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- Tuesday May 05
- 02:07 pmKensington SD5000T5 EQ Thunderbolt 5 Dock review: 140W and 60W TB5 ports for MacBooks
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Thunderbolt 5 11 ports 140W MacBook charging 60W Thunderbolt 5 port Cons Fewer ports than many Our Verdict The Kensington SD5000T5 is a great entry-level Thunderbolt 5 dock with enough top-rated ports for most users, including three downstream Thunderbolt 5 (one rated at a most useful 60W), that puts it at the front of the line at this price point. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Price When Reviewed$299.99 Best Prices Today: Kensington SD5000T5 EQ Thunderbolt 5 Triple 4K Docking Station Retailer Price $239.99 View Deal $239.99 View Deal Kensington $299.99 View Deal $299.99 View Deal $307.89 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The Kensington SD5000T5 EQ is an entry-level Thunderbolt 5 dock designed mainly for MacBook users who want fast, future-proof connectivity without paying for a premium model. It stands out by offering three downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports (instead of replacing one with HDMI or DisplayPort), including a rare 60W port for charging devices, alongside 140W laptop charging. With 11 well-chosen ports, fast data speeds, and solid features like 2.5Gb Ethernet and UHS-II card readers, it delivers strong performance and flexibility at its price—though it sacrifices extra ports and power headroom compared to higher-end docks. Is the SD5000T5 worth it for Mac users? This simpler Kensington EQ dock joins the company’s flagship docking station, the EQ Pro Thunderbolt 5 Dock for MacBook (SD7100TS), as an entry-level solution for Macs sporting the latest and fastest 80/120Gbps connectivity standard. The $449/£329 EQ Pro has 19 ports and a dedicated SSD slot for you to add extra storage, plus special Mac hot keys for easy iPhone photo backup and a Focus Mode. The more affordable $299/£299 EQ Thunderbolt 5 Triple 4K Docking Station (SD5000TS) has 11 ports but might offer all you need for your speedy desktop setup. What ports do you actually get (and what’s missing)? One upstream Thunderbolt 5 port (80Gbps, 140W) Two downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports (80Gbps, 15W) One downstream Thunderbolt 5 port (80Gbps, 60W) One USB-A port (10Gbps, 7.5W) Two USB-A ports (10Gbps, 4.5W) Ethernet (2.5Gb) UHS-II SD card reader (312MBps) UHS-II microSD card reader (312MBps) One 3.5mm combo audio In/Out jack (front) 180W power supply Thunderbolt 5 (TB5) is backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and 3, so even if your Mac isn’t yet built for TB5, you can rest assured that it will work with earlier Thunderbolt versions and be ready for your eventual TB5 Mac upgrade. Thunderbolt 5 Macs get 80Gbps data-transfer rates and up to 120Gbps in Bandwidth Boost mode for top-end video demands. Simon Jary One TB5 port is “upstream”, meaning it connects to your Mac. The other three are “downstream” for connecting other devices such as monitors and storage drives. Kensington has, in my mind, wisely decided against swapping one of the potential Thunderbolt 5 ports for a dedicated video port such as HDMI or DisplayPort. Several top dock makers think they know best when giving you a DisplayPort in place of the third downstream Thunderbolt port—reasoning that the user will almost certainly use the dock to connect to at least one external display and as all good monitors have a DisplayPort connection then why not have the same on the dock. On a dock with extra USB-C ports, a video-only port might make sense, but on a dock with only 11 ports and no extra USB-C on top of the Thunderbolt ports the video-only port could end up unused and a wasted opportunity to replace it with another flexible Thunderbolt port. That’s because not all good monitors have a DisplayPort connection on their back. The Apple Studio Display, to take a high-profile example, has four Thunderbolt ports and no DisplayPort. BenQ’s excellent MA range of monitors each has dual HDMI ports and no DisplayPort. If the dock maker had stuck with the chipset’s available three downstream Thunderbolt ports, rather than switch one for a DisplayPort, the Studio Display or BenQ user would have an extra high-speed port to play with rather than a wasted DisplayPort. Ugreen recently made this error on its Maxidok 10-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station—and as you can read in our review, we didn’t like that decision at all. Simon Jary So, breathe a sigh of relief that Kensington offers you the full roster of Thunderbolt 5 ports for you to decide how to use. If you must connect via DisplayPort, then simply buy a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter cable. If not, you have an extra Thunderbolt port that the poor Ugreen user does not. How good is the 60W Thunderbolt 5 port in practice? As an even