About Six Colors

2024-11-21 08:38:08

My current desktop Mac, the one I work on day in and day out in my garage/office, is an M1 Mac Studio. I’ve had it for almost three years, and it’s still great.…

2024-11-21 07:32:00

How we deal with physical media, the most tech heavy restaurants we’ve patronized, tech that ended up disappointing us, and the social media networks of yesteryear that we’d bring back.…

2024-11-21 03:29:45

Get ready for the Apple TV TV.…

2024-11-20 23:30:59

Personal computers started out simple. So simple that you could just type in programs and run them, save them, and even give them to your friends.…

2024-11-20 00:24:50

In my previous post for Six Colors, I wrote about why Apple’s Clean Up (and photo retouching tools in general) were a fine tool for people to have in their photo editing toolkits.…

2024-11-19 07:12:10

Is Apple trying to boost revenue by truly embracing smart home products, or is it too late? Also, Jason reviews Kindles while lamenting the current state of e-readers, and the Vision Pro gets new accessories and a music video by The Weeknd!…

2024-11-19 01:00:20

When the EU enacted GDPR in 2018, executives and security professionals waited anxiously to
see how the law would be enforced. And then they kept waiting…and waiting…but the Great
European Privacy Crackdown never came.…

2024-11-16 01:00:19

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

With over 5,000 five star reviews; Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac.…

2024-11-15 04:23:16

Monday Night football on ABC, streaming delays, and more TV picks. (Downstream+ subscribers also get: an Unrivaled new sports TV product; Amazon’s deal with the NBA; and pondering the limits of the NFL.)…

2024-11-15 01:22:14

On Halloween, Apple announced its fiscal fourth quarter results, posting another flat sales quarter even while continuing to beat all-time quarterly revenue records. And as usual, I filled a bunch of numbers into a Numbers spreadsheet, ran my little charting Automator app, and posted out a bunch of (six?)…

2024-11-14 22:47:10

As the cavalcade of M4 Macs rained down upon us last week, it became clear that Apple has established a solid rhythm for updates to its processor line.…

2024-11-14 10:13:46

How we read (with or without tech), our favorite pet tech, whether we’d get a HomePod with a screen, and the small cute tech we like.…

2024-11-14 07:26:08

The world of ebook readers is in a weird place, but when hasn’t it been?

E-readers have always been a strange product niche, not just since that oddball first-generation Kindle, but since our first attempts to make computerized books in Hypercard or on PalmPilots.…

2024-11-14 04:13:10

Stay for the thrilling conclusion to Lex’s refund odyssey.…

2024-11-13 07:35:54

One of the most-used buttons on my Stream Deck is a one-touch connection to the Mac mini server sitting in a closet in my house. I’m frequently popping in to manage files on my RAID, or reconfigure a script that’s fed by my weather station, all sorts of odd jobs.…

2024-11-13 06:10:38

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has been reporting for some time that Apple is planning a “smart display” to be used in the home, but Tuesday he reported a remarkable level of detail:

The product has a touch interface that looks like a blend of the Apple Watch operating system and the iPhone’s recently launched StandBy mode.

2024-11-12 06:54:46

Magic Lasso Adblock: incredibly private and secure Safari web browsing

Online privacy isn’t just something you should be hoping for – it’s something you should expect.…

2024-11-12 05:56:01

Jason’s gotten his hands on the M4 MacBook Pros, the M4 iMac, and a visionOS widescreen Mac display. (And we’re both considering Mac mini purchases.) Plus: Apple’s issues with new products, and the threat of huge EU fines.…

2024-11-09 01:00:34

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Imagine if you went to the movies and they charged $8000 for popcorn. This is something like what IT and security professionals feel when a software vendor hits them with an outrageous premium for Single Sign-On (SSO), often by lumping it into a product’s enterprise tier.…

2024-11-08 05:46:35

Belkin has just released two new Vision Pro accessories—a $50 add-on Head Strap that supplement Apple’s Solo Knit Band, and a $100 Travel Bag.…

2024-11-07 22:00:49

The latest update to the MacBook Pro is not a radically different laptop than what has come before. Since the product was redesigned in 2021, subsequent updates have been largely the same, at least on the outside.…

2024-11-07 22:00:29

Meet the new Mac mini—for the first time in the last fourteen years, not the same as the old Mac mini.

The latest iteration of Apple’s most diminutive Mac really earns that superlative in its newest incarnation, only the third in its history.…

2024-11-07 22:00:00

The iMac, redesigned for Apple silicon in 2021, is a gorgeous reinvention of Apple’s venerable all-in-one. It’s colorful (if you want it to be), powerful (enough), and designed to show itself off at home and in public spaces.…

2024-11-07 04:09:28

Apple’s AI ads rub us the wrong way.…

2024-11-07 04:09:25

Our default apps on iOS, how we feel about Genmoji, our favorite end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms, and whether we use Live Activities for news and sports.…

2024-11-07 00:00:21

If you didn’t notice, Apple Intelligence is here. But it would be hard not to notice—Apple is marketing its new collection of AI features everywhere it possibly can, from television ads to its website to every single product announcement it’s made in the last two months.…

2024-11-06 04:09:31

You may remember Aaron Rodgers throwing a Surface on an NFL sideline, but this year football teams in three college conferences are using iPads, as detailed in this feature from Apple Newsroom:

“Having iPad on the sidelines makes coaching way more effective in-game,” says Mike Saffell, University of California, Berkeley’s tight ends coach.

2024-11-05 06:49:21

Scoring our very weird draft, The new Mac mini and MacBook Pro announcements, Apple’s latest financial results, our reactions to Image Playground and Genmoji betas, and pondering the actual job of a CEO.…

2024-11-05 03:45:00

Imagine if you went to the movies and they charged $8000 for popcorn.

Or, imagine you got on a plane and they told you that seatbelts were only available in first class.…

2024-11-02 08:16:06

Holiday specials and streaming rights; the questionable future of linear cable channels; Bob Iger’s Endgame gets interesting; Sports Corner with Rob Manfred, Jason Kelce, and Charles Barkley; Behold, the power of CBS; and some TV shows you should watch.…

2024-11-02 00:00:23

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

The folks at 1Password recently attended the RSA conference in San Francisco and were struck by how infatuated everyone was with the promise of new, shiny solutions to fix new, shiny problems.…

2024-11-01 23:43:59

Pixelmator Team, announcing a shocker:

Pixelmator has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, subject to regulatory approval. There will be no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time.

2024-11-01 23:03:12

If you had any idea that satellite connectivity isn’t a key part of Apple’s strategy, well, the company’s satellite partner Globalstar has disclosed changes to its deal with Apple, including a new influx of $1.1 billion from Apple tied to capital improvements, and $400 million in equity, which gives Apple a 20-percent stake in the company.…

2024-11-01 05:20:09

Every quarter after releasing financial results, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri hop on a conference call with analysts to detail the quarter gone by, give a peek at what’s to come, and dodge—er, I mean answer—questions from analysts.…

2024-11-01 04:45:11

Apple reported its financial results on Thursday for its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended on September 28. Revenue was $94.9 billion, up six percent versus the year-ago quarter and an all-time fourth quarter record.…

2024-11-01 00:11:43

2024-10-31 03:45:59

Our use of tech in Halloween celebrations; the smallest tech we regularly use and the small gadget that wowed us; which Apple Intelligence features we’re using and looking forward to next; and the one item we’d give up this week, tech or non-tech.…

2024-10-31 01:45:04

Where would you put a charging port?…

2024-10-31 00:22:02

Twelve years ago, my former Macworld colleague Lex Friedman and I were at an Apple focused conference where we presented a talk called “Apple is Huge Now (And That Sucks For You)”.…

2024-10-30 23:00:36

This week, all of Apple’s Mac announcements have featured one trend beyond the arrival of the M4 processor family on macOS: The lifting of base RAM configurations from 8GB to 16GB across the board on new models.…

2024-10-30 23:00:17

Apple’s week of Mac reveals rolls on with Wednesday’s announcement of the M4 MacBook Pro line. In some ways this is the smallest update of the week, but I’d wager that Apple sells far more MacBook Pros than iMacs and Mac minis put together.…

2024-10-30 22:02:16

Great piece by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy at The Verge about the evolution of the Amazon Echo and how an exciting project turns into a boring one:

Alexa is still mainly doing what it’s always done: playing music, reporting the weather, and setting timers.

2024-10-30 01:09:59

Just in time for Halloween, Apple has delivered a new version of its smallest Mac, which you could probably even fit into one of those plastic pumpkins.…

2024-10-29 23:00:27

Apple’s big week, featuring a new iMac and the launch of Apple Intelligence, just got smaller. A lot smaller.

Just in time for Halloween, it’s a Fun Size Mac mini.…

2024-10-29 05:20:14

We kick off a busy week by analyzing the new M4 iMac, the arrival of two different waves of Apple Intelligence, and Jason’s review of the iPad mini, but we’ll have to wait a week to score our draft because there’s more yet to come!…

2024-10-29 00:00:58

I recently attended the RSA conference in San Francisco–security’s biggest event of the year– and I was struck by how infatuated everyone was with the promise of new, shiny solutions to fix new, shiny problems.…

2024-10-29 00:00:47

With the release of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, Apple is hopping aboard the generative AI train. Apple Intelligence is a suite of disparate features, first announced earlier this year at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, that the company is gradually rolling out over the course of several software updates in the next months.…

2024-10-28 23:42:06

Begun, the week of Mac announcements has. Apple on Monday unveiled revamped iMac models, powered by its new M4 processors, in a series of bold new tints.…

2024-10-26 01:44:06

Next week, the first round of Apple Intelligence will be loosed on the general public, including the Clean Up feature in Photos that lets you alter images to remove unwanted elements.…

2024-10-26 00:00:50

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

With over 5,000 five star reviews; Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac.…

2024-10-25 05:53:36

Last month, my Mac Studio stopped working. It went quickly from a bizarre error message to the inability to install software updates to a failure to reinstall the base operating system to a trip to the Genius Bar.…

2024-10-24 23:54:52

Over on Mastodon, I was embroiled in a whole conversation about fonts we use for writing. I write exclusively using monospaced fonts, and have done so for decades now.…

2024-10-24 03:35:07

All the Apple devices we use, the risks of switching to the Apple Password app, the games we play on our phones, and whether tech plays a part in our hobbies.…

2024-10-24 01:11:06

Apple Intelligence just keeps on coming.

The first batch of features in Apple’s much-hyped entry into the artificial intelligence boom will be released to the general public sometime next week, but the company is already moving on to the next one.…

2024-10-24 00:33:24

The jokes write themselves and sometime it shows.…

2024-10-23 23:00:19

The 2024 iPad mini has just been updated for the first time in three years, and yet, for some of the product’s biggest fans, it’s a bit of a disappointment.…

2024-10-22 21:00:39

Getting my hands on a new iPad mini always feels a little bit like a happy reunion. I use an iPad Pro all the time, so I haven’t handled an iPad mini since I gave back the 2021 model three years ago.…

2024-10-22 05:19:09

This week we recommend some TV shows, differentiate between types of vaporware, and break down the new iPad mini and Amazon Kindles. Then, Myke and Jason try to predict exactly what Apple might announce later this month.…

2024-10-22 00:00:19

Magic Lasso Adblock: 2.0x faster web browsing in Safari

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.…

2024-10-19 00:00:06

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Strings of data breaches and other cybersecurity failures have forced greater investment in vulnerability management. The SEC now requires companies to report on how their managers and board of directors deal with vulnerabilities.…

2024-10-18 21:55:11

Apple’s Ricky Mondello recaps how the company’s password generation system tries to come up with easy to type—but still very secure—passwords:

To make these passwords easier to type on suboptimal keyboard layouts like my colleague’s game controller, where the mode switching might be difficult, these new passwords are actually dominated by lowercase characters.

2024-10-18 08:34:42

Apple TV+ comes to Prime Video, and the Diamond bankruptcy continues to disrupt the entire economy of sports. [Downstream+ listeners get: ESPN Flagship, Paramount and the NFL, the future of sports rights, and in praise of narrowcasting.]…

2024-10-18 03:17:00

It’s hard to believe Apple Pay launched a decade ago, and only slightly less hard to believe that we’ve reached the point that I can link to my decade-old story about using Apple Pay for the first time at my local Whole Foods:

“Oh, you’re going to try that?”

