from, but makes me want to ask, "What were you thinking when gave this show a greenlight?!" It's a hilarious and savage satire of the studios that make television and movies, which is pretty uncomfortable for Apple TV+, since it needs great relationships with studios. I expect The Studio may end up with a slew of Emmy noms and maybe even wins for Apple TV+, in which case case any discomfort with the show will be forgotten!

The vast, vast majority of what Apple makes is still made in China. Over 90%, with some estimates as high as 95%. And this is after a years-long effort to meaningfully diversify production, which gives you a sense of how hard this is to do and how long it takes. So anyone thinking that Apple can now just shift its China production on a dime over to India and Vietnam for the more favorable tariff rates is delusional. If anything, the news for Apple today got even worse, as the China tariffs went from 104% at midnight to 125% this afternoon. And no one knows what the Orange Lunatic is going to do in 90 days, or even tomorrow. Just remember: he prematurely tore up the NAFTA trade agreement, personally renegotiated it and signed it as the USMCA in his first term, then prematurely tore up THAT agreement... his own agreement... and slammed Canada and Mexico with tariffs. His word and his signature on anything are worth nothing. 

When you look up douchebag in the dictionary, there's a picture of Zuckerberg's face. I have to hand it to the movie, The Social Network, which really nailed what a soulless creep the guy truly is. True story: He was recently seen wearing a million dollar watch, weird for a guy who has never been into watches. Turns out he spotted a fancy Richard Mille model on the wrist of Indian kabillionaire Anant Ambani and described his reaction: ""You know, I never really wanted to get a watch. But after seeing that, I was like, watches are cool." That's like something a 13-year-old would say. But being Mark Zuckerberg he bought a million dollar watch to show that he was cool, too! What a dickwad. 

nubus said:

 it will be less socially acceptable in China to buy U.S. products. 

You raise a good point that has not been fully appreciated yet. Focus so far has been on how the tariffs will impact Apple's #1 market, the USA. But Apple's #2 market is China, where it will likely face economic retaliation of some kind by the Chinese government (despite a lot of Apple production being still based in China) in addition to what I'm sure will be anti-American sentiment on the part of Chinese consumers. Trump has quickly transformed the USA into a global supervillain (mirroring himself in that regard), and I'm both expecting and understanding of what will likely be a tsunami of anti-American sentiment everywhere. We are the bad guys now. 

A post against "woke" Apple serves to distract the magamoron masses from the record-high price of eggs, the worst consumer sentiment since 2021, the looming signs of recession, all topped by the chaos and cruelty that results when a pudgy, ketamine-fueled chainsaw is set loose on the U.S. government. On the brighter side, Europe had the good sense to send sales of fElon's Swazticar nose-diving by 45% last month, and hopefully the U.S. will follow suit.