I don’t mind Electron if it means I can run Mac OS 8 on what it thinks is a Macintosh Quadra:
posts
AppleDesigns⇢
One of the first products you could purchase online from Apple was a set of golf balls and tees. Not a golfer? Apple also offered a puzzle in a can, a paddle game, luggage tags, and even a onesie with the classic Mac OS Trash icon screen printed on the front. These forgotten items and nearly 100 more products came from the peculiar world of AppleDesigns.com, one of Apple’s earliest online shopping projects.
Liftoff #129: Dirt in a Soccer Ball⇢
Mars 2020 is set to launch in just a few days, and should be followed by the splashdown of the Commercial Crew Demo-2 mission. Elsewhere, Virgin Galactic has shown off the interior of its space tourism craft, and we remember Rene Carpenter.
Kbase Article of the Week: Attach Pro Display XDR to Pro Stand⇢
Upgrade #308: The Adventures of Dr. Icon⇢
This week on Upgrade:
Stephen Hackett joins Myke and Jason to consider the best and worst changes to app icons in macOS Big Sur. What makes a good icon? How are books shaped? What is the origin of the term “email”? What happened to Lou? Staring at icons for a long time really makes you think…
This got weird, but was a ton of fun. Myke put chapter artwork in the show so you can follow along, but the icons can also be seen here, with The Big Sur versions to the left of the older ones.
Sponsor: SheetPlanner: The Ultimate Tool for Organizing Information, Managing Projects and Getting Things Done⇢
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The Future of the iMac
Word on the street is that the iMac is due for a spec bump any time.1 A 10-core model has been spotted on Geekbench, and with Apple saying more Intel Macs are in the pipeline, it makes sense that this iMac could come out before the end of the year.
The current iMac isn’t all that … modern. The design reaches back to 2012, all standard models come with a Fusion Drive at best and all but the top-of-the-line model comes with an 8th-gen Intel processor or older.
MPU #546: The Best Listeners⇢
On this feedback show, David and Stephen go through some listener email, revisit notes apps and discuss remote troubleshooting iOS devices.
My thanks to our sponsors:
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Instagram App Showing Camera Access in iOS 14 When User Isn’t Using the Camera⇢
In the latest instance of iOS 14’s beta mode tattling on unexpected app behavior, some users reported that they were seeing the green “camera on” indicator while using Instagram when they were just scrolling through their feeds, not taking a photo or video.
An Instagram spokesperson said in an email to The Verge that the behavior was a bug and that it’s being fixed. The app’s Create Mode is accessible from the Instagram camera which could set off the camera indicator, and swiping into the app’s Camera from Feed may also trip it up.
micro.blog⇢
My thanks to micro.blog for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week. It offers blog hosting, native macOS and iOS apps, and a welcoming community built around independent microblogs that can be used for short- and long-form writing. Start a microblog with your own domain name, then add photos, full-length posts, or even a shared blog for work or family.
Newton Used in Pilot Tests at Johns Hopkins⇢
Johns Hopkins Hospital recently completed a 10 month pilot project to assess the utility of the Apple MessagePad in the hands of health care case managers. The hospital developed its own software called the PD Tracker that runs on the Newton platform. Physicians and case managers using the PD Tracker and the Apple MessagePad combination have found it to be an effective replacement for their current paper-based system.
Connected #304: Some Wind is Coming⇢
Stephen is bad at designing polls, Federico has some concerns over the latest iOS 14 betas and apparently Myke likes F1.
On Connected Pro, the guys tried talking me out of using Notion for a new project, and burger sauce was explained.
My thanks to our sponsors:
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