Migrating to a new Mac, and claiming Time Machine backups

When and how to use Migration Assistant to move apps, settings and documents to a new or previously owned Mac. Also how a Mac can claim an old Mac's backups. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Changing Paintings: 45 Dryope, Byblis and Iphis

The first transformed into a Lotus Tree for picking lotus flowers; the second dissolved in her own tears to become a spring; the third changing gender in time for their wedding. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 281

I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 281. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Second […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Inside M4 chips: P cores

Details of their frequency, ISA, power use, and how macOS allocates threads to P cores and relocates them. Supported by data from an M4 Pro. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

James Tissot’s Anglo-French stories: 2, to England and return

His narrative series continued in London, with veteran's stories, a social gaffe, a modernised version of the prodigal son, and the modern woman in Paris. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Last Week on My Mac: Mac mini M4 Pro first impressions, cores and more

Set up from unboxing in under 2 hours, its CPU cores perform better than those in the M3, differences that are magnified. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

James Tissot’s Anglo-French stories: 1, France

From 1859, he established himself as a detailed realist, and painted scenes from Goethe's Faust. They were followed by the return of the prodigal sone and more. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Saturday Mac riddles 281

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: Second major […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

A brief history of privacy protection on Macs

After years of limited controls, in Mojave (2018) Apple unleashed TCC and greatly enhanced privacy settings, that have come to dominate System Settings. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Interiors by design: Studios, history and light

The interiors of an artist's studio, realistic or fantastic, those of the Netherlands a century earlier, a cotton office in New Orleans, and more. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Why % CPU in Activity Monitor isn’t what you think

One of the most common reasons for opening Activity Monitor is to check the % CPU of processes that might be running out of control. How accurate are those figures, though, and should you believe them? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Commemorating the centenary of the death of Hans Thoma: 2, from 1886

He finally achieve success in 1890, and even became a member of the State Parliament. Here's his curious mix of landscapes and mythology. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Which M4 chip and model?

Is an M4 next week a better risk than the promise of a better model next year? Understand how to select the M4 chip suited to your needs, and specify your new Mac. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

The Real Country: Potatoes

The humble vegetable that enabled Europe's population boom in the 19th century. When diseased by blight, it resulted in more than a million deaths. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Sequoia catches: periodic and VMs

periodic has been removed from Sequoia. AI doesn't appear to activate in macOS 15.1 VMs, and they may get a surprise update intended for M4 Macs. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Apple has just released an update to XProtect for all macOS

Apple has just released an update to XProtect for all supported versions of macOS, bringing it to version […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Reading visual art: 171 Coffin

Juana the Mad, who refused to let her husband be buried, resurrection of the drowned, funerals in the Carpathians, and fear of being buried alive. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Why notarize apps?

We want confidence that all executable code is exactly as was built by its developer, and if any is found to be malicious, we want macOS to be able to block its launch. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Changing Paintings: 44 The birth of Hercules

Juno won't let the labour of Hercules' mother progress, so one of maids tricks Lucina into allowing the infant's delivery, for which the maid is turned into a weasel. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 280

I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 280. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Third […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

How does QuickLook create Thumbnails and Previews? With an update to Mints

How to discover which QuickLook generator or app extension should be creating Thumbnails or Previews for different file types, using this new version of Mints. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Paintings of Gloucester Harbour and Dogtown: 1910-1936

Louise Upton Brumback moves from the harbour to the beaches, and with Marsden Hartley visits the abandoned settlement of Dogtown. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Last Week on My Mac: M4 incoming

Comparing CPU core counts and maximum core frequencies across the four families in the M series, plus expected performance of Thunderbolt 5. Which M4 Mac should you buy? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Paintings of Gloucester Harbour: 1850-1910

Paintings by Fitz Henry Lane, Winslow Homer, Willard Metcalf, Frederick Childe Hassam, and Frank Duveneck. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Saturday Mac riddles 280

