Friday, July 1, 2022
Ars Technica reports the new M2 MacBook Pro’s 256GB SSD is only about half as fast as the M1’s SSD. Sustained disk read speeds run by Max Tech using the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test showed a drop from about 2,900MB/s in the M1 MacBook Pro to 1,446MB/s in the M2 MacBook Pro. Write speeds dropped from 2,215MB/s in the M1 Pro to 1,463MB/s in the M2 Pro, a smaller but still significant drop.
Monday, June 13, 2022
One of the most exciting features announced at this year’s WWDC, external display support is coming to the iPad. But according to this footnote, extended display support is only coming to last year’s iPads with a M1 processor.1 Full external display support comes to iPad Pro with the M1 chip, with resolutions up to 6K. Now you can work with different apps on your iPad and external display. Extended Display Support is grouped together with a new multitasking paradigm called “Stage Manager” that gives iPad users fast access to overlapping resizable app windows.
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Back in the day of translucent plastics and PowerPC processors, Apple used to differentiate its pro line of PowerBooks by crippling the video hardware in its consumer line of iBooks. Starting with 1999's [PowerBook G3 (Bronze Keyboard)][bronze] Apple's PowerBooks could extend their Mac OS desktop to a second display, while all models of iBook were restricted to display mirroring only. This restriction turned out to be superficial; [reversible in the iBook's Open Firmware][firmware].
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
Apple just announced the “all-new 2022 MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip.” Apple’s newest notebook comes with a larger 13.6" Liquid Retina display, 1080p FaceTime HD camera, three-mic array/four-speaker sound system, in a streamlined chassis that resembles the 2021 MacBook Pro but available in two new mediocre colors.1 At the heart of the 2022 MacBook Air is the new M2 chip which boasts 18% percent faster compute, and 25% faster graphics than the previous M1; while containing the same media engine found in Apple’s larger M1 Pro/Max notebooks.
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Last week Richard Moss, author of The Secret History of Mac Gaming, tweeted: Mini vMac author Paul C. Pratt has been MIA for the past year, and after numerous failed attempts to check that he’s okay the folks at E-Maculation are worried something might have happened to him. If you know him, or you have a lead, please chime in Paul C. Pratt’s dedication to early 68k Macintosh emulation and software preservation is well known.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
During the pandemic I realized I am never going to subscribe to a streaming music service. At 38 I am spending less time discovering new music, and more time listening to the music I already own. I listen to albums, and own physical copies of most of my music. The COVID19 lockdown gave me the opportunity I needed to replace the digital albums I previously purchased with physical CDs, and re-rip my entire music collection in a lossless format.
Monday, May 23, 2022
I got my first iPod in 2003. It was the second generation model; the first iPod to include a capacitive touch wheel. I bought the 10 GB model with the included inline remote control, not only because it was cheaper at $399, but because it was thinner at 0.72 inches1. All through out high school I listened to my music collection via mini discs I mixed myself, using my CD collection and the family DVD player.
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
I went to the Apple Store today to pick up a MacBook Air I had repaired under warranty. Apple requires a state ID or passport at time of pickup to prove identity. I am legally blind so I don’t carry a driver’s license, and my state ID had expired during the pandemic. I could prove my identity with my MIT employee photo ID, major credit cards, and a copy of my birth certificate I brought along just in case.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Mark Gurman writing for Bloomberg: A major change to the new computers will be how they charge. Over the past five years, Apple has relied on USB-C ports for both power and data transfer on its laptops, making them compatible with other manufacturers’ chargers. But the company is now bringing back MagSafe, the magnetic power adapter that means any accidental yanking of the power cable would simply detach it from the laptop rather than pull down the entire computer.
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Last week Apple announced a new MacBook Air and not only is it good — for most people it’s the Mac to get. The new 2020 MacBook Air costs less, comes with twice the storage, more performance, all while ditching the unreliable butterfly keyboard. If I was buying a 2020 MacBook Air today, this is the configuration I would get. Processor Unless you are only using your MacBook Air for web browsing and word processing, get the Intel Core i5 processor upgrade.
