apparent

It seems like this might be what you're looking for then, depending on how the prices shake out.

What's interesting is that it somewhat reduces the pressure on Apple to have compelling new devices, if a large chunk of customers are constantly returning leased devices and getting new ones.

Are you concerned that they are going to do this to purchased devices? That would seem to be a PR disaster if it happened by accident, and a catastrophe if they ever did it on purpose. I assume there would be many safeguards in place to ensure that it cannot happen on purchased devices (though devices purchased on a payment plan could be subject to it).

Notably, Apple seems to be poised to nerf devices after a number of missed payments. [1]

1: https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/21/ios-27-code-suggests-apple-co...

Why does this single headline use two different spellings for the word colo(u)r?

When I saw the title, I thought it was going to be about how it's OK for old techno-phobes to start using AI. What it's really about is how only people with lots of expertise (shortened to "40+ yrs old") should be allowed to use AI.

It's obviously an oversimplification, but it's good to start the conversation so that we might figure out more nuanced guidelines that could make sense for when people should use AI, and for what.

They do this with devices that have sensitive information that would be of interest to federal agents?

Why would agents think that a number written on your phone is the PIN? That would only make sense if it was a communally-used device, not a personal one. Also, no one would put sensitive info on a devices that has the PIN affixed to it.

I suppose it's possible someone might enter it without thinking, but the odds seem low. Also seems risky to put a self-destruct PIN on your device, lest a friend (or enemy) enter it by accident or as a prank.

> While Realbotix focuses on robots for the classroom and home, the sibling company makes A.I.-powered sex dolls with names like Serenity and Harmony, marketed as the “world’s most advanced sex robot.”

I can see the synergies here, but obviously it's a bit of a branding risk to have an education company affiliated with a sex doll company. Maybe they should have had a common licensor company that provided the IP and such to both companies, which could be unrelated? Or maybe they are too closely related in terms of manufacturing synergies and such for that to work.

What does "won't let me show my app" mean? Does the author mean that it's just getting rejected, or is he unhappy about the screenshot situation specifically?

This is demonstrably untrue. We have PHEVs and it absolutely would not have made sense to buy EVs instead. If you don't have a long commute and can stay within the EV-only range, but take regular trips that are beyond the range of any EV, then a PHEV absolutely makes more sense. We could not have bought an EV of the same size for the cost of our PHEVs, and being able to tank up on trips is extremely valuable.

There are lots of articles written by journalists where they tried road tripping in an EV. Sometimes it worked out great, especially when their vehicle had a lot of range and could charge quickly. Other times it was a disaster.

One does not need to take frequent vacations for the cost of renting a vehicle to really add up. If you went for a week, twice a year, that could be a thousand dollars right there.

I think they do care about cost savings, and the near-universal retrenchment of car companies culling their EVs in the wake of the expiration of the $7,500 federal tax credit tells you that these vehicles do not save consumers money. If they did, people would still be clamoring to buy them.

How do they account for the cost of having to rent ICE vehicles for road trips that do not suit EVs (some do, and some do not)? Do they factor in the cost of insurance, which some say is much higher for their EVs?

I have owned PHEVs and like them quite a bit, but if I'd bought them new I still wouldn't have reached the payback period. It seems that a PHEV typically costs $12k more than the ICE version, so the payback period is quite long (I think I estimated it to be 50k miles, assuming you charge for free at work, and gas is $5/gallon).

EVs and PHEVs can be great for some people, and some may even save money with them (maintenance is blessedly low). But I find it unlikely that for "most" US drivers, they would save money (and of course they would save on emissions, this is kind of a useless thing to add to the headline).

Huh, will give both of these a try. But man, I would not be thrilled if the only way to have decent battery life is to make my iPad not-findable, or to have to turn on wifi whenever I want to use it (I couldn't really set much of a schedule).

Seems like the Find My bit could be taken care of by not updating location until the gyros are triggered. Honestly I'd be happy to have it in airplane mode when not being touched as well. IDK what they could call the setting, maybe an Airplane When Idle Mode?

Agree that it would not be best for fine drawing (although the new Pros have the proximity feature that perhaps helps with this. And I agree that Chinese characters could present similar issues in terms of legibility, given how much precision is required.

But for writing in English and many other languages, it seems like this doesn't present a huge challenge. I am particularly interested in (but have not yet tried) the handwriting cleanup feature. This seems like a nice middle ground between full digitization and leaving chicken scratch as-is.

IME it's not just about slower. It's about forcing you to think about how words go together, where line breaks fall, how you're laying out bullet points, etc.

Since you can change all of this on computers (or it happens automatically), you don't have to give it thought before writing it down.

