Apple – Jim Stafford's BlogOKC

An Ode to the Celebration of Joy

I’ve celebrated the joy of discovery this past week.

This past week, with a lot of illness-related downtime on my hands — I’m fine, now — I did some casual scrolling across Youtube and came upon the video of a young musician named Jacob Collier leading a full orchestra on a 20-minute improvisational performance.

It was pure joy.

I had never heard of Collier, but he’s a young Englishman, musician and composer from a family of musicians. In this performance with a San Francisco orchestra, he directs each instrument section to play a certain chord over and over. He leads them section by section, so you don’t know where it is heading.

In fact, in a note posted with the video, Collier said the entire performance was accomplished with ‘no rehearsal, no sheet music, no prior discussion.’

When Collier finally leads every instrument section to play together as he begins to play the piano, you discover where it’s actually gone. He sings Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ and it’s a perfect fit with the instruments. Then it morphs into a mix with ‘Every Breath You Take’ as he leads the audience to join in singing key lines.

It an uplifting performance, and you can see it in the reactions not only of the audience but of the members of the orchestra. Every participant seemed caught up in the joyous moment.

I must have watched it six times. Watch it yourself below.

Collier has other videos posted where he interacts with audiences and orchestras the same way, and it’s all for the purpose of nothing more than celebrating joy.

In today’s us-vs.-them dystopian world, doing something with no motive other than to celebrate joy brings a breath of fresh air to us all. Or at least all of us who celebrate joy for, well, the joy it brings.

I’ve uncovered a few other gems that brought me joy this week that I’m sharing in this post.

First is a column by Joe Posnanski, one of America’s preeminent baseball writers. Written shortly before the Major League Baseball season began, Joe presents ‘The Most Fun Teams in Baseball.’ It’s an innovative way to consider all 30 MLB teams and rank them according to the number of ‘fun’ players rather than pure statistics. Read the column here.

Posnanski celebrates baseball with a joy that makes you want to love the game as much as he does.

Next is author and tech reporter David Pogue, whose reporting on Apple and other tech innovators over the years is always presented in an upbeat and positive manner with a touch of joyous humor thrown in. I mentioned Pogue in a recent post about the hundreds of people who lined up outside Apple retailers when the first iPhones and iPads were released nearly 20 years ago.

I’m including him in this post because he’s written a wonderful article about how he became a tech reporter and his personal interactions with Apple and Steve Jobs over the years. It turns out that we have David to thank for the ability to make screenshots on the iPhone. The comments of his readers are just as interesting — and joyful.

Finally, I ran across an ESPN Instagram feed featuring their reporter, Omar Raja, who is sort of a mobile deliverer of unexpected joy to unlikely people. In one post, he surprised a kid of about 10 years old and his dad in the far upper deck of Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium with field passes AND front row seats to the game. The kid actually spent his own Christmas money to treat his dad to their first Steelers game. It’s a feel good story.

But there’s more from Omar.

ESPN’s Omar Raja bringing the joy on Super Bowl Sunday

On Super Bowl Sunday he drives past a kid who has set up a lemonade stand just blocks from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., site of this year’s Super Bowl. He slows down and apologizes to the kid because he has no cash to pay for a lemonade. As he drives off, the kid runs up to the car window holding a complimentary cup. Omar rewards him and his dad with Super Bowl field pass and tickets and ushers them into the stadium.

Tears of pure joy.

Long gone: The camaraderie of lines in anticipation of Apple product launches

I stumbled across a post recently by John Gruber on his Daring Fireball blog that shared some perspective on Apple Inc. from David Pogue, a well known tech reporter who has written about Apple for roughly 42 of its 50 years.

Daring Fireball linked to a post that outlined some of Pogue’s highlights across his years covering Apple for the New York Times and other publications. It’s a worthy read because Pogue shares several anecdotes of his interactions with Apple, and specifically, Steve Jobs.

Pogue has written what may be the definitive history of Apple in a book, “Apple: The First 50 Years,” which was published to coincide with the company’s 50th anniversary on April 1.

What I really liked though, is a link to a video Pogue made for the NY Times in 2007, singing a parody of “My Way” with people standing in line to buy the first iPhone at the New York City Apple Store. It’s hilarious, but also shows the hundreds of people lined up to enter Apple’s famous 5th Ave. glass cube to buy the first iPhone. Watch it below.

The sight of all those people in the queue stirred memories for me of long lines outside of OKC’s Penn Square Apple Store and other retailers back in the day when new Apple products were launched.

I emailed Gruber a note of thanks for the link and how much I miss the camaraderie and festive atmosphere of those lines during Apple launches.

He replied: “It really was a special couple of years. I totally get why it couldn’t last forever, but it was really something for those early iPhone years.”

My first experience with a big new product launch was showing up at Penn Square Mall before dawn for the launch of the iPhone 3. I was surprised to find a long line of people waiting outside for the mall doors to open so they could rush in to grab a spot inside before the Apple store opened.

The line at Penn Square Mall during an Apple iPhone launch in roughly 2010l (Photo by Jim Stafford)

What struck me about the lines of people waiting for hours to buy an iPhone — and later, the iPad — was how festive and full of anticipation the people were. Apple employees periodically came out to hand out bottles of water, pastries and high fives to those waiting in line.

As for me, I chose to wait a few days after the product launch when I could walk into the store unfettered by a long line.

Those festive lines of yesteryear are long gone. When new products are released today they can be ordered online in advance and delivered to your home on launch day.

No lines, but no thrill of anticipation or sharing the moment with your new found friends. I miss it.

MORE APPLE GOODNESS

In case you missed it, Apple’s 50th anniversary as a company came and went on April 1. That’s the day in 1976 that Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne filed incorporation papers for what was then called Apple Computer.

