Dear Friends,

Rob and Tony took the time to prune the big apple tree that we had planted just outside the window of my office when we first moved here. It is a big tree now and covered with apple blossoms that seem to have weathered the snow that we got earlier this week. Now the blossoms are attracting the birds and the bees and some of the staff must wonder what I am doing staring out the window. I’ve seen hummingbirds, red wing black birds (actually orange winged), grosbeaks and this morning a bluebird just sat on the top branch for a long time. Gotta love spring!

I am constantly amazed at how many inventions that I first read about in science fiction books as a youth are now becoming reality. Apple made a big $1 billion investment in China’s ride-sharing service Didi Chuxing. There has been a lot of speculation as to the reasons for Apple making this investment but even for a pure financial move it makes sense as Didi does at least 10 times the number of rides that Uber does in the USA. It has become the new normal for rides in many areas of China. But, there has also been a lot of speculation that it has something to do with Apple’s foray into the automotive industry and the future of self-driving cars. That’s where the sci-fi comes in — many writers have speculated about taxis that are driverless and they have been in movies such as Blade Runner. With the work Apple, Google and others are doing on self-driving electric cars, can it be far off? I think that there could be a major paradigm shift coming regarding car ownership and use.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive features the stunning 27-inch iMac with Retina display. This Apple factory reconditioned model has the same one year warranty as a new product and we are bundling it with AppleCare so you get 3-years of warranty protection and instead of the 90-days of free Apple technical support you get 3-years. This model features the 3.5GHz i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 1TB fusion drive. If you are looking to add a desktop Mac this could be a great opportunity. Normally, this bundle would sell for $1,939.98 but exclusively for Kibbles & Bytes readers this week (while supplies last) you can save $200 and get the 27-inch iMac with Applecare for only $1739.98!