512 Pixels

There’s big news in the land of small desktops. Jason Snell at Six Colors:

In a bit of a late-August surprise while the world awaits word on the next generation of iPhones, on Tuesday Apple announced two new processors, the M5 Ultra and M6, which help power new iterations of its Mac Studio and Mac mini desktop computers.

Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro

The M6 is built with a new 2-nanometer process and comes with 12 CPU cores, up from the 10 found in the base M4 and M5. It packs six efficiency cores, four performance cores, and two super cores. Snell explains:

According to Apple, each core design is focused on a different primary task: efficiency cores are meant to sip power (useful when running simple background tasks); performance cores are optimized for complex, multi-threaded jobs; and super cores were created to offer the highest possible single-threaded performance.

The higher-end Mac mini is now powered by the M5 Pro. Both Mac mini models include Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, 2.5Gb Ethernet (10Gb is an option), and both top out at 64 GB of unified memory. If you need 8 TB of storage, the M5 Pro is required.

Mac Studio with M5 Max & M5 Ultra

Since March of last year, the Mac Studio has been available with either an M4 Max or an M3 Ultra SoC, with RAM upgrade options dwindling over time.

No more! Now users can choose between the M5 Max previously seen in the MacBook Pro, or an all-new M5 Ultra. The former is available with an 18-core CPU and 32-core GPU or an 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU. The Ultra also comes in two variants: one with a 30-core CPU and 64-core GPU, and one with 36 CPU cores paired to 80 GPU cores. RAM tops out at 256 GB for the Max, with a 512 GB option coming in October for the Ultra.

The Ultra is something special, according to Apple:

M5 Ultra, the ultimate powerhouse for pro and AI workloads, uses next-generation UltraFusion technology to form a quad-die architecture for the first time in an M-series system on a chip (SoC).

You can get 16 TB of storage for a cool $7,500, but it requires the M5 Ultra.

Pricing & Avaibility

Because we’re in 2026, these new machines come with new starting prices:

• M6 Mac mini: $899 (+$100)
• M5 Pro Mac mini: $1,699 (+$100)
• M5 Max Mac Studio: $2,499 (unchanged)
• M5 Ultra Mac Studio: $5,499 (+$200)

These new prices are on top of Apple’s recently announced price increases. For comparison, the M4 Mac mini started at $499, while the M4 Max Mac Studio was initially sold for $1,999.

The new Mac mini and Mac Studio ship on September 22 and will both require macOS Golden Gate.

As is our annual tradition, Myke and I have published a Q&A to mark Relay’s anniversary. We took on listener questions about podcasting in general, changes at Relay over time, and whatever happened to B-Sides.

Colleen McClain and Eugenie Park at the Pew Research Center:

Today, 52% of Americans say they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life – up from 37% in 2021. Another 9% are more excited than concerned and 37% say they’re equally excited and concerned, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 22-28, 2026.

Concern about AI for Americans over the age of 30 has been relatively stable, but not for people in their 20s and teens:

For the first time, a majority of adults under 30 (55%) now say they’re more concerned than excited about AI. About one-in-ten say they’re more excited than concerned, and roughly a third feel both equally. Their concern is now on par with those in their 30s and 40s, and those 65 and up.

Across age groups, about half or more say they’re more concerned than excited about AI. Excitement, in turn, has dropped off since 2021 among all age groups.

It’s incredible how badly AI companies have blown it from a PR perspective.

This week on the podcast:

A bunch of future Apple hardware has leaked in a beta of macOS Tahoe. The guys go through the list and then consider the iPad mini’s place in the world and the UI changes coming with Golden Gate.

RR Auction has something amazing for sale at the moment: an Apple I built for the Byte Shop.

The auction page has more details:

Well-preserved and fully functional ‘Byte Shop’–style Apple-1 computer (also commonly known as the Apple I, or Apple Computer 1), complete with all components and accessories required for operation, housed in a unique Smith-Corona typewriter case modified to fit the Apple-1.