There are stories and profiles all over the tech media about the anniversary. If you are interested in the perspective of folks who have covered Apple for four decades or more, I recommend visiting Jason Snell’s sixcolors.com. Jason and a host of other writers share their perspectives on covering Apple through the years.

Snell also wrote an excellent review of Pogue’s new book, “Apple: The First 50 Years,” for the Wall Street Journal, although it requires a subscription to either the paper or to Apple News+ to read it.

Gruber’s Daring Fireball also offers perspective on the anniversary, including a link to his own podcast with Pogue about the book as well as an anecdote from the conversation.

Apple itself celebrated turning 50 by hosting music events across the globe, including one at its Cupertino, Calif., HQ that featured Paul McCartney. Check out Apple’s photo gallery.

Paul McCartney during Apple 50th anniversary celebration on its Cupertino, Calif., campus

Best of BlogOKC in 2025

Editor’s note: As the curtain closes on 2025, I’ve gone through everything written on BlogOKC for the past year for my annual ‘best of’ column in which I select what I consider to be the best 10 of the year. In looking at the posts, I see a trend in what appeals to me for subject matter: nostalgia. Maybe I look back too often for topics that interest me, but that’s a lot of what I write about. Enjoy the top 10:

Frank Day’s labor of love honors the dying art of quilting

Frank Day works on a hand-stitched quilt, accompanied by one of his favorite pets.

A personal favorite right at the top. I discovered that my long-time friend Frank Day from Roland, OK, has become a prolific quilter. Today Frank is 75 years old and retired after more than two decades as fleet sales manager for Fort Smith’s Randall Ford. I think he can best be described in 2025 as a one-man quilting bee. That’s right. Frank Day began hand-stitching beautiful quilts over two decades ago, and continues his quilting avocation today. Read it here.

Best of the best: Top 10 episodes of the Andy Griffith Show

Andy Griffith and Don Knotts from an episode of The Andy Griffith Show

This post is on its way to becoming one of BlogOKC’s most read posts of all time. Here’s the first few sentences: “If I look at my friend Ed and say ‘how do you do Mrs. Wiley?’ he will know exactly what I am saying. In fact, he might reply with something like ‘I would recognize that accent anywhere. It’s definitely Back Bay Boston.’ Ed and I are true geezers, which means each of us has crossed over the retirement bridge and can indulge in pasttimes as we choose. And one of those is watching the Andy Griffith Show. Read it here.

Breaking News: Grape Nehi lives in 2025!

I discovered this bottle of grape Nehi during a recent visit to an OKC Cracker Barrel store.

So that brings me to August 2025. I discovered Cracker Barrel sells grape Nehi among the many nostalgic candy and soda brands it offers. When we arrived at the store along I-35 in far north OKC, it was filled with customers, and we had about a 35-minute wait for a table. As I sauntered through the store during our wait, I stumbled upon a soda display that had a grape Nehi right in the middle. Grape Nehi lives! Read it here.

Best of Barney: Quoting the greatest sitcom character in television history

Barney consoles Andy with a heart-to-heart talk

My friend Ed Godfrey shared what he considers to be the best 10 Barney Fife lines from the old Andy Griffith show. Here’s how he started the post. “The best sitcom character in the history of television is Barney Fife, played by the great Don Knotts. I’m sorry, if you don’t agree, you’re wrong.” Read it here.

Theodora’s Elegante Wigs thrives amid generational ch-ch-changes

Linda (Faubus) Lewis is surrounded by wig-covered mannequin heads at her Theodora’s Elegante Wigs shop.

Another personal favorite because it reaches way back to my high school days. “When I saw the ‘Theodora’s Wigs” sign as I was driving past in Fort Smith, Ark., this week, it took me back more than 55 years into an earlier life. So, I veered off Towson Ave., into the Phoenix retail center lot and parked outside the wig shop. Read it here

Meet the International Man of Mystery from Stigler, OK

Hershel Prentice at recent OKC Thunder game

If you ask Stigler, OK, native Hershel Prentice where in the world he’s been lately, he’ll gladly tell you. Dubai? Check. Oman? Check? Poland? Check. Austria? Check. Germany? Check, Newfoundland? Check? Labrador? Check. Check. Check. Whew! And that’s just this year. Read it here.

Gov. Stitt, let’s value lives over dollars

I don’t often take a political position in this blog, but when Gov. Stitt vetoed legislation that expands access for women to imaging technology that can detect breast cancer, I had to speak up. I called my legislators urging them to help overturn Gov. Stitt’s veto of legislation that expands access for women to imaging technology that can detect breast cancer. My wife, Paula, a breast cancer survivor, called our legislators, as well. Then I published this post. Read it here.

Customer service, without the ‘service’

More BlogOKC advocacy from a January post: Call me an entitled American, if you like, but there seems to be a wide gulf these days between the words “customer” and “service” in our society. I’m talking about when you call the “customer service” line of a major corporation and have to work through 15 AI bots that can’t help with any of your issues before a human finally comes on the line. Today, I’m ranting about a recent experience with the customer service department at American Airlines. (American fixed the problem after this post was published) Read it here.

Dunning-Kruger Effect: I knew it all until I realized I didn’t

When I graduated high school in 1971 — in the bottom half of my class academically — I plunged into my future thinking I pretty much knew everything I needed to know and could handle anything coming my way. However, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Read it here.

London Homesick Blues puts me back in that place
Some college nostalgia: Back to 2025. I’m not sure how or why, but I began listening to “London Homesick Blues” on replay over the course of the past couple of months. A wave of nostalgia washes over me when I hear it, and it really does take me back to that place — the ACU campus and the people with whom I shared classes and The Optimist newsroom. Read it here.

BONUS CONTENT

Why I’m living the Hallmark lifestyle
Read it here.

Drivers beware: Speed traps live on
Read it here.

Apple draws the line on altered reality in photos
Read it here.

Aging Well: 3 Old Geezers Podcast returns
Read it here.

