Tag Archives: Tim Cook

The junkie says What?

Yesterday I was woken up by an incredible story we see got to see on BBC. The world has gone to hell and people died because their only response was that they had bo fibre, no sense of self and an insatiable need for external confirmation. That is how I see it. The article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89kdpjn7eqo) gives us ‘‘I was on Instagram all day’ – woman tells landmark trial’ where we see the start giving us “A young woman, who is suing Meta and Google over what she claims is the addictive nature of social media, has told a jury her childhood years were taken over by her use of Instagram and Youtube.” It is actually hard to keep focussed keeping a serious nature here. The idea that she has the gall to claim “what she claims is the addictive nature of social media”, it is almost like the girl who claims that she didn’t know that the penis inserted inserted in the vagina could lead to pregnancy, because it felt so good. It might not be the complete truth (in many ways) but there is something like discipline of the soul. Which is continued by ““I stopped engaging with family because I was spending all my time on social media,” said the woman, who is known as KGM or Kaley, to protect her privacy.

She told the court in Los Angeles that she began using YouTube at the age of 6 and Instagram aged 9 and encountered no barriers to prevent her using them despite her young age.” So at that point? Or at which point are the parents claiming some responsibility in all go this? So when we get “While much of the court proceedings so far have focused on Instagram and Meta, Google’s YouTube is also a defendant in the lawsuit. TikTok and Snapchat were initially sued as well, but the companies settled shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin. The terms of those settlements were not disclosed.” I honestly do not see (I kinda do) why TikTok and Snapchat settled this. The entire manifest of entitlements here are (as I personally see it) completely out of whack. 

So when we get to “Now 20 years old, Kaley told the court that looking at Instagram was “the first thing” she did when she woke up each day and that she continued “all day” until she went to sleep at night, leading to difficulties at school, at home and with her mental health. She also watched YouTube videos for hours on end, noting that the platform’s “autoplay” feature, where a new video starts automatically after the previous one has ended, kept her on it. Failing to get enough “likes” on her social media posts left her feeling “insecure” or “ugly” she said.” So, at what time will the court ask questions of the parents? The word ‘parent’ is not mentioned even once, which with a starting age of 6 (and 9) is a pretty basic setting in any dealing with the optional setting of Doli Incapax, a legal common law principle presuming children aged 10 to under 14 years lack the capacity to be criminally responsible because they cannot distinguish right from wrong. And in that setting the parents are called in to answer a few questions. That is what I would do and the setting that I would press for, and beyond the setting of all of this and YouTube is in the benches for I know what reason, because YouTube has an ‘off’ switch, I press it all the time. I am (at times) a few hours on YouTube, it is how I get information as the News is no longer presented on TV, they call it entertainment and whilst I don’t have the luxury of seeking out all the TV channels at time, they all present their data on YouTube (as well as a few other channels). In all this it is up to me to decide when I need to get food, shop for items and even get to people. And as I am no billionaire (not even a millionaire) I have plenty of reasons to feel insecure, but my mother and father always taught me to “try again at the difficult task until you succeed”, my father was an alcoholic bully, but he did imbue me with a workaholic nature, it is the one part he gave me and that is the part I always saw as good. All other good things came from my mother, except smoking, she was a chain smoker I never took to that stuff. And I turned out pretty decent (or so I believe) at least I got the ball and fumbled it away from DARPA over half a dozen times, I created over half a dozen games (on paper), I wrote several scripts and that was just for starters. I also has tech support person, trainer and consultant for over two decades. As such I started work before that insecure little girl was born. But did I complain? I even released several pieces of what could be known as Apple IP to the public domain. Do I cry? Nope, I am merely putting a footprint on this world and there is a fair chance that over 99.999% of the human population has never heard of me. I personally believe that I matter (unless I move at the speed of light, then I am energy), the question is ‘Do I matter to others?’ I don’t care. I am who I am and I am solid in my convictions, they might be wrong or right. They are mine. So where does this leave you? Do I care? No, not really. Do you care? If yes, you should read something else. Still the BBC gives us “By age 10, she was engaging in self-harm, cutting herself, Kaley said. She has seen a therapist since she was 13. Kaley’s testimony comes a week after she attended court to sit directly across from Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s co-founder and chief executive, as he spent around seven hours being questioned by lawyers, the first time the billionaire had ever appeared before a jury.

Meta’s lawyers have broadly argued that Kaley’s struggles with her mental health stemmed from problems with her family life, not her use of Instagram.” So at this point I ask again, where are the parents? If she was seeing a therapist since 10 they should be in the picture and they are not. Why not? So when we get to “Paul Schmidt, a lead lawyer for Meta, pointed during the first day of the trial to statements Kaley had made prior to filing her lawsuit about her home life, including a difficult relationship with her mother that had led to thoughts of self-harm.” We again see the need for the parents to be included in all off this and where was the father? All this leads to a view of a setting where (as I see it) Mark ‘Facebook’ Zuckerberg has no part in all of this, or at least a lot less then the BBC would like him to be. The only thing I see coming from all this is some loser who is blaming the world for her own undoing. It might seem harsh, but that is the setting I see. I don’t blame others for my lack of a Ferrari (not my favourite car anyway) ad there is so much more I could have achieved, but I believe that is because others never looked in my direction. It was not their job to look in my direction. It was my job to get noticed and putting a few DARPA solutions online is the way to go I say. Also putting the Apple IP ideas online might get me noticed by Timmy the Cook (a culinary expert at that Granny Smith corporation) we work with the tools we have and that is as much as I can do. I don’t cry, I don’t sulk, I merely pick up the next challenge and I solve it or a toss it aside. It is called strength of character, I don’t seek out the ‘approval of the masses’ it has no real function, other then it might get a few ‘likes’ and they don’t translate into real solutions. 