2024-10-18 01:43:51

I really enjoyed this story by Rachel Karten about how, amid widespread outrage about a disastrous software update from Sonos, the company’s Social Media Program Lead was doing it right:

KeithFromSonos is a Sonos employee who is very active in the r/Sonos subreddit and has somehow won over customers in a particularly tumultuous time for the brand.

2024-10-17 05:07:21

Amazon announced a bunch of brand-new Kindle models Wednesday, including a refreshed Paperwhite and a new color model, both of which I’ve ordered and will review soon.…

2024-10-17 03:25:10

A harrowing tale of survival and Rock Band.…

2024-10-17 03:25:08

Our experiences with Passkeys and thoughts on their upcoming portability, opinions on Threads showing online status by default, views on Amazon’s new Kindle lineup including the color model, and our preferred methods and platforms for consuming news.…

2024-10-17 00:39:33

It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since AirPods first arrived on the scene.…

2024-10-16 21:10:51

Apple Intelligence is about to hit the mainstream. Within the next couple weeks, Apple is likely to ship iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, all of them bringing the first in the suite of features that Apple has been talking about since June.…

2024-10-16 01:00:24

I suppose it’s telling that the most interesting and surprising thing about the just-announced 7th-generation iPad mini is the processor Apple put inside.

For fans of the iPad mini who were hoping that after three years there would be some substantial upgrades, this announcement is undoubtedly disappointing.…

2024-10-15 22:18:04

The FIDO Alliance, which oversees the specifications for passkeys, has released a draft standard for the import and export of those cryptographic keys:

FIDO Alliance’s draft specifications – Credential Exchange Protocol (CXP) and Credential Exchange Format (CXF) – define a standard format for transferring credentials in a credential manager including passwords, passkeys and more to another provide in a manner that ensures transfer are not made in the clear and are secure by default.

2024-10-15 21:44:20

If you had a square on your bingo card for a new iPad mini during an October Apple event, well, partial credit: the company today unveiled the seventh-generation of the diminutive tablet, adding the A17 Pro processor and support for the Apple Pencil Pro.…

2024-10-15 05:10:39

What AirPods Adaptive mode is for, Apple’s first immersive narrative film, tricky executive retention efforts, the Vision products roadmap, Apple TV+ goes to Amazon channels, and the trouble with iPhone 16 Camera Control.…

2024-10-15 02:24:48

There’s a line in Titanic that any IT or security professional can relate to. The ship’s architect
explains that he wanted to include enough lifeboats for all the passengers, “but it was felt the
deck would look too cluttered.”…

2024-10-12 00:00:04

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

With over 5,000 five star reviews; Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac.…

2024-10-11 07:11:53

It was a busy summer at the Snell house. Our roof predated our purchase of our house, and we’ve been in this house 25 years, so… yeah.…

2024-10-11 06:04:07

I just watched “Submerged,” the new immersive short film directed by “All Quiet on the Western Front” director Edward Berger, on the Apple Vision Pro. It’s the first scripted, narrative-driven piece of immersive video on the platform, and after the failure of Apple’s MLS video highlights, I was curious to see what choices Berger would make in using a medium with a very different grammar than traditional filmmaking.…

2024-10-11 00:39:26

We’re getting closer to the end, presumably, of the most static design era in the iPhone’s history. While Apple continues to iterate on the specs of its most important product, the iPhone 16 product line is visually part of a generation that dates back four years to the iPhone 12.…

2024-10-10 23:41:41

On Wednesday Amazon and Apple announced that Apple TV+ will be available inside Prime Video as an add-on subscription:

Later this month, Apple TV+ will be available via Prime Video in the U.S.

2024-10-10 03:28:10

Walgreens is not a sponsor of this episode.…

2024-10-10 03:28:08

How we prepare our tech for emergencies, the headphones we like best, our file organization systems, and outfitting our home theaters for spooky season.…

2024-10-09 23:00:15

Apple’s Messages app may have lost the global messaging wars, but in many countries—including the U.S.—it’s still an incredibly popular way of communicating. That’s why Apple keeps upgrading it.…

2024-10-08 05:08:04

We discusss how Apple is so influential that even its simplest moves can make or break companies and industries. Also: Apple plans a big Halloween week, and there’s an immersive thriller coming to Vision Pro.…

2024-10-08 00:00:42

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.…

2024-10-05 03:06:14

Nick Heer comments on a spectacularly weird New York Times story titled “Did Apple Just Kill Social Apps?,” which is actually about how Apple has ratcheted up contacts-sharing security in iOS 18:

What I do not understand is granting Bier’s objections the imprimatur of a New York Times story when one can see the full picture of Bier’s track record.

2024-10-05 02:57:09

Sometimes there are bugs that happen and hit wide swaths of devices causing serious problems for users, and other times a teeny tiny thing breaks and it only affects a handful of people.…

2024-10-04 07:27:27

Brian Williams will bring live news to Prime Video, but what’s the future of streaming news? Also: More cable bundles include streaming services; Amazon programs a night of game shows; Netflix’s coming compensation crunch; and a Diamond/MLB update.…

2024-10-03 21:07:30

Apple’s often got a reputation as an uncompromising driver of new technology. Look no further than the classic example of shipping the original iMac without a floppy drive or legacy ports, or designing the iPhone without a hardware keyboard, or even killing off the iPod mini to make way for the iPod nano.…

2024-10-03 08:13:15

Our preferred devices for listening to music out loud, recent frustrating tech-related customer service experiences, current social media habits, and examples of technology that have recently impressed us.…

2024-10-03 02:42:28

From The Verge’s Victoria Song, a fascinating and disturbing project that turns Meta’s smart glasses into a system for immediately doxxing people:

In the demo, you can see Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio, the other student behind the project, use the glasses to identify several classmates, their addresses, and names of relatives in real time.

2024-10-03 02:10:14

Lex and Moltz will wait for AR contact lenses. Dan wants off this ride.…

2024-10-01 22:34:33

It’s rare that I find a new app that immediately becomes part of my workflow, but it’s just as rare that an app as useful as Croissant comes out.…

2024-10-01 06:04:05

Jason and Myke break down Meta’s preview of its Orion AR glasses project and what it says (or doesn’t say) about the future of Apple’s Vision product line.…

2024-09-28 02:22:19

The game is to create a wearable, augmented-reality device that takes everything that’s great about a smartphone and overlays it on your vision, making the entire world a smartphone canvas.…

2024-09-28 00:00:20

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

1Password wants you to understand the details about how laws like GDPR can affect your business.…

2024-09-27 22:18:58

Ars Technica’s Dan Goodin reporting on the latest guidelines from the National Institute of Standards and Technology about good passwords:

A section devoted to passwords injects a large helping of badly needed common sense practices that challenge common policies.

2024-09-26 08:12:41

Pour one out for the venerable Apple-focused website iMore, which is ceasing publication:

Dig out your old iPod and fire up your ‘Songs to cry to’ playlist, I come bearing sad news.

2024-09-26 06:43:35

I’m happy to announce that the latest edition of my ebook about Apple’s Photos app, Take Control of Photos, Fourth Edition is now available.

This new edition covers the new stuff added by Apple this year, which turned out to be a lot—especially on the iOS and iPadOS side.…

2024-09-26 04:32:47

Some interesting news regarding Masimo, the company that is locked in disputes with Apple over its patents for blood oxygen sensors that has led to that feature being removed from the Apple Watch in the U.S.:…

2024-09-26 03:17:02

We have the new phones. And we have thoughts on the new phones.…

2024-09-26 02:16:03

Which Apple Watch faces we use, our feelings on Apple tying the new iPhone to AI features, where we get our phone wallpapers, and how we’re using the Action button.…

2024-09-25 23:40:52

Last year, Apple introduced the Action Button to the iPhone 15 Pro, and leaned hard into its use as a button to take pictures. This year, though, the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro both have a new dedicated Camera Control button.…

2024-09-24 00:00:28

When the EU enacted GDPR in 2018, executives and security professionals waited anxiously to
see how the law would be enforced. And then they kept waiting…and waiting…but the Great
European Privacy Crackdown never came.…

2024-09-23 22:51:12

Jason and Myke share their first thoughts about the iPhone 16 Pro and Apple Watch Series 10, live and in person!…

2024-09-21 00:00:28

My thanks to StopTheMadness Pro for sponsoring Six Colors this week. (Big week!) StopTheMadnessPro is a major upgrade to the beloved Safari extension StopTheMadness that stops website annoyances and privacy violations.…

2024-09-20 22:35:05

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in the green room at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, getting ready to start this year’s 12-hour podcast telethon in support of St.…

2024-09-19 23:18:55

Look, I’m not ungrateful. But the truth remains that nothing stokes the imagination of what Apple could do with its products more than the release of its latest hardware and software.…

2024-09-19 22:29:23

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Mediterranean, the European Commission and the DMA are back:

Today, the European Commission has started two specification proceedings to assist Apple in complying with its interoperability obligations under the Digital Markets Act (‘DMA’).

2024-09-19 20:15:43

The Verge’s Victoria Song writes the only black Apple Watch Ultra 2 review you need:

This is the Apple Watch Batman would buy. Never mind that it’s a mini brick on my wrists.

2024-09-19 04:02:07

Our view on Instagram’s new “Teen Accounts” and their direction, thoughts on Qi2, charging speeds, and MagSafe, our favorite new feature in Apple’s latest platform updates, and the update we like least or will need time to adapt to.…

2024-09-19 01:01:55

10 years! Of this?…

2024-09-18 09:11:01

Independent journalist Tim Culpan reports that TSMC, Apple’s Taiwan-based chipmaking partner, is now producing A16 chips at its new fab in Arizona:

TSMC’s first Arizona chips are now in production, and Apple is ready to be the first cab off the rank with mobile processors made using the foundry’s 5nm process.

2024-09-18 07:12:23

Here at Six Colors, we dropped our iOS, iPadOS, and macOS reviews, along with a piece about Photos, on Monday. Our good colleagues at MacStories are also busy releasing stuff that’s worth your time:

• Federico Viticci on iOS 18
• John Voorhees on macOS Sequoia
• Jonathan Reed on watchOS 11

There’s a whole lot here.…

2024-09-18 04:58:04

Will Carroll re-joins for a mega Sports Corner episode. We discuss the power of the NFL and the future of highlights. [Downstream+ subscribers also get: sports rights, Diamond bankruptcy, Venu doom, and tangents.]…

2024-09-17 04:52:09

All of Apple’s new operating systems are here, and we discuss our favorite new features—and acknowledge the elephant waiting in the wings. We also spend a little time celebrating the tenth birthday of both Upgrade and Six Colors.…

2024-09-17 03:00:32

2024-09-17 01:09:14

Perhaps more than any of Apple’s other operating systems, iOS is about balance. For many people, their iPhone is their primary computer—in some cases, their only computer.…

2024-09-17 01:08:07

This year, there’s good news on the iPadOS front: A bunch of features that in recent years might have been limited to iOS are also available in iPadOS 18!…

2024-09-17 01:00:47

When I go to concerts, I always feel bad for the opening acts. No matter how good they are, no matter how hard they try, they’re just not the reason the audience is there.…

2024-09-17 00:00:49

StopTheMadness Pro is a major upgrade to StopTheMadness, the beloved Safari extension for iOS and macOS that stops website annoyances and privacy violations.

When websites try to block your copy and paste, block your contextual menu, block your keyboard shortcuts, play videos without your permission, or track your link clicks, just stop the madness!…

2024-09-16 23:01:26

The Verge’s Emma Roth reports:

Apple’s new sleep apnea detection feature has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration — and Watch Series 9 or Watch Ultra 2 owners can use it starting today.

2024-09-16 22:00:06

Ten years sure seems like a long time.

Ten years ago the iPhone got physically big for the first time.…

2024-09-15 02:07:26

Matt Birchler ran a lot of battery tests and found that the conventional wisdom that Chrome kills Mac battery life just doesn’t hold up:

Using Chrome would leave you with 54% of your battery remaining, and Safari would leave you with about 50% left in the tank.

