Reconnecting

This weekend, I had the opportunity to reconnect with my former university colleagues (1987-1993). For many of us, it had been 35 years since we last saw each other. We had a lot to catch up on. We all studied computer science and have all had careers in that field. For many, it’s a time of reflection and retirement. That’s not my case yet. I’ve been fascinated by several of their journeys, and I’ve noticed a shared feeling about artificial intelligence: it’s both impressive and dizzying, moving too fast, and we’re questioning what the next generation will look like.

Silver it will be

Alright, it’s iPhone pre-order day! I’m going for the “boring” silver color, with 512GB of storage, iPhone 18 Pro Max. The last time I had a silver iPhone was the iPhone 6, which was utterly ugly with the apparent lines for wireless connectivity. I think today’s iPhone are better looking in that respect. Also, the rounder edges really improve the look and the in-hand feel if my handling of an iPhone 17 Pro Max is any indication. Can’t wait for next Friday!

Typical Apple playbook

Live Rewind and Siri Recaps are Apple Watch Series 12-only features and fall under the Audio Intelligence umbrella. We can read people arguing about how creepy or not these features can be. I’m still pondering the question myself. I have a feeling Apple postponed AirPods Pro featuring Visual Intelligence because it wants to educate users and gauge social acceptability with Audio Intelligence. Visual Intelligence will have to wait.

My writings is about to pay off

I enjoy writing in my personal life and at work. In the latter case, it’s an important part of my responsibilities. The IT department is currently deploying and assigning Copilot Premium licenses. I’m still waiting for my turn, but from what my colleagues tell me, the experience of using Copilot with access to our documents, emails, conversations and notes is quite positive and almost magical in some situations. I look forward to trying out Copilot, especially since I write much more than most of my colleagues1 and since writing is their main fuel, I’m up for a few positive surprises. I have a feeling that I will finally benefit from my consistent efforts.


  1. Many colleagues don’t like to document their work. I do. ↩︎

Nobody is talking about the lack of improvements to the iPhone 18 Pro Camera Control button, probably because nobody is really using this. I’m a little bit disappointed.

Someone reacted to my argument about the iPhone Duo potential naming:

@numericcitizen @daringfireball I had a Duo 230 and loved it. The thing that made it Due was not that it was two complementary pieces of hardware. It was that it served two functions, laptop and desktop computer. This iPhone looks like it is going to serve two functions, phone and tablet. We'll know more when we see it introduced, but I think those two functions align with the Duo name.

I think he’s right, and my argument was flawed.

Apple Intelligence+

While it is true that Eddy Cue and John Ternus intend to increase revenue from services and the App Store, a new potential source of income lies in the capabilities of Apple Intelligence, especially those of Siri AI. We’re not there yet because they are just emerging from a long slump and don’t necessarily enjoy good press. But let’s let Apple regain momentum with Apple Intelligence: developers will adopt advanced features, and then, when the time comes, Apple will surely find a way to add a charge somewhere between the developer, the users, and Apple. Apple Intelligence+ will naturally emerge on its own.