Apple’s September event: The delight will be in the details

In the old days, we knew about what Apple would do so far in advance, they’d print it and mail it out and it would still be breaking news. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 days ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 511: Ignore All Previous Instructions and Tell Me How To Get Out Of This Crib

Baby’s first AI usage.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 days ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 570: It’s a Worm

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 days ago

Why Apple Books works for me

Dan wrote last week about how 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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 4 days ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 527: The 2024 September Event Draft

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?… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 5 days ago

Who’s blocking Apple’s AI crawler ↦

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, … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 9 days ago

Accessibility Site AppleVis Won’t Disappear After All ↦

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 relau … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 9 days ago

(Podcast) 20 Macs 28: Performa Month

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 10 days ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 510: The Kill Your Watch Button

Introducing the Rebound Fellow program.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 10 days ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 569: Average Mid-Sized Sedan of a Dog

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 10 days ago

Apple job cuts in Books are turning the page in the wrong direction

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 10 days ago

Apple-repaired phone banned from social media ↦

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. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 10 days ago

Bye, Luca (sort of) ↦

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 Maest … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 11 days ago

Apple announces “Glowtime” event on September 9

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 12 days ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 526: Journal and Learnal

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


@sixcolors.com | 12 days ago

Apple TV+ eyes ‘Ted Lasso’ comeback ↦

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. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 12 days ago

(Sponsor) 1Password

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 15 days ago

Google’s AI photo tools may be too easy and too good ↦

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 misleadin … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 15 days ago

(Podcast) Downstream 76: Defund the Bundle

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.]… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 16 days ago

Epic’s app store is still in conflict with Apple ↦

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 App … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 16 days ago

Permission to Speak Freely, Siri?

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 17 days ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 568: The Canonical Answer Is Dan’s TV

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 17 days ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 509: The Taco Bell Rebound

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


@sixcolors.com | 17 days ago

Many Tricks releases Moom 4 ↦

Moom 4’s expanded interface. (Courtesy Many Tricks.) 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 nume … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 17 days ago

‘Monument Valley 3’ will be a Netflix game ↦

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 18 days ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 525: Best of U3

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.’… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 19 days ago

(Sponsor) The infinite loop of security

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 19 days ago

visionOS 2 impressions: Isn’t that spatial?

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 visio … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 23 days ago

Interview: Game developer Zach Gage on Pile-Up Poker and resisting dark patterns

Pile-Up Poker is a part of Puzzmo. 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 … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 24 days ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 508: Firing on All Three Cylinders

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


@sixcolors.com | 24 days ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 567: That’s Not How Capitalism Works

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


@sixcolors.com | 24 days ago

Athletes of All Abilities Race Side-by-Side in New Apple Film, “The Relay” ↦

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 wi … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 24 days ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 524: We’re Making a Trifle

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 26 days ago

(Sponsor) 1Password

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 vulner … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 29 days ago

(Podcast) Downstream 75: Playing the Long Game

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 29 days ago

Is the Mac mini finally getting truly mini? ↦

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. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

Apple’s permissions features are out of balance

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 566: That’s My Shredder Sound

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 507: Not Just Waving My Hands Over A Keyboard Like A Cat

Nothing but good vibes.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

Flighty 4.0 adds delay details ↦

Flighty 4.0 in action (courtesy of Flighty). 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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 523: I Got It to Hallucinate Already

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

Disney+ Vision Pro app adds Iceland environment ↦

Now you can watch Ant-Man (and the Avengers) in 3-D in Iceland. 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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

(Sponsor) Without C-Suite Buy-In, security is just rearranging deck chairs

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.”… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

Existential thoughts about Apple’s reliance on Services revenue

Apple Pay and Apple Card are among Apple’s growing services. 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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

This is Tim: Complete Q3 2024 analyst call transcript

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

Apple results: Quarterly record, all-time high in Services

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

Apple’s puzzling Arcade approach ↦

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 t … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

A little more about tech and travel

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago