Cook Out

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CEO Daddies

Tim Cook, writing on apple.com:

For the past 15 years I’ve started just about every morning the same way. I open my email and I read notes I received the day before from Apple’s users all over the world.

You share little pieces of your lives with me and tell me things you want me to know about how Apple has touched you. About the moment your mom was saved by her Apple Watch. About the perfect selfie you captured at the summit of a mountain that seemed impossible to climb. You thank me for the ways Mac has changed what you can do at work and sometimes give me a hard time because something you care about isn’t working like it should.

In every one of those emails I feel the beating heart of our shared humanity. I feel a sense of deepening obligation to work harder and push further. But most of all, I feel a gratitude that I cannot put into words, that I somehow got to be the person on the other end of those emails, the leader of a company that ignites imaginations and enriches lives in such profound ways it defies description. What an honor and a privilege it has been.

He continues:

Today we announced that I’m taking the next step in my journey at Apple. Over the coming months I will be transitioning into a new role, leaving the CEO job behind in September and becoming Apple’s executive chairman. A new person will be stepping into what I know in my heart is the best job in the world. That leader is John Ternus, a brilliant engineer and thinker who has spent the past 25 years building the Apple products our users love so much, obsessed with every detail, focused on every possible way we can make something better, bolder, more beautiful, and more meaningful. He is the perfect person for the job.

John cares so much about who we are at Apple, what we do at Apple, who we reach at Apple, and he has the heart and character to lead with extraordinary integrity. I am so proud to call him Apple’s next CEO. This company will reach such incredible heights under his leadership, and you will feel his impact in every bit of delight and discovery that grows out of the products and services to come. I can’t wait for you to get to know him like I do.

This is not goodbye. But at this moment of transition, I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you. Not on behalf of the company, this time, though there is a wellspring of gratitude for you that overflows inside our walls. But simply on behalf of me. Tim. A person who grew up in a rural place in a different time and, for these magical moments, got to be the CEO of the greatest company in the world. Thank you for the confidence and kindness you’ve shown me. Thank you for saying hi to me on the street and in our stores. Thank you for cheering alongside me when we unveiled a new product or service. Thank you, most of all, for believing in me to lead the company that has always put you at the center of our work. Every day we get up and think about what we can do to make your life a little bit better. And every day, you’ve made mine the best I could have asked for.

Thank you.

Part of this transition is Cook’s continued handling governments, both here and abroad. Apple Newsroom:

Cook will continue in his role as CEO through the summer as he works closely with Ternus on a smooth transition. As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.

Later in the press release:

“I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward,” said Ternus. “Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor. It has been a privilege to help shape the products and experiences that have changed so much of how we interact with the world and with one another. I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come, and I am so happy to know that the most talented people on earth are here at Apple, determined to be part of something bigger than any one of us. I am humbled to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century.”

Arthur Levinson, who has been Apple’s non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, will become its lead independent director on September 1, 2026. Ternus will join the board of directors, also effective September 1, 2026.

Additionally, Johny Srouji has been promoted to Chief Hardware Officer, a title that seems hand-crafted for him:

Apple today announced that, effective immediately, Apple executive Johny Srouji will become chief hardware officer. Srouji, who most recently served as senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, will assume an expanded role leading Hardware Engineering, which John Ternus most recently oversaw, as well as the hardware technologies organization.

“Johny is one of the most talented people I have ever had the privilege to work with,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “He has played a singular role in driving Apple’s silicon strategy, and his influence has been felt deeply not just inside the company, but across the industry. He has always led his organization with remarkable deftness and judgment, and time and again, his team has delivered breakthrough innovations that have transformed our products. We are incredibly fortunate to have him as Apple’s chief hardware officer.”

“Johny has been an incredible partner on the executive team, and is going to be an extraordinary chief hardware officer,” said incoming Apple CEO John Ternus. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with him in our new roles.”

