s.metcalf

I still love my Bowers & Wilkins MM-1s, even though they’ve been long discontinued.  They have such a nice sound for their size, which is very diminutive.

The new Mac Pro was an important move for Apple.  Hopefully it hasn’t come too late.  It still baffles me why they never bothered to update the previous Mac Pro to Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C, which a form-factor like that desperately needed, considering its reliance (by design) on external expansion.  Perhaps they knew it had failed and already given up on it by the time TB3 rolled around.  But that doesn’t explain why they kept the price on it so high for so long despite its significantly outdated hardware either, so go figure.

My only concern about the new Mac Pro (apart from its price, or more specifically: that I’ll never be able to afford one) is, like the previous version, its limitation to a single CPU socket.  Granted they’re up to 28 cores now, but my understanding is there are still many applications (particularly in science) for which traditional CPU power is used and required as opposed to graphics architectures.  Wouldn’t 2 x 28 cores be even better for this segment of pros?  You could do some crazily advanced fluid dynamics modelling and research with that kind of horsepower sitting on your desk.

So I feel like Apple mainly liaised and targeted graphics and media professionals (like studios) with this update.  Granted there are plenty of scientists using GPU compute, but many of those have CUDA code, so Apple is still shutting the gate on them (for now) also.

In the end I think it was too difficult to find the space for another CPU with all that PCI and RAM expansion.  I still think it’s an awesome looking machine, and that XDR screen is even more impressive.

eideard said:

"I wish I could get adult-oriented “stickers” but you can’t." Take the comparatively small amount of time needed to learn to use Apple and Apple-based software and you may create your own stickers.

Yea, and I can go and shoot my own film and upload that to my phone as well so what’s your point?  I’m not an artist or looking to make my own.  I want to browse and buy from other people in the same way I can for Apple-approved “safe” stickers—and be able to get and use the ones my friends are using (or vice versa)—just as easily.  I thought that was obvious.

What you seem to be suggesting is: I have to be a registered developer; make a sticker set in Xcode on a Mac; use my phone as a test device to install the stickers; and if I want to share them I have to use the Test Flight app (presumably as a paid developer) to share them to other people via a link, which may conflict with Apple’s terms of service anyway.  And you’re seriously putting that as a rebuttal to my point about censorship and oversight? That’s some pretty decent Apple defending I gotta say.  Hats off!

If I’m missing something I apologise, but I can’t really see how your not-so-subtle dig had anything to do with the point I was making in relation to this thread.

I wasn’t the least bit interested in this “event” (presentation) and I’m even less interested in this 2,000+ word counter-rant about it.  I can’t even watch the presentations with new hardware anymore because of Tim Cook.

I’m just not interested in Apple curating news or creating content.  Everything has to be approved and conform to their terms and conditions, which are designed (in part) to promote their corporate image as a safe and family-friendly platform.  We’ve seen how app developers can fall foul of these guidelines for laughably minor things.  They’ve also disallowed apps such as Wikileaks for political reasons.  Would an article or film that’s highly critical of Apple (or examines labour or environmental conditions) be approved for publication through their services?  Whether yes or no, it’s being subject to approval (and therefore disapproval) that’s the problem.

It’s for this reason that I deleted the News app and won’t consider News+ (whatever that is).  I’m not a baby and I’m not interested in a platform that’s made “safe” for me.  I do begrudgingly accept the locked-down (for apps) iOS platform in exchange for security and other benefits of the iPhone and App Store, but there’s no way I’ll let their approvals processes and oversight cross over to other content that I’ve traditionally viewed in a free and open fashion.  If I see an Apple or Disney logo on content I’m unlikely to be interested—it’s just not my thing.

I wish I could get adult-oriented “stickers” for iMessage, but you can’t.  This is my point about Apple and content: I wish they’d focus on making excellent hardware.  They seem to have enough on their plate keeping most of their computers up to date.

It’s shameful that the West doesn’t support Taiwan’s admission to the UN.  They’re a country in every way except UN member status.  PRC has no authority or power in Taiwan.