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The Remain-Within-Ecosystem Edition Wednesday, November 1, 2023

With Its New M3 Chips, Apple Joins The AI Party., by Om Malik

AI algorithms function with extreme parallelism. While adding more compute power (and GPUs) can address this, the real challenge lies in how quickly data can be moved, how promptly and extensively memory can be accessed, and the amount of energy required to operate these algorithms efficiently. Apple’s strategy with its Silicon has been remarkably prescient, taking into account these realities even in their latest GPU updates.

Apple has a substantial opportunity to integrate generative AI into its core platform, mainly because of its chip and hardware-level integration. For example, by actively incorporating open-source generative AI models into their SDK and developer tools, Apple can leverage the evolving nature of the interaction between humans and machines in the digital world. The new M3-based computers thus provide developers with a compelling reason to remain within, or even return to, the Apple ecosystem.

Apple Did The Most Sane Thing Possible With The 13” MacBook Pro And None Of Us Saw It Coming, by Matt Birchler, Birchtree

I know there are some people who like the Touch Bar, and I’m sorry for your loss, but the Touch Bar was a remarkable failure for Apple, and the company did basically nothing to make it better over the 7 years it was around.

Lights, iPhones, Action!

Downplaying The Fact That Apple Shot ‘Scary Fast’ With iPhones, by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Why be so cynical? What Apple has accomplished here is extraordinary. They shot a 30-minute film using the same phone cameras they sell to hundreds of millions of people around the world, and the footage looked so good that no one could tell it was shot using iPhones until they told us so.

#Shotoniphone And The Constant Need To Be Mad About Something, by Matt Birchler, Birchtree

The fact Apple had professionals make this video is not something any reasonable person should call misleading, and I'll eat my hat if there is some large contingent of people out there today who are mad at Apple because they thought they could shoot video that looks as good as Apple's chip lab set in their house. Eat my hat, I say!

But nobody actually thinks this anyway, and it's a random thing to be mad about because we always need to be mad about something. How do I know this? Because Apple posts these #shotoniphone videos all the time and nobody get mad about them being misleading.

Stuff

Apple Releases New Firmware For AirTags, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

It is not possible to force an AirTag update, as it's something that's done over-the-air through a connected iPhone. To make sure the update happens, you can put your AirTag in range of your ‌‌iPhone‌‌, but you have to wait for the firmware to roll out to your device.

Notes

Apple’s Dark Cloud Might Linger, by Dan Gallagher, WSJ

This is the first year since 2015 that Apple shares have lost ground between the company’s key Worldwide Developers Conference in June and its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report that typically takes place in late October.

Bottom of the Page

The most difficult bugs to solve are bugs that you cannot reproduce. The even more difficult bugs to solve are syncing bugs that you cannot reproduce.

(Yes, I have my computer, my phone, and my tablet all on the same table.)

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Thanks for reading.