Linked List: December 17, 2019

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

SGI Workstation Prices From 20 Years Ago 

CNet, back in July 1998:

The Octane line’s entry-level product, which comes with a 225-MHz R10000 MIPS processor, 128MB of memory, a 4GB hard drive, and a 20-inch monitor, will fall to $17,995 from $19,995. The pricing action comes two months after the company introduced it.

An Octane system featuring 250-MHz R10000 processor, meanwhile, will drop from $38,995 to $24,995. […]

SGI will further cut the price of its Onyx2 Reality supercomputer with two 250-MHz R10000 processors by 45 percent, to $75,000.

Historically speaking, the pricing for the new Mac Pro is not outlandish. The problem isn’t with the $30,000–50,000 models. The people who can make good use of those machines will do so. I think what’s bothersome to many traditional Mac Pro users is the lack of a Mac Pro in the, say, $2,500–5,000 range. There are a lot of pro users who want a desktop system that’s less expensive than these new Mac Pros but more performant and expandable than a Mac Mini. Something, I think, roughly like an iMac Pro without the built-in display.

I get why Apple kept the “Mac Pro” name. But in theory it would have been nice to have a new Mac Pro similar in scope — and pricing! — to the old pre-2013 Mac Pros, and to have these new Mac Pros occupy a new “hypercar” slot above the Mac Pro in the lineup. “Mac Workstation” is not a catchy name, I know, but something to that effect.

The Thermodynamics Behind the Mac Pro 

Alexander George, writing for Popular Mechanics:

Ligtenberg’s group built the Pro’s fan system — three axial fans in the front, with a blower in the back. Since most off-the-shelf fans would be too loud, Apple designs them internally.

“Years ago, we started redistributing the blades ,” he says. “They’re still dynamically balanced, but they’re actually randomized in terms of their BPF [blade pass frequency]. So you don’t get huge harmonics that tend to be super annoying.”

Noise is a major factor in the design of modern machinery. In this case: “That [solution is] borrowed almost entirely from automobile tires,” Ligtenberg says. “There’s a bit of math behind it, but you can create broadband noise instead of total noise with that technique.”

Obsessing over the fan noise — reducing it where possible, and making what noise there is as pleasing to the ears as possible — is Apple at its best.

iFixit’s Mac Pro 2019 Teardown 

iFixit:

The new Mac Pro is a Fixmas miracle: beautiful, amazingly well put together, and a masterclass in repairability.

We love that a good portion of the modules can be swapped without tools; we love the use of (mostly) standard screws and connectors; we love the step numbers and diagrams for certain repairs right on the device; and most of all, we love the free public repair manuals and videos.

Despite the many things to love, however, Apple still keeps the keys to certain repairs, like the proprietary SSD. And some of Apple’s repair manuals include (or entirely comprise) a disclaimer insisting that you contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider, when in reality the repair could easily be done at your desk.

9/10 overall, and I’m guessing it would have been 10/10 if not for the SSD tied to the T2. I get it that iFixit is going to be iFixit, and that they might value a just-plain-easily-replaced-SSD over the security of the T2 subsystem. But I think they conveniently avoid mentioning the security of the T2 subsystem. Merely calling it “proprietary” and leaving it at that is ignoring just how significant a system the T2 is.

It does occur to me that it would have been nice if Apple had figured out a way to provide Touch ID for the Mac Pro. I totally get that doing Touch ID wirelessly — where the sensor would be on the keyboard (or trackpad or mouse?) and the secure enclave inside the Mac Pro — is a devilishly tricky problem to solve securely.

Walt Mossberg on Apple’s Decade 

Walt Mossberg, writing for The Verge:

How do you replace a legend like Steve Jobs and, at the same time, adapt to the slow decline of your most important, most iconic product? Those were the twin challenges Apple faced in the 2010s. Under CEO Tim Cook, the company has found some answers and flourished financially, but it hasn’t been without a few wrong turns and big changes to the very nature of its business.

In the past decade, Apple has grown huge. Its fiscal 2019 revenues were six times the size of revenues in fiscal 2009. Its new headquarters building is larger than the Pentagon. Each of its five business segments would be a Fortune 500 company on its own.

But what about its products? Its culture?

A fair look back at Tim Cook’s first decade in charge of Apple. The biggest knock? Taking their eyes off the Mac ball in the middle of the decade — with a Mac Pro that wound up not being very pro and a MacBook Air that stagnated with a non-retina display.

The Purpose of a Political Party Is to Win and Exercise Power 

Jonathan Freedland, writing for The Guardian:

Well, guess what. Labour’s “radical” manifesto of 2019 achieved precisely nothing. Not one proposal in it will be implemented, not one pound in it will be spent. It is worthless. And if judged not by the academic standard of “expanding the discourse”, but by the hard, practical measure of improving actual people’s actual lives, those hate figures of Corbynism — Tony Blair and Gordon Brown — achieved more in four hours than Corbyn achieved in four years. Why? Because they did what it took to win power.

That’s what a political party is for. It’s not a hobby; it’s not a pressure group that exists to open the Overton window a little wider; it’s not an association for making friends or hosting stimulating conversations and seminars; it’s not “a 30-year project”. Its purpose is to win and exercise power in the here and now. It is either a plausible vehicle for government or it is nothing.

Bingo. Politics is first and foremost about winning elections. Labour clearly did not approach last week’s election with that in mind — but the Tories sure did. That this should serve as a warning to Democrats here in the U.S. goes without saying.

Amazon’s Alexa Skill Revenue 

Bret Kinsella, writing for Voicebot.ai:

The Information published (N.B. paywall) an article this morning saying that Amazon earned $1.4 million Alexa skill revenue through the first 10 months of 2019 which was well short of its $5.5 million target. This refers to the revenue that Amazon earns from in-skill purchases (ISP) where consumers pay for added features of Alexa skills from third-party developers. The article also says that 2018 revenue was “in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars” though the target was $5 million.

Amazon did not confirm these figures, but a spokesperson did respond by email today regarding The Information’s article saying that, “Alexa is a long-term bet for Amazon, and we’re as optimistic as ever about its future. We’ve just scratched the surface of what’s possible with Alexa.”

Alexa skill revenue referred to here is a similar approach to Apple’s fees for purchases through the iOS app store. Amazon takes a 30% fee and the developer gets the remaining 70%.

We have a few Alexa devices, and use them, but I didn’t even realize you could pay for additional skills like this. Never even occurred to me. I just don’t even think Amazon is trying on this front — they seem focused on the stuff you can do with Alexa out of the box and that’s it.

iPods Pro 

Horace Dediu:

For the AirPods to overtake the iPod highlights just what a phenomenal category Wearables has become. In combination with Home and other accessories the category is going to decidedly overtake the Mac, having already passed the iPad.

And so it goes, something dismissed as inconsequential — “does not move the needle” — ends up becoming a massive force of change. The iPod was that, the original Apple II, the Mac and yes, also the iPhone. It’s the asymmetry of humility that this happens over and over again.

The thing about AirPods is that you just have to walk down the street in a city to see how popular they are.