Now that Apple TV has been out a few months, I went back and looked at how much I’ve used the service. I watched all of the “For All Mankind” series, and I’m working my way through “Little America”. The big-budget “See” series couldn’t hold me for two episodes, but that isn’t surprising. Dystopian future shows do nothing for me. My wife and I watched the first few episodes of “Morning Show” together, and we have the best intentions of finishing it, but we haven’t got around to episode three in months.

In contrast, my family (without any small children) seems to watch Disney+ constantly. I get that I’m just reporting one family, but talking to friends and family, Apple TV+ seems to have the same lukewarm reception among all of them. Looking at this launch window, all we can really say is that Apple has now planted its flag on original content, but I doubt its competitors are losing much sleep at this point. In other words, Apple, don’t quit your day job.

Following up on my post of last week about Apple and user privacy, I missed the point about iCloud backups. While your device is encrypted, your iCloud backup is not. At least, there is no end-to-end encryption, which means Apple can access the data. Several years ago Apple explained they were in the process of making the iCloud backup end-to-end encrypted as well, but now we are hearing reports that Apple abandoned those plans in an effort to satisfy the FBI.

There are multiple sources cited for this story and it appears to be true. So Apple is holding the line on our devices but not on our backups. That seems like a great way to upset everyone. Do they think giving the government user just iCloud backups will satisfy them? Do they think that privacy-minded users will say “good enough” when they realize their device is encrypted but not their backups? Seems to me like it is time for Apple to fish or cut bait.

One of my personal goals this year is to get back into the habit of sharing some jazz nuggets around here on Fridays. My pick this time is a recent album by the YAYenning Quartet called Scott Ave. This album gives a contemporary twist to traditional west coast jazz and, musically at least, it pushes every one of my buttons. The music was written by trumpeter Jay Jennings (or Yay Yennings). Tenor sax is played by Bob Reynolds (YouTube) (Focused guest appearance). The band is rounded out by bassist Ross Schodek and drummer Jose Perez. Several of the members are also part of Snarky Puppy.

The music is very much west coast bebop but also contemporary. If you don’t listen to a lot of jazz, something to note about this album is the lack of a comping instrument. There is no piano or guitar laying chords behind the melodies and solos. Instead, the horns will play basic tones behind one another.

The music feels fresh. Multiple times they’ll be racing along and then come to a dead stop, only to start again. It’s delightful. I love this band so much that I’ve even braved Los Angeles traffic to watch them play live and they are tight. Folks sometimes complain my jazz Friday posts have too many dead people. Well, the YAYennings quartet is four very live ones and their album, Scott Ave., was my favorite new jazz album of 2019. Check it out in the iTunes Store, or download it on Apple Music. You’re in for a treat. Also below is one of Bob’s VLOG’s when they were rehearsing, which is pretty fun to watch.

Katrina Onstad for the Guardian thinks maybe you shouldn’t have any.

I’ve done several posts here the last few weeks about the decade transition and Apple. I thought I had nothing further to share on that front and then Jason Snell posted an article putting the past decade of Apple performance in charts. This is definitely worth a look. That chart on iPhone growth? Wowza. I have to admit I’m generally not that interested in the performance of public companies but you can’t help but wonder how long it will be before we see any company explode like Apple did over the last decade.