2024-09-14 00:00:32

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Imagine if you went to the movies and they charged $8000 for popcorn. This is something like what IT and security professionals feel when a software vendor hits them with an outrageous premium for Single Sign-On (SSO), often by lumping it into a product’s enterprise tier.…

2024-09-13 02:13:04

The iPhone Pro and the Apple Watch get bigger.…

2024-09-13 00:22:19

When Apple says it expects regulators to approve something soon, it means soon.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device, Hearing Aid Feature, intended to be used with compatible versions of the Apple AirPods Pro headphones.

2024-09-12 03:58:02

How we open our phone cameras, our post-Apple event spending plans, whether we want a robotic smart speaker, and what a new iPhone button of our dreams would do.…

2024-09-12 00:00:53

For the second year in a row, Apple has added a button to the iPhone. New iPhone buyers will have two different hardware buttons to get familiar with, both the Action Button (introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro, and now on all iPhone 16 models) and the all-new Camera Control button.…

2024-09-10 21:29:48

The BBC’s Charlotte Edwards and Theo Leggett on the European Court of Justice’s ruling in a long gestating case about Apple paying (or not paying) taxes in Ireland:

The original decision covered the period from 1991 to 2014, and related to the way in which profits generated by two Apple subsidiaries based in Ireland were treated for tax purposes.

2024-09-10 09:00:57

I’m just back from Cupertino and a morning spent at Apple Park, including a visit to the Steve Jobs Theater. You didn’t get to see it, but we were greeted by Tim Cook, who came out on stage to say “Good Morning” at least six times (!)…

2024-09-10 08:38:03

From the iPhone 16 to the Apple Watch Series 10 to the AirPods 4 to the other AirPods 4, and with the release of Apple Intelligence hanging over it all, we break down the announcements from the September Apple Event.…

2024-09-10 00:56:19

Imagine if you went to the movies and they charged $8000 for popcorn.

Or, imagine you got on a plane and they told you that seatbelts were only available in first class.…

2024-09-07 06:05:01

Larry Ellison’s ownership of Paramount and what it might mean for CBS News; why Netflix and Apple just don’t get movies; Hallmark’s new streaming service; the rise of Tubi and FAST; and streaming’s lack of curation.…

2024-09-05 22:53:12

Fall can be relied upon for a few things: baseball playoffs, the changing of the leaves, the emergence of pumpkin spice, and, of course, new iPhones.…

2024-09-05 08:26:28

2024-09-05 06:39:35

Baby’s first AI usage.…

2024-09-05 05:39:25

Our preferred external storage solutions, favorite collaboration tools, motivations for smartphone upgrades, and thoughts on the potential for a Skynet-level AI scenario in our lifetime.…

2024-09-04 01:10:08

Dan wrote last week about reports that Apple had laid off 100 people in the Books group. The news seemed to strike most observers as a regrettable, but understandable business decision.…

2024-09-03 05:17:05

Jason and Myke preview what will happen at next week’s Apple event. What new features will the new iPhones have? How will the Apple Watch transform?…

2024-08-29 22:40:21

Wired‘s Kate Knibbs reports that many major publishers are blocking Applebot-Extended, the company’s crawler bot that helps train Apple Intelligence:

WIRED can confirm that Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist, Tumblr, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, Vox Media, the USA Today network, and WIRED’s parent company, Condé Nast, are among the many organizations opting to exclude their data from Apple’s AI training.

2024-08-29 22:24:48

AppleVis won’t shut down August 31 as announced earlier this summer. The highly-regarded site, which provides news, community forums and a directory of accessible apps aimed at blind and visually impaired Apple users, has been acquired by Be My Eyes, which plans a September relaunch.…

2024-08-29 02:57:04

Jason talks to Stephen Hackett about his recent deep dive into the world of the Macintosh Performa line, which was sold from 1992 to 1997. Over that time period, nearly 50 models were sold wearing the name.…

2024-08-29 02:23:04

Introducing the Rebound Fellow program.…

2024-08-29 02:23:01

How we purchase and read e-books, pet tech we’ve tried, our favorite accessibility features, and the tech features we’d add or remove with our magic wands.…

2024-08-28 23:00:13

One of Apple’s greatest fears has come to pass. Fragmentation has come for the iPhone and iPad. By the end of the year, users in part of the world will be able to harness the power of Apple Intelligence for various tasks—while users in the European Union will be able to set default apps, delete stock Apple apps, buy from alternative App Stores, play Fortnite, use a clipboard manager, and more.…

2024-08-28 22:09:23

The next chapter of Apple Books’s life is looking a little bleak.

In a report at Bloomberg (paywalled, naturally), Mark Gurman says that the company has laid off about a hundred people, primarily in the team behind Apple Books and the Apple Bookstore.…

2024-08-28 22:01:01

Finn Voorhees broke his iPhone screen and Apple fixed it. All of a sudden he was banned from Snapchat:

After restoring from a backup and beginning to log back into all my accounts, I encountered an unexpected problem.

2024-08-28 03:43:06

Almost nobody who follows Apple for its products (rather than its stock performance) will care, but the company announced on Monday that longtime CFO Luca Maestri is ascending to godhood, er, leaving his job as CFO to become something different:

Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri will transition from his role on January 1, 2025.

2024-08-27 00:35:10

It’s time once again for the biggest event in Apple’s calendar. Apple on Monday announced a special event kicking off at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern on Monday, September 9.…

2024-08-27 00:06:05

We bring the Summer of Fun to a close with our opinionated rating of 60 different Apple app icons.…

2024-08-26 23:50:25

Nellie Andreeva and Peter White reporting for Deadline:

Ted Lasso fans, this is not a drill. In a major step toward the long-awaited fourth season of Apple TV+’s hugely popular soccer comedy, the series’ studio Warner Bros.

2024-08-24 00:00:23

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

The folks at 1Password recently attended the RSA conference in San Francisco and were struck by how infatuated everyone was with the promise of new, shiny solutions to fix new, shiny problems.…

2024-08-23 22:15:54

The Verge’s Sarah Jeong on the Google Pixel 9’s new “Magic Editor” generative AI feature, and the future it will deliver:

Even before AI, those of us in the media had been working in a defensive crouch, scrutinizing the details and provenance of every image, vetting for misleading context or photo manipulation.

2024-08-23 09:34:00

A judge puts a stop to the launch of Venu, bringing the entire economics of the cable bundle into question. [Downstream+ subscribers also get: Paramount’s sale complication, Disney+ success metrics, Olympics wrap-up, and theatrical’s revival.]…

2024-08-22 23:58:15

Emma Roth and Jay Peters of The Verge have a nice overview of the current state of affairs for app developers and alternative app marketplaces in the EU:

Epic’s game store may offer better terms for developers, but every developer, Epic included, is still subject to fees from Apple, even outside the confines of the App Store.

2024-08-22 04:05:28

I know all the cool kids are on 18.0 and 18.1 for brat beta summer, but I never want to roll the dice with iOS betas on my iPhone.…

2024-08-22 03:23:05

A third-party app we consider essential for everyone, the first app we use in the morning, a piece of tech in our lives that needs an upgrade, and a tech product or concept we initially doubted but which later became successful.…

2024-08-22 03:20:58

There was a brief shining moment where it seemed like Apple might really have cracked the automotive industry—and it wasn’t necessarily for the reasons you might think.…

2024-08-22 02:27:00

More talk about AI, Lex’s new iPad, and a new sponsor!…

2024-08-22 01:59:49

When I covered the macOS Sequoia Public Beta, I made the point that while there’s now a built-in feature for quick window tiling, it’s the typical Apple system-level offering:

Yes, it’s a feature that’s been implemented by numerous macOS utilities over the years, and those utilities will almost certainly offer users more options and customizability than the basic functionality Apple offers.

2024-08-21 08:15:46

Netflix announced that Monument Valley 3, a (surprising?) sequel to the classic indie platformer, is coming December 10. It’ll be in the App Store, but exclusively for Netflix subscribers.…

2024-08-20 05:07:01

Fortnite and Epic return to the (not your) iPhone, Apple opens up NFC and enacts new restrictions on Patreon, Spotify posts a link, and we discuss what is and is not a ‘Tabletop Robot.’…

2024-08-20 00:00:00

I recently attended the RSA conference in San Francisco–security’s biggest event of the year– and I was struck by how infatuated everyone was with the promise of new, shiny solutions to fix new, shiny problems.…

2024-08-15 23:16:45

I haven’t written a lot about the Vision Pro for a pretty simple reason: I haven’t actually had a lot of opportunities to use one. But earlier this week, Apple invited me down to New York City to spend an hour with not only Apple’s spatial computer, but also the forthcoming visionOS 2 update.…

2024-08-15 04:11:43

Zach Gage, creator of such Six Colors favorite games as Good Sudoku, Typeshift, Pocket-Run Pool, and Really Bad Chess, recently took everything he’s learned from building great iOS games and began building Puzzmo, a daily puzzle and game website owned by Hearst.…

2024-08-15 02:26:32

Apple squeezes Patreon, a new Mac mini and travel tips and troubles.…

2024-08-14 23:00:38

For nearly a decade, Apple has been progressively growing the revenue it makes from services—not just its search-engine deal with Google and its cut of App Store revenue, but everything from AppleCare support plans to iCloud storage to TV+ and News+ and Fitness+.…

2024-08-14 20:25:47

A smaller Mac mini, Apple vs. Patreon, our notification habits, and the future of CarPlay.…

2024-08-14 20:00:59

With the 2024 Paralympic Games set to take the spotlight in Paris next week, Apple has released a new short film called “The Relay”. Though paralympians compete against others with disabilities, the film showcases several athletes with disabilities competing alongside athletes without them.…

2024-08-13 05:06:05

This episode has a lot of layers, as we discuss the Olympics, the Google antitrust ruling, Apple’s new EU fee plan, a tiny new Mac mini, macOS dialog disasters, and the tech world of a decade ago.…

2024-08-10 00:00:15

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Strings of data breaches and other cybersecurity failures have forced greater investment in vulnerability management. The SEC now requires companies to report on how their managers and board of directors deal with vulnerabilities.…

2024-08-09 10:39:02

Meg James of the Los Angeles Times joins Jason to discuss Paramount and WBD results, the WBD/NBA conundrum, Peacock and the Olympics, Venu’s price, the NFL dodging the antitrust bullet, a Disney price hike, and the high cost of prestige TV.…

2024-08-09 00:20:46

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that the M4 Mac mini will be much smaller than previous models:

Apple Inc. is planning a new version of the Mac mini that will be its smallest desktop computer yet, part of a broader overhaul of the Mac line with AI-focused chips.

2024-08-08 03:12:59

In an attempt to protect Mac users from getting themselves into trouble, Apple introduced numerous permissions pop-ups into macOS Catalina. In the years since, the company has accelerated its approach, adding ever more situations where users must grant specific permission.…

2024-08-08 02:16:03

The tech everyone should have, our device strategies for planes, Apple’s new Distraction Control feature, and the apps we want to control via Siri.…

2024-08-08 00:17:07

Nothing but good vibes.…

2024-08-07 22:13:38

If you, like me, skim through the technology headlines most days, then you’ve probably been bombarded with what feels like every other headline featuring some permutation of artificial intelligence and how it’s going to change everything.…

2024-08-07 00:07:45

The excellent flight-tracking app Flighty has been updated to version 4.0 with a bunch of new features designed to anticipate and explain flight delays.…

2024-08-06 06:01:57

Myke has a mostly positive Apple Intelligence experience (except for Siri), Apple results make us consider the power of Services, and the Color Czar may be up to their old tricks.…

2024-08-06 03:00:27

Disney+ has been at the forefront of offering unique environments on its Vision Pro app, so you can watch movies at Avengers Tower or on the Monsters Inc.…

2024-08-06 00:00:55

There’s a line in Titanic that any IT or security professional can relate to. The ship’s architect
explains that he wanted to include enough lifeboats for all the passengers, “but it was felt the
deck would look too cluttered.”…

2024-08-03 04:01:47

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.…

2024-08-02 05:16:11

It’s that time again — Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri spoke on a conference call and took questions from financial analysts. Here’s our complete transcript.…

2024-08-02 04:39:16

On Thursday, Apple announced results for its financial third quarter. Total company revenue was $85.8 billion, a record for its fiscal third quarter, which is traditionally the company’s quietest quarter.…

2024-08-02 03:57:28

Neil Long of Mobilegamer has a new report about a survey of Apple Arcade game developers that paints Apple as slow to respond, clueless about tech details, and generally not paying enough attention to the service:

Two other sources told us that they had been approached by Apple to make a Vision Pro game but were offered no compensation to make the title, and no guarantees it would be promoted or marketed in any way.

