512 Pixels

This week on Mac Power Users:

Author Matt Gemmell joins Stephen and David to talk about using an iPad as his only computer for eight and a half years and why he recently switched back to the Mac.

On More Power Users, Matt shared his views on AI and creative work.

This week on the show:

The fallout over Apple’s AI efforts have led to changes within the company, while its App Store policies have allowed PWAs to shine on the iPad. Stephen and Federico also discuss the return of Pebble and what the next iPhone may look like.

The most recent episode of Decoder covers what’s going on with Tesla, and how the company’s problems are bigger than just Elon’s current work dismantling the federal government. Nilay Patel:

Today we’re talking about the protests against Tesla, which have been branded on social media under the hashtag Tesla Takedown. The protests are, of course, a reaction to Elon Musk, who has managed to install himself as basically a not-so-shadow president who is tearing the federal government apart, leaving confusion and destruction in his wake.

A lot of people are deeply unhappy with this state of affairs. And because Musk is not an elected official but is, on some level, a car salesman, many of those frustrated and angry people are taking aim at the most visible and accessible symbol of his power and wealth: Tesla itself.

While we’re here: LOL.

Sue Marek at Ookla, the company behind speedtest.net, among other things:

AT&T and Verizon Speedtest users experienced better median download speeds on the iPhone 16e than iPhone 16. However, the opposite was true for T-Mobile users.

Verizon Speedtest users with the iPhone 16e and the iPhone 16 experienced median download speeds that lagged behind that of both AT&T and T-Mobile.

iPhone 16e Speedtest users on Verizon’s network and AT&T’s network saw higher upload speed performance than those using the iPhone 16. However, T-Mobile users experienced the opposite and had slightly higher upload speeds on the iPhone 16 compared to the iPhone 16e.

Overall, this seems like mostly good news for Apple’s modem business. The article gives additional details about why the C1 may struggle when on T-Mobile, and includes lots of charts. Everyone likes charts.

Paul Mayne:

For over a decade, Day One has been more than just a journaling app—it has been a companion for millions, capturing life’s moments, preserving personal histories, and helping people build a writing habit that lasts. With apps for Mac, iOS, Android, and the web, Day One has been the most trusted space for private, meaningful journaling.

Today, we’re taking the next big step: Day One for Windows is here.

It’s available from the Microsoft Store now. As Wes Davis at The Verge reports, it’s “free to use, and won’t count against the free plan’s one-device syncing limit, for now.”

Eric Migicovsky’s new company has two watches available for pre-order. The $149 Core 2 Duo features a 1.2" black/white e-paper screen, while the Core Time 2 has a 1.5" 64 color e-paper screen and runs $225. The former is set to ship this summer, with the latter coming at the end of the year.

The checkout page includes this text:

I understand that these watches will work with iPhones. But I realize Apple restricts and degrades functionality of 3rd party smartwatches. Because of this, I do not expect these watches to have the same features as Apple Watch. Read this blog post if you’d like to learn more.

Doug Brown:

This whole saga starts with a very interesting blog post written by Pierre Dandumont in 2022. Pierre’s (excellent) blog is in French — Google does a good job of translating it for me. He found a quote in a book referring to special functionality bundled with Apple’s Macintosh Performa 550 computer:

If Apple’s programmers, in creating the Performa series, were aiming to make idiot-proof computers, they were serious about it. The Performa 550 is an amazing case in point. When you run the included Apple Backup program (see Chapter 15), you get a little surprise that you didn’t count on: a hidden partition on your hard drive!

This invisible chunk of hard drive space contains a miniature, invisible System Folder. Apple’s internal memo explains it this way:

“When a system problem (one that prevents the Performa from booting) is detected, a [dialog box] informs the user of a system problem. The user can choose to fix the problem manually or to reinstall software from the backup partition’s Mini System Folder.”

This story is wild. I mean, just look at this user interface hidden away with this backup program:

David Smith:

Last week I watched the iOS development community react to substantial rumors of a major UI redesign slated to be announced at WWDC25. The reactions were complex and I’d say broadly negative, which is a reaction I very much can understand and appreciate.

However, after wandering around in the (literal) wilderness for most of last week testing Pedometer++, my current reaction is now much more optimistic. Not because the fundamentals of the situation have changed, but because I’ve decided that it is essential that I develop a practice of optimism to navigate this complicated season in the Apple developer world.

Optimism isn’t enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is a feeling, optimism is a choice. I have much less of the enthusiastic feelings these days about my relationship to Apple and its technologies (discussed here on Under the Radar 312), but I can still choose to optimistically look for the positives in any situation. Something I’ve learned as I’ve aged is that pessimism feels better in the moment, but then slowly rots you over time. Whereas optimism feels foolish in the moment, but sustains you over time.

