I was sad to read that David Lerner died. I did not know David, nor did I ever meet him. But I did go to almost every location of his beloved Tekserve in NYC.1
A few choice personal memories of Tekserve: I took my total POS PowerBook 5300cs in for a hinge repair. It was the first time I was in the shop, and I felt nearly every feeling I could have: Awe (what an amazing place!), intimidation (everyone here is smarter than me (the workers), everyone here is more talented than me (customers)), apprehension (how much is this going to cost to fix this terrible, terrible Mac?). When the store moved to… I can’t remember, but I know it was on the second floor of a building, and they had an old deli-style ticket machine that you’d punch yourself to get into the queue to get help, and it’s where I bought my wife’s first iPod for Christmas of 2001. I bought our iMac G4 in that same location right after my daughter was born. I remember having them put in more RAM, too. I also bought something (now mostly forgotten) called the SLIMP3 which let me play MP3s from some little Linux box I had set up. I still have the SLIMP3 sitting around somewhere because it’s an incredibly cool piece of kit.
One stand-out memory was going with a good friend of mine from a Macworld show in NYC to Tekserve (this was before the 23rd Street store), where he just bought a PowerBook G3 Pismo. He paid $3,499 in 2000, and I could not believe he just bought it. I still, 25 years later, can’t bring myself to buy Pringles on an airplane ride because they cost $6.
I know it was a place most people went to buy a new Mac or, more likely, get their Macs repaired, and while that was how the place made its money, there was something more. Until the 23rd Street store, the locations they had were pretty small (at least from the customer’s view), but once the 23rd Street store opened, it became a place where you could browse a lot easier. Heck, it even had a museum in it from earlier Apple IIs and NeXT Cubes, and I am pretty sure Lisas (I don’t think I made that up, but I guess I wouldn’t bet money on it).
But every location was the kind of store you hoped existed. It had handmade signs, it was a little chaotic, and even dramatic with folks desperately needing their Mac fixed. I guess chaotic isn’t really the right word, but you know, think of a really busy place that no matter how disorganized it may have looked, it had what you wanted (either to buy or a way to repair your Mac). Tekserve represented what made New York City New York City. The city is less than without it. Just like the world is less than without David in it (although much better off for him being here).2
The picture on Wikipedia was from their 23rd Street store. I remember being in at least two other locations starting in 1996 or 1997 (when I first moved to NYC). ↩︎
You can read more about the store in Tamara Shopsin’s LaserWriter II. I enjoyed it very much. ↩︎
Everyone is upset with Tim Cook and Apple1 for giving Trump some glass award thing. Meanwhile, there’s this:
I completely agree working with Trump (and giving him the little plaque) is incredibly distasteful. But it’s a mistake to think anything capitalistic is going to go against the grain or save you. ↩︎
While it’s not an app that will get any stage time, Contacts is an app that touches so many parts of the system (Mail, Messages) that having an updated foundation would make it all work together so much better.
Features I’d like to see:
Date of death field
No contact checkbox
Remove old systems like ICQ and Skype
I don’t want to delete someone in my Contacts just because they died. I would simply like to add the date. While I could use the notes field, adding the date would give the system more context, help answer questions, and eliminate issues like featuring people in photo memories (or at least know enough to ask me if the folks who have passed should still be included).
The no contact feature would be similar to the date of death, but it would stop the accidental contact of someone you don’t currently want to have contact with. Say you go No Contact with someone in your family, but don’t want to remove them from your Contacts. 1 Offering a checkbox could eliminate the possibility of a fat finger dial or have Siri misinterpret what was said, and then all of a sudden you are on the phone with your narcissistic parent. It would also make it harder to message an ex when you are at your weakest.
Lastly, there is a non-labeled section in the app that lists: Facebook, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, QQ, Skype, Yahoo. Some of those are gone, and it makes the app look confusing and Apple out of touch.
Sorry if that’s paywalled. It’s available in Apple News. ↩︎
I use Apple Maps all the time, but like Apple Music, I’m frustrated much of the time. Maps is good and Music is good, but come on, Apple. You have all the money and a lot of folks using these products. There’s no excuse for these not to be best of breed at this point.
Just yesterday I was using Maps to go to a library and it led me to the wrong location. I was trying to go to the Brooklyn Heights Library and Maps has it listed as 109 Remsen Street when it should be 286 Cadman Plaza West. Guess which mapping software lists it correctly? You already know.
Apple needs to do better for these services. Read Joe’s article; he’s right.
It seems selling my iPad (first time not having one since 2010) has cleared the way for Apple to make iPadOS extra awesome. And I don’t seem to be getting the thanks I deserve.
My buddy Tom was right when he said (to my stupid, disbelieving face) that CarPlay Next Gen wasn’t going to come out. And it didn’t. To be more precise, he said it didn’t exist. It was just an Apple fantasy.
And, look, it didn’t come out, so he was right. But now we have CarPlay Ultra and it is out, so there’s that.
I don’t know when or if I’ll ever get to use CarPlay Ultra as I don’t own a car and I’m not likely to ever buy one (being a citybilly). But it’s fun to see. I rent a lot of cars via ZipCar and I was so relieved once they started buying cars with CarPlay. All car interfaces suck. I want to say ‘I don’t totally blame the car makers,’ but I do because they make the cars and those crappy interfaces. I get that it’s not their area of expertise, but, sheesh, hire some people. But if the car maker makes it easy for me to use CarPlay, then I’m good.