Could robotics lead Apple to make iPhones in the USA?

A robotic arm working on the floor of a Shawnee manufacturer in roughly 2017.

One day in the summer of 2017, I toured the GF Central Plastics plant in Shawnee on an assignment with the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST).

The visit was an eye-opener for me.

Central Plastics makes plastic and metal fittings, as well as specialty parts primarily for the natural gas industry. At that time it operated out of a 500,000 square foot facility and employed roughly 500 people.

What caught my attention was the incredible use of robotics in the company’s manufacturing process. There were about 30 of these large yellow robotic arms that picked up a piece of metal or plastic and placed it exactly where it needed to go in the machine that would mold it into whatever it was intended to be.

Here’s what I wrote at the time:

“The robotic arms employed in the process never stop, repeating their assignment 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Their human co-workers are busy ensuring the machines have needed parts to work with, as well as inspecting and packaging finished pieces.
‘The primary goal of the robotics and automation is not to eliminate people, but allow us to continue to grow and continue to improve the quality of our products,’ Bryan Lucas, GF Central Plastics vice president for Operations, told me.

You can read the story here on the OCAST website.

Mark Smith, GF Central Plastics Managing Director and President, put it another way:

“One of the abilities the robot has, is I’ve got 24/7 operation from them.” he told me. “They don’t take vacations, and they don’t need to sleep like I do.”

While I’m not certain that Lucas or Smith are still in their positions with the company, I’m pretty sure that at this very moment there are scores of robotic arms picking up parts and slamming them into the production machine exactly where they need to be placed. And then removing them when they are finished and stacking them in the right bin.

So, what does that have to do with anything today, eight years later?

I’ve been thinking about how robotics and artificial intelligence might be used in the production of ubiquitous smartphones — iPhones and Android phones. Phones are full of tiny parts that have to be fit into a small space in exactly the same way millions of times over and over.

Are robotics used to produce the phones? According to what I was told by my know-it-all friend, ChatGPT, much of phone assembly in 2025 is done by robotics.

Here’s what my AI pal told me:

“Yes — robotics manufacturing is already widely applied to devices as small and precise as smartphones. In fact, smartphone production is one of the most advanced examples of robotics and automation in action.”

Unless Chatbot was hallucinating, there’s a ton of robotics that go into each phone. It cited Foxconn, maker of the iPhone, as a major user of robotics in the manufacturing process.

“In some facilities, entire production lines are almost fully automated,” it said.

So, that makes me wonder if the thousands and thousands of low-paid workers are still needed to produce smart phones. Are those folks still needed to assemble the cases with tiny screws, perhaps? Can’t that process be automated?

This is all leading me to the purpose of this blog post. If there is almost 100 percent automation in the assembly of iPhones, why can’t Apple Inc. at least build a pilot project in the U.S. to see how production would go here.

I understand there is required testing of each unit and then the packaging and shipping, so there are humans involved in the process.

If the robotic arms were assembling millions of phones in the U.S., would the scale of that production keep the costs somewhere close to what it is in China or India? And they would save on shipping costs, too, so price of phones might stay close to what they are today.

We all know that Trump is pressuring Apple and other high-tech manufacturers to bring their manufacturing into the U.S. If nothing else, a pilot plant located in the states would appease the President, who could slap (more) tariffs on China- or India-made phones at any moment.

I just read an awesome book, “Apple in China,” about how the company is trapped by the large scale of manufacturing investment it has made in China. It has recently moved some of that production to India and elsewhere.

I’m not a visionary, but I’m thinking that we could someday soon unbox our new iPhone and see the words “Designed in California, Assembled in the USA.”

Are you listening, Tim Cook?

I’m great at spending someone else’s money. But it could happen.

BONUS CONTENT: Watch some robotic arms in action in the video below.

DOUBLE BONUS CONTENT: Here is some info that ChatGPT provided me about robotic arms in smartphone manufacturing.

Robotics manufacturing is already widely applied to devices as small and precise as smartphones. In fact, smartphone production is one of the most advanced examples of robotics and automation in action.

Here’s how robotics is applied in smartphone manufacturing:

Microscale Precision Assembly: Specialized robotic arms with extremely fine motion control place tiny components such as microchips, sensors, and capacitors onto circuit boards. These parts are far too small for human hands to place consistently.
Surface-Mount Technology (SMT): Automated machines solder thousands of micro-components onto printed circuit boards at high speed and with extreme precision.
Optics & Camera Module Assembly: Robotic systems align and insert delicate camera lenses and sensors with tolerances measured in microns.
Battery & Screen Placement: Large but fragile components like batteries and OLED screens are installed by robotic arms that apply uniform pressure without damaging them.
Quality Control & Testing: Robotics and machine vision systems test buttons, touchscreens, speakers, and other parts to ensure durability and functionality.
– Micro-assembly with Collaborative Robots (Cobots): Some processes still require human oversight (like cable placement or adhesive application), but cobots assist workers by handling the repetitive and delicate positioning work.

So while people often imagine robots assembling cars or appliances, the highest level of robotic precision is actually in electronics manufacturing — smartphones, tablets, and semiconductors.

Companies Using Robotics in Smartphone Assembly

Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry)

World’s largest electronics manufacturer (makes iPhones for Apple).
Uses thousands of robots, called Foxbots, for tasks like soldering, polishing, dispensing adhesives, and precision assembly.
In some facilities, entire production lines are almost fully automated.

Pegatron

Another major iPhone assembler.
Uses robotic arms for component placement and automated optical inspection (AOI) to check for microscopic defects.

Samsung Electronics

Runs highly automated factories in South Korea and Vietnam.
Uses robotics for screen production (OLED and AMOLED panels) because they require sub-millimeter precision.

Xiaomi, Oppo, and Huawei suppliers

Many Chinese factories use robotic arms for final assembly and packaging.
Robotic vision systems test touchscreens and fingerprint sensors before shipping.