2024-08-01 05:27:41

Like Dan, I’m also back from a trip to Scotland. His piece covered most of the issues regarding the life of a modern international traveler, but I had a few bonus observations to share.…

2024-08-01 03:04:19

If and how we use Find My, the tech we haven’t upgraded, how Apple Intelligence will impact our Siri usage, and our latest tech travel tips.…

2024-08-01 02:04:18

Can you make this less swear-y?…

2024-08-01 01:47:34

And we’re back! After a week and a half abroad, I’ve returned, with that weird combination of tired and wistful that always seem to accompany the end of a trip.…

2024-07-31 23:00:44

In the nearly ten years since Apple first unveiled the Apple Watch, it’s become clear that the product excels at being a health and fitness accessory.…

2024-07-30 04:51:26

After recapping their excitement about the Relay 10 event in London, Jason and Myke discuss the arrival of Apple Intelligence in a surprising beta release and imagine some interesting new directions for the iPhone product line.…

2024-07-30 01:15:32

If you’ve been looking forward to injecting a little intelligence in your Apple devices, the time is now. Apple on Monday rolled out developer beta releases of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, which include access to several—but notably, not all—of the company’s previously announced AI-powered features.…

2024-07-29 23:30:17

AppleVis is shutting down. The site has been a crucial resource for blind and visually-impaired Apple users since iOS accessibility was new, though it’s always covered all Apple platforms.…

2024-07-27 00:00:35

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

1Password wants you to understand the details about how laws like GDPR can affect your business.…

2024-07-25 03:48:49

Our experiences with purchasing tech insurance like AppleCare and its benefits, our approach to managing battery levels and charging devices, the tools and apps we use for iPhone photography, and a non-Apple tech gadget we’ve enjoyed.…

2024-07-25 00:48:02

This is an all brat podcast now.…

2024-07-23 00:00:00

When the EU enacted GDPR in 2018, executives and security professionals waited anxiously to
see how the law would be enforced. And then they kept waiting…and waiting…but the Great
European Privacy Crackdown never came.…

2024-07-19 02:00:32

Summer is the time for travel. And this summer, thanks to the Relay 10 event in London, a lot of your favorite podcasters and writers in the Apple world are using the event as an excuse to take an European vacation.…

2024-07-19 01:51:42

Immersive content for the Vision Pro—one of the device’s best features—has been frustratingly slow in coming. But Apple just announced a bunch of new stuff:

Starting this week, Apple is releasing all-new series and films captured in Apple Immersive Video that will debut exclusively on Apple Vision Pro.

2024-07-19 00:43:57

Sportswriter Will Carroll joins Jason for an all-Sports Corner edition. We discuss the NBA TV deal, the NFL lawsuit, and the future of sports broadcasting. [Downstream+ members also get: the post-RSN world, Netflix and live sports, and more.]…

2024-07-18 06:13:32

My podcast player of choice for the last ten years just celebrated, yep, its 10th anniversary. Here’s Overcast’s sole proprietor, Marco Arment:

Today, on the tenth anniversary of Overcast 1.0, I’m happy to launch a complete rewrite and redesign of most of the iOS app, built to carry Overcast into the next decade — and hopefully beyond.

2024-07-18 02:37:59

Where we primarily do our text entry (smartphone, tablet, or computer), our involvement with user groups either as speakers or attendees, the apps we keep in our iPhone dock and why, and how we use Apple Pay.…

2024-07-18 00:36:56

In this episode we reveal whether or not we bought anything.…

2024-07-18 00:00:09

The future of technology sometimes goes in surprising directions, taking an obvious path and then suddenly doubling back to go down a road less traveled. There was a time when The Future was underpowered client devices powered by remote servers, until it wasn’t—and then (thanks to cloud services and AI) it was again.…

2024-07-16 04:31:49

The iPadOS 18 Public Beta is here. Dan Moren has his first impressions of all the features it shares with iOS 18, but there are a few that are exclusive to the iPad.…

2024-07-16 04:31:24

macOS Sequoia, out in public beta now and due to be released this fall, is more of a work in progress than most macOS beta versions come July.…

2024-07-16 04:30:51

Ultimately the reaction to 18’s initial public beta may be more about what’s not there than what is.…

2024-07-16 00:09:55

Jason and Myke interview the writers of “What If…? An Interactive Story” for Vision Pro about the challenges of writing something that’s not quite a movie and not quite a video game for a brand-new platform.…

2024-07-13 00:00:11

Apple touts a lot of things—vertical integration, interface design, the longevity of its hardware, the direct-to-consumer retail experience, and more—as part of the reason for its success.…

2024-07-12 07:55:44

Vulture’s Josef Adalian returns to discuss the ramifications of the sale of Paramount, and where the company might go next. We also once again consider that classic streaming question—to binge or not to binge?…

2024-07-11 22:19:05

European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager has announced that Apple has committed to allowing third-party payment apps use the same NFC features as Apple Pay in Europe.…

2024-07-11 18:49:00

I don’t know what to say about this other than that it is technological insanity in the absolute best way.

This meant that on my next flight I could technically have full access to the internet, via my airmiles account.

2024-07-11 03:35:44

Slowing that AI roll.…

2024-07-11 03:35:42

Our interest in the new Amazon Echo Spot, our current charging setup and thoughts on Nomad’s new 65W GaN charger, thoughts on a HomePod with a display, and which dead property we’d like to see AI revive from any medium.…

2024-07-10 20:09:31

At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple gave a little bit of time to its major platforms: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS—even tvOS got some love. But one device was conspicuously absent: the HomePod.…

2024-07-10 18:46:54

Camilla Hodgson and George Hammond, writing at the Financial Times (paywalled):

Apple had also been expected to take an observer role on OpenAI’s board as part of a deal to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone maker’s devices, but would not do so, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

2024-07-10 04:09:59

Via Christina Warren, some jokers called Web Orange Limited have acquired The Unofficial Apple Weblog—a classic player in Apple blogging—and have turned it into a gross AI-generated garbage blog posting as a real one:

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) has been a cornerstone of Apple-related journalism since its establishment on December 5, 2004.

2024-07-09 23:50:16

Analyst Canalys has updated its worldwide PC market share stats, and while the PC industry actually showed 3.4% growth year-on-year, Apple’s sales grew 6% during that period:

Apple secured the fourth position, shipping 5.5 million units and capturing a 9% market share, marking a 6% increase compared to the same period last year.

2024-07-09 05:04:06

There’s more news about Apple’s battles with Epic and the EU, and Apple tightens its ties with OpenAI, but all of the controversy gets us thinking about what makes us stay excited about technology during difficult times.…

2024-07-06 05:16:34

There’s a joke in one of my favorite movies, “Real Genius,” which feels directly applicable to a lot of AI discussions we’re having today. (It’s an ’80s movie, so it’s not a scene—it’s a montage, set to “I’m Falling” by The Comsat Angels.)…

2024-07-04 03:22:55

Our app routines, how we feel about smart rings, the smartest other tech gadgets in our homes, and how we stay informed without spiraling into doom.…

2024-07-04 00:21:55

Hello, darkness, my old friend. We’ve come to talk technology again.…

2024-07-03 22:00:00

We’re about to enter the Apple Intelligence era, and it promises to dramatically change how we use our Apple devices. Most importantly, adding Apple Intelligence to Siri promises to resolve many frustrating problems with Apple’s “intelligent” assistant.…

2024-07-03 03:05:34

Federico Viticci and John Voorhees of MacStories have published an open letter to EU and U.S. officials calling for stricter regulation of how AI models are trained that honors the intellectual property rights of creators:

The danger to the Internet as a cultural institution is real and evolving as rapidly as AI technology itself.

2024-07-02 05:13:20

After some feedback about the future of the Vision Pro, we discuss Apple’s adventures in the EU, the inevitable fragmentation of Siri, and a curious new AirPods rumor.…

2024-06-29 00:00:19

My thanks to ListenLater.net for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

ListenLater.net is a clever idea—it turns your reading list into a podcast playlist. I collect longer articles throughout the week that I just don’t have time to dive into at the moment—and they often get lost in the shuffle.…

2024-06-28 21:00:19

The Vision Pro isn’t a product many people should buy today, and that’s not really surprising. It’s an example of Apple playing a long game, trying to build a wearable computing platform over many years.…

2024-06-28 07:23:13

TV critic Tim Goodman guests to discuss the WBD and Paramount messes and give an update about what he’s been up to over at his Substack.…

2024-06-27 04:12:07

Reliable features of voice-based virtual assistants, our hypothetical U.S. internet legislation, the impact of Apple’s new Passwords app on our password management, and our comfort level with sharing intimate thoughts with an LLM.…

2024-06-27 03:11:10

Betas, the EU and frfrrrfrffrrrrffffrrrrfff.…

2024-06-27 00:12:50

It is probably not surprising that I, John Moltz, the world’s leading iPhone mini superfan would also want to use a small e-reader.…

2024-06-26 20:52:08

Though Apple Intelligence may have taken the spotlight at this month’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple’s big announcement of last year has not been completely forgotten.…

2024-06-26 01:02:43

I’ve been meaning to write up a comparison of menu bar utilities in the wake of Bartender being sold, but Niléane beat me to it:

If your trust in Bartender has wavered as a result of this series of events, you may be looking for alternatives.

2024-06-25 21:00:11

It’s going to be years before we can really see the impact of Apple embracing systemwide AI features via Apple Intelligence.…

2024-06-25 00:50:36

Apple backs away from some financial services and changes its Vision hardware approach, and there’s a new phase in the company’s relationship with the EU. For the Summer of Fun, we look at our current iPhone home screens.…

2024-06-25 00:00:02

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?

2024-06-24 20:56:06

The European Commission has issued a preliminary ruling in one of its DMA non-compliance investigations launched in March:

Today, the European Commission has informed Apple of its preliminary view that its App Store rules are in breach of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), as they prevent app developers from freely steering consumers to alternative channels for offers and content.

2024-06-22 02:55:10

Apple has announced that some features it recently announced at WWDC won’t be coming to the EU this year because of European regularions. Bloomberg’s Samuel Stolton and Mark Gurman report:

Apple Inc.

2024-06-22 02:00:45

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Magic Lasso Adblock is a great Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac.…

2024-06-20 04:38:47

During last week’s WWDC festivities, John Gruber interviewed Apple executives on stage for The Talk Show Live, as he’s done for years. This time it was different because people at home with a Vision Pro could watch the event live from the Theater app by Sandwich Vision, streamed by SpatialGen.…

2024-06-20 02:55:35

Apple’s planning a cheaper Vision Pro, how we feel about covering CG advertising, managing subscriptions, and our favorite emoji.…

2024-06-20 01:54:44

Five for 500.…

2024-06-19 21:30:37

Apple is a colossus. Some of us might remember back when it was doomed and nearly bankrupt, but these days, it generates hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue every day and has a market capitalization of more than three trillion dollars.…

2024-06-19 00:32:14

This apparently happened just before WWDC, so I missed it, but it deserves everyone’s attention. Apple has rejected the UTM emulator app, not just from the global App Store, but from all third-party App Stores in the EU by refusing to notarize it.…

2024-06-18 04:34:39

The Summer of Fun has arrived, but we’ve still got a lot of catch-up work to do after a huge WWDC. So this week we share more thoughts about Apple’s new AI strategy and discuss a lot of the feedback we got about what happened last week.…

2024-06-18 03:18:56

Chance Miller at 9to5Mac reports that Apple has shelved its “buy now pay later” feature:

The change goes into effect starting today, Apple says. Existing users with open Apple Pay Later loans will still be able to manage them via the Wallet app.

