(Podcast) Clockwise 578: Sadly, No Taste for Blood

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 519: Maybe: Kamala Harris

Where would you put a charging port?… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

16GB for everyone: MacBook Air joins the RAM upgrade party

This guy gets more RAM now. 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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple introduces new MacBook Pros with M4 chips, brighter screen

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Why Alexa hasn’t yet become the real computer of the future ↦

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. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

The M4 Mac mini: Tricks and treats

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

New Mac mini shrinks down, gains M4 and M4 Pro chips

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 535: Little Spicy Peppers

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!… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months 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 | 2 months ago

Apple Intelligence .1 Review: A small start of something big?

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 gradual … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple introduces M4 iMac with revamped colors, nano-texture display option

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

You can use Clean Up with a clear conscience

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Sponsor) Magic Lasso Adblock

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Use a cloned drive to recover from Mac failures

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Choose your coding font ↦

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 577: Witches Are Doing it for Themselves

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple releases second wave of Intelligence features via new developer betas

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 518: Stop Trying to Make Soda Pressing Happen

The jokes write themselves and sometime it shows.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

iPad mini 2024 review: A familiar friend gets an A.I. refresh

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 534: The 2024 October Event? Draft

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Sponsor) Magic Lasso Adblock: 2.0x faster web browsing in Safari

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months 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 | 2 months ago

Apple’s strong but “easy” password generation algorithm ↦

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 … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Downstream 80: Shifting Landscape

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.]… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple Pay turns 10, adds new wrinkles

My first Apple Pay transaction, in 2014. 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 … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

In Praise of Keith from Sonos ↦

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 someho … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

The last Kindle with page-turn buttons is dead ↦

The two previous Kindle Oasis models, in happier times. 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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 517: MoviePass for Vision Pro

A harrowing tale of survival and Rock Band.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 576: Artisanal Yogurt

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Review: AirPods 4 with ANC no replacement for AirPods Pro

AirPods 4 with ANC (left) are great if you can’t bear AirPods Pro 2 (right), but are inferior in every other way. It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since AirPods first arrived on the scene.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

The new iPad mini’s surprising not-new processor

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 … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Passkey industry group releases draft standard for import and export ↦

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 standa … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple revamps iPad mini with A17 Pro processor, Apple Pencil Pro support

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 533: A Conversation With Your Teeth

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months 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 | 2 months ago

(Sponsor) Magic Lasso Adblock

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

Putting my solar system in my menu bar

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

“Submerged” brings immersive narrative to Vision Pro

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 hi … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

iPhone 16 Pro review: Control before Intelligence

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 … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

Apple TV+ comes to Amazon Prime Video ↦

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. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 516: Incredible Deals on Stuff I Don’t Need

Walgreens is not a sponsor of this episode.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 575: There’s Nothing Scarier Than an Open Flame

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


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 532: I Am Foreign Exchange Headwinds

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

(Sponsor) Magic Lasso Adblock: YouTube ad blocker for Safari

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

Did Godzilla just step on a bad idea? ↦

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 … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

Lost In Space

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

(Podcast) Downstream 79: Decade of Confusion

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 574: Is Your Car a Pair of Headphones?

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.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago