Category: Commentary

I’ve been using this Magic Keyboard for 3 years now. Around the same amount of time as this iPad Pro. And I have to say it’s served me well.

The Magic Keyboard mat be expensive but it provides one thing above and beyond a really nice backlit keyboard and nice trackpad, it provides the iPad Pro with an additional USB-C charging port, freeing the built-in port for external peripherals like hard drives.

Now, it’s not pretty. And if I met Tim Cook, I’d probably mention that these hardware peripherals in this soft plastic covering are not particularly durable or eco-friendly. I compare this to other materials which seem to be better with age.

But, other than that appearance, it’s functional. A better keyboard than the MacBook 12″. And the flexibility of the iPad with Magic Keyboard is hard to beat.

A quick Google sees that I’m not alone in this. I wonder if there’s a way to seal up these tatty edges or have it re-bound?

A combination of age (sedentary work) and too much good food has left me heavier than I’d like plus acutely aware of the intra-abdominal fatty deposits so I’m back on the diet that worked well enough just under a decade ago.

My aim is to be lighter than I’ve been since, well, forever.

That’s a 30 kilogram loss. One quarter of my body weight.

I started on the 17th of September by just reducing my calorific intake and I’m getting good results. My issue has always been portion sizes and, for whatever reason, not having a reliable “I’m full now” response.

My previous weight apparently required a 2500 cal a day intake to maintain so I was definitely overeating. I’m now on an 1800 cal diet. Dropping my intake by a quarter will definitely make a difference.

Having a calorie limit does help. Sometimes I’m a couple of hundred cals over, sometimes I’m a hundred cals under.

I see the difference on the scales but I haven’t seen it on the clothes or in the mirror yet.

Since the 17th Sept I’ve dropped 6kg. That’s pretty good. I know it will plateau.

In 2022, a law was passed by the European Parliament that required all manufacturers of certain types of consumer electronics to switch to the USB-C connector.

Apple, though not alone, was opposed to this. You don’t hear about who else was opposed because, well, no-one cares. Journalists love a good Apple story as it drives clicks.

So, let’s rewind. USB-C is a 24 pin reversible connector that was designed to replace all other USB connectors. Why? Because prior to USB-C the standard was a mess.

You had devices that used USB-A, USB-B, mini-USB, micro-USB, and others.

The diagram above shows the state of the market and that diagram isn’t even complete as it misses out the USB 3.0 micro-B connector and plug. Anyone who’s ever had to plug in a USB cord in the dark or behind a printer will understand. And for micro USB it’s trivial to damage the port.

The main advantages of USB-C are in the protocols, in power delivery and the fact it doesn’t matter which way you plug it in. (Which would only be improved by making it round).

USB-C is superior because it crams a lot in there but it’s really the quality of the cable and the protocols it uses which make the difference. Not all USB-C ports and connectors and cables are the same. Some mobiles have USB charging ports which don’t support DisplayPort or even USB Mass Storage. Some support Thunderbolt 2 or 3. Some won’t support USB 4.

So, in 2018, the EU did a study. They found around half of chargers sold with mobile phones had a micro USB port, 29% had the newish USB C port, and 21% used Lightning. The micro USB port and connector were terrible. They were fragile, had to be plugged in one way and alignment was very important.

In contrast the Lightning connector was small, could be plugged in either way and supported USB 2.0 (and USB 3.0). The plug itself was over engineered with a microprocessor inside each plug head. It supported displays, audio and mass storage formats. But it wasn’t a standard and it belonged to Apple so there were going to be haters.

In 2019, the EU decided to pick the USB-C standard for charging small devices. Apple argued against this and a lot of people think it was because they earned royalties on Lightning – which is certainly true under their MFI programme but it’s also certainly true that the vast majority of Lightning accessories never paid a cent having been produced by reverse engineering and available for a pound (or Euro or Dollar) in cheap shops.

By 2019, Apple had already transitioned more than half of their product line to USB-C, starting with Macs in 2015 and then starting with iPads (replacing Lightning) in 2018 with the release of the iPad Pro 3rd Gen. This was in spite of Lightning supporting the USB 3.0 protocol – Apple wanted to move to a new cable. Remember, when Lightning was introduced in 2012, it was replacing the 30-pin connector and this was two years before the USB-C specification had even been produced.

So, before the EU had even held their study, Apple had already started replacing Lightning with USB-C on their mobile devices. Remember if the iPad Pro went USB-C in 2018, the plan for that was probably even before that (if any consideration to supply chains is given).

As mentioned, Apple and other manufacturers oppose the law but it wasn’t to get those tasty licensing fees from Lightning connectors. Anyone who thinks Apple built a trillion dollar company on Lightning licensing fees is a buffoon. It was about what comes after USB-C.

After USB-C? Sure. You think the USB-C connector is the optimum? Oh no. There will be other superior connectors, there are other superior connectors.

One thing is for certain, the EU is like any other political organisation and they get lobbied. There’s a heap of people who think that politics should stay out of business (mostly Americans who don’t know what they’re talking about) and a few more who think politics should stay out of technology development (mostly technologists who do know what they’re talking about). One thing is certain, politicians generally don’t know what they’re talking about.

Don’t get me wrong – I am a fan of the EU. I applaud when they intervene on public health issues or poverty issues or workers rights issues. Bravo. I’m not so sure they should weigh in on charging cords. (And the Digital Markets Act is a mess).

I mean, it seems a little hypocritical that there are multiple types of wall plug in the EU, right? And the EU is utterly silent on this.