Surely this was an effort to keep Srouji at the company. Hopefully it goes better then last time around.

The Future of the Artemis Program ⇢

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Eric Berger:

The Artemis era well and truly began Friday evening when a shiny spacecraft that had traveled 700,000 miles around the Moon, carrying four astronauts, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

For NASA, for its international partners, and for all of humanity the successful conclusion of the Artemis II mission marked a return to deep space by our species after more than half a century.

It was a spectacular achievement, and NASA deserves credit for making something what is very difficult look relatively easy. But it also raises an important question: What comes next?

iPhones in Spaaaaaaaace

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Tim Cook on X (gross), about iPhones being used on the Artemis II mission:

Congratulations to Artemis II on a successful mission! You captured the wonders of space and our planet beautifully, taking iPhone photography to new heights, and we’re grateful you shared it with the world. Your work continues to inspire us all to think different. Welcome home!

Joz chimed in on X (gross) as well:

Welcome home to the Artemis II crew! Honored that NASA astronauts brought iPhone to space with them. One small step for iPhone. One giant leap for space selfies.

Kalley Huang at The New York Times:

The iPhone 17 Pro Maxes being used by the astronauts aren’t the only cameras on the Orion capsule, though they may be the newest since their debut in September. The crew is also taking photos and videos with two Nikon D5s, a model that was introduced in 2016, and four GoPro Hero 11s, which was introduced in 2022.

The process for approving hardware for spaceflight is “usually pretty involved and lengthy,” said Tobias Niederwieser, an assistant research professor at BioServe Space Technologies, a research institute at the University of Colorado, Boulder, that had a payload on the Artemis I mission.

Typically, the process has four phases, Mr. Niederwieser said. The first introduces the piece of hardware to a safety panel. The second identifies the potential hazards of the hardware, which ranges from moving parts to materials like glass that could shatter. The third lays out a plan for addressing such hazards. The fourth proves that the plan works.

Apple was not involved in NASA’s approval process, despite people online claiming it’s the most brilliant product placement the world …errr, moon… has ever seen.

The Artemis II Crew is Home ⇢

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Stephen Clark at Ars:

Slamming into the atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound, NASA’s Orion spacecraft blazed a trail over the Pacific Ocean on Friday, returning home with four astronauts and safely capping humanity’s first voyage to the Moon in nearly 54 years.

Temperatures outside the capsule built up to some 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as a sheath of plasma enveloped the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, and its four long-distance travelers, temporarily blocking radio signals the Moon ship and Mission Control in Houston. Flying southwest to northeast, the spacecraft steered toward a splashdown zone southwest of San Diego, where a US Navy recovery ship held position to await the crew’s homecoming. Ground teams regained communications with Orion commander Reid Wiseman after a six-minute blackout.

Airborne tracking planes beamed live video of Orion’s descent back to Mission Control, showing the capsule jettison its parachute cover and deploy a series of chutes to stabilize its plunge toward the Pacific. Then, three larger main chutes, each with an area of 10,500 square feet, opened to slow Orion for splashdown at 8:07 pm EDT Friday (00:07 UTC Saturday).

What an image:

Artemis II under parachutes

It will take a while before all the data is sorted through, but by all accounts at this point, Artemis II was a near–perfect mission. It’s good to have good news in 2026.

Bruce the Yak was Final Cut Pro’s Dogcow

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I like to think I’m pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the weirdest corners of Apple history, but Cody Bromley’s recent blog post on a Final Cut Pro taught me I still have plenty to learn:

On the Macintosh episode of Version History, David Pierce and Nilay Patel had a lot of fun riffing about Mr. Macintosh, Steve Jobs’s obscure concept for a digital cryptid who lives in your computer.

About 15 years later, Apple actually shipped something very similar, except instead of a mysterious little man it was a yak named Bruce.

