512 Pixels

Bloomberg:

Apple is altering the user interface of Apple Music to make it more intuitive to use, according to people familiar with the product who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. Apple also plans to better integrate its streaming and download businesses and expand its online radio service, the people said. The reboot is expected to be unveiled at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The changes will be accompanied by a marketing blitz to lure more customers to the $10-per-month streaming service. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

I don’t think there’s much denying that Apple Music is a bit of a mess. It’s hard to tell where the lines are between it and iTunes Match. The UI is confusing in places, and iTunes is … well … iTunes.

While I don’t use the service anymore, the UI in Music.app has been so infected by it, I’ve switched to using Cesium to play my local music on my iPhone. I hope Apple can reboot this thing and make it good. The company has such a long track record of good music products, it makes Apple Music even all the more painful to consider.

This week, on Connected:

Stephen is back with an assignment for Federico and Myke, but first: changes come to Withings, auto-correct and Apple Music.

My thanks to our sponsors this week:

• Squarespace: Enter offer code WORLD at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
• Braintree: Code for easy online payments.

While the new Kindle’s $289 price point is still a little mind boggling, apparently Amazon is selling them faster than they can be made. (Whether that’s on purpose or not is anyone’s guess.) I went to go order one today and noticed that it’s out of stock until early June. I guess I can move that review back a bit in OmniFocus.

Looking to upgrade from System 6 to System 7? Be sure to check out this support page that outlines how your documents will fair:

You can move documents between a Macintosh running System 6 and a Macintosh running System 7 without any problems. In most cases, your documents will not change their appearance. For example, if your document uses Times font in size 12, your document won’t change.

An exception occurs when you have TrueType fonts installed and you have documents using numerous odd type sizes.

Impressive, Alex Jason. Most impressive.

Marco Arment has a new app:

Quitter automatically hides or quits distracting apps after periods of inactivity. I’ve found it tremendously helpful to my work efficiency to hide Slack and quit Tweetbot after 10 minutes.

It’s free and works as advertised. I dig it.

On the road to OS X, Apple released numerous updates to Mac OS. To help developers keep up, the company published the Mac OS Anthology. Here’s the introduction to the third version, available in February 2000:

Mac OS Anthology is a collection of Mac OS or System Software releases in up to 32 languages, spanning from Mac OS 7.0 to 9.0. This collection has been gathered for Apple Developer Connection members to conveniently provide Mac OS releases in multiple languages, with the goal of assisting you in extending your product’s reach into international markets and environments.

The gem of a video maybe be cringeworthy today, but Apple’s past is littered with a bunch of other not-so-awesome video projects. Here are a few of my “favorites” from the 1980s and 90s:

In the dark days of the 1990s, Apple had a license program allowing other companies to build and sell Mac OS-running computers. This is an internal Apple video that made the rounds in 1994 about the program.

I have no words.

via @ohples Update: Here are some more awkward Apple videos from the 80s and 90s.

I’m excited to be writing a series on the various cars I’ve driven over the years for a website named Curbside Classic. Up first: my 1993 Honda Prelude.

Fancy.

Andrew Liszewski at Gizmodo has linked to an amazing Lego Ideas project:

Number 5, a.k.a. Johnny Five, is the hero of the Short Circuit movies. Number 5 was one of five prototype robots, but after being struck by lightning gained a sense of awareness and free will. The multitude of his expressive abilities, combined with a youthful demeanor and thirst for knowledge (need more input!), made him an instant favorite with audiences in the 80’s.

This small model attempts to replicate the sense of wonder that the robot often displayed. It stands around 7" tall and is very flexible. Arms, torso, head, and even ’eyebrows’ can be posed however desired. Also featured are a retracting shoulder-mount and freely moving treads.

TAKE MY MONEY.