This remarkable Apple-1, marked “01-0066” on the reverse side in security marker, is a highly original 8K system from the second batch of 50 Apple-1 computers produced and sold. While the marking alone does not establish that the computer was originally sold directly by The Byte Shop, the system displays several important Byte Shop–style characteristics, including its stock-number marking, its 8K configuration, and its original Datanetics Rev D keyboard with custom wired Apple-1 cable—the same keyboard-and-cable arrangement seen on known Byte Shop Apple-1 systems.

The set includes:

• original Apple-1 board, marked with Byte Shop stock number “01-0066”
• original Apple Cassette Interface (ACI) board
• Smith-Corona Electra 120 Typewriter case (modified for Apple-1)
• Apple-1 Power supply (Stancor P8380, Radio Shack 273-1512)
• Datanetics Rev D keyboard with cable
• Pixe-Verter TV Video Modulator and cables
• Realistic CTR-34 shoebox style cassette player/recorder with cables
• Miscellaneous Apple-1 Cassette tapes
• Original Apple-1 Operation Manual, Early Release
• Original Apple-1 Operation Manual, Later Release
• Original Apple Cassette Interface Manual
• Original Apple-1 Preliminary Apple BASIC User’s Manual, Early Release
• Original Apple-1 Preliminary Apple BASIC User’s Manual, Later Release
• Correspondence from Apple Computer, signed by Applications Software Engineer Dana Reddington, dated October 1977
• Period Xerox copy of excerpt from WozPack related to floating point math functions
• Owner’s notes on Apple-1 operation

I am also in love with this iPod prototype:

Kenneth Chang has the bad news at The New York Times (Gift Link):

NASA’s high-risk, high-reward attempt to save one of its space telescopes before it falls out of orbit has failed.

On Wednesday, NASA announced that a rescue spacecraft that was meant to grab onto the space agency’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and push it into a higher altitude will not proceed. With the rescue mission called off, Swift, which has observed distant, powerful explosions in the cosmos since 2004, is expected to burn up in the atmosphere later this year.

“This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting,” Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, said in a news release.

That rescue attempt was an uncrewed spacecraft built by Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies that would have pushed the telescope 100 miles further into space, giving it another decade of service.

After talking for years about Things’ lack of flexibility around repeating tasks, I have some good news, via the Cultured Code blog:

Repeating to-dos just got far more flexible, with two highly requested improvements: You can now complete them early, and easily reschedule them when plans change!

It took a while, but I think they really nailed this.

Earlier today Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order requiring data center projects to be regulated with “strict guardrails to hold data center developers accountable to the public interest” in areas of energy costs, environmental impact, and workforce development.

This action is just one on a growing list of legislation fueled by pushback against AI data centers across the country.

This evening, the Memphis City Council acted on a year-long moratorium on new data centers.

It is not a done deal yet. If this passes, data centers already up and running will be allowed to continue operating under the agreement, but no new sites will be built — within city limits¹ — while leaders spend a year studying issues related to these projects.

You can see the whole document here, but this is the opening of the moratorium:

AN ORDINANCE DECLARING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON THE ACCEPTANCE, PROCESSING, APPROVAL, AND ISSUANCE OF ZONING, LAND USE, BUILDING, AND OTHER ASSOCIATED INFRASTRUCTURE PERMITS FOR DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN THE CITY OF MEMPHIS

WHEREAS, pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 13-7-201, the Memphis City Council possesses the authority to regulate land use, zoning, and development to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of its citizens; and WHEREAS, there has been substantial growth nationwide and throughout Tennessee in the development of large-scale data centers and high-density computing facilities supporting cloud computing, artificial intelligence, digital storage, cryptocurrency operations, and other advanced computing technologies; and

WHEREAS, modern data centers differ significantly from traditional commercial and industrial developments because they require exceptionally high electrical loads, extensive backup generation systems, electrical substations, battery storage systems, mechanical cooling equipment, water resources, telecommunications infrastructure, and continuous twenty-four-hour operations; and

WHEREAS, these facilities may generate impacts relating to electrical infrastructure capacity, water consumption, wastewater management, stormwater runoff, emergency services, traffic, lighting, vibration, noise, air quality, fuel storage, public utilities, and surrounding neighborhoods; and WHEREAS, the Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code’s current zoning regulations do not specifically classify or comprehensively regulate data center developments as a distinct land use and therefore do not adequately address their unique operational characteristics or community impacts; and

WHEREAS, the Memphis City Council finds that additional study is necessary before permitting additional data center developments to ensure that appropriate zoning classifications, siting standards, buffering requirements, operational standards, utility protections, and environmental safeguards are established; and

WHEREAS, the Memphis City Council further finds that a temporary moratorium is necessary to prevent applications from vesting under existing regulations while permanent zoning amendments are developed.

