512 Pixels

• Updated desktop Macs.

Well, this is a fun chart:

Currently, Apple only ships Intel-based machines. Mac OS X for Intel was released in 2006. The Intel version had been “leading a secret double life” since 2000, i.e. Mac OS X existed for Intel all the time, but was not released. In that time, Mac OS X was never self-hosting; instead, it was cross-compiled on PowerPC Macs. The first released version of Intel Mac OS X was a version of 10.4 for the Pentium 4 based “Developer Transition Kit” in 2005.

The first version of what would later be Mac OS X was “Rhapsody DR1″ released in 1997. It ran on PowerPC 604 Macintoshes (the 603 was not supported because it lacked a hardware pagetable walker) and was cross-compiled from OpenStep 4.2 running on Intel Pentium II CPUs. Rhapsody, which was basically OpenStep 5.0, also continued to run on Intel, but as mentioned before, Intel became a second-class architecture. Actually, somewhere between Rhapsody and OS X 10.0, there was a time when the GUI was not built for Intel.

macOS offers numerous ways to secure your data. Used together, these features mean that even if your Mac is stolen, the data on it is safe from prying eyes.

Account Password

The most basic step of protecting your Mac is having a password set up for your user. If you don’t have one, it can be set up in System Preferences > Users and Groups.

While there, make sure the computer isn’t automatically logging in:

To change or reset the password, read through this support document.

Firmware Password

A firmware password prevents a Mac from being booted from any device other than the internal startup disk. In its documentation, Apple includes this warning:

When you set a firmware password, make sure it’s one you’ll remember. You might want to write it down somewhere so that you don’t forget it. If you forget your firmware password, you’ll need to bring your Mac to an Apple Retail Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider to unlock your Mac.

To set it up, boot up into Recover Mode and select Firmware Password Utility from the Utilities menu. Once it is setup, if the Mac is prompted to boot from anything but the internal disk, the user will be prompted with a password field:

FileVault

FileVault is macOS’ built-in tool for full-disk encryption:

FileVault full-disk encryption uses XTS-AES-128 encryption with a 256-bit key to help prevent unauthorized access to the information on your startup disk.

It can be enabled in System Preferences > Security & Privacy.

macOS will generate a recovery key during the process, which you can either store in iCloud, or locally. It’s just a string of letters and numbers; there’s no file you have to keep up with. I opted for a local key — despite using two-factor authentication on my iCloud account. I’m storing the string of text in 1Password, another excellent tool in securing your data.

On my 2016 MacBook Pro with 120 GB of data, the encryption process took about an hour.

Now that it’s done, the Mac works and runs as normal. There’s a slight delay when logging in and out of my user account, but other than that, I can’t tell any difference in day to day use. I can feel secure that if my MacBook Pro gets stolen from the trunk of my car or lost in an airport, that the data on it is safe and sound.

The Cloud

Of course, most of the data on my notebook is also hosted by a cloud service. On that front, the best bet for securing that data is two-factor authentication. In short, these systems require your password and a random string of text to log in.

I linked to it above, but iCloud’s two-factor authentication system is probably the easiest to use, and the most important to me. iCloud stores copies of my photos, contacts, calendars, device backups and more. When prompted for a code, my devices show a pop-up, confirming the location of the device that is requesting a login key. I can simply tap accept and move on.

Other services aren’t as well-integrated into macOS and iOS as iCloud, however, and usually rely on sending you a SMS with a short code that the service’s website will prompt you for. Most of the time, these codes can be generated with an app like 1Password or Authy, if SMS doesn’t work for your setup.

Looking Forward

Protecting our personal data is more important now than it has ever been. With a few steps, your Mac and the data on it can be more secure. These systems and features do their best to stay out of the way, which makes them easier to live with. I think any — or all — of these things are well worth the time and effort to implement.

Want to know when the International Space Station will be overhead where you live? There’s a service for that.

Eric Berger at Ars Technica:

The space agency’s next major exploration program could last the better part of half a century, too. So we ought to choose wisely. The Moon is closer and offers potential utility as a refueling station in space. Mars harbors more intrigue in the search for life and represents the Solar System’s best bet for a second home. But we’re going nowhere without a final choice—followed by investment and commitment. Absent this from the Trump administration and Congress, NASA will continue to find itself adrift.

In 2004, Bush announced his desire to return to the moon, while the Obama Administration scrapped that and set NASA’s sights on Mars. If this GOP administration flips this again, we may end up going nowhere fast.

It’s easy forget NASA is part of the federal government until something like this comes up.

Like a lot of people, I typically find the holidays hard to deal with. There are a lot of reasons for that — past and present — so most years, I come into the new year feeling down.

I know this about myself, as it’s been this way for a long time. This year around Thanksgiving, I had a moment, sitting in traffic and I realized what was on the horizon. While I am not fully in charge of my long-term, here-and-back-again depressive tendencies, I decided then to be more open and honest with a handful of people about how I was feeling through the holidays. I tried to make a solid attempt at being more engaged and in-the-moment as the holidays progressed.

I was afraid that all the normal stuff, coupled with things like the election, the stresses of owning and running my own business were and some on-going health stuff I’ve been dealing with would all prove too big to handle

I don’t feel awesome tonight as I type this, but miles better than I have in years past. Any time I felt overwhelmed, I repeated a simple mantra: I am blessed beyond reason. I am blessed beyond reason. I am blessed beyond reason.

Despite a cancer diagnosis seven and a half years ago, our oldest son — along with his younger brother and sister — all enjoyed their Christmases. They sang songs, opened toys and told jokes, together. Having them out of school for several weeks has been a true joy.