greater bonus the Kensington has bestowed upon its extra downstream Thunderbolt 5 port the ability to charge a connected device at 60W. The upstream Thunderbolt 5 port can deliver 140W to a connected laptop—enough to fast-charge Apple’s top-end 16-inch MacBook Pro. The other two TB5 ports each supports 15W of power output as well as their 80/120Gbps data prowess. There are three legacy USB-A ports (at a speedy 10Gbps), which I think is overkill for the old standard, but dock makers continue to heap USB-A on us. The front-facing USB-A port can charge at 7.5W, with the two at the back a little weaker at 4.5W output. Also at the front of the dock are two card readers: both the SD and MicroSD readers works at the fast 312MBps UHS-II standard, which is faster than Apple’s 250MBps SDXC card reader on its Pro MacBooks. What are the main drawbacks? Front-facing upstream TB5 port concern Front-facing 60W port clutter concern Limited number of ports (11 total) 180W power supply limitation (you can pull the key point from the “Power” section or summarise it here) Design: Is the design practical for everyday use? Before we delve deeper into the technical detail, now would be a good time to discuss the dock’s design. Up to this point I have been a fan of the SD5000TS but I have a couple of grumbles on the port layout. Two of the Thunderbolt ports are situated on the front of the dock, including the upstream port that connects to the Mac. If you are frequently connecting and disconnecting your Mac from the docking station—say in a hot-desking office—having the upstream port on the front might make sense if you have to make a quick dash or connect in 0.5 seconds. Simon Jary However, I would prefer to have all the Thunderbolt ports at the back, keeping trailing cables neatly out of the way. Having the upstream port at the front used to be all the rage but recently it has been pushed out of sight to the rear panel. It’s not a deal-breaker and you may love the positioning. The 60W TB5 port is the other Thunderbolt port at the front. I can see why this might be handy—making it easy to locate when charging other devices—but to reduce cable clutter I’d still stick it at the back. The card readers are certainly where they should be, at the front, and having one of the USB-A ports there is also sensible for memory sticks, for example, as is the audio port. Aside from the port layout the dock is a good-looking silvery gray box with some ridges on one side of the top. The front and rear and darker in black. It measures 8.9 x 3.8 x 1.6 inches (226 x 97 x 40mm) and weighs 2.15lbs (nearly 1kg). Simon Jary Network: Is 2.5Gb Ethernet fast enough for your setup? With many office networks moving to faster speeds, the 2.5Gb Ethernet will be appreciated—2.5 times faster than the standard 1Gb Gigabit Ethernet that has been the mainstay of docking stations until recently. 2.5GbE is backwards compatible with Gigabit Ethernet so—like Thunderbolt 5—is a good way of future-proofing your system even if you don’t yet work with the faster network standard. The very top docking stations—such as the CalDigit TS5 Plus and iVanky FusionDock Ultra—boast 10GbE. USB-C adapters can be purchased if you later need that fastest of networking standards. Power: Does it deliver enough power for a full setup? Like Kensington’s flagship EQ Pro Thunderbolt 5 dock, the simpler EQ feels a little under-powered with its max 180W power supply. Both can supply up to 140W (PD 3.1) to a connected laptop so there’s not much left to play with if your other devices all require power. There’s a highly useful 60W Thunderbolt 5 port at the front that you can use to fast charge an iPhone or iPad or hook up a second MacBook for recharging. That 180W power supply will therefore feel the pinch at full pelt. The other two downstream Thunderbolt ports are rated at 15W, with the two back-mounted USB-A ports offering just 4.5W and the one at the front 7.5W. The upstream power delivery of 140W is as capable as any other Thunderbolt 5 dock—enough to fast-charge the top-end 16-inch MacBook Pro. Simon Jary Storage: What storage options do you get? While the top-end Kensington EQ Pro featured an SSD slot that allowed you to add up to 8TB of fast storage, the EQ has just the two front-facing card readers. These are a great way of adding affordable and super-portable storage, with 1TB cards selling for around $200 at the time of writing. Given the at-time-of-purchase cost of internal storage charged by Apple, you can flexibly add your own quite cheaply. In addition to its UHS-II SD/MicroSD card reader slots, the EQ Pro featured a CompactFlash card slot for digital photographers. This is quite niche and not missed on the entry-level TB5 EQ. Apple’s fastest Macs with the M5 Pro chip can support three monitors via Thunderbolt 5. The M5 Max supports up to four displays.Kensington Displays: How many displays can it run on a Mac? The Kensington SD5000T5 EQ calls itself a “Triple 