512 Pixels: Recent Episodes
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This week on the podcast:
Stephen and Myke are joined by Jason Snell to talk about CarPlay on boats and the new version of Pastebot, before useful consumer advice is given about weather stations and network-attached storage.
Casey Liss:
Today, MasterCraft has announced it is adding CarPlay to some of its upcoming pontoon boats.
For those keeping score:
✅ Most new cars, at all sorts of price points
✅ Boats
❌ Rivian
Zac Hall at 9to5Mac:
Google Health initially included one-way Apple Health integration. The app could read and import health data recorded by an iPhone, Apple Watch, and other HealthKit-connected apps, but it couldn’t write Fitbit data back to Apple Health.
Today’s Google Health iOS app update adds the missing half of that connection.
Data concerning sleep, steps, workouts, and vitals captured by Google Health can now be sent to Apple Health. For someone who likes the Fitbit Air but really dislikes its app, this is good news.
SuperDuper has been an incredible tool for backing up your Mac for a long time, but like most apps that last 22 years, things change. Developer David Nanian has launched a new version that is ready for the next 22 years. He writes:
Back in 2007, I designed what was intended to be SuperDuper v3.0. It was a rewrite that greatly expanded its capabilities while retaining its essence.
But, in those days, it just wasn’t possible for us to implement those grand plans. The new UI was much more complex, the logic more elaborate, and the systems we had then didn’t support the things needed to make it a reality without a lot of complex coding we didn’t have time for.
On top of that, macOS itself was a moving target (and still is!): adding and deprecating features; completely changing the file system; locking down the OS; supporting not just one change in CPU, but three.
With a tool so tied to how the system operated at a low level, it was a lot of work just keeping up with what Apple was doing.
So, I put the notebook with that design in it on a shelf.
For nearly 20 years.
Today, I’m happy to say that I’ve finally been able to carve out enough time to grab that “old” redesign, flesh it out further, modernize it, and make that dream a reality.
The new version of SuperDuper is a ground-up rewrite, a tip-to-tail reinvention of what SuperDuper looks like, how it works, what it can do, and where I can take it in the future.
It’s really great to see SuperDuper getting this sort of love.
I just added several new dates to my Apple History Calendar, including these:
- July 23, 2026: Apple and Ford announced MapKit for Automotive to power navigation in future EVs
- July 28, 2026: iPhone Upgrade Program replaced with broader Apple Upgrade Program
- July 30, 2026: Tim Cook hosted his last quarterly earnings call
This revision also includes a handful of Apple TV-related dates that were previously missing, such as the announcement of the “Take 2” software update in 2008.
I also just updated my Now page, where I keep a running log of things I have going on, at work and beyond.
Right across the state line from the ever-expanding Colossus II site is 2875 Stanton Road, home to a fleet of gas-burning turbines that generate electricity to keep SpaceXAI (and its customers) online.
The pushback in Southaven, Mississippi over the Stanton Road site has been growing. Just this weekend, there was a public event addressing the issue, hosted by the NAACP and State Rep. Justin J. Pearson.
Tonight, the company announced (in a statement that was also emailed to members of the press, including yours truly) that it will be removing its temporary turbines over the next year:
SpaceXAI is building the world’s largest integrated supercomputer at the Tennessee-Mississippi state line. We build our facilities rapidly while upholding the highest standards of operational responsibility, environmental stewardship, and community partnership. SpaceXAI is committed to powering its supercomputers in ways that both reduce costs of energy for the American people and minimize the impact on surrounding communities. Today, we take the next step in that journey.
We have entered into an agreed order with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) establishing a fixed removal timeline for all 69 of the temporary, mobile turbines that currently power our facility in Southaven, Mississippi. We are rapidly removing these mobile turbines as we bring online permanent power from a 1.2 GW power plant we are constructing under our Clean Air Act permit. We will begin removing temporary turbines from the site as early as August 2026. All temporary turbines will be removed by July 2027. Today’s agreed order codifies our commitment to achieve this timeline.
This comes six months after the EPA ruled against xAI, stating that even turbines used in a “temporary” manner were subject to environmental regulation.
More importantly, this news comes one year after MDEQ said xAI could turn the turbines on a temporary basis for 12 months.
The update continues:
The 1.2 GW permanent power plant currently under construction will consist of 41 permanent turbines authorized under a Clean Air Act permit, granted to SpaceXAI in March 2026. The application for this permit, completed more than seven months of detailed regulatory review. SpaceXAI is also investing millions of dollars in sound walls, silencers, and next-generation turbines with advanced quieting technologies through partnerships with the surrounding community. We care deeply about being good neighbors and we regularly reconfigure power operations to reduce noise from the facility and minimize our impact on the local Southaven community.
Samuel Hardiman at The Daily Memphian has some background on the site:
The company started operating its first three turbines (about 39 megawatts of power capacity) on August 1, 2025. It added another 15 later that month, and then seven more between November and December 2025. The company then added a single turbine in January, four more over four days in March, and then the remainder came in April, May and June.
Of the 60 turbines the company released data for, about 15 ran more than 20 hours a day in June, according to data the company supplied to MDEQ. One, a 35-megawatt turbine made by GE Vernova, ran 24 hours a day.
The amount of time the turbines have run raises the question of whether the machines’ emissions are great enough to require an air emissions permit even with the one-year exemption.
I am all for having fewer turbines spinning in and around Memphis, and I hope the company is true to its word when it comes to decreasing the noise and air pollution caused by these machines.
I also hope that MDEQ and SpaceXAI will continue to update the public on this process and the changes that will come from it.
This week on the podcast:
Future Fords are getting Apple Maps, future iPhones are getting leased, and future foldables may be less weird than expected.
Lora Kolodny, CNBC:
Elon Musk’s xAI, now owned by SpaceX, sued Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to challenge a law that would ban so-called nudify apps in the state.
In their complaint, filed in a federal court in Minnesota on Monday, attorneys for xAI wrote that the statute “imposes an overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit ‘nudification.’”
The Minnesota law, which goes into effect on Saturday, targets apps and websites that give people the ability to generate non-consensual sexualized imagery, levying $500,000 fines each time a user creates explicit deepfakes.
Last year, Elon Musk promised that xAI would donate a large sum to the Memphis-Shelby County school system to help rehabilitate four schools near its data centers. Laura Testino reported on the commitment at the time:
In its proposal to the district, xAI offered support for four different schools in areas of Whitehaven and Westwood near its data centers:
- John P. Freeman Optional School
- Fairley High School
- Mitchell High School
- Westwood High School
At each school, the company has proposed upgrades to the HVAC units that heat and cool the schools, plus improvements to plumbing, lighting and windows. XAI has also offered to paint at the schools.
This map shows the location of the schools in green, with xAI’s sites in red and its power plant in Southaven, MS in yellow.
(For a sense of scale, it’s about nine miles across.)
xAI said work could start as early as the morning after the school board voted to accept the gift. Of course, that is not how anything works in the real world, and it took the school board and company until September of last year to finalize a plan to account for the fact that these schools couldn’t be torn apart during the school year.
To the company’s credit, some work has been completed; however, it is far from what was originally promised, and now SpaceXAI seems to want to rework the deal. Testino writes:
So far, donations have improved two campuses rather than four, according to MSCS. Those projects — campus beautification efforts at John P. Freeman School and a major locker room renovation at Fairley High — have made a small dent in the large list of SpaceXAI’s offerings.
They also came with a $5 million donation cap that wasn’t part of the initial proposal.
That $5 million cap can not fund the initial list of projects, even if they had been started. Neither Mitchell High nor Westwood High have seen any of the promised improvements.
More importantly, the agreement expired June 30 and has not been renewed. SpaceXAI says it is still “committed to completing critical upgrades to schools in the Memphis region,” but that doesn’t seem to be the case at this point.
I am not surprised that the company would back away from previously made promises,1 nor am I surprised that my local leaders would be naive enough not to see this coming.
- Ahem. ↩︎
This CNBC video provides a look at what happens when a massive AI data center is built in your neighborhood.
OpenAI, in an unsigned announcement:
Health in ChatGPT is launching to U.S. users. You can choose to securely connect Apple Health and supported medical records so ChatGPT can help you understand your information in context, keep track of what has changed, and have more informed, personalized conversations. The experience builds on feedback from early testers and gives you control over what you connect and when ChatGPT can use it.
Every week, more than 300 million people turn to ChatGPT with health-related questions—from understanding a lab result and preparing for an appointment to making sense of what a doctor said and building a healthier routine. But the context behind those questions is often scattered across patient portals, medical records, apps, and wearables, making it difficult to see and act on the complete picture.
Teddy Rosenbluth for The New York Times:
A Florida pastor sued OpenAI on Wednesday, claiming that its chatbot, ChatGPT, had offered him “extremely dangerous medical recommendations” that led to delayed care for a life-threatening pulmonary embolism last year.
The lawsuit claims that ChatGPT had assured Scott Winters that the early warning signs of his health crisis were “not something dangerous,” and had dissuaded him from seeking medical advice, instead telling him to trust that “God did not design your body to endlessly fail.”
The suit, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco, accuses OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, of negligence and the “unauthorized practice of medicine,” pointing to moments when the chatbot offered Mr. Winters diagnoses and treatment plans and encouraged him to ignore pleas from friends and family to seek medical care.
She continues:
Drew Pusateri, a spokesman for OpenAI, said that ChatGPT’s terms of service make clear that it is not intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment. But he added that the company takes seriously the need to make answers to health questions as safe as possible, given that people use the chatbot for that reason.
“Treating chatbots as the whole story behind people’s medical decisions or outcomes oversimplifies a much bigger challenge, and risks getting in the way of people accessing powerful new tools that can aid them in their health journey,” he said. Mr. Pusateri added that newer models are better than the model Mr. Winters used at asking for missing context, communicating uncertainty and recognizing when professional care may be needed.
Garmin has joined the likes of Fitbit and Whoop, and is now offering a screen-free fitness tracker, named the Cirqa.
Andrew Liszewski at The Verge:
The smart band can track more than 80 different activities such as running or yoga that are selectable through the accompanying Garmin Connect app or using its single side button as a shortcut to your favorite. Through the app, you can monitor your training progress including the effectiveness of a workout and whether your body is ready for your next training session or would benefit more from a rest day.
In addition to workouts, the $199 band can track heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, sleep, and menstrual cycles via skin temperature. Notably, the Garmin Cirqa doesn’t require a subscription. Orders open on July 24.
If you use Grok to make CSAM,
xAI will sue you.
(There are no good guys in this story.)
This week on the show:
Myke has a new laptop, Federico has thoughts on Siri AI, and Stephen has been graded. Also: Apple vs. OpenAI and a big day for Mario fans with feet.
Google is building an AI data center in West Memphis, Arkansas, across the Mississippi River from Memphis. (I know, it’s a very original city name.) Google joins SpaceXAI and others in the Mid-South for cheap land and abundant water, but it faces the same core challenges — mainly, how to feed its huge collection of power-hungry hardware.
When the project was announced, details about power generation were sparse. Today, we know a bit more. Will Conkling and Christopher Scott at Google:
Today, alongside local leaders, community members, and our partners at Cypress Creek Energy, we broke ground on what will be the largest solar facility in the United States — Steel River Energy Center in Mississippi County, Arkansas. While this landmark facility will be the largest solar and storage project across Google’s global portfolio to date, this historic milestone belongs first and foremost to the community in Mississippi County. The Steel River Energy Center will reinvest local workforce talent and industrial innovation right back into the state’s economy, creating lasting clean energy and economic benefits.
By working closely with local leaders and residents, we are ensuring that our growth directly supports our neighbors and strengthens the grid that powers Arkansas’ industrial steel manufacturing,1 data centers and households alike.
Ground was broken this week on the solar site, complete with blue shovels:
Steve Dent at Engadget has more:
Google has struck a deal to purchase a major solar project’s entire electrical output to offset its fossil fuel emissions, The Financial Times reports. The search giant will take 100 percent of the initial output from Steel River Energy Center in Arkansas once it comes online in 2029, amounting to 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of solar power and 2GW of battery storage — enough to power 315,000 homes.
Google will pay a fixed cost for the electricity from the solar plant, but won’t use it directly. Instead, it will draw from the grid powered by a mix of coal, nuclear, renewables and natural gas, along with its own on-site power (typically gas turbines and engines).
Energy from the Steel River Energy Center solar project will form part of that grid mix. Once completed, the project will supply 2.45GW of solar power and 2.9GWh of battery energy storage. The first two phases (out of three) received $3.5 billion in financing and prioritized US-manufactured steel and solar panels.
The final mix of power generation isn’t known, but I am glad to see Google investing in such a large renewable energy source to help offset its footprint in the region. Hopefully, this means Google will be much less reliant on gas turbines for power than its neighbors, but time will tell.
This news comes on the same day that folks in 13 states and the District of Columbia are seeing their electricity rates increase due to data center usage, as Ivan Penn reports:
PJM, the nation’s largest electrical grid operator, on Tuesday released results of an electricity auction that would add $6.3 billion in costs to the bills of millions of households and businesses within the next three years, an increase driven by the power demands of data centers.
[…]
In a statement, PJM said data centers were increasing electricity demand throughout the region.
“These auction results show that demand for electricity continues to grow faster than electricity supply,” David Mills, president and chief executive at PJM, said in an announcement of the auction results. “We are working with government and industry leaders on multiple fronts to restore that balance by bringing on new generation as fast as possible and managing the growth of new load on the grid.”
- Google says 100% of the structural steel for the project is being sourced locally. Mississippi County is apparently the nation’s leading steel-producing county. TIL. ↩︎
Alexandria Mansfield, writing for the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union, via Yahoo Finance:
Elon Musk has acquired Jacksonville-based APR Energy, according to a Federal Trade Commission filing that surfaced the deal weeks after it closed with no public statement from either side.
The FTC’s early termination notice, transaction number 20261350 and dated May 14, lists Elon Musk as the acquiring party and CF APR Super Holdings LLC as the acquired party, with New APR Energy, LLC listed as the acquired entity.
It also shows the transaction was granted early termination, meaning no further antitrust review was required before the deal could close.
No terms were disclosed in the FTC notice itself, but the price tag came into focus through a separate filing.
That separate filing comes from Duos Technologies Group Inc, which recently disclosed a $50 million sales price for its 5% equity stake in APR Energy.
That puts the deal at roughly $1 billion. As far as I can tell, APR Energy has not confirmed its change in ownership.
That is a bunch of money, so what is APR Energy? Let’s turn to its website, which says:
You want reliable power today – we have the assets available to meet your needs, including one of the world’s largest mobile gas turbine fleets, comprehensive and customizable balance of plant equipment, and a team of experts ready to handle your build from end to end.
From emergency power for compromised utilities to bridging-to-permanent power for data centers, we’re ready to rapidly deploy the turnkey power solution you need, when you need it, and to your specifications.
Bridging is the phase in which SpaceXAI’s data centers are currently operating. The grid can’t supply the sites with all the power they need, so these turbines are installed to keep things running. In the case of SpaceXAI’s second site in Memphis, it’s hard to see how the grid could supply enough power any time soon, if ever.
As you can see in these photos, they are built on large trailers and are therefore considered mobile.
This is the same technology at the heart of many debates — and lawsuits — concerning SpaceXAI’s presence in Memphis, as Fred Lambert sums up at Electrek:
APR doesn’t run a traditional power plant. It deploys trailer-mounted gas turbines and reciprocating diesel and natural gas engines that can reach full power in under 10 minutes and be installed in days rather than the years it takes to permit and build a fixed plant. The fuel is natural gas and diesel. This is fossil-fuel combustion, packaged to move.
It’s the same technology Musk has already been running — controversially — to keep Grok online.
At various times over the last couple of years, SpaceXAI has been accused of running more gas turbines than allowed. The company points out that they are mobile and thus temporary, claiming they are exempt from a bunch of pesky environmental regulations.
That was shot down by the EPA back in January, but the company has continued to rely on a fleet of turbines to keep its data centers1 running.
It is unclear whether any of APR’s hardware is in use by SpaceXAI. The company is not listed on the company’s projects page, and the turbine models called out in a 2025 report by Samuel Hardiman don’t seem to line up with the GE TM2500 and Mitsubishi FT8 turbines listed on APR’s website.2
Regardless of what companies are currently on the ground, this is a clear sign that Musk and SpaceXAI continue to view gas turbines as an acceptable means of powering AI data centers.
- Which are now mostly rented out to Anthropic and Google. ↩︎
- There is now evidence that TM2500s have been put into service, albeit from an unknown vendor. ↩︎
Mark Gurman, writing at Bloomberg:
OpenAI’s much-anticipated push into consumer devices is slated to begin with a mobile, screen-free smart speaker designed to be a new type of home computer for the AI era, according to people familiar with the matter.
The product — still under development — is meant to serve as a humanlike AI companion that lives in the home, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project hasn’t been announced. It will help control smart-home appliances, play media, answer questions, respond to messages and tap into the range of capabilities offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, they said.
Mark Gurman, writing on social media:
Amid Apple’s trade secret lawsuit, the iPhone maker has nothing like it on the market.
A smart speaker. Why did it have to be smart speakers?
macOS Golden Gate and iOS/iPadOS/watchOS 27 are out in Public Beta. Jason Snell and Dan Moren have more over on Six Colors. At MacStories, Jonathan Reed wrote up watchOS, and Devon Dundee took on visionOS.
This week on the podcast:
Federico is at the beach, Myke questions his iPhone’s future, and Stephen wears watches. Then: a whole stack of Q&A items.
Apple, in a new support document:
In macOS 28 and later, the Mac OS Extended file system format will be supported only for volumes (disks and other storage devices) that aren’t encrypted. For future macOS compatibility, either decrypt or reformat any encrypted Mac OS Extended volumes.
macOS 28 and later will continue to support unencrypted volumes that use Mac OS Extended format. Mac OS Extended is also known as HFS Plus (or HFS+).
Time goes marching on.
When the first Golden Gate beta shipped, the most obvious wallpaper was missing. With Developer Beta 3 today, Apple has made that right, with this beauty joining the earlier wallpaper:
Golden Gate Bridge Golden Gate Light Golden Gate Dark
Sean Malseed over at Action Retro has shipped something pretty cool: a Markdown editor for 68k Macs named ArtfulType:
A distraction-free Markdown writing app for classic 68k Macintosh computers (System 6/7), built to run from a BlueSCSI device on a Mac Plus or similar compact Mac.
He has a video walking through it, including how it was built (with the help of Claude Code) and how you can move data on and off older machines:
This week on the podcast:
The Apple Watch is rumored to undergo some big changes, Safari is gaining MCP support, and the Rickies may have accidentally created a black hole.
Several years ago, I ran a series of Kickstarter campaigns highlighting important dates in Apple’s history with three different wall calendars.
There were also digital versions of the calendars that folks could subscribe to in Apple Calendar, Fantastical, etc.
Today, I have some news about that part of the project:
- Backers of the three Kickstarters are getting access to updated digital versions of the particular calendar they backed. If you’re in that crowd, be on the lookout for a Kickstarter message with details. These calendars haven’t been updated since publication, so there’s a lot of new stuff in there. This is a one-time update as a thank-you to everyone who backed the campaigns.
- I have combined dates from all three calendars into a new Apple History Calendar that is for sale now as a one-time $10 purchase. I will be updating the calendar each month with new dates, so setting it up as a subscription in your calendar application means new dates will flow in automatically.
I am so excited to have found a way to keep the Apple History Calendar project going after all this time, and I would love for you to check it out.
As a bonus, you can also get a copy of my book Aqua & Bondi. It covers the iMac G3 and the transition to Mac OS X. If you pick up both, you’ll get 25% off your entire order.
Anyone who dabbles in Apple history probably has EveryMac.com bookmarked, and today it celebrates a milestone:
On July 2, 1996, EveryMac.com launched.
Thirty years is a long time – and a great deal has changed since then – but what has not changed is that EveryMac.com has been there to provide you with detailed info on every Mac from the original 128k to the current line. Thank you very much for your support through the years.
There are a bunch of ways to support EveryMac, and its anniversary prompted me to chip in to help keep the lights on at a very important resource.
I am a huge fan of the site’s comparison charts, which make it easy to see how a particular model evolved over time:
Jack Fitzgerald, with some very exciting news at Car and Driver:
The Honda Element could make a comeback, at least according to a new report by Automotive News. Honda killed the once-popular SUV in 2011 after years of sliding sales, but a resurgence in off-road-capable vehicles and a dearth of affordable models are spurring the boxy Element’s revival.
Car and Driver reached out to Honda for comment, and a spokesperson shared this statement: The Honda Element has maintained a cult following since it was discontinued in 2011, and hopes for its possible return continue to circulate online. We sincerely appreciate the enthusiasm for the Element, but we are not going to engage in speculation about our future product plans.
We owned a 2007 Element for several years. Because it was so weird, it was a lot of fun. It was also surprisingly useful. I was a full-time consultant at the time, and would use it to haul pallets of MacBooks between the office and the K-12 schools we serviced. Here it is, in a very 2009 photo:
It was not perfect, though. We ended up trading it in when we bought our first minivan, as the suicide doors made getting kids in and out of car seats difficult in parking lots. Even though one hasn’t been in my driveway for a long time, I always take a second look when I see one in traffic.
Om Malik’s family:
Om Malik passed away on June 24, 2026, at Stanford Hospital after a long health journey with his heart. He was surrounded by family and friends.
I’ve read Om’s writing since before starting this site over 17 years ago. It is hard to believe he won’t be lighting up my RSS reader anymore.
This week on the podcast:
Apple has increased prices across its Mac and iPad lines, the guys are all on iOS 27 Beta 2, and the Bill of Rickies is amended.
As foretold, Apple has increased the prices of many products today. Chance Miller has put together a list:
Macs
| Product: | Old Price: | New Price: | Increase: | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | MacBook Neo | $599 | $699 | 16.7% | | 13-inch MacBook Air | $1,099 | $1,299 | 18.2% | | 15-inch MacBook Air | $1,299 | $1,499 | 15.4% | | M5 MacBook Pro | $1,699 | $1,999 | 17.7% | | M5 Pro MacBook Pro | $2,199 | $2,499 | 13.6% | | M5 Max MacBook Pro | $3,599 | $4,099 | 13.9% | | iMac | $1,299 | $1,499 | 15.4% | | M4 Max Mac Studio | $1,999 | $2,499 | 25% | | M3 Ultra Mac Studio | $3,999 | $5,299 | 32.5% |
iPads
| Product: | Old Price: | New Price: | Increase: | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | iPad | $349 | $449 | 28.7% | | 11-inch iPad Air | $599 | $749 | 25% | | 13-inch iPad Air | $749 | $949 | 26.7% | | 11-inch iPad Pro | $999 | $1,199 | 20% | | 13-inch iPad Pro | $1,299 | $1,499 | 15.4% | | iPad mini | $499 | $599 | 20% |
Other
| Product: | Old Price: | New Price: | Increase: | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Apple TV 4K | $129 | $199 | 54.3% | | HomePod | $299 | $349 | 16.7% | | HomePod mini | $99 | $129 | 30.3% | | Vision Pro | $3,499 | $3,699 | 5.7% |
Additionally, many upper-level SKUs saw increases. The Mac mini with M4 Pro got a $200 bump to $1,599, while the M5 Max MacBook Pro jumped from $3,599 to $4,099. As expected, increases really stack up when you start configuring higher-end options like larger SSDs and additional unified memory.
Apple addressed the increases to The Wall Street Journal’s Rolfe Winkler:
“We have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices,” [Apple] said in the statement. “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
Driven by surging demand from AI hyperscalers, the prices of memory chips, called DRAM, and storage chips, called NAND, have both quadrupled over the past 12 months, according to research firm TechInsights, which projects those prices to keep rising into next year.
Mark Gurman at Bloomberg:
An Apple spokesperson said that “the rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage” and that the company has “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
Apple added it has “shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.” “We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions,” it said.
Casey Newton:
Consumer electronics getting significantly more expensive due to the AI industry may accelerate the backlash even faster than the data center buildout.
Notably, Apple was able to keep the iPhone at its existing price points.1 I suppose time will tell if Apple can hold the line there.
- Prices for the Apple Watch, AirPods, Studio Displays, and accessories also remain unchanged. ↩︎
John Gruber, writing about Apple’s pending price increases:
I won a steak dinner from my Dithering cohost Ben Thompson, betting that Apple would not raise the prices on RAM when they introduced the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros in March, largely on the basis that Apple considers the pricing part of the product’s brand. For the same reason, I also do not think they’re going to raise the prices of existing products mid-cycle. I think Cook’s warning is about the fall, starting with the iPhones 18 Pro and the folding “Ultra” in September, and he issued the warning months early just to make the bad news “old news” by the time September gets here.
But unlike with the MacBook Pros in March, I wouldn’t bet more than a beverage on my hunch here. However out of character it would be for Apple to raise prices midway through product cycles, the global RAM shortage is unprecedented. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple pushes price increases moments after I hit “Publish” on this post. (I’m checking right now, before I hit the button, in fact.)
I agree; it would be very unusual for Apple to raise prices at the end of an iPhone cycle. Part of me thinks Apple will do it anyway to provide some cover for John Ternus’ first product keynote as CEO. Having the outgoing guy take the heat for a price increase seems wise to me, but perhaps the company thinks that a rare Tim Cook interview was enough.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young:
Had a productive meeting with SpaceXAI President Michael Nicolls on Monday.
In the meeting they committed to resuming construction on the recycled wastewater treatment facility no later than Q1 2027.
This facility will offset water usage from both SpaceXAI and TVA. Our engagement that led to this commitment will continue until the facility is complete.
Samuel Hardiman, for The Daily Memphian:
The facility was expected to treat wastewater from the City of Memphis’ nearby TE Maxson Wastewater Treatment Plant and turn it into a suitable industrial coolant, replacing the hundreds of thousands of gallons of freshwater the company uses each day. In February, it used 840,000 gallons of water a day, according to bills obtained by Protect Our Aquifer and provided to The Daily Memphian.
The land for the water treatment plant was purchased in June 2025, with ground being broken in October of that year. You’d think one of the world’s most valuable companies could move more quickly.
This week on the podcast:
Myke questions Stephen about his home network, then discusses the ups and downs of having an LLM power Siri. Also: a love letter to the iPhone Air and questions about Snap’s new AR glasses.
On Connected Pro, I trained Myke to be a technology historian. That’s the longer, ad-free version of the show that you should sign up for!
After yesterday’s post about the end of the Time Capsule, several people pointed me to James Chang’s project on GitHub to keep them running:
Apple AirPort Time Capsules only support AFP and SMB1. Apple removed AFP support in macOS 27 (and removed SMB1 support from macOS a long time ago). This is a modern Samba setup that runs directly on the Time Capsule itself; macOS 27 can connect to the Time Capsule as a network share, and use it for Time Machine backups.
This project has 2 parts:
- a fork of Samba 4, modified to work on the Apple Time Capsule
- the installers for the Samba binary, via python or the macOS GUI app.
This now fully works for all Time Capsules. The Time Capsule will run its own Samba 4.24.3 server, advertise itself over Bonjour (show up automatically in the “Network” folder on macOS), and accept authenticated SMB3 connections. You should then be able to open Finder, choose Connect to Server, and use a normal SMB URL instead of relying on Apple’s legacy stack.
I can’t speak to the patch’s effectiveness, but dang, I love that someone is out there keeping these things running.
This week on Mac Power Users:
Everyone’s favorite engineer-turned-blogger returns to the show to discuss the state of iPhone cases, the argument for LLMs, and his go-to automation tools — and why Shortcuts on the Mac isn’t one of them.
Apple Support:
The Clips app is no longer being updated, and will no longer be available for download for new users as of October 10, 2025. You can continue to use Clips on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 or earlier.
Save your Clips videos to your photo library or another location. You can save videos with any effects you might have added in Clips or save individual clips without effects. Then, watch your videos in other apps like Photos or make new videos with individual clips using iMovie or other third-party apps like InShot, VN Video Editor, and GoPro Quik.
If you previously downloaded the Clips app, you can still redownload it from your Apple account in the App Store.
Quick Look is a great Finder feature, and now it can see into folders thanks to a free Mac app named Folder Quick Look. Here’s what it is like in action:
John Gruber, in his link to it:
Looks, feels, and works like a feature that ought to be built into the Finder itself. Cool.
We just wound down our annual St. Jude fundraiser. The Relay community was once again incredibly generous, donating $753,756 to help end childhood cancer around the world. This makes 2025 our third-biggest fundraiser ever.
When we started this back in 2019, we just wanted to raise a few thousand dollars, but as of today, we’ve raised a total of $4.8 million!
That’s an eye-watering amount of money, and I am deeply humbled by it. I view this work as an important part of Relay’s legacy. When we’re gone and the RSS feeds grow stale, St. Jude will still be at work saving the lives of children around the world with the most advanced treatments known to humankind. That’s not a small thing, and as the father of a pediatric cancer survivor, it’s a very personal thing.
There are a lot of people who put a lot of work into the campaign each year. The folks we work with at St. Jude and ALSAC are just the best, and it’s an honor to be a true partner with them in this project. We spend a lot of time together putting this together each year, and it never grows old.
On the Relay side of things, my co-hosts have my forever gratitude. Every show at Relay — and beyond — have taken ownership of this campaign. This may have started with my story, but now our St. Jude work is seen as personal for all of us.
Then there’s this nutty bunch, who joined me for the best Podcastathon yet. Being on for 12 hours is not easy, but they made it so much fun:
(It’s hard to believe that back when we started, it was just me and Myke with a folding table and a ball pit. We’ve come a long way!)
Extra thanks goes out to the rest of our team at Relay for supporting this work. From Kerry working on our talking points to the mods in our Discord moderators cultivating excitement about the fundraiser, this is truly a team effort.
A few years ago, folks started hosting their own community fundraisers during September alongside us. The passion and creativity this has brought to the month has been inspiring, and has given the whole thing a much more community-driven feel, which I love.
Most of all, thank you. Each year, you take time and your hard-earned money and spend them on something amazing at St. Jude. While I hope you will never need the hospital’s care, know that families who do are eternally grateful for your love and support.
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This week, on a jam-packed episode of MPU:
From Liquid Glass to a stronger Spotlight, macOS Tahoe reshapes the Mac. Spotlight now remembers your clipboard and taps into App Intents, while Apple’s apps gain updates to match their mobile counterparts. Elsewhere, visionOS and watchOS bring new features to Apple’s other platforms.
Picking an iPhone used to be easy.
For years, the only real option was what color you wanted, at least for some models. Then came the iPhone 6 and superior-yet-a-little-bendy 6 Plus, which made things a little more complicated.
A few years later, things started getting weird. In rapid succession, we saw the 8 and X, then the XR and XS and XS Max, then the 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max.
Starting with the iPhone 12, Apple introduced four new iPhones each year: two regular iPhones and two Pro iPhones. The iPhone mini came and went, with the Plus replacing it.
That brings us to 2025, and the iPhone family still has four members, but picking the right one is more complicated than ever.
Trust me: I have an iPhone 17 Pro and an iPhone Air on my desk.
The Most Pro EverWhen reviewing the M3 MacBook Pro a couple of years ago, John Gruber wrote:
The wildcard in Apple’s MacBook lineup is what I’m cheekily calling the “Pro Jr.” model. For the last few years, that’s been the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar — a laptop that most expert users thought shouldn’t even exist, but which Apple has stated was the company’s second-best-selling laptop. There are a lot of buyers who want a MacBook Pro, even if they don’t need — or want to pay for — truly professional performance specs.
With the introduction last week of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the regular M3 chip, Apple has fixed this tier. I often note that Apple means several different things when it describes a product as “pro” — it sometimes means professional, but sometimes means nicer or better. The regular M3 MacBook Pro exemplifies this latter meaning. It has the same industry-best 14-inch display as its M3 Pro and M3 Max siblings, the same excellent 6-speaker sound system, and the same modern form factor. It is, by all appearances, a MacBook worthy of the name “MacBook Pro” heading into 2024.
That line I made bold has applied to the iPhone for years. Previous iPhone Pro models had better features than their non-Pro siblings, but they were also nicer, with stainless steel or titanium rails as opposed to the more traditional aluminum found on mainstream iPhones.
With the iPhone 17 Pro, Apple went back to the drawing board. It has been rebuilt from the inside out to serve as a tool for creation. Its new thermal system keeps it from getting hot, an issue that has been a problem for a couple of years now. The cameras are better than ever and can do some truly amazing things. The battery life is fantastic, and its A19 Pro SoC is going to be fast for years to come.
All of these changes are housed in a new chassis whose industrial design is a big departure from previous iPhones. The 17 Pro is not beautiful in the same way the gold iPhone XS or the iPhone 15 in the natural titanium finish were. It is decidedly utilitarian, and I really dig that.
It feels like this iPhone Pro really deserves its name.
The New KidIn a normal year, I would have spent more than a mere 375 words writing about the iPhone Pro, but it is living in the very thin shadow of the iPhone Air.
In some ways, the iPhone Air reminds me of the iPhone X. I closed my review of that phone with this:
All in all, with the iPhone X, Apple has dumped a whole lot of revolution on its most important product. The screen, body, cameras, and more are all better than before, but the iPhone X is more than the sum of its parts. It’s the first chapter in a new era of iPhone design. The things that seem special about this iPhone will soon be normal, as evolution kicks in again.
That’s how these things go. Evolution may be important, but revolution is where all the fun is, and the iPhone X has plenty of it to go around.
Those two paragraphs have held up incredibly well. Every new iPhone since 20171 has looked and worked a lot like the iPhone X. It was a critically important iPhone for Apple, and its then-new features are taken for granted today.
The iPhone Air feels important in a similar way.
Its design is breathtaking. I’ve been using it as my primary phone for almost two weeks, and every time I pick it up, I get a little jolt of disbelief. Sometimes when devices are thin and light, they feel cheap but Apple has avoided that with the iPhone Air, probably thanks to its shiny titanium rails and glass back.
It’s a bit cliché to say that you need to go to an Apple Store to check it out, but you really need to go to an Apple Store to check it out.
To make this possible, Apple has done some incredible engineering. iFixit’s teardown video shows off how much work went into this phone. The majority of the computery bits are crammed into the plateau and the area right above and below it. The rest of the chassis is filled with battery, to the point that Apple doesn’t even ship a version that supports a physical SIM card.
I switched over to eSIM a few years ago, and it’s been great. They are extremely easy to transfer, which has been especially handy this year, as I’ve spent time with both the 17 Pro and Air. If your carrier supports it, I can heartily recommend switching, even if Steve Troughton-Smith may say otherwise.
The physical SIM slot isn’t the only thing the Apple tossed overboard to build this iPhone. The lack of a bottom speaker leaves the earpiece speaker alone in its sound duties. The iPhone Air is fine for playing podcasts, but when it comes to music, it lacks the punch that other modern iPhones have.
Then there’s battery life. I haven’t killed the battery in a single day, but I work at home. On days I have been out and about, I’ve landed in the 20-30% range by the evening. I’ve not seen that on an iPhone Pro in years, but your mileage certainly will vary. Apple seems well aware of this, hence the new-but-sadly-iPhone-Air-only MagSafe Battery Pack. I have not needed to rely on it, but I think keeping it in my backpack on a travel day would be wise.
This thin battery was required to make the iPhone Air what it is, but it also speaks to how far Apple silicon has come. Apple is building the best SoCs on the market, both in terms of capability and efficiency. It’s hard to imagine Apple creating the iPhone Air without Johny Srouji’s team.
The biggest tradeoff Apple made with the Air is the single rear camera. It clocks in at 48 megapixels and has many of the same features as the main cameras found on the 17 and 17 Pro, including a 2x crop/zoom, focus and depth control, and it matches the 17 with its 4K video recording at 60 fps.
In my usage, photos from the Air look great, but coming from an iPhone 16 Pro, the lack of zoom has been frustrating. Trying to get decent pictures or video at things like my daughter’s cross-country races has proven futile. Often, I need more than 2x’s worth of reach.
Moving from the far to the near, I also miss macro mode when using the Air. I don’t take many macro photos, but it’s a nice feature to have.
The Way ForwardThose tradeoffs make the iPhone Air a worse option than the Pro for me, but when I pick the phone up or slide it into my pocket, I forget all about its shortcomings.
Apple may overuse the word magical in its marketing, but hot damn, this iPhone fits the bill. It’s the most incredible iPhone Apple has ever shipped, and it is the most interesting phone since the iPhone X.
But is it the best iPhone for sale right now?
For me — and probably for you — it’s not. To create something that feels like the future, Apple had to draw on some specifications from the past. For me, the primary thing that holds the Air back is its single camera. For others, it may be the battery life.
However, hardware compromises tend to fade over time. Look no further than the top of your iPhone. After years of the notch, Apple was able to move to the Dynamic Island. We all bought new Lightning cables in 2012 and replaced them with USB-C cables 11 years later.
For some, the compromises that define the iPhone Air are worth it. For me, that’s not quite true. I love the iPhone Air, but I want the camera system found on the iPhone Pro.
Some people have suggested that the iPhone Air is not only the foundation of a future folding iPhone, but how all iPhone will be in the future. I have no doubt a folding iPhone is in the works using the technology found in the Air, but I don’t see all iPhones being like the Air any time soon.
One look at the iPhone 17 Pro should tell you that Apple is very willing to make an iPhone with the opposite trade-offs than the Air. Apple seems more willing than ever to offer its customers options, and I don’t think we should do anything to discourage that, even if it leads to hard decisions when standing in the Apple Store.
So, is the Air the key to the future of the iPhone? Will it take the crown from the Pro and become the default choice for people who want the best iPhone possible?
In its current form, no. It’s an incredible device, but it’s a device waiting in the wings until technology evolves to a point where Apple can build something as capable as the iPhone Pro in the chassis of the iPhone Air. One day it may take the throne from the iPhone Pro, but it hasn’t yet.
Until then, it’ll be the best iPhone in my heart, but not in my pocket.
- Other than the iPhone SE 2 and SE 3, of course. ↩
After months of reporting and rumors, Google made its investment in West Memphis official today. Here’s The Daily Memphian’s Dima Amro:
Google’s new data center in West Memphis will cost $4 billion and take 18 to 24 months to complete, officials said Thursday, Oct. 2.
The data center will host cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google, announced during a groundbreaking ceremony at the site in Crittenden County.
“Google is investing in the next generation of AI innovation in Arkansas and across the country,” Porat said. “The upside of AI cannot be unlocked without the energy it requires. That is why Google is building energy capacity that protects affordability for ratepayers and creates jobs that will drive the AI-powered economy.”
West Memphis — and its future AI datacenter — is right across the Mississippi River from downtown Memphis, and just a couple dozen miles from xAI’s first site in Memphis. That obviously leads to the obvious question about power deliver to the datacenter.
Google and Entergy, the utility company that operates in Arkansas, say that the site will have 600 megawatts of solar power and 350 megawatts of battery storage. Details past that are sparse, but Google cares about the environment more than its soon-to-be neighbor xAI seems to.
That bit from Porat about the “AI-powered economy” stood out at me as a bit over the top, but then I read the press release that landed my Inbox about the news, which includes this paragraph and photo:
Google’s deep, longstanding investments in American technical infrastructure, as well as research and development, will help the U.S. continue to lead the world in AI. This will unlock substantial economic opportunity for American businesses, advance scientific breakthroughs, fortify cybersecurity for the U.S., and create new career opportunities for millions of Americans.
I know it’s 2025 and everything is very USA USA USA but millions of career opportunities created by AI? Ehhhhhhh … time will tell.
So, why is Google coming to the so-called “Digital Delta” for this new site?
Water.
Memphis and the Mid-South sits above a vast aquifer. This is where our water comes from, and is a truly amazing natural resource. It gives Mid-South residents access to cheap, clean water.
It also gives companies easy-to-reach water for cooling massive data centers. One reason folks in Memphis are upset with xAI is the company’s use of aquifer water for cooling its vast array of GPUs. xAI has proposed a greywater facility that will reduce strain on the aquifer by nearly 10% by treating and recycling wastewater. That facility is not operating yet, but I hope Google will follow suit in West Memphis. A river may divide my city from Arkansas, but the water beneath our feet is the same.
This week on the world’s greatest podcast, Myke and I cover a new wave of Apple hardware leaks, then share our feelings on iPhones.
Nick’s long column on Apple’s new design language is probably the best thing I’ve read on the subject. This line about the glass material switching from light to dark as content scrolls behind it really jumped out at me:
It is Apple’s clever solution to a problem Apple created.
I like a lot about Liquid Glass, but there’s no arguing that there are issues that still need work, and I think Nick is pretty fair about what those are.
September is winding down in a couple days, and with it, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This year marks our 7th annual fundraiser for St. Jude, and as of this writing, we’re sitting just shy of $640,000 raised this year, which is incredible. I know it’s rough out there right now, which makes this number all the more meaningful to me this year.
But there’s still time to give! We’re going to shut down the campaign a week from today, on October 6th. We’ve learned that some employee-matching gifts take a little extra time to clear, so if you’re working with your employer on having them match a gift, now’s the time to follow up! This is a great way to see your money do even more good in the world.
-
- *When you walk into the ALSAC building on St. Jude’s campus, the wall you see behind the check-in desk always catches my attention:
That quote is from St. Jude founder Danny Thomas, and perfectly encapsulates how I think about Relay’s fundraising efforts for the hospital.
I’m not a scientist, nurse, researcher, child psychologist, doctor, or social worker. I don’t know how chemo interacts with cancer cells, or how to build a microscope to do things no microscope has ever done. I can’t sequence DNA, read an MRI, or work in a pharmacy.
What I can do is tell my story and use my platform to share the wonderful news of a place where kids with cancer and other catastrophic diseases receive the best care in the world.
At St. Jude, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family’s ability to pay. From the moment in 2009 when Josiah was diagnosed with a brain tumor to a checkup he had two weeks ago, I have never been billed by St. Jude.
That is a true kindness, made possible by donors around the world.
-
- *St. Jude is expanding its mission worldwide, so kids who never step foot on St. Jude’s campus benefit from the research done there. St. Jude is shipping medication and providing training to doctors around the world, and shares it research freely.
Through fundraisers like this, we become part of that work. We work for the good, and by doing so, do the good. Please join us in our final push for this year’s campaign, in doing the most good we possibly can.
We’re all dealing with more information than ever, and it’s becoming increasingly complex. You need bulletproof financial documents for audits, collaborative tools for your team, and AI that can actually help.
DEVONthink 4.0 Copernicus1 is here, and it’s designed to work with you, not against you. Its AI integration is incredibly useful — it can analyze your documents, write summaries, suggest tags, and you can even create AI-based automations for specific tasks.
If you keep financial records or other documents that need to be audit-proof, then DEVONthink 4’s new audit features have you covered.
Working with a team? The new web interface lets everyone access shared databases and collaborate instead of just emailing files back and forth. Automatic versioning means you’ll never accidentally lose an important change, and the enhanced automation handles the boring stuff so you don’t have to.
Don’t spend another year fighting with your documents. Download DEVONthink 4.0 Copernicus and see how AI-powered document management can make your work easier.
- The DEVONtechnologies team named version 4.0 after the Copernicus moon crater and its namesake, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who ultimately changed the way we see and experience the universe. ↩
This week on Mac Power Users:
iOS and iPadOS 26 bring many changes, including Liquid Glass, updated first-party apps, and new multitasking features for iPad users. This week, the guys talk through these changes and share impressions of Apple’s latest iPhones, AirPods, and Watches.
For the second year in a row, Casey Liss joined us for the Podcastathon. He just published an amazing piece about the show and his time at St. Jude:
This was my fourth time in Memphis; it’s staring to feel — to a degree — like a home away from home. Having been on campus several times now, not a ton about St. Jude surprises me. I’ve known for many years that St. Jude is dedicated wholly and completely to curing childhood cancer. ALSAC — St. Jude’s fundraising arm — is dedicated wholly and completely to funding that mission.
What struck me this year — as I toured the Domino’s Village, as I worked with the incredible team at ALSAC, as I spoke with people on the far periphery of the Podcastathon — is that everyone gives a crap. Top-to-bottom. Inside-and-out. They really give a crap. About everything they touch.
This really crystallized in me as I toured Domino’s Village. Domino’s Village is longer-term housing right on campus at St. Jude. It gives patients and their families a home base for their time in Memphis. And it isn’t just one-bedroom apartments. Cancer affects an entire family, not just the patient. Often, that means patients, caregivers, and even siblings are making Memphis their home, for months at a time. Domino’s Village has two- and three-bedroom apartments for exactly this reason. They’re beautiful, and nicely furnished.
But it doesn’t end there.
Chris Pennington over at Coding in Public has been running a community fundraiser with Relay for St. Jude for a few years, and yesterday, we sat down to talk about my St. Jude story, and how the hospital is serving sick kids — and their families — around the world.
Speaking for our St. Jude fundraiser, we have passed $540,000 raised this year, and there are several days to go! I would love to have you join us in giving families facing childhood cancer more tomorrows.
This week on the podcast:
The guys reunite to share their impressions of the iPhone 17 Pros, iPhone Air, AirPods Pro 3, and Imran Chaudhri’s current position at HP.
Amrith Ramkumar at The Wall Street Journal (Apple News), writing about a new partnership between the Trump administration and his on-again, off-again bestie Elon Musk:
Under the agreement with the General Services Administration, which oversees technology procurement for the federal government, agencies will get access to models such as Grok 4 and a new fast version called Grok 4 Fast for a nominal fee of 42 cents, the GSA said in a news release Thursday.
The deal follows similar arrangements with Alphabet’s Google; the ChatGPT maker, OpenAI; and Anthropic, a model developer that has clashed with the White House. The arrangement means the government is now working with the four U.S. companies making the most-advanced AI systems. OpenAI and Anthropic agreed to provide their models for $1, while Google is charging 47 cents. Musk likes the number 42 because it is a reference to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the sci-fi novel.
Hayden Field reported on this for The Verge a couple of weeks ago, recapping just some of the controversies around xAI:
The height of Grok’s power, up to now, has been posting answers to users’ queries on X. But even in this relatively limited capacity, it’s racked up a remarkable number of controversies, often resulting from patchwork tweaks and fixed with patchwork solutions. In February, the chatbot temporarily blocked results that mention Musk or President Trump spreading misinformation. In May, it briefly went viral for constant tirades about “white genocide” in South Africa. In July, it developed a habit of searching for Musk’s opinion on hot-button topics like Israel and Palestine, immigration, and abortion before responding to questions about them. And most infamously, last month it went on an antisemitic bender — spreading stereotypes about Jewish people, praising Adolf Hitler and even going so far as to call itself “MechaHitler.”
Musk responded publicly to say the company was addressing the issue and that it happened because Grok was “too compliant to user prompts. Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially.” But the incident happened a few weeks after Musk expressed frustration that Grok was “parroting legacy media” and asked X users to contribute “divisive facts for Grok training” that were “politically incorrect, but nonetheless factually true,” and a few days after a new system prompt gave Grok instructions to “assume subjective viewpoints sourced from the media are biased” and “not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect.” Following the debacle, the prompts were tweaked to scale back Grok’s aggressive endorsement of fringe viewpoints.
The whack-a-mole approach to Grok’s guardrails concerns experts in the field, who say it’s hard enough to keep an AI system from veering into harmful behavior even when it’s designed intentionally, with some measure of safety in mind from the beginning. And if you don’t do that… then all bets are off.
Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors:
One of the first things I did when I got the new iPhones into Six Colors global HQ was to get the iPhone 17 Pro Max up and running and run Geekbench 6. (I know there are a lot of Geekbench scores out there, but I like to run my own, just because.) Because I’m curious about the pace of Apple silicon innovation.
The A19 Pro chip in the iPhone 17 Pro is presumably using the next generation of CPU and GPU cores that will also appear later this year or early next year in the M5 processor, as well. So it’s not just a view into how the chips have progressed for the iPhone, but also an indication about where gains will be made in the next generation of Macs.
According to his charts, the future looks very exciting.
Rakhim Davletkali has written a delightful blog post, reviewing macOS releases in reverse:
Apple’s first desktop operating system was Tahoe. Like any first version, it had a lot of issues. Users and critics flooded the web with negative reviews. While mostly stable under the hood, the outer shell — the visual user interface — was jarringly bad. Without much experience in desktop UX, Apple’s first OS looked like a Fisher-Price toy: heavily rounded corners, mismatched colors, inconsistent details and very low information density. Obviously, the tool was designed mostly for kids or perhaps light users or elderly people.
Credit where credit is due: Apple had listened to their users and the next version – macOS Sequoia — shipped with lots of fixes. Border radius was heavily reduced, transparent glass-like panels replaced by less transparent ones, buttons made more serious and less toyish. Most system icons made more serious, too, with focus on more detail. Overall, it seemed like the 2nd version was a giant leap from infancy to teenage years.
You have to read the whole thing.
512 Pixels reader Brian sent me a screenshot they took way back on Mac OS X 10.0, showing that Apple’s current struggle with transparent user interface elements isn’t anything new:
Clipboard managers are one of those utilities you don’t realize you need until you try one. And for years, they’ve all felt the same—catch-all junk drawers where your copy/paste history goes to die.
Quip takes a different approach. It’s a clipboard manager and text expander for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, built to feel native, private, and actually enjoyable.
With the new Liquid Glass design in macOS and iOS 26, Quip looks like it belongs in Apple’s world of apps. Smooth animations, frosted transparency—it’s modern and responsive in a way most utilities never are.
And now, with Apple Intelligence, Quip can do things no other clipboard manager can:
- Summarize long text into quick, scannable previews right inside your history.
- Suggest the right collection for new items, based on your existing setup.
- Learn your patterns over time to filter out the junk you don’t want—like 2FA codes, random strings, or boilerplate text.
All of it happens on-device, privately and securely.
Quip has even more features: iCloud sync, a beautiful searchable history, OCR text capture on macOS, and Super Shortcuts for fast text expansion anywhere.
If you live in copy and paste, Quip makes it smarter.
Try it free on the App Store or learn more at bzgapps.com/quip.
Underscore, writing last week:
Five years ago, a TikTok video changed my life.
And I can say that without any hyperbole.
I remember watching Widgetsmith rocket to the top of the App Store, and I could not have been more excited for Dave as it was happening. It’s a thrill to work on such a large project now.
Our 7th annual 12-hour live show raising money for St. Jude is coming up on Friday! Please tune in and donate:
Today, Apple launched iOS 26. Over at Cross Forward, we’ve got major updates to three of our apps today:
Widgetsmith 8This is a big one. Widgetsmith’s design has been updated for Liquid Glass, but we took that opportunity to make meaningful improvements across the app:
- New main screen that makes it easier to find your existing widgets and create new ones.
- Search is now implemented across the app to make searching for a widget type or theme much faster.
- It’s now easier to take an existing theme and apply it to other widgets.
- You can now apply a theme based on a wallpaper to multiple widgets at once.
Widgetsmith 8 is in the App Store now.
Pedometer++ 7Pedometer++ 7 sports an updated design that I really love. My favorite little touch is that the main screen with your step count gets a tinted background to reinforce where you are in comparison with your goal for the day.
Maps are much improved in this release as well, with an updated color palette for the light map tiles, and the addition of a new dark mode tile set. We worked with an actual cartographer (!!!) on these, and it shows.
Pedometer++ 7 is in the App Store now.
Sleep++ 4.7In addition to the updates to Widgetsmith and Pedometer++, Sleep++ has also been updated for Liquid Glass, and I think it looks great:
I think Snell nails it:
macOS 26 Tahoe is two things at once: It’s the broadest and most productivity-focused update for macOS in years, while also taking collateral damage from Apple’s broader design ambitions on its other platforms.
It features the biggest update to Spotlight ever, including direct access to app actions and Apple’s first-ever built-in clipboard manager. Shortcuts adds deep automation support and direct access to AI models, changing the game for many aspects of Mac automation productivity. These are features that will delight Mac users and help them work better.
Unfortunately, they’ll be productive while using a tweaked design that’s not nearly as prominent as it is on the iPhone and iPad, but still has to be labeled as a net loss for the Mac.
Ticci is back with a comprehensive look at iOS and iPadOS 26:
There was a lot riding on Apple’s software strategy in 2025. Now that we’re entering the final phase of the Apple product launch year, I believe that, in hindsight, their three key moves from the first half of 2025 are – at least from a marketing perspective – the best approach they could have followed.
First, the new AI Siri features were officially delayed to “the coming year”, and at WWDC, executives explained why they needed more time than anticipated to get them right. Then, Apple unveiled a new design language that – to varying degrees of success – unifies its user interfaces across platforms. Finally, the company embraced the iPad’s modular nature with a complete reimagining of the device’s software in iPadOS 26, borrowing from the decades-long traditions of macOS to bring new windowing and multitasking features to the tablet. You have to hand it to Apple PR: that’s a pretty effective marketing strategy to, once again, steer the public conversation and attention to a place that’s more comfortable for Apple.
But my reviews aren’t about marketing; they’re about the reality and everyday practicality of using these operating systems. Beyond the renewed promise of Apple Intelligence and a future version of Siri, what is it actually like to use the new AI features shipping in iOS 26 today? Once the novelty of Liquid Glass wears off, does the new design meaningfully improve our interactions with apps? Is iPadOS 26 truly the miracle answer to all of our iPad woes that we thought it could be at WWDC?
These are the questions I hope to provide an answer to with this review.
I look forward to these every year, and this one doesn’t disappoint. I suggest reading it on an iPad with a nice cup of coffee.
I spent a large part of my weekend making over 150 screenshots, just for you.
I mostly like Liquid Glass on iOS and iPadOS, but it feels like macOS got a lot less time in the oven than the mobile operating systems did. For example, toolbar buttons still really stick out, and I wish app icons weren’t all in squircle jail:
Like previous years, I have various sections of screenshots for you to check out, but with a new addition this year: Icon & Widget Styles.
The macOS Screenshot Library is sponsored by Rogue Amoeba. Head to rogueamoeba.com to learn more and download their free trials today.
I know this puts me in a very specific age bracket, but I did almost of all my writing in high school in AppleWorks 6 and still miss it.
It’s wild that we’ve been watching iPhone events for nearly two decades now, but it’s true, and over that time, things have fallen into a predictable pattern:
- Rumors about features and designs start to leak
- Parts photos show up online
- Invites go out
- Apple announces something that a lot of folks have already seen
That was certainly true this time, and yet I was more excited going into this iPhone event than I have been in the last few years. That excitement remains after the event, and it’s because Apple played to its strengths in a way that it hasn’t in a while.
Contrast this feeling with how the fallout over Siri and Apple Intelligence continues to haunt the company. I think WWDC 2024 is going to echo through the halls of Apple history for years to come. While Apple Intelligence was mentioned several times during Tuesday’s live stream,1 the company was there to discuss its hardware portfolio, something that even in the world of AI and services, is important to Apple and its customers.
The iPhone 17Despite some rumors — and my desires — of a naming scheme shift to match iOS 26, this year’s iPhones fall in line with their older siblings, and pick up the 17 name.
The iPhone 17 is the best entry-level iPhone ever. The addition of ProMotion and the always-on display addresses the most common complaints people have had about the base model. The new screen will go a long way in modernizing this device; I would never consider going back to a phone without an always-on display, even if I do turn off ProMotion.
It’s worth noting that basically every other display specification is the same between all four phones this year:
The iPhone 17 picks up the same selfie camera improvements as its siblings, meaning users can take portrait or landscape images much more easily, and with a 48 megapixel sensor for the back camera, those photos should look great too.
For that price, users can get an iPhone that has features previously reserved for the Pro, in a more durable design. Several times throughout the event, Apple touted its use of Ceramic Shield 2 on the front of these new phones. While the other phones have the original Ceramic Shield on their backs for the first time, that’s missing from the 17. I suspect that will come in the future.
On the inside, the 17 is no slouch. There’s no reason to doubt that the A19 is another in a long line of Apple silicon wins. Hopefully, the thermals can be kept under control, but I don’t think the 16 struggled with that the same way the 16 Pro did.
Interestingly, the iPhone 17 did not pick up the new “iconic plateau” that dominates the industrial design of the Air and 17 Pro. I suspect that will come in the future as well, but for now, it does make the 17 look much more like the 16 than its classmates look like the 16 Pro.
However, that is not going to be an issue for consumers looking to pick up an iPhone 17 in any way. Most people buy an iPhone when their old one breaks, and when they do, they are in for a treat at $799.
The iPhone 17 ProSince the 11 Pro first appeared back in 2019, I’ve opted for either the Pro or Pro Max to get as much camera performance as I could out of my iPhone. The 17 getting a larger sensor didn’t paint Apple into a corner with the Pro, as shown by the fact that all three rear sensors are 48MP this year for the first time.
This does lead to the slightly funny business of how Apple is claiming this three-camera system is like having five cameras on the back of the phone, at .5x, 1x, 3x, 4x, and 8x levels of optical zoom. Jason Snell chimed in on Six Colors:
Here’s what’s happening: Apple’s put 48 megapixel sensors in every single one of the cameras on its flagship iPhones. This started with the iPhone 14 Pro, and Apple has adjusted it quite a lot over the last few years. Those 48 megapixels can be processed in all sorts of ways. Apple can capture all 48 megapixels, or capture multiple binned 12-megapixel frames that gather more light and fuse them with a larger capture to create an optimal 24 megapixel image, or it can just use the pixels at the very center of the sensor to create a technically-optical “zoom” at a lower-resolution.
These different techniques allow Apple to balance image quality, file size, and the desire of the user to zoom in on scenes. They also allow Apple to market the 4x zoom on the iPhone Pro’s telephoto sensor as going to 8x, since if you go to 4x and then crop the center of the sensor data, you’ve effectively got an 8x optical zoom. Boom, two cameras! And now all three cameras can do it, so three becomes six! Throw in two macro modes and you’ve found how three iPhone 17 Pro cameras become eight, and how one iPhone Air camera becomes “four lenses in your pocket.”
My experience has been that these various optical lengths are good. These sensors are big and dense enough to pull these tricks off, and I have no reason to think that the 17 Pro will let me down here.
The housing around those cameras is the focus of much of the conversation I’ve seen over the last couple of days. This design isn’t novel; the Google Pixel and others have been using a full-width camera bar/bump/visor/plateau for years, and for good reason. It allows for more room inside the phone, and to my eye, it looks better than the back of previous iPhones. The camera plateau on my iPhone 16 Pro is already more than 50% across the back of the device; going all the way makes a lot of sense to me.
The inside of the phone has also seen significant changes, starting with its construction. The circle that began with the steel iPhone X and continued with the Titanium iPhone 15 Pro is now complete with the aluminum iPhone 17 Pro.
This time, though, Apple has turned to its love of unibody design, which the first MacBook Air introduced way back in 2008. I want one of these bare chassis parts to have on my desk:
This unibody and the use of Ceramic Shield should make this iPhone very durable, which is great because the last thing I want to do is put an orange iPhone in a case.
The iPhone AirEvery once in a while, an Apple product comes along that shouldn’t be possible. The iPhone 4 and iPhone X come to mind, as do the iMac G4, original MacBook Air, and the 12-inch MacBook.
I’m putting the iPhone Air on that list.
I still shudder thinking about an iPhone without buttons or ports, but seeing the iPhone Air makes me think that Apple is thinking about it. Heck, the USB-C port on the bottom of the phone is slightly off-center on the Z-axis to (probably) accommodate the screen. Sadly, like the iPhone 17, the iPhone Air’s USB-C port is stuck running at ancient USB 2 speeds, despite the Air using the same A19 Pro SoC as found in the Pro.
While funny, that’s not a terrible trade-off for something so thin. I’m more bummed about the lack of a bottom speaker.
This is all made possible due to some breathtaking engineering. The entire logic board, SoC, cameras, and more are all packed into the plateau:
This makes me think of the time Steve Jobs compared the logicboard of the MacBook Air to a No. 2 pencil, or when, years later, that logic board dwarfed the one in the 12-inch MacBook.
Surely this is why the iPhone Air has just one camera. I assume Apple didn’t want to make the plateau taller, eating into battery space below it, and there’s no room for another lens to the side of the single 48MP camera.
Every product is a balance of trade-offs, but rarely are they so apparent. That makes this phone the most interesting iPhone in years.
Also interesting is its place in the lineup. It sits in the spot previously held by the 14, 15, and 16 Plus, which replaced the 12 and 13 mini. Apple has struggled with this 4th slot, and we’ll see if the Air is the right product at the right time. I suspect it will have its fans, but concerns of battery life and durability will keep some people away. Apple seems confident those aren’t going to be issues, but is also selling a new MagSafe Battery that only works with the Air.
Lastly, there is the name: “iPhone Air.” No 17 to be found. Will we see an iPhone Air 2 next year? That’s for Joz to know and for us to find out next year.
iPhone PricingThere have been a lot of words written and podcasted about what the iPhone price would be in our … current environment.
Apple doesn’t like to just come out and say, “Welp, prices are higher now.” The company places an inordinate amount of pride in releasing upgraded products at identical price points. But this year, it raised iPhone prices, sort of, kind of.
Again, we dive into The Snell Zone:
Start with the iPhone Air, which begins at $999, a slot that was previously occupied by the iPhone Pro and a full $100 more expensive than the iPhone Plus, which it’s replacing in the product line. Apple has converted one of its two base-model phones into a new boutique mid-range model with a fancy design; we’ll see how that works out for them. My gut feeling is that it’ll do better than the iPhone mini or iPhone Plus did, but I don’t know if that’ll be enough to satisfy Apple.
Then there’s the iPhone 17 Pro, which now starts at $1099, up from the $999 starting price introduced with the iPhone X. Apple has gone to great lengths to point out that the $1099 price is the same as the similarly-configured iPhone 16 Pro model last year, because the iPhone 17 Pro has 256GB of base storage, and the iPhone 16 Pro started at 128GB. Yes, of course, this is true, and it allows Apple to claim that it’s not really raising prices, but is just continuing to fill the old slots.
It doesn’t change the fact that the iPhone Pro can’t be bought for less than $1099, though.
What Apple Does BestAs I mentioned, this crop of iPhones really shows what Apple is best at. There are some big hardware swings in these phones, no doubt the result of years of work. For that work, customers will get better battery life, brighter displays, more stunning photos and videos, and the best privacy and security in the industry.
If you listen to the rest of the industry, these things matter less than they ever have. Some believe we’re hurtling toward a rule of AI-powered devices that will replace things like the iPhone. As a result, Apple is part of a dying breed of companies just trying to wring the remaining drop of profit out of their businesses.
Take the closing of Ben Thompson’s piece on the event as an example of this thinking:
Apple, to be fair, isn’t selling the same sugar water year-after-year in a zero sum war with other sugar water companies. Their sugar water is getting better, and I think this year’s seasonal concoction is particularly tasty. What is inescapable, however, is that while the company does still make new products — I definitely plan on getting new AirPod Pro 3s! — the company has, in the pursuit of easy profits, constrained the space in which it innovates.
That didn’t matter for a long time: smartphones were the center of innovation, and Apple was consequently the center of the tech universe. Now, however, Apple is increasingly on the periphery, and I think that, more than anything, is what bums people out: no, Apple may not be a sugar water purveyor, but they are farther than they have been in years from changing the world.
I don’t make it a habit to bet against Ben, but I’m also not convinced by this line of thinking. Even if some magical AI-powered hardware comes along and knocks the smartphone off its throne, it’s going to be years away, and it’s going to happen very slowly. AI is nowhere close to being able to do the massive range of tasks that lead people to pull their phones out of their pockets.
Instead, I think the cooling effect the world has felt around the launch of new iPhones is an unavoidable side effect of a mature market. Of course, new iPhones aren’t as exciting now as they were ten years ago. The same thing happened to personal computers and even cars. Sometimes, great things come along, but most years these markets hum along. I don’t think what we’re seeing with the iPhone is a result of AI changing the world, but rather of time marching on.
Maybe the future is AI and flying cars and computers on our faces, but we’ve been promised those things for a long time, and if/until that future comes, Apple is going to keep making the most important device in our lives better and better.
- For what it’s worth, I am fully on Team Bring Back Live, On-Stage Events. I know Apple loves the control of having these things be in nice, tidy videos, but these things move too quickly and have no soul to them when someone is just hitting play in QuickTime at the back of the Steve Jobs Theatre. ↩
This week on Connected:
With the dust settling from Apple’s event, the guys score their picks, covering the iPhone Air, 17, and 17 Pro, as well as new AirPods and Apple Watches.
From the Newsroom announcement:
Final Cut Pro 11 takes full advantage of Apple’s M-series chips, introducing the powerful and intuitive Magnetic Mask; Transcribe to Captions, a highly requested feature that provides fast and accurate closed captions; spatial video editing; and a range of timesaving tools and workflow optimizations.
While I use Final Cut occasionally, I am by no means an expert. Thankfully, Tyler Stalman is:
Final Cut Pro is $300 in the Mac App Store, and this update is free for Final Cut Pro X users. A free 90-day trial is available as well. Apple still offers its “Pro Apps Bundle for Education” for just $199.
This week on the podcast:
Stephen wants to make showers more interesting, Federico is spending time with AI writing tools, and Myke is excited about a possible Apple smart home hub.
She’s the best tech YouTuber out there:
Siri wasn’t part of her project for hilarious and obvious reasons.
Writing at Bloomberg:
Apple Inc., aiming to catch up with rivals in the smart home market, is nearing the launch of a new product category: a wall-mounted display that can control appliances, handle videoconferencing and use AI to navigate apps.
The company is gearing up to announce the device as early as March and will position it as a command center for the home, according to people with knowledge of the effort. The product, code-named J490, also will spotlight the new Apple Intelligence AI platform, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the work is confidential.
He goes on:
The device has a roughly 6-inch screen and looks like a square iPad. It’s about the size of two iPhones side by side, with a thick edge around the display. There’s also a camera at the top front, a rechargeable built-in battery and internal speakers. Apple plans to offer it in silver and black options.
Gurman writes that the OS and interface are something like a mix of watchOS and the iPhone’s Standby mode, all powered by widgets with glanceable information, Siri, and Apple Intelligence.
(I would assume that iPad apps would make an appearance as well as an escape hatch, like they do on visionOS.)
After writing about the software, he goes back to a well he can’t seem to stay away from:
Apple is already planning a more expensive follow-up version with a robotic limb that can move the screen around. Apple plans to market that technology as a home companion with an AI personality.
What a robot is — or not — is beside the point here, of course, but the idea of a device dedicated to managing the smart home is very interesting. Being wall mounted means something like this could near an exterior door or in a hallway, whereas products like this normally end up in the kitchen. Of course, Apple will include — or sell — some sort of stand for the device to make it as adaptable as possible.
Speaking of devices by Google and Amazon… they are normally under $250. I’m drawing my line in the sand for this at $499. Gurman says the one with the “robotic arm” may near $1,000.
I for one am super interested in this, and Jason Snell writes, it makes a lot of sense for Apple to go down this road:
This kind of product has seemed like a no-brainer for Apple for some time, since it’s largely built out of features and functionality Apple is already shipping, or is about to ship. It seems like Apple Intelligence is the feature that is finally putting it over the top.
I really do not understand why this app is updated so slowly. It launched in March of 2023, but wasn’t available for the iPad until November 2023.
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This week on Mac Power Users, I got back from my sabbatical and join David just in time for some holiday shopping.
Quinn Nelson bought a new Mac mini then took it apart for all of us:
Over on Mastodon, Paul Haddad pointed out some of the differences between the M4 and M4 Pro models:
Dan Moren has reviewed the new Mac mini, and has high praise for the small machine:
As the most versatile Mac, the Mac mini finds itself into all sorts of niches that no other Mac can easily (or cost-effectively) fill. Whether it’s rack-mounted as a server, hooked up to a TV, or even tucked somewhere in a car, the mini is the Mac of all trades.
Since the Apple silicon revolution, it’s also become more powerful than ever, and the new M4-powered models are no exception. The mini holds its own against consumer models like the iMac and MacBook Air, and can be upgraded into the mid-range with an M4 Pro chip, positioning it comfortably alongside some MacBook Pro models.
When it comes to desktop Macs, it’s quite possibly the best one Apple offers.
I am very happy using a 14-inch MacBook Pro as my main Mac these days, but I can’t stop thinking about the Mac mini. The new design is compelling, its performance is impressive, and it would look adorable with a set of googly eyes on it.
For all the crappy things that 2020 brought, the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory continues to sting. Since its demise, the failure has been under investigation, and a recent report sheds new light on what happened:
Long-term zinc creep-induced failure in the 57-year-old telescope’s cable spelter sockets was the root cause of the telescope’s collapse, the report says. Sockets filled with zinc held in place a set of cables suspending the telescope’s main platform over the reflector dish. Gradually the zinc lost its hold on the cables and allowed several of them to pull out, leading to the collapse of the platform into the reflector.
The failure sequence began with Hurricane Maria, over three years prior to the collapse, according to the report. Indications of cable pullout were minimal before the hurricane. Large and progressive cable pullouts could be seen during post-hurricane visual inspections, observation of which should have prompted remedial action. Safety factor calculations made following the first cable failure did not recognize the accelerated time-dependent materials failure process governing the eventual zinc pull out.
This is the first documented case of long-term zinc-induced creep failure despite a long history of usage over a century, the report notes. A possible explanation for the accelerated zinc-creep is long-term low-current electroplasticity, induced by the electromagnetic waves from the Arecibo Telescope. It recommends that the NSF should offer the remaining socket and cable sections for study by the research community.
This week on the podcast, Myke wades through some feedback, then we discuss my recent sabbatical and Apple’s AI image generation tools, and Federico considers the role of smart glasses in Apple’s ecosystem.
I don’t know how popular games proved to be back in the iPod days, but according to Kyle Orland at Ars, there are some folks out there who really care about them, and want to see them live on.
We need more of this sort of thing in the world.
MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs.
The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to social media.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable global keyboard shortcut, write out your latest thoughts, and instantly publish to your blog.
MarsEdit supports editing posts in rich or plain text, and the latest update is especially great for Markdown fans. Now when you’re writing Markdown in plain text mode, MarsEdit applies live, beautiful syntax highlighting to make it easier to focus separately on the content and style of your posts.
MarsEdit is used by top bloggers to maximize their productivity and enjoyment of blogging. It’s great for pros like John Gruber of Daring Fireball, and yours truly, while also being simple enough to remove the mystery of blogging for everyday folks who just want to share their thoughts with the world.
MarsEdit also supports for publishing to Mastodon! Now you can use the same app you use to write and publish to your main blog, to write and publish to your Mastodon microblog. Check out the announcement at this link.
One app, limitless publishing opportunities.
Download MarsEdit today, and see what all the hype is about. It’ll make you a better blogger!
We just closed down Relay’s 2024 St. Jude campaign. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to raise $1,078,348 to further St. Jude’s mission of finding cures and saving children.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. This is an incredible achievement that we share as a community.
It’s been a wild year. Relay turned 10 and 512 Pixels turned 16. Later this week, are winding down our 6th-annual fundraiser for St. Jude. In January, I joined forces with David Smith and survived my first major iOS release, helping get Widgetsmith 7 out the door just a few weeks ago.
On the home front, my wife started a new job, our middle child started high school, and I took on volunteer role that I cherish, but can prove demanding.
All of this is say: I could use a break, so I’m taking one. I’ll be on sabbatical starting on Friday, and will be back in early November.
Please don’t hear what I’m not saying: everything is great! No one is sick, and there’s no secret plot anywhere. I’m just going to log off for a bit.
I won’t be publishing any content during this timeframe; I won’t be on any shows1 or writing any here during that time. If there is an Apple event in October, I won’t be covering it, and hereby name the One True John Voorhees to play for me in the Rickies if a game is held.
My absence puts more work on several people, so I owe a huge thank you to Myke, Federico, David Sparks, Kathy, Kerry, Underscore, and the Relay Discord moderation team for keeping the machines running while I am away. Taking this much time away is a privilege that I do not take lightly, but a decade into Relay, this felt like a good time to take such a long break.
So what will I be doing with my time away?
Work-wise, after helping close down the St. Jude campaign in a few days, I’ll be doing just enough bookkeeping to keep the bills paid at Relay. Beyond that, a lot of time is unplanned by design. I have some projects around the house and a stack of books I want to get through, but I’m leaving a lot of days blank on my calendar between school drop off and pickup.
I am pretty bad at taking time off, but hopefully I get the hang of it after the first week or two.
I look forward to returning to you in November. Have an amazing month, Internet, and I’ll see you soon.
- …expect some pre-recorded episodes of Ungeniused. ↩
Back in March I wrote about the Jonathan, a computer Apple worked on in the 1980s that was designed around modularity:
In that post, I wrote:
My understanding is that the project never made it past the “conversations and mockups” stage. I get why the Jonathan never made it beyond the concept phase, but part of me wishes I could round up a bunch of modules meant for this platform. At least we have some fun photos and renders to enjoy.
Earlier this week, I got an email from 512 Pixels reader Geoff. He had a family member named Tom Toedtman, who worked at Apple in the 1980s. In April 1986, Tom wrote a memo to Apple CEO John Sculley in an attempt to save the project from cancellation.
What follows is that memo, published in full:
This communication is offered to you with the hope that you will agree that the significance of the Jonathan project to Apple’s long term goals warrants its completion now.
Now because the cognizant engineering teams are together; the knowledge
is together, and Jonathan is a great product.JONATHAN, a MODULAR SOLTUION:
Obvious non-obsolescence
- This design REMOVES THE FEAR that this computer will be obsolete next year. it will also remove a similar cause of hesitation — “I’ll wait for the next model to be released”.
- System growth capability is far beyond marketplace offerings. This is a great point of sale asset ,particularly for serious users, businesses with growth plans, and individuals with a growing future.
- True multi-master coprocessing. The right architecture for tomorrow.
- Configuration flexibility is also far beyond the marketplace. Jonathan can be loaded in any mix of current and future hardware by the customer. Fileserver, process controller, and numerous other special applications are now viable.
RAPID introduction of new hardware
- Standardized product design, manufacturing line, and final packaging are in place for CD-ROM, Optical magneto disk, 80MB drive, etc.
- Enclosed peripheral cards is a desired value added enhancement for most customers.
- An equivalent Jonathan appears cost competitive with Milwalkee.1
It goes on:
Although we do need to respond to the market; the market will never tell us how to innovate. Those ideas are born here. It is our reputation.
The Jonathan Product Design, and the capability it offers, is the innovation. Apple deserves to win only if it tries; only if it gambles.
Marketing has the products they want and need for the near term, and we have the resources and desire to develop them- including Jonathan. No market research was accomplished (as requested in Sept.), and no better explanation was presented by Wayne Dyer other than the other products make the most sense for the Marketing Plan.
On behalf of several of your key Engineering managers, and many of your dedicated contributors, please consider the possibilities, check it out with us and Marketing, and give this product a chance to be the great product we think it is.
Would you be willing to discuss this product’s potential with myself, Jon Fitch, and/or other Engineering managers?
This memo is fascinating for several reasons. First, it appears that the Jonathan concept was much further along than I previously thought, including packaging materials.
Secondly, it shows just how passionate the people who worked on this were about the idea. Tom’s career at Apple included other projects, including the IIGS and working on the design of the case for the Mac IIcx. His name is even on the inside of early examples of that machine. He saw the Jonathan as a way forward from those more traditional systems.
Of course, we know that this memo didn’t save the program, and Sculley shut it down, and nothing like the Jonathan ever shipped.
- I do not know what this in reference to; Googling didn’t get me very far. ↩
If you want to crosspost to Threads, Mastodon, and/or Bluesky, this new iPhone app by Ben McCarthy and Aaron Vegh is a lifesaver. I’ve been using it for several weeks, and it’s been very helpful when posting about our St. Jude campaign. It’s useful and delightful, as you would expect from these two developers.
I don’t think the Apple Desktop Bus Keyboard is anywhere near Apple’s best, but this project is wild:
As of this writing, Relay’s annual campaign for St. Jude just tipped over the $1 million mark.
If you haven’t given yet, and you can, there’s still time! The campaign will run through the end of the week.
If you have already given, look into employer matching. It’s a great way to make your donation go even farther. Details are on the campaign page.
Most of all, thank you. Myke and I consider the nearly $4 million from the Relay community to St. Jude to be our company’s legacy, and this year, y’all have blown us away. St. Jude saved my son’s life, and thanks to everyone who gives, their work continues to save the lives of children all over the world.
This week on Mac Power Users, we talk about Apple’s new hardware, then take a tour of macOS Sequoia, iOS and iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11.
From the most recent post over on iMore, announcing that no new posts will be published on the site:
It’s a keen reminder that the world of technology never stands still: The term ‘artificial intelligence’ was the reserve of science fiction in the early days of the iPhone. The world of publishing is forever evolving too, as do the forms of technology journalism that look to shine a light on the industry. iMore leaves the stage at a pivotal crossroads for online publishing, where the battle for readers’ time and attention is more demanding than ever before, and the aforementioned AI advances and search discovery methods further complicate the playing field. It’s been a joy to serve such a passionate readership over the years, but it’s time to pass the baton to new writers, new sites, and new formats.
This news isn’t shocking, but it is sad. Many, many people in this industry — including me — spent time writing at iMore. When I first went out on my own nine years ago, Rene Ritchie invited me to write a column over there, and I’ll always be appreciative of that.
The mention of AI in the blog post made me feel even sadder, given that so many dead sites are now lurching along, powered by LLM-written garbage. I hope iMore won’t fall to the same fate.
This week on the show:
The original Connected crew is reunited just in time to share their initial impressions of the Apple Watch Series 10 and iPhone 16 Pro. They also discuss Apple’s definition of a photo and how they should introduce one another.
Apple’s VP of camera software engineering Jon McCormack gave Nilay Patel a quote about how Apple views photography in our modern age. Here’s what he said:
Here’s our view of what a photograph is. The way we like to think of it is that it’s a personal celebration of something that really, actually happened.
