This week, on the 30-minute tech podcast that’s working overtime from home, Dan and Mikah are joined by special guests Megan Morrone and James Thomson to discuss the last video or piece of media that impacted us, what if everyone unmuted their mics ... | Continue reading
I don’t understand how we’ve gone all this time, including through a period where Apple was heavily pushing a Messages App Store, without being able to easily translate texts in Messages.iTranslate’s keyboard will do the trick—i... | Continue reading
Today I spent a few hours using Service Station, a new Mac utility by Peter Kamb. Not only is it great to see a brand-new Mac utility, but this one hits the sweet spot for me—it’s all about creating more useful contextual menus in the Find... | Continue reading
SoundSource gives you powerful control over all the audio on your Mac, right from your menu bar:Per-Application Volume ControlChange the volume of any app relative to others, and play individual apps to different audio devices. Mute your browser, or s... | Continue reading
My thanks to Float for sponsoring Six Colors this week. Float is the world’s leading resource management software for agencies, studios, and firms. More than 3,000 teams globally, including Deloitte, M&C Saatchi, Ogilvy, and BuzzFeed use Float t... | Continue reading
It’s all keyboards and trackpads all the time these days, but if you don’t have one of the fancy new iPad Pro models released since 2018, such as that earlier 10.5-inch iPad Pro, then Apple’s fancy new Magic Keyboard is simply a non-st... | Continue reading
My iPad use has grown over the years. In 2014 I was frustrated by its limitations, but had started experimenting with writing on an iPad with Bluetooth keyboard. The arrival of the iPad Pro in 2015 crossed a threshold, and the iPad rapidly replaced al... | Continue reading
Dan has a new keyboard, Moltz’s long wait will soon be over and Lex had the media streaming power inside him all along.... | Continue reading
This week, on the 30-minute tech podcast that taunts the Earth, Dan and Mikah are joined by special guests Christopher Phin and Lisa Schmeiser to discuss the tech our current world situation has made us appreciate (or realize we don’t need), what ag... | Continue reading
Apple tweaks the Mac’s battery settings, a new iPhone SE arrives, the first reviews of the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro are in, and Apple’s over-ear AirPods seem to be creeping closer.... | Continue reading
Float is the world’s leading resource management software for agencies, studios, and firms. More than 3,000 teams globally, including Deloitte, M&C Saatchi, Ogilvy, and BuzzFeed use Float to plan their projects and schedule their team’s ti... | Continue reading
My thanks to Fat Cat Software’s PowerPhotos for once again sponsoring Six Colors this week.PowerPhotos is the ultimate toolbox for working with Apple’s Photos app for Mac. If you have photos scattered across multiple libraries that you want ... | Continue reading
With the new iPhone SE being announced this week, I thought I’d chart out the current range of iPhones Apple is selling, organized by price and by the single spec that differentiates the different price levels within a single model—storage spa... | Continue reading
The way MacBook batteries charge is about to change. Apple has released a new developer preview of macOS Catalina 10.15.5, and as these releases often do, it contains a new feature: Battery Health Management.The new feature, which will only be availa... | Continue reading
I shared this tip in the Six Colors member Slack 1 not long ago, but it occurred to me as I used it again this morning that others might find it helpful.Prior to iOS 11, all Apple devices with cameras shot images as a bog-standard JPG. But after, m... | Continue reading
This week, on the 30-minute tech show that’s staying indoors, Dan and Mikah are joined by Jeremy Burge and Kathy Campbell to discuss how we organize our smartphone home screens, ways companies are pivoting in the wake of COVID-19, how our tech purch... | Continue reading
Moltz makes a purchase but not the one you think. Dan is surrounded by speakers and Lex actually knows our advertiser!... | Continue reading
The much rumored iPhone SE successor is rumor no longer. Apple took the wraps off the new low-cost smartphone on Wednesday, touting its A13 Bionic chip—the same that’s found in the top-of-the-line iPhone 11 series. The iPhone SE features... | Continue reading
From the creator of iPhoto Library Manager, PowerPhotos is the ultimate toolbox for working with the new Photos app on your Mac. If you have photos scattered across multiple libraries that you want to merge together, have a library that you want to split ... | Continue reading
Apple and Google join up to start tracing COVID-19 contacts, Apple makes a bunch of TV shows available to watch for free, Disney faces strong headwinds, and Bloomberg adds a bit of normalcy with a report about the next generation of iPhones. Then Myke at ... | Continue reading
In 2003 Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, transforming Apple from just a seller of hardware and software into a company that sells digital good son the Internet. At the time it seemed like an incremental step to make the iPod experience better—... | Continue reading
[This piece is reprinted from the latest issue of our members-only newsletter. You should consider becoming a Six Colors member!]A lot of us are locked in our homes these days. You may be looking for something to read. And your local library is probably... | Continue reading
A lot of us are locked in our homes these days. You may be looking for something to read. And your local library is probably closed—I know mine is.But I’ve got potentially good news! You may never have thought about it, but today’s lib... | Continue reading
Remote troubleshooting in this day and age is all the more important, but it can definitely be tricky at times. The other day I learned a handy tip that might save you some grief: you can request to share the screen of anybody whose Apple ID you know.M... | Continue reading
