As most of you know, Apple — make that Steve Jobs — first demonstrated the iPhone 15 years ago at a Macworld Expo. While the company had long been rumored to be working on a cellphone, the exact configuration was expected to be something in line with existing gear, except for the integration with iTunes. Apple had tried to have its embedded in a Motorola device, the ROKR, which ended up being a perfectly dreadful product for which ease of use was a dirty word.

In any case, before the iPhone arrived, the common form factor for a smartphone was best typified by the Blackberry, featuring a tiny physical keyboard, with a small display above it. I tried them once or twice, but decided that I’d rather use such a device for making and receiving phone calls, not for text or suffering though a dreadful mobile app. Or just stick with my deep red Motorola RAZR.

Until the iPhone arrived.

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When I first started using Macs in the 1980s, I did not for a moment consider what I’d be using as my gadgets of choice in 2022. Or even that I’d still be alive.

In any case, I adopted the platform early on because of its relative ease of use and stability. Compared to today’s Mac, there is no comparison. The 21st century Mac is just incredibly faster, but regular system crashes rarely occur, and when something goes awry, it’s mostly due to an issue with a specific app that can be cured by getting the new version.

Apple’s third processor transition is moving forward, and there have been few complaints. Well, some of the critics tried to imply that the amazing benchmarks that have been published were either fake or taken out of context. There was always a way to fudge the numbers to one’s advantage.

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So Barbara and I have iPhones (and her iPad) that are fully compatible with the latest operating systems from Apple. They may not be new enough to take advantage of all of the spiffy new features, but they run just fine. There are no issues that I can see; apps launch fast, that things that we do (mostly email, Safari and a handful of other apps) work just fine.

My iMac, however, is a Late 2014 model, the first with the 5K Retina Display. But the latest macOS, Monterey, cannot be installed on it. Yes, I know there are unofficial ways to make it so, but I also have to run a business, and I cannot risk running into unexpected problems that might sacrifice reliability and security. So I live with Big Sur.

Except for Safari, since Apple has released the Monterey version, with most of the new features, for older operating systems that include Big Sir and Catalina.

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It’s been real hard to escape the promos. Award-winning movie director Peter Jackson, famed for the Lord of the Rings films and other fare, got the go-ahead to edit the unused footage for that dreadful 1970 Beatles documentary film, Let It Be. Featuring the Fab Four attempting to record a new album and stage their first live concert in three years, the original was dreary and depressing. Yes, I saw it — once!

Now I remember how it all seemed at the time. I was working as the head of the news department of a local radio station in the Philadelphia suburbs. Before my hourly newscasts, I’d run over to the wire service teletype machine — just as you see chugging away in the movies — to check on the the state and national stories.

As most of you know, I’ve been a fan of The Beatles since 1965, when I came to realize their talents were awesome, far beyond the image conveyed in “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” So I wasn’t terribly pleased to see the story, quoting a press release from Paul McCartney.

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