A Brilliant iMac Review. Trusted Voices

This week, there was no one article worth a long discussion. Instead, there was a rich cosmic soup of juicy news guaranteed to earn your attention. Let’s dig in.

The Week’s Particle Debris

• You may have heard about the (rumored) Apple 32-inch 6K display. Here’s what we know. “Apple 6K Display: Price, Release Date for the Luxurious New Display.”

Yummy

• We hear a lot about the potential evils of unregulated or malevolent AIs unleashed on the public. But there positives when it comes to the power of AIs. Here’s an example. “An Oxford mathematician explains how AI could enhance human creativity.”

One of the interesting ones was the jazz Continuator, which took the music that a jazz musician was playing, learned the patterns, and started to play that music for the jazz musician. What was striking was the jazz musician’s reaction. He said, “Everything I hear, I understand. That’s my world of music. It’s playing like how I play, except it’s playing things I’ve never thought of doing before with my musical sound world.”

I’m thinking that another productive area might be AI assistance with writing screenplays and scripts. So many on network and cable are just really bad. Tin ears.

• You may have heard about the kerfuffle regarding AT&T’s use of “5GE” nomenclature. It’s not really 5G, and it isn’t that much faster than LTE. For example, see: “AT&T’s 5GE Is Largely Marketing Hype.” This article is most enlightening.

• Here’s another related article that examines AT&T’s boasts. “AT&T’s ‘fastest network’ claims aren’t as impressive as they sound.”

• The cashless society is not arriving like the nirvana of science fiction. Refusing to accept cash discriminates against “unbanked, lower-income customers.” Merchants who try to go cashless just end up being rebuked. “Amazon’s Cashless Stores to Begin Accepting Cash.”

2019 iMac. Image credit: Apple

• At Six Colors, Jason Snell review the 2019 iMac with a critical eye. “2019 iMac review: The best of a bygone era.”

They are brand-new computers that somehow feel like the last members of a dying order. They are shells designed in 2012 that somehow contain 8th- and 9th-generation Intel processors…. They are part of a legacy that once represented the core of the Mac market, but now fills specific niches in a world devoured by mobile technology.

• With so many voices inundating the blogosphere and social media, it’s very hard for many to identify and follow authoritative, responsible and trusted news. This next article is excellent as it looks at some of the remedies.

• “The future of news is conversation in small groups with trusted voices.”

• Apple is seeking to solve the above problem with Apple News+. And if that interests you, here’s a review: “Is Apple News+ Worth It?”

• Finally, this article covers a lot more than its title suggests. “YouTube TV adds channels and raises price—you can’t opt out of either change.” It’s essential reading for cord cutters looking for cost-effective alternatives to cable or satellite.

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Particle Debris is a generally a mix of John Martellaro’s observations and opinions about a standout event or article(s) of the week followed by a discussion of articles that didn’t make the TMO headlines, the technical news debris. The column is published most every Friday except for holiday weeks.

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