eXtensions - Saturday 26 April 2025
By Graham K. Rogers
With Apple's Q2 2025 financial report due this week, Tim Cook can expect questions about tariffs and just what he did. The Apple Watch was announced 10 years ago this week. We look back on its successes. The iPad arrived in 2010 and tech writers still think it should be reworked. A Mark Gurman rumor suggested iPadOS developments will make it more Mac-like. Pundits are convinced that, out of all stakeholders, Apple understands the device the least.
Apple's Q2 2025 earnings report is slated for 2 May. I am sure Tim Cook will be asked several times about tariffs and how they appeared to affect Apple but then magically disappeared; and the possibilities for the future. Senator Elizabeth Warren is also interested in this and wants to know if any lines were crossed (Wesley Hilliard, AppleInsider). I am fairly confident about Cook's abilities as a CEO, but I rolled my eyes when he made a donation to the President's funds (but think of the potential problems if he had not made a voluntary donation); and I do have questions about how the tariffs were lifted. Perhaps he just appealed to the President's vanity - that would do it.
Several sites are reporting that this week (Friday actually, 25 April) is the 10th anniversary of when the Apple Watch first shipped. They first arrived here in mid-July 2015 and I had a look in Siam Paragon where I tried on the gold version. I finally had a Watch to test a while later (according to my photo albums) and I was delighted when, the metal Milanese Loop band was included with a selection for me to try. The moment the Apple Watch was announced, I wanted that. I currently have a black version of the same band and am still just as pleased.
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Initially I found the Watch quite useful for messaging (as I still do) as, so often, it saves me reaching for the iPhone. This is particularly useful when strap-hanging on Bangkok's metro system. Over the years, with exercise, and other measurements that integrate with the Health app on the iPhone, I have been able to build a picture of my own health (useful as age creeps up) allowing me to spot problems before they become out of control; or confirming with heart measurements, and third party weight and temperature devices that all is, or is not well. If there seems to be a problem, I am off to the doctor for checks.
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Some aspects do not work exactly as I like, or perhaps wok too well. Fall detection which I know has saved some people from situations when they fall and are alone, has only shown itself for me when I have moved too fast in office chairs, or turned round quickly at home. I do stumble occasionally, but have not gone down, yet; but at least I know it will work when the sensors recognize unusual acceleration/deceleration. Leander Kahney reports on 'All the ways. . .' that the Watch has saved people, although some of the features (e.g. SOS) are not available here.
There were more comments on the rumors that the iPad is to see changes to its operating system. As I mentioned last time, I am happy up to a point with what the iPad does now, particularly the iPad Pro, which has changed how I work. There are, however, certain features which I would like to see added (ability to use a flatbed scanner for one). Photos also needs changing, but now that Apple owns Photomator that may influence the development of that app. The Macalope (always worth a read if only to restore sanity), also discusses the iPad, pointing out that a certain Mark Gurman is on record as wanting the iPad to run macOS. No, no, and no. No.
The title of the article by David Price (MacWorld) offered a little hope suggesting that, Yes, the iPad needs to change, but greater complexity could bring new problems. Price's opening sentence made my eyes roll: 'For all the optimism when it launched, it's pretty clear that Apple doesn't really know what to do with the iPad these days'. I would suggest that the first thing Apple should do is to stop reading output from those who all think they know what the iPad should be (apart from Macalope of course). Citing Gurman as the lead expert in iPadism was not the solution I was hoping for when I started to read the Price article.
I was, however, interested to see a report from Roman Loyola (MacWorld) with the headline, 'A developer got Windows 11 to run on an iPad, but we're not sure why you'd want to'. My first reaction to that was, 'Because you can'. Not that I would want to use this, other than proof of concept (and Loyola does concede to this). In early days of using computers, there were all manner of experimental installations, some of which were loosely in the interests of efficiency, when running the devices was still rather Wild West.
I have never used Windows. I moved to the Mac when my last PC running MS-DOS 6 died. That first Mac was a used Portra and it ran for several years after its life with me. I may be getting it back soon. I also had a number of other Macs running System 6, 7 and 8. But the arrival of the System 9 - OS X iMacs spurred me into buying my first new Mac (around 2000). I still have this although starting up is a problem. I may have to admit that after 25 years, it is no longer viable. I followed that first iMac with the eMac, another reliable computer. They all were.
While we are on Microsoft (sort of), I noticed spikes in my site statistics this week, particularly when I checked on Wednesday morning. As I have often done before, I looked using the Network Utility. This is no longer a Mac utility, but has been developed by a third party, Devon Technologies who provide it free. It seems to work the same as when it was included as an OS X app. It is basiclly an interface for specific Unix commands used on the internet, such as whois, ping, finger and more. As a note, most sites these days block finger because of potential insecurities. This dates back to the Morris Worm.
