The Macalope is here to bring you some good news and some bad news and, sorry, but he’s not asking which you want first.
How would that even work? He’d ask this week and then publish the column next week based on reader feedback? Like he’s even going to remember next week what he did this week. Anyway, despite the smart money wanting the bad news first, here’s the good news: people largely seem to like this year’s crop of Apple betas.
Now, the Macalope assumes you, the average reader of this column, are not a Liquid Glass super fan. For whatever reason the horny one imagines that the Venn diagram of Liquid Glass super fans and Macalope readers is not very concentric. Also, if you’re the Liquid Glass super fan, you’re probably too busy committing atrocities at Meta to have time to read this column.
Indeed. Peters also prefers the refined icons in iOS 27. He’s not the only one who thinks Apple put some more fit and finish on its icons.
BasicAppleGuy seems to like the new icons in macOS Golden Gate, which are a little less glassy, making use of bolder colors that make the elements on the icon stand out more. The camera on the FaceTime icon, for example, is less shaded, the background brighter. They remain trapped in a squircle, though, so don’t think that absolute madness has taken over. Cats and dogs are still living separately, as God intended.
And if you’re from one of those weird households that has both a cat and a dog, don’t email the Macalope huffily demanding a retraction. You’re the weirdo. You’re the weirdo. And you will surely suffer eternal damnation for living in a house of sin. There. The Macalope said it.
Both John Gruber and Dan Moren chimed in to add their praise to the icon changes, and the Macalope agrees. The hard drive icon is still a perspective-defying nightmare but… baby steps. Big, stupid baby steps.
Siri AI, meanwhile, earned praise from 9to5Mac’s Ben Lovejoy. The Macalope would like to pass along his condolences to anyone who works in the same office as Lovejoy as he says that going forward:
…[I] fully expect my starting point for most tasks to be to ask Siri to do it for me…
If people love these betas so much, just wait! John Ternus has big plans. Ternus has said:
“…the most beautifully designed thing that most customers own is an Apple product. We’re going to make sure that stays the case.”
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Foundry
Well, well, well. The Macalope guesses someone doesn’t think Apple customers are highly invested in Fabergé eggs and Aston Martins. The Macalope will have you know he has any where up to a dozen… eggs… at any given time. [adjusts cravat]
And now the bad news, delivered by that dastardly outgoing CEO Tim Cook! It’s almost as if Cook is taking the heat for this before Ternus takes over! Almost. A report published in The Wall Street Journal quotes Cook as saying:
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable.”
It’s not like Apple can reduce margins! Ha-ha! Ha. Haaaa.
Apple has tried to finesse price increases to date by eliminating lower-cost products like base Mac mini but it looks like we’ll see prices go up on continuing product lines as well.
The Journal goes on to say:
Passing the higher cost on to consumers while maintaining its profit margin would add about $270 to the price of the next iPhone Pro model, estimates research firm TechInsights.
The Macalope’s feelings about analyst estimates are not just on the record, they’re well saturated into the record and have even started oozing out from below the record, so don’t go around saying the next iPhone Pro is going to start at $1370 or even $1337.
But when none other than Tim Cook tells you prices are set to go up, they’re going to go up. Thank goodness his reign of terror is almost over. Surely nothing bad will happen under John Ternus.
[tugs at cravat]
