Happy Holidays from The Mac Observer!

It doesn’t matter if you’re into Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, Solstice, or any end-of-the-year holiday. The Mac Observer hopes this weekend is a wonderful time for you, and that you get to take a day or two off to relax. We’re taking (the rest of) Tuesday and Wednesday off, but we’ll be back on Thursday, December 26th, with iPhone, iPad, and Mac coverage, along with a fresh TMO Daily Observations episode, too.

TMO UK Associate Editor Charlotte Henry (#3) - TMO Background Mode Interview

Charlotte Henry is a London-based technical journalist. A self described media junkie, she writes about Apple – and now for the Mac Observer as well as our UK Associate Editor. She has also written for City A.M. (London’s daily business tabloid,) Computer Business Review, the Independent on Sunday and CapX. Her new book is: Not Buying It.

In this special holiday edition of BGM, Charlotte and I chat about our favorite Christmas movies and what makes them so great for us. There are also some honorable mentions. We finish with a diagnosis of Apple TV+ The Morning Show.

Happy Holidays from Everyone at The Mac Observer

Regardless of the holiday you’re celebrating, The Mac Observer hopes this weekend is a wonderful time for you, and that you get to take a day or two off to relax. We’re taking Tuesday off, but we’ll be back on Wednesday, December 26th, with our iPhone, iPad, and Mac coverage, along with a fresh TMO Daily Observations episode, too.

Enjoy the holiday season!
Happy holidays from The Mac Observer

The First AI-Written Christmas Song Is More Soul-Crushing than Fruitcake

Gather ye around the yule log, so festive, warm, and bright! Listen to this song of Christmas cheer written and composed by an AI. And hold on to your loved ones as said tune sucks the soul from your very bones and leaves you quivering in the naked fear not that the morrow will not come, but that it will come and you will be forced to endure another day contemplating the futility and hopelessness of life!  “I’ve always been there for the rest of our lives. A hundred and a half hours ago. I’m glad to meet you. I can hear the music coming from the hall.” Now that, dear friends, is the Christmas stuff of nightmares, as HowStuffWorks put it. And yes, I am dying, both from laughter and abject fear. This “song,” such as it is, was the result of a neural network project from The University of Toronto. They fed in 100 hours of holiday music, a bunch of holiday photographs with captions, and said, “Now you do it.” The song below was the result. Put another way, score ones for the humans.