AppleTV is the media box to use if you hate ads and value your privacy. Its Home Screen is just a grid of apps. No ads. None. It’s also way faster (CPU speed) compared to the competition.

Replacing a smart TV OS with a device made by Google or Amazon defeats the purpose. You’re still going to get ads plastered all over your Home Screen. And they still lag and stutter unless you pay a premium price for an 5 year old Nvidia shield. Either use an AppleTV or build your own HTPC.

I haven seen my LG OLED’s smart OS for years.

My LG OLED TV can be configured to load directly into a HDMI input. I keep it disconnected from wifi at all times. I never see the smartTV OS. It’s probably the best option because OLED panels are the best current display technology.

I use an AppleTV as an external media box for all my needs. But the same would apply for an Android box or HTPC setup etc.

I’ve been in similar situations while renting. I ran ethernet cables along skirting boards and around doorframes and hid them inside adhesive cable raceways.

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The realpolitik answer is that they’re the only country in the region with highly functioning western-style market economy. That is valuable to other functioning western style market economies. Its a system trying to help itself propagate.

Singapore’s public transport system is fantastic. I lived there for 2 years and never felt like I needed a car. You only get one as a status symbol.

Charging at work via solar would be even better. If there was some way for businesses to be incentivised for it.

It’s the 30% supply charge increase that made me mad. That’s not tied to the wholesale cost. Thankfully I have solar panels so my bill is already quite low. But I still need grid access. Paying 30% extra now for that “luxury”.

For me: iPhone, MacBook, and AppleTV4K are fantastic devices. Apple Music is great. If you want a smart watch and tablet, then the Apple Watch and iPad are also the obvious choices for those categories.

Anything else I could take it or leave it. HomeKit, HomePod, and Siri are atrocious in terms of reliability, which sucks because the Google and Amazon alternatives are a privacy nightmare.

Mazda. They’ve brought back physical buttons and have support for CarPlay if you want it.

I’m not saying that Vision Pro is guaranteed to be a success. But we see the same cycle with every new apple product category: Apple release something minimal and polished, the tech community finds a thousand reasons why it will fail, and then it…doesn’t. Happened with watch, AirPods, notches in screens, etc.

By the third or fourth iteration Apple’s going to demolish the AR industry like they have with every other product category they invest in.