Whether that’s a simple thing like a fancy cup of coffee that’s got some cool design on it, all the way through to my kid’s first steps, or my parents’ last breath, It’s something that really happened. It’s something that is a marker in my life, and it’s something that deserves to be celebrated.
Federico Viticci wrote what I would have written, had I been more online this weekend:
“Something that really, actually happened” is a great baseline compared to Samsung’s nihilistic definition (nothing is real) and Google’s relativistic one (everyone has their own memories).
I like Apple’s realistic definition of what a photo is – right now, I feel like it comes from a place of respect and trust. But I have to wonder how malleable that definition will retroactively become to make room for Clean Up and future generative features of Apple Intelligence.
With Audio Hijack, you can record any audio on your Mac. Capture audio from individual applications like Safari or Zoom, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, or even the audio output of the entire system.
If you can hear it, you can record it. Whatever you need to do with audio on your Mac, Audio Hijack can help.
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Now, Audio Hijack is easier to install than ever before. With a new installer-free setup, you can get started in seconds. Visit the Audio Hijack site to download the free trial and give it a try.
One more thing: through the end of September, 512 Pixels readers can save 24% by purchasing with coupon code SMH24. Act fast!
Joe Rossignol:
Apple has seemingly leaked the rumored next-generation Mac mini with five USB-C ports, according to a code change within Apple software that was discovered today by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris.
The code refers to an unreleased Mac mini model with an Apple silicon chip and five ports, which lines up with a previous report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman that said the next Mac mini will be equipped with five USB-C ports. Similar to the Mac Studio, Gurman said two of the ports will be located on the front of the new Mac mini. Technically speaking, at least some of these ports will likely be Thunderbolt 4 ports, which use the USB-C connector design.
The string in question reads “Apple silicon Mac mini (5 Port).” Whoops.
I am intrigued by what this smaller Mac mini could bring, and what it could enable folks to do. The Mac mini finds itself in all sorts of places where other computers just won’t fit. A small, more power efficient model will only extend those possibilities.
Widgetsmith is getting a really fun update for iOS 18:
Widgetsmith 7 on iOS 18 includes new ways to use your widgets to perform useful Actions from your Home screen, Lock screen, and Control Center. Actions allow you to quickly launch an app, run a Shortcut, make a call, send a text, or play music. Actions are chosen from our curated and ever-growing list of options and can be easily personalized.
The things you can build with this are really, really cool:
Actions extend from Home Screen widgets to Control Center and the Lock screen as well. Widgetsmith can be everywhere with iOS 18.
Having worked with David Smith for nine months, I’ve been through several app update cycles, but working on a big one for a major new version of iOS was a lot of fun. Seeing him in UNDERSCORE MODE up close is super impressive, and what he’s done with Widgetsmith 7 is great. It also makes this iOS launch day feel differently to all of others I’ve seen over the years. Go check out Widgetsmith in the App Store!
macOS Sequoia is rolling out today, and it joins its predecessors in the macOS Screenshot Library.
This initial version of Sequoia is pretty quiet; the fireworks will come with Apple Intelligence in the coming months.
I recently switched back to Reminders for the 10,000th time, and came across this really cool Mac app that adds Reminders (and a quick-add text box) to your menubar. It belongs on the same list as InstaRemind when it comes to making Reminders easier — and faster — to use on macOS. InstaRemind’s quick-add feature is more customizable, but Reminders MenuBar puts actual tasks in its drop-down, which is pretty slick.
- I hate everything about this.
- I could have told our city leadership that something like was inevitable… as could have many, many other people.
Emma Roth:
SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn astronauts successfully performed a spacewalk, marking the first done by a private company. After depressurizing SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, the billionaire funding the mission, Jared Isaacman, emerged from the spacecraft early Thursday morning.
With his torso and head fully sticking outside the capsule, Isaacman performed tests on SpaceX’s new spacesuits, which are designed for increased mobility. “Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do,” Isaacman said during the spacewalk. “But from here, it sure looks like a perfect world.”
Isaacman’s Polaris Program is a huge St. Jude supporter. The dude is out here making history and trying to solve childhood cancer.
This week on a jam-packed episode of the world’s greatest podcast:
The guys score their picks regarding Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event.
Things didn’t go well for everyone.
This week on a special episode of MPU:
Apple’s September event brought new iPhones, updated AirPods, and a revised Apple Watch line. Stephen and David sort through the news and share their thoughts.
On June 25, 2010, our son had his “No More Chemo” party at St. Jude Children’s Hospital, at nearly 20 months of age:
These parties are one of my favorite things about life at St. Jude:
Confetti, singing and cheering aren’t what you think of when you think of a hospital. But St. Jude isn’t just any hospital. And when patients receiving chemotherapy finish treatment, we celebrate with a No More Chemo party.
For Josiah’s party, the room was full of the medical staff that had been with us on his journey. Together, we got to celebrate how far our son had come in his short life. In May 2009 when Josiah was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, we knew none of the people in the room.
By June 25, 2010, they were family. They had worked day and night, for months, to help save our son’s life. They had seen us at our lowest moments, always ready to point us toward hope.
St. Jude is in the business of hope, and these parties are one teeny tiny part of what makes it such a special place. Your generous support allows St. Jude to keep working until the ultimate “No More Chemo” party can take place — the one we’ll all throw when the threat of cancer is a thing of the past, for all children, everywhere.
Donate to St. Jude today!
Apple held its annual iPhone event today, and the biggest thought in my mind about is that Apple’s product messaging has gotten confusing.
Apple WatchFor years, rumors have claimed that the Apple Watch Ultra would fall off the annual release cycle the standard Apple Watch enjoys, and it happened today, with the Ultra picking up the saddest label I’ve ever see on Apple’s website:
I mean, the satin black finish looks incredible, but why didn’t the Ultra receive any other updates, especially as it sits at the high-end of the product line? I understand that the Apple Watch SE doesn’t need annual refreshing, but the Ultra being in that bucket just doesn’t make sense to me.
Then there’s the Apple Watch Series 10. The keynote made it seem that the smaller size had been cancelled, leading to much handwringing until apple.com was updated, showing both sizes. The larger of the two is bigger than the Ultra 2.
What is the strategy there? The Ultra certainly retains many advantages over the Series 10, and Apple did rattle those off, but the product strategy that the Ultra is the most advanced Watch seems to have died.
Had there been a new Ultra, maybe the company would be more comfortable comparing two new models with each other, but pitching the new Series 10 against a year-old product would be weird. It’s all very messy, for reasons that aren’t all that clear.
AirPodsI assume that Apple is trying to move away from the “older ones stick around for less money” complications, but 1) Apple employs that strategy all over the place and 2) I think people understood the differences between the AirPods 2 and AirPods 3.
…but now there are two models of AirPods 4, with vastly different features and a $50 price difference. Granted, it’s probably the best $50 you can spend in an Apple Store.
I have seen some people poking fun of the “AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation” name… but honestly I think it totally works, and is a necessary given the lineup.
Then there’s the not-dead-yet AirPods Max. Apple swapped in USB-C for the old Lightning port, but the rest of the product is basically unchanged. It still ships with the old H1 chip, meaning the new AirPods Max miss out on many modern features. The Max reuses same somewhat-flawed design, and is sold for the same high price. Apple left a lot on the table in terms of improving the product, and that’s always disappointing and a little head-scratching.
Camera ControlLet me start this by saying I love how this feature looked in the video. The UI looks fun and I’m sure the technology is going to be fantastic to use, but I worry Apple overloaded the button. Here’s a bit from Jason Snell’s hands-on:
The button itself feels really good. It’s a real button — if you push it all the way down, you can feel it depress with a pleasing tactile response. But it’s also a touch- and pressure-sensitive button that lets you “push halfway” to bring up another set of options, for things like zooming in or switching between photographic styles. If you keep your finger on the button and half-push twice in quick succession, you’ll be taken up one level in the hierarchy and can swipe to different commands. Then half-push once to enter whatever controls you want, and you’re back to swiping. It takes a few minutes to get used to the right set of gestures, but it’s a potentially powerful feature—and at its base, it’s still very simple: push to bring up the camera, push to shoot, and push and hold to shoot video.
There was a time where Apple would have introduced this as a way to launch the camera, set focus, and take a photo. That’s it. Three jobs; just one button. (Are you getting it?)
Many of the features in Apple’s Camera app are hidden behind swipes. It’s one thing when there’s a whole screen to show what’s happening, but I have no doubt people will get this new button into a state that makes them feel lost, spending more time tinkering with their phones than taking the photo they wanted to capture. Sometimes less is more, and I fear the Camera Control feature may be on the wrong side of that divide.
Apple IntelligenceAs expected, Apple spent quite a bit of time on Apple Intelligence.1 but Apple refuses to draw clear lines around what it considers to be part of this suite of features. I know Apple feels pressure to retcon features as “intelligent,” slapping a new sticker over old “machine learning” labels. I just wish Apple didn’t bow to that pressure so often.
In his segment, Craig Federighi showed off the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro’s ability to use the Camera Control button to process visual information. He briefly mentioned sending images to Google and sharing data with ChatGPT, but it was so fast that my notes have a lot of “?????” in them.
Then there’s the hardware. When Apple was describing the differences between the new A18 and A18 Pro systems on a chip, I assumed we’d hear about some AI-powered feature that was made possible only by the better chip, but as far as I can tell, that wasn’t the case, but it felt like Apple was teeing something up.
I have very little idea about what normal folks have heard of Apple Intelligence.
In the months since WWDC, I’ve had friends ask me hand-wavy questions about Apple and AI, but nothing specific. That is going to change with these phones… except that the features won’t be present at launch. Some of them won’t be here for months. I think Apple’s been clear about that in its communication, but I wonder if that will break through to the masses who are going to be ordering new phones in the meantime.
The TrendIn writing this, I couldn’t help but think about that Apple Pencil chart from a year ago:
As Apple has grown, it has to offer more products, at more price points, to sell to more people.
Sometimes, that means selling older products at discounted prices, but it feels like today’s event was a new chapter in that story. Some of the announcements today were hard to understand, even as someone who has written about Apple for nearly 16 years. The event felt undisciplined in areas, and felt somehow both too long and too short for what Apple had to introduce.
As I have been writing this post, I’ve been surprised at my own feelings concerning this event. New iPhones are always fun, and the 16 and 16 Pro look like great updates. The Apple Watch Series 10 is only going to widen Apple’s lead over everyone else in the smartwatch market. AirPods are basically magic. And that’s not to mention any of the very impressive health features these products will bring to the market. That’s all good stuff, regardless of my complaints with the stagecraft.
- After using the 18.1 Developer Beta on my carry phone for a while now, my personal excitement over these features has cooled greatly, but that’s a blog post for another evening. ↩
Tom Ravenscroft, at Dezeen:
Dezeen can exclusively reveal photos of technology company Apple’s new events venue, which is built into the hillside at the Apple Park campus in California.
Set to officially open later today, The Observatory is the most significant building to be completed on the campus since the Steve Jobs Theater opened in 2017.
Designed “as a contemplative space”, the subterranean building will be used for launch events and to showcase the brand’s latest technology.
This space looks amazing.
Unite 5 for macOS takes your web experience to the next level, transforming websites into feature-rich Mac apps. Powered by a completely redesigned WebKit browser, Unite 5 offers a more immersive and customizable browsing experience.
What sets Unite 5 apart? We’ve gone beyond just app conversion. Our new intricate link-forwarding rules give you unparalleled control over web interactions, making your web apps smarter and more integrated than ever before.
Some highlights of Unite 5:
- Advanced Link-Forwarding: Navigate your web apps like a pro.
- Revamped Browser Engine: Faster, more reliable, and tailored for macOS.
- Enhanced Customization: More ways to make your web apps truly yours.
Create powerful web apps in seconds, such as:
- A Gmail client that integrates seamlessly with macOS.
- A resource-efficient Slack or Discord app with full notification support.
- A dedicated AI app for ChatGPT or Claude.AI
- A Robinhood or Figma app that feels native on your desktop.
512 Pixels readers get an exclusive 20% off this week! Use the promo code 512Pixels at checkout or visit bzgapps.com/unite512.
Experience Unite 5 for yourself with a 14-day free trial, or access it as part of a Setapp subscription.
This week on Mac Power Users:
Matt Cassinelli joins the show to discuss his background with Workflow and Apple and how it led to him becoming the “Shortcuts Guy.” The group then discusses Apple’s automation tools across its platforms, and how those tools have extended to the web.
Monday, September 9 will mark ten years since Apple announced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, as well as the Apple Watch.
That’s all fine and good, but the real news of the day was free music from U2:
Apple, Universal Music Group and legendary rock band U2 today announced the release of the album “Songs of Innocence,” which Apple is gifting to iTunes Store customers around the world, making it the largest album release ever with over half a billion copies distributed. The album features 11 new songs from the band and charts their earliest influences from 70s rock and punk rock to early 80s electronica and soul. The album is free for iTunes Store account holders in 119 countries and is available exclusively on iTunes for the next five weeks.
“From the very beginning U2 have always wanted our music to reach as many people as possible, the clue is in our name I suppose—so today is kind of mind-blowing to us. The most personal album we’ve written could be shared with half a billion people… by hitting send. If only songwriting was that easy,” said U2 lead singer Bono. “It’s exciting and humbling to think that people who don’t know U2 or listen to rock music for that matter might check us out. Working with Apple is always a blast. They only want to do things that haven’t been done before—that’s a thrill to be part of.”
“U2 has been an important part of Apple’s history in music and we’re thrilled to make ‘Songs of Innocence’ the largest album release ever,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We get to share our love of music today by gifting this great new album to over half a billion iTunes customers around the world.”
The 11-track album started appearing in people’s iTunes accounts and the shit hit the fan. Users flooded social media, surprised to see new music in their accounts. Some feared they had been hacked, while others were simply annoyed.
A week later, Apple started walking the whole thing back, as Chris Welch reported at the time:
To put it lightly, Apple’s “gift” of a free U2 album hasn’t been warmly received by everyone. And it seems the company has heard the chorus of complaints loud and clear. As of today, Apple’s offering an easy way to permanently erase Songs of Innocence with a single click. Doing so immediately removes U2’s latest album from your iTunes music library and iTunes purchase history. Apple has even set up a support website to guide people through the process.
Note that erasing the album means it will no longer show up in your “purchases” tab. So if you want to re-download it for another listen, you’ll need to go through the regular album purchase process again. Songs of Innocence will remain free until October 13th; after that, Apple’s window of exclusivity closes and you’ll need to pay for it should you regret the decision to delete Bono’s hard work. The fact that Apple had to go this far and publish a removal tool almost puts U2’s new album on the same footing as malware or aggressive antivirus software, but at least the complaining should end.
Here’s a bit from that now-retired support article:
Learn how to remove the iTunes gift album “Songs of Innocence” from your iTunes music library and purchases.
Follow these instructions to remove U2’s “Songs of Innocence” from your iTunes music library and iTunes purchases. Once the album has been removed from your account, it will no longer be available for you to redownload as a previous purchase. If you later decide you want the album, you will need to get it again. The album is free to everyone until October 13, 2014, and will be available for purchase after that date.
Despite this document, the album haunted some people for years.
In 2022, Bono apologized for the entire thing. Here’s a bit from his memoir, via The Guardian:
“Free music?” asked Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, with a look of mild incredulity. “Are you talking about free music?”
Ten years had gone by since the Vertigo ads; we were in his office in Cupertino, California – Guy Oseary, our new manager, me, [Apple executives] Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller – and we’d just played the team some of our new Songs of Innocence album.
“You want to give this music away free? But the whole point of what we’re trying to do at Apple is to not give away music free. The point is to make sure musicians get paid.”
“No,” I said, “I don’t think we give it away free. I think you pay us for it, and then you give it away free, as a gift to people. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
Tim Cook raised an eyebrow. “You mean we pay for the album and then just distribute it?”
I said, “Yeah, like when Netflix buys the movie and gives it away to subscribers.”
Tim looked at me as if I was explaining the alphabet to an English professor. “But we’re not a subscription organisation.”
“Not yet,” I said. “Let ours be the first.”
Tim was not convinced. “There’s something not right about giving your art away for free,” he said. “And this is just to people who like U2?”
“Well,” I replied, “I think we should give it away to everybody. I mean, it’s their choice whether they want to listen to it.”
See what just happened? You might call it vaunting ambition. Or vaulting. Critics might accuse me of overreach. It is.
If just getting our music to people who like our music was the idea, that was a good idea. But if the idea was getting our music to people who might not have had a remote interest in our music, maybe there might be some pushback. But what was the worst that could happen? It would be like junk mail. Wouldn’t it? Like taking our bottle of milk and leaving it on the doorstep of every house in the neighbourhood.
Not. Quite. True.
On 9 September 2014, we didn’t just put our bottle of milk at the door but in every fridge in every house in town. In some cases we poured it on to the good people’s cornflakes. And some people like to pour their own milk. And others are lactose intolerant.
I take full responsibility.
I hope he also took responsibility for … whatever this was:
Looks like the colors of Monday’s new iPhones have leaked, and once again the Pro phones are just so… boring.
This week on the show:
It’s Glowtime! Apple’s annual iPhone keynote is September 9, so Federico, Myke, and Stephen peered into a crystal ball and have returned with a range of predictions for the event.
This episode went sideways, even for us, but it should be fun to score these picks next week.
MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs.
The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to social media.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable global keyboard shortcut, write out your latest thoughts, and instantly publish to your blog.
MarsEdit supports editing posts in rich or plain text, and the latest update is especially great for Markdown fans. Now when you’re writing Markdown in plain text mode, MarsEdit applies live, beautiful syntax highlighting to make it easier to focus separately on the content and style of your posts.
MarsEdit is used by top bloggers to maximize their productivity and enjoyment of blogging. It’s great for pros like John Gruber of Daring Fireball, and yours truly, while also being simple enough to remove the mystery of blogging for everyday folks who just want to share their thoughts with the world.
MarsEdit also supports for publishing to Mastodon! Now you can use the same app you use to write and publish to your main blog, to write and publish to your Mastodon microblog. Check out the announcement at this link.
One app, limitless publishing opportunities.
Download MarsEdit today, and see what all the hype is about. It’ll make you a better blogger!
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I take inventory of what software and services we’re using in our content businesses, and how we work with our respective teams across multiple time zones and platforms.
Ryan Smith, with some very sad news:
It is with great sadness that I find myself penning the hardest news post I’ve ever needed to write here at AnandTech. After over 27 years of covering the wide – and wild – word of computing hardware, today is AnandTech’s final day of publication.
For better or worse, we’ve reached the end of a long journey – one that started with a review of an AMD processor, and has ended with the review of an AMD processor. It’s fittingly poetic, but it is also a testament to the fact that we’ve spent the last 27 years doing what we love, covering the chips that are the lifeblood of the computing industry.
No one did in-depth technical reviews like the AnandTech crew, and it’s sad that the world doesn’t value this kind of writing the way it once did.
Kerry Provenzano was kind enough to have me on her podcast, and we talked a lot about blogging:
In this episode, Kerry is joined by Relay co-founder, podcaster and blogger Stephen Hackett. They delve into Stephen’s 16 years of writing at 512 Pixels and uncover the key advice writers should follow if they want to write successful blog.
It was a lot of fun to talk to Kerry about my writing. If you enjoy 512 Pixels, I think you’ll like this interview.
This week on the podcast:
Federico tried an iPhone screen protector, Stephen remembered some dates, and Myke interrupted the first St. Jude read of the year. Lastly, Apple has an upcoming event, so the guys take some time to reevaluate the Bill of Rickies.
We just passed $3 million raised for St. Jude since 2019!
We are excited to share with you that Relay will be recognized on the wall inside St. Jude that highlights corporations and organizations with exceptional fundraising efforts for its life-saving work.
Here’s a short video of Myke and me speaking about it:
Since 2019, the Relay community has raised $2.98 million in support of St. Jude’s life-saving work.
TWO POINT NINE EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS, YALL!
That number staggers me.
With $3 million in sight,1 today we are launching Relay’s sixth annual fundraising campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
In May 2009, my wife Merri and I received news that would change the trajectory of our family’s life forever. Our oldest son Josiah was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Just two years later, I wrote this:
It was one of those typical hospital sofas.
The rubbery, terrible green, squeak-when-you-move jobs. It was long enough for a couple of people to sit on, but too short for any normal sized person to lay down on. The cushions were made of some type of foam that probably should be reserved for things like dampening vibrations in car doors.
On that hospital sofa, on a Saturday morning, my family changed forever.
The doctors were all incredibly nice. The head of the pediatric neurosurgery team was a middle-aged, balding, soft-spoken man who often had to push his glasses up a bit. His team was with him. His head nurse sat down next to my wife Merri, and was playing with our son Josiah as the doctors settled in, exchanging glances. None of them opened the folders of paperwork they brought with them. No jokes were cracked; no small talk was required.
It looked like an episode of House, minus the jerk. And the cane.
I don’t remember all the words the doctor used. I’ve heard people describe “out of body experiences,” but I never really believed such things ever happened. But there I was, having one. Only the highlights were processed enough to become memories. Words like surgery, tumor and blindness floated by like fog over water. I couldn’t quite grasp onto any of them, and it all seemed … hazy.
A lot has changed since I published that in 2011. Today, Josiah is 15, and has been off treatment for over 13 years. His progress hasn’t always been easy or linear, and the echos of his chemotherapy and surgical history are still present in his life. But he’s here.
That is thanks to St. Jude. They stepped between our family and disaster, not only treating Josiah’s cancer, but caring for all of us. In our trauma, we found a community. In our sorrow, we found hope.
And what’s true for my family is true for thousands of others, from around the world. In their darkest moments, St. Jude shines with the light of a city on a hill.
That’s why Relay is so proud to partner with St. Jude. We want to take that light and help it shine brighter and further than ever before.
Over the last few years, we have been blown away by the community’s work toward that end. Thank you for your on-going support of St. Jude’s work.
Donate TodayAs in previous years, you can donate directly or start your own fundraiser. All of the information needed for that — and a lot more — is all live now on the campaign home page.
- We have something very cool happening when hit that magic number. Stay tuned. ↩
When I started this project, my goal was to untangle the messiest of all Mac product lines. In my initial blog post I wrote:
At its heart, the Performa line is the fruit of badge engineering. This is often found in the car market, perhaps most famously in the Chrysler K-car platform that debuted in 1981. Over 14 years, Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth shipped a dizzying array of front-wheel drive cars, all based on the same platform. Features, options, and prices ranged between them, but under the covers, these were all the same car, more or less.
Apple did something similar with the Performa, taking Macs from other lines, tweaking their features, and selling them under the Performa lineup.
In the car world, companies do this sort of work to reach different market segments without needing to create a new product for each type of consumer. In the case of the Performa, Apple wanted to sell computers to reach new users.
Before I decided to embark on this noble work, I outlined what I thought the series should entail and was quickly overwhelmed by just how many computers I would need to write about. While not every single SKU got its time in the sun this month, I think the series met my goal of trying to explain just what the heck happened from 1992 when the first Performas rolled out to 1997, when the final machines were taken off the market.
One fundamental way that the 90s Mac line differs from today’s is in naming. Today, we all know that an iMac is an all-in-one desktop, while a MacBook Air is a thin-and-light notebook. Sure, they evolve over time, but each Mac’s product name has to do with its form factor. That was not the case with the Performa and its sibling lines. The LC, Centris, Quadra, and Power Mac lines all came in a range of enclosures over the years, and those designs were often reused as Performas.
After all, the Performa was basically a collection of remixed machines from those other lines. Apple would take a Mac off the shelf, sometimes tweak its specs, toss a pile of software in the box, and ship it off to a retailer to hopefully sell it to a parent, teacher, or other user.
In that light, it’s easy to see why Apple nerds remember the Performa line with such disdain.
I did not expect the absolute mountain of feedback that I’ve gotten this month. People have come out of the woodwork to tell me about their experiences with a Performa. From using one in a classroom, to having their parents purchase one as their first family computer, most people who actually used a Performa seem to have fond memories of their beige machines. From 30,000 feet, this line of computers may have been a mess, but down on the ground, a lot of folks’ first Mac had a Performa badge on the front.
I think Apple nerds — then and now — view the Performa as confusing and overly-complicated. Untangling the product line over the last month has felt at times like trying to unknot shoelaces that probably should just be cut and thrown away. But that said, Apple did do some things right here. Not all of that bundled software was great, but those titles made the entire package more attractive to parents and teachers. I’m sure a bunch of the software was mediocre at best, but at least a bunch of it was educational and mediocre.
That leaves me conflicted about the Performa.
On one hand, it was somewhat successful in terms of getting Macs into the homes of first-time Mac buyers. On the other hand, I think the Performa cost Apple a lot in terms of reputation and brand clarity, even at the time. There’s a reason that You Know Who killed them all off.
The next year, Apple unveiled the iMac, a single computer to go after the home and education markets. The iMac was a palate-cleanser, washing away the mountain of beige Macs Apple had been selling.
A Conversation with Jason SnellJason and I recently sat down to talk about all of this, and his experiences covering Apple during this timeframe. As a result, we’ve released a new episode of 20 Macs over on Relay. Jason was starting his career covering Apple in this era, and I enjoyed our conversation immensely.
Thank YouWhen I started out on this project, I had no idea how people would take it, but it has been a lot of fun to dive into this weird chapter of Apple history.
Thanks for joining me on this journey.
Become a member of 512 Pixels. Support projects like these, receive exclusive content in the monthly newsletter, and more!
Eric Berger, writing at Ars:
Following weeks of speculation, NASA finally made it official on Saturday: Two astronauts who flew to the International Space Station on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June will not return home on that vehicle. Instead, the agency has asked SpaceX to use its Crew Dragon spacecraft to fly astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth.
“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson at the outset of a news conference on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Space Center.
In a sign of the gravity surrounding the agency’s decision, both Nelson and NASA’s deputy administrator, Pam Melroy, attended a Flight Readiness Review meeting held Saturday in Houston. During that gathering of the agency’s senior officials, an informal “go/no go” poll was taken. Those present voted unanimously for Wilmore and Williams to return to Earth on Crew Dragon. The official recommendation of the Commercial Crew Program was the same, and Nelson accepted it.
Therefore, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will undock from the station early next month—the tentative date, according to a source, is September 6—and attempt to make an autonomous return to Earth and land in a desert in the southwestern United States.
As wild as this story is, it highlights why competition in space is so important. Had Boeing been the only partner in the Commercial Crew program, a lot of what has happened in the last decade would not have happened at all. Say what you will about Elon Musk, SpaceX has served this program well.
Aria Alamalhodaei, writing at TechCrunch:
After a nearly three-year interlude, Jared Isaacman is returning to space. The billionaire entrepreneur first went to orbit as part of the Inspiration4 mission, which made history for having a crew comprised entirely of private citizens, not professional astronauts. But with this next mission, Polaris Dawn, he and mission partner SpaceX have set their sights even higher.
Literally: Polaris Dawn will fly farther than any mission using SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to date, while also soaring through portions of the Van Allen radiation belt for the first time since the days of the Apollo missions.
Even more daringly, when the four-person crew reaches around 700 kilometers (435 miles) above Earth, they’ll attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk — testing Dragon’s ability to support extravehicular activities (EVAs) and giving SpaceX’s EVA suits a spin for the very first time.
I got to speak to the Polaris Dawn crew during last year’s Podcastathon, and really enjoyed the conversation. I cannot wait to see them succeed on their flight.
We’ve done it; we have come to the final three Performas. It’s taken 11,000 words to get here, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Performa 6400In a world of weird 1990s Macs, the 6400 may take the prize for the most awkward. Here it is, in Power Macintosh form, in an official Apple photo:
Launched in August 1996, this is the first (and only) Performa to use the traditional vertical tower case, and as you can see, it was quite the case.
Some people referred to this machine as the “Forehead,” but internally, it was known as “InstaTower.”
There were four machines in this series:
| Model: | CPU: | Memory: | HDD Size: | Price: | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 6400/180 | 180 MHz PowerPC 603e | 16 MB | 1.6 GB | $2,400 | | 6410/180 | 180 MHz PowerPC 603e | 16 MB | 1.6 GB | Unknown | | 6400/200 (VEE) | 200 MHz PowerPC 603e | 32 MB | 2.4 GB | $2,800 | | 6400/200 | 200 MHz PowerPC 603e | 16 MB | 2.4 GB | Unknown |
That “VEE” label stood for “Video Editing Edition.” This SKU shipped with 32 MB of memory, video in/out cards, and some bundled software for capturing and slinging video around via those cards. Both 200 MHz models came with a standard 256 kB level 2 cache. It was a $100 add-on for the slower machines.
All four models came with a built-in subwoofer in the bottom of that weird case. Bass levels were controlled with an adjustment knob on the back of the case. A BASS KNOB ON A MACINTOSH!
Unlike the 5200 and 6200 machines, the 6400’s logic board supported a 64-bit data path to main memory, providing more bandwidth for RAM-intense applications. An 8X CD-ROM drive was present in all systems, and for those who spent the money for a Power Macintosh version, a ZIP drive could be added right smack in the middle of the forehead.
I scooped all of that out and filled one with bouncy balls for the 2020 Relay for St. Jude Podcastathon:
Years before I turned one of these things into actual art, Apple had a press release announcing the machine:
The Performa 6400 is designed to deliver what consumers want, including a long, useful computing life, multimedia and Internet capabilities, and high-quality, bundled software.
In the face of rapidly advancing technology, customers want a computer that’s powerful enough to run the most demanding applications–both today and in the future. The Performa 6400 series is designed with more than enough built-in power for today’s applications–and with industry-standard expansion options that make it easy for the user to add peripherals and additional functionality as needed, the Performa 6400 models will continue to deliver well into the future.
The release goes on:
Adding functionality or performance to the Performa 6400, in the future, is easy by design. The Performa 6400 series includes two industry-standard PCI slots (7-inch) that make it easy to add special capabilities, such as: Avid Cinema, a digital video editing system from Apple (see separate release); the Apple PC Compatibility Card, for customers who need to run DOS or Windows applications; or a video card, for adding a second monitor (see list of available PCI cards and vendors).
By including a SCSI expansion bay, the Performa 6400 models make adding storage devices easy. Fully cabled and powered, this bay lets the customer add an affordable, internal SCSI storage device just by sliding it into the bay. As with all Macintosh computers, the Performa 6400 units include an external SCSI port for the addition of up to six peripheral devices, such as scanners or additional storage devices, making it easy for customers to add to their computers as their needs change–and to do so without ever opening the computer’s case.
Inside the tower, the 6400 offered a wide range of hardware, including an optional TV tuner card, optional video import card, two PCI slots, and one COMM II slot, pre-populated with a modem.
Here’s an overly moody press image of the 6400:
The 6400 would be the only Performa to use this case, but on the Power Macintosh side of things, a 6500 materialized in February 1997.
It’s easy to poke fun of this machine, but the reality is that it was a shift in direction toward the high-end for Performa, even if it never shipped with the faster PowerPC 603ev or later 604.
Of course, that wouldn’t matter in the long run, but it’s interesting to think about what Apple may have done had the Performa line lasted longer than it did.
Performa 6360The 6360 came in the same desktop case as many previous machines did. Released in October 1996, it was powered by a 160 MHz PowerPC 603e processor and came standard with 16 MB of RAM, a 1.2 GB hard drive, and an 8X CD-ROM. All of this could be had for $1,500.
As this was a 1996 Mac, it came with a PCI slot, replacing the older LC/PDS style slot that previous desktop Performas had used. It was also sold as the Power Macintosh 6300/160.
In April 1997, the 6360 popped up in a joint Apple/Sears back-to-school program:
At Sears Brand Central, from April 1 to May 15 (or while supplies last), when families purchase an Apple Macintosh Performa 6360 computer, 15-inch MultiScan Display, and Color StyleWriter 1500 printer, schools can earn points towards computer hardware and Internet products from Apple.
This program from Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Apple Computer, Inc. is designed to help both parents and educators provide students greater access to computer and Internet technology at home and at school.
While both parents and educators would like to enhance children’s learning through greater access to computer and Internet technology, obviously, household and school budgets are limited,” said Chuck Cebuhar, Sears vice president of Home Electronics. “This program helps make much-wanted computer and Internet related equipment affordable for both families and schools, and allows us to give something back to the community.”
When friends and families of students in any of the 50 states purchase the Macintosh Performa 6360 computer, 15-inch MultiScan Display, and Color StyleWriter 1500 printer bundle (at Sears stores in the continental U.S. for $1,499), they will also receive a “School Rewards” coupon worth 2,000 points which can be assigned to any public or private non-profit school of their choice. (Limit two bundles per customer. Price may vary in Alaska and Hawaii.) The points are redeemable by the school, to Apple, for specially selected computer and Internet products ranging from one year of Internet access to Apple Internet servers.
Performa 5280The last new Performa put on sale was the Performa 5280, launched in November 1996. It used the all-in-one case introduced with the 5200, housing a 120 MHz PowerPC 603e, 8 or 16 MB of memory, a 1.2 GB hard drive, and an 8X CD-ROM. It sold for $2,000.
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Lex.Games is a website and iOS app for playing daily word games. If you like Wordle or Connections or crossword puzzles, there’s a good chance you’ll like Lex.Games.
Lex.Games offers:
- Conlextions, directly inspired by the NYT game
- Lexicogs, where you solve crossword-style clues by assembling letter “cogs”
- By a Vowel, a word jumble game where each word is missing one of the five vowels
- Letter Opener, where you form as many words from the starting letters as you can
- Six Appeal, which is like Wordle but with six-letter words
It also includes a Mini crossword; a full-size crossword; and Mind Control, which is a whole lot like Mastermind and not actually a word game at all, but who’s counting?
The Lex of Lex.Games is Lex Friedman. He’s the good one, not the Elon-worshipping other guy. And so a lot of puzzles share Lex’s sense of humor or sensibilities — meaning you might spot the odd mention of Apple, occasional references to “Weird Al” Yankovic, or dad jokes.
Lex.Games is free. And yes, Lex spent money on this ad, so of course he hopes you’ll consider subscribing to unlock extra features, but you don’t have to. There are no ads in the app or on the website. Just puzzles. Made with love. To brighten your day. We deserve fun word games, you know?
This week on MPU:
Marco Arment joins to discuss his podcast app for iOS, Overcast, which just received a major rewrite for its 10th anniversary. David and Stephen talk to Marco about that project, how he thinks through user feedback, and Apple’s annual release cycle.
In the spring of 1996, Apple updated its all-in-one Performa across two collections of models: the 5200 and 5400.
Thankfully, not all of them were beige…
Performa 5200 SeriesIn 1996, the Performa 5200 line was updated with three new models:
| Model: | CPU: | Memory: | HDD Size: | Price: | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 5260CD | 100 MHz PowerPC 603e | 8 or 16 MB | 800 MB | $1,699 | | 5260/120 | 120 MHz PowerPC 603e | 8 or 16 MB | 1.2 GB | $1,499 | | 5270CD | 100 MHz PowerPC 603e | 8 MB | 1.2 GB | Unknown |
The 5260/100 came out in the fall of 1996, following the 5260CD and 5270CD, which both shipped in April of that year. All three of these systems shipped with a 14-inch CRT, running at 640 x 480 resolution, despite earlier Performas in the same enclosure using a 15-inch CRT capable of running at 832 x 624.
Performa 5400 SeriesThe Mac Performa 5400 Series was also released in April 1996. It shipped with the previous 15-inch display and PowerPC 603e CPUs ranging from 120-180 MHz.
This line up included the Performa 5400/180 Director’s Edition, which came in a black case. I mean, just look at this detail:
The Power Macintosh version seems to have omitted that logo:
(I want one of these very badly.)
Inside that sick black enclosure was a 180 MHz PowerPC 603e-powered system with 16 MB of RAM, a 1.6 GB hard drive, an 8X CD-ROM drive, and a TV tuner card. The Performa was only sold in Australia; the closest thing we got was the ill-fated Macintosh TV. It seems that black Power Macintosh popped up in Europe and Asia, however.
The rest of the 5400 series is boring. Next time, we’ll break down the final three Performa models!
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By the fall of 1995, the final pre-PowerPC Performas were still available for purchase by those looking to potentially procure a personal computer. Despite 68K-based Performas being on the market until 1996, Apple was already moving on, and now so must we.
Macintosh Performa 5300CD & 5320CDThese machines were an update to the 5200 all-in-one that debuted in the summer of 1995. The 5200 Series would remain on sale even after the 5300 models were announced, in true 90s Apple fashion.
Let’s take a look at the specs for these updated machines:
| Model: | CPU: | Memory: | HDD Size: | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 5300CD | 100 MHz PowerPC 603e | 8 or 16 MB | 1.2 GB | | 5320CD | 120 MHz PowerPC 603e | 8 or 16 MB | 1.2 GB |
Those 603e CPUs were held back by the motherboard they were installed in, not unlike many, many previous Performas.
Despite this similarity, according to Apple’s own service manual, there are internal changes that are not backward-compatible between the 53xx and 52xx machines. That manual also explains the relationship between the 5300CD and 5320CD:
The Performa 5320CD supersedes the 5300CD. It has a PowerPC 603e processor running at 120 MHz and 16 MB of RAM on the logic board. All other hardware features are the same as the Performa 5300CD. This is an international product not sold in the U.S.
Macintosh Performa 6300CD, 6310CD, & 6320CDOn the desktop front, Apple released three 6300 models:
- 6300CD
- 6310CD
- 6320CD
The first two ran at 100 MHz, with the 6320CD clocked at 120 MHz, all thanks to a PowerPC 603e.
James Staten covered the machines at MacWEEK:
Apple’s latest Performa, unveiled Oct. 14, improves the company’s price/performance equation in the consumer channel, analysts said. The unit also should turn some heads with its performance numbers, which, according to MacWEEK preliminary tests, rival the newest like-priced Power Macs.
[…]
According to MacBench 2.0 tests performed on a pre-release 6300 logic board, the new model is the fastest Performa yet and the first to offer raw speeds comparable to the newest Power Macs.
The prototype 6300 performed comparably to the $2,699 Power Macintosh 7500/100 running native applications and in floating-point tests.
Although other 603e-based machines lag in 680×0 emulation, the 6300 was helped by its inclusion of a 256-Kbyte Level 2 cache. The cache advantage shows up more clearly when comparing the 6300 to the PowerBook 5300c/100, which shares the same 603e processor. Use of Connectix Corp.’s Speed Doubler also greatly improved the 6300’s emulation performance, delivering about a 250 percent improvement in processor performance and 50 percent improvement in floating-point.
A beefy configuration accompanies the faster CPU in the 6300/100. It features 16 Mbytes of RAM, expandable to 64 Mbytes; a 1.2-Gbyte hard drive; a quadruple-speed CD-ROM drive; a 15-inch multiple resolution display; a Global Village Communication Inc. internal 28.8-Kbps fax modem; a keyboard; and a mouse.
Like the Performa 6200, the 6300 has a single ADB port, SCSI port, serial port, communications slot for the modem or an Ethernet card, video slot for the Apple Video System, internal TV tuner slot, and an LC processor direct slot. The new Performa also provides built-in 16-bit stereo audio and 1 Mbyte of video RAM.
As these machines were released, Apple cut prices on a bunch of older Performas that were still for sale at the time:
| Model: | Old Price: | New Price: | Discount: | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Performa 631CD1 | $1,499 | $1,399 | 7% | | Performa 640CD/DOS | $2,299 | $1,999 | 13% | | Performa 5200CD | $1,999 | $1,899 | 5% | | Performa 5215CD | $2,299 | $2,199 | 8% | | Performa 6116CD1 | $1,899 | $1,699 | 11% | | Performa 6200CD | $2,299 | $1,999 | 13% | | Performa 6205CD2 | $2,399 | $2,099 | 13% | | Performa 6218CD | $2,699 | $2,399 | 11% | | Performa 6220CD | $2,499 | $1,999 | 20% | | Performa 6230CD | $2,999 | $2,699 | 10% |
If you think Apple selling older devices at lower prices is an invention of Tim Cook, you’d be wrong.
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This time on Connected:
The guys cover some iPhone rumors, changes at Apple Podcasts, the announcement of Monument Valley 3, and iOS 18’s final days in beta, all before discussing the idea of the “Apple cult” starting to fade.
This 28-minute video about a family buying a Performa is amazing in every single way. Cancel your plans this evening and enjoy:
For bonus points, check out the Australian version:
Starting in November 1994, Apple transitioned the Performa line to use the PowerPC processor. This took some time and started some eight months after the first Power Macintosh models were announced, but as covered at great length in this series, Performas were all rebadged Macs from other lines, so it was inevitable that they’d get the PowerPC treatment at some point.
With that said, let’s walk through this processor transition through the lens of a bunch of beige Macs. If you want to learn more about why Apple moved to PowerPC, I recommend this excellent article on the subject.
As you will see, this transition took some time. This ad aired as Apple was selling both 68K and PowerPC Performas:
Performa 6100 SeriesThe first PowerPC Performa was actually six Performas:
- Perform 6110CD
- Perform 6112CD
- Perform 6115CD
- Perform 6116CD
- Perform 6117CD
- Perform 6118CD
This machine was based on the Power Macintosh 6100 and used its enclosure. It was a lower, wider case than the 68k-based Performa 600 series. This design was first used on the Quadra 610, which launched in the fall of 1993. Here’s my less-than-stellar example of the Power Macintosh version:
When you’re looking at the names of old Macs, it’s important to note the number of …well… numbers in the name. If the model name ends in a 3-digit number, it’s a 68k Mac, while four digits means you’re reading about a PowerPC-based Mac.
Being based on a PowerPC 601, each of these models came equipped with an FPU, which wasn’t true of a bunch of 68K Performas. Storage across the 6100 Series ranged from 250 up to 700 MB, with a 2x CD-ROM drive and 1.44 MB floppy drive standard across the board. Each Performa 6100 Series came with 8 MB of RAM from the factory but had a 72 MB ceiling for upgrades, at least officially. (136 MB worked fine once SIMMs large enough were available on the market.)
Some earlier models came with a comms slot for a modem or Ethernet to be added. The 6100 Series instead came with an AAUI-15 port for use with an external Ethernet adapter. A modem was available via the GeoPort, as David Morgenstern wrote in MacWEEK in 1994:
Apple rolls its entry-level systems on board the PowerPC bandwagon as it debuts five 601-based Performas this week. The Performa 6100 series is based on the 60-MHz Power Mac 6100/60. Each model in the line comes with an internal CD-ROM drive, a 15-inch display with built-in stereo speakers, a modem, a unidirectional microphone and a keyboard.
The Performa packages include a special version of Global Village Communication Inc.’s new $155 TelePort/Gold II 14.4-Kbps fax and data modem. The modem uses a single cable connected to the Performa 6100 series’ GeoPort-compatible serial port for both power and data.
He went on:
Each of the new Performas will come with 8 Mbytes of RAM but will vary in their hard drive configurations or software bundles.
Both the Performa 6110CD and 6112CD have 250-Mbyte hard drives and street prices between $2,600 and $2,650, Apple said. The 6110CD will be sold in consumer electronics stores and will include ClarisWorks 2.1, Intuit Inc.’s Quicken 4.0, Now Software Inc.’s Now Up-to-Date 2.1.1, a dictionary, a file-translator set, clip art and game software. Six CD-ROM titles, including Grolier’s Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1994 Time Almanac, an atlas and a home medical reference, will come with the 6110CD.
Sold in office product superstores, the Performa 6112CD will come with Microsoft Works 4.0a, Quicken, a dictionary, file translators, a typing tutor, and educational and game programs. Eight CD-ROMs, including Grolier’s Multimedia Encyclopedia, the Time Almanac and children’s games, will ship with the 6112CD.
The Performa 6115CD and 6117CD each ship with a 350-Mbyte drive. Apple said it expects prices to range from $2,700 to $2,750.
The Performa 6115CD will be offered in computer superstores and through higher-education resellers. The software includes ClarisWorks, Quicken, Now Up-to-Date, Now Contact 1.1, a dictionary, clip art, file translators, games and a CD-ROM set similar to the 6110 bundle.
Sold in selected warehouse stores, the Performa 6117CD will include ClarisWorks, Quicken, Now Up-to-Date, a dictionary, file translators and games; its eight CD-ROMs are similar to the 6112 package. Also available in warehouse stores is the $2,800 to $3,000 Performa 6118CD with a 500-Mbyte hard drive. The software bundle is similar to the 6117CD.
Even at the time, it was hard to write about the Performa line without using a lot of words.
The 6100 Series ran a standard version System 7.5, not the weirdo “P” versions that earlier machines ran. Not only did this simplify things for Apple, but it meant some features that had been Performa-specific were folded into the mainstream release of System 7. The primary example was Launcher, which was a customizable user interface for quick access to saved applications, documents, and more:
Performa 5200 SeriesIn the summer of 1995, Apple launched the second batch of PowerPC-based Performas:
- Performa 5200CD
- Performa 5210CD
- Performa 5215CD
- Performa 5220CD
The Performa 5200 Series was powered by a 75 MHz PowerPC 603, but to save on costs, the board shipped with a 32-bit memory bus, slowing everything down, not unlike the LC’s combination of a 32-bit CPU and 16-bit bus earlier in the 90s.
(This mistake was repeated on the 6200, and we’ll get back to it in a moment.)
Like previous Performas, the model numbers mostly relate to various default storage sizes, which topped out at 1 GB. All but the base model shipped with a 4X CD-ROM drive.
It also came in the same new case that Apple debuted with the Power Macintosh 5200/75 LC.
Thanks to the magic of eBay, I happen to have one such machine. It was for sale “For Parts,” and it sounds like something is very broken deep inside its beige plastic case.
The entire machine could be tilted forward or back on its plastic foot, a feature not found on previous all-in-one Macs.
For good measure, here’s a photo of the machine, straight from the archives of Apple PR:
This case design was dubbed “Bongo” and was an evolved version of the “Hook” design that was used in the 500 line. Adrian Mell wrote this about the design in Macworld:
The all-in-one design exhibits a lot of the same spirit that Apple vested in the original Macintosh. A deceptive minimalism belies this machine’s utility and value. Apple has again figured out how to package a full-featured computer into the simplest possible shape.
Its predecessors, which include the Performa 520, 550, 575 and now 580, all offer good functionality and value, but they lack the 5200’s design integrity. In comparison, their efforts to mimic the appearance of a conventional three-piece desktop computer just made them look clumsy.
I honestly don’t know where I fall on this debate. On one hand, the 5200 is much less busy looking than the old 500 series, but something about the 5200’s design is too bulbous for me from some angles.
To help meet the desired costs — and to fit in the shallower case — Apple dropped the beloved Sony Trinitron CRT in favor of a lesser CRT with a more rounded front from LG.
People were not a fan of that move.
Performa 6200 SeriesWhen the 5200 line came out in May 1995, the 6100 was upgraded to the 6200. The change replaced the 6100’s 60 MHz PowerPC 601 with two options: a 75 MHz PowerPC 603 or a 100 MHz PowerPC 603e.
This line of Performa has a bit of a reputation:
Daniel Knight has more:
This entire series of PowerPC-based Macs suffered from the most bizarre motherboard architecture Apple ever devised and is perhaps the most deserving recipient of the Road Apple title.
To save time and money, Apple chose to build these around a modified Quadra 605 (a.k.a. LC 475) motherboard – which was a fine design for a 25 MHz 32-bit 68040 CPU. (They also used some Quadra 630 parts – as well as its case for the 6200-63xx.) However, the PowerPC 603 is a 75 MHz or faster 64-bit CPU. This was even worse than putting a 32 MHz CPU on a 16 MHz bus, which Apple did with the Mac IIvx.
Part of this was due to a batch of faulty CPUs, as reported by Andrew Gore for MacWEEK:
If you’re going to eat crow, you might as well take big bites.
That seems to be Apple’s philosophy with the announcement this week of another problem with a shipping Macintosh. However, unlike the PowerBook lithium-ion batteries, which caused the recall of the 5300 series,1 this time the problem affects only a very small number of systems.
Specifically, 0.1 percent of LC and Performa 6200 and 5200 machines shipped since July have defective 603 CPUs. The problem is so subtle that it is noticeable only when doing certain floating-point instructions in a certain sequence, which results in calculation errors.
“It sounds like the Pentium [math problem],2 but the difference is that with the Pentium it was a design flaw in the chip,” said Bruce Gee, product line manager for entry Mac systems. “This is just a manufacturing flaw.” Gee added that Apple has taken steps to make sure none of the systems shipping today have flawed chips.
Performa and LC users can find out if they have the faulty chip by running the 52xx/62xx Diagnostics Utility, which Apple made available on major on-line services and its FTP sites last week. Customers can also call (800) 785-7371 to get the utility and, if necessary, arrange for a replacement logic board.
The Final 68K PerformasDespite the launch of the machines described above, two final 68K Performas made it out the door in the spring of 1995: the 580CD and 588CD.
These machines shipped without the Sony Trinitron, and were powered by a 33 MHz 68LC040, so there was no FPU included. Storage options included a 250 and 500 MB IDE-based hard drives. Like some earlier models, they could be outfitted with Apple’s TV tuner card.
A DIY UpgradeIf you had a 68K Performa and wanted a PowerPC, there was an official way to do so from Apple, as Daniel Knight covered on LowEndMac:
The Apple Power Mac Processor Upgrade (APMPU) is a PowerPC 601 upgrade for 68040-based Macs that have a 32-bit LC processor direct slot (PDS) – the Quadra 605/LC 475/Performa 475-476, LC 575/Performa 575-578, LC 580/Performa 580-588, and Quadra 630/LC 630/Performa 630 series.
The APMPU has a 66 MHz PowerPC 601 processor, which operates at twice the clock speed of the 68040 processor installed in the computer being upgraded.
Although this upgrade is specified for 68040-based Macs with LC PDS, the upgrade does not plug into the PDS. In fact, due to the size of the upgrade card, the processor direct slot cannot be used with the PPC upgrade card, very much limiting expansion options.
This upgrade is not compatible with the 040 PDS in the Centris line, the Quadra 610, or the Quadra 650-950. These models work with the Apple Power Mac Upgrade Card and equivalents from DayStar and Sonnet.
Turns out the APMPU itself was built by DayStar, which sold a version of the card under a different (and better) name: the PowerCard 601:
Take a BreathI did not expect to write nearly 2,000 words on the Performa’s transition to the PowerPC chip, but here we are. Next time, we’ll be looking at the next batch of updates to come to the Performa line.
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- The PowerBook 5300 story is a wild one. ↩
- This one was new to me. ↩
Today Apple launched an online version of its podcast service. Users can search for and listen to shows on the web, and if signed in, they can add shows to their library and “Up Next” queue. Apple Podcasts is late to this party but I’m glad it’s here.
ScreenFloat is your Mac’s screenshot all-rounder. You capture screenshots and recordings with it, and they’ll float above all windows, so you can always reference them. It’s like Picture-in-Picture — just for screengrabs.
Copy or redact text, barcodes, and faces effortlessly to keep private data private.
Easily share your screenshots via drag and drop, or create shareable and embeddable links hosted on iCloud, ImageKit or Cloudinary. Crop, “fold”, resize, de-retinize, cut, trim and mute your screenshots and recordings, or add markup and annotate them non-destructively.
Creating screenshots doesn’t have to clutter up your Desktop. ScreenFloat stores all your shots in its Shots Browser, where you can organize, categorize and find your shots. ScreenFloat supports iCloud syncing, so you can access these files on your other Macs.
With Double-Click actions, AppleScript, and Shortcuts support, you can automate your screenshots with ease.
But don’t take this sponsor post’s word for it – here’s what users of ScreenFloat say about it on the Mac App Store:
- “A world-class tool. Should not be missing on any Mac” – Bärlibob
- “One of the most important apps in my workflow.” – Osram
- “I couldn’t live without it” – danielc41
- “Super useful app” – JohnBSirius
What’s most important, though, is what you think about it. So please do give it a try!
There’s a free, 28-day trial, and after that, it’s a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store.
I’m sure you won’t regret it. Not like Apple, putting a 32-bit CPU on a 16-bit bus in a bunch of old beige Macs. That was regrettable.
This week on MPU:
Apple Intelligence recently entered beta. David and Stephen have spent time with the features currently available on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. These include writing tools, summarization Mail and Messages, and a new Focus Mode.
Ten years ago, we published the first episodes of five podcasts, and Relay was born. Just a few weeks before, Myke Hurley and I — along with some friends — had wound down our shows on 5by5 and promised we’d be back with something new.
As I wrote at the time, that entire timeframe was a blur of activity. This part of that post really jumps out at me, a full decade later:
I’ve heard it said not to go into business with close friends, but there’s not another person on the Internet I’d rather make things with than Myke.
We’ve spent lots of money, lots of time and lots of energy in creating Relay FM. It’s ours. We’ve molded it with our own hands; what it is and what it becomes is up to us and our amazing hosts. Relay is a labor of love, and I think it shows.
In one week, thousands and thousands of people will download our shows and tap play on their devices, hearing Myke’s laugh, Federico’s accent, Brad’s passion and Casey’s near-cursing.
Not only am I humbled by what Relay has become, but I’m so pleased that all of our original hosts are still with us. Over time, many more have launched shows on the network, and Relay has grown far beyond what Myke or I ever imagined it could become. Today, we work with a bunch of the very best podcasters on the planet, and it’s a true pleasure to support them in their creative work.
A year into this, I left my job to become a full-time podcaster/writer/whatever. (The term “content creator” didn’t really exist back then the way it does now, and I still don’t think I fit super neatly into that category, but that’s a me problem.)
In 2020, we pivoted hard into membership as the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked the advertising market. We launched longer, ad-free versions of many of our shows alongside a Discord server which is now my favorite place on the Internet. In a letter announcing the changes, Myke and I wrote:
Relay FM will be around for the long haul. This is our dream job; there is nothing else we want to do more. The world has become a more difficult place, but we believe in the strong connection between all of our hosts and the people who listen to their podcasts week in and week out. We can’t express how much we appreciate your support.
That change worked spectacularly well, and today Relay is on solid ground.
Thanks largely to our members, I believe in the connection we wrote about in that letter more than ever. Just a few weeks ago, I got to experience it first-hand at our first live show since 2019.
Our friend Ian Anderson was there and captured how all of us at Relay feel about the network:
Looking back, I could never have guessed what Relay would become, and likewise, I struggle to imagine where it will be in another ten years. But as long I have any say in it whatsoever, we’ll still be here, making shows about the things we love.
I often find myself wondering how we got to be the ones lucky enough to do this for a living, then I remember that the community around Relay is the best on the Internet. I truly mean that.
Thank for you for an amazing ten years, and thank you in advance for whatever comes next.
In August of 1994, Apple was on the cusp of shipping the first PowerPC Performas. That’s a topic for a future blog post, but just because the 69k machines were getting old doesn’t mean Apple was giving up on them.
Robin Meyerowitz wrote this for MacWEEK at the time:
Breaking from a 2-year-old strategy that limited Performas to major retailers, Apple USA last week said it is expanding distribution of its consumer Mac line to authorized Apple resellers, smaller retail outlets and computer superstores.
Apple said it expects to add up to 600 stores to its nationwide roster of Performa dealers. Models available to resellers include the 475, 550, 630, 630CD and 638CDV.
Under the new distribution plan, Performas will be sold through superstores such as CompUSA Inc. and MicroCenter, as well as regional retailers such as Creative Computers, ComputerTown, Ballards and Computize.
In addition, Apple will help finance the new Performa resellers’ advertising campaigns and support the Performa with in-store, point-of-purchase materials.
According to Julie Faster, Apple USA retail channel programs manager, the company decided to begin offering Performas through traditional dealers this month to make the line more available to consumers and small businesses. “We’ve learned how to optimize the product in a retail environment,” she said.
Previously, Performas were sold through what Apple calls “power retailers,” including Sears, Roebuck and Co., Circuit City Stores Inc., Silo Inc. and Best Buy Co. Inc. Those 30 retailers represent about 5,000 storefronts.
Meyerowitz went on, quoting an industry export:
Laura Curran, director of research at Merrin Information Services Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., said making Performas more readily available is necessary for Apple to expand its user base.
“A large retailer like CompUSA is the best place to be; customers prefer a large, one-stop-shopping format,” she said. “[Selling through superstores] is like food and water. If it’s going to survive, it has to be in the superstore.”
Just for kicks, enjoy this photo of some 1990s consumers checking out a Performa at Sears:
image via AppleInsider
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As a quick recap, the 600 launched at the top of the Performa range in 1992, as a remix of the Macintosh IIvx. The 200 and 400 both saw updates in 1993, but even after the 500 series was introduced, the 600 remained untouched. That changed in July 1994, when Apple took what had been just two SKUs — the 600 and 600CD — and exploded them into a range of machines:
- Performa 630 & 630CD
- Performa 631CD
- Performa 635CD
- Performa 636 & 636CD
- Performa 637CD
- Performa 638CD
- Performa 640CD
Each of these machines was based on the Quadra 630, which was the last of its line. It used a new case design that was also used on the Power Macintosh 6200, among other machines. It featured the CD-ROM on the left, next to the floppy disk, which was now at the center of the case. To its right was a stack comprised of an infrared port, volume buttons, and a headphone jack. Its code name was “Show & Tell.”
Here is a photo of my 631CD, in all of its yellowing glory:
As far as the differences between this huge list of models, it’s really more of a the same thing that we have previous seen. They may differ slightly in terms of hard drive size, memory configurations, and what specific software titles were bundled, but these machines are largely the same.
At $1,500, the Performa 630 started with 4 MB of RAM, a 250 MB hard drive, and no CD-ROM drive. At the high end, the 640CD came with 8 MB of RAM and a 500 MB hard drive for $2,300.
These Performas were powered by the FPU-less 68LC040 found in the Performa 475 & 476. Notably, however, they — and their Quadra cousin — were the first Macs to use IDE hard drives. These drives were cheaper than the SCSI units used in other Mac models at the time. However, the CD-ROM drives on equipped units still used SCSI, so it was still present in the system and accessible externally.
(It was also sold as the LC 630, which was powered by the same 33 MHz 68LC040.)
Video OptionsThe expansion story for these machines is interesting. They came with an LC PDS slot that could accommodate both LC and extended LC cards, opening the door to a wide range of accessories. They also included a comms port for a modem or ethernet card, as had some previous Performas.
This time around, however, Apple included support for one of two video-specific cards:
- The Apple Video System
- The Apple TV/Video System
Kris Seago wrote about these systems in 1996 for The Washington Apple Pi:
(The Apple Video System) solution comes with a user- installable video card and software that lets you easily capture and add still or moving video images to the documents and presentations you create on your Macintosh computer. The video card allows you to connect a VCR, camcorder, laserdisc player, or other video source to your computer with a single cable.
The Apple Video/TV System gives your computer the capabilities of the Apple Video System, and more — it also allows you to watch television programs in a window on your Macintosh, and work on documents simultaneously. The Apple TV/Video System comes with a video card, TV Tuner card, remote control, and software.
(That’s why the case had an infrared port on the front. SYNERGY!)
While we’re quoting ancient publications, I also found this passage by David Pogue in the 5th edition of Macworld Mac Secrets, in which he describes the 630 line:
Released in August 1994, this small, attractive desktop Mac represented new highs in speed and multimedia flexibility — and new lows in pricing. Shortly after it was released, it became one of Apple’s top-selling Macs. The 630 has a 33 MHz 040 processor — surprisingly enough, as fast as the old Quadra 950 — and was sold as part of the Performa, Quadra, and LC families.
This replacement for the Quadra 610, 650, and 660AV had three slots, each of a different type: (1) an LC-style PDS; (2) a communications slot like that found on the LC 575 (for an Ethernet card or — as bundled with the Performa models — a fax/modem card): (3) a video slot for either the $150 Apple Video System card (which lets you record video as a quarter-screen, 10-frames-per- second, 16-bit-color QuickTime movie), or a $250 Apple TV/Video System
card (which offers a TV tuner and cable hookup for watching TV in a resizable window, as well as QuickTime recording). You can also hook up the 630 to the $300 Apple Presentation System, a converter card that can send the Mac’s image to a TV or VCR.
Just for completeness — and because these products are more interesting than the Performa 630/640 line — let’s go back to Seago’s article:
The Apple Presentation System makes it easy for you to create a presentation on your Macintosh, then dis- play it to an audience on a larger television screen exactly as it appears on your Macintosh display. You can also connect your Macintosh to a VCR and record your presentation on videotape for easy and inexpensive distribution.
The Apple Presentation System comes with software, cables, and video converter box. Unlike the Apple Video and Apple Video/TV systems, the Apple Presentation System can be used with any Macintosh computer that has a DB-15 video port. The computers that can be used with the Apple Presentation System include, but are not limited to any of the following computers which have a DB-15 video port: Macintosh PowerBook, Macintosh LC, Performa 400-600 models, Centris, Quadra, or other Macintosh and Power Macintosh computers.
The DOS Compatible PerformaIn addition to all of those SKUs, several 600-series Performas were sold as a “DOS Compatible” or “PC” version. These machines shipped with a bundled version of Apple’s DOS Compatibility Card with either an Intel 486DX2 CPU running at 66 MHz or a Cyrix 486 clocked at 70 MHz. This card could pull from the memory slotted into the Mac’s motherboard, or use up to 32 MB of RAM installed in its own single slot.
This hardware let Mac users run DOS and Windows, right on their Macs. It was weird.
Apple’s DOS Compatibility cards came in a few different versions of the years and supported a range of 1990s Macs. Check out these videos to learn a lot more:
A Lot in the BoxWhen I bought it on eBay, my Performa 631CD was advertised as having all of its original documentation and software. Given the mountain of materials in the box, I believe the seller:
That “5 A Day Adventures” title looks incredible.
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A while back, my buddy Mark Bramhill — yes that Mark Bramhill — was in town for work. The episode of BirdNote he was working on is now live:
Twice every day, a rapt audience gathers at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee to see six local celebrities: five ducks and the hotel’s head Duckmaster, Kenon Walker, who leads them in “The Duck March.” With John Philip Sousa music playing, the ducks march across a red carpet through the hotel’s lobby to a fountain. The ducks swim about the fountain until the afternoon, when the Duckmaster marches them back to their palace on the roof. People travel from all over to see this surreal local tradition.
I have lived in Memphis my whole life and even I learned a lot listening to this.
I greatly enjoyed these two episodes of Twenty Thousand Hertz. I learned a ton about some of the sounds that have been in my life for decades.
This week on Connected:
This week, Google unveiled the Pixel 9 line, Apple turned its eye toward Patreon, and many anniversaries arrived.
In February 1994, Apple released three new Performa models. Dubbed the Macintosh Performa 575, 577, and 578, these machines were essentially a Quadra 605 in the all-in-one Performa/LC 520 case, bringing the 68LC040 CPU to the all-in-one Performa for the first time.
Here is how the three models compared in some key metrics:
| Model: | Memory: | HDD Size: | Price: | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 575 | 5 MB | 250 MB | $2,099 | | 577 | 5 MB | 250 MB | $2,199 | | 578 | 8 MB | 320 MB | $2,299 |
Each of these models ran at 33 MHz. This was a full 32-bit design, so both the CPU and data path were 32-bit, unlike some previous machines which were slowed down by narrower buses.
However, in true Apple-in-the-1990s fashion, there is weirdness we have to discuss. The clock input ran at 66 MHz on this version of the 68LC040, leading to some sources — including Apple’s official tech specs — to show these machines running at 66 MHz. However, that’s not true, as the CPU itself was clocked at 33 MHz.
These three machines came equipped with a new communications slot that could be equipped with an Ethernet card for users who wanted high-speed networking.
True to the Performa game plan, these computers came with numerous bundled software titles, including ClarisWorks 2.0, America Online 2.0, Microsoft Corp.’s Dinosaurs, and SoftKey International Inc.’s American Heritage Electronic Dictionary 2.0.
What’s in a NameI think the 575, 577, and 578 really highlight the ridiculous nature of Apple’s naming scheme during this period. Like many Performas before and after the 570 series, this could have been a single computer with multiple BTO options. Today, we take for granted that a computer like the iMac can come with various RAM and SSD specifications. We understand that each option doesn’t need its own name and marketing, but Apple just wasn’t there in the 1990s.
Most consumers didn’t understand what the differences were between memory and storage, let alone how much they needed of each. Multiple model numbers made it clear where a particular computer fell into the good/better/best matrix, at least to a degree.
However, it doesn’t seem that Apple took real advantage of this scheme, according to James Staten at MacWEEK, who wrote:
According to reports, the Performa 575, 577 and 578 are similar to the Mac LC 575, which features a 33-MHz 68040 processor, built-in 14-inch Trinitron display, tray-loading internal CD-ROM drive, unidirectional microphone, stereo speakers and one LC processor direct slot.
The new models share the same logic board and enclosure but vary in their RAM and hard disk configurations.
Sources also said that each model will be earmarked for sale in different retail channels, meaning that dealers will be able to sell only one of the three models.
In the January 2 1995 edition of MacWEEK, David Ramsey revisited this topic, answering a confused reader:
This is a result of an Apple manufacturing program called Customer Directed Manufacturing, or CDM. But lest you get the wrong impression, you are not the customer Apple has in mind here.
The Performa line of Macs is designed to be sold through mass-market merchants rather than traditional computer-only stores. Mass-market merchants include consumer-electronics and appliance stores, as well as large department stores such as Sears, Roebuck and Co. CDM means that Sears can order 10,000 Performa 500-series machines built just as they want them, with memory, hard disk and installed software as specified.
This also helps stores that have price guarantees — you know, “We’ll beat anyone’s price on this exact model.” Thanks to CDM, nobody else has that exact model! In fairness to Apple, though, I should mention that it is not the only company that does this. (This shouldn’t dissuade anyone from buying Performas; their preinstalled software and bundled monitors and modems are frequently the best deals in the Mac world.)
Additionally, much of that clarification went out the window as Apple sold overlapping models and even other computers with the same number, such as the LC 575. This education-only SKU was the same as the Performa 575, but shipped with just 4 MB of RAM and with no CD-ROM drive. There was also an LC 550, powered by a Motorola 68030.
Whew.
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Today we are talking about a very weird Performa, announced in early 1994. Dubbed the “Money Magazine Edition,” this 560 is unusual, even by Performa standards.
A Very 90s PartnershipLooking at the specs, there’s not much to write home about here. This machine is just another 500-series Performa, powered by a 33 MHz Motorola 68030, but there’s more to this one, as reported by MacWEEK:
Apple and Money Magazine have made a bundle that pairs Mac hardware with a selection of multimedia finance-management software.
The Performa 560 Money Magazine Edition, available while supplies last for a suggested price of $2,199, includes the same hardware as Apple’s $1,949 to $2,049 Performa 550 system: a 33-MHz 68030 CPU with 5 Mbytes of RAM, a color monitor, a 160-Mbyte hard disk, an internal CD-ROM drive, stereo speakers, an internal microphone and a fax modem.
The financial system also comes with 19 preloaded applications and CD-ROMs comprising more than $1,900 worth of software, according to the companies.
The Performa 560 Money Magazine Edition is available from Apple by calling (800) 351-6111, as well as at Circuit City and Nobody Beats the Wiz stores.1
Shockingly, photos of this ultra-rare machine can be found online, complete with a green “Money” badge:
Just think about this for a second. Apple not only partnered with a magazine to co-brand a computer, but put the logo of that magazine on the computer. If you want to talk about things that wouldn’t happen if Steve Jobs was running the show, this should be at the top of your list.
Thanks to MacWEEK, we know what software was included:
- ClarisWorks 2.0
- MacLink Plus Translators
- Quicken 4.0
- MacInTax 1040
- WealthBuilder 3.0
- Personal Recordkeeper 3.0
- WillMaker 4.0
- After Dark Starter Edition
- Datebook Pro
- Touchbase Pro
- American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition
- Apple Edition of America Online
- Grolier’s Encyclopedia
- Time Almanac 1993
- Monopoly: World Tour Gold
In December 1994, CNN held a contest for Money Magazine readers. In it, our friend the Performa 560 shows up:
Alan Greenspan, pay attention. Peter Lynch, pull up a chair. We’d like to introduce the best personal-finance managers in the U.S.-and we figure everyone will want to take notes. Our winners accomplished their financial feats with no support staff of highly trained analysts. Not one holds an M.B.A. And the eight top-ranking contestants didn’t depend on friends in high places either (unless the postmaster in Columbiana, Ohio counts).
Nonetheless, these amazing masters of moolah, ages 28 to 78, demonstrated extraordinary abilities to the panel of judges in Money’s first annual Best Personal Finance Manager in America contest. And Mark and Lori Menges (right, with son Ryan) succeeded in impressing our judges the most.
To win, these three couples and two singles, along with 2,299 other Money readers who entered, laid out their 1993 personal finances in meticulous detail on a 41-question entry form published in our May 1994 issue. Entries were judged in five lifestyle categories-couples with no children, married parents, singles, single parents and retirees-and subjected to three rounds of scoring, including rigorous reviews by experts in investing, insurance, budgeting, taxes and retirement planning.
These eight contestants came out on top in their categories, with the Mengeses snagging the grand prize: $10,000 in cash. Each of the five category winners receives a Macintosh Performa 560 Money Magazine Edition computer loaded with 19 personal-finance and general interest software programs (total suggested retail value: $2,199).
What makes this group the champs? Simple. Given their needs and goals, these winners made the smartest, best-timed personal-finance decisions in 1993. Granted, there is always room for improvement. But overall, these eight great personal-finance wizards are solidly on course to realizing their dreams, whether it’s starting a family, building a new house, sending kids to college or enjoying a secure retirement.
No … There is AnotherThe 560 is the most well-known Money Magazine Edition Performa, but there’s at least one more — the 637CD Money Edition. I had no idea this particular machine existed until I came across this Reddit thread during my research. The Performa 637CD Money Magazine Edition is not listed in MacTracker, on EveryMac, LowEndMac, or apple-history.com. It pops up in a few forum posts beyond Reddit, but this thing is basically a ghost.
Then — in what must be an act of a thankful universe shining upon my work on Performa Month — one popped up on eBay.
I bought it as a way to say “You’re welcome” to the universe. It only seemed fitting. Please enjoy:
Pay no attention to that janky volume button.
There may be other Money Magazine Edition Performa models out there, but I am so, so happy to have this one in my collection.
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- Yes that Nobody Beats the Wiz store. ↩
Lex.Games is a website and iOS app for playing daily word games. If you like Wordle or Connections or crossword puzzles, there’s a good chance you’ll like Lex.Games.
Lex.Games offers:
- Conlextions, directly inspired by the NYT game
- Lexicogs, where you solve crossword-style clues by assembling letter “cogs”
- By a Vowel, a word jumble game where each word is missing one of the five vowels
- Letter Opener, where you form as many words from the starting letters as you can
- Six Appeal, which is like Wordle but with six-letter words
It also includes a Mini crossword; a full-size crossword; and Mind Control, which is a whole lot like Mastermind and not actually a word game at all, but who’s counting?
The Lex of Lex.Games is Lex Friedman. He’s the good one, not the Elon-worshipping other guy. And so a lot of puzzles share Lex’s sense of humor or sensibilities — meaning you might spot the odd mention of Apple, occasional references to “Weird Al” Yankovic, or dad jokes.
Lex.Games is free. And yes, Lex spent money on this ad, so of course he hopes you’ll consider subscribing to unlock extra features, but you don’t have to. There are no ads in the app or on the website. Just puzzles. Made with love. To brighten your day. We deserve fun word games, you know?
A classic has returned, thanks to Matt Sephton:
A couple of days ago I was reading on Hacker News about a feature in some Linux window managers where they allow collections of tabs from different apps.
This reminded me of BeOS, but at the same time it reminded me of an app from 1992 for classic Macintosh called Stapler, and how I’d talked about that and it’s one-time spiritual successor, LaunchList, in the past. These were both similar apps that allowed you to collect and launch all the apps, files, folders, documents, related to a specific task, thus saving time. Or as Ali Rantakari so succinctly put it in 2009: “Opening a Bunch of Stuff at Once on Your Mac”.
So over the past day or so I built my own take on this concept for modern macOS!
This week on the podcast:
On this episode, David and Stephen explore four great applications for macOS users: CleanShot X, iStat Menus, PopClip, and Kaleidoscope.
On More Power Users, we cover a 5th utility: xScope.
1Password Support:
An issue has been identified in 1Password for Mac that affects the app’s platform security protections. This issue enables a malicious process running locally on a machine to bypass inter-process communication protections.
This issue was responsibly disclosed to us by Robinhood’s Red Team after they chose to conduct an independent security assessment of 1Password for Mac. 1Password has received no reports that this issue was discovered or exploited by anyone else.
The post goes on:
This issue affects all 1Password 8 for Mac versions before 8.10.36 (July 2024). The issue is resolved in 1Password for Mac version 8.10.36 (July 2024).
Mark Gurman:
People involved in the development of the new Mac mini say it’s essentially an iPad Pro in a small box — an approach that takes advantage of the lower power requirements of the company’s in-house silicon. The current Mac mini starts at $599, and while the new model may be cheaper to make, it’s unclear if the company will pass along any savings to the consumer.
That small box is expected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of the Apple TV in terms of size, but retain its aluminum enclosure.
Back in 2013, I wrote about how the Mac mini was too big. As true as that was in the Intel era, it’s even more true now that Apple silicon has made its debut. If Quinn Nelson can do it, so can Apple.
If they rename it the Mac nano I will be tempted buy one just in support of the name change.
In the fall of 1993, Apple released a virtual beige avalanche of updated Performa models. Let’s jump in!
Performa 275Like the 250 before it, the 275 took the shape of a compact Mac. This time around, Apple based the Performa model on the Color Classic II, as LowEndMac writes:
First available in Canada (1993), and then Asia and Europe (and never sold in the home US market), the Color Classic II (also known as the Performa 275) shares the motherboard design of the LC III. Running at a relatively fast 33 MHz, memory can be expanded as far as 36 MB.
The CC II/Performa 275 and Performa/LC 550 share the same motherboard. If you ever need to perform a motherboard transplant, a 550 makes for a very inexpensive donor.
Specs wise, the Color Classic II and Performa 275 were virtually identical.
Many Color Classic II fans have put their machines through the “Mystic Upgrade,” which involves swapping in the motherboard from an LC 575:
I don’t have a Color Classic II, but after reading more about the Mystic Upgrade, I really want one.
A Cornucopia of Performa 400 ModelsThe bulk of Performas released in the fall of 1993 were of the 400 variety, and unsurprisingly, it’s hard to understand what Apple was doing with some of these models.
Up first was the Performa 410 was just a 400, but bundled with a 12″ Apple color monitor.
The 460, 466, and 467 were siblings. They were based on the LC III+, complete with a 33 MHz Motorola 68030 on a full 32-bit bus. This meant the LC III+ and its clones were the fastest 68030 Mac ever shipped.
On the Performa side, here’s how the hardware stacked up:
| Model: | HDD Size: | Price: | | --- | --- | --- | | 460 | 80 MB | $1,300 | | 466 | 160 MB | $1,500 | | 467 | 160 MB | $1,500 |
All three SKUs came with 4 MB of memory and 512 KB of VRAM.
The 475 & 476, Powered by the 68LC040It’s a story for a different time, but Apple’s Quadra line was a family of Macs powered by the Motorola 68040. This new processor should have been a huge win for the Mac line, but due to the chip’s separate instruction and data caches, Apple had to do some weird stuff in Mac OS to maintain compatibility with software written for the 68020 or 68030.
Many different models would ship with a Quadra badge on the front, but the Quadra 605 was the cheapest. It kept compatibility with the LC expansion slot, but did not include an FPU. One could be added by swapping out the Quadra 605’s 68LC040 CPU with a full-blown 68040.
The Quadra 605 used an updated version of Apple’s smallest desktop case, but this time it was flat instead of being angled upward like the older LCs:
image via Wikipedia
When it came time to turn this small machine into a Performa, Apple named the “new” machines the Performa 475 and 476. The former shipped with 160 MB drive, while the latter had 230 MB of storage. They all used the FPU-less 68LC040 that the Quadra 605 did.
Oddly, the Performa models used the old LC case and not the new Quadra case. I assume this was done in an effort to keep costs down.
image via WorthPoint
Performa 550Lastly, we have the Performa 550, the first update to the 500 line we recently discussed. It was basically identical to the 520 before it, but its 68030 CPU was updated to run at 33 MHz. This means it’s on par with the Color Classic II mentioned above.
The biggest news was an upgrade to the CD-ROM drive, which no longer required the use of a caddy.
Oddly, this machine has the largest disparity in pricing that I’ve found in my research for this project so far. Some sources say Apple sold it for as little as $1,200, while others quote a cost of $2,000. I really hope no one paid two grand for this thing.
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This week on the podcast:
Federico is back from the beach and has some concerns about changes in iOS 18. Myke isn’t too broken up about the SuperDrive’s demise, and Stephen is still working hard on Performa Month. Also, Mozilla may be in trouble.
That number is against just $9 million in sales, which is pretty bad, but it gets worse, according to Kylie Robison:
Once a Humane Pin is returned, the company has no way to refurbish it, sources with knowledge of the return process confirmed. The Pin becomes e-waste, and Humane doesn’t have the opportunity to reclaim the revenue by selling it again.The core issue is that there is a T-Mobile limitation that makes it impossible (for now) for Humane to reassign a Pin to a new user once it’s been assigned to someone. One source said they don’t believe Humane has disposed of the old Pins because “they’re still hopeful they can solve this problem eventually.” T-Mobile declined to comment and referred us to Humane.
“We knew we were at the starting line, not the finish line” when the AI Pin launched, [Zoz Cuccias, a spokesperson for Humane] wrote via email. She said that Humane has since released several software updates to “address user feedback.”
Oh, I think Humane is much closer to its finish line than Cuccias thinks.
It seems that Apple’s USB SuperDrive has been discontinued, 16 years on the market, as Filipe Espósito reports:
As noted by one of our readers, it’s no longer possible to buy an Apple USB SuperDrive online via the official Apple Store in the US. The product’s webpage says that it’s “Sold Out,” and given that it’s a product introduced in 2008, it seems very unlikely that Apple will ever produce new units again.
