512 Pixels

While I don’t have an iPod photo in my collection, I don’t think I’d need to format it using Windows if I did.

I hope to take some nicer photos of my growing iPod collection soon, but I had them all out on my desk this evening and couldn’t help myself, snapping a quick picture with my iPhone.

Pictured:

• iPod, 1st generation (5 GB)
• iPod, 2nd generation (10 GB)
• iPod, 3rd generation (15 GB)
• iPod, 4th generation (20 GB)
• iPod, 5th generation (black; 30 GB)
• iPod classic (black; 160 GB)

2015 was a busy year for those of us in the Apple ecosystem. In addition to the annual release of new versions of both iOS and OS X and updated hardware across the board, this year marked the release of the Apple Watch, the 12-inch MacBook with Retina display, the new Apple TV and the iPad Pro.

Even before adding the slew of new accessories released, that’s a lot of stuff to keep up with. I feel like most news cycles this year have included something updated or new from Cupertino.

This all adds up to a broader product offering from Apple then we’ve seen in the past, and people have responded to it an a bunch of interesting ways.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in the late 1990s, the company was making a lot of various — and sometimes competing — models of the Mac. There was overlap and confusion all over the place.

The fix to this was drastic. Jobs cancelled just about everything and introduced a simple 4-part product matrix:

Even with the addition of the G4 Cube (and later, the Mac mini) this simple grid would come to define Apple’s strategy for the Mac for years to come.

I don’t bring this up to say that the Apple of 2015 is the Apple Jobs returned to in 1997, but to set some background for how many of us thought about Apple’s products for many years.

With the grid of four main products, it was easier to decide which machine was right for you. Do you need a portable or prefer a desktop? Need all the horsepower you can get, or is budget a bigger factor? Depending on those answers, it was easy to walk into a store and buy an iBook, PowerBook, iMac or Power Mac.

Just looking at the Mac, that’s not as clear cut as it used to be. The Mac Pro is more marginalized than ever, allowing the high-end iMac to become the default desktop machine for a lot of consumers and professionals. On the notebook side of things, its just as confusing. While I need the power of a MacBook Pro when editing audio, lots of people with similar needs can get by on i7 MacBook Air easily.

While the iPhone line is pretty straightforward, the iPad line is still littered with old devices at lower price points.

When you begin to cross platform lines, it gets even more confusing. On a recent episode of 60 Minutes, Phil Schiller was asked about the proliferation of products from Apple. Here’s how he replied:

You need each of these products to try to fight for their space, their time with you. The iPhone has to become so great, you don’t know why you want an iPad. The iPad has to be so great that you don’t know why you want a notebook. The notebook has to be so great, you don’t know why you want a desktop.

Each one’s job is to compete with the other ones.

All of this adds up to the reality that the Apple that had a simple product line, and made things that all Apple nerds would enjoy is no longer in business.

Like some others, the inner nerd in me is uncomfortable with the problem of choice Apple’s given us. There’s part of our community who can’t believe someone would cool on the Apple Watch, or not be excited about the 12-inch MacBook. However, the reality is that Apple has grown, its audience has as well. The company must offer a wider range of products to sustain its size.

Consider the iPad. The Mini, Air and Pro lines are pretty different from each other in daily use, but the point is that there’s something for anyone who wants a tablet running iOS.

Ultimately, we have to be okay with that. I don’t think Apple’s widening product portfolio is a problem like it was in the 90s. Apple’s devices and software are still best-in-class, and that was the real problem with Apple when Jobs came back.

Not all of Apple’s products are for me anymore, and probably aren’t all for you, either. That’s totally fine, as weird as it may feel sometimes.

In its return to flight mission after losing a vehicle in June, Elon Musk’s SpaceX not only launched 11 satellites into orbit, but successfully landed the stage one of its Falcon 9 rocket safely at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The Falcon 9 first stage landing is confirmed. Second stage continuing nominally. pic.twitter.com/RX2QKSl0z7

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 22, 2015

This is a big deal because the majority of the cost of flying a mission to space is associated with the rocket itself. SpaceX has commented that each Falcon 9 vehicle costs around $16 million to manufacture, but the fuel costs just $200,000 or so. Of course, there’s a cost to rehabbing the rocket and launching, but having a vehicle that can be reused should bring the cost down for future missions significantly. This particular rocket probably won’t fly again, but it’s still an exciting step.

Long exposure of launch, re-entry, and landing burns pic.twitter.com/Vw1ZJAtvhy

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 22, 2015

Juli Clover at MacRumors:

A newly opened Apple Museum in Prague is showing off the largest private collection of Apple products, housing Macs, iOS devices, and other Apple paraphernalia from 1976 to 2012. The museum opened its doors last Thursday, and an inside look has been shared on Imgur.

To celebrate the Winter Solstice, Jason and I talk all about the Earth’s journey around the sun and how it affects all of our lives.

My thanks to our sponsor, Luminos, a fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!

This should be fun to watch:

Assuming SpaceX’s plans come to fruition, a Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral on Sunday will end with a vertical rocket-assisted landing at an abandoned Cold War-era launch facility a few miles away.

SpaceX confirmed the rocket’s first stage, a slender cylindrical kerosene-fed rocket body standing 156 feet tall, will aim for a controlled touchdown at a landing pad the company rented from the U.S. Air Force less than six miles south of the Falcon 9’s Complex 40 launch pad.

Update: The launch is now scheduled for Monday, December 21.

Click through the link below for my thoughts on the film. If you read it, are spoiled, and then get upset, don’t say you weren’t warned.

Read more →

This week, people are nose tapping, Dropbox is sunsetting and Myke is colo(u)ring.

My thanks to these sponsors:

• lynda.com: An easy and affordable way to help individuals and organizations learn. Free 10-day trial.
• Squarespace: Build it Beautiful. Use code WORLD for 10% off

This week in my column over on iMore, I tackle some of the weirder accessories Apple has sold over the years.

This is fine. Nope, no weird iPhone bug here.

There’s a lot of news this morning about executive shuffles at Apple, but the biggest two stories concern Jeff Williams and Phil Schiller.

Apple has named Jeff Williams its Chief Operating Officer, a position vacant since Tim Cook was named CEO back in 2011. Williams has been overseeing the Apple Watch program, but has served as VP of Operations since 2004, and has more or less been acting as COO since 2010.

Additionally, Phil Schiller has been given oversight of the App Stores across the company’s platform.

The second bit of news is much more interesting to me than the first. Williams, without a doubt, will be a fine COO. Schiller being put in charge of the App Stores could lead to changes in some much-needed areas.