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My goodness, I’ve spent a lot of money on Apple products over the years.
It was made starkly apparent while cleaning out our basement, which was becoming an overcrowded Apple graveyard.
Among the cobwebs were half a dozen old iMacs, about a dozen busted MacBooks, a giant old Power Mac “cheese grater” G5, and even my dear old dad’s Macintosh Plus, which I lugged over from the U.K. in a suitcase and kept around for sentimental reasons.
I’ve been a Mac user since 1984, and as well as Macs, I’ve owned every generation of iPhone. I’ve also bought, well, not every Apple product ever, but a lot of them — from printers to pencils.
Most of them have been stellar, a few have disappointed, and a couple have been lemons.
Here’s a list of fairly recent Apple products that didn’t make the grade.
Also in today’s newsletter:
The new iPhone Air is reportedly a bust, but Apple’s nonetheless working on version 2.0, with a second camera to boot.
I use Chrome a lot on desktop because of certain plugins that aren’t available for Safari, but rarely do I use it on iOS. Maybe I should — Google just added “AI Mode” to the mobile version of Chrome. Hate to say it, but I’m starting to use it a lot more.
For a taste of next-gen apps powered by AI, check out the upcoming version of Google Maps, which will soon be integrated with the search giant’s Gemini AI. It sounds awesome — if it works as advertised.
One of the reasons we accumulated so much Apple junk in the basement was because of the daunting prospect of scrubbing everything of data before disposing of it. Luckily, Apple’s made things much easier — on iPhone, anyway. Here’s how to reset your iPhone before selling or giving it away.
We reviewed the Pebblebee Clip — a solid AirTag rival — and found it better than Apple’s tracker in many ways, including blinking lights and a rechargeable battery. The latest version widens the gap even more.
We got a lot of votes and comments on yesterday’s poll: “Do you like CarPlay?” Perhaps unsurprisingly, almost everyone said they wouldn’t even consider a vehicle without it. It’ll be interesting to see how automakers fare if they abandon CarPlay.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
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One more thing ...
The rewarding thing isn't merely to start a company or to take it public. It's like when you're a parent. Although the birth experience is a miracle, what's truly rewarding is living with your child and helping him grow up.
Today’s poll
Have you bought lemons from Apple?
Results from yesterday’s poll: Do you like CarPlay?
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