Customers can still use their location to see if there’s still a unit available for pickup at one of the Apple Retail Stores. The product is still available in other countries such as the UK and Brazil. However, it’s probably only a matter of time before Apple’s USB SuperDrive disappears from all stores.
As we (probably) say goodbye to the SuperDrive, I figured we should look back at its history.
The 1980sThe name “SuperDrive” first appeared in 1988, when Apple released its first 1.44 MB 3.5 inch floppy drive. The term was used for both internal and external drives. (Here’s a repair manual for some of the models.)
Initially these drives would automatically ingest disks, but in 1993 or so, that was dropped in the name of cutting costs, as remarked upon by TidBITS.
When the iMac came along, the floppy disk was dead, and so was the name, at least for a few years.
The One You’re Thinking OfIn 2001, Apple shipped a new PowerMac G4 with a special trick up its sleeve.
Here’s Apple PR:
Apple today announced it has begun shipping its new 733 MHz Power Mac G4 with the SuperDrive, a combination CD-RW/DVD-R drive that can read and write CDs as well as DVDs that can be played in consumer DVD players. Apple unveiled the SuperDrive at Macworld Expo in San Francisco last month.
The Power Mac G4 with SuperDrive also includes Apple’s revolutionary new iDVD application software that enables users to easily create professional quality DVDs for playback on consumer DVD players.
“The new Power Mac G4 with SuperDrive is the industry’s first complete solution for CD and DVD authoring,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The combination of Apple’s amazing SuperDrive, super-fast MPEG2 encoding software and easy-to-use iDVD application is a real breakthrough.”
That Macworld keynote is still on YouTube, with the section about the SuperDrive starting about an hour and 10 minutes into the event.
In his keynote, Jobs spoke about the desire people had to shoot and edit their own video, but admitted that the last step — getting those videos onto a consumer DVD player — had been missing. A new optical disk drive — dubbed the SuperDrive — was here to change that forever.
The SuperDrive started life in that high-end 733 MHz Power Mac G4, but quickly spread to other machines, including the iMac G4 in the spring of 2002. The Titanium PowerBook followed in the fall of 2002, marking the first time that the SuperDrive appeared in a notebook, complete with a slot-loading design, which Jobs loved.
A few years later, the SuperDrive was basically everywhere in Apple’s Mac lineup, at least an option.
The Final StandIn 2008, Apple introduced the first MacBook Air, which lacked any optical drive at all. In the press release, our recently-departed friend was mentioned:
MacBook Air users can buy the companion MacBook Air SuperDrive, a compact external drive designed for MacBook Air, for just $99. The MacBook Air SuperDrive is powered by MacBook Air’s USB port, eliminating the need to carry a separate power adapter. Many MacBook Air users will not find a need for an optical drive now that they can wirelessly rent movies from the iTunes Store, wirelessly backup files with Time Capsule and access the optical drives on remote PCs or Macs to wirelessly install software applications on MacBook Air.
This SuperDrive was super thin and housed in an aluminum enclosure to match the MacBook Air:
According to its product page, this drive only worked with “Mac models from 2008 and later that don’t have a built-in optical drive.” Later on, Apple would clarify that it would with Macs equipped with USB-C through a supported adaptor.
As optical drives slowly faded from the Mac line, the USB SuperDrive carried on, giving users a way to rip DVDs or burn discs for years after Apple considered such activities as antiquated.
That said, I’m not surprised that it’s finally got, but I will miss the SuperDrive. Maybe the name will come back around for a third time at some point in the future.
Sara Fischer at Axios:
X on Tuesday filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against an advertising industry coalition and its members—including CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever—alleging the group abused its influence over marketers and ad agencies to discriminate unfairly against X, prompting an ad boycott.
Woof.
Michael Steeber, writing about a night I vividly remember:
Back in the days when software could be weighed and measured, the release of a new operating system was as big of a deal as any other hardware release. But let’s not forget: updates weren’t free. Mac OS X Panther, released on October 24, 2003 at 8:00 p.m., cost $129.
It was within this context that Apple created “Night of the Panther,” a one-night special event hosted at all 65 U.S. Apple Retail Stores. (The first international Apple Store was still a month away.)
Today, we explore the world of the Performa 520, which was a rebadged version of the LC 520. The two machines were put on sale at the same time, in June 1993. The Performa version was not sold in the United States and came with more bloatware than the LC. (The LC 520 was initially sold only to schools.)
For the sake of this article, I will refer to this pair of machines as the “520,” and unless specifically called out, everything in this column will apply to both machines.
The DesignBy the early 1990s, the design of the original Macintosh had gotten pretty tired. Apple had evolved it over time, adding things like internal hard drives, expansion slots, and a slightly larger color screen, but the all-in-one Mac was begging for an upgrade for the mid-90s. Users wanted features like larger screens and CD-ROM drives, and the compact Mac form factor just wasn’t up to the task.
A design project was kicked off to design a new all-in-one for the 90s and was given the nickname “Mondo,” according to Paul Kunkel’s excellent book AppleDesign.
Things did not go well.
According to Kunkel, Apple was going to abandon the all-in-one form factor after the Color Classic shipped, but the idea of making a larger all-in-one wouldn’t die, and in fact, was central to a project with an outside firm named Lunar Design, that was working on concepts for a 10th Anniversary Mac.
While that never happened, the group came up with what would become the 520. Kunkel writes:
To reduce the bulk, lunar allowed the plastic to hug the internal components as tightly as possible — a lower section containing the motherboard and speakers, a middle section containing the floppy/hard drive/CD-ROM, and a top tier containing the monitor — which gave the design a “wedding cake” look and viewed from the back.
On the front, the sensation was reversed, with the largest mass (the screen) at the top and the smallest (the foot) at the bottom. The foot elevated the front of the computer and angled the display back six degrees, continuing the gesture used on the Color Classic and Mac LS, with speakers set behind a radiating perf pattern and rocker buttons controlling column and display contrast.
The design was so strange that Larry Barbera (the Apple manager overseeing the project) could only scratch his head. Since no one at IDg (Apple’s Industrial Design Group) liked the design, Barbera had no choice but to put it on the shelf.
Some months later, John Sculley would ask the team to work on a larger all-in-one, so the design was taken off the shelf, dusted off, and put into production. From what I have read, this led to real tension between Apple’s product and design groups.
Apple’s head of Industrial Design at the time was Bob Brunner, who said, “The conflict between designers and engineers exists because we work side-by-side but think in very different ways. Engineers have to worry about making a product that’s manufactured at a low cost. Designers worry about the look and feel, which can make the engineers’ lives difficult, but the schedule is tight. For this reason, whenever the engineers can take control of design, they do, which makes us miserable.”
This computer is far from the most graceful thing Apple has produced. These photos are of my Performa 580CD, but the form factor is the same as the 520.
Don’t look directly at it for too long, and if you pick one up, be careful, as it weighs 40 pounds.
Like many Macs of the time, the logic board and hard drive could be accessed with just a couple of screws:
While awkward, this design met the goals that Apple had in mind, including the inclusion of a larger display and a CD-ROM drive. The latter required the use of a caddy.
This case would house additional LC/Performa models, including the 550, the 560 Money Edition, the 575, and the 580. It was also used — in black — for the Macintosh TV.
The SpecsWhile the outside was all new, the inside of the LC/Performa 520 was exactly the same as the LC III, with an additional 1 MB of standard RAM, meaning the 520 shipped with a whopping 5 MB of memory.
The PlanOnce the 520 had graduated from a forgotten design project to be an actual product, it earned a new code name: “Hook.”
Sculley and the company saw this machine as another way to migrate Apple’s user base away from the Apple II and toward the Macintosh. Unlike consumer offerings, the LC 520 would do this in the education market, as Robert Hess wrote for MacWEEK at the time:
Christmas will arrive in July this year for children in the United States when Apple introduces the newest member of its LC line of Macs, the LC 520.
The low-cost LC line, which has been most successful in the primary education market, has only lacked for a CD-ROM-equipped model. That’s the niche Apple intends to fill with the LC 520, which will be available only in the K-12 market, sources said.
Reflecting Apple’s desire to make CD-ROM a standard feature of the Mac line, the LC 520 will ship with a Sony dual-speed CD-ROM player. Built into the Mac’s display are stereo speakers that can enhance both CD-ROM and the Mac’s sound output.
I have memories of using some flavor of the 500 Series in elementary school, playing Odell Down Under and typing in an ancient version of ClarisWorks.
With the LC 520 chipping away at the Apple II’s footprint in schools and the Performa 520 being on sale outside the United States, this new design didn’t make a big impact on the consumer market in the US at first, with Apple’s other Performa models continuing to be sold through big-box retailers.
This week on Mac Power Users:
David Roth joins David and Stephen to cover NotePlan, an application that combines tasks, events, and notes in some really interesting ways. They discuss how to be more productive using its unique features, and compare it with some other applications.
Jason Snell noticed something during yesterday’s results call:
Apple’s latest quarterly results were about as boring as you can get while still featuring $21.4 billion in profit and setting an all-time third-quarter record. Most categories were flat, with the exception of a one-time bump in iPad sales (amazing what actually introducing new products can do!) and the continued, relentless increase in Services revenue.
Another quarter, another record-setting total for Apple’s Services line—$24.2 billion in revenue. And yet, the more I looked at that number, the more I started to ask myself some fundamental questions about Apple’s business, today and in the future.
Last time, we took a look at the very first Performa models that rolled off the line. Those machines shipped in the fall of 1992. By 1993, Apple was ready to revise the lineup:
Performa 250The Performa 200 had been a rebadged Macintosh Classic II, so for the 250, Apple rebadged the Macintosh Color Classic.
The Color Classic would prove to be the last major update to the compact Mac line, and to mark the beginning of the end, Apple got weird.
Internally, the Color Classic was basically an LC II, complete with a Motorola 68030, with the machine built around a color 10-inch CRT, running at 512 x 384 resolution, slightly different from the 512 x 342 resolution previous compact Macs supported.1
However, the display’s weird resolution had a trick up its sleeve: it could be switched into a secondary mode that let it run at 560 x 384. In conjunction with its LC-style PDS card slot, this meant that the Color Classic supported the Apple IIe card. You can see this card in action in this 8-Bit Guy video:
All of this came to the Performa line with the 250. The Color Classic was sold worldwide, but the 250 was seemingly limited to the UK and Australia. Both featured a 16 MHz 68030 processor (on a slower 16-bit data bus like previous machines), 4 MB of RAM, and either a 40 MB, an 80 MB, or a 160 MB hard drive.
Performa 405/410/430The mid-range Performa wasn’t as big of an update, with Apple replacing the old 400 with three models: the 405, 410, and 430.
These three machines shared the same core specs as the 400 before them:
- 16 MHz Motorola 68030 microprocessor
- 16-bit data bus
- 4 MB RAM standard
- 10 MB support (read more about RAM upgrades in these machines here)
- No FPU
- LC-style PDS slot
- Apple SuperDrive 1.4 MB Floppy Disk Drive
So, what do all of those different model names refer to? The size of the included hard drive:
| Model: | HDD Size: | Price: | | --- | --- | --- | | 405 | 80 MB | $1,300 | | 410 | 80 MB | $1,050 | | 430 | 120 MB | $1,500 |
If you were annoyed that the black MacBook’s only tech upgrade was the size of its hard drive, be comforted knowing that you weren’t the first to feel that way.
To clarify that chart a little, I should point out that the Performa 410 replaced the Performa 405 in the fall of 1993. It seems that the only difference between the two models was that the 410 came with 512 KB of VRAM, while the 405 came with 256 KB, but that detail isn’t consistent across the sources I have come across detailing these machines.
(The higher VRAM amount meant a machine could support 256 colors, up from the standard 16.)
Performa 450Image via oldcrap.org
Rounding out the February 1993 updates was the Performa 450. Unlike its siblings, the 450 ran at a faster 25 MHz, up from the 16 MHz Motorola 68030 found in the Performas 400, 405, 410, and 430.
There was more to this $1,800 machine than the faster CPU, as this computer was based on the LC III. Russell Ito covered the LC III in the April 1993 edition of MacUser, writing:
When Apple introduced the LC II, it made only one basic change to the original LC: It swapped a 68030 processor for the original’s 68020. The result was – well, an LC with a 68030 processor. The swap made no difference in performance, and except for the option of running virtual memory, there really wasn’t much to be gained from upgrading to the new machine.
With the LC III, however, the story is a little different. Apple has again made a simple chip swap, but it’ s also made another significant change: In addition to having a faster processor, the LC III is the first low-end machine since the SE/30 to sport a 32-bit wide data bus. The result is significantly better performance.
Weirdly, the LC III and Color Classic came out at the same time, so that article covers both machines that would become the Performas that we’re discussing now. I love the artwork that ran with the article:
This upgrade also brought a higher RAM ceiling of 36 MB, a standard 512K of VRAM, and an updated LC PDS slot. In practice, the LC III/Performa 450 was twice as fast as the LC II and its related Performa siblings.
That performance came with a cost, as the Performa 450 cost $1,800 at launch.
- That’s where I got the idea of the name of this very website. ↩
In September 1992, the first batch of Macintosh Performas were announced. Last time, I wrote about what Apple hoped to achieve with these computers, so it’s now time to discuss the computers themselves.
In the initial press release about the systems, Apple’s Betty Taylor wrote:
All three Performa models use the powerful Motorola 68030 microprocessor, and share the I/O ports and expansion slots that customers expect to find in other Macintosh family members.
In addition, each Performa features Apple’s SuperDrive, a 3.5″ floppy disk drive capable of using disks from Windows, DOS and Apple II computers.
At this point, we need to revisit something that I wrote yesterday… that the Performa line was a bunch of other Macs that Apple tweaked, rebadged, and slapped some third-party software on, all before selling them in big-box stores.
That means talking about individual models can get weird, but that’s what I signed up for when I decided to write this series.
The first three Performa models are perfect examples of this phenomenon:
The Performa 200By 1992, the compact Mac design was eight years old, but Apple was still churning out all-in-one screens with black-and-white nine-inch screens.
Two years before the Performa line launched, Apple put the Macintosh Classic on sale. It was the first Mac sold for less than $1,000 — coming in at $999 — but to make that possible, Apple cut corners. It had no expansion slot, and a lack of a memory management chip meant that the virtual memory feature in System 7 wasn’t supported. The 8 MHz Motorola 68000 made it no faster than machines first sold years before it.
In October 1991, Apple released the Macintosh Classic II. It cost $1,900 — almost double the original Classic — but was a much better computer, complete with a 16 MHz Motorola 68030 CPU and support for up to 10 MB of memory. Sadly, the Classic II still lacked the expansion slot that SE/30 users had come to know and love and had a 16-bit data bus that put a stranglehold on that sweet, sweet 32-bit CPU.
In 1992, someone at Apple took a Classic II off the shelf, taped a “Performa 200” badge on it, and probably went on vacation for six weeks. The two machines shared identical hardware specs, down to the ROM version. As the Classic II was on sale until September 1993, there were several months that both the Classic II and Performa 200 were both on the market, albeit in different sales channels.
These are basically the same computer. Both of my examples are pretty rough, sadly.
Apple said the compact design was “an excellent choice for space-conscious families who value its small footprint that fits into tight quarters and can be easily transported from room to room.”
The Performa 200 retailed for a mere $900, making it the cheapest Mac ever at the time of its launch.
Performa 400The Performa 400 started life as the Macintosh LC II, with basically identical specs beyond the Performa shipping with 512K of video RAM by default, while the LC II could be had with 256K.
The Macintosh LC was the Mac mini of its day. The original LC was announced in October 1990 and was housed in a 3-inch thin chassis designed to sit underneath a CRT. As LowEndMac reports, its $2,500 price tag came with some compromises:
The first Mac crippled from the ground up, the LC (code-named Elsie, Prism, and Pinball) was designed to a new low price point of $2,500 with 2 MB of RAM and a 40 MB hard drive. The LC was the first Mac to run a 32-bit CPU on a 16-bit data bus, making memory access slower than it should be (the LC benchmarks at about 3/4 the performance of the Mac II, even though both use the same 16 MHz 68020 CPU). Although Apple had retired the 68020 chip with the Mac II in January 1990, it reintroduced it with the LC that October.
To add insult to injury, Apple programmed the ASICs to support no more than 10 MB of RAM even if more was installed.
Despite these issues, the LC was a huge hit, and Apple reportedly sold 500,000 units in the first year.
The LC II came along in March 1992, complete with the whole 16-bit data path/32-bit CPU issue, but now with4 MB of onboard memory instead of the 2 MB found on the original LC. The most significant upgrade was the price — the LC II sold for just $1,400, or about $3,100 in 2024 dollars.
image via HomeComputerMuseum
When it was rebadged as the Performa 400, all of these features remained, and every model was sold with an 80 MB hard drive as standard equipment. As a bonus, Performa 400 machines came with a built-in modem when the LC II did not.
The Performa 400 sold for $1,180, a discount of $220 from the cost of the LC II. Like the LC II, it included on LC PDS slot for expansion.
Performa 600The top-of-the-line model was the $2,000 Performa 600. Unlike its cheaper siblings, this machine’s starting point is a bit more complicated.
image via eBay
The 600 was basically a rebadged Macintosh IIvx, which is not a nameplate that brought with it great acclaim, as LowEndMac reports:
The Mac IIvx was an okay computer, but a big “Huh?” for Mac IIci users. Where the LC and LC II had been compromised by using a 32-bit processor on a 16-bit data bus, the IIvx ran a 32 MHz CPU on a 16 MHz bus. This gave it slower performance than the IIci, which was still available (stock IIci tests 30% faster than IIvx; adding 32 KB cache to the IIci bumps this to 60%).
In fact, the old 16 MHz Mac IIx outperformed the IIvx on some benchmarks! Needless to say, most serious Mac users chose the IIci over the IIvx.
The Mac IIvx and its near-twin, the Performa 600, were the first Macs available with a built-in CD-ROM drive and also the first Macs to use a metal case.
(When optioned with that built-in CD-ROM drive, the machine was renamed the “Performa 600CD.” This naming scheme would be used for many, many more computers in the Performa line.)
At this point, things get weird, as we also need to talk about the Macintosh IIvi. The IIvi was based on the IIvx, but lacked an FPU in its default configuration, meaning it was much slower under certain circumstances. The IIvi was not sold in the United States and was on the market for a mere four months.
The Performa 600 used the IIvi’s logic board and therefore also lacked an FPU in its stock form. While IIvi owners may have been willing to plunk down the extra cash for an FPU, I’m not sure Performa shoppers would have been as willing to do so.
History has not been kind to this machine, but it is important to note that it completed the “Good/Better/Best” strategy Apple implemented with these early Performas. All three machines were powered by a 68030, but the Performa 600 was clocked at 32 MHz, twice the speed of the 200 and 400.
It was an interesting option compared to those machines, even if its sibling’s position in the Mac II line was less than great. If you were looking for a Performa and needed maximum modularity, this was the one, as it came with three NuBus slots and one PDS slot.
In true Performa fashion, the 600’s price point of $2,000 was a deal compared to the IIvx’s price of $2,950.
(Tossing in the CD drive cost an additional $500, bringing the 600CD’s price tag to $2,500.)
The key to that price cut was nearly a dozen different CD titles that were bundled with the computer.
In short, the Performa 600 was a weird mashup of two Mac II models stuffed with third-party software.
Performa DisplaysAs only a single of the original Performas was an all-in-one, most buyers would need to pair their new machine with a display.
Both the 400 and 600 included a DB-15 video port, opening the door to quite a few Apple displays, but the company put the Performa name on two different displays.
The $305 “Apple Performa Display” was equipped with a 14-inch (13-inch viewable) CRT running at 640 x 480 resolution with a dot pitch of 0.39mm. For $95 more, the “Apple Performa Plus Display” came with the same specs, but an improved dot pitch of 0.29, for a clearer picture.
I’ve never seen either of these in person, but this image from Wikipedia raises questions for me about the strength of the built-in foot:
Creating the TemplateThe Performa 200, 400, 600, and 600CD set the stage for how the entire line would operate. Computers with very similar (or even identical) specs being sold across various sales channels.
To a degree, the system worked, at least at first. Here’s Andrew Gore, writing for MacWEEK in 1993:
The Macintosh Performas put on quite a show last Christmas, exceeding projected sales. Apple said the new consumer Macs sold so well that it will offer new configurations this spring and may add some new models by year-end.
Keith Fox, general manager of Apple USA’s consumer division, said the Performa 400 was the best seller, garnering 60 percent of the line’s sales. The Performa 600 CD, with 25 percent of total Performa sales, did surprisingly well, he said, considering it was the most expensive of the three consumer Macs. In fact, the CD-ROM-equipped 600 sold so fast that Apple couldn’t keep up with demand, he said.
“The CD phenomenon in the Mac industry is amazing. The CD is the gating factor [in Performa 600 CD shipments],” Fox said.
Only the Performa 200 failed to sell as well as projected, representing about 15 percent of total Performa sales, according to Fox.
The sales figures taught Apple that consumers are more interested in modular Macs than in the compact Classic design, Fox said.
He said Apple will expand the Performa line by adding additional peripherals, such as an external CD-ROM drive, and it will increase the software bundled with systems.
Gore continued:
Fox said that 91 percent of Performa systems are being used in the home, Apple’s target market. The majority of home users (33 percent) bought Performas as an educational machine for their children. Nineteen percent bought them so they could do work at home; 18 percent purchased Performas for home-based businesses; and 8 percent bought them for home management.
Of the home buyers, 62 percent had never owned a computer before. Of the 38 percent who had owned a computer before, 30 percent owned IBM PCs and compatibles.
Next time: the first batch of updated Performas arrive.
This week on the podcast:
Myke has started a gate, Stephen has launched a new series, and John returns with questions about betas. The guys also share their early impressions of Apple Intelligence.
From 1992 to 1997, Apple shipped over 40 Macintosh models wearing a Performa badge. In the years since, the word has become an anathema to many Mac users who were around in that era.1
Throughout August, I will be exploring the world of this computer line in a new series:
And what a confusing world it is!
At its heart, the Performa line is the fruit of badge engineering. This is often found in the car market, perhaps most famously in the Chrysler K-car platform that debuted in 1981. Over 14 years, Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth shipped a dizzying array of front-wheel drive cars, all based on the same platform. Features, options, and prices ranged between them, but under the covers, these were all the same car, more or less.
Apple did something similar with the Performa, taking Macs from other lines, tweaking their features, and selling them under the Performa lineup.
In the car world, companies do this sort of work to reach different market segments without needing to create a new product for each type of consumer. In the case of the Performa, Apple wanted to sell computers to reach new users.
The Performa’s MarketHere’s a bit from the company’s press release announcing the new computer line:
Apple Computer, Inc. today introduced a new family of Macintosh computers targeting the consumer marketplace.
Initially available only in the U.S., the new Apple Macintosh Performa series of computers is designed to reach first-time buyers and new users in the home, offering specific solutions for families with school-age children.
It goes on:
“Research suggests more than half of the families in our target market have not yet found a computer solution compelling and flexible enough to meet their needs at home, though many have used a computer either at work or at school,” said Keith Fox, vice president of Consumer Markets for Apple USA.
“With the needs of those customers in mind, we developed the Macintosh Performa. Performa simplifies both the purchase decision and the buying process. We believe the Performa offers the right combination of technology and support to appeal to the estimated 7 million American families which, research tells us, have the buying power but have not yet adopted a PC for their homes.”
To make adopting their first computer easy, Apple shipped Performas as complete systems, complete with their own special edition of System 7.
Performa System SoftwareThe original Performas — which we will discuss next time — shipped with System 7.0.1P. This version of System 7 could run on other Macs, but it came with software created with inexperienced users in mind, including Launcher.
This user interface could be managed on behalf of inexperienced or young users, giving them access to only the applications they needed.
Launcher would wind up shipping in all versions of System 7, Mac OS 8, and Mac OS 9. The screenshot above is from the latest of those releases.
This support document outlines the “progressive changes made to system software versions” for the Performa line. With the advent of Mac OS 8 in 1997, Apple did away with the “P” variants of the operating system. However, Performa hardware would still be bundled with third-party software titles to help keep costs down.
BrandingWhile the model numbers appended to the Performa name are true nonsense in places, the overall branding of the line was meant to be fun, friendly, and approachable. This video came out in the Mac OS 8 era, but I think it provides a good idea of what Apple was trying to portray to potential customers:
To meet these potential customers where they were, Apple put these machines for sale in big-box stores like Circuit City, Sears, and beyond. This is from a press release outlining the strategy:
“Apple will market the new line through major retailers and not its traditional resellers because some consumers are gun-shy when it comes to computer stores,” Bob Puette, president of Apple USA, said.
“First-time buyers don’t buy in computer stores because they don’t feel comfortable,” he said.
The new computers were pilot-tested for 24 weeks in Sears Roebuck & Co., Silo, Office Depot and OfficeMax, said Keith Fox, vice president of consumer markets for Apple USA. He said the distribution had now been extended to Montgomery Ward, Circuit City, Dayton Hudson, Lechmere, Staples, Tops and Tandy’s Incredible Universe.
Sears said it will offer the Performa line at its Brand Central and Office Center departments at 650 retail stores nationwide.
Despite its sales channel, Apple was insistent that the Performa was a full-blooded Macintosh:
“Performa gives you the full power of Macintosh and the ability to perform any home-based assignment, whether it’s a spreadsheet brought home from the office, a child’s homework or entertainment for the whole family,” said Eric Harslem, vice president for desktop computing.
Welcome to Performa MonthOver the next several weeks, I’ll be winding my way through Performa history. If you want to follow along, I have set up a single page to gather all the posts I’ll publish in this series.
Up next: the Performa 200, 400, and 600/600CD. See you tomorrow!
- In fact, Jason Snell begged me not to write this series, saying “Those of us who lived it just want to forget. Why won’t you let us forget?”On the other hand, Chance Miller encouraged this, saying “those of us who weren’t alive then need to be educated.” ↩
John Brayton, the developer behind the excellent RSS client Unread, has launched version 4, and with it, macOS support:
Unread for Mac is now available from the Mac App Store. Unread for Mac incorporates every Unread capability that makes sense on Mac including:
- Beautiful typography
- Color themes
- Great search functionality
- Handling of summary-only feeds
- Syncing via Unread Cloud, Feedbin, Feedly, Fever, Inoreader, and NewsBlur
- The Subscribe in Unread share extension
- The Save to Unread share extension (subscription required)
- Widgets
- Handling of link articles
Unread for Mac is a native Mac app. The user interface is built with AppKit and a touch of SwiftUI. There are some ways in which Unread for Mac goes beyond Unread for iPhone and iPad.
I’ve been using the Mac app for a couple of weeks, and it’s really quite nice, and I love that Brayton went the AppKit route.
On this week’s feedback episode:
David is launching a scholarship program with the Productivity Field Guide, Stephen bought a new e-reader, and they both have spent some time in their Inboxes to bring feedback to the show this week.
Something very special just dropped over at Relay:
Live in London, Myke, Stephen, and Jason host a game of Fortunate Families with a huge group of Relay FM hosts! Additionally, the guys talk about their work with St. Jude and unveil one more thing.
I will write more about Relay’s 10th anniversary soon, but for now, enjoy the show.
A month ago, I wrote about the Inspector in Reminders being different on the Mac from the version found in iOS and iPadOS:
The biggest example in my mind is the ability to move a task to a different list. On the iPhone and iPad, it’s super easy, as there’s a drop-down right in the Inspector. Mac users, however, don’t have that UI, and are left to drag and drop tasks between lists.
That’s fine if you know about drag and drop and have a small number of lists. However, it can be error-prone and confusing to many users.
So, dearest Reminders team, please consider adding the List control to the Mac version of Reminders, if not the entire Inspector directly from the mobile — and more useful — version of Reminders.
I filed this as Feedback FB14077154, and I have some good news! In our continued tradition, the Reminders team at Apple have heard our collective cry and have taken action, adding a new control to the Inspector in Reminders on the Mac.
As I’m traveling this week, I owe a huge thank you to Relay Discord member Inuk for this glorious screenshot out of Developer Beta 4 of macOS Sequoia:
I love to see this!
Wes Davis, writing at The Verge:
Years after Twitter replaced the pistol emoji with a green-and-orange water gun, X has decided to change it back to a regular handgun. An X employee announced the change in a post last week.
The company hasn’t explained the change, but it feels on-brand for Elon Musk’s social network. Twitter originally switched its emoji to display a water gun in 2018, following others like Google and Facebook. (Apple made the switch in 2016; Microsoft was a brief hold-out.)
Davis’ headline is “X replaced the water pistol emoji with a regular gun, for some reason.”
We all know the reason.
This week on the podcast, Damien Schreurs joins David and I to talk about what makes a good password, the deal with passkeys, and Apple’s upcoming Passwords application.
Howard Oakley:
The Macintosh was intended to be different in many ways. One of them was its file system, which was designed for each file to consist of two forks, one a regular data fork as in normal file systems, the other a structured database of resources, the resource fork.
Resources came to be used to store a lot of standard structured data, such as the specifications for and contents of alerts and dialogs, menus, collections of text strings, keyboard definitions and layouts, icons, windows, fonts, and chunks of code to be used by apps. You could extend the types of resource supported by means of a template, itself stored as a resource, so developers could define new resource types appropriate to their own apps.
Apple’s engineers developed a resource editor that quickly became one of the best-known apps on the Mac: ResEdit, last seen in version 2.1.3 way back in 1994.
I missed the ResEdit era by a few years, but for many people, it was one of the things that made Mac OS so special.
Wack0 on GitHub has put together an incredible project: the ability to install and run select versions Windows NT on a handful of PowerPC Macs, including:
- iMac G3 (tray-loading)
- Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White) “Yosemite”
- Macintosh PowerBook G3 Bronze Keyboard “Lombard”
- Power Macintosh G4 PCI “Yikes!”
A couple of videos showing the process have surfaced:
The Verge’s Tom Warren:
Thousands of Windows machines are experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issue at boot today, impacting banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, supermarkets, and many more businesses worldwide. A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike is knocking affected PCs and servers offline, forcing them into a recovery boot loop so machines can’t start properly. CrowdStrike is widely used by many businesses worldwide for managing the security of Windows PCs and servers.
CrowdStrike’s products are extremely popular, and this problem is shockingly widespread. I’ve got a bunch of friends in corporate IT, and none of them are having a good day. Here’s Warren again:
CrowdStrike says the issue has been identified and a fix has been deployed, but fixing these machines won’t be simple for IT admins. The root cause appears to be an update to the kernel level driver that CrowdStrike uses to secure Windows machines. While CrowdStrike identified the issue and reverted the faulty update after “widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts,” it doesn’t appear to help machines that have already been impacted.
It looks like the fix is going to be pretty hands-on, at least for now, according to Kevin Purdy at Ars Technica:
A CrowdStrike engineer posted in the official CrowdStrike subreddit that the workaround steps involve booting affected Windows systems into Safe Mode or the Recovery Environment, navigating to a CrowdStrike directory, and deleting a .sys file and rebooting. If this works, it’s not something that can be done through a network push, so a lot of manual work remains to be done.
Rebooting a system 15 times sounds pretty manual to me.
David Sparks, writing about the rumors that say the new Siri won’t shop up until next year:
The big question about all the Apple Intelligence elements is not “When do we get them?” but “Do they work”? Significant market pressures forced Apple to explain its AI position, and now it has. I generally agree with the thinking behind Apple Intelligence, and if it works as promised, it will be very impressive.
In a few years, people will not remember exactly when the various Apple Intelligence components were released. However, they will remember whether or not they worked.
Sumit Chandel and Eldhose Mathokkil Babu:
In 2018, we announced the deprecation and transition of Google URL Shortener to Firebase Dynamic Links because of the changes we’ve seen in how people find content on the internet, and the number of new popular URL shortening services that emerged in that time. This meant that we no longer accepted new URLs to shorten but that we would continue serving existing URLs.
Today, the time has come to turn off the serving portion of Google URL Shortener. Please read on below to understand more about how this will impact you if you’re using Google URL Shortener.
Any developers using links built with the Google URL Shortener in the form https://goo.gl/* will be impacted, and these URLs will no longer return a response after August 25th, 2025.
A lot things on the Internet are going to break next fall. I know people like using short URLs for social media, or to hide tracking parameters, but this yet another example of why they are a bad idea.
This week on the show:
This week, the guys celebrate the release of a new HomePod mini and the Public Betas, then talk about the new versions of UTM, Delta, and Overcast.
I was at a concert when I got access to the first beta of Overcast. I had barely any reception at the venue, but as soon as my wife and I got back to the car, I downloaded it and started playing with it.
That was ten years ago, and I’ve been using Overcast ever since. It pulls down new episodes faster than any other podcast player I’ve tried and Marco Arment’s audio work means shows that are poorly mixed can still sound great.
When he announced Overcast, Marco spoke about building his favorite app. He hoped that other people would consider it their favorite, as well, thanks to careful design decisions, unique features, and the magic touch that only an indie developer can bring to a project.
As the co-founder of a podcast network, I love all of this, but what takes the cake for me is Marco’s commitment to open RSS-based podcasting. There is a place for other things, but our little corner of the Internet is important to a lot of folks, and it should remain freely available for anyone who wants to join the podcasting world.
Today, Apple and Spotify are the giants in the industry, but I can tell you with confidence that plenty of people consider Overcast their favorite podcast client. For the majority of our shows on Relay, Overcast is at the top of the charts in terms of usage, and second place is usually way behind it.
Despite its popularity, there’s no denying that Overcast has grown stale in recent years, particularly in terms of the user interface. Listeners of Under the Radar will know that Marco has been working on rewriting Overcast for our modern era, and today, everyone gets to enjoy the fruits of that effort:
The good news is this is still the Overcast we’ve come to know and love. The great news is that it’s better in almost every single way. Utilizing SwiftUI, the app looks and feels far more modern, yet it retains the personality that it had before, which is no small feat. Of course, the audio effects that Overcast brought to the market are still present, and while others have copied features like Smart Speed and Voice Boost, Overcast is still the best.
For this version, Marco has added some nice touches, including the ability to undo a large seek operation within an episode and improved playlist customization.
One huge change is the lack of streaming — Overcast is now download-only. Personally, I’ve been using Overcast this way for years, but for some, this will be an adjustment.
In his blog post about the release,1 Marco writes about this change:
Most big podcasts now use dynamic ad insertion, which causes bugs and problems for streaming playback. Downloading episodes completely before they begin playback is much more reliable.
Dynamic ad insertion (DAI) splices ads into each download, and no two downloads are guaranteed to have the same number or duration of ads. So, for example, if the first half of an episode downloads, then the download fails, and it downloads the second half with another request, the combined audio may jump forward or back at the halfway mark, losing or repeating content.
Tapping a non-downloading episode will now open the playback screen, download it, then start playback. It works similarly to the way streaming did before, but playback begins after the download completes, not after a portion of it is buffered.
On today’s fast networks, this usually only takes a few extra seconds.
Streaming may not be coming back, but there are a few missing features that will be returning in future releases, including Shortcuts support, OPML import support, and more. I don’t think any of the missing features are deal-breakers, but it’s good to know they are on Marco’s roadmap.
I’ve been lucky enough to be running a beta of this version of Overcast for a while now, and I have come to truly prefer it over the old one. The placement of some of the controls takes a little getting used to, but that’s due more to muscle memory than anything else. I do wish some of the interactions and user interface when dealing with show notes and audio settings were more consistent, but that’s pretty nitpick and overall, I have greatly enjoyed running this version of Overcast.
Updating an app that is a decade old is not an easy project, but it’s one that Marco has pulled off. Here’s to the next ten years together, Overcast.
- The guys talk about this update at length on today’s episode of ATP. ↩
Kaleidoscope is one of those apps that makes me happy to be a Mac user. It solves a specific problem in a fun and nicely-designed way. Version 5 rolled out last week, with a bunch of cool new goodies.
I love my HomePod minis, and today there is a new one:
Today, Apple introduced HomePod mini in midnight, made with 100 percent recycled mesh fabric. At just 3.3 inches tall, HomePod mini offers big sound in an impressively compact design. With a seamless, acoustically transparent mesh exterior and a backlit touch surface that illuminates from edge to edge, HomePod mini is a stunning smart speaker that complements any space. HomePod mini in midnight is available starting Wednesday, July 17, and joins other bold colors, including yellow, orange, blue, and white.
A bunch of folks were left scratching their heads because they thought this was an existing color. Turns out, Midnight replaces Space Gray. Here’s a bit from a 2021 press release:
Apple today introduced HomePod mini in three bold new colors — yellow, orange, and blue — giving users more ways to express their personality and style in any space. At just 3.3 inches tall, HomePod mini offers a great music-listening experience, the intelligence of Siri, and smart home capabilities, with privacy and security built in. Its seamless integration across Apple’s products and services make HomePod mini the ultimate smart speaker for anyone with an Apple device. HomePod mini will be available in these new colors, along with white and space gray, with color-matched details throughout, including the tinted touch surface, mesh fabric, volume icons, and woven power cable, starting in November for just $99.
And from 2020:
Apple today unveiled HomePod mini, the newest addition to the HomePod family that delivers impressive sound, the intelligence of Siri to get things done, and a smart home experience that offers comfort and convenience without complexity. At just 3.3 inches tall, HomePod mini is packed with innovative technologies and advanced software that together enable computational audio to deliver breakthrough audio quality wherever it is placed. HomePod mini will be available in white and space gray at a great price of just $99.
This image shows the previous lineup on the left, and the new one on the right. I’m hard-pressed to see the differences between those two dark HomePod minis:
I’m just glad the orange one has stuck around for so long.
Imagine turning your reading list into a listening playlist. With ListenLater.net, your favorite reads become accessible as engaging podcasts in your preferred podcast app.
Have you ever found an intriguing article but lacked the time to read it? Whether commuting, exercising, or relaxing, ListenLater.net makes it easy. Just email the article’s URL and Listen Later converts it into a lifelike podcast episode. You’ll be immersed in the experience as if listening to a real person.
But it doesn’t stop at articles. Listen Later also enhances your email experience. Forward any email and Listen Later transforms its content into a personalized podcast episode—perfect for newsletters, lengthy reads, and PDFs.
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Embrace convenience and versatility with Listen Later. Visit ListenLater.net to start your free trial today. Redefine how you consume information, one podcast at a time.
This week on the show, David and I share some of our favorite accessories that help extend our Apple devices and maximize their usefulness.
Jay Peters, writing at The Verge:
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket experienced an engine failure after it launched late Thursday night from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission, Starlink Group 9-3, was carrying Starlink satellites and failed to reignite its upper second stage after developing a leak. “Upper stage restart to raise perigee resulted in an engine RUD for reasons currently unknown,” Elon Musk said overnight, confirming that the engine experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
The Falcon 9 has proved to be a remarkably consistent launch vehicle in recent years, as Jeff Foust writes:
The incident is the first failure, partial or total, for a Falcon since a September 2016 pad explosion during a pre-flight test, destroying the rocket and its communications satellite payload. The last in-flight failure of a Falcon 9 was in June 2015, when the upper stage broke apart during the launch of a cargo Dragon spacecraft.
(I was present for the 2015 failure; it was a wild day.)
Until this failure is understood, the Falcon 9 is grounded, as Stephen Clark reports:
The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses all commercial space launches in the United States, will require SpaceX to conduct a mishap investigation before resuming Falcon 9 flights.
“The FAA will be involved in every step of the investigation process and must approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions,” an FAA spokesperson said. “A return to flight is based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety.”
Two crew missions are supposed to launch on SpaceX’s human-rated Falcon 9 rocket in the next six weeks, but those launch dates are now in doubt.
While working on another project, I came across a Steve Jobs interview that I hadn’t heard before:
I know WebObjects is the butt of jokes these days, but hearing Jobs speak about in 1996 has given me a new appreciation for what NeXT was trying to do with it.
The folks at DEVONtechnologies have a new free app out for Mac users, and it’s one that may seem familiar in some great ways:
You want to learn more about your Mac’s current network connection or test if a remote server is still alive or already swimming belly-up? Your connection to a server is slow and you want to find out more about what detours your data packages take on their way to their destination? Or you’re on the hotel Wi-Fi and plan to flip out on the poor network speed based on proper empirical data?
You could use the Terminal for all of this, of course, and type
pingortraceroute. But there’s a more Mac-like way: Meet our new Neo Network Utility 1.0. It got you covered with a full range of networking tools for retrieving information about your network adapter and diagnosing common network problems. Netstat, Ping, Lookup, Traceroute, Whois, Finger, Port Scan, and Network Speed, they’re all here in a nice and clean user interface.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Aqara was shipping its new smart lock, the U200.
For a while, I’ve been thinking about a product like this for the door to my studio, so I jumped on it, ordering the $269 lock from Amazon.1
I got that scar on my thumb running Ethernet cable through my old house like 12 hours ago. Be careful with knives!
I don’t have much experience with products in this category, but I do have a bunch of Aqara water sensors stashed around the house, under sinks and in the pan for our hot water heater. I’m also a fan of their smart home switches for triggering HomeKit scenes easily. All of that gear is talking to the Aqara M2 hub on my network. My hub doesn’t support Matter, but that isn’t a requirement for the U200, so I won’t be upgrading to Aqara’s newer M3 model.
The U200 integrates with your existing lock by motorizing the interior side of it. In my case, the U200 interfaced with the inside of the deadbolt directly. I pulled the lock apart, mounting the U200’s mounting plate using the screws from my original, old-fashioned lock.
This was pretty easy for me, given two facts:
- This door and lock were installed only a couple of years ago, so everything is nice and modern.
- I’m handy and know my way around a deadbolt.
Sadly, Aqara’s installation guide is pretty lackluster, and doesn’t really talk about some of the adjustments that may be necessary in some cases. The package comes with a custom-cut piece of 3M double-sided tape and a few spacers of various thicknesses, but not a lot of detail is given on when to use them. If you’re patient, you’ll work it out, though.
Once the plate was attached, the large motorized component screws on. It’s chunky, and a lot of the space is taken up my a removable battery that recharges via a USB-C port.
The other part of the equation is the keypad, which includes a fingerprint reader and an NFC reader. The keypad can be used outdoors, but I opted to mount mine in between the PodCabin’s main door and its outer screen door to keep it out of sight. As long as its within 2 meters of the lock, Aqara says placement is flexible.
This thing runs on several AAA batteries, and slides off a mounting plate that is affixed to the wall with a combination of 3M double-sided tape and screws.
Once everything was in place, I fired up the Aqara iOS app and added the lock to my existing setup. As I mentioned above, I wasn’t able to enable its Matter connection, but everything works just fine without it.
Well, mostly fine. I know this thing has been out for like 2 days, so I can forgive some weirdness, but I had to pull the battery from the lock side of the device to get it to pair with HomeKit. Once it did, iOS walked me through creating my very first HomeKey. Jason Snell wrote about this feature of iOS and watchOS back in 2022, but in short, you can use your device to unlock the door using NFC.2
This means I can unlock my office with my fingerprint, a PIN code, the Aqara app, the Home app, and with my Watch or iPhone. I love that flexibility.
This is obviously not a full-blown review, but I am excited to finally have a reason to explore this part of the smart home landscape. I already have an automation set up to turn the alarm in the studio off when the door is unlocked, if someone is home. I’ll keep you posted on how all of this goes over the coming months.
- This post uses Amazon Affiliate links. I got kids to feed! Here’s a link to an 8 TB Samsung SSD if you are feeling generous and need some new storage. ↩
- With iOS 18, Apple is adding ultra wideband support to HomeKey, but it will require new hardware on the lock side. ↩
This week on Connected:
John Voorhees joins Stephen and Myke to discuss the origins of Bluetooth, Phil Schiller’s new/old job, and the possibilities of a new HomePod. Then, they play a BRAND NEW game from the creators of The Rickies, The Annies, the Jeremies, and others.
Shawn Hickman’s excellent app Sofa has arrived on two more platforms:
I’m happy to announce that Sofa is now available on the Mac and Vision Pro!
I had originally planned to have Sofa ready for Vision Pro when it launched in February, but I was deep in the middle of working on Sofa 4.0 (which launched in April). During May, I was focused mostly on 4.0 bug fixes and prepping for my trip to WWDC in early June.
Up to this point, you’ve technically be able use Sofa’s iPad app on the Mac and Vision Pro, but this new version of Sofa is built specifically for the Mac and Vision Pro. There is still a lot more work to be done for these apps, especially the Mac, but this is a good improvement over the existing iPad versions.
Sofa is one of those cool indie apps that just exudes care. If you’re looking for a way to organize the books you want to read, media you want to watch, and more, Sofa is the perfect app for getting them out of that old Apple Note you’ve been using.
I saw this story break last night, but couldn’t figure out a way to link to it without using some language that is firmly against the 512 Pixels Style Guide. What a disgusting thing to do
If you’re looking for a deal on a bunch of cool, indie software, this is the event for you.
MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs.
The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to Twitter.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable global keyboard shortcut, write out your latest thoughts, and instantly publish to your blog.
MarsEdit supports editing posts in rich or plain text, and the latest update is especially great for Markdown fans. Now when you’re writing Markdown in plain text mode, MarsEdit applies live, beautiful syntax highlighting to make it easier to focus separately on the content and style of your posts.
MarsEdit is used by top bloggers to maximize their productivity and enjoyment of blogging. It’s great for pros like John Gruber of Daring Fireball, and yours truly, while also being simple enough to remove the mystery of blogging for everyday folks who just want to share their thoughts with the world.
MarsEdit 5.1 just shipped and features all-new support for publishing to Mastodon! Now you can use the same app you use to write and publish to your main blog, to write and publish to your Mastodon microblog. Check out the announcement at this link.
One app, limitless publishing opportunities.
Download MarsEdit today, and see what all the hype is about. It’ll make you a better blogger!
This week on MPU, David and I are joined by Sigmund Judge to discuss Apple TV hardware, tvOS, Apple TV+ content, and more.
While working on another project, I came across this video of Steve Jobs speaking at Macworld Expo in the fall of 1997. It’s a stunning video for a few reasons.
In it, he announces no products. Instead, he shared some thoughts on how he viewed the mess that Apple had found itself in before it purchased NeXT. In the span of about half an hour, he announced a new Board of Directors and a wide-ranging partnership with Microsoft, complete with Bill Gates making his now infamous appearance via satellite.
The closing of Jobs’ remarks really grabbed me. He insisted that the broader Apple community needed to change how it thought about the company and its relationship with Microsoft and other companies. At the very end, he spoke about how Apple’s brand meant thinking a little differently from the other players in the field. About six weeks later, Apple would launch its Think Different campaign.
What blew my mind — other than how fast the 38 minutes flew by — is that just ten years later, Jobs would be introducing the iPhone.
While working on another project, I came across this delightful blog post by Jay at The House of Moth, about the Power Mac G5:
How many fans does a Power Mac G5 have? Depending on the configuration this answer varies but you can be almost sure the answer is always one short. Let’s take a look at the Late 2005 Quad in this example.
– 2 intake fans (front inlet fan assembly)
– 2 exhaust fans (rear exhaust fan assembly)
– 1 fan in the PCI bay (speaker assembly)
– 1 fan for the hard drives (media bay fan)6 fans total, right? Wrong. There is a fan behind the hard drive fan as well, part of the media bay fan assembly (in some models), and it does not get the credit it deserves. Without this single fan your G5 can overheat and even die.
So where is this fan located exactly?
I won’t spoil it, but I will say that I had totally forgotten about this quirk of the Power Mac G5, and I gutted a bunch of them back in my day as a Mac Genius.
Mark Gurman, writing at Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. will get an observer role on OpenAI’s board as part of a landmark agreement announced last month, further tightening ties between the once-unlikely partners.
Phil Schiller, the head of Apple’s App Store and its former marketing chief, was chosen for the position, according to people familiar with the situation. As a board observer, he won’t be serving as a full-fledged director, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.
It’ll be good to have an adult in the room over there. Gurman continues:
The board observer role will put Apple on par with Microsoft Corp., OpenAI’s biggest backer and its main AI technology provider. The job allows someone to attend board meetings without being able to vote or exercise other director powers. Observers, however, do gain insights into how decisions are made at the company.
Having Microsoft and Apple sit in on board meetings could create complications for the tech giants, which have been rivals and partners over the decades. Some OpenAI board meetings will likely discuss future AI initiatives between OpenAI and Microsoft — deliberations that the latter company may want Schiller excluded from. Board observers often do oblige and exit meetings during discussions that are seen as sensitive.
This week on Connected:
Federico and Myke discuss MacStories’ open letter on AI, explore their feelings on how AI could impact the future of creativity, and delve into the idea of “Context, Consent, and Control.”
As spotted by Hartley Charlton, Apple has updated its Vintage & Obsolete Products document to include 2017’s iPhone X and 2018’s HomePod.
This week on Mac Power Users:
David and Stephen discuss Apple’s youngest platform and where it stands a few months after launch. They share some of their favorite apps and how spatial computing fits into their personal and professional lives.
I’m happy to announce that 512 Pixels now has a permanent merch store over on Cotton Bureau. At launch, I’ve got five shirts for sale. Three of the designs are back from the vault, updated for 2024, with a new 512 Pixels logo shirt and a design celebrating the original iPod1 joining the collection:
These designs are all available on-demand, and ship within a few days. Cotton Bureau is offering free shipping on orders placed before July 11 with the discount code HBDCB11.
Members of 512 Pixels get 10% off their orders. Discount codes were emailed yesterday! For most folks the free shipping code means bigger savings, but the membership discount will stick around after the 11th.
- Initially, this group of shirts had five options, but after chatting with some friends, I decided to add the 3rd-generation iPod shirt. I was holding onto this design for release later in the year, but we thought it deserved to see light of day now.Yes, the third-gen is my favorite. ↩
Last year, NASA announced plans to deorbit the International Space Station at the end of the decade. We now know much more about the agency’s plans, according to Jeff Foust:
NASA selected SpaceX to develop a spacecraft that will be used to perform the final phases of the deorbiting of the International Space Station around the end of the decade.
NASA announced June 26 it awarded SpaceX a contract valued at up to $843 million to build the United States Deorbit Vehicle (USDV). That contract covers the development of the spacecraft, with NASA to conduct a later procurement for launching the USDV.
Little is known about what the USDV will look like or what its capabilities will be, but it is clear that NASA believes a controlled deorbiting of the station is the safest way to close the chapter on the ISS.
Dr. Drang, bouncing off my recent post on Reminders:
If you have the Move tool in your Mail toolbar, you can select all the messages you want to move, click on the Move tool, and select the appropriate folder from the drop-down menu. Because the menu is long, this may seem no easier than dragging and dropping, but it is. The key is that once the drop-down menu is active, you can start typing the name of the folder and it will be selected. Boom.
Reminders could add this same Move tool to its toolbar. I guess Reminders doesn’t have a true toolbar because there’s no way to customize it, but it does have a small set of tools up at the top of the window and there’s plenty of room up there for a Move tool.
This is a very elegant solution, and one that comes with a bonus, as Drang points out:
Adding a Move tool to Reminders would be more Mac-like than mimicking what we see on iOS. And it would make the Reminders UI more consistent with Mail. Remember when consistency between apps was thought to be important? That goes back as far as drag and drop.
This week on the podcast:
After follow-up topics ranging from iPhone cases to apps for some very specific use cases, Stephen, Myke, and Federico discuss some of the changes in this week’s beta OSes, recent DMA news, Apple’s Beats strategy, and more.
Every summer, I take some time with Apple’s updated stock apps. Many of them are quite good, and meet the needs for the vast majority of users.
I fully understand that sometimes you and I are not the vast majority of users, and that third-party apps can often better fit our needs.
Every year, I feel the call of Reminders. It looks nice, is integrated with the system in a bunch of fun ways, and unlike my normal app Todoist, is easy to use with Siri.
And every year, there’s a detail that derails my use of Reminders. In 2022, it was the app’s inability to show a badge that reflected what is due Today. Thankfully, Apple fixed that in iOS 16 Beta 3.
Last year, my quest was for better options when it comes to organizing the Today view. I am happy to report that with iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, users now have the ability to edit the order of the sections within the Today view.
This year, I return with something that has bothered me for a long time: the differences between the Inspectors used in the various versions of Reminders.
The visual differences are striking. On iOS, the Inspector is colorful and easy to use. On the Mac, it’s dreary and full of small controls:
That’s not my biggest concern here, however. I strongly believe that the Inspector should be the same for both the Mac and iOS in terms of functionality.
The biggest example in my mind is the ability to move a task to a different list. On the iPhone and iPad, it’s super easy, as there’s a drop-down right in the Inspector. Mac users, however, don’t have that UI, and are left to drag and drop tasks between lists.
That’s fine if you know about drag and drop and have a small number of lists. However, it can be error-prone and confusing to many users.
So, dearest Reminders team, please consider adding the List control to the Mac version of Reminders, if not the entire Inspector directly from the mobile — and more useful — version of Reminders.
(This was filed as Feedback FB14077154 the day this blog post was published. It can also be found as FB11779798 from 2022 and FB12336797 from 2023.)
Back in 2021, Ernie Smith wrote about the curious world of CD caddies:
The first time I ever saw a CD-ROM, I had never seen a regular CD before, and I thought that it came in a giant plastic case. To be fair to me, I was in middle school, and I had little experience with them. It was in a library, and the screen did not display anything related to multimedia, but general reference information—stuff like databases, for example. A couple of years later, I got a home computer, along with an audio CD player, and soon enough, a CD-ROM. But I always thought about that caddy, which I never saw on any of the computer equipment I owned. Why did it exist? And why, when CD-ROMs trickled down to my home, wasn’t there one?
I recently finished Harry McCracken’s excellent article about the CD-ROM’s rise in the mid-1990s, and it made me realize that I had never really explored Apple’s early CD hardware.
Depending on how you count things, Apple sold six SCSI CD-ROM drives, from the “AppleCD SC” in March 1988 to the 600e, which was on sale from 1995 to sometime in 1997. Ahem.
The AppleCD SC utilized a CD caddy and could read CD-ROMs at 1x speed. It could handle discs up to 650 MB in size across five formats:
- CD-Audio
- CD-ROM
- HFS
- ProDos
- High Sierra
(We don’t have time to dig into CD formats today, but things were a mess there for a while.)
This drive could be used with a Macintosh with a DB-25 connector or an Apple IIe or IIGS with a SCSI card installed. It came equipped with RCA jacks, a headphone jack, and a volume knob for those who wanted to use it for music playback. It sold for $1,199, or almost $3,200 in today’s money.
A common complaint about the AppleCD SC was the fan, which could ingest dust and interfere with CD playback. Apple removed the fan in later models, per this ancient support document:
Question: The outside of the box of my new AppleCD SC says: APPLE CD ROM/NO FAN. When did Apple stop including the fan? Why?
Answer: Apple stopped including the fan in the AppleCD SC in early 1990. We had found that the fan was drawing an excess amount of dust and other airborne particles into the CD mechanism and depositing them on the optical read head. The fan turned out to be unnecessary, so it was removed completely.
In 1991, Apple released the SC Plus, which was a minor revision to the product. It cost $400 less and supported discs up to 750 MB in size.
I adore how this thing looks:
image via Apple Rescue of Denver
Starting in March 1992, Apple released at least four more models, though I’ve seen other model numbers referenced online:
- AppleCD 150
- AppleCD 300
- AppleCD 300e Plus
- AppleCD 600e
The 300 was covered by Adam Engst at TidBITS in October 1992. The headline feature was the drive’s new speed of 300 Kbps:
The new CD player from Apple sets the standard for others to aim at with its double-speed technology, a speed select switch, a reasonable list price of $599, and support for multi-session PhotoCDs along with three other formats I’m unfamiliar with, CD-ROM XA (which apparently requires some extra hardware to play compressed audio), CD+G, and CD+MIDI. It of course reads all the ISO 9660/High Sierra and Macintosh HFS discs that the old (and still available) AppleCD 150 can read. The drive has an average access time of 295 milliseconds in double-speed mode, in which it can also transfer 300 KB of data per second.
Double-speed technology isn’t new, since NEC has had the CDR-73M out for a while now, but it was plagued with some early problems that NEC only recently fixed. The AppleCD 300 hopes to avoid any such problems with its front-mounted speed select switch, and frankly, I suspect that Apple tested more carefully than NEC anyway, to judge from some of the less than favorable comments I’ve received about NEC.
As you may have expected, the later 600e ran was a “quad-speed” drive, running at 684.4 Kbps, according to this 1995 Apple press release:
In support of its commitment to offer customers cutting-edge multimedia hardware at reasonable prices, Apple Computer, Inc. today unveiled the AppleCD 600e Quad-Speed CD-ROM player. The AppleCD 600e is twice as fast as previous CD- ROM players from Apple, allowing users access to the latest multimedia applications including those with full-screen, full-motion video.
“This is yet another example of Apple’s continued commitment to enriching the user experience, while setting the standard for ease of use and providing a significant price/performance advantage,” said Satjiv S. Chahil, vice president and general manager of Apple’s New Media Group. “The affordable AppleCD 600e, at just US$349 ApplePrice, provides a far richer experience for multimedia consumers for the same price as Apple’s previous double-speed CD- ROM players.”
The AppleCD 600e Quad-Speed external CD-ROM player combines the efficient industrial design, quality and reliability of its award- winning predecessor with twice the performance. At 684.4 Kbps streaming data transfer rate, it is faster than most other quad- speed players currently on the market.
As a nice bonus, the 600e didn’t require a caddy for discs. It had lost all of its Snow White goodness, though:
image via Wikipedia
The service manuals for these models are still kicking around online if you’re looking for more details on this small chapter in Apple hardware history:
- SC and SC Plus
- 150 and 300
- 300e Plus and 600e
This article first appeared in the 512 Pixels membership newsletter. Become a member to support projects like these.
Dr. Drang:
Yesterday morning, I got obsessed with the 10-day forecast section of the Apple Weather iOS app—specifically, how it presents each day’s temperature range. I still don’t understand the logic behind it.
The blog post is impressive, but the footnote contains a straight-up murder:
Several readers on Mastodon told me the alignment was fine on their phones and suggested Larger Text/Dynamic Type as the reason the charts on my phone are messed up. They were absolutely right. I bumped up my text size so long ago I’d forgotten all about it, but I should’ve known to look into that before posting. Interestingly, moving my text size down just one tick got all the bar ends to match up. The colors still seem a little off to me, but I’ll need to zoom in and look more carefully.
Of course, this still doesn’t answer the question of how the app is deciding where to put the bars and how to adjust the colors when the text size is large. Nor does it excuse Apple’s Weather team for failing to get the alignment right for all the text sizes they allow. Do they just assume the system will fix everything, or do they throw up their hands and say we far-sighted oldsters can just deal with it?
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David and I have been running iOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and watchOS 11, so you don’t have to. This week on MPU, we discuss some new features coming to Apple’s platforms later this year.
Matt Evans’ most recent project gave me more “wow, computers have gotten fast!” vibes than I’ve felt in a long, long time. Here is Evans:
This all started from a conversation about the RP2040 MCU, and building a simple desktop/GUI for it. I’d made a comment along the lines of “or, just run some old OS”, and it got me thinking about the original Macintosh.
The original Macintosh was released 40.5 years before this post, and is a pretty cool machine especially considering that the hardware is very simple. Insanely Great and folklore.org are fun reads, and give a glimpse into the Macintosh’s development. Memory was a squeeze; the original 128KB version was underpowered and only sold for a few months before being replaced by the Macintosh 512K, arguably a more appropriate amount of memory.
But, the 128 still runs some real applications and, though it pre-dates MultiFinder/actual multitasking, I found it pretty charming. As a tourist. In 1984 the Mac cost roughly 1/3 as much as a VW Golf and, as someone who’s into old computers and old cars, it’s hard to decide which is more frustrating to use.
So back to this £3.80 RPi Pico microcontroller board: The RP2040’s 264KB of RAM gives a lot to play with after carving out the Mac’s 128KB – how cool would it be to do a quick hack, and play with a Mac on it?
I mean, just look at this thing:
This week on the show:
Federico is not on the show this week, so in his honor, Stephen reviews some headphones, and Myke returns to the multi-pad lifestyle. The guys also take a quiz to pick our their next Macs.
Apple:
Answer a few questions to find the best Mac for you.
The questions cover your use cases, where you plan on using the machine, what sort of peripherals you may use, and your budget.
No mater what answers I gave it, I could never get it to recommend a Mac Pro.
Tom Warren, writing at The Verge:
Happy Windows on Arm day. Microsoft is launching its Copilot Plus PCs today, with Qualcomm-powered chips inside. If you’re wondering where our reviews are, Microsoft and most of its OEM partners haven’t seeded devices ahead of today’s launch because of Microsoft’s Recall… recall. I have started testing a Surface Laptop today, and we’ll have a full review of this new Windows on Arm hardware as soon as possible.
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This week on Connected:
WWDC24 a wrapped up, and the guys gather to score their picks and share some feelings about this week’s Apple news.
Tom Warren at The Verge:
Microsoft is planning to launch its new Copilot Plus PCs next week without its controversial Recall feature that screenshots everything you do on these new laptops. The software maker is holding back Recall so it can test it with the Windows Insider program, after originally promising to ship Recall as an opt-in feature with additional security improvements.
“We are adjusting the release model for Recall to leverage the expertise of the Windows Insider community to ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security,” says Microsoft in an updated blog post. “When Recall (preview) becomes available in the Windows Insider Program, we will publish a blog post with details on how to get the preview.”
Yikes.
This week on a jam-packed episode of Mac Power Users, David Sparks and I hit the highlights from WWDC24, including updates across Apple’s platforms and the company’s move into the AI era.
Leading into WWDC, I shared some concerns I had when it came to thinking about how Apple would integrate AI into its products.
Tim Cook has spoken to Josh Tyrangiel at The Washington Post about how the company went into this endeavor. Here’s Cook:
We went into this saying, “These are our values, and we can’t veer from them.” And we took the time and the depth of thinking to come out with a product that we’re proud of. We knew that we had to do things outside of the device because of the size of the language models that we’re working with, so we needed to have a level of invention on the cloud. And fortunately, we were able to build it upon things that we had, like Apple silicon.
When asked about his confidence that Apple Intelligence will avoid hallucinations, he said:
It’s not 100 percent. But I think we have done everything that we know to do, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology in the areas that we’re using it in. So I am confident it will be very high quality. But I’d say in all honesty that’s short of 100 percent. I would never claim that it’s 100 percent.
Apple didn’t talk about this in the keynote, even when showing off Siri’s integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. However, it seems that the user interface will include text alerting people to the fact that AI results may not always be accurate:
image via Adam Wright
Props to The Basic Apple Guy for grabbing these screenshots. Like the default wallpaper, none of these seem to be actual image files that anyone can find in the file system.
macOS Sequoia has been announced and it comes with a couple of colorful new default wallpapers. However, Apple has changed where these images are stored on disk, and I have found so far is the Light version of the image:
Download 6K version here.
If you happen to know where the Dark version is, or where the sweet new Macintosh images are, please let me know!
There are new operating systems, but Apple has made some slight changes to the base system requirements for each OS:
iOS 18iOS 18 brings no changes in compatibility:
- iPhone 15 line
- iPhone 14 line
- iPhone 13 line
- iPhone 12 line
- iPhone 11 line
- iPhone XS and XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone SE (2nd generation or later)
iPadOS 18iPadOS 18 seems to drop the 6th-generation iPad. RIP, buddy.
- iPad Pro (M4)
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later)
- iPad Air (M2)
- iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
- iPad (7th generation and later)
- iPad mini (5th generation and later)
macOS SequoiaSequoia has no compatibility changes when compared to Sonoma:
- iMac Pro (2017)
- Mac mini (2018 and later)
- MacBook Pro (2018 and later)
- MacBook Air (2020 and later)
- iMac (2019 and later)
- Mac Pro (2019 and later)
- Mac Studio (2022 and later)
Apple IntelligenceApple Intelligence is a wide ranging set of features across these three operating systems, with its own set of system requirements:
- iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (A17 Pro)
- iPad Pro (M1 and later)
- iPad Air (M1 and later)
- MacBook Air (M1 and later)
- MacBook Pro (M1 and later)
- iMac (M1 and later)
- Mac mini (M1 and later)
- Mac Studio (M1 Max and later)
- Mac Pro (M2 Ultra)
Apple says:
Apple Intelligence is free to use and will initially be available in U.S. English. Coming in beta this fall.
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This week on Mac Power Users, David and I discuss iMessage, Arc, Notes, and more. Then, we chat about OmniFocus 4 and David’s new Field Guide.
I am sure working on these things is hard and complicated, but it looks like a lot of fun, too:
Tripp Mickle and Erin Griffith, at The New York Times:
About a week after the reviews came out, Humane started talking to HP, the computer and printer company, about selling itself for more than $1 billion, three people with knowledge of the conversations said. Other potential buyers have emerged, though talks have been casual and no formal sales process has begun.
Humane retained Tidal Partners, an investment bank, to help navigate the discussions while also managing a new funding round that would value it at $1.1 billion, three people with knowledge of the plans said.
Two jokes came to mind:
- The Humane Pin does kind of look like something Palm may have eventually made.
- Wow, the AI hardware scene is really heating up.
Apple Newsroom:
“It’s inspiring to see how developers are using our technology to create exceptional apps and games that enhance the lives of users,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “This year’s winners have demonstrated how apps can create powerful and moving experiences — and we’re excited to celebrate their hard work and ingenuity at WWDC this year.”
Seven different categories recognize one app and game each for delight and fun, inclusivity, innovation, interaction, social impact, visuals and graphics, and a new spatial computing category. Winners were chosen from 42 finalists.
There are some great apps on this list. Congrats the winners!
Ben Surtees, the original developer behind the excellent macOS utility Bartender, concerning the recent sale of the app:
After the release of Bartender 5, I came to the realization that supporting all the users and maintaining the app at the high standard I expect and you deserve was too much for one person. It required a dedicated team that could provide continuous support, innovate, and keep up with the fast-evolving macOS landscape. This realization led me to make a difficult decision.
Three months ago, I sold Bartender to Applause, a company with the resources and expertise to take the app to new heights. Applause shares my vision for Bartender and is committed to maintaining its core values while bringing in new features and improvements. I truly believe they are the right team to continue the journey and ensure Bartender remains a valuable tool for all of you.
I understand that the transition hasn’t been entirely smooth. Recently, there was a change in the signing certificate for the app, and unfortunately, this change wasn’t communicated properly to you, our loyal users. I apologize for any confusion or concern this may have caused. Please rest assured that Bartender is signed by a valid Apple ID developer and notarized by Apple, which verifies the app to ensure it is free from malware.
(I take slight exception with his explanation of Notarization. You can read more about how the process works over at The Eclectic Light Company.)
While this does clear up much of the panic that has surrounded this app for the last day or so, so much of this mess could have been avoided if Applause had communicated with its new users.
That said, I fully understand why users of Bartender feel uneasy about its future, despite what Surtees wrote about its new owner.1 Hidden Bar, Vanilla, and Ice all seem like nice alternatives. I’m currently playing with Ice myself and I suspect David and I will talk about this on a future episode of Mac Power Users once we’ve had more time to explore.
- Applause’s website makes me feel weird inside. ↩
xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company (no not that one) is coming to my hometown with what would be the world’s largest supercomputer, as reported by Samuel Hardiman at The Daily Memphian:
The Elon Musk-founded artificial intelligence startup — xAI — is building an AI supercomputer in Memphis, officials announced Wednesday, June 5.
The facility, when completed, could be worth billions of dollars and be one of the most advanced computing facilities in the world.
Musk recently told investors he planned to build a supercomputer for xAI but did not say where, according to a presentation obtained by business news site The Information.
Neil Strebig at The Commercial Appeal writes:
Chamber President and CEO Ted Townsend said this project represents a multibillion dollar investment and is the largest by a new-to-market company in Memphis history. Final job counts and total investment are still being calculated by the company, he said. The project is expected to open this year.
Few specifics were provided about the project, which is called “xAI’s Gigafactory of Compute,” including its location. Townsend said due to global security concerns, the location would not be announced.
The Daily Memphian reports that the deal came together very quickly, and that the location is an old Electrolux oven factory, which has been undergoing mysterious renovations for several weeks. The area where the factory is located is home to other industries, and seems well-equipped for the task. Here’s more from Hardiman’s article:
Supercomputers like the one xAI building in southwest Memphis need considerable electricity. The facility is less than a mile from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Allen Combined Cycle Plant by car and it’s even closer as the crow flies.
Memphis Light, Gas and Water said there is enough electric capacity on its system and TVA’s for the project. Power to the supercomputer would be interrupted if the system is stressed.
“They’re working on that with Tennessee Valley Authority and our team to determine how much off-peak they can come when the demand gets high, and what the terms of that will be,” MLGW CEO Doug McGowen said.
(I guess we now know where those unused H100s are going.)
Memphis is a curious choice for this. The city is in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, and we’re prone to severe weather. That said, we enjoy a lost cost of living and local government officials have been working to incentivize new developments in town.
This is an exciting, if unexpected, bit of news around here. Beyond FedEx, St. Jude, and AutoZone, Memphis does not have a lot of high-paying tech jobs, and this could accelerate things… assuming it takes shape as promised. And assuming Musk doesn’t screw Memphis over.
Windows 11’s Recall feature has garnered a lot of attention since being announced, and much of that has focused on the potential privacy implications of software that basically tracks everything you do on your PC.
Cybersecurity expert Kevin Beaumont has taken a look at the feature, and uhhhhhh:
Microsoft told media outlets a hacker cannot exfiltrate Copilot+ Recall activity remotely.
Reality: how do you think hackers will exfiltrate this plain text database of everything the user has ever viewed on their PC? Very easily, I have it automated.
He explains more in a post on Medium:
Every few seconds, screenshots are taken. These are automatically OCR’d by Azure AI, running on your device, and written into an SQLite database in the user’s folder. This database file has a record of everything you’ve ever viewed on your PC in plain text.
Tom Warren at The Verge:
Microsoft maintains Recall is an optional experience and that it has built privacy controls into the feature. You can disable certain URLs and apps, and Recall won’t store any material that’s protected with digital rights management tools. “Recall also does not take snapshots of certain kinds of content, including InPrivate web browsing sessions in Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, or other Chromium-based browsers,” says Microsoft on its explainer FAQ page.
However, Recall doesn’t perform content moderation, so it won’t hide information like passwords or financial account numbers in its screenshots. “That data may be in snapshots that are stored on your device, especially when sites do not follow standard internet protocols like cloaking password entry,” warns Microsoft.
Warren also notes:
Microsoft is currently planning to enable Recall by default on Copilot Plus PCs. In my own testing on a prerelease version of Recall, the feature is enabled by default when you set up a new Copilot Plus PC, and there is no option to disable it during the setup process unless you tick an option that then opens the Settings panel. Microsoft is reportedly discussing whether to change this setup process, though.
Gulp.
PowerPhotos works in conjunction with the Apple Photos app, filling in missing features that Photos itself doesn’t provide. With PowerPhotos you can manage multiple photo libraries, either splitting up an existing library into smaller ones, or merging multiple libraries together into one. You can browse and search your libraries, copy photos and albums between libraries while retaining edits and metadata, and find and remove duplicate photos.
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If you already have multiple libraries, PowerPhotos can merge those libraries together, while weeding out duplicates in the process. If you have old backups or libraries from other computers or family members, PowerPhotos can consolidate them all into one library for you. It can even merge and convert old iPhoto or Aperture libraries you have lying around. PowerPhotos also has an advanced export function, a global menu bar item for easy library switching, multi library searching, the ability to open libraries in separate windows, and much more.
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Arc is a new browser that started life on macOS in 2022. David and I have been using it for months, taking notes and gathering thoughts. This week on MPU, we discuss its features, and how AI could change the way people browse the web.
There has been much debate about what Apple’s upcoming AI-based features could look like. With WWDC’s keynote just eight days away, Mark Gurman has some information about how Siri could be transformed by new technology:
The big news at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week will be the company’s renewed push into artificial intelligence. As I’ve outlined previously, Apple’s approach will integrate AI into many of its core apps and features, including Photos, Messages, Notes and the Safari browser. It will handle voice memo transcriptions and provide recaps of meetings, text messages, emails and articles. There also will be new bells and whistles like AI-created emojis.
But Apple’s original AI product — Siri — will get some love as well. The company is overhauling the digital assistant with its own large language models, an underlying technology behind generative AI. The new system will allow Siri to control individual features within applications for the first time. This won’t require any setup by the user or from developers, differentiating from existing features like Siri Shortcuts and App Intents. Instead, the iPhone’s AI will analyze what a person is doing and auto-enable Siri to help.
For instance, users could ask Siri to delete or forward an email. Or they could have Siri edit a photo, summarize a meeting or move a note to a different folder — all within the apps themselves. Today, Siri mostly lives outside of the app universe, controlling more general items like smart home appliances, music and system settings. Over time, this new feature will expand to allow multiple commands at once. For example, you could tell your iPad to write an email and send it to your spouse.
The day after OpenAI demoed ChatGPT-4o, Microsoft announced a new class of Windows laptops, powered by Qualcomm Arm chips and boasting a slew of AI-powered features. Some of these features run on device, while some rely on the cloud, but at the heart of almost of them is Microsoft’s multibillion dollar investment in OpenAI.
Google, on the other hand, is going it alone, building LLM-powered features internally. As is its usual style, Google has already announced and cancelled several different products under the AI umbrella, but in recent weeks, it has launched the single most important AI-powered service the world has yet seen in the form of Google Search with Generative AI.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock — or ate one — you know how that started. Google has taken the most important property on the web and turned it into something that will confidently lie to its users. It’s been astonishing to watch it burn so much brand capital on a new feature.
That brings us back to Apple. There’s no doubt that Apple is next in line to infuse its products with AI-powered features, but much of the baggage that comes along with AI seems antithetical with Apple’s brand.
Let’s talk about hallucinations for a moment. I think IBM’s definition of the term is pretty good:
AI hallucination is a phenomenon wherein a large language model (LLM) — often a generative AI chatbot or computer vision tool — perceives patterns or objects that are nonexistent or imperceptible to human observers, creating outputs that are nonsensical or altogether inaccurate.
Preventing a LLM from giving a user incorrect data has become a devastatingly difficult problem to solve. On a recent episode of Decoder with Nilay Patel, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said this on the topic:
Are we making progress? Yes, we are. We have definitely made progress when we look at metrics on factuality year on year. We are all making it better, but it’s not solved. Are there interesting ideas and approaches that they’re working on? Yes, but time will tell. I would view it as LLMs are an aspect of AI. We are working on AI in a much broader way, but it’s an area where we are all definitely working to drive more progress.
“Year on year” sounds like a long time scale to me, and one that won’t be met by the time iOS 18 and its siblings launch this fall. Maybe Apple has made a breakthrough on this front, but that’s yet to be seen. If Apple is going to rely on OpenAI for some things, don’t expect Siri to be much more reliable than ChatGPT.
It’s not surprising that the Siri brand is going to be home to many of these features. It’s been around since the iPhone 4S. Here’s a bit from that 2011 press release:
iPhone 4S also introduces Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. Siri understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, for example, if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Siri is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell Siri “Remind me to call Mom when I get home” it can find “Mom” in your address book, or ask Siri “What’s the traffic like around here?” and it can figure out where “here” is based on your current location. Siri helps you make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more. You can also get answers, find facts and even perform complex calculations just by asking.
A lot of that sounds like the things people expect from the likes of ChatGPT or Gemini today, doesn’t it? Maybe’s Siri’s habit of whiffing on basic requests will buy Apple some leeway when it comes to hallucinations.
Then there’s the environmental impact of all the hardware required to power these features. Undoubtedly, Apple is working hard to run as many of these models as possible locally on users’ devices, but even Apple is rumored to be looking to the cloud to power some things. Then there’s the company’s stance on user privacy.
There a lot of circles to square, but Apple probably doesn’t have a choice here. Users — and the market — expect these features from platform owners now, regardless of their actual utility.
Don’t hear what I’m not saying: I think generative AI has some amazing uses and is here to stay. This movement is more than a flash in the pan, and Apple should have a plan for incorporating it across its operating systems. However, I think Apple has to move more carefully here than the likes of Microsoft and Google. The way Apple sees — and talks about — itself may hang in the balance.1
- Look no further for evidence of this then the backlash to that recent iPad ad. The video was not about AI, but people sure took it that way, and were not happy about it. ↩
This week on the world’s greatest podcast:
WWDC24 has been officially announced and rumors about iOS 18 are swirling. The guys also talk about Myke’s Meta Ray-Bans, Federico’s Apple Pencil settings, and Stephen’s least-used Apple device.
Kristof Gruber, Product Engineer at Craft:
Entering a new platform only happens a few times in a developers life. It is a rare and delicious event, when you step in the realm of something genuinely new. If you are fast, you can feel yourself like the explorers in old times. Everything is new, and flexible; the new platform doesn’t yet have established patterns, which gives you plenty of space to experiment.
We, at Craft, already had this chance once, when we started using Mac Catalyst, a wonderful technology, which allowed us to bring our iOS app to the Mac. Since then, we are using a common code base for building all our apps on all the platforms we support: iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. With the introduction of visionOS, we could build on these solid foundations.
The blog post goes on from there, detailing the team’s approach — and challenges — in tuning Craft for visionOS users. It’s a fascinating read.
There have been other credit card-sized Find My trackers on the market, but I believe this is the first rechargeable one. Bonus points for being compatible with MagSafe.
Update: Nomad wasn’t the first to have a rechargeable tracker in this class. The Chipolo CARD Spot, which I had in mind when writing this, is not rechargeable.
Apple Newsroom:
Today, Apple unveiled the lineup for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, including Keynote and Platforms State of the Union, and shared more information about what developers will learn and experience all week. The free online conference brings the global Apple developer community together to provide them with insights into the latest technologies, tools, and frameworks coming to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS. Throughout the week, developers will be able to hear from Apple engineers, designers, and other experts through more than 100 technical sessions, in-depth consultations, and live forums for guidance on building even more innovative and platform-differentiating apps and games across all Apple products.
