512 Pixels

My thanks to NAS Reborn for sponsoring the site this week. It turns an iPhone 6s, iPad Air 2, or anything newer into a network drive for the Finder, the Files app and even Windows Explorer. Check out the TestFlight beta for iPhone, iPad and Mac at nasreborn.com.

Next week should be fun.

This week on the podcast:

Federico talks about pixels, Myke talks about Steve Jobs, and Stephen talks about scratches.

We just closed our annual St. Jude campaign and raised an amazing amount of money. Together, the Relay community donated $756,200.97 to assist St. Jude in understanding, treating, and defeating childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

That means that since 2019, the community has given just shy of $5.6 million for this noble cause. That number truly leaves me speechless.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Your donations mean that more families will have more tomorrows with their children, just like we have enjoyed with our son.

After my recent post about how Apple Maps butchers the Great American Pyramid, several readers sent in images of other pyramids Apple has rendered properly. One in particular is quite painful to see — Luxor Las Vegas.

Here is the hotel in satellite view, and then in Apple’s 3D rendered view:

It seems that Apple does have the technology to make smooth pyramids!

In a kitchen drawer, between a key that fitted no door and a knot of charging cables, lay an iPhone 6s. It had once been the newest phone in the house, and it had taken more pictures of the cat than anyone would ever look at. Then one Christmas a bigger phone arrived, the old one went into the drawer “for now,” and for now lasted nine years. “We are retired, you and I,” said the key. “I am resting,” said the iPhone.

One evening a hand took it out, plugged it in and installed NAS Reborn. It heard the Mac in the study — which had never once spoken to — ask for a folder, and the iPhone appeared in the Finder as if it had always belonged there.

Then the Mac wanted to hand over its Time Machine backups. “I have only sixteen gigabytes,” the iPhone whispered. So the hand brought a hard drive, a broad, quiet fellow who hummed to himself, and joined the two with Apple’s Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter, which took the charger as well.

Soon it served a website over HTTPS, answered anyone who spoke S3 and took in Git repositories from Working Copy, all on a few watts. The things in the drawer did not believe a word, and the key still tells everyone that the iPhone is only resting.

NAS Reborn turns an iPhone 6s, iPad Air 2 or anything newer into a network drive for the Finder, the Files app and Windows Explorer. Join the TestFlight beta for iPhone, iPad and Mac at nasreborn.com.

Starting at noon Eastern, I’ll be live-streaming from the St. Jude campus with five of my favorite people in the world, raising money for one of the most incredible places in the world.

I expect we will hit our campaign goal while on the air, which is going to be magical. Tune in!

Mark Gurman, writing about Apple’s upcoming move into more smart home devices, which we may see as early as this month:

At the center of the strategy is a smart-home hub code-named J490, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple also plans to announce the first update to the HomePod mini since that device’s 2020 debut and its first new TV set-top box since 2022.

…

The hub’s defining feature will be its ability to serve multiple members of a household. It is designed to recognize who is speaking to it or approaching it, and then display personalized content and provide answers based on that person’s data and accounts.

When a user walks up, for example, the device will show that person’s contacts, messages, calendar appointments, notes and preferred app layout. The interface can then change automatically when another recognized household member approaches. It will also have a mode for visitors that hides personal information.

The device identifies users by their voices or through a facial-recognition system, though the latter is less reliable than Face ID on the iPhone. Users can require secondary authentication through an iPhone if they don’t want to rely solely on voice or facial recognition. The iPhone also serves as a fallback when the hub cannot identify someone correctly.

I really hope this works well, but that’s on Apple to prove. A lot of the company’s devices are shockingly single-user.¹

The HomePod can support multiple users, but my experience with that has been pretty rough. That’s not a big deal for a lot of people, but something with a screen is going to need to support families in a much deeper way.

Gurman’s reporting makes me optimistic about this being better, but I also have questions. Let me re-quote part of his article:

When a user walks up, for example, the device will show that person’s contacts, messages, calendar appointments, notes and preferred app layout. The interface can then change automatically when another recognized household member approaches. It will also have a mode for visitors that hides personal information.

We have a HomePod mini in our kitchen near the sink. The countertop in front of it is often used for food prep, and when things are busy, my wife, at least one of our kids, and I are all using that space. Is the HomePad just going to endlessly cycle between sets of information? What controls will I have to manage that from being a rotating billboard?

I can’t wait to see the details, because in a device like this, they really matter.

This morning, I saw Basic Apple Guy’s recent post about Apple Stores popping up in Apple Maps, and I was reminded that we have some fancy Apple Maps features here in Memphis, too.

I present to you downtown Memphis, looking east from the Mississippi River:

Yes, we have a Bass Pro inside a pyramid. No, it doesn’t look like Apple’s rendering of it:

Ramesses now stands at the University of Memphis, but that’s a story for another time.

I was going to report to Apple that the sides of our pyramid are actually smooth and not stepped, but the “Report an Issue” feature inside of Apple Maps doesn’t have a category for 3D rendering issues.

Instead, I opted to submit feedback. If you or someone you know can help with this very important issue of civic pride, you’ll find it filed as FB24988556.

This week on the podcast:

Federico has an M5 Ultra Mac Studio review unit and shares what local AI looks like on macOS today — and in the future. Myke has advice for buying iPhones in countries other than your own, and Stephen is old.

We will be off next week for the Podcastathon, but will be back on October 8.

David Smith:

I have launched and withdrawn more than 50 apps from the App Store over the years, but never have I had a withdrawal sustain the consistent attention that Geneva Moon (and its astronomically accurate complications) has. I pulled it 6 years ago and yet I still get people asking about it on a regular basis.

It broke in watchOS 27. Over the weekend I got it working again. Here it is. I hope this makes a small but highly dedicated group of people happy. Also, I made it free.

We are flying through September, and our St. Jude campaign is rocking and rolling. As of this writing, we are knocking on the door of $450,000 raised this month!

St. Jude cares for some of the world’s sickest children regardless of their race, ethnicity, beliefs, or ability to pay. Its patients receive the customized care they need to treat childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases, no matter what barriers they face.

Donations from normal folks like you and me make that possible.

If you haven’t donated or signed up to host your own fundraiser, today is a great day to change that!

We’ll be hosting the 8th-annual Podcastathon on Friday, October 2, from noon to midnight Eastern. We have been working on this for months, and I believe it will be the best one we have ever done.

Like in previous years, the stream will be on Relay’s YouTube channel:

The Podcastathon is my favorite workday of the entire year. I hope you will join us!