Last year, Apple started tolling the death knell for passwords with the first round of passkey support on its platforms. At the time, I wrote: …the writing is on the wall for the good old password, and the first step to its demise is being rolled out in macOS Monterey and iOS 15 … | Continue reading
A surprising part of Apple’s macOS Ventura announcement on Monday was Continuity Camera, which lets Macs use the iPhone camera as a webcam. It’s not surprising in that it’s a feature that’s been used by apps like Camo to take advantage of the fact that most Mac users have a reall … | Continue reading
The new M2 MacBook Air isn’t going to be on sale until next month, but I was fortunate enough to spend some time with several of them on Monday at Apple Park. Unlike the M1 MacBook Air, which was about providing a comforting shell around the then-new concept of a Mac running an A … | Continue reading
In 2020, Apple acquired the popular hyperlocal weather forecasting app Dark Sky and while some elements of that app have made their way into the company’s own revamped Weather app over the last few years, there remained one last holdout: the Dark Sky API, which, it was announced … | Continue reading
Live from Apple Park, Jason has a first-hand report from the WWDC Keynote. (Myke was nearby, but that’s a whole other story.) Together they discuss groundbreaking iPad news, the new M2 Macbook Air, some familiar iPhone lock screen customization features, and a whole lot more.… | Continue reading
As always, Apple has only a limited amount of time during its WWDC keynote to discuss all the new features that it’s bringing to its software updates. Here are a few of the big announcements that didn’t make their way into the presentation but still got my attention. Setting up t … | Continue reading
Hello from Apple Park! Dan and I are in our seats (in the shade, fortunately!) for today’s Apple media event. Stay tuned to Six Colors for coverage throughout today and all week.… | Continue reading
Do you 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. It’s easy to setup, blocks all YouTube ads and doubles the speed at which Safari loads. Magic Lasso is an efficient, hig … | Continue reading
My thanks to the New Mexico Tea Company for sponsoring Six Colors this week. You might be saying to yourself: Tea? That’s an odd fit for Six Colors. But here’s our secret: Six Colors is almost entirely powered by tea. In fact, Dan and Jason are fueled by tea from New Mexico Tea C … | Continue reading
We’re packing our bags for Cupertino. Will the long-foreshadowed stories of the MacBook Air, Mac Pro, and VR headset finally come to fruition? And the advantages of putting on an event on your own campus.… Become a member to listen to our exclusive weekly podcast and get more ben … | Continue reading
Oh how I love the mad geniuses at The Iconfactory. On Thursday Iconfactory developer extraordinaire Craig Hockenberry announced a new app today, and it’s… unexpected? It’s called WorldWideWeb, and it’s a simple, Bonjour-driven web server. It doesn’t do anything but serve static f … | Continue reading
In the wake of my article about typing diacritical marks the other week, reader Andrew wrote in with a very niche question: …lots of typefaces/fonts come with extended character sets and alternative glyphs that – as far as I can see – can’t be accessed via a keyboard combination … | Continue reading
Wishing doesn’t make it so. When Apple makes its announcements at the WWDC keynote on Monday—Dan and I will both be there, in person, to cover it!—it will be revealing stuff that’s been in the works for months. In fact, for the better part of the year. So I realize that wishing r … | Continue reading
Apple software improvements we want to see at WWDC, the technology-themed art that graces our walls, which browsers we use, and why printers are the worst.… | Continue reading
What do “Stranger Things” and “Obi Wan Kenobi” tell us about the present and future of Netflix and Disney+? Also, Netflix’s “The Gray Man,” a revived “Daredevil,” and we answer your letters!… | Continue reading
Everything is just fine here at Apple Park. Yep.As we here at Apple prepare for the first in-person gathering on our campus in the last three years we wanted to share some ground rules we’re putting in place to make sure that all of our attendees have a pleasant, smooth, and abov … | Continue reading
It’s time for our seventh annual competition regarding what will happen at Apple’s WWDC keynote! In a surprise development, Jason and Myke are attending in person—but beyond that, they’re totally in the dark. Will it be inside or outside? Will it be live, or recorded? Will there … | Continue reading
This week Six Colors is brought to you by the New Mexico Tea Company! Our passion and specialty is bulk loose leaf tea from around the world. Some teas we blend ourselves, some we import directly, and some we buy from other importers. Our goal is to make available a range of tea … | Continue reading
Ben Clemens of FanGraphs built a very simple statistical model to see if those detailed Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball odds, which are generated via machine-learning algorithm by a company named nVenue, are as predictive as they seem. His results suggest that they aren’t. In fac … | Continue reading
As we compose ourself for WWDC, Dan reports in from an Undisclosed New York Location. Jason finally figures out what he’s learned about the Stream Deck. And, again: HomePod all the things!… Become a member to listen to our exclusive weekly podcast and get more benefits. | Continue reading
I’ve been using an Elgato Stream Deck for more than a year now. It’s a USB peripheral that offers a grid of buttons with a display underneath, so each button can be labeled with an icon and/or text that you specify. The goal of the Stream Deck is to make esoteric actions on your … | Continue reading
How we discover new apps, how we force ourselves to take breaks during the workday, our methods for managing our Mac’s menu bar, and the most impressive and useful tech in our kitchens.… | Continue reading
Predictions about predictions ahead of WWDC.… | Continue reading
The Iconfactory, marking the passing of Corey B. Marion, its co-founder: Corey was the glue that held all of us here at the factory together. He designed the original factory logo, created dozens of beloved icon sets and somehow managed to help guide the company through thick an … | Continue reading