I do find the iPad battery drain to be annoying and inexplicable. When they first came out, iPads held a charge for weeks in standby. New ones drain in a few days, even when background app activity and such are disabled. And you're right that it is frustrating to pick up your iPad and discover that the battery is near-dead, which happens with surprising frequency.

That critique doesn't apply to Remarkables or Kindle Scribes though.

The stroke size is highly customizable. What do you mean "the friction between the pen and stylus is bad"? As others have pointed out, you can get screen protectors and nibs for Apple pencils.

It probably depends on the task. I find that writing things out by hand is extremely helpful for memorizing.

It may be the case that the iPad is slicker than ideal for some people, but even if that's the case it doesn't relate to his point about centuries of adaptation or whatever. In the past, we were limited by the laws of physics and the materials available in our environment. If people could have had whiteboards 200 years ago instead of chalkboards, they would have taken them (easier to erase, no chalk dust). But they didn't have them, so they didn't use them.

I find his dismissal of iPad writing to be unconvincing. He talks about how we have calibrated our writing utensils over centuries to involve the proper amount of friction, and how that knowledge goes out the window when you're writing on an iPad.

That may be true, but it's not like you can't just re-acclimate to the experience of writing on an iPad. Most people don't handwrite much, period, so if they start handwriting again they're going to have to have an adjustment period either way.

I personally would think that the the benefits of digital writing (searchability, portability, infinite canvas, handwriting cleanup, digitization) would outweigh his friction quibbles. I personally don't find it to be tiring to write on an iPad, even without a screen protector (which some people use to increase friction). Also, e-paper devices tend to have more friction-y feedback, but he doesn't address this at all when dismissing all "gadgets" outright.

I don't use passkeys because I can't tell if they're a one-way door. If I use it once, can I still use passwords to log in in the future?

I also don't understand how the system works when things go wrong (someone hacks your account, etc.). I don't even understand all the ways things could go wrong with passkeys.

Seeing the comments here makes me realize I'm not stupid or ignorant for not understanding these things. Some people do understand them much better than me, but there is no universal answer that emerges after sufficient study.

I will continue to stay away from passkeys.

Very interesting, and possibly quite smart. To the extent this increases the chance that someone pays their bills, it would reduce the interest rate (either explicit or implied) charged by the financing option. It's like how car loans and home loans have lower interest rates than unsecured loans because the lender can seize the collateral. Here, there's much less friction involved (no need to call a repo guy or go through lots of paperwork), just tell Apple.

It does make me wonder what happens if leased devices are stolen. Does the person still have to pay it off, as if they still had it? Perhaps this is how they encourage people to buy AppleCare.

Wow, that kind of undermines the entire premise of the piece. It also makes much more sense. Thanks for digging that up!

I imagine they last longer than some other types, but it hasn't been an order-of-magnitude difference that was advertised. Also the cost/hassle is much more than expected.

We've put some smart LED bulbs into some fixtures, and those have been fine. But they've only been in for a few years, so we don't yet know their lifespan.

> The use of solid-state technology gives the lights an extraordinary life-span, often measured in decades rather than years.

I have found this not to be the case. They seem to last several years, but not an amazing period of time. Also, the ones that were installed in my home are quite expensive, something like $45 per can (the whole thing must be replaced), and the price to install is $30 per can because the company changed their plug design in the last 5 years. So I end up spending $75 for each light, which is roughly $10 per year per light (per light-year?). That doesn't strike me as a great value, especially because I can't change the lights myself due to the wiring/plug situation. Maybe that piece won't apply in future years, but it's still a lot even if it's just $45 for the darn can.

Assume you meant "big prize" but I guess it's sort of one in the same?

Found the narrative, it was right there at the bottom. Now I remember reading some of his other stuff and it's very much in the same vein.

> I care about having open technology that can be run in the public interest, aligned with the public’s values. Threads like public AI, federated services, and open research have traction but need backing. Getting there in the US needs more nuanced strategy and support than we’re seeing today.

Especially if you're pre-funding, which the sampled startups (those pitching A16Z) were.

The full quote:

> When entrepreneurs walk into the offices of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a big American venture-capital firm, the odds these days are that their startups are using AI models made in China. “I’d say 80% chance [they are] using a Chinese open-source model,” says Martin Casado, a partner at a16z.

This is very different from what the author portrays. It may be the case that many pre-funded startups are using Chinese open-source models (somewhere in their workflow). But what percent of startups that survive more than a year (either with funding or revenue) are still doing this?

I imagine their pitch is: "look at how well we're doing using open source Chinese models! We'll do even better once we raise money to be able to afford frontier models!"

The way the author presents this quote makes me think he had a preferred narrative and found quotes to back it up. Or he's just a very uncareful reader.