MACROHARD is SpaceXAI’s Colossus 2 data center, which Elon Musk said got its name from “a funny reference to Microsoft.” Nearby sit two more sites: Minihard and Macrohardrr Image via the SELC.

Immediately after hearing comments from citizens — many of whom were holding signs affirming the moratorium — the City Council meeting was adjourned in all of about eight seconds.

The meeting took place after the moratorium passed committee earlier today. That committee vote was the first step toward the document being adopted, as Samuel Hardiman explains:

The moratorium passed a City Council committee Tuesday. It was added to the body’s full meeting agenda and passed first reading later Tuesday afternoon.

A Memphis ordinance requires three readings to pass, meaning it would likely be weeks before any moratorium would take effect. Its legality also could be questioned.

The document’s first reading took place at nearly the same time the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, the Mid-South’s “primary economic development organization,” published a letter against the move.

Since working to recruit xAI to Memphis in 2024, the Chamber has supported the numerous data centers that have popped up in and around the city, even as public sentiment has shifted.² This letter is nothing short of doubling down.

The Chamber posted its letter on Instagram and other social media sites. It is not on the organization’s press release page or blog, so I’m going to block quote the whole thing here:

A Statement from the Greater Memphis Chamber:

The Greater Memphis Chamber believes Memphis is uniquely positioned to lead the nation in responsibly hosting the data center industry, and we are committed to leveraging that position for lasting community benefit.

Across the country, communities are closing their doors to data centers, often because they lack the power infrastructure, water capacity, or logistical footprint to support them. Memphis has all three. That reality is not a vulnerability. It is leverage, and it is leverage the Chamber intends to use on behalf of this community.

A moratorium surrenders that leverage at precisely the moment when Memphis’s competitive position has never been stronger. The concerns being raised deserve substantive answers, and those answers exist within the reputable regulatory agencies and partners whose expertise, data, and oversight are available to any Council member who requests them. Council members have direct access to those agencies, and the Chamber encourages them to engage those experts directly.

The better path is not to close the door. It is to stay at the table and negotiate harder. The Chamber is committed to working with our regulatory partners and industry to ensure that every data center investment in Memphis delivers sustainable, long-term value to our entire community, not just one-time capital dollars, but lasting infrastructure, workforce, and community benefits that outlast any single project.

The Chamber urges the City Council to vote NO on the proposed moratorium and to keep Memphis open for business at a moment when our competitive advantage has never been greater.

Of note, most of the “sustainable, long-term value to our entire community” and “lasting infrastructure, workforce, and community benefits” promised by SpaceXAI have not materialized, at least in the way they were originally pitched. We will see if the newest promise comes to pass.

After today, I am hopeful that the City Council will press pause on this mess for a year and spend the time working through the 17 items the moratorium lists as areas of study:

1. Appropriate zoning districts and permitted locations;
2. Classification of data centers by size, electrical demand, and operational intensity;
3. Minimum separation distances and buffering from residential neighborhoods, schools, parks, hospitals, greenways, and other sensitive land uses;
4. Noise mitigation standards, including operational sound limits and acoustic studies;
5. Water consumption, cooling technologies, and conservation measures;
6. Wastewater discharge requirements;
7. Stormwater management standards;
8. Lighting and visual screening requirements;
9. Emergency access and fire protection requirements;
10. Backup generator operations and fuel storage;
11. Electrical infrastructure impacts, including substations and transmission improvements;
12. Allocation of infrastructure costs to developers to ensure public utility customers are not responsible for costs attributable to new high-demand facilities;
13. Traffic impacts during construction and operation;
14. Environmental sustainability measures;
15. Public notification and community engagement requirements;
16. Potential capital expenditure fund for the benefit of the City of Memphis;
17. Any additional development standards necessary to ensure compatibility with surrounding land uses.

