Sabbatical

It’s been a wild year. Relay turned 10 and 512 Pixels turned 16. Later this week, are winding down our 6th-annual fundraiser for St. Jude. In January, I joined forces with David Smith and survived my first major iOS release, helping get Widgetsmith 7 out the door just a few weeks ago.

On the home front, my wife started a new job, our middle child started high school, and I took on a volunteer role that I cherish, but can prove demanding.

All of this is to say: I could use a break, so I’m taking one. I’ll be on sabbatical starting on Friday, and will be back in early November.

Please don’t hear what I’m not saying: everything is great! No one is sick, and there’s no secret plot anywhere. I’m just going to log off for a bit.

I won’t be publishing any content during this timeframe; I won’t be on any shows1 or writing any here during that time. If there is an Apple event in October, I won’t be covering it, and hereby name the One True John Voorhees to play for me in the Rickies if a game is held.

My absence puts more work on several people, so I owe a huge thank you to Myke, Federico, David Sparks, Kathy, Kerry, Underscore, and the Relay Discord moderation team for keeping the machines running while I am away. Taking this much time away is an incredible privilege that I do not take lightly, but a decade into Relay, it felt like the right time to take such a long break.

So what will I be doing with my time away?

Work-wise, after helping close down the St. Jude campaign in a few days, I’ll be doing just enough bookkeeping to keep the bills paid at Relay. Beyond that, a lot of time is unplanned by design. I have some projects around the house and a stack of books I want to get through, but I’m leaving a lot of days blank on my calendar between school drop off and pickup.

I am pretty bad at taking time off, but hopefully I get the hang of it after the first week or two.

I look forward to returning to you in November. Have an amazing month, Internet, and I’ll see you soon. šŸ§”

Logout


  1. …except some pre-recorded episodes of Ungeniused. 

Defending the Jonathan

Back in March I wrote about the Jonathan, a computer Apple worked on in the 1980s that was designed around modularity:

Jonathan

In that post, I wrote:

My understanding is that the project never made it past the ā€œconversations and mockupsā€ stage. I get why the Jonathan never made it beyond the concept phase, but part of me wishes I could round up a bunch of modules meant for this platform. At least we have some fun photos and renders to enjoy.

Earlier this week, I got an email from 512 Pixels reader Geoff. He had a family member named Tom Toedtman, who worked at Apple in the 1980s. In April 1986, Tom wrote a memo to Apple CEO John Sculley in an attempt to save the project from cancellation.

What follows is that memo, published in full:

This communication is offered to you with the hope that you will agree that the significance of the Jonathan project to Apple’s long term goals warrants its completion now.

Now because the cognizant engineering teams are together; the knowledge
is together, and Jonathan is a great product.

JONATHAN, a MODULAR SOLTUION:

Obvious non-obsolescence

  • This design REMOVES THE FEAR that this computer will be obsolete next year. It will also remove a similar cause of hesitation ā€” “I’ll wait for the next model to be released”.

  • System growth capability is far beyond marketplace offerings. This is a great point of sale asset, particularly for serious users, businesses with growth plans, and individuals with a growing future.

  • True multi-master coprocessing. The right architecture for tomorrow.

  • Configuration flexibility is also far beyond the marketplace. Jonathan can be loaded in any mix of current and future hardware by the customer. Fileserver, process controller, and numerous other special applications are now viable.

RAPID introduction of new hardware

  • Standardized product design, manufacturing line, and final packaging are in place for CD-ROM, Optical magneto disk, 80MB drive, etc.

  • Enclosed peripheral cards is a desired value added enhancement for most customers.

  • An equivalent Jonathan appears cost competitive with Milwalkee.1

It goes on:

Although we do need to respond to the market; the market will never tell us how to innovate. Those ideas are born here. It is our reputation.

The Jonathan Product Design, and the capability it offers, is the innovation. Apple deserves to win only if it tries; only if it gambles.

Marketing has the products they want and need for the near term, and we have the resources and desire to develop them- including Jonathan. No market research was accomplished (as requested in Sept.), and no better explanation was presented by Wayne Dyer other than the other products make the most sense for the Marketing Plan.

On behalf of several of your key Engineering managers, and many of your dedicated contributors, please consider the possibilities, check it out with us and Marketing, and give this product a chance to be the great product we think it is.

Would you be willing to discuss this product’s potential with myself, Jon Fitch, and/or other Engineering managers?

This memo is fascinating for several reasons. First, it appears that the Jonathan concept was much further along than I previously thought, including packaging materials.