I think it is going to be a big year across a bunch of these platforms. visionOS is set to receive it’s first major update since launching earlier this year, and Apple is widely expected to have AI-powered features spread across its operating systems. It should be an exciting year.
Steve from Mac84 has the best advice I’ve seen for what to do when unboxing a new (to you) vintage computer:
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This week on MPU:
iMessage is one of the stickiest parts of the Apple ecosystem, and this week, the guys discuss some of its features, explore its security credentials, and share some tips for making it run smoothly.
If you don’t want a bunch of AI nonsense showing up in your Google results, Ernie Smith’s new project may be for you. He writes over on Tedium:
Forget AI. Google just created a version of its search engine free of all the extra junk it has added over the past decade-plus. All you have to do is add “udm=14” to the search URL.
This can be done by setting up a custom search engine in your browser (if supported), a handful of extensions, and a new website, udm14.com. That last option is the only viable one for Safari users, sadly.
Google has begun rolling out AI-powered search results, and it’s not going super well. While many of the screenshots floating around social media are probably fake, there are some real examples that are pretty troubling, as Kylie Robison reports for The Verge:
Imagine this: you’ve carved out an evening to unwind and decide to make a homemade pizza. You assemble your pie, throw it in the oven, and are excited to start eating. But once you get ready to take a bite of your oily creation, you run into a problem — the cheese falls right off. Frustrated, you turn to Google for a solution.
“Add some glue,” Google answers. “Mix about 1/8 cup of Elmer’s glue in with the sauce. Non-toxic glue will work.”
(Google pulling from an Onion article about eating rocks is also pretty wild.)
Kyle Orland, writing at Ars Technica:
Factual errors can pop up in existing LLM chatbots as well, of course. But the potential damage that can be caused by AI inaccuracy gets multiplied when those errors appear atop the ultra-valuable web real estate of the Google search results page.
“The examples we’ve seen are generally very uncommon queries and aren’t representative of most people’s experiences,” a Google spokesperson told Ars. “The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web.”
I think anyone paying attention to LLMs would have seen this coming, yet Google shipped it, on some of the most valuable real estate on the web. I wonder how folks there are feeling now that the company is scrambling to manually remove some results.
Chance Miller has more over at 9to5Mac:
Earlier this week, Apple released iOS 17.5.1 to address a rare problem where deleted photos would reappear on a user’s device after installing iOS 17.5. In the release notes, Apple said this was caused by “database corruption.” The company has now confirmed a few additional details to 9to5Mac to further clarify the situation.
One question many people had is how images from dates as far back as 2010 resurfaced because of this problem. After all, most people aren’t still using the same devices now as they were in 2010. Apple confirmed to me that iCloud Photos is not to be blamed for this. Instead, it all boils to the corrupt database entry that existed on the device’s file system itself.
According to Apple, the photos that did not fully delete from a user’s device were not synced to iCloud Photos. Those files were only on the device itself. However, the files could have persisted from one device to another when restoring from a backup, performing a device-to-device transfer, or when restoring from an iCloud Backup but not using iCloud Photos.
Miller goes on:
In a now-deleted post, a Reddit user last week alleged that their photos reappeared on an iPad they sold to a friend, despite them having erased the content of that iPad prior to selling it. Apple tells me that this claim was false.
That report smelled fishy to me from the start, and I’m glad it turned out to be untrue. Now the company should address the recent issue with folks having their Apple IDs locked.
This week on the podcast:
Stephen has a new user name, Myke has a new iPad, Sonos has new headphones, Federico has a new MacPad screen, OpenAI has new drama, and Microsoft has a new vision for the PC.
Filipe Espósito, writing at 9to5 Mac:
Back in 2020, Apple offered selected developers a custom DTK Mac mini with the A12Z Bionic chip inside, so that they could develop apps for the Apple Silicon platform. After the official launch of the M1 Macs, developers had to return their DTK Mac mini to Apple, which scrapped the machines. But one of these scrapped DTKs was successfully restored.
The video is almost an hour long, but goes into great details about this curious little machine:
Now I want two developer transition kits in my collection.
On Mastodon, @bullware sent me something amazing.
This is a concept put together by Terauma on the LEGO Ideas website, which collects projects designed by the community for voting. Some of these projects become reality, with the designer earning royalties. You know I voted before I even published this post.
Mario Guzman is back, with yet another nostalgia-powered music player for macOS:
Control Apple Music with this simplified controller that has the look and feel of QuickTime 7 and Mac OS X “Tiger”.
JUST LOOK AT THIS THING:
This update fixes a horrific bug that was reported late last week:
This update provides important bug fixes and addresses a rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted.
Tim Hardwick wrote about the bug over at MacRumors, which first popped up on Reddit:
After updating their iPhone, one user said they were shocked to find old NSFW photos that they deleted in 2021 suddenly showing up in photos marked as recently uploaded to iCloud. Other users have also chimed in with similar stories. “Same here,” said one Redditor. “I have four pics from 2010 that keep reappearing as the latest pics uploaded to iCloud. I have deleted them repeatedly.”
“Same thing happened to me,” replied another user. “Six photos from different times, all I have deleted. Some I had deleted in 2023.” More reports have been trickling in overnight. One said: “I had a random photo from a concert taken on my Canon camera reappear in my phone library, and it showed up as if it was added today.”
I hope that this was a ten-alarm fire at Apple over the weekend. I suspect it was.
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John Buck published a book covering the “Apple Technology Group,” a division within Apple that operated back in the 1980s and 1990s and experimented with many forward-looking bits of technology that we take for granted today.
On this week’s MPU, David and I spoke to John about the book and some of the amazing history that took place within this group.
This week on Connected:
With Myke on vacation, Stephen and Federico discuss what’s going on with iPadOS, then cover the news from Google I/O and OpenAI’s recent event.
This is from a lovely blog post by David Smith:
This last year has been a complicated one as an indie app developer. I’ve been in this community for long enough to know that there are always ebbs and flows in sentiment, and this year has lots of reasons to be feeling the ebb side of things. From new policies which introduced tremendous uncertainty and undermine our importance to the ecosystem, to challenging platform launches…there’s a lot to feel conflicted about this year.
But as I wandered through the woods somewhat surprisingly my feelings kept coming back to how excited and eager I was to once again head to Cupertino. I’ve learned that whenever I’m surprised by a feeling, it is a good idea to interrogate it because it’s an opportunity to learn something about myself.
What I came to realize was that the reason I was excited about WWDC had very little to do with the actual announcements themselves, but instead it was all about the people I’ll get to spend the week connecting with.
Separating the Apple community from the company is something that feels more important than ever, and something I hadn’t thought about super clearly before reading this.
MacRumors, on Threads, just four days ago:
Apple’s thinnest device ever.
ipadpro #bendgate
Tim Hardwick, writing on MacRumors today:
Despite videos indicating that the 2018 iPad Pro models bent more easily than other models, Apple said the bend did not worsen over time or negatively affect the iPad’s performance, and that concerns over the device’s durability were unfounded.
Nevertheless, some iPad owners were understandably upset to find defects in devices that cost hundreds of dollars. Apple naturally wants to avoid a similar scenario with its latest 2024 models.
To allay concerns, in an interview with Arun Maini, Apple’s senior VP of hardware engineering John Ternus reveals that Apple has added a new protective “cowling” over the main logic board. This metal cover not only helps with heat dissipation, but also “effectively creates a central rib that runs through the whole thing and tremendously improves the stiffness of the products,” according to Ternus.
And:
If early reviews are anything to go by, a handful of outlets have noted that the devices do feel particularly durable despite their impressive thinness. Do you have lingering doubts? Let us know in the comments. Pricing on the M4 iPad Pro begins at $999, and it can be purchased from Apple’s website.
Speaking of Jason, I re-read his original iPad Pro review this weekend, and this part really jumped out at me:
But let’s pull back and get the big picture. No, keep pulling back, this thing’s huge. The iPad Pro is a tremendous piece of hardware. It’s the fastest iOS device ever. The screen is spectacular—at 2732 by 2048 pixels, it’s got more pixels than the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. It weighs a pound and a half and still managed 10 hours of battery life. On the hardware design front, Apple’s firing on all cylinders.
But.
Speaking of Federico, he just published a banger of an article over on MacStories, discussing all the ways that iPadOS is still a mess, 14 years after the launch of the original iPad and 9 years after the launch of the first iPad Pro:
I started using the iPad as my main computer when I was stuck in a hospital bed and couldn’t use a laptop. I kept using it because once you get a taste of that freedom, it’s hard to go back. I will continue using it because none of the alternatives match Apple’s hardware quality, app ecosystem, and pure delight. But loving something doesn’t mean ignoring its flaws. And iPadOS is a flawed operating system that still doesn’t get the basics right and, as a result, drags down the entire product line.
I’m looking forward to the new iPad Pros, but I can’t shake the feeling that the same old iPadOS cycle is about to begin all over again.
I hope the iPadOS team at Apple reads every word of this then prints it out and tapes it to the wall.
Federico and I joined Jason on this week’s perfectly-numbered episode of Upgrade:
The new iPad Pro is here, and Jason is joined by Federico Viticci to discuss the new model, Jason’s review, and the limitations of iPadOS. Stephen Hackett also joins the show not to crush some creative dreams, but to answer your questions.
On Upgrade+, Jason and I ranked every model of iPod nano.
Calling all crossword fans! Black Ink, the beloved Mac app for solving crosswords from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and more, is now available for iOS. Download it from the App Store and enjoy nearly-endless crossword-solving fun on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro.
If those sources aren’t enough, Black Ink now supports two excellent games from Lex Friedman: Lex’s Puzzles, and Lex’s Minis. Lex’s Minis are free for anybody to download and solve, while Lex’s Puzzles (full-sized 15×15) require a Lex.games subscription.
Not so sure about your solving ability? Don’t worry, Black Ink is ready to assist. If you’re stumped, just use one of its built-in features to offer hints or even to reveal a square you are really stuck on.
Rediscover your love of crossword puzzles with Black Ink. It’s free to download and all of its premium features are unlocked with a one-time payment.
This week on Connected:
Federico and Myke are back from Apple Battersea to join Stephen in grading the group’s picks for this week’s iPad event.
Tripp Mickle, Brian X. Chen and Cade Metz:
Apple is expected to show off its A.I. work at its annual developers conference on June 10 when it releases an improved Siri that is more conversational and versatile, according to three people familiar with the company’s work, who didn’t have permission to speak publicly. Siri’s underlying technology will include a new generative A.I. system that will allow it to chat rather than respond to questions one at a time.
[…]
Apple executives worry that new A.I. technology threatens the company’s dominance of the global smartphone market because it has the potential to become the primary operating system, displacing the iPhone’s iOS software, said two people familiar with the thinking of Apple’s leadership, who didn’t have permission to speak publicly. This new technology could also create an ecosystem of A.I. apps, known as agents, that can order Ubers or make calendar appointments, undermining Apple’s App Store, which generates about $24 billion in annual sales.
While “AI apps and agents” are a ways off — ahem — Apple’s not wrong to think defensively about the iPhone as newer, younger technologies come on the scene.
There is one part of this article that jumped out at me, though:
Apple’s top software executives decided early last year that Siri, the company’s virtual assistant, needed a brain transplant.
The decision came after the executives Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea spent weeks testing OpenAI’s new chatbot, ChatGPT. The product’s use of generative artificial intelligence, which can write poetry, create computer code and answer complex questions, made Siri look antiquated, said two people familiar with the company’s work, who didn’t have permission to speak publicly.
I would bet money that Apple has known Siri needed serious work long before ChatGPT showed up on the scene. If not, then, in the words of Elon Musk… concerning.
The Verge’s Emma Roth:
Apple has apologized after a commercial meant to showcase its brand-new iPad Pro drew widespread criticism among the creative community. In a statement provided to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
As of this writing the ad is still up on Apple’s YouTube channel.
Mark Gurman, writing at Bloomberg, about who could be the next CEO of Apple, assuming Tim Cook sticks around long enough for the torch to pass over Jeff Williams, who is 61 years old, just two years younger than Cook:
If Cook were to stay that long, people within Apple say, the most likely successor would be John Ternus, the hardware engineering chief. In a company whose success has always come from building category-defining gadgets, the ascension of a hardware engineering expert to the CEO job would seem logical. Ternus, who’s not yet 50, would also be more likely than other members of the executive team to stick around for a long time, potentially providing another decade or more of Cook-esque stability.
Ternus is well-liked inside Apple, and he’s earned the respect of Cook, Williams and other leaders. “Tim likes him a lot, because he can give a good presentation, he’s very mild-mannered, never puts anything into an email that is controversial and is a very reticent decision-maker,” says one person close to Apple’s executive team. “He has a lot of managerial characteristics like Tim.” Christopher Stringer, a former top Apple hardware designer, called Ternus a “trustworthy hand” who’s “never failed with any role he’s been elevated to.” Eddy Cue, the Apple executive known as Cook’s closest confidant, has privately told colleagues that Ternus should be the next CEO, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
If you’ve been paying attention to Apple events over the last few years, you will already be familiar with Ternus. He’s been the presenter for all sorts of hardware announcements. Not surprisingly, there are those at Apple who don’t love the idea, as Gurman writes:
“They got a real big problem,” a person close to Apple says. “Ternus is a great guy, but he’s honestly really junior. He comes off as just one of the guys in the room, not like a refined executive or a person in charge. Being the CEO of a multitrillion-dollar company, you better command presence in the room.” Another person says the internal criticism of Ternus is that he needs to assert himself with more force, adding that he seems to know this is where he’ll need to improve. The fundamental question, says one person close to the matter, is whether he’ll be ready to take on the role when Cook steps down.
Other names that come up include Craig Federighi, head of software engineering, a recognizable face among Apple’s biggest fans who’s known internally to be conversant on corporate issues well outside of his purview, and Deirdre O’Brien, its head of retail and a Cook confidant, according to one former executive. People close to the company consider them unlikely successors.
@BenRiceM on Mastodon:
Terrible headline suggestions:
“One good Ternus deserves another”
“Mom says it’s my Ternus to be CEO”
“How the tables have Ternus”
Perfect.
This week on MPU:
Apple has unveiled new iPad Pro and iPad Air models. Stephen and David talk through the news and discuss why hardware isn’t at the heart of the iPad’s struggles.
Today’s Apple event has come and gone, and in its wake are some new iPads, a slightly saner iPad lineup, and some questions.
The biggest one for me is this:
Does Apple know what the iPad actually needs?
Right before debuting new iPad Pros, John Ternus said that Apple was “gonna crush the limits of what you can do on iPad.”
As nice as the new OLED display looks, and no matter how powerful the new M4 may be, the iPad’s problem in 2024 — or another year for that matter — is the software. Fourteen years into its lifespan and the iPad still can’t seem to fully shake off its iPhone OS roots. Almost everything Apple has attempted to bolt atop iPadOS to make it more useful for more people has come with weird tradeoffs. Look no further than something like Stage Manager, or that just today Apple announced a version of Final Cut that can use external drives for project storage.
(Don’t get me started on file management on iPadOS. It’s still such a mess.)
I fully understand that iPadOS has to serve an incredibly wide range of customers, from little kids to people want to earn their living using just a tablet, and I don’t envy the folks at Apple who are trying to move the platform forward without alienating a wide swath of the iPad’s user base.
There is a lot of good in the iPad. Running the same library of apps as the iPhone is a big deal, and doing so in a more secure way than traditional personal computers is an even bigger one. The combination of a touch screen, the Apple Pencil, and traditional input methods like a keyboard and trackpad make the iPad extremely versatile.
However, as I wrote yesterday, the iPad can never become what Apple promised as long as Apple drastically changes course here.
Maybe Apple is okay with that. “The Mac is back from the brink,” you may say, “so why not have two platforms and let people choose which one is best for them?”
I think that’s the reality we’re living in now, but I’m not sure anyone has told Apple. The company seems to continue to believe that the iPad is a general-purpose computer, and it’s just not, at least for a lot of people. When WWDC rolls around in a few weeks, I suspect iPadOS will continue on the trajectory it is currently on, and I think many of us find that a bit underwhelming, especially given how incredible the iPad’s hardware is.
Jason Snell has written what a lot of us have been thinking: that the best thing for the future of the iPad could be the Mac:
It’s funny how the Mac keeps coming back into this, isn’t it? There’s a good reason. The Mac is Apple’s do-it-all computing platform, and thanks to the boost from Apple silicon, it’s really doing better than ever. That mid-2010s malaise when it felt like Apple had no clear idea about the Mac’s future, which coincided with the possibility that the iPad would ultimately replace it, is gone.
Instead, the Mac is a key that can unlock the limitations of Apple’s platforms. One of the best features of the Vision Pro is its ability to connect to a Mac and display the Mac’s interface in a large virtual space. The Vision Pro becomes a stronger product because macOS exists, and integrates with visionOS.
Unless Apple drastically changes course with iPadOS, the iPad can never become what Apple promised. Maybe the future of computing was with us all along.
Apple Support:
Find out which iPad model you have.
I wonder how much more complicated this page will be in 24 hours.
This week on MPU:
AI is suddenly everywhere, from online services and software to bespoke hardware products. This week, David takes Stephen on a journey to talk about the tools he has found useful, as well as what’s not ready for prime time yet.
Jason Snell:
Apple announced its financial results for its second fiscal quarter of 2024 on Thursday. The company booked $90.8 billion in revenue (down 4% versus the year-ago quarter) with $23.6 billion in profit. Mac revenue was up 4%, presumably buoyed by the release of the M3 MacBook Air. iPad revenue crashed down to $5.6 billion, a 17% drop from the year-ago quarter and the weakest iPad quarter in four years. iPhone revenue was $46 billion, down 10% versus the year-ago quarter.
Services revenue was the big highlight for Apple this quarter, with a new record $23.9 billion in revenue, up 14% year over year. The Wearables, Home, and Accessories category managed only $7.9 billion in revenue, down 10% versus the year-ago quarter.
A funny thing happened as the results were being reported, but I’ll leave that to Zac Hall to sort out.
John Voorhees:
One of the most controversial aspects of Apple’s response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) was the introduction of a Core Technology Fee (CTF), which must be paid by developers who opt into Apple’s alternative business terms. Today, in a post on its developer website, Apple announced changes to the CTF and regarding the treatment of iPadOS, which was added to Apple’s DMA compliance obligations earlier this week.
The problem was that the CTF as originally conceived applied to all apps, including free apps. If a developer offered a free app and had first annual app installs of over 1 million installations, they would owe the €0.50 per installation fee, regardless of the fact they earned no income from the app. The fee, as proposed, would likewise be a problem for developers with other sources of income that weren’t enough to pay the CTF.
Here are the two changes Apple has made:
- First, no CTF is required if a developer has no revenue whatsoever. This includes creating a free app without monetization that is not related to revenue of any kind (physical, digital, advertising, or otherwise). This condition is intended to give students, hobbyists, and other non-commercial developers an opportunity to create a popular app without paying the CTF.
- Second, small developers (less than €10 million in global annual business revenue*) that adopt the alternative business terms receive a 3-year free on-ramp to the CTF to help them create innovative apps and rapidly grow their business. Within this 3-year period, if a small developer that hasn’t previously exceeded one million first annual installs crosses the threshold for the first time, they won’t pay the CTF, even if they continue to exceed one million first annual installs during that time. If a small developer grows to earn global revenue between €10 million and €50 million within the 3-year on-ramp period, they’ll start to pay the CTF after one million first annual installs up to a cap of €1 million per year.
These are both moves in the right direction, but developers will need to keep an eye on that change that takes place three years in.
Tom Lokhorst has put together a wonderful site that catalogs WWDC sessions dating back to the year 2000. I bet this one was fun.
Somehow, we have arrived at episode 500 of Connected,1 and I’m so glad Apple waited to release new iPads until next week, so we could play our traditional game before the event next week:
Apple’s first iPad event in over a year is next week, so the guys have dusted off their headphones and have made some picks ahead of May 7.
The Flexies got a little out of control this time. Between the three of us, we made 27 picks in that category alone.
- Combined with The Prompt, we’ve now published 557 episodes of our weekly show about Apple. It blows my mind that we’ve been doing this show for so long, but all three of us are just as passionate and excited about it as we were ten years ago. Thank you for listening and supporting Connected for all of these years. ↩
John Voorhees at MacStories:
Today, the European Union announced that it has added iPadOS to the products and services subject to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The designation gives Apple six months to comply with the DMA.
iOS is already subject to the DMA, and Apple’s response meant that actions it took to comply with the law did not apply to iPadOS, leading to incongruous differences between the platforms. With the addition of iPadOS under the purview of the DMA, I expect some of those differences will need to be ironed out.
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Version 4.5 is out now, and it has been totally rebuilt using SwiftUI, making the app more modern and faster than ever.
I’m very happy with this particular episode of the podcast:
Neil Jhaveri founded Mimestream, a macOS email app for Gmail users.
Stephen and David talk to Neil about his time at Apple, Mimestream’s roadmap (including an iOS version and supporting non-Google services), and email’s place in today’s world.
This weekend, my Mastodon and Thread timelines exploded with people being locked out of their Apple IDs. While it didn’t happen to me, it did to Michael Tsai:
I had another instance of my Apple ID mysteriously being locked. First, my iPhone wanted me to enter the password again, which I thought was the “normal” thing it has done every few months, almost since I got it. But after doing so it said that my account was locked.
Chance Miller also reported on it:
We received our first tip about this around 8 p.m. ET. In the hours since then, the problem has gained significant traction on social media.
Apple’s System Status webpage doesn’t indicate that any of its services are having issues this evening. Still, it’s clear based on social media reports that something wonky is going on behind the scenes at Apple. A few of us here at 9to5Mac have also been directly affected by the problem.
People are being signed out of their Apple ID across all of their devices. If you try to sign in with your original Apple ID password, you’ll be locked out of your account. You’ll then be forced to reset your password before being able to sign back in. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason as to why this is happening.
I spent the week with ALSAC — the fundraising organization at St. Jude — with half a dozen Relay folks and a few hundred other content creators who are using their platforms for fundraising.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by St. Jude PLAY LIVE (@stjudeplaylive)
(Most of the events were at the Peabody Hotel here in Memphis, so there were some ducks hanging around as well.)
Those creators ranged from fitness and health to beauty and fashion to gamers and us podcasters. We spent time hearing from folks at St. Jude about the hospital’s mission and the tools it is developing to enable communities to fundraise in new and existing ways.
It quickly became apparent to me that while we exist in different online spaces, our group of nerdy podcasters are really doing the same thing as people streaming games on Twitch, throwing online dance parties, or talking to their followers about health or fashion. We all want to rally our communities to get them excited about the life-saving work of St. Jude.
In just a couple of weeks, my family will celebrate the 15th anniversary of our son’s cancer diagnosis. This fall, he will turn 16 and is doing very well. He continues to be an inspiration to us, but 15 years is a long time, and some times those early years feel like they happened to someone else.
One of my favorite things over the last week was going on a tour of the St. Jude campus. While I know it well, it was really something to watch other people get to experience it for the first time. The sheer scale of St. Jude is hard to convey unless you’re walking around some of the buildings, learning about the interplay of research and patient care that is unique to St. Jude.
Getting back on the bus after the campus tour, people are buzzing about what they had seen, making conversation about what struck them the most. It was refreshing to hear the excitement, knowing that all of these creators now feel supercharged to go back and tell their communities about what they had seen.
For us, that will start when September rolls around. We’re hard at work planning the campaign and the 12-hour Podcastathon, which will take place on Friday, September 20.
Until then, I want to leave you with these photos that Casey Liss snapped on our campus tour:
Howard Oakley:
When Apple introduced Fusion Drives back in late 2012, they were an attractive option for many iMacs and Mac minis. At a time when SSDs of 1 TB and greater size were expensive, the Fusion Drive seemed to offer the best of both worlds, with a capacious hard disk and a smaller but much faster SSD working in tandem. Since Apple discontinued the iMac 21.5-inch 2019 in April 2021, no Mac has offered a Fusion Drive option, and most significantly they’ve never been available in any model with a T2 or Apple silicon chip. This article considers whether the Fusion Drive was such a good idea, and why they have gone.
I recently noticed a new folder in the root level of my Home directory, named ai_overlay_tmp:
In preparation for a future Mac Power Users episode, I’ve been playing with a bunch of AI software, and I assumed something I downloaded generated this folder. I deleted it, just to be frustrated when the folder reappeared on its own.
Adding a new folder to the Home directory is a Cardinal Sin of Mac Programming, so I was on a mission to root out the cause. After some searching online, it seems that this folder was generated by Logi Options+, the software that came with my mouse, the Logitech MX Master 3S.1
Version 1.70 of Logi Options+ launched last week with — I kid you not — AI tools you can launch anywhere your cursor is located:
In today’s fast-paced, technology-enabled world, everyone is learning to work differently with breakthroughs in Generative AI.
Mastering prompt building enhances your efficiency and creativity. That’s why we developed the Logi AI Prompt Builder, a time and click-saving solution. Rephrase, summarize, and create custom-made prompt recipes with ChatGPT faster, with virtually no disruption to your workflow.
I cannot tell how little I want THE SOFTWARE FOR MY MOUSE to include features tied to ChatGPT … let alone a mouse with a built-in button to start a prompt.
These features are spun up into their own process named “Logi Al Prompt Builder” as you can see here:
Best I can tell, there’s no way to disable these features, and they are automatically loaded with the Logi Options+ software is running. Some people have suggested running the “Offline” version of Options+ to avoid these features.
Update: You can also jump through these hoops to disable the AI features in the regular versions of Options+.
That seems to have done it for me, but only after I nuked everything Logitech off my system, including a 700 MB support folder buried in my Home folder. (Thanks, Hazel!)
Of course, you don’t need Logitech software to use a Logitech mouse once the initial settings are in place. For future tinkering, I’ve decided to check out SteerMouse and keep Logitech software off of my system.
As you can see, it can be used to adjust parameters on my MX Master 3S just fine, without any AI-powered bloatware:
I know AI is all the rage right now and having a deal to bring ChatGPT into your software is trendy, but including a tool like this in what is basically a mouse driver is ridiculous. I’m not opposed to using AI in software. I’m just opposed to when it shows up as an unexpected, poorly-implemented feature in software that doesn’t need it.
At least Logitech’s Mac developers did such a bad job with it, that it was easy to spot.
- That’s an Amazon affiliate link. Despite its garbage software, Logitech does make good mice! ↩
Robert Lea, writing about our far-flung friend:
NASA’s interstellar explorer Voyager 1 is finally communicating with ground control in an understandable way again. On Saturday (April 20), Voyager 1 updated ground control about its health status for the first time in 5 months. While the Voyager 1 spacecraft still isn’t sending valid science data back to Earth, it is now returning usable information about the health and operating status of its onboard engineering systems.
Adam Engst, writing at TidBITS:
This one is way too close to home. News started to spread this morning on the MacAdmins Slack, Rich Trouton’s Der Flounder blog, and Tom Bridge’s site about how our friend and Take Control author Charles Edge died suddenly and unexpectedly on 19 April 2024.
I spoke to Tom and Charles a couple of times over the years about their podcast, and he had a way of explaining technical details that few do. Charles was a giant in the Mac Admin community, and he will be missed.
This week on MPU:
On this feedback episode, the guys catch up on listener feedback, share some unique uses for Freeform, discuss some good Apple Watch apps, and talk about the Mac’s startup sound.
Hartley Charlton, writing at MacRumors:
Apple has stopped production of FineWoven accessories, according to the Apple leaker and prototype collector known as “Kosutami.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kosutami explained that Apple has stopped production of FineWoven accessories due to its poor durability. The company may move to another non-leather material for its premium accessories in the future.
As he points out, Kosutami has published correct leaks on FineWoven for months. I suspect that Apple is going to be changing direction yet again when it comes to its accessories.
Earlier today, David and I shipped version 6.2 of Widgetsmith. This release is for both iOS and visionOS, and packs some cool goodies:
Widgetsmith 6.2 brings a brand-new widget type: Background Sounds!
Beyond the standard White and Brown Noises, this release includes sounds from nature, including various intensities of rain, forest sounds for both daytime and nighttime and waves at the beach. These sounds are high quality and uncompressed, creating seamless loops for a rich soundscape. Create an immersive ambiance right from your home screen with the following sounds. All users have access to White Noise and Stream.
My favorite element to this new feature is being able to build a photo widget that doubles as a background sound widget. When David sent me a note about building that, I was pretty pumped.
I humbly suggest you give Brown Noise a test run. It’s my background noise of choice.
This week’s episode of Connected got weird:
The guys try AltStore and the Delta game emulator live on the show before discussing reviews of the Humane AI Pin and the response to those reviews. Then they judge their picks in the first-ever scoring of the EUies.
This week on the podcast:
Lee Garret is the new owner of ScreenCastsOnline. He joins Stephen and David to discuss his background in technology, his Apple gear, and how clear communication and processes are key to any successful endeavor.
David Pierce has reviewed the Humane AI Pin, and it seems pretty, pretty, pretty bad. We already knew — from Humane’s recent video — that the device could be quite slow to respond. That was after the initial video, which was full of examples of the Pin giving downright incorrect information in response to requests.
Product videos (even bad ones) are one thing; reviews are another. Here’s Pierce, writing for The Verge:
I came into this review with two big questions about the AI Pin. The first is the big-picture one: is this thing… anything? In just shy of two weeks of testing, I’ve come to realize that there are, in fact, a lot of things for which my phone actually sucks. Often, all I want to do is check the time or write something down or text my wife, and I end up sucked in by TikTok or my email or whatever unwanted notification is sitting there on my screen. Plus, have you ever thought about how often your hands are occupied with groceries / clothes / leashes / children / steering wheels, and how annoying / unsafe it is to try to balance your phone at the same time? I’ve learned I do lots of things on my phone that I might like to do somewhere else. So, yeah, this is something. Maybe something big. AI models aren’t good enough to handle everything yet, but I’ve seen enough glimmers of what’s coming that I’m optimistic about the future.
That raises the second question: should you buy this thing? That one’s easy. Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. The AI Pin is an interesting idea that is so thoroughly unfinished and so totally broken in so many unacceptable ways that I can’t think of anyone to whom I’d recommend spending the $699 for the device and the $24 monthly subscription.
Don’t miss the part where he describes it as a hand warmer, which others noticed as well.
Apple Newsroom:
Today Apple announced an upcoming enhancement to existing repair processes that will enable customers and independent repair providers to utilize used Apple parts in repairs. Beginning with select iPhone models this fall, the new process is designed to maintain an iPhone user’s privacy, security, and safety, while offering consumers more options, increasing product longevity, and minimizing the environmental impact of a repair. Used genuine Apple parts will now benefit from the full functionality and security afforded by the original factory calibration, just like new genuine Apple parts.
The process of confirming whether or not a repair part is genuine and gathering information about the part — often referred to as “pairing” — is critical to preserving the privacy, security, and safety of iPhone. Apple teams have been hard at work over the last two years to enable the reuse of parts such as biometric sensors used for Face ID or Touch ID, and beginning this fall, calibration for genuine Apple parts, new or used, will happen on device after the part is installed. In addition, future iPhone releases will have support for used biometric sensors. And in order to simplify the repair process, customers and service providers will no longer need to provide a device’s serial number when ordering parts from the Self Service Repair Store for repairs not involving replacement of the logic board.
Locking repair shops out of utilizing used parts has been at the heart of many right to repair conversations in recent months. In fact, Apple’s news comes just a couple of weeks after the governor of Oregon signed a right to repair bill into law, designed to take aim at the practice of part pairing. Kevin Purdy at Ars covered the news:
The law, like those passed in New York, California, and Minnesota, will require many manufacturers to provide the same parts, tools, and documentation to individuals and repair shops that they provide to their own repair teams.
But Oregon’s bill goes further, preventing companies from implementing schemes that require parts to be verified through encrypted software checks before they will function. Known as parts pairing or serialization, Oregon’s bill, SB 1596, is the first in the nation to target that practice. Oregon State Senator Janeen Sollman (D) and Representative Courtney Neron (D) sponsored and pushed the bill in the state senate and legislature.
“By eliminating manufacturer restrictions, the Right to Repair will make it easier for Oregonians to keep their personal electronics running,” said Charlie Fisher, director of Oregon’s chapter of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), in a statement. “That will conserve precious natural resources and prevent waste. It’s a refreshing alternative to a ‘throwaway’ system that treats everything as disposable.”
Apple lobbied against the Oregon law, but in its press release, John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering says:
For the last two years, teams across Apple have been innovating on product design and manufacturing to support repairs with used Apple parts that won’t compromise users’ safety, security, or privacy. With this latest expansion to our repair program, we’re excited to be adding even more choice and convenience for our customers, while helping to extend the life of our products and their parts.
According to The Washington Post, this new system will start with screens, batteries, and cameras for the iPhone 15 line and will expand in the future.
In addition to the changes around parts pairing, Apple’s press release includes two other announcements, as John Voorhees writes at MacStories:
The iPhone’s Activation Lock and Lost Mode are being extended to used parts as a deterrent to thieves pulling apart iPhones for their parts. If a lost or stolen part is detected, Apple says its calibration capabilities will be restricted. Also, Apple says it will expand the Parts and Service History section of its Settings app to include information about whether parts used in an iPhone are new or used.
I suspect those two items will be the next chapters in this on-going story.
This week on the show: Myke has a friend, Federico is dreaming of emulation, and I got stuck in traffic.
Apple Support:
The iMac (Mid 2007) computer has two Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (SDRAM) slots in the bottom of the computer. It comes with at least 1 GB Double Data Rate (DDR2) SDRAM installed in a single slot. The maximum amount of random-access memory (RAM) you can install in the machine is 4 GB: 2 GB Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module (SO-DIMM) in each slot.
I loved the Mid 2007 iMac when I first came out. Its aluminum and glass design made the older white plastic iMacs look like toys.
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This week on Mac Power Users, David and I revisit Freeform and discuss how it’s improved since its launch and what Apple could do next with the application. We also share how they use the app and how it shines in visionOS.
This week on the world’s greatest podcast:
While waiting for new iPads and Apple’s AI efforts to materialize, Stephen, Myke, and Federico have been changed by spatial Personas.
Howard Oakley:
Seven years ago, on 27 March 2017, Apple introduced one of the most fundamental changes in its operating systems since Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah was released 16 years earlier. On that day, those who updated iOS to version 10.3 had their iPhone’s storage silently converted to the first release of Apple File System, APFS. Six months later, with the release of macOS 10.13 High Sierra on 25 September, Mac users followed suit.
At the time, these were huge gambles. The potential for disaster was significant, and at the last minute, Apple decided that those Macs with Fusion Drives had to stay with its old Mac OS Extended File System (HFS+) for another year before they too could start up from APFS. In some markets, notably South Korea, even Apple’s own software failed to cope with changes in the way that file names were handled by the new file system.
Although APFS has certainly had its moments over the last seven years, Apple’s gambles have paid off, and proved key to the success of Apple silicon Macs. Had there been no APFS, many of the fundamental technologies like Secure Boot and the Signed System Volume (SSV) would have been far tougher if not impossible to implement. Macs and Apple’s devices had been in dire need of a modern file system for years; while there was a time when it looked as if that could have been ZFS, in 2014 Apple decided to write its own file system from scratch, with Dominic Giampaolo and Mike Mackovitch as lead engineers.
I just spent some time playing with spatial Personas with Jason Snell, and I have to say, having Personas free from their floating boxes makes the whole thing much more personal.
When you join a call, the other person is directly in front of you. You can see their Personas and hands, floating in your room. If you’re in an Environment, they appear there as well. It really felt like Jason was in the PodCabin with me.
Sometimes things gets a bit weird, as they can come crashing through your Home View:
The real magic comes when sharing content or an app experience with SharePlay.
Jason sent over a link to a Freeform document, and when I opened it, his Persona suddenly appeared next to me, with our document out in front of us. Combined with the Vision Pro’s excellent spatial audio, I had the distinct feeling that we were working together on our document in a way that sharing a document on a Mac or iPad just doesn’t deliver.
Here I am, stuffed in a Kallax inside Jason’s office while we were working:
After our ideation session, we played a round of Battleship in the excellent Game Room on Apple Arcade. After I sunk all of his ships, we watched a few minutes of For All Mankind in a couple of immersive environments.
Personas are still a bit weird, but I think freeing them from their boxes makes them feel totally different and much better. If you have a Vision Pro, it’s worth checking this out, especially with SharePlay in the mix.
When you’re done, give each other a high-five!
2024-04-03 Update: I was on a group call with Jason Snell, Myke Hurley, James Thomson, and John Voorhees and it was a true blast:
Myke’s head and hands hovering near my cardboard cutout of Casey Liss:
Jason, John, and Myke being cool dudes:
I tried petting Jason’s cat:
It’s great for the Hokey Pokey:
Being able to show the guys some recent additions to my Apple collection was pretty cool:
They used to ship software on cassette!
Today, Apple is launching spatial Personas to users of the Vision Pro. In short, this allows a caller’s Persona to break free of a singular box during a FaceTime call and puts them directly into the space of the person on the other end of the call.
This should give a much better sense of presence when on a call with another Vision Pro user, and allows people who are not in the same place to share content more easily and naturally, especially when using SharePlay.
Spatial Personas are rolling out to all users whose devices are running visionOS 1.1 or later, and requires a reboot for the feature to show up as an option while on a FaceTime call. You do not have to be running a visionOS beta to use spatial Personas, but as of this writing, it was not available to me on a test call. However, these images from Apple show what we can expect:
A week from today, a large portion of the United States will be witness to a solar eclipse. Here in Memphis, we’ll see 97.7% coverage at 1:56 PM CDT. I’ll be traveling with my family to Arkansas, to experience 100% coverage. NASA has published a website that will tell you what to expect at your location.
I just hope the forecasts for clouds turn out to be wrong.
We also traveled for the 2017 eclipse, and it was incredible. Jason Snell and I spoke about our experiences on episode 54 of Liftoff.
I have two pieces of advice:
- Don’t try to photograph it unless you’re an expert. Soak it in, and then download some sick wallpapers from NASA the next day.
- Buy and use eclipse-ready glasses, and make sure your kids do, too.
We’re very excited to launch TWO new tech history podcasts today over at Relay. Welcome to the network, Brushed and Linen!
Unite 5 for macOS takes your web experience to the next level, transforming websites into feature-rich Mac apps. Powered by a completely redesigned WebKit browser, Unite 5 offers a more immersive and customizable browsing experience.
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This week on the podcast, I walk David through the ins and outs of collecting old Apple gear, and we take the wraps off an MPU redesign.
This episode was finally enough to get me to finish documenting my collection. You can check out the full inventory via this Google Sheet.
Let’s talk about the MPU redesign. First up is our new artwork, which you can see here, along with its predecessors:
As you can see, we’ve kept the battery, but modernized it, and have changed the main show color to orange, a personal favorite of both of us. The MPU green is still the main color for the longer, ad-free version, however.
To go along with the new look, we have new music, put together by our editor, Jim Metzendorf. I am in love with the new intro music:
https://512pixels.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/MPU-2024-Opening.mp3
Apple has announced that new immersive video is coming to Apple Vision Pro users today at 6 p.m. Pacific. Jason Snell has more:
I’m excited to see the finished product — all of Apple’s immersive videos have been pretty amazing — but I have to point out that this five-minute highlight packages is being released 110 days after last year’s MLS Cup Final. That’s not great turnaround time. If immersive video for sports is going to be a thing, turnaround is going to need to be a lot faster.
I couldn’t agree with John Gruber more:
Perhaps the single most surprising aspect of Apple’s launch plan for Vision Pro is the relative dearth of original immersive content. It’s the most compelling experience with the product but there’s hardly any of it. I would have thought Apple would drop new immersive content at least a few times per month, if not weekly, but this MLS Cup highlight film is the first new one since launch.
This week on the show:
Federico keeps refreshing Apple Newsroom, Myke is ready to federate, and Stephen goes down quite the rabbit hole.
In the middle of the 1980s, Apple found itself with several options regarding the future of its computing platforms. The Apple II was the company’s bread and butter. The Apple III was pitched as an evolution of that platform, but was clearly doomed due to hardware and software issues. The Lisa was expensive and not selling well, and while the Macintosh aimed to bring Lisa technology to the masses, sales were slow after its initial release.
Those four machines are well known, but there was a fifth possibility in the mix, named the Jonathan. In his book Inventing the Future, John Buck writes about the concept, which was led by Apple engineer Jonathan Fitch starting in the fall of 1984. Buck quotes George Cossey, talking about the idea:
I’d known Jonathan (Fitch) from my diagnostic days on the Lisa. He was one of the main board designers and I think that after Lisa was sidelined for the Mac, Fitch was looking for what to do, what was the “next generation” Apple computer but not a Mac. A lot of the people working on the Mac wanted to stick with it, just go onto the next iteration of the Mac, because they saw it as “growing,” and they didn’t want to go do something that might never see the light of day.
This concept envisioned a computer that would expand with the needs of the user, through the use of modular components:
Buck also writes:
It was a consumer model computer that came with pre-installed operations as well as a base-level I/O, and it could be upgraded during/or after purchase to business-centric specifications using a unique set of plug- and-play modules. Customers would be able to add a series of book-sized modules (for software and hardware options) that clicked into a slender docking station sitting under the monitor, that itself looked like a bookshelf. The individual software modules, for the prototype, contained the O/Ss for Apple II, Mac, UNIX, or DOS, while the hardware options were DSP, Ethernet, GenLock (for video), extra RAM, mass storage, or a power supply (for different regions). There were no cables.
Fitch believed that the machine’s literal backbone design could become the backbone of Apple’s future sales strategy. An ever-expandable computer that could cover multiple markets without Apple needing to make multiple devices.
A small team worked on the concept for about eight months before engaging Frog Design — yes, that Frog Design — to work on a prototype design to show the idea to Apple brass. Buck also writes about this in his book:
When Fitch eventually took Jonathan before the executive group it appeared as a sleek slate-grey computer, that looked like nothing Apple had done before. It had a reverse-hinged 13″ CRT monitor that squatted over a line of changeable modules, with a modern-style keyboard and mouse tethered to the side. The team had added more options to the bookshelf for the demonstration including the modules labeled “Floppy disk” and “3rd Party.”
The hardware also pops up in Paul Kunkel’s book AppleDesign, which you can still get on Amazon. In it, Kunkel describes the hardware:
Fitch wanted to design a computer around a new microprocessor, the Motorola 68030, which would be powerful enough for business and high-end applications, but could also be packaged in a form that would work in the home. With the Macintosh division developing its own high-end concepts — Big Mac1 and a modular CPU that would eventually become the Mac II — Fitch’s concept would need a totally different architecture to distinguish it from the Mac. As an Apple II product, it would have an “open” architecture. But rather than design another circuitboard-and-slots system, Fitch proposed a more radical approach.
[…]
Fitch’s design called for the backplane and track to support book-shaped modules, each containing circuitboards and chips for running the Mac OS, Apple II software, DOS, Windows, or Unix operating systems, plus other modules for connecting disk drives, modems and networking hardware, all plugged into the same track. Since the backplane was horizontal, and the modules were small and slender, Fitch imagined the system as a book on a shelf. “A basic system would have a short shelf with one or two books. A business setup would have three or four books. And a power system would have seven or eight books on a wider shelf.”
Pleased with his concept, Fitch named it Jonathan (after himself)…2
There are very few images of this thing on the Internet. This set of photos is from Nicola D’Agostino’s excellent blog post on the subject:
The Kunkel book contains several images (taken by Rick English) of the mockup as well, including one with a CRT that looks a lot like a CRT NeXT would eventually ship:
In more recent years, Dana Sibera has created several amazing renders of the Jonathan, and was kind enough to share them with me for this post. If you don’t follow Dana on Mastodon or Bluesky, you should fix that today.
I particularly love the Platinum version she created, which has some grounding in reality, as at least one mockup was built using the lighter color.
Here are a few of her renders in the slate color:
The general idea was simple, but in practice, this machine would have been a nightmare.
The backbone of the system would need to accept modules from Apple and other companies, letting users build what they needed in terms of functionality, as D’Agostino writes:
(Fitch) designed a simple hardware “backbone” carrying basic operations and I/O on which the user could add a series of “book” modules, carrying hardware for running Apple II, Mac, UNIX and DOS software, plus other modules with disk drives or networking capabilities.
This meant that every user could have their own unique Jonathan setup, pulling together various software platforms, storage devices, and hardware capabilities into their own personalized system. Imagining what would have been required for all this to work together gives me a headache. In addition to the shared backbone interface, there would need to be software written to make an almost-endless number of configurations work smoothly for the most demanding of users. It was all very ambitions, but perhaps a little too far-fetched.
Buck’s book reports on how Apple executives responded to the concept:
While the design and functionality of the prototype drew praise, the overall concept raised larger concerns. Fitch expected IBM users to buy a Jonathan with individual DOS and Apple software modules, then grow tired of Microsoft’s UI, and eventually opt for Apple’s OS full-time.
Kunkel expands on those concerns:
Jean-Louis Gassée delivered the first hit by observing that Apple would have to sell two or three Jonathans to equal the profit of a single Mac II. Others complained that Jonathan would compete with the Mac II. Then Sculley delivered the coup de grâce — voicing the fear that once the Mac and DOS were offered on the same platform, more Mac users might move to DOS then DOS users would move to the Mac. “That reasoning floored us,” says Fitch. “Apparently, Sculley had less faith in the Mac than we did.”
Sculley was probably right to be concerned, and coupled with the sheer complexity of such a project, the Jonathan was scrapped in the summer of 1985.
Ironically, Apple would offer DOS support via add-on cards years later. The team’s plans for using the 68030 would also come in handy when that CPU landed in the Mac IIx and IIfx.
The phrase “ahead of its time” is often thrown around when talking about computers from the 1980s and 1990s, and in the case of the Jonathan, I think it totally fits. Modern Macs can run software from the command line, all the way up through apps written for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and the web. Windows and Linux apps can also be run if the user is willing to jump through the right hoops.
Of course, all of this is done in software, not hardware. The Jonathan tried solving a software problem with hardware expandability, which made sense in the 1980s. Just ask TI-99 fans. Even here in 2024, there are folks trying to make this sort of thing work.
My understanding is that the project never made it past the “conversations and mockups” stage. I get why the Jonathan never made it beyond the concept phase, but part of me wishes I could round up a bunch of modules meant for this platform. At least we have some fun photos and renders to enjoy.
- Read more about the Big Mac project here. ↩
- Also this. ↩
Apple Newsroom:
Apple today announced it will host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) online from June 10 through 14, 2024. Developers and students will have the opportunity to celebrate in person at a special event at Apple Park on opening day.
Free for all developers, WWDC24 will spotlight the latest iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS advancements. As part of Apple’s ongoing commitment to helping developers elevate their apps and games, the event will also provide them with unique access to Apple experts, as well as insight into new tools, frameworks, and features.
“We’re so excited to connect with developers from around the world for an extraordinary week of technology and community at WWDC24,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “WWDC is all about sharing new ideas and providing our amazing developers with innovative tools and resources to help them make something even more wonderful.”
I’ll be in San Jose for a few days and am looking forward to it.
With Threads starting to federate, there has been push back in corners of Mastodon, with some server admins blocking users from @threads.net entirely. I think just about everyone has complicated feelings about Meta, but I think this kind of move only harms users of the Fediverse.
Adam Newbold has written about this, and I agree with their conclusions:
The entire point of the Fediverse and the ActivityPub standard is to make it easy for people to connect with one another, openly, across different platforms. The Fediverse wants to be open, and it is open by design. When you block another instance on the Fediverse, you’re making a deliberate choice to fracture a part of the network. There are legitimate reasons to do that, but it’s a serious move that should always be a last resort. And when you preemptively block what might wind up being the largest instance ever, well, there might as well not even be a network at all. People who want to connect with one another on either side of that fissure will need to pick one side or the other and connect there. If you’re wondering which side that will be in the context of Threads, you can look to WhatsApp’s two billion monthly active users for your answer.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Threads will be the largest instance on the network in very little time, and once migration is fully up and running, I think many folks may opt to use it as their primary account, leaving Mastodon behind. Cutting Threads off at the server level doesn’t accomplish anything useful.
That said, many people have seen posts on Threads that have been offensive, including a rash of transphobic and other garbage-level content. There’s no doubt that Threads has had many moderation issues — just like every other social media platform, including Mastodon.
However, if someone uses Mastodon as their home base in the Fediverse, choosing to follow a select number of Threads accounts from nice people and useful websites means the whatever algorithmic choices are made at Meta will not wash ashore on their timelines.
That’s the whole point of federated social media, and why this new world is much more interesting than the old.
via Robb Knight
This week’s Connected, edited in the San Jose Airport, is live: Myke, Federico and Stephen grade their picks for Apple’s Wonderlust event and talk about the iPhone 15 line, the new Apple Watches and more.
Dr. Drang, writing about the new iPhone 15 Pro: The titanium alloy used in the phone was revealed by Isabel Yang about 57 minutes into the presentation. She called it Grade 5 titanium, which is an ASTM designation. It’s also known as Ti-6Al-4V, because its major alloying elements are aluminum at 6% and vanadium at […]
Apple’s event wrapped up several hours ago, and I really enjoyed my first iPhone event. The vibe was really different from the WWDCs I’ve attended, with a much broader selection of media folks there. The Steve Jobs Theater is exactly as nice as you’d think it would be. Everything is beautiful and perfect. The audio […]
A new episode of Mac Power Users is hot off the presses: Mere hours after Apple’s iPhone 15 event, Stephen and David break down the news surrounding the iPhone 15 line, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the updated Apple Watch Ultra.
Apple had announced dates for iOS 17, iPadOS 17 macOS Sonoma and more. iOS and iPadOS 17, tvOS 17 and watchOS 10 will be released on Monday, September 18, with macOS Sonoma launching on Tuesday, September 26. In addition to these dates, MacRumors linked to a set of PDFs outlining all the changes in each […]
Tomorrow, this very website turns 15 years old.
Old-school readers will remember 512 Pixels’ original name, ForkBombr. I bought the domain from my friend Kevin for a couple of slices of pizza, as I thought the programming joke was pretty clever.
I don’t have many screenshots from those early days, but I managed to find this one in my archives. It’s from the development phase of the first version of the blog, so don’t worry, the logo ended up a good bit smaller by the time the site went live.
(2008 was a very different time.)
In the past 15 years, I’ve published nearly 11,000 articles, had three children, changed jobs twice, started a podcast network and have helped raise $2.5 million for St. Jude. I’ve forged lifelong friendships and have been lucky enough to build things that people truly care about.
Through it all, I try to live up to what I wrote in my very first entry:
Don’t suck.
With that phrase, one of my mentors has repeatedly set me straight. And with that phrase, I’m launching ForkBombr.
In hindsight, that wasn’t the most helpful advice I’ve ever received, but it was simple enough that it still bounces around in my head. Not sucking means caring about the details no one will ever see. It means being thoughtful about the work and humble when it isn’t good enough. Sometimes, it requires turning down sponsors who aren’t a good fit or knowing when a project isn’t working out.
In that original post, I linked to a post from Merlin Mann, and now I get to call him a colleague and a friend. In fact, I get to work with a bunch of my Internet heroes thanks to Relay. Getting to do this full-time for eight years and running is a true honor.
My podcasting partner Myke Hurley has not only helped me improve my craft, but has made me a better person. My wife Merri has been nothing but patient and supportive as I’ve worked to take my hobby and turn it into a sustainable business.
The success of this blog, my podcasts and Relay FM itself all astound me. Yes, I work hard, and sometimes I care way too much, but it’s all of you who have made this possible.
So thank you. Thank you for letting my support my family by talking about computers on the Internet. Thank you for the fantastic ride that has landed me (quite literally) in Cupertino this week. My career has ended up in a place far more wonderful than I ever would have guessed back when I installed my first copy of WordPress at 22 years old.
The future of web-based macOS apps is about to change. Unite 5, the next generation of the popular Unite app is launching next week. Building on its lightweight, WebKit-powered browser backend, the new version offers groundbreaking features that make your Mac even more versatile.
Unite 5 takes customization to the next level, with an array of new modes that allow you to use web apps like never before. Whether it’s a personalized Gmail client or a high-performance workspace for resource-intensive apps, Unite 5 offers a solution that fits seamlessly into your workflow.
In its first significant update since launching Unite 4 in 2020, Unite 5 offers dozens of major new features and a new vision for how the web and macOS can coexist.
Stay tuned for more details at bzgapps.com/coming-soon.
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I talk a bit more about window managers and backup utilities, while also answering listener questions and David’s modern typewriter, my new Plex server and a lot more.
For years, journalists, space nerds and government oversight groups alike have talked about the staggering costs associated with the SLS program, which is the agency’s new moon rocket. As Eric Berger reports, NASA has finally gotten the message:
In a new report, the federal department charged with analyzing how efficiently US taxpayer dollars are spent, the Government Accountability Office, says NASA lacks transparency on the true costs of its Space Launch System rocket program.
Published on Thursday, the new report (see .pdf) examines the billions of dollars spent by NASA on development of the massive rocket, which made a successful debut launch in late 2022 with the Artemis I mission. Surprisingly, as part of the reporting process, NASA officials admitted the rocket was too expensive to support its lunar exploration efforts as part of the Artemis program.
“Senior NASA officials told GAO that at current cost levels, the SLS program is unaffordable,” the new report states.
Eric quotes the juiciest parts in his article, but the report’s message is loud and clear: the SLS program cannot continue as it has for the last decade if NASA wants to use this launch vehicle to power future missions to the moon and beyond. Of course, with the agency’s direction and budget set by Congress, fixing this problem isn’t going to be easy.
Last night, Federico sent a wild-looking screenshot to the Connected iMessage thread and I urged him to blog about it.
Thankfully, he did:
I have an Analogue Pocket, which is an outstanding modern take on the Game Boy that can play original Game Boy cartridges. I also have the Analogue Pocket dock, which lets me play Game Boy games on a big screen by taking advantage of the Pocket’s excellent upscaling mode for Game Boy graphics. And, of course, Nintendo made everyone’s favorite camera from the late 90s, which you can get pretty cheap these days on eBay. If I could use the Game Boy Camera on a Pocket and send the video feed from the console to the iPad Pro, would I then be able to do a FaceTime call with someone while looking like a character straight out of a Game Boy game?
The answer, my dear readers, is a glorious, resounding Yes.
Apple’s “Wonderlust” event is next week, so Federico and Myke have prepared to challenge me, their reigning Keynote Chairman.
I am loving these icons, and look forward to seeing a Flower Power version in a few years.
Over at LowEndMac, Mark Sokolovsky has documented a wild upgrade to white plastic Intel iMacs:
A little known secret is hidden inside every early intel iMac made by Apple prior to their 21.5″/27″ transition… they all have a Mini-PCIe slot! While many upgrades have been documented/discovered for these iMacs, and GPU upgrades have been attempted as well, few eGPU solutions have been presented as viable, or have been documented.
In this article today, the examples we’ll be using are my 2007 20″ iMac, as well a 20″ Early 2006 iMac. The ’07 iMac had been upgraded to sport an AMD XFX RX 570, with full graphical hardware acceleration, under macOS Monterey! The theme here is promoting the longevity of devices deemed otherwise obsolete. Whether or not a device is obsolete is subjective, and this opinion lies with us.
As part of Relay’s on-going fundraiser for St. Jude, I’ll be streaming again this weekend. This time, I’ll be building LEGO’s new Mars Rover (Model 42158). I am very pumped about it.
Join me on Saturday, September 9:
- – 10:00 AM Pacific
- – 12:00 PM Central
- – 1:00 PM Eastern
- – 6:00 PM BST
- – 7:00 PM CET
- – Wherever You Live
Apple Support:
If you use a camera cover, palm rest cover, or keyboard cover with your Mac notebook, remove the cover before closing your display to prevent damage to your display.
To enable the thin design of Mac notebook computers, the clearance between the display (screen) and the top case is engineered to tight tolerances. If you use a camera cover, palm rest cover, or keyboard cover with your Mac notebook, remove the cover before closing your display. Leaving any material on your display, keyboard, or palm rest might interfere with the display when it’s closed and cause damage to your display.
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David has launched a new Field Guide, designed to take everyone’s Obsidian usage to the next level. This week, I talk to him about the project and everyone’s favorite text tool.
Note: This is an updated version of an article from 2018. With macOS, Apple makes it easy to set up a drive to be a target for other Macs to use with Time Machine. Say you have a Mac mini on your network, and a MacBook Pro. You can hook up an external drive to […]
As noted by Chance Miller at 9to5Mac, Apple has pulled the plug on its iTunes Movie Trailers website and app after starting the process earlier in August. This website had been around a long time. It made big news back in the late 1990s when it hosted the trailer for STAR WARS: Episode I. Here’s […]
Version 4 of Obscura, the excellent camera app for iOS, has launched today. The update brings a revised interface, iPad support and a new business model, as John Voorhees writes as MacStories:
If you bought Obscura 3, you’ll still have access to all its features with the free version of Obscura 4, which you can upgrade to at a discount. I think the new pricing model is a good deal, and I wanted to mention it up front because it’s behind many of the design changes in Obscura 4.
The new subscription is called “Obscura Ultra,” and until September 11 is just $7.99/year. I think it makes a ton of sense for an app like this, and it’s far less of a hassle than the old “pay to upgrade to a new app” method that Ben McCarthy (the app’s developer) was using.
I love the app’s updated design, and the haptics are just next-level. If you are in the market for a professional camera app for your iPhone (or iPad), you can not go wrong with Obscura 4.
This week on the show: With Apple’s September event less than two weeks away, the guys talk about the latest rumors concerning the iPhone 15 line and upcoming Apple Watch models. Also on the docket: Reminders’ Today view, Alex Hay’s apps and Live Voicemail in iOS 17.
My pal David Sparks has a new Field Guide out: The Obsidian on-ramp is steep. It takes a while to wrap your arms around exactly what you can do with this app and unlock its full potential. You need a guide. That’s me, MacSparky, your Obsidian pal. Once you master Obsidian, you’ll also need help […]
As the Relay FM community is blasting through our milestones, I will be streaming this weekend, taking apart a white MacBook. I opened about 753,289 of these notebooks back in the day, so we’ll see if I can still do it by memory! Join me on Saturday, September 2: 🇺🇸 8:00 AM Pacific 🇺🇸 10:00 […]
Today, we are announcing Relay FM’s 5th annual fundraiser for St. Jude. Over the last four years, the Relay community has raised $2.2 million for this mission. St. Jude won’t stop their lifesaving work until no child dies from cancer. With your support, we’ll be one step closer to that day. One cure closer. One […]
TextExpander’s customizable and shareable snippets of text allow your team to fly through repetitive tasks quickly by expanding the things you type regularly — all you have to do is type a short abbreviation and TextExpander does the rest of the work for you. Here’s How It Works: Create It: Collect your most commonly used […]
After getting my much-loved badge change in Reminders last year, I am back with another request, now as a full-time Reminders user. The Today view is the most important UI in Reminders, as it pulls in overdue and due tasks into one place. Here is what mine looks like right now: As you can see, […]
In March, app developer Alex Hay tragically passed away. Hay’s apps, which include Toolbox Pro, Logger for Shortcuts and Nautomate. Thankfully they all have a new home, and the news couldn’t be better. Here’s Rosemary Orchard: We’re truly honoured to be able to announce that we have taken over development of Toolbox Pro, Logger for […]
Ashley Belanger at Ars: Earlier this month, Zoom announced a surprising decision to require some of its employees to return to the office, where they were expected to work more effectively. Now, leaked audio from an internal Zoom meeting shared with Business Insider has revealed that Zoom CEO Eric Yuan called employees back to the […]
There’s been a lot of discussion about the iMac recently, and the thing I was struck by this time around was the place the iMac holds in Apple’s product line. I’ve shown this chart a lot over the years, but it highlights that when it was launched, the iMac was squarely on the consumer end […]
I know it’s owned by Meta and that’s kinda icky but I am glad that Threads is finally on the web. Not every feature is there yet, but if you’re there, give me a follow!
India is now the 4th nation to land hardware on the moon, after the U.S., China and former Soviet Union.
Got a short one this week: Starting on Dec 15th 2017, you won’t be able to log in into the Message app or iChat app with your AOL account. For more information, contact AOL. Fittingly, that link to AOL is broken.
Adobe: It is with profound sadness that Adobe shares the passing of the company’s beloved co-founder Dr. John Warnock. Dr. Warnock passed away on Saturday surrounded by his family. Dr. Warnock co-founded Adobe in 1982 with Dr. Charles Geschke after meeting as colleagues at Xerox. Their first product was Adobe PostScript, groundbreaking technology that sparked […]
MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs. The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to Twitter.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable […]
Myke and I are very excited to announce that we will be hosting a live show next year in London to celebrate Relay’s 10th anniversary! The show will be on July 27, 2024 at the epic Hackney Empire theatre in London. Details and tickets are both available now!
This week, Casey Liss rejoins the program to discuss his new app Callsheet and to give David and me a tour of the apps and services he uses to manage his media.
Matt Binder at Mashable, reporting on data from Travis Brown about Elon Musk’s 153 million followers: Of the 153,209,283 X accounts following Musk at the time the data was collected, around 42 percent of Musk’s followers, or more than 65.3 million users, have zero followers on their own account. Just over 72 percent, or nearly […]
While these answers aren’t necessarily representative of the world at large, I love to see my fellow Ultra wearers come out strong.
I honestly cannot believe that our weird little side project is now nine years old, and that I’ve been doing it full-time for eight. Over the last near-decade, I’ve gotten to work — and become friends — with so many amazing people. To celebrate, we’ve got some very exciting news out to our members, via our […]
To celebrate Relay FM’s 9th birthday, Myke and I host a feelings podcast on this week’s Connected.
This bit was pretty spicy 25 years ago: USB: 2 yes ADB: n/a Video: none Floppy: none SCSI: none Geoports: none
Monica Chin at The Verge: …Apple hasn’t updated the iMac in well over 800 days — which is the longest gap in recent memory and double the average gap between updates over its history. And that conspicuous hole in the M2 lineup has been making me wonder: in a future where MacBooks rule the market […]
Today marks 25 years since the original iMac was introduced. It saved Apple and changed the world.1 We live in a Notebook World today, but if Apple was going to reinvent itself in 1998, it was going to be with a desktop: In a world of beige boxes, the iMac was new and different. Sure, […]
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that my custom Alfred search to find things on Apple’s support website had broken, so I’ve reworked it a bit to match Apple’s adjusted search URLs. In Alfred’s preferences, under Features, you can add a new Web Search. You can add a keyword, label and — most […]
I backed this project years ago — and interviewed its creator, Noah Leon — and it’s very cool to see it available on YouTube for everyone: Take some time this week and watch it.
Tom and Dan are back on Kickstarter with a new product named Keen, a very clever utility knife: Like our Mark One pen, Keen is a simple object with a single interface, in this case the slider. Our job was so make that interaction as satisfying as possible, so that Keen is a delight to […]
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit-powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also […]
Since the dawn of multitasking, users have needed to juggle things on their screens. Apple has taken several swings at building good window management tools into macOS, but better solutions can be found in a long list of third-party apps. David and I tried just about all of them for this episode of Mac Power […]
Michael Potuck, writing for 9to5 Mac: Earlier this year, GM announced that it would be ditching CarPlay and Android Auto for all of its future EVs starting in 2024 in favor of a proprietary system. Now the all-new Cadillac Escalade IQ EV has been unveiled with a massive 55-inch LED display that could offer an […]
Somehow, this page is still up on Apple’s website, albeit with a big red non-Retina banner reading “Apple TV app is the new home of iTunes Movie Trailers” that doesn’t actually link anywhere. Thanks to Connected listener Gabriel for pointing out the banner.
This week on the show: Stephen and Myke talk about brown technology, review Casey’s new app Callsheet and more before Stephen audits Myke’s Mac setups.
Haiku is probably my favorite project dedicated to keeping vintage software alive. Michael MJD has an in-depth tour up on his channel:
Casey Liss has launched a new iPhone and iPad app that makes learning about TV shows and movies a breeze. Here he is on his blog: Callsheet, in short, allows you to look up movies, TV shows, cast, and crew. You can think of it as similar to the IMDB app but… with respect for […]
With Audio Hijack, you can record any audio on your Mac. Save audio from individual applications such as Safari or Zoom, record from hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, or even capture the audio output of the entire system. Whatever you need to do with audio on your Mac, Audio Hijack can help. Record […]
I just wanted to provide a quick update on how things are progressing: Stickers have been ordered and should be here in the next week or so to start packing. The photography and layout for the calendar are both complete, and I am currently working on another round of fact-checking. I hope to have a […]
This week on the show, David and I got to talk to the always-wonderful Shahid about his work and evolving setup, gaming on visionOS, the current state of Android and a lot more. On More Power Users, we talked about Apple’s recent efforts to grow the Mac’s market share in gaming.
Like many places around the world, it is very hot in Memphis currently. When I checked to see how hot it was, I was in for a surprise. I’m a long-time CARROT Weather user, and love the app for its customization options and powerful UI. One of those features is the ability to change the […]
Apple: Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2023 third quarter ended July 1, 2023. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $81.8 billion, down 1 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.26, up 5 percent year over year. “We are happy to report that we had an all-time revenue […]
This week on the show: Can Myke, Federico and Stephen tell themselves apart from ChatGPT? How are iOS 17 widgets stacking up? What could the next iPad mini look like? These questions and more and answered this week.
Apple Support, back in 2007: The NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT provides excellent all-around performance in creative and productivity applications. It features a 256MB frame buffer and both a single-link DVI port and a dual-link DVI port, making it capable of simultaneously supporting one 23-inch and one 30-inch Apple Cinema Display. The GeForce 7300 GT Firmware […]
Julie Jargon has a piece for The Wall Street Journal (Apple News link) about the state of Apple’s Screen Time software: The company’s cloud-based Family Sharing system is designed in part for parents to remotely schedule off-limits time and restrict apps and adult content on their children’s iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch models. Trouble is, […]
Denise Hill, writing for NASA: A series of planned commands sent to NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft on July 21 inadvertently caused the antenna to point 2 degrees away from Earth. As a result, Voyager 2 is currently unable to receive commands or transmit data back to Earth. Voyager 2 is located almost 12.4 billion miles […]
Want to experience twice as fast load times in Safari on your iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock – the ad blocker designed for you. It is easy to setup, blocks all YouTube ads, and doubles the speed at which Safari loads. Magic Lasso Adblock is an efficient and high performance ad […]
This week on the show: David and Stephen check out some additional Safari extensions, answer some listener questions, discuss the Studio Display and address a recent controversy about the sailing workout type on the Apple Watch.
This week on Connected: After handling some feedback about leather and batteries, Stephen, Myke and Federico consider applying for a Vision Pro Developer Kit, talk about the Beats Studio Pro and try to understand what’s happening at Twitter. Errrr, X.
Sarah Perez, writing at TechCrunch: The owner of the @x Twitter handle confirmed that the company, now known as X, took over his account without warning or financial compensation, telling him the handle is a property of X. The handle had previously belonged to Gene X Hwang of the corporate photography and videography studio Orange […]
Jay Peters, writing about today’s update to Threads: The much-needed Following feed is unfortunately a bit hidden: you can make it appear by tapping the home icon at the bottom of the screen or the Threads logo at the top. Once you see it, you can switch between “Following,” which shows posts in reverse-chronological order, […]
Apple: Get direct support from Apple as you develop your apps and games for visionOS. Learn about upcoming events, testing opportunities, and other programs to support you as you create incredible experiences for this platform. I can’t wait to see what my favorite indie developers are going to come up with.
Apple Support: If you don’t have access to the Google Play Store, you can download the Move to iOS app directly. Ah yes, sideloading. Thanks to reader Ari for sending this one in.
TextExpander’s customizable and shareable snippets of text allow your team to fly through repetitive tasks quickly by expanding the things you type regularly — all you have to do is type a short abbreviation and TextExpander does the rest of the work for you. Here’s How It Works: Create It: Collect your most commonly used […]
Chuck Joiner has been covering Apple since 2000 and has been a user longer than that. This week on MPU, he joins David and me to talk about what makes the Apple community special, how the company’s tools enable its users and some of his favorite apps and services.
I find something about this story charming, then I think about how much antique hardware and software is helping keep the U.S. government up and running.
My new truck comes with a range of connected services from Toyota. Of course it has its own mapping and data connection for streaming music, but it comes with a lot more than that. All of that stuff is free for the first year (or longer), but after that, I’ll need to decide if there’s […]
On today’s episode of Connected, Federico talked about a HomePod mini base he recently purchased that includes a 10000mAh battery for using the small speaker outdoors. I ordered one, looking forward to enjoying the situations shown off in the product’s silly photography: This led me down a road I didn’t expect to travel, exploring the […]
This week on the podcast: Stephen is facing several dilemmas in his computing life, Myke insists that map size is related to the interestingness of a city and Federico has a HomePod mini just for himself.
I joined my pals Dan and Tom on the latest episode of Thoroughly Considered to talk about my favorite Mac from the early 2000s: His object is the iMac G4.
Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn, writing at Axios: Vox Media, the parent company to websites such as New York Magazine, Eater and SB Nation, will no longer use Chorus — its proprietary content management system — to power its own websites, sources told Axios. […] Vox Media will move its own websites off of Chorus […]
Apple Support: This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of Mac mini (Mid 2011) computers and is recommended for all users. This update improves the reliability of booting from the network, addresses an issue that can prevent HDCP authentication after a reboot, and resolves an issue with boot device selection when a USB […]
Andrew Cunningham has put together an in-depth look at how long Apple typically supports Mac hardware with OS releases, and what that may mean for the last Intel Macs.
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I grabbed our lassos and gathered up some of the best Safari extensions out on the free and open range of the App Store.
This week on the podcast: The public betas are out, and the guys have spent some time with macOS Sonoma, iOS and iPadOS 17 and watchOS 10. This week, they share their impressions and then have a conversation about Threads.
My Kickstarter winds down tomorrow, July 14 at 10:44 AM Eastern! If you want to get the sickest wall calendar highlighting dates in Apple’s retail and services businesses, now’s the time!
Matt Corey has rounded up a bunch of indie developers and they’re having quite the sale on some very nice iOS and macOS software.
Dr. Drang, writing about the Medication reminder feature in iOS: After I got my pills entered into the app and set the time of day at which they should be taken, I enabled Notifications so I’d get an alarm and a persistent notice on my phone’s lock screen. This is where the app and I […]
For real though, Amazon has some good tech deals going: I use a handful of these 2.5-inch Samsung SSDs (in 4 TB and 8 TB variants) for my local backups. All Kindles are on sale, including the Paperwhite and over-priced-but-I-like-to-have-buttons Oasis. (And yes, I do use a Kindle in the tub just like the store […]
Apple Support: Some Apple products contain sensors that respond when they detect temperature changes inside your system or device, turning on fans to bring cooling airflow to critical components. If your device’s processor is working on intensive tasks—such as compressing HD video, playing a graphics-heavy game, or indexing the hard drive with Spotlight after you […]
Jay Peters and Jon Porter, reporting at The Verge: Instagram’s new Threads app has already surpassed 100 million users, meaning it reached the milestone dramatically faster than even ChatGPT. OpenAI’s chatbot passed the mark after two months, but Threads, which only launched on Wednesday, got there in a matter of days. The number of users […]
It’s not even Prime Day yet, but I’ve sent this (affiliate) link to two family members who need to replace aging Intel MacBook Airs and for whom the base model would easily meet their needs.
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit-powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also […]
This week on a very special Mac Power Users: To celebrate 700 episodes of the show, David and Stephen talk through how they work, including how MPU gets made each week, how they approach their blogs, other podcasts, videos and more.
Two great new indie iOS apps launched today, and I’m enjoying both of them. One is Rebecca Owen’s new app, Chronicling. Built with fancy new tools like Swift Charts, Chronicling makes it easy to track things over times. Here’s a bit from OTJ at MacStories: Trackers like Chronicling are the perfect fit for the iPhone. […]
As just about everyone knows, Meta’s Twitter competitor launched last night, and as of this writing, has 30 million users. I think most people in our corner of the Internet have pretty mixed feelings about it. I love the idea of federated social media, but Mastodon is proving too complex for the masses. Then there […]
As we all inch toward a USB-C future, I take time this week to look back, quizzing Federico and Myke on 12 terms Apple has trademarked.
For each of the Apple History Calendars, my pal Jelly has created a set of fun, unique stickers. This year’s project is no different: Here’s my headcanon for each sticker: The blue iPod mini is trying to win back your love as you unbox a new iPod nano. The G4 Cube has no idea what’s […]
A few fun stories this month today in The Social Media Apocalypse: Tweets aren’t showing up in Google results as often because of changes at Twitter Twitter’s ‘new’ Tweetdeck lives behind a verified paywall Meta to launch its new Threads app this week as Twitter falls apart So as Twitter continues to evolve into the […]
Apple Support, on a page first published just a week after U2’s album was forced upon given away to all iTunes users: Follow these instructions to remove U2’s “Songs of Innocence” from your iTunes music library and iTunes purchases. Once the album has been removed from your account, it will no longer be available for […]
TextExpander’s customizable and shareable snippets of text allow your team to fly through repetitive tasks quickly by expanding the things you type regularly — all you have to do is type a short abbreviation and TextExpander does the rest of the work for you. Here’s How It Works: Create It: Collect your most commonly used […]
This week on Mac Power Users, everyone’s favorite nerdy pastor TJ Luoma rejoins the show to update us on his tech, how he’s learned to take time away from work and some of his new favorite apps and services.
Over at The Verge, Wes Davis and Richard Lawler are reporting on the new paywall that has been erected around Twitter: Elon Musk continues to blame Twitter’s new limitations on AI companies scraping “vast amounts of data” as he announced new “temporary” limits on how many posts people can read. Now unverified accounts will only […]
As of today, we’re halfway through the Kickstarter campaign for the 2024 Apple History Calendar; the campaign will close at little after 10 AM Eastern on Friday, July 14. If you haven’t backed it yet, and want a very nice wall calendar chock full of Apple retail and services history to adorn your home or […]
David Pierce: Humane, the buzzy company started by former Apple employees that has been making big promises about an AI-first and post-smartphone future, announced today that its first gadget will be called the Humane Ai Pin. It’ll be powered by “an advanced Snapdragon platform” in partnership with Qualcomm, and it’s coming later this year. That’s […]
David Pierce, writing at The Verge: There was a sign in the Google Reader team’s workspace at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. “Days Since Cancellation,” it read, with a number below: zero. It was always zero. This was in 2006 or so, back when Google Reader was still growing. Back when it still […]
I’m starting to think I should buy a Vision Pro next year just to keep it sealed and stashed away for an auction in 2039 or so.
This week on the show, Federico, Myke and I are joined by James Thomson to talk about the visionOS SDK and what apps may be like when the platform launches early next year. Other topics include laundry symbols, the return of Ridiculous Fishing and more.
Monica Chin, writing at The Verge: Apple’s latest Mac Pro was finally revealed at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference as a machine for the most power user of power users. The video discussed audio engineering, color grading, and video transcoding. Apple’s product page mentions code compiling, animation, compositing 8K scenes, 3D rendering, and “analyzing enormous […]
Josh Withers: Tim Cook once said that “we are high on AR for the long run” and it’s true, for 28 years Apple – and the rest of the tech industry – has been noodling around on augmented reality and virtual reality. Out of a purely personal interest, I started flipping through rumours about Apple […]
I’ve got just a handful of open blog sponsorship spots for the back half of the year. If you are interested, get in touch! July 17 July 31 September 4 September 25 October 30 November 27
This week, another Q&A support document: I have the Apple Internet Connection Kit (AICK) and I’m trying to set it up with my existing Internet service provider (ISP). When I launch the Apple Internet Dialer, it wants me to set up an account with a new service provider. How do I tell it to use […]
Whether you’re in the harbor or at high sea, you need to know where you are or where you’re sailing. If you have all the maps, books, and documents. DEVONthink for Mac and DEVONthink To Go for iOS will not let you down on your mission and help you navigate the “seven seas of information.” […]
Malin Sundberg is one of the developers behind the apps Mercury Weather and Orbit. This week, she joins us to discuss her background and work, as well as her hands-on time with the Apple Vision Pro at WWDC.
This week, on a milestone episode of The Prompt Connected: After some Smell Talk and celebrating the return of the Genius Bar, Myke, Federico and Stephen celebrate ten years of podcasting together by revisiting some of their favorite Apple stories from the last decade.
In addition to publishing the initial SDK for visionOS, Apple has updated its Human Interface Guidelines to include the new operating system. There’s also a bunch of documentation up for review. There’s a lot here, and I can’t wait until folks start diving in.
An anonymous 512 Pixels reader recently mailed me something amazing — a promotional mailer for eWorld, dating back to 1994. In the package was a set of 3.5-inch eWorld 1.0 installer disks, the “Apple Online Service Subscriber Agreement” and an amazing brochure for eWorld. Let’s start with the envelope and the Subscriber Agreement: You can […]
Scott Everett, writing at the up-until-now-slated-for-death-by-Amazon-dot-com DPReview: We’ve heard from many of you over the past several weeks, and we realize there are many questions about what comes next for DPReview. We’re thrilled to share the news that Gear Patrol has acquired DPReview. Gear Patrol is a natural home for the next phase of DPReview’s […]
Today, Apple announced the inclusion of the iPhone 14 lineup, as well as M2-based 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pros, in its Self Service Repair program, which means we get to enjoy this amazing promotional art again: More importantly, Apple has removed one of the most frustrating parts of the program: Apple will also make […]
If you suddenly find yourself shopping for a Performa in 1995 and want to know which models have ClarisWorks bundled with them, this document is here to help.
