John Gruber broke the news, the next Mac Pro will be a modular system.

Apple is currently hard at work on a “completely rethought” Mac Pro, with a modular design that can accommodate high-end CPUs and big honking hot-running GPUs, and which should make it easier for Apple to update with new components on a regular basis. They’re also working on Apple-branded pro displays to go with them.

Phil Schiller elaborates:

With regards to the Mac Pro, we are in the process of what we call “completely rethinking the Mac Pro”. We’re working on it. We have a team working hard on it right now, and we want to architect it so that we can keep it fresh with regular improvements, and we’re committed to making it our highest-end, high-throughput desktop system, designed for our demanding pro customers.

As part of doing a new Mac Pro — it is, by definition, a modular system — we will be doing a pro display as well. Now you won’t see any of those products this year; we’re in the process of that. We think it’s really important to create something great for our pro customers who want a Mac Pro modular system, and that’ll take longer than this year to do.

As a past Power Mac customer I am excited about Apple’s future “modular Mac,” but I have questions about what modular means to Apple and its customers.

1. Does modular mean the future Mac Pro can be upgraded with off-the-shelf PC components?
2. Does modular mean the future Mac Pro is a collection of proprietary parts that can only be procured from Apple?
3. Does modular mean the future Mac Pro is a series of separate modules connected via high-speed IO?
4. Does modular mean the future Mac Pro is a single self-contained computer designed to anticipate the tolerances of demanding professional components.

As life long Apple observer I can say option number one is unlikely. I would welcome a future Mac Pro that can be upgraded with off-the-shelf PC components, but I don’t think Apple would support — let alone provide the connectivity to make it happen. I don’t expect a future modular Mac Pro to include full-length industry-standard PCIe slots.

As a ex-Mac Genius option two seems more plausible. Apple has rarely offered upgrade components outside of additional RAM and a optional wireless card. Sure, there have been upgradable graphics cards available in the past from Apple retail stores, but they were quickly outdated and rarely updated. Selling modular upgrade components for the one percent of professional Mac users is not a business I can see Apple getting into.

Option three is not that far from the 2013 Mac Pro we have today. If a series of separate modules connected via high-speed IO is Apple’s strategy, I doubt they would have held a press briefing to expose a future modular Mac system.

Finally we have option four, a single self-contained computer designed to anticipate the tolerances of demanding professional components. The parts in this modular Mac Pro would not be user upgradable or available at retail. Instead the system as whole would be designed in such a way so as make more powerful models possible in the future without a drastic redesign.

Option four is the modular Mac I think Apple will build, but as a current Hackintosh owner I would like to be wrong.

Since the release of Mac OS X Lion:

• Holding down Command + R at startup told your Mac to boot from the local Recovery Partition, allowing you to restore your Mac’s installed operating system.
• Holding down Command + Option + R at startup told your Mac to NetBoot from Apple’s Internet Recovery, allowing you to restore your Mac to its original operating system.

This all changed on Tuesday when Apple released macOS 10.12.4.

Apple:

macOS Recovery installs different versions of macOS depending on the key combination you press while starting up. Hold down one of these combinations immediately after pressing the power button to turn on your Mac. Release when you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe.

Michael Tsai:

The new Option-Command-R keyboard shortcut lets you do an Internet recovery of latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. So, rather than boot from a slow hard drive, wrangle the Mac App Store, download the installer, and then launch it, I just held down the keys and let it download and install all at once. The time estimate was way off (under), but other than that it worked smoothly and got my Mac booting again.

Internet Recovery is now a convenient time-saver, skipping the unpatched versions of system software and restoring the latest Mac OS. I am a fan just as long restoring older versions of Mac OS are still an option. One of my least favorite aspects of iOS is that you cannot install the version of system software that originally shipped with your device.

I became a FreeHand fan during the Macromedia era after the release Freehand 5.5. Despite its falling popularity, I have always found Freehand’s powerful page layout tools and unique approach to vector illustration appealing. Even after FreeHand’s untimely demise in 2005, you could still find a copy of FreeHand MX in my Dock until the release of Mac OS Lion and the end of PowerPC support on the Mac. Even today with modern vector drawing options like Adobe Illustrator CC available to me, I still long for the days when FreeHand was never more than a click away.