I used whois and copied in the IP number beginning 20.171.206.66 although I should have recognized this. It is Microsoft and related IP numbers had been used in several scans of my site recently. I am guessing that this is to scrape data for their AI. I wish they would cease and desist. Or they can pay me, there is precious little from advertising these days. It skews the site statistics and I object to writing so that Microsoft (or any others) can show students how to cheat. I note that in the UK a collective license is being pioneered that "will allow authors to be paid for the use of their works to train generative AI models" (Ella Creamer, Guardian). This appears to be a fairer alternative than the government's tepid response that favors AI developers over authors.
Earlier this week I had a message from MotoGP telling me that there was an error for MotoGP renewal, which is not due until next year. This was not a complete surprise as when I renewed last time, there was a change in my credit card information, but I was ensured that this had gone through and there have been no problems watching the races. A few days later an apology from MotoGP arrived: 'This message was sent in error and our technical team is addressing the issue'. Overall, the service has been quite good over the years since I have been using it, although watching on AppleTV is not as good as the quality of the picture was sometimes poor. I switched to the iPad, which has a sharp screen and if the transmission does fade, I am able to switch quickly to an alternative stream.
My main television viewing of late has been Netflix-centric, although this week I am looking forward to another episode of Friends and Neighbours on AppleTV. After the Spanish language series The Gardener (a serial assassin who buries his victims in his mother's garden - she is as much to blame), which has the potential for a follow-up series, I tried The Diamond Heist which mentioned Guy Ritchie, although he was not heavily involved in this 3-part documentary on the Millennium Dome diamond robbery. I watched Part 1, but I was not over-impressed. That appeared mainly a one-man interview of someone who was more of a self-advertiser than a doer. However, having read a review by Lucy Mangan (Guardian), I went back and give Parts 2 and 3 a look. I am glad I did. I rather liked the 'laconic' comments by the police; but the way the gang were surveilled so the Flying Squad were ready for them when they attempted the robbery was excellent television. The final scene - the last few seconds - introduced a masterful, real-life twist.
I was deeply interested in a Norwegian series, The Glass Dome. An expert in kidnappings, Lejla, returns home as her adoptive mother has passed away. She had been adopted after she had been abducted as a child and her real mother killed herself. During her kidnapping she was kept in a greenhouse-like structure, underground, but never saw her captor because of the way the lighting in the room was used. She did escape, but (though traumatized) her memories keep returning and these help when more children are kidnapped.
Her adoptive father was village police chief who was replaced by his brother, Tomas, after retirement, although his knowledge and experience are of value in the new investigations. A murder and further kidnapping see an early arrest, although the new police chief is more connected to the deceased than he admits. As the series reveals more information and the original suspect is released, everything points towards Tomas until almost the end when there is an unexpected twist. Even then, the tension is elevated until the last minutes. Between The Diamond Heist and The Glass Dome my Sunday lunchtime viewing was iHostage: a dramatization of a real life hostage situation that played out in early 2022 when a gunman entered an Apple Store in Amsterdam. The main focus in the shop is between the gunman and a Bulgarian who was just in the shop to buy some new AirPods. Four others in the shop hid in a storeroom, while some 40 more who hid upstairs were rescued by security forces. The portrayal of the police and their integrated actions were well executed. Drama at the right times but showing professionalism rather than rash heroism as is often the case in series and movies from other countries.
I was impressed with the depiction of the Apple Store and wondered how the producers had persuaded Apple to allow this to be used. In short, they didn't. The store was reconstructed in a studio and Chance Miller (9to5Mac) outlines the process. He also includes a link to a YouTube video. The director, Bobby Boermans is quoted by Miller: "The floor space is the exact same size as the retail store" and "If we've done this right, the viewer won't even notice." That is substantially true.
The same Amsterdam store hit the news again this week when some shoppers went in to buy some devices on Easter Sunday, but found they were the only ones there. That was because the shop was closed, although someone had forgotten to lock the front doors. Malcolm Owen (AppleInsider) reports that once the reality dawned on them, they phoned the police but stayed in the store taking selfies and making sure nothing was taken.
Next month, Apple will release a new Guy Ritchie (Indiana Jones-like) movie The Fountain of Youth. Mac Daily News outlines on this with 2 trailers in the report. The second of these (first on the page) makes it look as if the movie begins in Bangkok-Thonburi before moving to other locations including London and Egypt. Fiction, fantasy? On my list for sure. Also on my list when it arrives will be Tom Hanks sequel to Greyhound. Dennis Sellers (AppleWorld Today) reports that this will begin filming in 2026, so there will be a while to wait until that appears: late 2026 or 2027. This moves from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but as yet there is no title for this.
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.
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