4K Docking Station” but this is true only for Windows computers (using Thunderbolt 5) or Macs with an M5 Pro or M5 Max chip. While Thunderbolt 4 docks continue to be capped at two external displays on the Mac, the latest top-end M5 Pro and M5 Max chips support up to three external displays with a Thunderbolt 5 dock. The M5 Max can handle four but as there aren’t enough ports on the SD3000T5 to hang so many monitors off, you’ll need to daisy-chain the fourth screen from the third. Lesser Mac processors—right up to the base M5 and speedy M4 Pro/Max—are stuck at a limit of two external displays due to Apple’s lack of support for Multi-Stream Transport (MST) on macOS. You can get round this limitation by employing a DisplayLink dock but the SD5000TS is not one of those. At the time of writing there were no Thunderbolt 5 DisplayLink docks. Two monitors are plenty for most users, however. A Mac with an M1/M2/M3/M4 Pro or Max chip can support two 6K displays at 60Hz. Even a base M4 Mac can support 2x 6K/60Hz but only if the Mac has Thunderbolt 5. Any of the M4 chip Macs will support a single 8K display at 60Hz, while M1/M2/M3 Pro or Max Macs can run a single 6K/60Hz monitor. A base M3 MacBooks can run up to two displays (1x 6K and 1x 6K) with its lid closed. Base M1/M2 Macs are limited to one 4K/60Hz display, but these Macs are probably not the target for a Thunderbolt 5 dock unless you are buying for the future. Simon Jary Price The Kensington SD5000T5 EQ Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station is priced at $299.99 or £299.99, which is the expected cost for an entry-level Thunderbolt 5 dock. Other options worth considering are the similarly priced Plugable Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station (11 ports), WAVLINK Thunderbolt 5 Dock (12 ports) and OWC Thunderbolt 5 Dock (11 ports). There’s little between these docks. The WAVLINK has an extra USB-A port and a 230W power supply. But the Kensington’s 60W TB5 port might swing it if your charging needs require it. You’ll need to find at least an extra hundred bucks to jump up a level: the CalDigit TS5 has 15 ports but lacks a downstream port with the charging power of the Kensington. Read our reviews of the best Thunderbolt 5 docks for Mac for the full range available. Should you buy Kensington EQ Thunderbolt 5 Dock? The Kensington SD5000T5 is a great entry-level Thunderbolt 5 dock with enough top-rated ports for most users, including three downstream Thunderbolt 5 (one rated at a useful 60W), that puts it at the front of the line at this price point.02:00 pmApple eyes using Intel, Samsung to build Apple Silicon chips in America
In a notable development that could reshape Apple’s long-standing semiconductor supply chain, the company is holding early-stage… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.01:58 pmiPhone 18 release date just got new evidence of delay, per leak
Rumors have indicated for a while now that this fall’s iPhone lineup will have a major change, with no base iPhone 18 launching. And we just got even more evidence of an iPhone 18 release date delay via a new leak. more…01:53 pmDon’t pay over $500 for AirPods Max when these 4.5-star Beats are just $170
Macworld Beats Studio Pro View Deal (function () { document.querySelector("#sticky-promo-block a").addEventListener("click", function(e) { const debug = document.location.host.search(/lndo.site|go-vip.net/) !== -1; const text = this.closest("#sticky-promo-block").querySelector("p.promo-title").textContent; const data = { event: "stickyConversionUnitClick", eventCategory: "Sticky Conversion", eventAction: "Click", eventLabel: text }; if(debug)console.log("Sticky Conversion CLick - pushing to dataLayer: ", data); dataLayer.push(data); return true; }); })(); If you’re looking for a great pair of over-ear noise-canceling headphones in the Apple ecosystem, you can either drop $549 on a new pair of AirPods Max or go the more sensible route and pick up a pair of Beats Studio Pro for hundreds less. Today at Amazon, you can get a new pair of Beats Studio Pro for just $170, half off the original $350 MSRP and the deepest discount we’ve ever seen. The Beats Studio Pro are absolutely killer. In fact, when we reviewed them, we said they’re “better than AirPods Max and a lot more affordable,” and that’s still true even with the launch of the AirPods Max 2. We found the headphones to be lightweight, have great compatibility with both Apple and other devices, fabulous sound, and great battery life, leading to a 4.5-star rating and our Editors’ Choice award. The Beats Studio Pro are known for delivering rich and immersive sound, and you can even experience true lossless audio if you connect the headphones to your device with a USB-C cable. The fully-adaptive Active Noise Cancelling will efficiently block out external distractions. The Transparency mode will make it easy to stay aware of your surroundings for your safety, too. They also have fantastic 40 hours of battery life, too, which is amazing. A quick 10-minute recharge gives you four hours of playback, so if that’s all the time you have before leaving home, it’ll be enough. Don’t miss out on this chance to get the Beats Studio Pro for a great price. It’s not the absolute best deal we’ve seen, but it’s not that far off.01:53 pmApple Manufacturing Academy brings AI to America’s factory floors
