512 Pixels

Doug Brown:

After I wrote about the possibility of programmable Mac ROM SIMMs in Quadras a couple of months ago, I suspected that there had been a way for developers at Apple in the 68k Mac era to reflash the ROM in their Macs during development, just like BIOS updates on PCs. The reason I believed this is because the ROM SIMM socket in the Quadras brought out pins for 12V (VPP) and write enable (/WE). I had verified that the write enable pin was going into the memory controller chip in several Mac models, so I was pretty confident that in-system programming was possible.

As luck would have it, multiple people pointed out to me that an Apple internal utility used for ROM flashing had been uploaded to the Macintosh Garden. It was recovered from a prototype PowerBook 520 purchased in 2020. Of course, I had to download this utility and figure out how it works.

Well, this is an abomination.

It’s been a busy morning for Apple’s content teams.

Up first, we have the top shows from Apple Podcasts. All I want is to see Ungeniused will crack these lists one day!¹

Over in Apple Books, there’s a new Year in Review feature that I think is really pretty neat:

Today, Apple Books unveiled the top books and audiobooks of 2023 and launched Year in Review, a new in-app experience that helps readers to celebrate the titles, authors, and genres that defined their year. With Year in Review, users can view personalized reading highlights about the books and audiobooks they enjoyed in 2023, including their total time spent reading, the longest book or audiobook they read, the series they completed, their most-read author and genre, and their highest-rated book — all presented in a simple and engaging experience with visuals that are easy to share.

Year in Review can also show you how many minutes you spent reading in the app, and how many books you made it through, all in a shareable graphic to flex on your Instagram followers. I dig it.

Lastly, as noted by Hartley Charlton at MacRumors, Apple Music Replay 2023 is now live as well. Unlike Podcasts and Books, the Music app doesn’t have this feature built-in, and this experience lives on the web at replay.music.apple.com. Here’s Charlton with more:

Users can watch a custom Highlight Reel at the top of the Replay webpage before diving into more detailed information and expanded listening insights. The highlight reel presents a series of social media-style animated cards that show musical highlights from the past year based on your listening history. Relevant music plays in the background for each card. The highlight reel is viewable on desktop browsers, but it appears to be primarily designed for mobile devices.

After the highlight reel, users can scroll down to see featured sections with more informative breakdowns of their top albums and playlists from the past year. Users can add their Apple Music Replay 2023 playlist to the Music app at the bottom of the page.

Apple Support:

If your Mac has a Touch Bar and items in the Touch Bar are hard to see, you can turn on Touch Bar zoom, which displays a larger version of the Touch Bar on the screen.

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This week on Mac Power Users, we are joined by David Smith, Malin Sundberg and Ken Case to talk about developing for Apple’s platforms here in 2023. It was a fantastic conversation that I really enjoyed.

I don’t need Teenage Engineering’s new synthesizer, but my word, I love how it looks:

This week on the podcast, Myke, Federico and I answer listener questions and mostly avoid talking about OpenAI.

This isn’t strictly a support document, but I wanted to post about it so I can find it again in the future. Here’s Marco Arment on Mastodon:

Got Thunderbolt Migration Assistant working!

Audio Hijack lets you record any audio on your Mac, from individual applications like Safari or Zoom, hardware audio devices like microphones and mixers, or even the audio output of the entire system. If you can hear it, you can record it. Whatever you need to do with audio on your Mac, Audio Hijack can help.

• Record conversations from Zoom, FaceTime, and other VoIP apps
• Save streaming audio from the web
• Create podcasts, both remote and in-studio
• Digitize vinyl
• And so much more

Earlier this month, Rogue Amoeba shipped Audio Hijack 4.3 with a brand-new Transcribe block to turn any spoken audio into text. The Mac’s best audio recording tool now also gives you unlimited transcription, with no on-going charges. Transcribe audio from a mic, an app, or a file. It’s great for video meetings, podcasts, and so much more. Read all about it in the Audio Hijack 4.3 blog post.

Through the end of November, 512 Pixels readers can save 20% by purchasing with coupon code HACK20AH. Visit the Audio Hijack site to download the free trial.

Tom Warren at The Verge:

Microsoft is hiring former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman.

Altman was fired from OpenAI on Friday after the board said it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.” After a weekend of negotiations to potentially bring Altman back to OpenAI, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that both Altman and Brockman will be joining to lead Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team. Altman will have the CEO title of this new group.

“We’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team,” says Nadella. “We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.”

Remember when Nadella said he wanted to make Google dance? My word.

Update: Well, maybe not, or at least not for long…

This week on Mac Power Users, it’s that time again!