You've been out for 4 years! Where is all the entrepreneurship? Where are all the startups leveraging AI to take over existing non-AI industries? There were several major startups revolutionizing non-computing segments of the business world 4 years after the introduction of commercial internet (1999)...as well as the iPhone (2011). All I hear about are pick and shovel vendors making money off FOMO. Every business who invests in AI is unsure if it's saving them money.

To date, I can say AI has accomplished the following:

1. Given AI-is-my-religion zealots a cool toy to play with and dream about a future whenever this shit starts actually working
2. Made money for a half dozen players in a circular economy ponzi scheme
3. Been used to AI-wash layoffs without any evidence and suppress wages, masking big tech's challenges with rising interest rates.
4. Made the cost of devices we want and actually use skyrocket.

AI has made the future pretty bleak, personally. It doesn't work and is causing a RAMpocalypse...and if it ever actually does, it will cause a white-collar-jobpocalypse and massive social unrest. However, don't take my word for it.

After 4 years, Steve Jobs didn't have to go on press tours to convince people of the utility of an iPhone. No one had to sell the internet as a useful thing in 1999. The fact that Sam Altman has to sell his ware so hard shows even he's not confident about his product. We've all used ChatGPT Sam...We know what it is. We weren't impressed enough to pay for your massive investment to build it.

Good for Dell and HP. I hope they use this windfall to strengthen their core businesses and realize that AI is a bubble that can't pop soon enough. Obviously people will buy AI servers after the pop, AI is here to stay, but this massive surge isn't long for the world. HP is the biggest disappointment in tech, rivaling Oracle for the least respected company in Silicon Valley, despite such a great history. They seem to do nothing well. Their printers are still good, but poisoned by a strategy of exploiting customers for toner/ink, including forcing DRM chips to ensure you spent $400 for a set of toner cartridges when they're available 3rd party for about $60 now. HP computers? fuck that...they're overpriced and mostly suck...occasionally I'll notice a well built laptop from them, but it almost seems like an accident.

Dell is also just very disappointing to me. I always thought they'd be better than they are today. Their monitors are good and their offerings are OK...but they never seem to compete with the leaders. They have the resources to compete and take on Apple, but they don't bother. They let Apple eat their lunch in the business world. From what I know, few companies ever gave out apple laptops 15+ years ago. Now in my area, most serious software companies give out macbook pros and even many businesses are doing it now for regular office workers.

I switched over to Mac 10 years ago from desktop Linux and am happy with it. I switched to the Apple ecosystem 5 years ago...all my devices will be coming from Apple for the next few years, but....fuck if I wish there were good alternatives. I with it was a hard choice. I wish Dell offered something 90% as good for 75% of the cost, like they used to 15 years ago. Now it's like 75% as good for 90% of the cost.

No matter who I buy from, competition is good. I want Apple to earn my dollars, not win by default like they're doing today. Also, Apple isn't really a business hardware company. They sell luxury products that are good at business tasks...mostly because the business players fell asleep at the wheel and are selling you laptops that are nearly the same as they were 20 years ago, only without removable batteries. The world needs a serious business computing provider. Dell could easily be that, but they just don't seem interested in being anything beyond mediocre.

I preferred it when Apple computing products were an indulgence and not the only (serious) game in town.

Every time people hear what it actually involves is outrage and opposition, at least all the way back to when Intel first announced that they wanted to hardcode identity numbers inside CPUs in 1999. But the corporations involved have been relentless, and have sunk countless billions of dollars steadily forcing it forwards, and building front organizations to obfuscate and whitewash it.

With Windows 11, Microsoft was finally able to FORCE Trusted computing hardware into every new computer. Not just every new Windows computer, but every computer.

Every new Intel PC CPU has built in Trusted Computing enforcement hardware. Every new AMD PC CPU has built in Trusted Computing enforcement hardware. Every new ARM PC CPU has built in Trusted Computing enforcement hardware. The only processor lines that DON'T have it are the microcontrollers.

There are some unlocked smartphones available, but as far as I can determine it's literally impossible to buy a smartphone that doesn't have hardware trusted computing built in.

I specified that enforcing Trusted Computing at the internet access level is still a long term goal, they couldn't get away with it today. However they are well on the way to success. Virtually all new hardware supporting trusted computing, all the front groups rolling out standards and systems, and as it gets incorporated into things everyone is going to increasingly running into situations where they get locked out of stuff if they're not Trusted Computing compliant. Streaming already restricts you to the worst quality if you're not compliant, and it's only going to get worse as pre-Win11 computers fade out and as more things require it.

Asbestos siding works fine unless it's made friable by demolition. Ditto abundant asbestos plumbing etc insulation in old structures.

The world has plenty of other sources of scrap copper.