So have a good day and as I am about to enjoy a Saturday breakfast I tell you that I will be OK (Coffee usually gives that warm feeling that I need) is it additive? Yes, I guess so, but I only have one coffee in the morning, that is the consequence of a budget. We all have them and there is no Willy mindset involved (to explain that, it was a character in Popeye) who revered the expression “I’ll gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today”, which is how the United States government does its business and it has done so over 38 trillion times. So, you see how it ends and no President without an exit strategy in that matter will give you any solace here. 

Have a good one

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Just for the fun though

There is a new player in town and they are ‘ALL’ banking on the success of it. I remain skeptical because I gave the setting of its success over three years ago (in this blog no less), which would also have given an upgrade to malls and several other places. All due to a set of glasses. Now as I see the ‘pushed’ importance by wannabe influencers who are all on their ‘critique’ setting, I have to warn Apple, lead by Timmy the Cook in my usual way by gifting him with a gaming idea. One I thought of on the spot. And it comes with a setting that might work (still doubting that). You see the setting of Pokemon go where you frantically move your mobile phone in every direction to capture them all. The setting might be ‘transferred’ to the glasses where the image is shown on the glasses where you focus on the creature and you simple whisper ‘capture’ and the creature is transferred to your mobile where the capture event starts. And the fun part this setting could be used to capture Fantastic beasts (Harry Potter) and a whole range of other targets, like Droids for a futuristic setting and so on. So that engine could be fueling close to half a dozen games. 

There would be a setting where it might be possible to include an app on the Apple Watch to give signal when you are close to a capture target to optionally become a radar if it is possible to set the Apple Watch to a radar alerter (if that is possible) but as the Apple Glasses are supposed to get to the audience in 2027 it is important to get started NOW. Just for reference I believe that the absence of entertainment apps might be a larger reason why Apple Vision failed. And you might have your own reasons for not doing something but two billion gamers cannot be wrong. And as the Pokemon Go is owned by Niantic, Inc. Apple should talk to them now, not when it is too late and Niantic might come up with an upgraded setting to include Pokemon, Harry Potter/Fantastic beasts, even options lie Star Trek or Star Wars where you are a temporal agent trying to capture convicts. The idea tends to be the same but it is set in ‘that’ atmosphere.

And in this same I used the village of Sydney (no idea why) and I placed two worlds there the alphabet gives one and the numbers give the other and it is all managed by one setting. I reckon that Apple now gets the idea on what they need to do and they might think that it is not serious enough, but Niantic has used the idea as Pokémon GO has generated over $8 billion in lifetime revenue since its 2016 launch, consistently earning around $1 billion annually. So when was the last time any company walked away from a billion dollar plus? And that was merely Pokemon’s, now add the other worlds and perhaps create a few more and what is possible then?

Just an idea, I leave it to Timmy the Cook to wake up and watch the others capture the idea because pole is not alone in this field and Niantic could set this to an Android/Google setting and a iOS/Apple setting, they can capture both worlds, so where does that leave Meta? Not sure and I actually don’t care. I gave this wake up call to Timmy the Cook.

So you all have a great day and those game designers who want to ‘capture’ their game to the glasses, good luck. There is nothing more magical then trodding in new waters. And if your game can live there, it is all up to you.

Time for the munchies now, I’m hungry.

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Stupid people

Yup, that is what we are surrounded with. So lets get to it showing WHY I think that the bulk of these people are stupid. Because there needs to be a reason, doesn’t there?

So before I start with the article, let us get a little refreshment. I have taken a stand as early as 2014, and this article I wrote on October 13th 2017 called ‘Strike a match’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2017/10/13/strike-a-match/) gives us: 

This doesn’t make you stupid, but the larger setting that we see in the newspapers and in this case ABC News who (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-23/jeffrey-bezos-lavish-wedding-in-venice-why-people-are-protesting/105445512) gives us ‘Jeff Bezos is getting married in Venice. Here’s why people are protesting the wedding’ where we see that “One group has plastered banners on the Italian city’s famous Rialto bridge reading “No space for Bezos!”” I think it is utterly BS that anyone would disrupts another man’s wedding (the wife’s anyway), We might take the setting of that is in their hearts, which is “Activists are protesting billionaire Jeff Bezos’s wedding in Venice with calls for a global billionaire tax.” That is what makes them utterly stupid and the amount of stupid people are not to be underestimated. You see the media is fueling that and they go about it like “You need to have your say” even though it will never matter as that is what they are about. Appeasing the shareholders and stakeholders who are AGAINST fair taxation and taxing these billionaires is just not fair. You see, governments (America, EU and Commonwealth) are all about the ‘best’ deal and taxing that is against the need of these long time politicians. So they give you a ‘tax the rich’ stage which would never work and I have been saying this for the better part of a decade and now it is too late the shouting increases and that is where things go from bad to worse. Because the media is not properly enforcing you, keeping these shouters stupid. Because the media relies on these corporations for advertising and when they pay taxation, there is not enough money for advertising. 

People like Jef Bezos, Sergey Brin and Lawrence Ellison are billionaires as they implement tax laws to the letter. And that setting is where it is at. Governments have need to overhaul taxation for decades, basically sing President Clinton was in office and he left office in 2001. Even then the overhaul was essential. As such for over 15 years to stakeholders have benefited from the setting and as such the corporations too. Did no one ever considered that the dice were stacked against you when Microsoft and Apple became (multi) trillion dollar companies? 