If you left older versions of Final Cut Pro running for 12 hours or more, you might come back to a small brown creature grazing a patch of grass on your timeline. There were other ways to intentionally trigger him, but this was the most fun one.

I mean, just look at this:

Bruce the Yak

It looks like Bruce was part of the very earliest versions of Final Cut Pro, as reported in 1999:

An Easter Egg in Final Cut Pro, fondly known as “Bruce the Wonder Yak” is popping up on monitors everywhere. Over the last day or two Bruce has spooked more than one unsuspecting FCP editor, fearing the mild mannered bovine was the result of some sort of computer virus. But fear not, Yak herder and Final Cut Pro Chief Engineer, Randy Ubillos assures us “not to worry,” and that Bruce is just an “undocumented feature” of the software.

However, sources in Cupertino have informed us that one problem concerning Bruce is the fact that people are addressing him as a “Cow.” An Apple spokesperson was quoted as saying, “A little sensitivity people! Save those kinds of remarks for more deserving parties like John Dvorak.”

If you want to see Bruce the Wonder Yak for yourself, go to “About Final Cut Pro” in the Apple Menu, let the splash screen scroll through the credits a few times, and in after a moment or two he’ll come out to graze on your desktop. Let him stay a while and he might even impart a few pearls of wisdom!

Like many fun things, Bruce was murdered put to rest when Steve Jobs came back to Apple and squashed all Easter Eggs.

In addition to writing about the history of Bruce, Bromley has brought Bruce back to life:

Yesterday, I wrote about Bruce the Wonder Yak, a funny little creature who lived inside Final Cut Pro. The responses kind of blew me away. Quite a few people remember Bruce, and they miss him like I did.

So I brought him back. And, no, this is not an April Fools joke.

Call the Yak can be downloaded on Github. I am in love.

xAI Says Memphis Water Plant Still Happening ⇢

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xAI, on X:

xAI is committed to building a state-of-the-art water recycling plant in Memphis. This plant will protect billions of gallons of water each year.

The team is currently prioritizing other more immediate projects at the site but our plans to build the water plant have not changed.

I certainly hope so.

Folks in Memphis responded strongly to yesterday’s news that the water treatment plant was on hold. xAI has very little credibility in the eyes of a lot of Memphians. The company not explaining what “other more immediate projects” have taken priority hasn’t helped.

xAI’s Memphis Water Treatment Plant ‘on an Indefinite Pause’ ⇢

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Part of xAI’s deal with the city of Memphis included an $80 million greywater facility designed to reduce the amount of water the company needs for cooling its data centers. The Mid-South sits atop the Memphis Sand Aquifer that provides us with some of the very best water in the country. It is our best natural resource by far, and one that many people have worked hard to protect.

Ground was broken on the plant in October, but as of today, work has stopped. Samuel Hardiman at The Daily Memphian broke the news:

Work on xAI’s planned, promised and under-construction water-recycling facility has been paused, the project’s engineer told The Daily Memphian on Wednesday, April 8.

“We are on an indefinite pause while we review the best way to execute this project, the most efficient way to execute this project,” Mark Carroll, Colossus Water Recycling engineer, said in an interview Wednesday.

Carroll said the company decided to pause construction a week ago and told project stakeholders about it Wedneday. A company spokesperson had previously said The Daily Memphian’s reporting [that the project had been paused] was “false” but declined to say why.

Hardiman goes on:

“XAI has invested substantially in this, this project. I mean, you’ve driven by the site, you’ve seen that this was not blowing smoke up anyone’s skirt,” Carroll said. “We have been going at this project full bore. So this is not something where xAI promised something and didn’t intend to carry through.”

He went on to say that he doesn’t actually know what the company’s plans are for the site. Memphis Mayor Paul Young said that the city would “use every lever we have to make sure this project moves forward.”

‘Ultra’ ⇢

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Tim Hardwick:

Apple’s first foldable iPhone may not carry the speculative media-derived “Fold” branding after all, according to Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station.