I should have added "Even allowing it via compliant systems invites Bubba to do it his way".

Evidently this was not thought through.

Backpowering service panels by connecting external power via household outlets can and has killed and injured linemen.

"Suicide cords" were originally DIY items used by idiots to power home circuits without a proper transfer switch.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/...

Has the interface changed? The icons look different, but ever facet of mac and iPhone and iPad is the same. If someone was in a coma for 15 years, they could figure out any Apple device instantly. If anything, I think they'd be shocked at how little has changed. FaceId is new...beyond that?...it's all the same. UX is largely a solved problem. There hasn't been a meaningful change in decades. Nothing about interfaces today is any better than it was 15 years ago. So really, I have no fucking clue what you're talking about.

If anything, Apple has always had pretty mediocre UX. If you think it's good?...try the non-MS alternatives. I've used most of the Linux Desktop variants, Apple, MS, Android, various other devices, like consoles and media players....I've NEVER been impressed with anything Apple put out, software-wise. If anything, they reduce functionality to make things look prettier and I have to guess how to do things. It's usually more obvious on Linux.

Look at XCode. Have you ever heard anyone praise it? I haven't...I'm a fucking professional software engineer. No one uses it unless they have to. I tried using it...it was awful...slow, weird, buggy. I COULD use it for work, but no one does. I don't see IntelliJ or VSCode emulating them and those are the leaders, by far. It is not a well designed product and is not very popular.

Reminders is my most used app. I can make it work, but it does suck. It lacks a LOT of basic features any commercial app would have. I have learned to just adapt to Apple's bad UX design and lack of functionality for the sake of not forcing my family to install new programs just so we can plan things, like trips, together.

Look at Apple Music?...you'd think they'd get that one right, but holy shit did they fuck that up royally. They were probably the newest entry to a crowded field and somehow made the single worst, most unusable product in their entire catalog...and they historically had many ties to many famous musicians...music is kinda their thing.

However, Cook really kept the UX of the past and just added features in a consistent manner. Since I started using Apple products, no software got worse and everything is a lateral move or slightly improved. Additionally, when I started, crashes were routine....now I can't remember the last time I had to restart an app to work correctly or had it crash on me.

You're welcome to be hipster and tell me how much you liked Apple before they were cool...but yeah...I'll stand by my defense of Cook over Jobs any day. I found Jobs and ESPECIALLY Ive to be greatly overhyped. I've never been impressed with Jobs and Ive has consistently horrified me. I am sure if I knew more about Jobs, I'd gain some respect for him...but Software UX? No...Apple's software is usually less usable than their competitors IMHO.

Simple response: Jobs/Ive: form over function. Cook was the reverse. Each new design iteration he brought increased the functionality in some small way. Nothing got worse under him.

Steve Jobs era: Macs were an irrational cult purchase and no engineers bought them until he went to Intel processors. His era was mostly PowerPC...REALLY overpriced laptops, everything was expensive and impractical...my actual work tools were not available until the very end. I ran Desktop Linux for coding and Windows for video games. Windows also sucked a lot less then. Regarding phones? I always like androids better. There was always an Android model for slightly cheaper with better performance and a better camera. Apple was a shitty luxury cult and you would have had to be stupid to buy their shit for most of it. It was very irrational. You're paying A LOT more for worse hardware and worse software and limited functionality during the PowerPC era. Also, EVERYTHING was proprietary and designed to be overpriced and not work well with others. Android used open standards like micro-USB and later on USB-C.

Today? Macbooks are a decent value. They're not that overpriced compared to equivalent models and most windows laptops just can't match the quality or support. There is a rational argument for Macbooks today. They're not for EVERYONE, but you can justify it based on objective features and not just "people will think I'm cool at Starbucks." All apple connectors, except MagSafe3, are open standards...and I REALLY love all things magsafe, so I don't care. The iPads are unmatched in the industry now that Google has given up on making tablets. I love my iPad. However, I switched to an iPhone 5 years ago, initially because my wife was sick of me not getting her video attachments of the kids. I resisted for a long time, but eventually Google Pixels got more and more mediocre and expensive and iPhones just steadily improved and remained consistent.

When work gave me a macbook to get me off linux MANY years ago, the software was kinda cool, but not reliable and very limited. I liked not dealing with cygwin AND being able to use outlook...but the whole seamless apple ecosystem was really oversold. I saw poorly thought out apps that crashed, were unreliable, and. mostly sucked....but each year, they got a little better. Today?...I like the ecosystem and use it exclusively. I only use Apple apps on my personal laptop.

To me, this is Tim Cook...the gradual improvement of software. Small, unsexy details, like the fact that 15 years ago Notes was unreliable about syncing and today, I can't remember the last time it had an issue or crashed on me...or that they added tables....their table functionality sucks, but it's good enough for my limited use cases and got me off Google Docs.