We need the media to push for tax overhaul and they won’t because a shouting and cursing mass of people bring in more digital dollars and the flames is what they live off and as such you will never be correctly informed. And it is not merely America, it is a near global setting that hits the Commonwealth, The nations in the EU and Europe as well. And the lager fear is that if one does it, their business walks to another country and that is the setting that Ireland has used to it advantage. Unless there is proper taxation nothing will change and all of us will end up with nothing. As an example I give to you Netflix, who paid just $868,000 in tax in Australia in 2021, so as their profit went up by 49% from the previous year, their tax bill went up from from $554,000 to $868,000. Even though they have millions of subscriptions in Australia. We merely get “Australian Netflix users are billed by the company’s Netherlands-based entity. A Netflix spokesperson said: “We have filed our financial statements as required.”

The issue is the tax bill that governments allow for. Consider that Australian subscriber are ‘collected’ by a Dutch company on the other side of the freaking planet. So take a sip of air considering that the governments set out this tax avoidance setting (avoidance is not illegal, evasion is) and that is a setting that is done all over the planet. As such the BS of tax the rich needs to stop. These shouters need to put the limelight on the lawmakers. They needed to do this for well over a decade. 

As such pushing someone’s wedding in the nasty hatred lights is totally unacceptable. If Mr. Bezos can afford to give his new bride the dreamiest of all weddings and the mayor of Venice approves this, then why not? I would never consider this, but I never had access to 220 billion and even if I had this is not how I would spend it, but that is me. Born a miser and never rose above the wealth of a church mouse. I am in the same sloop that some others are and I know better then to shout at a meaningless futile cause. And the weird part is that when it all goes south, these people will still be shouting at the wealthy, all whilst the politicians have filled their pockets and have considered moving to a tax zero nation, living it up until the bulk of the people are dead 15 years later. For them it will be a problem solved setting.

So, consider who you need to look at. Not the wealthy, but the lawmakers who appeased the corporations and the people who got rich from them.

Time for me to consider a new weapon system. With Israel and Iran striking blows, there will be a small time gap when people will consider my stealth system to keep Iranian harbours empty and I think I can create more IP to give their armies a hard time too. I need to put my thinking cap on.

Have a great day.

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Are there two coins?

That is the question I put before you. Are there two coins, or is merely spinning with different currencies? That is the setting that the Wall Street Journal gives us. With ‘They Paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A Year Later, It Still Hurts.’ (at https://www.wsj.com/tech/they-paid-3-500-for-apples-vision-pro-a-year-later-it-still-hurts-496de341) we see the (almost) crybaby style of “I never actually needed it”, we see the setting of “It was Apple’s first major product release in years! It’s the first device you look through and not at! Typing can be done in the air! But buyers who wore them in the wild say they got nothing but dirty looks and sore necks. Now, the devices are daily reminders of their misplaced bravado.” As I personally see it, they wore this in the wold, so they would look ‘innovative’ almost like the influencer who wanted to appeal to everyone, but they never knew how. It seems like a variant on the West Wing setting taken from Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin with “There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.” As I see it, a pointless exercise that costs money and leads to nothing. I, on the other hand could never afford it and I came up with several IP variants where their customers could have enjoyed the setting. In November 2024 I wrote ‘One step left for a new world’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/11/16/one-step-left-for-a-new-world/) where I combined education and gaming with languages for the masses. And Apple has his translation software, and that could bestow education and fin for the masses (who could afford it) and beyond that (after a year) it could be transferred to whatever MetaQuest offers. I did that in under two days and even set the premise in this blog to give them the setting to a unique ‘game’ with Guerrilla Games. Did they catch on? No, they are all on a non-existent AI horse (not the one used for Troy), but just as fatal for the people without imagination. So when I see “No player in the virtual reality space has yet to figure out how to drive widespread adoption of the technology. Apple hasn’t disclosed how many of the devices it has sold. The company has struggled to get developers to make apps for the Vision Pro, putting its success at risk, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Apple declined to comment.” I merely laugh. It took me two days to set the premise of close to a dozen ‘games’ (OK, several have an educational nature) and as such it is on Apple. Especially when you see “The company has struggled to get developers to make apps for the Vision Pro” on two days I have the setting for a dozen games (close to 10 all with the same setting) and there is as I personally see it, a need for it. They just needed to get Ubisoft (desperate for more revenue) and Guerrilla Games on board (who might wanna do it, for the unique venture it allows for) and basically this would be close to no funds required, merely expertise and hardware. And as both developers have 80% of the software done. The setting should need little time and from the moment on the visibility rises as gamers all over the world are seeking such a solution and that is merely the start. So is Apple or Timmy the Cook interested in that setting, or are they hiding from the idle bomb called AI to implode in their faces. It could be that the WSJ doesn’t see what could happen, but as I came up with the idea nearly a year ago, I am willing to push the blame to Apple. This is basically what you get when you have mere yay sayers and none of them an innovative bone in their body. 

Could I be wrong?
That is a fair assumption, but I published those articles in 2024 and what have they produced? Nothing, not even an article that my ideas were just not that realistic, which would have been folly as the first setting was seen on a Playstation 3 with a mere 256MB memory on 20GB storage, as such it was produced 18 years ago. And I found a novel use of IP that was over a decade old. The second idea is a bit more dodgy as it was made on a PlayStation 4 with 8GB and 500Gb storage. It should be possible, and that would have been the real people drawer. As such I feel confident that I could set the winning solution. It just needed a conversation between Timmy the Cook and Arjan Brussee. The impact on the world would be amazing. All these so called innovators and they  simply missed that setting. The consequence of no creativity connected to imagination.

So when we see “Fox says he’s worn his Apple Vision Pro headset about four times in the past year.” Did he even consider the setting with real estate? He is a realtor after all. Did he consider that he could show something in 3D in ones view? Just a thought.

The settings are there and Apple needs to consider that idea’s this new needs a tiger team for setting the brand to the developers. As such they need to come with idea’s (perhaps different ideas from me) and see what developers could set the premise? I found two developers, one who desperately needs revenue and they have almost completed (as I reckon it to be) close to 80%. So when did you see a developer who cannot complete the idea for the last 20%. It is a simple question. 

