Best Of

Can we talk about the absolute mediocrity of the Apple 16 pro max. It’s basically identical to my 13 pro max. Nothing has changed in 3 years. And the big new innovation - “smart Siri, like ChatGPT” - has now apparently been delayed until… 2026

Apple have totally fucked this up. Go short Apple, they’re heading for trouble

I've never bought an Apple product, but they've got almost monopolistic dominance in the US
market I think. Still perhaps opportunity for Google and Samsung if it is as you say.

It isn't much of an opportunity for them, really. All smartphones have been fairly convergent, since the first iPhone was released. One of the companies has an idea, and it is rapidly stolen by the others if it is seen as being good. Even Apple's advantage with their own ARM chip designs is slowly being whittled away by Qualcomm and others AIUI. Ideas that are less good - such as folding screens - either become a niche or die off.

Also, a great deal of effort is going into things under the hood you don't see: a classic example is trying to reduce power requirements to improve battery life. The user doesn't automatically see that as a new feature, but it can make much more of a difference to users than any headline feature.

Therefore much of the advantage comes down to marketing of your best products. And Apple wins that hands-down, if only because of their rabid fanbois.

One big advantage you haven't mentioned, is the integration between their products.

It's only really difficult for Labour to replace leaders if they are election losers.

They kept Corbyn after he'd lost an election but replaced Blair who hadn't.

If they want to get rid of somebody, they can, but the Party generally prioritises ideological purity over winning.

To be fair to Corbyn he had made big gains in 2017 and got a hung parliament.

Blair resigned he was not defeated for the leadership and only after ten years as PM and three general election victories for Gordon Brown by coronation

They also didn't dump Wilson or Callaghan after 1970 and 1979,* or Attlee after 1951, or Kinnock after 1987.

The challenge to Corbyn is I think the closest any sitting Labour leader who had not made the prior decision to leave has come to being actually unseated by the party since Lansbury in 1935, and it failed.

*Callaghan did resign, rather more than a year later.

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and her partner have fled LA for the Cotswolds following Trump's win
"Ellen Degeneres ‘has fled LA for the Cotswolds following Trump’s win and criticism’ | The Standard" https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/ellen-degeneres-us-cotswolds-england-donald-trump-election-b1195352.html

I guess this refugee from a govt she didn’t like didn’t have to come over from France on a boat.

Yes, I expect many crossings to North London and the Cotswolds and Starmer's UK from blue states in the US before Trump's inauguration in January.

Though by first class plane cabin over the Atlantic rather than boat across the Med and Channel

So we could divert the flights to Rwanda?

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and her partner have fled LA for the Cotswolds following Trump's win
"Ellen Degeneres ‘has fled LA for the Cotswolds following Trump’s win and criticism’ | The Standard" https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/ellen-degeneres-us-cotswolds-england-donald-trump-election-b1195352.html

I guess this refugee from a govt she didn’t like didn’t have to come over from France on a boat.

Yes, I expect many crossings to North London and the Cotswolds and Starmer's UK from blue states in the US before Trump's inauguration in January.

Though by first class plane cabin over the Atlantic rather than boat across the Med and Channel

Does that mean we can arrest Trump and Richard Branson for people smuggling?