🤖

Types of Robotics Technology Used

SMT (Surface Mount Technology) Pick-and-Place Robots
Place up to 100,000 components per hour on a circuit board.
Robotic Dispensing Systems — Apply adhesives in perfect micro-lines to secure parts like glass panels.
Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) — Uses robotic vision and AI to detect microscopic defects.
Laser Robots — Used for cutting phone frames, engraving, and even removing defective solder joints.
📱 Why Robotics Is Essential for Smartphones
Smartphones have billions of transistors and hundreds of components packed into a device only millimeters thick.
Human assembly alone can’t achieve the precision or consistency needed.
Robotics improves yield, speed, and quality control while reducing labor costs.

👉 So yes, robotics not only can be applied to smartphones — it’s already at the core of how every major smartphone is made today.

Technology evolves, but Paul McCartney — and his music — live on

A turntable console with reel-to-reel tape much like my parents had in the 1960s.

When the Paul-is-Dead rumors began floating around in the late 1960s, I was devastated. There was evidence everywhere that Paul McCartney had died in a car crash and The Beatles went on with a look-alike substitute.

I was 16 in 1969 and read — and clipped — every article I could find that shared evidence of Paul’s demise. For instance, there was the hand over Paul’s head on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club album that symbolized death. And the whole cover resembled a funeral gathering.

There was more. Paul was dressed as a walrus on the Magical Mystery Tour poster, said to symbolize death, and a line from the song Glass Onion says “here’s another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul.”

But the clue that sealed it for me was the rumor that if you played Revolution 9 backward you could hear the words “turn me on dead man” and the sounds of a car crash.

My family owned a giant stereo console that had both a turntable and a reel-to-reel tape player. So, I played Revolution 9 from the White Album on the turntable and recorded it on the reel-to-reel.

When I turned the tape backward and played it I heard those terrifying words. “Turn me on dead man.” And the sounds of what could be a car crash.

That clinched it for me, at least for the next couple of years until it became evident to me that Paul McCartney was indeed, Paul McCartney.

I’ve written all of this not to show how gullible I was as a teenager; rather to talk about technology and what we had then and what we have today.

In the late 1960s, our family had the latest and greatest in the giant console with the turntable and the reel-to-reel.

That’s how we rolled in 1969.

Vinyl records, both 33 rpm long play albums and 45 rpm discs that played a single song each on front and back, were as common then as, well, iPhones today.

Everyone I knew had a record player or two in their homes. My sister and I had a little portable record player that we would take out into the carport and play our favorite singles on.

When I was a sophomore in high school, I took all the money I had saved up and bought a portable stereo turntable at Kmart that served me well for years.

But advances in technology made turntables obsolete in the early 1970s as 8-track tape players became everyone’s obsession. I installed a cheap Kraco 8-track in my car, which seemed to ruin as many tapes as it successfully played.

Then came cassette tape players that were much smaller — and dependable — than 8 tracks. But analog taped recordings didn’t have much of a future, because they gave way to CDs — compact discs — in the 1980s.

I remember the frustration of my dad in the ’80s when he had to buy a CD player because it had become the technology on which most music was recorded and played.

“They keep changing the formats just so we will have to spend money to buy something new,” he told me.

But time advanced as did technology.

MP3 players began to emerge in the late 1990s replacing CDs and making music much more portable. And in 2001, Apple Inc. debuted the groundbreaking iPod, which CEO Steve Jobs famously said allowed you to carry “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

So, here we are in 2025.

Today we have massive music services like the iTunes Store and Spotify that allow us to hear virtually any song ever recorded at any time.

And technology advances continue to make yesterday’s formats obsolete. The old console turntable and reel-to-reel tape player my parents owned was probably sent to a landfill decades ago.

But some things remain. The memories of chasing down Paul-is-Dead clues on that big old console. Hearing my dad — who passed on in 2012 — complain about changing technology.

And Paul McCartney — the real Paul McCartney — endures. As of July 7, 2025, he’s as alive as he was in 1969. I continue to listen to his music, but now in a digital format that reaches my ears through a pair of AirPods Pro 2.

That’s how we roll in 2025.

BONUS CONTENT
So, what’s next in how music is recorded and enjoyed? I’ve read a lot about how future music will be made by artificial intelligence, but what I’ve heard of it so far lacks the creativity of human song writers and performers. I’ll take humans any day.

I asked ChatGPT what it sees for the future of music, and this is how it answered:

1. AI and Generative Music

AI tools can now compose, produce, and even perform.
Personalized or adaptive soundtracks for games, workouts, moods.

2. Immersive & Spatial Audio

Formats like Dolby Atmos Music and 360 Reality Audio offer 3D sound experiences.
Becoming popular in streaming and VR/AR contexts.

3. Blockchain & NFTs

Exploring decentralized ownership, royalty tracking, and digital collectibles.

4. Holographic & Virtual Performances

Digital twins of artists (dead or alive) performing live.
Integration into virtual worlds and the metaverse.

5. Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI)

Experimental: Listening to or composing music via brainwaves.
Potential for direct neural engagement with music.

Apple draws the line on altered reality in photos

Screenshot — The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern takes a selfie with Apple software chief Craig Federighi

If you’ve ever been fooled by a photo that had something added — or eliminated — you should watch this fascinating video interview by Wall Street Journal tech reporter Joanna Stern with Apple Inc.’s software chief Craig Federighi. The interview focused on Apple Intelligence, which is Apple’s version of artificial intelligence.

Near the end of the 25-minute interview, Stern raises her iPhone and takes a selfie of herself and Federighi as they are seated across from each other at the company’s Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

Then it got really interesting.

Stern showed the photo to Federighi and, using Apple’s most recent photo editing software, quickly edited out a water bottle and a microphone that the photo had captured.

