chasm

My Apple TV shows me only English-language (and bilingual) programming. This is because in the Settings app for my Apple TV, under General -> Language and Region, I have set my Apple TV language to English, and my Region to US.

Perhaps you should check that if you haven't already. There are still a couple of shows on Apple TV+ that are bilingual, like Pachinko and Acapulco, but subtitles kick on when English is not spoken (most of the time).

I can't comment on YouTube, but I will bet that there is a setting for your language in the app and on the service's homepage. Same with Google. That will limit but not entirely exclude the occasional bit of foreign language appearing in your media, but will make English the dominant language for the media you consume.

OTOH, learning at least one additional language wouldn't kill you, and opens up more travel, culture, and general world experiences -- not to mention the roots of many, many English words.

Later this year, I'm hoping to get at least passably conversational in German, as I already am in French and Dutch, in hopes of visiting Germany for Oktoberfest.

The camera/mic compromise is the real deal-breaker for me personally, though. If I decide to go with one of those fab new Mac minis, I'll have NO camera or mic without mounting a third-party cam on the top of ProArt. If I am plugging a MacBook Pro or Air into this, the camera will be in the "wrong place" for video conferencing except when I'm away from home.

In my particular use case, I don't think the backlight banding/Dynamic Dimming would be an issue, but it certainly could be for others as noted above. Strike three, this one is out for me.

That said, if they made a version of this that did include a cam/mic (for let's say $899), I might well jump on that -- because that would help me save thousands by using a Mac mini instead of buying another MBP.

If you were in the middle of something that needs to be completed (and the drive hasn’t failed completely), the bootable backup can allow you to finish your project before handing the machine over to an AASP for drive replacement.

SSDs are like lightbulbs — they tend to work perfectly for years and years, until one day — with no warning — they don’t. They’re dead and there’s nothing to be done — unless you have a bootable backup you can work from until you can get the machine serviced.

Back in the HD days, CCC (and/or SuperDuper) saved my bacon a few times. While I agree there is LESS need for a bootable backup anymore, I wouldn’t say there is ZERO need for it, so I hope SD and CCC can convince Apple of the folly of disabling bootable backups entirely.

Microsoft Joins Thorn and All Tech Is Human to enact strong child ...

I can't say about Samsung's efforts because I don't own any Samsung products, but those products using Android (from any manufacturer) probably rely on Google's anti-CSAM measures:

This would have taken you under a minute to investigate yourself, as it did me. Just because APPLEInsider doesn't mention rival companies' CSAM policies doesn't mean they don't have any.

(Canadians use a mix of US and UK spellings for certain words. Bring that up at your next trivia night, Americans!)

For people in other countries, you should probably assume you'll get iOS 18.1 features in iOS 18.3 or later, et al.