(Sponsor) The Dirty Secret of OS Updates

Getting OS updates installed on end user devices should be easy. After all, it’s one of the simplest yet most impactful ways that every employee can practice good security.  On top of that, e… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

This Week in Apple: Band of bothers (Member Post)

Change is coming and you will like it whether you like it or not. The iMac has a big anniversary and Apple dons a big rubber suit and crushes Tokyo.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get access to exclusive stories, podcasts, and community.. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

‘A brief history of the corporate presentation’ ↦

What was PowerPoint before PowerPoint? Slide presentations. Big, fancy, multi-projector, multi-media slide presentations. As Claire L. Evans of the MIT Technology Review reports: Before PowerPoint, and long before digital projectors, 35-millimeter film slides were king.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

In macOS Sonoma, Touch ID for sudo can survive updates

One of the great things about having a Mac with built-in biometric authentication is not having to constantly type in your password. It’s particularly nice for those of us that work in Terminal, where you can set up Touch ID to authenticate the sudo command that bestows administr … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 516: I Can See All the Electrons in the Universe!

Whether we speed up audio and video media, how we’d want Apple to change Disney Parks, our thoughts on new Apple Watch bands, and what we’re hoping to see from Apple’s Shortcuts.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 457: The Drawback is Electrocution

Apple Watch bands, all the AirTags and our favorite podcasts.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 472: Step Aside, Bob!

For years, rumors about Apple and Disney combining seemed ridiculous—but in light of Apple’s transformation and Disney’s difficulties, suddenly it seems a lot more possible. Myke and Jason examine Disney’s business and try to imagine what portions of it Apple would actually want. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

The controversy over unlimited digital lending is anything but simple ↦

A really great and nuanced piece by the New York Times‘s David Streitfeld on the legal case over the Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library, which it launched during the early days of the pandemic: Libraries have traditionally been sanctuaries for culture that could not a … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Generation gap: Using Shortcuts with Folder Actions

Nothing like mixing a Mac feature from 2002 with one from 2021.In my quest to improve my Apple analyst-call transcripts by using OpenAI’s Whisper technology, I’ve ended up in a position where I need to create an automation on my Mac that runs when an item is placed in a folder.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

This Week in Apple: An onmouseover Event (Member Post)

Apple scores a victory against Epic. Does it want to celebrate by going to Disneyland? And buying it? Also, keep this under your hat, but Apple is rumored to be shipping new phones next month.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get access to exclusive … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Sponsor) Kolide

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors again this week. AI is a hot topic in lots of businesses, but most companies still haven’t come up with policies to manage AI usage—and employees are potentially handing over all sorts of sensitive data to tools that may or may not be … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Downstream 50: Platform Chess

Disney alters the deal—pray they don’t alter it further. But is Disney suffering from franchise fatigue, and is aggressively bunding Hulu with Disney+ the solution? Also: Jason’s sad about Apple’s failed college football deal.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

In iOS 17, Siri can make the web speak

On a Safari page where Reader is available (right), tell Siri to “read this.” Within Accessibility settings (left, center), you can enable Speak Screen or Speak Selection, choose from a expanded number of voices, and adjust their speed and pitch.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 456: Cricket Curious

Does the AI really want this content?… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 515: Wrong Me Four Times

Apple’s new music discovery station, how we take notes when problem solving, our use of voice assistants, and whether Apple’s support is as good as it used to be.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

We weren’t prepared for the Galactic Starcruiser ↦

Speaking of Disney, Zombies, Run! developer Adrian Hon went to the immersive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel/roleplaying game in advance of it closing next month and wrote a detailed description of the experience.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Could Apple really buy Disney? ↦

Kim Masters and Alex Weprin, writing in The Hollywood Reporter: A few weeks before Bob Iger sat down for that CNBC interview in which he said Disney’s linear TV networks, like ABC and FX, “may not be core” to the company’s business, a veteran Hollywood executive mused to The Hol … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Callsheet provides a clean alternative to IMDB ↦

What do a classic Charles Laughton film and ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ have in common?I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention that my pal Casey Liss has launched his new app, Callsheet.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

macOS utility NightOwl now contains shady botnet code ↦

A few years back, I recommended an app called NightOwl, which allows you to toggle your Mac between dark and light mode on a schedule. While I used it for a while, it eventually got supplanted by built-in macOS features.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Apple’s college football TV deal, and a century-old athletic conference, fall apart ↦

After recent reports that Apple was close to striking its first TV deal for American Colletge Football, the whole deal collapsed like a house of cards last week. According to numerous reports like … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 471: A Technological 23rd Century Star Trek Thing

Jason has the painful details about Apple’s comeback bid for college football TV rights that fell just short of the goal line. We also discuss what Apple’s rich-but-middling quarterly results say about the importance of this fall’s iPhone launch.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Sponsor) Stupid Companies Make AI Promises. Smart Companies Have AI Policies.

