By John Moltz
June 20, 2025 2:00 PM PT
This Week in Apple: Time is the FireWire in which we all burn
Apple wants you to know about its latest pet project, WWDC is over but for all the shouting, and we bid FW (farewell) to FW (FireWire).
Oh, you have a movie coming out?
There is just kind of a lot right now all the time so you may be excused for missing the 10,000 times Apple tried to tell you about it but were you aware that Apple has a movie coming up? Can anyone guess the name? It’s two characters and rhymes with “fu-un”.
Apple, of course, did a humorous video tie-in to the film to kick off the WWDC 2025 keynote, starring Craig Federighi’s hair, but this week it turned the promotion up to F11.
If you went to Apple’s 5th Avenue store this week you might have run into one Tim Cook and actor Brad Pitt who were there to promote said flick. The movie is not called “Pitt Stop”, despite it being about cars and starring Pitt. Seems like a missed opportunity but I’m not the guy who gets to pick these things.
Yet.
Apple also partnered with Fandango so that Apple Pay users would get a $10 discount when buying tickets for the movie, whatever its name may be. $10?! That’s probably not going to buy you a small soda at the theater but it might get you a cup of warm water! Mmm. So warm and moist.
And if this promotion wasn’t enough, Apple also released an immersive experience for the Vision Pro featuring Tim Cook’s shopping pal.
The new immersive title allows the headset wearer to experience the thrills of racing at high-speed, with the movie’s star Brad Pitt in the racing seat taking a test drive around a track.
Yes, for the first time, you can experience going to the race track and specifically hoping there will not be any exciting crashes.
Anyway, good luck to Apple with the June 27th premiere of this film, the name of which escapes me.
The talk circuit
It was a week for post-WWDC interviews as observers tried to unpack the fallout from Apple’s annual event.
While Apple executives were a no-show at The Talk Show Live, they nevertheless did show up to talk to some others.
Apple’s Craig Federighi, presumably controlled Ratatouille-like by his sentient hair, sat down to talk with #1 iPad fan Federico Viticci about the big changes for the platform.
“Interview: Craig Federighi Opens Up About iPadOS, Its Multitasking Journey, and the iPad’s Essence”
Meanwhile, John Gruber chatted with Peter Kafka (podcast link) about Apple’s WWDC announcements, Siri, and Apple’s decision not to appear at The Talk Show Live, essentially saying that Apple declined for the reasons he stuffed into my mouth at the beginning of the event. (By the way, shout out to that one person who went “Whooo!” at the idea of me actually being the guest. You’re the best. Thanks, mom.)
“Let’s just say they were unhappy.”
For his part, Gruber finds it a win for him — because it reasserts his independence — and a loss for Apple, which comes out looking thin-skinned. Thin-skinned the company may be, but…
…it’s the thinnest skin they’ve ever had and they think you’re going to love it.
macOS Sans Fuego
Without a doubt, the biggest news of the week is that Apple is ABANDONING a long-time technology that people rely on every day.
I mean, somebody probably still does.
“macOS Tahoe Beta Drops FireWire Support”
But my original iPod! My Drobo! MY ISIGHT CAMERA!!!
Yes, pour one out for FireWire, but please make it period-specific. I’m thinking maybe a 40 of Pabst Blue Ribbon, some Smirnoff Ice, or a Bacardi Breezer… something that says it’s 2005 and I’m moving my LimeWire downloads to a backup drive because I’m out of space on my iBook’s 30GB internal drive.
All good things come to an end, but if you see a maroon 2006 Dodge Stratus driving around with a rose and the words “IN LOVING MEMORY, FIREWIRE, 1999 – 2025” emblazoned on the back window, wave at me.
[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]