512 Pixels

We did something a little different this week on Mac Power Users:

David and Stephen hosted a live webinar, talking about the current crop of Apple’s betas and answering listener questions.

My thanks to Red Sweater Software for sponsoring the site this week. Daniel’s app MarsEdit is the best way to blog using a Mac.

If you’re annoyed by the increasing complexity of WordPress’s browser-based editor, download MarsEdit and give it a try. It’s the “Cadillac” of classic editors. You’ll see why many of the best bloggers in the Apple ecosystem rely on MarsEdit’s native, reliable, intuitive Mac interface.

The old new 13-inch MacBook Pro is now for sale on Apple’s website. Currently in the US, the stock $1299 and $1499 models arrive next week, on June 24. Just about any customization pushes an order to July or even August.

I love my 20th Anniversary Mac, but wow is it weird. My buddy Quinn got his hands on one and made a great video about the machine:

This week on Connected:

Federico and Stephen explore the new Books UI and some MacBook rumors, before celebrating the return of Clarus the Dogcow. Then, a discussion of Stage Manager’s system requirements and a possible way forward for non-M1 iPads and how Apple could approach future WWDC keynotes.

I think Ticci and I came up with an interesting way for Apple to possibly compromise when it comes to Stage Manager and non-M1 iPads.

José Adorno at 9to5Mac:

By the beginning of the year, DSSC said Apple was planning a 15-inch MacBook Air. Then, last week, Bloomberg reported that the company was indeed planning to launch this MacBook, alongside a 12-inch model for 2023. Now, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also has a few tidbits about Apple’s upcoming MacBooks.

According to Kuo, the new 15-inch MacBook would go to mass production in mid-1H23, with a launch date around 2Q23 or later. The interesting part about this computer is that it may offer two CPU options: the M2 chip (with 35W adapter) and M2 Pro (with 67W adapter).

While the Apple silicon MacBook Air is known for its fanless design, it would be very different if Apple adds a “Pro” chip to a fanless notebook.

The MacBook Studio name is just right there.

Clarus the Dogcow is my favorite bit of Apple lore. It’s really cool to see that our friend is back in the new version of macOS.

Shadowfacts has more:

Did you know that with macOS Ventura, Clarus the Dogcow has at long last returned home? Recently, while doing something else, I accidentally hit Cmd+Shift+P which opened the Page Setup dialog. I was greeted, surprisingly, with a new high-resolution version of the classic Clarus icon that I’d never seen before. I looked at it briefly, and then closed the dialog and went back to whatever I was doing before. I had assumed that because I’d been in a 3rd-party app at the time, that the Clarus icon was just some easter egg the developer had left. But a little while later, I got to thinking. What were the chances that someone went to the trouble of customizing the Page Setup dialog, of all things, just for an easter egg? Zero, it turns out. That dialog shows Clarus on the page preview in every app.

I have mixed feelings about Clarus’ new design,¹ but just look at this glorious screenshot:

Update: iOS 16 seems to fix the “cowdog” bug. What a set of releases!

Apple Support:

Installing Apple Remote Desktop 2 on a non-startup volume does not remove the Apple Remote Desktop 1.2.2 Agent. The result is that Software Update still offers version 1.2.4 for that computer after it’s been upgraded to version 2.

Fixes include:

• Install Apple Remote Desktop 2 on the startup volume where Apple Remote Desktop 1.2.2 is currently installed, or
• Remove the Apple Remote Desktop 1.2.2 Agent by executing this Terminal command: sudo rm -r /System/Library/CoreServices/ARD Agent.app/

Apple Newsroom:

On Friday, June 17, at 5 a.m. PDT, the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 will be available to customers to order on apple.com, the Apple Store app, and through Apple Authorized Resellers, and will start arriving to customers worldwide on Friday, June 24. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is supercharged by the new M2 chip, which begins the next generation of Apple silicon and takes the breakthrough capabilities of M1 even further. It features incredible performance, up to 24GB of unified memory, ProRes acceleration, and up to 20 hours of battery life, all in a compact design. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 joins the even more powerful 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max to round out the strongest MacBook Pro lineup ever. With even more performance and capabilities than before, the 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,299 and $1,199 for education.

No word on when the new MacBook Air ships beyond “next month.”

The fully-functioning example went for big money:

Sold for $340,100! A great outcome for us and for the new owner, an experienced vintage computer collector and Apple aficionado in the United States!

— The AAPL Collection (@AAPLcollection) June 12, 2022

MarsEdit 4 is a native Mac interface to WordPress and other blogging systems that focuses on one thing: blogging! As WordPress gets increasingly complicated with an emphasis on BLOCKS and whole-site design, MarsEdit sticks to the classic idea that:

1. There would be an editor.
2. You could write in it.
3. You could publish it to your blog.

That’s exactly how I want to use WordPress, and it’s why I use MarsEdit to publish every single word that shows up on 512 Pixels.

If you’re annoyed by the increasing complexity of WordPress’s browser-based editor, download MarsEdit and give it a try. It’s the “Cadillac” of classic editors. You’ll see why many of the best bloggers in the Apple ecosystem rely on MarsEdit’s native, reliable, intuitive Mac interface.

This week on Mac Power Users:

David and Stephen catch up on some recent updates to some stalwarts of the macOS utility landscape, and talk about some other apps that make their Mac setups complete.

On More Power Users, David gives an update on Endor Studios.