Fortunately for me, and the many FreeHand fans like me, all is not lost. The FreeHand Forum provides links to the once freely distributed trial version of FreeHand MX. And Adobe of all companies provides the serial numbers that can keep FreeHand MX launching past its first 30 days.

You will still need a Mac, a Hackintosh, or a virtual machine running Snow Leopard or earlier if you want to run FreeHand MX under Mac OS X. Personally I prefer to run FreeHand MX under a Windows VM or Wine. Both are easy to setup and promise to remain compatible well into the future.

Joe Rossignol writing for MacRumors:

For years, Apple has sent new Genius hires to its Infinite Loop headquarters in Cupertino, or sometimes an auxiliary campus in Austin or Atlanta, to receive hands-on training for up to three weeks. Recently, however, Apple appears to have stopped offering these group-oriented trips, according to people familiar with the matter.

Apple’s off-site Genius Training program has been replaced by an in-store, self-guided experience using company-provided reference materials, according to a source. The training now involves watching web-based seminars through the Apple Technical Learning Administration System, or ATLAS, another source said.

I was a Mac Genius in 2003, before the iPhone, when Mac OS X was still new and exciting. Training was different then, all the emphasis was on the Mac.

Customer interactions and role-playing took place during the two-weeks of “Core Training” before my store opened. My time in Cupertino was spent learning “wisdom;” how to quickly diagnose machines, order parts, and perform prompt repairs.

Like Stephen I discharged the CRT in a eMac, peeled back the white plastic layers of a iBook G3, and replaced the logic board on a Titanium PowerBook G4. I ate at Cafe Macs, attended a Beer Bash, and saw Steve Jobs speak in Town Hall. As a Mac Genius I got to experience a larger Apple than the confines of my 30-foot store back home. I am sad future Mac Genius won’t have the same experiences as mine.

It is almost Spring and Stephen Hackett is back with a new nerdy t-shirt to celebrate the iMac G3 and his 512 Pixels website

The original iMac brought Apple back from the brink with a lovable, colorful design.

The quote on the back of the shirt is from Steve Job’s introduction of the machine, and became a joke in Apple keynote for years to come.

The shirts will be on sale until March 16 over at TeeSpring. There are both men’s and women’s options, as well as an unisex long-sleeve because Myke asked for it.

You only have a few days left. I ordered mine this morning.

When I was a Mac Genius in 2003, Apple retail charged $30 for the installation of extra RAM, Airport wireless networking, or software purchased in the store.. For most Mac models $30 was a silly expense. It didn’t take much effort to install Microsoft Office on a iMac, an Airport Card in a iBook G3, or extra RAM in a Power Mac G4 tower. (Having a Mac Genius crack open an original Mac mini to install hardware upgrades was probably worth the $30 price tag.) Thankfully Apple did away with this practice for the sale of new Macs. They called this free service a “Mac Pack.”

One of the unique features of the free Mac Pack was the migration of files from a customer’s home computer to their new Mac. This offer brought all kinds of computers into the Apple Store, and not all of them were Macs. Sure there were restrictions about how old the computer could be or what operating system they were running, but as Mac Genius we tried to help everyone. That included customers who brought in old PCs running Windows 98, or old Macs that barely turned on. Against Apple’s best guidance we would sometimes take these old machines apart to extract their hard drives to transfer their data. We would always put them pack together again, and in the case of more than a few Macs fix them up so that they ran better than new.

A lot has changed about the Mac Pack from 2003, but I am not surprised to hear that when BritishTechLive brought a 30 year old prototype Macintosh SE into the Apple Store a Mac Genius was able to help him get it up and running. Thanks to Stephen Hackett from 512pixels for sharing this amazing story.

Dr. Drang makes the argument that software not hardware is holding the iPad back from becoming an independent platform. He compares the iPad’s capabilities to features the Mac had during its first seven years of life.

What’s surprising to me is how slow iPad software has advanced in the seven years since its introduction. I’ve always thought of the iPad as the apotheosis of Steve Jobs’s conception of what a computer should be, what the Mac would have been in 1984 if the hardware were available. But think of what the Mac could do when it was seven years old:

• You could write real Macintosh programs on it, both with third-party development software like THINK (née Lightspeed) C and Pascal and Apple’s Macintosh Programmer’s Workshop. You may not care about writing native apps, but the ability to do so brings with it a lot of other abilities you do care about, like the bringing together of documents from multiple sources.
• You had a mature multi-tasking environment in the MultiFinder that worked with essentially every application that ran on the Mac.
• You (and all your applications) had access to a real hierarchical file system.
• You had what many people still consider the best personal software development kit in HyperCard.

The missing features Dr. Drang cites are reasons why I can’t use an iPad as my primary computer. But these features alone are not keeping the iPad from becoming an independent platform. For some people the lack of these features and the complexity they eliminate are a feature in itself.

The iPad doesn’t need to replace Mac OS to become an independent platform, it needs a killer feature to differentiate itself from other platforms.

• The Mac’s killer feature was its ease of use and graphical user interface.
• The iPod’s killer feature was its integration with iTunes and large capacity storage.
• The iPhone’s killer feature was its multitouch user interface and mobile Internet access.
• The iPad is remains a large screen iPhone.

The Apple Pencil and Split View are good attempts, but until Apple finds the iPad’s killer feature it will remain an also-ran.

I agree with Rob Griffiths when he says: “limited ports limit my interest in new Mac laptops.”

Apple’s pursuit of an insanely stupid “as thin as a knife edge at all costs” design goal has led to a new generation of machines that make them much less portable than they were before…despite being thinner and lighter.

Here’t the thing, Apple: Beyond a certain point, thinness is irrelevant. And honesty, you’ve more than reached that point with every laptop you make. You reached that point, in fact, a few years ago.

There are many things I love about my 2013 13″ rMBP, including the variety of ports it includes:

The Thunderbolt 3 and USB Type-C ports on modern MacBooks are extremely versatile, but I believe the best tool is the one you have with you. Carrying a bag full of dongles makes having the right tool less reliable.

The value of a PowerBook could once be measured against the value of good Swiss Army knife; how much can your accomplish with a single tool. The only thing stopping Apple from making the modern MacBook as trustworthy as a Swiss Army knife is their pursuit of thinness. There is no reason why our MacBooks can’t have the versatility of Thunderbolt 3 and USB Type-C, while coming prepared with a selection of the standard ports we still use today.

Ben Lovejoy writing for 9to5Mac:

Apple is fighting ‘right to repair’ legislation which would give consumers and third-party repair shops the legal right to purchase spare parts and access service manuals. The state of Nebraska is holding a hearing on the proposed legislation next month, and Motherboard reports that Apple will be formally opposing the bill.

Apple does not want just anyone repairing their computers. They restrict access to service manuals, tools, training, and replacement parts in an effort to control the customer experience. Third-party service providers can apply for access to these resources, but Apple controls the relationship through tough requirements that change often.

If Apple believes the best way to repair their products is through an authorized service provider, why would they want to put in the effort to have their computers repaired any other way?

Andrew Cunningham writing for ArsTechnica:

Beta builds of iOS 10.3, the first of which was issued last week, generate warning messages when you try to run older 32-bit apps. The message, originally discovered by PSPDFKit CEO and app developer Peter Steinberger, warns that the apps “will not work with future versions of iOS” and that the app must be updated by its developer in order to continue running. The apps still run in iOS 10.3, but it seems likely that iOS 11 will drop support for them entirely.

Apple has required 64-bit support on all new app submissions since February 2016, and Apple has required 64-bit support on all app updates since June 2015. Any apps that are still throwing this error have not been updated in over a year and ahalf`.

I am reading this error as a sign the next release major release of iOS will only work with iPhones and iPads with a 64-bit processor. Time to say goodnight to the iPhone 5c, iPad 4, and iPad mini 2 and earlier.

Mike Wuerthele writing for Apple Insider.

