Panifex

mknelson said:

Larian hasn't been very good at communicating about the Mac release delay. It just wasn't available launch day and then almost silent since except a vague statement about releasing later in September (2.5 week delay).

On the other hand: it'll be nice to play with the 3 major and 5 (or 6) hot-fixes already in place, and hopefully tested with the Sonoma release candidate.

Fully agree, communication was remarkably poor for Mac release. Those of us who'd been playing on Mac in early access were pretty surprised by the delay and then we were just kept in limbo for weeks. Thankfully I also have a PC and have been able to play since launch, but I'm looking forward to playing on Mac again soon! I'm not sure how it'll shake out with the full release, but in early access my M1 Mac Studio ran BG3 noticeably smoother than my decently specced PC (RTX 2080, 32 GB RAM, etc). Fantastic game!

I disagree with some of the arguments made here, as over the past two years Apple Fitness+ has been the catalyst and vehicle that's gotten me to exercise consistently for the first time in my life (I'm 40). It's partially because Apple isn't pushing live classes or direct interaction that I even tried the service. Simply having a bunch of workout options available for me to do at any time and "anonymously" is a huge plus for me. I think maybe this helps people like myself who don't have a previously successful workout history, as we're not accountable to anyone but ourselves, so there's no perceived social pressure from a workout partner or a trainer if we miss a workout due to lack of available time, or if we do a 10 minute workout instead of a 30 minute workout because we're not feeling 100% today. In my previous attempts to establish an exercise habit, I always wound up quitting because of these issues. Despite "missing" workouts or doing shorter ones sometimes, I'm now exercising 5 days a week and all my fitness trends are trending up year over year. Apple Fitness+ is the best thing that ever happened to my fitness!

I completely disagree that the iPad is failing or that it's not good for much. I use my iPad every day, and that's been true for the 7 different iPad models I've bought since 2010. It's substantially better for reading than my phone or my Mac, whether I'm reading a Kindle book or aggregated news and media via an app like Flipboard. I find it to be capable when I'm away from home as a computer replacement with the Magic Keyboard (obviously workflow needs are highly individual, but this has been my own experience), and it's better for tasks like signing documents when buying/selling a house, signing contracts, etc. It's also earned a spot among my various gaming devices for playing certain types of games. I vastly prefer browsing Reddit or watching YouTube on my iPad than on my phone, and the list goes on and on. It's replaced dedicated cash register hardware for small businesses around the world, and it's versatile enough to replace niche specialized hardware in fields like archaeology. Just because some individuals don't have a place for an iPad within their own specific workflows and personal lives, that hardly qualifies them to declare the device a failure when millions of us use an iPad every day.

I wonder where that leaves those of us who are still subscribed to the "Paramount+ and Showtime" bundle for $9.99/mo through Apple TV. Will it be discontinued or will it be rebranded to this new Paramount+ With Showtime offering and get the price hike? Despite having access to Showtime's content for essentially no added cost, we've only streamed one show from Showtime in our household, so if they increase the cost for legacy subscribers I'll wind up switching to just Paramount+. As mentioned by another poster, the content's just not there to justify the price.

Hmm. It looks cheaply made and it performs exactly the same functions as Apple's USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter, which is currently selling for $49...