Six Colors

Everything old is new for Myke, as he tries out his “new” Mac (released in 2017) running a “new” version of macOS (it’s Mojave). With Apple TV+ launching late next week, there’s an enormous collection of Upstream news. And we ponder what products…

In the fall, a technology company’s fancy turns to new products. As we pass the midpoint of October, the holiday buying season has started to solidify, and we’ve gotten our requisite annual announcements from not only Apple, but from Google and Microsoft…

Luna Display, the utility that lets iPads act as a display and control a Mac via USB or Wi-Fi (disclosure: they’ve sponsored my podcasts in the past), released a new Mac-to-Mac mode Thursday that will let any Mac running Mountain Lion or later act as an…

Earlier this month, Microsoft introduced the Surface Neo, a strange device that looks like two iPads stuck together, or alternately, a laptop in which the keyboard has been replaced with a second touchscreen. Upon first seeing the Surface Neo, I immediately…

[Content warning: Baseball.]…

This week, on the irreverent tech podcast that is all about the metaphors, we discuss Apple’s recent woes in China, plus our continuing experiences upgrading to macOS Catalina. Then there’s still time for games, games, games, as we mention a few that…

James Thomson joins Jason to discuss converting an app from iOS to Mac via Catalyst, the prospects for using Catalyst on his most profitable app, and the end of an era as his app DragThing and all other 32-bit Mac apps fade away. We also sort out Apple and…

Apple’s newest contribution to the smartphone computational-photography arms race came wrapped in a fuzzy sweater, just in time for autumn. Deep Fusion is a method that, by all accounts, generates remarkably detailed photos on the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro…

Ever since the introduction of the iPod in 2001, Apple has had to navigate the intricacies of a multi-device ecosystem. In the earliest of days, that meant dealing with the iPod as an ancillary media device, reliant upon a Mac (or later a PC) for everything…

This week, on the irreverent tech podcast that headphones it in, we talk about Apple’s latest movie acquisition, then our Catalina upgrade experiences and what we should be looking for. Plus Dan shares a new pair of headphones that he doesn’t recommend,…

This week, on the tech podcast that can’t go over 30 minutes or it explodes, Dan is joined by cohost emeritus Jason Snell and special guests Casey Liss and Brianna Wu to discuss whether we’re making the jump to macOS Catalina, which hardware and software…

MacOS Catalina is here, and with it, a bunch of top-line features: Mac Catalyst, new apps, Sidecar, Screen Time, and Voice Control. But as you might expect, Catalina also includes dozens of small feature changes that are worth investigating. Here are a few of…

Developer James Thomson has written a blog post about a bunch of issues around Mac Catalyst, the new Apple-created method of bringing iOS apps to Mac. James is in a rare position to write about these issues, as he is the developer of PCalc, an app that already…

macOS Catalina has arrived and Jason’s got his full review, plus we dig into the new multi-screened mobile device announcements from Microsoft (and what they might mean for Apple), and put on our sweaters to talk about Deep Fusion photography.

Sometimes software upgrades just fuzz together, all part of a continuum of changes over time. Others are more momentous, when there’s a clean break from what has come before. After a few years of fuzzy updates, macOS Catalina is one of those clean breaks.…

George P. Slefo reports for Ad Age on how the tracking industry is reacting to Apple’s iOS 13 lockdown of apps using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as tracking proxies. It’s a fine overview, but this is the paragraph that struck me:…

Ever since Siri’s introduction on the iPhone 4s, third-party developers have clamored to integrate their apps more closely with the virtual assistant. And while Apple has relaxed its strictures over the years, Siri has largely—with a few handpicked…

Bare Bones Software released BBEdit 13.0 on Thursday. I spend more time in BBEdit than any other Mac app, as it’s my writing and text munging tool of choice. This update adds a whole bunch of pattern-matching search-and-replace (or grep) features that I’m…

This week, on the irreverent technology show where we talk about Apple Watches and, uh, watch about Apple talks, we discuss the Apple Watch Series 5, explore the nuances of our favorite watchfaces and bands, examine the barrage of Apple software updates, and…

Last year, when Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 4, I was surprised that the company didn’t bother to update most of its watch faces, and expressed some hope that the company would place more emphasis on faces in the Series 5.…

This week, on the 30-minute tech show that’s going to back to school, Dan is joined by special guests Anže Tomić and Jean MacDonald, as well as co-host emeritus Jason Snell, to discuss Amazon’s cavalcade of new Alexa devices, ultrawide vs. telephoto…

Funny how something as basic as inserting a thumbdrive can feel like a colossal victory.…

Great in-depth look by Justin O’Beirne of Apple’s rollout of its new mapping data, which now covers the Northeast. O’Beirne has impressive side-by-side looks at the old and new maps; some of the differences are easily apparent, while others are more…

Jason finished his iPhone 11 review nearly two weeks after the fact, Myke is back in the Apple Watch game with a new Series 5 model, and we hear from a bunch of Apple Store employees.

Meet the 2019 models. Left to right: iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 ProWe all like to remember the huge leaps forward, but much of the progress Apple makes is incremental. Even when the devices come in the same wrapper, new technologies are being…

Of all of Apple’s platforms, tvOS seems to have gotten the least attention in this year’s annual round of updates. When you think about it, that’s a little surprising. After all, Apple is on the verge of launching a major new video streaming service, and…

This week on the irreverent tech show that carries two phones, we discuss our latest purchases: Dan and James have both gotten only limited use out of the iPhone 11 Pro’s Night Mode so far, but John is really enjoying his Apple Watch’s always-on display.…

Like it or not, email is still a big part of our lives. I feel like I get more email than ever, even if a smaller percentage than ever before is actually meaningful.…

This week on the 30-minute show that clocks the watches, Dan and Mikah are joined by special guests John Voorhees and Kelly Guimont to discuss our cloud storage solutions, why Apple News+ is among the priciest of Apple’s subscription services, which social…

With Tuesday’s release of iOS 13.1, Apple’s included Shortcuts app takes a major step forward with the addition of automation triggers, features that let you control your iPhone, iPad, and HomeKit setup like never before. Of all the features added to…