It seems like every company is scrambling to stake their claim in the AI goldrush–check out the CEO of Kroger promising to bring LLMs into the dairy aisle. And front line workers are following suit… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

This Week in Apple: Only competing against yourself (Member Post)

The rumor mill giveth again, as more updated devices are on the horizon—some in zeitgeisty colors. Apple’s down quarter, meanwhile, won’t stop the company from being the best dang technology company it can be.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get acc … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

This is Tim: Apple’s Q3 2023 analyst call, transcribed

Every three months after releasing its corporate earnings, Apple’s CEO and CFO get on the phone and chat with financial analysts. By which we mean, they read from prepared statements and then take a couple questions each from a group of handpicked analysts.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Apple Q3 2023 Charts: $81.8B revenue, down 1%

Apple announced its results for its fiscal third quarter on Thursday. As expected, it was a down quarter—though at a 1% drop over the year-ago quarter, it’s a better result than the previous quarter, which was down 3% year-over-year.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 514: Hey, Stop! That’s Mine!

The last time we had an AR experience, our thoughts on social media services paying for news links in Canada, the current state of smartphone innovation, and whether we think AI “hallucinations” are a deal-breaker for the future of generative AI.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 455: Is a Foldable Phone a Sandwich?

Hilarious mistakes were made.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Creating podcast video with a 360-degree camera

The view from the top.Recently, the podcasters of The Incomparable got together in person and one of the things we did was exactly what you’d expect podcasters to do—we made podcasts.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Report: Apple close to college football broadcast deal ↦

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that Apple may be about to jump into College Football: Sources: The primary deal presented to Pac-12 executives/ADs today was an primarily Apple streaming deal. The… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

57 app icons and nothing good on (Member Post)

Every year I start my annual ritual of installing the tvOS beta on the secondary Apple TV. Not the one in the living room—I’m not crazy—but the one in my office.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get access to exclusive stories, podcasts, and communit … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

The Back Page: Credit where credit is due (Member Post)

There’s no shortage of news in the technology arena this week. Elon Musk changed the name of Twitter to a single letter.1 Samsung announced some new foldable phones.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get access to exclusive stories, podcasts, and comm … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 470: Magic Titanium

This week we wonder if Apple will profess further mastery of the Periodic Table with this fall’s iPhone Pro release, and if Lionel Messi will conquer the world with Apple’s help. And fo… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

This Week in Apple: Banish the bezel (Member Post)

Apple continues its ongoing war with unsightly blank spaces, and that may end up costing us all a little more. The App Store follies continue as Apple is caught in its own game of tower defense.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get access to exclusiv … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Summer is two-computer season on my desk

Screen Sharing is my friend.I love beta season. New software brings new features to discover and explore. It’s like living in the future. The one thing I don’t like, however, is incompatibility.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

The right Mac laptop for students (2023 edition) ↦

I just updated my perennial “The right Mac laptop to buy for a student” story today. It’s funny how that story has evolved since I first posted it. In 2017 the answer was “W… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Switching to Mac and building automations (6C Podcast)

Anže Tomić’s article makes us consider Apple’s focus on trackpads and lack of language localization. Also: Apple platform software advantages, and trying to outsmart ourselves with user automations.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get access to excl … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

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

My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week. As a native Safari extension, Magic Lasso blocks all intrusive ads, trackers and annoyances – letting you experience a faster, cleaner and more secure experience across all your devices.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Downstream 49: Selling Shovels

Did Netflix lure the rest of the streaming industry into quicksand? We explore the difference between being an entertainment retailer and wholesaler. Then it’s time to talk about the man, the legend, the human topic: Disney’s Bob Iger.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 513: Cow Moo Pig Oink

The current state of our social media presences, tech tips for navigating medical situations, spatial apps we’d like to see for Apple Vision Pro, and how we deal with mis-delivered packages.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 454: Strong Old Man Energy

Maybe social media was a bad idea.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

I switched to a Mac after decades on Windows

I bought my first Mac ever this year. I was born in 1983 in Slovenia1. My first contact with computers was at about 10 years old with the ZX Spectrum my mom’s cousin had.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 469: Bring in the Boffins

Myke’s summer is a lot less fun due to his concerns about a bill advancing in the UK Parliament that could potentially drive some Apple services out of the country. Also we try to understand … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Sponsor) 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. It’s easy to setup, blocks all YouTube ads, … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

This Week in Apple: Take my word for it (Member Post)

Two sketchy reports were heaved over the transom this week, one about Apple Maps and the other about AI. But what’s even more sketchy is the British government’s excuses for making communications apps less secure.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Sponsor) Kolide

My thanks to Kolide for sponsoring Six Colors this week. Getting OS updates installed on end user devices should be easy, but of course it isn’t. Forcing restarts without user approval will l… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

Bloomberg: No, really, Apple’s working on language AI ↦

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that Apple is working on large-language model AI technology: Apple Inc. is quietly working on artificial intelligence tools… but the company has yet to devise a clear strategy for releasing the technology to consumers.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 512: A Chonky Boy

The sites, apps, and services we use for research; how our university tech setups influenced our lives; the navigation apps we use; and our favorite features from Apple’s OS betas.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 453: Downtime at the Cap’n Crunch Factory

A few of our favorite things about the public betas.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 year ago