The shift appears to have taken place on Dec. 6, according to a Reddit thread delving into the issue. Google has been pushing the open and royalty-free VP9 codec as an alternative to the paid H.265 spec since 2014, but has never said that it would stop offering 4K video on the YouTube site in other formats, like the Apple-preferred H.264. Videos uploaded to the service prior to Dec. 6 in 4K resolution can still play back in full 4K resolution on Safari from the YouTube homepage. Additionally, Mac users utilizing Chrome still have the ability to play back new videos in 4K, as Safari is the only holdout among the major browsers that doesn’t support the codec.

Apple should adopt Google’s royalty-free VP9 codec in Safari. Not because it will benefit Apple or because it will allow for 4k streaming on YouTube, but because it is the right thing to do for the preservation of a free and open web.

I understand Google is a competitor of Apple, and there is currently no VP9 optimization in in Apple’s hardware. But time channges all battle lines, and hardware can be improved. Keeping the web free and open is a choice we need to make now if we want future generations to enjoy the same freedomes.

Wesley Moore:

I deeply value the consistency, versatility, reliability and integration of Mac OS X and the excellent quality hardware it runs on. However the current state of the Mac has me considering whether it’s still the right platform for me.

I started looking at alternatives to Mac OS after OS X Yosemite was released. When Apple’s software began integrating features from iOS and iCloud I didn’t care to use, and Apple’s hardware began shedding performance and pounds for a price I didn’t care to pay.

I love Mac OS, but as developers moved on and Mac OS 10.10 became a common system requirement I choose to leave rather than upgrade.

After a brief search I found Fedora, and it is becasue of these three reasons I decided to stay.

• I love Gnome 3, and find its UI to be as polished as later versions of Mac OS. Red Hat funds the development of Gnome 3, and Red Hat funds the development of Fedora. That is why Fedora always has the most polisehd, most recent version of the user interface I love so much.
• Fedora is updated on a six month cycle, but the free software it is built upon is being updated all the time. Fedora gives me a stable foundation I can supplement with the bleeding-edge feature I value most. No one company or schedule decides how I use my computer, and with Fedora Spins there is an option for everyone.
• Fedora empowers hardware choice, allowing me to pick the right components without paying one company’s premium. I run Fedora on everything from my killer gaming machine, to my sub $200 netbook. I appreciate the freedom of taking the same operating system with me wherever I go.

Despite these advantage Fedora isn’t a perfect alternative to Mac OS. “The truth is, for most of us, there is no good alternative to Mac OS.” But for me, a guy who uses free software, who writes in VIM, and enjoys building his own computers, Fedora is good enough.

Steve Frank has brought the Einstein Newton Emulator back to life:

On behalf of the Einstein team, I’m happy to announce that a new release, Einstein 2017.1.0, is available for download!

(For anyone who doesn’t already know, Einstein is an emulator for the NewtonOS platform.)

This release includes pre-built binaries for macOS 10.8+ and Ubuntu Linux 16 (xenial).

The iOS build is also functional but must be built from source with Xcode. You will need to create an Apple developer account and signing certificate to install Einstein on your iOS device. You can run it in the iOS Simulator without these requirements.

The experimental Raspberry Pi build can also be built from source. The status of the Android and Windows builds is not clear to me at this time.

(I have successfully compiled a version for Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS (Trusty Tahr) for use on MIT’s Project Athena.)

News of improved Mac OS and iOS versions might be exciting to Apple-centric Newton enthusiasts, but I suspect the Linux versions are essential for the platforms survival.

Newton hardware isn’t getting any younger. As each year passes more Newton MessagePads and eMates breakdown — never to be powered on again. For the Newton to be remembered accurately, people need to experience its unique operating system for themselves. But unlike most historical operating systems that are emulated on a desktop PC by way of keyboard and mouse, the Newton needs to be experienced in the field on batteries with a stylus.

That is where the Linux versions come in. Free from the restrictions of the Apple App Store. Available to run on almost host any platform — including Raspberry Pi. The future of the Newton OS is on free software.

Shaun Inman:

As of today I’m officially suspending sales and support of Mint and Fever. But! As self-hosted software, absolutely nothing changes and you can continue using both Mint and Fever as you were yesterday.