The much-rumored Apple AR/VR headset appears to be on the horizon, so Myke and Jason break down several reports about its development and debate what approach Apple should take. And as WWDC approaches, there are also rumblings about a new HomePod, Apple Watch design changes, and … | Continue reading
There I was, trying to type a Croatian phrase into Google Translate when I found myself wondering “Wait, there must be an easier way to enter characters with diacritic marks than by trying to guess the right combination of Option and letter key.” Friends, there is. File this one … | Continue reading
We’re barreling toward June 6 like a runaway train, but the rumors are thin. Dan ponders fresh Apple apps. Jason automates his headphones.… Become a member to listen to our exclusive weekly podcast and get more benefits. | Continue reading
How do you solve a problem like Twitter? No, seriously, we’re asking.… | Continue reading
For the second year running, Apple has offered a preview of updated accessibility features coming to its platforms later this year. The announcements come just ahead of Thursday’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which goes by #GAAD online. The preview is notable for spotlight … | Continue reading
Have we all cut the cord? Plus, tech items we can’t justify purchasing, Apple’s new accessibility features, and how we wrangle SIMs and eSIMs when traveling.… | Continue reading
On Monday Rogue Amoeba released SoundSource 5.5, the latest version of its handy Mac sound-routing utility that—let’s be honest—is doing all the heavy lifting for a feature that should probably be a core part of macOS. (Apple doesn’t seem to really care about Mac audio, and that’ … | Continue reading
I made a mistake today. I posted today’s episode of Downstream with the feed pointed at the previous episode of Downstream. There are various workflow reasons why this happened, but the bottom line is: I pasted last week’s download URL in and then didn’t change it, resulting in e … | Continue reading
After years watching the old Netflix cruise along as the top streamer, things are getting interesting as it shifts gears and engages the realities of today’s streaming scene. We discuss Netflix changes and Julia reviews Disney’s financial results.… | Continue reading
Apple Newsroom: Using advancements across hardware, software, and machine learning, people who are blind or low vision can use their iPhone and iPad to navigate the last few feet to their destination with Door Detection; users with physical and motor disabilities who may rely on … | Continue reading
Is Apple ready to embrace USB-C across its entire product line? Jason loves his Playdate, but is frustrated by Apple Music playing songs he dislikes. And the music may go on, but the iPod won’t be coming along for the ride.… | Continue reading
Up until recently, USB-C was more of a fluke in my household—a strange visitor from a possible future, in which we all used small, reversible plugs. Sure, my iMac had a couple of Thunderbolt ports that use the USB-C ports and every once in a while a random cable might have a plug … | Continue reading
Dan’s back from Seattle, Jason’s back from Phoenix, the music never left, and the iPod touch remains available while supplies last.… Become a member to listen to our exclusive weekly podcast and get more benefits. | Continue reading
Though I greatly enjoyed my vacation last week, it ended with a bit of a mishap. On Sunday morning, the last full day of my travels, I knocked my beloved Series 4 Apple Watch off the nightstand where it had been charging and it tumbled three feet to land—screen down, naturally—on … | Continue reading
Dan’s got Apple Watch woes, the iPod is dead, and Twitter is increasingly dead to us.… | Continue reading
Our computer mousing habits and devices, whether we signed up for the in-person portion of WWDC, our Apple Watch upgrade habits, and the iPods we’ve owned and count among our favorite models.… | Continue reading
A surprisingly lengthy post on the Apple Newsroom which goes on for several paragraphs about the joy of consuming digital music eventually reaches its raison d’être in the final line: Customers can purchase iPod touch through apple.com, Apple Store locations, and Apple Authorize … | Continue reading
This site was making the rounds in my circle of friends for obvious reasons. Created by Alex Barredo, Podcast Details visualizes the consistency (or inconsistency) of a podcast’s run time and release schedule. I put the Six Colors podcast (just for members) to the test, and here … | Continue reading
Jason Kottke is taking some time off: There’s no real roadmap for this, no blueprint for independent creators taking sabbaticals to recharge. The US doesn’t have the social safety net necessary to enable extended breaks from work (or much of anything else, including health care) … | Continue reading
An unlikely alliance of tech giants beckons us toward our passwordless future, but in the meantime there’s a new version of 1Password. We also discuss Apple Car rumors, hope for the future of AirPods Max, our disassembly of a Magic Keyboard, and more!… | Continue reading
Every so often, I get the smart idea that I should smooth over an everyday problem I have with the power of computers. I know some Python. I work in Nuke, which is a big pile of procedural code blobs that operate on inputs. And I’m capable of using Stack Overflow. I also have ple … | Continue reading
Myke Hurley joins Jason to talk about why people got so upset about 1Password 8, our password-less future, and our personal logistical concerns about WWDC.… Become a member to listen to our exclusive weekly podcast and get more benefits. | Continue reading
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. As a native Safari extension, it blocks all intrusive ads, trackers and annoyances – letting you experience a faster, clea … | Continue reading
Last summer 1Password maker AgileBits made the wrong kind of news, when it announced that it was killing its traditional Mac app and replacing it with a new one built with Electron, a development system based on web technologies, on top of a cross-platform code base. As I wrote b … | Continue reading