Mark Gurman:

And, most importantly, a new “pro” mode that kicks in when the iPad is connected to a keyboard and trackpad, such as Apple’s own Magic Keyboard, or an external display.

This is an alternate to the studioOS idea I had a few weeks ago, and I don't personally like this idea of morphing functionality based on input devices. This reminds me of how Windows does things, and I son't think that's the answer, it's a recipe for frustration.

As I suggested in studioOS, I think the solution is to let the Pro lineup become more…pro.

Josh Centers: Moving from 1Password to KeePass

If all this sounds like I left a smooth and perfectly functional app for a hodgepodge of cobbled-together solutions, it’s because I did. But now that I’ve hashed out the kinks, it works pretty well. I’ve created and changed several passwords on both my Mac and iPhone since switching from 1Password, and I have experienced no data corruption or loss. The upside of doing all of this is that I now have total control over my password database.

I love the self-awareness of this article. It explained his opinions on password management, was a good guide for how you can replicate his setup, and very clearly understood that this solution won't be for everyone.

Fuck that's good writing.

Anyway, I use 1Password and I'm largely happy with the current betas, but I can totally see why someone with Josh's priorities around passwords would go with something else.

Eric Migicovsky, the founder of Pebble, on why Pebble failed:

The underlying problem was that we shifted from making something we knew people wanted, to making an ill-defined product that we hoped people wanted.

The whole read is worth your time, but Pebble gets tons of credit from me for validating that the smart watch was something real and people would love it, and it's a shame they never quite recaptured that magic they had in the early years.

Peter Kafka: This is as good as movies are going to get

This glut of great streaming stuff is literally a glut, and no one in the business thinks that it’s going to last forever. The giant tech and media companies funding the production boom have no intention of doing it in perpetuity. Right now, they are telling themselves they’re in land-grab mode as they try to compete with each other and attract paying subscribers. But once the frontier is settled, they plan on returning to something like a normal mode, where they’re not tossing money at anyone with a script.

It will be interesting to see if this massive amount of money being thrown around by streaming companies is at all sustainable. Are tech giants spending like crazy on content and talent right now because they want to get their subscriber numbers as high as possible as quickly as possible, or are they in this for the long haul? I genuinely don't know, but it would be a shame if the tech giants use their deep pockets to box out the companies dedicated to making films and television, and then lose interest since media isn't their core competency.

I'm super happy that I'm hearing so many stories about companies like Apple giving their creators a lot of control and a lot of cash to make great art, but I do hope the passion sticks around.

Mike Lapidakis: An Ode to Apple's Hide My Email

Last summer, Apple announced that as part of their iCloud+ service expansion, a new feature named Hide My Email was launching. The feature received little fanfare and was mainly swept up in the plethora of other news from WWDC. After using it for nearly a year, I think we’ve done it a bit of a disservice.

I actually agree wholeheartedly here. Hide My Email is fantastic, and it feels like it's been a quiet success since it launched. I haven't had to use it to save myself from bad actors or anything yet, but it's a great confidence boost that I could if I ever need to.

Back in January I suggested that Apple's Tap-to-pay solution would be something third party payment providers could integrate into because merchants aren't going to be interested in having their main payments happening in one place and their contactless stuff happening in a siloed Apple system.

This week, Mark Gurman has reporting on Apple getting far more into payment processing, and José Adorno sums it up on 9to5Mac:

Apple is developing its own payment processing technology and infrastructure for future financial products in a multi-year plan, according to a new report by Bloomberg. It could also help the company expands its payment features beyond the US.

This will be something I keep an eye on very closely in the coming years. Apple has been a great partner to payment companies over the past decade in creating a way for all of us to integrate into Apple Pay, which merchants love to offer to their customers. It is easy for customers, it improves conversion for merchants, and it drives loyalty to Apple products…it's the elusive win-win-win!

Apple getting into buy-now-pay-later stuff doesn't impact payment partners a ton (although I'm sure Klarna would not be too pleased), but Gurman mentions "payment processing, credit checks and other tasks" as things the company may also be pursuing down the line, and I'm very interested to see how much of this sees the light of day.