Google will stop tracking individuals for advertising next year ↦

Sam Schechner and Keach Hagey, writing at The Wall Street Journal: Google plans to stop selling ads based on individuals’ browsing across multiple websites, a change that could hasten upheaval in t… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

MagSafe in a USB-C World (Member Post)

When the first MacBook Pro was announced in 2006, it was better than the PowerBook G4 is a myriad of ways: it was way faster, promised to run cooler, included a camera for video chats and — of cour… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

‘The incredible boxes of Hock Wah Yeo’ ↦

Photo courtesy of Macintosh Garden. Kids, when I was your age, the App Store was called “boxed software.” As in software, on disk or CD, in a cardboard box. You could buy it at the stor… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Wish List: Better anti-spam tools for Messages

In the war against spam, it often feels like we’re waging an uphill battle. While our email tools have improved and evolved over the last few years, the battlefield has started to shift from … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Sponsor) Kandji

This week, Six Colors is brought to you by Kandji. Kandji is building the future of Apple enterprise management. The use of Apple devices in the enterprise is growing rapidly. Drawing on decades of… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 341: Pale Shade of Fun

This week: colorful iMacs, adding ports and slots to MacBook Pros, Paramount+ enters the streaming wars, and Twitter attempts to finally do something. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

What Apple’s patents say about the company’s VR and AR ambitions (Macworld/Dan Moren)

With a company as secretive as Apple, those wanting to divine the company’s intentions and future plans often seize upon the slightest shred of material that escapes the curved glass walls of… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

The Back Page: Dial F for Forstall (Member Post)

Lawyers. I don’t hold much with ’em as a rule, but they pay well, and I’ve got more than a few app subscriptions to my name. So when this fellow walks through my door with the tro… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

6C Podcast: February 26, 2021

Who doesn’t love a puzzle? | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) For All Mankind S2E2 Review: “The Bleeding Edge”

Not every episode of “For All Mankind” needs to have the drama of a solar storm. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Interview: Ron Moore on “For All Mankind” season 2, alt-history space tech, and the road to “Star Trek”

In episode 143 of the Liftoff podcast, Stephen Hackett and I interviewed the show’s co-creator, Ronald D. Moore about the second season of his TV series “For All Mankind,” which d… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

A ‘hyperrealistic’ typewriter font for the 2020s ↦

Designer Fredrick R. Brennan was disgusted by terrible fake typewriter props in movies and TV, obviously created by people who either haven’t seen a typewriter in years or maybe ever: The mai… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Federico Viticci updates his “Apple Frames” shortcut ↦

One of the most clever iOS Shortcuts out there is the one Federico Viticci built to place iOS and watchOS screenshots inside images of the hardware they’re running on. (An example is attached… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 330: Scott Forstall’s Number

Our SSDs are aging too fast! | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 387: My Bell is Just Out of Reach

Apps that need some reinvention, our wake-up/bedtime smartphone habits, the appeal (or not) of hi-fi music, and what we’ve added to our emergency kits. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

What Apple Music can do to catch up with Spotify (Macworld/Jason Snell)

Apple ignited the legal music-download revolution with iTunes, led again by dropping copy-protecting DRM from its music downloads, and in 2007 led a major upgrade in digital-music quality with the … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Secret binary message embedded in Mars Perseverance parachute ↦

Yesterday at a press conference at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mars Perseverance entry, descent and landing lead Allen Chen laid out a not particularly subtle challenge: “In addit… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Report: M1 Mac users seeing excessive SSD use ↦

Writing at MacRumors, Hartley Charlton collects some reports that M1 Macs are registering high SSD use: Across Twitter and the MacRumors forums, users are reporting that M1 Macs are experiencing ex… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 340: Secret Sauce

New iPad keyboards make us notice the magic of the Magic Trackpad, AirPods might be getting an unwelcome makeover, and the butterfly keyboard isn’t really gone as long as we remember it. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Sponsor) Kandji

My thanks to Kandji for sponsoring Six Colors this week. Kandji is building the future of Apple device management. Drawing on decades of experience in Apple IT, the founders of Kandji saw the need … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Fun With Charts: Numbers versus time

A friend of mine, knowing that I’ve create many charts in Numbers, sent me an interesting example of how Numbers frequently doesn’t behave as you’d expect it to. Our expectation a… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

6C Podcast: February 19, 2021

We came in peace, for all mouse-kind. A podcast in two acts. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) 20 Macs for 2020 podcast 23: John Siracusa, part 3

From November 20, 2020: Titanium PowerBook G4, MacBook Air, the original Macintosh, PowerBook 140/170, iMac G3, and to his great dismay, John learns Jason’s final rankings. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) 20 Macs for 2020 podcast 22: John Siracusa, part 2

John Siracusa discusses six more old Macs for the 20 Macs for 2020 Project. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) For All Mankind S2E1 Review: “Every Little Thing”

