In all the hubbub back in September wondering how Apple was going to advertise its new iPhones with Apple Intelligence when Apple Intelligence wasn’t even shipping on the new iPhones yet, I don’t recall anyone speculating how Apple Intelligence itself would be advertised. Well, we have our answer, and it’s not great.

From the first Apple Intelligence ad, something didn’t sit right with me. Let’s watch it together:

Did you catch it? No? How about another:

What about that time? Do you need another? Here:

Clearly, you caught it that time, right, especially since my lede is in the title. I think this is the first time Apple has actively encouraged us to lie to one another in one of its ads.

Worse yet, it’s all so avoidable. You don’t have to deceive your friends and coworkers. Be honest with them and say you forgot to read the email, that you remember your last meeting but not their name, or that you need a little time to catch up on the prospective. Then use Apple Intelligence to get your work done faster. Don’t pretend that you know something that you don’t, or did something that you didn’t. Don’t do whatever the hell this guy is doing. And, for crying out loud, don’t be so fucking awkward about using your computer as that guy did in the last one.

LLMs (and AI by extension) have been called “bullshit machines” because they spout out anything and everything they think will next most likely word in response to your query. Not because it “knows” the right answer, it’s just going to bullshit its way to an answer. Fake it till you make it.

Apple Intelligence isn’t all that different in that regard. I expected its LLM-powered features to bullshit me. I didn’t think they would shown off, by Apple as enabled by Apple Intelligence, to deceive one another about the status of a project or our memory of our last meeting together. Almost everything they’re showing off about Apple Intelligence is a way to make it seem like you’re more thoughtful, attentive, and prepared than you really are.

And that just doesn’t seem right to me. Show a parent and child imagining a story together, with Writing Tools helping them to adapt the story to the child’s every fanciful whim, and Image Playground bringing it to life with otherworldly illustrations. Show people building study quizzes with AI based on notes they’ve taken and lecture transcriptions. Show movie memories being made with unlikely themes, generated from your photos and videos based on an imaginative prompt (but not thrown together at the last second and then passed off as a thoughtful gift).

In fact, this is probably the only good Apple Intelligence ad I’ve seen so far:

The guy was able to get his frustrated emotions out by typing an unhinged email. He used Writing Tools to tone it down so that he wouldn’t be an asshole to his coworker. They even showed him perhaps learning how using kind words both got him his pudding back and earned him the respect of the thief. All good stuff, humorous, and legitimately useful. Who among us hasn’t typed out a nasty-gram only to delete it and then have to write more professionally? Apple Intelligence can help in that situation, saving us time, just as computers have always been designed to do.

I’m not the only one who has noticed this disheartening new direction for Apple’s marketing. Here’s Anil Dash on Threads:

It’s not important at all, but it’s interesting to note that Apple has made another recent ad that’s as bad as the hydraulic press one where they destroyed all the instruments. In this one, it shows their AI tool being used by someone who didn’t do their work to fake their way through a meeting. Apple ads used to always show their users as experts or creative thinkers. Now they’re workplace liars.

And hapax, who wrote so succinctly about this that I’m going to quote them in full:

My wife and I have been watching Parks and Rec a lot lately. Every ad break it seems like one of Apple’s ads for “Apple Intelligence” comes up. These ads feature someone suddenly realizing that they’re unprepared: a wife realizes that she forgot her husband’s birthday; a lawyer realizes that he forgot to read an important document; an actor realizes that they forgot to read a pitch for a show. The unprepared person is able to quickly “save the day” by using Apple Intelligence to generate a summary of important information, or in the wife’s case, to generate an animated slideshow of sentimental photos.

These ads consistently leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Obviously, everyone is unprepared sometimes. Everyone occasionally forgets an important birthday, or shows up to a meeting without having prepped. That’s part of being human. The myth of AI is that we can eliminate human fallibility, that we can smooth out our rough edges with enough technology. News flash: more technology won’t make us more perfect. The more we expect “perfection” from others, the less grace we will have with them. The less space we leave for forgiveness and understanding.

Show us creating something new, more, and better with Siri, empowered by Apple Intelligence, as our helpful assistant. Don’t encourage us, in a time when we’re already far too mistrustful of one another, to deceive our friends, family, and colleagues with the click of a button.

