Mac

Jason Snell, Macworld:

Despite the fear that the introduction of the Mac App Store meant that Apple would eventually limit the Mac software market to App Store apps only, that has never happened. In part, this is because a huge array of important Mac apps have not qualified for inclusion in the Mac App Store, something Apple seems now to be dedicated to rectifying.

And:

With the introduction of Gatekeeper, Apple began differentiating between Mac App Store apps, apps that had been created by known Apple developers outside the App Stores, and apps with unknown provenance.

And:

Last summer, Apple introduced a new concept for Mac software distribution outside the Mac App Store, something called “notarization.” Just as the older approach allows Apple to recognize registered developers—and turn off their accounts if they’re creating malware—this new approach requires developers to pass their apps through an automated process at Apple. Apple gets the ability to flag any problems it sees, and retains the ability to shut off individual apps from a developer, rather than the entire output of an account.

Good stuff from Jason Snell.

One side note: Interesting difference between the Mac and iOS is the ability to download and run a Mac app without any involvement from Apple. While you can sideload an iOS app using Apple’s Mobile Device Management, Test Flight, or by building the app yourself, none of those offer the freedom the Mac brings.

Will Marzipan change that, even a bit? Will I be able to download a Marzipan app from a developer’s site and just run it on my Mac? Or will Marzipan restrict apps to the Mac App Store?

Got a Mac running Mojave? Check out Dynamic Wallpaper Club, browse and download dynamic wallpapers for your Mac. To install the downloaded HEIC files, go to:

System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Desktop

I’d accumulate all your dynamic wallpapers in a single folder, then click the + to add that folder to the Desktop Folders list.

This is just so much better than losing your Mac for a week or more, which felt like punishment to me for buying into the new keyboard design.

I’ve been living with an intermittent “r” key failure for a few months now. Instead of taking my Mac in, I’ve just been hammering on the “r” key until I dislodged (temporarily) that piece of micro-crumb.

The other day, my MacBook Pro charger failed and, when I brought my Mac in to see what was what, the Apple Genius asked me about my keyboard experience. I was in a hurry, wasn’t prepared to leave my machine at that moment, but the Genius did tell me that they could have my Mac back to me the next day.

As to my charger, turned out to be a faulty cable, replaced at no charge, in and out in about 15 minutes. Brilliant.

Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

Unshaky is a simple Mac utility that monitors keyboard input, and then blocks anything it thinks is a double-press caused by a keyboard fault.

The app works by asking you to register it as an accessibility device. It then registers each keypress and blocks any repeated press within the next 40 milliseconds. The delay is user-configurable, with the developer recommending you stick with the default unless it doesn’t solve the problem, and then try first 60ms and then 80ms.

Here’s a link to the Unshaky web site.

Have to say, this is a pretty clever idea. It should help solve the key-stutter problem (press once, duplicate letters appear). Not so for stuck keys (press once, no letter appears). But still a great idea.

Love this response from @Houdini7: Welcome to 1978.

Guilherme Rambo, 9to5Mac:

During the “It’s show time” event in late March, Apple announced that the TV app would be coming to the Mac soon. This naturally sparked discussions about whether Apple would be bringing its other media apps to the Mac, finally splitting up iTunes into distinct applications.

And:

I’ve been able to confirm with sources familiar with the development of the next major version of macOS – likely 10.15 – that the system will include standalone Music, Podcasts, and TV apps, but it will also include a major redesign of the Books app.

Fascinating. Great read, and great find, both from Guilherme and from Steve Troughton-Smith, who first uncovered this.

This is a pretty big get for the Mac App Store.

Here’s a link to the official press release.

The Mac App Store version of BBEdit follows a subscription-based pricing model, US$3.99 per month, or US$39.99 per year.

You can also pursue a perpetual and/or multi-user license directly from Bare Bones, so pick which works best for you. No matter the path, you’ll get the exact same experience.

Either way you choose, BBEdit still doesn’t suck.

So there’s an article that’s been making the rounds, with the inflammatory title, The MacBook keyboard fiasco is way worse than Apple thinks.

From the article:

Apple keep insisting that only a “small number of customers have problems” with the MacBook keyboards. That’s bollocks. This is a huge issue, it’s getting worse not better, and Apple is missing the forest for the trees.

The fact is that many people simply do not contact Apple when their MacBook keyboards fail. They just live with an S key that stutters or a spacebar that intermittently gives double. Or they just start using an external keyboard. Apple never sees these cases, so it never counts in their statistics.

I struggled with whether to post this article and, if I did, finding the right take. My issue with the article was the small sample size.

But, I’ve experienced exactly what this article focused on: The “r” key on the very MacBook Pro on which I’m typing this occasionally refuses to work. But it happens so rarely, and responds to my hammering the key back into normalcy, that I just live with it.

Enter John Gruber. From the linked post:

Hansson used the headline “The MacBook Keyboard Fiasco Is Way Worse Than Apple Thinks”, but I suspect it’d be more accurate to say that it’s way worse than Apple admits. They don’t need to look at the number of support incidents from customers. Almost everyone at Apple uses MacBooks of some sort. They know from their own use of the product how problematic reliability is.

And there’s the crux. Apple eats their own dog food, as the expression goes. Numbers being what they are, they must be acutely aware of this problem.

