eXtensions - Friday 6 December 2024
By Graham K. Rogers
Tim Cook was interviewed by Wired: questions on when Apple started AI. Pat Gelsinger and Intel. Apple lays groundwork for M5 chips. The invisibility of the M4 Mac mini. Tesla app on Apple Watch. Lomo discoveries, Kate Winslet on learning how to use a Rolleiflex, and Simon Murphy photo-eulogy on Photoautomat booths.
There were several reports this week on Tim Cook's comments regarding Apple's use of AI and its development after an interview in Wired. As Jonny Evans (Apple Must) comments, there is a misconception that Apple was late to the game. Evans thinks that the approach signifies the careful approach: make it right, before a public release. Patently Apple also commenting on the Wired interview, opens with the information about the hiring of John Giannandrea from Google in 2018. Some other sources seem to think that this is a surprise. When John Giannandrea arrived, Apple set up the Machine Learning division. Note the opening two paragraphs of my comments on 20 June this year, almost 6 months ago. Slow and steady, make sure it is right, then release. Remember the iPhone, Apple Silicon? That was part of the approach to AI too.
The leader of the group at Apple that is responsible for Apple Silicon is the current senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, Johny Srouji. His cool approach to engineering is worth a lot to Apple, especially when one looks at what has been happening over at Intel. Rumors that he could be in the running for the (now vacant) CEO position at Intel, where he has worked before, are currently being aired Dennis Sellers (AppleWorld Today), who predicts he will stay at Apple. I sincerely hope so.
In another article, carried on other sources, Dennis Sellers reports that car maker Stellantis is denying that Luca Maestri, who is stepping down from Apple at the end of the year, is to be its new CEO. MacDaily News also reports this, with a link to a Reuters article that carried the rumor.
In a bit of a surprise this week it was widely reported that 2-time CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger, had retired from Intel, "effective immediately". That usually signifies a serious illness or that he was sacked. I first saw this on Tom's Hardware (Paul Alcorn). The report blames performance and it has been obvious to many that Intel is not the force that it was a few years back, with mass-sackings, falling share price and other problems that are not likely to be fixed for a long time.
Like me, Ryan Christofel (9to5Mac) saw this decline in part as fallout from the arrival of Apple Silicon - significant income must have been lost - although he also mentions the rise in value of Nvidia with the new reliance of AI on those chips. As Christofel also notes, if Apple had stayed with Intel, where would it be now with Apple Intelligence? Also commenting on this news, Patently Apple notes that since Gelsinger returned, the revenue has dropped to $54 billion (2023) and stock has fallen 66% - that, rather than 15,000 redundancies was probably the straw that broke the camel's back.
While we are on chips, it is reported by Tim Hardwick (MacRumors) that with some M4 devices just out of the door, Apple has already ordered M5 chips from Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC). These chips will probably stick with the 3nm process rather than moving to 2nm chips because of potential costs. The article mentions that references to the M5 have already been seen in Apple code. Scott Younker (Tom's Hardware) suggests that the iPad Pro will be the first device to see the M5, which will no doubt upset the purists at MacWorld and elsewhere who will see this as more evidence that the iPad needs to run macOS. As this is a rumor from Ming-Chi Kuo, I have serious doubts.
I have had my M4 Mac mini for about 2 weeks now. Once I had set it up and downloaded additional apps, I just forgot about it. I use it daily during the work week but there is nothing in the least that is surprising. There is no "Wow!" factor. It does everything I ask of it, although there is the slightest hint (in almost unmeasurable time) that it does it faster. Moving, saving, renaming files are executed almost instantly, while editing images - usually quite large in my case with DSLR output and TIFF scans - are done just that bit more smoothly. Ryan Christoffel (9to5Mac) also has a new Mac mini, and he describes how this powerful Mac just sort of disappears. It does whatever is asked of it with no fuss. Its major strength is invisibility: what many people want from a computer.