Friday, February 21, 2020
I have been a regular podcast listener since at least April 17, 2005. Over the last 14 years I have tried a lot of podcast apps. Switching podcatchers has always been easy thanks to the freedom of the open web (RSS) and the transparency of XML (OPML). For the last couple of years I have been using Apple’s Podcasts app exclusively, but that all changed when I learned about the latest sideloading features coming to Castro.
Friday, January 24, 2020
I did not consider an iPad. The only aspects of an iPad that interest me are its integrated LTE, and a long lasting battery life. As a systems administrator iOS’s App Store puts restrictions on the kind of applications I need to get my work done. If you are looking for a low-cost Apple portable with all of the possibilities of a Macintosh, and none of the compromises of iOS, the MacBook Air is the one to get.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Watching Stupid Have you ever visited YouTube in a new browser without logging into Google first? If you have, you probably watched a lot of stupid videos on YouTube. The problem is the algorithm. YouTube’s algorithm works by showing you videos you are likely to watch. The algorithm does this by remembering you, which videos you watch, and which videos you skip. Google makes money each time you watch a YouTube video with an embedded ad.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
It is a shame that some of the best and brightest technology journalists to ever cover the Apple beat, have been hired away by their favorite fruit company and reduced to farming cultivated stories from within the high walls of a private orchard. I don’t blame them for following the money, and I certainly don’t blame them for wanting to work behind the curtain of the muse that has fascinated them for so many years.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Does anyone remember a story from the early 2000’s where a guy was trying to make a business of selling Apple Power Mac G4 repair parts in a custom molded pizza box case? Long story short Apple Legal stepped in and persuaded the chap that he couldn’t use Apple repair parts for this purpose. I remember reading about this story while I was in college, but I can’t find an article anywhere.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
With the SeaMonkey 2.49.5 release the 2.49.x line comes to an end. Unless a catastrophic bug is discovered 2.49.5 will be the last ESR 52 based version. Backporting security fixes and at the same time working on the next, already overdue, major release is not possible with the few remaining developers.n Plans are to do further interim 2.53 versions based on a much enhanced Gecko 56 base while working on bringing you the next ESR 60 based 2.
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Stephen Hackett, writing for 512 Pixels, outlines some of the differences between the entry level 2019 MacBook Air and entry level 2019 MacBook Pro. With today’s revisions to the Mac notebook line, choosing between a new MacBook Air and a new MacBook Pro has gotten a little more interesting. The machines are similar in many ways. They both come with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, Touch ID, 8 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD.
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
After reading about some of the new features available in macOS Catalina it became clear to me Apple is working towards an immutable design. Dedicated system volume nmacOS Catalina runs in a dedicated, read-only system volume — which means it is completely separate from all other data, and nothing can overwrite your critical operating system files. By enforcing a read-only system volume, Apple can ensure that every installation of macOS Catalina is immutable.
Monday, May 27, 2019
Last week Apple announced the 2019 MacBook Pro, and the word keyboard did not appear in the press release. Apple is not talking about MacBook keyboard reliability because the problem is fixed. They are not talking about MacBook keyboard reliability because they want the problem to go away. It will take times for us to learn if the ‘new materials‘ Apple has added to the 2019 MacBook Pro keyboards will solve the reliability problems, but even Apple has their doubts.
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Seven years ago this blog post by Mark O’Connor changed my life. On September 19th, I said goodbye to my trusty MacBook Pro and started developing exclusively on an iPad + Linode 512. This is the surprising story of a month spent working in the cloud. Mark went from working locally on his MacBook to working in the cloud using his iPad.nWith a reliable network connection Mark could take his work with him anywhere.