So what’s next? Will we see a MacBook event later this year with a new keyboard? One based on an entirely new (or old and reliable) keyboard design? Time will tell.

Not sure I’d use this bit of open source, but I do think it’s a fascinating concept. I wonder if Apple would ever consider adding this to the Mac’s Touch Bar preferences.

[VIDEO] This is one joyous critique. Joyous to read and watch, not so much to experience first-hand. Brilliantly wry take by Joanna Stern for the Wall Street Journal.

Don’t miss the little switches embedded throughout, which let you view the post with and without e’s and r’s or with double-e’s.

And, for the pièce de résistance, watch the video embedded in the main Loop post. Great work.

Apple:

Apple today updated its iMac line with up to 8-core Intel 9th-generation processors for the first time and powerful Vega graphics options, delivering dramatic increases in both compute and graphics performance.

The details:

• The 21.5-inch iMac now features 8th-generation quad-core, and for the first time 6-core processors, delivering up to 60 percent faster performance.

• The 27-inch iMac now for the first time features up to 9th-generation 6-core and 8-core processors, delivering up to 2.4 times faster performance.

The 21.5-inch ranges in price from $1099 to $1499. The 27-inch ranges in price from $1799 to $2299.

All of these prices are with the default of 8GB of RAM. Before you buy, be sure to dig into the specs. Not all the RAM is the same speed.

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Encountered this on Reddit today. Crazy.

If you have an older MacBook or MacBook Pro, try this (make sure you have a current backup first):

• Fire up your Mac
• Take your AirPods case and place it under your MacBook, on the left side, about halfway down
• Your Mac will go to sleep

Basically, this is how the Mac detects that the lid is closed. Which is why it goes to sleep and, when you remove the magnet, it wakes back up.

I verified this with my 2015 MacBook Pro. Did not work with my 2018 MacBook Pro, though I suspect I just haven’t hit the right sweet spot.

Of course, I wouldn’t do this experiment without making sure you have a current backup, just cause magnets and magnetic media.

If you have a Mac with a Touch Bar, take the time to read through this short set of tips. Especially useful for folks new to Touch Bar.

Ina Fried, Axios:

Although the company has yet to say so publicly, developers and Intel officials have privately told Axios they expect such a move as soon as next year.

This seems inevitable, and tied to Bloomberg’s Marzipan reporting.

From that Bloomberg post:

Later this year, Apple plans to let developers port their iPad apps to Mac computers via a new software development kit that the company will release as early as June at its annual developer conference. Developers will still need to submit separate versions of the app to Apple’s iOS and Mac App Stores, but the new kit will mean they don’t have to write the underlying software code twice, said the people familiar with the plan.

So much to chew on here. One sense I do get is that of a grand master plan unfolding, all of this leading to a new ARM-based, shared code base vision. But a vision that is not quite in focus yet. I’ll be very interested to see if Apple shares the big picture at this summer’s WWDC.

This is a clever little Mac utility that copies all your open Safari tabs to a list of links, all organized by window.

I tend to accumulate a ton of tabs, organized by topic. So I might have one window with a bunch of Logic Pro-related pages, another with potential Loop posting topics, and another with research topics or sports or whatever.

Once your list of links is saved, Tabs to Links lets you copy the list to the clipboard, making it simple to share.

For me, Tabs to Links is a real time saver. It’s $2.99 on the Mac App Store.

Dr. Drang upgraded a work machine to Mojave and shares a few thoughts on the use of transparency scattered throughout the macOS interface, with screenshots to bring the points home. Good read.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was on the road this week. One thing I looked forward to when I got back to my Mac (I did the whole road-trip on my iPad, no complaints) was installing AirBuddy, the phenomenal Mac utility from iOS and macOS spelunker Guilherme Rambo.

Worth the wait.

In a nutshell, AirBuddy gives your Mac the same AirPods magic that you see on your iPhone. Open your AirPods case near your iPhone, and a popup instantly appears that shows you the battery status of your AirPods, lets you know the AirPods are ready to connect.

With AirBuddy’s helper app in place (launch the app once and the helper app is installed), that same magic happens when you open the AirPods case next to your Mac.

AirBuddy eases the friction of connecting your AirPods to your Mac. No more going into Bluetooth, clicking your AirPods, then Connect, and waiting for the connection. Instead, AirBuddy sits there, waiting for you to open your AirPods case and brings up that familiar interface.

AirBuddy is $5+ (meaning you can pay more). To me, the price is worth it to support Guilherme’s spelunking efforts. It certainly is a fun experiment.

John Gruber first points out that Safari always places new tabs on the rightmost side of its tab list. He then elegantly walks through the process of getting Safari to create new tabs just to the right of the current tab.

It’s not trivial, but definitely interesting and worth the read. Even if this particular tab issue is not a problem for you, knowing how to create a script and assign it a command-key shortcut that overrides what’s built-in has lots of value.

From John Gruber’s take on the state of native Mac apps:

In some ways, the worst thing that ever happened to the Mac is that it got so much more popular a decade ago. In theory, that should have been nothing but good news for the platform — more users means more attention from developers. The more Mac users there are, the more Mac apps we should see. The problem is, the users who really care about good native apps — users who know HIG violations when they see them, who care about performance, who care about Mac apps being right — were mostly already on the Mac. A lot of newer Mac users either don’t know or don’t care about what makes for a good Mac app.

Fascinating read, all the way through.