In a new post on Weibo, the oft-accurate leaker claimed that Apple’s book-style foldable could launch as the “iPhone Ultra.” Meanwhile, domestic Chinese manufacturers are allegedly deciding whether to follow Apple’s lead by tentatively branding their own upcoming foldables as “Ultra” models, but likely with a lighter price tag – Apple’s version is expected to cost between $2,000 and $2,500.

Names are always tough to nail down, but I’m feeling good about my prediction from September.

The Late Apollo 8 and 13 Commander Jim Lovell Recorded Message for Artemis II Crew ⇢

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Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY:

Before etching their names in spaceflight history, the four Artemis II astronauts received some posthumous words of encouragement from one of NASA’s greats.

Jim Lovell, who flew on two Apollo-era missions in 1968 and 1970, recorded a message for the astronauts before his death in 2025. They heard it before they became the first humans to fly near the moon in more than 50 years.

On Monday, April 6, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover of NASA, as well as Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, flew by the moon in a mission similar to the Apollo 8 flyby, of which Lovell was a part. And in a bit of serendipity, it wasn’t long before a nearly seven-hour period of lunar observations began that the Artemis II crew broke one of Lovell’s own records: surpassing the distance from Earth that the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission reached under Lovell’s command.

Here’s what Lovell said:

Hello, Artemis II! This is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood! When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity’s first up-close look at the Moon and got a view of the home planet that inspired and united people around the world. I’m proud to pass that torch on to you — as you swing around the Moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars … for the benefit of all. It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be. But don’t forget to enjoy the view. So, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, and all the great teams supporting you — good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth.

This mission is a huge step forward in human spaceflight, but NASA’s thoughtfulness in moments like this have really blown me away.

I Have Done a Vibe Code

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For the last couple of years, I have used Apple’s Reminders app, but over the last few months, it has become clear I needed something with planned dates to better map out future work. Last fall, OmniFocus 4.7 shipped with just that feature, so after years away, I have returned to the venerable application.

When using Reminders, I was also using InstaRemind to add tasks quickly using natural language processing. OmniFocus’ Quick Entry tool is pretty great, but I have found it to be error-prone as you have to tab between multiple fields to enter a task with metadata such as a project, due date, etc:

OmniFocus Quick Entry

I took the chance to complete my first project with Claude. Over a few days, I went back and forth with it to create a webpage that would accept input as I described and pass it to OmniFocus. I can trigger this webpage with Keyboard Maestro:

Vibe Coded OmniFocus Input

You can see two text fields. The top section is for my task and its data, with the bottom text field reserved for any notes to be saved with the task. Tokens get broken out under the text, with reminders across the bottom of the window.

You may wonder why I chose these symbols. Turns out, I still had the Remember the Milk Smart Add shortcuts in my brain, and they came to the surface when working on this. (I used RTM heavily 10-15 years ago!)

I can even click on any metadata to edit it:

Editing metadata

Once I’m ready, I can type Command+Return, and the task is sent to OmniFocus:

Task in OmniFocus

Like many people, I have very complex feelings about AI. It brings both good and bad into the world, and even this little tool makes me feel a little strange, but I am glad I got to explore what Claude can do. At times, it seemed real dumb; I had to tell it several times that I was using Planned dates and not Defer dates. Other times, it felt like I was working with a knowledgeable web developer. That is… weird.

If you want to play with this, I have the HTML file and Keyboard Maestro macro for calling it zipped up here. Since it’s just a local webpage, there are many ways you could use it.

Note that you will need to hard-code your OmniFocus projects at line 260 in the HTML file. I left an example project in the code for you to see.

I am not offering any support for this, nor am I making any promises about whether it’s a good idea to use it. All it’s doing is passing data to the OmniFocus Mac app via a custom URL. It doesn’t make any web calls or rely on external APIs, but if it suddenly springs to life, please tell someone.