I hope we get to find out more about how Apple and manufacturers work together. Does Apple only offer 10 information cluster templates and says to the manufacturer “pick your colors and fonts?” Maybe there aren’t even templates? Could Honda make their cluster look super-close to Aston Martin’s? Can the user change the typeface or is that all controlled by the automaker? I’m assuming you get to choose from a selected series of layouts and apparently tweak the color some. I’m surprised you can tweak the color as color is part of a brand’s identity (or so I thought?).
Props to Aston Martin for including real switches in the car. Changing the cabin’s temperature via a screen is dumb and dangerous. It requires eyes off the road and a far steadier than one (me, I guess) can provide in a moving/bumpy car ride. I have to brace my hand on the dashboard above the screen in order to steady my hand enough to press the right on-screen button(s). Blah.
Eddy Cue’s comments yesterday about users using Google less and also saying in 10 years you might not need an iPhone are both really smart takes.
Initially I was like “wut” but he seems to be saying, “AI corps, which one of you wants to write us a check to be default search?” and also, “Hey, DOJ, no reason to break up Apple as we might not even be here in 10 years.”
Feelin’ Good Friday, #13: The hammer falls on Apple’s malicious-compliance scheme. I love Apple’s products, but I do not love Apple’s business practices, so I’m feeling good that they are getting their comeuppance1. I also like it when Apple is pushed back to its heels, as that’s when they do their best work (it seems to me). You know, make a better App Store in order to compete and make a better use of AI2.
While Siri is impressively bad, it did answer which seven teams of the NHL are in Canada when I could only remember six (Sorry, Calgary Flames. I’m so old I remember when you were in Atlanta). ↩︎
Not being an expert about the tech industry, AI, or, in fact, anything, I think being a white guy gives me the privilege to weigh in on Apple’s AI debacle1.
Seeing as Apple is clearly behind in this AI nonsense, I suggest they punt to ChatGPT and focus on Swift Assist2. It’s something they should be experts in (Swift) and would directly help developers make apps. I hope Apple talks among itself and comes to a good solution.
I’m still seeing so many articles about how expensive all Apple products are. I’m not saying they’re wrong, but it really does feel overblown.
Yes, you can spec up a Mac Studio to $14,000. There is no question it is a lot of money. But when the Mac Pro (Intel version) first came out in 2019, you could spec it up to $56,000 (around $69,000 in Jan 2025 dollars). And the M4 Ultra Mac Studio is faster. Heck, even the $599 M4 Mac mini is faster for many tasks (graphics aside).
When the pandemic hit and we stopped spending money, I got it into my head that I needed a 16” MacBook Pro, so I bought a refurbished (from Apple): i9, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD. It was $3,339. Not brand new, mind you. It was refurbished. Today, an M4 MacBook Air with 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD is $2,400. About $1,000 cheaper. I’m aware the screen is likely better on the Pro.
So, yes, Macs can be very expensive. But these headlines about cost are just to have articles to throw ads around.
I am having a hard time understanding how anyone liked it and how it is even getting a 5.9 on Rotten Tomatoes. The acting is good, but overall, it was super meh to me. I imagine the only reason it’s getting the rating it is is because Anya Taylor-Joy is impossibly cute.
With the acquisition of Pixelmator, I wonder if Apple is going to make a Pro bundle software subscription to live under what it called Services. You’d have Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, and then this pro level photo editing package (maybe called Layers or Pixels?).
I have yet to see a single Apple Intelligence ad that isn’t 100% cringe. The ads are either super misleading or showing the worst people using them to be lazy. Basically, the ads are a really lousy depiction of the work done by folks at Apple.
I so wish Apple would abandon the Image Playground feature it’s working on for iOS 18. This kind of creation is what people are best at so let it alone. Have the machines do some analysis or whateverthehell, but leave image creation to people. It’s more likely to go poorly than not, anyway.
I’ve found that if you want to know how Apple works and what Steve Jobs thought about a topic, just listen to him. He really did explain it all very clearly. It’s also something to listen to Swisher’s dumb questions/comments.
A lot of people (all smarter than me) are very perplexed by the Apple lawsuitt brought forth by the U.S. DOJ. I wonder if this office shutting down is the answer to this and many other confusing statements by members of Congress when it comes to technology.
I listen to the Apple New Today podcast every day. I find it to be the best of the <10 min morning news summaries. I have noticed that in the last few months ANT has been adding more and more sound bites from ESPN. With all the talk about Apple buying Disney, I wonder if Apple in particular wants ESPN.
Tech sites: Man, traffic is down, ad sales are down… Maybe Apple will create something we can all have hot takes on.
Intern: Even without using the thing?
Tech sites: Yes.
Apple: Here’s our idea for a new kind of computing.
Intern: I wrote up 1,000 words about how this will make us all sad forever.
Tech sites: Without using the product?
Intern: Yes.
Tech sites: Attaboy!
I somehow had missed the book Revolution in the Valley by Andy Hertfeld. Many of the stories, if not all, are available on his site, Folklore, but I am glad to have the stories in one collection to hold. And the pictures are bigger and that’s fun for me.
Watching
We’ve been watching Bad Sisters and that’s been a blast. How I can really, really like this family is something else. But I really do.
And because I am weak, and will watch anything sci-fi, I started watching The Ark. It’s buttocks. I watched the three available episodes (I know, I know, I can’t help myself).