She edited the photo with the intention of showing how easy it is to remove unwanted objects from photos, then asked Federighi about Apple’s approach to allowing users to alter reality in their photos. Or even adding in objects or people who weren’t there.

Federighi’s thoughtful answer about Apple’s decisions on limiting AI use in its photo software intrigued me.

“There were a lot of debates internally, ‘do we want to make it easy to remove that water bottle or microphone’ because that water bottle was there when you took that photo,” he said. “The demand from people to clean up what seem like extraneous details in a photo that don’t fundamentally change the meaning of what happened has been very, very high. So we were willing to take that small step.”

However, the company ensured that if a photo was altered, it was reflected in the metadata for that photo. And Federighi said Apple drew a line on further editing to alter the reality of their photos.

“We are concerned that the great history of photography and how people view photographic content as something that you can rely on, that is indicative of reality …” Federighi said. “And our products, our phones are used a lot, and it’s important to us that we help convey accurate information, not fantasy … we make sure that if you do remove a little detail in a photo, we update the metadata on the photo so you can go back and check that this is an altered photo.”

It’s clear that Apple has given this subject a lot of thought and is working to distance itself and its software from ‘deepfakes’ that seem to be showing up everywhere. Just check your Facebook feed.

Here’s a link to an article in Info Security Magazine that lists the top 10 deepfakes from 2022.

That debate over editing photos took me back to my days as a reporter and editor at The Oklahoman in the 1980s and 1990s. It was a time certainly before digital photos and software that let you easily alter the reality of a picture.

However, I recall there was quite a debate at the paper over whether drinks in the hands of people at a party should be edited out, by cropping or by being retouched by an artist.

So, editing photos has been an issue for decades.

And that led me to contact Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman’s current photo manager who worked at the paper all through the pre-digital age of the ’80s and ’90s.

Doug is one of my favorite photographers, with a long history of shooting great photos. His work was regularly featured in Sports illustrated in the pre-digital days.

I asked Doug if my memory was correct and altered photos were an issue back in the day. Here’s what he said in response to the question:

“Way back when if Gaylord (the publisher) didn’t want something in the paper, it wasn’t there,” he said. “The airbrushing of photos was originally done to help with the reproduction, as coarse screens and letter press technique left much to be desired. That evolved into the removal of items, like cocktail drinks, (or) the adding of details like clothing, lengthening hems, adding material to swimsuits, closing up v-necks, etc.

“When the digital age hit, the ease that photos could be altered called for new guidelines for photography. What is the common practice now is no pixels should be added or removed, except by cropping, and cleaning up dust spots on the chip. Toning and adjusting contrast should only be to help reproduce the image as accurately as possible.”

Doug said he supports Apple’s limits to digital editing that distorts the reality of photos.

“When Apple first announced that they would only allow small details to be removed, I applauded them,” he said. “Craig is correct that photography is based in reality, and I firmly believe that the photos should remain as untouched as possible. You may think that water bottle is in the way, but future generations will look at these details with amazement. Think of old photos you look at, you study every detail in the photo to get a better sense of history. If we remove all those details now, no one will ever see them.”

There’s a distinction between photograph and a photo illustration, Doug said. Or there once was.

“The line between photograph and illustration has been blurred and will never be the same,” he said. “Publications try to hold onto the strict guidelines of what is a photo and what is an illustration but the public probably doesn’t really care. I don’t think the general public has a strong grasp of reality anymore. Games, TikTok, IG, X, whatever they look at. If they think an image is cool they like it without giving any thought to whether it is accurate or not.

“We have had to reject several ‘photos’ that were obviously enhanced by AI, mostly portraits. Accepting photos from unknown sources will be a huge lift in the near future as AI will just continue to get better. Really glad Apple took a stand and said just because we can doesn’t mean we should.”

Did you catch what Doug said? The public is suffering from both ignorance and apathy on whether a photo has been altered.

But we should be concerned. Thank you, Apple, for taking a stand.

Apple’s Airpods Pro 2: Hearing is believing

Screenshot of Airpods Pro 2.0 from the Apple website — Screenshot taken from Apple website

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m updating this post to add an editor’s note and information on how the Airpods Pro 2 fit in my ears. My friend Sarah Horton asked if they hurt. I was honest and said ‘yes,’ but thought they weren’t hurting as bad as time rolled on. However, after a few more days of wearing them at least 6 hours a day, I have to admit that they squeeze against the cartilage of my ear to the point that I can’t wait to take them off. My left ear is most sore, and I’m afraid they are going to create an open wound at some point. Stay tuned.

Let me say right at the start of this that I have had a decade-long (or longer) battle with hearing loss. It’s not something that I noticed at first, but my wife and people I worked with sure did.

Along the way, I’ve been fitted with an expensive pair of hearing aids that brought their own problems. I’ll explain, but first some background.

In 2015, at age 61 and following a round of what had to be the worst case of flu I’ve ever had, I found that I couldn’t stay on my feet. Literally.

For a period of a couple months, I suffered from an unexplained loss of balance that affected my ability to drive, to walk a straight line and even stand without holding on to something.

My wife took to me see a variety of specialists, including a neurologist and a hearing specialist. I had weekly physical therapy sessions for about six weeks.

The hearing specialist conducted a hearing test that detected mild hearing loss in each ear. My wife said I had struggled with conversations for quite some time, but I assumed that was merely selective hearing loss, if you know what I mean.

The bottom line is that I came away with a pair of hearing aids at a cost that would have covered a pretty nice used car.

They helped, I admit.

But battery life wasn’t great, and the tips on the end that goes deep into your ear kept coming off in my ear. I had to go to a walk-in clinic to have a physician remove rubber tips in both ears, including one that had apparently been in the ear canal for months and took quite an effort to dig out.

Plus, I felt like the old man I didn’t want to be when I wore them.

Still, I wore them faithfully for a couple years before putting them in a drawer.

Fast forward to the end of 2024.