The right time to study these issues was before ground was broken on the first Memphis data center; the next best time is now, as this quote to Kailynn Johnson writes at The Memphis Flyer points out:

Environmental advocacy group Protect Our Aquifer (POA) welcomed a proposed pause on data center construction in Memphis. Though they said this decision would not “close or reverse” existing facilities, the moratorium would give the city the opportunity to put protections in place for community members.

“A pause is not a verdict on this industry,” POA said. “It is 12 months to write the rules that should have existed for over two years.”

Myke Hurley, marking the 12th anniversary of our company:

The versions of myself and Stephen who started this podcast network in 2014 feel incredibly different to me. We’ve learned a lot, changed a lot, adapted a lot, and sought new opportunities along the way.

I kind of feel like our personal journeys have mirrored Relay’s journey. There have been ebbs and flows in our business, as we have attempted to adapt and shift towards what we think the audience wants from us, what the business needs, and where we want to take things.

I would say the last few years have been intentionally peaceful. We have allowed the business to be in a place of stability. We have not sought out new shows in the numbers we had previously, and have instead been focused more on maintaining what we have.

I like how Myke put this: in many ways, the past few years feel more intentional than ever. It’s not that we were flying by the seat of our pants in the past; we rely on the growing wisdom we’ve gained over the years to have a better idea of what we want out of Relay.

It’s amazing to me that we’ve been doing this for 12 years. We’re lucky to work with the best people in the industry, making the type of content we want to listen to. Throw in the nearly $5 million the Relay community has raised for St. Jude, and we’re talking about our legacies. For being just 40 years old, that feels pretty dang special.

Developer Beta 6 of the 27 OSes is out today, and the macOS build has something I didn’t really expect this late in the game: redesigned window controls!

Like before, hovering over the “stoplight” controls with the cursor reveals the close, minimize, and junk drawer that has become the former maximize button.

Tahoe is on the left; Golden Gate Beta 6 is on the right:

(Trying to line up screenshots between a MacBook Neo and a MacBook Pro using a Pro Display XDR was …fun. Click the image to enlarge it.)

Apple has moved away from the solid colors it has used since Yosemite, applying Liquid Glass to one of the most fundamental parts of the macOS interface.

Over the last year, people have joked that Liquid Glass is a bad ripoff of the original Aqua. I haven’t really bought into that, but these window controls certainly echo the past. Here’s a screenshot from Mac OS X 10.1 Puma:

I like the whimsy in these new window controls, and from what I have already seen online, I’m not alone.

But I don’t immediately love everything Apple has done here.

The new controls strike me as too bright, particularly in dark mode:

Why does each traffic light have highlights at the top and bottom when the rest of the items in the toolbar don’t?

These highlights make the icons look slightly oval, and the reflections don’t really make sense if these are supposed to be little pieces of glass.

Previous background windows were far less distracting, as they should be. At the very least, background windows should drop the highlights.

It’s akin to the highlights Apple puts on the edges of Home Screen widgets and folders on iOS 26, but somehow makes even less sense here.¹

I would like to see the color turned up on the controls for the active window. The new ones are the least saturated stoplights macOS has ever had.

In a post on Mastodon, Jeff Nadeau shared an animation in which the selected control slightly animates:

I’m not sure how I feel about this one; a little movement here is unlike anything else in the macOS interface. I’m not sure that’s the right call.

The trick with whismy is using just the right amount of it, and I hope Apple works on this more before Golden Gate ships this fall.

Just for kicks, here’s how the stoplights have changed over time, looking at the Home folder:

Samuel Hardiman, The Daily Memphian:

Memphis, a city known nationwide for Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI’s data centers, may finally take legislative steps to pause data center development.

At its Aug. 18 committee meeting, the Memphis City Council is poised to discuss an ordinance that would declare, “a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing, approval, and issuance of zoning, land use, building, and other associated infrastructure permits for data center developments within the City of Memphis.”

It’s unclear at this point what this ordinance will entail exactly, but it has been filed as “a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing, approval, and issuance of zoning, land use, building, and other associated infrastructure permits for data center developments within the City of Memphis.” The current zoning code doesn’t address data centers.