So from there when that first setting is shown these programs can evolve into ‘newer’ settings where people can learn start Arabic, Latin, Italian, French and English. Just on the setting of the same premise and as you evolve the game where clothing was once cosmetic, the larger setting becomes that better clothing and a better location allows for more evolved language skills. Something that could entertain and educate people for weeks at a time. So how was that difficult?

And if Timmy isn’t up for it, perhaps Mark Zuckerberg can see a whole new dimension of options with the Meta Quest. The hungry want to at and more revenue allows for that. The most simple of settings that we can now see and where does that leave Apple? That is the question. Well, of all else fails, Timmy could become the Cook people needs to make them muffins. In the mean time the innovators in the world will take whatever they can to propagate themselves, because that is also a consequence of the innovator gene. You get to go places.

So have a great day, still Sunday here with a mere 225 minutes until dinner.

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Where is the gem?

That is the setting I am faced with. You see, like McCarthy had his Russian phobia, Trump is now delivering the Chinese phobia, also known as the yellow fear. We can argue how right McCarthy was in light of the events from the last few years (and a decade before that), But as the yellow fear is grasping America, the question becomes, is it a valid one? I am not denying that there are issues, the larger setting is now on big tech. You see Apple known for its multi trillion dollar value is now under the hammer. The article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86jx18y9e2o) gives us ‘Apple says most US-bound iPhones no longer made in China’ the issue is not that they aren’t made in China. The stage becomes where are they made now? At present Apple is giving us that “It comes as the technology giant estimated that US import taxes could add about $900m (£677.5m) to its costs in the current quarter, despite Trump’s decision to spare key electronics from the new tariffs.” Yet as I see it, the focus is in the wrong area. It is not where it is build now, the question becomes “At what loss?” And it is not money I am speaking of. These plants are Chinese in nature (as far as I can tell), and now we get a very new stage. No matter where they are set. China might not like it that certain IP manufacturing settings will leave China, which would be an acceptable move. Not for Apple and the losses they will receive because of it, and there the tariff war takes another bite out of the meat that is American Revenue. I am not stating that this will be great, but even at a mere 2% loss of quality it will impact numbers and it will hit Apple’s customer satisfaction. A simple setting that will impact the Apple revenue bottom line and it will be more than dollars. This could (could being the operative word) impact customer care numbers too. A whole new area for Apple to maneuver against the economic currents it is fishing in.

As Timmy the Cook gives us “He also said Apple is shifting its supply chain for US-bound products away from China, but it is India and Vietnam that are poised to be major beneficiaries of that move.” It is the setting that I fear, as China is pushed out, whomever gets the new ‘victory’ is likely to be no more than 95% of what China delivered and that impacts, so even if there is merely 1% impact (I fear it is larger) it impacts numbers of produced iPhones, as well as the QC of the product. So not only will Apple see less results, if this holds up the loss of quality (with an impact of more service patches) will upset its customers to no end and the speculative result is that this more merely impacts the need for a Huawei phone (I would be OK with the jump from Apple to Google), which will feel good for Google, but Apple will not be pleased. 

So as we consider “China will remain the country of origin for the vast majority of total products sold outside the US, he added.” With the setting that Made for America will not have the rosy stage that President Trump is hoping for. I might think that Apple will not like it either. And with “However moving production lines to India will take time and significant investment, costing billions of dollars”, with the added “Apple have said they want to invest $500B over the next few years.” And that still comes with my speculated expected loss of quality, a setting that Apple never wanted, or never opted for. 

So what is the real threat? Is it China or has it become President Trump?

Even as the Financial review gives us ‘Apple and Amazon have no idea what’s coming’, I myself don’t agree. They are very much aware that they know. The American Administration howling like little puppies that Amazon was making moves to give their customers a look at what the tariff was doing to their goods with ‘Donald Trump slams Amazon’s rejected plan to display cost of tariffs on goods’ (source: ABC News) I wonder when people will figure out to ask questions from an administration bend on hiding additional charges (to customers) and consider that the quote “US President Donald Trump has labelled a reported plan by online retailer Amazon to display the cost of US tariffs on its products as a “hostile and political act”.” Is clear evidence that this America Administration is all about a lack of transparency. It is the statement from Shanti Kelemen, chief investment officer at M&G Wealth where I have issues. I do not deny that her statement is true, but lacking “There will still be tariffs that impact the supply chains [for Apple] and a cost to move them and build new factories” It took years to get the Chinese factories to work at the level they are now working at. The other factories will have to go through all these pains to get them running and that is before you consider that there would also be staffing issues. China and India have different settings in mental achievements. So the pain for Apple is merely beginning. 

A setting that the bulk of people are overlooking, I wonder why.

So as Amazon scrapped the tariff mention on its pricing, the call was heard by a lot of people and they are now looking at Temu and Alibaba. Alibaba mentioned a net income up by 237.53%. Today the Alibaba group is up by 3.83%. I cannot say how much of an impact the tariff has had there, but as others are merely scraping by and some are even reporting losses, the view on Alibaba might not be seen as a good thing, yet Wall Street seems optimistic about Alibaba (not that I know anything about that). 