Tim Cook wasn't about chasing fame or getting in the press, but each generation got a little better (after 2016, which I blame those macbook pros squarely on Jony Ive). My 3yo work laptop is better than my 6yo personal laptop in every way. I have to replace my personal laptop soon...I am confident whatever design they introduce next will be a little better than the current design...probably not in a glamorous way, but something tangible.

2 more Cook examples: The Apple Silicon Macbook pros: instead of making them skinnier and more fashionable, he made them heavier and more robust with bigger batteries and more ports. If you're a fashionista?...go with the macbook air...if you have work to do?...go pro. The same applies for the iPhone 17...fatter, bigger battery, more robust. I love it. It's everything I want in a phone and an upgrade over previous versions. No more of this Jobs/Ive bullshit about cutting functionality and making everything so thin and fashionable for childless urban yuppie women and metrosexuals who have a lot more dollars than sense.

I'm a working professional with horrible children. I need a robust, powerful, functional phone...not a fashion accessory. My phone gets dropped way too often. I once saw a small child drowning in a lake 2 years ago and jumped in (along with others) to save her, wearing my street clothes. My 3yo iPhone survived just fine. My wife is a klutz and drops her M1 Macbook Pro like once a week...it works perfectly, just has a bunch of dings in the shell.

It's odd you'd resort to calling me a liar for preferring one era over another. Apple has drastically increased it's marketshare and become more mainstream under cook. This is not just my opinion, based on those numbers alone. If you're commenting on /., you're not a spring chicken. People your age have kids, often grandkids...sexy devices are for people without kids. Once kids destroy your life, you need robust and practical devices. iPhone Air's are not for moms. They're for bored yuppies who spend too much time in Starbucks and own too many pristine turtlenecks and actually shop at expensive clothing stores. The iPhone Air is something Jobs/Ive would have designed. I'm glad Cook was smart enough to make it an option instead of the default. I honestly feel sorry for anyone who buys one. If your life is so boring you don't need a rugged phone, you're not living it to the fullest.

I'd hardly call exact date of birth "low information content".

And yes this does reveal exact date of birth, regardless of the bullshit obfuscation that it supposedly only reports age range. The server simply tracks the reported result every time the user connects, and on some specific day the result CHANGES to announce their date of birth.

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This is based on SLSA (Supply-chain Levels for Software Artifacts), brought to you by the same fuckers making Trusted Computing and the TMP (Trusted Platform Module). It's part of the same shitstack to prohibit you from altering your software and to lock you out of your own files, and to send spy reports out over the internet so you can be cut off if you "fail" the Trusted Computing check.

The software can use a TPM's (Trusted Platform Module) Sealing function to encrypt your data such that it's impossible to access your own data if the software is modified. It can then pass control over that data only to software updates that carry a signed security certificate from Broadcom (or any other company using this system).

It is no longer open source, your system no longer works as you can no longer access your Sealed data if you change so much as a single letter of the code. Even recompile unaltered code won't work, unless you magically manage to get your build environment absolutely identical to the company's build environment and get byte-for-byte output. Even that may be impossible with the newer levels of non-deterministic compiler optimizations.

Also, with TMP's Remote Attestation feature can be used to transmit your machine's software configuration over the internet, so that you can be cut off if your system doesn't match Broadcom (or other company's) cryptographically signed certificate.

And then of course there's Network Access Control (NAC) / Trusted Network Connect (TNC). In the long term, the goal is for ISPs to use NAC/TNC to interrogate your computer for Trusted Computing compliance, and deny you any internet access whatsoever if your machine isn't compliant. Software with this sort of "security" certificate would pass inspection, while any attempt to alter the code would be detected as "tampering". You then get "quarantined". What "quarantine" means is that you are denied internet access - with the exception that you do get very restricted access which can only be used to download the approved software to "fix" your computer into Trusted Computing compliance.

There are more details in an advertiser contract than your EULA and purchase agreement. Also, most advertisers are spending larger amounts of money and more likely to participate. The courts will always favor contract enforcement over class-action lawsuits. It's just very efficient and easy to go to trial about a B2B contract and courts have a lot more experience handling them....class action lawsuits are a MASSIVE mess, even when the case is obvious and airtight.

Kewl homophobia, bud...is calling me a cocksucker supposed to insult me? Are we teenagers in the 90s? That's your retort? Try sucking cock...you may enjoy it...there's no shame in giving pleasure. However, to the point....an entitled man child throws a tantrum.... a grown-up does his job. As an ambassador for a massive corporation, most thinks he needs to appease the man-baby-in-chief. They had many interests the gov could fuck up...ranging from frivolous lawsuits to suspending H1-Bs to fucking with the tax code. You seem to forget every CEO did something similar.