2024-06-18 00:00:55

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.…

2024-06-15 09:16:38

Vulture’s Josef Adalian joins Jason to discuss the fate of Paramount after the latest deal has fallen through, Warner Bros. Discovery moves to plan B on sports rights, and Joe walks us through his Vulture streamer rankings.…

2024-06-15 03:34:17

Author Andrew Leland, whose memoir, The Country of the Blind gained critical praise last year, is out with a feature for New York magazine on how the Apple Vision Pro is providing accessibility benefits for people with low vision, limb differences, and cognitive disabilities:

Neurodiverse users have also found value in the AVP.

2024-06-15 00:00:55

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors 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.…

2024-06-14 07:29:34

It was clear that Apple didn’t want to be a part of this.

For years now, the company has resisted using the phrase Artificial Intelligence to describe what it does.…

2024-06-14 02:06:32

One of the more contentious announcements from Apple this week is that it trained its foundation models used as the basis for its forthcoming Apple Intelligence features via, among other content, the open web.…

2024-06-14 00:13:35

This week I got a chance to spend a little time with my pal Casey Liss, and he regaled me (and Stephen Hackett, since we are the three big college football fans in our larger tech nerd friend group) with the story of what he’s been up to this summer.…

2024-06-13 05:10:50

I’m just back from Cupertino, and there’s an awful lot to think about. But before all that, I thought I’d cover what absolutely everyone is talking about: visionOS 2.…

2024-06-13 04:52:37

Our favorite features of Apple Intelligence, the biggest missed opportunity at WWDC 2024, our most anticipated iOS 18 feature announced, and our reactions to the lackluster iPadOS announcements.…

2024-06-13 02:51:51

Breaking news.…

2024-06-12 22:50:30

Ars Technica’s Andrew Cunningham catches a nice small detail from amongst the WWDC developer announcements:

As long as your host operating system is macOS 15 or newer and your guest operating system is macOS 15 or newer, VMs will now be able to sign into and use iCloud and other Apple ID-related services just as they would when running directly on the hardware.

2024-06-12 22:45:21

Apple, as a company, has always extolled the value of putting the “personal” in “personal computer.” From its earliest days pushing back at the monolith of IBM and beige boxes that all looked like one another to its more recent extremely personal devices like the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods.…

2024-06-12 10:43:47

Live from Cupertino, Jason has his in-person reactions to Apple’s big WWDC announcements. And in London, Myke processes his feelings about some controversial Apple choices.…

2024-06-11 00:00:02

Do you want an to try an ad blocker that’s easy to setup, easy to keep up to date and with pro features available when you need them?…

2024-06-08 05:35:10

We’re on the verge, maybe, of something big. Apple broke ground with its voice-driven Siri assistant back in 2011, but over the years, Siri’s trajectory has been meandering and frustrating.…

2024-06-08 00:00:33

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Designed from the ground up to protect your privacy, Magic Lasso blocks all intrusive ads, trackers and annoyances in Safari – stopping you from being followed by ads around the web.…

2024-06-07 00:47:22

Howard Oakley says that there will be very little hype for a major change that will alter the fabric of apps on Apple’s platforms:

Don’t be caught by the marketing hype in Apple’s long list of new features coming in macOS 15.

2024-06-06 04:53:34

What we’re excited about at WWDC, the oldest tech we have in use, how we store our digital photos, and whether we journal.…

2024-06-06 03:53:34

Put the D back in WWDC.…

2024-06-06 00:37:46

Charles Stross writes a refreshingly skeptical column about AI hype, how Apple has been ahead of the game for a while now, and why Microsoft seems to be courting disaster by enabling its Recall feature:

Recall is already attracting the attention of data protection regulators; I suspect in its current form it’s going to be dead on arrival, and those CoPilot+ PCs due to launch on June 18th are going to get a hurried overhaul.

2024-06-05 23:15:23

No, not Meta’s social networking platform: Thread, the smart home radio chip.¹ You know, the one Apple quietly put in its HomePods, iPhone 15 models and, *ahem* some Apple TVs.…

2024-06-05 23:00:04

WWDC 24 is almost here, and everyone expects it to be all about AI. As the eyes of the tech world turn back to Apple, there’s a lot of work to do.…

2024-06-05 22:30:25

The Wall Street Journal‘s Joanna Stern describes how Apple’s Screen Time parental controls has a simple security vulnerability that allows unfettered web access:

I tried a number of Apple devices.

2024-06-05 08:01:50

Tom Warren at the Verge has a nice summary of the security problems inherent in the new Windows feature Recall, which records everything you do (what could go wrong?)…

2024-06-05 07:43:28

Juli Clover of MacRumors reports that venerable Mac utility Bartender has apparently been sold by longtime developer Ben Surtees, and that the new owner recently re-signed the app but otherwise hasn’t notified customers about the change:

The transaction came to light after some Reddit users saw a warning from MacUpdater letting them know that the company behind Bartender had been silently replaced.

2024-06-04 05:32:48

It’s time for our ninth annual competition regarding what will happen at Apple’s WWDC keynote! What will be announced? Will it be all AI, all the time?…

2024-06-04 00:00:57

Online privacy isn’t just something you should be hoping for – it’s something you should expect. You should ensure your browsing history stays private and is not harvested by ad networks.…

2024-06-01 00:00:04

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors this week. Kolide helps its customers keep their devices in compliance, which keeps their company data safe.

Kolide has seen a rise in cyber liability insurance issues recently.…

2024-05-31 12:51:50

Nick Heer, linking to a Jeff Johnson post about Apple’s onerous policies regarding replacing a MacBook battery, points out the fundamental truth of mobile devices:

…batteries eventually need replacing on all devices.

2024-05-31 11:27:40

I loved the Brr blog, which was written by an IT expert during a year in Antarctica. The author is home now, but here’s a surprise bonus post, full of information about how slow the Internet is in Antarctica and why modern software is terrible at working over slow connections:

Downloads are possible at the South Pole, but they are subject to unique constraints.

2024-05-31 07:04:56

Other strategies for WBD if it loses the NBA, we answer a bumper crop of listener letters, and Julia has some big career news. [Downstream+ subscribers also get to hear us discuss Netflix potential sports futures and the changing face of broadcast TV.]…

2024-05-30 03:50:20

Our video gaming preferences and habits, thoughts on Nomad’s new thin Qi-rechargeable tracking card with Find My, how we connect non-iPhone devices on the go, and our top three software wishes for the upcoming WWDC.…

2024-05-30 03:29:49

Fascinating blog post from Panic designer Neven Mrgan about the feeling of getting a letter from a friend written by AI:

Where exactly would I draw the line between helpful features (“make this red shirt green instead”) and offensive takeovers (“generate an album cover in the style of barney bubbles, award-winning”)?

2024-05-30 03:00:02

Marvel Studios and ILM’s “What If…? – An Immersive Story” for Vision Pro, launching Thursday as a free app, isn’t an immersive video or a game.…

2024-05-30 01:50:05

All the Apple News that’s fit to print.…

2024-05-29 19:55:36

Technology improvements are a bit like going to a movie or a magic show: you want to be wowed, but it works best when you don’t see what’s going on behind the scenes.…

2024-05-28 04:28:00

It’s time for a Vision Pro check-in. How are we using it, and how should Apple sell it? Also, some EU app marketplace developers just want to go home.…

2024-05-28 00:00:19

When MGM Resorts suffered a $100 million hack in September, CEO Bill Hornbuckle wasn’t too worried about the lost revenue, because cyber insurance would cover the tab.…

2024-05-25 05:57:56

All my computing devices, save one, have color displays. The last time I regularly used a computer without a color display was probably in the mid-1990s.…

2024-05-25 00:00:11

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

None of us are as good at clocking deepfakes as we think we are. Even your mom, or your boss, or anyone in your IT department might not be able to tell the difference.…

2024-05-24 21:12:01

Speaking to Chance Miller at 9to5Mac, Apple explained the issue (patched in the recent iOS 17.5.1 update) that caused old photos to spontaneously appear in some users’ libraries:

Apple confirmed to me that iCloud Photos is not to be blamed for this.

2024-05-24 01:33:25

There’s been a lot of buzz lately involving a bug in Photos that caused some deleted items to reappear in libraries, including some (apparent) misinformation that blew the entire story out of proportion.…

2024-05-23 04:30:23

Do we multitask on our iPads? What AI uses do we actually find helpful? Plus, the email apps we use and whether we’ve experimented with cloning our voice.…

2024-05-23 02:30:06

How do solve a problem like iPadOS?…

2024-05-22 23:43:40

For the past year, pressure has really been ramping up on the tech industry to do stuff with AI.…

2024-05-22 23:39:47

It’s kind of hard to believe today, given how wildly successful the iPhone has been, but in the product’s early days there was only a single iPhone model for sale.…

2024-05-22 23:00:04

The Watcher is watching with a Vision Pro.

Today Marvel and ILM dropped the trailer for the forthcoming “What If?” immersive story, which was just announced a couple of weeks ago, and (surprise!)…

2024-05-21 05:10:00

Myke returns to the show to give his personal iPad Pro review, and we discuss Apple’s accessibility announcements, worrying Apple AI reports, and some mystifying rumors about future iPhones for this year and next.…

2024-05-21 00:00:33

Now, don’t get offended, but–you aren’t as good at clocking deepfakes as you think you are. 

And it’s not just you–nobody’s that good at it.…

2024-05-18 08:36:47

Why the “great rebundling” isn’t the return of the cable bundle; recalibrating how talent is paid for streaming shows; Paramount twists in the wind; Spulu gets a real name; the NFL makes a deal with Netflix; and Diamond Sports meets with skepticism.…

2024-05-18 00:00:20

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors again this week.

You might have heard about the September 2023 MGM ransomware attack. But beyond the broken slot machines and other anecdotes is the fact that it’s an example of an emerging style of attack that we’ll certainly be seeing more of.…

2024-05-17 07:35:10

Yet another incredible story on Cabel Sasser’s blog, this one about a supposedly vintage Apple Employee badge:

Wow. Someone was selling Apple Employee #10’s employee badge?!

2024-05-16 04:15:50

Our Apple Watch interaction frequency, thoughts on Spotify’s “Daylists” and our ideal playlist name, interest in Google’s AI features at Google I/O, and essential travel tech for “One Bag Travel.”…

2024-05-16 02:16:48

Our reactions to AI events, iPads and John Ternus.…

2024-05-15 22:00:08

​

This year’s accessibility feature preview from Apple, timed to get a one-day jump on the annual celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, continues last year’s expansion beyond the traditional sight, sound, and physical/motor categories.…

2024-05-15 21:23:11

The consensus about the new iPad Pro is in: the hardware is more powerful and impressive than ever, but it’s still largely hampered by software that just hasn’t managed to keep up.…

2024-05-15 00:21:26

I linked to this in my iPad Pro review, but in case you missed that, Federico Viticci has done everyone who writes about iPadOS a service and written a detailed account of what we mean when we say “the iPad hardware is let down by its software”:

In our community, we often hear about the issues of iPadOS and the obstacles people like me run into when working on the platform, but I’ve been guilty in the past of taking context for granted and assuming that you, dear reader, also know precisely what I’m talking about.

2024-05-15 00:17:55

Steve Troughton-Smith details all the ways iPadOS lacks… and not for the first time:

You can summarize every iPad review for the past decade: iPad hardware is writing checks that its OS simply can’t cash.

2024-05-14 05:11:48

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.…

2024-05-14 05:00:32

Apple’s hardware and chip teams are really at the top of their game. The new M4 iPad Pro is a sleek slab of concentrated computing power, tucked behind a spectacular OLED display.…

2024-05-14 00:00:52

The September 2023 MGM hack quickly became one of the most notorious ransomware attacks in recent memory. Journalists and cybersecurity experts rushed to report on the broken slot machines, angry hotel guests, and the fateful phishing call to MGM’s help desk that started it all.…

2024-05-11 00:00:25

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors 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.…

2024-05-10 02:46:56

Well, that was fast.

