A week from today, a large portion of the United States will be witness to a solar eclipse. Here in Memphis, we’ll see 97.7% coverage at 1:56 PM CDT. I’ll be traveling with my family to Arkansas, to experience 100% coverage. NASA has published a website that will tell you what to expect at your location.
I just hope the forecasts for clouds turn out to be wrong.
We also traveled for the 2017 eclipse, and it was incredible. Jason Snell and I spoke about our experiences on episode 54 of Liftoff.
We’re very excited to launch TWO new tech history podcasts today over at Relay. Welcome to the network, Brushed and Linen!
Unite 5 for macOS takes your web experience to the next level, transforming websites into feature-rich Mac apps. Powered by a completely redesigned WebKit browser, Unite 5 offers a more immersive and customizable browsing experience.
What sets Unite 5 apart? We’ve gone beyond just app conversion. Our new intricate link-forwarding rules give you unparalleled control over web interactions, making your web apps smarter and more integrated than ever before.
This week on the podcast, I walk David through the ins and outs of collecting old Apple gear, and we take the wraps off an MPU redesign.
This episode was finally enough to get me to finish documenting my collection. You can check out the full inventory via this Google Sheet.
Let’s talk about the MPU redesign. First up is our new artwork, which you can see here, along with its predecessors:
Apple has announced that new immersive video is coming to Apple Vision Pro users today at 6 p.m. Pacific. Jason Snell has more:
I’m excited to see the finished product — all of Apple’s immersive videos have been pretty amazing — but I have to point out that this five-minute highlight packages is being released 110 days after last year’s MLS Cup Final. That’s not great turnaround time. If immersive video for sports is going to be a thing, turnaround is going to need to be a lot faster.
Federico keeps refreshing Apple Newsroom, Myke is ready to federate, and Stephen goes down quite the rabbit hole.
In the middle of the 1980s, Apple found itself with several options regarding the future of its computing platforms. The Apple II was the company’s bread and butter. The Apple III was pitched as an evolution of that platform, but was clearly doomed due to hardware and software issues. The Lisa was expensive and not selling well, and while the Macintosh aimed to bring Lisa technology to the masses, sales were slow after its initial release.
Apple today announced it will host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) online from June 10 through 14, 2024. Developers and students will have the opportunity to celebrate in person at a special event at Apple Park on opening day.
Free for all developers, WWDC24 will spotlight the latest iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS advancements. As part of Apple’s ongoing commitment to helping developers elevate their apps and games, the event will also provide them with unique access to Apple experts, as well as insight into new tools, frameworks, and features.
With Threads starting to federate, there has been push back in corners of Mastodon, with some server admins blocking users from @threads.net entirely. I think just about everyone has complicated feelings about Meta, but I think this kind of move only harms users of the Fediverse.
Adam Newbold has written about this, and I agree with their conclusions:
The entire point of the Fediverse and the ActivityPub standard is to make it easy for people to connect with one another, openly, across different platforms. The Fediverse wants to be open, and it is open by design. When you block another instance on the Fediverse, you’re making a deliberate choice to fracture a part of the network. There are legitimate reasons to do that, but it’s a serious move that should always be a last resort. And when you preemptively block what might wind up being the largest instance ever, well, there might as well not even be a network at all. People who want to connect with one another on either side of that fissure will need to pick one side or the other and connect there. If you’re wondering which side that will be in the context of Threads, you can look to WhatsApp’s two billion monthly active users for your answer.
The newest version of macOS includes fixes for:
As of this writing, Apple’s “What’s new in updates for macOS Sonoma” page isn’t updated yet, but you can grab the update via System Settings.
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Unlike most of us Apple Bloggers, John Voorhees actually went to law school. Like David Sparks, he left the law to become a writer and podcaster, so his article on the DOJ’s suit against Apple is the one I’ve been waiting for. Over on MacStories, he has broken down the complaint filed last week.
I learned a ton in reading through this, and I think you will too. I’m not going to blockquote any of it, just to make you click through to MacStories.