One of my favorite videos that Apple has ever put out was this one.¹ In it, they profess, “Give people wonderful tools and they’ll do wonderful things.” It’s a sentiment that I took to heart, and that I truly think they, as a company, believed at the time. Today, a version of that video might instead read, “Give people bullshitting tools and they’ll do bullshit things.” Come on, Apple, do better.

Andrew Liszewski, theverge.com:

An Italian startup called Artinoise has created an unusual USB-C accessory for mobile devices that turns them into playable musical instruments. The Zefiro looks like a flash drive or a tiny vape, but by gently blowing into one end, it can be used to play simulated instruments with even less skill than what was needed to play those plastic recorders in grade school.

As soon as I saw that hero image, something clicked in my memory hole and I frantically searched back through my App Store history. Yes! I found it! Purchased back on December 31, 2008, Ocarina by Smule.

This app — launched very early on the App Store — explored using the iPhone’s combination of hardware capabilities to create something unique: a smartphone instrument. You blew into the microphone on the bottom of the iPhone while covering combinations of four “holes” on the screen to play different notes. It was one of the coolest demos you could give your friends on an iPhone at the time (besides the iBeer app, of course).

The Zefiro looks like it uses a similar interface, 16 years later, but instead of blowing into the microphone, they’ve made a plug-in mouthpiece. Admittedly, this is an improvement. I remember always feeling slightly like I was hyperventilating while playing the Ocarina app, seeing as there was no resistance when blowing just through my lips.

Here’s the best thing, though, and I’ve buried the lede here. Ocarina lives! I think you can still download it new today, but I was able to download Ocarina from my Purchases screen on the App Store. With bated breath, I tapped the ‘Open’ button once it had downloaded…and it works perfectly on my iPhone 16! I ran through the tutorial and, with surprising ease (which means I must have really built that muscle memory back in High School), played ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ on my little smartphone instrument.

It really made my day. I hope you can try it out too. If not, here’s a very of-the-time YouTube video of how it worked.

Apps

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

1️⃣ What The Verge did last month to look back at the internet’s infancy in 2004 was remarkably fun. Really, go get lost in this time machine of special project. [🔗 theverge.com]

2️⃣ I don’t know if this is true about CBC’s sound signature, but I’d love it if it is. [🔗 @nickheer // c.im]

3️⃣ Russia has fined Google an amount of money more than all there is on Earth. Uh, okay. [🔗 Joshua Nelken-Zitser // businessinsider.com]

4️⃣ Boston Dynamics videos never disappoint. Their fully electric (not hydraulic) and fully autonomous robots are hella impressive. [🔗 Boston Dynamics // youtube.com]

5️⃣ Arun dives deep into the Leica camera that Jony Ive and Marc Newson redesigned a number of years ago. Still one of the prettiest cameras I’ve ever seen. [🔗 arun.is]

And two Mac mini things to celebrate the arrival of its svelte new shape:

6️⃣ Oh boy do I ever want this Mac mini Pro enclosure! [🔗 @basicappleguy // threads.net]

7️⃣ Worried about the Mac mini’s bottom button? Here’s a fun solution that turns the whole computer into a power button, Easy Button-style. 3D-printing files coming very soon, it seems. (And the thing appears to suction the Mac to the desk, which is probably good considering how lightweight it is now.) [🔗 gijsmans3773 // reddit.com]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.

7 Things

There’s this thing that I do when I want to feel like my actions matter. I think to myself, “I am not that special.”

It’s not the sort of pep talk that you might expect, and it’s pretty antithetical to what we were told as children. Back then, my parents and teachers would say, “You are unique. You can grow up to be anything in the world. Astronaut, scientist, veterinarian, President—you can be it!” And while I appreciate the sentiment, it’s not what motivates me these days.

The way I see it, with eight billion people on this planet, there has to be dozens hundreds thousands of 30-something-year-old white guys that are just like me. They were raised in a religious upbringing. They went to college. They got a job. Now they’re figuring out all the adult things that school didn’t really prepare us for. Hell, they probably even like rock climbing too.

