Astronaut Scott Kelly capped off an impressive career by spending a year aboard the International Space Station. His new memoir is out, and I can’t wait to start it this weekend.
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Apple: Remove Touch Bar Data Before Selling MacBook Pro⇢
As noted by Zac Hall, this kbase article about prepping your Mac for sale has a surprise step for those of us with Touch Bar Macs:
You can clear any information stored by the Touch Bar before you sell or give away your MacBook Pro.
First, start up from macOS Recovery: Hold down Command-R on your keyboard immediately after pressing the power button to turn on your Mac, or immediately after your Mac begins to restart.
Cardhop for Mac⇢
Flexibits, the makers of Fantastical, have a new Mac app out for dealing with contacts. It boasts the same easy-to-use, text-driven intelligence that its calendar-based sibling does. The natural language input field at the top of the menu bar app can handle search, creating contacts, editing record information and more.
The app can also serve as a launchpad for contacting someone. The input field can turn “email Jason Snell” into a draft to the man with a spider in his iMac. It builds upon natural language input in a new way that I find clever.
Kbase Article of the Week: iBook G3 and G4: Power Consumption and Thermal Output (BTU) Information⇢
Learn about the power consumption and thermal output of iBook computers.
Dropbox Professional⇢
Todd Jackson at Dropbox, after some mumbo jumbo I tried reading before blacking out:
That’s why we’re launching Dropbox Professional, a new plan that lets you store, share, and track your work from one place. It’s designed specifically for independent workers, and it comes with two new features: Dropbox Showcase and Dropbox Smart Sync.
The new $19.99/mo plan comes with 1 TB of data, like the $9.99/mo Plus plan that I’ve been using for a while. All of the various plans can be seen here. Dropbox Showcase is a new way for users to share and publish files for others to interact with. The far more interesting feature is Dropbox Smart Sync, which grants access to every folder and file in your account in Finder, without the need to sync everything to your local disk.
There’s No i in Keyboard
As outlined in the most recent episode of Connected, the keyboard on my Late 2016, 13-inch TouchBar-equipped MacBook Pro is not doing well.
A couple of weeks ago, its i key started feeling a little sticky. This keyboard does not boast a large amount of travel, but this key was barely moving at all when pressed.
I assumed a tiny bit of dust or other debris had worked it way under the key. This is a bit of a known problem with these laptops, as Casey Johnston has noted at The Outline in an article titled “The New MacBook Keyboard is Ruining my Life.” She writes:
Ungeniused #35: The SS Eastland⇢
Last night, Myke and I recorded a special bonus episode of Ungeniused:
Recorded live in Chicago, the story of a horrific and deadly accident involving a ship that took place a mere 20 feet from shore.
All aboard!
Newest Mac mini Turns Three⇢
I would have missed the anniversary without this blog post by Brian Stucki:
It’s been three years since the current Mac mini was released on Oct 16, 2014. “All About That Bass” was the number one song in the land. Four hundred million humans have been born since that day and have never known a new Mac mini. My daughter is one of them. She already walks and talks and just moved to her big-girl bed. Three years is a long time.
Become a Member of 512 Pixels⇢
Several months ago, I launched a membership program to help support my writing and other projects here at 512 Pixels.
If you haven’t checked it out, read a little more about the benefits of membership here. On weeks like this, without an RSS sponsor, I’m extra thankful for those of you who have signed up.
Connected #164: My Mother Has a Bunch of Keyboards⇢
Last night, Federico, Myke and I recorded a live episode of Connected in Chicago to help kick off the Release Notes conference:
The boys discuss the Google Home Mini’s rough launch, the future of AR at Apple and Federico’s baker.
I packed a surprise for my co-hosts as well.
My thanks to our sponsors for this week’s show:
- Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code WORLD at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
- Timing: The automatic time tracking app for macOS. Use this link to get 10% off your purchase of Timing.
- Incapsula: Secure and accelerate your website. Connected listeners get one month free.
Dejal Time Out for Mac⇢
Thanks to Dejal Time Out for Mac for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week.
You deserve a break. Time Out allows for easy break reminders, with flexible customization if you want it.
The Secret History of Mac Gaming⇢
This new Kickstarter project caught my eye:
A beautifully produced, fully illustrated history of the pioneering Macintosh game scene. Spanning over 400 pages, this exhaustively researched book documents the landmark hits and arcane wonders that defined this much loved gaming platform.