I have been a Fever customer since 2012. It is still my RSS reader of choice today. I usually Fever through the browser, but sometimes via Unread.

I wish things had gone differently for Fever. There may not be a market for self-hosted RSS readers, but I am sure Fever would thrive as a open source project for those who like to ‘roll their own.’ Would Shaun be willing to set Fever free?

Kirk McElhearn, writing for Macworld, is frusterated he can’t choose his default apps in iOS.

But iOS offers no such option. If you tap a URL, it opens in Safari. If you tap a link to send an email, it opens in Mail. The default calendar is Apple’s Calendar app. And so on. You may not want to work that way and because Apple doesn’t give you any choice, you’re stuck with workarounds: using share sheets to open a web page in a different browser; copying an email link or address to create an email; and so on.

The simplicity of iOS is inviting to new users, but it is hurting the growth of the platform.

These kind of design decisions keep me from considering iOS to be more than a appliance.

Nick Heer:

I’ve been trying to book some time at my local Apple Store to get my iPhone’s battery swapped, and it has not been easy — at least, not compared to the way it used to be. Previously, I’d open the Apple Store app on my phone, open up my store’s page, and tap the button to get support. I could easily make a Genius Bar appointment from there with just a few taps.

When I worked for Apple retail from 2003-2006 we were instructed to help everyone. This was before concierge, before appointments, and before the iPhone. It was just me, the bar, and hundreds of Apple customers looking for help every day.

Needless to say this approach did not scale after the introduction of the iPhone. But even now — ten years after the iPhone was introduced — I would still rather wait 3 days to see someone in person, then send my device off in the mail and hope for the best.

Mark Gurman writing for Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. has disbanded its division that develops wireless routers, another move to try to sharpen the company’s focus on consumer products that generate the bulk of its revenue, according to people familiar with the matter.

If the rumors are true, and Apple is out of the standalone display business, this report makes sense.

In a world where the most popular computers have a always-on cellular connection, and every ISP gives you a free wireless router on contract, it makes sense for Apple to get out of wireless router business.

If Apple replaces the Airport Base Stations in their retail stores with a third-party product, Eero seems to make the most sense. Eero has dedicated apps like Airport, and is innovating in a direction that Airport has not moved in years.

Workouts++ is a new app for your Apple Watch from David Smith. It allows you to customize your workouts and view them in new ways on your iPhone.nI am a long distance runner so I won’t be writing about how Workouts++ works with a bicycle, on a rowboat, or in a Yoga class. Instead I can tell you how Workouts++ has helped me target my training for this year’s Boston Marathon.

Workouts++ is three apps in one.nThe first is a factory for building workouts on iPhone.nThe second is a monitor for tracking workouts on Apple Watch. And the third is a database for comparing workouts on the iPhone.

Workouts++ starts on the iPhone.nPick an activity — indoors or out — and Workouts++ lets you select what information you see on your Apple Watch while you workout.nUp to six different metrics can be shown on Apple Watch at a given time, with options for size, style, and color. You can’t switch metrics mid-workout, but you can name and save as many customized workout as you like. I named my first watch face ‘Marathon,’ and chose metrics I want to see while running on Patriots Day. Speed is displayed above distance and duration, because I am targeting a three hour marathon and need a constant speed of 8.8 MPH to meet my goal.nWorkouts++ lets me display my speed in red if I slow down or go too fast. This alert can be further enhanced with haptic feedback.

After my run is complete, Workouts++ logs my workout in its database. Workouts can be filtered by activity and duration, and sorted by date, duration, distance, or active calories. This makes comparing runs of the same distance easy, even for workouts performed outside the Workouts++ app. David promises swimming workouts and location mapping in a future release, but I would appreciate improved performance from Workouts++.

Unlike the built-in workouts app, Workouts++ takes a few seconds to calculate my speed each time I raise my wrist while running. This two second delay often leads to false alerts and unnecessary haptic feedback during the race.

