eXtensions - Friday 4 April 2025
By Graham K. Rogers
As expected, Apple operating systems were updated this week, although watchOS had a false start. Some users are reporting unusual problems with the new versions. Whatever we thought was going to happen, the reality of announced tariffs has had a sobering effect on markets, with economists and politicians sounding the alarm on what are seen as grossly unfair actions. Apple took a major hit after trying to hedge its bets for years. Muscles have been flexed. Or is this all a negotiating trick?
Early this week there were updates to Apple operating systems. I started Tuesday morning by making sure that my devices were backed up, to disk or iCloud where appropriate, then started the downloads. The iPhone and MacBook Pro were first, followed by the iPad Pro. I normally expect to follow these with the Apple Watch, and end with the AppleTV in the evening.
|
|
The watchOS update was not available early morning when I updated the other devices. Even mid-afternoon, it still showed watchOS 11.3.1 to be the most up to date version. I speculated on a staggered rollout, or Thailand-specific differences in the software, but it was none of the above. In a report on the release. Amber Neely (AppleInsider) confirms that the original update was pulled by Apple, "roughly two minutes after it went live", although it is not clear why. She writes that the main change concerns the sleep alarm which can now play a sound when in Silent Mode. This is aparently in Sounds & Haptics but I was unable initially to see where this change is on my Watch. Most days I beat the alarm anyway.
|
|
There was more information from Christian Zibreg who outlined how to do this. He writes that this is on the Watch - but when I looked at the Sleep app, I could not find the respective control. I did find it eventually.
|
|
|
|
At the top left of the Sleep app on the Watch, there is an alarm icon. Pressing that opens a panel with the alarm schedule. A short way down is an item marked, Sounds & Haptics (mine is subtitled Early Riser). I pressed the Sounds & Haptics item and at the top of the panel revealed is a switch for Break Through Silent Mode. Pressing that switch, turns on the new feature. Early Riser is the music or sound that accompanies the alarm. The next morning I deliberately did not turn off Do Not Disturb and was pleased to hear the alarm sound (Early Riser) with the haptic vibration at 06:15 while I was having breakfast. That was one problem solved, but there were more.
In the Files app on the iPad Pro, I often use the Recents option in the sidebar. I worked on a student file in the afternoon of the update, but was surprised to see none of the files I had worked on over the last couple of days was shown. Instead I found a series of photographs of Japanese students (who had visited in early March) filled the screen, followed by a collection of files from December. On the iPhone, it was far worse with two files from this week, then the rest from late 2023 and before. I hoped that files would repopulate the Recents folder as I worked through them, but that could mean a lot of work to track them down in their respective folders. I opened files that I knew I had worked on in the last couple of days but they were not appearing in Recents until I made changes that were saved to iCloud. As I have examined more files in the few days since first seeing this, Recents is beginning to fill up with current files. I sent a feedback report to Apple. Although other problems have been reported online, I have seen no other references to this, so perhaps it is unique to my setup.
There are other reports concerning reappearing apps. Tim Hardwick (MacRumors) reports that several users have found that apps that had been deleted from their devices are reappearing. These are not isolated as "Several Reddit threads . . . are filled with reports from users" who are finding apps that were not there before. I cannot see anything that I remember deleting, but a quick look through the apps that are there did remind me that I need to clear lots out as I rarely, if ever, use them. There are a couple of other reports on this, but I have seen none so far that refer to the problem I had with Recents in Files on the iPad and iPhone.
I did not find any problems on the Mac - at least not so far - but Dr. Drang found that his screen color had been changed to white. Nothing he could do would change it to the more sensible grey he prefers. I like background images so this did not affect me. Despite several tries, including reboots, he fixed it with a kludge: saving an image of the color to Photos and using that as a background images with the Fill Screen option.
As I had anticipated, there were AI options in Mail on the Mac, but I turned that off right away. I also saw an addition to the CleanUp tool in Photos on the Mac with separate Retouch and Erase tools. The cursor is still too large when working on the screen with its spotlight effect where the cursor is located. Before any action is taken, this has to be dragged at least a short distance across the screen and the brightness is confusing. If I need a Repair tool, I move to Photomator. This appears to have been developed by those interested in photography, not ideals. On Friday morning this week, I saw that among the updates were new versions of Keynote (with AI writing tools), Numbers (additional functions) and Pages
Some people have been wondering why Apple is willing to lose an estimated $1 billion a year with AppleTV. While thinking about that, it might have been revealing to ask why Apple provides its operating systems and many applications for zero cost, when the cost of development, considering the numbers of personnel involved alone, must be staggering. Ryan Christoffel (9to5Mac) suggests that the answer is in a new report that shows AppleTV users are more likely to own other Apple devices, with half of the users owning 3 products. It is a little more in my house.
I think what is being missed is the way Apple often develops products, especially consumer software, to make the experience better for users. When OS X first came out, updates like Tiger and Leopard were eagerly awaited at special events here, with users happily shelling out around 6,000 baht for an optical disk. macOS has been free for a while now.
One of the reasons I like Apple's products is the way that it all integrates so easily. With iCloud, not only are my photographs and music on all my devices (including the AppleTV), but I have my account set up so that all files on my MacBook Pro are accessible on my devices (not Apple TV) so I can work on them wherever I am. The TV is just part of an overall integration of services and hardware. Using AppleTV is a way to draw me into the Apple universe and, like the free software, it is part of the overarching system that attracts users, making them more amenable to buying the products.
