Your hands should be swooping and swiping and the whole OS should feel like skipping across a taut slackline, a bit bouncy and pleasing and physical but also precise and quick and focused taking you where you need to go, across some creative gulf. There should be no âhard edgesâ anywhere. iPadOS shouldnât be anything like Windows or macOS or Linux, it shouldnât be iOS made big, it should be only like iPadOS â a singular thing of finger-poking joy.
The iPad, as Appleâs most versatile product, has always felt a bit lost in the wilderness with its identity. Years ago, prior to the Macâs transition to Apple Silicon, I adored the idea of the iPad supplanting the Mac as the one true computer. Many did.
The iPad simply felt futuristic â hardware, software, and silicon. The launch of the iPad Pro, and every iteration thereafter has been stunning. If Apple had demoed iPadOS 26 windowing (and display support) back in 2020, that would've been it for me. I would've galloping around the village on my horse declaring the Mac's demise. I'd be the young girl asking myself, whatâs a computer?
I believe this bore itself out in reality too, not just in nerd circles. I lived in Chicago at the time and saw a surprising number of people rocking the iPad + Magic Keyboard setup, myself included. (For a long period of time, I didnât even own a laptop!)
At the time, iPadOS couldn't replace macOS yet, but it sure felt like the writing was on the wall.
I even had it engraved! I LOVED this thing!
What Happened?
Apple Silicon on the Mac happened. Every machine in the Mac line was renovated top-to-bottom. Today, the MacBook Air is just too good. The MacBook Neo is slaughtering the competition. The slow-ass Macs of the Intel era (the ones with wind turbines and shitty keyboards) have been kicked to the curb. Apple Silicon enabled new levels of performance, battery life, and hardware design. Everything that made the iPad futuristic has been rolled into the Mac.
Truth be told, I havenât spotted an iPad + Magic Keyboard in the wild in years. So, unless you have an iPad-specific use case, who's buying an iPad as their traditional computer?
The iPad's Identity
Like many, Iâve shifted my opinion on what the iPad should be. Or, more specifically, what it should not be. The duplication of the macOS features and user interface on iPadOS is certainly cool â I love to see it. But whatâs the point? And more importantly, whatâs an iPad?
The iPad is a a âcoffee table computerâ. Itâs a glorified iOS device thatâs great at browsing, watching, and relaxing. This is not a diminishing role â iOS is wonderful, and having it on a big screen is even better. The iPad is the only computer Steve Jobs demoed on stage while sitting in a living room armchair. This was intentional! The iPad has always been destined for this role.
The iPad is an artistâs workbench, and the Apple Pencil is its signature tool. The iPad is the best in the industry for drawing and illustration.
The iPad is a bespoke, touch-only device that serves as a playground for wild and experimental new ideas. (This is what Craig Mod argues in the linked post.)
Notably, what I donât see people clamoring for is the iPad to become a Mac. At least, not anymore. It doesnât need to be good at editing spreadsheets, writing Python scripts, rendering videos, or organizing files. The iPad is a coffee table computer, an artistâs workbench, and playground for novel touch interfaces.
The Everything Machine
Sure, the Mac-like features are purely additive. They don't take away from the user experience â you don't have to use them! This is not my primary concern. Apple is quite good at progressive disclosure it its user interface. Instead, my worry has more to do with Apple's engineering and internal decisionmaking.
First, Apple is burning its resources. I cannot imagine the Herculean effort it must be to engineer, deploy, and maintain a piece of software like iPadOS â especially as trends toward increased complexity.
Every feature added has an opportunity cost and a long-term maintenance burden. Spending resources on thing A implies not spending resources on thing B.
Second, Appleâs desire to visually unify their operating systems could hold back the Mac. The 26 OSes made this clear: squint hard enough and macOS becomes indistinguishable from iPadOS. Seriously, do it!
These interfaces will likely remain in lockstep. What if the Mac, however, would benefit from less rounded corners and tighter padding? The iPad needs to remain bubbly â the primary input device is your finger. But the Mac has much more room for precision. Is the Mac going to be bound by what the iPad requires? I hope not!
Hard Choices
It would be a remarkably difficult decision for Apple to actually bring focus to the iPadâs identity. It would likely involve removing things that exist today, and possibly even simplifying the hardware lineup.
But I think they should make the hard decision on this. The iPad deserves remarkable clarity and vision in its identity. It should lean into what itâs good at, and not waste time on the rest.
NASAâs Artemis II mission has been fruitful in producing stunning and inspiring images, to say the least. The linked gallery appears to be what has been shared with us thus far. With luck, weâll soon see the âearthsetâ images shot today, as the crew meandered their way around the dark side of the moon.