The M3 chip, introduced last October, is already yesterday’s news. We’re living in an M4 world, courtesy of the surprising announcement that the new iPad Pro is powered by Apple’s next generation of chips.…

2024-05-09 03:08:39

How we recommend iPads to people, whether Apple should stop holding events, what one task our perfect chatbot would do, and how we feel about the Apple Pencil.…

2024-05-09 02:08:35

A startling John Ternus of events.…

2024-05-08 23:34:20

Ever since Steve Jobs’s famous two-by-two grid of Apple devices, Apple aficionados have tried to cram the company’s product lines into neat little boxes.¹

In recent years, the iPad line has seemed exceptionally complex and difficult to delineate.…

2024-05-08 10:18:40

Apple declared Tuesday as the biggest date in iPad history since the launch of the product in 2010. I’m not sure I’d go that far. It was a major event, to be sure, but so was the original iPad Pro and Apple Pencil launch in 2015 and the 2018 launch of the redesigned iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil 2.…

2024-05-08 08:05:19

Both Jason (New York) and Myke (London) have had their hands on the new iPads and are here to report back with all the details. We discuss M4 surprises, iPad Air choices, iPad Pro use cases, and save a little time to Lawyer Up.…

2024-05-08 03:36:41

Wes Davis, writing at The Verge:

The newly announced iPad Pro hides a sneaky upgrade option that Apple didn’t mention during its event today. When you cough up the $600 it costs to jump from the 256GB base model iPad Pro to the 1TB version, Apple doesn’t just double the RAM along with that — it also puts a faster chip inside, going from a nine-core M4 chip to a 10-core version.

2024-05-07 23:19:27

Apple on Tuesday made some big moves to its iPad lineup, introducing new models of the iPad Air and iPad Pro, as well as a new Magic Keyboard and the Apple Pencil Pro.…

2024-05-07 06:11:15

It’s hard to believe that it was more than five and a half years ago that I flew home from a New York Apple event, my mind spinning with the announcement of a new iPad Pro at a unique Apple event in Brooklyn.…

2024-05-07 00:00:20

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.…

2024-05-04 06:49:11

Here are a few assorted thoughts about Apple’s second-quarter 2024 financial results based on the analyst call with executives that followed the release. For a “boring” quarter where Apple revenue was flat and profits surpassed $20 billion, there are still a few tidbits.…

2024-05-04 06:39:28

We revisit the philosophy of binge drops versus weekly releases—because it’s complicated. [Downstream+ members also get to hear us discuss the future of Paramount, complicated NBA rights negotiations, and more RSN drama.]…

2024-05-04 02:00:44

My thanks to Conversation Tree Press for sponsoring Six Colors this week. This is a very different kind of Six Colors sponsor, but they’re doing something special.…

2024-05-03 23:44:21

Hey, it’s that time Apple made an ad directly targeted at me.

I just used Precision Finding last week while traveling around the D.C. area; it was a handy way for my wife and to find each other in the Smithsonian museums when one of us would go off with the kid for a bit.…

2024-05-03 05:15:28

On Thursday Apple announced its quarterly financial results, and that can mean only one thing: it’s time for Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri to spend some quality time with their favorite financial analysts on a scheduled phone call.…

2024-05-03 04:38:11

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.…

2024-05-03 02:40:31

Apple continues to revise its approach to complying with Europe’s Digital Markets Act, today announcing a pair of exceptions to its Core Technology Fee. The first pertains to apps that are totally free:

First, no CTF is required if a developer has no revenue whatsoever.

2024-05-02 05:21:49

At Conversation Tree Press, we celebrate the craftsmanship of beautifully designed, letterpress-printed, and finely bound books. Each of our editions include newly commissioned artwork from some of today’s leading illustrators and are perfect for those who appreciate quality and design.…

2024-05-02 03:23:48

How we’d like to see Apple implement GenAI, our home network troubleshooting process, the iPad model we currently use and what features would prompt an upgrade, and our views on the centralization of account logins, like those from Apple and Google.…

2024-05-02 02:23:44

Dan’s back to discuss our iPad event predictions, the very latest on Lex’s games and Moltz’s one weird trick for evading the iCloud logout problem.…

2024-05-01 21:35:21

The iPad, remember that? It’s been a minute since Apple unveiled new models of its tablets—about 807,690 minutes, to be precise—but all indications point to brand new models being rolled out as part of an Apple keynote next week, on May 7.…

2024-04-30 05:07:39

We’re trying to puzzle through some strange rumors about next week’s iPad launch event. Also, the EU brings the iPad into the DMA party, Apple locks the Apple IDs of many people (including Myke!),…

2024-04-30 02:28:34

And just like that, Apple embraced retro game emulators in the App Store.…

2024-04-29 21:57:52

Jess Weatherbed at The Verge:

Following an almost eight-month investigation into whether Apple’s iPadOS holds enough market power to warrant stricter regulation, the European Commission has now designated the iPad operating system as a Gatekeeper service under its flagship Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules.

2024-04-27 00:00:00

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac.…

2024-04-25 23:00:54

I have an admission: Though I frequently review new Apple products, I don’t always buy them. Like many of you, I can’t afford to update every bit of Apple hardware every time the company does a revision—so I have to carefully measure when the old stuff has now become too old and needs to be replaced with the shiny and new.…

2024-04-25 04:15:01

Meta adds AI to its glasses, our thoughts on chronological vs. algorithmic timelines, how we find software tools, and the U.S.’s TikTok ban.…

2024-04-25 01:14:41

A bicycle for the mind, an iPad for your face.…

2024-04-25 01:08:46

Stephen Hackett has quite a story about what Logitech is doing to its Mac mouse software:

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.

2024-04-23 06:44:59

What an amazing story by Josh Dzieza at The Verge about the people who repair undersea fiberoptic cables to keep data flowing around the world:

The world is in the midst of a cable boom, with multiple new transoceanic lines announced every year.

2024-04-23 06:08:10

I just got word this morning that Charles Edge, who helped jumpstart the Apple in the Enterprise Report Card and who actively participated in this year’s edition that I posted just last week, has passed away.…

2024-04-23 05:03:51

The world’s foremost e-reader podcast returns, but we also take time to talk about the appeal of retro game emulators, iPad and iPhone rumors, and the possible end of Apple’s leather replacement material.…

2024-04-23 02:42:46

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.…

2024-04-20 05:09:43

I’ve used Zoom audio recorders for many years, including the Podtrac P4 I wrote about here a couple of years ago. I carry a Zoom H4n Pro in my backpack for radio field work.…

2024-04-19 05:42:49

Increasingly, every pixel in front of our eyes is fought over by a pool of large technology companies that are trying to squeeze fractions of cents out of ads and promotions.…

2024-04-19 04:43:51

Is this phase of the streaming wars reaching an endgame? We discuss the fates of Peacock and Paramount+, and consider Max after a year under its new name.…

2024-04-18 23:20:01

Less than two weeks after Apple changed its rules on emulators, Riley Testut’s Delta game emulator climbed to the number one spot in the U.S. App Store within twelve hours of its launch.…

2024-04-18 05:42:17

In 2021, device-management startup Kandji approached Six Colors to commission a new entry in our Report Card series focusing on how Apple’s doing in large organizations, including businesses, education, and government.…

2024-04-18 03:29:19

Early web nostalgia and memorable online experiences, the most disappointing tech product we’ve owned or reviewed, our persistence in troubleshooting tech, and the oldest piece of technology we still use.…

2024-04-18 02:29:05

Can we record this discussion?…

2024-04-17 20:49:51

Last week, my family and I—like so many others in the U.S.—hopped in a car to try and catch sight of a total eclipse. And, like so many other parents, I planned to distract my kid for some part of this lengthy adventure with an iPad.…

2024-04-16 05:08:52

Skepticism about the future of the Vision Pro and brutal reviews of the Humane Ai Pin make us discuss misguided expectations and the power of the smartphone duopoly.…

2024-04-15 23:00:49

I’m not bullish on the Humane Ai Pin, the clip-on device whose first reviews arrived with knives out this week. The thing feels like a commodity product from 2026 that escaped back a couple of years—a basic hardware conduit for cloud AI models that will soon be available ubiquitously.…

2024-04-13 02:33:35

Dr. Drang has come for the Apple Sports app:

Scores are only part of what a good sports app is about. Sports apps are used not only when you can’t watch a game and want to be kept plugged in, they’re also used—even more often used, I think—to give you background information on the game you’re currently watching.

2024-04-13 00:00:12

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors again this week.

Kolide wants your business to be secure. Think of it like airport security: there are two lines, one to verify your identity and another to scan your carry-ons.…

2024-04-12 23:21:08

Howard Oakley of Eclectic Light Company has a deep dive on how your Mac knows what app to open when you double click a file:

In the days of Classic Mac OS, that was accomplished using the infamous Desktop Database, which recognised files and apps by means of their Creator and Type, two codes consisting of four characters each.

2024-04-12 01:38:10

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg has another one of his excellent chip scoops, this time about the future of the Mac:

The company, which released its first Macs with M3 chips five months ago, is already nearing production of the next generation — the M4 processor — according to people with knowledge of the matter.

2024-04-11 23:56:44

Lately you can’t throw a digital camera without hitting a story on the various regulatory and legal challenges Apple’s been facing. While some have decried these actions as interference in the internal operations of a company, there’s one salient detail that I think those opinions often overlook.…

2024-04-11 23:30:02

When I was a kid, the first personal computer I ever saw showed up in an elementary school classroom one day and changed my life. But in the early days of the computer, they were expensive and impractical—yet somehow also on the cutting edge and pointing toward the future.…

2024-04-11 03:22:50

Color e-readers, apps and devices we use while traveling, tech products we have but no longer want, and the tech products we’d immediately replace.…

2024-04-11 02:36:21

Ashley Belanger, writing at Ars Technica:

Reuters collected data from six companies, confirming that, when presented with a choice screen, many EU users will swap out default browsers like Chrome or Safari for more privacy-focused options.

2024-04-11 02:22:47

We’re not mad at technology, just disappointed.…

2024-04-10 23:11:42

Our weeklong baseball nightmare…. continues? As I recounted on opening day, the MLB app for iPad—which works on the Mac and is great to have!—had stopped working on the Mac.…

2024-04-09 06:10:01

Casey Liss joins Myke to discuss Apple’s new Spatial Personas for visionOS, and their thoughts on an immersive experience from… Gucci? Also, emulators are coming to the App Store, and Myke wants to check Casey’s vibe.…

2024-04-09 00:00:30

You know the drill: when you go through airport security there are two lines. In one, a TSA agent makes sure you’re the person in your passport photo.…

2024-04-06 02:00:21

My thanks to Listen Later for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Listen Later is such a clever idea. If you’re like me, you collect longer articles throughout the week that you just don’t have time to dive into at the moment.…

2024-04-05 07:36:17

Is it time for a Disney pep talk? We discuss what’s working and not working, and how Disney’s ready for streaming success if it’s willing to change.…

2024-04-05 02:36:43

Voice Dream Reader, the highly regarded Mac and iOS text-to-speech reading app, is the latest beloved app to adopting a subscription model, angering its loyal user base in the process.…

2024-04-04 21:10:08

Year after year, one Apple OS ends up getting short shrift when the company announces its annual updates. While iOS, macOS, and iPadOS all show off their shiny new features, their overlooked sibling is left sitting sadly on the bench, waiting for its chance to shine—a chance that never seems to come.…

2024-04-04 03:21:08

Our physical versus digital media preferences, the one tech product we have in (too much) abundance, whether we keep our phones in a case, and our journaling habits and methods.…

2024-04-04 02:21:05

You guys know calendars.…

2024-04-03 06:56:39

Now that’s more like it.

