I look forward to reading the 2021 M1 iMac reviews later, even though I will likely never buy that computer. It’s the sort of thing I would want if my family were structured more around, say, a central computing location in the family room or something. We all have iPads instead.

Apple Music can release its rumored lossless tier any minute now. I’m waiting with my best headphones. I don’t care at all about spatial audio or Dolby Atmos, though, so I hope that isn’t the only kind of thing coming.

I hope so. I am a sucker for lossless codecs, even though I probably can’t hear the difference between them and AAC-256.

I think that Apple is going to lose whatever antitrust cases are eventually brought against it in the EU and in the US. I don’t actually think Apple should lose, because I don’t think it is correct to call Apple a monopoly.

The general antitrust argument against Apple is that its App Store platform is too locked down, and that is unfair because Apple is a monopoly (insert eye roll here) of its own platform. App is a platform owner. Of course it has a “monopoly” over the platform it owns. That doesn’t make it a monopoly in the overall marketplace. Moreover, while iOS is undoubtedly popular, it is a minority smartphone platform, which in the broadest legal terms that I understand, makes monopoly-related antitrust law not apply to them.

App developers have to accept Apple’s terms, and pay a pretty large commission to Apple, to distribute apps in the store or to take in-app purchases. That may not feel fair to developers, but I can’t take seriously the arguments that it is illegal. It is the same way that game consoles work. Will we go after Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft next? Shouldn’t they open up their game consoles to alternative payment systems and alternate app stores, too? I have heard of no one seriously arguing this.

The most compelling argument against Apple’s App Store requirements is that Apple demands too much money from developers for distribution and payment solutions that other companies now offer at lower prices. I am sympathetic to this argument because I too think Apple should have lowered its commission over the years, as marginal costs for these technologies and services have declined. However, the size of Apple’s cut is not really at issue here. Apple, rather clumsily, lowered its commission for a majority of its developers to 15%, starting in January 2021, but the antitrust talk just keeps rolling on.

The second most compelling argument against Apple is that it uses its platform-owner advantage to position its own software and services over third-party competitors. Again, I sympathize. Apple Sherlocks developers sometimes, and can position its own software and services over anyone else’s. So does Microsoft (ever use Windows?). Amazon exercises a tremendous advantage over third party sellers in its online marketplace.

I could argue that even Linux vendors, such as Ubuntu, position their own, preferred software over that of third-party developers. Software platform owners always have advantages over third parties that operate on their platform. Extracting as much value from that as is possible is the entire point of creating and owning a platform. I think it only becomes an antitrust problem when a company has majority market share, which Apple does not have.

If developers can’t accept Apple’s terms, then they shouldn’t. They should develop for Android instead, which has the majority market share anyway, or create progressive web apps. (Remember, the web is an app platform, too, not just a way to collect credit card payments for software.) If developers “need” to develop for iOS because iOS users, on average, spend way more money on apps than Android users, then that just shows the value Apple’s marketplace has, and is worth paying for.

Despite my views, I still think Apple is poised to lose any legal actions about them regarding monopoly. It won’t lose based on the merits of whatever case is brought against it; it will lose because enough political sentiment is against Apple, at least in this area, and that is all that matters. Perhaps all the tech giants will fall under this scrutiny, and all will be forced to open up their platforms more widely, and will be forced to renounce their first-party advantage when distributing applications and features. I just don’t see that actually happening, and if it does happen, I don’t think it will benefit anybody in the way government regulators would expect. It could even stifle the development of the next generation of technology platforms.

Napier Lopez reports in The Next Web:

Apple only just released its new iMacs featuring the acclaimed M1 ARM-based processor, but according to a report from Nikkei, the company plans to launch M2 as soon as July.

I don’t know anything in particular about Apple’s plans, but it seems crazy to me to expect a faster chip at this time. What I would expect is more I/O, driven by more cores and supported by more RAM. Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe Apple can overvolt the M1 to get more speed out of it, and will call it by another name.

