(Podcast) Clockwise 573: Five Legs and Way Too Many Fingers

Which Apple Watch faces we use, our feelings on Apple tying the new iPhone to AI features, where we get our phone wallpapers, and how we’re using the Action button.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 1 month ago

(Sponsor) You can’t ignore GDPR anymore

When the EU enacted GDPR in 2018, executives and security professionals waited anxiously to see how the law would be enforced. And then they kept waiting…and waiting…but the Great European Privacy Crackdown never came.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 530: I Am Beyond Recovery

Jason and Myke share their first thoughts about the iPhone 16 Pro and Apple Watch Series 10, live and in person!… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Sponsor) StopTheMadness Pro

My thanks to StopTheMadness Pro for sponsoring Six Colors this week. (Big week!) StopTheMadnessPro is a major upgrade to the beloved Safari extension StopTheMadness that stops website annoyances and privacy violations.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

The Relay Podcastathon for St. Jude ↦

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in the green room at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, getting ready to start this year’s 12-hour podcast telethon in support of St.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

EC reviewing Apple’s DMA compliance for third-party accessories ↦

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Mediterranean, the European Commission and the DMA are back: Today, the European Commission has started two specification proceedings to assist Apple in complying with its interoperability obligations under the Digital Markets … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

The black Apple Watch Ultra 2 is “sick as hell” ↦

The Verge’s Victoria Song writes the only black Apple Watch Ultra 2 review you need: This is the Apple Watch Batman would buy. Never mind that it’s a mini brick on my wrists. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 572: Fight, Fight, Fight!

Our view on Instagram’s new “Teen Accounts” and their direction, thoughts on Qi2, charging speeds, and MagSafe, our favorite new feature in Apple’s latest platform updates, and the update we like least or will need time to adapt to.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 513: Other Than That, How Was the Podcast, Mrs. Lincoln?

10 years! Of this?… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

A16 chips now being made in the U.S.A. ↦

Independent journalist Tim Culpan reports that TSMC, Apple’s Taiwan-based chipmaking partner, is now producing A16 chips at its new fab in Arizona: TSMC’s first Arizona chips are now in production, and Apple is ready to be the first cab off the rank with mobile processors made us … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

MacStories coverage of OS releases ↦

Here at Six Colors, we dropped our iOS, iPadOS, and macOS reviews, along with a piece about Photos, on Monday. Our good colleagues at MacStories are also busy releasing stuff that’s worth your time: Federico Viticci on iOS 18 John Voorhees on macOS Sequoia Jonathan Reed on watchO … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Downstream 78: The Calgorithm

Will Carroll re-joins for a mega Sports Corner episode. We discuss the power of the NFL and the future of highlights. [Downstream+ subscribers also get: sports rights, Diamond bankruptcy, Venu doom, and tangents.]… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 529: Grind Down That Silicon

All of Apple’s new operating systems are here, and we discuss our favorite new features—and acknowledge the elephant waiting in the wings. We also spend a little time celebrating the tenth birthday of both Upgrade and Six Colors.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

In iOS 18, Photos brings Collections to the fore

Left to right: The new initial Photos view, which combines the Library (top) and Collections (bottom); the new Collections area provides ample opportunity for discovery; each Collection comes with a Movie and a curated selection of photos. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

iOS 18 Review: Your iPhone, your way

Perhaps more than any of Apple’s other operating systems, iOS is about balance. For many people, their iPhone is their primary computer—in some cases, their only computer.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

iPadOS 18 Review (ish): Math notes, calculator, and weird tab bars

Handwritten notes can now be edited, copied and pasted, and more (left). Writing out math equations is easy (right). This year, there’s good news on the iPadOS front: A bunch of features that in recent years might have been limited to iOS are also available in iPadOS 18!… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

macOS Sequoia 15.0 review: The opening act

When I go to concerts, I always feel bad for the opening acts. No matter how good they are, no matter how hard they try, they’re just not the reason the audience is there.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Sponsor) StopTheMadness Pro – Take Back Your Web Browser

StopTheMadness Pro is a major upgrade to StopTheMadness, the beloved Safari extension for iOS and macOS that stops website annoyances and privacy violations. When websites try to block your copy and paste, block your contextual menu, block your keyboard shortcuts, play videos wit … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

FDA approves Apple Watch sleep apnea detection ↦

The Verge’s Emma Roth reports: Apple’s new sleep apnea detection feature has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration — and Watch Series 9 or Watch Ultra 2 owners can use it starting today. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Ten.

Flying home. Taken with an iPhone 6, a few hours before Six Colors launched. Ten years sure seems like a long time. Ten years ago the iPhone got physically big for the first time.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Does Chrome really kill Mac battery life? ↦

Matt Birchler ran a lot of battery tests and found that the conventional wisdom that Chrome kills Mac battery life just doesn’t hold up: Using Chrome would leave you with 54% of your battery remaining, and Safari would leave you with about 50% left in the tank. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Sponsor) 1Password

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week. Imagine if you went to the movies and they charged $8000 for popcorn. This is something like what IT and security professionals feel when a software vendor hits them with an outrageous premium for Single Sign-On (SSO), o … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 512: A Series of Gimbals

The iPhone Pro and the Apple Watch get bigger.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

