Apple TV+ thrills with 'Severance'

February 18, 2022

Apple TV+ is really starting to build out its catalog, and a lot of it is really pretty good.

Take Severance, which premieres Friday. Our reviewer says it's "jaw-dropping stuff, gorgeous and haunting and upsetting."

I know what I'll be watching tonight.

In other news:

  • Apple retail workers are starting to unionize, joining Starbucks and other companies in a wave of unionization that's sweeping the country.

  • Don't miss the setups post, which features a pretty insane collection of monitors.

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

New Apple TV+ dark comedy/thriller Severance centers on a company man with an unusual relationship to himself and his job. Every day he goes to work, and his brain stays behind. Comedy veteran Ben Stiller and first-time showrunner/writer Dan Erickson collaborated on the unconventional show, which takes pointed satirical swipes at modern workplace culture, but ultimately offers a deeper look at the meaning of life.

Workers at two stores seem close to filing paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board, and more are moving in that direction. They say their goal is a larger share of Apple’s huge profits.

The carrier began offering the perk last year for six to 12 months. Now it’s a fixture for eligible customers. That’s a pretty generous bonus.

Most people use the awesome filmmaking potential of Cinematic Mode to shoot vids of their cats. But not South Korean director Park Chan-wook. He packed his new short film with martial arts wizardry and dreamlike sequences.

Here’s why Monowear's gorgeous Urban Canvas bands are some of the toughest and most surprising Apple Watch bands I’ve worn to date. At just $38, they're a no-brainer.

Charlie Munger describes Apple as “one of the strong companies,” and says he expects it to remain so.

Help a young witch grow the family farm in the magical sim game, which debuted Friday. You’ll also need to increase your spell skills if you want to help your local coven solve a mystery.

Ever been in a situation where your hands aren’t free but you can’t speak out loud to Siri? There could be a camera coming that understands your voice commands even if you’re not making a sound.

When you see a computer setup with two monitors stacked on top of each other, what do you think? Maybe something like ... doesn’t the person have to crane their neck to look at the top one? Isn’t it uncomfortable? Where does the webcam go? What’s wrong with side-by-side, maybe with one in portrait mode instead of landscape? The person behind today’s featured setup is confronting those very questions on the way to deciding a common multi-display conundrum: to stack or not to stack? That is the question.

Tweetz o' the day

One more thing ...

"In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service." -- Steve Jobs

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