512 Pixels

A new episode of Mac Power Users is hot off the presses:

Mere hours after Apple’s iPhone 15 event, Stephen and David break down the news surrounding the iPhone 15 line, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the updated Apple Watch Ultra.

Apple had announced dates for iOS 17, iPadOS 17 macOS Sonoma and more.

iOS and iPadOS 17, tvOS 17 and watchOS 10 will be released on Monday, September 18, with macOS Sonoma launching on Tuesday, September 26.

In addition to these dates, MacRumors linked to a set of PDFs outlining all the changes in each update.

Tomorrow, this very website turns 15 years old.

Old-school readers will remember 512 Pixels’ original name, ForkBombr. I bought the domain from my friend Kevin for a couple of slices of pizza, as I thought the programming joke was pretty clever.

I don’t have many screenshots from those early days, but I managed to find this one in my archives. It’s from the development phase of the first version of the blog, so don’t worry, the logo ended up a good bit smaller by the time the site went live.

(2008 was a very different time.)

In the past 15 years, I’ve published nearly 11,000 articles, had three children, changed jobs twice, started a podcast network and have helped raise $2.5 million for St. Jude. I’ve forged lifelong friendships and have been lucky enough to build things that people truly care about.

Through it all, I try to live up to what I wrote in my very first entry:

Don’t suck.

With that phrase, one of my mentors has repeatedly set me straight. And with that phrase, I’m launching ForkBombr.

In hindsight, that wasn’t the most helpful advice I’ve ever received, but it was simple enough that it still bounces around in my head. Not sucking means caring about the details no one will ever see. It means being thoughtful about the work and humble when it isn’t good enough. Sometimes, it requires turning down sponsors who aren’t a good fit or knowing when a project isn’t working out.

In that original post, I linked to a post from Merlin Mann, and now I get to call him a colleague and a friend. In fact, I get to work with a bunch of my Internet heroes thanks to Relay. Getting to do this full-time for eight years and running is a true honor.

My podcasting partner Myke Hurley has not only helped me improve my craft, but has made me a better person. My wife Merri has been nothing but patient and supportive as I’ve worked to take my hobby and turn it into a sustainable business.

The success of this blog, my podcasts and Relay FM itself all astound me. Yes, I work hard, and sometimes I care way too much, but it’s all of you who have made this possible.

So thank you. Thank you for letting my support my family by talking about computers on the Internet. Thank you for the fantastic ride that has landed me (quite literally) in Cupertino this week. My career has ended up in a place far more wonderful than I ever would have guessed back when I installed my first copy of WordPress at 22 years old.

The future of web-based macOS apps is about to change. Unite 5, the next generation of the popular Unite app is launching next week. Building on its lightweight, WebKit-powered browser backend, the new version offers groundbreaking features that make your Mac even more versatile.

Unite 5 takes customization to the next level, with an array of new modes that allow you to use web apps like never before. Whether it’s a personalized Gmail client or a high-performance workspace for resource-intensive apps, Unite 5 offers a solution that fits seamlessly into your workflow.

In its first significant update since launching Unite 4 in 2020, Unite 5 offers dozens of major new features and a new vision for how the web and macOS can coexist.

Stay tuned for more details at bzgapps.com/coming-soon.

This week on Mac Power Users, David and I talk a bit more about window managers and backup utilities, while also answering listener questions and David’s modern typewriter, my new Plex server and a lot more.

For years, journalists, space nerds and government oversight groups alike have talked about the staggering costs associated with the SLS program, which is the agency’s new moon rocket. As Eric Berger reports, NASA has finally gotten the message:

In a new report, the federal department charged with analyzing how efficiently US taxpayer dollars are spent, the Government Accountability Office, says NASA lacks transparency on the true costs of its Space Launch System rocket program.

Published on Thursday, the new report ( see .pdf) examines the billions of dollars spent by NASA on development of the massive rocket, which made a successful debut launch in late 2022 with the Artemis I mission. Surprisingly, as part of the reporting process, NASA officials admitted the rocket was too expensive to support its lunar exploration efforts as part of the Artemis program.

“Senior NASA officials told GAO that at current cost levels, the SLS program is unaffordable,” the new report states.

Eric quotes the juiciest parts in his article, but the report’s message is loud and clear: the SLS program cannot continue as it has for the last decade if NASA wants to use this launch vehicle to power future missions to the moon and beyond. Of course, with the agency’s direction and budget set by Congress, fixing this problem isn’t going to be easy.

Last night, Federico sent a wild-looking screenshot to the Connected iMessage thread and I urged him to blog about it.

Thankfully, he did:

I have an Analogue Pocket, which is an outstanding modern take on the Game Boy that can play original Game Boy cartridges. I also have the Analogue Pocket dock, which lets me play Game Boy games on a big screen by taking advantage of the Pocket’s excellent upscaling mode for Game Boy graphics. And, of course, Nintendo made everyone’s favorite camera from the late 90s, which you can get pretty cheap these days on eBay. If I could use the Game Boy Camera on a Pocket and send the video feed from the console to the iPad Pro, would I then be able to do a FaceTime call with someone while looking like a character straight out of a Game Boy game?

The answer, my dear readers, is a glorious, resounding Yes.

Apple’s “Wonderlust” event is next week, so Federico and Myke have prepared to challenge me, their reigning Keynote Chairman.

I am loving these icons, and look forward to seeing a Flower Power version in a few years.

Over at LowEndMac, Mark Sokolovsky has documented a wild upgrade to white plastic Intel iMacs:

A little known secret is hidden inside every early intel iMac made by Apple prior to their 21.5″/27″ transition… they all have a Mini-PCIe slot! While many upgrades have been documented/discovered for these iMacs, and GPU upgrades have been attempted as well, few eGPU solutions have been presented as viable, or have been documented.

In this article today, the examples we’ll be using are my 2007 20" iMac, as well a 20" Early 2006 iMac. The ‘07 iMac had been upgraded to sport an AMD XFX RX 570, with full graphical hardware acceleration, under macOS Monterey! The theme here is promoting the longevity of devices deemed otherwise obsolete. Whether or not a device is obsolete is subjective, and this opinion lies with us.

As part of Relay’s on-going fundraiser for St. Jude, I’ll be streaming again this weekend. This time, I’ll be building LEGO’s new Mars Rover (Model 42158). I am very pumped about it.

Join me on Saturday, September 9:

• ???????? - 10:00 AM Pacific
• ???????? - 12:00 PM Central
• ???????? - 1:00 PM Eastern
• ???????? - 6:00 PM BST
• ???????? - 7:00 PM CET
• ???? - Wherever You Live

Apple Support:

If you use a camera cover, palm rest cover, or keyboard cover with your Mac notebook, remove the cover before closing your display to prevent damage to your display.

To enable the thin design of Mac notebook computers, the clearance between the display (screen) and the top case is engineered to tight tolerances. If you use a camera cover, palm rest cover, or keyboard cover with your Mac notebook, remove the cover before closing your display. Leaving any material on your display, keyboard, or palm rest might interfere with the display when it’s closed and cause damage to your display.