John Voorhees, writing at MacStories, about how WWDC’s new form could continue to evolve: I’d like to see Apple create a communal space for developers, its engineers and other employees, and media to gather. The trouble is that Apple Park is off-limits unless you have an invitation for an event. Without a convention center or […]
Last night, I finished reading a fascinating book by Brian Dear titled The Friendly Orange Glow: The Untold Story of the Rise of Cyberculture. The book covers the history of PLATO, a computer system initially designed to bring computers into the classroom back in the 1960s and 1970s. As Dear writes, the culture that came […]
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit-powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also […]
On this feedback episode, David and I keep unpacking WWDC, talk about their time with the new betas and work through some listener feedback.
David Ingram of NBC News: In an interview Thursday with NBC News, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman praised Musk’s aggressive cost-cutting and layoffs at Twitter, and said he had chatted “a handful of times” with Musk on the subject of running an internet platform. Huffman said he saw Musk’s handling of Twitter, which he purchased last […]
Apple Support: Certain models of internal SATA drives might unexpectedly disconnect from your computer after your Mac wakes from sleep. This can occur if your Mac automatically goes to sleep or if you manually put your Mac to sleep. If you see a message that your disk was not ejected properly, you can restart your […]
This week on Connected: Stephen breaks some shocking news on the show. Federico had feelings about the Apple Vision Pro. Myke messed up the points. All of this and then a Round Robin of some smaller announcements from WWDC. Don’t miss the first installment of Smell Talk.
For the last two years, I’ve successfully created beautiful wall calendars focusing on parts of Apple’s business. For 2022 I did hardware, and for 2023, software. The 2024 Apple History Calendar will complete the trilogy, focusing on Apple retail and the company’s services business. These dates cover everything from Apple’s earliest ideas about the Internet […]
Federico, writing at MacStories: I’m going to be direct with this story. My 30-minute demo with Vision Pro last week was the most mind-blowing moment of my 14-year career covering Apple and technology. I left the demo speechless, and it took me a few days to articulate how it felt. How I felt. It’s not […]
The Apple Vision Pro may be ushering in the era of spatial computing, but like many other Apple products, it’s using a name steeped in history. Ok, steeped may be a little strong, but Apple has had other products with “vision” in their names over the years. Seven products, to be exact, and all of […]
I had the pleasure of hosting the latest episode of Charlie Chapman’s podcast to interview him about the history of Dark Noise and its recent business model change.
Apple Support: Question: I purchased two AppleVision Monitors and am trying to set them up, but my computer only has one ADB port on the back. I tried connecting the ADB cable from the first monitor to the side of the second monitor, but that did not work. Then I tried using a third party […]
Underscore David Smith: Last week at WWDC I was extraordinarily fortunate to be one of the very few people in the world to try out Vision Pro for myself. The 30 minute session I had with it has been described in tremendous depth in lots of places (the best likely being Myke’s discussion on Cortex), […]
MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs. The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to Twitter.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable […]
I’m writing this in the lobby of my hotel in Cupertino, a couple of hours before I fly home to Memphis and I am here to report that the vibe at WWDC is good. Electric, even. The Annual March For several years, Apple has been really good at keeping features across its platforms in step […]
Christian Selig, writing on Reddit: Eight years ago, I posted in the Apple subreddit about a Reddit app I was looking for beta testers for, and my life completely changed that day. I just finished university and an internship at Apple, and wanted to build a Reddit client of my own: a premier, customizable, well-designed […]
This week on MPU: Recorded live at Apple Park, Stephen and David talk about some of the big announcements from WWDC23. Don’t miss More Power Users, where David shared his feelings about the new Mac Studio.
This week on a huge episode of Connected: For the first time in four years, Federico, Myke and Stephen are together and in person to record an episode of The World’s Greatest Podcast. This week, they judge their picks for WWDC23 — and one from the past. On Connected Pro, some feelings about being together […]
It’s been one day since Apple announced a new Mac Pro, so we are now safely within the time period in which we can go back to worrying about the product and its future.
Back in 2006 when the first Mac Pro was announced, we were already at the tail end of the era of desktop tower Macs. 17 years later, notebooks are more popular than ever, and in the age of Apple silicon, they are more powerful than ever, too.
That puts desktop Macs on thinner ice than ever before in terms of unique capabilities. That’s not to say that Apple is abandoning the category — other than the seemingly-forgotten 24-inch iMac and the lack of a larger all-in-one, things are firing on all cylinders.
The Mac Studio is the greatest example of this. I don’t think anyone had “New Pro Desktop” on their bingo card for 2022, not to mention an update a year into its life. In my brief ownership of an M1 Max version of the machine, I was blown away by the performance Apple managed to cram into what is basically a taller Mac mini.1
Sitting between the Mac mini and Mac Pro, the Mac Studio has probably taken customers away from both, but I have to imagine the Mac Pro is on the losing side of that equation.
The new new Mac Pro is powered by the same M2 Ultra chip as found in the new high-end Mac Studio, with all of the good and bad that brings. It is amazingly fast, and the SoC blows away the old Xeon + Afterburner arrangement in the 2019 machine when it comes to encoding video.
However, it also comes with all the downsides of being an SoC. Gone is the 1.5 TB RAM limit of the 2019 Mac Pro, but more importantly, gone is the ability to add RAM after purchase. The same thing goes for upgrading the GPU.
The truth in 2023 is that Mac Pro you buy today will be the same core machine in five years, and that’s just not something we’re used to seeing when it comes to this machine.
Upgradability, of course, is just one side of the coin. The other is expandability. For those who rely on capture cards, huge amounts of internal storage and other PCI-based solutions, the Mac Pro continues to be their only option in Apple’s line.
The number of 2019 Mac Pros sold cannot be huge, but the new one’s numbers are going to be even smaller. As a Mac Pro fan that worries me. Yes, there are users who are reliant on PCI solutions and I’m sure those folks will upgrade to this new machine at some point. Those who purchased a Mac Pro in the past to have a machine they could keep current over the long haul are seemingly out of luck.
Are some extra Thunderbolt ports and a bunch of open PCI slots enough to justify the Mac Pro’s $3,000 premium over the Mac Studio? For most users, my guess is no. The days of the Mac Pro being the most powerful, most capable Mac are over, at least for now.
If a future Mac Pro has an SoC unique to it, as it was rumored a couple of years ago, that would certainly be exciting. M3 Extreme, perhaps? Off-die GPUs, anyone?
Several of us who cover Apple have heard that there are those inside the company that did not want this machine to see the light of day, believing the Mac Studio to be enough to hold down the high-end of the Mac line. Seeing the machine that Apple announced this week, I think they may eventually get their way.
- The fan noise also blew me away. I ended up mounting the thing under my desk. ↩
I still think Big Sur had my favorite default wallpaper in the modern age of macOS, but these look pretty good!
…in no particular order, except the first two which I am psyched about:
- Interactive widgets.
- Find My items can now be shared with others.
- Offline access to Maps.
- Medication alerts can now repeat if medication is not logged, and can be sent as critical alerts. I bailed on Medication reminders last year due to a lack of this.
- Name Drop.
- Inner-app linking in Notes.
- Profiles and shared passwords in Safari.
- Mood tracking in Health.
- Widgets on the Mac desktop.
- One-time verification codes received in Mail are filled in automatically in Safari, just like ones from Messages.
- Quick muting on AirPods.
- The new iPhone Standby feature can show different things based on where your iPhone is when charging.
- Pet “faces” in Photos.
- Automatic grocery item sorting and a new column view in Reminders.
- Share contents from an Apple Note into Pages for more layout tools.
My least favorite thing? That creepy heart AR demo.
In related news, Dan Moren has a long list of features that were not mentioned on stage compiled over on Six Colors.
Apple Support:
Deployment and mobile device management (MDM) introduce new features for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV devices. These updates, detailed below, include the following operating systems:
- iOS 17
- iPadOS 17
- macOS 14
- tvOS 17
- watchOS 10
Here’s a list of all iPhone models that are compatible with iOS 17:
- iPhone XS and XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone 12 and 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone 13 and 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd gen)
iOS 17 drops support for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X.
On the iPad front, these models are supported moving forward:
- iPad Pro (2nd generation and later)
- iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
- iPad (6th generation and later)
- iPad mini (5th generation and later)
watchOS 10 has the same requirements as watchOS 9 had a year ago:
- Apple Watch Series 4
- Apple Watch Series 5
- Apple Watch SE
- Apple Watch Series 6
- Apple Watch Series 7
- Apple Watch Series 8
- Apple Watch Ultra
macOS Sonoma is compatible with the following Macs, dropping support for the 2017 iMac and MacBook Pro, as well as the last 12-inch MacBook model:
- MacBook Pro: 2018 and later
- MacBook Air: 2018 and later
- Mac mini: 2018 and later
- iMac: 2019 and later
- iMac Pro: 2017
- Mac Studio: 2022 and later
- Mac Pro: 2019 and later
There are no Intel Macs on sale as new, so the timer is running for when macOS is Apple silicon-only.
Over at The Verge, Dan Seifert has a hands-on with the new notebook:
Apple just announced the new MacBook Air 15, a 15-inch version of the most popular laptop in the world. I just saw it in person. As you can probably guess, it’s just like the smaller MacBook Air, but now it’s bigger.
There were literally no surprises from the hands-on. It feels just like the 13.5-inch model from last year. It’s thinner and lighter and less dense than a 16-inch MacBook Pro, as you’d expect, with a screen that isn’t as nice. It does have six speakers, but I didn’t get to test them.
Sounds exactly like what a lot of folks wanted. I have a friend and a family member both ordering new notebooks today.
Apple has a video up showing off the new computer:
There’s a new Mac Pro in town, powered by the M2 Ultra chip that is also found in the new Mac Studio.
As you can see, the new machine utilizes the same design as the 2019 model, both outside and inside, minus a whole bunch of extra Thunderbolt ports around back:
That second image shows off the difference between this machine and the Mac Studio: internal PCI. Here’s Apple PR:
The new Mac Pro brings PCIe expansion to Apple silicon for pros who want the performance of M2 Ultra and rely on internal expansion for their workflows. Mac Pro features seven PCle expansion slots, with six open expansion slots that support gen 4, which is 2x faster than before, so users can customize Mac Pro with essential cards. From audio pros who need digital signal processing (DSP) cards, to video pros who need serial digital interface (SDI) I/O cards for connecting to professional cameras and monitors, to users who need additional networking and storage, Mac Pro lets professionals customize and expand their systems, pushing the limits of their most demanding workflows.
You will notice a real lack of GPU expandability in that paragraph. Even in this $6,999 machine,1 Apple silicon graphics remain on-die.
It is, however, much, much faster than my old 2019 machine:
Mac Pro delivers the groundbreaking performance of M2 Ultra, plus the versatility of PCIe expansion, taking the most demanding workflows to the next level. While the Intel-based Mac Pro started with an 8-core CPU and could be configured up from there, every Mac Pro has Apple’s most powerful 24-core CPU, an up to 76-core GPU, and starts with twice the memory and SSD storage. The new Mac Pro can also be configured with up to a massive 192GB of memory with 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth. This is far more memory than the most advanced workstation graphics cards. Now every Mac Pro has the performance of not just one but seven Afterburner cards built in. It also features the same industry-leading media engine as Mac Studio with M2 Ultra. Both can play an unprecedented 22 streams of 8K ProRes video.
When compared to the Intel-based Mac Pro, Mac Pro with M2 Ultra:
- Empowers demanding real-world pro workflows like video transcoding and 3D simulations to run up to 3x faster.
- Enables video engineers to ingest 24 4K camera feeds and encode them to ProRes in real time, all on a single machine, when using six video I/O cards.
RIP, Afterburner.
The M2 Ultra appears in all new Mac Pros, and can be specced to include:
- 24-core CPU, 76-core GPU and 32-core Neural Engine (+$1,000)
- 192 GB of unified memory (+$1,600)
- 8 TB SSD (+$2,200)
- Stainless steel wheels (+$400)
I for one am staying put with my 14-inch M2 Pro MacBook Pro as my primary Mac, but if I still had my 2019 Mac Pro, I’d be jonesing for an upgrade… and selling a kidney to make it possible.
- Yes, it starts at $1,000 more than the 2019 model. ↩
At WWDC today, Apple unveiled Vision Pro, it’s first spatial computer.
There is a lot to unpack with this new device and platform, but here are some numbers to get thing started:
- Its two displays pack in more than 23 million pixels. Each display is akin to a 4K display.
- The headset is powered by two Apple silicon chips: the M2 for computing tasks and the new R1 for dealing with real-time sensor data from 12 cameras, five sensors and six microphones.
- The R1 also streams new images to the displays within 12 milliseconds — 8 times faster than the blink of an eye.
- Virtual screens can scale up to 100 feet in width, complete with 3D movies and Apple Immersive Video, that offers 180-degree high-resolution recordings with Spatial Audio.
- Each audio pod contains two individually amplified drivers.
- There are two physical input devices on the headset: a digital crown to adjust levels of immersion, and a shutter button to capture spatial photo and video.
- There are zero physical controls to move around the user interface. Vision Pro is designed to work with the user’s hands, eyes and voice.
- The screen is a singular piece of three-dimensionally formed and laminated glass.
- The Light Seal and headband will be available in a range of sizes.
- On battery, the Apple Vision Pro will run for two hours, but it can also be used plugged in.
- Apple is touting more than 100 Apple Arcade titles for the new system.
- Apple boasted that it filed over 5,000 patents in the development of the platform.
- It will cost $3,499 when it goes on sale early next year in what appears to be just one country, the U.S.
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The 2023 WWDC keynote is just a few days away, so before any more last-minute leaks make it out, I wanted to put my line in the sand for what I expect to see Monday.
On this week’s Connected, I made the following picks:
- Apple will announce a 15-inch MacBook Air.
- The phrase “One more thing” will be used before The Headset is announced.
- The announced price of The Headset will be less than $2,500.
That last one generated quite a bit of conversation on the show. The rumors have been pretty consistent that this thing is going to be in the neighborhood of $3,000, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any counter-reporting planted by Apple to adjust expectations. So either The Headset is going to be that expensive, or Apple is going to surprise us, and likes the bar set where it currently is.
This was my “risky pick,” so I admit I’m out on a limb here, but even at $2,500, it is going to be pricey. I can see Apple preferring to rip the bandage off now, so by the time it goes on sale people have had time to digest (and prepare for) the price. If they announce it now, it’ll cloud the coverage of the device, but at least that cloud will have time to clear before pre-orders open.
Here are the rest of my picks on the show:
- The keynote video runs over 2 hours.
- The 15-inch MacBook Air will be powered by an M3.
- Apple reframes an existing feature as being powered by “AI.”
- Jeff Williams has a major role in introducing the headset.
- iPadOS 17 gains Lock Screen customization.
- We see a Mac Pro preview.
- The next version of macOS is not called Skyline, as Viticci has predicted.
I think all of these are pretty straight forward, and I feel pretty good about most of them.
No matter who wins on Connected next week, WWDC is going to be jam-packed and should be one for the books. I’ll be in Cupertino Tuesday-Thursday and can’t wait to talk about all of this with folks.
WWDC23 is just a few days away, so Myke, Federico and I have made our predictions for what Apple will — and won’t — announce.
Christian Selig, the developer behind the Reddit client Apollo got some shockingly bad news from Reddit today:
Apollo made 7 billion requests last month, which would put it at about 1.7 million dollars per month, or 20 million US dollars per year. Even if I only kept subscription users, the average Apollo user uses 344 requests per day, which would cost $2.50 per month, which is over double what the subscription currently costs, so I’d be in the red every month.
I’m deeply disappointed in this price. Reddit iterated that the price would be A) reasonable and based in reality, and B) they would not operate like Twitter. Twitter’s pricing was publicly ridiculed for its obscene price of $42,000 for 50 million tweets. Reddit’s is still $12,000. For reference, I pay Imgur, a site similar to Reddit in userbase and media, $166 for the same 50 million API calls.
Holy moly.
Last week, news broke that the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) planned on firing its staff and volunteer helpline folks and replace them with a chatbot named Tessa, less than a week after the workers formed a union.
That is going about as well as you would think, as Chloe Xiang writes:
As of Tuesday, Tessa was taken down by the organization following a viral social media post displaying how the chatbot encouraged unhealthy eating habits rather than helping someone with an eating disorder.
“It came to our attention last night that the current version of the Tessa Chatbot, running the Body Positive program, may have given information that was harmful and unrelated to the program,” NEDA said in an Instagram post. We are investigating this immediately and have taken down that program until further notice for a complete investigation.”
It’s one thing to have an AI hallucinate and get some simple fact incorrect. This is way, way worse. Shame on the people at NEDA who made this call.
Antonio G. Di Benedetto has an in-depth look at the little buttons on the underside of the Apple Watch that make swapping bands so easy:
While I often prefer a universal solution over a proprietary connector, here’s the thing — Apple’s band release button beats the hell out of fiddling with little spring bars and jeweler’s tools. Instead, you just press a near-invisible button, slide your band out, slide another one in, and get a lovely audible click as it locks in. No fuss, no muss; just a simple swap for a different visual vibe to match your style and wardrobe.
But how does it get that precise click, that nearly foolproof snap? Hint: it’s not magnets. My colleague Sean Hollister and I spoke with two ex-Apple engineers who worked on manufacturing the original parts. We quickly learned that it’s kind of the unsung hero of the Apple Watch — despite launching a $1 billion accessory ecosystem and remaining unchanged since its debut eight years ago.
The secret: there are actually three buttons in the Apple Watch, two of which interlock so precisely that Apple had to rethink its entire approach to manufacturing. “The tolerances in there are kind of insane,” say our sources. “It’s super hard to machine. You can’t get tools in there; the angles are all weird.” So the company wound up buying Swiss CNC machines that cost up to $2 million — each — just for the sake of its swappable band system. “It didn’t cut anything else on the watch, just this, that’s all it did.”
As a side note, I love The Verge’s “Button of the Month” concept. I wish I had thought of it.
The Verge has published a half-hour documentary on what happened to the Lisa at the end of its life, and it’s a fantastic watch:
Apple Support:
This article describes MySQL included with Mac OS X Server 10.0.3 or later.
TextExpander’s customizable and shareable snippets of text allow your team to fly through repetitive tasks quickly by expanding the things you type regularly — all you have to do is type a short abbreviation and TextExpander does the rest of the work for you.
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- Create It: Collect your most commonly used emails, phrases, messaging, URLs, and more to create snippets and templates in TextExpander that are always accessible with a quick search or abbreviation.
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- Use It: Expand the content you need with just a few keystrokes on any device, across any app you use — no APIs or integrations needed.
- Optimize It: Add customizations like fill-ins and optional sections to keep that human touch. Anytime you make changes to snippets they update everywhere so your team is always on the same page.
It’s that easy!
Check out TextExpander and say goodbye to repetitive typing.
Chance Miller is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac. This week on MPU, he joins us to discuss his work covering Apple and what the group wants to see at WWDC23.
Apple:
My Photo Stream is shutting down on July 26, 2023. Learn more about this transition and how to keep your photos up to date across all your devices and safely stored in iCloud.
As part of this transition, new photo uploads to My Photo Stream from your devices will stop one month before, on June 26, 2023. Any photos uploaded to the service before that date will remain in iCloud for 30 days from the date of upload and will be available to any of your devices where My Photo Stream is currently enabled. By July 26, 2023, there will be no photos remaining in iCloud, and the service will be shut down.
The photos in My Photo Stream are already stored on at least one of your devices, so as long as you have the device with your originals, you won’t lose any photos as part of this process. If a photo you want isn’t already in your library on a particular iPhone, iPad, or Mac, make sure that you save it to your library on that device.
Photo Stream is one of the original components of iCloud, and was kept around even after iCloud Photo Library launched in 2014. Here’s how Apple pitched the feature when iCloud was new:
Take a photo on an iOS device. Or import a photo from your digital camera to your computer. iCloud automatically pushes a copy of that photo over any available Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection to the Photos app on your iOS devices, iPhoto or Aperture on your Mac, and the Pictures Library on your PC. You can even view your Photo Stream album on your Apple TV. So you can show off your shots to friends and family from whichever device you’re using at the time.
iCloud manages your Photo Stream efficiently so you don’t run out of storage space on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you have Photo Stream enabled on your iOS device, every single photo you take appears in a special Photo Stream album that holds your last 1,000 photos. You can’t edit or delete photos from your Photo Stream. If you want to touch up a photo or keep a favorite shot permanently, simply save it to your Camera Roll. iCloud stores new photos for 30 days, so you have plenty of time to connect your iOS device to Wi-Fi and make sure you always have your most recent shots handy.
The basic idea was that your last 1,000 photos streamed by on your iOS devices, but could saved permanently. If you had a Mac or PC in the mix, they were all saved there:
Keeping a complete set of your photos on your Mac is as simple as turning on Photo Stream in iPhoto or Aperture. Every new photo you take appears in a Photo Stream album just as it does on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. But since your Mac has more storage than your iOS device, it automatically imports every picture from your Photo Stream into your photo library so you can edit, delete, and share the ones you want.
Photo Stream — just like that press image above — was very much of its time. The limitations that it came with were confusing for some users, leading to folks worrying that they would accidentally lose photos.
Honestly, I didn’t blame anyone back then for being a bit wary of the feature. It was about this time that I turned to Dropbox for my photo storage, only returning to Apple well into the iCloud Photo Library era.
Tim Stevens, writing on his very excellent Substack:
That’s my favorite joke from my software engineering days, one that I’m sure is older than me by decades and probably predates the invention of digital computers. The sad part is, it’s a joke I’ve been able to use again even long after I left that career behind.
Today, I get to dust it off for the rather disheartening news that Ford is, seemingly, abandoning the single biggest global charging standard for its EVs, the standard that already defeated another major charging standard, the standard that finally, after years of confusion, aligned every major global EV manufacturer — well, except for one.
This change is a frustratingly bad move for consumers and I’ll gladly tell you why, but first a little background.
Ford PR has some good news for its customers:
- Starting early next year, Ford EV customers will have access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada, in addition to the over 10,000 DC fast-chargers that are already part of the BlueOval Charge Network. This will give Ford EV customers unprecedented access to fast-charging.
- Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit customers will be able to access the Superchargers via an adapter and software integration along with activation and payment via FordPass or Ford Pro Intelligence.
- In 2025, Ford will offer next-generation electric vehicles with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector built-in, eliminating the need for an adapter to access Tesla Superchargers.
- The reliable Tesla Supercharger network has already established charging corridors across the U.S. and Canada.
I’ll leave the merits of the NACS connector to others, but from a consumer stand point, this seems like great news.1 Tesla has a ton of chargers, and with Ford continuing to build out their own network, drivers will have even more locations where they can charge quickly.
If EVs are every going to be as convenient as traditional vehicles, drivers will need to be able to easily charge just about anywhere, without having to worry about standards or adaptors. I don’t have to worry about what kind of gas pump I pull up to my truck, and EV drivers should have the same peace of mind.2
- It does mean that North America may end up with a different standard than the rest of the world, if other brands follow Ford in giving up the CCS standard. A lot of folks think CCS should win everywhere. Granted, it’s not clear if Ford is replacing CCS with NACS, or if they will offer both charging ports on future vehicles, and of course, there’s not a single CCS connector as different companies have implemented it differently. Ah yes, standards. ↩
- I really think the Toyota Tundra I just bought could be my last ICE vehicle; I would have loved a Lightning but it just wasn’t in the cards this time around. ↩
This week on an action-packed episode of podcast:
An old problem is back, Myke found an unusual way to fix his Apple Watch, Federico is dazzled by magnets and Stephen feels weird about some apps.
I can’t be in Cupertino for the keynote on Monday, but I’ll be in town Tuesday-Thursday to hang out and record a couple of podcasts.
I can’t believe WWDC is almost here again. This marks 10 years of going for me, and it’s always a fun week.
Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are out now for select iPad models. I played with Logic for a few minutes, and was pretty disappointed when it failed to import the template I use to edit Connected, running in to the same error Dan Moren got. I should be able to adapt my files for the iPad, but being an iPad mini user, I don’t see me switching over very often. All of that said, I am psyched that these apps are finally here.
Don’t miss Jason Snell’s hands-on with them.
Neil Jhaveri, writing about my favorite email client for the Mac:
Mimestream combines the power of macOS with Gmail’s advanced features for a new kind of email client that lets you move through your email effortlessly. Unlike other email clients that use the decades-old IMAP protocol, Mimestream uses the Gmail API for a new kind of lightning-fast experience that’s full of features. Built using the latest technologies from Apple, using Mimestream is a breath of fresh air that you’ll see and feel.
Today’s launch culminates a public beta of over 2 years, with more than 167,000 users joining the beta. During this time, we released 220+ updates, made 2500+ improvements, added 100+ new features, and grew the company from a solo founder to a team of 5. Mimestream is mature, reliable, ready to take on your most serious email workloads, and will continue improving.
I’ve been using Mimestream for most of its beta, for both my personal Gmail account and my work Google accounts. It’s fantastic, and an insta-buy for me. I know it doesn’t support iCloud and other email providers, but if you’re in Google Land, this is the way to go.
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site.
Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also serve as a great alternative for resource hogging Electron apps or half-baked Catalyst apps.
Some examples of apps you could create in mere minutes with Unite:
- A Gmail web client that behaves like a native mail client.
- A status bar app for Apple Music or Overcast
- An isolated workspace for apps that may track you like Facebook
- A Google Meet app that works efficiently without using Chrome
- A fully featured Instagram app that has a resizable window, unlike the M1 version.
- A Robinhood, Figma, or Roam Research app for your desktop.
512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Unite 4 at bzgapps.com/unite512 or when you use the promo code ‘512Pixels’ at checkout.
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Joe Rossignol at MacRumors:
Just a few weeks ahead of WWDC, it appears that Apple continues to secretly apply for trademarks related to its rumored AR/VR headset.
Delaware-based shell company “Deep Dive LLC” submitted a trademark application for “xrProOS” stylized in Apple’s SF Pro font on May 18 in Argentina, Turkey, and the Philippines, according to online records. The same company applied for an “xrOS” trademark in SF Pro in New Zealand earlier this month, and it is very likely that Apple is behind both filings as the company moves early to protect its headset-related intellectual property.
As my buddy Zach said in the Relay FM Discord, this has big five blades energy. Also… just look at the URL for this blog post. Woof.
I’m really hoping this is a defensive trademark.
Mark Bramhill’s name will be familiar to many, as he produced Welcome to Macintosh, a true great in the world of Apple podcasts. This week on MPU, he chats with us about his podcasting career, using a Mac mini as a home server, the power of Descript and what it was like to create an emoji.
Apple Tysons Corner in Virginia was one of the first two Apple Stores to open back in May 2001. This week, it is reopening in a new location and features a new design that brings back an old friend. Michael Steeber has details:
Today, Apple revealed its most comprehensive redesign of the Apple Store experience in nearly a decade. The Genius Bar is returning with a reimagined design. There’s an all-new space for more immersive product discovery. Store accessibility has been improved, and new design elements emphasize sustainability. It was 22 years ago at Tysons Corner that Steve Jobs showed the world how to “Shop Different.” Now Apple is back in the mall where it all began to start a new chapter.
Genius Bar support has been fundamental to the Apple Store experience since day one, and now Apple is once again creating a dedicated, identifiable space within the store for customers to find solutions. At the new Apple Tysons Corner, the Genius Bar is located exactly where it was in the first Apple Store — the far right corner. The new bar is built into an alcove lined with wood credenzas attached to backstage. Sitting and standing counters enhance accessibility.
Just look at this thing; I love how this looks:
As Steeber points out, Apple hasn’t built a new Genius Bar since The Great Apple Store Redesign of 2015. I am glad it’s back, and I hope it’s more than a one-off for this special retail location.
Searching for it in the App Store is a mess, as there are a ton of other apps using the service and its name, but if you want the official experience, there’s an app for that.
via 9to5Mac
This week on the show, The One True John joins Federico and me to discuss the winners of Automation April, Apple’s recent run of press releases, Stage Manager on the Mac and using iMessage on Windows.
On Connected Pro, a discussion about the possibilities of a MacStories YouTube channel.
Apple Support:
iMac Pro Update for Boot Camp improves the compatibility of iMac Pro with Apple mice, keyboards, and trackpads when running Windows 10 through Boot Camp.
Additionally, iMac Pro Update for Boot Camp addresses these compatibility issues on iMac Pro computers running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6:
- Problems switching from Windows to macOS using the Apple System Tray
- Apple Control Panel not launching from the Apple System Tray
- Custom keys for adjusting brightness, volume, and media playback not working
- Missing indicators when pairing Bluetooth devices
Start your iMac Pro in Windows, then use Apple Software Update to install iMac Pro Update for Boot Camp and any other available updates.
I find it hard to believe the iMac Pro was announced almost six years ago.
Kevin Purdy at Ars Technica:
You don’t hear nearly as much about Drobo boxes as you used to, especially on sites like Ars Technica. We now have some news, but it isn’t good.
StorCentric, the holding company for the Drobo and Retrospect brands, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late June 2022. Now, AppleInsider reports that, based on an email sent by StorCentric, the bankruptcy shifted from reorganization-minded Chapter 11 to liquidation-focused Chapter 7 in late April.
The writing for Drobo was on the wall, or at least on its website. Text at the top of the homepage notes that, as of January 27, 2023, Drobo products and support for them are no longer available. “Drobo support has transitioned to a self-service model,” the site reads. “We thank you for being a Drobo customer and entrusting us with your data.”
I used a Drobo for years, as it was a great way to hook up a whole lot of storage to a Mac. It’ll be missed.
Apple Newsroom:
Apple today previewed software features for cognitive, vision, hearing, and mobility accessibility, along with innovative tools for individuals who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak. These updates draw on advances in hardware and software, include on-device machine learning to ensure user privacy, and expand on Apple’s long-standing commitment to making products for everyone.
John Voorhees has a post on MacStories going through all of the new features that are coming later this year, as does Shelly Brisbin on Six Colors. She writes:
This year’s preview also includes a grab bag of nice updates to existing accessibility features, including updated text size adjustments in macOS and tweaks to Siri voices for VoiceOver users who want to listen at extremely high speaking rates. Voice Control will add phonetic suggestions when editing text.
Several of the preview features clearly benefit from machine learning, and Personal Voice might be touted as an AI-based tool if it came from another company. It feels like an application of the technology that’s both entirely positive for the community it’s meant to serve, and reflective of a pretty nuanced understanding of what that community might want.
This week on the podcast:
With WWDC just a couple of weeks away, Stephen and David take a look at Apple’s various platforms and take stock of where things are in the spring of 2023.
William Graham:
On May 14, 1973, the final Saturn V rocket lifted off to deploy Skylab, America’s first space station. Despite a troubled start to its life, Skylab pioneered long-duration spaceflight, and fifty years later lessons learned in this program are still contributing to the success of the International Space Station.
Jean-Louis Gassée has a new book coming out on May 16:
For the past 20+ years, everyone has been waiting for the story to be told. What really happened at Apple when Jobs returned and Gassée was out? In this first ever comprehensive memoir, Gassée doesn’t hold anything back. From his stellar career to his deepest moments of doubts to his new calling as a grand-father, Gassée dispenses his legendary witty advises and shares some very important moments of the tech world.
When most people talk about Apple history, they’re drawn to the two Jobs eras. The years in the middle are just as interesting, but are often glossed over. I am excited to read this.
There is some sad news in the blogging world today. Alex Williams at The New York Times:
Heather Armstrong, the breakout star behind the website Dooce, who was hailed as the queen of the so-called mommy bloggers for giving millions of readers intimate daily glimpses of her odyssey through parenthood and marriage, as well as her harrowing struggles with depression, died on Tuesday at her home in Salt Lake City. She was 47.
Pete Ashdown, her longtime partner, who found her body in the home, said the cause was suicide.
I met Heather a couple of times over the years, as we graduated from the same high school — albeit a decade apart — and I’ve got family members who are friends with her parents. She was one of the first people I read on the Internet who really had her own voice, and it’s clearly one that had plenty of pain mixed in with the joys of life, as Andy Baio wrote today:
Maybe it’s appropriate that she leaves a complicated legacy. Life is hard and messy, sad and angry, dark and beautiful, miserable and hopeful, all at once.
This week on the podcast:
Apple has announced Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro for the iPad, and the guys have some thoughts. Also on the docket: laptop stands, Apple Watch hardware and a letter from the P.O. Box.
MKBHD’s hands-on video of Google’s new foldable is a good watch. This device looks very nicely put together:
Dan Seifert:
The looks of the Pixel Tablet are relatively generic. It has an 11-inch, 16:10, 2560 x 1600 pixel LCD display, even bezels all around, and a matte back. It comes in three colors: white, dark green, and light pink, with the dark green model featuring a black bezel. Though it looks like plastic from a distance, the Pixel Tablet has an aluminum frame with a nanotexture coating, not unlike what Google did with the Pixel 5 smartphone.
Bundled in the box with the Pixel Tablet is a magnetic speaker dock. This serves multiple purposes and is meant to prevent the dreaded “dead tablet in a drawer” syndrome: it’s a place to store the Pixel Tablet when it’s not in use; it charges the battery; and it has a louder, fuller speaker better suited for communal listening than the speakers that are built into the tablet. If you’re playing music or watching a video on the tablet when you put it on the dock, it will seamlessly transfer the audio to the dock’s speaker. Pull the tablet off the dock while something is playing, and it will instantly switch to the tablet’s speakers.
I want Apple to make an iPad version of this so, so badly.
It’s mostly forgotten now, but for years, Apple shipped Final Cut Express, a video editor that lived somewhere between iMovie and Final Cut Pro. It was discontinued in 2011 when Final Cut Pro X was released. Here are some FAQs Apple of the past thought may be helpful to users of the application:
- Why isn’t my serial number accepted by the program?
- Why can’t I hear audio while capturing?
- Why can’t I hear audio during playback from the Timeline?
- Final Cut Express doesn’t recognize my camera. What’s wrong?
- Where can I find the product manual?
- How can I prevent out-of-sync audio on long clips?
- How do I transfer my project to iDVD?
- I hear beeping when I play audio. Why is that?
- How do I set keyframes?
- Why don’t I see real-time effects and transitions?
The answer to question 10 really puts things into perspective:
Answer: Make sure you choose View > Video > Real-Time. Available real-time effects appear in bold type in the Effects menu and Effects browser and will vary based on the performance of your computer (a G4 processor is required). Multiple video layers can also prevent real-time previews from appearing.
This morning, Apple dropped some big news for creative professionals:
Apple today unveiled Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad. Video and music creators can now unleash their creativity in new ways that are only possible on iPad. Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad bring all-new touch interfaces that allow users to enhance their workflows with the immediacy and intuitiveness of Multi-Touch. Final Cut Pro for iPad introduces a powerful set of tools for video creators to record, edit, finish, and share, all from one portable device. Logic Pro for iPad puts the power of professional music creation in the hands of the creator — no matter where they are — with a complete collection of sophisticated tools for songwriting, beat making, recording, editing, and mixing. Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad will be available on the App Store as subscriptions starting Tuesday, May 23.
“We’re excited to introduce Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad, allowing creators to unleash their creativity in new ways and in even more places,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With a powerful set of intuitive tools designed for the portability, performance, and touch-first interface of iPad, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro deliver the ultimate mobile studio.”
If these were slated for WWDC, but were kicked out of the keynote for more exciting things, June 5 may be a pretty wild day.
Looking over the materials on Apple’s website, it appears that these two apps are just want people have wanted — pro-level editing tools, redesigned for the iPad’s unique form factor and input devices.
I think it’s best to reserve judgment until we see how these apps work in the real world, but I can’t help but worry that iPadOS will hold them back. Using professional tools like these apps require file transfers, media management, advanced audio routing and more. Those aren’t iPadOS’ strong suits, at least of today. Given that these apps are coming out in just a few weeks, before WWDC, I wonder how many of these things will be addressed in iPadOS 17 at all.
The details at the bottom of the Newsroom article are important to note:
Starting Tuesday, May 23, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad will each be available on the App Store for $4.99 (US) per month or $49 (US) per year with a one-month free trial.8 Final Cut Pro is compatible with M1 chip iPad models or later, and Logic Pro will be available on A12 Bionic chip iPad models or later. Final Cut Pro for iPad and Logic Pro for iPad require iPadOS 16.4.
I’m not shocked that these new apps are available only via subscription, but I think this the first time Apple has made new software available this way. On the Mac, Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro are one-time purchases, priced at $199.99 and $299.99, respectively.
All in all, this is great news, even if you aren’t a Logic or Final Cut user like I am. These apps are a sign that Apple is attempting to take the iPad more seriously as a computer for professionals, and that’s a good thing.
Whether you’re in the harbor or at high sea, you need to know where you are or where you’re sailing. If you have all the maps, books, and documents. DEVONthink for Mac and DEVONthink To Go for iOS will not let you down on your mission and help you navigate the “seven seas of information.”
Sailor jokes aside, DEVONthink helps you get organized in your office, home office, or on the go. It keeps all your documents, snippets, and bookmarks in one place. Organize them however you need and let DEVONthink’s unique AI assist you all the way with filing and finding. And if that wasn’t enough, smart rules and flexible reminders let you delegate all the boring, repeating daily tasks to DEVONthink too. On iOS, use Shortcuts actions to integrate DEVONthink To Go with your other apps.
Of course, whatever you keep in your databases remains yours. It’s all stored locally, nothing is uploaded anywhere unless you say so. Flexible synchronization technology with strong encryption makes sure that you have all your important documents with you on whatever device you’re working on or taking with you. Use iCloud, Dropbox, any WebDAV service you may have booked. Or synchronize directly over your local network.
And, of course, there’s so much more, from email archiving and scanning to an embedded web server for sharing your data securely with your team. Check out https://www.devontechnologies.com to learn more about DEVONthink, DEVONthink To Go, and more.
This week on MPU:
David Rosenthal is a world-renown keyboardist, musical director, synthesizer programmer and composer. At the heart of his work is the Mac, and this week he talks with Stephen and David about his background, career, gear and more.
David’s career is legendary, and goes far beyond his work with Billy Joel. This was a fun one.
From the Instapaper blog:
With the Instapaper CarPlay app, it’s now easier than ever to listen to your articles while driving. The CarPlay app offers easy access to your entire Instapaper account, including your saved articles in Home, Liked, Archived, and Folders.
To start listening to an article, just select one from the list.
When an article is playing, you can easily rewind, fast forward, adjust playback speed, and like or archive the article.
This seems like a very clever use of CarPlay. It’s just too bad that Instapaper’s reading voice isn’t that great compared to some of the options out there.
Chance Miller at 9to5Mac has written an absolute banger of a story about Brydge, the accessory maker best known for their line of iPad keyboards:
Brydge, a once thriving startup making popular keyboard accessories for iPad, Mac, and Microsoft Surface products, is ceasing operations. According to nearly a dozen former Brydge employees who spoke to 9to5Mac, Brydge has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs within the past year after at least two failed acquisitions.
As it stands today, Brydge employees have not been paid salaries since January. Customers who pre-ordered the company’s most recent product have been left in the dark since then as well. Its website went completely offline earlier this year, and its social media accounts have been silent since then as well.
As always, Jason has a bunch of charts up over at Six Colors:
Apple announced its latest quarterly results on Thursday. The company posted $94.8 billion in revenue, down slightly from the year-ago quarter but—at least to my eyes—not down as much as we might have expected.
Mac revenue was, as expected, down 31 percent to $7.2 billion—the lowest quarter of Mac revenue since 2020. iPad was down 13 percent to $6.7 billion, the lowest iPad revenue quarter since 2020. iPhone was up 2 percent to $51.3 billion, which given the downward trend elsewhere was pretty impressive—it was a Q2 record for iPhone revenue.
Services revenue soared to an all-time record of $20.9 billion, up 5 percent. Wearables was down by one percent, to $8.8 billion.
The iPhone sold better than I thought it might, but given that the entire PC industry is down, the Mac and iPad’s numbers aren’t surprising. I think these numbers say less about Apple than they do the economy in general, and tech specifically.
This week on Connected:
Stephen discovers wireless CarPlay, Myke shares some cool Mac apps and Federico makes a confession about his iPad usage. Then, the guys regroup on the topic of Mastodon.
As noted by Joe Rossignol, the Thunderbolt Display is being added to Apple’s list of obsolete products.
In addition to making me feel old, this news made me remember just how good the Thunderbolt Display was.
Announced in 2011, the Thunderbolt Display was an extension of the previous display, the 27-inch LED Cinema Display which was announced a year earlier. Here’s a bit from Apple’s press release:
Apple today unveiled the new Apple Thunderbolt Display, the world’s first display with Thunderbolt I/O technology and the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook. With just a single cable, users can connect a Thunderbolt-enabled Mac to the 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display and access its FaceTime camera, high quality audio, and Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire® 800, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt ports. Designed specifically for Mac notebooks, the new display features an elegant, thin, aluminum and glass enclosure, and includes a MagSafe connector that charges your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.
“The Apple Thunderbolt Display is the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With just one cable, users can dock with their new display and connect to high performance peripherals, network connections and audio devices.”
All of that connectivity meant that Mac users could sit down at a desk, plug in a few cables and get right to work. There’s an old joke1 that the back of Apple’s computers look better than the front of computers made by other companies; in this case, the back of the Thunderbolt Display was more feature-packed than the front of most other displays.
Speaking of the front of displays, the Thunderbolt Display featured a 27-inch LCD running at 2560 by 1440 pixels, covered in glass with black bezels like the iMacs of its time. Above the display was a FaceTime camera running at 720p, and a 2.1 speaker system eliminated the need for external speakers.
All of this was just $999, which seems like an absolute steal given Apple’s current display prices.
Back in 2011, I was working in IT full-time, and was able to pick one of these up for my desk. I paired it with a 15-inch MacBook Pro for years, and it was a great setup.
Despite being announced a year before the first Retina MacBook Pro, the 109 ppi resolution felt old pretty quickly, especially after the iMac 5K arrived in 2014. The Thunderbolt Display hung on until 2016, when it was discontinued with a press statement:
“We’re discontinuing the Apple Thunderbolt Display. It will be available through Apple.com, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers while supplies last. There are a number of great third-party options available for Mac users,” said an Apple spokesperson.
Today, the Studio Display serves as Apple’s mainstream display, and Thunderbolt has finally delivered on the notebook/desktop setup promises that the Thunderbolt Display made. I can sit my 14-inch MacBook on its stand, plug in one cable and be off to the races. It feels like the future, even if that future started 12 years ago.
- This joke was made when the iMac was introduced in 1998, and then became a bit of a meme in keynotes for years. ↩
Adam Engst has an in-depth article up about the new update type that iOS, iPadOS and macOS users saw earlier this week:
Ultimately, it’s good to see Apple finally utilizing the long-promised Rapid Security Response update mechanism. I’ll admit that I had somewhat come to dread operating system updates, particularly on the Mac, where you can end up staring at a black screen for far longer than is comfortable. Rapid Security Responses won’t fix that problem for actual operating system updates, but I hope Apple can use them to reduce the number of full updates that are necessary.
Yesterday, I picked up my new truck, a 2023 Toyota Tundra. Coming from an older Tacoma, this thing is amazing, and that includes the large 14-inch screen. The truck has wireless CarPlay, but I noticed something right away: CarPlay’s UI doesn’t stretch very gracefully for these larger displays.
The home screen actually looks pretty good, with a giant map and nice large buttons:
Sadly, it’s the best-looking screen at this size.
The phone app is okay but the full-width cells in that table view are a bit odd. I also have no idea why the dialer looks the way it does.
Full-screen media playback is perhaps the worst of the screens, with both Overcast and Apple Music showing how much work Apple needs to do here:
At WWDC last year, Apple showed off the future of CarPlay. I love their vision for the future of the car, but I hope we don’t have to wait for that to see improvements for those of us living in the present.
Apple Support:
Learn how to move songs from MUSICMATCH into your iTunes for Windows Library.
When you first start iTunes, you are given the option to search for music to add to the iTunes library. If you did not select this option, follow the steps below to add music to iTunes.
To move songs from MUSICMATCH into the iTunes Library:
- Open iTunes.
- Open your “My Music” folder by clicking the Start button and then pointing to My Music.
- Arrange the windows so you can see both the My Music folder, and the iTunes Source list.
- Drag your MUSICMATCH songs from the My Music folder to the Library in the Source list.
TextExpander’s customizable and shareable snippets of text allow your team to fly through repetitive tasks quickly by expanding the things you type regularly — all you have to do is type a short abbreviation and TextExpander does the rest of the work for you.
Here’s How It Works:
Create It: Collect your most commonly used emails, phrases, messaging, URLs, and more to create snippets and templates in TextExpander that are always accessible with a quick search or abbreviation.
Share It: Give your team or different departments across your company access to the content they need to use every day.
Use It: Expand the content you need with just a few keystrokes on any device, across any app you use — no APIs or integrations needed.
Optimize It: Add customizations like fill-ins and optional sections to keep that human touch. Anytime you make changes to snippets they update everywhere so your team is always on the same page.
It’s that easy!
Check out TextExpander and say goodbye to repetitive typing.
On April 28, 2003, Apple made a pair of announcements. The first was a new generation of iPod that featured completely solid-state controls and introduced the 30-pin Dock Connector.1
The other would change the company forever: the iTunes Music Store.
Here’s a bit from the press release:
Apple today launched the iTunes Music Store, a revolutionary online music store that lets customers quickly find, purchase and download the music they want for just 99 cents per song, without subscription fees. The iTunes Music Store offers groundbreaking personal use rights, including burning songs onto an unlimited number of CDs for personal use, listening to songs on an unlimited number of iPods, playing songs on up to three Macintosh computers, and using songs in any application on the Mac, including iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD.
“The iTunes Music Store offers the revolutionary rights to burn an unlimited number of CDs for personal use and to put music on an unlimited number of iPods for on-the-go listening,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Consumers don’t want to be treated like criminals and artists don’t want their valuable work stolen. The iTunes Music Store offers a groundbreaking solution for both.”
The hour-long event is on YouTube and is a fun watch. In his keynote, Steve Jobs compared the iTunes Music Store to the other solutions of the day, touting Apple’s solution as a better way to get digital music than pirating. The Store featured high-end encoding, full-featured metadata, 30-second previews and a universe-friendly alternative to stealing.
Initially the iTunes Music Store was just on the Mac, but six months after its launch, it was made available for Windows:
Apple today launched the second generation of its revolutionary iTunes Music Store for both Mac and Windows users. The new iTunes Music Store offers Windows users the same online music store that Mac users love — with the same music catalog, the same personal use rights and the same 99 cents-per-song pricing. Since its launch six months ago, music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 13 million songs from the iTunes Music Store, making it the number one download music service in the world. With music from all five major music companies and over 200 independent music labels, the iTunes Music Store catalog is growing every day and will offer more than 400,000 songs by the end of October.
“The iTunes Music Store has revolutionized the way people legally buy music online, and now it’s available to tens of millions more music lovers with iTunes for Windows,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “While our competitors haven’t even come close to matching our first generation, we’re already releasing the second generation of the iTunes Music Store for Mac and Windows.”
Jobs referred to iTunes as the “best Windows app ever written,” and it was feature-for-feature the same as the Mac version. While the application’s reputation became tarnished in its later years, iTunes made using an iPod on Windows a pretty great experience, replacing the janky MusicMatch integration iPod users on Windows had been stuck with before this announcement.
Putting iTunes — and the iTunes Music Store — on Windows changed the digital media landscape forever. Apple would become the most powerful player in the music industry, then branch out to add podcasts, music videos, movies and TV shows to its digital store. It showed up on the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV. When Apple launched the App Store in 2008, it was built atop the iTunes infrastructure.
iTunes is all but gone and the Store itself has been downplayed by Apple over the years, with the streaming services that Jobs railed against twenty years ago being the way the vast majority of us listen to music. Even so, there is no question that the iTunes Music Store helped Apple become the giant it is today.
- I know some people don’t like the buttons, but this iPod will always hold a special place in my heart, as it was the first iPod I ever used. I got it my senior year of high school and carried it everywhere with me in college until I replaced it with a 5th generation model years later. ↩
This week on Connected:
Stephen explains his recent truck accident and absence from the podcast, Myke has a bunch of app suggestions for Federico and they all have questions about Tim Cook’s Apple Watch usage.
On the Pro version of the show — which is both ad-free and longer — we cover Google alerts, Mastodon posts and gold Apple Watches.
Apple Support:
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: Intermittent and/or solid failure during reading and writing to the external drive.
CAUSE: The pins on the logic board punch holes in the mylar covering on the RFI shield on the back of the logic board. When they penetrate the covering they short to the case.
That sounds like an exciting bug. Here was the “CURE” as Apple put it:
- Install the latest revision of RFI shield orderable through Apple Service.
- If the problem persists, replace the external drive mechanism.
- If the problem still persists, refer to the Level I Technical Procedures.
In the run-up to WWDC 2023, reporting about Apple’s forthcoming AR/VR headset have really begun to heat up.
In this week’s Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman wrote a bit about how Apple may pitch the device to customers and developers.
Forgive the long block-quote, but I think it’s important to go over what he believes the headset will be capable of doing:
- The ability to run most of Apple’s existing iPad apps in mixed reality, which blends AR and VR. That includes Books, Camera, Contacts, FaceTime, Files, Freeform, Home, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Safari, Stocks, TV and Weather.
- A new Wellness app with a focus on meditation, featuring immersive graphics, calming sounds and voice-overs.
Being able to run the hundreds of thousands of existing third-party iPad apps from the App Store with either no extra work or minimal modifications.- A new portal for watching sports in virtual reality as part of Apple’s push into streaming live games and news.
- A large gaming focus, including top-tier titles from existing third-party developers for Apple’s other devices.
- A feature to use the headset as an external monitor for a connected Mac.
- Advanced videoconferencing and virtual meeting rooms with realistic avatars, ideally making users feel like they’re interacting in the same place.
- New collaboration tools via the Freeform app that let users work on virtual whiteboards and go over material together.
- A new VR-focused Fitness+ experience for working out while wearing the headset (though this feature likely won’t arrive until later).
- A way to watch video while immersed in a virtual environment, such as a desert scene or in the sky.
- Users will also be able to operate the headset in several different ways, including by hand and eye control and Siri. It also will work with a connected keyboard or controls from another Apple device.
Most folks would look at this list and think, “My word, Apple has no idea what this device is for!”
In fact, Gurman says as much in his column:
As the company gets ready to unveil the product in June, that question is still hanging in the air. Apple hasn’t really found a killer app that will make the roughly $3,000 headset a must-have item. Instead, it’s trying another tactic: throwing everything but the kitchen sink at consumers.
Apple plans to pack the headset with a variety of features — games, fitness services, even an app for reading books in virtual reality — and hope that buyers find something they like.
Loads of people have compared this strategy to the Apple Watch’s launch, which many believe was unfocused and a bit messy.
We’ll come back to the Apple Watch, but first, I want to take a look at Apple’s other device launches over the years and see how they’ve changed.
iPod (2001)In the fall of 2001, Steve Jobs hosted a low-key event in Apple’s Town Hall, announcing Apple’s first non-Mac product since his return to the company.
The pitch was simple:
Over time, the iPod would gain all sorts of capabilities, including viewing photos and video, the ability to play games and more, but at the start it was a focused, purpose-made device. It played your music, and it did it pretty darn well.
iPhone (2007)Just six years later, Jobs would unveil the iPhone. The introduction is legendary:
The iPhone has evolved into the primary computer for millions of people, but it’s beginnings were rather humble. The App Store wouldn’t launch until a year after the first iPhone went on sale, and other features like cut/copy/paste and multi-tasking wouldn’t come for another year or two. It took even longer for iOS to grow into the general-purpose operating system it has become.
All of that said, it’s notable that the first feature Jobs mentioned was an iPod. Heck, the music app on early versions of iOS was named “iPod.” From the start, the iPhone was designed to absorb the iPod as the market started to move away from the dedicated media player. If someone was going to cannibalize the iPod, Apple wanted to be the company to do it.
That meant that the sales pitch for the original iPhone was a good bit more complicated than the iPod’s. The iPhone was a phone and an iPod and the Internet in your pocket.
iPad (2010)Three years later, the original iPad was introduced. Jobs spoke about phones and laptops, and asked if there was room for a third category of device. For something to justify its existence, he argued, it needed to be better at some key things:
The list included browsing the web, checking email, viewing photos and video, listening to music, playing games and reading digital books.
I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of what I do on my devices. During the keynote, Jobs and his colleagues showed the device handling those tasks and more. While critics decried the iPad as “just a big iPhone,” Apple argued it was a general-purpose computer that was ushering in the post-PC age. As such, its introductory set of features had to be more complex and broad than the iPhone before it.
Apple Watch (2014)We’ve finally made it to the Apple Watch, the first new product category Apple entered in the Tim Cook era. Announced at the same event as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, it was the first time Apple used the words “one more thing” since Steve’s passing in 2011.1
There’s no doubt in my mind that the Apple Watch’s announcement was meant to to echo the iPhone’s some seven years earlier, constructed around three tentpole features:
The Apple Watch, Apple said, was a precise and customizable timepiece, an intimate way to connect and communicate and, lastly, a comprehensive health and fitness companion.
Admittedly, this wasn’t as catchy as the iPhone’s introduction, but it highlighted the areas in which Apple thought the Watch could be impactful.
The rest of the keynote showed how the Apple Watch could fit into every day life, becoming a little iPhone strapped to your wrist, despite being extremely dependent on the iPhone in your pocket. Even this wasn’t that far removed from Jobs demoing the handful of built-in apps on the original iPhone, at least in spirit.
A bunch of the initial Apple Watch reviews all had a common theme, however: that Apple wasn’t quite sure what the device was good for, and that users would need to figure that out for themselves. The Verge’s Nilay Patel, writing in 2015, summed it up well:
The Apple Watch is one of the most ambitious products I’ve ever seen; it wants to do and change so much about how we interact with technology. But that ambition robs it of focus.
Over time, it’s clear that some of the features of those early days were more important than others. Today, most folks buy an Apple Watch for its notification and fitness features, with more generalized tasks being less important that it seemed they would be nine years ago when it was introduced. Apple and its customers have found common ground in what the Watch is good for and watchOS and its hardware have changed to better deliver on those key items.
Was the initial rollout of the Watch a bit messy? Sure, but I don’t think anyone would argue that it hurt the product in the long run. Apple and its customers got on the same page pretty quickly.
The Headset (2023?)That brings us to the headset, as shown in a render here via 9to5Mac:
If reporting is to be believed, the headset’s introduction may look a lot more like the Watch’s than the iPod’s or the iPhone’s.
Honestly, I think that is okay. We demand far more from our devices than we did when those earlier products were announced, and in a way, every device has become a general-purpose computer to varying degrees, even the Apple Watch.
Apple’s rumored broad approach with the new device could prove to be a wise one. By supporting most of the things its customers use their iPads and iPhones for, more folks may look at the headset and think, “This does something that is important to me,” and be willing to entertain a purchase.
Putting aside Apple’s historic lack of enthusiasm around gaming,2 if the headset was pitched as the next great gaming platform, and lacked support for other types of activities many people — myself included — would not be interested in it. Likewise, if it’s heralded as a new way to work remotely and connect with colleagues, a bunch of people would write it off.
In a sense, every new product needs to be broad now, because consumers assume that everything is a computer that can do computer things. Splashing cold water on the headset’s upcoming announcement because it appears to lack a killer app feels premature to me. Doing a bit of everything is mere table stakes now.
- Tim’s voice breaking while saying the phrase is one of the most human moments we’ve seen from the CEO. ↩
- Honestly, I think this take is a bit outdated, and mostly about the Mac, as the iPhone and iPad are huge gaming platforms… but that’s a column for a different time. ↩
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site.
Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also serve as a great alternative for resource hogging Electron apps or half-baked Catalyst apps.
Some examples of apps you could create in mere minutes with Unite:
- A Gmail web client that behaves like a native mail client.
- A status bar app for Apple Music or Overcast
- An isolated workspace for apps that may track you like Facebook
- A Google Meet app that works efficiently without using Chrome
- A fully featured Instagram app that has a resizable window, unlike the M1 version.
- A Robinhood, Figma, or Roam Research app for your desktop.
512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Unite 4 at bzgapps.com/unite512 or when you use the promo code ‘512Pixels’ at checkout.
You can also try Unite for 14 days absolutely free or use it as part of your subscription if you’re a Setapp subscriber!
On this week’s feedback episode of Mac Power Users, David and I revisit our revisit of Contacts, talk about the differences between Obsidian and Craft, answer questions about version control and get philosophical about modern Apple.
I’ve been verified on Twitter for years, and at the time it happened, I was pretty excited about it. It felt like a badge of honor as someone who works in media. Today, I honestly couldn’t care less about it going away, and that makes me a little sad for what Twitter has become.
Apple Support:
Safari 4 may unexpectedly quit if “Glims for Safari” by MacHangout is installed.
Uninstall “Glims for Safari” as described on this website.
That MacHangout URL is long gone, but the Wayback Machine grabbed it, and the page included a link to an uninstaller.
I had no recollection of Glims for Safari, but the Wayback Machine is helpful there, too.
Whether you’re in the harbor or at high sea, you need to know where you are or where you’re sailing. If you have all the maps, books, and documents. DEVONthink for Mac and DEVONthink To Go for iOS will not let you down on your mission and help you navigate the “seven seas of information.”
Sailor jokes aside… DEVONthink helps you get organized in your office, home office, or on the go. It keeps all your documents, snippets, and bookmarks in one place. Organize them however you need and let DEVONthink’s unique AI assist you all the way with filing and finding. And if that wasn’t enough, smart rules and flexible reminders let you delegate all the boring, repeating daily tasks to DEVONthink too. On iOS, use Shortcuts actions to integrate DEVONthink To Go with your other apps.
Of course, whatever you keep in your databases remains yours. It’s all stored locally, nothing is uploaded anywhere unless you say so. Flexible synchronization technology with strong encryption makes sure that you have all your important documents with you on whatever device you’re working on or taking with you. Use iCloud, Dropbox, any WebDAV service you may have booked. Or synchronize directly over your local network.
And, of course, there’s so much more, from email archiving and scanning to an embedded web server for sharing your data securely with your team. Check out https://www.devontechnologies.com to learn more about DEVONthink, DEVONthink To Go, and more.
Adam Tow is a long-time Apple user whose passions include development, photography and the Newton. This week on MPU, he talks with David and I about his various projects and the tools he uses to make them a reality.
Mark Gurman, in a fresh report for Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is ramping up testing of fresh Macs with processors on par with the current M2 chip, making headway on key new machines that could help reverse a sales decline.
The Mac maker has begun testing the new machines with third-party apps from the App Store to validate their compatibility, according to developer logs shared with Bloomberg News. That’s a necessary step in the run-up to the launch of a new device.
One of the new machines is believed to be the long-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air, and reportedly has the same number of cores and amount of memory as the current 13-inch M2 MacBook Air.
Previously, it had been reported that the 15-inch model would usher in the M3 era, but I always felt that this summer seemed a little too soon for another generational change. Either way, this machine is going to be exciting for a lot of folks.
While I’m linking to the transcript of the interview, you should totally take the time to listen to it. It’s just wild. The part about content moderation on Substack is particularly troubling:
Nilay: Wow. I mean, I just want to be clear, if somebody shows up on Substack and says “all brown people are animals and they shouldn’t be allowed in America,” you’re going to censor that. That’s just flatly against your terms of service.
Chris: So, we do have a terms of service that have narrowly prescribed things that are not allowed.
Nilay: That one I’m pretty sure is just flatly against your terms of service. You would not allow that one. That’s why I picked it.
Chris: So there are extreme cases, and I’m not going to get into the–
Nilay: Wait. Hold on. In America in 2023, that is not so extreme, right? “We should not allow as many brown people in the country.” Not so extreme. Do you allow that on Substack? Would you allow that on Substack Notes?
Chris: I think the way that we think about this is we want to put the writers and the readers in charge–
Nilay: No, I really want you to answer that question. Is that allowed on Substack Notes? “We should not allow brown people in the country.”
Chris: I’m not going to get into gotcha content moderation.
Nilay: This is not a gotcha… I’m a brown person. Do you think people on Substack should say I should get kicked out of the country?
Chris: I’m not going to engage in content moderation, “Would you or won’t you this or that?”
He never answered the question, and Nilay went as far as to give Chris a way out during the interview. Between this and Substack’s financial situation, I would not want to be building a business atop its platform.
Make Something Wonderful, the new book by The Steve Jobs Archive is really something special if you’re an Apple nerd. The best reading experience is on the web, but it’s available in a bunch of digital formats as well.
(Personally, I snagged the .epub for my Apple history library that I store in DEVONthink.)
The holy grail, it would seem, is the physical edition of the book, which has been given to at least some Apple employees.
As of this writing, there are roughly two dozen of them for sale on eBay, with prices as high as $25,000. Many of the listings have active bidders, most of them in the $1,000 range or so.
Maybe just do what I did and archive the digital version.
I came across this link to an article on The Guardian via Justin Blanton’s blog, and got a kick out of it. Emma Beddington wrote back in October:
There’s a new buzz on TikTok – well, not a buzz exactly. It’s more of a hum, maybe waves crashing, a purring fan or steady, heavy rain. To me, it sounds like an empty aeroplane, cruising peacefully at altitude. It’s brown noise, a close cousin of the better-known white noise, and TikTok users, particularly the platform’s ADHD community, are all over it: there are 85.3m views for the #brownnoise hashtag.
The “brown” in brown noise is not a colour, but a reference to sound that mimics Brownian motion, the movement pollen makes in water, identified by the botanist Robert Brown in 1827. In essence, brown noise is the familiar, staticky sound of white noise (that is, all the audible frequencies simultaneously) but with the low frequency notes augmented and the less pleasant high frequency notes turned down, counteracting the human ear’s natural tendency to hear higher frequencies louder.
Like Justin, I’m a huge fan of brown noise, using it often as I fall asleep. I usually mix in a little “rain” noise for the perfect sleepy-time sound via the excellent Dark Noise.
This week on the podcast:
Stephen, Myke and Federico discuss the success of S-GPT, the future of Apple’s display business and the next iPhone’s buttons. They also roast Steve Jobs’ office.
David Folkenflik:
NPR will no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds, becoming the first major news organization to go silent on the social media platform. In explaining its decision, NPR cited Twitter’s decision to first label the network “state-affiliated media,” the same term it uses for propaganda outlets in Russia, China and other autocratic countries.
The decision by Twitter last week took the public radio network off guard. When queried by NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn, Twitter owner Elon Musk asked how NPR functioned. Musk allowed that he might have gotten it wrong.
Twitter then revised its label on NPR’s account to “government-funded media.” The news organization says that is inaccurate and misleading, given that NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. It receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
This is the way.
Apple Support:
If you are running the Moire Screen Saver,you may encounter an incompatibility issue when the screen saver engages. While entering records in a ClarisWorks Database, if the Moire screen saver engages, the Edit Menu commands sometimes change to what they would be in Layout mode. While in this situation, the keyboard commands for “Layout” or “Browse” do not work. They must be selected from the Menu. Choosing Layout and then Browse from the Layout menu usually returns the proper Browse Edit Menu, but sometimes the file must be Closed and reopened to access the “New Record” command. This issue most often occurs after a short pause ,a minute or so, when entering data. Allowing or forcing the “Moire” screen saver to engage always produces the issue.
The solution is to remove Moire from the control panels folder.
That screensaver looks fun.
Amanda Silberling at TechCrunch:
Numerous Twitter users are reporting a bug in which Circle tweets — which are supposed to reach a select group, like an Instagram Close Friends story — are surfacing on the algorithmically-generated For You timeline. That means that your supposedly private posts might breach containment to reach an unintended audience, which could quickly spark some uncomfortable situations.
I observed this bug when a tweet from someone I follow appeared on my For You timeline, but the retweet button was disabled, despite the person’s account being public. When I clicked on the tweet, it disappeared. I asked the tweeter if that post was intended for their Circle — which I am not in — and they confirmed this was the case.
I’m starting to think the folks running Twitter don’t really know what they’re doing.
MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs.
The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to Twitter.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable global keyboard shortcut, write out your latest thoughts, and instantly publish to your blog.
MarsEdit supports editing posts in rich or plain text, and the latest update is especially great for Markdown fans. Now when you’re writing Markdown in plain text mode, MarsEdit applies live, beautiful syntax highlighting to make it easier to focus separately on the content and style of your posts.
MarsEdit is used by top bloggers to maximize their productivity and enjoyment of blogging. It’s great for pros like John Gruber of Daring Fireball, and Stephen Hackett of this very blog, while also being simple enough to remove the mystery of blogging for everyday folks who just want to share their thoughts with the world.
Download MarsEdit 5 today, and see what all the hype is about. It’ll make you a better blogger!
This week on Mac Power Users:
Contacts and calendars are a constant for almost everyone. This week, the guys revisit their setups, discuss alternatives to Apple’s first-party apps and more.
This machine has been on my “white whale” list for collecting for a long time. This video is a great look at the Lisa:
This week on the podcast, we go deep on AI:
Federico has released S-GPT, a Shortcut that brings the power of ChatGPT down to your devices and data. Myke and Stephen talk to him about the project and what’s next in Automation April after dealing with some follow-up.
Each week, we do a longer, ad-free version of the show named Connected Pro. This time, we talked about toy animals with tiny heads and storm spotting.
Kris Holt, writing at Engadget:
Twitter has added a label to the main account of NPR to designate the public broadcaster as “US state-affiliated media.” Until now, such labels have typically been reserved for state-run organizations such as RT and Sputnik in Russia and China’s Xinhua News Agency. The labels appear on every tweet from accounts they’re applied to.
“We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as state-affiliated media,” a description that, per Twitter’s own guidelines, does not apply to NPR,” the broadcaster’s CEO John Lansing said in a statement. “NPR and our member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide. NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.”
Meanwhile, I’m not paying for Twitter Blue but am still verified. I’m starting to think the folks running Twitter don’t really know what they’re doing.
Federico Viticci has created something wild:
It’s the inaugural week of the second annual edition of Automation April, and to celebrate the occasion, I’ve been working on something special: today, I’m introducing S-GPT, an advanced conversational shortcut for ChatGPT that bridges OpenAI’s assistant to native system features of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS.
S-GPT (which stands for Shortcuts-GPT) is free to use for everyone, but it requires an OpenAI account with an associated pay-as-you-go billing plan since it takes advantage of OpenAI’s developer API, which has a cost. S-GPT was built with the latest ChatGPT API, and it can be used both with the existing ChatGPT 3.5 model or – if you have access to it – the ChatGPT 4 API.
I have been playing with this for a little while, and it’s some of Ticci’s best work. Having ChatGPT available though Shortcuts is one thing, but to have it interact with content on my devices is another thing altogether. We’ll be talking more about it on today’s Connected, I assure you.
Dark Noise is — by far — the best white noise app out there for the Apple ecosystem. Today’s release of 3.0 keeps that streak alive with a new business model. The app is now free with in-app purchase. John Voorhees has more at MacStories:
If you previously purchased Dark Noise, which included many of the features that are now part of a Pro subscription, you’re covered. Anyone who bought Dark Noise prior to the release of version 3.0 gets all of the features included in the Pro subscription. Pro subscribers may get new features in the future, but as of the release of version 3.0, existing users and subscribers have access to the same features, which I think is a fair way to transition to a subscription model.
I’m also glad to see that the core features of Dark Noise will be available for free for the first time. There are a lot of ambient sound apps on the App Store, but a lot aren’t very good. Dark Noise is excellent, and I expect having a free tier to show off what the app can do to new users will result in more paid users in the long run. I’m also a fan of the one-time payment option, which is a nice option for fans of the app who just don’t like paying subscriptions.
The Pro subscription is $2.99/month or $19.99/year with a three-day trial. Dark Noise 3.0 is also available as a one-time purchase for $49.99, as John references above. I use this app all the time,1 and I’m happy to chip in and help keep it viable for the developer Charlie to work on for the long term.
- I’m a Brown Noise man myself, usually with some Rain noise mixed in. ↩
Tim Hardwick at MacRumors, writing two days too late for this to be an April Fools joke:
Apple has designs on a future AirPods case featuring a built-in touchscreen display that would enable users to control audio sources and interact with apps associated with the connected device, according to a newly published patent.
Filed by Apple in September 2021 and published last week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, “Devices, Methods, and Graphical User Interface Interactions with a Headphones Case” clearly depicts various embodiments for such a design, complete with images of AirPods and a touchscreen on the case’s front.
These have the same energy, and it’s not energy we need in the world again:
MacStories’ John Voorhees:
We’re very excited to announce the second annual Automation April Shortcuts Contest, which, along with all of Automation April is dedicated to the memory of Alex Hay, the developer of Toolbox Pro and other apps.
As we had hoped when we introduced Automation April last year, the Automation April Shortcuts Contest became the centerpiece of Automation April. Last year, we had over 200 contest submissions across six categories of shortcuts. We received some remarkable shortcuts that showed just how creative and clever this community can be. But best of all, we saw the automation community come together to help each other when they got stuck and share the shortcuts they made.
Like last year, we encourage to you build a shortcut and submit it to the contest whether you’re a Shortcuts expert or just starting out. Shortcuts do not need to be complex to win in one of contest’s categories. That’s true for all the categories, but especially true for the Best Everyday Shortcut category, which we created because we know from experience that some of our most valuable and frequently-used shortcuts are among the simplest.
Rachel Kraft and Dan Huot, writing for NASA:
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. The agencies revealed the crew members Monday during an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“The Artemis II crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars. This is their crew, this is our crew, this is humanity’s crew,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, each has their own story, but, together, they represent our creed: E pluribus unum – out of many, one. Together, we are ushering in a new era of exploration for a new generation of star sailors and dreamers – the Artemis Generation.”
There’s a lot more on the mission’s webpage.
Apple Support:
If you have an active MobileMe account when you move to iCloud, you’ll be able to keep your @me.com or @mac.com email address and move your MobileMe Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, as well as your Bookmarks, to the new service.
This article provides important information about how to successfully move from MobileMe to iCloud. Please read the information below and when you are ready to move your MobileMe account to iCloud, visit me.com/move
More details on the move could be found here.
TextExpander’s customizable and shareable snippets of text allow your team to fly through repetitive tasks quickly by expanding the things you type regularly — all you have to do is type a short abbreviation and TextExpander does the rest of the work for you.
Here’s How It Works:
- Create It: Collect your most commonly used emails, phrases, messaging, URLs, and more to create snippets and templates in TextExpander that are always accessible with a quick search or abbreviation.
- Share It: Give your team or different departments across your company access to the content they need to use every day.
- Use It: Expand the content you need with just a few keystrokes on any device, across any app you use — no APIs or integrations needed.
- Optimize It: Add customizations like fill-ins and optional sections to keep that human touch. Anytime you make changes to snippets they update everywhere so your team is always on the same page.
It’s that easy!
Check out TextExpander and say goodbye to repetitive typing.
Much of our content consumption is now digital, from books and newspapers to shows and movies. This week on MPU, David and I talk through the services they enjoy and the apps they use when it’s time to put our feet up.
When it first went up, Issues were apparently open on the repo. There were some very funny things in there that have now been deleted, but as of this writing, this one remains, as does one requesting a printed version of the repository.
Jonathan Gitlin, writing at Ars about a huge mistake GM is about to make:
In surprising car news today, we’ve learned that General Motors is planning to drop support for both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from new electric vehicles it plans to launch in the next few years. The decision won’t affect any GM vehicles already on the market, nor will it apply to gasoline- or diesel-powered GM vehicles in the coming years—just EVs.
“As we scale our EVs and launch our Ultifi software platform, we can do more than ever before with in-vehicle technologies and over-the-air updates. All of this is allowing us to constantly improve the customer experience we can offer across our brands,” said Edward Kummer, GM’s chief digital officer.
GM told Ars that it’s moving away from phone projection to offer customers a more integrated solution that sees Google Maps, Google Assistant, Audible, Spotify, and other applications run natively on its cars’ infotainment systems.
I don’t plan on ever purchasing a car without CarPlay again. I suspect a lot of folks feel the same way.
Sara Fischer:
The White House will not pay to have its staff’s official Twitter profiles continue to be verified, according to guidance issued to staffers via an email obtained by Axios.
Official White House staffers rely on their verified accounts to inform the public on behalf of the administration. Verification, combined with the designated Twitter profiles, helped to ensure the public could trust those messages.
“It is our understanding that Twitter Blue does not provide person-level verification as a service. Thus, a blue check mark will now simply serve as a verification that the account is a paid user,” White House director of digital strategy Rob Flaherty told staffers in an email sent Friday afternoon.
Under the current scheme, official government accounts carry a gray check mark, media outlets and companies get gold ones and suckers get to show a blue one, perhaps optionally.
I expect mine will go away very soon.
This week’s Connected is JAM PACKED with stuff:
WWDC 2023 was announced about 60 seconds after the guys started recording. After booking their travel, Myke, Federico and Stephen regroup to discuss a possible iPhone Action Button, how people use Shazam, iOS 16.4 and more. They also honor the work of Alex Hay.
If you Federico, Myke or I at WWDC, we may be cosplaying as Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Cabel Sasser:
We all know that Apple has nice built-in password management in macOS and iOS. But very, very few people know that Apple’s passwords can also:
- Autofill any 2FA verification codes, which you easily can add by scanning QR codes!
- Keep a “Notes” field where you can add extra data, like 2FA backup codes, for each password!
- Import passwords exported from another app, like 1Password! (And it all syncs across your devices, for free?!)
Very few people know these things because Apple tucks all of their important password features away in weird little Settings panels, instead of in a Proper Real App. I think this is a mistake.
Apple:
With the Apple Music Classical app, you can access the world’s largest classical music catalog.1 Search by composer, work, conductor, and more to quickly find any recording. Explore composers, periods, instruments, and more through curated playlists and composer biographies. Get detailed information about what youʼre listening to. And access more features for listening to classical music.
Apple Music Classical is included with an individual, student, or family subscription to Apple Music and is currently available only on iPhone.
- Editor’s Note: Except on an iPad (unless you use the iPhone app), Mac or in CarPlay. ↩
Nancy Atkinson:
With the James Webb Space Telescope’s ability to detect and study the atmospheres of distant planets orbiting other stars, exoplanet enthusiasts have been anticipating JWST’s first data on some of the worlds in the famous TRAPPIST-1 system. This is the system where seven Earth-sized worlds are orbiting a red dwarf star, with several in the habitable zone.
Today, a new study was released on the innermost planet in the system, TRAPPIST-1 b. The authors of the study were quite frank: this world very likely has no atmosphere at all. Additionally, the conditions there for possible life as we know it only get worse from there.
If you use audio on your Mac, in any way at all, SoundSource is for you. SoundSource lives in your menu bar, and gives you superior control over all your audio.
Per-application control: Change the volume of any app relative to others, and play individual apps to different audio devices.
Audio effects, anywhere: SoundSource has great built-in effects, like Magic Boost and Volume Overdrive features, as well as a built-in 10-band equalizer to sweeten sound. Advanced users will love the ability to apply Audio Units to any audio.
Fast device access: Adust settings for your Mac’s Output, Input, and Sound Effects audio devices, instantly. Change levels, tweak the balance, and even switch sample rates, right from the menu bar. You may never need to open the Sound System Preference again!
And oh yeah, SoundSource has Shortcuts support too. Automate your usage of not just SoundSource, but many of your Mac’s audio device settings. If you’ve ever wished you could automate the controls found in macOS’s Sound System Preferences and Audio MIDI Setup app, the new Shortcut support in SoundSource is for you.
Download the free SoundSource trial, then purchase today. Through the end of April, 512 Pixels readers can save $10 with coupon code 512SSTEN.
I recently found a screenshot of the App Store running on iOS 5 hanging out in my Dropbox1 and I had things came to mind.
- iBooks wasn’t part of a clean iOS install until iOS 8.
- Apple pushing its services with annoying notifications isn’t anything new.
- We need more brown UI elements in our lives.
- If I had to guess, I bet I made this screenshot when working on this MacStories piece. ↩
Between news apps, delivery services, task managers, emails and communication tools, our devices receive an untold number of notifications daily. On this week’s Mac Power Users, David and I talk about how to push back against the wave of interruptions that threaten our focus and work.
I put this on Mastodon yesterday, but wanted to share it here, too:
I came across this page when working on the next Apple History calendar, and it really made me chuckle. I’ve got an image of the whole thing saved here for all time.
Apple’s Live Activity feature has begun to take off, with more and more apps doing interesting things with the new user interface. Sadly, one of Apple’s own uses for it doesn’t work the way it should.1
In this image, you can see the Live Activity on the lock screen, expanded from the Dynamic Island and a screenshot of Clock.app itself:
First, we have the issue of the Live Activity on the lock screen. Live Activities from third-party developers open the corresponding app when the Live Activity is tapped. Apple’s timer Live Activity doesn’t follow this convention. Instead, tapping the timer itself doesn’t do anything whatsoever. A user can pause or cancel the timer from the Lock Screen, but managing anything past that requires launching Clock.app from somewhere else in the system.
I understand that Apple’s apps are often able to do things that third-party apps can’t, but these features make the timer Live Activity behave so differently than other Live Activities that it can be frustrating to use. It’s easy to cancel a timer, but hard to open the app that manages the timer itself.
When an iPhone 14 Pro is in use, the timer icon shows up in the Dynamic Island as expected. Pressing and holding it will expand the timer, showing the same controls as what is present on the lock screen. However, here — and only here — does tapping the Live Activity open the Clock.app.
For bonus points, I would love it if Apple would show the time at which the timer will go off, on both the lock screen and the expanded view within the Dynamic Island. Alas, that information isn’t visible anywhere except within the Clock app.
… which makes the fact that opening the Clock app from the timer Live Activity doesn’t open Clock to the timer tab feel pretty pretty pretty pretty bad. Instead, Clock.app opens to either the last tab the user was using, or if the app has been fully quit, it opens to the World Clock. Tapping a timer should always open the corresponding panel in the Clock app.