Secondly, it shows just how passionate the people who worked on this were about the idea. Tom’s career at Apple included other projects, including the IIGS and working on the design of the case for the Mac IIcx. His name is even on the inside of early examples of that machine. He saw the Jonathan as a way forward from those more traditional systems.

Of course, we know that this memo didn’t save the program, and Sculley shut it down, and nothing like the Jonathan ever shipped.


  1. This was the codename for the Macintosh II

Croissant ā†’

If you want to crosspost to Threads, Mastodon, and/or Bluesky, this new iPhone app by Ben McCarthy and Aaron Vegh is a lifesaver. I’ve been using it for several weeks, and it’s been very helpful when posting about our St. Jude campaign. It’s useful and delightful, as you would expect from these two developers.

Relay for St. Jude 2024 Passes $1 Million Raised ā†’

$1 million

As of this writing, Relay’s annual campaign for St. Jude just tipped over the $1 million mark. Myke and I hopped on his Twitch channel to watch it happen:

If you haven’t given yet, and you can, there’s still time! The campaign will run through the end of the week.

If you have already given, look into employer matching. It’s a great way to make your donation go even farther. Details are on the campaign page.

Most of all, thank you. Myke and I consider the nearly $4 million from the Relay community to St. Jude to be our company’s legacy, and this year, y’all have blown us away. St. Jude saved my son’s life, and thanks to everyone who gives, their work continues to save the lives of children all over the world.

iMore Shutting Down ā†’

From the most recent post over on iMore, announcing that no new posts will be published on the site:

Itā€™s a keen reminder that the world of technology never stands still: The term ā€˜artificial intelligenceā€™ was the reserve of science fiction in the early days of the iPhone. The world of publishing is forever evolving too, as do the forms of technology journalism that look to shine a light on the industry. iMore leaves the stage at a pivotal crossroads for online publishing, where the battle for readers’ time and attention is more demanding than ever before, and the aforementioned AI advances and search discovery methods further complicate the playing field. Itā€™s been a joy to serve such a passionate readership over the years, but itā€™s time to pass the baton to new writers, new sites, and new formats.

This news isnā€™t shocking, but it is sad. Many, many people in this industry ā€” including me ā€” spent time writing at iMore. When I first went out on my own nine years ago, Rene Ritchie invited me to write a column over there, and Iā€™ll always be appreciative of that.

The mention of AI in the blog post made me feel even sadder, given that so many dead sites are now lurching along, powered by LLM-written garbage. I hope iMore wonā€™t fall to the same fate.

But, Like, What is a Photo?

Appleā€™s VP of camera software engineering Jon McCormack gave Nilay Patel a quote about how Apple views photography in our modern age. Here’s what he said:

Hereā€™s our view of what a photograph is. The way we like to think of it is that itā€™s a personal celebration of something that really, actually happened.

Whether thatā€™s a simple thing like a fancy cup of coffee thatā€™s got some cool design on it, all the way through to my kidā€™s first steps, or my parentsā€™ last breath, Itā€™s something that really happened. Itā€™s something that is a marker in my life, and itā€™s something that deserves to be celebrated.

Federico Viticci wrote what I would have written, had I been more online this weekend:

ā€œSomething that really, actually happenedā€ is a great baseline compared to Samsungā€™s nihilistic definition (nothing is real) and Googleā€™s relativistic one (everyone has their own memories).

I like Appleā€™s realistic definition of what a photo is ā€“ right now, I feel like it comes from a place of respect and trust. But I have to wonder how malleable that definition will retroactively become to make room for Clean Up and future generative features of Apple Intelligence.

Sponsor: Audio Hijack: The Macā€™s Best Audio Recorder and More ā†’

With Audio Hijack, you can record any audio on your Mac. Capture audio from individual applications like Safari or Zoom, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, or even the audio output of the entire system.

Audio Hijack

If you can hear it, you can record it. Whatever you need to do with audio on your Mac, Audio Hijack can help.

  • Record conversations from Zoom, FaceTime, and other VoIP apps
  • Save streaming audio from the web
  • Create podcasts, both remote and in-studio
  • Digitize vinyl
  • And so much more

Now, Audio Hijack is easier to install than ever before. With a new installer-free setup, you can get started in seconds. Visit the Audio Hijack site to download the free trial and give it a try.

One more thing: through the end of September, 512 Pixels readers can save 24% by purchasing with coupon code SMH24. Act fast!