(Podcast) Upgrade 342: 24 24 24 24 23 23 23 23 22 22 22 22

This week we ponder the future of WWDC, say goodbye to the iMac Pro, investigate a new iPad stand, and wonder about the misplaced priorities of the Paramount+ roll-out. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Goodbye, parallel timeline: Apple discontinues the iMac Pro

The iMac Pro, released in 2017, is no longer being made. Apple continues to sell them while they last, but that’s it. This isn’t a surprise. The iMac Pro hasn’t ever been updated,… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Newsletters without email

The California Sun newsletter, forwarded to NetNewsWire. Like many people in 2021, I suddenly find myself a paying subscriber to a bunch of email newsletters. One of the benefits of working at home… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

6C Podcast: March 5, 2021

The good stuff: spam and text editors. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) 20 Macs for 2020 podcast 24: John Gruber, part 1

An interview from June 12, 2020 covering the first nine entries in the series. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

iOS 14.5 beta Find My feature could tell you when you’re being tracked ↦

9to5Mac’s Benjamin Mayo caught a new feature in the latest iOS 14.5 beta: Something I hadn’t considered before: new beta includes a Item Safety setting in Find My. This is how Apple is trying… | 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

Apple lets you transfer photos to Google Photos ↦

Juli Clover at MacRumors: Apple this week introduced a new service that’s designed to make it quick and easy for iCloud users to transfer their stored photos and videos to Google Photos. As o… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) For All Mankind S2E3 Review: “Rules of Engagement” (TeeVee 696)

Turns out that the Soviets are America’s annoying moon roommates, moving their stuff without asking—and it might trigger a lunar conflict. Also, Tracy and Gordo continue to be messed up, Margo prov… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

StrongSync: A peek at the future of cloud files on the Mac

This is Google Drive, but it looks just like iCloud Drive. Long-time Mac storage utility maker ExpanDrive has launched StrongSync, a $50 utility that… sort of does what ExpanDrive already doe… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

The lifetime of a software lifetime ↦

Related to my thoughts about the mortality of software and the announcement that Weather Line is shutting down, Jonas Downey of Basecamp writes about the meaning of buying a “lifetime” … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) Clockwise 388: We Put the Fun in Fungible

Our favorite dongles, adapters, and docks. Our thoughts on day trading. How we deal with spam calls and texts. Gadgets and accessories that haven’t gotten as much use during the pandemic. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Comcast makes it really hard to figure out upload speeds ↦

Ars Technica’s Jon Brodkin runs up against one of my personal pet peeves: the inability to easily get information about the upload speeds on Comcast’s various internet plans. I’ve… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

(Podcast) The Rebound 331: Imaginary Brother

Printer and Other Peripherals Corner. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Searching for the perfect iOS Markdown writing tool

I love writing on my iPad. The mere act of getting up from my desk and switching away from my iMac can help me break out of a rut and be more productive. I frequently write in my backyard and at my… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

How it feels to be edited ↦

Everyone needs an editor. But there is no doubt that being edited can be excruciating. Especially if your editor is good at what they do. Here’s a short bit from Marcin Wichary about the edit… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Apple should broaden its privacy commitment (Macworld/Jason Snell)

For years now, Apple has trumpeted its commitment to the privacy of its customers. Unlike most of its competitors, Apple’s business model (primarily selling products and services, not advertising) … | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

Do you need a bootable Mac backup? ↦

For years, one of the standards of Mac data protection has been making a daily bootable backup. If your Mac’s hard drive dies, you can plug in the backup and use it as your boot drive, pickin… | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 3 years ago

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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 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 | 4 years ago

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

Don’t buy the Apple TV. | Continue reading


@sixcolors.com | 4 years ago