Kicking off the weekly "Reboot" column here on AppleInsider, Apple TV got a bunch of high-profile show updates, Jony Ive's Ferrari design was previewed and landed with a mixed reception, and Malcolm deals with the weirdness of app-controlled cat toilets.
Reboot is a new weekly column (editor's note, that will run on Sundays going forward) covering some of the lighter stories within the Apple reality distortion field from the past seven days.
Let's get your week off to a good start, shall we? Enjoy your day off if you get one since I don't, and surely the mattress, car, and furniture sales associated with Presidents' Day can save you a few bucks.
Content-ment
Apple had a bumper week when it came to Apple TV. The video streaming service, that is, not the black rounded rectangle hockey puck that lives near your television.
Over the course of a few days, multiple stories emerged for the streaming service, starting with three Directors' Guild Awards wins on February 8. That was a strong start for the week, with Mr. Scorsese and The Studio each picking up one.
These two were pretty much expected, but the third gong was not for Apple TV content. It was one for directorial achievement in commercials. Kim Gehrig for "I'm Not Remarkable," an ad covering how Apple's accessibility features can be used in college, in the midst of a thematic music video.
What I didn't expect was for there to be a lot more big Apple TV news later in the week. Three other big stories, all on Wednesday.
One was a follow-up to the Tom Hanks naval drama Greyhound entering production in Australia. Hanks is again at the helm in multiple senses, though this time it will go from the Atlantic to include battles in the Pacific.
Both U.S. Navy vets, one surface-sailor, one submariner, on the AppleInsider staff are looking forward to that sequel.
Sticking with a vehicular focus, there were also reports of a sequel to the racing film F1: The Movie. It was an inevitability because the first was a massive success, and Apple likes money.
To try to capture the lightning in a bottle again, or at least try to match the over $600 million raised at the box office, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said that a sequel was in progress.
Bruckheimer didn't say any details about what to expect, but did acknowledge the difficult-second-album syndrome for sequels. Aside from everyone involved wanting more money for the second go, there's also the problem of determining what the story will actually be.
Tim Cook does not star in Severance.
More unexpected was the sale of Severance, the workplace drama that exploded on the service. Apple bought the rights for the show from original owners, Fifth Season, for a reported $70 million.
This may seem low, but bear in mind that this is a rights ownership transfer alone. Apple still has to pony up the cash to pay for producing the show in the first place.
Apple licenses about half its content from producers and studios, with the remainder being in-house productions by Apple Studios. By paying for the show's IP, it's a sign that Apple wants to do more with the property and have more freedom over its expansion without having to get the sign-off from the originators.
It also means Apple will be more willing to invest money into the show, since it will more directly benefit. There was talk of production potentially shifting from New York to Canada to cut some of the $20 million-per-episode cost, but that may be avoided with the acquisition.
It will also help secure the future of the show for a few more seasons, as Apple aims to recoup its investment. A fourth season is expected at a minimum, with fifth and beyond determined by Ben Stiller, but spin-offs are always a possibility.
Car talk
An Apple-adjacent story emerged on Monday, discussing the actions of Jony Ive after he left the company in 2019. It turns out that, while the Apple Car ultimately didn't go beyond a pipe dream, it kinda came true.
After leaving Apple, the former design chief was contacted by Ferrari, who struck a deal with LoveFrom in 2021. That deal was to help create ideas and designs for Ferrari's vehicles, which have only come to light ahead of the reveal of the Ferrari Luce.
Obviously, a car by Ferrari isn't going to be a replica of an Apple Car by any stretch of the imagination. But it doesn't stop you from dreaming about it becoming a reality.
Ferrari branding, Ive style - Image Credit: Ferrari
Of course, there are going to be comparisons to Apple's style, which has been hammered into place by Ive during his tenure. But even so, there are still some bits that are decidedly Ive going off the rails with his efforts.
There's an e-ink display on the car key, which glows yellow and then gives the appearance of "transferring" it to the car. Certainly, it's an interesting detail for a car bought by people who are very much into said details, but it seems fairly useless beyond being a pretty bit of flair that when it breaks, will probably cost $3000 to fix.
Then again... Ferrari. If you buy one, you know what you're in for.
Then there's the 10.2-inch OLED screen in the middle of the dashboard. Sure, pivoting is nice, and so are physical controls, but it again seems to go sideways by embedding an analog clock in the corner.
Ive could've included a digital version there, freeing up the space for more graphical elements, but no.
Obviously, Ive's LoveFrom birth tempted other companies to reach out and try to get some of that Apple-like design sparkle from the man behind a lot of it. The PR element is also a big draw, as it's got everyone talking about an electric vehicle Ferrari hasn't formally introduced, and won't until May.
As a person who is a frequent travel sleeper, someone who hasn't sat in a sports car, and is generally limited to city driving speeds, I'm not really qualified to judge vehicular design. But from what I've seen, I would think twice about spending the imaginary hundreds and thousands of dollars the Luce will inevitably cost.
At least I'm not alone. The AppleInsider comments on the original story were overwhelmingly negative, with one even asking if it drives like the puck mouse.
Thankfully not on HomeKit
I know that Apple is very keen on the whole quantified self, but sometimes I just have too much data provided to me. The provider of this thought was, weirdly, my four cats.
Two weeks ago, my partner said she had acquired a new cat toilet. One of those robot ones that spins around, automatically sifts the box, empties it into a hidden tub, and hides the smell.
It was meant to help with housekeeping, and saves us from fishing the litter twice a day like a demented angler.
I have no argument with it, even if it's a no-name brand on Amazon that costs about $300. What I do have problems with is the app that it ships with.
Yes, this house has a cat toilet with an app and Wi-Fi. It's the feline version of the $6000 Kohler Numi throne.
The app is well-meaning in that it can be used to configure how long it waits between the cat getting out and it cleaning itself, to manually trigger it remotely, and to set up sleep modes. There's also an indicator telling you when the level of litter is getting low, and even a child lock.
However, the odd bit is that the app is very vocal about activity, and even keeps track of usage.
Outside of veterinarian concerns, there's no real need for this much detail about cat... business...
I now have an app that tells me how many times the litter box is used per day, at what times of day. At the time of writing, it has been used 48 times since the start of February.
It beggars belief that this is a thing that could be beneficial to me. Maybe the occasional high usage count could be an indicator of a problem, but I don't really need to know how long the average visit took.
I mean, I have a reason for the Apple Watch telling me I've not moved around enough or my sleep was disturbed. There is no benefit of knowing that there were two overnight excursions to the poop centrifuge.
This may be overkill for cats, but humans aren't safe from this specialized device category, either. Back at CES, there was that Throne toilet computer, which charged a subscription to photograph and analyze your stool with AI.
The app for the cat commode is a multi-device controller, and so it can work with multiple smart home devices. There's also HomeKit hooks in there, though not one that can enable the kitty water closet to work with Apple's smart home platform.
That does make sense, because Apple hasn't added support for cat toilets as far as I know.
If Apple did add support for that product category in the future, I can barely imagine how that WWDC announcement would go.
Would there be a Cat Federighi?
