HobeSoundDarryl

Beware the blanket assumption that future election risk will police current choices. I find myself doubting there will be mid-term or subsequent elections… which would make the problems of having to please all but the 1% no longer an issue. 

These were launched on "liberation day" spun as our "liberation." So if they are now paused, is our liberation also paused? 

The underlying drive for tariffs is to get us the "billions and billions" of dollars which- behind the scenes- is apparently crucial to helping move those in our own government against taking on more huge debt opt to pass the big tax cut bill. If "billions and billions" are paused and won't now materialize, is the tax cut legislation also paused? Won't the rich friends upset about the markets be rich friends upset about the delayed tax cut? 

If the tax cut is now paused and there are no liberation billions, does the tax cut get funded by adding huge debt? And if so, who's generally the biggest buyer of huge U.S. debt? If our biggest "banker" is now the lone tariff "villain," would they keep buying more T-Bills from their economic "enemy" putting an ever escalating pinch on them with now 125% tariffs? Imagine if in a simple move, that biggest banker opts to CEASE buying more of our debt? Any bank can opt to cease loaning new money at any time. All they have to do with T-Bills is simply CHOOSE to not buy more. Worse: make it illegal for anyone within their reach to buy new T-Bills. 

And we all realize they could start dumping their vast U.S. debt holdings at ANY time which- while shooting themselves in the foot too- would certainly crash the economy and leave a GOV thoroughly dependent on selling debt with no debt funding. What if they offered the world willing to buy U.S. debt, their holdings for X% LESS than offered at our new debt auctions (basically buy the very same thing for less)? I think that would be an economic nuclear bomb. If this understanding is correct, how much do we want to keep poking our biggest banker (bear)? 

Speaking of which, do we believe that China will now cave... or reciprocally match again? So does it escalate to 150% in a few days and 200% a few more days after that? Several economists implied there was a tariff level around 100% where it would- in effect- suspend trade entirely. Maybe that's true or false at about the current level or some level above this one, but it's obvious there IS a level where doing business with China no longer financially works at all. Else, if iPhone has to be priced at $4K-$5K due to XXX% tariffs by the time Apple needs to import lots of them, does many/any buy that iPhone or cling to the one they already own? Again, China could sell U.S. debt holdings to try to persevere through ever-rising tariffs. Our main bargaining chip is relatively cheap access to a market that buys more than any other market. We're not their banker... only a lucrative pool of consumers... in a world with far more consumers by volume.  

Lastly, now that we've shown even our allies that we'll shock them with unexpected actions instead of working things out behind the scenes in advance, commit very solidly to such actions ("tariffs are permanent") then flip flop when enough resistance makes the stock market go down, why does anyone trust anything we may say or do next? What happens if our friends & enemies proceed with the scrambling responses they were working up before this pause... AND IMPLEMENT ANYWAY, effectively turning the tables without waiting for the 90 days to expire and- presumably- facing who knows what with us again? They've been playing defense since our "liberation." What if they opt to switch to "offense" now, which seems like exactly what the U.S. would do if the tables were turned?

Relative to AAPL stock: it's WAY up today against the backdrop of the costs of doing business with China going even higher. Does the market assume that Trump will cave on China too, give exceptions for Apple after strongly conveying "no exceptions" or was this only a foolish relief rally to come back to reality soon? Relative to one day ago, all of Apple's China transactions are more expensive today than they were yesterday. The "pause" did absolutely nothing for most of Apple's sources of hardware. 

All food for thought. And I'll hope for the best with everyone.   

When I embraced silicon, I went 5120 X 2160 40" ultra wide in the Dell version... coming from well over a decade of iMac 27" usage. I could never go back to the more squarish aspect ratio. All of that expanded horizontal space is just too useful. And to my 20:20s, resolution looks the same as the old iMac... just more of it as workspace. 

Cost is comparable to ASD with stand option but it comes with the variety of stand options, FOUR very useful inputs (to one of which I've attached a Mac Mini-like PC for "old fashioned bootcamp"), a substantial hub of both present and "the future" ports, etc. If it conked today, I'd immediately buy another: best monitor I've ever had. 

hidpi on it is 3840X1620 but the full 5120X2160 doesn't look "too small" (but yes smaller) on this bigger screen. That's a macOS problem instead of a monitor problem as Windows scales to any resolution and always looks right. Most of the time, I work in 3840X1620 for Mac but will up it to max for stuff like FCPX editing when I want maximum screen R.E. If you haven't tried one, you should. ASD is far from the only fish in this sea. 

bloggerblog said:

It’ll be nice if we can get AirTag for other things like a car, bicycle, motorcycle. Something that’s specifically designed for these things. Not sure what the differences would be but I’m sure Apple’s crack design team has a few ideas. 

The 2 AirTags I use now are hidden in a bicycle and a car... with a goal of being able to assist the police in possibly recovering either if stolen. They work great in knowing exactly where either is at all times. I did go to the trouble of removing the speakers so that this intended purpose has its best chance to succeed.

And while I lean pretty positive on Vpro and am typically not short on imagination, I can't think of a single thing that would cater them to Vpro or make them have some special relationship/functionality with it. Marking off open space to allow one to freely move within an empty square in virtual experiences without colliding with walls, furniture or other things... like those artificial boundaries for robot vacuums? That's all my imagination has to try to connect these dots. And I'm doubting they have that much accuracy to actually do that well.  

bobolicious said:
I find it a beautiful industrial design however...
...I would ask if the cost of memory and storage is a point of resistance, especially for larger POs...?
To add 750GB (to 1TB) to the 15" Air currently adds $400USD which translates to maybe $533USD / TB per Apple.com.  Adding 1.75TB is $800USD or $915USD for 2TB...
Newegg is offering PCIe 4 Samsung Pro @ $90 1TB and $140 2TB spec'd up to 7,000 MB/s
They don't even offer a PCIe 256...
So it seems Mac storage currently costs around 600% of the cost while the PCIe are swappable (repair) and upgradable (need) - I am unsure of speed equity...  It sure adds up quickly for something that is likley to be unsupported and perhaps even unrepairable after 6 years...