Writing on FStoppers, Lee Morris compares the M4 MacBook Air and a Microsoft Surface. I am not sure this was an equal contest anyway, but it was clear as he went through the comparison that, although there were good points with the design and keyboard, the Microsoft device was far slower than the Mac when it was asked to do anything. The title uses the word, Embarrassing. His conclusion was that the respective operating systems and other software could not match up: "the Macbook Air destroyed the Surface in every single software test". He added that the "Windows experience feels ancient at this point." Not that I have ever used Windows (my last Microsoft experience was MSDOS 6) but I agree.
I try to avoid politics on here, but once in a while politicians intrude, such as the EU with its never-ending fight against Apple; or the UK demanding a back door to Apple's e-2-e encryption. Now the threat of looming tariffs imposed by the President of the USA has become real and few countries are untouched. These include several countries in SE Asia (and elsewhere) in which Apple products and components are manufactured: 46% for Vietnam, 49% for Cambodia and 29% for Pakistan Guardian. Benjamin Mayo (Cult of Mac) comments on this news and the unsurprising fall in the price of Apple shares.
Rajesh Pandey (Cult of Mac) writes on the tariffs, and the way they are to be levied on many countries which are Apple suppliers, opening with, "President Trump's new import tariffs will hit Apple hard" adding that this "undermines Apple's efforts in recent years to diversify its supply chain away from China". Singapore, which has long been an Apple manufacturing and distribution base, is treated comparatively lightly with a hit of only 10%. It seems unlikely (Pandey suggests) that Apple will be able to absorb the impact.
The tariffs are being called "reciprocal" and a chart was released "showing each country's purported level of tariffs and other trade barriers on the U.S" (Kevin Breuninger, CNBC). The chart shows that the US tariffs are "roughly half of what the Trump administration claims each country has "charged" the U.S.," but there may be more. The way that the calculations were made has disturbed some experts as there are several odd inclusions, including VAT which is a tax on all sales, not just on products from the USA (Richard Partington, Guardian).
That article cites an economic historian at Columbia University who says, "there were "grotesque" policies for south-east Asian countries", adding "This is not because they discriminate viciously against American exports, but because they are relatively poor." The Guardian calls it "a monstrous and momentous act of folly", noting that the "announcement ceremony conveyed the thrill Mr Trump derives from bullying and domination."
The list of countries and tariffs shows Thailand close to the top, allegedly charging the USA 72%, and so being levied a 36% tariff. That could affect electrical components manufactured here, cars, cameras, and rice grown here. However, the methodology for calculating the tariffs allegedly levied on the USA, has not been revealed and "That blunt ratio is really not an appropriate way of calculating tariffs" (Edmund Heaphy, RTÉ)
Thailand's exports to the USA were some $55.11 billion in 2024 (Trading Economics). The Nation comments that "Thailand had sold 848,449 tonnes of rice to the US last year, increasing 20.1% year on year. These exports are valued at 28.02 billion baht [$815,127,273] , increasing 27.8% year on year." As the newspapers report, no one is exempt from these tariffs, including 10% on a couple of uninhabited islands off Antarctica: Heard Island and McDonald Islands: part of Australia external territories Kate Lyons and Nick Evershed, Guardian). Those penguins are going to find life hard.
Mind you, the recent shape of politics suggests that, having flexed his muscles, caused a stir in markets worldwide and bullied everyone, it may be just as likely that the President will do a U-turn and the tariffs will not be enforced. This has already happened a couple of times, particularly with Canada and Mexico. The stock market crashed, with Apple, which uses manufacturing facilities in Asian countries that saw some of the highest tariffs, doing particularly badly: stock price falling from $226 to around $203, wiping off $300 billion in value. Economic press calling the tariffs, "a sea of idiocy" (404 Media), "mindless" and using "flawed economics, inaccurate history and cockamamie calculations" (Economist).
As Tim Cook's shares vested, he sold them off just before the tariffs were announced and made $24 million Wesley Hillard (AppleInsider) who notes that he does this the same time every year. Now that Apple has taken a real hit from the new tariffs, I wonder what Cook thinks now of his $1 million donation to the new President's funding.
Following the tremors last week, felt even where I worked some way out of Bangkok, there were several videos posted online, some of which made it to worldwide media, so there was speedy recognition of the event. With limited internet and other connections in Myanmar, where the earthquake epicenter was (Mandalay) far fewer videos were available, although the destruction and number of deaths far exceeded those in Thailand. The military junta took the unusual step of asking for help. It was not a surprise when China and Russia responded with supplies and personnel. Other countries did respond by announcing financial assistance as did some companies, including Apple who often contribute with humanitarian aid.
While companies are fairly limited with their investments in Myanmar, partly because of long term stability concerns, there is a considerable amount of investment in other parts of South-east Asia, particularly Thailand. Many companies rely on the country for manufacturing: automobiles, cameras, electronics. Seagate has a presence, as does Nikon, while other companies, including Apple, draw on downstream companies for the manufacture of components. This has increased in recent years, with Vietnam particularly seeing more foreign investment. This comment should be considered in the light of the US tariff announcements (above).
The earthquake last week is of concern to those who manufacture such parts (although the financial earthquake may well have done far more damage). Disruption costs money. Anton Shilov reports on how some of the manufacturing facilities dealt with the tremors: most were unaffected, or only affected minimally, and then mainly in terms of precautions - temporary staff evacuations and building checks to ensure all was well. What happens in the future may be worth considering as this event is seen as a wake-up call by some here. Bangkok sits on either side of a river and the geology is mainly clay. I saw one commentator liken this to jelly: hence the shakes.
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on X (@extensions_th). The RSS feed for the articles is http://www.extensions.in.th/ext_link.xml - copy and paste into your feed reader.
For further information, e-mail to
Back to
eXtensions
Back to
Home Page