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: Third prime […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

A brief history of icons, thumbnails and QuickLook

From the original Desktop databases linking files to distinctive icons, to the sophistication of QuickLook, how display of thumbnails for files has changed in Mac OS. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Interiors by design: Revival

Middle class collectors came to like paintings of interiors, sometimes without any figures at all. Others were Orientalist, or told open-ended narrative. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Why you need to make archives, and how to

Backups are for recovery, while archives are for posterity. Plan for the future now by storing important files on durable media in your personal archives. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Commemorating the centenary of the death of Hans Thoma: 1, to 1885

A prolific painter of everything from landscapes to mythology, he trained in Karlsruhe, travelled widely, but struggled to establish his art in the years to 1885. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

How Sequoia has changed QuickLook and its thumbnails

Have documents saved by your favourite apps lost their custom Thumbnails and Previews in Sequoia? Here's what has gone wrong, and what you do about it. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

The Real Country: Hay

Mow the grass, scatter it about, gather it in windrows, cock it, scatter then windrow it again, until it's dry and ready to stack. How to make hay the hard way. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Securing the modern Mac: an overview

Recommendations for the 'standard' user for security and privacy protection from startup to shutdown. A broad overview of all key systems and how they fit together. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Watch for overdue Safari 18.1 updates for Sonoma and Ventura

If your Mac is still running Sonoma or Ventura, and you have already updated it to 14.7.1 or […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Reading visual art: 170 Mermaid

Human in their upper body, and fish from the waist down, these aren't sirens at all, but have their own mythology in many traditions. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Check Writing Tools using AIR

How to check Apple Intelligence Reports, available when you use Writing Tools and other AI features in an Apple silicon Mac. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

What has changed in macOS Sequoia 15.1?

A broad overview of changes listed by Apple, with links, how to enable AI on compatible Macs, and version changes in bundled apps and libraries. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Apple has released macOS Sequoia 15.1, and security updates to 14.7.1 and 13.7.1

As expected, Apple has release the update to macOS 15.1 Sequoia, together with security updates to bring Sonoma […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Changing Paintings: 43 The death of Hercules

When the centaur Nessus tried to abduct Hercules' wife, he was impaled by an arrow. He set up the later death of the hero, who was destroyed by poison in his own arrow. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 279

I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 279. Here are my solutions to them. 1: The […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Planning complex Time Machine backups for efficiency

Understand how TM backs up and how snapshots work to minimise the size of local snapshots and backups, and the time they take. How to ensure files in iCloud Drive are backed up properly. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Painting Don Quixote: Decline and fall

Paintings continue with three sketches by Honoré Daumier, and set pieces by Hispaleto, telling the misadventures of Cervantes' Don Quixote. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Last Week on My Mac: Writing Tools

What does the new Writing Tools feature in Sequoia 15.1 offer? Here are examples of its different types of summary, and a comparison with other types of AI. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Painting Don Quixote: Arise the knight

Enormously popular across Europe, Cervantes' 'Don Quixote' led to some fine narrative paintings, but why so few even in the 19th century? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Saturday Mac riddles 279

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: The first […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

A brief history of Mac firmware

From the Macintosh ROM of Classic days, to Open Firmware in Power Macs, and on to (U)EFI with Intel, and ending up with LLB and iBoot in Apple silicon Macs. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Interiors by design: The Dutch Golden Age

Examples of interiors by Gerard ter Borch, who liked open-ended narrative, Gabriël Metsu, Pieter de Hooch, and Jan Vermeer. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

macOS Sequoia 15.1 next week

Sequoia 15.1 is imminent, and comes with Writing Tools. Most other AI features wait for 15.2, now in beta, and expected in early December. Don't underestimate Writing Tools, though. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

The Real Country: 10 Cattle

They drew carts and ploughs, in preference to horses where power rather than speed was needed. Also for milk, beef and their hides processed into leather. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago