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Alan Dye Leaving Apple For Meta
Changes keep happening in the circular halls of Cupertino. The latest, as reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, is that Alan Dye, the vice president of Human Interface Design who gave us Liquid Glass and the Vision Pro interface, is leaving Apple to head up Meta’s design team responsible for hardware and software for all of Meta’s offerings.
Longtime designer at Apple, Steve Lemay will take over Dye’s responsibility at Apple.
According to Bloomberg:
With the Dye hire, Meta is creating a new design studio and putting him in charge of design for hardware, software and AI integration for its interfaces.
He will be reporting to Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who oversees Reality Labs. That group is tasked with developing wearable devices, such as smart glasses and virtual reality headsets.
Dye’s major focus will be revamping Meta’s consumer devices with artificial intelligence features. He will serve as chief design officer for the group starting Dec. 31.
Dye follows other recent Apple departures including Jeff Williams and John Giannandrea amid speculation about Tim Cook’s possible departure as CEO. Apple has also seen other departures of some of its design talent over the last few years.
You don’t need a looking glass, liquid or otherwise, to know that these personnel changes perhaps presage different thinking on the horizon for Apple’s product lines.
Frankly, I think we’re all looking forward to some change ahead.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Apple’s I’m Not Remarkable Ad Is More Than Remarkable
Every now and then a company gets it right and this is one of those times. Apple got it right this time, releasing a new ad, I’m Not Remarkable. It’s REMARKABLE.
Highlighting Apple’s accessibility features for its product the ad features an astounding number of challenged young folks singing, dancing, and of course using Apple products, demonstrating how this young people live and work their daily lives through college. The message is bang on. The production is astoundingly good. Watching the ad is thrilling, and I also suggest you visit Apple’s website that contains the transcript of the ad.
More of this please.
I’m hoping Apple releases a “making of” video of this ad. If they do I’ll update this post accordingly. Meanwhile you can watch the ad below.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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The Stillness of A Snowy Night
Last night, after a day of shoveling snow, we headed out to a friend’s house for a Christmas tree decorating party we attend most years. Given that most of Chicago was still digging out and our friend lives on a very narrow street, we decided we’d bundle up to walk there and take an Uber home rather than fighting icy streets and trying to park if our friend’s street hadn’t been plowed yet.
Our path took us through Portage Park. We were largely alone through that part of the 45 minute hike, save for one man and his dog. Given the snowfall and the absence of others there was a quiet eerie, yet comforting stillness. Always fascinating that the park was plowed, yet several of the streets we walked along were not, but that’s Chicago. Here are a few photos I took along the way through the park and before we got there. Even the alleys felt a bit magical under the moonlight.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Sunday Morning Reading
It’s a snowy Sunday after the Thanksgiving holiday here in Chicago. The Chicago Bears have already played this week’s game, beating the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, sending the town into a tizzy before it got covered in a Saturday snowfall. So it feels like the perfect day to settle in and do a little Sunday Morning Reading after the shoveling and snow blowing move stuff around. Bitch of it is, the stuff still has to melt. Let’s take a look.
Humorist Emily Bressler has a frighteningly funny piece of satire that I think sums up the chilling undercurrents in so much of what we’re living through at the moment in I Work For An Evil Company, But Outside Work, I’m Actually A Really Good Person.
Winter may be a few weeks away officially, but in Chicago, it feels like it’s here already this weekend. Actually the metaphor feels like it’s been too close for comfort for quite some time. The U.S. might be sinking ships in warmer waters threatening an invasion of Venezuela, but the Danes haven’t forgotten threats in colder climes and have been preparing. Miranda Bryant spells it out in Denmark Sets Up ‘Night Watch’ To Monitor Trump After Greenland Row.
Theaters and other arts organizations are feeling quite a chill in this inhospitable political climate these days. Adam Harrington is Taking The Temperature Of Theater In Chicago: Distress As Venues Fall, But Optimism Driving By A Vibrant Community.
Speaking of theater, Mathew Ingram takes a look at the ritualized charades that happen after a tech company gets called on the carpet for being evil in What Did Mark Zuckerberg Know And When Did He Know It? These performance art pieces happen all too frequently, regardless of venue. The audience never buys it. So why do these unfunny farces continue?
If we survive the Artificial Intelligence tsunami the next big thing that’s been the next big thing for quite some time will be when quantum computing actually turns into something. I imagine it’ll all be lumped in together as all of these waves crash ashore with the same promises. The Swinburne University of Technology asks the question If Quantum Computing Is Solving ‘Impossible’ Questions, How Do We Know They’re Right?
Josh Marshall takes a look at The Surreal Madness Of The AI Boom. I’m not sure I’d call it surreal, but it’s certainly something other than real. Otherwise, why would folks like Laura J. Nelson be chronicling how Tech Titans Amass Multimillion-Dollar War Chests To Fight AI Regulation. (Hint, when you have to play that kind of expensive defensive game, you’re trying to hide the ball, not advance it.)