Apple Inc., maker of many wonderful tech devices that I have used for decades, announced that its updated Airpods Pro 2.0 had been approved by the FDA as ‘clinical grade’ hearing aids

Jim Airpods2 The author wearing his new Airpods Pro 2 hearing aids

Those Airpods became my Christmas present to me. I’ve been wearing them for just over a week, and I’ve been impressed. When paired with an iPhone, you can conduct a real time hearing test on the phone, and it calibrates Airpods Pro 2 settings to accommodate your hearing loss.

The Airpods definitely provide a real hearing boost to conversations, to watching television shows and more.

Not only that, the Airpods Pro 2.0 offers several settings that amplify all sounds, provide a conversation boost, cancel out unwanted noises. And it even has an ‘adaptive’ setting that filters out noises until I speak, which facilitates conversation.

I’m not wearing them all day, every day, so I haven’t had any battery issues yet. But when I do, all I have to do is charge them in their case rather than running out to buy new batteries all the time.

I’m still playing around with different settings to see what works best for me. But, so far, I have to give the Airpods Pro 2.0 a two-thumbs up, five-star review.

Oh, there’s a big self-image boost, too, for a now 71-year old me who doesn’t want to look (or act) his age.

And the cost in 2024 dollars was less than 10 percent of what the earlier hearing aids cost in 2015 dollars.

If I was a maker of traditional hearing aids, I would be scrambling to figure out how to lower the cost of my devices, add high fidelity sound and adaptive hearing features.

Otherwise, those hearing aid producers might become the next Research In Motion, the company that manufactured the once popular Blackberry phone.

And we all know what happened to the Blackberry when Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007.

It could happen again

BONUS UPDATE (Jan. 11): I have alleviated the pain of wearing the Airpods Pro 2 by “turning” them in my ears so they don’t press up against the cartilage to hard. It makes the stems stick out a bit, but doesn’t impact how they boost hearing. I’ve worn them this way for the past two days with little-to-no pain.

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Looking back at my BlogOKC favs of 2024

EDITOR’S NOTE: In what has become an annual column of its own, I look back over BlogOKC in 2024 and list my 10 favorite posts. Not most popular, but those that meant the most to me. I went back and forth, adding some then eliminating them, because each of them meant something to me. I hope you enjoy browsing the list and clicking on the headlines to read the full post. My list of personal favorites also includes a wonderful guest post by my friend, Don Mecoy. Enjoy!

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the ‘Golden At-Bat’ is being discussed

Major League Baseball’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

Dec. 11

When I was a young would-be sports writer just out of college working for the Southwest Times Record newspaper in Fort Smith, Ark., my editor sent me out to cover the state small school baseball tournament.

I had not seen much high school baseball through the years, so I was caught by surprise by one particular rule the small schools played by.

It was called the “Courtesy Runner.”

The Bricktown Ballpark scoreboard shows the team’s new name at reveal event.

What’s in a name? Apparently, a lot in OKC Baseball Club rebrand to ‘Comets’ … Or not much

Oct. 28

The Oklahoma City Baseball Club revealed its new name, “Comets,” in a ceremony Saturday evening at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark witnessed by at least a couple thousand enthusiastic fans.

I was among those who showed up for the Big Reveal, so I can attest to the collective cheer that went up when the “Comets” name and logo appeared on the scoreboard screen.

I was not expecting “Comets,” although I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe “Flycatchers,” which my friend Ed Godfrey had predicted as the future team name. Or the “Waving Wheats” or something that related to Oklahoma.

acu group — From left, Scott Kirk, Jim Stafford, Peggy Marler, Ron Hadfield, Corliss Hudson Englert, Brad Englert, Cheryl Mann Bacon

ACU Hall of Fame recognition for my friend Ron Hadfield … and a grand reunion

Oct. 22

Ron Hadfield is a long-time friend who was my student editor on the Abilene Christian University newspaper, The Optimist, in 1977. Ron recently was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ACU Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony that I was privileged to attend.

I showed up on ACU’s doorstep in 1976 as a transfer student with a dream to some day become a newspaper sportswriter, but with virtually no writing experience.

Ron likes to tell the story that on the first assignment he sent me out on, I turned in some terrible copy and proudly showed him the quotes I made up.

I deny the accuracy of his memory.

Brady and John — Brady Spencer with his son, John, outside Kansas City’s Union Station during the 2023 NFL draft.

The Populous impact on OKC sports venues & my friend, Brady Spencer

Sept. 17

A recent update in The Oklahoman newspaper on the new OG&E Coliseum under construction at the State Fairgrounds identified it as a venue designed by a firm named “Populous.”

In an even more recent story, I learned that Populous has been hired to design the new $71 million soccer stadium just south of OKC’s Bricktown.

I think I’m noticing a trend.

So, what exactly is Populous?

Solomon walking — Solomon rolls his new backpack up to OKC’s Omni Hotel on Friday morning.

Solomon’s ‘road trip’ to OKC’s Omni Hotel

July 12

This is what happens when his GiGi is out of town on business and Papa is left in charge of entertainment on a Friday for our grandson, Solomon.

So, when it was just us two early Friday, Solomon said he wanted to go on a road trip. He suggested “the beach” and then Branson.

I said we couldn’t do either of those today, but maybe we could drive up to Guthrie and find a place to eat.

Solomon sort of accepted that, but later told me he wanted to go to that “nice Thunder hotel downtown.” All of us had stayed the night at OKC’s Omni Hotel last year when my wife, Paula, was booked there for a convention meeting.

The ’65 Mustang was my Aunt Dee’s ride or die

June 28

This is a story of the Ford Mustang. Or, rather, two Ford Mustangs. One of them did not have a happy ending, and I was in it.

If you are hazy on your Ford Mustang history, I’ll catch you up to date a bit. The Mustang was conceived by team at Ford led by Lee Iacocca, who later gained fame as the man who saved Chrysler.

