I love many stupid things, this one may be the stupidest.

I've been accused of many things. Although most of those accusations turn out to be true, their is one I disagree with. I'm no Apple fan boy. I mean, yeah I own an iPhone...and an Apple Watch...and Airpods. Sure I'm typing this on my Macbook...and I watch all their presentations...but that doesn't make me a fanboy!

I say that cause I'm typing this out while I'm updating all my devices to Apple's latest software, excitement brewing in me to try something new. I'm also getting my iPhone in a few days, something else new! But with all that information, would you believe I actually don't own my favorite Apple product? Bet you can't guess what it is.

Did you guess the Apple Vision Pro? WRONG! I thought you knew me by now reader...I'm actually disappointed in you. The actual product? This:

That is the Apple Polishing Cloth, a $19 accessory that...well...polishes. You can find these anywhere, many different options for reasonable prices. If you, like me, have trouble seeing things, they usually throw in a cloth when you buy glasses. Do you think I'm going to talk about this because of the price point? This isn't Must Be Nice reader. Why is this my favorite Apple product?

Compatibility

If you go to the store page and scroll down, toggle that compatibilty checkbox. Look at it! All the devices that are compatible with the Polishing Cloth!

All my devices, fortunately, are compatible. Granted I can't polish my Airpods with it. Wait reader! I know what you're going to say, let me cut you off right there! Please reader, DO NOT POLISH YOUR AIRPODS WITH THE POLISHING CLOTH! It's not safe! I don't think Apple has done any R&D into that, you could cause a rupture in space and time. I'd rather you not risk it. Hell, do you own an Apple Vision Pro? That ain't on the list of compatible devices! Don't you dare reader!

I'm not the only one who actively follows this. It feels like every time Apple releases a new product, I see article after article (after article) about the Polishing Cloth being "updated" to add compatibility with said new device.

To be fair to Apple, they do this with all accessories on their product pages. What's worse here? Knowing there are people shopping that don't know if a cloth would work to clean their screen or that Apple is worried people are dumb enough to not understand how a cloth works? Regardless, I think it's amazing! I know what I'm going to ask everyone to buy me for Christmas.

things i read

Inside India’s billion-dollar e-waste empire | Yashraj Sharma for Rest of World

A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In. | Kashmir Hill for NY Times

Disasters destroyed their homes. Then the real estate ‘vultures’ swooped in. | Sophie Hurwitz for Grist

The Wild, Citywide Scavenger Hunt That Ate San Francisco | Boone Ashworth for WIRED

Slate Auto’s sub-$30,000 EV pickup is due next year—here’s the factory | ArsTechnica

My mom and Dr. DeepSeek | Viola Zhou for Rest of World

Puerto Ricans are devising the food system of tomorrow | Ayurella Horn-Muller for Grist

The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It? | Emi Nietfeld for WIRED

How Wikipedia survives while the rest of the internet breaks | Josh Dzieza for The Verge

Do you own the Apple Polishing Cloth? I need you're official review. Send it to me: blog@lattepunk.com.