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In the latest Upgrade Jason Snell’s just a broken record repeating his own nonsense at this point. His big storyline is the M4 iPad Pro is too expensive, too powerful for iPadOS. He wants to know what its use case is, who is it for?
But, now, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Thirteen months ago, Jason, along with every other podcaster/pundit, was asking the same question about the M2 iPad Pro. And, at that time, the big question, the demand being made over and over was: “Apple, where are your Pro apps for iPad? Where is Final Cut Pro? Where is Logic Pro? Where is Xcode?
Apple released two of those apps, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro a year ago. The pundits were surprised but it had very little impact on their narrative. Some said, well, it’s not enough, the apps are missing features, where’s Xcode? Jump back to today and Apple has announced version 2 of those apps. Still not full feature parity but one of the biggest misses, the lack of external drive support has been added to FCP 2.
Jason, in this clip from Upgrade:
I don’t think for most use cases it makes any sense. Because there are a lot of pro use cases out there where pro users might want a convertible but iPadOS can’t do it for them. So you’re left with this narrow slice of creative cases…
He keeps talking about iPadOS and forgetting that while the OS is important it’s the apps people use to get work done.
Jason. Jason. Why do many people buy the Mac Studio or MacBook Pro? Who might we think of first when we think of the target audience for the most powerful Macs? What group is likely to be the first to pop into our minds?
That’s right, it’s probably video editors using Final Cut Pro or other video editing apps. It’s one of the most demanding tasks and here we are, Apple releasing the M4 iPad Pro along side of Final Cut Pro. They’re telling you Jason, this is a use case. A year ago you were shouting from the rooftops: Apple, give us Final Cut Pro for iPad.
They did. And this year they improved it. And alongside of it they’ve announced a new M4 iPad Pro for you. It’s right there Jason, FCP is looking at you right now.
Back to Jason on Upgrade:
What are the things that justify the existence of the iPad Pro and justify the price? And that’s where I just start to struggle a little bit because Apple has built it, they built it, right, they built the amazing machine but now, like, to what end?
Jason, you seem to be missing it, it’s right over there. It’s looking at you. It’s Final Cut Pro. Apple spent years building it from scratch for iPad and it’s right there. Don’t you see it?
Now, I understand that Xcode is still missing. That’s another app that’s needed. Sure. But these guys and their new 2024 meme that the only solution is now, suddenly, put macOS on the iPad is just goofy pancakes. They’re making stuff up.
Now, this is not me saying iPadOS is perfect. But please, let’s stop pretending that Apple has not made big strides in the past few years. Let’s stop ignoring the work that real human beings are doing at Apple to make the experience better.
The narrative is not holding water the way you think it is. It just feels cynical for the sake of content and it’s a bit sad.
Hey tech guy, just because some devices aren’t built around your needs doesn’t mean they are not useful to others: Jordyn Zimmerman a young, nonspeaking autistic woman uses the iPad to speak to those around her. It’s proven to be an invaluable part of her daily life and an essential tool through her education and now as an advocate for disability rights.
Jamie Wax sat down with Zimmerman in her first broadcast television interview to discuss the struggles she faced growing up, the way that a communication app on an iPad changed her life and her ability to connect with others.
A few thoughts on Apple’s “Let Loose” iPad event
While most are focused on the new iPad hardware I’ll start with what I consider the more important bits.
The importance of first and third party creative apps for professionals was highlighted by Apple and I think it’s worth a special call out as a counterpoint to the common narrative of the iPad is “Sure, the hardware is powerful but what can I do with it? It’s only good for consumption not creating.” An unfortunate story that won’t go away regardless of the many examples of real world uses by professionals creating a broad range of content.
First, Apple updated both Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to version 2 with some significant new features. I’ll only call out FCP here:
Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 delivers support for projects on external drives and Live Multicam to record multiple angles at once using the new Final Cut Camera app for iPhone and iPad.
The lack of external drive support was a major complaint with version 1. Another, still missing feature, is the ability to round trip FCP projects back to the iPad after editing on the Mac. Regardless, it’s a good sign and not a surprise that Apple has continued its investment in its two “Pro” iPad apps.