Also interesting is their choice in cameras. It looks like they have a few Nikon D5s on board, as well as the iPhone 17 Pro (in "space silver", of course). Many gallery images from the Nikons are 1920x1280px JPEGs, which leads me to believe these aren't really full resolution. I'd love nothing more than to get the full .NEF RAW files â maybe once they land back on Earth!
I'm also dying to know â if they are shooting RAW on the Nikons (they must be, right?) then are they shooting Apple ProRAW on the iPhones?
Update, 4/7/26: The "earthset" images have been published to a separate gallery here, and they. are. incredible.
My favorite Mac I've owned to date â and the first designed for Apple Silicon
I love reading the personal anecdotes that have been written in light of Appleâs 50th anniversary today â like this one from Parker Ortolani. Adding to the pile, I wrote this on Bluesky:
Iâll never forget when, as a kid, our PC at home died â and I persuaded my parents to get a Mac mini. At the time, I had no idea that would set the trajectory for my career in software / lifelong interest in the Mac.
Apple also updated their homepage for the occasion. For safekeeping, I've copied the background video on the homepage here, and the "rewind" video here.
Not only did we survive the first year, we bought a house, uprooted our lives, and I landed my dream job while juggling the role of newborn dad.
When reminiscing a few weeks back, Cassidy astutely pointed out: we did that all by ourselves. Aside from the grandparents watching 'A' (our kid) a few times when we visited Wisconsin, we didn't have much help available. And we're incredibly proud of what we've accomplished together.
This has been the most rewarding year of my life. I keep telling myself I'll have time to sit down and write it all out. To reflect, record the memories, and put together beautiful, poetic writing that tries to capture my experiences. I now understand that this "time" thing is somewhat of a problem, and this writing will likely never materialize.
But that's okay, because I have all of the memories â special moments seared into my heart which I won't forget for the rest of my life. (And not to mention an iCloud Photo Library bursting at the seams.)
I will mention one small moment that 'A' and I share together frequently. Even though we're a year in, I still find myself in his room, at any hour in the night, rocking him back to sleep after he woke up a bit uneasy. The moment I pick him up, he calms. After a few minutes of rocking, he'll let out a long sigh and fall asleep in my arms. I'm left to stare out the window at the night sky, or close my eyes and let my mind drift. It's serene, it's peaceful, and it's just the two of us.
I understand that soon he'll be too old (or at least too big) for me to rock him back to sleep â this thought is devastating to me. And so for now, I'll enjoy it every time I can.
Sam Henri Gold, in a fantastic essay in context of the MacBook Neo launch:
Obsession works by taking whatever is available and pressing on it until it either breaks or reveals something. The machineâs limits become a map of the territory. You learn what computing actually costs by paying too much of it on hardware that can barely afford it.
Even if you don't read the post, just scroll through the screenshots on Nick Heer's recent blog post showcasing the changes to Apple Pages from Mac OS X Lion, all the way to macOS Tahoe.
I don't need to add any commentary â Nick's post is comprehensive. The decline in clarity and usability is staggering.
Worries that software developer jobs are going away are backwards. There is SO MUCH software to build right now, that previously wasn't possible (uses AI directly) or wasn't cost-effective (too niche). We're going to have more developers, and orders of magnitude more software.
Itâs hard to see if you live in a tech bubble like myself, but much of the world runs on shitty, glued-together systems (if they have software at all).
Where is the bespoke app that helps someone start and run a childcare business out of their own home? What about the tire shop down the road â is there something that could solve their problems that doesnât exist?
In light of AI efficiencies, some companies may choose to become more lean. The industry may certainly restructure. But I agree with Kenton â the net result will simply be more software, and in places that it has never been before.
And nobody is better at creating software with AI tools than software engineers.
If you've spoken with me for more than eight seconds, you may know I'm unable to shut up about Waymo and self-driving cars. Earlier this year, Waymo ran its service in Austin as an invite-only program before opening to the public. During this time, I logged 62 rides, 355 miles, and 1,363 minutes of Waymo-ing around town!
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are exciting to me â I see the remarkable potential they have. While I have no actual industry experience with the technology (my knowledge is that of a fanboy), I thought it would be fun to lob a thoughts about the future into the abyss of the internet.
Specifically, I'd like to predict what the state of autonomy will look like by the end of 2030. If I'm right, youâll see me gloat on Bluesky or something. If I'm horribly wrong, this webpage will 404.