Manufacturing leaders met to discuss how Apple's program is changing how businesses operate, including a push for AI in supply chains. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)01:49 pmApple Manufacturing Academy helps hundreds of U.S. businesses embrace AI
The gathering of hundreds of companies at an Apple Manufacturing Academy event has shown how far Apple's program has gone to increase the use of AI and automation in the supply chain.Workers at Block Imaging - Image Credit: AppleLaunched in 2025, the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit provided a way to teach U.S. workers how to use new technologies in production. In the first Apple Manufacturing Academy Spring Forum held in East Lansing, Michigan, the program has been shown to be improving how U.S. companies operate.In a press release about the event, Apple discusses Block Imaging, a medical imaging equipment servicing and refurbishing firm that took part in the academy. The firm hosted attendees for a tour of its facility, to show how Apple's program improved efficiency on the factory floor. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums01:41 pmOpenAI’s new phone being fast-tracked to launch next year, per report
Last week Ming-Chi Kuo broke the news that OpenAI’s hardware ambitions now include a smartphone to directly compete with the iPhone. And a new update from Kuo suggests the company is moving even faster than anticipated to launch the first OpenAI phone. more…01:30 pmTransform your iPad into a MacBook-style powerhouse for just $109.99
The Tinymoose SpacePad keyboard case turns your iPad into a laptop-style setup with a trackpad, backlit keys and long battery life. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)01:12 pmApple Manufacturing Academy accelerates AI use in American supply chains
The Apple Manufacturing Academy hosted hundreds of manufacturers at its inaugural Spring Forum in East Lansing, Michigan. The academy’s… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.01:00 pm5 major roadblocks when switching from Android to iPhone
Moving from Android to iPhone comes with clear benefits, but there are also some unexpected trade-offs. Here's what you need to know. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)12:54 pmMeta AI will analyze faces of teen users ‘but it’s not face recognition’
Meta’s latest attempt to comply with age verification requirements in Europe, Brazil and the US is to roll out AI-powered tech to analyse the faces of teenage users of Facebook and Instagram. The company says AI analysis will be used to estimate the ages of faces but that it does not amount to face recognition … more…12:54 pmMeta AI will analyze faces of teen users ‘but it’s not face recognition’
Meta’s latest attempt to comply with age verification requirements in Europe, Brazil and the US is to roll out AI-powered tech to analyse the faces of teenage users of Facebook and Instagram. The company says AI analysis will be used to estimate the ages of faces but that it does not amount to face recognition … more…12:34 pmYouTuber goes ‘hands-on’ with ‘so strange’ iPhone Ultra
Macworld Good news for anyone finding it difficult to wait for Apple’s upcoming foldable smartphone, the iPhone Ultra: a popular YouTuber has revealed and thoroughly explored its design in a new video, which you can watch below. Before you get too excited, however, we should note that, of course, this isn’t the official device, nor even an officially sanctioned prototype. Unbox Therapy has instead made a “hands-on” video with a dummy mockup provided by an unidentified company in China, presumably one that makes iPhone accessories or has connections to Apple’s supply chain. (He says such models are sent in every year around this time.) The final design of the Ultra may therefore be different, either because the dummy maker’s sources were mistaken or because Apple chooses to make a last-minute tweak. With all that said, the mockup is probably pretty accurate. For one thing, it aligns closely with the rumors and leaks we’ve seen already (including CAD designs and other dummies). For another, the hardware designs of Apple’s new products frequently leak ahead of launch because its supply chain is so large and difficult to police. It’s not implausible at all for a company to have obtained the details in this way. Unbox Therapy spends plenty of time playing with the iPhone Ultra mockup and talking about the pros and cons of what he considers to be a highly unusual design. He describes it as “weird,” “so