But knowing that I’m a dime a dozen doesn’t leave me feeling lesser. Instead, it motivates me. Because, I tell myself, maybe if I do a thing, it’ll mean the rest of the people like me will also do that thing. And if all “the Jarrods” of the world choose to do that thing, well, our collective action could really make a difference.

Sometimes “that thing” is donating to a good cause. Sometimes it’s choosing to be kind and curious, rather than judgmental. Yesterday, “that thing” was to vote for Kamala Harris. My optimism said that “the Jarrods” could all see that the only sane choice in this election was to vote for character over chaos, and that everything would turn out alright. I did my part, and I expected that the rest of us would too.

Obviously, it didn’t work out this time. And I’m devastatingly disappointed in my fellow citizens who, with eyes wide open to the destruction he promised, have put Trump back in the White House.

But it hasn’t shaken my belief that it still matters to do what’s right, even when the odds are stacked against you. Because one person’s actions can indeed be a catalyst into a collective movement. It’s called leading by example, and it’s how I choose to live my life.

I could bury my head in the sand and wait for it all to be over. But that would be setting an example that I could not live with. I do not consent, and I will not be silent.

No, I promise to lead by example by speaking out against the unfairnesses I see. By working to protect the rights of people who are at risk of having them unjustly removed. By being kind and welcoming, and seeking to understand. By casting my vote, time after time, for the things I believe in.

Stand tall and strengthen your resolve. We must be the change we want to see in the world. For if not us, who?

We’re but a handful of hours until polls open for this tumultuous Election Day, and I find myself feeling somewhere between sick with anxiety and cautiously optimistic. I doubt reading one more blog post before heading to the voting booth will change anyone’s mind about who they’re going to vote for, but that’s not the point. I’m proud to add my voice to the chorus calling for a capable, energetic, empathic, experienced, and qualified leader for our nation. One who will uphold the values of our democracy and do their best to protect the rights and improve the lives of all our citizens. In this election, that can mean only one ticket: the one with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

I shouldn’t need to remind you what Trump’s last presidency was like. But in case you’ve forgotten, it was a chaotic embarrassment at best. He massively eroded away the trust we have in each other and tested our resolve for democratic rule and peaceful transfer of power. He has promised in his second go-round to act as a supreme ruler, that he’d instruct the military to use force against his political opponents and news media, and that he’d make sure we’ll never need to vote again.

I sit in near shock that he’s allowed to run again considering these promises, not to mention his attempt to deny the results of the last election and his conviction as a felon. But, ultimately, the rules and laws that we enact and abide by are at the will of the people. It frightens me that so many people in our country have been willing to bend to accept Trump’s deplorable behavior. We’ll see if the majority will cast their vote for his vision of the future.

But I remain optimistic that there are more people who want a better future. Who reject his antics. Who want to see our country progress instead of regress. Who recognize that women have a right to choose what happens to their bodies and that no one should be able to take that right away. Who realize that immigrants make our country great. Who believe in truth over lies, facts over fiction. Who choose kindness over hatred.

I cast my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, and I ask that you will too.

And if you don’t take it from me, here are some way smarter people who also endorse a Harris presidency:

Nilay Patel, theverge.com:

In many ways, the ecstatic reaction to Harris is simply a reflection of the fact that she is so clearly trying. She is trying to govern America the way it’s designed to be governed, with consensus and conversation and effort. With data and accountability, ideas and persuasion. Legislatures and courts are not deterministic systems with predictable outputs based on a set of inputs — you have to guide the process of lawmaking all the way to the outcomes, over and over again, each time, and Harris seems not only aware of that reality but energized by it. More than anything, that is the change a Harris administration will bring to a country exhausted by decades of fights about whether government can or should do anything at all.

It is time to stop denying the essential nature of the problems America faces. It is time to insist that we use the power of our democracy the way it’s intended to be used. And it is far past time to move beyond Donald Trump.

A vote for Harris is a vote for the future. It is a vote for solving collective action problems. It is a vote for working together, instead of tearing our world to shreds.

Brent Simmons, inessential.com:

Donald Trump is a gross villain and a traitor to our country. He’s a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, and head of a criminal organization; he works with criminals and he pardons criminals; he’s a narcissist and violent insurrectionist, racist and misogynist; he’s the master of lies and corruption and self-serving.

