The New Apple Finally Begins to Emerge:

The MacBook Neo is a new kind of product for Apple, unveiled in a new way, with new materials, by an array of fresher faces. These new products being unveiled at the same time the faces of the company are beginning to change feels like a turning point. You could argue Neo is one of, if not the first product of this new Apple

I, too, do see a different Apple vibe with the launch of the MacBook Neo. Just using a different name instead of iBook (which they could have done) is sign sign that they are willing to try different things.

FBI is investigating breach that may have hit its wiretapping tools — The Register

The FBI identified and addressed suspicious activities on FBI networks related to wiretapping and surveillance systems, marking a significant breach of law enforcement infrastructure.

The same FBI that demanded Apple build a backdoor for them in 2016?

Apple Planning ‘MacBook Ultra’ With Touchscreen and Higher Price:

Instead of succeeding the newly announced M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, the “MacBook Ultra” will be a new, top-tier Apple laptop. Gurman added that the device is likely to sit above the current M5 MacBook Pros, rather than replace them, suggesting that they will remain on sale.

Well, how many laptops can Apple have in their product line?

Lil Finder Guy — Basic Apple Guy

Who is it? What is it? Is it friend or foe? Has it arrived in peace, or is it plotting to corrupt our SSDs and fray our USB-C cables?

I hope Apple keep the little guy for a while. It’s so cute and fun.

The New Apple Finally Begins to Emerge — Parker Ortolani

Molly Anderson’s already proven herself to be an incredibly talented industrial designer, and if the latest iPhones and the MacBook Neo are the first real fruits of her leadership, that bodes incredibly well for the future.

New product design at Apple takes a long time. How much of influence those two new figures had on the MacBook Neo?

Neon Signs — Take

Let’s leave the software malaise aside for a moment, hard as that might be; the Neo is a scrappy assemblage of parts, that is trying to find a new route to what Apple considers acceptable, and that is a sign of health.

‘The Window Chrome of Our Discontent’:

This entire idea that application window chrome should disappear is madness. Some people — at Apple, quite obviously — think it looks better, in the abstract, but I can’t see how it makes actually using these apps more productive. Artists don’t want to use invisible tools.

Well, if window chrome is absent, what’s left for Apple to differentiate itself from others than UI elements inside a window? Buttons!

A UI should step back and let user content come forward. But Apple often treats the UI itself as a key part of its identity and differentiation. That creates a tension: the more the UI disappears, the harder it becomes for Apple to stand apart from Microsoft or Google.

I’m really tempted by the MacBook Neo, but really, it makes no sense as an owner of an M4 iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard: it’s a powerhouse in a compact design. The only problem: iPadOS. It’s THE biggest issue in this story.