Also, offering the president a meaningless trophy in public doesn't seem quite to the level of sucking someone's cock. I've gotten participation trophies...I've gotten blowjobs...they are NOTHING ALIKE.

What risks did he take? The iPhone? The notion of a computer and a phone merged was not invented there. Half the functionality was there on the Palm Trio several years prior. We know that if they didn't, someone else would have. ..the iPod?...well, everyone knows Apple wasn't the first to make HD-based mp3 player. Create Labs had superior ones IMO already out before the iPod 1.0 was release. The iPad?...doesn't seem risky...seems quite sensible. Intel-based chips?...that was obvious. Maybe the unibody stuff???...IDK...seems obvious to me, not so risky.

However, Cook took more risks IMO: The Apple Vision Pro is an obvious one and I think it's safe to say it failed. The iPhone headphone jack was removed on his watch...and everyone still complains about it. He released Apple AI and then delayed it...which is nearly unheard of. That was very risky and I thank him for that.

However, I think the AirPods were a huge risk that payed off. Weird tiny bluetooth earbuds with batteries that can't be replaced?...a bit risky when they came out. The Apple Headphones. MASSIVELY overpriced entry in a VERY saturated market with almost no growth potential....definitely a risk. They recently acquired Photomator...a warning shot to Adobe...their longest and most lucrative software partner.

IMO, Jobs was just nuts and arrogant and mentally ill. I don't understand the obsession with him. He sucked as a human, his company had more failures than successes. His strength has always been marketing, not innovation. He did the trump thing...instead of saying "oops, I was wrong"...he claimed it was innovation and he "thinks different." The fucker even tried to beat pancreatic cancer with a juice cleanse. That last one really says a lot about his character.

Jobs is definitely memorable, but Cook served my needs as a user a LOT more. Jobs made the promise of a computer that "just works." Tim Cook delivered it. When I got my first macbook (from an employer), Jobs had just died and the software was dogshit. It didn't work as advertised, crashed often, had lots of obvious bugs, etc. I gave it an open minded try and it was shit. And year after year, it got a little more reliable. They added tiny feature after tiny feature. Apple Notes is a great example. When I started using it, it wouldn't sync reliably and docs got corrupted and it was a huge mess....little by little it got better. It's now pretty nice...far from perfect for my needs due to limited formatting and aggressive autocorrect, but great for someone not using it to take notes on obscure technical or medical terms like I do. The same applies for reminders, mail, etc.

Now I love the Apple ecosystem...because of Tim Cook. The iPhone 17 was tangibly better than the 16 in terms of design and features, not just a speed/battery/camera upgrade. The 16 was a tiny bit better than the 15, etc. The latest Macbook pros are tangibly better designed than the ones from 5+ years ago...The ones under Jobs/Ive actually got worse...the thunderbolt 3 macbook from 2016 was objectively worse than the laptop it replaced (both designed under Jobs and/or Ive). I am confident the macbooks they announce next will either be exactly the same in terms of external design or better than the ones released today...I used to not be so confident about them.

Cook was a near-perfect CEO. He made products that were better for the users and was responsive to the market and the shareholders. He kept his bullshit out of the public eye. I am sure he's a horrible sociopathic human being, but I don't know that...I know how big of an asshole Jobs was. Cook was smart enough to stay out of the spotlight and let the product do the talking. He is quick to correct mistakes. He thinks more long-term than most modern tech CEOs.

He was the opposite of Jobs. Jobs boldly sold a vision he couldn't deliver...Cook just quietly delivered and steadily improved their products...took the risks, but didn't brag about them. I respect his style.

You're really hard to follow. iPhones never had removable batteries and almost no androids have them now. If you're talking about macs? Well, the removable batteries were removed before Steve Jobs left. IIRC, they weren't really removeable without taking the whole thing apart since the Power PC days. If you're pining for those days...well, I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you. Before they went intel, Macs were completely useless IMO. They were a garbage OS with reduced functionality selling to weird cult members who thought Windows can't support more than 8 characters in a file name. You'd pay twice as much as a windows laptop for something that was bested by an intel/AMD processor from 3 years prior....but hey, you got an elegant mouse with only one button! That's good for something, right???

If your complaint is design and removable batteries, Apple is not for you. There are plenty of alternatives. I hear Framework is pretty rad on the laptop side and I honestly don't know which specialty android phone let's you swap batteries these days.

His job is to do what is best for Apple, not my sense of social justice. As a private citizen Trump can go fuck himself. If my job is to blow the president and 166,000+ individuals relied on me to do so or else they wouldn't be able to feed their families...well...I have 2 options...find a new job or suck his tiny mushroom-shaped dick and hope he doesn't ask for a finger in his ass while I do so.