Thoughts on the Tim Cook Profile in WSJ Magazine
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following story:
Thoughts on the Tim Cook Profile in WSJ Magazine
Yesterday, WSJ Magazine published a Tim Cook profile (the piece is available via Apple News+ here) for its annual Innovators issue. Cook, along with a few other recipients, will be recognized at the WSJ's 14th Annual Innovator Awards next week.
Apple smartly used the profile to put the spotlight back on its products.
In today’s update, we go over my thoughts on the profile. In addition to the broader themes found in the profile, we go over a few areas where the WSJ profile was lacking.
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Apple Pay Turns 10 Years Old, Apple Pay and the Long Game
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Pay Turns 10 Years Old
Apple Pay and the Long Game
With Apple Pay’s 10th anniversary coming up this Sunday (unveiled on October 20th, 2014), Apple decided to give its decade-long mobile payments and wallet effort some PR attention. We go over my thoughts on Apple Pay at 10 years.
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Apple Updates the iPad Mini, Apple Intelligence and Device Support, A Different Way to Think About Apple Intelligence
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Updates the iPad Mini
Apple Intelligence and Device Support
A Different Way to Think About Apple Intelligence
Hello everyone. Happy Wednesday. Yesterday, Apple unveiled an updated iPad mini. We will begin today’s email with my thoughts on the iPad mini and the update. The discussion will then evolve into a few thoughts regarding Apple Intelligence.
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Hodinkee Sells to British Retailer, Hodinkee and Apple Watch, The Luxury Watch Downturn
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Hodinkee Sells to British Retailer
Hodinkee and Apple Watch
The Luxury Watch Downturn
Happy Tuesday. It’s good to be back after a long weekend.
Today’s update will have a watch theme as we discuss some odd developments that have unfolded in the mechanical watch world. It’s difficult to not make some connections between those developments and Apple Watch momentum.
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Thoughts on Apple’s NBA All-Star Weekend Film in Apple Immersive Video, Apple Immersive Video and Sports Questions, The Big Picture
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Thoughts on Apple’s NBA All-Star Weekend Film in Apple Immersive Video
Apple Immersive Video and Sports Questions
The Big Picture
Hello everyone. For today’s special Friday edition of Above Avalon Daily, we are going to wrap up our Apple Immersive Video discussion.
We had very good reason to believe that Apple was going to release an Apple Immersive Video film for 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend. Here was a tweet of mine from February depicting Apple’s immersive cameras at the Slam Dunk contest.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had also dropped hints of the NBA working with Apple on such a project. Apple then included a few clips from the event in an Apple Immersive Video trailer.
Eight months later, timed to coincide with the start of the new NBA season, Apple will be releasing its 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend film in Apple Immersive Video to Apple Vision Pro wearers next Friday.
A few days ago, I received a pre-screening of the short film.
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Apple Releases First Scripted Film in Apple Immersive Video, Thoughts After Watching “Submerged,” The Future of Video
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Releases First Scripted Film in Apple Immersive Video
Thoughts After Watching “Submerged”
The Future of Video
Happy Thursday.
Two hours ago, Apple released “Submerged,” its first scripted film captured in Apple Immersive Video for Apple Vision Pro. Earlier this week, I pre-screened “Submerged” along with a new Apple Immersive Video film of the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend.
My initial impressions from “Submerged” will be found below. The plan is to talk about the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend film tomorrow.
Let’s jump right in.
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Meta Admits Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Are Used to Train AI, Meta’s Achilles' Heel, Smart Glasses Used for Doxing
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Meta Admits Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Are Used to Train AI
Meta’s Achilles' Heel
Smart Glasses Used for Doxing
Following Monday's discussion regarding Vision Pro apps, we will stay in smart glasses / headsets / spatial computing land for today's update. A news story out of Harvard involving Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, face search engines, and large language models caught my attention over the weekend. Before we get to that, some disappointing news on the Meta smart glasses front as it pertains to data collection.
Let’s jump right in.
