My thanks to Kolide for once again sponsoring Six Colors. Kolide takes a different approach to endpoint security and fleet management. They help companies meet compliance goals by enlisting the support of their users with a structured, message-based approach.… | Continue reading
Relay FM’s Myke Hurley joins Jason to discuss Jason’s new smart lock and the power of the media, Jason’s son’s college tech needs (which includes some Apple Self-Repair content for dad), and the annual Relay FM campaign for St.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a … | Continue reading
We discuss what the House of the Dragon premiere means for HBO, how Netflix judges the success of “The Sandman” and other shows, the business reasons behind Warner Bros. Discovery’… | Continue reading
Whether we put all our tech eggs in one Big Tech basket, the skills and philosophies we gained over the pandemic that we’ll keep with us, our go-to pair of headphones or earbuds, and the consumer tech we’d take with us to space.… | Continue reading
Open up.When I bought a Smart Lock I didn’t expect it would last less than four years. But I have to be honest: As much as I enjoyed the changes to my life that having a smart lock on my front door enabled, the Yale Assure SL was not stable enough for my family and me to rely on. … | Continue reading
Well, there we go. Apple’s having an event on September 7, the Wednesday after Labor Day here in the U.S., just as it did in 2016. More interesting: It’s an in-person event for some mem… | Continue reading
Brian Heater of TechCrunch reports that Apple has made official what Mark Gurman reported early this month—that iPadOS 16 won’t be released at the same time as iOS 16: In a comment to TechCrunch, the company notes, “This is an especially big year for iPadOS.… | Continue reading
Before the sun sets on the Summer of Fun, Jason has rounded up three Apple automation experts—Federico Viticci, Rosemary Orchard, and Matthew Cassinelli—to discuss the present and future of user automation on Apple’s platforms.… | Continue reading
“When was the last time you restarted it?” If you’ve ever worked at a service desk, you’ve probably wanted to tattoo this question on your forehead. Ditto for: “What device drivers do you have inst… | Continue reading
Apple’s Self-Service Repair program, which was launched in April, provides Apple parts, manuals, and (optionally) tools so that anyone so inclined can repair their iPhone themself. On Monday,… | Continue reading
Charlie Warzel used some AI art in a newsletter and it backfired spectacularly. To his credit, he used the experience to consider what the future of art on the Internet might be, and talked to artist and editor Matt Bors about it: Bors argues that what seems most alarming (and t … | Continue reading
My thanks to Kolide for once again sponsoring Six Colors. Kolide takes a different approach to endpoint security and fleet management. It’s all about helping customers meet compliance goals by enlisting the support of their end users with a structured, message-based approach.… | Continue reading
Special guest Lex Friedman joins Jason to talk about the expanded Six Colors membership program and Apple Watch battery life, among other topics.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get access to exclusive stories, podcasts, and community.. | Continue reading
Developer and privacy researcher Felix Krause has dropped a couple of bombshells recently regarding apps that use their own built-in browsers: Last week I published a report on the risks of mobile apps using in-app browsers.… | Continue reading
Taking some tips from this GitHub project and John Calhoun’s SystemSix project, I built an E Ink calendar. It also led me down a path to use Craftcloud to 3-D print a stand.… This story is for Six Colors members only. Become a member to get access to exclusive stories, podcasts, … | Continue reading
It’s time for a snap software update to address a bug that is apparently being exploited in the wild. Andrew Cunningham, reporting for Ars Technica: Apple has released a trio of operating system updates to patch security vulnerabilities that it says “may have been actively explo … | Continue reading
Almost seven years ago, I announced the Six Colors membership plan. It started as a way to support the site and in return receive some “cool extras.” What those extras were, I didn̵… | Continue reading
Our thoughts on BeReal and authenticity on social media, the state of console gaming and the cloud gaming future, our electric vehicle plans, and switching to a career outside of tech.… | Continue reading
Stephen Hackett is (like me) a big fan of the rock band Death Cab for Cutie. He leads off his review of the M2 MacBook Air with lyrics from the band’s song “Crooked Teeth”: I’m a war of head versus heart And it’s always this way My head is weak And my heart always speaks Bef … | Continue reading
Mark Gurman at Bloomberg: Apple Inc. is aiming to hold a launch event on Sept. 7 to unveil the iPhone 14 line, according to people with knowledge of the matter, rolling out the latest version of a product that generates more than half its sales.… | Continue reading
Apple returns to work, macOS security flaws are revealed, and Apple gears up to make more money on advertising.… | Continue reading
I wanted to do a quick follow-up on my recent post about attaching an Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch to the underside of my desk, because I’ve now done what I threatened to do at the end of that piece: I’ve broken into the keyboard, removed the important bits, and then reassembl … | Continue reading
What bothers Jason more, bad candy or App Store ads? Tough call. We also discuss some possible iPhone price hikes, Jason’s HomeKit (sort of) cameras, a return to macOS Ventura, and the pronunciation of Apple silicon.… | Continue reading
You know the old thought experiment about the AI designed to make paper clips, that quickly decides that in order to maximize paper clips, it will have to get rid of all the humans? A lot of security teams have a similar idea when it comes to meeting compliance goals: it would be … | Continue reading