On Tuesday, Apple flipped the switch on a new version of Persona, its 3D representations of visionOS users.…

2024-04-02 23:38:12

Last week I provided a lot of tough love to Major League Baseball’s apps on Apple’s platforms. The MLB visionOS app is really buggy and lacks some key features.…

2024-04-02 04:57:36

We often cite anonymous reports about Apple’s future, but where do those reports come from? We discuss of the value and ethics of Apple rumor coverage.…

2024-04-02 00:00:04

Welcome to a world where your reading list becomes your listening playlist. We are thrilled to introduce you to ListenLater.net—an innovative service that turns articles into podcasts, making your favorite reads accessible in your favorite podcast app.…

2024-04-01 22:49:40

Matt Birchler’s got an excellent and quick primer on what it means to turn on federation on your Threads profile:

I know I’m drilling this in a lot, but you literally do not need to have a Mastodon account.

2024-03-30 08:30:37

A few years back I reported with delight that you could now use the MLB iPad app on Apple Silicon macs. While MLB’s TV streaming service works on the web, it was nice to have everything in a separate app.…

2024-03-30 02:22:48

On Thursday Apple debuted its first immersive video since the Vision Pro launched, a five-minute-long compilation of highlights from the MLS Cup playoffs late last year.…

2024-03-30 00:00:09

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors this week. Kolide helps its customers keep their devices in compliance, which keeps their company data safe.

Kolide has seen a rise in cyber liability insurance issues recently.…

2024-03-29 07:41:39

As is typical for one of Apple’s best sports partners, Major League Baseball had a demo app for visionOS ready to go for the debut of the new platform.…

2024-03-29 05:30:32

Lots of Disney this time! We talk Disney’s big succession question, Taylor Swift’s Disney+ numbers, and Disney’s deal in India. Also, a quick Sports Corner on NFL streaming rights, Spulu, and ESPN as a streaming aggregator.…

2024-03-29 00:19:13

Apple announced Thursday that the first Apple Immersive Video documentary for Vision Pro, featuring highlights from last year’s MLS playoffs, will debut March 28 at 6 p.m.…

2024-03-28 02:27:15

All things begin with the Department of Justice.…

2024-03-28 02:27:14

Our use of tethering for Internet, Mac buying advice, our notification styles, and the TikTok ban.…

2024-03-28 01:00:27

Titans are clashing. Big tech companies, including Apple, are facing legal challenges from government entities like the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. Battle lines are being drawn.…

2024-03-27 01:19:29

It’s that time of year, when young developers’ fancies turn to thoughts of platform updates. Probably because Apple has announced the dates for its 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference, which will take place between June 10 and 14.…

2024-03-26 07:46:36

My younger child’s MacBook Pro was unsalvageably full. Only a complete wipe would suffice—and then Time Machine failed us.

I love my children, but they do sometimes forget what I do for a living: answer questions and write books about the most troubling problems people have with their Macs, iPhones, and iPads.…

2024-03-26 05:09:54

The U.S. Department of Justice joins the European Commission in contributing to Apple’s legal troubles; and in a surprise, pre-emptive move, we attempt to predict the future of the iPad via a draft!…

2024-03-26 00:00:21

When MGM Resorts suffered a $100 million hack in September, CEO Bill Hornbuckle wasn’t too worried about the lost revenue, because cyber insurance would cover the tab.…

2024-03-25 22:01:08

Europe’s Digital Markets Act continues to be the gift that keeps on giving—a gift Apple probably wishes it could return. The European Commission today announced that it was opening a slew of investigations into big tech companies over their non-compliance with the DMA, including Alphabet, Meta, and Apple.…

2024-03-23 00:00:59

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac.…

2024-03-22 03:35:02

Ars Technica’s Dan Goodin has an excellent (if technical) rundown of a recently unearthed security vulnerability in Apple’s M-series processors. Basically there’s a system that tries to predict what memory addresses are going to be used in order to speed up processing, but Apple’s version can accidentally leak data:

The attack, which the researchers have named GoFetch, uses an application that doesn’t require root access, only the same user privileges needed by most third-party applications installed on a macOS system.

2024-03-22 01:12:08

The U.S. Department of Justice, 15 states, and the District of Columbia sued Apple on Thursday. While I am not a lawyer, I’ve written extensively about Apple for 30 years and just read all 88 pages of the full complaint.…

2024-03-21 06:08:09

When I wrote about Apple’s new Sports app, I heard from several people who pointed out that maybe Eddy Cue had done his job a little too well.…

2024-03-21 03:19:48

How we search online, our tips for minimizing vehicle data tracking, the GenAI features we’d like to see added to Apple’s platforms, and what features we’d want to see in a future iPad.…

2024-03-21 02:37:46

This is the ad-free version.…

2024-03-21 00:35:58

Jason recently reviewed the new M3 MacBook Air, and a key feature of the new models is Wi-Fi 6E support. Wi-Fi 6E is a big deal because it adds the 6GHz spectrum to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands we’re all used to.…

2024-03-20 23:40:13

After years of the market complaining that Apple is “behind” on artificial intelligence, the company is poised to make a big push in the technology with its platform updates this year.…

2024-03-20 00:42:55

Since 2021, Six Colors has been compiling an annual report card focusing on how Apple’s doing in large organizations, including businesses, education, and government. We formulated a set of survey questions that would address the big-picture issues regarding Apple in the enterprise, and we ask them every year.…

2024-03-19 07:46:11

Developer Steve Troughton-Smith watched all of today’s workshop between Apple and the EU on the Digital Markets Act and posted some highlights on Mastodon.

Of particular interest was an exchange between Apple’s representatives and Riley Testut, the developer of AltStore, an existing third-party places to get apps for jailbroken iPhones.…

2024-03-19 05:37:59

Quite a scoop from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. is in talks to build Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone, according to people familiar with the situation, setting the stage for a blockbuster agreement that would shake up the AI industry.

2024-03-19 05:23:33

Is Apple working with Google on its A.I. strategy? We break down what that might mean for the future of Apple’s platforms—and why it might make a lot of sense.…

2024-03-19 00:00:04

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.…

2024-03-16 02:00:30

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

None of us are as good at clocking deepfakes as we think we are. Even your mom, or your boss, or anyone in your IT department might not be able to tell the difference.…

2024-03-15 06:17:57

Hugo Barra, former head of Oculus at Meta, has a lengthy review of his Vision Pro experience that’s well worth reading. Don’t let the somewhat inflammatory first headline (of four?!)…

2024-03-15 05:14:34

I’ve been writing scripts in Python for a few years now, and it’s taken over a lot of my remote automation.…

2024-03-14 06:33:24

Eating before podcasting was a mistake.…

2024-03-14 04:33:10

The Europe-mandated tech changes we’d like to see in the US, circular vs. square smart watches, how often we completely reset our devices, and the extent of our home automation pursuits.…

2024-03-13 23:39:11

If Apple had its way, it would never open the App Store to competition, never offer sideloading of apps, never allow app developers to link to outside websites, and probably never reduce its cut of all App Store purchases from the original 30 percent tariff.…

2024-03-13 03:23:52

It’s been a seismic few weeks for Apple in the European Union, and the company’s approach to distributing iOS apps continues to evolve. On Tuesday, Apple announced a few further changes to its rules, all of which stand to make significant changes to the marketplace for iOS apps.…

2024-03-12 05:12:40

We discuss Apple’s latest embarrassing and unnecessary policy stumble in Europe, and then explain how Jason’s full review of the M3 MacBook Air managed to kill his home network.…

2024-03-12 00:00:12

Now, don’t get offended, but–you aren’t as good at clocking deepfakes as you think you are. 

And it’s not just you–nobody’s that good at it.…

2024-03-11 23:50:22

My workspace is what is apparently called an “unconditioned space,” in that it’s a lighly insulated garage with no access to my home’s central heating system.…

2024-03-09 02:16:14

This week has been a heck of a roller coaster for Epic. After the game-maker’s Sweden branch reportedly had its developer account restored so that the company could launch its alternative app marketplace in Europe, the company was subsequently banned again by Apple.…

2024-03-09 01:00:10

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors 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.…

2024-03-08 07:34:00

Last month, Dan wrote about getting PC games up on Mac using Apple’s game porting toolkit and the Wine API translation tool, all via an easy to use free app called Whisky.…

2024-03-08 05:26:32

The first major visionOS update was released Thursday, with a bunch of security fixes as well as some more substantive interface updates:

• Personas are improved, and there’s a new accessibility mode you can use to capture a Persona hands-free.

2024-03-08 04:17:55

Here’s a ruling that isn’t music to Apple’s ears: the European Commission this week levied a fine of $2 billion against the company for violating antitrust regulations in the EU, specifically in terms of the distribution of music streaming apps.…

2024-03-08 01:28:21

If you haven’t already seen it, well, this is a sentence that happens early in Federico Viticci’s opus about exploring differently shaped macOS and iOS devices:

Alright, so obviously the first step of the process is to physically remove the screen from a MacBook, right?

2024-03-07 22:00:49

Apple’s definitive laptop of the last decade, the MacBook Air, finally got an exterior redesign in 2022 with the release of the M2 MacBook Air.…

2024-03-07 06:24:35

Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett of Bloomberg have a detailed story about the rise and fall of Apple’s car project. This was my favorite small bit:

The new design also incorporated a more traditional automotive interface: a steering wheel and pedals.

2024-03-07 03:43:10

The importance of encryption in messaging services, the topics we’d want to see in a prediction market, how many monitors we use, and our preferred podcast app(s).…

2024-03-07 02:43:04

Don’t put our words in our mouths.…

2024-03-06 22:13:43

Adieu, Project Titan, we never knew ya.

But while Apple’s ambitious car project may have been left in the dust, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a valuable experience—nor that it doesn’t continue to pay some dividends for the company.…

2024-03-06 08:40:48

Someone new is in charge of Netflix’s film output, which lets us ponder the company’s past and future film strategy. [Downstream+ members get: Max’s new Harry Potter approach, and lessons we could learn from The CW’s mid-budget approach to superhero TV.]…

2024-03-06 08:29:30

One of my surprisingly favorite features of the Vision Pro is the dynamic display of photographic panoramas. Immersive environments are great, and I love that I can capture stereo video now, but I’ve got an immense library of panoramas that date back to the 1990s.…

2024-03-06 07:44:32

As was foretold back in January, with the release of iOS 17.4 Apple’s Podcasts app now supports podcast transcripts.…

2024-03-05 05:25:03

It’s time to say goodbye to the M1 MacBook Air (hello, new M3 models!) and our Upshift segment (RIP Apple Car project), but our in-depth coverage of Apple being regulated and fined by the European Commission rolls on!…

2024-03-05 01:00:34

Do you want an to try an ad blocker that’s easy to setup, easy to keep up to date and with pro features available when you need them?…

2024-03-04 21:34:41

If you’ve been keeping your powder dry for Apple’s most popular laptop models to get its latest processors, well, time to light that candle. The company announced on Monday that it has updated its MacBook Air line with M3 processors, bringing not only faster performance but also a much desired new capability: support for two external displays.…

2024-03-02 06:37:18

There was a moment when it seemed like an Apple Car made sense. Ten years ago, when the Apple Watch wasn’t anything more than a rumor (and I still worked at a magazine), it seemed like the entire automotive industry was on the edge of an enormous change, and the traditional players just weren’t ready.…

2024-03-02 03:48:38

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors again this week.

You might have heard about the September 2023 MGM ransomware attack. But beyond the broken slot machines and other anecdotes is the fact that it’s an example of an emerging style of attack that we’ll certainly be seeing more of.…

2024-02-29 06:22:23

Aa a longtime Mac user, I’m just as aware of the platform’s limitations as I am its strengths. Chief among those limitations is—and has been for many years— gaming.…

2024-02-29 04:28:40

The end of Apple’s car project, the tasks we’d put an AI Siri to work on, hidden Apple OS features, and using the Apple Vision Pro in public.…

2024-02-29 03:28:41

This is a breaking news podcast.…

2024-02-29 01:02:31

Apple really sweated the launch of the Vision Pro. It brought select retail employees to Cupertino for multi-day training sessions in which participants tried the hardware and memorized the script to be used while demonstrating the hardware in stores.…

2024-02-27 06:09:39

We discuss what an iOS release focused on AI features might look like, check in on our ongoing Vision Pro experiences, and discuss what the Apple Sports app might mean for Apple’s sports ambitions.…

2024-02-27 01:00:22

The September 2023 MGM hack quickly became one of the most notorious ransomware attacks in recent memory. Journalists and cybersecurity experts rushed to report on the broken slot machines, angry hotel guests, and the fateful phishing call to MGM’s help desk that started it all.…

2024-02-24 03:00:01

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors again this week.

