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There’s no doubt affiliate links blur the lines of propriety.

I’m glad I’m nowhere near fit enough or interested enough or wealthy enough to try to climb Everest.

With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it’s the natural time to simplify our management structure. We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President. Going forward, Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet. He will be the executive responsible and accountable for leading Google, and managing Alphabet’s investment in our portfolio of Other Bets. We are deeply committed to Google and Alphabet for the long term, and will remain actively involved as Board members, shareholders and co-founders. In addition, we plan to continue talking with Sundar regularly, especially on topics we’re passionate about!

That’s a pretty big move by the co-founders, but probably the right one.

Please tell me other cities have an equivalent to our Reindeer city bus.

I’m excited to share the news that Black Ink 2 has shipped and is available for immediate download both on the Black Ink home page and from the Mac App Store. As promised, customers who purchased a license to Black Ink 1 on or after January 1, 2018, are entitled to a free upgrade to Black Ink 2. Customers who purchased Black Ink 1 in 2017 or earlier are entitled to a discounted upgrade price.

Black Ink 2.0 is a huge update to the app, featuring a massive overhaul of the puzzle-solving window, support for new accessibility features, and at long last, Dark Mode support for macOS 10.14.

There are a lot of great new features in this version of the app from one of my favorite developers.

The film will explore alleged sexual misconduct in the music industry, following a former music executive who struggles with whether or not to go public with her story of assault and abuse by a notable music industry executive.

I’m glad to see Apple is tackling this story—it needs to be told.

In a statement, the film’s director, writer, and producer George Nolfi, as well as cast members such as Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicholas Hoult, Nia Long, and other key talent say they stand by the film and “its positive message of empowerment.” While expressing sympathy for Cynthia Garrett, they note that the film is not based on the memories of Garrett’s children, but on interviews with Garrett himself, as well as transcripts, court rulings, and articles.

I was really looking forward to this film, but I certainly understand Apple delaying the release to investigate the claims by Cynthia Garrett. It’s still unclear what will happen, or how long the investigation will take.

A federal judge on Monday rejected Apple Inc’s bid to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit by customers who said it knew and concealed how the “butterfly” keyboards on its MacBook laptop computers were prone to failure.

I don’t think Apple concealed anything, but there were certainly a lot of complaints about the butterfly mechanism.

Apple’s latest “Shot on iPhone 11 Pro” spot is a “cinematic snowball fight.” I prefer the behind the scenes video.

I like Wirecutter and read their reviews for things I know nothing about but mostly for helping me to narrow down options. I don’t obsessively buy exactly what they recommend in a given category.

Not sure what “We are taking a deeper look” actually means. I suspect it’s MarketingSpeak for, “Throwing the media a bone.”

Well, that’s embarrassing.

While not well known, this is starting to become more of an issue as the CDs from 10-20 years ago start to “age out.” If you’ve got an old CD collection, you should check it for “disc rot.”

Apple is trying to get those of you who didn’t sign up the first time around. You might as well give it a shot but fair warning, keep your expectations of Apple News+ low.

Apple isn’t perfect and I don’t trust the company implicitly but I do trust Apple significantly more than any other company I deal with.

This kind of tech is insidious and we need to be aware of what kinds of surveillance devices we have in our homes.

You just knew someone would be obsessively refreshing Apple’s Leadership page, just waiting to write this story.

This Twitter policy change is typical of the company – shortsighted, stupid, and made without regard to how it will affect real people.

I say yes but I also recognize my bias as a motorcyclist.

Obeying the law of other countries or not, these kinds of “capitulations” continue to be not a good look for Apple.

In conjunction with Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper has been part of my backup planning for years.

I see the merits of both but lean toward preferring the weekly episodic approach. I think it allows for more buzz and conversation, avoids a lot of spoilers and builds anticipation for each episode. What do you prefer – episodes dropped all at once or the old school model of once a week?

Pixelmator makes great software. Sadly, this app won’t work on my iPad mini and isn’t available on the iPhone but, if you have a compatible iPad, it’s a no brainer to grab this app.

The best comment I saw was from Twitter (paraphrasing): “The Cybertruck is a truck for Tesla fans. Tesla should have designed a Tesla for truck fans.” Musk’s boasting of pre-orders notwithstanding, this is a tough market to crack with a tough audience.

Great backstory on Apple’s latest holiday spot.

Pushing the theatrical release back even further and delaying the Apple TV+ launch means Apple couldn’t make arrangements with the accuser that would satisfy them. The film’s release may either be canceled entirely and put away forever or, more likely, released later next year after the publicity has died down.

I’m not a fan of Musk or that monstrosity of a so-called truck but I did feel bad for him. Having done many presentations I know how awful a failed demo can feel. But the explanation is interesting and, in hindsight, obvious.

Giving to a cause is noble but that “up to a total of $1 million” sticks in my craw a little bit. For a company worth north of a trillion dollars and one that will make billions of dollars from consumers this holiday season, a million dollars isn’t even a drop in the ocean of cash Apple has.

There’s not a lot for pros to dislike with this new machine.

Apple has posted its “Black Friday” deals but, for the most part, everything they are offering is available for even cheaper elsewhere.