I'd like to start with one of the more contentious issues: cameras versus lidar.
One of my first encounters with a Tesla Robotaxi â I spotted two of them charging together in Austin
Sebastian's concepts for Apple's rumored OS redesign feel spot on. I'm curious how this will play out on macOS, where most modern software is merely a web wrapper. As a fan of 'Mac-assed Mac apps', I hope this redesign elevates apps that adopt the platform's UI, making web wrappers feel clunky and dated.
The day after my birthday, âAâ and I were sitting on the floor of the nursery late. (It was 8pm, which is considered late now.) I was using my leg in a V-shape to hold him upright, his head near my knee.
His eyes fixated on me, in a strange and unusual way. I tried what I had been for weeks at this point: making faces, sounds, and clowning around in attempt to get even the smallest reaction out of him.
The first few weeks of this felt like a comedy routine performed to an audience of bricks. (Screaming bricks, specifically.) While âAâ has become more expressive capable of eye contact over time, there still hasnât been a clear âcall and responseâ between him and I.
Preface: Last week, my wife (Cassidy) and I became parents! While I plan on writing more extensively about our time at the hospital, this series is intended to process stray thoughts and memories as they happen.
Here are a few notes from our first few days home with our son, who I refer to as âAâ. (Perhaps we'll call the second and third âBâ and âCâ?)
The Pebble was my first smart watch. I purchased a the original model in jet black not long after release. I was in high school at the time, and I recall it drawing a bit of attention at the summer camp I worked at. Maybe it was my age, but I certainly felt dorky wearing it!
Now, in 2025, you wouldnât glance twice.
I had really, really,really hoped that someone else would come along and build a Pebble replacement. But no one has. So⌠a small team and I are diving back into the world of hardware to bring Pebble back!
Iâm thrilled itâs making a comeback. A hackable, affordable e-ink watch? I donât care how dorky it looks.
The emphasis is on sustainability. I want to keep making cool gadgets and keep Pebble going long into the future.
You think you understand love before kids. You don't. Every other relationship comes with implicit conditions. Partners choose each other daily. Parents love you deeply, but there's history. With your child? It's different. It's a love so fundamental it becomes part of your operating system.
Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesnât see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion.
Newspaper endorsements never made sense to me â especially in a low-trust environment. Shouldn't a publication's aim be to build credibility with readers? I agree with Bezos: a failure to build trust will drive people further into social media and podcasts, where standards for news and journalism can be near-zero.
Sunday was Formula One day in Austin, Texas. The infrastructure to move 400k people to-and-from a suburban race track is enormous! Pictured is one of the (hundreds) of buses leaving, after dropping us off back at our parking lot on the north side of the city.
I'm not sure I love this image when squashed into a small rectangle on this site. It looks great when large.
Straight out-of-camera from the Fuji X100VI (because editing photos takes too long). Years into the advent of EVs, and the supercharging experience is still unparalleled.
After placing an order in February, and waiting many agonizing months, I got my hands on the Fujifilm X100VI â perhaps the most coveted modern camera (and my first non-Nikon purchase).
This camera is essentially my child
One of the enticements of this camera (albeit minor), is its ability to shoot HEIF images out-of-camera, as opposed to standard JPEGs. HEIF is a modern image format (created in 2015), that provides better image compression. JPEG was created before I was born.
Iâm a modern man, and a modern man demands modern image formats.
If everyone can see the whole, they wonât ask why it was built a certain way. Theyâll see all the ways you built then backtracked, all the ways that didnât work. And the same obviousness in your decision making thatâs clear to you, will be clear and obvious to everyone else.
The graveyard of self-driving car projects is full, and for good reason. I think the technology must reach near-100% perfection before it can become a part of our day-to-day reality.
Consider Amazonâs recently cancelled "Just Walk Out" technology. Pull back the magic AI curtain, and youâll find 1,000 workers in India manually verifying shopperâs transactions.
I think their AI technology was stellar. It was probably 99.99% perfect. Yet they had to rely on human labor, because incorrectly billing 0.01% of shoppers is unacceptable. And relying on human labor, well uh... defeats the whole purpose of the technology.
My guess? I think Amazon cancelled the project because 100% was not attainable, at least in the near-term.
I believe the same could be true for self-driving: itâs an all-or-nothing problem. If a companyâs self-driving system is 99.99% perfect, itâs halfway there. The last 0.01% is what makes it an extraordinarily challenging problem.
This is my (somewhat uninformed) opinion of course. I still believe it to be a worthwhile problem. I also believe near-100% is attainable, in time. In my time, though? Iâm not sure.
