512 Pixels

Apple Support:

iMac Pro Update for Boot Camp improves the compatibility of iMac Pro with Apple mice, keyboards, and trackpads when running Windows 10 through Boot Camp.

Additionally, iMac Pro Update for Boot Camp addresses these compatibility issues on iMac Pro computers running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6:

• Problems switching from Windows to macOS using the Apple System Tray
• Apple Control Panel not launching from the Apple System Tray
• Custom keys for adjusting brightness, volume, and media playback not working
• Missing indicators when pairing Bluetooth devices

Start your iMac Pro in Windows, then use Apple Software Update to install iMac Pro Update for Boot Camp and any other available updates.

I find it hard to believe the iMac Pro was announced almost six years ago.

Kevin Purdy at Ars Technica:

You don’t hear nearly as much about Drobo boxes as you used to, especially on sites like Ars Technica. We now have some news, but it isn’t good.

StorCentric, the holding company for the Drobo and Retrospect brands, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late June 2022. Now, AppleInsider reports that, based on an email sent by StorCentric, the bankruptcy shifted from reorganization-minded Chapter 11 to liquidation-focused Chapter 7 in late April.

The writing for Drobo was on the wall, or at least on its website. Text at the top of the homepage notes that, as of January 27, 2023, Drobo products and support for them are no longer available. “Drobo support has transitioned to a self-service model,” the site reads. “We thank you for being a Drobo customer and entrusting us with your data.”

I used a Drobo for years, as it was a great way to hook up a whole lot of storage to a Mac. It’ll be missed.

Apple Newsroom:

Apple today previewed software features for cognitive, vision, hearing, and mobility accessibility, along with innovative tools for individuals who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak. These updates draw on advances in hardware and software, include on-device machine learning to ensure user privacy, and expand on Apple’s long-standing commitment to making products for everyone.

John Voorhees has a post on MacStories going through all of the new features that are coming later this year, as does Shelly Brisbin on Six Colors. She writes:

This year’s preview also includes a grab bag of nice updates to existing accessibility features, including updated text size adjustments in macOS and tweaks to Siri voices for VoiceOver users who want to listen at extremely high speaking rates. Voice Control will add phonetic suggestions when editing text.

Several of the preview features clearly benefit from machine learning, and Personal Voice might be touted as an AI-based tool if it came from another company. It feels like an application of the technology that’s both entirely positive for the community it’s meant to serve, and reflective of a pretty nuanced understanding of what that community might want.

This week on the podcast:

With WWDC just a couple of weeks away, Stephen and David take a look at Apple’s various platforms and take stock of where things are in the spring of 2023.

William Graham:

On May 14, 1973, the final Saturn V rocket lifted off to deploy Skylab, America’s first space station. Despite a troubled start to its life, Skylab pioneered long-duration spaceflight, and fifty years later lessons learned in this program are still contributing to the success of the International Space Station.

Google has brought something terrible into the world.

Jean-Louis Gassée has a new book coming out on May 16:

For the past 20+ years, everyone has been waiting for the story to be told. What really happened at Apple when Jobs returned and Gassée was out? In this first ever comprehensive memoir, Gassée doesn’t hold anything back. From his stellar career to his deepest moments of doubts to his new calling as a grand-father, Gassée dispenses his legendary witty advises and shares some very important moments of the tech world.

When most people talk about Apple history, they’re drawn to the two Jobs eras. The years in the middle are just as interesting, but are often glossed over. I am excited to read this.

There is some sad news in the blogging world today. Alex Williams at The New York Times:

Heather Armstrong, the breakout star behind the website Dooce, who was hailed as the queen of the so-called mommy bloggers for giving millions of readers intimate daily glimpses of her odyssey through parenthood and marriage, as well as her harrowing struggles with depression, died on Tuesday at her home in Salt Lake City. She was 47.

Pete Ashdown, her longtime partner, who found her body in the home, said the cause was suicide.

I met Heather a couple of times over the years, as we graduated from the same high school — albeit a decade apart — and I’ve got family members who are friends with her parents. She was one of the first people I read on the Internet who really had her own voice, and it’s clearly one that had plenty of pain mixed in with the joys of life, as Andy Baio wrote today:

Maybe it’s appropriate that she leaves a complicated legacy. Life is hard and messy, sad and angry, dark and beautiful, miserable and hopeful, all at once.

This week on the podcast:

Apple has announced Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro for the iPad, and the guys have some thoughts. Also on the docket: laptop stands, Apple Watch hardware and a letter from the P.O. Box.

MKBHD’s hands-on video of Google’s new foldable is a good watch. This device looks very nicely put together:

Dan Seifert:

The looks of the Pixel Tablet are relatively generic. It has an 11-inch, 16:10, 2560 x 1600 pixel LCD display, even bezels all around, and a matte back. It comes in three colors: white, dark green, and light pink, with the dark green model featuring a black bezel. Though it looks like plastic from a distance, the Pixel Tablet has an aluminum frame with a nanotexture coating, not unlike what Google did with the Pixel 5 smartphone.

Bundled in the box with the Pixel Tablet is a magnetic speaker dock. This serves multiple purposes and is meant to prevent the dreaded “dead tablet in a drawer” syndrome: it’s a place to store the Pixel Tablet when it’s not in use; it charges the battery; and it has a louder, fuller speaker better suited for communal listening than the speakers that are built into the tablet. If you’re playing music or watching a video on the tablet when you put it on the dock, it will seamlessly transfer the audio to the dock’s speaker. Pull the tablet off the dock while something is playing, and it will instantly switch to the tablet’s speakers.

I want Apple to make an iPad version of this so, so badly.

It’s mostly forgotten now, but for years, Apple shipped Final Cut Express, a video editor that lived somewhere between iMovie and Final Cut Pro. It was discontinued in 2011 when Final Cut Pro X was released. Here are some FAQs Apple of the past thought may be helpful to users of the application:

1. Why isn’t my serial number accepted by the program?
2. Why can’t I hear audio while capturing?
3. Why can’t I hear audio during playback from the Timeline?
4. Final Cut Express doesn’t recognize my camera. What’s wrong?
5. Where can I find the product manual?
6. How can I prevent out-of-sync audio on long clips?
7. How do I transfer my project to iDVD?
8. I hear beeping when I play audio. Why is that?
9. How do I set keyframes?
10. Why don’t I see real-time effects and transitions?

The answer to question 10 really puts things into perspective:

Answer: Make sure you choose View > Video > Real-Time. Available real-time effects appear in bold type in the Effects menu and Effects browser and will vary based on the performance of your computer (a G4 processor is required). Multiple video layers can also prevent real-time previews from appearing.