So this is where the gem requires seeking. Is it still Apple? And there is a second setting. Will there be a larger call to reject the Apple for American markets? This is not easily answered because it is all depending on what is yet to happen. But Americans might be required to smuggle their new Apple devices into America. All because of a setting that the American administration itself is hunkering down on the lack of transparency. The one weird thing I am noticing is that the tariff solution is setting the minds of others towards what is the right path and at present it is not an American First item. And there is more bad news on the horizon (for America) as we seek gems we should be aware that Huawei is a much larger gem than expected. You see, Huawei is making larger captures revenue that expected. The headline ‘Indonesia is hooked on Huawei’ (Source: ASPI) is important as Indonesia is 3% of the planet. This might not seem much, but it gives Huawei larger importance to get into Bangladesh which gives them another 2%, so in a few short weeks Huawei gets an improved 5% goalpost. They already had visibility all over the Arabian peninsula and as Egypt is becoming a larger slice of their business, we see that America basically lost out of a 7% market share. As I see it America First is having a few corners they slice off from themselves. As these stages are evolving and the setting for Europe changes, as America is fumbling the ball. They are now ready to ignore American ‘advice’ and reopen doors with Huawei (likely with conditions) and as I see it Huawei is likely to respond favorable to that. As I see it, the game is changing andAmerica is losing several base stations in delivered ‘revenue’, a state that was almost unimaginable  less than a year ago. That was shown a mere two months ago with ‘German telcos pool efforts to retain more ‘open’ Huawei – sources’ and as this is realised, the rest of Europe is likely to follow, at least the EU is. 

The gem were not the tech companies, they are found where these companies were not, mainly through the pains given to these companies. Apple was not the focus, the companies that profited by the pain given to Apple. The moment you see that, is the moment that you realise that this chaotic setting is giving Chinese companies the open doors they were waiting for. I have no idea what Russia is up to, but this reminds me of the Toshiba settings. I wonder if this is what was supposed to happen, but no matter what. It seems that Huawei is profiting because of this. And with HarmonyOS now at version 5, Apple and others don’t only have to deal wit Android, they now have a competitor in HarmonyOS devices. This is a time to remember the words of Richard Yu who stated that all Huawei devices the company will launch in 2025 will be powered by HarmonyOS Next. You might have forgotten that, but I did not. So as Apple and Google were given settings of diversification, Huawei combined all the strengths they had and that will also impact market share. 

So as some will be given and accepted that the gem is America First. Others might not agree with that and as some sources are diverted Chinese corporations are now focussed on Asia, Arabian countries and Europe (through TAWAL). A setting I warned for almost two years ago and now it is seemingly happening. So where were these captains of industry?

Have a great day and enjoy the smell of coffee in the morning.

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Software directions

That tends to be the norm, some software BI person looks at where the masses are and then shoots his net, so that he can catch the biggest population. And I (initially) tended to think the same way. We can call this the wrong way. 

So this started last night when Wired (at https://www.wired.com/story/can-gaming-save-the-apple-vision-pro/) gave me ‘Can Gaming Save the Apple Vision Pro?’, OK, I admit, the story was two weeks old, and none the less relevant to this conversation. Personally I didn’t know that the Vision Pro required saving, but that is my wimple setting. You see, new devices open up new frontiers and on November 9th 2024 I gave the world (apple too) ‘The Easy Lesson’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/11/09/the-easy-lesson/) and in under an hour I designed a near original game an adaptation from a world favorite game. Yes it took me less than an hour to think of a solution. 

Now there is another idea based on all time favorites and used in a very different different setting. You see, people look in the same direction over and over and hoping that something new hits them. I look in the opposite direction and that is why I have over half a dozen original IP settings and this one could bring Ubisoft the fortune it so immensely desired, the dream of growing to greatness. The funny part is that most of the work is done already. You see, schooling is required all over the world and the chances are that Ubisoft overlooked it. And apparently Timmy the Cook did too (said to be the CEO of Apple). 

The setting is larger to be considered as more and more need is out there for languages. OK, there are some hangups. But the larger setting becomes visible in mere minutes and 80% of the gamers have had that feeling, especially those who played any of the Assassins Creed games. You see, we all want to be that assassin, but the missed part is that they loved walking down the streets of Florence, Rome, The America’s, New York, Paris, London, Egypt, Greece, Iran and Japan. The one thing that Ubisoft excelled in were the graphics. When these games get upgraded to Unreal Engine 5 it becomes a very different game. Now on Apple Vision Pro (optionally MetaQuest as well) people can actually practice their language skills in a private setting and there are millions ready to get ready. Now there is no killing, there is no climbing all over the place. It becomes a walking setting, with optional reward settings and Ubisoft actually opened the door to this when they had the expansion The Discovery Tour added to the game AC Origin. It gave us a different setting to the game and also gave us just how deep they had taken the game. Now consider that we get access to languages English is gotten from AC Syndicate and Watchdogs Legion, and optionally AC3. French from AC Unity (when it is properly fixed), Arabic from Mirage, Italian and Latin from AC Brotherhood and optionally AC2, Greek and Egyptian from AC Origin, and most of the work is already done. Now there is one setting that takes precedence.

About a month ago I saw someone program a chatbot to take on scam centers. His view was that when they are held busy by chatbots, scammers cannot scam. But that impact is larger. People can now be set in chatbots engaging in the use of natural speech. As such there is a unification of skills and in that setting Ubisoft could offer a much larger population. According to ‘records’ in 2022, the United Kingdom had the most students learning English as a foreign language. There were approximately 262,400 students who were learning English as a second language that year, followed by Ireland with almost 116,000 foreign students. The third place ranking was completed by Canada, with around 105,000 students learning English as a foreign language. That implies a population of billions who want to learn English. When the modules are ready Ubisoft could cater to millions of people who want to learn any of these languages and with a subscription model they could cater to hundreds of thousands of them. To make it fun they could add the villa in Monteriggioni and as language assignments are completed they could get another painting added to the villa. There is also the notion that ‘midterms’ in several stages would upgrade Monteriggioni. You will not get a well and a few other things, but most other upgrades become possible. And as you engage with the people in Florence and Rome you could get lots of interactions. With Latin you get the added nun/priest outfits and get access to the old Vatican. Linguistic skills are valued globally and for those who want to learn Arabic there is the world of Mirage (just Bagdad) and there we will see what more there is to learn. Any language student gets assigned an address and as your skills progress you will get a ‘better’ address. All this was already possible and now it serves a much better purpose. There is classic English (AC Syndicate) and modern English (Watchdogs Legion) the setting already exist for the most. But the added setting of interactive chatbots will push the Ip to new heights and the graphic skills of Ubisoft have seldom been questioned (only in AC Unity). So this took a little more than an hour, but it was there for the longest of time. It just required Yves Guillemot to wake up to see what he had and now that this writing is out in the open, he could wake up and seek new frontiers. There is the thought that Unreal Engine might not be a solution everywhere, but it will give the most lifelike views on Vision Pro and MetaQuest. As such it just fits better. 