Stephen Warwick reports in iMore:

Kuo says that next year Apple will drop the 5.4-inch model and run with two 6.1-inch models instead, one Pro, one regular.

This rumor is a prime reason I upgraded to the iPhone 12 mini early this year. I absolutely love the size and weight of it. It fits better in my hands and in my pockets than my iPhone 7 Plus ever did. However, the 12 mini’s small screen size makes it less compelling to read on, edit photos on, or watch videos on. These are all things I do pretty much every day without complaint, but if it were going to be my only portable device I would have bought one with a bigger screen.

I have no desire to go back to a larger phone, because the phone, for me, is one tool among many, rather than the center of my computing universe. It doesn’t have to be compelling, just useful. It doesn’t have to be used constantly, just when it makes the most sense to.

Some time from now, I think the smartphone, as a thing I carry around all the time, and as the default “Internet communication device,” is going to disappear and be replaced by something else: smart glasses maybe, or some kind of earpiece (when I am really old and need hearing aides).

I’m assuming that somebody’s job, every day, is to wake up in the morning and ask Siri “When is the next Apple Event?” I’m glad I didn’t try to change careers back in 2009 or 2011 (when I thought of it) and get into tech journalism.

The Linux kernel is gaining Apple M1 support. I have been wondering if, years from now, I can move my M1 Mac Mini to a home app-server role, running Linux, when it gets too old for Xcode and stops getting macOS updates. I have a Celeron based PC doing that for me now, but it runs hot and can be noisy, too. If a machine can run Linux, it extends its lifespan considerably for me.

As reported by Andrew Webster in The Verge:

Apple’s gaming subscription service just got a massive influx of new titles. The headliner is Fantasian — the latest release from the creator of Final Fantasy — which is joined by other titles like new versions of NBA 2K and The Oregon Trail, and World of Demons from PlatinumGames. As part of the update, the service is getting two new categories of games: Apple calls them “Timeless Classics” and “App Store Greats.”

I literally just canceled my (second) Apple Arcade free trial twelve hours before this announcement. I just can’t seem to get into Apple Arcade at all. For the most part, the reason is that I find my iPhone 12 mini to be too small to be a compelling gaming device. Secondarily, I don’t want to get into a complex, involved game on my iPhone or iPad. I prefer my mobile games to be simple things that can be jumped into and out of, more like the “Timeless Classics” that Apple is now adding to Apple Arcade. It’s too bad for Apple Arcade that I already own almost all of those games.

Corinne Reichert and Stephen Shankland report in CNET:

Apple will launch a series of new iPads in April, a report Wednesday said. The new iPad Pros will come with Apple’s homemade M1 chips, a Thunderbolt port, and better cameras and screens, according to Bloomberg. They will reportedly come in 11- and 12.9-inch display sizes.

That’s cool. Maybe I’m not a “Pro” but the iPad Air 4 is just about perfect for me. From my layman’s perspective, the A14-based chip in the iPad Air 4 is very similar to the M1, minus some of the cores. The 2020 iPad Pro’s chip (an A12Z) is a generation or two behind that, though it has more cores than the A14 does. Apple obviously needs to remedy that to help justify the iPad Pro’s greater price.

I am thinking that the “Thunderbolt” port is merely following the direction that everything with a USB-C connector is going in: USB 4 compatibility. That, plus more processor cores, sounds good for videographers, podcasters, photographers, and (I guess) gamers. Unfortunately, if Apple doesn’t fix some problems with the Files app (just try transferring a gigabyte-sized file off your iPad to a network share—I’ll wait…for it to fail), these performance boosts will be hamstrung.

Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch reports:

Apple has discontinued its original HomePod after four years. It says that it will continue to produce and focus on the HomePod mini, introduced last year.