MarsEdit 5 is a major upgrade to the preeminent Mac app for editing WordPress, Micro.blog, Tumblr, and many other types of blogs.

The new Microposting feature makes it “as easy to post to your own blog as it is to post to social media.” When MarsEdit 5 is running on your Mac, just press a configurable global keyboard shortcut, write out your latest thoughts, and instantly publish to your blog.

MarsEdit supports editing posts in rich or plain text, and the latest update is especially great for Markdown fans. Now when you’re writing Markdown in plain text mode, MarsEdit applies live, beautiful syntax highlighting to make it easier to focus separately on the content and style of your posts.

MarsEdit is used by top bloggers to maximize their productivity and enjoyment of blogging. It’s great for pros like John Gruber of Daring Fireball, and yours truly, while also being simple enough to remove the mystery of blogging for everyday folks who just want to share their thoughts with the world.

MarsEdit also supports for publishing to Mastodon! Now you can use the same app you use to write and publish to your main blog, to write and publish to your Mastodon microblog. Check out the announcement at this link.

One app, limitless publishing opportunities.

Download MarsEdit today, and see what all the hype is about. It’ll make you a better blogger!

This week on Mac Power Users:

All aboard! David and Stephen talk about the tech, bags, and planning that go into their travel.

With Myke on paternity leave, Federico and I put just about every shirt Connected has ever had back on sale. This is the final call to get an order in!

Nearly 16 years ago, my wife Merri and I sat in silence as we were told that our six-month old son likely had brain cancer. That Sunday afternoon changed our lives forever. Josiah underwent numerous operations, and then 18 rounds of chemotherapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In the years since, he has undergone countless blood tests, nearly two dozen MRIs¹, and an untold number of physical, speech, and occupational therapy sessions.

Now Josiah is 16. This morning when he came into the kitchen, he was wearing one of the shirts we designed for Relay’s live show in London last summer.

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Early on in our journey, I knew I wanted to find a way to give back to St. Jude. It’s important for me to say our work for the hospital is in no way my attempt to repay what the institution has given my family. Instead, we raise money and talk about St. Jude and volunteer and donate and more out of love and appreciation of the mission.

Many years ago, I started talking about St. Jude here on 512 Pixels, raising money for the hospital by linking to the page for our family’s team for the hospital’s annual marathon. In 2019, my efforts became much more official when Relay started raising money for St. Jude as a fundraising partner. That partnership was something new for St. Jude, but the team at ALSAC immediately got what we wanted to do, and have been amazing partners over the last six years.

Since 2019, the Relay audience has given more than $4 million to the life-saving work of St. Jude. That is an incredible amount of money, and I am truly staggered by the generosity of the community. That generosity has not gone unnoticed by ALSAC and St. Jude.

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The St. Jude campus is an amazing place. Nestled on the edge of downtown Memphis, it’s an ever-growing, ever-changing set of pink stucco buildings connected by a maze of sidewalks, walkways, and — if you get lost in the basement as I once did in 2010 — a series of underground hallways. At St. Jude, patient care and research are two sides of the same coin. Huge research buildings are right next door to where kids are seen by their care teams, and communication flows in both directions. This is by design, with the belief that this collaboration leads to breakthroughs.

The system works. St. Jude has made remarkable progress across a huge range of challenges, and there are children all around the world who are alive today thanks to this work, including my son.

But kids don’t think about that sort of thing; their parents do. St. Jude is a place built for both. The hospital is brightly colored and fun, with spaces for creativity, joy, and rest. Kids can be kids at St. Jude, and parents can connect with each other and professionals to help sort through everything that comes with a pediatric cancer diagnosis. For example, families don’t have to worry about travel, thanks to housing provided by St. Jude, and the hospital has teachers on staff to help patients stay up to date with their education.

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Around the hospital are numerous reminders of that worldwide support that makes all of this possible. Some have the names of individual donors, while others highlight the work of companies to raise money.

The generosity of the Relay community has now been recognized within the hospital, as part of a display near the cafeteria.

We saw it in person this week at the hospital:

St. Jude founder Danny Thomas once said that “no child should die in the dawn of life,” and St. Jude continues in its work to see that dream come true, thanks to everyone who helps keep its doors open.

I love that Relay’s name is on the Dream panel, because that is exactly what this is. To be able to give back to a place that means so much to me and my family is incredible, and the success we have had in doing so is thanks to this amazing community that tunes into Relay shows each week. Thank you for making this possible, and thank you for continuing to support St. Jude.