Software directions are out in the open. The trick is not to take the mundane direction that everyone seems to be taking. As such I offer this thought to the wannabe captains of industry.

Have a great day and think of what language you would like to learn, because that is a universal thought we all have. It might be that you want to learn the dead languages (Greek and Latin), you might want to broaden your horizon with English, French, Italian and Japanese and for those wishing to learn Spanish, a case can be made to include AC Black Flag. The rest? Well that gives a person a dozen languages to learn, but cases can be made for other languages as well. How that goes? It would be up to Ubisoft. 

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The what? Cry me a river.

Yup this happens. I am in the mindset to cry a river as Cookie Tim (apparently the CEO of Apple) screwed up the application design of Apple products to such a degree that several apps are now lagging and giving me less joy and appreciation of what Apple does at present. In Music, Keynote, And Photos and a few more items. These three hit me personally. So as such if I can give Cookie Tim a hard time I will. As such when the BBC gave us ‘Global smartwatch sales fall for first time’ I was interested in reading that ‘news’. News by Imran Rahman-Jones. So first we see “Global sales of smartwatches have fallen for the first time, new figures indicate, in large part due to a sharp decline in the popularity of market leader, Apple.” That is nothing short of weirdly imaginative and a lack of reasoning has applied. Then we get “Market research firm Counterpoint says 7% fewer of the devices were shipped in 2024 compared to the year before. Shipments of Apple Watches fell by 19% in that period, Counterpoint says.” And the first thing I wonder is where is the data? I am decently convinced (like 80%+ certain), I could drill holes in that, possibly the size of the grand canyon. So where is my view? Well, the general setting is that “Samsung introduced a rectangular smart watch, the Samsung Gear, in 2013, two years before the first rectangular Apple Watch.” And yes, Apple ruled that market in the beginning. As I personally see it I reckon that in a short time Apple had that market for about 70% and Samsung for 30% And when you consider that in 2025 Android has 71.75%, IOS has 27.78%, So there is a large abundance of non-Apple systems. So Apple did something extremely right in those days. The larger setting that the BBC seemingly overlooks is that the consumer gets a watch once and then some time later another one. You see, these bad boys cost a few shillings and as such plenty of people cannot afford one. So I bought my Smartwatch last year and I expect that this device will last until at least 2027 and it is not as expensive as the Apple variety (and I am an Android fan). As such, at present we have iTouch, Garmin, HardHat, GadPro, Nexus, Huawei, Withings, Amazfit, Xiaomi, Imoo, HiFuture (all iOS options) and some of these are being marketed as ‘the economical choice’ the iTouch is less than $50, whilst the Apple Watches come at well over 1000% ($500+). As people cannot afford a lot of stuff and some are still new in the Smartwatch category, Can you blame them for selecting the cheaper option at present? 

As the article is blatantly short on ‘data’ can you blame me for not believing a word that the BBC prints here? That is besides the lack of the words ‘pricing’, ‘price’ and ‘expensive’ in this article. Another reference is “Another large contributor to the global sales drop was India, which fell from 30% of the market to 23%.” It seems like an issue that is until you realise that in India “In 2023, Android held a share of 95.17 percent of the mobile operating system market in India. This was followed by Apple’s iOS, a distant second, with 3.98 percent market share.” (Source: Statista), so when you consider that a 7% drop over a market they only have for 4%, the drop is negligible. But the BBC wanted something to write about, how about we write about the lack of data in this setting? Oh, wait they are already screwing this up in regards to the Hamas setting. As such this lack is merely laughable. 

Another setting I dropped over (not in this article) was “So, it makes sense for users to buy an iPhone, especially if they already have a Mac, iPad or even the Apple Watch.” Now this isn’t a given, but I reckon that a smartwatch lacks vision if you do not have the proper smart phone. 

So is there a real setting?
Actually the article gives us that “the fact a rumoured high-end Ultra 3 model never materialised.” This could be a reason, but that implies that these customers from 2024 are merely waiting for a release in 2025, so they aren’t gone, there are merely set in a waiting pattern awaiting the go signal. I would be in the same setting with the MAC Studio (if I could afford one). Why select the M4Max over an M3Ultra, it would make more sense waiting until the M4Ultra comes (and perhaps at that time I could afford one). So we have two settings, the affordability (in this economy) and the technology when it comes available as well as the realistic option that there is a market saturation, or near that setting and with a dozen brands Apple will lose a few notches and that too is missing from the article. It gives us ‘how great’ Chinese brands are doing, but there is more than China. There is a flood of brands coming to the customers now and as Apple staff (in their shops) are ‘indoctrinated’ to do the Apple talk in a few ways, they are losing market share there too. I reckon that it is the price of depending on teenagers doing the job because they look fresh and appealing. I reckon that it is costing Apple more than they realise. It is a choice and I reckon it is no longer the better choice.

Still that doesn’t excuse the BBC article, it is as I personally see it shoddy all by itself. 

Have a great day this Monday.