In the article Cristoffel describes a couple of ways to set up the iPad as a second (or even main) display. One involves a small hardware purchase and an app. The other (which is linked in the article) used Displays in System Settings and this was quite quick to turn on. I decided to mirror the displays and also set it up to use the monitor settings for resolution rather than those of the iPad. The advantage was that the same space was available, although the apps were smaller when shown. With the iPad as the main display, the display area was limited: a tradeoff. I am unlikely to use this much but it is useful to know how to set it up.
Coincidentally I had had problems mirroring the iPad Pro on a large TV display at the university library earlier in the day. I was asked to help with improvement of output quality (website, posters) at the library and had prepared a few ideas to chat about using Files and Notes. I had the DVD connector, but all I saw was a blank desktop. The problem was mirroring (it was off), but when I used the control center, I could not change the panel that appeared as it never loaded properly. An IT technician, fumbled about a bit but knew what he was looking for: in the Displays settings there is a panel that allows external sources to be positioned and mirrored. Now I know.
|
|
|
|
|
Following last week's release of a Watch app for Mercedes-Benz cars, Tesla has followed suit, Taimur Asad reports for Redmond Pie. The information was widely carried by other outlets. Asad does mention, however, that "Keep in mind that even though the Apple Watch app is available to download right now and it mostly works, it does require new holiday update on the car in order to issue commands to the vehicle." Like the Benz app, I have not downloaded this. Although I see plenty of Tesla cars on Thai roads, so some might find this useful, I stick to public transport these days. I just wonder if this new app will make the Apple Watch spontaneously burst into flames.
I see there are also apps for Aston Martin, Bentley and Rolls Royce although none of the 3 looks like it has a Watch app. Sharp readers may note the significance of the photo below, which was taken not too far from the family home.
The morning after I put comments online that included a section on how film use continues to grow (Kodak is upgrading its production lines), Matt Williams (PetaPixel) wrote a useful guide to some of the medium format cameras that are available. I thought it a little odd that these comments missed the Hasselblad film range, apart from digital models (images - table).
A day later there was an interesting interview with the founders of Lomography, by Aram David on FStoppers. Lomo make a number of what are called "boutique" films as well as a number of cameras: 120, 135 and 110. Indeed, they are now the only maker of 110 films, for a type of camera that I used regularly in the 1980s. I now stick mainly to medium format (120). Lomo is quite well known, particularly by younger users and most of their output is aimed at this group, although some of the cameras and lenses have a wider appeal, such as the twin lens reflex (TLR) Lubitel, based on a Russian camera of the same name, and the Petzval lens that was first designed in 1840 with clever optics, but was remade by Lomo a couple of years ago.
|
|
One of the Lomo films I use occasionally is their Lomo Purple. As its name suggests this has a special emulsion that changes colors with a definite purple shift. The output depends on the light (especially sunlight) at the time the image was taken, and the scanner settings. I loaded a roll in my Rolleiflex TLR a week ago and I am still running with that.
This week, Matt Growcoot (PetaPixel) carries a video of an interview with Kate Winslet in which she explains that she learned how to take photographs with a Rolleiflex for a film on Lee Miller, a well-known fashion photographer, who also became a WW2 war photographer. In one part, Winslet explains in detail how she told the editors off for including breathing, when she had deliberately held her breath to steady the camera while taking pictures. The video is worth looking at, and the PetaPixel article also includes a trailer for the movie, LEE, which should already be out (but not here - AppleTV, Netflix).
Over on FStoppers, Kim Simpson had a nice article on the work of Simon Murphy and his Photoautomat project: there are about 30 of these camera booths in the streets of Berlin. The 4-minute short, interacting beautifully with young people using, or just near these booths is delightfully presented. It is partly in black & white, partly in color. Murphy's narration is almost poetic and draws the viewer in. The closing sequence is a surprising and spontaneous interaction between the photographer and young Berliners: joyous.
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