I want Workouts++ to succeed because it makes important metrics easier to target, but as an app it is useless if I can’t trust the information on the display. My guess is that David is doing the best he can with the design constraints of Apple Watch. The metrics Workouts++ presents at the end of each workout are accurate, but Apple is restricting what kind of calculations can be performed while Workouts++ is running in the background.nI hope Apple works with David to give Workouts++ better real-time performance in time for my race, but in the meantime I will still be using Workouts++ for training.

The open app ecosystem is what makes the promise of Apple Watch so great, and fitness apps like Workouts++ are playing to the platform’s sweetspot.

Last weekend I had the chance to visit my local Apple Store and check out the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. I was not impressed.

The Touch Bar could have been the greatest user interface advancement to hit the Mac since the Multitouch Trackpad. Instead it is a Gimmick Strip used to quickly tap commonly used keyboard shortcuts and emoji. Complex tasks, like those used in Final Cut Pro X, are possible. But instead of keeping your hands on the keyboard and your eyes on the screen, the Touch Bar forces users to waste time hunting for hidden commands.

Designing the Touch Bar took development time away from the Mac. Apple only released four new Mac models this year. One was a speed bump, and only two have the Touch Bar. How many more Macs could have been updated this year if Apple hadn’t wasted time on Touch Bar? If Apple thinks the Touch Bar is such a big deal, why not include it on every new Mac?

Like the Multitouch Trackpad on Mac OS X and 3D Touch on iOS, adoption of the Touch Bar requires new hardware. New hardware comes at a cost. The increased price of new MacBook Pros will delay the adoption of Apple’s newest user interface. How many Mac users will benefit from a feature that is only on the most expensive Macs? Will developers embrace a feature only wealthy Mac owners can afford?

Even if the Touch Bar is adopted by the few, we will all be stuck with its cost for a long time. Raising the price and complexity of every Mac model that includes it.

The Touch Bar is a distraction. A bone thrown to the Macintosh Community while Apple continues to prioritize iOS. It might be a shiny bone, the best distractions are, but given its limited functionality the cost is too high. Until we all get more time with the new MacBook Pros, adding the Touch Bar asks more questions than it answers.

Take a moment to look over Apple’s product line. Pay special attention to the Macintosh. On the desktop side we have the Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro. On the notebook side we have the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro, Several models come in more than one screen size. The larger models usually offer better performance. Some models don’t come with a screen. Most models are over a year old.

Now imagine for a minute the word ‘Pro’ disappeared from the Macintosh product line. And let’s assume the Mac Pro and the MacBook Air aren’t long for this world. That leaves us with three desktop form factors the mac mini, the 21.5-inch iMac, and the 27-inch iMac, and three notebook form factors, the 12-inch MacBook, the 13-inch MacBook, and the 15 inch MacBook.

Instead of the two by two product square Steve Jobs introduced in the late 90’s, we now have a two by three product rectangle Tim Cook could unveil as early as next year. The two by three rectangle works for three reasons: First, the rectangle removes clutter from the Macintosh product line. Eliminating redundant models like the MacBook Air, and last year’s MacBook Pro which are only still around to meet a price point. If these models are really big sellers worthy of protection, Apple should rethink it strategy for developing new products.

Second, the rectangle removes ‘Pro’ from customer expectations. Apple has not made a new professional computer since 2012. Sure, there are plenty of Pros are still using and buying Macs, but not the kind of computers you usually attribute to the high-end professional; people who buy computers where performance, expandability, and durability count above all else. Why make professionals upset when you don’t have too? Remove the ‘Pro’ and call the notebooks MacBook.

Third, if you apply the rectangle to the iPhone and iPad product lines it works well. On the iPhone side you have three models, the 4-inch iPhone SE, the 4.7-inch iPhone 7, and the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus. On the iPad side you have three models, the 7.9-inch iPad mini 4, the 9.7-inch iPad (formally iPad Pro), and the 12.9-inch iPad. Things get even simpler if Apple removes the version numbers from the product names.

If Apple is abandoning the development of the wireless routers and is out of the external display business, they might further simplify their product line. A product rectangle with Good, Better, Best, makes a lot of sense if Apple would stop selling last year’s products.