Second, I was glad to see that as a part of the Apple Pencil Pro announcement Apple gave time to Procreate to show off Procreate and Procreate Dreams. Most non-artist users and tech press don’t pay much attention to the professional creative apps available on the iPad. It’s that lack of awareness of other people’s use cases that allows them to make uninformed statements about the usefulness of the iPad in the real-world. I don’t use either of the Procreate apps but boy-howdy! They look amazing and I appreciate that they exist for the users that need them.
Now, about the hardware releases. The iPad Air looks like an excellent deal. I don’t expect to update my 2021 M1 for another couple of years but if I were updating today I’d definitely consider the Air over the Pro. Not sure I’d want to lose FaceID though, that’s a real convenience.
The new M4 iPad Pros. Wowza. The M4 looks like a fantastic update. For those that need a mobile video editing station the M4 iPad with Final Cut Pro, LumaFusion or DaVinci Resolve is going to be a fantastic device.
Apple is touting the new OLED screen as a big improvement but I’ll be honest, my aging eyes don’t notice screen improvements at this point. Side-by-side, I can’t see the difference between my M1 iPadPro and the newest OLED iPhones. But I’m sure there are folks out there that will see the difference so that’s great for them.
Of course moving the FaceTime camera is an improvement. I’m sure that the thinner and lighter form factor will be an appreciable improvement though I think the argument could be made for better battery capacity. I work from home so battery life isn’t an issue but for folks that are out working all day the current battery is often net enough. Screen brightness set to 70% and then 5-7 hours of constant use will drain the iPad Pro significantly. A solid upgrade.
The new Magic Keyboard for the Pro looks like a nice improvement the larger trackpad, added function row and the aluminum surface. Maybe it will be slightly heavier on the bottom side, which, given a lighter iPad, might mean more stability? The current Magic Keyboard is somewhat prone to tipping backwards when I’m using it on a pillow.
I’d love to see Apple or a third party make an aluminum keyboard case like the Brydge but with extra ports and a battery that can be used to charge the iPad.
Last, the Pencil Pro looks like it’s got some solid improvements that artists will really appreciate.
As expected, some really significant hardware upgrades here and a nice step into the future for the iPad.
Romney Admits Push to Ban TikTok Is Aimed at Censoring News Out of Gaza | Common Dreams
A discussion between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Sen. Mitt Romney over the weekend included what one critic called an “incredible mask-off moment,” with the two officials speaking openly about the U.S. government’s long-term attempts to provide public relations work for Israel in defense of its policies in the occupied Palestinian territories—and its push to ban TikTok in order to shut down Americans' access to unfiltered news about the Israeli assault on Gaza.
The wealthy 10% of the over-developed nations are wondering where they’ll fly to for their next vacation.
Brazil battles nature as ‘largest ever’ floods submerge whole cities - YouTube
At least 83 people are dead after days of heavy rain in southern Brazil and more than a hundred are missing.
Another 122 thousand people have been displaced by floods, which have destroyed roads and bridges in several cities, triggered landslides and caused a dam to partially collapse.
Khürt Williams over at Island in the Net has a wonderful and ongoing series of bird photography posts. He doesn’t just stop at sharing a photo with the name of the bird. Each post is well written description of the bird as it exists in the ecosystem. Well done Khürt!
Vox has an excellent story on annual global food waste. The climate specific stats are eye watering. 8 to 10% of carbon emissions are related to food waste and if it were a country, it would be 3rd in emissions, behind only the US and China.
Such waste takes a significant toll on the environment. The process of producing food — the raising of animals, the land and water use, and the subsequent pollution that goes with it — is horribly intensive on the planet. Food waste squanders those efforts, and then makes it worse: as it rots in landfills, it creates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
Cicadas 2024: Brood XIX and XIII will impact our ecosystems for years to come - Vox
While the insect explosion will be brief, it will shape forests for years to come. The binge-fest that birds enjoy during these periods supersize their families and, in turn, shift the eating and hunting patterns of many other species. These effects send ripples throughout the ecosystem. As one recent study put it, pulses of periodical cicadas can “rewire” entire forest food webs.