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Time is on my side

That is always the question, that is until you set the records up for public viewing, then it tends to go your way nearly automatically. So even as I gave you all the setting that I was right, there was more. You see, more then two years ago I wrote ‘Girdle your loins’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/11/30/girdle-your-loins/) and that was AFTER I wrote part of the solution to a few people. I wanted to give it to Google three months before this, two days before they cancelled the Google Stadia. OK, they had that right and whilst leaving billions on the floor they walked away. Amazon (Andy Jessy) had the email less than a week after that and he never got back to me, which is also his right to do. Then whomever it got to (at Kingdom Holding) got the message and they never cared, or saw it as important enough. But now after more then 2 years (more like three years ago) when I saw the shift of sands changing a moment arrived (this morning) when I saw that I was right all along. So whilst people like Tim Cook (Apple) and Satya Nadella (CEO Microsoft who was never invited) are complaining about the harsh options are left with. I say, you left billions on the floor, so stop complaining. I gave that very same ‘warning’ to Sergey Brin, but he at least had a decent excuse when they dropped the Google Stadia.

So what is bringing this about?
Well, this morning when I was reengineering (in my mind) certain CBM64 greats, my mind fell over a message that I never saw coming. You see in 1986 I bought a Commodore 64 game named ChipWits (by EPYX), it was a great program with the option to program a robot with instructions and whilst the programing through icons wasn’t terribly new, on a CBM-64 it was at the very least innovative, as such I loved it.

Now back to today I considered that it was a great way to introduce this and add Machine Learning icons (and optionally LLM icons) to this game and give it a fresh start. So as I was thinking about a few things, I looked up the cover (see above) but what I found was also a reference from the original programmer Doug Sharp, and together with Mark Roth he is making a reboot.

Now this part is important as he probably started this around the time I made mention of this option (in my blog) that some true innovative minds got there all on their own. So Tim Cook and Satya Nadella take notice. This is what ACTUAL innovation looks like they got their on their own and they created the next iteration of gaming. They didn’t have to buy it for $100,000,000,000. They got there on their own $0.02. 

So why is this?
Well, in the first it was about me (it often is) and I foresaw this coming three years ago. In three years what ACTUAL innovation have you seen coming from Microsoft? I created a picture that left the ‘buyer’ with a starting revenue of $5,000,000,000 a year. So that is what. I recognised the field, I set the markers and I seemingly came out on top. The second phase would have been at least a fourfold of the first phase of my solution and If you look at all the great old games, you see that a lot is now coming. My favorite was Elite that on the PS4 is almost a thousand times bigger than the vector images of the CBM64 with a fleet massively bigger with billions of star systems (against the 256 planets on the CBM64) that is true innovation and David Braben deserves all the credits he is due, which is a lot as this was the very first serious game I saw on the then great BBC Microcomputer System, and I didn’t have to sob for long as it come to the Commodore within 2 years after. 

So when my mind went spiraling into reengineering mode, I got the idea three years ago for a bigger stage and I reckon that 10% of over 10,000 games that were published on Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Atari 600/800 and Atari ST should make farming for games lucrative. I got to 10% of 10,000 games with 50% reduction for IP protected games left me with 500 stellar choices, the best of a great gaming era and those captains of industry (Brin, Jesse, and Cook) never saw it, as such they left optional billions on the floor. I negated telling Nadella as there is no use in breathing life into a near extinct Dodo. They made their grave of mediocrity on their singular motion, or perhaps multiple motions of failure.

As I mentioned there are still a few options for Kingdom Holding but that is up to them and perhaps they are already pursuing this with Tencent Holdings Ltd. The next new player in the gaming sector soon enough. I reckon that is the moment that Microsoft either abandon its gaming platform or sells it to Tencent (as I personally see it). So that $100,000,000,000 anchor around their neck will be a lot less comfortable than a silk (road) tie.

For me? I doubt there is anything in it at all for me, but as I said, the realization that I was correct all along might help me to feel my other idea’s for a few coins to afford a new retirement plan. And the feeling that I was correct all along is just too satisfying (especially when seen against the Captains of Industry who never seemingly saw it). Even if I never end up with anything. This is a clear win to me. Others will state that it is always like that on the hindsight. They would be wrong, as I documented this and other ideas going be to before 2018, there are records. So there 😛

Have a great day and enjoy the stormy weathers I see happening overhead now (actual rain).

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The easy lesson

The easiest lesson is too often forgotten and I fail to see why. This all started with some article on the Apple Global Vision Pro. And in 2009 Timmy the Cook gave us “We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing. We are constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change. And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.” Yes, but at that point he forgot the golden rule of managing the ultimate golden Trump card. It is not the orange flavoured person, it is the issue to impress. I merely came upon this idea in less than an hour. It took me the greater part of 3600 seconds to reengineer an existing idea to cater to the Apple Vision Pro. It takes a conversation that Timmy the Cook needs to have with his half brother (Timmy Horton) to sit down and get us all a newly roasted coffee and get them talking. The idea I have is a jump to the side of these people and the other player can create a new setting to impress the entire Apple community. Is it possible? Yes, it is. Actually Nintendo did something similar several years ago, this idea has some reference to it and mostly it will be about the wow factor. It is entertainment in a different direction, but it will be an idea that can wow an audience. This and the freedom that it imposes will give the audience a rather large new setting. It might not be enough, but it gives the current audience a nice boost.