I’m amazingly fortunate to do what I love for a living. Building Relay FM has been harder than anything I’ve ever done, but it the most rewarding job I’ve ever had. I truly hope that when I retire, it’s from this gig.

If you’re feeling shitty or lonely or overwhelmed or anxious or down or defeated here at the end of the year, I would encourage you to find something good in your life and really think deeply about it. Even if it’s the very air we breathe, we all have something to be thankful for today. Holding on to that simple truth can work wonders.

Happy Holidays.

On today’s episode of Ungeniused, Myke and I celebrate Festivus with the help of several friends.

Wowzers.

Defying Gravity: The Making of Newton is a book on Apple about the company’s ill-fated PDA from the 1990s. It was published by Beyond Words Publishing in 1993. Infortunately, they spelled the title of the book Defying Graviity on the spine.

My particular copy was a gift from a friend, but at some point was part of a library system.

Instead of page numbers, the book counts down to zero, which marks the product’s introduction. It follows several members of the Newton team, including Michael Tchao, who is a VP of Product Marketing at Apple today after a 15-year hiatus away from the company.

It’s a little light on technical details, but it’s a fun look at a weird chapter in Apple history.

Jason Snell has published a video that hits the nail right on the head as far as the Mac’s place in tomorrow’s world. In it, he also breaks down the problems in Steve Jobs’ analogy about the Mac being a truck.

RollerCoaster Tycoon was hands-down my favorite game when I was a kid, and now I can play it on my iPad.

The app is $5.99, and is a blend of the 1999 original and the 2002 sequel. There are three in-app purchases, but there is more than enough content in the base app to last a while.

I played one park this morning on my iPad, and the play mechanics are totally usable on a touch device. I’m impressed, and very excited to play more.

The Mac is my favorite computing platform on God’s green Earth. I find great joy in using it, but it makes me sad at the same time.

I’m not alone in that duality. Many of the Mac’s most hardcore fans have felt slighted — or even forgotten — as the iPhone and iPad have risen to prominence at Apple.

I don’t think the Mac is a dead platform yet, but I do fear its glory days are behind it. It isn’t seeing the types of innovation it once did. It’s not the focus for many third-party developers, but more importantly, it’s unique advantages are slipping away:

• The Mac is required to write software for iOS devices. For now. Swift Playgrounds may blossom into something much more powerful that could meet at least low-end needs.
• The Mac is the only Apple operating system that offers a multi-window environment. For now. iPad multitasking could become a lot more powerful in the future.
• The Mac is the only computer Apple sells with a display over 13 inches in size. For now. A desktop-sized iPad would be a lot of fun.
• The Mac offers a unique blend of GUI applications and a command line interface that many people need to get their work done. For now. For most younger computer users, Terminal is a weird app you aren’t supposed to open.

(I’m not saying the iPad will change to absorb all of the tasks Mac users do now, but that in some cases, the very nature of those tasks will change. The Mac is losing ground on both fronts.)

The Mac is becoming marginalized. For many, it is becoming easier to use an iOS device as their primary computer. A day is coming when the Mac is just needed by professionals like developers and creatives — the very users that feel disenfranchised by the Apple of 2016.

These types of thoughts, coupled with a lack of updates to Mac hardware, have Mac fans on edge.

Are we on a sinking ship? Should I be looking at Windows? Why would I write an application for this platform?

Yesterday, Mark Gurman published an article that put details to the vague fear some Mac users have felt over the last few years:

To die-hard fans, Apple Inc.’s Macintosh sometimes seems like an afterthought these days.

He goes on to back that up with a bunch of examples dug up via interviews with sources at Apple:

They also describe a lack of clear direction from senior management, departures of key people working on Mac hardware and technical challenges that have delayed the roll-out of new computers.

And:

In another sign that the company has prioritized the iPhone, Apple re-organized its software engineering department so there’s no longer a dedicated Mac operating system team. There is now just one team, and most of the engineers are iOS first, giving the people working on the iPhone and iPad more power.

And:

In recent years, Apple managers have also become more likely to float two or more competing ideas, meaning designers and engineers must work on more than one concept at a time. In the past, managers pushed a more singular vision. Engineers are now “asked to develop multiple options in hopes that one of them will be shippable,” a person familiar with the matter said.

None of these snapshots are due to an inherent flaw with the Mac itself, but with how Apple seemingly views it.

To a degree, it’s hard to argue with Apple here. The iPhone is Apple’s driving force, and to let off the gas there would be a really dumb move. The iPad — while still in a sales free fall — is so closely tied to the iPhone, it’s easy to see why it’d get attention before the Mac. Plus, Tim Cook is super into it, and you’ve got to keep the boss happy.

Most of the big features added to macOS in the last few years originally appeared on iOS, or at the very least are in place to make using a Mac with an iPhone or iPad better.

I don’t think Apple is going to merge its two operating systems, but rather keep dragging macOS behind iOS. The news of the stand-alone macOS team being absorbed shouldn’t be shocking for people who have been paying attention.

So why is this happening?

Apple can’t seem to walk and chew gum at the same time. The company is bigger than ever, but is seemingly unable or unwilling to move the Mac forward in meaningful ways. Apple’s internal structure may be to blame there.

We can blame Intel (to a degree) for the hardware delays of 2016, but if we keep that up for years to come, the chipmaker may become a scapegoat for Mac angst it didn’t cause. After all, Intel didn’t make Apple skip two generations of Xeons that could have gone into the Mac Pro.

The darkest timeline is the most simple: Apple just doesn’t care about the Mac like it once did. Apple may view the Mac as a legacy business. Perhaps the iPad really is the future, and Mac fans who are mocking it today will come down on the wrong side of history.

Whatever the reason, if Gurman’s reporting is right, Mac fans need to work on processing this change. It’ll make the future easier to swallow.