Back in January, Brydge—the maker of my favorite iPad keyboard—announced that it was going to make a version with an included trackpad. I’ve finally gotten a shipping version of the Brydge Pro+, and have been able to use it with a 20... | Continue reading
This week, on the 30-minute show that steals your time, Dan and Mikah are joined by special guests Allison Sheridan and Devindra Hardawar to discuss remote troubleshooting tips, the most and least fiddly tech, how the open web benefited our learning, and ... | Continue reading
Dan can’t draw, Moltz still doesn’t have a new phone and Lex doesn’t care about web camera quality.... | Continue reading
How will COVID-19 change the future of consumer technology? Why is Zoom the videoconferencing tool of the moment, and why has it had so many security and privacy issues? We ask the big questions this week, and also discuss Amazon’s ability to sell a... | Continue reading
My thanks to Rogue Amoeba’s SoundSource for sponsoring Six Colors this week. SoundSource is a utility that gives you powerful control over all the audio on your Mac, right from your menu bar. Dan wrote about SoundSource about a year ago here on Si... | Continue reading
This week, on the 30-minute tech show that is trying to keep it down, Dan and Mikah are joined by special guests newly-independent Rene Ritchie and up-and-coming podcaster Leo Laporte to discuss whether Fitbit’s new wearable can take on the Apple Wa... | Continue reading
This week, on the irreverent tech show that’s always social distancing, Moltz is still waiting for a new phone, Dan is drinking and Lex is getting sassy. These and other ways to pass the time at home.... | Continue reading
Damning report from Micah Lee and Yael Grauer at The Intercept on Zoom’s misleading encryption claims: Zoom, the video conferencing service whose use has spiked amid the Covid-19 pandemic, claims to implement end-to-end encryption, widely under... | Continue reading
Myke has taken possession of a “new” iPad Pro, so he and Jason compare notes and enter the Conspiracy Room to ponder why it exists. While they’re there, they also revisit the possibilities of ARM Macs and iPad versions of Apple’s p... | Continue reading
SoundSource gives you powerful control over all the audio on your Mac, right from your menu bar. Get control of audio on a per-application basis. Now you can change the volume of any app relative to others, and play individual apps to different audio de... | Continue reading
Throughout my isolation-induced technology shenanigans, I’ve come across one tool that has proved absolutely critical in scanning through old hard drives: Scooter Software’s Beyond Compare. If you’ve got a need to compare folders, text... | Continue reading
My Desktop. Yep, that’s it.During WWDC in San Francisco some year, John Siracusa walked into my office at Macworld and needed to look at something on my computer. I remember him being appalled by how messy my Mac’s desktop was. There were ... | Continue reading
This week, on the irreverent tech podcast that’s always a little bit behind, there’s a new iPad in town and it’s going to have a crazy new keyboard. And how about that cursor? Plus, Dan’s isolation has driven him to perform mad exp... | Continue reading
My adventure resurrecting my PowerMac G3 not only brought to light old files, but also some old computing habits, prompting a question from one Twitter user: I appreciate the subtle Cowboy Bebop reference in that terminal sceeenshot 😅Is that still a thi... | Continue reading
Cory Hixson had Jason on the first episode of his new podcast, Talking To the Internet. Topics include Jason’s various side projects over the years, how he got into tech journalism, lessons learned from his publishing-industry career, and becoming a... | Continue reading
This week, on the 30-minute show that you can wash your hands to, Dan and Mikah are joined by special guests Heather Kelly and Paul Kafasis to discuss how we deal with old tech and data, what we do to entertain ourselves (and friends) via Zoom and Skype, ... | Continue reading
Earlier this year, before the world found itself in the grips of a pandemic, I had a nasty bout of the flu. It laid me flat for a solid week, and even after I’d mostly recovered, it took a while for me to ramp back up to my normal activity.That o... | Continue reading
How do you access a Mac built in 1999 and last used in 2008 when you have no compatible display and barely any ports in common? No, this isn’t a riddle. Well, I guess, it’s sort of a riddle.Like many of you, I’ve been trying to fin... | Continue reading
I want to take a moment to appreciate the delicate and whimsical animated appearance of the cursor in iPadOS 13.4, which was released today.It’s delightful. It’s like a little cartoon character, the plucky dot who is up to any challenge, e... | Continue reading
Jason’s got the new MacBook Air and iPad Pro, so it’s time to dig in. But the most exciting new Apple development is an iPad accessory we won’t see until May—and an iPadOS software update we all get to see this week. Plus, Myke giv... | Continue reading
The 2018 iPad Pro was a great leap forward, with a stylish new design, support for a new Apple Pencil, a USB-C port, and a powerful processor that was more than a match for PC laptops. In fact, you could make the argument that the 2018 iPad Pro was so... | Continue reading
Even in this age of social distancing, we still need human contact. As someone who’s worked from home for 14 years—and lived alone for much of that time—I’m more than familiar with having to come up with ways to stay in touch with friends even... | Continue reading
Here’s what you need to know about the 2020 MacBook Air: It’s everything that was great about the 2018 MacBook Air, but it’s cheaper and faster, with more customizable specs and—perhaps most importantly—the same Magic Keybo... | Continue reading
This week, on the 30 minute tech podcast that’s alway here for you, Dan and Mikah are joined by special guests Georgia Dow and Matteo Doni to discuss how technology has helped us with social distancing, how we’re coping with media anxiety, our... | Continue reading