strange,” “stubby,” and “a little shorty!” Will such a novel format, which he says is like a passport or “an iPad nano,” and which a commenter compares to a Nintendo DS, sell well? He isn’t sure. But the unusual design was chosen for a reason. The reduced height means it fits better in the pocket than taller rivals, the YouTuber says, and means it’s less top-heavy when used in the unfolded format. Apple wanted to include a powerful camera array, he speculates, and had to reduce the height in order to accommodate that without making the device unstable. Speaking of the camera… the module is “enormous,” Unbox reports. The Ultra is 11mm thick when closed, if you measure at the thinnest point, but the bump is 16.6mm. That’s a huge differential between body and bump and means it has absolutely no hope of lying flat on the table. “It might be a wobble champion,” the YouTuber laughs. “Look at that ramp creation.” Ultimately, Unbox concludes that Apple appears to have prioritized the unfolded format over the folded one. When it’s opened out, he says, “That’s the magic happening there.” Perhaps Apple wants the Ultra to be more like an iPad than an iPhone. There’s sure to be plenty more leaks and rumors between now and the fall. We expect the iPhone Ultra to be launched in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. You can keep up with all the latest news with our regularly updated iPhone Ultra megaguide.12:31 pmBose AirPlay speakers see return of the 1990s Lifestyle branding, targets HomePod
Three new Bose AirPlay speakers have launched today, and the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker appears to be going head-to-head with the original HomePod. Bose has dusted off the Lifestyle sub-branding it first introduced in 1990 before discontinuing in 2022. The original Lifestyle speakers achieved iconic status, so perhaps choosing this name for the latest lineup reflects the company’s hopes here … more…12:31 pmBose AirPlay speakers see return of the 1990s Lifestyle branding, targets HomePod
Three new Bose AirPlay speakers have launched today, and the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker appears to be going head-to-head with the original HomePod. Bose has dusted off the Lifestyle sub-branding it first introduced in 1990 before discontinuing in 2022. The original Lifestyle speakers achieved iconic status, so perhaps choosing this name for the latest lineup reflects the company’s hopes here … more…12:09 pmCurved-glass 20th-anniversary iPhone may finally introduce solid-state buttons
The 20th-anniversary iPhone will get solid-state buttons with haptic feedback on the sides, if claims about the curved-glass model turn out to be correct.A 20th-anniversary iPhone is expected in 2027 - Image credit: AppleInsiderApple is expected to be bringing out the 20th-anniversary edition of the iPhone in 2027, and there have been many wild claims about the model. Now, it is believed that the release will bring with it an often-rumored technology to its edges.In a post to Weibo, serial leaker Instant Digital wrote on Tuesday about the various features they say will be included in the 20th-anniversary iPhone. While most of the features are fairly normal-sounding bits of speculation, it leads off with a hefty discussion about buttons. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums12:02 pmLeaker suggests seven new features coming to iPhone 20 – but read with care
Leaker Instant Digital has a decent track record when it comes to iPhones, but their latest post may need to be treated with a certain amount of caution. They list seven new features we might expect from the 20th anniversary model, but it may be more of a wish list than a leak … more…11:40 amiPhone 17 crushes Q1 2026 sales as Apple sweeps top 3 spots
Apple dominated global smartphone sales in Q1 2026, with the iPhone 17 leading the charts and the top three spots firmly in iPhone's grip. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)11:25 amThree takeouts from the Apple chip report, with one worrying prospect
Bloomberg yesterday reported that Apple has been in discussion with both Intel and Samsung regarding future production of its device processors. The move is said to be motivated by Apple seeking to reduce its reliance on Taiwan’s TSMC as its sole supplier of A-series and M-series chips … more…11:24 amTim Cook is leaving John Ternus with an AI imbroglio