The first Mustang was introduced to the public in April 1964, as the “1964-1/2” Mustang. It was an instant hit. The public fell in love with it because it had a unique, sporty body style compared to what U.S. autos had been, which were cars shaped like boxes and quite unattractive.

My dad was among the millions of Americans who were taken by the Mustang and eventually bought one when he was stationed on the island of Okinawa while in the military. I’ll come back to that.

Apple in 2024: Nobody likes a bully

March 23

I read a magazine article when I was in college in the 1970s about a scrappy startup called Apple Computer, founded by two guys named Steve who built their first computers in the garage at the home of one of the Steves.

I couldn’t get enough of their story; the David-vs.-Goliath way that Apple blazed the personal computer trail that forced the industry behemoth at the time, IBM, to play catchup. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were my entrepreneurial heroes.

So, I admit that I am a long-time Apple fanboy and remain one today.

But my fandom has run smack into some ugly reality. Apple is no longer the scrappy industry underdog. In fact, it is one of the world’s largest companies by market value. Yet, it has begun to flex its financial muscles like a bully that nobody likes.

In my hometown, the long decline of a Fort Smith institution

Feb. 22

Here’s a bit of nostalgia for you. When I walked into the Southwest Times Record newsroom for the first time as an employee in 1978, I encountered a bustling community of talented writers, editors and photographers all scrambling to publish local news seven days a week.

The Fort Smith newspaper was a great place to learn the craft as my first job out of college. There are many folks among my former colleagues there whom I will never forget. I worked at the SWTR for five years in a variety of positions before moving to Oklahoma City and working for The Oklahoman for almost a quarter of a century.

So, it’s been disheartening to watch the SWTR decline as a community force over the past few years as the number of subscribers declined and employees were laid off. It’s a situation not unlike that in many other cities across the nation.

Evard and car — Evard Humphrey and his No. 12 super-modified sprint car

Why Evard Humphrey remains a sprint car hero to this child of the ’60s

Feb. 16

Editor’s Note: Don Mecoy is a friend and former colleague at The Oklahoman who retired as the newspaper’s managing editor at the end of 2022. A recent conversation about sports heroes from our youth when Don was a guest on the 3 Old Geezers podcast sparked his memory about a local race car driver fromthe late 1960s. Don wrote this guest blog post about that driver and those memories.

By Don Mecoy

I had my share of sports heroes when I was a kid. Roger Staubach, Lou Brock, Johnny Bench and Joe Washington were among my faves. But my personal hero — and it truly was personal — was a guy you probably never heard of: Evard “Kerfoot” Humphrey.

Evard was the driver of the No. 12 super-modified sprint car that ran every Friday night at State Fair Speedway during my youth in Oklahoma City.

tarps1 — Advertising banners cover the entire upper deck seating area down the first base line of the Bricktown Ballpark.

Fading glory: Bricktown Ballpark needs upper deck rehab

Feb. 2

I was enjoying a summer evening at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with a friend last year, savoring the crowd, the game and the park’s immaculate green pasture.

Then my eyes landed on the upper deck along the first baseline that extends out into right field. There were no seats or bleachers visible. Only advertising banners draped across each section.

Don’t get me wrong. Oklahoma City has a beautiful ballpark that has retained its attractiveness since it opened in April 1998. However, the tarps do nothing but detract from the ballpark’s charm.

Apple in 2024: Nobody likes a bully

Less than a decade later I was the proud owner of an Apple IIe, and would later own multiple Macintosh computers, including the Macbook Air upon which this blog post is being written in 2024.

So, I admit that I am a long-time Apple fanboy and remain one today.

You probably have seen stories this past week about the anti-trust lawsuit filed against Apple by the U.S. Department of Justice and 17 states. The lawsuit alleges that Apple blocks developers and other companies from offering better pricing options to iPhone users and locks companies — and its users — almost exclusively to its App store.

Apple faced similar scrutiny in Europe and is currently working to comply with orders from European Union regulators to open the iPhone to what is known as “side loading.” That means developers can offer their software to consumers in an App store separate from the Apple App store.

But the antitrust suits are not what is challenging my long-standing Apple fanboy-hood. I actually prefer that any software I download to the iPhone pass through the Apple App store for security and quality reasons. Apple has done a pretty good job of vetting apps to prevent fraud or malware from slipping through.

What’s disappointed me about my favorite company — according to industry reporting — is how in recent years it has ruthlessly steamrolled innovative startups.

I’ve read reports about Apple’s tactic of appealing to the U.S. Patent Office to nullify patents owned by smaller competitors, and then developing and patenting its own software that is almost identical to that of the little guys.

A story in this week’s Wall Street Journal with the headline “When Apple Comes Calling, ‘It’s the Kiss of Death’” lays it out pretty well. Most of it revolves around the Apple Watch.

The article provides examples of Apple inviting founders to its HQ to discuss their innovations, then hiring multiple employees away from the competitors and creating software that does exactly what the original company created.

That action leads to claims of patent infringement by the smaller companies, and often ends with Apple taking it through the Patent Office appeals process. Here’s an example from the Wall Street Journal:

“Since 2012, Apple has attempted to invalidate more patent claims before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board than any other petitioner, according to intellectual-property research firm Patexia.

“Apple said it pays licensing fees to many companies of different sizes. The spokeswoman said it has licensed more than 25,000 patents from smaller companies over the past three years.”

OKLAHOMA ANGLE

There’s an Oklahoma connection to this story. One of the companies from which Apple allegedly appropriated technology for the Apple Watch was AliveCor Inc., founded by Dr. David Albert, well known cardiologist, inventor and native Oklahoman.

I’ve known Dr. Albert for at least a decade through my past work with i2E, Inc.

AliveCor developed a technology in 2017 that would conduct electrocardiograms for Apple Watch users. Apple invited Dr. Albert to its HQ, where he demonstrated the technology for executives, according to the Wall Street Journal story.