He plans to rule as a fascist dictator, and this time has the backing to do so, for the benefit of him and his ultra-wealthy friends. Not for you.

Matt Birchler, birchtree.me:

And while the last 4 years haven’t been the absolute best years ever, they have been pretty good considering the context and even better when compared to the recovery and inflation metrics I see in other developed nations around the world. America is strong and doing better than it was 4 years ago when Trump left us.

I also feel better about what rights Harris plans to protect verses what Trump wants to take away.

John Moltz, verynicewebsite.net:

I endorse the only logical candidate in this race: Kamala Harris. Harris has the experience, the steady temperament and desire to make positive change for this country.

Donald Trump (a man currently out on bail, by the way) is utterly unfit to be president and should, by all rights, have been disqualified from running in this election after attempting to overturn the legal results of the previous one. The fact that our system of justice moved too slow — as it often seems to do when deployed against the rich and powerful — to make this happen is a disgrace, one that makes this country look like a banana republic. If reelected, Trump will carry out on his stated desire to rule like Hitler.

If you’re someone who’s leaning toward Trump because you think he might be better on the economy, think again. Here’s a piece in The Wall Street Journal of all places that lays it out. Don’t believe that? Well, then here’s another about how companies are readying price hikes in order to deal with Trump’s proposed tariffs. Despite the abject cowardice of its billionaire owner, I implore you to review this piece in The Washington Post that shows how most people actually prefer Harris’s proposals to Trump’s, even though they don’t know it (the irony of the news scratching its head about why people don’t understand these basics is not lost on me).

The New York Times Editorial Board, nytimes.com:

You already know Donald Trump. He is unfit to lead. Watch him. Listen to those who know him best. He tried to subvert an election and remains a threat to democracy. He helped overturn Roe, with terrible consequences. Mr. Trump’s corruption and lawlessness go beyond elections: It’s his wholeethos. He lies without limit. If he’s re-elected, the G.O.P. won’t restrainhim. Mr. Trump will use the government to go after opponents. He will pursue a cruel policy of mass deportations. He will wreak havoc on the poor, the middle class and employers. Another Trump term will damage the climate, shatter alliances and strengthen autocrats. Americans should demand better. Vote.

Harrison Ford, threads.net:

The truth is this. Kamala Harris will protect your right to disagree with her. About policies, or ideas. And then, as we have done for centuries, we’ll debate them. We’ll work on them together. And we’ll move forward. The other guy? He demands unquestioning loyalty. Says he wants revenge.

I’m Harrison Ford, I’ve got one vote, same as everyone else — and I’m going to use it to move forward. I’m going to vote for Kamala Harris.

Well, it happened. I worried about it when I first got my AirPods Max, but then neglected to check on them as the years went by. It turns out that storing your AirPods Max on a stand that engages their fabric suspension will stretch it out over time.

I just realized mine are entirely stretched out, leaving them to rest with their hard metal bars directly on my head. For as heavy as they are, it’s quite uncomfortable. I tried shrinking the fabric as suggested in this Reddit thread, but they’re too far gone.

Seeing as Apple only just released the USB-C version with basically no other improvements last month, I doubt there’s a real upgrade coming anytime soon. I’m pretty bummed. I guess I’ll give these silicone covers a shot, but I’m loathe to add any more mass to these already weighty headphones.

Honestly, I’m disappointed in Apple and don’t mind pointing my blaming finger at them for not releasing the stand they use in Apple Stores, which seems to do a better job of engaging the Max’s metal frame while leaving its taut fabric free. They could have at least collaborated with a brand like Belkin on a “blessed” design. By neglecting to produce an official stand, I felt they were saying existing headphone hooks and third-party options were perfectly fine.

At least for this hook that I’ve been using for the past three years — which I specifically chose because I thought its larger surface area would spread out the weight better! — it’s definitely not fine. You’re better off resting them on a table or in a drawer, a shame, considering how handsome they look on display.

You might remember Ratika Deshpande from my PenPal series with her. During that month, we often shared how the sky outside our windows looked, separated across the globe as they were. Well, Ratika has finished her related project, The Sky Zine. There are excepts from it on her blog, and this is one of my favorite passages:

I find it strange to think that at all points of time some part of the world is witnessing a sky that has not been seen before and will never be seen again. The sky is always present and forever changing. How can one not feel a loss if one misses its glorious displays?