Macworld John Ternus hasn’t taken over from Tim Cook yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start creating problems for him. One of Ternus’s biggest challenges is going to be navigating the perilous gap between how the AI industrial complex views its offering and how the rest of us do. “Stanford report highlights growing disconnect between AI insiders and everyone else” …a majority (73%) of experts felt positive about AI’s impact on how people do their jobs, compared with just 23% of the public. Well, that’s weird. Wonder what could account for tha- “Anthropic warns fully AI employees are a year away” That was a year ago, and, as John Gruber points out, that did not happen at all, but it wasn’t supposed to happen; it was just a free advertising campaign Anthropic scored for itself. Say something big and scary, get press. Mission accomplished. But this is kind of the problem in a nutshell. Anthropic orchestrated free advertising for itself by saying, “AI is going to put people out of work!” That ad was obviously not for us; it was for CEOs looking to lay off ever more employees. And now you wonder why people don’t love AI? Do you even hear yourselves? Well, surely that article is an outlier and- “Silicon Valley has forgotten what normal people want” Why is it so hard for the Macalope to get through sentences in his own column? That doesn’t even make any sense! Within recent memory… No, no, fine, just go ahead with the pull quote. The Macalope will wait. …people who made software and hardware understood their job was to serve their customers. It was to identify a need and then fill it. But at some point following the financial crisis, would-be entrepreneurs got it into their heads that their job was to invent the future, and consumers’ job was to go along with that invented future. The horny one isn’t going to blame Steve Jobs for saying, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” because the problem isn’t Steve Jobs; the problem is people who misinterpreted Jobs. Instead of finding out what people really want that they simply can’t articulate, the current crop of tech overlords believes you can force people to want what you want to sell them. Or at least force them to pay for it. They don’t have to like it. They don’t care about that part. Clearly. “The more young people use AI, the more they hate it” Using AI to these young people seems increasingly like being asked to train the unpaid intern who is going to replace you. The fear that chatbot tools will lead to a permanent loss of critical thinking skills ranks high among the worries held by young people about the technology. It’s also backed up by data: A recent study from the MIT Media Lab found that EEG scans of the brain showed decreased activity in people who have been writing essays using AI tools. That may be well and good for college students into drooling troglodytes but what can we do to get the brains of grade schoolers running out of their ears? If you’d like to receive regular news and updates to your inbox, sign up for our newsletters, including The Macalope and Apple Breakfast, David Price’s weekly, bite-sized roundup of all the latest Apple news and rumors.Foundry Good news! Senator Adam Schiff (D – Venture Capital) glibly announced on Bluesky that he was reaching across the aisle in order to shove AI into K-12 classrooms because god knows that’s where public schools needed funding, not teachers’ salaries or reducing class sizes or just getting them pencils and paper or getting the rats out of the rest rooms. Look, kids aren’t going to get addicted to AI on their own. If it’s any consolation, Schiff’s post was ratioed into the Stone Age, which, ironically, is where kids’ IQs are about to go as well. (Yes, yes, the Macalope knows this is reductive about the collected intelligence of our stone age ancestors, just go with it.) Scan through any technology news site, and most of the coverage is not going to be on new gadgets; it’s going to be on AI getting stuffed into yet another thing like a nutria being crammed into a turkey. This is not done because people have asked for it or secretly want it, but just don’t know that they want it. It’s done to increase the return on investment in AI (just like Schiff’s proposed legislation). Period. Meanwhile, not only has AI made it hard for people to get anything else new by sucking up all the oxygen in the boardrooms, causing brain damage and drooling, zombie-like groupthink that can only process where to stuff AI next instead of making new features or gadgets, it’s made it hard for people to just buy new computers. “Apple discontinues base Mac mini, now starts at $799 with 512GB storage” Not only have memory costs increased because of AI, but now the cheapest desktop Macs have all been scooped up to run AI and agentic tools. You want to do some web surfing, send some emails, and maybe play a game? Sorry, some weirdo somewhere needs to remove the clothes from non-consenting adults. While AI has many uses, the backlash to the ham-fisted efforts by companies to use the one hammer it has a huge financial interest in on screws, bolts, china cups, and, yes, the occasional nail is not dying down. It’s getting worse. Ternus enthusiastic comments about AI’s potential are pretty much what every technology executive feels they have to say in this environment, which is fine, but if his Apple doesn’t deliver things customers really want instead of are being told to buy, things might start getting awkward.