I have an admission: Though I frequently review new Apple products, I don’t always buy them. Like many of you, I can’t afford to update every bit of Apple hardware every time the company does a revision—so I have to carefully measure when the old stuff has now become too old and needs to be replaced with the shiny and new.

Of course, Apple would love us to buy new stuff all the time. But the company has to earn its sales the hard way. I might buy a new iPhone because of an upgraded camera or a new MacBook Air because of a new design and a faster processor. I might bypass a new Apple Watch because the new features just don’t matter to me.

As the heat from the iPhone’s huge acceleration of growth begins to cool down and iPad and Mac sales drop from their pandemic-driven heights, Apple is looking for reasons to sell new hardware. And now, it may have found a big one in a somewhat unexpected place: AI.

Continue reading on Macworld ↦

Meta adds AI to its glasses, our thoughts on chronological vs. algorithmic timelines, how we find software tools, and the U.S.’s TikTok ban.

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A bicycle for the mind, an iPad for your face.

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Stephen Hackett has quite a story about what Logitech is doing to its Mac mouse software:

I cannot tell how little I want THE SOFTWARE FOR MY MOUSE to include features tied to ChatGPT … let alone a mouse with a built-in button to start a prompt.

I’ve never liked most vendor-supplied input device software for the Mac and try not to use it, but this is beyond the beyond.

Go to the linked site.

Read on Six Colors.

What an amazing story by Josh Dzieza at The Verge about the people who repair undersea fiberoptic cables to keep data flowing around the world:

The world is in the midst of a cable boom, with multiple new transoceanic lines announced every year. But there is growing concern that the industry responsible for maintaining these cables is running perilously lean. There are 77 cable ships in the world, according to data supplied by SubTel Forum, but most are focused on the more profitable work of laying new systems. Only 22 are designated for repair, and it’s an aging and eclectic fleet. Often, maintenance is their second act. Some, like Alcatel’s Ile de Molene, are converted tugs. Others, like Global Marine’s Wave Sentinel, were once ferries. Global Marine recently told Data Centre Dynamics that it’s trying to extend the life of its ships to 40 years, citing a lack of money. One out of 4 repair ships have already passed that milestone. The design life for bulk carriers and oil tankers, by contrast, is 20 years. 

Infrastructure isn’t exciting, but it’s vitally important.

Go to the linked site.

Read on Six Colors.