Last night Jon Stewart returned as temporary Monday host of The Daily Show. After creative differences with the executives at Apple Tv+ concerning Stewart’s material ending the show before its third season, the polically minded comedian has returned to Comedy Central to host once a week leading up to the election.
Here’s his first episode back:
For the past couple years I’ve been trying to get my best time swimming a kilometre under 16:00. I’m still not there and obviously it’s not quite the same level as Casey’s three-hour marathon dream but the video definitely resonates in so many ways:
(via Waxy)
As Apple Vision Pro, Apple’s revolutionary spatial computer, arrives in stores across the United States, Casey has a cute review:
And if you want a more serious deep dive, check out Daring Fireball’s take or MKB’s video:
Apple today announced earnings revenue of $119.6 billion. Investors and analysts weren’t expecting any records after Apple warned that revenue would be flat following the longest sales slump in the last couple decades but, it turns out, it was their second biggest revenue report ever.
From Apple Newsroom press release:
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2024 first quarter ended December 30, 2023. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.18, up 16 percent year over year.
“Today Apple is reporting revenue growth for the December quarter fueled by iPhone sales, and an all-time revenue record in Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are pleased to announce that our installed base of active devices has now surpassed 2.2 billion, reaching an all-time high across all products and geographic segments. And as customers begin to experience the incredible Apple Vision Pro tomorrow, we are committed as ever to the pursuit of groundbreaking innovation — in line with our values and on behalf of our customers.”
Tim Cook also hinted at some upcoming announcements in AI.
As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in these [Vision Pro] and other technologies that will shape the future. That includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we’re excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year.
Apple has long been working on custom chips that specialize in machine learning but were caught somewhat flat-footed at the speed and popularity of large language models. Perhaps Siri will finally get the overhaul we’ve been waiting for since her introduction on the iPhone 4s in October of 2011. It will be interesting to see the reveal at WWDC this June.
As always, the pretty charts via SixColors.
Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of Steve Jobs unveiling the Macintosh, the first successful mass-marketed computer with a graphical user interface. My first “Mac” wasn’t until my 2015 MacBook Pro but as a third grade kid my parents got me an Apple II1 which I loved and on which I learned to code BASIC.
Pricing for the original Macintosh started at $2,495, equivalent to over $7,000 today. Key specs and features included an 8 MHz processor, 128 KB of RAM, a 400 KB floppy disk drive for storage, and serial ports for connecting a printer and other accessories.
I found it shocking — having grown up in multicultural Canada — when an older relative of mine, who grew up in Germany during the war, shared that Hitler wasn’t all bad and had a lot of good ideas. I pushed back but mostly chalked it up to them being in their 90s and maybe losing a bit of their senility.
Bastian Allgeier, a designer and developer from Neckargemünd, Germany shares his grandfather’s story and ultimately how the world is cultivating Nazis like it’s 1930.
Nazism isn’t dead, it’s just dormant searching for willing hosts.
(via)
Donald G. McNeil released his new book, The Wisdom of Plagues, last week.
He summarizes it thusly:
Some sections are memoir. I describe moments like trying to get my New York Times colleagues to believe me that a pandemic was coming. Moments like almost being kidnapped in a gorilla-hunting village in Cameroon. And moments like recently discovering that, at the very dawn of the pandemic, some top scientists misled me when I was trying to check out rumors that the virus might have escaped from a Chinese lab.
Some sections are historical. I describe the roots of human illnesses in our decision 11,000 years ago to domesticate animals, and enumerate the effects of pandemics on Athens and Sparta, the crumbling Roman Empire, the Renaissance, Napoleon’s conquests and World Wars I and II.
Some sections are journalistic. I describe why the world failed for decades to protect women in Africa against AIDS. I detail successes like Vietnam’s fight against tuberculosis, Egypt’s against hepatitis C and Cuba’s against AIDS.
Some are prescriptive. I explain why I think we need a Pentagon for disease, should ban religious exemptions to vaccines, should sometimes let Big Pharma break antitrust laws, and should recruit “witch doctors” into the medical system.
“The Jenkins” comic strip originally centred around three brothers — Barney, Butch and Junior Jenkins — living in their parents’ basement but it’s also just absurd. Here are a some gems:
See more at thejenkinscomic.net.
This morning I got a notification that King Charles has an enlarged prostate. Shortly after that my phone tells me Princess Kate is recovering from some form of abdominal surgery. I can’t help but think that maybe I’m getting too many notifications.