So, the EU passes the law in 2022 with a deadline of late 2024 for compliance. That’s to let companies make new plans, sell down stock, change supply chains, transition technology. Apple, as we have seen, is well on the way to transitioning their entire product line. They have the behemoth of the iPhone to consider but they successfully transition it in 2023, a full year before the deadline.

The problem is that the law is prescriptive and affects what happens in … say 2035 when we need a better port for charging or data transfer or whatever. The EU will have to ruminate on repealing the USB-C law or updating it. They’re not great at that – other priorities.

So when the USB consortium comes out with USB-X (for example), everyone can start charging to it, except for the EU market. They have to wait for the law to be changed to allow USB-X. It took 8 years after the introduction of the USB-C standard for the EU to create the USB-C law. So the argument is that this will artificially delay the development and introduction of new technology in the EU. And they’re right.

We elect politicians on their how much we like them – sure their policies can matter (though certainly less at the EU level) but it’s heavily based on whether we like them or who or what they are. (Just look at the narratives emerging around U.S. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris from people who really don’t like the idea of a woman, particularly a woman of colour, as President. Meanwhile in the U.K., they had a blow up doll, a pompom, a weasel and a thief as Prime Minister before the recent election of the new Centrist Labour Guy).

We don’t elect politicians based on what they know. We trust they will find smart advisors, listen to lobbies on good stuff and resist lobbies on bad stuff. It is frankly amazing we have survived so long.

That’s why I don’t think that the European Parliament was qualified to dictate USB-C and maybe a more delicately worded law could have been drafted which wouldn’t stifle the future market. Remember it isn’t all about standards, look at the diagrams here. These are, for the most part, standards. And there are a lot of them. And if you really want to curl your toes, check out the standards for the USB protocols. Then query whether your USB-C cable meets all of them. (I doubt it will).

Anyway. I’m tired of the narrative that Apple was forced into adopting USB-C. If this was the case why did they start transitioning across their product line 3 years before the EU even performed the study and 7 years before the law was ratified. Because it was on their roadmap.

The question is what happens when the new standards arise.

Timeline below of when Apple went USB-C

USB-C spec published Aug 2014
12” MacBook: Apr 2015
Touch Bar MB Pro: Oct 2016
iMac in 2017
Mac mini 2018
MacBook Air in 2018
EU study on phone connectors 2018
iPad Pro in Nov 2018
Mac Pro in 2019
EU study results released 2019
iPad Air 4: Oct 2020
iPad mini 6: Sept 2021
EU law passes 2022
iPhone 15 in 2023
EU deadline: late 2024

It’s true. Moderates are assholes.

Moderate people let insane people roam over Facebook with batshit insane conspiracy theories about buildings falling down or vaccines making you magnetic. You just ignore it.

You cowards.

Turning a blind eye to these things is why we are in a situation where the fucking air is on fire. Italy just recorded the hottest temperature in Europe, ever. 48.8ºC.

So, lets say I spend 400 million to buy in some technology in the late 90s. I then spend millions refining it into a product, indeed a series of products. I spin one bit of it off and use that to miniaturise the technology meaning my big tech now runs on something in your pocket. It’s a substantial feat that requires the best engineers and the risk is huge. Everyone, especially incumbents, are saying I’ll fail. But I don’t fail and I then spend time building content and a store for other people to sell stuff on the platform I’ve literally invested billions to build.

Just like a brick and mortar store, my investment has created a place where people come to shop. Where they come to buy products, not just the ones I make, but others too. And just like a brick and mortar store, I charge a commission on every sale. Considering the markup on similar stores to mine in the early 2000s was 70%, I figure 30% across the board will make me super-competitive. And it does.

The combination of my stuff plus the stuff I’m selling on the store is a winner. Now….I’m not the biggest seller of stuff. I have competitors who own 90% of the market – one in particular who licensed out their tech and have dozens of manufacturers making stuff for them and they alone command about 70% of the total market – and they operate a store with millions more people.

But I’m doing ok. I built this platform from scratch, built the store from nothing, took the risks when everyone else was saying no and watched as the government let everyone steal from me. But it’s a dog eat dog world. I’ll just go on. I just want to know where the government was when I was struggling. Nowhere. As fecking usual.

But there’s trouble in paradise. A couple of the folks who sell on my store and on other stores want me to remove my commission. In fact, they actually want to take space in my store and build their own little concession stand to sell stuff….and I lose out on my commission and I don’t even get rent for the mini-store. And this is after they used my store to grow bigger, after they made my customers pay for their stuff. They’re calling it unfair that I make money off of the thing I built while, paradoxically, making money off the thing I built.

Someone please explain it to me, because I’ve removed one dude for literally setting up his mini-mart inside my store. I mean, these aren’t people who are struggling. They’re doing really well, even with my commission.

And now this….

EU Likely to Charge Apple With Anti-Competitive Behavior This Week

You see, the danger to innovation doesn’t come from not allowing folks to sell stuff for free on my store. And there’s no danger to competition because these folks are sharecropping on my store, they’re not building an entire platform for sales.

The danger comes from regulation like this meaning that I’ll be less likely invest the 400 million in the first place and the billions later. The danger is that we would then end up a world where the Blackberry was still viewed as the height of technology sophistication.

We aren’t in the 90s any more. The internet is a dangerous place, full of malware and scams. I struggle with keeping my own store clean, what’s the chances that others would do it better. I like to keep my store clean because it attracts in customers. What’s to stop bad guys from putting in their own mini-concessions once we open those doors?