Quality is much better than my last phone, the 13 Mini.
In fact, I find the 16 Pro better at both photos and video than my current action camera.
It’s my primary camera now.
5x optical zoom is almost enough for my purposes. 😀
my iPhone 16 Pro
Category: Apple
Apple in China by Patrick McGee
I thought I knew the story of Apple. BUT what I really knew was the story of Steve Jobs.
Looking back in 2025 at what made the company thrive, it was 2 other men.
Market chain guru Tim Cook, of course.
But even more so, Terry Gou, who, in 1974, founded FoxConn in Taiwan.
Incredibly ambitious, by 2012 Foxconn made up approximately 40% of worldwide consumer electronics production.
Just one of his many huge factories in China produces the bulk of Apple’s iPhone line and is sometimes referred to as “iPhone City”.
Needless to say, there are many abused workers in those plants. They don’t last many months on the gruelling production line.
Over the years, Gou and others steadily wooed Tim Cook and Apple to move manufacturing to China.
Today over 90% of Apple products are made in China. A huge risk for the company if authoritarian dictator-for-life Xi decides to invade Taiwan. Or shut down exports.
Attempts to move production to other nations have been mostly experiments. Or motivated by politics, not business.
In the meantime, Chinese engineers — many trained by Apple — are building cheaper, better Chinese phones in China. They no longer need Apple.
It’s a precarious situation.
Apple in China is a 2025 book uniquely looking at the company from the viewpoint of China.
In her May 15, 2025 review for The New York Times, Hannah Beech called Apple in China “smart and comprehensive,” praising Patrick McGee’s clever and chronologically organized timeline of how Apple’s expansion to China manufacturing facilities under then COO Tim Cook created a global success but also an “existential vulnerability” for the United States.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Surprisingly, he doesn’t talk about the future.
SOME DAY robots will do much of the assembly.
WHAT will replace your Phone and Laptop?
Former lead Apple designer and founder of io Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believe you will eventually simply stand in front of a monitor a tell it what to do. (Elon Musk would claim that you could simply THINK it what to do. 😀)
Create a feature film, for example.
The new A.I. device MIGHT look something like an iPod Shuffle you can wear around your neck.
Click PLAY or watch an opinion on YouTube. I don’t agree with Matthew regarding Apple Vision Pro — it’s likely an intermediate step towards the future. Eventually you won’t need A.I. glasses
My MacBook Air M4 Laptop in 2025
When Apple launched the M4 Air, they offered a crazy high trade-in bonus to jumpstart sales.
I got CAD $780 for my 2021 MacBook Pro. Used that towards the CAD $1400 NEW M4 Air.
I need 16GB unified memory for VIDEO editing. That’s the minimum available on the M4.
Got the minimum 256GB SSD storage as I put my BIG files on external SSD drives.
I don’t use the standard Apple charging brick. Instead I use a UGREEN Nexode 100W USB C Charger.
For the missing ports, I always carry the UGREEN USB C Hub.
Reviews are all good.
That said — if you don’t edit VIDEO on your laptop, I’d recommend buying the least expensive M1 MacBook Air you can find refurbished. Don’t pay more than CAD $300.
Click PLAY or watch unboxing and set-up of the new M4 Air on YouTube.
My Anker MagGo SLIM 10000mAh Power Bank for Phone
I love my old iPhone 13 mini — BUT started to have problems with the charging cable.
THAT was an excuse to try one of the magnetic wireless charging batteries.
Click PLAY or watch a REVIEW on YouTube. It was this video that convinced me to go for the SLIM over other alternatives.
It works well — but not with my current Quadlock phone case.
HOW I Edit My Photos
My main interest is VIDEO.
But I end up taking and posting quite a few photos online, as well.
Of my current cameras, I find my iPhone 13 best for photos. Quick. Easy.
I copy those over to the PHOTOS APP on my Mac.
Here’s an unedited photo.
Quite good, as is.
In the free APPLE PHOTOS APP, I most often consider adjusting these settings:
- Auto Enhance Magic Wand
- White Balance ➙ Auto
- Curves ➙ Auto
- Levels ➙ Auto
- Vignette ➙ Radius up to 100%
- Vignette ➙ raise Strength
- Adjust Light
- Adjust Color
For this photo that took about 45 seconds.
