This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of Mac mini (Mid 2011) computers and is recommended for all users.
This update improves the reliability of booting from the network, addresses an issue that can prevent HDCP authentication after a reboot, and resolves an issue with boot device selection when a USB storage device is hot-plugged.
Running a firmware update will never not be scary.
Andrew Cunningham has put together an in-depth look at how long Apple typically supports Mac hardware with OS releases, and what that may mean for the last Intel Macs.
This week on Mac Power Users, David and I grabbed our lassos and gathered up some of the best Safari extensions out on the free and open range of the App Store.
This week on the podcast:
The public betas are out, and the guys have spent some time with macOS Sonoma, iOS and iPadOS 17 and watchOS 10. This week, they share their impressions and then have a conversation about Threads.
My Kickstarter winds down tomorrow, July 14 at 10:44 AM Eastern! If you want to get the sickest wall calendar highlighting dates in Apple’s retail and services businesses, now’s the time!
Matt Corey has rounded up a bunch of indie developers and they’re having quite the sale on some very nice iOS and macOS software.
Dr. Drang, writing about the Medication reminder feature in iOS:
After I got my pills entered into the app and set the time of day at which they should be taken, I enabled Notifications so I’d get an alarm and a persistent notice on my phone’s lock screen. This is where the app and I got crosswise. I usually didn’t have my phone with me when I took my pills, and even when I did, I’d often fail to tap the button in the app that marked them as taken and dismiss the notice. So later in the day I’d see the notice and question whether I’d failed to take the pills or just failed to mark that I’d taken the pills. The problem was that taking the pills—even the horse pill—was not so memorable that I’d know for sure that I’d done it a few hours earlier. I ended up questioning myself about the pills every week or so.
Is this related to the fact that I’m 62 years old? Probably, but I’ve always been a bit absent-minded (my wife would say more than a bit). And while I will certainly take the lion’s share of the blame for my inability to keep perfect track of my medications through the Health app, I doubt that I’m the only one who has trouble disciplining themself to mark their pills as taken as soon as they’re swallowed.
I love the solution he came up with for dealing with this, in fact it’s also been in use at my house for quite some time.
For real though, Amazon has some good tech deals going:
Some Apple products contain sensors that respond when they detect temperature changes inside your system or device, turning on fans to bring cooling airflow to critical components.
If your device’s processor is working on intensive tasks—such as compressing HD video, playing a graphics-heavy game, or indexing the hard drive with Spotlight after you migrate data—the fans run faster to provide additional airflow. You might hear fan noise when this happens, especially if you’re in a quiet environment. This rushing-air sound is a normal part of the cooling process.
Ambient temperature, the temperature outside the device, also plays a role in the fans’ responsiveness. If the ambient temperature is high, the fans turn on sooner and run faster.
It’s weird how all of this felt way more relevant in the Intel days then it does now.
Jay Peters and Jon Porter, reporting at The Verge:
Instagram’s new Threads app has already surpassed 100 million users, meaning it reached the milestone dramatically faster than even ChatGPT. OpenAI’s chatbot passed the mark after two months, but Threads, which only launched on Wednesday, got there in a matter of days. The number of users can be found in the Instagram app, which tracks the size of the Threads userbase.
Late last year, Elon Musk tweeted that Twitter had around 260 million monetizable daily active users. At least he’s taking it well.
It’s not even Prime Day yet, but I’ve sent this (affiliate) link to two family members who need to replace aging Intel MacBook Airs and for whom the base model would easily meet their needs.
Unite 4 for macOS allows you to turn any website into an app on your Mac. Using a lightweight, WebKit-powered browser as a backend, you can easily create isolated, customizable apps from any site.
Unite 4 includes dozens of new features, including support for native notifications, new customization options, and much more. Unite apps also serve as a great alternative for resource-hogging Electron apps or half-baked Catalyst apps.
Some examples of apps you could create in mere minutes with Unite:
512 Pixels readers get 20% off this week when you purchase Unite 4 at bzgapps.com/unite512 or when you use the promo code ‘512Pixels’ at checkout.
You can also try Unite for 14 days absolutely free or use it as part of your subscription if you’re a Setapp subscriber!