NatashaMH provides a quilted farewell in a touching remembrance of a friend who passed too soon. Her closing line of My Best Friend Wrapped In Peace, “be safe in winter till summer arrives again,” chills and thaws in the same breath.
To close out this snowy holiday weekend, Neil Steinburg gives us a short piece titled simply, Home. Read it. Whether you’re home, on your way there, or returning to it.
If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
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Snow Day and Night
It’s a snow day in Chicago. Not exactly the fun kind. The kind where you need to make at least three passes at the sidewalks before calling it a night. They’re predicting 10 inches or so. At the moment we’ve got about six with more to come overnight.
The good news the snow blower is working harder than we are.
It sorta feels quite appropriate for the weekend after Thanksgiving for colder temperatures and snow in Chicago, even though the calendar says it’s still Fall. So, no complaints.
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Chicago Bears Coach Rips His Shirt Off In Hot Dog Challenge After Bears Win
Chicago is one crazy town. Especially when it comes to sports. Multiply that by a very large number when it comes to the Chicago Bears. After today’s win over last year’s Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles the crazy is out of this world.
So much so that new Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson, who has become famous for his post game chant of Good, Better, Best after the Bears have been on what once seemed like an improbable winning streak, took up a challenge today and ripped his shirt off in the locker room to lead his now famous chant.
The challenge came from another wonderfully crazy Chicago favorite, The Wieners Circle, famous not only for its Chicago hot dogs, but also it’s wonderfully witty and irreverent statements on its sign, challenged the coach to take off his shirt during one of his post-game rallying cries. And Coach Johnson did so today after a thrilling victory.
Johnson’s acceptance of the challenge means the Wieners Circle is serving up free hot dogs this week.
Meanwhile the Chicago Bears keep serving up wins to a hungry sports town heading into the stretch run before the playoffs. There’s no question Johnson has changed the culture of the Bears. It’s a far cry from a year ago on Black Friday when the Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus the day after a huge Thanksgiving day loss at Detroit. Perhaps equally important, Johnson is also rallying the entire Chicago Metro area after all we’ve been through this late summer and fall.
Put it another way that Chicagoans understand. He’s on his way to owning this town and certainly giving new meaning to the slogan, Bear Down!
Edit: Added the photo below from The Wieners Circle later in the evening.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Apple Features Puppet Forest Critters In Christmas Ad
Apple has released its annual Christmas ad, this one called A Critter Carol and featuring a puppet potpourri of forest creatures singing about friendship in a sort of weird twist that combines the spirt of being friends along with lyrics about roadkill and being hunted. Oh, it also highlights the new iPhone 17 Pro.
Intriguingly I find the behind the scenes video of the making of the ad is actually a better advertisement for the iPhone, than the finished product. It also highlights the puppeteers and their art and craftsmanship.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate and give thanks for their blessings! May you find joy, warmth and laughter in the company of family and/or good friends.
And may you survive the day’s cooking chores!
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Finishing Ken Burns’ The American Revolution
We completed watching Ken Burn’s excellent The American Revolution this week. Thank goodness for streaming, allowing us to view it on our schedule. Two spoiler alerts. First, we won the war. Second, we’re still struggling with many of the differences that made the formation (and perhaps the continuation) of what would become the Untied States such a close thing.
The series is excellent and I highly recommend it. Burns and his team do their expected thorough job of researching and producing the documentary. We’re lucky there were so many letters written by those beneath the status of the cast of characters most of us could identify at a glance, because that material provides much of the content and texture inside the frame.
The production does it’s job so well that my hunch is some will come away learning things they never knew about a period of our history we’ve wrapped in so many myths it would keep troops at Valley Forge warm. I would also guess that in today’s political and social climate there will be far too many who tune out or don’t tune in because they prefer the comfort of the mythology.
Which is a damned shame. As I said in an earlier post about the series:
I’m not hearing things differently, but I’m hearing how folks can take their own meaning out of many of the things written and said during that period that led to this country’s founding. History may indeed rhyme, but it also echoes. Often in strange ways.
If you have followed any of Burns’ work you know his approach to American history is to tell the parts of stories we leave out of the picture. I grew up in a part of the country where you could turn your head left or right, spit, and hit the history of the American Revolution or the Civil War. I count myself lucky that my 10th grade history teacher kept reminding us that there was so much more to discover about our past than he had the time to teach us, planting a seed of curiosity that continues to grow inside of me to this day decades later.
Ken Burns and his team continue to keep that curiosity growing. We should all be grateful and unafraid that they do so.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Fall Leavings
Just a quick share of a quick shot I grabbed that captures the season, and I dare say, my mood.
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Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3
Musings on life, the theatre, technology, culture and the occasional emu sighting
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 