Mataroa (https://mataroa.blog) is simple, to the point, blazing fast, open source, and just US$ 9 per year. It's quite barebones, but IMHO the platform's philosophy lends itself well to the cause of "I just want to write, I don't want to spend time fiddling with settings and templates".
> But in 2015 with the introduction of the iPad Pro, Apple decided that the iPad was going to replace the Macintosh.
Although that is an intriguing (and controversial) possibility, Apple has never explicitly stated that. What they have done, is continued to heavily invest in the Mac lineup. IMO the ‘Pro’ in iPad Pro is meant to target creative professionals, not all the types of professionals (for e.g. programmers).
The Mac lineup from 2015 thru 2019 was one of the least compelling set of computers to buy. Fragile keyboards that broke in a year of normal use, high-end laptops with i9s that overheated immediately under any level of use, an annoying and gimmicky touchbar, and so on. If I wanted to absolutely murder a platform, I'd just do what Apple was doing to the Mac in this era, forever.
The iPad division was advertising their product with taglines like "what's a computer" and phrases like "desktop-class" that indicated Apple - or at least, the iPad division at Apple - considered the iPad to be a MacBook replacement, not just a companion. And they still do this, even now when the Mac team is actually putting out good hardware again (ironically, by putting iPad chips in them).
Well... the way the Mac lineup was broken in the date range you have given was less to do with wanting to kill the line, more to do with poor management of the designs being used. It was a very egotistical "we can make a better keyboard", "you want a fance second screen", "we decided for you you don't need ports", "our design is style over substance" type of deal. Whether that was Ive or not, after he left it seems like it all got redone.
You second paragraph - you need to understand the audience. For most average people, they don't need a Mac. They need a web browser, a banking app and a few other sundry apps for casual tasks. For the pro artist, they want a canvas. The iPad fits that fine. With a keyboard it is a very capable computer, with a pen it is a very capable canvas. Even for professional workers, the iPad can be enough if all they are doing is creating documents[1]
The MacBook Pro/Air is for anyone who - want to code in general and/or wants to create apps for iOS and macOS, wants to use addition hardware that requires extra power to be used (music production interfaces for example, or other types of compute module), needs to multitask, needs to consume files from different sources (local, usb, network etc)... etc. So, professional people, or "power users". This includes those that simply prefer a traditional computer. This is a fuzzy cross over. It is not precise.
The M series chips are not "ipad" chips. They are just chips. They happen to be used in multiple places, but this is no different to using an Intel chip in a tablet (which for sure happened. I owned a Windows 8 tablet that had the form factor of a Nexus 7 tablet.)
[1] Anecdote - a guy came to my house last week to do a survey for some heating system changes, and all he had was 2 ipads, a printer and his regular tools. All the documentation and quotes he printed on-site, they all came from the iPad Pro he had with a keyboard. The other one was most used to survey, he had a thermal camera to look for where out underfloor heating was laid as we don;t have the original owners installation documents.
> Alert readers will notice that Moser managed, in one paragraph, to dismiss the efforts of all three major luxury watch groups – Richemont, Swatch, and LVMH – as somewhat lacking in intestinal fortitude
The paragraph they are referring to is the press release further up the page.
They are basically saying none of the major manufacturers had done anything serious in the realm of smart watches.
The reason it’s a “dangerous game” is because the watch industry was disrupted once before by the quartz crisis (cheap quartz watches flooding the market) and many manufacturers went out of business or had to merge with others to form larger groups to survive. So the danger is that smart watches will do the same.
Watches had a rough time for a while after quartz became a thing in the 80’s.
Now they are seen a jewellery more because every has a smart phone for time telling. But watch collecting as a hobby is making a comeback in the 2010’s to now with the internet and hype generating content like YouTube, instagram, Hodinkee, and consumers are keeping a multi billion dollar market afloat with products from million dollar Patek phillipe to 5 dollar casios.
Through posting on Reddit I learnt that Moser wasn't the only one either. Apparently Ciga Designs did some similar watches and even Casio has one, the MTP-M305
I love listening to https://radioparadise.com especially when I don't want to choose what to listen to. Apart from their main stream, they have special streams for mellow, rock, and "world" music (don't like that word, but it is what it is).
Have you read the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie[^1]? I know the title makes the book sound like a cheap hack but trust me, it's an excellent book and IMHO everyone should read it.
You'll find lots of food for thought around conversations and why some people are great conversationalists.
