Today I’m launching a major update to Facades, the field guide to Apple Retail Stores. I’ve added detailed timelines filled with store history, new ways to track and share your store visits, custom lists, and much more. This update is the product of feedback from readers like you, and I hope you’ll enjoy what I’ve made.
I’ve been using the updated version for a while via TestFlight, and it is delightful. The title design touches are fabulous.
What a day so far:
2023 proved to be very busy for Apple, with updated hardware and software shipping, as well as a look at an entirely new platform coming early next year in the form of visionOS. This week, David and Stephen take a survey of the company’s year.
Well, the dogcow images are perfect.
OTJ joins Federico and Stephen to talk about Threads joining the fediverse, recent and future software updates, how to use nets correctly and the winners of this year’s MacStories Selects awards.
On Connected Pro: being the main character on Twitter, and that time the Rock was in a Siri commercial. Get 20% off your first year of the ad-free, longer version of the show between now and Friday, December 15.
I recently gave a presentation about Apple Notes to a Mac User Group in Texas, and recorded my talk. I hope you enjoy!
If getting Lightning out of your life is worth $99, I have good news for you.
Self Service Repair is now available for the iPhone 15 lineup and Mac models powered by the M2 lineup, including the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, the 15-inch MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Pro, and Mac Studio. Self Service Repair is also now available for Apple users in 24 additional European countries, including Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland. With this latest expansion, Self Service Repair now supports 35 Apple products in 33 countries and 24 languages.
Earlier this year, Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen did some excellent reporting about how easy it is for someone to own your Apple ID if they steal your iPhone.
Apple has responded with a new feature that has popped up in today’s beta of iOS 17.3. Michael Potuck has details at 9to5Mac:
Apple has thoughtfully created a two-tier system of how Stolen Device Protection works that offers a balance of user-friendliness while enhancing security.
Journaling is a feature that helps protect the file system against power outages or hardware component failures, reducing the need for directory repairs. This document explains some of the benefits of using this feature and how it works.
Journaling for the Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) file system enhances computer availability and fault resilience, which is especially noteworthy for servers. Journaling protects the integrity of the file system on Xserve and other computers using Mac OS X Server in the event of an unplanned shutdown or power failure. It also helps to maximize the uptime of servers and connected storage devices by expediting repairs to the affected volumes when the system restarts.
Dan Bashur at LowEndMac has a look at where Mac OS 9 is today.
Journal, a new iPhone app available today, helps users reflect and practice gratitude through journaling, which has been shown to improve wellbeing. With Journal, users can capture and write about everyday moments and special events in their lives, and include photos, videos, audio recordings, locations, and more to create rich memories. On-device machine learning provides private, personalized suggestions to inspire journal entries, and customizable notifications help users develop their writing habits. With the new Journaling Suggestions API, third-party journaling apps can also suggest moments for users to write about. Journal and the Journaling Suggestions API are available with the release of iOS 17.2.