688: A Company Manhttps://atp.fm/688

[arm61@mastodon.online]

@atpfm I am not sure about @siracusa’s advice to young people that John Ternus is proof you don’t need an advanced degree to be successful (e.g., Apple CEO), considering that Ternus graduated nearly 10 years before many recent graduates were born. The credentialism/degree inflation is a modern problem.

[sayrer@mastodon.social]

@atpfm haha, I get the audiophile thing. I'm always in favor of decent pro equipment, or maybe like a Rotel. But that stuff isn't crazy expensive.

You can hear it on Apple Music. Everything is lossless now, use your fancy audio interfaces (Sound Devices?), you'll hear it. It also works with AirPods Max with USB-C wired. But I spend most of the programming day walking around with old AirPods Max wireless. I do notice when I switch to the audio interface. But that's a lot of listening to notice.

[jasper89@mastodon.social]

@lukeratta @atpfm Key differentiator that I believe was missed with the Sirius XM example: They have ongoing costs to pay for talent, media, satellites, staff, etc. It's the same as why a subscription for an app is tenable. Perfectly good hardware that *only* fails to function because of a subscription is not tenable (i.e. wiring and buttons to turn on seat heat).

[swampyankee@mastodon.social]

@atpfm Here is some completely unfounded blind gossip:
"The fruit company is going to buy a satellite company. It wouldn't have been allowed by the government before but they gave the government a secret key into their phones which they had never previously allowed. It is why the head of the company left."

Blind Item #10

The fruit company is going to buy a satellite company. It wouldn't have been allowed by the government before but they gave the government a...

(www.crazydaysandnights.net)

[sayrer@mastodon.social]

@atpfm @siracusa you can also read this for the amps. I haven't tried it, since I don't have an excuse, but check this out: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2024/09/09/Next-Step-Audiophile

[dschaub@mstdn.social]

@atpfm
@marcoarment

Will Apple ever be a leader in AI models… probably not.

Does that matter… absolutely not.

AI is a commodity and a feature, not a platform. Apple will get enough AI, and companies that are nothing but AI will fail.

So I feel, Apple failed at something that doesn’t matter much, so nothing bad for Cook there.

[fds@mastodon.social]

@atpfm I largely agree with everyone on Tim Apple but imo tech people over rank AI.

MS is apologizing for Windows & claiming to reduce copilot stuff (it's not really iirc). The darling of AI is already becoming passé. Ex: https://mastodon.social/@carnage4life@mas.to/116443578602305566

I know it makes for something exciting to talk about but short of an another innovation, I don't see LLMs on their own being anything special. Apple has the users and their data. An LLM that competently works with the data. Without the data it's a toy.

[blazesanders@techhub.social]

@atpfm

I’m ok with locking hardware features behind software, since it’s often cheaper (and faster which makes company more money) to have fewer product SKU since assembly line doesn’t have to be swapped / reconfigured.

These savings can sometimes be passed down to users.

[fds@mastodon.social]

@atpfm An open ai HomePod knock-off or some kegel egg shaped device isn't going to convert people off smart phones.

The smart thing would have been to start with a new smartphone but that's hard work that they don't want to do it. Most companies don't want to do it.

That's the true advantage Apple has. That's why people are talking about the Neo eating Windows' lunch rather than copilot PCs eating macOS' lunch.

[dschaub@mstdn.social]

@siracusa

I think the causation is wrong there.

it isn’t “Tim is sticking around” that is the problem. It is “the Board and Ternus’ likely decision to continue to kiss Trump’s rear” that is.

Anything Tim does is all Ternus’ fault… ignore the shell game.

[siracusa@mastodon.social]

@dschaub Like I said on the show, I think it's a lot harder to make a U-turn on a policy when the guy who created the policy is looking over your shoulder. I think Tim will loom large in Ternus's mind (and in his actual working life, probably) during his early time as CEO.

[kitkat_blue@mastodon.social]

@atpfm

My bet is he "transitions" to still being a massive ass-kisser...

[mpfef98@mastodon.social]

@atpfm UPenn might not meet @siracusa ‘s high standards but it is an Ivy League school, FWIW

[takeitev@mastodon.social]

@atpfm @siracusa but what if he turns out a bigger arsehole ?

[tylercheung@mastodon.social]

@dschaub @atpfm @marcoarment I feel like this is actually one of the right calls, looking at asymco's graph of Apple vs. other FAANG capex during the AI craze. Making a LLM type model dependent on scraping is not in the DNA in the company; why force a round peg into a round hole?

[tylercheung@mastodon.social]

@dschaub @atpfm @marcoarment But coincidentally, the company is better positioned to weather the AI revolution than most in that they have the most important part - the hardware w/ unified memory model and best perf/watt in the industry. The only thing they need (and admittedly it is a big IF) is to develop Metal/MLX into a library that beats CUDA at it's own game, and evangelize it to game and AI developers.

[tylercheung@mastodon.social]

@dschaub @siracusa well, Luca Brasi and Tommy Hagen were kept around for a reason...

[atlauren@mastodon.social]

@dschaub @atpfm the CEO reports to the board. If the chairman is Executive Chairman, the board reports to the Executive Chairman.

[rowdy26@mastodon.social]

@siracusa @dschaub imagine a new CEO having Tim Cook’s advice weighing on their mind..better having someone less successful I guess.

[rowdy26@mastodon.social]

@lukeratta @atpfm when you’re making a living from an app subscription model and you pay zero $’s for it’s content… you can only hide your contradictions so much.