A beautiful observation.

Congratulations to Ratika for completing the project and sharing her words with the world.

Linked

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays when I can. Sometimes themed, often not.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve gotten one of these out. I’ve been a bit busy celebrating my 6th wedding anniversary with my wife and another big project. 🤫 But let’s get to it; I’ve got links to share!

1️⃣ LoveFrom’s new mascot, Montgomery the Bear, makes a very cute appearance on their website. Worth loading on desktop and mobile. [🔗 lovefrom.com]

2️⃣ Here’s a hidden macOS Sequoia window tiling tip that I started using right away. [🔗 @nileane // nileane.fr]

3️⃣ This is a really impressive demo of the iPhone 16 Pro’s new microphones. It sure sounds like it could handle audio for most people, most of the time. [🔗 patrick 2masso // youtube.com] (Via David Brown)

4️⃣ These Orion prototype glasses from Meta actually make me optimistic about the timeline of non-massive, non-weighty, pretty-normal-looking and genuinely useful and commerically-available AR glasses. These aren’t it, but they’re a lot closer than I imagined the tech was today. [🔗 The Verge // youtube.com]

5️⃣ Here’s a trip down memory lane with the one and only iPod nano that had the tiniest camcorder. Not gonna like, Becca made me want one to play with. [🔗 Becca Farsace // youtube.com]

6️⃣ As I said to Robert, who sent this to me, “That was delightful and disturbing!” [🔗 Saturday Night Live/Lonely Island // youtube.com]

7️⃣ Alright, it’s true. You really need to watch this XOXO talk by Cabel Sasser. [🔗 XOXO Festival // youtube.com]

Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.

7 Things

Carol Surface is out as the Chief People Officer at Apple. It was less than two years ago when I commented on Chance Miller’s post about her joining the executive team:

I’m a bit surprised to see Apple hire an “outsider” for this high-profile role. I thought they had learned their lesson last time. Hopefully, Surface fits within Apple’s culture better than other external hires.

[…]

Surface certainly has the receipts to be successful in this role. Apple’s been dropping down the “best places to work” list, so they could use a change up in that regard. I wish Surface all the best, and hope we hear positive feedback from Apple employees about her tenure. I’m extra rooting for her since I see she earned her Ph.D. from Central Michigan University; it’s also my alma mater.

While we don’t know much about why Surface is leaving (besides the many jokes I’m sure were made about her name sounding like she should be an executive at Microsoft instead), the trend would say that executive leadership hired outside of Apple don’t tend to last. Despite all her years of experience in similar roles elsewhere, Surface’s less than 20 months at Apple doesn’t seem great.

It was Chance Miller again who weighed in today at 9to5Mac on the news:

Bloomberg notes that with Surface’s departure, [Deirdre] O’Brien, a 30-year Apple veteran, will once again take the reins on manning both the retail and people teams at Apple.

I wish I had more insight on how Apple employees feel about Surface’s reign as CPO. Maybe she made a bunch of internal improvements, but those kinds of rumors aren’t often the ones that leak. If there’s anything we know about Deirdre O’Brien, it’s that she’s in it for the long haul.

Linked

Adam Newbold, of omg.lol proprietor fame, is setting up a direct phone support line for his one-man company:

I remember the days when you could just punch in a number, hear a ring or two, and talk to a person who was qualified to answer your question or help you with your problem. I think we all took that for granted, because it was the default experience. There was nothing special or magical about it; it’s just how things worked.

And I think it can still work today. It’s worth a try, at least. So, starting right now, I’m offering phone support for Neatnik LLC products and services (like omg.lol). You can call +1-707-NEATNIK (+1-707-632-8645), and if I’m available, I’ll answer.

After trying and failing to figure out how to call Amazon’s support line with their thousands of employees, I love that this is coming from a one-man show.

The first thing I thought of when reading Adam’s post, though, was an old video I saw recently of a video game studio employee providing excellent game support to a customer over the phone.¹ The customer couldn’t figure out how to get past a level, and the service agent talked him right through, all without skipping a beat of the game they were playing while talking. I like to imagine that will be Adam, fielding calls with ease while coding up the next goodie.

Linked