Apple finally ran out of ways to resell us the same product

It's a good thing that Tim Cook alluded to the company's pitched battle with the FBI at the beginning of Monday's keynote, and not just because it's an important issue.

Bringing it up was the equivalent of holding a newspaper in a ransom photograph. It's about the only thing that proved the event was actually taking place in 2016.

Otherwise you might think you were living in a Groundhog Day of Apple keynotes — where we keep seeing the same products launch, over and over. 

The "Apple launches 4-inch iPhone" headlines took me right back to September 2012, the first time I saw and wrote them. (Ironically, I could be found at that event imploring Apple to make a truly new and outside-the-box product; the company has since introduced a smartwatch).  Read more...