How to check Apple Intelligence Reports, available when you use Writing Tools and other AI features in an Apple silicon Mac. | Continue reading
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
As expected, Apple has release the update to macOS 15.1 Sequoia, together with security updates to bring Sonoma […] | Continue reading
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
I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 279. Here are my solutions to them. 1: The […] | Continue reading
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
Paintings continue with three sketches by Honoré Daumier, and set pieces by Hispaleto, telling the misadventures of Cervantes' Don Quixote. | Continue reading
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
Enormously popular across Europe, Cervantes' 'Don Quixote' led to some fine narrative paintings, but why so few even in the 19th century? | Continue reading
Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: The first […] | Continue reading
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
Examples of interiors by Gerard ter Borch, who liked open-ended narrative, Gabriël Metsu, Pieter de Hooch, and Jan Vermeer. | Continue reading
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
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
How Intel Macs without a T2 chip boot, and how Secure Boot works in those with T2 or Apple silicon chips. How the latter can still enjoy Secure Boot when starting up from an external disk. | Continue reading
Wedding paintings by Rubens, Watteau, Delacroix, Frith, and Naturalists from the time that photography was creating a new market. | Continue reading
Authentication dialogs differ on Macs with Touch ID support, although they can still use a traditional format. Here are different versions of the dialog and explanations. | Continue reading
Pitched battles at the weddings of Hippodame and Pirithous, and Andromeda and Perseus. The Trojan War resulting from the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, and turning water into wine with Veronese. | Continue reading
How the immutable system of the SSV, the firmlinked Data volume, and cryptexes 'grafted' into the directory tree combine to form the boot volume group of Intel and Apple silicon Macs running macOS 15. | Continue reading
How Hercules and Achelous came to fight one another over the hand of Deianira, resulting in one of the river god's horns being wrenched off to become the Horn of Plenty. | Continue reading
I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 278. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Platform […] | Continue reading
How do sparse bundles and read-write disk images compare with regard to their efficient use of disk space, and in maintenance requirements? Here are test results from Sequoia. | Continue reading
Pointillisme in the city, with Henri-Edmond Cross and Paul Signac, with more by John Singer Sargent, in the early years of the 20th century. | Continue reading
In Sequoia, the Tips app has shot from being hidden in CoreServices to join Apple's first league apps in the main Applications folder. Is this real change, or merely cosplay? | Continue reading
Maurice Prendergast,Henri-Edmond Cross, Martín Rico, Walter Sickert, John Singer Sargent, and others paint the canals. | Continue reading
Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: Platform executive […] | Continue reading
First securing the Home folder in an encrypted sparse disk image, then to whole-volume encryption using CoreStorage, now using T2 and Apple silicon chips. | Continue reading
First popular in the Dutch Golden Age, paintings of interiors enjoyed success during the 19th century, when they were favourites of the avant garde. | Continue reading
How to fit over 90 GB of files into a sparse bundle that's only 13.8 MB in size, just like Doctor Who's TARDIS. No APFS sparse files are involved. | Continue reading
Arable farmers learned to rotate crops, to prevent loss of soil fertility. At the same time, land was enclosed to remove it from use for communal grazing. | Continue reading
How to tell whether someone has been eating the (APFS) porridge on one of your disks, using Get Info and DiskUtility's First Aid. And a surprise hidden volume from 3 years ago. | Continue reading
Apple has just released an update to XProtect Remediator security software for Catalina or later, bringing it to […] | Continue reading
Views from the inside of balconies looking out and down, from German Romanticism, through Morisot and Caillebotte, to Corinth and Pierre Bonnard. | Continue reading
Sparse bundles (UDSB), read-write disk images (UDRW) and sparse images (UDSP) compared on two SSD, with and without container encryption. | Continue reading
Apple has just released an update to XProtect for all supported versions of macOS, bringing it to version […] | Continue reading
Views from outside looking up and in, including David and Bathsheba, Romeo and Juliet, an early plein air landscape, and Goya's majas. | Continue reading
Full screen single window, freestyle overlapping, tiled, full screen split view, Stage Manager, Spaces and Mission Control - each pictured and explained. | Continue reading
Stories of shape-shifters who could morph readily into animals and even inanimate objects. Includes Proteus, Erysichthon's daughter, and leads on to Achelous himself. | Continue reading
I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 277. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Volatile […] | Continue reading
The only disk images of varying size used to be sparse bundles and sparse disk images. Now plain read-write disk images can also vary in the disk space they take, as explained here. | Continue reading
Paintings by Martín Rico, a Spaniard who painted in Venice ever summer, and died in the city, Renoir, John Henry Twachtman, Frank Duveneck, Boudin, and others. | Continue reading
In Sequoia, dragging a window to the edge of the display could suddenly enlarge it to cover the whole screen. Finding the control in System Settings isn't straightforward, and there's no Undo either. | Continue reading
Landscape and history painter who progressed from realist, through Barbizon to Impressionism, then his views caught fire. Spectacular landscapes indeed. | Continue reading
Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: Volatile anaesthetic […] | Continue reading
From a desk accessory Choose Printer, to the Chooser, then Print Centre, Print & Fax, and Print & Scan, how printer support has changed. | Continue reading
She continued to paint during the final years of her life, expressing her concern at deforestation. Here are some of her most radical works. | Continue reading
It's easy to ensure that SilentKnight won't inadvertently install an upgrade to Sequoia, but still updates the security data files you want. Here's how. | Continue reading
Paintings of fields of buckwheat (not a cereal at all), sainfoin (ideal for horses), flax (oil paints and linen), and clover. And how the Dutch Golden Age changed its agriculture. | Continue reading