Mehdi Hasan interview on the Majority Report digging into mainstream press reporting on the violence UCLA Palestine solidarity protests.
I’ve seen several blog posts uncritically sharing the media reporting that “the protests were violent”. On the ground reporting indicates that the violence was, not surprisingly, being carried out by “counter protesters”. Mostly non-students, mostly men. Violent thugs beating up non-violent protesters.
nullagent: “The UCLA Palestine Solidarity …” - PartyOn
The UCLA Palestine Solidarity encampment has so far appeared free from serious police interference today.
They did however have run in’s with an antagonistic group of Zionist who became violent.
nullagent: “The UCLA Palestine Solidarity
As I was pointing out five days ago, the zionist mob that’s been showing up at UCLA is increasingly violent and dangerous.
Last night around 100 zionist attacked the UCLA encampment. There’s video of UCLA’s private security letting these guys in and just watching as they dragged out protesters to beat.
Several students were seen bloodied after being jumped by the zionist mob.
The protest was peaceful prior to this police enabled mob violence.
FULL BLOWN FAMINE in northern Gaza
Senior UN official says northern Gaza is now in ‘full-blown famine’ : NPR
A top U.N. official said Friday that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine” after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory.
“It’s horror,” McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview to air Sunday. “There is famine — full-blown famine — in the north, and it’s moving its way south.”
It’s frustrating (though not surprising) to see the distorted media presentation of violence at the Pro-Palestinian protests on campuses last week. Most notably the UCLA protest where police did nothing as masked Pro-Israel counter “protestors” attacked the student encampment Tuesday night. Democracy Now! has excellent coverage.
Even worse that Biden referenced the violence without any clarification that the student encampment, a stationary protest, was generally very peaceful to that point.
The counter protesters moved in and attacked with tear gas and a variety of weapons. By all accounts many of the attackers were not students. Nor was the first such attack but just the last and most intense.
From Democracy Now:
We get an update from the University of California, Los Angeles, where police in riot gear began dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment early Thursday, using flashbang grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas, and arresting dozens of students. The raid came just over a day after pro-Israel counterprotesters armed with sticks, metal rods and fireworks attacked students at the encampment. The Real News Network reporter Mel Buer was on the scene during the attack. She describes seeing counterprotesters provoke students, yelling slurs and bludgeoning them with parts of the encampment’s barricade, and says the attack lasted several hours without police or security intervention.” UCLA is complicit in violence inflicted upon protesters,” wrote the editorial board of UCLA’s campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin, the next day. Four of the paper’s student journalists were targeted and assaulted by counterprotesters while covering the protests.
Fascinating.
A Clockwork Orange, White Supremacy, and Palestine by Politically Depressed
A Clockwork Orange is not about human nature, it’s about European fascism. This is at least my reading of it. I’ve been thinking a lot about it as we’re seeing the European centre shift drastically to the right in defence of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Palestine. In this episode I share my analysis and reading of A Clockwork Orange that I think illuminates some terrifying and bizarre aspects of the current moment.
Christiane Amanpour’s interview with Bernie Sanders is excellent and worth a listen. Sanders on the US media allowing Netanyahu to define anti-Semitism.
“What he has done is deflect attention, and the American media by and large has fallen for it, to say any protest against Israel, it’s anti-Semitic. If you’re talking about how the two-thirds of the people who have been killed or injured are women and children, not of us participants, women and children, that’s anti-Semitic. If you’re talking about 70% of the housing damaged, that’s anti-Semitic. If you’re talking about how the United Nations and humanitarian organizations are worried about famine, children right now, today, in Gaza, are dying of malnutrition. If you talk about that, you’re anti-Semitic. Well, I think the American people are not going to fall for that. Netanyahu is insulting the intelligence of the American people. He has got to be held accountable for the actions of his right-wing extremists and, by the way, racist government. And charging or claiming that everybody who is critical of him is anti-Semitic is really quite disgraceful.”
Excerpt above starts at 11:00.
Meet Hala Rharrit, First U.S. Diplomat to Quit over Gaza - YouTube
Democracy Now! speaks with Hala Rharrit, the first State Department diplomat to publicly resign over the Biden administration’s policies backing Israel’s assault and siege of the Gaza Strip. Rharrit is an 18-year career diplomat who served as the Arabic-language spokesperson for the State Department in the region. “I could no longer be a part of the State Department and promote this policy. It’s an inhumane policy. It’s a failed policy that is helping neither Palestinians, neither Israelis,” Rharrit says. “We are not authorized to send military equipment, weapons to countries that commit human rights abuses. ICJ has determined plausible genocide, yet we are still sending billions upon billions of not just defensive weaponry, but offensive weaponry. It is tantamount to a violation of domestic law. Many diplomats know it. Many diplomats are scared to say it.” She adds, “I read the talking points that we were supposed to promote on Arab media. A lot of them were dehumanizing to Palestinians.” Rharrit also discusses how “corruption” in government allows for arms sales to continue. “I could not help but be concerned about the influence of special interest groups, of lobbying groups on our foreign policy and, as well, on Congress — on the people that decide whether or not some of those shipments of arms get sent. The bottom line is that our politicians should not be profiting from war. And unfortunately, we have some institutionalized corruption that enables that,” she says.
Divesting from an apartheid state actively engaged in land theft, war crimes and genocide is not controversial. We have become so completely corrupted that investing in genocide is now accepted.
Calls to Divest From Israel Put Students and Donors on Collision Course - The New York Times
The deals, which have eased tension on campuses with only a few days left before students break for the summer, would have been unthinkable even a week ago. And they’re a gamble, potentially putting universities on a collision course with influential donors, politicians and students who support Israel.
Mass die-offs and constant crisis will define the brutality of our future as we attempt and fail to adapt to a completely destabilized climate.
Mass fish die-off in Vietnam as heat wave roasts Southeast Asia
Hundreds of thousands of fish have died in a reservoir in southern Vietnam’s Dong Nai province, with locals and media reports suggesting a brutal heat wave and the lake’s management are to blame.
Like much of Southeast Asia—where schools have recently been forced to close early and electricity usage has surged—southern and central Vietnam have been scorched by devastating heat.
A War Against Humanity Itself | Common Dreams
Amidst the ongoing, unfathomable slaughter, hunger, maiming, razing in Gaza at the hands of Israel’s “voracious death machine,” its leaders now openly vow “total and utter destruction” by what they still grotesquely call “one of the most moral militaries in the world,” murdered newborns and all.
The litany from Israel’s mass killing, “monstrous and largely indiscriminate,” to date: Almost 35,000 dead Palestinians, including well over 14,000 “ungrievable” children; more than 77,000 wounded, half children; at least 17,000 orphans, 5,000 children whose limbs have been amputated, thousands more buried under rubble, a child killed or injured every 10 minutes; hundreds of dead journalists, doctors, teachers, poets, aid workers, academics; most homes leveled, along with 400 schools, 12 universities, over 30 hospitals; starvation levels “the highest ever recorded.” Thanks in part to $26 billion more the U.S. just awarded Israel, its “most decisive vote of confidence in genocide since the Indian Removal Act of 1830,” the hellfire still rains down. Each day the count grows: Air strikes kill 22, mostly children, kill 20, mostly children, kill 13, nine of them children, kill eight children and two women from one family, kill three women and six children. Fathers sob over small bodies, mourning “a world devoid of all human values.” A strike killed a man, his very pregnant wife, their three-year-old; doctors saved the baby. A sniper killed a West Bank man for going up on his roof; days later, his wife named their new son for him as their toddler played in sand strewn on his father’s blood.
Violence AGAINST Anti-War Student Protesters Escalates Across The US - YouTube
Sam parses through yesterday’s mass escalation of violence against anti-war student protesters on college campuses across the US, with the NYPD sending a SWAT team to infiltrate the Student occupation of Harold Hall, and police in LA allowing a pro-Israel violent mob assault UCLA protesters, also expanding on the absurd and constant attempts to completely misrepresent these campus protests and the student activists behind them.