In Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs he recounts the famous story about how Steve Jobs described the mission of Apple(AAPL). They were creating a “bicycle for the mind”. Tools that expedited the creation of work and sharing of knowledge. And now with the invention of the iPhone we have minds being joined and connected in ways we could have never imagined only ten years ago. Apple may be a world class manufacturer of devices but Apple has always been in the information business. 

​Chris Lattner’s jump from Apple(AAPL) to Tesla is surprising. That’s like leaving NASA to go work for a company that makes horse saddles. As I had written yesterday, the whole self-driving car thing is wildly overblown. Autonomous vehicles and electric powertrains are lipstick on a very mature pig. Regardless of what Peter Thiel thinks, the real exciting things in tech in the future will be outgrowths of the smartphone market, because moving information, not pounds, is where the value is.

​Self-driving vehicles are going to be a welcome advancement in decreasing the cost of moving people and things, but they aren’t going to be the radical revolution that many may think.  I’m looking forward to them, but my expectations are modest. That’s in stark contrast to almost everyone who thinks that autonomous vehicles will usher in an age of unbelievable change in how we live our lives or how our cities are structured. 

​It’s been reported that Apple’s main iPhone manufacturing contractor is planning to fully automate their assembly plants. This is great news for the iPhone on the cost front because Apple/Foxconn would never invest in this new machinery if there wasn’t a clear cut financial benefit to the bottom line. But on the other hand, it’s investments like this that further push companies like Apple to spend more and more focus on their high-volume products to the detriment of their smaller ones. 

​For years a trusty Moleskine notebook has been my constant companion as I roamed the halls of business. Even if I was lugging along a corporate issued laptop, I always preferred to hand write notes during meetings. I've always found writing them out much more effective than typing them. I can type faster than I can write, but writing notes isn't about speed. It's about organizing ideas on paper. That might mean quick bullet points, circling various words, large letters, or even small pictures and diagrams. 

​I had talked yesterday about how the Amazon Echo is like those GPS units that people used to buy for their car. Emphasis on “used to buy”. People decided that they didn’t want to worry about another device that didn’t integrate into their car or phone. The same argument applies to Alexa.

​In this hilarious shoot out between Amazon’s Echo and Google Home it looks like Alexa suffers a TKO almost as quick as Ronda Rousey last week. It’s not even close. Kudos to Glenn Beck and crew for this on-air comparison. I couldn’t believe all the time he spent on it.  

​When it comes to next year’s iPhone, headliner features like an AMOLED screen, wireless charging, or a bezelless glass form get all the attention. But none of those are at the top of my list. 

A lot of people forget that many of the attributes of the Apple Store actually originated with Gateway and their Country Stores. The whole idea of having a proprietary showroom where you could demo your computers and have classes to teach your customers how to use them was a Gateway thing. 

Like a whodunit mystery, everyone is trying to finger Apple’s next big device to pick up the baton from the iPhone. But like in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, what if the guilty party is not any one single device?

​Michael Sheen does a great job with his portrayal of an android bartender aboard an interstellar ship in the currently playing blockbuster, Passengers. In fact, he was my favorite character in the movie and gets overlooked in the reviews.

​SamMobile is reporting that Samsung is going to ship it’s upcoming Galaxy S8 with it’s own intelligent assistance named Bixby. Talk about moving fast. They only acquired this assistant from Hartman a few weeks ago. 

It’s being reported that Mattel’s new interactive Barbie® is an intelligent data-gathering device. 
 
This is exactly what I was talking about in reference to the Echo. When I was working with Cabela’s, I would have paid for data gathering capabilities like this. And imagine how much more effective Amazon’s cloud server farm could be than Mattel’s Barbie® Doll. 

​All of human history pivots upon the coming of Christ. In fact, we measure it in two parts: that which occurred before Christ and that which follows, which is the current Age of Enlightenment based on his teachings.
 
Even if you’re an atheist, you have reason to appreciate and celebrate his life. It was upon his followers’ desire to carry out Christ’s mission that we have so many hospitals, universities, and humanitarian organizations and even the basis of our American legal system. Jesus truly changed the world.
 
But for those who embrace Jesus wholeheartedly, there is so much more. You could condense everything Jesus taught about to a single sentence. HIS KINGDOM IS COMING. All of the pain and suffering in this present age will pass away. Every day of life becomes like Christmas as we discover more and more of this entity known as “God”.
 
I use to envy the wide-eyed wonderment of children as they continuously discover new things. Christmas is best experienced through the reflection on your children’s faces. But as you grow older, fewer and fewer things are new or bring you amazement. God is the one thing in the universe that is so large and complex that we jaded adults can once again experience the child-like wonder of beholding something new and truly awesome.
 
So rejoice! For the kingdom of God is at hand. 

​Any way you slice the numbers, Super Mario Run has been a spectacular success, smashing Apple App Store records for downloads in an amazingly short amount of time. Even looking at the paid upgrades is amazing with Nintendo bringing in over $20 million dollars in revenue in about four days. 

​I vaguely remember hearing that there was a problem on Apple’s App Store with copycat apps, but I had never run into this problem myself until now. And I’m shocked at how brazen it is. 

​Would someone care to explain to me why I and 98% of all corporate workers have to have two keyboards sitting on his desk? This is like having a car with two steering wheels. If most people would stop and think about it, they’d realize it’s ridiculous to pay for two keyboards when you really only like one of them. The laptop form factor has outlived its usefulness.

​Apple has always stood in contrast to other technology companies in trying to get their customers to look past device specifications and look at what you’re actually trying to accomplish. Back in 2010 when Android phones were advertising their screen sizes, Apple was showing you how you can talk to your mother using FaceTime. You weren’t just buying an electronic device; you were buying time with your mother. How can you put a price on that?

​I’ve been saying for a while now that foldable smartphones need to happen. More and more iPhone users are gravitating to big screens. But yet they also wish to put their phones in their pocket for easy mobility. Flexible screens are the only way to make that happen. 

​I don’t necessarily think that Apple has to find another iPhone-sized business. Exxon still sells oil and Toyota is still mainly peddling cars. Large corporations find that these hugely successful product lines become all-consuming, making it difficult to spread their time and attention. 

​It’s funny to me when I hear people question what Apple has been doing for the past couple of years as if they must be coasting on cruise control. It is apparent that these questioners have never worked in a large manufacturing organization. Never mind that Apple has completely redesigned their Apple TV and MacBook Pro line, invented 3D Touch, and launched the Apple Watch. And that’s all on top of producing and delivering over 200 million iPhones a year. 

My Apple Watch is incredibly valuable to me from a running perspective, but it has nothing to do with measuring my activity or archiving my workouts. Instead, my watch earns its keep because of what it allows me to do during my run. 

​When news broke that Apple decided it no longer needed a Product Manager of Automation Technologies, all of Sal Soghoian’s long-lost friends came out of the wood work. And apparently, he had lots of friends.

​For as long as there have been laptops, there have been complaints about keyboard and trackpad feel. A disproportionate amount of these complaints come from writers. Some of these guys will even refuse to buy certain brands of laptops just because they don’t like the feel of the keyboard.

​I was pondering the worth of my shiny new stainless steel Series 2 Apple Watch when it occurred to me that the processor upgrade scenario is a lot like the iPad Air 2.