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Apple’s “Cozy” WWDC, Vision Pro Apps, Vision Pro and App Bridges
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple’s “Cozy” WWDC
Vision Pro Apps
Vision Pro and App Bridges
We will kick off a new week of updates with Apple Vision Pro and apps. The discussion looks at a small event Apple held at Apple Park last week for developers. We then look at Apple Vision Pro apps and the idea of app bridges.
Let’s jump right in.
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A Few Thoughts on Apple Vision Pro Passthrough, Google Has Juno Pulled From App Store, Microsoft Discontinues HoloLens 2
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
A Few Thoughts on Apple Vision Pro Passthrough
Google Has Juno Pulled From App Store
Microsoft Discontinues HoloLens 2
Hello everyone. Some follow-up to our Apple/OpenAI discussion from Monday. The Financial Times is reporting OpenAI asked companies investing in its latest capital raise to not back rival companies. If true, that could have played a role in Apple backing out of an OpenAI investment. It is not necessarily in Apple’s interest to see OpenAI exceed or excel while OpenAI competitors struggle. Apple Intelligence can benefit from integrating various third-party multimodal models.
Shifting to today’s update, there will be an Apple Vision Pro / headset theme to the discussion.
Let’s jump in.
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Oura Talks Smart Ring Financials, Smart Ring Hesitation, The Button’s Resurgence in Tech
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Oura Talks Smart Ring Financials
Smart Ring Hesitation
The Button’s Resurgence in Tech
Welcome to October. We will kick off a new month by discussing Oura and smart rings.
We haven't talked much about smart rings in these daily updates. The most recent discussion was found in the February 27th update (Samsung's Galaxy Ring and sketchy Apple smart ring rumors).
We will conclude today's update with an interesting story on the button's apparent resurgence in tech.
Let's jump in.
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Apple Reportedly Backs Out of OpenAI Investment, Apple Dials Back on Blockbusters, Silicon Valley vs. Hollywood Confusion
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Apple Reportedly Backs Out of OpenAI Investment
Apple Dials Back on Blockbusters
Silicon Valley vs. Hollywood Confusion
Hello everyone. Welcome to a new week. Today’s update will focus on two news items that came across my radar over the weekend.
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Meta Connect 2024, Meta’s Orion Prototype, Mark Zuckerberg Is Gaslighting Us
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
Meta Connect 2024
Meta’s Orion Prototype
Mark Zuckerberg Is Gaslighting Us
Hello everyone. My notes from Meta’s Connect 2024 came out to a few daily updates worth of discussion. After much editing, today’s update does a good job of capturing my views and perspective. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s jump right in.
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The Design Story Behind AirPods 4, Google Stresses Antitrust Long Game
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
The Design Story Behind AirPods 4
Google Stresses Antitrust Long Game
Happy Wednesday.
Tomorrow’s update will be dedicated to discussing Meta's Connect 2024 event. What took place at Menlo Park marked a new kind of low for the consumer tech industry. We will discuss it all tomorrow.
For today’s update, we are going to focus on AirPods. The discussion will then turn to a quick update on the Google antitrust front.
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The Sonos App Fiasco, Sonos Earnings, YouTube Premium Is Having A Moment
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following stories:
The Sonos App Fiasco
Sonos Earnings
YouTube Premium Is Having A Moment
Hello everyone. We will begin today's update by focusing on the Sonos app fiasco. Our attention will then shift to Sonos earnings. The update concludes with an observation regarding YouTube Premium, YouTube's ad-free subscription offering.
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Unpacking and Decoding the NYT’s Jony Ive / LoveFrom Profile
Today's Above Avalon Daily email contains the following story:
Unpacking and Decoding the NYT’s Jony Ive / LoveFrom Profile
Hello everyone.
This past Saturday, The New York Times published a profile on what Jony Ive has been up to since leaving Apple in 2019 and starting his LoveFrom design consultancy.
While a fair amount of the information found in the piece had been previously known, such as Airbnb and Ferrari being LoveFrom clients, there were new disclosures regarding some of Jony’s business dealings involving San Francisco real estate. The piece seemed to be timed with an upcoming fundraising effort for a new company Jony is involved in with OpenAI.
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