In 2018, Apple released the Apple Watch 4, which offered an electrocardiogram capability. AliveCor filed a patent infringement suit against Apple in 2021.

It has not gone well for AliveCor, as you might expect. Here’s more from the Wall Street Journal:

“In December, the commission ruled in favor of AliveCor, barring imports into the U.S. of all Apple Watches with the heart-sensing capabilities.

Separately, Apple took the dispute to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board system … That board invalidated the AliveCor patents under dispute, thereby nullifying the import ban. AliveCor has appealed that ruling.”

I heard about the AliveCor lawsuit a couple years ago and reached out to Dr. Albert for comment for a blog post I intended to write back then.

Dr. Albert responded: “Jim, I cannot discuss our ongoing litigation — sorry.”

I elected not to write anything at that time, but the recent Wall Street Journal article opened the door this week.

I’m a fan of AliveCor and the other startups that have developed innovative technology only to be crushed by the tech giant. I’m disappointed that Apple has apparently evolved into an industry bully that sees no problem in squashing the little guys.

It’s like no one at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., HQ remembers that it was once the scrappy startup founded by two Steves who built computers in their parents’ garage.

Apple’s founders built a lot of goodwill among consumers and fanboys like me. I’m hoping their successors don’t let it slip away.

BONUS CONTENT! My friend Larry Newman is a long-time user of Apple technology, and was employed by Seagate Technology and other tech companies for most of his career. Now retired, he weighs in with his thoughts on the situation with Apple and Big Tech:

“I made an incredible living thanks in no small part to Apple products. I don’t know the details of the current government antitrust charges against them. But I’m guessing most of us would be quite disappointed in the lack of ethics displayed by the overwhelming majority of big tech companies. Regardless, I would rather big USA-based tech companies win than foreign ones. Our government would better serve citizens by using their influence to encourage repatriation of tech manufacturing jobs back to US soil.

“When I started working at Seagate in 1992, their manufacturing plants in the United States were employing thousands of people. But once one competitor began moving manufacturing overseas, all others had to follow to remain competitive and survive. Simple import restrictions/duties would have eliminated the migration of the jobs.

“Another thing to consider is platform security. Although no technology platform is 100% secure, Apple systems are clearly less vulnerable than more open systems.”

Steve Jobs in his own words

Steve Jobs during 2005 Stanford Commencement speech.

If you follow this blog or know me personally, you’re probably aware that I’m a fan of Apple Inc. and its co-founder, the late Steve Jobs.

Jobs’ story is well known. Co-founding Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak; building the Apple I in the garage of his childhood home; creating the Macintosh computer in 1984; getting fired from his own company in 1985; returning to Apple a decade later to become CEO and leading development of groundbreaking products.

The company has since soared to incredible financial stature.

Along the way, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer and eventually died from it in October 2011.

Books have been written about Jobs after his death and movies made about his life. I’ve read two books that I would highly recommend, especially Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. The other is Becoming Steve Jobs by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli.

The Isaacson book sort of reinforces the image I had of Jobs as a creative person who drove himself and others really hard, mostly without tact or apparent empathy. As much as I admire the innovations he brought to the market, I don’t think I could have worked for Steve Jobs.

But I’m still a fan, because of his enormous impact on our world (iPhone, anyone?). And the fact that the arc of his life reads like a Greek tragedy.

So, when I discovered Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs in His Own Words, published by the Steve Jobs Archive, I had to read it, too.

Available for free on Apple Books or on the Web at the Steve Jobs Archive, the 319-page book contains speeches, presentations and emails by Jobs.

It’s sort of the ultimate inside look at how he thought and worked, especially the emails he sent to himself with information and thoughts he didn’t want to let get away.

There are lots of good quotes in the book, including the entire transcript of his 2005 Stanford University Commencement speech. You can also watch it on YouTube.

So, I’ve selected a few quotes that I found memorable and will share in this post.

For instance, way back in 1983, Steve already saw the future in which computers were going to tie millions of people around the world together though networking capabilities. The Internet was about 6 months old, and few people actually knew it existed.

Talking to the International Design Conference in Aspen in June of that year, Jobs said:

“… I think that that’s exactly what’s going to happen as we start to tie these things [computers] together: they’re going to facilitate communication and facilitate bringing people together in the special interests that they have.
And we’re about five years away from really solving the problems of hooking these computers together in the office. And we’re about ten to fifteen years away from solving the problems of hooking them together in the home.”

In a 1984 speech to Apple employees the day before the Macintosh debuts in the famous “1984” ad run during the Super Bowl:

“IBM wants it all, and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control: Apple. Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry? [Audience: No!] The entire information age? [Audience: No!] Was George Orwell right about 1984?”

In a 1984 interview with reporter Michael Moritz:

“I want to build products that are inherently smaller than any of the products on the market today. And when you make things smaller, you have the ability to make them more precisely. Obviously, a perfect example of that is a watch. It’s beautiful, but the precision has to be the scale of the object itself, and so you make it very precise.”

From a 1996 speech to Palo Alto, Calif., high school students:

“Be a creative person. Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights that others don’t see. You have to have them to connect them. Creative people feel guilty that they are simply relaying what they “see.” How do you get a more diverse set of experiences? Not by traveling the same path as everyone else …”

In an email exchange in 1997 with a software engineer after returning to Apple as Interim-then-full-time CEO:

“… there is something good here worth saving. I don’t quite know how to express it, but it has to do with the fact that Apple is the ONLY alternative to Windows and that Apple can still inject some new thinking into the equation.”

Finally, an excerpt from his Stanford Commencement speech in 2005, a year after he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Before his death, Fortune magazine called him the Beethoven of the business world. That’s a pretty good description.

I highly recommend Make Something Wonderful if you are a fanboy like me or merely curious about Steve Jobs.