charlesn said:

Well, considering that Apple is the 800 pound gorilla in the consumer electronics space, it will obviously benefit most from any tariff relief by virtue of its huge sales. As far as tariff exemption lines added that "consist of products that Apple makes, but few others do" that's not as favorable to Apple as it sounds. Look at smartphones: there's Apple, Samsung, Google and nobody else that matters. Similarly, with computers, you have a small handful of companies that matter and that's it. So I would imagine that Apple's primary competitors in every line are benefitting from the exemptions, too. 

For sure the temporary tariff exemptions are helping other companies which is why there was a broader market (and electronics sector) bounce after the White House announced the exemption.

Also, when the White House was escalating their retaliatory tariff snit with China, some other companies' stock prices got pummelled even worse than Apple. Notably Dell and HP share prices took massive beatings. We've also seen Nvidia take a beating even though their technology is not present in any currently marketed Apple device to my knowledge. Same with AMD and Intel.

However you're just looking at the top level label on the box. There are tons of components in all types of products. The tariff isn't just applied to the final assembled SKU.

Companies who are more focused on services (Google, Meta, Amazon, etc.) are less affected by technology hardware tariffs in terms of revenue but certainly those tariffs affect operations (the cost of doing business) in doing things like increasing the server costs in data centers, stuff like that.

In the end, nothing will be cheaper for Americans, everything will end up costing more. Tariffs are really just a federal sales tax without being a line item on a store receipt.

Nagra178A said:

Where is Apple Watch 18.4.1?

Stuck on a build server somewhere in Apple's internal network. Don't worry, if Apple deems it a worthwhile release, you'll eventually see it. Patience is a virtue.

Apple is notoriously opaque about their security activity. Nothing new there.

Maybe these two vulnerabilities have little risk being executed on Apple's smartwatch. Maybe they don't even exist at all. Maybe the fix isn't fully baked yet. Who knows? Apple certainly does yet for sure they won't explain the delay since it has already been released for other device platforms.

Look, AI-assisted writing tools are really just like any other tool or convenience.

Did you cook your own dinner last night? Or did you just order DoorDash? Dump a jar of spaghetti sauce in a saucepan? Use a food processor instead of chopping up ingredients with a knife? Use canned chicken stock? Did you paint your last image or did you just snap a photo with your smartphone?

Tools exist to make lives easier whether it be a Skil-saw, automobile, or digital service like Apple Intelligence's Image Clean Up. It's really up to the individual to decide how to use it. You are still free to fire up Photoshop or The GIMP and edit your images manually. Or dodge-and-burn like Ansel Adams. Or just use a pencil on paper and an eraser. I suck at Photoshop so something like Image Clean Up helps me because I could spend hours on an image and not get the same results as using an AI-assisted photo editing tool.

How long would it take you to bake the perfect baguette, your sister's wedding cake, a scone? Don't want to pick up leaves? Get a rake. Thing raking is too slow? Get a leaf blower.

For sure AI is here to stay and even sticking your head in the sand isn't going to make it go away.

And no one is pointing a gun at your head saying you need to use Meta's AI tools when you are on Facebook. You are still free to type your own thoughts using your own brain cells instead of Meta Llama.

For sure, AI-assisted writing tools reduces some of the tedium and time of composing certain types of written communications. For sure some people have better writing skills than others. AI-assisted writing tools simply reduce some of the time and/or improve the output for some less talented writers. It doesn't actually make them better writers or thinkers. We have been over this countless times before.

Hell, I'm pretty disappointed with all consumer-facing AI because it still can't handle junk e-mail. That is absolutely pathetic and everyone working on consumer-facing LLMs should be utterly ashamed at their lack of ability here in April 2025. Sure, writing tools are fine. But give us something that will help everyone. No one benefits from wasting time triaging through junkmail.

This is how moronic consumer-facing LLM-based AI tools are in 2025. There are great things happening in the commercial/enterprise side of things (pharmaceutial research, semiconductor design, financial services). But from a consumer perspective, it's almost all embarrassingly lame. AI writing tools are one of the few things today's consumer-facing LLMs can actually do reasonably decently.

AI IS NOT GOING AWAY AND WHINING ABOUT IT WON'T DO SQUAT.

Is Apple Intelligence's Image Clean Up feature better than an expert Photoshop user? Probably not. Is it faster than rank Photoshop-illiterate Joe Consumer? Absolutely. These consumer-facing tools are being aimed at a broad market, not for people who have 20+ years of professional, on-the-job Photoshop experience. Some of you have excellent Photoshop skills. We understand, good for you. Some of you also might be superior bakers, carpenters, seamstresses. We get that too.

AI-writing tools aren't targeted at professional writers, editors, etc. They're aimed at the ordinary office worker who probably doesn't have a Master's Degree in English, Comparative Literature, Classics, whatever (hell, some might be writing in a language different than their native tongue). AI isn't going to write War & Peace, a Pulitzer-prize winning poetry collection or wedding gift thank you notes.

We have been over this time and time before.

It's a shame that there are no updates for the iOS 17.7 and other related OSes. Not everyone has jumped to iOS/iPadOS 18 or macOS Sequoia. I have two iPhones on iOS 17.7.2 and an iPad on iPadOS 17.7.2. There are also two Macs running Sonoma 14.7.5 in the house.

Should I A.) assume that iOS 17.7 does not have any of these vulnerabilities (unlikely), or B.) Apple is just being lazy (jury is still out).

Many of us are still deliberately staying on an older version of the operating systems for a variety of different reasons. My main reason is that iOS 18 is still too buggy. I might upgrade to iOS 18/Sequoia in June but I'll decide later. I have skipped entire generations like Crapalina.

Apple is doing a disservice by not providing timely security updates to these older operating systems or at least offering some sort of communication confirming that these older OSes are not vulnerable. Not that Apple has ever shown any propensity to being transparent about security matters.

DAalseth said:

Thanks for the reminder. I just checked to verify that the Share switch was off on all my devices. 

I review these settings every time I upgrade iOS, iPadOS, macOS or restore from a previous backup. It takes me at least an hour to review all of these when setting up a new device from scratch.

Same thing with Background Activity, Location Services (including precise location), Live Activities, Notifications and more. Lots of things to shut down.