I like both the original and edit. But like the edit slightly better. Especially Vignette.
Also, it’s brighter. And you can see the couple more clearly.
Burn Book by Kara Swisher
Kara Swisher is today the #1 reporter covering the business of the internet.
Her mentor, Walt Mossberg.
The first of her 2-book memoir is a hit.
An entertaining read, even if you care nothing about the history of the internet.
Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher
Almost everyone in Tech picks up the phone when Kara calls.
She’s a pugnacious interviewer who won’t back down to anyone.
I only follow Swisher because she launched Pivot, a semi-weekly news commentary podcast co-hosted by Swisher and Scott Galloway.
She’s a very hard worker. Extremely well connected. And a competent interviewer.
But Prof. Galloway is my guru in ALL things business. Swisher was smart — as well — to sign up Galloway.
In her new book, Swisher reflects back on some of the biggest stories she’s covered. And her opinions of some of the Tech giants.
John McLaughlin comes across worst. Also, Rupert Murdoch, her long time boss.
Mark Zuckerberg stories are embarrassing. Facebook evil.
She’s fascinated by Elon Musk — but entirely disappointed since he bought Twitter and made his legacy being something of a right wing troll.
I was surprised how much she admired Steve Jobs. A well known asshole, but one who slung less B.S. than the rest.
Apple AirPods Pro 2 – REVIEW
I listen to more audio than anyone else you know. 😀
Mostly audio books and podcasts. Mostly when I am on the move or exercising.
I cursed Steve Jobs thousands of times for not promoting wireless headphones.
Steve died too young in 2011 (aged 56) — RIP.
AirPods were launched 2016 alongside the iPhone 7.
My entire life was instantly 13% 😀 improved.
I’ve used the least expensive 1st generation AirPods until 2023 and have been very happy. Amazingly, I’ve only lost two individual AirPods and kept using the rest, often syncing one AirPod at a time.
Finally I upgraded to AirPods Pro 2 in 2023. Expensive. But worth it for me.
I somewhat appreciate the improved sound quality and noise cancellation capabilities, and extended battery life — but the main reason I’m endorsing the product are the volume adjusting gestures and better Find My tracking.
The original AirPods had no physical volume adjustment.
The case has an external speaker so you can more easily located it when lost between pillow cushions.
Pausing audio by clicking is far better than the old double tap.
Maximum volume is quite a bit higher in the Pros.
Another plus is faster connection via Bluetooth.
I don’t like AirPods switching automatically. The default. But it’s easy to turn that off. AirPods stay connected to the device of your choice — unless you tell them to switch.
Of course I got the case engraved with my email address in case I leave it somewhere. 🙏
The sound has more base. Not super important for me, but it does seem to make female voices richer in podcasts.
Click PLAY or watch Justine’s review on YouTube.
Apple Vision Pro – WITHOUT the Headset
Experts are more excited than expected about the $3500 Apple headset.
Normally people will not buy it in large numbers.
But it’s a baby step towards what will eventually be adopted by everyone.
Spatial Computing
Using physical actions (head, eye, and body movements, gestures, speech) as inputs for interactive digital media systems, with perceived 3D physical space as the canvas for video, audio, and haptic outputs.
The technology is not there yet.
I’d say they need 8k screens and 120 frames / second before it’s really immersive. No latency.
Finally, the headset won’t be required.
Everyone will want to use spatial computing in addition to phone and laptop.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. Tom Cruise has to use gloves in Minority Report. Those won’t be needed.
BUY only the Cheapest MacBook Air
I’m using a 2022 MacBook Air right now.
M2 chip with 8Gb of memory.
And that’s PLENTY to edit 1080p video from 4k clips.
In fact, the least expensive MacBook Air is plenty enough power for 99% of the population.
The one downside of the cheapest Air is that it ships with a pitiful 30W USB-C Power brick. Recharging the Air is … SLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW. 😕
You can upgrade to a 100W brick for CAD $72 right now.
But I prefer the UGREEN Nexode 100W charger for CAD $68.
Smaller. More compact. And it has 3 USB-C ports and 1 USB-A port which I find enough for most of my daily charging needs.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 