Apple has a new CEO. Selected, at least. In September, John Ternus will take over from Tim Cook. Over at Stuff, I say what I’d like to see from Apple’s new CEO.

Over at his blog, Daryl Baxter also explores how the new CEO might shake things up, adding that he wants to see the return of Apple’s fun side at events. It’s a good point. Apple keynotes feel rigid. Even attempts to manufacture fun through skits and Hair Force One come across as forced. They’re not natural. I’ve no idea what Ternus will do with announcements, but making them more human and charismatic would be a start.

Apple loves ads. Which is one of the things I note in the Stuff piece I hope Ternus dials down. Over at TapSmart, I outline why.

SSD pricing has gone bonkers. I didn’t realise quite how bonkers until I started researching pricing for a piece on backups. I tend to buy 1TB Samsung T7s and found a receipt from 2023: £137. The current cheapest price I could find: £159. That surprised me, in a good way – until I realised the 2023 price was for two of those drives…

Labour wants a nationwide school smartphone ban. Last year, my daughter’s secondary school announced a phased ban, which was due to start this September. I wrote for Stuff about why the reasoning and mitigation suggestions were deeply flawed. But now Labour’s stomped in, doing what Labour loves, arguing for a nationwide ban. Despite 90% of secondary schools already having restricted-use policies. Note that what is being argued for is not a ban on use within schools – it’s about banning them entirely from the premises. Fun times for kids who rely on digital payments for buses, use apps for homework, need a phone for security and anxiety issues, and so on. 

MusicHarbor is fab. I wrote about how it means I never miss albums from my favourite bands.

Also fab: Longplay. This album-centric music player joins my best Mac apps roundup. 

AAA games on a phone. Not a new thing, but also – generally – not a great thing, given how much space they take up. A better bet is to stream games, Netflix-style. My roundup suggests several great options for iPhone, but they work just as well on Android.

Task management. This is an area in which I’ve bounced between countless apps. None stuck. Reminders has. For now, at least. So over at TapSmart, I figured it’d be useful to write about some of the best Reminders features.

Moleskine and AI, sitting up a tree. Apparently. Cheryl-Jean Leo’s blog post digs into Moleskine’s GenAI shenanigans with its Lord of the Rings collection. After reading, I found it impossible to tell precisely what AI had been used on (bar the dreadful social media posts), which was down to Moleskine being disingenuous and inconsistent at best. As Leo notes, Moleskine’s manifesto talks about the “timeless power of handwriting” and how you can “put pen to paper [and] unleash your unique voice”. So: all for creativity – if they’re words.

Again, anyone being pro-human creativity and/or against GenAI scratch-creating content cannot just defend their turf. It’s all or nothing. I hope this flub from Moleskine gives the company a kick in the bank account. Experience suggests it probably won’t.

Coyote vs. ACME looks great. The trailer had me grinning. The digs at Warner Bros were amusing. The whole thing just looks like so much fun. And to think this entire movie was going to be deleted so that a corporation could claim a tax break.