None of these bugs are showstoppers. I use my iPhone2 to set timers several times a week, but the user experience is clunky and comes across as downright buggy.
I’ve filed a Feedback with Apple about this: FB12078863.
PS: Where’s the stopwatch Live Activity, Apple?
- Ah yes, another article about how Apple is bad at timers. ↩
- Don’t get me started on how clunky timers are on watchOS, but at least it can do multiple timers! ↩
Framework is a company creating PC notebooks that are designed to be upgraded and repaired over time, and they’ve refreshed their products, as Andrew Cunningham reports:
For the second year in a row, Framework has announced new upgrades for its modular, repairable Framework Laptop that can be installed directly in older versions of the Framework Laptop. There are two motherboards: one with a predictable upgrade from 12th-generation Intel Core CPUs to 13th-generation chips and one that brings AMD’s Ryzen laptop processors to the Framework Laptop for the first time.
Framework has also formally renamed its first laptop design; the 13-inch model picks up the “Framework Laptop 13” retronym to distinguish it from the new Framework 16 gaming laptop.
You read that correctly; new motherboards can be installed into existing notebooks. There’s even an enclosure available for purchase to turn the old board into a desktop machine.
The Framework 13’s swappable ports made it easy to change out the I/O in case of damage, or to better reflect the user’s needs. The new 16 takes it even farther, as Cunningham writes in a second article:
The other noteworthy thing about the Framework Laptop 16 is its “Expansion Bay System,” which will primarily be used for dedicated GPUs. These GPU modules use eight lanes of PCIe bandwidth (the PCIe version will depend on the motherboard you have installed since the GPU’s PCIe lanes are usually built into the CPU) and can be plugged in and unplugged without modifying anything else about the laptop. Framework’s photos show an Expansion Bay jutting out of the back of the system—not having to fit the GPU within the body of the laptop itself will add size and weight, but it also means that more powerful GPU modules can make room for larger fans and heatsinks, and it’s up to the user to decide on the best combination of performance and size/weight.
These notebooks aren’t the best looking on the planet, nor do they sell in huge numbers. But they seem very, very cool — and important — to this MacBook Pro user.
This week on the podcast:
Myke makes a very important correction and deeply regrets his previous error. Federico pits cubes against triangles and Clippy has been reborn as Microsoft 365 Copilot. Lastly, Stephen starts his search for an heir.
I love macOS wallpapers, so when I saw that Bing had incorporated image creation into its probably-not-going-to-kill-us-all-but-maybe AI tools, I took it for a spin with this prompt:
Make some wallpapers in the style of Mac OS wallpapers from Jaguar, Panther and Tiger
I got these back:
That’s not really what I had in mind, so while the AI’s reading of my prompt made me laugh, I decided to try again:
Make some wallpapers in the style of the blue wallpapers found in early versions of Mac OS X
This went a little better:
I wanted to see if I could get something closer to my beloved OS X images, so I got rid of the OS X language and asked Bing to create wallpapers using various shades of blue that are calming but still portray some level of movement and happiness. I got these back:
Honestly, the last one isn’t too bad.
Everyone’s favorite tall YouTuber has a new video out, looking at the whirlwind of Reality Pro rumors. I am personally finding it hard to get excited about this, but I have to admit, his passion for the subject has helped:
With the regular fine print that “big companies patent every single thing they can,” this report on Patently Apple caught my eye. I’ve had more than a couple bike crashes over the years, including one that shattered an Apple Watch.
I just love the graphic included in the post that shows the decision tree involved:
Whether you’re in the harbor or at high sea, you need to know where you are or where you’re sailing. If you have all the maps, books, and documents. DEVONthink for Mac and DEVONthink To Go for iOS will not let you down on your mission and help you navigate the “seven seas of information.”
Sailor jokes aside … DEVONthink helps you get organized in your office, home office, or on the go. It keeps all your documents, snippets, and bookmarks in one place. Organize them however you need and let DEVONthink’s unique AI assist you all the way with filing and finding. And if that wasn’t enough, smart rules and flexible reminders let you delegate all the boring, repeating daily tasks to DEVONthink too. On iOS, use Shortcuts actions to integrate DEVONthink To Go with your other apps.
Of course, whatever you keep in your databases remains yours. It’s all stored locally, nothing is uploaded anywhere unless you say so. Flexible synchronization technology with strong encryption makes sure that you have all your important documents with you on whatever device you’re working on or taking with you. Use iCloud, Dropbox, any WebDAV service you may have booked. Or synchronize directly over your local network.
And, of course, there’s so much more, from email archiving and scanning to an embedded web server for sharing your data securely with your team. Check out https://www.devontechnologies.com to learn more about DEVONthink, DEVONthink To Go, and more.
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I round up some Mac apps for their “20 Under $20” saloon!
In 2021, I launched my first Kickstarter campaign, for a wall calendar celebrating dates in Apple’s hardware history. The next year, I followed it up with a project focused on Apple’s software history. I’ve got something cooking for the third installment, but that’s a story for a different time.
Each project was more than just a beautiful wall calendar, however. Each campaign included digital goodies: wallpapers made of the images in the calendars and digital versions and .ics files for each project’s dates.
Each of these is for sale for just $5 each over on Gumroad:
- Apple Hardware History (.ics)
- Apple Software History (.ics)
- 2023 Wallpapers
- 2022 Wallpapers
Writing on Six Colors:
Over the past couple years, Apple’s been rolling out its “Detailed City Experience” in Maps to cities across the world and finally, at long last, those improved maps and better landmarks have come to my hometown of Boston, as first noted by Frank McShan on Twitter.
These are really nice looking. The closest thing I’ve seen here in Memphis is the Bass Pro location inside the Pyramid, and it really doesn’t come close to these new Maps illustrations:
I’d love for Apple to smooth those sides down. At least the seating in our football stadium works:
This update is great, but I would love it if the example screenshots would include the Grizzlies winning a game:
As seen on MacRumors:
And on 9to5Mac:
Laine Nooney has a new book coming out all about the Apple II:
The Apple II was a versatile piece of hardware, but its most compelling story isn’t found in the feat of its engineering, the personalities of Apple’s founders, or the way it set the stage for the company’s multi-billion-dollar future. Instead, as historian Laine Nooney shows, what made the Apple II iconic was its software. In software, we discover the material reasons people bought computers. Not to hack, but to play. Not to code, but to calculate. Not to program, but to print. The story of personal computing in the United States is not about the evolution of hackers — it’s about the rise of everyday users.
John Gruber, in his linked post about the book:
Did I preorder a copy immediately? Come on, you know the answer.
My debit card literally jumped out of my wallet and at the screen of my MacBook Pro.
Neale Van Fleet, writing on the Rogue Amoeba blog:
As part of the unveiling of our Historic Screenshot Archive, I made some fun images to post to our social media accounts. Making those images was tricky, because interfaces were much smaller in the pre-Retina era.
Working on this project with Rogue Amoeba was a real blast, but I had been wondering how they prepped the images used on social media. Now I know!
Nilay Patel, writing at The Verge:
Here’s the best printer in 2023: the Brother laser printer that everyone has. Stop thinking about it and just buy one. It will be fine!
Seriously, ask around or just look in the background of Zoom calls: there’s a black Brother laser printer sitting there. Some people have the bare-bones Brother HL-L2305DW, which costs like $120. We have the $270 Brother MFC-L2750DW, which adds a sheet-fed scanner, because my wife is a lawyer and scans things for judges or whatever she does with it. It doesn’t matter. We only bought that one to replace our previous Brother laser printer that we lost in a move, and even then, I didn’t even look at the model numbers. It has been connected to our Wi-Fi for like six years straight, and I have never replaced the toner. It prints Amazon return labels from my phone without complaining, and it does not feel like the CEO of Inkjet Supply and Hostage Situations Incorporated is waiting to mug me or enable DRM at the slightest provocation.
Know what’s sitting in a closet in my house, plugged into power and Ethernet? An ancient Brother HL-2270DW that I bought in August 2014.
This week on the podcast:
Spotify is getting weird, Apple is getting wise to long thighs and The Quizzies are back!
Philip Lee has an amazing new product for sale now:
Trashbot 2.0 stationery set is inspired by classic 80s computer culture, featuring unique desktop and icon designs. The set includes:
- Whiteboard x1
- Icons with magnetic back x3
- Trashbot figure/mini pen holder x1
- Error bot figure x1
- Memo Pad x2 (200pages in total)
Ordered.
Apple Support:
Issue or symptom
If a FireWire audio device is connected to a Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) or an iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor) while the computer is restarting, the FireWire bus will stop responding and no FireWire devices will be detected on the bus. The device may stop responding or stop charging, depending on the specifics of the device.Soltuion
You can restore the Firewire bus by resetting the SMU (System Management Unit).
I did not have “Apple Music Classical is announced as an App Store pre-order” on my bingo card for 2023. Not to mention that the app won’t launch on the iPad on day one.
David Smith, writing on Mastodon:
Widgetsmith just reached a truly remarkable milestone, its 100,000,000th download. I am genuinely staggered by this and incredibly grateful.
He continues on his blog:
A number that I can’t really wrap my mind around. A number larger than the population of all but 14 countries.
I was very conflicted about whether I should share and observe this milestone publicly. I am by nature a very shy, quiet person and not one to seek the spotlight.
Also, in the many years I’ve been working at this career I have very often been someone struggling to find traction and stability for my apps, and while I could be genuinely happy for the success of others, it also still stung painfully when I saw it.
My hope is that my 12+ years of consistent podcasting and blogging can speak witness to my motives here in communicating encouragement, not boasting.
Ultimately I decided to share this milestone for two reasons Gratitude & Community.
I know I am not alone in this feeling, but I’m going to add my voice to the chorus — none of this could happen to a nicer, more caring guy that David. I’m proud to be his friend, and proud of his achievement today.
Whoever was assigned to task to write a support article explaining the differences between the PowerBook G3 models drew the short straw that week at Kbase HQ:
This article describes the differences between the PowerBook G3 Series (Bronze keyboard) introduced in May, 1999, and earlier PowerBook G3 Series computers.
There are a number of visual cues for distinguishing the new PowerBook G3 Series.
They are:
- The keyboard and trackpad button have a bronze or mocha color.
- The inside display bezel has a white Apple logo at the top.
- The rear ports are all enclosed by the I/O door and the modem port is now in the rear of the unit.
- There are two USB ports.
- It has a single, manual eject PC card slot which supports Type I and II PC cards.
- The display clamshell latch mechanism release is on the base of the PowerBook instead of the clamshell.
Filipe Espósito, writing last week at 9to5Mac:
9to5Mac last month revealed a first look at the design of the entire iPhone 15 lineup based on CAD files used to build the phones and also compatible accessories. But one thing that remained unclear was the layout of the volume buttons, which reportedly will be capacitive rather than physical. 9to5Mac has heard from a source that iPhone 15 Pro will have new unified volume buttons, plus a “pressing type” mute button.
According to our source, who’s familiar with making certified accessories for Apple products, the iPhone 15 Pro models will ditch the separate volume up and volume down buttons for a new single button that works both ways depending on where the user presses it.
I didn’t link to this when it came out because I couldn’t work out why I felt so weird about the idea of the iPhone’s ringer switch going away.
It hit me today: the ringer switch is one (of the ever-shrinking number) of the hardware feature of the original iPhone that is still with us today.
Since the beginning, we’ve been able to flip a switch, without looking, and know that our iPhones wouldn’t make noise. Some of us flip that switch on a new phone and never switch it back to allow sounds at all. I am thrilled to read that the functionality will continue, even if I am a little sad1 about losing part of the original iPhone design.
- I’m still not really over Apple taking a similar switch away from the iPad. In that case, Apple let you choose between the switch working as it does on the iPhone and use it as a rotation lock. It was awesome. ↩
There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the First Amendment in this country. It does not protect you from being banned from Twitter or moderated on Facebook or even in a Discord. It’s all about the relationship between the individual and the government when it comes to terms of speech. No matter how loud your conspiracy-slinging uncle cries foul, it’s just not the issue he claims it is.
Jon Brodkin over at Ars has a story that much more to the point where the First Amendment lives:
A proposed law in Florida would force bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis and other elected officials to register with a state office and file monthly reports or face fines of $25 per day. The bill was filed in the Florida Senate Tuesday by Senator Jason Brodeur, a Republican.
If enacted, the proposed law would likely be challenged in court on grounds that it violates First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and the press. Defending his bill, Brodeur said, “Paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk. They both are professional electioneers. If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldn’t paid bloggers?” according to the Florida Politics news website.
Bloggers-as-lobbyists is just a wild argument. No one tell Brodeur that blogging is dead and all the real action is on social media.
That aside, this clearly seems to be an attempt to limit the speech of influential writers in Florida politics, as well as random folks writing on Medium.
This week on Mac Power Users, we sort through some follow-up before sharing their origin stories and reacting to a surprise or two.
Apple Support:
If you have Apple Watch Ultra and want to check that its depth gauge and seals are working properly, you can get a Depth and Water Seal Test from Apple.
You might want to send your Apple Watch Ultra for a Depth and Water Seal Test if:
- You’d like to check the functionality of the depth gauge in your Apple Watch Ultra.
- You might have caused unseen damage to your Apple Watch Ultra — for example, by crashing while bicycling, or hitting your watch on a rock during a hike.
Having broken an Apple Watch in a bike crash and another one cliff jumping at a lake, I have to say that being personally attacked by a support article is new to me.
For the past several months, I’ve been working on a secret project with my friends over at Rogue Amoeba:
20 years ago today, on March 3, 2003, Rogue Amoeba released Audio Hijack Pro 1.0. This was a crucial event in the company’s history, as sales grew a much higher level, taking Rogue Amoeba from a hobby to a viable business.
On this anniversary, it seems fitting for us to unveil something else special: the Rogue Amoeba Historic Screenshot Archive. It’s an in-depth collection of images and information about key versions from our 20+ years in business, and we think it’s well worth a look.
Over on his blog, Paul Kafasis wrote a bit more about the project:
It’s quite gratifying to be able to look back on our work, which now spans more than two decades.
It can also be humbling and amusing, and thus worth writing about on this mildly-popular humor site.
It was a ton of fun to spend time with twenty years worth of indie Mac development history. I think you’re going to love scrolling through the archive on Rogue Amoeba’s website.
Earlier this week, Underscore David Smith launched version 5.0 of his excellent step-tracking app, Pedometer++, which I have used (and loved!) since its debut back in 2013.
Here’s David on his blog, writing about about the new features:
There is a delightful freedom in building an app tailored for your own personal preferences. This app is perfect for how I hike. During its development I have enjoyed countless long hikes into nature and find that it is a worthy companion of those adventures.
Dan Moren:
When Twitter shut down third-party clients in January, it not only left out in the cold the users of those apps, but the developers too. Many of those apps were significant sources of revenue for the teams behind them, and that income was cut off capriciously, without any warning.
One additional complication is that some clients had shifted to a subscription-based system in recent years, with users paying by the month or the year. Since those subscriptions were generally prepaid, users ended up in a situation where they essentially no longer had access to the app they’d paid for.
John Gruber:
Twitter’s kneecapping of third-party clients didn’t just mean that their future revenue was gone — it meant revenue they’d already collected from App Store subscriptions would need to go back to customers in the form of prorated refunds for the remaining months on each and every user’s annual subscriptions. Consider the gut punch of losing your job — you stop earning income. It’s brutal. Now imagine that the way it worked when you get fired or laid off is that you’re also suddenly on the hook to pay back the last, say, 6 months of your income. That’s where Tapbots and The Iconfactory are.
I can’t recall a situation like this, with an ecosystem of third-party clients collecting subscriptions and then having the first-party service yank the carpet out from under them — and their customers — with zero warning or sunset period. A proper sunset period would have allowed such third-party partners — and developers like Tapbots and The Iconfactory were indeed partners of Twitter— to stop accepting new subscriptions and renewals, and allow existing subscribers to run out the clock with service for the period they already paid for.
This week on the podcast:
Federico has launched Apple Frames 3.1, Myke is worried about a secret plan set in motion by Stephen and Bing has thoughts on Apple’s Books app.
On Connected Pro, two very embarrassing stories from my life.
François Doray, a software developer on the Chrome team:
With the latest release of Chrome, we’ve made it possible to do more on your MacBook on a single charge thanks to a ton of optimizations under the hood. In our testing, we found that you can browse for 17 hours or watch YouTube for 18 hours on a MacBook Pro (13″, M2, 2022) And with Chrome’s Energy Saver mode enabled, you can browse an additional 30 minutes longer on battery. Of course, we care deeply about all our users, not just those with the latest hardware. That’s why you’ll also see performance gains on older models as well.
I really hope this pans out in real-world usage.
Apple Support:
Is the Apple Adjustable Keyboard compatible with A/UX 3.x?
No, the Apple Adjustable Keyboard does not work completely with A/UX
3.0 or 3.0.1.Because the CommToolbox tool(s) are built into the kernal with the keyboard
IDs, some of the keys, such as arrow keys and ‘~’, key do not
respond with the same ANSI escape sequences as they do in CommandShell.The problem has been reported and is known to A/UX engineering.
Amazing.
TextExpander’s customizable and shareable snippets of text allow your team to fly through repetitive tasks quickly by expanding the things you type regularly — all you have to do is type a short abbreviation and TextExpander does the rest of the work for you.
Here’s How It Works:
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It’s that easy!
Check out TextExpander and say goodbye to repetitive typing.
When Steve Jobs made it back to Apple, the company had dozens of products that would not survive the company’s move to a much simpler product matrix. In a sea of forgettable Macs and accessories, the biggest loss was the Newton.
Here is the announcement itself, in its entirety:
Apple Computer, Inc. today announced it will discontinue further development of the Newton operating system and Newton OS-based products, including the MessagePad 2100 and eMate 300.
“This decision is consistent with our strategy to focus all of our software development resources on extending the Macintosh operating system,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s interim CEO. “To realize our ambitious plans we must focus all of our efforts in one direction.”
Apple is committed to affordable mobile computing, pioneered by the eMate, and will be serving this market with Mac OS-based products beginning in 1999.
Apple will continue to market and sell its current inventory of MessagePad 2100 and eMate 300 computers, as well as to provide support for their installed base of users. The Company is committed to working with its customers and developers to ensure a smooth transition to Mac OS-based products.
In hindsight, it’s easy to poke fun of the Newton, but its user base was passionate about the platform, and didn’t take the news well. A small crowd of them showed up at Apple’s Inifinite Loop campus to make their point known, as was reported by CNET at the time:
As Newton developers gathered outside Apple Computer (AAPL) headquarters today to protest the computer maker’s decision to discontinue the handheld device, company executives responded in low-key fashion.
Apple reserved space in its parking lot and supplied cookies, pastries, coffee, and other drinks to Newton protesters on what has turned out to be a crystal-clear day after yesterday’s rainfall.
Perhaps 100 protesters turned up, carrying signs reading “Newton forever,” “Newton is my pilot,” and “I give a fig for the Newton.”
The article goes on:
Apple has scheduled a teleconference Tuesday with Newton developers to answer questions and hear their feedback.
Meanwhile, Apple is offering a number of sweeteners to lure the Newton developers to the Mac platform, including a free membership in the Apple developers program.
[…]
“We understand it was a tough decision and they’re disappointed,” said Apple spokeswoman Rhona Hamilton. “Part of our giving them some space today is to appreciate that it’s a technology that people like and we discontinued it.
“But it is very unlikely that we will change this decision because it was a business decision,” she added. “We hope to convert them to using the Macintosh platform.”
In the June 1998 edition of Pen Computing Magazine, David MacNeill1 wrote a comprehensive history of the platform, then got into some of the possible reasons for its death. He also pointed out that customers weren’t the only ones on the losing end of the decision:
Though Newton owners certainly have good cause to be angry with Apple, developers have been hit the hardest by the untimely death of the Newton platform. Many hard-working companies lost their reason for existing overnight, and have suffered substantial financial losses as a result. Though less visible than commercial software companies, we know of quite a few Newton-specific development efforts involving years of work on vertical market solutions that will never ship due to a lack of hardware.
“Hundreds of businesses have been hurt by Apple’s decision to kill the Newton,” says Newton consultant Josh Weisbuch. “Companies such as Transport Data were well into the development of a ruggedized handheld for the emergency medical and law enforcement industries. Renaissance Digital was working with Children’s Hospital here in Boston to create a completely Newton-based otolaryngology department.”
Many developers rode the “Newton is dead” rumor roller coaster throughout 1997 and 1998, and ended up losing tons of money spent on damage control when their big customers got spooked. Many Newton evangelists reluctantly recommended that Apple remove its logo from Newton devices to make them more palatable to corporations. “Apple never understood the critical importance of vertical markets in creating new markets and still can’t justify investing in creating them,” says John Covington. “It’s one of the reasons I left Apple.”
Many were not happy about this change in direction, but as someone once said, focus is about saying no. If the Apple of 1998 needed to do anything, it was focusing what was working well.
If you want to read more about the Newton, I rounded up some great links a few years ago.
- His whole series on the Newton serves as a great time capsule. ↩
In the 12 years since its debut, iCloud has grown from a relatively simple service to one that is the glue holding the Apple ecosystem together. This week, David and I talk about the various components of iCloud, how they work, and what to do when they don’t.
You get something wonderful. Karl Buchka writes:
I’ve been working on this project on and off for the last six months or so. There’s still lots left to do, but I did the first major mock-up today and I’m pretty pleased with the outcome so far.
TL;DR summary:
- Framework powered Thinkpad 701C
- iPad 7 display panel (2160×1620)
- Fully working original keyboard and trackpoint
- Ports/peripherals: 3x USB-A, 2x USB-C, 1x GigE, headphone jack, Wifi, Bluetooth
Here’s a photo of the project:
If you aren’t familiar with the ThinkPad 701C, it’s one of my all-time favorite laptop designs for two reasons:
- I love ThinkPads.
- It’s bonkers.
The 701C came with a foldout keyboard that let the laptop be compact when closed and feature a full-sized keyboard. LGR has a thorough review of the machine on YouTube:
Inside, Buchka stuffed the components from a Framework notebook, which was designed to be as upgradable and repairable as possible. Using an iPad panel as the display is the perfect finishing touch.
via 512 Pixels reader Zac
Rumors about that new 15-inch MacBook Air and the future Mac Pro keep heating up, as Joe Rossignol reports:
Apple this week filed a new listing in the Bluetooth Launch Studio database, a move that sometimes foreshadows the launch of new products. The filing does not mention any specific products, but it lists the latest Bluetooth 5.3 standard and references a prior macOS-related listing, suggesting the filing could be related to upcoming Macs.
Apple is rumored to be planning new versions of the MacBook Air and the Mac Pro for release in the first half of 2023. The new MacBook Air is expected to feature a larger 15-inch display and the M2 chip, while the new Mac Pro is expected to have the same design as the 2019 model with a new M2 Ultra chip. Both new Macs could be announced as early as March or April, potentially alongside the release of macOS 13.3. However, there remains a possibility that the new Macs will not be announced until WWDC in June or later.
Bluetooth 5.3 is present in a bunch of new Apple hardware, including the new M2-based MacBook Pros and the M2 Mac mini. It is not present on the M2 MacBook Air introduced last year. That machine ships with Bluetooth 5.0.
Apple Support:
Symptoms
When iWeb is opened after a reinstall of the original disc, many of the menu items may be unavailable and new page creation may not be possible. Also the theme selection screen may not appear if there was no existing site in iWeb.Note: These issues could occur if the iWeb software was updated prior to a reinstall using the original disc.
Solution
When you perform a reinstall from the disc, the original version of iWeb that shipped with the computer is installed, but the Receipts from the updated version of iWeb is still in place causing Software Update not to recognize that an update is needed. To resolve this issue, simply download and install the latest version of iWeb.
This weekend, I was using someone else’s MacBook Pro and wanted to clean their keyboard. I could not shut it down for cleaning, as it was downloading a macOS update. This prompted me to look for an app that could lock the keyboard for me to wipe it down.
This led me to KeyboardCleanTool, a free utility by Andreas Hegenberg, the genius behind apps like BetterTouchTool.
Whether you’re in the harbor or at high sea, you need to know where you are or where you’re sailing. If you have all the maps, books, and documents. DEVONthink for Mac and DEVONthink To Go for iOS will not let you down on your mission and help you navigate the “seven seas of information.”
Sailor jokes aside … DEVONthink helps you get organized in your office, home office, or on the go. It keeps all your documents, snippets, and bookmarks in one place. Organize them however you need and let DEVONthink’s unique AI assist you all the way with filing and finding. And if that wasn’t enough, smart rules and flexible reminders let you delegate all the boring, repeating daily tasks to DEVONthink too. On iOS, use Shortcuts actions to integrate DEVONthink To Go with your other apps.
Of course, whatever you keep in your databases remains yours. It’s all stored locally, nothing is uploaded anywhere unless you say so. Flexible synchronization technology with strong encryption makes sure that you have all your important documents with you on whatever device you’re working on or taking with you. Use iCloud, Dropbox, any WebDAV service you may have booked. Or synchronize directly over your local network.
And, of course, there’s so much more, from email archiving and scanning to an embedded web server for sharing your data securely with your team. Check out https://www.devontechnologies.com to learn more about DEVONthink, DEVONthink To Go, and more.
This week on Mac Power Users, developer and podcaster Marco Arment joins the show to talk about his desktop-laptop setup, the current state of development on Apple’s platforms and what the company may do in 2023.
It is always a treat to record with Marco, and I love how this episode came out. Don’t miss the More Power Users segment, where he shared his experience with Family Setup on the Apple Watch.
Mark Zuckerberg:
Good morning and new product announcement: this week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support. This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services. Meta Verified starts at $11.99 / month on web or $14.99 / month on iOS. We’ll be rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week and more countries soon.
At least you won’t have to pay to use SMS 2FA.
Jason Snell, writing at Macworld:
So what makes a Mac Pro a Mac Pro? If it’s a tower enclosure, Apple’s got a relatively fresh one from 2019 that it can just roll out again. (Gurman says that’s now the plan, which is also a little disconcerting when you consider that the original reports suggested a new, half-height enclosure and that quad-M2 chip.) But what’s inside the Mac Pro matters, and if it’s just an M2 Ultra chip, it’s hard not to consider the new Mac Pro just a Mac Studio that moved out of its apartment and into a mini-mansion.
Does it help if there’s expandable internal storage? Sure, I suppose–it’s certainly a lot neater than attaching drives via external ports. Does it help if Apple offers additional M2 GPU cores via some sort of proprietary add-on card system? Maybe, if it’s done the extra engineering work. What about RAM expansion? Sure, but again, such a choice would undercut the work Apple has done to create a pool of fast, shared memory right next to the CPUs and GPUs.
And all that custom work, all those distortions to what makes Apple silicon so successful, would be done for a product that’s a niche of a niche–and it’s work that Apple’s chip design team could have spent on a next-generation chip for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Howard Oakley:
There was a time when the great majority of apps consisted of just an app bundle, created their own settings file in ~/Library/Preferences, and that was that. For various reasons, this became steadily more complicated, with some apps assembling arrays of files and folders in /Library/Application Support, and in recent years many apps have required helpers too. One common reason for this is that they need to perform certain functions with elevated privileges, such as root. To do that, they have become even more elaborate, with Login Items, property lists installed in folders like /Library/LaunchAgents, and more. This article explains how Ventura is trying to make things simpler again.
We spoke about this recently on Mac Power Users. While the new system attempts to give users more control over what’s happening on their Macs, I can’t help but think the UI for it is too confusing for most users:
Andrew Cunningham, writing at Ars Technica:
In the absence of a version of Boot Camp that runs on Apple Silicon Macs, the best way to run Windows on them has been to use a virtualization app like Parallels or (more recently) VMware Fusion. The problem is that, until now, the Arm version of Windows that runs on Apple Silicon Macs hasn’t technically been allowed to run on anything other than Arm PCs that come with it due to Microsoft’s licensing restrictions.
These licensing problems haven’t technically stopped people from running the Arm version of Windows on other hardware, including Apple Silicon Macs and the Raspberry Pi, but it could be more of an issue for IT managers who wanted to deploy Windows on Macs without worrying about legal liability.
Today, Microsoft is formally blessing Parallels as a way to run the Professional and Enterprise versions of Windows 11 on Apple Silicon Macs. Windows running under Parallels has some limitations—no support for DirectX 12 or newer OpenGL versions, no support for the Linux or Android subsystems, and a few missing security features. But it can run Arm-native Windows apps as well as 32- and 64-bit x86 apps thanks to Windows 11’s code translation features; pretty much anything that isn’t a game should run tolerably well, given the speed of Apple’s M1 and M2 chip families.
It’s good to see this get official support from Microsoft, as running Windows was on of the last dominos to fall in the ability in just about everyone to switch to Apple silicon.
This episode of Connected is very good:
This week, the guys roast each other’s Apple Watches and things get weird.
On Connected Pro, Myke announces his newfound interest in golf.
Apple Support:
You may experience difficulty when adding events for the month of March in applications with a calendar feature, such as Microsoft Entourage v. X. This occurs when the date region is set for Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, or Switzerland (Italian).
Note: This issue occurs any time you schedule an event for March, whether or not it is March when you attempt to schedule the event.
On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, David and I take each other on a tour of their Mac setups, stopping at the Dock, menu bar and startup items.
Chance Miller, writing at 9to5Mac:
Apple’s highly-anticipated big-screen MacBook Air is nearing a launch, according to a new report. DSCC analyst Ross Young reports today that the 15.5-inch MacBook Air has started panel production this month, suggesting an “early April launch.” All I have to say is this: take my money.
Young, as well as Bloomberg, have previously reported on the possibility of a 15-inch MacBook Air. Bloomberg, in particular, previously pointed to a potential launch in the spring of this year. Ross Young then corroborated that spring 2023 launch back in December.
In a post to his Super Follows on Twitter today, seen by 9to5Mac, Young confirmed that this 15-inch MacBook Air is still on track for that spring release. “15.5-inch MacBook Air started panel production this month,” Young said. “We would expect an early April launch.”
Makes sense to me!
Boom 2 is a professional audio app that transforms the sound quality of your Mac. With its cutting-edge 31-band equalizer with 20dB Gain Control, Volume Booster, and unique Audio Effects, it offers a personalized and unmatched audio experience.
The 31-band equalizer gives you complete control to adjust every detail of your audio and craft the perfect sound. At the same time, the volume booster takes your audio to new heights, increasing the volume beyond your system’s limits.
Boom 2’s audio effects, including ambient sound, increased fidelity, and pitch shift, breathe new life into your audio. Additionally, the stereo sound control feature allows you to increase the width of the stereo field and adjust the balance of the left and right channels with ease.
The app also offers sample rate control, file boosting, and wireless control through the ‘Boom Remote’ app installed on your iPhone or iPad.
“Boom remains a must-have utility for me on my Mac laptop, and its improvements make it all the better.” – Serenity Caldwell, iMore
“It truly feels right at home on Apple’s new OS, almost like Apple designed it.” – Owen Williams, The Next Web
Enjoy the best listening experience on your Mac with Boom 2. Try it for free today!
Eric Berger, writing at Ars Technica:
Russia’s state-owned space corporation, Roscosmos, reported Saturday that a Progress supply ship attached to the International Space Station has lost pressure in its external cooling system.
In its statement, Roscosmos said there was no threat to the seven crew members on board the orbiting laboratory. NASA, too, said the hatch between the Progress MS-21 vehicle and the space station was open. Notably, the incident with the supply ship came within hours of the safe docking of another Progress ship, MS-22, which is in good health.
This week on the show:
While Federico is off wrangling Ethernet cables, Stephen and Myke explain their usage of Mastodon before talking about AI, firmware and Apple’s 2022.
Huge news for those paying for Twitter Blue:
Twitter has launched a longer tweet feature, giving Blue subscribers in the US the ability to post up to 4,000 characters at once. If someone you follow uses the feature, the tweet in your timeline will have a “show more” button to keep it from taking up your entire screen.
Currently, there are a few limitations to the feature (besides the big one that it’s behind a paywall). If your tweet is over the standard 280 characters, you can’t save it as a draft or schedule it for later. However, most other normal features should work as usual — you can add hashtags or pictures, and non-Blue subscribers will still be able to interact with the posts as normal.
There’s some irony in Twitter becoming like a smaller, more poorly-designed Medium.
Yesterday, Jason Snell published the 2022 Apple Report Card over on Six Colors. This year, I saved my full answers for publication here as well.
The Mac: 5/5Apple is entering the third year of its two-year transition to Apple silicon. While the company has been tight-lipped about why it missed its self-announced deadline, the Apple silicon machines that have shipped are all very impressive. The malaise that Mac hardware found itself in in the latter 2010s continues to fade into history. The Mac Studio and Studio Display in particular stand out when thinking about 2022, but the M2 MacBook Air is probably the highlight of the Mac’s year in hardware.
On the software front, 2022 brought the first new productivity app from Apple in ages. Freeform isn’t as powerful as some third-party options, but it fits in nicely between the iWork apps and Notes.
macOS continues to receive updates that let it keep up with iOS and iPadOS features, even if Stage Manager leaves something to be desired for many of us.
The iPhone: 4/5The iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island is the biggest UI change to come to iOS since the iPhone X ditched the home button back in 2017. Having quick access to media controls, sport scores, weather and more, from anywhere in the system, makes the iPhone feel more useful and alive, somehow.
The 14 Pro also brought with it an always-on display, something seen on Android phones for years. The iPhone’s take was decidedly whimsical, with Apple keeping a user’s wallpaper on the display all the time. Not everyone loved this, and iOS 16.2 added a toggle to disable the always-on wallpaper feature. I flipped the switch as soon as it popped up in the iOS betas, and much prefer the all-black look, with just the time and my selection of Lock Screen widgets staying on all the time — plus whatever notifications have come in.
Speaking of Lock Screen widgets… I love this feature, but would like to see Apple add more flexibility in terms of layout and design. That said, I currently have Calendar, Carrot Weather and Todoist gracing my Lock Screen. Sadly, just like Shortcuts, the teams behind several Apple apps and features didn’t seem to get the memo about the new feature, and don’t offer any support for it.
As inventive as the iPhone 14 Pro is, the regular iPhone 14 is a bit of a swing and a miss. Many of us believed that the larger iPhone 14 Plus would be a huge hit, but reports indicate that the device — with last year’s system on a chip and an even older industrial design — isn’t selling well. The 14 Plus’ struggle in the market is probably not enough to soothe the tears of iPhone mini fans. I expect something to give here, with the iPhone 15 being more attractive than the 14 has proven to be.
Oh, and hopefully this is the last crop of iPhones with Lighting. USB-C is here to stay, and I don’t even mind if Apple claims faster file transfers for things like 4K ProRes video as a reason for the switch.
iPad: 3/5Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the iPad lineup is a mess. The 10th-generation iPad and M1 iPad Air make the M2-powered 11-inch iPad Pro seem both expensive and redundant. Rumors indicate the iPad Pro is going to go up in size at some point, and I suspect the 11-inch will go away at that point.
Besides the cost/price confusion in the iPad line, the mis-match of features between the various products makes me think that something in Apple’s plans derailed over the last couple of years. I can’t imagine it was the initial plan to ship the 10th-generation iPad with its function keys and its camera-on-the-correct-side, all just to sell it with the first-generation Apple Pencil. And why didn’t the iPad Pro get some of these changes when it got bumped to the M2? Something doesn’t add up here.
Then there’s iOS 16 and Stage Manager. Lots of digital ink has been spilled on the subject, and I think it’s clear that Apple missed the mark with this new feature. It should have spent more time incubating within the company before shipping as the hot mess it still is as of iPadOS 16.2. iPad power users simply deserve better.
Apple Watch: 4/5; Wearables: 4/5The Apple Watch Ultra is the biggest departure from the original’s design that we’ve seen so far, at least in terms of physical design. I’ve been wearing mine daily since it shipped and truly love its combination of larger size, incredible battery life and rugged construction. It’s a beast, and it’s the first time in years that I’ve been tempted to leave my Apple Watch on the charger some days. Sure, watchOS could take better advantage of the larger screen, but the same could be said for iOS, so I’m willing to mostly overlook it.
The rest of the 2022 Apple Watch lineup is far more pedestrian, but shouldn’t be overlooked. Year-over-year, the Series 8 isn’t a big upgrade, but if you have a Series 4 or 5 on your wrist, it’s a really nice jump in terms of features.
Mercifully, 2022 saw the demise of the Apple Watch Series 3, which was on sale for approximately 84 years too long … not unlike the iPod touch, which was also killed in 2022. The Apple Watch SE doesn’t quiet hit the old Series 3 price point, but it’s close enough for most … even if a gently-used Series 6 or 7 may be a better buy.
Apple’s AirPod line continues to do well, with the second-generation AirPod Pros 2 being universally-acclaimed. I upgraded from an aging pair of AirPods 2 and couldn’t be happier with them.
While the earbuds line continues to grow and improve, the costly AirPods Max are now two years old, and due for an upgrade that should include better sound quality, USB-C support and a new carrying case. Really, even just the last one would be more than welcome for anyone who has had to wrestle with the worst case Apple has shipped since the atrocity it sold for the first-generation iPad back in 2010.
Apple TV: 3/5The newest version of the Apple TV 4K continues Apple’s long line of set-top boxes that are overkill for almost anyone’s needs. At least they haven’t messed up the remote in a little while.
tvOS feels the most stagnant (or stable, if you’re a glass half-full kind of person) of all of Apple’s operating systems, as the TV app continues to be a bit of a confusing mess and the company still unable to get more streaming services to play ball with Apple’s user interface … cough Netflix cough.
Services: 4/5After years and years of begging, users of iCloud Photos have finally heard their cries answered in the form of Family Sharing. I turned it on for my wife and I to share photos, but now have a mountain of work ahead of me to sort out duplicates and add metadata to photos that are missing dates, GPS information and more.
To my great sadness, Album support is lacking in the family library, but it’s forcing me to add tags and the other metadata mentioned above for easier searching. I’m sure that as soon as I finish that work in 2027, Apple will add Albums to the product.
In terms of other Services, TV+ and Fitness+ continue to be bright spots, with both receiving regular content. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how well run both seem to be run.
That’s in sharp contrast to Apple News, which is stuffed with some of the worst ads I’ve ever seen. As someone paying for Apple One, I should not see them.
The rest of Apple’s Services are not something I think about regularly, which is probably how things should go. iCloud is keeping all of my notes, contacts, events, bookmarks, iMessages and more in sync, quietly in the background.
HomeKit/Home: 3/5As I write this, there’s a big question as to why Apple paused the rollout of its “new architecture” for HomeKit that arrived with iOS 16.2. For what it’s worth, I hit the upgrade button on day one, before the feature was pulled, and nothing has exploded for me. I wish Apple would be more open about what happened here, but that feels like a long shot.
2022 felt like a year in waiting for HomeKit, with Matter rolling out at the end of the year. It promises cross-vendor support for a wide range of products. For HomeKit users, it should unlock the world of Amazon-backed products… assuming vendors actually bother to update their existing products. Time will tell how successful that undertaking is.
In terms of the Home app itself, the new design is an improvement, but like many Apple software products, it feels like too many things are behind hard-to-find menus. I mostly interact with my HomeKit products via Siri or Shortcuts, so at least I don’t have to spend too much time in there.
Overall Reliability of Apple’s Hardware: 5/5Apple has pretty much perfected their work with both aluminum and glass over the years, and now that the Butterfly Keyboard is gone, I don’t have any real complaints here. Users can even get their own parts now through the Self Service Repair Program! What a world we live in.
Apple Software Quality: 3/5It’s been years since I’ve had a Mac experience a kernel panic or even had an Apple application crash on a regular basis … with the exception of the macOS version Freeform, which I could make crash 100% of the time when interacting with text written on an iPad. Seeing as that’s a 1.0, I’m mostly willing to forgive that.
Apple’s software issues are more subtle than crashes and reboots. It’s the little things that bother me, like the mis-match of features found in the Mac and iOS version of Reminders, or how the Mac version of Messages still struggles to catch up with iCloud upon its first launch after sleeping over a long weekend.
On another note, I fully understand that Mac developers have to choose between Cocoa, Catalyst and SwiftUI as Apple continues to make its slow transition away from Objective-C and its traditional methods of building apps, but I continue to be disappointed with SwiftUI on macOS. Look no further than Ventura’s new System Settings app to see just how badly this technology falls short at this point. I’m not convinced that a UI toolset designed for touch will work well on the Mac without a massive amount of additional work on Apple’s part.
Whether an app is written in SwiftUI or not, the trend of Apple’s designers hiding controls and features behind buttons and menus continues to add unneeded complexity to macOS in particular. UI clutter is bad, but it’s far lesser evil than UI confusion.
Developer Relations: 2/5It’s harder to think of a harder self-own than Apple’s rollout of additional App Store ads in late 2022. The App Store was instantly flooded with ads for low-brow titles like gambling and hook-up apps.
Seeing those ads instantly made the App Store feel like a worse place to be, but having them placed at the bottom of an individual app’s page was simply a bridge too far. It’s like Apple was trying to burn goodwill with developers with the move.
Apple continues to be willing to die on the hill of its 30% cut of App Store purchases. Things like additional price points or the 15% commission on subscriptions that are older than one year are nice, but the market — and government regulators — are ready to see Apple’s iron-fisted control over the App Store loosen.
There are a couple of bright spots here, though. Being at WWDC with developers was a welcome change after two years of COVID forcing the conference to be online-only. The Developer Center is a physical promise on Apple’s part to communicate better with developers. The “Ask Apple” Slack-based Q&As are a good step in the right direction as well.
Social/Societal Impact: 3/5Apple continues to do important work in the areas of environmental conservation and social issues, but the back-and-forth over its Return to Work plans and it’s willingness to look the other way in China continue to be troublesome, if not downright hypocritical. Apple needs to do better the world over, not just in parts of the world far from its factories.
Apple Support:
iChat AV cannot use a DV camera as an input device on computers with a PowerPC G3 microprocessor. Digital camcorders are the most common type of DV camera.
iSight is not affected by this issue. However, iSight does require a 600MHz G3 processor or higher. See http://www.apple.com/isight for more information.
Jason Snell:
It’s time for our annual look back on Apple’s performance during the past year, as seen through the eyes of writers, editors, developers, podcasters, and other people who spend an awful lot of time thinking about Apple.
This is the eighth year that I’ve presented this survey to a hand-selected group. They were prompted with 12 different Apple-related subjects, and asked to rate them on a scale from 1 to 5 and optionally provide text commentary per category. I received 55 replies, with the average results as shown below.
It’s always a pleasure to participate in this. If you got lost in the woods last year and just made it back to civilization, this post will get you caught up.
MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs.
The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to Twitter.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable global keyboard shortcut, write out your latest thoughts, and instantly publish them to your blog.
MarsEdit supports editing posts in rich or plain text, and the latest update is especially great for Markdown fans. Now when you’re writing Markdown in plain text mode, MarsEdit applies live, beautiful syntax highlighting to make it easier to focus separately on the content and style of your posts.
MarsEdit is used by top bloggers to maximize their productivity and enjoyment of blogging. It’s great for pros like John Gruber of Daring Fireball, and Stephen Hackett of this very blog, while also being simple enough to remove the mystery of blogging for everyday folks who just want to share their thoughts with the world.
Download MarsEdit 5 today, and see what all the hype is about. It’ll make you a better blogger!
This week on Mac Power Users:
Relay FM’s VP of Sales drops by the show to talk about her Apple gear, keeping multiple projects going at once and why she has built much of her workflow around Airtable.
Kerry is an integral part of Relay FM, and I’m glad we finally got her onto a show.
Emma Roth, writing at The Verge:
Apple’s exploring the possibility of launching a more expensive iPhone “Ultra” above the iPhone Pro and Pro Max models, according to Apple tracker Mark Gurman. The high-end device could arrive as soon as 2024 with the iPhone 16 lineup.
Last September, Gurman predicted that an “Ultra” model could replace the Pro Max branding with this year’s iPhone 15, but his latest theory suggests that Apple wants to establish a more powerful — and more expensive — tier of iPhones. That means the device could have an even higher price tag than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which starts at $1,099.
I’m still hoping the “Pro Max” branding will fade away.
Federico Viticci, writing at MacStories:
There is no doubt in my mind that the essence of iPadOS – how menus appear, lists scroll, buttons are tapped, heck, even what a pointer should look like – has been designed with more taste, thought, and care than anything in Windows 11. There is no checklist that can quantify when an interface “feels” nice. The iPadOS UI, particularly in tablet mode, feels nicer than any other tablet I’ve tried to date.
The problem is that an iPad, at least for people like me, isn’t supposed to be a companion to work that happens somewhere else. It is the work. And ultimately, I think it’s fair to demand efficiency from a machine that is supposed to make you productive. I feel this every time Stage Manager doesn’t let me place windows where I want on an external display; every time I can’t place more than four windows in a workspace; every time I can’t record podcasts like I can on a Mac; every time a website doesn’t work quite right like it does on a desktop; I feel it, over a decade into the iPad’s existence, when developers like Rogue Amoeba or Raycast can’t bring their software to iPadOS.
We can’t talk about art in software in a vacuum. As a computer maker or app developer, you have to strike that balance between the aspirational and the practical, the artistic and the functional – the kind of balance that, by and large, Apple is achieving on the Mac. Unfortunately, when it comes to iPadOS, I feel like Apple has been prioritizing the artistic aspect over the functional, and it’s not clear when that will be rectified.
I was wondering how the 2019 Mac Pro’s lifespan was holding up compared to older models, and it’s not great. I can’t imagine Apple is happy that the Intel machine is still around.
The Mac Studio may follow in the Mac Pro’s footsteps with a longer-than-average lifecycle, according to Mark Gurman.
Richard Fausset, writing at The New York Times:
Keedran Franklin, a community organizer and social justice activist, runs a South Memphis food truck these days called “The Check-in.” The idea, he said, is not only to feed the people of Memphis, but also to ask them how they are getting by, emotionally and spiritually, in one of the poorest large American cities, and one of the most dangerous.
“It’s a combustion chamber of trauma — that’s what Memphis is,” said Mr. Franklin, 36. “We push it down and push it down, until it explodes. That’s what happened with Tyre.”
The funeral this week for Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx employee and skateboarder who died after being severely beaten by Memphis police officers who said they pulled him over for a traffic infraction, triggered a national moment of mourning — for Mr. Nichols, and for the many other Black men brutalized at the hands of American police. At the same time, the bloody incident took its place on an ignominious roster of events that have shaped the story of Memphis as much as its 20th-century musical innovations, justly celebrated for transforming pop culture.
Situated in the heart of the South’s old cotton kingdom, on the lip of the Mississippi Delta, Memphis has always had a front seat to the brutal consequences of slavery and organized racism, tangibly reflected in the city’s 26.5 percent poverty rate for Black residents. And Memphians readily admit that the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel opened a gash in the collective psyche that has never quite healed.
This week, as an ice storm paralyzed much of the city, Memphians seemed to be taking stock, amid their rage and grief, of how far they have come and how far they must still go, if they are to not only endure the latest wound, but heal from it.
No one thinks it will be easy.
As usual, Jason Snell is on top of things over at Six Colors:
Apple on Thursday announced its fiscal first-quarter results, and it was a step backward. The company’s year-over-year revenue fell $6.7 billion, though with total revenue of $117.2 billion it was still the company’s second largest quarter ever.
Click through for loads of charts.
Jess Weatherbed, writing at The Verge:
Twitter will no longer provide free access to the Twitter API from February 9th. As announced by the official Twitter Developer account late Wednesday night, Elon Musk’s social media hobby will stop supporting free access to the Twitter API and will instead provide a “paid basic tier.” Twitter hasn’t provided any information regarding pricing, but said that it will provide “more details on what you can expect next week.”
“Over the years, hundreds of millions of people have sent over a trillion Tweets, with billions more every week,” said the Twitter Developer account. “Twitter data are among the world’s most powerful data sets. We’re committed to enabling fast & comprehensive access so you can continue to build with us.”
This probably means the end of this site auto-posting things to Twitter, so now is probably good time to get subscribed in other ways:
- via RSS
- via Mastodon
Underscore David Smith:
Back in 2017 I had created a site which took the the audio of some of my favorite podcasts and tried to make them searchable by passing them through an automated speech-to-text engine.
In the original version of this the transcription was done with very rough, slow, low accuracy system which resulted in transcripts that were fit for keyword searching but not much else.
Thankfully since then OpenAI has released Whisper a powerful speech-to-text engine that I can run right on my Mac and results in transcripts that are shockingly good. They aren’t quite at the level of a human transcriber but they get darn close in many instances. Getting close to the level where you could use them to grab a pull quote with only a little bit of tidying up to do.
I’m thrilled that Connected is archived in the new version of PodSearch. This tool is amazing.
This week on Connected:
Stephen talks a bit about what has been going on in Memphis, Federico gets folded up over rumors and Myke has a surprise.
Two decades ago, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry. I was in high school, and remember it well, feeling the connection with the shuttle disaster that took place the day I was born.
There’s a lot of great stuff out there marking the anniversary:
- Eric Berger: Two decades after the Columbia disaster, is NASA’s safety culture fixed?
- Lee Hutchinson: The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia
- Daisy Dobrijevic, Elizabeth Howell: Columbia Disaster: What happened and what NASA learned
If you’ve never heard the Song Exploder episode on The Long Winters song “The Commander Thinks Aloud,” it’s a great listen.
Apple Support:
When using Boot Camp and Microsoft Windows 7, FireWire (IEEE 1394) devices may affect system responsiveness if they are connected to the FireWire port of an Apple Thunderbolt display.
Apple includes directions on how to update the FireWire driver within Windows.
Michael Steeber:
Updates are coming to Apple Tice’s Corner in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. The store will be temporarily closed from January 31. I’m a little bit nervous about this renovation because Apple Tice’s Corner is the last location in the world with an original 2001 storefront design, and I wish for it to remain intact perpetually.
I can’t imagine the original design will remain after the remodel, so it’s a good time to soak in this iconic design:
With Audio Hijack, you can record any audio on your Mac. Whether you want to save audio from individual applications like Safari or Skype, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, and even the entire system audio output, Audio Hijack can handle it.
Simply put, if it can be heard on MacOS, Audio Hijack can record it.
- Record conversations from Skype, Zoom, and other VoIP apps
- Save streaming audio from the web
- Create podcasts, both remote and in-studio
- Digitize vinyl
- And so much more
Audio Hijack 4.1 just shipped, and it adds over 50 enhancements on top of the award-winning version 4.0.
Through the end of February, 512 Pixels readers can save $10 when you purchase with coupon code 512AHTEN. Learn more and download a free trial on the Rogue Amoeba website.
This week on Mac Power Users, David Sparks and I return to our “Software Club” episode format and talk about Fantastical before being joined by one of the people behind the app. Michael Simmons discusses Fantastical’s history and the changes he’s seen in the Apple software ecosystem over the years. It was a really interesting conversation about an app that has been a mainstay for Apple users for a long time.
Ah yes, a Friday evening news dump from Apple:
On February 13, 2023, prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) on the App Store will increase in Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Prices in Uzbekistan will decrease to reflect a reduction of the value-added tax rate from 15% to 12%. Your proceeds will be adjusted accordingly and will be calculated based on the tax-exclusive price.
If you live in one of these countries, I’d check out this article to know what to expect.
Remember the 30th Anniversary Mac font from a few years ago? Robb Knight has recreated those glyphs as SVGs and they are glorious.
This week on Connected, I read some poetry, some Macs got reviewed and Federico makes a confession about his computing life.
On the longer ad-free version of the show, Federico tells me about running Ethernet through his new home.
If you use a portable Mac with an external display, this free app looks like it’d be a lifesaver.
As Brian Stucki has discovered, the guts of the most powerful Mac mini ever help explain why the M1 model was mostly empty.
Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica:
The lights at Massachusetts’ Minnechaug Regional High School burn ever bright. They actually never turn off. They can’t turn off. The smart lighting system for the entire building is broken, and it’s stuck in the “on” position. It has apparently been this way for over a year now, and the electric bills are really starting to pile up.
“We are very much aware this is costing taxpayers a significant amount of money,” the school district’s assistant superintendent of finance, Aaron Osborne, told NBC News. “And we have been doing everything we can to get this problem solved.”
That is … wild … but it gets worse:
The school’s entire “green lighting system,” some 7,000 lights, was installed over a decade ago and was supposed to save money, but according to the report, “the software that runs it failed on Aug. 24, 2021” and no one has been able to turn off the lights for the following 17 months. Teachers are adjusting by unscrewing light bulbs at the end of the day and throwing some breakers not connected to vital parts of the school. Dimming the lights to show movies or something projected on a whiteboard has also been difficult: The lights are on full brightness all the time.
According to Lilli DiGrande, News Editor of the student newspaper, the reason behind the lights being on all the time is software that no one knows has access to anymore.
Edward Cenedella, the Director of Facilities and Operations for the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School District, says that the issue is more complicated than just a computer server problem.
When the high school was rebuilt in 2012, an energy conservation software was added which relied on a daylight harvesting system for the lights to use daylight to equalize the light in the room. Cenedella estimates that there are about 7,000 lights in the building, all of which individually send information through wires to a computer which determines how much light to keep that particular one on. This system is owned by a company called 5th Light.
“On occasion, the software would go down and it would somehow get corrupted. We would try to recycle it and eventually everything would come back on,” Cenedella said. “Unfortunately the last time it got corrupted it was unfixable.”
It gets worse again:
Gaining access to the software that runs the lights is one of the main reasons why the lights can’t be adjusted correctly. “[5th Light] no longer has any of that information. They don’t have the software,” Cenedella said. “The old information is proprietary, so they wouldn’t originally give it to us. Now, they say that they don’t have it and that it’s unavailable.”
It seems that 5th Light has had several owners in the decade since the installation at Minnechaug Regional High School, and the current company — now named Reflex Lighting — says the only way to resolve the issue to replace the entire system.
Apple Support:
The version of America Online (AOL) originally bundled with the PowerBook 3400 is 3.0D. This version does not properly deal with the situation when another application, such as FAXstf, is set to answer. Upgrading to AOL version 3.0.1 or later will remedy the situation.
The 3400 was a bangin’ machine, but even the best computers of the 90s often fell to badly written AOL software.
Today’s embargo day for Apple’s new M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBook Pros, as well as the M2 and M2 Pro Mac mini, but last week David Price wrote a column for Macworld that has been bugging me all weekend.1
Let’s start at the top. After giving a recap of the Apple silicon transition to date, Price writes:
It’s hard to stay excited for two and a half years, especially when the start was so strong. There was a noticeable leap forward once the MacBook Air was released from the constraints of Intel’s underpowered Y-series processors, as noted in our review of the late-2020 model that called out its “dramatically better performance and battery life,” and conceded that “the hype is real.” The same was true for the M1 Mac mini and 13-inch MacBook Pro.
But that progress hasn’t been sustained. There’s nothing wrong with this week’s releases, but they’re incremental speed bumps rather than big steps forward. Perhaps the initial M1 speed bump was exaggerated by the eccentric or overcautious choice of Intel chips towards the end of the companies’ relationship, and like Intel and AMD, big gains only come around once in a generation. Benchmarks will likely show decent-enough gains, but this week’s Mac announcements felt as formulaic as they did during the Intel years.
This is always the case when it comes to processor transitions. When Apple moved from PowerPC to Intel, Apple got to throw around graphics like these:
By the time the 2008 iMac and MacBook Pros rolled around, Apple wasn’t able to claim “2x faster” and “4x faster” with a straight face.
To be fair to Price, he’s not the only one with takes like this. Look no further than the description under MKBHD’s review:
It’s an (impressive) bump instead of a quantum leap.
Let’s get back to this Macworld article:
It’s a bit of a giveaway when Apple compares the performance of the M2 Mac mini to the four-year-old Core i7 model rather than the M1 because this year’s gains are much less dramatic. The hoped-for jump to a 3nm manufacturing process hasn’t happened, and as my colleagues discuss in this week’s Macworld podcast, the new MacBook Pro and Mac mini models remain way behind PCs equipped with Nvidia GPUs on gaming performance and features. Apple silicon isn’t a panacea for the Mac’s limitations and was never likely to be.
I agree that Apple comparing the new M2 Mac mini to the old Intel is playing to the strengths of the transition, but most people aren’t going to be upgrading from an M1 Mac mini to an M2 model, so I’m willing to forgive it.
(Also, like, dude. Nothing is gonna fix gaming on the Mac.)
What’s harder to forgive is the obsession over process size that has taken over so much tech reporting. I actually blame Intel’s stagnation and inability to move to smaller processes, not to mention that different companies define their processes in different ways.
Did Apple want to be at 3nm for the M2 lineup? Probably, but given that nothing else in the Apple silicon lineup is using a 3nm, it wasn’t likely that the M2 was going to break the mold, especially mid-generation. Rumors had indicated otherwise, but it doesn’t seem like it’s come to pass.
The truth is almost no one in the real world even knows what process sizes are, and the M2 is doing just fine in terms of efficiency and heat output as it is.
Back to Price:
The weight of those expectations is likely to be accentuated when the Mac Pro arrives sometime this year. The latest rumors suggest that it won’t have the M2 Extreme chip as rumored but rather a slightly faster M2 Ultra with a 24-core CPU and 76-core GPU and slots for storage, graphics, media, and networking cards (but not memory). Apple silicon will allow Apple to upgrade it more frequently, but when you go from a $50,000 machine that absolutely trounces everything in its path to one that’s maybe 20 percent faster than the Mac Studio, it’s hard to get all that excited about it.
Even though I am looking forward to the new Mac Pro, rumors about it don’t really impact how I — or anyone else — should feel about the Mac mini or MacBook Pro.
Price goes on:
And while the new Mac Pro will almost certainly be cheaper that the current model, the move to Apple silicon has clearly, and some might say predictably, not resulted in lower prices across the range. Most notably, the M2 Mac mini brings that line closer to its original budget conception, but most Apple silicon Macs have either kept the same price or gone up. The new MacBook Air starts at $200 more than it once did, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is $100 more than its Intel predecessor, and in territories outside the U.S., prices for most models have gone up rather a lot.
Was it always likely that reduced manufacturing costs would fail to translate into lower prices for consumers? Yes. Should we have realized by now that corporations exist to maximize profit, not to make their customers’ lives better? Yes! But does the lack of meaningful price drops undermine one of the biggest hopes of the Apple silicon transition? Also yes.
Apple has always had bonkers margins and inflation is a problem around the world. I’d love for all of these computers to cost less, but only part of that is within Apple’s control. The company may not be writing big checks to Intel anymore, but Apple is now paying for the R&D of these chips and paying TSMC to produce them. Don’t get me wrong; I’d love to see prices come down, but I don’t think Apple silicon was ever going to do that in a notable way.
Next, we see that Price has somehow missed the last few years’ worth of news:
But perhaps the biggest problem with the Apple silicon transition is the fragmented and disorganized way Apple has handled it. While the M1 Mac mini arrived in November 2020, its costlier Intel sibling hung around for more than two years. After the 24-inch iMac arrived in March 2021, the 21.5-inch Intel model stayed on shelves until October. The Mac mini, which was in the first wave of M1 releases, didn’t get the M2 until seven months after the M2 MacBook Air arrived. And after a tease last March, we’re still waiting for the Apple silicon Mac Pro. Altogether you’ve got a recipe for confusion and disappointment.
The move from Intel to Apple silicon was supposed to last “about two years,” in the specific words of Tim Cook. We’re coming up on 31 months since that promise—or 26 if you measure the transition starting from the launch of the first M1 Macs. Apple only just removed the long-in-the-tooth Intel Mac mini from its store and the Mac Pro is still saddled with aging Intel chips.
Here’s quick rundown. We’ve had a global pandemic that derailed massive parts of the international supply chain. Sorry for the spoilers.
It’s not clear why the Pro has been left until last—the wait hardly inspires customers to spend a fortune on such a high-end machine when its components are so obviously outdated—or when its Apple silicon upgrade will finally happen, but the whole process has definitely taken longer than it should.
The Mac Pro was last in the move to Intel, too, according to this random blog post I found:
WWDC 2006, SAN FRANCISCO—August 7, 2006—Apple today unveiled the new Mac Pro, a quad Xeon, 64-bit desktop workstation featuring two new Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors running up to 3.0 GHz and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of the Power Mac G5 Quad. With advanced performance, greater expansion, higher performance graphics options and unprecedented customization, the newly designed Mac Pro is the ideal system for the most demanding user. The introduction of the Mac Pro marks the completion of a rapid and seamless transition for Apple, with the entire Mac family now using Intel’s latest processors.
The Mac Pro is going last this time for the same reasons it went last in 2006:
- High-end users often have the most trouble when moving to a new architecture, and need to hang on to the old one while waiting for their applications, plug-ins, etc. to be updated.
- High-end systems are built atop technologies found in lower-end models. Just look at the relationship between the M2, M2 Pro and M2 Max. As you move up the line, the systems get more capable. This takes time to develop.
- Apple wants to put its best technology in the hands of as many people as possible. This means working on consumer devices first, then moving upstream.
Price wraps up with this:
All this isn’t to say switching from Intel to Apple silicon hasn’t reaped huge dividends. It was obviously a smart decision, but what started as a “huge leap forward for the Mac” has turned into a slow stroll. As Apple continues to sporadically roll out chips and confuse customers with a mixed-up range of options, it’s getting harder to feel the magic.
Speak for yourself, bud.
- And not just because the column’s “Different Think” name took years off my life after reading it. ↩
Howard Oakley writing at The Electric Light Company on how Apple silicon has grown in the move to the M2 family:
Apple silicon CPU cores are grouped in fours, forming a cluster run at the same frequency and sharing cache. M1 Pro and Max chips are unusual in only having half a cluster of Efficiency (E) cores, for which their frequency is managed differently from the full cluster in a base M1 chip. This ensures that background tasks are completed no slower on their two E cores than they would be on a base M1 chip with twice that number.
Increasing the total number of cores for the M2 Pro and Max shouldn’t have been a difficult design choice. Adding more Performance (P) cores would have required a third cluster, greatly increased energy usage and heat production, and resulted in a larger and more expensive chip. E cores are smaller, more frugal in their energy use, and produce less heat. Adding two E cores was probably the least Apple could do to improve the performance of the M2 Pro/Max over those M1 variants.
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site.
Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also serve as a great alternative for resource hogging Electron apps or half-baked Catalyst apps.
Some examples of apps you could create in mere minutes with Unite:
- A Gmail web client that behaves like a native mail client.
- A status bar app for Apple Music or Overcast
- An isolated workspace for apps that may track you like Facebook
- A Google Meet app that works efficiently without using Chrome
- A fully featured Instagram app that has a resizable window, unlike the M1 version.
- A Robinhood, Figma, or Roam Research app for your desktop.
512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Unite 4 at bzgapps.com/unite512 or when you use the promo code ‘512Pixels’ at checkout.
You can also try Unite for 14 days absolutely free or use it as part of your subscription if you’re a Setapp subscriber!
This week on MPU:
Kaitlin Salzke is an accountant, student and programmer who has built a library of OmniFocus automations. She joins David and Stephen to talk about using Javascript for automation, working on a PC during the week and pushing the boundaries of what macOS can do.
Sean Herber at The Iconfactory:
Twitterrific has been discontinued.
A sentence that none of us wanted to write, but have long felt would need to be written someday. We didn’t expect to be writing it so soon, though, and certainly not without having had time to notify you that it was coming. We are sorry to say that the app’s sudden and undignified demise is due to an unannounced and undocumented policy change by an increasingly capricious Twitter – a Twitter that we no longer recognize as trustworthy nor want to work with any longer.
Two days ago, @TwitterDev tweeted:
Twitter is enforcing its long-standing API rules. That may result in some apps not working.
This was met with a lot of head scratching, but today we know more, as Karissa Bell at Endgaget reports:
In case there was any doubt about Twitter’s intentions in cutting off the developers of third-party apps, the company has quietly updated its developer agreement to make clear that app makers are no longer permitted to create their own clients.
The “restrictions” section of Twitter’s developer agreement was updated Thursday with a clause banning “use or access the Licensed Materials to create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications.” The addition is the only substantive change to the 5,000-word agreement.
The change confirms what the makers of many popular Twitter clients have suspected in recent days: that third-party Twitter services are no longer permitted under Elon Musk’s leadership.
Clearly the “long-standing” but of that tweet was a lie, and just like that, Twitter has greatly harmed numerous developers who have made their living making the Twitter ecosystem better.
Carina Sweet at The Computer History Museum:
Mountain View, CA – Jan. 19, 2023: The Computer History Museum (CHM), the leading museum exploring the history of computing and its impact on the human experience, today announced the public release and long-term preservation of the source code for the Apple Lisa, including its system and applications software, as part of its Art of Code series. Forty years ago today, Apple, Inc. released the Lisa computer, a milestone in computing history for its innovative use of a graphical user interface (GUI) in a personal computer (PC).
The source code can be downloaded here as a 7.2 MB zipped archive.
On this week’s episode of Connected, we covered Apple’s new Macs and the new HomePod, before pouring one out for third-party Twitter clients.
On Connected Pro, Myke shares a secret about the future CEO of Apple.
The event includes a new Apple Watch band and face, an iPhone wallpaper and a bunch of content across Apple’s services.
In its second product announcement in two days, Apple has unveiled a new HomePod:
Oh shoot, that’s the original HomePod. Here’s an image of the new one:
The two generations are very similar on the outside. The display at the top on the new one looks much more like what’s on the HomePod mini, and the new speaker comes in both white and midnight, but it’s hard to spot the differences in color in Apple’s images. Sadly, the big HomePod doesn’t come in the great colors its smaller sibling does.
On the inside, the HomePod has learned some new tricks, as outlined in the press release announcing it:
With Sound Recognition, HomePod can listen for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and send a notification directly to the user’s iPhone if a sound is identified. The new built-in temperature and humidity sensor can measure indoor environments, so users can create automations that close the blinds or turn on the fan automatically when a certain temperature is reached in a room.
(The HomePod mini apparently also has a temperature and humidity sensor lurking inside. It should be enabled with iOS 16.3)
Those seem like great additions, as does Matter support, which arrives with this new HomePod as well. It also supports Ultrawide Wideband for audio handoff, eARC, Find My and more. The HomePod is powered by the S7 system on a chip which debuted in 2021’s Apple Watch Series 7. This means the HomePod is limited to 802.11n for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.
These features are outlined in Apple’s video:
The new HomePod is $299, which is what the original HomePod went for by the end of its life, down from the original’s initial price of $349. Compared to the $99 HomePod mini, I’m hard pressed to see the $299 price as a great value, but if it sounds as good as the original did, I’m sure it will find its fans. Order open today, and the HomePod ships on February 3.
If you want to know just how bad things are inside Twitter, this piece has it all. The graph on the left side of the page is particularly good.
The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros have been bumped to the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Apple even put together a short video with all the news:
The specs for these new machines are just bonkers, with up to 12-core CPUs, 38-core GPUs and 96 GB of unified memory. Here’s a bit from the press release:
Apple today announced the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro featuring M2 Pro and M2 Max, Apple’s next-generation pro silicon that brings even more power-efficient performance and battery life to pro users. With M2 Pro and M2 Max — the world’s most powerful and efficient chip for a pro laptop — MacBook Pro tackles demanding tasks, like effects rendering, which is up to 6x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro, and color grading, which is up to 2x faster. Building on the unprecedented power efficiency of Apple silicon, battery life on MacBook Pro is now up to 22 hours — the longest battery life ever in a Mac. For enhanced connectivity, the new MacBook Pro supports Wi-Fi 6E,3 which is up to twice as fast as the previous generation, as well as advanced HDMI, which supports 8K displays for the first time.1 With up to 96GB of unified memory in the M2 Max model, creators can work on scenes so large that PC laptops can’t even run them.4 Rounding out the unrivaled features of MacBook Pro are its renowned Liquid Retina XDR display, extensive array of connectivity, 1080p FaceTime HD camera, six-speaker sound system, and studio-quality mics.
The new MacBook Pros come in the same excellent designs Apple unveiled back in October 2021.
On the desktop side of things, the Mac mini was updated to the same M2 system on a chip that first shipped in the new MacBook Air and some other computer in June 2022. The new system starts at $599, but the bigger news is that Apple has also shipped a Mac mini with the M2 Pro. That machine starts at $1,299 with a 10-Core CPU, a 16-Core GPU, 16 GB of unified memory and 512 GB of storage.
Notably, the M2 Pro Mac mini has marked the end of the line for the 2018 Intel model, which was on sale until today. It always struck me as odd that the M1 Pro only ever appeared in the MacBook Pro, so I’m glad to see the Mac mini get the M2 version.
Like the MacBook Pro, the new Mac mini ship starting January 24. While we wait, we can all bask in these ridiculous numbers:
- Editor’s Note: That’s HDMI 2.1. ↩
Timing is a great way to automatically track and sort your time while using a Mac, but today the app spreads its wings:
We are excited to announce Timing 2023.1, which introduces a new feature that a lot of you have been asking for: Timing can now import your iPhone and iPad usage from Screen Time!
This feature, available to all Timing Expert customers, lets you manage your time spent on mobile devices just like your Mac usage, with the full functionality of Timing’s timeline and activity list. Even Timing’s rules are available to automatically categorize your mobile device usage.
If you’re a Timing user, this is very cool. I played with the beta over the holiday break and it really does let the app get a fuller sense of how you’re spending your time.
Chance Miller, writing at 9to5Mac:
Apple could be making its first announcement of 2023 as soon as tomorrow, sources say. The company is holding Mac-related briefings with influencers and select members of the press this week, and an announcement could be made via Apple’s Newsroom website on Tuesday…
The details here are sparse at the moment. 9to5Mac has independently heard that Apple is holding press briefings this week related to the Mac. This has also been corroborated by other sources on Twitter, including friend of the site Ian Zelbo. Additionally, leaker Jon Prosser has teased: “keep an eye on Apple’s newsroom tomorrow.”
9to5Mac has been told by an anonymous tipster that the briefings will be held on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, with an embargo slated for Monday, January 23. This pattern makes sense and matches what we’ve seen in the past: an announcement on Tuesday, briefings and review unit distribution on Wednesday and Thursday, and a review embargo lift on the next Monday.
My money is on M2 Pro/Max MacBook Pros and an M2 Mac mini, all announced via press release.
While working on a Top Secret project,1 I needed to install Mac OS X Lion on an older MacBook Pro. I have my own USB installer that I created, but I thought it would be a good time to use the USB installer Apple sold for $69 back in the day.2
Physically, the USB key is about as minimal as you can get. It’s just a thin piece of plastic with exposed USB contacts on side that slid right into a USB A port:
It mounts in Finder like any other volume, complete with a custom icon. Here it is in Mac OS X Snow Leopard:
Installing off the USB Key is just like installing Lion from the App Store. Once I had the new OS up and running, I was curious to see how the system would handle the USB volume.
It can explored in Finder just like any of Apple’s downloaded macOS installer, and Terminal shows its contents like any other volume. Lion’s version of Disk Utility has no idea what to make of it, showing it as optical media:
However, Disk Utility in later versions of macOS sees it as a regular USB volume, as seen here on macOS Ventura:
It’s a bit of a shame that Lion’s USB installer was a one-and-done thing, but I can’t imagine it sold very well. Downloading new versions of macOS quickly became the norm, no matter how neat this tiny USB key is.
- All will be revealed soon. ↩
- Mac OS X Lion was just $29 in the Mac App Store, the same price as Snow Leopard before it. ↩
Whether you’re in the harbor or at high sea, you need to know where you are or where you’re sailing. If you have all the maps, books, and documents. DEVONthink for Mac and DEVONthink To Go for iOS will not let you down on your mission and help you navigate the “seven seas of information.”
Sailor jokes aside … DEVONthink helps you get organized in your office, home office, or on the go. It keeps all your documents, snippets, and bookmarks in one place. Organize them however you need and let DEVONthink’s unique AI assist you all the way with filing and finding. And if that wasn’t enough, smart rules and flexible reminders let you delegate all the boring, repeating daily tasks to DEVONthink too. On iOS, use Shortcuts actions to integrate DEVONthink To Go with your other apps.
Of course, whatever you keep in your databases remains yours. It’s all stored locally, nothing is uploaded anywhere unless you say so. Flexible synchronization technology with strong encryption makes sure that you have all your important documents with you on whatever device you’re working on or taking with you. Use iCloud, Dropbox, any WebDAV service you may have booked or synchronize directly over your local network.
And, of course, there’s so much more, from email archiving and scanning to an embedded web server for sharing your data securely with your team. Check out https://www.devontechnologies.com to learn more about DEVONthink, DEVONthink To Go, and more.
Hanlon’s razor says “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity,” but it’s impossible to tell the difference with Twitter these days.
Andrew Cunningham, writing at Ars:
Today, as part of a new Windows 11 preview build for Windows Insiders, Microsoft has announced that previews of new Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps are available in the Microsoft Store for download.
The Apple Music and Apple TV apps handle iTunes’ music and video functionality, just as they do on macOS, and provide access to the Apple Music and Apple TV+ subscription services. The Apple Devices app is what you’ll use to make local device backups, perform emergency software updates, sync local media, and the other things you can do with an iDevice that’s plugged into your PC (in macOS, similar functionality was added to the Finder, rather than being broken out into its own app).
Mark Gurman:
Apple Inc. is working on adding touch screens to its Mac computers, a move that would defy long-held company orthodoxy and embrace an approach that co-founder Steve Jobs once called “ergonomically terrible.”
Apple engineers are actively engaged in the project, indicating that the company is seriously considering producing touch-screen Macs for the first time, according to people familiar with the efforts. Still, a launch hasn’t been finalized and the plans could change.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but Jobs has been gone a long time and this move would be long overdue if it comes to pass.
I have a lot of thoughts on this, but for now let me say this: discussions about touch-enabled Macs don’t have to be forever framed by what Apple of ten years ago thought.
This week, we’ve got another Q&A-style support article:
I want to remotely power up and remotely reset a Macintosh computer? Are
there Apple or third party solutions available?Depending on the Macintosh model you have, there are different software and
hardware solutions available. Many Desktop (examples: Macintosh IIcx, IIci)
and PowerBook models are capable of being remotely powered up or restarted.
The document has a lot more detail if you find yourself needing this in 1993.
I love bike riding — both on and off the road — but I hate riding in the cold weather, so for several months out of the year my road bike is mounted to a trainer in my garage.
Riding inside is great when it is cold outside, but it’s boring. For years, I would balance my iPad on something in the garage, hoping it wouldn’t tumble to its death, but this year, I came up with something quite a bit more sturdy:
Ok, I know it looks like my iPad mini is just balanced on the handlebars, but the real magic is out of sight. It starts with the Peak Design Out Front Bike Mount, coupled with the company’s universal adapter.
I am a big fan of Peak Design’s mounting system. It uses both magnets and a physical connection to keep things locked down. If I’m out and about on a bike, I have my iPhone 14 Pro in their compatible case, but the universal adapter opens up a lot of possibilities.
To complete my bike setup, I took a Smart Cover and cut the front panel off, sticking the adaptor to the back. This means the Smart Cover is attached securely to the bike. When I go out to the garage, I take my iPad mini and sit it on the the Smart Cover. Its magnets grab the iPad mini and hold it in place quite nicely.
I wouldn’t ride on the street with the iPad mounted this way, but sitting still in the garage, it’s more than secure enough to watch a TV show or basketball game when I get some stationary miles in.
Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:
In partnership with parking platform SpotHero, Apple Maps now provides parking information for more than 8,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Parking availability can be filtered based on EV charging, wheelchair accessibility, and more.
On the iPhone, users can open the Apple Maps app and search for a popular destination such as Madison Square Garden in New York or Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, tap on the “More” button in the place card, tap on the “Parking” option in the menu, and proceed to search for and reserve nearby parking on the SpotHero website without leaving Apple Maps. SpotHero says the feature will also be available on the Mac.
This week on Mac Power Users, I got the chance to catch up with one of the folks I’ve known the longest online:
Shawn Blanc left his job back in 2011 to become a full-time writer. Twelve years later, he’s the mastermind behind sites like The Focus Course and The Sweet Setup and more. Stephen and David ask him about that journey and how he’s grown his operation from a solo venture to a team running multiple projects.
Shawn gave me my first paid gig on the Internet a decade ago when he hired me to write for Tools and Toys. We went on to start The Sweet Setup together. It was a true joy to have him on the show.
The Weather Machine is a new unified API for weather forecast data. If you need to build weather info into your app, this service will save you a ton of time and complexity.
You’ll get a single modern interface for the best data providers on Earth. You can write just one integration with modern REST or GraphQL endpoints, and get highly accurate global forecasts from The Weather Company, AccuWeather, AerisWeather and many other sources.
The Weather Machine also makes every provider drop-in compatible with Dark Sky’s API. If you’re already using Dark Sky, you can switch over in minutes!
The Weather Machine is battle-tested in the real world — it was built as the platform that powers the excellent weather app Hello Weather. It handles hundreds of thousands of real-time requests every day, with rock solid availability and performance. Plus, its built-in caching system can cut your data usage up to 50% — with zero configuration required.
With usage-based pricing and no contracts, it’s a breeze to get started. Check out https://weathermachine.io and sign up today for early access.
In his Power On newsletter:
While Apple still has many kinks to work out with the device —involving hardware, software and services, as well as how it will be marketed and sold — the company is banking on the product as its hot new introduction for this year.
… what’s ready at this point, then?
I quit covering these things years ago, but this report has the potential to be very spicy. Usually, Q1 is Apple’s best, as it covers the holiday season, but recent supply and production issues are expected to take a big bite out of the company’s earnings.
I recently sold my Pro Display XDR and moved to a pair of Studio Displays.
