512 Pixels

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This week on Mac Power Users, I got back from my sabbatical and join David just in time for some holiday shopping.

Jerrod Hofferth has done some very good work here.

Quinn Nelson bought a new Mac mini then took it apart for all of us:

Over on Mastodon, Paul Haddad pointed out some of the differences between the M4 and M4 Pro models:

Dan Moren has reviewed the new Mac mini, and has high praise for the small machine:

As the most versatile Mac, the Mac mini finds itself into all sorts of niches that no other Mac can easily (or cost-effectively) fill. Whether it’s rack-mounted as a server, hooked up to a TV, or even tucked somewhere in a car, the mini is the Mac of all trades.

Since the Apple silicon revolution, it’s also become more powerful than ever, and the new M4-powered models are no exception. The mini holds its own against consumer models like the iMac and MacBook Air, and can be upgraded into the mid-range with an M4 Pro chip, positioning it comfortably alongside some MacBook Pro models.

When it comes to desktop Macs, it’s quite possibly the best one Apple offers.

I am very happy using a 14-inch MacBook Pro as my main Mac these days, but I can’t stop thinking about the Mac mini. The new design is compelling, its performance is impressive, and it would look adorable with a set of googly eyes on it.

For all the crappy things that 2020 brought, the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory continues to sting. Since its demise, the failure has been under investigation, and a recent report sheds new light on what happened:

Long-term zinc creep-induced failure in the 57-year-old telescope’s cable spelter sockets was the root cause of the telescope’s collapse, the report says. Sockets filled with zinc held in place a set of cables suspending the telescope’s main platform over the reflector dish. Gradually the zinc lost its hold on the cables and allowed several of them to pull out, leading to the collapse of the platform into the reflector.

The failure sequence began with Hurricane Maria, over three years prior to the collapse, according to the report. Indications of cable pullout were minimal before the hurricane. Large and progressive cable pullouts could be seen during post-hurricane visual inspections, observation of which should have prompted remedial action. Safety factor calculations made following the first cable failure did not recognize the accelerated time-dependent materials failure process governing the eventual zinc pull out.

This is the first documented case of long-term zinc-induced creep failure despite a long history of usage over a century, the report notes. A possible explanation for the accelerated zinc-creep is long-term low-current electroplasticity, induced by the electromagnetic waves from the Arecibo Telescope. It recommends that the NSF should offer the remaining socket and cable sections for study by the research community.

This week on the podcast, Myke wades through some feedback, then we discuss my recent sabbatical and Apple’s AI image generation tools, and Federico considers the role of smart glasses in Apple’s ecosystem.

I don’t know how popular games proved to be back in the iPod days, but according to Kyle Orland at Ars, there are some folks out there who really care about them, and want to see them live on.

We need more of this sort of thing in the world.

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!

Sabbatical’s done

The time away was restful

Please vote for Harris

We just closed down Relay’s 2024 St. Jude campaign. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to raise $1,078,348 to further St. Jude’s mission of finding cures and saving children.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. This is an incredible achievement that we share as a community.

It’s been a wild year. Relay turned 10 and 512 Pixels turned 16. Later this week, are winding down our 6th-annual fundraiser for St. Jude. In January, I joined forces with David Smith and survived my first major iOS release, helping get Widgetsmith 7 out the door just a few weeks ago.

On the home front, my wife started a new job, our middle child started high school, and I took on a volunteer role that I cherish, but can prove demanding.

All of this is to say: I could use a break, so I’m taking one. I’ll be on sabbatical starting on Friday, and will be back in early November.

Please don’t hear what I’m not saying: everything is great! No one is sick, and there’s no secret plot anywhere. I’m just going to log off for a bit.

I won’t be publishing any content during this timeframe; I won’t be on any shows¹ or writing any here during that time. If there is an Apple event in October, I won’t be covering it, and hereby name the One True John Voorhees to play for me in the Rickies if a game is held.

My absence puts more work on several people, so I owe a huge thank you to Myke, Federico, David Sparks, Kathy, Kerry, Underscore, and the Relay Discord moderation team for keeping the machines running while I am away. Taking this much time away is an incredible privilege that I do not take lightly, but a decade into Relay, it felt like the right time to take such a long break.

So what will I be doing with my time away?

Work-wise, after helping close down the St. Jude campaign in a few days, I’ll be doing just enough bookkeeping to keep the bills paid at Relay. Beyond that, a lot of time is unplanned by design. I have some projects around the house and a stack of books I want to get through, but I’m leaving a lot of days blank on my calendar between school drop off and pickup.

I am pretty bad at taking time off, but hopefully I get the hang of it after the first week or two.

I look forward to returning to you in November. Have an amazing month, Internet, and I’ll see you soon.