I, like many audiophiles, passed on the original HomePod due to its high price and lack of connectivity. I’m sure I would have enjoyed how it sounded, and its size is just right for me, but I would likely have had to buy two of them to be fully satisfied (stereo separation is important to me). At $349 each, that was too expensive.

The smaller, cheaper HomePod mini holds little appeal to me, and seems to be a far less interesting product for the audio engineers at Apple to work on. For all I know, though, it sells in huge numbers, which makes it interesting in and of itself. Maybe a HomePod mini max (ha!) will be released someday, at around $150, which will hit the price/performance sweet spot I am looking for.

I really wanted an iMac Pro at one point. I was most excited about its cooling system, of all things, because promised to be inaudible. I’m sorry to see the product go, and am hopeful that it means M1-based iMacs are coming soon.

After dithering on it for several weeks, I finally ordered a blue iPhone 12 mini late Friday night. I plan to keep it for the next four years, and also plan to keep using my iPhone 7 Plus as an occasional video player/video game player around the house.

It was supposed to be delivered here on Tuesday, but it came late this morning—a couple days early. Strangely, I find myself not ready for it! I have too many things to do today, and will have to wait to open up my new toy until after the kids go to bed.

2021 MacBook Pro will ditch the Touch Bar and bring back MagSafe, say reports. I don’t know about the Touch Bar disappearing, but I expect it to look a lot more like the iPad Pro, have 4 USB-C ports, and thinner bezels than the current models do.

I finally got an Apple TV+ free trial. 😎

I am eagerly awaiting for the shipment of a new iPad Air 4 today.

Wow. Apple’s “December surprise” actually happened:

By moving into the premium headphones space, Apple will directly compete with brands like Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, AKG, Bowers and Wilkins, and others that have years of experience and a long list of products between them. Apple is going higher than just about all of them on price, but the company is riding the momentum of the AirPods and AirPods Pro, which have dominated the true wireless earbuds market.

I shouldn’t be surprised that Apple’s headphones cost more than any in my collection—and I have some pretty impressive headphones.

The headband design looks a little odd at the top. I hope the engineers sacrificed looks for comfort there.

And it’s a shame they charge via Lightning

iJustine’s M1 Macs review video is absolutely hilarious.

Now that it is September, it is finally time for me to upgrade my iPhone to the developer beta. I have been running the developer betas of iPadOS 14 for some time now without incident.

I just noticed that the analog clock widget in the latest iPadOS beta does not display the correct time. (It is half an hour slow for me, on New York City time.) But the sweep of the second hand is beautiful. 🙄

I noticed something strange on the latest iPadOS developer beta. The Fn key on my Apple Magic Keyboard (the old Bluetooth one, not the expensive new iPadPro peripheral) now has two new functions that kind of conflict with each other.

First, Fn-Backspace finally works as “forward delete” as it always has on the Mac. (That not being supported on iOS has long been a source of occasional frustration for me.)

Second, Fn, by itself, calls up the emoji picker, which used to be only called by Control-Command-Space.

Unfortunately, using Fn-Backspace calls up the emoji picker, which means I have to dismiss it (via Esc) if I want to forward delete. That does not save a keystroke, and makes “forward delete” not worth it.

Oh, nice! It’s iPadOS 14 beta 2 time.

I tried Apple News again to see if the experience is any better on the iPadOS 14 beta. Sadly, for me, it is not. Apple News feels like a junk drawer full of some news content plus a bunch of headlines that are really ads, because they lead to listicles full of affiliate links. Ironically, Google News—from a company that makes most of its money selling ads—seems less ad-filled and spammy to me.

My day one experience with iPadOS 14 beta 1 is astounding. It is fast and stable. All my third party apps work. The UI updates to the Music app, which I use all the time, are most welcome. The Scribble feature with Apple Pencil exceeds all expectations; it isn’t perfect, but it is really well thought out, and it reads my printing and cursive writing. The new three-column layout for Apple apps looks great, too.

I decided to install the iPadOS 14 beta on my iPad Pro. Let’s see how it goes!