Sunday, October 21, 2018
I ran my first marathon in 3:34:31 (Boston Marathon 2009), my second marathon in 3:24:34 ( Boston Marathon 2010), and my fifth marathon in 3:05:43 (San Francisco 2013). But it would take me five more years, and over a dozen races before I would reach my goal of running a sub three hour marathon. My problem? I wasn’t running all 26.2 miles at a consistent pace I would start off too fast, and burn out before crossing the finish line.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
As an Apple fan growing up in the 90’s, Apple’s Infinite Loop headquarters has always been a special place. Not just an office park, but Disneyland. A place where magic happened and new Macs were made. One Infinite Loop is where the Apple faithful would pilgrimage, take self portraits outside the main entrance, and buy “I visited the Mothership” t-shirts from the Company Store. As a east coast kid I could not wait for my chance to go.
Friday, September 14, 2018
Harry McCracken “making sense of the most confusing new iPhone lineup ever“: As the iPhone lineup has expanded in recent years, Apple has let go of that minimalist clarity. It seems less like an accident than a willful decision, and—since nobody at the company is likely to acknowledge the shift as a change in strategy with pros and cons—it’s up to us to figure it out for ourselves. Why has Apple released three new iPhones that are kinda similar and kinda different in ways that require explanation?
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Manton Reece explains how Micro.blog is serious about preventing abuse and harassment: the platform was designed, from the beginning, to prevent abuse and harassment. Your microblog is your own, where you are free to write about whatever you want, but we protect the timeline, where you can @-reply others, through a variety of tools and curation. We have community guidelines that are enforced. I don’t believe tools, curation, or community guidelines will ever be able to police the public park as well as the walls of a private garden.
Friday, September 7, 2018
I have been failing at social networks since the early 2000’s. I rode the MySpace wave in 2005. Joined and quit Facebook half a dozen times over the last decade. Paid $50 for a one year subscription to Apo.net. Since 2008, Twitter has been my water cooler of choice on the web; a place to procrastinate, meet new people, and share ideas. But over the last few years expectations of Twitter and my friend’s expectations of me have been coming up short.
Monday, June 25, 2018
During this year’s “Introducing Dark Mode” session at WWDC Apple gave us three reasons why they were including Dark Mode as a feature in Mac OS Mojave. Dark interfaces are cool. Dark interfaces are not just inverted. Dark Mode is content-focused. As Stephen Hackett points out, reason No. 1 is hard to argue against; dark user interfaces are cool. (How far we have come from when the black on white interface of the original 1984 Macintosh was considered fashionable.
Monday, June 4, 2018
The system requirements for each new Macintosh operating system are rarely out-of-step with Apple’s marketing message. Mac OS Mojave is no exception. A big theme for this year’s WWDC keynote was improved performance through optimization, and as expected the Mac OS Mojave system requirements reflect upon that theme. MacBook (Early 2015 or newer) MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer) MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer) Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer) iMac (Late 2012 or newer) iMac Pro (2017) Mac Pro models from late 2013 (plus mid 2010 and mid 2012 models with recommend Metal-capable GPU) At first glance the Mojave system requirements don’t appear to follow a specific trend.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Jason Snell on May 23, 2018: Here’s a bit of numerology for you. Today marks 17 years, one month, and 29 days since Mac OS X 10.0 was released on March 24, 2001. That’s a strangely odd number—6,269 days—but it also happens to be the exact length of time between January 24, 1984 (the launch of the original Macintosh) and March 24, 2001. In other words, today the Mac’s second operating system era, powered by Mac OS X (now macOS) has been in existence as long as the first era was.
Friday, April 6, 2018
This week we learned a new Mac Pro isn’t coming until 2019. Clearly this revelation is a Apple public relations move designed to reign-in expectations prior to this year’s WWDC. But what makes this announcement so absurd is the guises that it is being made in the name of transparency while omitting any details describing the upcoming machine. “We want to be transparent and communicate openly with our pro community, so we want them to know that the Mac Pro is a 2019 product.
Thursday, April 5, 2018
David Sparks: Over the years, Apple Products have become increasingly less repairable. The latest teardown of the new iPad evidences this fact with photos of densely packed electronic components and copious amounts of glue. This led iFixit to give the new iPad a low repairability score. I get that, but also don’t see it as big of a strike against the iPad as most people make it out to be.