The Studio Display is pretty great, espeically with the optional height-adjustable stand. I didn’t use any of the high-end features of the XDR, and after just a few weeks, I’ve fallen in love with this setup, minus some cables that still need tidying:
As the Studio Display comes with a better-than-expected set of internal speakers, this has marked the retirement of the pair of SoundSticks that I’ve been using as my speakers basically forever. As one of them had hot glue holding it togehter, it felt like it was time.
You know what’s better than one set of Studio Display speakers, though? Having two sets play at the same time. Yesterday, I was wondering how to do this, and then it hit me:
Loopback!
The full extent of what this application can do is far beyond the scope of this blog post, but in just a few minutes, I had all system audio passing through Loopback to both Studio Displays:
In this setup, the same audio is piped to both displays, so audio on the left channel plays through the left speaker on both displays. This means that the two speakers are playing the exact same thing.
As I sit in front of one display, with the other to my left, this works best for me. However, if I wanted the left display to play just the left channel, and the right one to play just the right, then Loopback would look like this:
One side effect of this is that a pair of Studio Displays is way louder than one Studio Display. Thankfully, Loopback makes it easy bump down the maximum volume on a per-device basis. Knocking them back to 65% each is working well for me.
This sort of thing is what makes being a macOS user so much fun.
Last week, I was putting things together for an upcoming episode of Mac Power Users1 and came across a few old posts in which I shared my Apple setups. I thought it would be fun to put them all in one place:
- October 2009: This was my desk in the first apartment my wife and I lived in after getting married. It was about a year after I started this blog and our oldest son was 11 months old. Now he’s 14.
- September 2010: That was a very good iPad wallpaper.
- December 2011: I believe this was my first home screen post over on David Sparks’ site. The images seem lost to time.
- October 2012: I have no idea why I didn’t take any photos for this one. One star.
- March 2014: The desk featured in this article was at the last company I worked for. We would launch Relay FM about six months later.
- September 2014: Sparks’ site does have these images! I look so young.
- September 2015: After I quit my job to go indie, I split my time between a home office (shown below) and this space, which I rented with my brother’s non-profit.
- August 2016: This setup was outlined right before I moved into my current studio. This desk was shoved into what was a spare bedroom in our house that is now home to our youngest son.
- September 2018: I was really excited about this one and I love that photo.
- March 2020: It’s amazing how little my homescreen has changed over the last three years.
If you want a much more updated accounting of things, check out my Gear & Studio page.
- It will be published on Sunday, January 8. ↩
It’s that time again on Connected:
2022 is over, and there are picks to be scored. After grading their predictions for the year, Stephen, Myke and Federico amend some rules and put their flags in the ground for 2023.
Apple Support:
If your Mac supports it, you can use Gigabit Ethernet, which requires a special Gigabit Ethernet cable.
If you don’t have a Gigabit Ethernet cable, you can still connect to a Gigabit Ethernet network by adjusting the Ethernet speed of your computer.
Amazingly, the ability to manually set network speed is still present in macOS Ventura.
It’s hard to believe it is January again. The new year means I get to put another bundle of used Field Notes on my shelf:
Long time readers — and viewers — will know that I’ve done this for over a decade, but I carry a notebook with me just about all the time. Their contents range widely and I can’t imagine life without them.
Flipping through my 2022 notebooks, I spotted everything from Podcastathon planning and meeting notes to questions for my therapist and grocery lists. When one gets filled up, I scan it, toss the PDF on Dropbox and put the notebook on the shelf.
It’s a big start to the new year on Mac Power Users:
It’s not every day that Apple releases a new productivity app, but with iOS 16.2 and macOS Ventura 13.1, the company launched Freeform, an infinite canvas app for sketching, organizing and sharing information. David and Stephen have been using it extensively and break it all down this week.
We did all of out show prep in Freeform itself:
There are some very 1.0-feeling things in Freeform, but overall, it’s already a great tool and if Apple doesn’t let it wither on the vine, I think it has a bright future.
Apple Support:
Dark Sky’s features have been integrated into Apple Weather. Apple Weather offers hyperlocal forecasts for your current location, including next-hour precipitation, hourly forecasts for the next 10 days, high-resolution radar, and notifications.
Apple Weather is available on devices running iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS 13 Ventura. If you’re new to Apple Weather, here are some tips to get started.
Joe Rossignol with a reminder about Dark Sky:
Apple says it will be shutting down Dark Sky on January 1, 2023. The popular weather app was already removed from the App Store in September and it will stop functioning for existing users starting tomorrow.
The iOS 16 Weather app has a lot of great features in it, but I’m still Team Carrot all the way.
Over at MacRumors, Hartley Charlton pointed out something that hadn’t crossed my mind:
Historically, Apple released at least one new Mac model every year in the fourth quarter that runs between October and December, starting in 2001 with the launch of the iBook G3. This means that there has been a new Mac toward the end of the year for the entire lifespan of product lines including the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. The last Mac that Apple released is the M2 MacBook Air, which launched on July 15. Depending on how long Apple waits to launch its next Mac, the time following the launch of the MacBook Air could be among the longest periods with no new Mac models at all.
When announced back in June 2020, the transition was promised to take two years. Whether you started counting at WWDC 2020, or when the M1 was unveiled in November, Apple has missed its deadline.
There are several reasons for this, ranging from the loss of key individuals on the Apple silicon team to the on-going global supply chain and economic uncertainty. While many of us know that the Mac keeps going forever, it’s clear that something has made the transition from Intel to Apple silicon take more time than planned.1
Given that we now live in this Already-But-Not-Yet Phase, let’s think about what could be left on Johny Srouji’s “Transition” list in Reminders:
Order 66 Those Intel MacsHere at the end of 2022, there are two Intel Macs still for sale that need to be ~~murdered in cold blood~~ taken care of:
- The 2018 Mac mini
- The 2019 Mac Pro
The irony is that these two machines are the endpoints on the spectrum of Mac prices, starting at $1,099 and a cool $5,999 respectively.
Apple doesn’t want to be selling Intel Macs anymore. The more time goes on, the longer Apple is going to have to support Intel machines with new versions of macOS and its other applications.2
The Mac ProIn its transition to Intel, Apple replaced the iMac G5 and PowerBook G4 first, with the Intel iMac and the initial MacBook Pro. They were both announced in January 2006, with the Intel Xserve and the Mac Pro bringing up the rear in August of that year.
We’ll circle back to the Mac mini, but assuming that is sorted out quickly, the Mac Pro will once again be the final Mac to cross into this new era. This isn’t too surprising, as it just makes sense to start with the more mainline product lines and eventually making it to the more obscure models. Unique to our current transition, Apple is working up to whatever will power the new Mac Pro. Back in the day, the Xeon wasn’t new to Intel.
As long as there has been a Mac Pro, there has been handwringing about the next Mac Pro, and today is no different. As recent as a couple of weeks ago, Mark Gurman reported that work on a custom high-end “M2 Extreme” chip had been called off.
Regardless of what SoC Apple uses in the new Mac Pro, there are many unanswered questions about how Apple silicon will scale up to the Mac Pro.3 The biggest is what comes of the Mac Pro’s many PCI ports and the MPX Modules that debuted in the 2019 model.
From the first A4 to the M2 Ultra, Apple’s SoCs use GPUs integrated in the package itself, to impressive results so far. However, there are users — from gamers to artists to scientists to Siracusas — who want or need more than what any on-die graphics hardware can do. Is Apple willing to spend the engineering effort to extend what its chips can do for one low-volume machine? The 2019 Mac Pro says yes, but it’s a different ballgame now.
Beyond GPUs, PCI slots are great for expanding I/O, increasing internal storage and more. I am assuming the new Mac Pro will retain some number of PCI slots and I’m hopeful that those slots will support at least a selection of third-party GPUs.
Unveil the TimelineWe are still too early into the Apple silicon transition to really understand how often Macs are likely to get updated. So far, we have only seen two computers receive updates — the MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro with … checks notes … Touch Bar. The M1 Mac mini was introduced at the same time as those two machines, but was not bumped to the M2 at WWDC 2022 like its siblings.
The M1 iMac’s two year anniversary will arrive in April 2023, with the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros’ following in October. Will Apple take a full two years to update these machines to the M2, if it does at all?
I assume Apple thought they’d be further along by now, but once the COVID dust settles, I hope that the company finds a regular pace for updates that it can keep up in the long run.
Make it the Mac manyAs mentioned above, the Mac mini is having a hard time. The 2020 M1 machine starts at $699, but can’t escape the literal shadow of the 2018 Intel model, which offers a much higher RAM limit and is still attractive to a small set of customers.
I don’t know why the Mac mini didn’t get the M2, but my suspicion is that Apple is planning two Mac minis that would launch simultaneously — a standard model with the same M2 as in my MacBook Air, and a higher-end model powered by the M2 Pro. I find it very interesting that the M1 Pro didn’t end up in anything other than the two larger MacBook Pros. I can’t help but think that fact is one side of a coin, with the Intel Mac mini on the other.
Chart a Course for the FutureDespite these hiccups, the transition to Apple silicon has been remarkably smooth. Apple is probably the best company on the planet when it comes to being willing and able to pull off large-scale technical shifts in existing product lines. Even if it is taking longer than initially promised, the results of this work already speak for themselves. The Apple silicon machines are a huge hit and have breathed new life into the Mac line. I think the delays we currently see will be forgotten soon enough.
- Whereas the transition from Apple silicon took Intel less time than planned. ↩
- This of course raises the question of how long Apple may support Intel Macs once they have stopped shipping. In June 2009, Snow Leopard was announced to be the first release of Mac OS X not to support PowerPC machines, a mere thee years since the transition wrapped up in August 2006. ↩
- If the M2 Extreme is indeed DOA, some of those questions are answered in the Mac Studio’s M1 Ultra chipset, I suppose. ↩
Basic Apple Guy:
Confession: I have a disproportionate, bordering on irrational, adoration for iPod Socks! I couldn’t really explain to you why. Maybe the iPod Socks got wrapped up in the halo of the early days of owning my first iPod, with all the nostalgia and delight of discovering & enjoying new music while having all my favourite tracks all on one beautiful device. Or maybe they’re just cute, and I’m obsessively weird about it. Who knows? There are loads of cute things in the world, but few are on par with iPod socks.
I totally get that, and these wallpapers are a lot of fun.
Did you know that 1Password Business comes with free 1Password Family memberships for employees? This came up in the Discord for Relay FM Members today:
When you’re part of a team that uses 1Password Business, you get a complimentary 1Password Families membership, which you can share with up to 5 family members.
To redeem your free membership, link your family account to your business account. Only your subscription status will be linked. No other information is shared.
I had forgotten about this, so logged in to see what I needed to do to take advantage of this feature:
To apply your free membership to an existing account, click “Apply to existing account”. Then sign in to your family account and click Apply. If you sign in to an individual account, you’ll be asked if you want to convert it to a family account.
It took me about three seconds to link my existing Family plan to Relay FM’s business account.
This week on Connected:
Myke, Federico and Someone Who Kind of Sounds Like Stephen review 2022’s biggest Apple stories, grading them from “Nightmare” to “Best, I Love You.”
2022 had some downright wild tech stories, and it was a lot of fun to grade each month’s news with the best scale known to humankind:
It’s not every day that we get a new system-level productivity application from Apple, but here we are.
James Thomson:
This is an updated version of a piece I wrote for the 20th anniversary, with an extra ten years of history!
Many people using PCalc on their shiny devices today don’t realise that the app has been around for a lot longer than they think. In some cases, a lot longer than they’ve been thinking.
PCalc is ~~twenty~~ thirty years old on the 23rd of December 2022, so I thought I should take the opportunity to look back at how it has evolved over the last ~~two~~ three decades.
To celebrate, PCalc is currently 30% off, but make yourself a reminder to buy it tomorrow at full price when the sale is over.
NASA:
NASA’s InSight mission has ended after more than four years of collecting unique science on Mars.
Mission controllers at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California were unable to contact the lander after two consecutive attempts, leading them to conclude the spacecraft’s solar-powered batteries have run out of energy – a state engineers refer to as “dead bus.”
NASA had previously decided to declare the mission over if the lander missed two communication attempts. The agency will continue to listen for a signal from the lander, just in case, but hearing from it at this point is considered unlikely. The last time InSight communicated with Earth was Dec. 15.
Space Explored has a nice article up outlining the lander’s mission and lifespan.
This week on a Very Normal Episode of Connected:
The boys celebrate the holidays with their annual gift exchange, and then it’s time to make predictions for what will happen in 2023–but first, it’s time to score our picks from the past year and crown a new champion.
The team over at MacStories has announced their annual MacStories Selects awards and it’s hard to disagree with any of the choices.
The program now covers the M1 iMac, M1 Mac mini, Mac Studio and Studio Display.
With this comes a new batch of Repair Manuals, which I natrually downloaded and looked through. I love this exploded view of my beloved Mac Studio:
Here’s what all of those parts are:
- Bottom cover screw pad
- Bottom cover screw pad adhesive strips
- Bottom cover
- Power supply
- Bus bar insulator cover
- Internal frame
- Internal frame plate
- Antenna 2
- Antenna 3
- SDXC card slot board
- SDXC card slot board flex cable
- SDXC card slot board connector cowling
- SDXC card slot board connector cowling
- Front USB-C ports connector cowling
- Front USB-C ports
- Front USB-C ports bracket
- Back Thunderbolt 4 ports connector cowling
- Back Thunderbolt 4 ports (2)
- Ethernet board
- Ethernet board connector cowling 1
- Ethernet board flex cable
- Ethernet board connector cowling 2
- Power cord port
- Combination input/output board
- Power button
- Combination input/output board connector cowling
- HDMI flex cable
- USB-A flex cable
- Combination input/output board connector cowling
- Bus bar
- SSD module cover included with a replacement SSD module
- SSD modules (flash storage)
- Power supply signal cable
- Speaker
- Logic board
- Antenna 1
- Fan
- Housing
Apple Support:
This firmware update addresses possible intermittent flickering and compatibility issues. In some cases those issues may include no video on some external monitors when using the Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter with your Mini DisplayPort-enabled Mac.
MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs.
The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to Twitter.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable global keyboard shortcut, write out your latest thoughts, and instantly publish to your blog.
MarsEdit supports editing posts in rich or plain text, and the latest update is especially great for Markdown fans. Now when you’re writing Markdown in plain text mode, MarsEdit applies live, beautiful syntax highlighting to make it easier to focus separately on the content and style of your posts.
MarsEdit is used by top bloggers to maximize their productivity and enjoyment of blogging. It’s great for pros like John Gruber of Daring Fireball and yours truly, while also being simple enough to remove the mystery of blogging for everyday folks who just want to share their thoughts with the world.
Download MarsEdit 5 today, and see what all the hype is about. It’ll make you a better blogger!
Twitter Support:
Twitter is where the public conversation is happening, and where people from all over the globe come to promote their businesses, art, ideas, and more. We know that many of our users may be active on other social media platforms; however, going forward, Twitter will no longer allow free promotion of specific social media platforms on Twitter.
At both the Tweet level and the account level, we will remove any free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms, such as linking out (i.e. using URLs) to any of the below platforms on Twitter, or providing your handle without a URL.
Offenders include:
- Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Post and Nostr
- 3rd-party social media link aggregators such as linktr.ee, lnk.bio
Seems about right.
On this feedback episode of MPU, David and I reflect on the first year of the MacSparky Labs, discuss the recent Eufy camera news and answer a bunch of listener questions.
Emma Roth:
Ford’s raising the price of its F-150 Lightning pickup yet again — this time, by about $4,000 (via CNBC). The increase affects both the entry-level Pro model for business customers and the consumer-focused XLT trim with no added options, which now start at $55,974 and $63,474, respectively.
For comparison, the Pro work truck initially started at $39,974 when it launched back in April, but subsequent price hikes brought the price up to $46,974 in August and $51,974 in October. The base XLT, on the other hand, launched with a sticker price of $52,974 before that increased to $59,474 several months later.
I would still love a Lightning, but Ford is pricing me right into the arms of my 8-year-old-and-already-paid-for Tacoma.
I recently sat down with Martin Feld to talk about the history of Connected and Relay FM, as well as my story as an indie content person on the web. Go check it out.
I’ve been saying this for a long time now, but this computer makes a ton of sense. Having two notebook familes — each with two sizes — would be nice and clean:
- 13-inch MacBook Air
- 15-inch MacBook Air
- 14-inch MacBook Pro
- 16-inch MacBook Pro
As a nice bonus, I think this arrangment would let Apple finally put the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar out to pasture.
I recently asked ChatGPT a complicated question:
Which Performa was the best?
Here’s what it replied:
It is difficult to say which Performa model was the best, as it ultimately depends on individual preferences and needs.
The Performa line of computers was introduced by Apple in 1992 and included a range of models with varying specifications and features. Some of the most popular Performa models included the Performa 600, which featured a 66 MHz PowerPC processor and 8 MB of RAM, and the Performa 6116CD, which featured a 120 MHz PowerPC processor and 16 MB of RAM. These models were popular among home users and were known for their speed and reliability.
As no human — not even yours truly — can keep up with every Performa model, I decided to look up on the two systems mentioned.1
The Performa 600 was a desktop Mac with a 32 MHz 68030 CPU, and came stock with 4 MB of memory. As confident as it sounded, ChatGPT got this one wrong.
(Here’s a little trick when it comes to all Performas. If it has a 3-digit model name, it’s powered by a Motorola 680×0. If it’s got a 4-digit designation, then it’s a PowerPC model.)
The Performa 6116CD came in a low-profile desktop case and ran at 60 MHz and came with 8 MB of RAM by default, so once again ChatGPT doubled its specs.
As far as the line about these computers being “popular among home users and were known for their speed and reliability,” I’ve got mixed feelings.
Here’s a bit from LowEndMac about the Performa 600:
The Performa 600 was an okay computer, but a big “Huh?” for Mac IIci users. Where the LC and LC II had been compromised by using a 32-bit processor on a 16-bit data bus, the Performa 600 ran a 32 MHz CPU on a 16 MHz bus. This gave it slower performance than the 25 MHz IIci, which was still available. In fact, the old 16 MHz Mac IIx outperformed the Performa 600 on some benchmarks!
Worse yet, the Performa 600, doesn’t support a level 2 cache in the Processor Direct Slot, although it will accept accelerators.
The 600 did have some things going for it, as it was the first Mac available with a built-in CD-ROM drive, but overall, it was a bit of a dud.
Then there’s the 6116CD, which was bundled with a package of software aimed at small businesses. Being a later model, it also had Mac OS 8.0 support, which the 600 never got. The 6116CD also got a price cut in February 1996, seven months after its introduction in July 1995. Like other Performa models, it didn’t come with discrete video memory, instead pulling from system RAM for video output. Thankfully, the PDS slot meant users had an upgrade path on that front.
As it tunrs out, ChatGPT is a terrible Apple historian. AI won’t be taking that part of my job over any time soon … probably.
- I did remember that the first Performas were launched in September 1992. I don’t know if Apple pre-announced them in April, however. ↩
On this week’s show, we have feelings about websites, then talk about the new features in iOS 16.2 and the possibility of Apple opening up the iPhone.
I’m particularly pleased with our conversation around Twitter and social media.
Casey Newton, in an excellent edition of Platformer:
From the start, my strategy on Twitter has been to tell jokes about tech, use the engagement on those posts to grow a following, and then promote my work to that following. (Some people who read my tweets also became friends and sources; Twitter was great for that, too.)
Now, awaiting Musk’s latest tweets, I find myself anxious that one of his former employees could be physically assaulted or worse over what the CEO is posting. I don’t know how, in that environment, to make little jokes about Google’s latest failed messaging app, or bad PR pitches, or any of the other bits I have been doing on Twitter forever. I don’t know how to pretend that what is happening is not actually happening. I don’t want to provide, even in the smallest of ways, a respectable backdrop against which hate speech against my fellow LGBTQ people, or Black or Jewish or any other people, can flourish.
This part really resonated with me:
No company has influenced the media more in my career than Twitter has. For more than a decade it has shaped what news gets covered, how, and by whom. It is also the largest platform I have, at least by number of followers, and has been the primary way Platformer has found new customers since I launched the newsletter in 2020.
At the same time, when I started writing an email newsletter in 2017, I did so out of anxiety that I would find myself at a crossroads like this: with a malignant landlord standing in between me and the audience I had cultivated. I feel fortunate that the Platformer audience — now just shy of 100,000 readers — can make a divorce like this seem possible.
I owe a ton of my success to the early days of Twitter and the relationships that bloomed there, but those days are gone, and so am I.
Apple Support:
Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is an optional setting that offers Apple’s highest level of cloud data security. If you choose to enable Advanced Data Protection, the majority of your iCloud data — including iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more — is protected using end-to-end encryption. No one else can access your end-to-end encrypted data, not even Apple, and this data remains secure even in the case of a data breach in the cloud. Before you turn on Advanced Data Protection, you can learn more about how your data is protected with standard data protection and if you enable Advanced Data Protection.
Before you turn on Advanced Data Protection, you’ll be guided to set up at least one alternative recovery method: a recovery contact or a recovery key. With Advanced Data Protection enabled, Apple doesn’t have the encryption keys needed to help you recover your end-to-end encrypted data. If you ever lose access to your account, you’ll need to use one of your account recovery methods — your device passcode or password, your recovery contact, or recovery key — to recover your iCloud data.
If you’re like me, when you walk through this process, you’ll be surprised at some old devices that may still be signed in to your account. To get this going, you’ll need to have all of your devices updated to iOS/iPadOS/tvOS 16.2, watchOS 9.2 and macOS macOS 13.1. I’m setting it up now, and we’ll be talking about this on Connected tomorrow.
There’s no secret that the EU and other governments are looking at Apple’s control over the App Store with an increasingly critical eye. Even with that in mind, this report from Mark Gurman is still wild:
Software engineering and services employees are engaged in a major push to open up key elements of Apple’s platforms, according to people familiar with the efforts. As part of the changes, customers could ultimately download third-party software to their iPhones and iPads without using the company’s App Store, sidestepping Apple’s restrictions and the up-to-30% commission it imposes on payments.
Over at Six Colors, Dan Moren writes:
The rationale behind such a change is the Digital Markets Act, a European law that comes into effect in 2024, which mandates more control in the hands of users instead of platform owners. Critics have taken shots at some of the aspects of this law, such as interoperability between messaging protocols, but there’s no getting around that the European Union is a major market for tech companies, and its laws have a way of enforcing sweeping changes—for good or ill. (See the similar law enforcing the use of a standard charging connector on smartphones which is reported to helped spur Apple’s decision to shift the iPhone from its proprietary Lightning connector to USB-C.)
But Apple has been a staunch defender of its App Store approach, on the ground of security and privacy—not to mention protecting its 30-percent cut. That’s proved unpopular with developers, including major opponents like Epic Games and Spotify, both of which have taken shots at Apple for its restrictions.
Opening up app installations on the iPhone would radically change how the product works for some users, but I think many would choose to continue to use the App Store exclusively.
I don’t link to every Ungeniused episode here on 512 Pixels, but today’s is my favorite in a long time.
Apple Support:
If you see a white, greasy substance in the computer’s battery bay, frequently near the battery electrical contact points, it is no cause of concern. The substance is merely a non-harmful grease that is applied during production of the iBook computer.
The grease is applied to the springs in the battery bay to help ease removal of the battery.
If there is excessive grease, you can remove it with a clean, dry, lint-free cloth.
Note: While the grease does not represent any potential harm if it comes in contact with the your skin, it should be washed off using soap and warm water.
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site.
Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also serve as a great alternative for resource-hogging Electron apps or half-baked Catalyst apps.
Some examples of apps you could create in mere minutes with Unite:
- A Gmail web client that behaves like a native mail client
- A status bar app for Apple Music or Overcast
- An isolated workspace for apps that may track you like Facebook
- A Google Meet app that works efficiently without using Chrome
- A fully featured Instagram app that has a resizable window
- A Robinhood, Figma, or Roam Research app for your desktop
The newly launched Unite 4.2 makes the experience even better, with built-in password management, fully-featured status bar apps, and much more.
512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Unite 4 at bzgapps.com/unite512 or when you use the promo code ‘512Pixels’ at checkout.
You can also try Unite for 14 days absolutely free or use it as part of your subscription if you’re a Setapp subscriber!
NASA:
NASA’s Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, at 9:40 a.m. PST Sunday after a record-breaking mission, traveling more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the Moon and returning safely to Earth, completing the Artemis I flight test.
Splashdown is the final milestone of the Artemis I mission that began with a successful liftoff of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket Nov. 16, from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Over the course of 25.5 days, NASA tested Orion in the harsh environment of deep space before flying astronauts on Artemis II.
As Eric Berger writes at Ars Technica, this marks the end of a historic mission:
This has not happened in half a century. At times, it seemed like it might never happen again. But now, it is most definitely happening.
NASA’s progress back toward the Moon, and one day potentially Mars, has been at times lethargic. The political process that led NASA to this point in recent decades was messy and motivated by parochial pork projects. But on Sunday there could be no denying that this process has brought NASA, the United States, and dozens of other nations participating in the Artemis Program to the point where its human deep space exploration program is a very, very real thing.
It has been a long time coming.
Somehow, we’ve reached the 50th anniversary of the final crewed lunar Apollo mission, so Jason and I are back with a Liftoff episode breaking it all down.
It’s great to see Tim Dodd from Everyday Astronaut on the list, but one woman on a prime crew of eight is disappointing.
If you’re looking to buy a Mac this holiday season, Apple of 1995 has you covered:
Once upon a time, purchasing a family computer was more complicated than finding four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. With recent price drops for personal computers and a proliferation of easy-to-use and useful software, there’s never been a more affordable or better time to bring your home into the 21st century.
Wish lists and children’s letters to Santa can be daunting enough without adding bits and bytes, RAM and ROM, to the equation. So here are 10 tips for buying a computer the whole family will use and enjoy for seasons to come.
This week on the World’s Greatest Podcast:
Myke has returned and has feelings about recent developments on the show. After Myke tries to punish Stephen with a set of quiz questions, Federico explores Obsidian’s new Canvas feature.
On the Pro version of the show, Viticci told us about his wild boar encounter and we react to today’s iCloud news.
Apple Newsroom:
Apple today introduced three advanced security features focused on protecting against threats to user data in the cloud, representing the next step in its ongoing effort to provide users with even stronger ways to protect their data. With iMessage Contact Key Verification, users can verify they are communicating only with whom they intend. With Security Keys for Apple ID, users have the choice to require a physical security key to sign in to their Apple ID account. And with Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, which uses end-to-end encryption to provide Apple’s highest level of cloud data security, users have the choice to further protect important iCloud data, including iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more.
Snell has more, and Joanna Stern talked with Apple’s Craig Federighi about the changes.
Daniel over at Red Sweater Software has released version 5 of his excellent blog editor for macOS:
MarsEdit 5 features a beautiful new icon, a “Microposting” feature for streamlined short-form blogging, enhanced plain-text editing with built-in Markdown syntax highlighting, a completely rebuilt rich text editor based on Apple’s latest WebKit2 technologies, and a variety of nuanced improvements to make your blogging workflow smoother, and more enjoyable than ever.
My favorite feature of the update is the Markdown syntax highlighting, which you can see in this screenshot:
As someone who does all of his blogging in MarsEdit, it’s a great addition and helps ensure that I don’t make silly syntax errors.
The new version of MarsEdit also includes a new system-wide quick post feature that makes it easy to send short posts to a blog of your choosing:
As with previous versions, Daniel has upgrade pricing avaible:
This update is free for MarsEdit 4 users who purchased a license on or after June 1, 2022. For all other licensed MarsEdit 4 users, the upgrade fee is $29.95. For all other users the one-time purchase price is $59.95.
Users who purchased the in-app purchase via the Mac App Store can obtain the same upgrade discounts within the Mac App Store version of MarsEdit 5, when it becomes available, by locating a valid copy of MarsEdit 4 with premium features unlocked.
Version 5 should be in Setapp shorlty.
I’ve been using MarsEdit 5 in beta for a while,1 and it continues to be a critical tool in how I run 512 Pixels. The new version makes it all the better. I’m excited to see the new Microposting evolve over time, making my shift away from social media even easier.
- Disclosures: Red Sweater Software is a past — and future — sponsor of 512 Pixels and provided a license for MarsEdit 5 to me for free, but did not pay/approve/even see this blog post before it went up. I just really dig the app, which is why Red Sweater is a sponsor. ↩
Eric Berger, writing at Ars:
The Orion spacecraft swung by the Moon on Monday, flying to within 130 km of that world’s surface as it set course for a return to Earth this weekend.
In making this “powered flyby burn” to move away from the Moon, Orion’s service module performed its longest main engine firing to date, lasting 3 minutes and 27 seconds. After successful completion of the maneuver, NASA’s mission management team gave the “go” to send recovery teams out into the Pacific Ocean, where Orion is due to splashdown on Sunday, during the middle of the day.
Don’t miss the amazing images the spaceraft took while near the moon.
Not everyone has a stack of old Macs for running older software, but the Internet is a magical place, and Mac OS 9 has joined OS 8 and System 7 in being able to be run in the browser.
Apple Support:
This article lists the various monitors supported by Performa computers which will drive an external monitor.
As you can probably guess, it’s a bit of a mess.
Steve at Mac84 has a new video up, in which he tears down a pretty sad looking Power Mac G3 All in One:
This app was mentioned on last week’s Upgrade, but I wanted to highlight it here as well, as it offers in-depth stats on the player, team and game level, as well as loads of customization in the app itself.
Sports Alerts is one of the first apps I’ve found to bring live sports scores to the Dyanmic Island and Live Activies. I’m running the iOS 16.2 beta, and have had Apple’s own TV app prompt me to start a Live Activity for a handful of Memphis basketball games, but it seems hit or miss so far as to what games it can display.1
The UI isn’t the nicest I’ve seen; in fact, it feels a little like the iOS 7 days in places, but the killer feature is live scores visible from anywhere:
Like every other application that offers them, Score Alerts cannot start a Live Activity on its own. In this case, you have to open the app, find your game, and manually start a Live Activity. I’ve enabled “Start of Game” notifications for my favorite teams to act as a reminder to pop into the app and start the Live Activity.
It’s still early days for this iOS feature, and I’m sure more well-known sports app will add Live Activities for games, but for now at least, Sports Alerts has earned itself a spot on my iPhone.
- After installing the 16.2 beta, I re-enabled push notifications for TV.app on my phone to test these new sports features, and I came to regret that after just a few days. I really dislike how many HEY COME WATCH THIS THING notifications TV.app sends. ↩
This week on Mac Power Users:
Charlie Chapman is the developer behind Dark Noise and the host of the Launched podcast. This week, he talks with David and Stephen about his experience as an iOS developer and what it’s like when Apple adds OS features that compete with something you’ve built.
Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips.
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The folks behind OpenAI have opened up a new AI tool that can return text when given a prompt. Naturally, I asked it to write about Apple products. Prompt #1: Write 5 paragraphs in the style of a news article written by about Apple’s new iMac computer, complete with quotes from experts Apple has released […]
It was a matter of time before an iPhone 14 popped up in a story like this. Joe Wituschek has details over on iMore: As reported by the Department of Public Safety, on December 1st around two o’clock in the morning, Alaskan State Troopers were notified that “an adult male traveling via snowmachine from Noorvik […]
It’s as we expected: the new landscape camera interfers with the interior components needed to charge the Pencil 2. Hopefully Apple can resolve this for future models.
Yesterday, Tiff Arment published the final episode of Somehow I Manage, our Office re-watch podcast. We were joined by the wonderful Mikah Sargent, who was Tiff’s original cohost: Tiff, Stephen, and Mikah pull up some hay bales (with complementary hay hooks) and share an emotional goodbye as they discuss “Finale”. This episode of “The Office” […]
This week on the show, Federico and I are joined by the One True John to discuss the past, present and future of the iPad mini, as well as home networking, award-winning APIs and a big surprise.
The folks behind Context, a new way to search video and audio clips for keywords, have created something very useful if you’re someone like me: Find any moment you’re looking for in All Apple Keynotes by entering a word or phrase into the search bar below. It even has one of the most awkward lines […]
Apple Newsroom has been busy. Today, the company announced the first-ever Apple Podcasts Award winner: Apple today announced the Apple Podcasts Award honoring a Show of the Year and its team for outstanding quality, innovation, and impact. Inspired by the signature app icon, the Apple Podcasts Award represents Apple’s decades-long commitment to supporting creators as […]
Leah Cheshier, writing yesterday for NASA: NASA’s uncrewed Orion spacecraft reached the farthest distance from Earth it will travel during the Artemis I mission — 268,563 miles from our home planet — just after 3 p.m. CST. The spacecraft also captured imagery of Earth and the Moon together throughout the day, including of the Moon […]
Every year, I spend some time in late November talking about Operation Broken Silence, a non-profit working to bring education to thousands of kids across Sudan, all of whom have been forced from their homes due to decades of conflict. This year, OBS is hard at work bringing water to this region as well, and […]
Apple Support, on the Control Strip: To move the Control Strip: Press and hold down the Option key. Drag the tab at the end of the Control Strip. If you drag it more than halfway across the display, the Control Strip moves to the other edge. If you have more than one display, you can […]
Record any audio, with Audio Hijack. Whether you want to save audio from individual applications like Safari or Skype, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, and even the entire system audio output, Audio Hijack can handle it. Simply put, if it can be heard on MacOS, Audio Hijack can record it. Use it to: […]
This week’s episode of Mac Power Users is out: OmniFocus expert Tim Stringer drops by the show to catch David and Stephen up on his businesses, his use of multiple Macs and how OmniFocus 4 is shaping up while in beta.
This week on Connected: Myke is on vacation, so Stephen and Federico make a play for the hearts of the people. Don’t miss the first link in the show notes.
It’s that time of year, so I’m happy to present my annual gift guide. If you have someone like me in your life, consider these suggestions: An Apple Lisa: A cool $9,999 on eBay Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch – $6,400.00 new from Omega This sick Macintosh t-shirt – $19.35 on Etsy “I was a Mac user […]
Ron Amadeo, writing for Ars Technica: Amazon is going through the biggest layoffs in the company’s history right now, with a plan to eliminate some 10,000 jobs. One of the areas hit hardest is the Amazon Alexa voice assistant unit, which is apparently falling out of favor at the e-commerce giant. That’s according to a […]
If you didn’t order a 2023 Apple Calendar and still want one, there are just a few left!
Apple Support: iCal and the calendar feature of Microsoft Entourage can be used together–as long as you have iCal 1.5 or later and Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later installed. If you have earlier versions of iCal or Mac OS X, when you try to add an iCal invitation to an Entourage calendar, an alert […]
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps […]
I just packed and labeled the final orders for the Kickstarter! The last set of packages will be taken to the post office Monday morning. It feels great to have reached this point the weekend before Thanksgiving. (To be fair, there are still 23 of you who have not filled out a shipping survey! If […]
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, writing at The Verge: Earlier this summer, on the day Artemis I was originally scheduled to launch, I spent an hour testing out the capabilities of this new deep space voice assistant down on the ground at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While this was a demo model (they wouldn’t let me […]
Jason Snell and I dusted off the Liftoff feed to talk about the Artemis I mission and the first launch of the SLS.
If you’re tired of reading bad news coming out of Twitter, don’t worry, this story is about SpaceX.
This week on the show, we discuss cubes, the value of feedback and what’s left for Apple’s year. Also on the topic list: mid-life crises, the Apple polishing cloth and a new membership perk for Connected Pro.
Yours truly, speaking with Texas Standard earlier today about the Artemis I launch: After the end of the space shuttle program, we really were kind of stuck in terms of getting a crew to space from American soil. And SpaceX and others are working to supply missions to the International Space Station, but there hasn’t […]
I haven’t used Evernote in years and years, but for a long time, it was central to a lot of my work. Seeing it get sold makes me feel a little sad.
At 1:47 Eastern time this morning, NASA’s $20+ billion rocket finally left its launch pad: Launch starts about 3:16:54 into the video. The SLS rocket and Orion crew capsule have their roots all the way back into the early 2000s, as NASA prepared for a post-shuttle world.1 It’s taken longer — and cost more — than […]
Apple Support: You can upgrade the Macintosh Centris 610 or 650 with an FPU, but Apple doesn’t provide or support such an upgrade. You must rely on third-party companies who can remove the 68LC040 from its socket and replace it with a 68RC040. Since Apple doesn’t intend to offer an upgrade, we can’t guarantee that […]
NASA’s next Artemis 1 launch window is upon us. The SLS rocket is slated to launch November 16th, with the two-hour launch window opening at 1:04 AM Eastern. It’ll be streaming on NASA TV if you’re awake.
Apple Newsroom: Every model in the iPhone 14 lineup — iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max — can connect directly to a satellite through a combination of custom-designed components and deeply integrated software. Emergency SOS via satellite builds on existing features vital to iPhone users, including Emergency SOS, […]
Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips. Get your whole team on the same page by getting information out of silos and into the hands of everyone that needs to use it. You can share your team’s knowledge across departments […]
Apple Retail expert Michael Steeber has a new app out today: Five years ago, I opened the Notes app on my Mac and began creating a hub for all of my Apple Retail information. The document started small, but it eventually ballooned and overshadowed the app. It wielded a tiny scroll bar and depleted system […]
I’ve been using Reminders since WWDC and have been happy with the progress the app has made since the summer. However, one UI inconsistency is really getting to me. I’ll quote myself from the Feedback I filed (#FB11779798) with Apple today: On the iPhone and iPad, the task inspection pane can move the tasks to […]
It’s finally starting to feel like autumn here in Memphis. Leaves are falling, as is the temperature. In the PodCabin, I’ve been hard at work packing and shipping calendars. Yesterday, I hosted a live stream doing just that: As of this writing, I have about 300 packages left to pack and send out! All in […]
…but as you can probably imagine, that verified badge cost someone a mere $8. Jordan Liles has more: On Nov. 10, 2022, a Twitter account with a “verified” checkmark badge and a display name of “Eli Lilly and Company” tweeted, “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.” The account’s handle was @EliLiIlyandCo. However, […]
Adi Robertson has more experience reviewing AR and VR products than just about anyone else, and wow does she have some words for Meta’s new $1,499 Quest Pro: The problem is, the Quest Pro isn’t very good. It’s a device seemingly launched without plan or purpose, highlighting VR’s persistent drawbacks without making good use of […]
As Hurricane Nicole spun over Florida, NASA’s bajillion dollar SLS rocket sat atop Launch Complex-39B. Eric Berger: Prior to Nicole’s arrival, NASA said its SLS rocket was designed to withstand wind gusts of 74.4 knots. Moreover, the agency stated on Tuesday in a blog post, “Current forecasts predict the greatest risks at the pad are […]
This week on Connected: Myke returns to the show with some questions for his co-hosts. Then, conversations about Federico’s Apple Frames 3.0 Shortcut, Stephen’s ability to track his wallet and Elon’s changes at Twitter.
I have begun the messy process of merging much of my Photos library with my wife’s. At the end of this project, I can see a beautiful world in which we have access to tens of thousands of photos, with complete metadata and no duplicates. It’s going to take me a while to get there, […]
In August 1999, Apple announced the first Power Mac G4:1 The Power Mac G4 is powered by the revolutionary new PowerPC G4 chip architected by Apple, Motorola and IBM, and is the first personal computer in history to deliver supercomputer-level performance of over one billion floating-point operations per second. The Power Mac G4s run professional […]
In the upheaval surrounding Twitter’s changes to its verification system, many were left wondering how accounts posing as politicians, journalists, musicians, athletes and others could be noted as official. As it turns out, the checkmark was the way to go after all. Jay Peters at The Verge has more: Twitter is rolling out another type […]
Just a quick programming note that I have opened up sponsorships for next year. Details are all over on this page. If you have a cool product, app or service, 512 Pixels is a great way to get the message out.
Federico has updated his amazing Apple Frames shortcut: Apple Frames 3.0 is a major update that involved a complete re-architecture of the shortcut to improve its performance and reliability on all Apple platforms. For Apple Frames 3.0, I entirely rebuilt its underlying file structure to move away from base64 and embrace Files/Finder to store assets. […]
It’s just been a few days since Musk let go roughy half of Twitter’s staff, and the cracks are already beginning to show, as Elizabeth Lopatto has discovered: I can’t change my screen name on Twitter. I can change my bio. But not my screen name. So although I was helpfully trying to describe myself […]
Nicholas Terry, Space Explored: Early tomorrow morning, people around the globe will have the opportunity to view one of the most spectacular events in the sky, a total lunar eclipse. Here’s a rundown of how to watch this event and why total lunar eclipses are often referred to as “blood moons.” If you can’t make […]
I have not come across this app before, but it was really neat to read about it on Apple Newsroom this morning: NightWare is a digital therapeutic system that works in conjunction with Apple Watch and iPhone to disrupt nightmares related to post-traumatic stress disorder. Available by prescription only, it’s also the first and only […]
Apple Support: If you have a Mac with Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), Thunderbolt / USB 4, Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), or USB-C ports, you can use cables to transfer data and connect your Mac to other devices and displays. If you have a Mac notebook computer, you can also connect to a power adapter to charge your […]
Do you want to block all YouTube ads in Safari on your iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock – the ad blocker designed for you. It’s easy to setup, doubles the speed at which Safari loads and now blocks all YouTube ads. Magic Lasso is an efficient, high performance and native Safari […]
On this feedback episode of MPU, David and I revisit backup tools, talk about keyboard shortcuts and discuss a bunch of listener emails.
NASA is about to try to launch its Artemis 1 mission again. Here’s Stephen Clark at Spaceflight Now: NASA scrubbed the first launch attempt for the Artemis 1 moon mission Aug. 29, when data indicated one of the rocket’s four hydrogen-fueled main engines was not being properly thermally conditioned during the countdown. Engineers later determined […]
Apple Support: DVD-ROM, as its name implies, is a “read-only memory” format. Your computer can read a disc’s contents, but it cannot save data to one. DVD-RAM (DVD random-access memory) and DVD-RW (DVD rewritable) are both rewritable mediums. Both DVD-RW and DVD-RAM are rewritable DVD standards that have been published by the DVD Forum, a […]
Dan Vincent, writing at his excellent Userlandia: If you’ve been reading some parts of the internet lately, you might’ve seen a brouhaha over the quote-unquote “fact” that Pantone has “copyrighted colors.” They’re forcing Adobe to pay them oodles of money for color swatches, and Adobe said “no you.” Now users have to pay $15 a […]
As a long-time Mail.app user, I was excited to see Apple giving new features to the app in this year’s crop of OS releases. Some of these additions are great; I particularly like the ability to schedule a message to be sent at a later time, as well as the ability to “unsend” a message. […]
Jess Weatherbed at The Verge: Last week, Adobe removed support for free Pantone colors across its Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator Creative Cloud applications. PSD files that contained Pantone spot colors now display unwanted black in their place, forcing creatives who need access to the industry-standard color books to pay for a plugin subscription (via Kotaku). […]
Ben Lovejoy: One of the Twitter Blue perks was ad-free access to more than 300 US publishers through a deal known as Ad-Free Articles. Twitter would pay publishers an amount roughly equivalent to the ad revenue for a view, and in return subscribers would be able to read pieces on Twitter Blue Publisher sites without […]
Amanda Silberling, writing at TechCrunch, on Twitter’s supposed plans to charge users $20/month to be verified: Musk and his buddies view this plan as a way to get people to actually give Twitter money. But by monetizing a symbol that currently has value, they will ultimately remove all of that existing value. Blue checks exist […]
This week on Mac Power Users: Apple has shipped significant updates to its operating systems, so David and Stephen explore the features each brings to the table, getting deep into macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16.1. In other news, we have the MPU Merch Store has re-opened for the holidays! We’ve got the Classy Tee back […]
Everyone knows that they should be backing up their computer, and Backblaze is an easy and secure way to back up docs, music, photos, videos, drawings, projects — all of your data. Files can be accessed via Backblaze’s excellent website or on the go with the Backblaze app on iOS and Android. If you experience […]
That famous clip of a floppy disk floating through the air after being ejected from a Macintosh Portable really makes my brain vibrate in a special way. In this video, Scott Manley explains why the Portable was there in the first place:
Nilay Patel, in a fantastic piece about the challenges that You Know Who faces with his purchase of Twitter: Twitter is a disaster clown car company that is successful despite itself, and there is no possible way to grow users and revenue without making a series of enormous compromises that will ultimately destroy your reputation […]
Like many pervious versions of macOS, you can create a USB install disk with in just a few steps. I like having these on hand for troubleshooting or quicker installations. As before, creating a USB Installer requires downloading a full copy of macOS Ventura from Apple. This can be done via the Mac App Store […]
You’ve probably seen all the USB-C iPhone headlines that came out of this interview, but the whole thing is worth a watch, or a listen if you’re like me and ripped the audio then uploaded it to your Overcast account to listen to later when you go for a walk.
This week on Connected: Stephen has some dongles, Myke worries about the neighbors and Federico doesn’t enjoy piles.
Jessica Merzdorf, NASA: Lucy is the first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, an ancient population of asteroid “fossils” that orbit around the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter. To reach these distant asteroids, the Lucy spacecraft’s trajectory includes three Earth gravity assists to boost it on its journey to these enigmatic asteroids. […]
Apple: Use the powerful camera system of your iPhone to do things never before possible with a webcam, including Center Stage, Portrait mode, Studio Light, and Desk View.
Howard Oakley: At first sight, it might appear that boot volume groups and overall disk layout in Ventura are exactly the same as those in Big Sur and Monterey. This article shows their similarity, and how they differ significantly.
Apple Support: macOS Ventura makes the things you do most on Mac even better, with big updates to the apps you use everyday, including Mail, Messages, and Safari. You can use your iPhone as a webcam for your Mac with Continuity Camera. There’s also an entirely new way to automatically organize your windows with Stage […]
A very happy macOS Ventura Day to all who celebrate. If you have a Mac from 2016 or older, you are unfortunately not invited to the party. While I did not write a review, a couple of my buddies have: John Voorhees at MacStories Jason Snell at Six Colors On the next episode of Mac […]
a new iPad mode moving windows overlap until it crashes For a lot more detail, go read Viticci’s article on the topic.
Reviews of the M2 iPad Pro and the 10th-generation iPad are out. Here’s Federico Viticci: These are relatively easy iPads to review with a fairly straightforward narrative around them. The new iPad Pro is an iterative update that shows us Apple has seemingly hit a plateau in terms of innovation with this particular design – […]
MarsEdit 4 is a native Mac interface to WordPress and other blogging systems that focuses on one thing: blogging! As WordPress gets increasingly complicated with an emphasis on BLOCKS and whole-site design, MarsEdit sticks to the classic idea that: There would be an editor. You could write in it. You could publish it to your […]
This week on Mac Power Users: With Matter on the horizon, there has never been a better time to get into home automation. Stephen and David talk about how their HomeKit setups have evolved over time and what they hope Apple and others can add to the smart home in the future. On More Power […]
Script Editor, the built-in macOS app for creating and dealing with AppleScript and JavaScript automation, comes with a handful of example templates, including this gem for importing files into Aperture: Aperture was discontinued some eight years ago, but this template is still included in the version of Script Editor bundled with macOS Ventura.
The Guardian has an excerpt from Bono’s memoir, and the excerpt includes a bit on the time Apple and U2 added the band’s newest album to everyone’s iTunes music libraries: If just getting our music to people who like our music was the idea, that was a good idea. But if the idea was getting […]
Evans Hankey has been in charge of Apple’s hardware design for three years, but she is now leaving the company according to a new report from Mark Gurman: The departure was announced inside the Cupertino, California-based technology giant this week, with Hankey telling colleagues that she will remain at Apple for the next six months. […]
Taylor Hatmaker at TechCrunch, writing about a pretty tough story: Musk has previously gestured at plans for layoffs if he were to buy Twitter, but those cuts could go even deeper than previously imagined. According to a new report from the Washington Post, Musk plans to purge 75% of Twitter’s workforce, or around 5,600 employees. […]
This week on Connected: Apple has announced a pair of new iPad and a new Apple TV. This week, the guys talk through the news and try to make sense of the new iPad lineup.
Alex Guyot at MacStories: This morning Apple announced their all-new iPad and iPad Pro lineups via press release and a short announcement video. The new iPad (non-Pro) features new colors and an updated square-edge design that brings it in line with the rest of Apple’s modern iPads and iPhones. The iPad Pro has been upgraded […]
Speaking of weird bugs and scripts, here’s Apple Support on a weird bug that was present in an early version of Mac OS X 10.2: When using Script Editor to save a new file, there are two choices for compiled script. When you choose Save As or save a script for the first time, you […]
A tweet from Mr. Macintosh over the weekend reminded me of one of the worst bugs Apple shipped in an application update. Version 2 of iTunes was going to be a big deal, including support for the just-announced iPod and the addition of an equalizer with cross-fading. Things did not go well. Here’s a bit […]
Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips. Get your whole team on the same page by getting information out of silos and into the hands of everyone that needs to use it. You can share your team’s knowledge across departments […]
Apple Maps has matured from its rocky start back a decade ago into a robust alternative to Google Maps. This week, David and I go on a roadtrip through the service’s history, features and more. On More Power Users, the longer and ad-free version of the show, we talked through Apple Maps’ horrific launch
You can’t go too long in this corner of the Internet without running into a report or rumor about Apple’s AR headset plans. As an example, here is The Verge’s Adi Robertson, writing about a feature that is supposedly coming with the new hardware: Apple’s rumored virtual and augmented reality headset will reportedly use iris […]
Getting Doom running on weird hardware is all-time favorite hobby of some on the Internet, but this takes things to the next level.
Steven Aquino, writing at Forbes, about a feature that shipped with the new Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro: A marquee feature of the Pixel 7 series is what Google calls Guided Frame. The feature, an interplay of hardware and software, works with Android’s TalkBack screen reader to help guide a Blind or low vision […]
NASA: NASA is targeting the next launch attempt of the Artemis I mission for Monday, Nov. 14 with liftoff of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft planned during a 69-minute launch window that opens at 12:07 a.m. EST. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test to launch SLS and send Orion […]
Apple Support: When you take pictures with the built-in iSight camera in your iMac G5 (iSight), the resulting images may look blue or green in Photo Booth or iChat instead of full color. This can happen when your display’s Colors setting is set to “Thousands” in the Displays pane of System Preferences. To fix your […]
Benjamin Mayo has noticed something new going on with Apple’s website: Apple appears to be rolling out a wide-reaching branding change about how it refers to its Mac portable lineup. Up until recently, Apple officially referred to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro as “Mac notebooks” or just “notebooks,” leaning on the relatively outdated industry […]
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps […]
This week on MPU: With David settling in at his new studio, the guys take some time to talk about their desk setups, what’s in their bags and what they carry with them daily.
William Shatner, in his new book, writing about his trip with Blue Origin: I had thought that going into space would be the ultimate catharsis of that connection I had been looking for between all living things—that being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe. In the […]
Benj Edwards, writing at Ars: In the early 2000s, Americans who wanted to catch the local weather forecast at any time might turn on their TV and switch over to Weatherscan, a 24-hour computer-controlled weather forecast channel with a relaxing smooth jazz soundtrack. After 23 years, The Weather Channel announced that Weatherscan will be shutting […]
Alex Heath, in the best lede I’ve read all week: Meta’s VR social network Horizon Worlds — the company’s flagship “metaverse” app — is suffering from too many quality issues and even the team building it isn’t using it very much, according to internal memos obtained by The Verge.
David Pierce, writing at The Verge, has a great interview with Pixel hardware boss Rick Osterloh about the new watch, Google’s purchase of Fitbit and why anyone should trust Google to keep supporting this thing in the long run.
On this episode, we discuss what academic honors they would like to receive, what happened at the beach house and the new update to Spark. Then, David Smith drops by to talk about the Apple Watch Ultra. On Connected Pro, AI recreates a crime scene.
Tim Bajarin, writing at Forbes: In 1988, the father of the ThinkPad, Arimasa Naitoh, a Lenovo Fellow located in Japan, received a call about the need to spearhead a new portable computing venture in IBM’s research center in Yokohama, Japan. At the time, he was based in White Plains, NY but moved back to Japan […]
Today, we have a bit of a history lesson via Apple Support: The earliest seeds of modern electronic synthesizers began in the twilight years of the 19th century. In 1897, an American inventor named Thaddeus Cahill was issued a patent to protect the principle behind an instrument known as the Telharmonium, or Dynamophone. Weighing in […]
We just closed Relay FM’s annual St. Jude campaign, raising $706,397.10 for the life-saving work of St. Jude. This is an all-time high for our campaign, topping last year’s total of $701,220.26. Thank you all. This means the world to me, my family and all of Relay FM.
Everyone knows that they should be backing up their computer, and Backblaze is an easy and secure way to back up docs, music, photos, videos, drawings, projects — all of your data. Files can be accessed via the mobile Backblaze app on iOS and Android, as we as Backblaze’s excellent website. If you experience a […]
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I share some of the treats we’ve found as apps are getting updated for iOS 16. Then, we talk through their first impressions of the Apple Watch Ultra.
We’re in the final days of Relay’s annual fundraiser for St. Jude. The campaign — and all community fundraisers — will close at 12 PM Eastern on Monday. If you haven’t given, now’s the time!
When the space shuttle program wrapped up 11 years ago, one of the many things that was lost was the ability to service the Hubble Space Telescope, which needed quite a bit of service back in the shuttle days. For years, it has been understood that if anything major failed on Hubble after the last […]
This week on the show: Stephen has an Apple Watch Ultra. Myke dropped his iPhone. Federico’s security cameras came in very handy. Oh, and Stage Manager is still busted. The turn that this episode took is one for the ages.
The end of September draws near, which means we will be winding down our fundraiser for St. Jude on Friday. If you haven’t given to this life-saving work, now is the time. Don’t miss our Closing Ceremonies: Childhood Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close on Friday, as does our annual campaign for @StJude. Join […]
David Smith: I was very excited when Apple announced the Apple Watch Ultra this fall. I’ve been wearing an Apple Watch on my wrist nearly every day since they were first released seven years ago. What was so exciting about the Ultra is that it seemed to be targeted directly at me. I’m an avid […]
N. Ingraham, writing at Engadget: Apple is making Stage Manager work with a number of older devices: it’ll work on the 11-inch iPad Pro (first generation and later) and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (third generation and later). Specifically, it’ll be available on the 2018 and 2020 models that use the A12X and A12Z chips rather […]
Apple Support: If you create a site or page name in iWeb 1.0.1 with an apostrophe as part of the name, and subsequently update to iWeb 1.1, then the web addresses (URLs) to your site/page will no longer be valid. This will break any existing bookmarks to the page. This occurs because iWeb 1.1 handles […]
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my latest attempt to add my older garage door opener to HomeKit. That project has been a huge hit with everyone in my household, so emboldened, I recently took on an additional HomeKit project: adding our driveway gate to the network. When I first had the idea, […]
There are several things in this new article that jumped out at me. Up first, is how different phones will treat Live Activities: In addition to displaying a Live Activity on the Lock Screen, devices that support Live Activities can display your app information in different ways, depending on whether the device also supports the […]
Hello! It’s been a busy month around here with Relay FM’s annual fundraiser for St. Jude, but that is winding down this week, and I’m back in calendar land! Over the last few weeks, I’ve made some significant progress: The stickers have been all packed! Big thanks to Myke and Adina for helping while they […]
This week on MPU, Alex Cox drops by the show to update Stephen and David on their new indie life, including Apple silicon hardware, collaboration tools and the new iPhone 14 Pro.
Apple: The most rugged and capable Apple Watch yet, Apple Watch Ultra can provide the information you need during a hike, run, or dive; make interactions easy with a single press of the Action button; help maintain your night vision when you’re active after hours; and emit a loud pulsing sound if you need help. […]
Since 2002, Rogue Amoeba has been making amazing audio apps for the Mac. Whether you’re a podcaster, musician, or just someone who listens to audio on their Mac, Rogue Amoeba can make your life better. Whatever your audio needs, it’s a good bet they have a tool to help you. And right now, for a […]
Jeremy Reimer has kicked off a new series on Ars Technica about the history of ARM. If this initial entry is anything to go by, it’s going to be a great read.
DC Rainmaker has tried on all of the Apple Watch Ultra bands and some of the details are really interesting. Mine is coming with the orange Alpine Loop, but I think a black/gray/orange Trail Loop could be me in my future. Don’t miss Rainmaker’s review of the Apple Watch Ultra itself.
I can’t think of a stranger pair of bugs than the copy/paste panel and shaking camera issues that this update addresses.
Apple Support, or rather, Apple Legal: Underwater activities are risky. The Depth app isn’t a dive computer and doesn’t provide decompression stop information, gas analysis, or other recreational scuba diving functionality. If you’re using Apple Watch Ultra where the failure of the device could lead to death, personal injury, or severe environmental damage, always use […]
This week on Connected: Stephen shares his iPhone 14 Pro impressions, Myke reviews tvOS 16 and Federico laments the state of Stage Manager. On Connected Pro, Ticci and I reviewed the new Death Cab for Cutie album, Asphalt Meadows.
Apple Support: Basically, anything that can be attached to a regular TV can be attached to Macintosh TV. There are two ports for a video source: coaxial and RCA. Things that have an RCA plug can also be attached to the coaxial port with the proper adapter, and vice-versa. One restriction is that closed caption […]
Like many of you, I spent part of my weekend setting up my new iPhone 14 Pro. For the last couple of years, I’ve used the direct transfer method, and it has yet to let me down. It took several hours, but when the transfer was done, my iPhone 14 Pro was identical to my […]
Rogue Amoeba’s work has made the Mac a better platform for all sorts of people for two decades now. Here’s Paul Kafasis: In 2022, Rogue Amoeba is going stronger than ever. Every day, our audio tools help countless Mac users create podcasts, enhance video calls, and so much more. Of course, most of our time […]
Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips. Get your whole team on the same page by getting information out of silos and into the hands of everyone that needs to use it. You can share your team’s knowledge across departments […]
Kyle Wiens at iFixit: Apple has completely redesigned the internals of the iPhone 14 to make it easier to repair. It is not at all visible from the outside, but this is a big deal. It’s the most significant design change to the iPhone in a long time. The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max […]
Howard Oakley: In the last six months macOS malware protection has changed more than it did over the previous seven years. It has now gone fully pre-emptive, as active as many commercial anti-malware products, provided that your Mac is running Catalina or later. This article updates those I’ve previously written about Apple’s new tool in […]
This week on Mac Power Users: Automation wizard Stephen Millard joins David and Stephen to discuss Shortcuts, Alfred workflows and a whole host of other automation tools across Apple’s platforms.
Mitchell Clark, at The Verge: In September 2012, Apple introduced the iPhone 5 — it was bigger, faster, and more powerful than its predecessor, but perhaps the most revolutionary change was how you charged it. Onstage to introduce the new phone, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller announced that the company was switching from the 30-pin […]
My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. As a native Safari extension, Magic Lasso blocks all intrusive ads, trackers and annoyances — letting you experience a faster, cleaner and more secure experience across all your devices. By cutting down on ads and trackers, common news websites load 2x faster and […]
The new version includes native support for Apple silicon Macs, and it takes advantage of the ScreenCaptureKit API in macOS for much better performance when capturing windows, according to 9to5Mac. I’m looking forward to taking it for a spin.
It’s a big one this week: Apple is holding an event on September 7, so the Rickies have been called to order.
If you missed my recent Kickstarter and would like a copy of next year’s Apple History Calendar, I’ve got preorders open for it, stickers and more. If you backed the Kickstarter, you should have a survey and link to the pre-orders in your Inbox today. From there, you’ll be able to add extra items to […]
Benjamin Cassidy, in a really fun article looking at the life — and death — of Clippy: Clippy was born on a Mac. When Kevan Atteberry was hired to design characters for Microsoft Bob and Office 97, he’d shuttle between the company’s leafy grounds and his Bellevue studio space, where a desktop made by a certain […]
Zoe Schiffer and Casey Newton have published an in-depth piece at The Verge that dives into a plan Twitter was working on to become more profitable: In the spring of 2022, Twitter considered making a radical change to the platform. After years of quietly allowing adult content on the service, the company would monetize it. […]
Apple Support: The LaserWriter drum is an organic photo-conductive layer laid on the surface of an aluminum cylinder. The ingredients of the organic layer are: wt% OSHA (PEL) ACGIH (TLV) aluminum alloy 95.0-98.0 – – titanium dioxide (13463-67-7) 0.5-2.0 * 15mg/m3(TWA) 10mg/m3(TWA)(Dust) (20mg/m3)(Stel) Binder resin 0.5-2.0 – – Organic semiconductor 0.3-0.8 – – Carcinogens: no […]
Today, we’re announcing Relay FM’s 4th annual fundraiser for St. Jude. Over the last three years, the Relay FM audience has raised $1.5 million for this incredibly important institution. $700,000 of that was raised in 2021 alone. (Y’all are awesome!) If you’re new to St. Jude, here’s a bit about what it does: The mission […]
Want to experience twice as fast load times in Safari on your iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock – the ad blocker designed for you. It’s easy to setup, blocks all YouTube ads, and doubles the speed at which Safari loads. Magic Lasso Adblock is an efficient and high performance ad blocker […]
This week on MPU: Julia Alexander drops by to discuss the world of streaming services, and how Apple stands apart from its competitors in the space. Also discussed: the sad lack of modern orange notebooks, the importance of the Apple Watch and some of Julia’s go-to apps.
My thanks to Unite 4 for macOS for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. 512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you […]
If you’ve wondered why some of us have such complex feelings about NASA’s new rocket, Eric Berger has a great article on the very subject.
Going from the new System Settings to the ancient System Information — née System Profiler — is quite jarring on macOS Ventura: Also, can we talk about why someone centered all the text and the button that ended the up in the footer of this new settings pane? Also, also, when is the last time […]
This week on Connected: Apple has announced an event for September 7th, while also confirming that iPadOS 16 will ship later in the fall. This week, Federico, Myke and Stephen talk through the news, cover the Mac’s inclusion in the Self Service Repair Program and explore a new Twitter client. On Connected Pro, we each […]
According to invites, some media will be in-person at the Steve Jobs Theatre. And confirmed: In-person Apple iPhone event on Sept.7 in Cupertino. pic.twitter.com/jgNFifUxwJ — Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) August 24, 2022
It’s been rumored that Apple was going to delay the release of iPadOS 16. Today, that was confirmed to Brian Heater at TechCrunch: Apple this morning is rolling out iPadOS 16.1 beta to enrolled developer devices. It’s a break from the standard release cadence, which has tied together the tablet operating system with its smartphone […]
Tiffany Fairley at NASA: The Flight Readiness Review for NASA’s Artemis I mission has concluded, and teams are proceeding toward a two-hour launch window that opens at 8:33 a.m. EDT Monday, August 29, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B in Florida. When the giant SLS rocket gets off the ground, it’ll be a huge […]
Apple Support: Need to know which power adapter goes with your Apple Cinema Display (20-inch DVI), Apple Cinema HD Display (23-inch DVI), or Apple Cinema HD Display (30-inch DVI)? The following table has your answer! And what a table it is… Related: my history of Apple’s LCD displays over the years.
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I address storage mediums, syncing services, backup strategies and a lot more.
Apple Newsroom: Apple announced Self Service Repair will be available tomorrow for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks with the M1 family of chips, providing repair manuals and genuine Apple parts and tools through the Apple Self Service Repair Store. Self Service Repair for iPhone launched earlier this year and the program will expand to […]
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps […]
Alexandre Colucci: WWDC 2019 had a major impact on the UI toolkit landscape: while the venerable AppKit APIs remained available, Apple removed the old Carbon APIs and introduced 2 brand new frameworks: Mac Catalyst and SwiftUI. Apple sporadically mentioned some apps built with these new UI toolkits. In this article, I try to bring a […]
My thanks to MarsEdit for sponsoring the site this week. It is a fantastic blog editor for macOS that eschews all the increasingly complicated parts of WordPress. I use here on 512 Pixels — including for this very blog post. Go check it out.
Apple Demo and 91 Tech has an incredible video out, all about AirPower, Apple’s never-launched wireless charging mat.
If you had told me eight years ago that we’d be where we are today, with an amazing community of podcasters, listeners and members, it would have sounded like a dream come true. That’s exactly what it is.
This week on the show: The guys react to their original iPhone App Store purchases after discussing Stephen’s M2 MacBook Air review, Federico’s feelings about the betas and Myke’s love of transparent objects.
Raymond Chen, writing at The Old New Thing at Microsoft: A colleague of mine shared a story from Windows XP product support. A major computer manufacturer discovered that playing the music video for Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” would crash certain models of laptops. I would not have wanted to be in the laboratory that they […]
Apple Support, in a pretty terse document: The eligibility period for the MacBook Air (Original, Late 2008, and Mid 2009) Hinge Quality Program has ended. The eligibility period covering this issue has ended. I had forgotten about this situation, but I linked to a support article about it back in 2009. The URL I linked […]
I’m a big fan of Death Cab for Cutie. Like most music that has stuck with me, I first came across the band’s work in high school. My buddy Levi drove a first-generation Miata, and one night as we drove around the suburb outside of Memphis that we called home, he popped in a burned […]
MarsEdit 4 is a native Mac interface to WordPress and other blogging systems that focuses on one thing: blogging! As WordPress gets increasingly complicated with an emphasis on BLOCKS and whole-site design, MarsEdit sticks to the classic idea that: There would be an editor. You could write in it. You could publish it to your […]
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I are joined by Chris Christensen. He is a web developer, writer and traveler with roots in 90s Apple. We discuss his work, navigating the world and a lot more. On More Power Users — the longer and ad-free version of the show — we talk about Chris’ […]
My thanks to TextExpander for sponsoring 512 Pixels again this week. The way we work is changing rapidly. Make work happen wherever you are by saying more in less time and with less effort using TextExpander. TextExpander is available on Mac, Windows, Chrome, iPhone, iPad. Learn more and get 20% off by visiting this page.
Jason Snell: Network Locations is a feature of macOS that, ever since version 10.0, has allowed users to switch between different sets of network configuration preferences in different environments and situations. It’s not visible in the redesigned System Preferences app of macOS Ventura — and Tyler Loch discovered that the disappearance is not an accident. […]
A nameless Dropbox employee: A public beta for full support of macOS will be available in early Q4. For now, you can still double-click to open files in Finder. Everything else is working as usual. The “full support” language is in regard to a change Apple made in macOS 12.3 that deprecated the type of […]
This week on Connected, Myke and I revisit sleep tracking and discuss the original iPad Keyboard Dock. We also cover changes in iOS 16 Beta 5, the Opal C1 webcam and Amazon’s purchase of iRobot.
Spotify: This week, we are launching a new Home experience that includes feeds for both Music and Podcasts & Shows. The feature is currently rolling out to Android users and will soon be available on iOS. By creating these feeds, Spotify will help listeners to easily scroll through the type of content they’re looking for […]
Apple Support: Learn about the power consumption and thermal output (BTU) of iMac computers. Sadly the list only goes back to 2009, even on the Wayback Machine. I really wanted to see how the G5 faired.
Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips. Get your whole team on the same page by getting information out of silos and into the hands of everyone that needs to use it. You can share your team’s knowledge across departments […]
Today I read a story about an Apple I that is reported to have been built by Woz. That may or may not be true, according to some experts. Ethan Baron, writing at The Mercury News, has more: Mike Graff, spokesman for Boston-based RR Auction, said Jobs gave the Apple-1 to its current owner, who […]
This week on Mac Power Users: Apple refers to the iPad as a magical pane of glass that becomes whatever you need of it. David and Stephen discuss some apps and accessories that help the iPad reach that potential.
My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac. As a native content blocking extension, it blocks all intrusive ads, trackers and annoyances – letting you experience a faster, cleaner and more secure experience across all […]
It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since Curiosity landed on Mars. I remember watching the news come in, siting on the edge of my seat. In the decade since, the rover has done some amazing work.
This week on the show: Stephen plays the Bad Cop. Federico doesn’t know anybody named Tony. Myke has some questions. Apple has an iPadOS problem. On Connected Pro, I tell the story of a recent purchase that went terribly wrong.
My Kickstarter campaign for a new version of my Apple History Calendar is almost done! If you haven’t backed it yet, time is running out. The campaign closes at 10 AM Eastern on Friday, August 5. I’ve been hard at work on the photos over the last two weeks and couldn’t be happier with how […]
Apple Support: Learn how to get your iPad onscreen keyboard back to normal if it’s smaller than you expect or if it’s split in half. I sat at my computer for several minutes trying to think of a joke about an iPad keyboard being invited on stage during a magic show, but couldn’t come up […]
Sami Fathi at MacRumors: In a memo to authorized service providers, obtained by MacRumors, Apple acknowledges that customers may find themselves facing speaker issues with the company’s $1599 display. Apple says that customers facing issues should unplug the Studio Display from power, unplug any accessories or devices connected to the display, wait ten seconds, then […]
Do you want to block all YouTube ads in Safari on your iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock – the ad blocker designed for you. It’s easy to setup, doubles the speed at which Safari loads and now blocks all YouTube ads. Magic Lasso is an efficient, high performance and free ad […]
I came across this article in doing research for my Apple History Calendar: The Campbell Soup Company has over 40,000 employees. Campbell Germany wanted to improve their sales and distribution system as well as the quality of their customer service. Campbell developed a solution around a mobile communications system involving the Apple MessagePad and mobile […]
In this feedback episode, I talk David through my workflows of the Apple History Calendar, and then we talk about the current state of Apple’s beta software. They also tackle some listener feedback and check in on the new version of Alfred.
My thanks to Rogue Amoeba for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. They have been helping Mac users for nearly twenty years, and their app Audio Hijack is a critical part of my podcasting workflow. Right now you can check it out online to learn more and download a free trial of Audio Hijack 4. You’ll […]
Liftoff has been deemed “an occasional podcast,” but we’ve got a new episode out: Jason and Stephen pop open the hatch to marvel at the JWST’s first images, talk about the SLS and wonder what is going on with Russia and the ISS.
This week on Connected, we tour some old Apple Stores, alter some AirPods and think about tracking their sleep.
Apple Support: After extended periods of use, the surfaces of the iSight camera will become warm. iSight was designed to comply with safety agency specifications; therefore, the surface temperature should not present a safety issue. To ensure the iSight maintains a safe temperature, use it in a place where the temperature is always between 0º […]
Michael Steeber has made something wild: The Apple Store Time Machine is a celebration of the places and products that have shaped our lives for more than twenty years. This interactive experience recreates memorable moments in Apple history with painstaking detail and historical accuracy. This Mac app took me back to my Apple Store days […]
Audio Hijack has been helping Mac users for nearly twenty years, and we are not stopping now! Whether you want to save audio from individual applications like Safari or Skype, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, and even the entire system audio output, Audio Hijack can handle it. Simply put, if it can be […]
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I get into Craft. While it can be used for simple note taking, it also packs a lot of powerful personal knowledge management tools for users who need them.
My thanks to TextExpander for sponsoring 512 Pixels again this week. The way we work is changing rapidly. Make work happen wherever you are by saying more in less time and with less effort using TextExpander. TextExpander is available on Mac, Windows, Chrome, iPhone, iPad. Learn more and get 20% off by visiting this page.
Rene on Twitter: After over 2 years as a full-time creator, I’m taking on a new role at YouTube as Creator Liaison (@YouTubeLiaison)! Of course, I made a quick video collab with some creator and YouTube friends to help give you all the details. Big congrats to my pal. He’s going to be great in […]
My Kickstarter campaign for a new version of my Apple History Calendar is halfway done. If you haven’t backed it yet, there are just 14 days left to do so. I’m thrilled with how it is going so far, but hope to see it pass last year’s campaign in terms of size. If you have […]
This week on Connected: Roses are red, Myke’s MacBook Air is blue He and Stephen discuss Apple Arcade, Apple TV, YouTube and betas, too.
Apple: iCal and the calendar feature of Microsoft Entourage can be used together–as long as you have iCal 1.5 or later and Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later installed. Now I’m just having flashbacks to using Entourage in college to access my school email.
Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips. Get your whole team on the same page by getting information out of silos and into the hands of everyone that needs to use it. You can share your team’s knowledge across departments […]
This week on Mac Power Users: William Gallagher has written using a Mac for decades. He joins Stephen and David to discuss his work and how he gets words on the page.
My thanks to Unite 4 for sponsoring the site this week. It’s a killer Mac app allows you to turn any website into an app on your computer. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. 512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week […]
It has been 20 years and change since Apple first introduced Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. Here’s a bit from the press release: Apple today previewed the next major version of Mac OS X, code-named “Jaguar,” to more than 2,500 Macintosh developers at its Worldwide Developers Conference. “Jaguar” will be available to customers in late […]
This week on Connected: M2 MacBook Air reviews are out, as are the 2022 Public Betas. This week, the guys explore both. Myke then pits Stephen, Federico and The Passionate Ones against each other.
Apple Support: When you open iCal, the icon in the Dock reflects the current date. If you leave iCal open overnight, the icon does not update at midnight to reflect the change of date. This was fixed in iCal 1.0.2.
Speaking of Evans Hankey, she and other members of Apple’s design team chatted with GQ about the new MacBook Air. There’s not a ton of new information in the piece but this jumped out at me: It’s a workload that she compares to “drinking from the firehouse” but even accounting for that vast portfolio of […]
Tripp Mickle, reporting for the New York Times: When Jony Ive, Apple’s influential design leader, exited the company in 2019, Tim Cook, its chief executive, reassured customers that Mr. Ive, the man who gave the world candy-colored computers, would work exclusively with the company for many years. Not anymore. Marco Arment, on Twitter: Apple’s design […]
The new James Webb Space Telescope is officially in action, and is already beaming back some amazing imagery.
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I talk about Reddit and a third-party client named Apollo, which brings a world-class Reddit experience to iPhone users. Then, they are joined by its developer Christian Selig to discuss the app’s origins, working with the Reddit API and a lot more.
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps […]
Apple, back in 1997: Apple Computer, Inc. today announced a new credit option for college-bound youth to make buying a Macintosh as easy as using one. Kicked-off on June 1, the ongoing Apple Computer Loan program is the latest innovation from the Company that offers the world’s first 300 megahertz home computer and the world’s […]
Joe Rossignol, writing at MacRumors: Today marks the third anniversary of Apple discontinuing the 12-inch MacBook. The portable notebook was removed from Apple’s online store on July 9, 2019 alongside refreshes to the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro on the same day. Introduced in March 2015, the 12-inch MacBook featured a thin and light […]
Apple’s Reminders has come a long way over the years, but some third-party apps have better tools for quickly entering tasks with natural language processing. To be clear, Reminders has some natural language processing, but it doesn’t really hold up when compared to things like Todoist or Remember the Milk. There are a couple of […]
My thanks to PowerPhotos for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It is the ultimate toolbox for Photos on the Mac. Create multiple libraries, find duplicates, copy photos/albums, merge libraries, advanced export, and more. Version 2.0 can be downloaded for free on the web. Existing users of PowerPhotos 1.0 or iPhoto Library Manager can use their […]
Tomorrow morning at 5 AM Pacific, the new M2 MacBook Air goes on sale. I think it’s going to be a big hit and pretty constrained at first thanks to waves arms at world. For me, I’m planning on ordering a machine in silver for my wife with: Base CPU/GPU 16 GB of RAM 2 […]
This week on the show: Federico has a review ahead of him, Stephen has launched a Kickstarter and Myke has returned to his role as Quizmaster. The Connected Quiz took a real turn on this episode.
I’ve got big news today: I am launching my second Kickstarter project! For 2023, I’ve designed a new edition, focusing on the software that powers our favorite devices. These dates cover everything from Apple’s earliest software to the latest and greatest versions of macOS, iOS, iPadsOS and more. The calendar also includes a wide range […]
Apple Support: QuickTime VR creates an immersive, photorealistic experience simulating actual or imagined three-dimensional objects and places. Unlike other virtual reality implementations, QuickTime VR does not require special goggles or gloves, and it doesn’t need you to download a custom 3D plug-in to work with any application or web browser. All major applications that play […]
PowerPhotos works in conjunction with the Apple Photos app, filling in missing features that Photos itself doesn’t provide. With PowerPhotos you can manage multiple photo libraries, either splitting up an existing library into smaller ones, or merging multiple libraries together into one. You can browse and search your libraries, copy photos and albums between libraries […]
This week on a wacky episode of Connected: After handling some haunting follow-up, Myke, Federico and Stephen rank every iPhone ever.
Tony Miceli is a world-renowned jazz vibraphonist. This week, he joins us on Mac Power Users to talk about how music and technology have become more intertwined over his career, and how he built an online community of vibraphonists.
I screamed a little when I saw these things on the new season of my favorite Apple TV+ show.
On today’s episode of Connected, there was a lot to talk about: There are new betas, new chargers and new versions of iWork apps out this week. Beyond covering those items, the guys talk about WeatherKit and calculate updated Hackett Numbers.
Dan Moren: The feature was originally included in Apple’s word processing software, but got the axe in 2013’s version 5.0, when Apple redesigned its iWork suite to give even footing across the iOS, iPadOS, and macOS platforms. In the interim, Mail Merge remained possible only via workarounds like Sal Soghoian’s Pages Data Merge app. Version […]
This support document is full of words: The Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter requires a host that supports DisplayPort over USB-C.
Over at Ars Technica, Eric Berger has an article outlining the space agency’s internal plans for future moon missions: The Artemis I mission should launch later this year, testing NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and boosting the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit. The second mission, Artemis II, will more or less be a repeat, only […]
Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips. Get your whole team on the same page by getting information out of silos and into the hands of everyone that needs to use it. You can share your team’s knowledge across departments […]
Andrew Cunningham, writing at Ars Technica: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has died many deaths over the years, but today is the one that counts. The final version of the browser, Internet Explorer 11, will no longer receive support or security updates starting today, and it will gradually be removed from Windows 10 PCs via a Windows […]
We did something a little different this week on Mac Power Users: David and Stephen hosted a live webinar, talking about the current crop of Apple’s betas and answering listener questions.
