Apple Does Value (Week) — On my Om

Apple has decided that $599 is the new floor for a “real” Apple device—not a hand-me-down, not last year’s leftovers, but a current-generation product with current-generation silicon.

If Om Malik is right, this would put the new entry-level MacBook price at 599 US$. The question now becomes: what do you get for that amount of money beyond the A18 Pro chip?

Prices of the new iPad Air and iPhone 17e seems in line with previous generation products they replace and not affected by the current tech environment where prices are going up drastically… it looks rather well too for the upcoming entry-level MacBook pricing.

During any tech transition, the people who retain old-school knowledge while the new-school is developing are particularly valuable. Nobody needs to know punch cards anymore, but I’m sure that while punch cards were being phased out, extensive knowledge about them was incredibly useful.

The same is true about cloud migration. Those who did traditional data centers and started to get interested and involved in cloud migration were (and still are) very in demand.

Welcome (back) to Macintosh, by Jesper @ Take

“My hope is that, just as Apple crawled out of a hardware nightmare pockmarked by thermal throttling, keyboards incapacitated by strands of human hair and lack of respect for its users needs, it can choose to refocus its software and its humility too, and stop doing this to the bicycle for the mind.”

I think we will have to wait, the upcoming week’s releases are about Apple hardware…

Claude hits #1 on the App Store as users rally behind Anthropic’s government standoff — 9to5Mac

While the long-term consequences of this disagreement are unclear, Anthropic appears to be winning in mindshare, at least for now, in terms of app downloads among iPhone users.

If Anthropic was a publicly traded company ten times their current valuation, would they still stand out against the US government? Asking for a fictional friend at Apple.

Apple Reportedly Expects ‘Major Rush’ of Customers This Week:

The new product likely to receive the most interest is the rumored lower-cost MacBook, which is described as an “incredible value” within Apple, according to the newsletter. Apple believes that a more affordable MacBook will help to “drive a serious number of switchers from Windows machines and Chromebooks,” wrote Gurman.

Somehow, I think that if the price is really competitive, Apple’s bet is that services will subsidize this entry-level MacBook price.

Apple believes low-cost MacBook will be an ‘incredible value,’ tempting switchers: report — 9to5Mac

Internally, the low-end MacBook is being described as an “incredible value,” with Apple believing the launch is going to drive a serious number of switchers from Windows machines and Chromebooks. It could even compel iPhone users without computers to buy their first Mac.

I’m trying to convince my wife to buy one as she finds the iPad to be lacking for certain tasks. I suggested that we buy one of those new entry-level MacBook to try it out without much obligation as we can return the thing in less than 14 days.

Why Objective-C:

Anyone new to Objective-C thinks it’s difficult and maybe a bit harsh because [[those squareBrackets] lookInsane:YES].

Once you get past that, which takes a day or two given a good-faith effort, you’ll realize how small a language it is, how easy to hold in your palm and turn around and understand all sides of it. And you’ll appreciate how easy it is to make good decisions when you don’t have a surplus of language features to choose from.

I had many great moments writing in Objective-C (2009-2013) while experimenting with iPhone app development. As someone who learned a bit of C++ in university computer science courses, I thought Objective-C was indeed more approachable. When I peek at Swift code these days, my thinking goes like this: “I’m too old for this shit!”