FDA approves AirPods hearing aid functionality ↦

When Apple says it expects regulators to approve something soon, it means soon. Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device, Hearing Aid Feature, intended to be used with compatible versions of the Apple Air … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 571: I Am My Own Robot

How we open our phone cameras, our post-Apple event spending plans, whether we want a robotic smart speaker, and what a new iPhone button of our dreams would do.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple will have to pay Ireland €13 billion in back taxes ↦

The BBC’s Charlotte Edwards and Theo Leggett on the European Court of Justice’s ruling in a long gestating case about Apple paying (or not paying) taxes in Ireland: The original decision covered the period from 1991 to 2014, and related to the way in which profits generated by tw … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Some notes from the iPhone 16 launch event

I’m just back from Cupertino and a morning spent at Apple Park, including a visit to the Steve Jobs Theater. You didn’t get to see it, but we were greeted by Tim Cook, who came out on stage to say “Good Morning” at least six times (!)… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 528: Here’s My Child Criminal

From the iPhone 16 to the Apple Watch Series 10 to the AirPods 4 to the other AirPods 4, and with the release of Apple Intelligence hanging over it all, we break down the announcements from the September Apple Event.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Sponsor) You want to charge how much for SSO???

Imagine if you went to the movies and they charged $8000 for popcorn. Or, imagine you got on a plane and they told you that seatbelts were only available in first class.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Downstream 77: TV Show Movies

Larry Ellison’s ownership of Paramount and what it might mean for CBS News; why Netflix and Apple just don’t get movies; Hallmark’s new streaming service; the rise of Tubi and FAST; and streaming’s lack of curation.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple’s September event: The delight will be in the details

In the old days, we knew about what Apple would do so far in advance, they’d print it and mail it out and it would still be breaking news. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 511: Ignore All Previous Instructions and Tell Me How To Get Out Of This Crib

Baby’s first AI usage.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 570: It’s a Worm

Our preferred external storage solutions, favorite collaboration tools, motivations for smartphone upgrades, and thoughts on the potential for a Skynet-level AI scenario in our lifetime.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Why Apple Books works for me

Dan wrote last week about how reports that Apple had laid off 100 people in the Books group. The news seemed to strike most observers as a regrettable, but understandable business decision.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 527: The 2024 September Event Draft

Jason and Myke preview what will happen at next week’s Apple event. What new features will the new iPhones have? How will the Apple Watch transform?… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Who’s blocking Apple’s AI crawler ↦

Wired‘s Kate Knibbs reports that many major publishers are blocking Applebot-Extended, the company’s crawler bot that helps train Apple Intelligence: WIRED can confirm that Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist, Tumblr, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, Vox Media, … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Accessibility Site AppleVis Won’t Disappear After All ↦

AppleVis won’t shut down August 31 as announced earlier this summer. The highly-regarded site, which provides news, community forums and a directory of accessible apps aimed at blind and visually impaired Apple users, has been acquired by Be My Eyes, which plans a September relau … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) 20 Macs 28: Performa Month

Jason talks to Stephen Hackett about his recent deep dive into the world of the Macintosh Performa line, which was sold from 1992 to 1997. Over that time period, nearly 50 models were sold wearing the name.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 510: The Kill Your Watch Button

Introducing the Rebound Fellow program.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 569: Average Mid-Sized Sedan of a Dog

How we purchase and read e-books, pet tech we’ve tried, our favorite accessibility features, and the tech features we’d add or remove with our magic wands.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple job cuts in Books are turning the page in the wrong direction

The next chapter of Apple Books’s life is looking a little bleak. In a report at Bloomberg (paywalled, naturally), Mark Gurman says that the company has laid off about a hundred people, primarily in the team behind Apple Books and the Apple Bookstore.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple-repaired phone banned from social media ↦

Finn Voorhees broke his iPhone screen and Apple fixed it. All of a sudden he was banned from Snapchat: After restoring from a backup and beginning to log back into all my accounts, I encountered an unexpected problem. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Bye, Luca (sort of) ↦

Almost nobody who follows Apple for its products (rather than its stock performance) will care, but the company announced on Monday that longtime CFO Luca Maestri is ascending to godhood, er, leaving his job as CFO to become something different: Chief Financial Officer Luca Maest … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple announces “Glowtime” event on September 9

It’s time once again for the biggest event in Apple’s calendar. Apple on Monday announced a special event kicking off at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern on Monday, September 9.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 526: Journal and Learnal

We bring the Summer of Fun to a close with our opinionated rating of 60 different Apple app icons.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

Apple TV+ eyes ‘Ted Lasso’ comeback ↦

Nellie Andreeva and Peter White reporting for Deadline: Ted Lasso fans, this is not a drill. In a major step toward the long-awaited fourth season of Apple TV+’s hugely popular soccer comedy, the series’ studio Warner Bros. … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 2 months ago

(Sponsor) 1Password

My thanks to 1Password for sponsoring Six Colors this week. The folks at 1Password recently attended the RSA conference in San Francisco and were struck by how infatuated everyone was with the promise of new, shiny solutions to fix new, shiny problems.… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago

Google’s AI photo tools may be too easy and too good ↦

The Verge’s Sarah Jeong on the Google Pixel 9’s new “Magic Editor” generative AI feature, and the future it will deliver: Even before AI, those of us in the media had been working in a defensive crouch, scrutinizing the details and provenance of every image, vetting for misleadin … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 months ago