Reading List

The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.

The best Black Friday deals we’ve found on TVs, laptops, and more

Black Friday is the most anticipated day of the year for bargain hunters. Although we still have a day or two before November 28th, we’ve already found a healthy selection of early discounts, allowing you to get a jump on your holiday shopping. Right now, for instance, Apple’s entry-level AirPods 4 are down to a […]

Stranger Things 5 begins with a frantic race to the finish line

It has been a decade since the Stranger Things phenomenon began, and the Duffer brothers have had ample time to craft a strong finish to their breakout hit series. But the beginning of the show's fifth and final season feels like a frantic race to the end. While Stranger Things wasn't Netflix's first breakout hit, […]

Apple TV pulls The Hunt over plagiarism accusation

Apple TV removed The Hunt from its streaming slate last week after concerns were raised about plagiarism. The move, previously reported by Apple Insider, comes after French media journalist Clément Garin claimed that the story closely follows Shoot, a 1974 novel written by Douglas Fairbairn. The Hunt was originally supposed to premiere on Apple TV […]

OpenAI denies liability in teen suicide lawsuit, cites ‘misuse’ of ChatGPT

OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit by the family of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who took his own life after discussing it with ChatGPT for months, said the injuries in this “tragic event” happened as a result of Raine’s “misuse, unauthorized use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT.” NBC News reports the filing […]

David Lerner, Co-Founder of Tekserve, Dies at 72

Sam Roberts, reporting for The New York Times:

David Lerner, a high school dropout and self-taught computer geek whose funky foothold in New York’s Flatiron district, Tekserve, was for decades a beloved discount mecca for Apple customers desperate to retrieve lost data and repair frozen hard drives, died on Nov. 12 at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 72. [...]

Tekserve specialized in finding the cures for sick computers — including insect infestations — and recovering first novels and other priceless data, which the company said it was able to do about 85 percent of the time.

“We only charged for success,” Mr. Lerner said.

There were many great independent Apple resellers from the pre-Apple-Store era. There was only one that was legendary: Tekserve.