“For All Mankind” has returned for a second season on Apple TV+, and this season Jason Snell and Dan Moren will be reviewing every episode! In the premiere, we get a time jump accompanied by a mont… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Perseverance Lands on Mars ↦

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars on Thursday. After a trip through the Martian atmosphere, the rover was lowered to the ground by a hovering “sky crane.” Even more amazing… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Liftoff #143: The Perseverance Landing and “For All Mankind” with Ron Moore

This week is a super special episode of the Liftoff podcast: Jason Snell and Stephen Hackett interview Ron Moore, co-creator, writer and producer of “For All Mankind” on Apple TV+. We d… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Apple’s TV app now on Chromecast ↦

Apple’s TV app roll-out continues. Here’s Abner Li of 9to5Google: As announced in December, Apple TV is now available globally on the Chromecast with Google TV. The new app allows you t… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 386: So Many Dangerous Answers

Feature parity on social networks, awesome things born of a creative spark, venting our tech frustrations, and topics we avoid bringing up on social media. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 329: You’re Not the Beyoncé of Me

Don’t buy the Apple TV. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Sponsor) Kandji

This week, Six Colors is brought to you by Kandji. Kandji is building the future of Apple enterprise management. The use of Apple devices in the enterprise is growing rapidly. Drawing on decades of… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Brydge announces improved firmware for Pro+ trackpad, new 10.2-inch model

About 10 months ago I reviewed the Brydge Pro+, a version of my favorite iPad Pro keyboard that added a trackpad. The good news was that with iPadOS 13.4, Apple enabled full trackpad support. The b… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Apple makes a strategic retreat (Macworld/Jason Snell)

Apple is not a person. It’s easy to forget sometimes, but Apple is not Tim Cook or the imprint of Steve Jobs or Phil Schiller or any other person. It’s an entity made up of thousands of people and … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Get images in better formats with Hazel (Member Post)

I came late to Hazel, Noodlesoft’s $42 utility that can act automatically on folders on your Mac to perform all sorts of tasks automatically. It was a desire to automatically compress old pod… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

New emojis arrive in iOS 14.5 ↦

Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia has information about new emojis in the latest iOS 14.5 beta: 💉 Syringe isn’t a new emoji, but it does have one change in the forthcoming update from Apple: the blo… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 339: Dogcow and Spinning Rainbow Cursor in Finderland

Disney+ keeps growing and its original content is flowing, and Apple TV+ brings new marketing muscle to bear for the second-season launch of “For All Mankind.” And what can Apple do to … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Apple launches ‘For All Mankind’ podcast ↦

Apple TV+’s space drama “For All Mankind” returns for its second season this Friday. And as a part of the launch, Apple is announcing its first official Apple TV+ companion podcas… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Can Apple handle the great responsibility that is the App Store? (Macworld/Dan Moren)

Oftentimes, your biggest strengths are also your biggest vulnerabilities. That’s just as true for Apple as it is for anyone else. While the iPhone is surely the product that catapulted the Cupertin… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Command, Control, Option, and … Hyper? ↦

David Sparks: I’m a big advocate for the hyper key. This idea was first introduced to me by Brett Terpstra and involves mapping Shift-Control-Option-Command to the caps lock key. Using the hyper ke… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Customizing your toolbar in Mac apps (Member Post)

We all get so used to the way that our Macs work that we sometimes forget that one of reasons that we love the platform is its flexibility—and I’m just as guilty of this as anybody. When I re… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

6C Podcast: February 12, 2021

Apple TV, smart home strategy, and we compare our ‘buts.’ | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Apple TV: If we only had a wheelbarrow

What I wouldn’t give for a holocaust cloak and Fitness+ support. On Thursday I asked why the Apple TV still exists in its current form and at its current price. I had some ideas, but if you p… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) 20 Macs for 2020 podcast 21: John Siracusa, part 1

Two interviews with John Siracusa used for the 20 Macs for 2020 podcast, discussing the first nine entries in the series. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Why does the Apple TV still exist?

Remember when the future of TV was apps? I use the Apple TV every day. It’s attached to my living room TV. And while I’ve complained about how little Apple seems to be focused on updati… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 328: Lex is a Bard

A surprising amount of mug talk. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 385: QuibHouse

Apple’s App Store woes, whether we’ve picked up Apple Fitness+, our thoughts on Clubhouse, and the oldest tech we use. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Upgrade 338: Loved by Podcasters the World Over

Change is coming for us whether we like it or not. This week we ponder the possibility of an augmented-reality future, and mourn the loss of a piece of software we’ve used for every single episode … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Automate This: Revisiting Home automations

On last week’s episode of the Six Colors Podcast (available to members of this fine website), I mentioned to Jason that my alarm clock was starting to shuffle off this mortal coil, so I’… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago