Christopher Schroeder

Category: community and culture

  • Frenemies and Families

    Frenemies and Families

    Among Friends by Hal Ebbott is a flawed yet perhaps fascinating novel ostensibly about college friends Emerson and Amos.

    Emerson, who introduces Amos to his friend Claire, appears when Amos needs someone, which cements their connection. This connection eventually includes Claire, whom Amos marries, and Emerson’s wife Retsy as well as their respective daughters Anna and Sophie.

    The point of view shifts throughout the story, and attempts to establish some sympathy with all of the central characters, but at its center as the title suggests is the connection among the four of them, or at least Emerson, Amos, and Claire. These three are balanced by Retsy, who also counterbalances the pressure added by Claire to the friendship between Amos and Emerson.

    Claire, whose history with Emerson at times makes Amos uneasy, displays competing and confusing loyalties throughout the story. Emerson, who assumes that other discuss and even mock him, has an often hidden cruelty that is more revealed than developed.

    This cruelty becomes clear to Amos at the end, and catalyzes his change, which is the final focus of the plot and seems to make the novel in the end his story. For most of it, Amos exhibits a relatively uninteresting uncertainty and insecurity, which makes his eventual courage either more moving or less plausible.

    This courage comes from nowhere except his empathy for his daughter Anna, and specifically his ability to put her needs ahead of his own. As a result, Amos transforms what until that point had been embarrassing, and has been used against him, which almost redeems his emotional suffering and generates an unexpected strength.

    The problem with such an interpretation is the ending, which is too ambiguous and perhaps too rushed. Amos acts independently at the risk of his marriage, and also agrees to Claire’s proposed remedy, which is a family vacation for the three of them that he believes might salvage their marriage.

    Amos and Claire however consult Retsy and Emerson for a recommendation even as they intend once there to follow Anna’s direction. That could refer to her preferences for excursions, which is plausible, but doesn’t rule out an invitation to Emerson, Retsy, and Sophie to join them.

    This second possibility could portend reconciliation and forgiveness, which seems unrealistic or at the very least an awful possibility. I cannot comment on the proper protocol for such situation — I’m being deliberately vague to avoid revealing too much — and yet am horrified by the prospect of returning to regular interactions among them.

    Such an outcome only seems possible, and given the rest of the plot somewhat implausible. If intentional, the novel asks questions about whether we should judge others by their worst moments and if some actions permanently destroy long relationships, in which case the conclusion needs more care, and craft, if only to convince readers that they’re deliberately agitated.

    This more generous interpretation would suggest that this story starts as a slow burn only to burst however briefly into a flame, which would be reason enough to read it.

  • The Neo Danger

    The MacBook Neo by all accounts is amazing.

    This newest Apple laptop, which consists of MacBook Air compromises for a much more affordable price, has been praised for its performance, build quality, and value. The demand for this “perfect compromise” even surprised Apple, and reportedly contributed to a record number of new customers.

    MacBook Neo website screenshot

    The Neo has few competitors among Windows budget laptops at least at the moment although it could motivate Lenovo for example or HP to improve its offerings. It has next to none among Chromebooks, which are little more than surveillance browsers without the Linux virtual machine option, and still nowhere close with it activated.

    For these and other reasons, the Neo laptop will attract individual users, especially those who already have iPhones and AirPods or Apple Watches but before now couldn’t justify a thousand dollars or more for an Apple laptop. It will also likely have an increased appeal to institutions, such as schools and small businesses, as a result of the same reasons, including the network effect.

    With it, Apple is extending its reach into hardware, which has always been its focus, and adding this extension to its software, platforms (FaceTime, e.g., or iMessage), and services (iCloud, e.g., or Apple TV). As a result, Apple is consolidating its control, and slowly but surely becoming the primary portal through which people access digital networks.

    Such a consolidation challenges adversarial interoperability, or the cooperative potential of different devices and platforms even without the consent. This condition, which has long been considered a threat by Apple, is both central to the invention of the internet (Berners-Lee 2025) and possible remedy to its chronic devolution (Doctorow 2025).

    This consolidation also promotes its colonization of psychological, social, and cultural spaces, which should be increasingly evident. More and more people are walking or worse driving for example while messaging, surfing, or talking as a result of Apple devices. Too many if you ask me seem enthralled with immersion, subjectivity, and other cultural immediacy features that have been promulgated by these devices.

    Some might be more or less alarmed about a human future that increasingly exists within digital networks. Regardless, all of us can be concerned with the way that Apple has positioned itself to exert the greatest control and make the most money, which only compounds its control.

    None of us can dismiss this dependency no matter how much Apple promotes user privacy for example or environmental stability or otherwise presents itself positively to the world. We cannot be confident that it will continue to promote these or other prosocial practices, especially if or when sales start to slump.

    The Apple MacBook Neo in other words might be amazing but upon second thought is also alarming because it contributes to the degradation of digital networks and encourages digital dependency.

    Equally alarming is that such second thoughts might not disqualify the MacBook Neo as my replacement laptop when I need a new one or worse before then.

  • A Bigger Bite

    The recent of history of Apple by tech and science writer David Pogue is a useful addition to accounts of this company that initially seemed unremarkable, later seemed doomed, and yet has transformed human experience, and continues to do so.

    Pogue conducted 150 interviews for this coherent, and credible, account of what could be the most influential of the MAGNA (FAANG) companies. This review also clarifies misunderstandings and adds insights for a more comprehensive of the first US company with a $1 trillion valuation (2018), which rose to $4 trillion last fall.

    Pogue’s seeming exhaustive account is deeply detailed, and its lavish production quality reflects the Apple aesthetic. Glossy pages feature appealing layouts with big blocks of texts and frequent sidebars, which sometimes seem gossipy and occasionally disruptive.

    Many regard this extensively sourced book as serious journalism that will appeal to tech and business readers. Apple fans I believe will appreciate the deluge of information, and anyone whose impressions begin with the first iPhone (2007) or even the “Think different” campaigns (1997-2002) will be able to add to their understanding of this global company.

    An obvious limitation, which applies to most print products, is that it is relative static, which means that it is already outdated. Its release for example was soon followed by the announcement of the current Apple CEO Tim Cook’s imminent retirement and its next CEO John Ternus, whose hardware background could alter the trajectory of this company.

    A bigger problem in my opinion is the way it most avoids larger contexts that would situate Apple in relation to other Big Tech companies or even internet history. These contexts could consider the effects of Apple products on users for example or cultural norms.

    This issue can be illustrated in the expansion of corporate control over hardware and software with iTunes (2003), the App Store (2008), and iCloud (2011), which included streaming services in Apple Music (2015) and original content with Apple TV+ (2019), and which were bundled as Apple One (2020). Apple in doing so isn’t different from other Big Tech companies, and yet by combining hardware, software, platforms (iMessage, e.g., or FaceTime), and services is more effective and I believe more dangerous.

    I appreciate the account of this company from its founding by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976 and its later struggle with Microsoft over market share and even itself over product clarity. At the same time, I expected more, such as the way it locks users into its products and exploits network effects that can harm not just the internet as others (e.g., Doctorow 2025) suggest but also I would add users, culture, and society.

    That however would be a different book, and might require a different author. The question of whether long-form journalists who offer histories have the same obligations as historians is a debate for a different forum and different day.