And in this I saw “Demand for Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset is said to be so low that production could be discontinued by the end of the year. According to The Information, Apple is said to have already significantly reduced production of the Vision Pro in early summer 2024.” this is the view we see a few months ago, a view that seems stellar against “Reports suggest that development on Vision Pro began in late 2015, and from that time until WWDC, Apple filed for over twenty thousand worldwide patents and spent about $130 billion on R&D.” And this is the sight we see where Apple missed the ball (as I personally see it). They forgot the first order of business, how to wow an audience. Perhaps Timmy was tired of listening to people in the sway of Microsoft, he has probably heard it all before and the laughable situation is that we have seen this before. You see someone else faced this in 1985 and in two years it turned the ship around. That was an essential lesson. The Apple Vision Pro cannot use that idea (likely too expensive) but it has  another arrow in its quilt. It can do something different and it needs one participant to agree on this. I think they will do it as it is something that hasn’t been done before. In the world of software the one idea that others cannot walk is the path that redefines a market, it has been done before and Apple might do well to consider the path that Microsoft and Ubisoft are unable to walk. It is probably the first time that they are left behind in multiple fields and it took me one hour to come up with this. A setting that seemingly no one decided to walk (Microsoft is likely too mediocre to do it). And it had a larger audience too, you see there is every chance that someone similar “Meta’s Reality Labs Achieves Record Q4 Revenue Surpassing $1 Billion, Driven by Strong Sales of Quest Headsets and Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. Meta’s metaverse arm, Reality Labs, reported a remarkable Q4 2023 with revenue exceeding $1 billion, the highest in its history.” And that is probably the number two player it can entice. So there is a market ready to yield to more than it has and it took me one hour to get the idea rolling, so how many high paying bosses got caught short on this? It merely took an alternative view on the problem.

And in this day and age where we are given “Apple is laying off dozens of employees as part of rare cutbacks at the tech giant that will primarily impact employees in its services division.” and they are not alone. Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, they are all cutting back and whilst some people think that is crazy, the clear path is often sought in any place of appealing to investors. Yet it took me an hour to find a solution (in this case), I got several other ploys created in a day (including one that offered Tencent an initial additional 50 million consoles) and no one figured on why. Well, in case of Microsoft it makes sense, they rarely are on the upside of innovation, no matter how they spin this, they are merely champions of mediocracy. But Apple, they have options. It merely took one guy who can see the elements on look to think “What if we do…” and that was all it took folks. So dream big, imagine big and good things might happen to you when the right people are looking. By the way feel free to ignore the blatant idiots relying on golden words and a simple “I’ll do right by you”, they are useless and only cater to their own needs. 

Have a great Saturday. My Sunday is a mere 155 minutes away.

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A granny named Smith

Yup, it is time to bitch about Apple products. This should be future Apple products. You see for some time I have seen that Apple has been in a wrong course. Lets not talk about to MacBook Pro. That thing actually looks phenomenal, every bit is seemingly impressive. And even though I cannot afford it (at present) the idea of a 96GB RAM with 8TB storage is overwhelming, it is a bit much (not my needs). Yet storage is what every one needs and I would be content with 4TB (and 64GB RAM). That being said, the iMac doesn’t even come close to it.

So as I saw Matt Talks Tech today, I saw the ‘announcement’ of what is to be (in about 16 weeks) and it is not good. As we see Apple doesn’t seem to learn at all. They give the ‘new users’ up to 24GB RAM, which is in many cases enough. It is the storage, still a mere 2TB. For many it would be enough. Yet the settings of 100MP camera’s is setting a new premise. Medium format in the digital field is calling new professionals and then there are the YouTubers and TikTokkers. They will all need Adobe solutions. And the full Adobe users with other software will soon find out that their 2TB hole is filled with the frustration of multiple connections. That is not why I would buy a desktop. They are throwing their market to PC (and Microsoft) troubles. What is up? Apple becomes a sour apple, a Granny Smith. Sour and meant for senile fossils, the newly adapted age of digital influencers is seemingly totally ignored.

The fact that there is no option for 4TB. We know that not everyone needs it, but any Digital streamer or medium format photographer has only the MacBook Pro. They need to be able to set to a desktop screen working in comfort, and the iMac no longer provides. They should have provided for that last year. There is some consideration that this could have come later, but the M4 news shows that the iMac just isn’t up to it (speculation by me). What are they doing? Leaving it all to Dell and HP? 

As somewhat dubiously stated by me, 96GB is a lot, even in digital edition. I would consider 32GB, even that cannot be provided for as the media tells us. More important there is no mention of set aside upgrades by Apple (32GB RAM, 4TB storage), as such whatever they gained in niche markets they are throwing away to the niche graphic designers. These people only have the MacBook Pro to look forward to. This is great, but when you are working at home, it just doesn’t cook the goose. And the setting that it is due in 16 weeks and for another year people have no real option is disturbing, because this implies that the iMac is pretty much done for. No mention of an iMac Pro either. Apple needs to revisit their presentations and what they have coming and they need to do it really fast.
They are opening the market (that they catered to for the longest time) to Asus, HP and Dell. 

So am I right? The idea that Apple is now becoming the sour Apple no one really wants is a bad move to be considering. I stated this before (last year). There are roughly “64 million YouTube creators” at present. Now they don’t all need high end solution, but most of them want something more comfortable than a laptop screen. Even is only 1% needs high end equipment, that still amounts to 640,000 users. I didn’t ever consider the 1,300,000 TikTok creators, many of them are also on YouTube. Oh and when you consider 1% is too low, the losses to Apple get to be worse. I am pretty sure that Asus likes this setting, but when we see that Apple is lowering their expectations, can we be sure this is valid? The second side to this is that the iMac cannot meet these needs, does that mean that the Tim Cook presentations of ‘innovations’ are still valid?

So this seems like a bitch moment (by me) but consider the needs of the many (well over 640K of them). Are they getting deserted by Apple? Oh and the larger Data miners, who all need storage space, how are they served? It seems to me that Apple has been dropping the ball yet again. Perhaps they should adapt the Microsoft logo? (Me rolling on the floor laughing)

Enjoy Monday, apart from the people living in Nova Scotia and eastern from there. They are still on Sunday.

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