512 Pixels

This month at iMore, I took a look at the introduction of the iTunes Music Store, and how the idea of streaming music has changed in the decade since Apple first started selling music.

For the first time since 2012, Apple’s updated its line of music players.

Kinda. The iPod nano and iPod shuffle remain the same as their predecessors, but in new colors: space gray, blue, gold, pink, silver and Product Red.

The big news is that The iPod touch takes a big step into the future with a much better camera and the A8 processor from the iPhone. The huge increase in power should make it a much better gaming device than the A5-powered it replaces. The iPod touch ships with a 4-inch Retina display, no doubt to cater to children who are often given iPods instead of iPhones or iPads.

The iPod touch comes in the same new five colors as the iPod nano and iPod shuffle. A 16 GB model can be had for $199, with the top-end model costing $399 for 128 GB of storage.

At this point, I’m puzzled why the iPod nano still exists. I use an iPod shuffle sometimes when exercising, so I can understand the appeal of that device, but the iPod nano seems like a solution in search of a problem.

Depending on the version of Mac OS X you’re running, your backup options for your Stickies data will vary.

This may win for my favorite “how big is the solar system?” demonstration.

This morning, NASA released this image of Pluto, as part of its on-going New Horizons mission.

Currently, the piano-sized spacecraft is in radio silence, collecting data as it flies by Pluto and its moons. Tomorrow marks the start of a 16-month data download about the dwarf planetary system as the space craft flies into the Kuiper belt. For today, however, this image is an amazing gift from the countless scientists and engineers who have been working for over a decade on this project.

Cari Nierenberg at Live Science, writing about my wife Merri:

“When faced with life and death of a little person you’ve just met, things pale in comparison,” Hackett explained. She’s also learned a lot about having hope, a word that has taken on new meaning for her.

“Hope means much more than just my child or just my family, " Hackett said. Hope means that as a result of all Josiah has been through, medical advances in cancer treatment might continue to help him and other kids facing the same diagnosis, she said.

“Hope doesn’t stop with one life. It just keeps going,” Hackett said.

Got an Apple IIGS that’s got some bugs? Well, the Apple PugetSound Program library Exchange has some good news for you. Here’s Bill Martens:

After 22 years, 2 months, 2 days and 2 hours since System 6.0.1 was released, this is a summary of the visible changes. There have been many bugs fixed and many features added that are not immediately visible–they will enable developers to create better future products. Be sure to also read the Shortcuts file on the SystemTools3 disk for more information.

I love everything about this.

Sachsen is the native OS X client for App Store reviews. Think of it as Mail.app for your app’s reviews. Organize, analyze, translate and share them.

For anyone who’s got an app on the App Store, reviews are the main feedback channel. Love ’em or hate ’em, but never ignore them.

There’s a one week trial and the full version is 20 USD. No account needed. It’s a 4.0 MB download.

In my “Future Classics” series, I try to guess what current-era Apple products may become collectable in the future.

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Earlier this year, Apple resurrected the MacBook name for its new, single-port, ultra-thin, 12-inch Retina notebook.

I say resurrected because Apple’s used the name before, on several different machines over the years:

Top to bottom: the original MacBook, the MacBook (Late 2008) and the MacBook (late 2009). The middle one is today’s star.

The machine wasn’t on sale for a long time. Introduced in October 2008, it was gone from shelves June 2009. It was introduced at the same time as the unibody MacBook Pro. In fact, the machine was the event’s One More Thing.

Jobs said the MacBook was best-selling Mac ever, and then dropped the price on the machine to $999. Jobs said that MacBook owners wanted three additional things from their notebooks: a metal enclosure, faster graphics and LED backlit displays.

The aluminum MacBook came in above the $999 white MacBook in the product line, and boasted many of the same features that the just-announced unibody MacBook Pros had. Pricing started at $1299. Jobs touted this being $700 cheaper than the old way to get such features: buying a MacBook Pro.

Indeed, this MacBook was basically a smaller, cheaper, slower MacBook Pro. It was a weird time, and a weird choice to me at the time, and when the machine was discontinued, several things happened.

At WWDC 2009, Apple caught up with what the rest of the world was thinking and introduced the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which was more or less the same machine, but with the inclusion of FireWire 800, a higher RAM ceiling, an SD card slot and an $1199 starting price.

In the fall of 2009, the third MacBook pictured above was announced. It too featured an LED display and Multi-Touch Trackpad, but in a polycarbonate unibody case. It was discontinued in July 2011, as the MacBook Air took its place as the consumer-level notebook from Cupertino.

All of this is confusing in hindsight, and I think that’s one reason this machine will be a classic one day. Technology-wise, all of these 13-inch machines were more or less the same, but the marketing ping-pong still stands out to me as weird.

Additionally, like owners of the iMac G5 (iSight) probably felt, aluminum MacBook users suffered for buying a machine during an unusual transition. I remember people being angry after the machine picked up the Pro name and FireWire. While that’s an inevitability from time-to-time, I think it adds to this machine’s uniqueness long-term.

This week, we talk about me “going indie,” Apple Music, and Federico’s second Apple Watch.

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Not a developer but want to get your hands on this fall’s OS releases from Apple? Now’s your chance.

As always, be sure to have good backups in place, expect some things to be broken and take it easy on third-party developers.

Earlier today, Apple updated its “vintage and obsolete products” article:

Owners of iPad, iPhone, iPod or Mac products may obtain service and parts from Apple or Apple service providers for 5 years after the product is no longer manufactured (or longer where required by law). Apple has discontinued support for certain technologically obsolete and vintage products.

The company does this from time to time, but today’s update caught my idea because of the inclusion of several Early 2009 and Mid 2009 models.

What’s interesting is that OS X supports machines of this vintage, including Mid 2007 iMac.

I haven’t run OS X Yosemite on an iMac that old, but my guess is that while the experience isn’t great, it’s passable. Generally, OS X gets faster and lighter with each revision, giving Apple the ability to support hardware longer and longer.

This can put some customers in a weird position if something goes wrong, however. Genius Bars will support vintage products, but if there’s a hardware issue, are usually unable to do much besides send the customer to a third-party Authorized Apple Service Provider.