Positivity

Siri has fallen behind the competition and shows no sign of catching up, Phil Schiller has recently shown some courage, the Mac Pro has gone for years with no updates, leaving people questioning Apple’s commitment to pro customers, there are still bugs in the various OSes prompting calls for a ‘Snow Leopard’ year, and developers are still hoping for some kind of change to the App Store business model…

No, silly, it’s not 2025—it’s 2017!

Sentiment around Apple at this time was at an all-time low. Alongside the things listed above, we had the unpopular redesign of the MacBook Pro and the subsequent failures of the butterfly keyboard. There was also concern that the Mac was going to be left behind in favor of the iPad.

In the summer of 2017, I had grown tired of being stuck in the mud, dragged down week after week into these unhappy conversations on my podcasts. So, I decided that I needed to shift my outlook. This brought about the Year of Positivity. I decided that from WWDC 2017 to WWDC 2018, I would try to adopt a lighter outlook. I wanted to stop getting lost in easy negativity, forcing myself to think differently about my content and embracing what I loved about computers—especially the ones Apple made.

Luckily, during that period, things started turning around a bit. Apple had their Mac Roundtable, the iMac Pro was announced, the Mac Pro returned to a much-loved design, we got the iPhone X—the list goes on.

I was lucky that, after forcing myself toward positivity, Apple made it easy to stay positive.

It became easy to be an Apple commentator for a while. After this time, we saw the introduction of Apple Silicon Macs, significant advancements in iPad hardware, and the domination of AirPods.

Then the DMA came along, we saw Tim Cook cozying up to Donald Trump, Apple jumped into the AI game, then had to pull back on AI, and then there was the fallout from the Epic lawsuit.

I feel like you don’t need me to break these things down—much digital ink has been spilled, and many hours of podcasts have covered these topics more than adequately.

As 2025 began, Jason and I decided we wanted to work harder on finding the fun in the topics we were covering on Upgrade. I think we’ve been better at that this year, while still touching on things that felt important to cover.

The episodes on the culmination of the Epic lawsuit were about as heavy as the show has been in a long time. I am very happy with how those episodes came together, as I enjoy big debates and discussions, but they also reminded me how easy it is to get sucked into negativity.

As WWDC approached, I was excited about the potential for the conversation to shift. While I hoped Apple would finally give some concessions to developers, I wasn’t expecting it. It felt more likely that we would get a great WWDC filled with interesting product decisions and APIs to explore. I feel like we got that. Looking ahead to the next few months, I feel we have grounds for great conversations about computers and their workings, rather than sifting through court documents.

I also used this pre-WWDC period to reflect on myself and what I wanted to focus my creative energy on. Out of that came this website, and particularly its name. I wanted to spend more time focusing on the things I care about and love.

All of this to say, it’s time for The Year of Positivity 2.

I feel I’m in a perfect spot to look at the next 12 months of technology coverage and do my best to find or create bright spots. I won’t ignore important topics, but once I’ve had my say, I want to move on and return to finding the fun with computers.

I think consciously framing my creative energy as enthusiasm will help me particularly enjoy being more positive. I think my audience will enjoy this too. I use podcasts as an escape, spending time with voices I care about who enjoy their co-hosts or guests. I take great pleasure in hearing them talk about things that matter deeply to them. I do appreciate them sharing strong viewpoints on big issues that are important to me—but that doesn’t need to be their sole focus.

I have no idea if the next 12 months will be as fruitful for me as 2017 to 2018 were. Maybe they will be, or maybe it’ll take a bit longer. It’s possible that I’ll just have to work harder to find this positivity myself and deliver it to you.

What I do know is I will try my best. I think it’ll be good for all of us.