My thanks to Red Sweater Software for sponsoring the site this week. Daniel’s app MarsEdit is the best way to blog using a Mac. If you’re annoyed by the increasing complexity of WordPress’s browser-based editor, download MarsEdit and give it a try. It’s the “Cadillac” of classic editors. You’ll see why many of the best […]
The old new 13-inch MacBook Pro is now for sale on Apple’s website. Currently in the US, the stock $1299 and $1499 models arrive next week, on June 24. Just about any customization pushes an order to July or even August.
I love my 20th Anniversary Mac, but wow is it weird. My buddy Quinn got his hands on one and made a great video about the machine:
This week on Connected: Federico and Stephen explore the new Books UI and some MacBook rumors, before celebrating the return of Clarus the Dogcow. Then, a discussion of Stage Manager’s system requirements and a possible way forward for non-M1 iPads and how Apple could approach future WWDC keynotes. I think Ticci and I came up […]
José Adorno at 9to5Mac: By the beginning of the year, DSSC said Apple was planning a 15-inch MacBook Air. Then, last week, Bloomberg reported that the company was indeed planning to launch this MacBook, alongside a 12-inch model for 2023. Now, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also has a few tidbits about Apple’s upcoming MacBooks. According to […]
Clarus the Dogcow is my favorite bit of Apple lore. It’s really cool to see that our friend is back in the new version of macOS. Shadowfacts has more: Did you know that with macOS Ventura, Clarus the Dogcow has at long last returned home? Recently, while doing something else, I accidentally hit Cmd+Shift+P which […]
Apple Support: Installing Apple Remote Desktop 2 on a non-startup volume does not remove the Apple Remote Desktop 1.2.2 Agent. The result is that Software Update still offers version 1.2.4 for that computer after it’s been upgraded to version 2. Fixes include: Install Apple Remote Desktop 2 on the startup volume where Apple Remote Desktop […]
Apple Newsroom: On Friday, June 17, at 5 a.m. PDT, the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 will be available to customers to order on apple.com, the Apple Store app, and through Apple Authorized Resellers, and will start arriving to customers worldwide on Friday, June 24. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is supercharged by the new […]
The fully-functioning example went for big money: Sold for $340,100! A great outcome for us and for the new owner, an experienced vintage computer collector and Apple aficionado in the United States! — The AAPL Collection (@AAPLcollection) June 12, 2022
MarsEdit 4 is a native Mac interface to WordPress and other blogging systems that focuses on one thing: blogging! As WordPress gets increasingly complicated with an emphasis on BLOCKS and whole-site design, MarsEdit sticks to the classic idea that: There would be an editor. You could write in it. You could publish it to your […]
This week on Mac Power Users: David and Stephen catch up on some recent updates to some stalwarts of the macOS utility landscape, and talk about some other apps that make their Mac setups complete. On More Power Users, David gives an update on Endor Studios.
Apple, in a statement to Rene Ritchie: Stage Manager is a fully integrated experience that provides all-new windowing experience that is incredibly fast and responsive and allow users to run 8 apps simultaneously across iPad and an external display with up to 6K resolution. Delivering this experience with the immediacy users expect from iPad’s touch-first […]
David Smith, writing about WWDC 2022: This year, more than any I can remember, WWDC was the tangible manifestation of Apple’s genuine care for developers, and their desire to facilitate us to do our best work.
My thanks to Unite 4 for macOS for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. You can also try Unite for 14 days absolutely free […]
Mark Gurman, writing at Bloomberg: The 15-inch model under development is a wider version of the 13.6-inch MacBook Air that Apple announced this week. That design, unveiled at the developers event Monday, is thinner than recent models, relies on the M2 chip and abandons the previous wedge-shaped frame. It’s considered to be the biggest overhaul […]
The new MacBook Air with M2 looks like it’s going to be a great machine. I was really impressed by it during my hands-on time at the Steve Jobs Theater on Monday. The other M2 machine is a bit of a head-scratcher though: That’s actually a press photo from the 2016 MacBook Pro’s introduction, but […]
I’m writing this sitting on a couch in an apartment in San Jose that I rented for the week with everyone’s favorite Widgetmaker, David Smith. He’s hard at work doing … developer things … as I catch up on sessions, blog posts and more. I was fortunate enough to get an invite to attend the […]
I’ve attempted to move from Todoist to Apple’s Reminders app a few times over the years. I’ve always hit some bit of friction, then returned to the third-party option. With macOS and iOS 16, Reminders gains some powerful smart list features that I am really excited about. However, there is one small feature that still […]
This week on Connected: WWDC22 is underway. Now it’s time to see how well Federico, Myke and Stephen did at predicting what would be announced.
Apple has totally overhauled its Human Interface Guidelines: Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) is a comprehensive resource for designers and developers looking to create great experiences across Apple platforms. Now, it’s been fully redesigned and refreshed to meet your needs — from your first sketch to the final pixel. The whole thing looks great, but […]
This year, Apple moved the bar with its OS system requirements in some big ways… macOS Ventura brings with it a new, shorter list of supported machines that no longer includes any Mac notebooks made before 2017, the 2013 Mac Pro, and iMacs from 2015: iMac: 2017 and later Mac Pro: 2019 and later iMac […]
We have a very special episode of Mac Power Users this week: Recorded live and in-person at Apple Park, Stephen and David reflect on the announcements made at WWDC22.
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps […]
Lauren Goode: I miss Away Messages. This nostalgia is layered in abstraction; I probably miss the newness of the internet of the 1990s, and I also miss just being … away. But this is about Away Messages themselves—the bits of code that constructed Maginot Lines around our availability. An Away Message was a text box […]
The best time-tracking app just got even better — and now ships with an Apple Watch app. I use Timery every day and just love it.
My thanks to Rogue Amoeba for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. Their app SoundSource lets you do all sorts of magical audio routing and tweaking on macOS. It is sweet. Download the free SoundSource trial, then purchase today. Through the end of June, 512 Pixels readers can save 22% with coupon code SMHSS22.
The folks over at The Iconfactory have a new app out, named WorldWideWeb. It’s a simple web server for both macOS and iOS. It comes at a time when Apple has made doing this with the Mac harder than ever, and as a bonus, it’s free. Alex Guyot has a review of WorldWideWeb over on […]
This week, it’s a big show: WWDC 2022 is just around the corner, and the guys have come prepared with a series of Picks, Risky Picks and Flexies.
Federico Viticci, writing about coming back to the Mac after years of being the iPad Guy: The problem is that, at some point, I have to be realistic about my work and what I want to achieve in my professional life. Ultimately, it comes down to this question: Have I been able to get more […]
Speaking of the Newton, if you want to emulate one on a Mac, this application is the way to do it. The newest version has added support for printing.
Apple Support: In some cases, you may get the following error message when you try to play purchased music or video or access the iTunes Store using iTunes 6: “We could not complete your iTunes Store request. An unknown error occurred (-208).” To resolve this issue, update to iTunes 6.0.1 or later.
Do you use audio on your Mac, in any way? If so, SoundSource is for you. It lives in your menu bar, and provides you with superior control over all your audio. Per-application control: Change the volume of any app relative to others, and play individual apps to different audio devices. Audio effects, anywhere: SoundSource […]
This week on Mac Power Users: Shortcuts arrived on the Mac a year ago, and in the time since, Apple and third-party developers have worked to make it a real contender in terms of automation on macOS. This week, David and Stephen talk about the app and David’s new Field Guide on the topic. David’s […]
My thanks to TextExpander for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It gets your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips. TextExpander is available on Mac, Windows, Chrome, iPhone, iPad. Learn more and get 20% off by visiting this page.
This week on Connected: a look back at macOS Monterey, a conversation about Apple’s supply chain issues and the news that two out of three Connected hosts will be at WWDC. On Connected Pro, we talk about ways to use the Playdate at night.
Relive the iTunes glory days with this free Mac app that controls Music while looking amazing.
Apple has announced that the WWDC Keynote, Platforms State of the Union and Apple Design Awards are all taking place on Monday, June 6. I am really excited to see what Apple has in store this year — and I’ll be there in person for the keynote.
Apple Support: The upload utility for MobileMe Gallery and MobileMe iDisk may not display files correctly when accessed from a web browser in Microsoft Windows. In this case, folders that contain files may appear to be empty. This issue may occur in any supported Windows web browser, such as Safari for Windows, Firefox, and/or Internet […]
Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips. Get your whole team on the same page by getting information out of silos and into the hands of everyone that needs to use it. You can share your team’s knowledge across departments […]
Worlds colliding this week — my Connected co-host joined us on MPU: MacStories boss Federico Viticci returns to the show to talk about the iPad’s apparent stagnation and how the Mac has grown over the last few years. The guys also talk about Raycast, Shortcuts, Apple silicon and more.
My thanks to Unite 4 for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. You can also try Unite for 14 days absolutely […]
At WWDC in May 2002, Apple said goodbye to the classic Mac OS in a weird and wonderful way: Philip Michaels wrote about it Macworld: Steve Jobs wore black Monday, and not just because that’s the Apple CEO’s usual sartorial color of choice. Instead, Jobs donned his trademark black mock turtleneck to preside over a […]
Harry McCracken has a cool article out about Lumafield, a company that is working to reinvent CT scans, and Tony Fadell, the father of the iPod.
In addition to the Harry Potter iPod and the U2 iPod, there is another special edition iPod that was a little … less special. Let’s talk about the HP iPod. Mmmm, Brushed Metal and Windows XP… I always like referring to Apple’s press releases when looking at historic products or announcements. This time, the dateline […]
This week on the show: Stephen did something out of the ordinary, Myke tries to explain Apple Watch faces and Federico learns about Margherita pizza. I can’t believe WWDC is just a few weeks away.
Plain text app wizard Jesse Grosjean is out with a new outlining app for the Mac, named Bike: Outlines are powerful, but can be confusing. In Bike outline editing is fluid, your ideas flow across the screen instead of jumping from position to position. This makes it easier to track what’s going on, and it’s […]
Apple Support: After updating to Mac OS X 10.4.7, the MacBook may show a solid grey, white, or black screen or a screen with vertical multi-colored lines. To resolve the issue temporarily, you may need to reset NVRAM. Once you can use the display again, download and install Mac OS X 10.4.8. You can use […]
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site. Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps […]
Michael Steeber, writing in his Tabletops newsletter: Near the iPod’s zenith, Apple split the Genius Bar into three distinct experiences. The iPod Bar became a hub for iPod support and The Studio became a home for creative projects. Apple Ginza and Apple SoHo were the first stores to add iPod Bars in 2005. Apple Fifth […]
The App Store didn’t launch until a year after the first iPhone, but it has defined the smartphone era. This week on MPU, David and I talk about some of our favorite iPhone apps.
My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring the site this week. It’s easy to set up, blocks all YouTube ads and doubles the speed at which Safari loads. Magic Lasso is an efficient, high performance and free ad blocker. With over 4,000 five star reviews; it’s simply the best Safari ad blocker for your […]
Over the span of two decades, Apple made a bunch of iPods. The original may have been just a single 5 GB player delivering 1,000 songs in your pocket, but the line spread from there to meet the needs of many more users. The iPod mini, iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod photo, iPod classic and […]
This week on the show: To mark the death of the iPod touch, the guys gather around a shared browser window and rank iPods. Also on the docket: iPadOS 15, iPhone repairs and Jony Ive’s pen.
If you haven’t ordered one of these beauties, time is running out! Celebrate the Lisa in style:
Apple Support: Fonts that are in your Mac OS 9 System Folder may not be available to Mac OS X Panther and Tiger applications until you select the System Folder in Classic preferences or start Classic. Symptom: – Fonts are unexpectedly substituted in a Mac OS X application. – Fonts you expect to be available […]
Apple PR has announced that the iPod touch will be for sale as long as supplies last: Since its introduction over 20 years ago, iPod has captivated users all over the world who love the ability to take their music with them on the go. Today, the experience of taking one’s music library out into […]
I am working on a thing, and I needed to find the release date of Apple’s GS/OS. I knew from this article that it had come out at AppleFest in September 1988. Finding the date of an event like this isn’t easy on the modern web, but I have collected a massive amount of computer […]
Apple: iCloud Documents and Data, our legacy document syncing service, has been discontinued and replaced by iCloud Drive. If you used iCloud Documents and Data, your account has been migrated to iCloud Drive. iCloud Documents was introduced years ago; iCloud Drive was introduced in 2014.1 I can’t imagine this is going to be a problem […]
Do you want to experience twice as fast load times in Safari on your iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock – the ad blocker designed for you. It’s easy to setup, blocks all YouTube ads and doubles the speed at which Safari loads. Magic Lasso is an efficient, high performance and free […]
This week, David and I are launching a new episode type on Mac Power Users. Generally speaking, we have three primary formats for our episodes: Shows where we dive deep on a topic, app or other subject Interview shows where we talk to folks about their work, their setups, etc. Feedback shows where we revisit […]
The original Apple TV was basically a low-powered Intel Mac. As such, people have installed all sorts of wacky things on them over the years, but this is the first memory upgrade I’ve seen:
Quinn Nelson has replaced the screen and battery on an iPhone 12 mini using the new Self Service Repair Program. His video really shows how much stuff Apple ships you to complete these tasks: It’s painfully clear that the current generations of iPhone weren’t designed with self-repair in mind.
Eric Migicovsky, a co-founder of the now-defunct smartwatch company, writing about why his company failed: I struggled over and over to define a strong long term vision for what Pebble as a company would accomplish. In some ways we were spoiled…when our Kickstarter in 2012 was super successful, we never had to go through the […]
This week on the show: Apple has shared more details about its live WWDC event next month and 1Password 8 has arrived on the Mac. After those topics, the guys perform an exit interview for iOS 15. On Connected Pro, I get philosophical about the line between software and services, while Myke and Federico talk […]
Apple: We’re hosting a special all-day experience at Apple Park on June 6 to kick off WWDC22. Gather with others in the developer community to watch the keynote and State of the Union videos alongside Apple engineers and experts, explore the all-new Developer Center, and so much more. We can’t wait to connect in person. […]
After a long beta period, 1Password 8 for Mac is out today. The new version brings with it a new design, the ability to group vaults together in custom Collections and support for SSH keys. One of my favorite additions is Universal Autofill. Dave Teare explains: Nearly two decades ago we set out to create […]
Apple Support: Is there a product that converts Lisa documents to Macintosh format? You need the Lisa to Macintosh Migration Kit, available from Sun Remarketing. It converts LisaDraw, LisaWrite, LisaProject, and LisaCalc files to their Macintosh counterparts.
This week on Mac Power Users: Stephen and David sort through listener feedback, revisiting topics such as Preview.app, time tracking and their own Apple silicon experiences. Oh, and the person who took a Mac Pro to the coffee shop to get some work done on the go.
It’s a big week for 20th anniversaries, as DEVONthink is enjoying a birthday as well: “It was on a rainy April night in 2002 when Christian and Eric let DEVONthink 1.0 see the light of the internet for the first time…” But no worries, we won’t bore you with the whole history of DEVONthink from […]
Here in April 2022, we’re enjoying a rare treat for us Mac nerds — an entirely new Mac desktop. Beyond the Mac Studio, we’ve had the iMac Pro, the Mac mini, and of course, a couple of different attempts at the Mac Pro. But 20 years ago, there was another — the eMac G4. In April 2002, […]
Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors: On Thursday, Apple announced its results for the second quarter of its 2022 fiscal year. It was a March quarter record of $97.3 billion in revenue, with all-time quarterly records for iPhone, Mac, and Wearables sales. I’m starting to think Apple is going to be okay.
It’s been a couple of years since there’s been a 512 Pixels t-shirt, so I wanted to do something special this time. In looking through some materials, the Lisa jumped to mind, so here we are: According to sources there at the time, Steve Jobs insisted that the computer’s name was not in honor of […]
This week on Connected: The guys revisit Apple Watch charging and trading in devices before jumping into Apple’s new Self Service Repair program and Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter.
This morning, Apple announced the opening of its Self Service Repair Store: The new online store offers more than 200 individual parts and tools, enabling customers who are experienced with the complexities of repairing electronic devices to complete repairs on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups and iPhone SE (3rd generation), such as the […]
This week, an article about some weird Mac minis: If your Mac mini with OS X Server has two built-in drives, you can follow these steps to create a software RAID volume (stripe or mirror). You can also install OS X Server on this RAID.
On a day of record-temperature hot takes, Casey Newton has the best coverage of the Musk/Twitter deal I’ve seen so far.
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I talk about how we track out time, discussing the approaches and tools we use to see how we spend our days. On More Power Users, David explains his use of an iPad Pro as a secondary display.
My thanks to TextExpander for sponsoring the site this week. Get your team communicating faster so they can focus on what’s most important. With TextExpander your team’s knowledge is at their fingertips.
Mr. Macintosh on Twitter highlighted this cool set of dynamic wallpapers based on graphics from Apple’s developer website.
Apple Support:
As of April 21, 2022, Apple has discontinued macOS Server. Existing macOS Server customers can continue to download and use the app with macOS Monterey.
The most popular server features—Caching Server, File Sharing Server, and Time Machine Server are bundled with every installation of macOS High Sierra and later, so that even more customers have access to these essential services at no extra cost.
As Rich Trouton has pointed out, there were two services still in macOS Sever without an equivalent in the client version: Profile Manager and Open Directory.
With the rise of some really solid third-party MDM solutions, the writing has been on the wall for Profile Manager for a while. In that support document, Apple links to two more articles. One is about choosing an MDM solution and the other is about planning an MDM migration.
Open Directory was Apple’s take on LDAP, and while I am sure some will be sad about it going away, I haven’t seen it in the wild in a long time.
Back in the day, I managed quite a few OS X Server installations, but the truth is that the market of third-party solutions that Mac shops can enjoy today simply overtook what Apple was doing.
The biggest problem? I don’t think Apple’s heart has been in server space for a long, long time. The Xserve has been dead for over decade, and OS X Server went from a full-blown operating system to an application since the days of Lion. In short, today’s news shouldn’t be surprising to anyone paying attention to this corner of the market.
This week on the show, Myke is having a bad time on Twitter, Stephen wants to meet a robot and Federico has an exciting new trail to blaze.
On Connected Pro, MacStories’ 13th anniversary is celebrated and a lost display is remembered.
JPL:
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has captured dramatic footage of Phobos, Mars’ potato-shaped moon, crossing the face of the Sun. These observations can help scientists better understand the moon’s orbit and how its gravity pulls on the Martian surface, ultimately shaping the Red Planet’s crust and mantle.
Captured with Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera on April 2, the 397th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, the eclipse lasted a little over 40 seconds – much shorter than a typical solar eclipse involving Earth’s Moon. (Phobos is about 157 times smaller than Earth’s Moon. Mars’ other moon, Deimos, is even smaller.)
The imagery is amazing:
Jason Kottke summed it up nicely:
Just a hunk of space rock passing in front of a massive burning ball of gas recorded by a robot from the surface of an extraterrestrial planet, no big deal.
This time on Liftoff, we’re marking the 50th anniversary of the penultimate moon landing:
In April 1972, the crew of Apollo 16 spent 71 hours on the surface of the moon after a series of technical glitches put their landing in jeopardy. The second of three J-missions, the crew spent nearly three whole days on the surface and completed an EVA on the way home, returning one day earlier than initially planned.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a few instances of weird behavior my Mac:
- Gestures to move between Spaces are ignored
- The Command+Tab interface won’t show when invoked
- Mission Control gestures are ignored
Thankfully, the fix is easy enough. There’s no need to restart to bring these features back. In Terminal, the killall Dock command will restart the Dock process, which is apparently in charge of all of these features.
I thought this was a weird bug in macOS Monterey, perhaps as a side effect of my recent migration from a 2019 Mac Pro to my new Mac Studio. Then on yesterday’s episode of Upgrade, I heard Myke come across the same bug. He was able to invoke it by making changes in the General preference pane in System Preferences:
Myke found it on an M1 iMac that has been set up for months, so I bet this is just a bug in the current version of Monterey. I’m not convinced that going into this preference pane is the only way to trigger the bug, but it’s a sure-fire way to produce the problem. Hopefully macOS 12.4 resolves it.
_David Smith, on Twitter:
After 9 years, I’ve decided it’s time to shut down Feed Wrangler. I’m stretched too thin with my other apps, it’s time to let it go.
I’ll turn off the servers next year on March 1, 2023.
My thanks for everyone who was a member. It was quite a ride and I learned a ton from it.
Feed Wrangler was one of many services that popped up in the wake of Google Reader being shut down, but I eventually landed on Feedbin which I continue to be very happy with to this day.
Kali at Admiral Shark’s Keyboards has built the case that Apple’s Newton keyboard was based on the IBM Model M6-1.
Apple Support:
To play a DVD, the region code of the DVD must match the region code of your DVD drive. Your DVD drive is automatically set to a region code the first time you play a coded DVD. If the region code for a DVD doesn’t match the current region code of your DVD drive, a dialog asks if you want to change the code for the drive.
WARNING: You can set the region code for your DVD drive only five times (including the original setting). The fifth time you change the code, it is permanently set to the last code you set. Any DVDs you play must match the last code you set.
via TJ Luoma
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Ryan JA Murphy is a writer and Ph.D. student who is using the Mac and iPad to work with information systems and design science. This week, David and I talk with him about his workflows for research, data organization and more.
My thanks to Red Sweater Software for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week with their excellent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog and many other types of blogs.
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None of this should really be a surprise, but the most interesting machine in Gurman’s article, to me at least, is the Mac mini, which he says is in testing:
A Mac mini with an M2 chip, codenamed J473. This machine will have the same specifications as the MacBook Air. There’s also an “M2 Pro” variation, codenamed J474, in testing.
Apple is also testing a Mac mini with an M1 Pro chip, the same processor used in the entry-level 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros today. That machine is codenamed J374. The company has tested an M1 Max version of the Mac mini as well, but the new Mac Studio may make these machines redundant.
So far, the M1 Pro is the only design that isn’t in a desktop Mac. It seems to me like an obvious candidate to round out the Mac mini line.
Myke, Federico and I all have desks, and they all have opinions. Today, those things collide.
Mykola Grymalyuk:
With WWDC announced for June 6th, I thought it would make a fun thought exercise and try to speculate what models Apple will plan to drop with macOS 13.
With the 2022 Apple Studio Display, the company has returned to the display business in a big way. To celebrate, I thought we could walk through the history of Apple’s standalone flat displays.
1984: Apple IIc Flat Panel Display In April 1984, Apple introduced a 1-bit, 7-inch LCD for use with the somewhat-portable Apple IIc:
With a resolution of 560 x 192, it provided an 80-column text mode and hi-res graphic support, but things were a bit … squished, as you can see in these photos. At $595, it didn’t sell very well, with estimates putting the number made at just about 10,000 units.
1998: Apple Studio Display (15-inch) After the IIc Flat Panel Display, Apple users would need to wait over a decade until the company shipped another external LCD display.
In March 1998, Apple introduced the Apple Studio Display (15-inch). At the time, all of Apple’s external monitors were CRTs wrapped in beige plastic. In contrast, the Studio Display was a thin-for-the-time LCD perched on a plastic stand.
Here’s how Apple pitched the $1,999 display in marketing materials at the time:
The Apple Studio Display combines state-of-the-art digital imaging technology with advanced software-based features unique to Apple. The result is a high-performance flat-panel display that’s ideal for anyone who spends a lot of time manipulating text, graphics, and other media on-screen. Whether you’re a multimedia content creator, a designer, a writer, an educator, or an accountant, the Apple Studio Display can make your job look a lot better to you — and vice versa.
This Studio Display would end up spanning the change from beige plastic to more colorful designs, and would ship in three distinct Revisions:
- Rev. A: Used a DB-15 connector and came in a graphite finish. Included ADB ports, as well a RCA jack for extra connectivity.
- Rev. B (January 1999): Used VGA and came in new styling to Match the Blue and White G3, as seen below. Came with a price cut to $1,099.
- Rev. C (August 1999): Used DVI and included 2 USB ports and was styled to match the early Power Mac G4
The time the Blue and White G3 as well as the initial batch of Power Mac G4s had matching CRTs, but the Rev. B LCD is my favorite from the time period:
(Amazingly, this display — wrapped in beige plastic — was teased in 1997 by none other than Jonathan Ive and Phil Schiller. Skip to about 36:30 in this video.)
1999: Apple Cinema Display In September of 1999, (alongside the Power Mac G4) Apple released a 22-inch LCD named the Apple Cinema Display. It introduced a new design language that would last for nearly five years:
This image is actually from 2003, but the design featured here was basically the same as the 1999 model.
The panel itself was enclosed in an acrylic housing with two clear feet that were fixed in place. Around back was a leg on a hinge that could be used to adjust the tilt of the monitor. It was designed so that it was easy to change this angle, but that the display would hold its place on almost any desk surface.
This display initially sold for $3,999 (or $6,901.13 in ~~Pro Display XDR~~ 2022 money) and had a resolution of 1600 x 1024. Like the 15-inch Studio Display before it, it underwent a connection change, moving from DVI to ADC later in its life.
John Siracusa reviewed the display alongside the Power Mac G4 Cube for Ars Technica about a year after its release:
Let me start by saying one undeniable thing about the 22-inch Apple Cinema Display digital active matrix LCD: you want this monitor. Even if you don’t yet know that you want this monitor, trust me, you do. Don’t try to deny it. Its screen area is 22-inches on the diagonal and its thickness varies from 1.25 inches on the edges to about 2 inches in the center. It’s completely digital. It has a single cord coming from the back of it: an ADC cable. There’s not even a power cord. If you were to take this monitor back with you a decade or so into the past, it, perhaps more than anything else that exists in the world of computer hardware today, would look impossibly futuristic and magical. It’s as elemental as computer display devices get these days: a flat, thin panel with single cable poking out of the back. And I suspect that if Apple could have made it wireless, it would have.
ADC is just one chapter in the long story of weird Apple display standards. It wrapped power, DVI and USB into one connector for easy set up. In a way, it was the precursor to what we have today in standards like Thunderbolt.
2000-2001: Apple Studio Display (LCD) In July of 2000, to coincide with the launch of the Power Mac G4 Cube,1 the Studio Display was reworked to match the larger and more expensive Cinema Display. This edition kept the 15-inch panel, but wrapped it in the same enclosure introduced the year before for the Cinema Display.
In May 2001, a 17-inch Studio Display (LCD) was added to the line. At this point, Apple’s entire line had transitioned to flat screens, with three models:
- 15-inch Studio Display
- 17-inch Studio Display
- 22-inch Cinema Display
Just look at them. My word, I miss transparency in Apple products:
2002: 23-inch Apple Cinema Display HD In March 2002, Apple added another display to its lineup, in the form of a 23-inch LCD named the Apple Cinema Display HD. It supported a maximum resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels, allowing for 1:1 playback of 1080p media for the first time on an Apple display.
This model did not replace the 22-inch Cinema Display, probably because it cost a whopping $3,499.
2003: Cleaning Things Up a Bit Toward the end of 2002, the old 15-inch Studio Display was discontinued, making the 17-inch Studio Display the entry-level option for Power Mac users.
In January 2003, Apple introduced a new 20-inch Cinema Display to take the now-empty middle spot, replacing the 22-inch Cinema Display. This gave the 23-inch Cinema Display HD some breathing room at the top of the line, and nicely split the difference between it and the remaining Studio Display, as you can see on this tech spec page:
2004: Aluminum Cinema Displays At WWDC 2004, Apple took the wraps off a redesigned display lineup:
Gone was the transparency and tri-foot design introduced five years earlier. In its place was a sleek aluminum design with much thinner bezels, and a new metal stand that would eventually find its way to the iMac.
The lineup looked somewhat familiar, with a $1,299 20-inch and a $1,999 23-inch model taking the smaller two spots.
At the top was something all-new: a 30-inch LCD for $3,299. Here’s a bit from the company’s press release at the time:
“Our gorgeous new 30-inch Cinema Display is the largest desktop canvas ever created, and you can even run two of them side-by-side to get 8 million jaw-dropping pixels,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Apple’s Cinema Displays have always set the bar for the industry’s highest quality displays, and our new 30-inch display is a giant leap forward for our pro customers.”
I remember the first time I saw one of these in the real world, and my jaw dropped. The 2560 x 1600 panel was so much bigger than anything I had ever seen on a desk up to that point. I mean, just look at this press image of the 30-inch display next to a Power Mac G5:
All of those pixels meant that most Macs couldn’t actually push the 30-inch Cinema Display, at least at first. Initially, only a G5 tower with a then-new GeForce 6800 GPU could so.
All three model ran at 100 pixels per inch, which Apple praised on its website:
The quality of the pixels you see impacts how you use your computer. After years of experience, Apple engineers have discovered the ideal resolution to display both sharp text and graphics — a pixel density of about 100 pixels per inch (ppi). Other vendors may offer a larger monitor, but with less resolution, so you end up with fewer pixels, or a smaller monitor with a high resolution that causes eyestrain and headaches. Apple’s balanced 100 pixels per inch format is optimized for images, yet allows you to easily work with text in email, Safari and sophisticated type treatments in layouts.
Around back, all three of the new models now included two USB and two FireWire 400 ports, and the display was run via DVI. This meant the display could be used as a hub for all sorts of workflows, including those powered by notebooks, as ADC was now a thing of the past.
Of course, this also meant that the days of a single connection between a Mac and display were over. This generation of Cinema Displays shipped with a break-out cable that included individual connectors for DVI, USB and Firewire 400. Additionally, there was a power connector that plugged into an external power supply.
2008: LED Cinema Display (24-inch) In the fall of 2008, Apple replaced the mid-range 23-inch Cinema Display with a new 24-inch model that was just $899. Built with a LED backlit display and in an updated chassis to better fit in with the now glass and aluminum iMacs.
While the other two Cinema Displays remained on sale, it was clear from Apple’s press release that this display was the start of a new generation of products. For the first time, Apple had made an external display really designed for notebook users:
“The new LED Cinema Display is the most advanced display that Apple has ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “It is a perfect fit for our sleek new line of aluminum MacBooks with its 24-inch LED-backlit screen, aluminum and glass enclosure, integrated camera, mic and speakers, MagSafe charger, three USB ports and Mini DisplayPort.”
The 24-inch glossy, widescreen display with 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution uses LED-backlit technology to provide instant full-screen brightness and great power efficiency. Suspended by an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge that makes tilting the display almost effortless, the new display includes a built-in iSight video camera, mic and speakers, making it ideal for video conferencing with iChat, listening to music or watching movies. The new display also includes three self-powered USB 2.0 ports so users can simply leave their printer, camera, iPhone 3G or iPod dock connected when they take their MacBook with them. The sleek, thin display also includes a built-in universal MagSafe charger so users can conveniently leave their notebook’s MagSafe power adapter in their travel bag.
2010: LED Cinema Display (27-inch) Less than two years later, Apple replaced all of its external displays with a new one — a larger LED Cinema Display. Its 27-inch screen ran at a resolution of 2560 × 1440, but was otherwise the same as the outgoing 24-inch. It ran $999.
2011: Thunderbolt Display In July of 2011, the 27-inch LED Cinema Display got one-upped, in the form of the mighty Apple Thunderbolt Display. It took everything good about the LED Cinema Displays and made it even better, thanks to the all-in-one nature of Thunderbolt:
With its 27-inch LED-backlit screen, the new Thunderbolt Display delivers a brilliant viewing experience. But connect it to any Thunderbolt-enabled Mac, and it becomes a plug-and-play hub for everything you do. You get 27 inches of high-resolution screen space, high-quality audio, a FaceTime HD camera, and support for FireWire 800 and Gigabit Ethernet. All through a single connection.
Well not everything was made better with this product. This was pre-Retina, so the display remained at 2560 x 1440, but it was bright and vivid, with great viewing angles.
However, the Thunderbolt Display truly was the realization of a decades-long dream at Apple: a display that could hook up to almost anything, with as few cables as possible.
The Thunderbolt Display was the ultimate docking station for a number of years, but as more and more of the Mac lineup went Retina, it felt increasingly out of place.
2016: The Darkest Timeline In 2016, when Apple introduced the Touch Bar MacBook Pros, a curious thing happened: no new display was in sight. Instead, Apple said that it had worked with LG on a display for Mac users: the UltraFine 5K.
It worked well enough with macOS, but Apple’s statement about leaving the standalone display business left many Mac users feeling a bit abandoned.
The Touch Bar wasn’t the Retina display many Mac users were expecting in the fall of 2016.
Coupled with the a lukewarm reception to the new MacBook Pros, the lack of Mac Pro updates and more, 2016 started a years-long period without much good news on the Mac hardware front.
Where We Are Today Today, Apple is back to having two external displays.
The 2019 Pro Display XDR was Apple’s first display in eight years, but was unlike anything that had come before it. Bigger than the old 30-inch Cinema Display, this monitor packed a whopping 6K resolution into a panel that Apple said went toe-to-toe with reference monitors used in Hollywood. At a starting price of $4,999 — without a stand — it was far from what most Mac users could justify.
Apple said the Pro Display XDR was a serious tool for serious work, but it was just plain overkill for most.
The 27-inch Studio Display houses a 5K panel in a new design that takes its cues from the Apple’s current design language. While its name is an old one, it really feels like a successor to the Thunderbolt Display more than anything else. While notably more expensive, it offers a similar docking experience that notebook users were first treated to over a decade ago.
While the XDR is just too much … everything… for most people, the Studio Display is a much better fit. Many think it is too expensive at $1,599, and that’s probably true, especially given that the panel itself isn’t anything all that special anymore.
I’m willing to sit those things aside and just be glad Apple is back in the display business. It has a rich history of making good products in the space, and I hope there are many more to come in the future.
- At the same time, the CRT-based Studio Display was given one last overhaul, but the full history of Apple’s CRT line is a story for another time. ↩
Jason Snell likes baseball. I don’t, and sometimes he teases me about it. That said, his impressions of Apple’s new “Friday Night Baseball” was a really interesting read. I particularly like how he thinks the whole thing could become much more interactive:
Every single viewer is watching on a smart device of some kind. How about letting us customize what stats we see on screen? What about alternate camera views or a natural-sound-only audio stream featuring crowd noise and mic’ed up players? What about alternate broadcasts entirely, with audio from statheads or scouts or umpires or former players talking about a different game aspect? What about something I’m not even thinking of here?
Literally anything is possible. I realize all of it would take work to build. I even understand why it’s not available on week one and might not even be available this season. But the fact remains that Apple, an incredibly innovative technology company, debuted baseball games that it’s streaming internationally exclusively via Internet-connected devices… and the broadcast itself is as flat as a pancake, a vanilla video stream with no digital extras.
Apple Support, back in 2012:
Sometimes the iTunes Store can’t publish certain podcasts. If you’ve submitted a podcast using the “Publish a Podcast” page but haven’t seen it published yet, sit tight. The iTunes team reviews each podcast submission. Depending on demand, it may take a week or two before the podcast gets published.
Additionally, here are some other reasons why a podcast might not get published:
- The podcast’s RSS feed was not available.
- The podcast’s RSS feed timed out.
- The podcast’s RSS feed could not be validated.
Apple:
All creators can now view metrics for Followers in Apple Podcasts Connect.
From the Analytics tab, you can view followers per show and measure followers across shows.
After selecting a show, you can quickly view the number of New Followers netted over the last week, month, 60 days, and all time. You can also see Time Listened as a precent of those following and not following the show.
By navigating to the Trends menu, you can view a graph of followers over time and the number of followers gained or lost on a specific day or during a specified range.
There’s another support document all about Followers:
When Apple introduced support for podcasts in iTunes, listeners could “subscribe” to podcasts to add them to their libraries, automatically download new episodes, and sync them to their iPods. Since then, “following” an account online has become widely adopted and well-understood, and creators are pursuing new ways of monetizing their work. To reflect these developments, and make clear what content is available for free to listeners, the term “subscribe” was updated to “follow” throughout Apple Podcasts in winter 2021, and is often denoted with the “+” button. Now, listeners can follow shows to automatically download and receive notifications for new episodes and, with Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, subscribe to shows and channels to support creators and unlock premium experiences.
I appreciate the link to that 2005 press release, and I think these new metrics look really nice. Of course, this won’t give you the full picture of your podcast’s health unless all of your listeners are using Apple Podcasts, but this is a nice addition to the tools podcasters have to understand how their shows are doing.
John Gruber:
I mean what happens to Twitter’s share price if Musk dumps all his stock and tweets something like “I tried to help Twitter but the company is run by a bunch of bozos. I’m out.” That’s just 76 characters and I bet it would tank Twitter’s stock.
MarsEdit is a Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog and many other types of blogs.
Eliminate the friction of blogging with MarsEdit. Its native Mac interface makes writing, publishing, and editing your blog as delightful as everything else you do on your Mac.
MarsEdit supports editing posts in rich or plain text, and includes a preview window that updates instantly to show your writing exactly as it will appear on your blog. Are you a Markdown fan? MarsEdit can preview and automatically convert your Markdown to HTML as needed before publishing.
MarsEdit is used by top bloggers to maximize their productivity and enjoyment of blogging. It’s great for pros like John Gruber of Daring Fireball and yours truly, while also being simple enough to remove the mystery of blogging for everyday folks who just want to share their thoughts with the world.
In fact, this very post was published via MarsEdit:
Download MarsEdit today and see what all the hype is about. You’ll be a better blogger!
Allison Sheridan has been a Mac user since the very beginning and has been talking about Apple and its products since late 2005. She joins us on this week’s episode of MPU to talk about her experience with the platform, her use of diagramming in blog posts and much, much more.
On More Power Users, the longer and ad-free version of the show, I talked David through my initial impressions of my new Mac Studio.
My pal Florence Ion, writing at Gizmodo:
I want to thank whatever stars aligned that surfaced this video of the Windows 95 launch event in my algorithm. While clips from the presentation have floated around online for decades, the full 90-minute keynote has been harder to track down. Uploaded this week by the angels over at the Blue OS Museum YouTube account, the complete presentation is an absolute time capsule of technology culture as it existed on Aug. 24, 1995. It also features some incredibly cringe moments, most of which stem from Jay Leno’s cheesy and problematic joke-telling.
My thanks to Audio Hijack 4 for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. If you record audio with macOS, it needs to be in your Dock. Version 4 brings lots of new goodies, including some powerful new automation tools. Check it out.
Geoff Hackworth has a new Mac app that puts an SF Symbols picker right in your menu bar. Features include search, easy copying and more. If you work with SF Symbols, it looks well worth the $2.99.
Five years ago this week, we got news that the Mac Pro wasn’t dead, and more importantly, that Apple knew that it had lost the plot when it came to the Mac.
In the years since Apple has shipped both the iMac Pro and a new Mac Pro, but also a Retina MacBook Air and (eventually) notebooks with non-busted keyboards. The Mac mini was overhauled to be much more powerful. macOS got a new, fresh design and some amazing new features.
Oh, and the Apple silicon transition.
There’s no arguing that Apple has made good on its word to recommit itself to the Mac. Here in early 2022, there’s very little to complain about when it comes to the platform.
When I reflect back on this time period, I’ll always think of the 2019 Mac Pro first.
Its introduction was the first Apple keynote I was invited to attend. It was amazing to be in the room when this machine was introduced, and getting to see it in person later that day was a real highlight of the week.
I was using an iMac Pro at this point, and if the Mac Pro had never come out — which was Apple’s original strategy, according to that roundtable event — I would have been very happy with that machine for years.
But the Mac Pro was real, and it was spectacular. As soon as I got home from WWDC, I started saving for one.
When orders opened in December 2019, I ordered a 12-core machine, and quickly got to customizing it.
Owning a Mac Pro had been a dream of mine for years, and having one running under my desk was a real treat. It was fast and silent, and never once left me stranded without my workstation. I produced hundreds of podcast episodes and dozens of videos on it. It had more than enough I/O for my needs, and its large chassis let me store way too many computer history documents inside, tucked away safe and sound on SSDs mounted via PCI cards.
However, like Power Mac G5 owners before me, I knew what I was getting into when I bought it. The 2019 Mac Pro was always going to be the pinnacle of the Intel era. I figured that whenever Apple switched to Arm, my very shiny and very expensive tower would be outgunned.
And that’s pretty much what happened. The M1 came out of the gate swinging, with its Pro, Max and Ultra variants making ground on the Mac Pro.
When the Mac Studio was introduced, I ordered one with an M1 Max inside. It is faster than my Mac Pro in almost every way, but takes up a lot less space in the PodCabin.
I didn’t sell my Mac Pro due to any fault of its own. It more than met my needs, which is why I didn’t spring for an M1 Ultra. I simply saw where the market was going on these machines and wanted to extract as much value as I could.1
Today, my Mac Pro is on its way to its new home. I fully believe it will go on to do great things for its new owner because Apple kept its promise five years ago. The 2019 Mac Pro was a truly great Mac.
I bet the new one will be, too.
- I will be looking for one to add to my collection around 2032. ↩
This week on Connected:
Some much-loved follow-up is discussed, as are the WWDC 2022 and Automation April announcements. Then, 2017’s Mac Roundtable is revisited and the guys design some new AirPods for Apple.
On Connected Pro, I made a phone call, Federico finished Elden Ring and Myke remembered what Mario Kart game he was thinking of last week.
Just a quick note that I have a handful of open weekly sponsorship spots coming up. After that, the calendar is almost booked solid for the rest of 2022. If you’re interested in sponsoring the site toward the end of April or in early May, please email me at stephen@hackett.fm.
Daniel Howley, writing at Yahoo Finance:
Apple says a Mac Studio with an M1 Ultra will outperform a Windows PC outfitted with an Intel Core i9 desktop chip and Nvidia’s formidable RTX 3090 graphics card, while consuming less overall power.
That not only means the Mac Studio will run at lower temperatures than competing PCs, but it will also maintain peak performance longer than its PC counterparts.
The M1 Ultra seems incredibly impressive, but then Howley goes on to quote Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush:
“This latest M1 Ultra is a game changer on the graphics front and ultimately is competitive versus Nvidia,” Ives said. “Now it’s about how big Apple goes outside Cupertino and selling its chip to third parties.”
Yes, Ives is suggesting that Apple would sell its custom silicon to other companies for use in their products.
I mean … has Ives ever thought about Apple for longer than about 14 seconds? Since the return of Steve Jobs, the company has done all it can to keep as much of its fate under its own control as possible.1 Apple silicon is the inevitable outcome of that mindset. To consider the company selling Apple silicon chips to the likes of NVIDIA, AMD or PC OEMs is downright laughable.2
- This includes its financial fate. There are many reasons that Apple was near death before Jobs returned, but losing Mac sales to clone makers was one of them. Today’s Apple fights tooth and nail for every dollar that passes through things like the App Store, and they wouldn’t risk hardware sales to make some money selling chips to other companies. ↩
- It’s not like Windows on Arm has gotten off the ground anyway. ↩
My thanks to Unite 4 for macOS for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site.
512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Unite 4 at bzgapps.com/unite512 or when you use the promo code ‘512Pixels’ at checkout.
Apple has announced updates to the iPad Air and several iPhones, then launched an entirely new desktop Mac with an accompanying display. As a result, a new Keynote Chairman must be named.
Quite a few people noticed an oddity on the Mac Studio tech specs page:
- Height: 3.7 inches (9.5 cm)
- Width: 7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
- Depth: 7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
- Weight (M1 Max): 5.9 pounds (2.7 kg)
- Weight (M1 Ultra): 7.9 pounds (3.6 kg)
Turns out, the weight difference between the two specifications of the Mac Studio comes down to cooling. In a statement to The Verge, Apple said:
They [both models] have the same 370W power supply. The additional weight is due to M1 Ultra having a larger copper thermal module, where as M1 Max has an aluminum heatsink.
Joe Rossignol at MacRumors:
Apple this week upgraded its base model Mac Pro to include 512GB of storage and AMD’s Radeon Pro W5500X graphics for the same $5,999 starting price. Previously, this configuration included 256GB of storage and Radeon Pro 580X graphics. These changes apply to both the tower and rack versions of the Mac Pro.
It’s not the spec bump that has been rumored for the 2019 machine, but it’s something. Interestingly, the Trashcan got a similar update later in its life.
As a side note: I’ll be selling my 12-core Mac Pro after my M1 Max Mac Studio shows up in early April… but more on this later.
I crashed this week’s episode of Upgrade:
It’s not every day that Apple introduces an entirely new Mac line. But on March 8, that’s exactly what happened. Jason, Myke, and special guest Stephen Hackett discuss the new Mac Studio and Studio Display, along with the updated iPad air and iPhone SE.
As previously noted, the 27-inch iMac is gone from Apple’s website, and John Ternus said the Mac Pro would be the final Mac to make the switch to Apple silicon.
I think this means the 27-inch iMac as we knew it is gone forever. In my mind, this leads to two questions:
First, does Apple intend the Mac Studio and Studio Display to act as the replacement for the high-end iMac? The last 27-inch Intel iMacs were no slouches, but the Mac Studio will still smoke them in terms of performance, after all.
The problem with this is price. The final 27-inch iMacs came in at:
- $1,799 (3.1 GHz)
- $1,999 (3.3 GHz)
- $2,299 (3.8 GHz)
The modular Mac Studio / Studio Display combo just can’t beat that pricing, with the cheapest setup possible coming in at $3,600. And that’s before you buy input devices.
(Of course, the combo of a Mac mini and Studio Display would be less, but with the M1 being the only Apple silicon option on that machine, it doesn’t play in the same sandbox as these other machines.)
I think it’s more likely that we see the iMac Pro resurrected as an all-in-one companion to the Mac Studio. This could take place even with Ternus’ wink-and-nod show at the end of today’s event.
I like the idea of the iMac really being the consumer desktop model — after all, that is where it started life way back in 1998. It was only in more recent years that the iMac really stretched upwards to meet the needs of professionals. An iMac Pro would put a cap on that upward reach and clarify things a bit from a branding perspective.
So, is the 27-inch iMac dead? Yes, yes it is. Does that mean Apple won’t release another high-end all-in-one at some point in the future? No, no it doesn’t.
There’s a lot to process today but here are two oddities:
- The 27-inch iMac is totally gone from Apple’s website, and at the end of the event, John Ternus said the Mac Pro was the final Mac to make the switch to Apple silicon.
- The Intel Mac mini is still for sale.
Apple Support:
This article contains video pinout information for the following Apple Studio Displays:
- Apple Studio Display 15 (revision A)
- Apple Studio Display 17
- Apple Studio Display 21
- Apple Studio Display 15 (flat panel monitor)
This time, on the first in-person recording of Ungeniused since 2019:
In 1988, almost a dozen people were killed, with many more injured, when a truck carrying liquefied propane crashed and exploded in Memphis, TN.
Chance Miller at 9to5Mac has outlined a new video by Luke Miani, who is reporting that the “Mac Studio” is a taller Mac mini, paired with a new display that looks like a larger 24-inch iMac.
Miani’s version of this display seems to not serve as the Pro Display XDR’s replacement, as was reported over the weekend. Miani has mixed track record on these things, but at least this version of the story makes more sense to me than what we’d previously seen.
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site.
Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also serve as a great alternative for resource hogging Electron apps or half-baked Catalyst apps.
Some examples of apps you could create in mere minutes with Unite:
- A Gmail web client that behaves like a native mail client.
- A status bar app for Apple Music or Overcast
- An isolated workspace for apps that may track you like Facebook
- A Google Meet app that works efficiently without using Chrome
- A fully featured Instagram app that has a resizable window, unlike the M1 version.
- A Robinhood, Figma, or Roam Research app for your desktop.
512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Unite 4 at bzgapps.com/unite512 or when you use the promo code ‘512Pixels’ at checkout.
You can also try Unite for 14 days absolutely free or use it as part of your subscription if you’re a Setapp subscriber!
With Apple’s spring event just around the corner, there’s a lot going on in the rumor world:
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that he expects to see a more powerful Mac mini this week, alongside a new “more affordable” 27-inch external display.
Mark Gurman reported today that the display in question has been ready for months. This display seems to be much more mainstream display than the Pro Display XDR, and will lack mini-LED to keep the cost “down” to around $2,500.
That may not be the only display in the works at Apple, though. Filipe Espósito at 9to5Mac reported on Friday that Apple is working on a replacement for the Pro Display XDR. According to Espósito, this is dubbed the “Apple Studio Display,”1 and clocks in at an even-nicer-than-the-XDR 7k resolution.
Back to Ming-Chi Kuo for a moment, though. He also says that the Mac Pro and iMac Pro are now coming in 2023. This is beyond the end of the “2 year transition” Apple announced for Apple silicon, but COVID-19 continues to wreck havoc on supply chains and working conditions around the world.
At 9to5Mac, Espósito also commented on future Mac hardware:
Based on information seen by 9to5Mac, the new Mac Studio is primarily based on the Mac mini, but with much more powerful hardware. Apple has two versions of Mac Studio under development. One features the M1 Max chip (the same as the 2021 MacBook Pro) and the other a variant of the Apple Silicon chip that is even more powerful than the current M1 Max.
I think it may be safe to assume something “more powerful than the current M1 Max” would end up in 2023’s iMac Pro or Mac Pro, but basing machine like this on the Mac mini is interesting.
At first, I thought this seemed like a bit of a miss, but then I remembered that Gurman and others have reported that a “half-sized” Mac Pro is in the works. Could the “Mac Studio” be this machine, slated to slot between the Mac mini and a larger Mac Pro that is more akin to what we have today?
Even with the half-sized Mac Pro smoke, all of this feels a bit weird to me. Would Apple launch a fourth desktop model, joining the Mac mini, iMac and Mac Pro?2 That seems like dividing a pretty small pie into an unnecessary number of pieces, but as a desktop Mac user, it is certainly exciting to consider.
I struggle with the “Studio” name a bit here. I think it would be fun to see it return to the display lineup, but would Apple brand this new mid-range headless Mac3 with name of its new high-end display? If I had to guess, whatever this more-than-a-Mac-mini-but-not-a-Mac-Pro-either machine is, it won’t have Studio in the name.
But no one really knows, and that’s what makes all of this so much fun.
- A name that comes with quite a history. ↩
- Or a fifth if the iMac Pro rises from the dead… ↩
- Oh no. ↩
Preview has been in every Mac’s Application folder since 2001 when OS X launched. On this episode, David and I dive into the program, exploring is wide range of features for editing both images and PDFs.
StopTheMadness is a Safari extension for iOS and Mac that stops websites from making your browser harder to use, and it has my thanks for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week.
Many web sites deliberately disable user interface features in your browser that you normally expect to work. It is sold separately in the iOS App Store and Mac App Store. The iOS App Store version supports Safari, and the Mac App Store version supports all major web browsers including Safari, Firefox, and Google Chrome.
Mark Gurman:
Apple Inc. has set an April 11 deadline for corporate employees to return to in-person work, marking a key test of whether the tech giant can reestablish office life in the Zoom era.
Employees will be required to work from the office at least one day per week by that date, according to a memo sent by Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook on Friday. By three weeks after April 11, employees will be expected in the office twice per week. And on May 23, employees will need to be in the office at least three days a week — on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Relay FM podcaster1 and all around nice human Casey Liss has a new app out today. It’s called MaskerAid, and it’s pretty darn clever. Here’s a bit from his announcement blog post:
In short, MaskerAid allows you to quickly and easily add emoji to images. Plus, thanks to the magic of machine learning, MaskerAid will automatically place emoji over any faces it detects.
Like Casey outlines in his post, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with using social media to share photos or details about my children and their lives.
Obscuring faces — or adding emoji to an image just for fun — is super simple with MaskerAid. It takes mere moments to learn the app’s interface and you’ll be off to the races. I was impressed with it the first time I opened the TestFlight invite months ago, and if it sounds like it scratches an itch you have, you should check it out on the App Store.
Here’s a photo I edited with it, featuring the app’s creator and yours truly on one of those annoying pedal-powered pub crawl group bicycle things in Texas. We were there for Myke Hurley’s bachelor party, so I’m pretty pleased with my emoji usage here:
MaskerAid is a free download for the iPhone and iPad. The free version lets you add the smiley face emoji to your photos; a one-time $3 in-app purchase unlocks the full emoji library.
- He’s also on some other show that I hear is pretty good. ↩
This week on Connected, we threw out the whole outline an hour before recording:
Apple is holding an event on March 8, so the guys have scrambled to put together a list of top-tier picks for this edition of the Keynote Rickies.
Speaking of Quinn Nelson, he has published a video in which he took an M1 Mac mini and built it into a tiny 3D-printed case:
The result is a machine much smaller than the existing M1 Mac mini, which uses the same design that first debuted back in 2010.
I wrote about this design in 2013, hoping to see a smaller Mac mini even then. I would like to see Apple reinvent this machine, but even if they do, I don’t think it would be as radical as what Quinn ended up with.
Fred Lambert, writing at Electrek:
Rivian today announced several significant price increases for its R1T electric pickup truck and R1S electric SUV that have resulted in the cost of many reservation holders’ configurations rising by more than $12,000. The price increases come as Rivian is trying to ramp production and make its electric vehicle profitable while adding lower component tiers that will arrive as early as 2024.
The news was sent to reservation holders via email yesterday. I first saw it via a series of tweets from Quinn Nelson. I’d encourage you to go read the thread, as in it, he outlines his communication with the company over the last several months.
Price increases have happened all across the car market over the last two years. COVID, supply shortages and inflation have all wrecked havoc on auto manufacturing. Staying within the EV world, Tesla has marked up its models several times over the last 24 months, but only for new orders, not existing ones like Rivian did. Neither situations are ideal, but the latter looks far worse than the former.
Update: A day later, on March 3, Rivian reversed the decision. Here’s a bit from CEO RJ Scaringe’s letter to customers:
The costs of the components and materials that go into building our vehicles have risen considerably. Everything from semiconductors to sheet metal to seats has become more expensive and with this we have seen average new vehicle pricing across the U.S. rise more than 30% since 2018. Given our build lead up times, we need to plan production costs not only for today, but also for the future.
As we worked to update pricing to reflect these cost increases, we wrongly decided to make these changes apply to all future deliveries, including pre-existing configured preorders. We failed to appreciate how you viewed your configuration as price locked, and we wrongly assumed the announced Dual-Motor and Standard battery pack would provide configurations that would deliver price points similar to your original configuration. While this was the logic, it was wrong and we broke your trust in Rivian.
No kidding.
Here’s a bit more:
For anyone with a Rivian preorder as of the March 1 pricing announcement, your original configured price will be honored. If you canceled your preorder on or after March 1 and would like to reinstate it, we will restore your original configuration, pricing and delivery timing. Our team will be sending an email in the next few days with more details.
My guess is that a chunk of those preorders are gone forever.
This old article discusses a very specific problem:
When you connect an iPod (Click Wheel) to a Power Mac G3 (Blue and White) or a Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics) via the FireWire port, it doesn’t appear in the iTunes Source list, on the desktop, or in Apple System Profiler.
Start by downloading the latest iPod updater…
StopTheMadness is a web browser extension for iOS and macOS that stops websites from making your browser harder to use. And it protects your privacy on the web!
Many web sites deliberately disable user interface features in your browser that you normally expect to work. StopTheMadness re-enables those features for you in your browser:
- ⌘-click to open a link in a new tab
- ⌘-key keyboard shortcuts
- selecting, copying, cutting, and pasting of text
- drag and drop
- opening contextual menus
- autofill/autocomplete of passwords and emails
StopTheMadness also protects your privacy on the web by eliminating common tracking methods:
- URL parameters such as utm_source, gclid, and fbclid
- link shorteners such as bit.ly, tinyurl.com, l.facebook.com, and t.co
- Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
- clickjacking in Google Search, Gmail, Facebook, and DuckDuckGo
- hyperlink auditing (anchor “ping”)
- beacons (Navigator.sendBeacon)
There are many more features, too many to list! Here are a few:
- Stop videos from autoplaying. This works even on sites where the browser’s autoplay preferences don’t work, such as YouTube.
- Show native video controls. Use AirPlay or Picture-in-Picture from Safari on sites that don’t normally support it, including YouTube.
- Add your own site-specific CSS and JavaScript to web pages.
- Hide the annoying iOS popup banners prompting you to get the App Store app on Google, DuckDuckGo, Reddit, Tumblr, and Instagram.
StopTheMadness is sold separately in the iOS App Store and Mac App Store. The iOS App Store version supports Safari, and the Mac App Store version supports all major web browsers including Safari, Firefox, and Google Chrome.
Jim Dalrymple:
This is the most difficult, but at the same time, the most exciting story I have ever written. After almost 30 years of reporting on Apple, I am retiring.
Over the past couple of years, I have taken time to address issues in my personal life. In that time, I realized that there is so much more to life than work—I’ll be honest, that revelation came as a massive shock to me, but I couldn’t be happier.
There are very few folks who have covered Apple as long as Jim has. I’ve read his work since I first got into Apple back in high school. When I was starting out 13 years ago, Jim was nothing but supportive, and I’ll always be grateful for that. I’ll miss Jim as a writer, but I am excited for my friend’s next chapter.
This week on Mac Power Users:
Craig Hockenberry is back to weigh in on Apple Silicon, why he’s an Apple Watch Power User, and life as a Mac developer.
Last week was our son’s annual checkup at MRI — everything looks great! — but I missed this recording. I am looking forward to listening to it tomorrow.
I think most folks have basically forgotten all about the notch, but if this story is to be believed, phones from the iPhone X to the 13 line are all going to look pretty dated this fall:
An image alleged to be the display schematic for the iPhone 14 Pro series has emerged online, offering us a look at the true size of the pill-shaped and circular cutout design expected to debut on the high-end 2022 iPhones in replacement of the notch.
I dig it.
Repetitive typing, little mistakes, searching for answers — they’re all taking precious time away from you and your team. TextExpander is here to help.
My thanks to TextExpander for sponsoring the site this week. You can get 20% off here.
Joe Rossignol at MacRumors:
Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers will soon be able to repair Face ID on the iPhone XS and newer without having to replace the whole device, according to an internal memo obtained by MacRumors from a reliable source.
Apple said authorized technicians will soon have access to a new TrueDepth Camera service part containing all Face ID and front camera modules, allowing for same-unit repairs. Apple said the move will help to reduce the number of whole-unit repairs completed, as part of the company’s commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of its products.
I wasn’t aware that a faulty TrueDepth Camera module necessitated a full phone replacement. This is a good move that should help with the cost for those with out-of-warranty phones.
This week on Connected:
After blindly obeying a website written by someone else, Myke, Federico and Stephen dream up a new vision for the iPod touch, discuss Safari’s fading marketshare and wonder what foldable devices Apple could be working on.
I also surprised the guys with a majestic new iPhone case.
On Connected Pro, we talked about the early days of Twitter and some weird words that are still attached to the social network.
My thanks to the folks behind Coherence X4 for sponsoring the site this week. Coherence X4 allows you to turn any website into a chromium-powered app on your Mac. Simply pick a site, enter a name, and pick an icon, and Coherence will turn the app into an isolated application separate from your main browser. Readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Coherence X4 or when you use the promo code 512Pixels at checkout.
Alise Fisher, writing on the JWST blog:
The James Webb Space Telescope is nearing completion of the first phase of the months-long process of aligning the observatory’s primary mirror using the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument.
The team’s challenge was twofold: confirm that NIRCam was ready to collect light from celestial objects, and then identify starlight from the same star in each of the 18 primary mirror segments. The result is an image mosaic of 18 randomly organized dots of starlight, the product of Webb’s unaligned mirror segments all reflecting light from the same star back at Webb’s secondary mirror and into NIRCam’s detectors.
What looks like a simple image of blurry starlight now becomes the foundation to align and focus the telescope in order for Webb to deliver unprecedented views of the universe this summer. Over the next month or so, the team will gradually adjust the mirror segments until the 18 images become a single star.
It doesn’t look like much, but this is the first step in what should be an amazing set of discoveries:
Apple’s AirTags have been at the center of numerous stories of unwanted tracking over the last year, making a statement like this feel inevitable:
We’ve become aware that individuals can receive unwanted tracking alerts for benign reasons, such as when borrowing someone’s keys with an AirTag attached, or when traveling in a car with a family member’s AirPods left inside. We also have seen reports of bad actors attempting to misuse AirTag for malicious or criminal purposes.
Apple has been working closely with various safety groups and law enforcement agencies. Through our own evaluations and these discussions, we have identified even more ways we can update AirTag safety warnings and help guard against further unwanted tracking.
Time will tell if this is enough to solve the problems caused by technology like AirTags. For all the good they brought into the world, AirTags have brought quite a bit of bad as well.
This week on Connected:
After talking about pen podcasts and the biting lip emoji, Federico, Myke and Stephen give each other a tour of their smart home setups.
Apple Support:
Nokia N70 phones have a “Mark as not done” option for To Do items. If the “Mark as not done” phone option is used on a synced iCal To Do item whose status is “completed,” the status will not change in iCal.
Apple’s solution was … less than helpful:
Change the “completed” status of To Do items in iCal instead of on the phone.
Information about products not manufactured by Apple is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute Apple’s recommendation or endorsement. Please contact the vendor for additional information.
It’s always fun to part in this, and to read what others in the field think about Apple’s previous year.
Coherence X4 allows you to turn any website into a chromium-powered app on your Mac. Simply pick a site, enter a name, and pick an icon, and Coherence will turn the app into an isolated application separate from your main browser.
Unlike resource hogging Electron apps, Coherence apps are fully powered and completely customizable. You can use the vast majority of Chrome extensions, customize app assets, and even use features like whitelisting to turn websites like Gmail into an email client that will bump links to your default browser.
Coherence X4 includes a number of significant new features, including:
- Microsoft Edge & Opera Support: You should never be forced to give your data to someone you don’t want to. In addition to Chrome, Canary, and Brave, X4 adds support for Edge and Opera.
- Incognito apps – You can now combine the isolation benefits of Coherence with the privacy benefits of Incognito. Incognito apps always launch in Incognito, and will clear your data between sessions.
- Quick Resume – Coherence X4 is the first Chrome-based SSB tool that behaves like a Mac app should. If you ever close a window in Coherence, it will return to where you left off when you click on the dock icon, as opposed to requiring a restart.
- App Library – A new way to quickly install apps and manage created ones.
- M1 – Coherence X4 is the first Chrome-based SSB tool built for M1.
You can use Coherence to do things like:
- Create a Google Drive app that works as well as Chrome without having to use Chrome as your default browser
- Create a desktop app for Roam Research, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet
- Make a customizable app for Slack, Whatsapp, or any other electron-based app with the ability to add extensions or customize
- Create isolated, incognito workspaces for multiple sites like your banking applications or email and messaging.
Readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Coherence X4 or when you use the promo code 512Pixels at checkout.
In this feedback episode, David and I revisit Dropbox, photo management, calendar sets and more. More Power Users members will enjoy an ad-free show with an added segment in which I talk to Sparks about the first month of his post-legal career and how MacSparky Labs has gone so far.
Elgato recently announced the Stream Deck Pedal, offering yet another way to trigger automation workflows for those of us addicted to using the mouse as little as possible. My buddy Matt has a nice review up on his blog:
The first thing I noticed when the package arrived was how much larger the box was than I was expecting — the Pedal has a 10″x7″ footprint and weighs a surprisingly-chunky two pounds, owing in no small part to the rigid steel sheet forming its bottom plate. The rest of the Pedal is made of hardy matte plastic with a pleasant texture on the top surface, so your (hopefully-socked) feet have something grippy to register on. One subtle yet essential design element in an otherwise-uncomplicated three-button pedal is the slight elevation of the left and right pedals over the middle button sandwiched between them — about a quarter-inch of tactile feedback that makes tapping the wrong button pretty difficult to do.
My thanks to Rogue Amoeba for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. Their app SoundSource lives in your menu bar, and provides you with superior control over all your audio. As you may imagine given the company’s reputation, it’s very, very good.
Download the free SoundSource trial, then purchase today. Through the end of February, 512 Pixels readers can save 22% with coupon code 512SS22.
As pointed out by MacRumors among other sites, Apple has updated its developer website to include details concerning payments outside of the App Store, which are now available for dating apps in the Netherlands, via a court order.
I didn’t think Apple would make this process easy for developers. It wants to keep as many of these apps in the App Store as possible, but some of the details here are just ridiculous.
Check out the text the company is going to require developers to show on a modal sheet prior to allowing users to go outside the App Store to make a payment:
Title: This app does not support the App Store’s private and secure payment system
Body: All purchases in the
App Nameapp will be managed by the developer “Developer Name.” Your stored App Store payment method and related features, such as subscription management and refund requests, will not be available. Only purchases through the App Store are secured by Apple.
Ticci nailed it:
This is perfect* – it's implying-without-technically-saying-it that other payment services aren't "private and secure".
Apple mastering the art of legalese is where we're at in 2022. Proper regulation can't come soon enough.
*ridiculous and downright user-hostile https://t.co/RglO0FjcUX
— Federico Viticci (@viticci) February 4, 2022
This week on Connected:
Before Federico guesses the names of this year’s new emoji, the guys talk about Apple’s recent betas and deal with some follow-up. Pour a glass of bean juice and enjoy!
On the ad-free (and longer!) version of the show, the full story of Myke’s emoji creation is told.
The newest release of Carrot Weather incudes a huge overhaul of the app’s radar feature. In addition to looking amazing, these changes mean there’s a new level of customization and information in this tab of the app. I’ve really enjoyed using it on the beta, and if you’re a Carrot Weather user, you should go update. If you aren’t, now’s a great time to start using the best weather app for iOS.
John Voorhees has more over on MacStories:
The entire maps UI has been redesigned and expanded with the same sort of deep customization options found throughout the rest of the app. It’s an excellent update that’s all about visual design, so get ready for a bunch of screenshots.
Don’t miss this Twitter thread outlining the new features.
Apple Support:
Apple Remote Desktop 1.1 for Mac OS 8.1 – 9.2.2 can be downloaded from this document.
The Apple Remote Desktop client update improves reliability and delivers enhanced support for Copy hard Disk on computers running Mac OS 9.
The Apple Remote Desktop v 1.1 administration software must be used to manage any computer running this new version.
Apple Remote Desktop 1.1 Admin can only administer Apple Remote Desktop 1.1 clients. If clients are still running 1.0 or 1.0.1 the ARD 1.1 Admin will show that clients are either “– unavailable –” or it may say “– Old ARD Software –.
In case you were wondering, Apple Remote Desktop is still around. Version 3.9.5 is $80 in the Mac App Store, where it has a 2-star rating.
This week on Mac Power Users, YouTuber and podcaster Austin Evans drops by the show to talk about his content business, how Apple is competing in the wider marketplace and the gear he uses to get work done with a growing team.
I’ve been a fan of Austin’s channel for a long time, and it was great to have him on the show.
Do you use audio on your Mac, in any way? If so, SoundSource is for you. It lives in your menu bar, and provides you with superior control over all your audio.
Per-application control: Change the volume of any app relative to others, and play individual apps to different audio devices.
Audio effects, anywhere: SoundSource has great built-in effects, like Magic Boost and Volume Overdrive features, as well as a built-in 10-band equalizer to sweeten sound. Advanced users will love the ability to apply Audio Units to any audio.
Fast device access: Adjust settings for your Mac’s Output, Input, and Sound Effects audio devices, instantly. Change levels, tweak the balance, and even switch sample rates, right from the menu bar. You may never need to open the Sound System Preference again!
Download the free SoundSource trial, then purchase today. Through the end of February, 512 Pixels readers can save 22% with coupon code 512SS22.
Robert Pearlman:
Artifacts that were recovered from the fallen space shuttle Challenger and prepared for presentation to the President of the United States have been recovered again, 36 years later, after they surfaced at auction among the collection of a NASA liaison to the White House.
Little is known about how or why the late James Foster Fanseen, who died in 2000, had come into possession of the small American flag and crew patch that were mounted to a plaque and inscribed to “Ronald Reagan, President of the United States.” Once recognized for what they were, though, the artifacts were restored to the proper hands, now at the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, collectSPACE has learned.
Jason Snell has details:
Apple’s latest quarterly results are out. And they’re big. It was an all-time revenue record, at $123.9 billion. The company made a record $34.6 billion in profit.
Mac revenue also reached a new all-time high at $10.9 billion, and iPhone revenue also peaked at $71.6 billion. The iPad’s revenue was $7.2 billion, down sequentially and year-over-year, but still among the five best iPad quarters in recent years.
Services kept its upward growth path, setting a new record at $19.5 billion, and Wearables/Home/Accessories likewise set a new record at $14.7 billion.
Straight from the release notes:
The kernel extensions used by Dropbox Desktop Application and Microsoft OneDrive are no longer available. Both service providers have replacements for this functionality currently in beta.
This time on Connected:
Federico was featured in the App Store, Federico shipped an Obsidian plugin and Federico has questions about Elgato’s new foot pedal.
Earlier today, Dropbox alerted its customers about an upcoming change to its Mac app:
Dropbox is actively working on full support for the upcoming macOS 12.3 (Monterey) release and will begin rolling out a beta version in March 2022.
If you choose to update to macOS 12.3, you may have issues opening online-only files in third-party applications on your Mac. As a temporary workaround, you can open online-only files directly in Finder.
Dropbox is already in hot water with some Mac users for its slow adoption of Apple silicon, and its resource-hungry nature on macOS.
This email and support document didn’t help things, and in no doubt led even more people to check out Maestral, an open-source macOS Dropbox client that has gained popularity over the last few months.
It seems that this issue, at least, is due to changes Apple is making in a future version of macOS Monterey, according to Joe Rossignol:
Dropbox did not provide any further details, but Microsoft recently said macOS 12.2 will be the last version that supports its own cloud storage service OneDrive’s current online-only files implementation. Microsoft said OneDrive will be getting a new online-only files experience that is “more integrated with macOS” and “will have long-term support from Apple,” adding that the current version is built on several technologies that are “now deprecated.”
Altogether, it appears likely that Apple has given cloud storage services like Dropbox and OneDrive advanced notice about system-level changes that will affect online-only files starting with macOS 12.3.
That Microsoft document includes this:
macOS 12.2 will be the last version that supports the classic Files On-Demand experience. For future macOS versions, this means:
- Files On-Demand will default to on for all users and cannot be disabled.
- Devices will migrate automatically to the new Files On-Demand as soon as they receive a macOS update. You cannot delay this update without also delaying an update to macOS.
- Both our Standalone and App Store versions of OneDrive will have the same behavior.
- Users running a developer or beta version of macOS will have the same experience as a release version of macOS.
I don’t know why Apple would change this feature, but it’s not hard to look at this as a move against services that compete with its own iCloud Drive feature. Given the scrutiny the company already faces when it comes to anti-competitive behavior, I’d sure like to see a better reason for this change, especially if iCloud Drive retains features similar to what Dropbox and Microsoft offer.
Update: The macOS 12.3 beta is out and includes this change, which is the removal of the kernel extension Dropbox and Microsoft were using. It’s been pointed out elsewhere that this change was announced back in 2019. Even so, I still believe all three companies could have done a better job rolling this news out. Apple should be more clear when changes coming to macOS will impact the user experience of folks using iCloud alternatives, and the likes of Microsoft and Dropbox shouldn’t be making the switch to the new file provider API at the very last minute.
Apple Support:
After you open a project in iDVD 6 that you created in an earlier version of iDVD, an alert indicates that photos used in slideshows, backdrops, or drop zones are missing. You may be prompted to locate the missing items.
To prevent this issue from occurring, update to iDVD 6.0.4 or later.
Out of all of the iLife apps I used back in the day, I think iDVD seemed the most magical. The fact that I could burn a DVD, complete with menus, on my Mac was so, so cool.
Apple ships a wide range of applications across its family of operating systems. However, over the years, they have received uneven amounts of support and attention from the company. This week on MPU, David and I talk about some of these apps and which ones could use some love from the folks in Cupertino.
The newest version of Gui Rambo’s wonderful menu bar app for managing Bluetooth devices comes with some real goodies, as John Voorhees writes:
Connecting to your devices and handing them off to another Mac is noticeably faster with AirBuddy 2.5. Open your AirPods’ case, and the app’s UI for connecting appears immediately. As I covered with version 2.0, AirBuddy can also transfer your Apple trackpad, mouse, and keyboard connection to another Mac, using a feature called Magic Handoff. Today’s update introduces version 2.0 of that feature, which is faster and has been reliable in my testing. The latest version of the feature will even attempt to wake a target Mac up if it’s in sleep mode. Handing off input devices isn’t something I do regularly, but it can be handy if you work across a desktop and laptop Mac or run a headless Mac server, for example.
It also comes with a new widget for showing battery levels, optional battery alerts and support for Shortcuts on the Mac.
AirBuddy 2.5 is a free update to the $9.99 app. If you live in a Bluetooth-heavy world, it’s a no-brainer.
My thanks to Unite 4 for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It turns any website into a lightweight, customizable app in mere seconds on your Mac. 512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Unite 4 at bzgapps.com/unite512 or when you use the promo code ‘512Pixels’ at checkout.
A few years ago, I wrote about the now-dead Dashboard, which was was in macOS for a long, long time:
While not as flashy or important as Tiger’s keystone feature, Spotlight, Dashboard still enjoyed a big push from Jobs on stage.
A user could tap a keyboard shortcut or visit a hot corner and Dashboard would activate, dimming the screen and flying in widgets. Adding new ones could be done with a click of the mouse.
(My Titanium PowerBook’s GPU couldn’t render the water ripple effect that played when a new widget was added to Dashboard. However, college roommate’s aluminum PowerBook could do it without breaking a sweat. I was insanely jealous of him for about 72 hours after we both installed Tiger in our dorm room.)
Jobs pitched widgets as mini-apps that let you look up a quick bit of information without ruining your workflow or train of thought. They allowed for quick interactions. They were present when you needed them, and disappeared when you didn’t.
The original design of Dashboard was very of its time. Just soak this in for a minute:
The design of Dashboard got toned down over time, and eventually it wasn’t even enabled by default on clean macOS installations. Keyboards that once shipped with a dedicated Dashboard shortcut were slowly phased out. By the time Apple finally pulled the plug on Dashboard in macOS Catalina, most of the widgets that once graced this corner of the OS had died off. The party had packed up years earlier, leaving just a small percentage of users still relying on the feature.1
Apple killed off Dashboard at exactly the wrong time. Just one year after Catalina killed Dashboard, Apple started allowing developers to bring their iOS widgets over to the Mac in macOS Big Sur. Sadly, they all got stuffed into the slide-out Notification Center user interface:
Notification Center is a real mess. Even on a Pro Display XDR, you get three visible notifications. That’s it. Anything older is hidden behind a button, regardless of how many widgets you may have in the lower section of the Notification Center column:
Apple needs to rethink this and let this new class of widgets2 breathe, being able to use the entire screen like the widgets of yore could. Bringing back Dashboard is an obvious solution here, and I’d love to see it make a return.
Update: Steve Troughton-Smith tweeted this in reply to my post:
Widgets need a permanent home in the Mac UI, not hidden off in a Notification Center nobody looks at anyway. Alternative would be massively improving Launchpad to work much more like SpringBoard, and allow you to set that in place of your desktop.
I thought about the Launchpad angle for a while, and I can see how turning it into a more iPad-like experience would be neat. A single place to get info from your widgets and launch a few favorite apps would be better than what we have now.
However, I think Apple has backed off the idea of needing to turn the iPad and Mac into each other, at least from a user interface standpoint. If Launchpad were to be updated to support widgets, I think it would remain an overlay to the macOS interface, not become the new center of it.
- No doubt that percentage is much higher among readers of blogs like mine, so don’t feel too lonely when remembering Dashboard fondly. ↩
- One thing that the old widgets had that these new ones don’t? Interactivity. ↩
My buddy (and Connected co-host) Federico has been featured in the Mac App Store:
Federico Viticci became a master of Shortcuts by playing the long game.
In 2009 he cofounded MacStories, one of the most popular and trusted sources of Apple news and reviews on the web. Along the way, his obsession with efficiency led the Rome-based writer and journalist to become an expert at using Shortcuts on iOS. “It’s all about removing friction from everyday tasks,” he says.
With the debut of macOS Monterey, Viticci is taking advantage of the Shortcuts app on Mac and enjoying the chance to use his talents in an entirely new arena. “My first reaction to Shortcuts on Mac, honestly, was ‘What an incredible opportunity,'” says Viticci.
I mean, just look at this guy. Couldn’t be happier for him.
This week on the show, we offer up our iPad home screens for roasting after the unboxing of the year.
Google Support:
If you have the G Suite legacy free edition, you need to upgrade to a paid Google Workspace subscription to keep your services. The G Suite legacy free edition will no longer be available starting July 1, 2022.
To maintain your services and accounts, review the information below and upgrade by May 1, 2022. Upgrading to Google Workspace takes just a few steps with no disruption to your users. After you upgrade you can use your new subscription at no cost until at least July 1, 2022.
If you choose to wait, Google will begin upgrading subscriptions automatically on May 1, 2022. We will upgrade your organization to a new Google Workspace subscription based on the features you currently use.
Inevitable, but probably a bummer if you are still holding onto one of these accounts.
Matthew Bischoff has written something that really encapsulates what I loved about my time in Apple Retail. They worked in Retail a few years after my stint from 2006-2008 was over, but this really grabbed me:
My training for the job involved being clapped at a lot while donning the signature blue T-shirt in a room full of folks learning how to sell iPhones and iPads and create Apple “customers for life”. Our teacher was a blond-haired, blue-eyed surfer-turned-computer salesman named JB who wore white earbuds as a necklace. As he taught from the printed material and screened Apple videos for the class, he kept harping on one point that’s stuck with me in the decades since.
I don’t know, let’s find out
JB taught us that there was no way we could know everything there is to know about every Apple product, let alone every app that runs on them, and every way they can fail. He taught us that rather than making up an answer, guessing, or shrugging our shoulders, we should instead say, “I don’t know, let’s find out”. Admitting that we didn’t know was the first step. Then, we were to find out together with the customer by walking over to a Mac and looking up the answer or pulling in another employee who might know the answer.
The lessons in Matthew’s post go way beyond selling devices at an Apple Store. We should all be more willing to learn together.