My thanks to Kolide for once again sponsoring Six Colors. If you build a dystopian and cynical security program born out of fear, mistrust, and suspicion, then you will inevitably make your fellow employees your enemies. I’ve seen it happen. It’s not good. Kolide is different. (R … | Continue reading
Network Locations in Mac OS X 10.0. (via 512 Pixels)Network Locations is a feature of macOS that, ever since version 10.0, has allowed users to switch between different sets of network configuration preferences in different environments and situations. It’s not visible in the red … | Continue reading
We discuss the future of folding phones, the utility of wild Apple rumors, how parents monitor social media, and our travel charging strategies of the moment.… | Continue reading
John Moltz joins Jason to discuss being the person who fixes stuff, battles with IT departments, and the mystery of “TV ratings” in a streaming world.… Become a member to listen to our exclusive weekly podcast and get more benefits. | Continue reading
As a part of a longer piece (subscription required) about the Big Ten conference’s secondary and streaming college football rights negotiations, The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman writes: Amazon Prime long was considered the favorite to pick up the Big Ten’s streaming rights, but A … | Continue reading
The big story in streaming is Warner Bros. Discovery and David Zaslav’s cuts, cancellations, and the merger of HBO Max with Discovery+. Julia and Jason break it all down.… | Continue reading
Kayla Cobb of Decider interviewed Ben Stiller, executive producer of the excellent “Severance” on Apple TV+. Cobb asked Stiller how Apple shares data about the show’s viewership with the people who make it, and Stiller’s response was strange, but not really surprising: …They don … | Continue reading
Thanks to the M2 MacBook Air, Myke has decided to live a two-laptop lifestyle. We ponder the rumored delay of iPadOS 16, whether it’s a good or bad thing, and what form a new iPad Pro might take.… | Continue reading
“If you build a dystopian and cynical security program born out of fear, mistrust, and suspicion, then you will inevitably make your fellow-employees your enemies.” That’s a quote from Honest Security, Kolide’s mission statement and North Star. It was written by our CEO, Jason Me … | Continue reading
My thanks to Magic Lasso Adblock for sponsoring Six Colors this week. Magic Lasso Adblock is a great Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac. As a native content blocking extension, it blocks all intrusive ads, trackers and annoyances – letting you experience a faster, cl … | Continue reading
I was struck by this section of a report by Politico’s Eric Geller involving the deletion of Secret Service messages related to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol: The phone resets occurred as the Secret Service was implementing a new mobile device management (MDM) p … | Continue reading
Apple results, Jason’s charts, Apple car exec maneuvers, and Touch ID.… | Continue reading
How we store and share files in the cloud, the streaming video services we go to when we’re looking for something new to watch, the one computer or tablet we’d use if we could only use one, and our webcam setups.… | Continue reading
My Downstream co-host Julia Alexander, writing for Puck News (subscription required) about the launch of the Apple TV+ series “Black Bird”: Anecdotally, as someone who talks to a lot of executives in the industry, conversations about “Black Bird” all go a similar way. First, the … | Continue reading
Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg: Apple Inc. expects to delay its next major iPad software update by about a month, taking the unusual step of not releasing it at the same time as the new iPhone software, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It’s unusual, but i … | Continue reading
Mikah Sargent joins Jason to discuss smart home strategies.… Become a member to listen to our exclusive weekly podcast and get more benefits. | Continue reading
We told you a couple of weeks ago about the latest update to OmniFocus, the task manager from The Omni Group, which adds an interesting new way to control the app – with your voice. Now we’re going to take a closer look at how it works. To import new voice commands, navigate to t … | Continue reading
Like seemingly everyone else, during the early days of the pandemic I tried to spruce up our outdoor space by buying some LED string lights. They were affordable, and with a simple kit I was able to suspend some nice lighting above my patio. But plugging and unplugging the lights … | Continue reading
Do you want to block all YouTube ads in Safari on your iPhone, iPad and Mac? Then download Magic Lasso Adblock – the ad blocker designed for you. It’s easy to setup, doubles the speed at which Safari loads and now blocks all YouTube ads. Magic Lasso is an efficient, high performa … | Continue reading
Stephen Hackett joins Jason to discuss the beta lifestyle, adapting to the Mac Studio, Apple’s financial results, and Stephen’s Kickstarter project.… Become a member to listen to our exclusive weekly podcast and get more benefits. | Continue reading
My thanks to Kolide for once again sponsoring Six Colors. Kolide knows how challenging it can be to prove compliance to a third-party auditor—they just went through it themselves. They learned firsthand something their customers had been telling them for a while: that they couldn … | Continue reading
Being a member of Six Colors means you get access to members-only posts, the Six Colors Podcast, and a whole lot more. For a few years we’ve also offered a community for members in Slack. Unfortunately, while we love Slack, it’s not really a product made for communities like ours … | Continue reading
As always, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri are talking to analysts after revealing Apple’s quarterly financial results. Here’s an ongoing transcript. Tim Cook’s opening statement Today, Apple is reporting another record June quarter, with revenue of $83 billion, which was … | Continue reading
Apple’s fiscal results are out. The company generated $83B in revenue. Compared to the year-ago quarter, Mac sales were down 10%, iPad sales down 2%, iPhone up 3%, Services up 13%, and Wearables down 8%. Here are all the charts! … | Continue reading