Kolide wants your business to be secure. Think of it like airport security: there are two lines, one to verify your identity and another to scan your carry-ons.…

2024-02-24 02:29:06

2024-02-23 09:27:12

Fallout from the “Spulu” announcement from Disney, Fox, and WBD continues; picking apart HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” YouTube strategy; and what does Peacock have in common with the New York Jets?…

2024-02-22 05:20:18

How we’d use a HomePod with a screen, Apple’s new Sports app, Vision Pro impressions after a couple weeks, and what we use our iPhone’s Action button for.…

2024-02-22 03:20:57

I know the space beat is usually Jason’s bailiwick, but I really enjoyed this lovely piece about Voyager 1, which seems to be on its last legs after nearly half a century, in which it has traveled further from Earth than any other spacecraft.…

2024-02-22 02:20:03

Hit the showers.…

2024-02-21 22:00:39

If you know one thing about Apple’s Senior Vice President of Services, it’s probably this: Eddy Cue loves sports.…

2024-02-21 20:54:36

One of the greatest strengths of Apple’s product line is its ability for interplay. Not only do its devices work closely with each other, but features that begin life on one platform often make their way to others.…

2024-02-21 08:45:53

Jason already makes excellent and informative figures for the annual Six Colors Apple Report Card. Here I’ll just add a few more that, hopefully, will also be informative and also go just a little ways beyond what can easily be accomplished in an application like Numbers or Excel.…

2024-02-21 07:17:30

As fans of Major League Soccer are no doubt already aware, Wednesday marks the kickoff of the new season, the league’s second with Apple as its media partner.…

2024-02-20 23:58:06

John Voorhees has a great roundup of gaming options for the Vision Pro, in and out of the App Store:

The lack of any kind of port significantly limits the type of gaming you can do in the Apple Vision Pro – or does it?

2024-02-20 23:00:23

Here’s a really thorough investigation of Apple Vision Pro from friend of the site zmknox’s perspective of being a low-vision user:

Using my calibration from one configuration doesn’t work properly with the other (I could launch some apps from the Home View, but not much else).

2024-02-20 07:00:21

Episode 500 prompts us to revisit predictions from episode 400 and make some new ones for episode 600. Myke also reveals his votes in the annual Six Colors Report Card and Jason adds some ratings of his own.…

2024-02-20 01:00:08

You know the drill: when you go through airport security there are two lines. In one, a TSA agent makes sure you’re the person in your passport photo.…

2024-02-20 00:00:33

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.…

2024-02-17 01:00:42

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Designed from the ground up to protect your privacy, Magic Lasso blocks all intrusive ads, trackers and annoyances in Safari – stopping you from being followed by ads around the web.…

2024-02-15 07:28:33

This time we decided to record it.…

2024-02-15 04:26:35

Our desks’ peripheral setups, how we watch movies, hand typing vs. dictation, and whether we’ve seen Apple Vision Pro users in the wild.…

2024-02-15 01:00:22

No matter what you think of its future prospects, we can all agree that the Vision Pro is weird, right? One of the world’s most powerful companies has spent a decade preparing to ship a new product and platform that’s embodied in a $3500 VR headset that lets you use apps in 3-D space.…

2024-02-14 06:13:47

When it comes to accessibility, Apple is reliable. A person with disabilities who wants to use the company’s tech can count on assistive features with familiar names and functions being there across an array of platforms.…

2024-02-13 06:15:30

After some brief European DMA follow-up, we dive deep on our extended impressions of the Vision Pro and visionOS, including Jason’s full review.…

2024-02-13 01:00:59

Online privacy isn’t just something you should be hoping for – it’s something you should expect. You should ensure your browsing history stays private and is not harvested by ad networks.…

2024-02-10 07:30:24

Disney, Fox, and WBD come together to create a sports streaming joint venture, but what does it all mean? [Downstream+ subscribers also get to hear us discuss Disney’s Epic investment, Sports Corner updates, and the most streamed originals of last year.]…

2024-02-10 03:00:21

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors this week. Kolide helps its customers keep their devices in compliance, which keeps their company data safe.

Kolide has seen a rise in cyber liability insurance issues recently.…

2024-02-09 00:45:42

It’s been a very long time since Apple released a product as speculative and impractical as the Vision Pro, its $3499 first-generation “spatial computing” headset. Led by Apple, today’s technology industry sells billions and billions of dollars worth of technology to a grateful public that uses our smartphones, laptops, and other devices in nearly every aspect of our lives.…

2024-02-08 10:00:00

Our favorite PC/Mac apps; the apps we use for photo-taking, editing, and sharing; our thoughts on Vision Pro Personas; and our interest (or lack thereof) in Bluesky amidst potential social media saturation.…

2024-02-08 03:10:38

We cede the remainder of our time.…

2024-02-07 22:34:05

The age of the Vision Pro is upon us!

By now the reviews are out, the first adopters have received their devices, and anybody who wants a demo of the future of spatial computing can walk into an Apple Store and try Apple’s headset.…

2024-02-06 07:05:12

After a brief bit of DMA follow-up and a recap of Apple’s quarterly financial results, the rest of the episode is all about our first few days with the Apple Vision Pro.…

2024-02-06 01:00:26

When MGM Resorts suffered a $100 million hack in September, CEO Bill Hornbuckle wasn’t too worried about the lost revenue, because cyber insurance would cover the tab.…

2024-02-04 07:16:54

Like everyone else—okay, not everyone, but I’d guess a surprising percentage of the Six Colors audience—I took possession of an Apple Vision Pro on Friday. I’ve already spent many, many hours using it, but it’s a whole new Apple platform and it’s going to take me some time to digest it all.…

2024-02-03 03:00:57

My thanks to Whisper Memos for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Whisper Memos is a an iPhone/Apple Watch app that lets you record voice memos, and in turn sends you an email with perfect transcription.…

2024-02-02 10:35:18

Apple’s fiscal first quarter of 2024 is in the books, and now we know it was the company’s second-largest and most profitable of all time. It also showed year-over-year growth for the first time in a few quarters, undoubtedly warming the money-green hearts of financial analysts everywhere.…

2024-02-02 06:23:00

As always, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri spent time with financial analysts on a scheduled phone call after reporting the company’s quarterly results.…

2024-02-02 05:40:05

Apple reported its first fiscal quarter results on Thursday, with revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2% versus the same quarter a year ago. Overall, it was the company’s second best quarter ever in terms of revenue and profit, behind only the first quarter of fiscal 2022.…

2024-02-01 04:15:26

Personas non grata.…

2024-02-01 04:13:28

Taking apart Apple’s EU plans, our journeys into the portable monitor craze, what browsers we use, and how we manage saving links for later.…

2024-01-31 23:15:11

As you’re probably aware, there was a big anniversary last week. But the Mac wasn’t the only venerable Apple-related institution to hit the big four-oh on January 24.…

2024-01-30 07:00:35

Just before launch, Jason has some second impressions of the Apple Vision Pro. But before the new-platform excitement starts, there’s the matter of Apple’s response to the EU and a complicated set of new iOS policies and features.…

2024-01-30 06:49:41

When I reviewed the Level Bolt a couple years ago, I was generally impressed with its unobtrusive nature and HomeKit integration.

But though I’ve continued to use the Bolt since then, I’ve become keenly aware that its reliance on Bluetooth as its wireless connectivity of choice is letting down the side.…

2024-01-30 01:00:47

“Record a voice memo, receive it as email.”

Whisper Memos is a an iPhone/Apple Watch app that lets you record voice memos, and in turn sends you an email with perfect transcription.…

2024-01-29 21:36:29

Over at MacStories, our pal John Voorhees does an excellent job of breaking down Apple’s new App Store regulations in Europe:

A corollary to this point to keep in mind is that Apple is making these changes because it has to under EU law.

2024-01-27 01:00:43

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors 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.…

2024-01-27 00:41:58

Shortcuts maven Matthew Cassinelli proposes a useful enhancement to Apple Podcasts:

However, I think Apple needs to go one step further in their next step and add timestamps to Apple Podcasts, a long-overdue feature that’d enable users to share links to individual moments within a podcast, directly to a specific point in the transcript.

2024-01-26 10:37:49

More than a year ago, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman broke the story that Apple was actively preparing to allow alternative app stores on iOS in Europe, among other changes, as a result of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).…

2024-01-26 05:26:15

Among the changes in iOS 17.4 is one that’ll be an enormous improvement in podcast accessibility: transcripts in the Podcasts app.…

2024-01-26 02:31:29

There’s a lot to unpack in Apple’s announcements about its changes for the European Union, and we’ll certainly be digging into that, but the company actually announced another big change that will apply across the globe:

Today, Apple is introducing new options for how apps globally can deliver in-app experiences to users, including streaming games and mini-programs.

2024-01-25 07:01:21

My feature for The Verge on the Mac’s 40th anniversary came together surprisingly quickly, given that the anniversary has been four decades in the making. As I was writing it, I realized I was leading off with interviews I had done with Steve Jobs for the Mac’s 20th and with Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, and Bud Tribble for the Mac’s 30th anniversary.…

2024-01-25 04:46:05

Our widget usage on smartphones, views on Palworld’s Nintendo resemblance, whether we’ve activated Stolen Device Protection, and our readiness to pay a premium for ad-free streaming amidst Netflix and Amazon’s pricing changes.…

2024-01-25 03:45:59

To all the Macs we’ve loved.…

2024-01-25 02:02:55

Another great Mac at 40 overview from my ol’ PC World counterpart Harry McCracken at Fast Company:

Even if everyone knows the 1984 Mac was a big deal, that doesn’t mean we fully understand it.

2024-01-25 01:51:53

Before I started writing my piece on the Mac’s 40th anniversary for The Verge, I was thinking of different ways to plot out the arc of the Mac’s history.…

2024-01-25 00:39:05

Jonathan Zufi, the author of the beautiful coffee table book ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation, has launched a new site called Happy 40th Birthday, Macintosh:

To celebrate this milestone, mac40th.com

2024-01-24 23:24:55

Twenty years ago, on the Mac’s 20th anniversary, I asked Steve Jobs if the Mac would still be relevant to Apple in the age of the iPod.…

2024-01-24 22:09:18

Forty years. In the world of technology, where many devices seem to evaporate after only a matter of months, lasting for a decade is an accomplishment—but four of them?…

2024-01-24 08:55:36

I listen to music on my Mac all day long, but It’s been a long while since I’ve displayed the currently playing track anywhere.…

2024-01-23 06:27:15

Celebrating 40 years of the Mac, we’ve gathered an all-star panel of longtime Mac users to pick the best Macs, Mac software, and Mac accessories, as well as induct a few events or devices into the Mac Hall of Shame.…

2024-01-23 01:00:44

I’ve been writing about e-readers—Kindles, Kobos, and the like—since the first month of this site’s existence.…

2024-01-23 01:00:09

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.…

2024-01-20 06:01:15

Nice article from last month by Vanity Fair‘s Charlotte Klein about the New York Times‘s puzzle team. And there’s even an Apple connection:

There’s been talk inside the paper even further back about the possibilities of expanding into games.

2024-01-20 01:00:03

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week.

Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac.…

2024-01-19 22:07:41

Happy Vision Pro pre-order day to all who celebrate!

Whether or not you’re virtually lining up to buy one of Apple’s fancy new spatial computers, you may be wondering what choices will come up during the process.…

2024-01-19 06:46:17

After some Apple Vision Pro opinions, it’s time for a veritable Sports Pentagon of topics, including: Regional sports streaming alliances, the NFL cozying up to ESPN, Amazon cozying up to Diamond Sports, and the value of Peacock’s streamed playoff game.…

2024-01-19 04:27:35

Over at MacStories, John Voorhees has an interesting look at Vision Pro app compatibility:

As it turns out, it’s possible to tell if a developer has opted out by using App Store API endpoints.