By Jason Snell

June 3, 2019 7:16 AM PT

WWDC 2019 Keynote Coverage - Live!

It’s that time again, everyone. Apple’s WWDC 2019 Keynote kicks off at 10am PDT that’s 1pm EDT, 6pm London.

Jason and Dan will both be in attendance. Apple will livestream the event as usual, but if you’d like to follow along with our analysis, follow the sixcolorsevent Twitter account or check out the feed embedded below:

Tweets by sixcolorsevent

By Dan Moren

May 28, 2019 5:51 AM PT

iPod touch amazingly not dead, gets update

Looks like rumors of an update to Apple’s odd-man-out iOS device were not just sound and fury: the iPod touch has gotten speed-bumped to an A10 Fusion chip—a significant improvement over the old A8. Apple says it now supports features like AR and Group FaceTime, as well as “providing better game performance.”

Given that Apple also spends some time in its press release talking about Apple Arcade, it’s clearly pushing the iPod touch’s reputation as a gaming device.

As before, 32GB and 128GB configurations go for $199 and $299 respectively; Apple’s also added a 256GB option for $399. Otherwise, the device is identical in specs and appearance to its predecessor.

[Dan Moren is a tech writer, novelist, podcaster, and the Official Dan of Six Colors. You can email him at dan@sixcolors.com or find him on Twitter at @dmoren.]

By Jason Snell

May 24, 2019 5:32 PM PT

Scripting a save location within Default Folder X

I’ve been using St. Clair Software’s Default Folder since the days of System 7. It’s a utility that lets you set a different default location for the Open/Save dialogs in every app you use, and provides some other clever features like clicking on an open Finder window to change the Open/Save dialog to that window’s location.

For the first time in years, a few weeks ago I had a feature request for Jon Gotow, the developer of Default Folder. I realized that in at least one app I use, there’s a very common location I want to save all my files—but the location is not persistent. When I’m recording ads and other audio for podcasts, I invariably end up saving it all in the Audio Files folder in the project folder for my current Logic project, which is invariably sitting on the Desktop.

So I asked Jon, is there any way to programmatically define where Default Folder opens? His response was to send me a development build of Default Folder that would allow the default location to be overridden with an AppleScript, a “hidden” feature now available in version 5.3.7 of Default Folder X. Now that is customer service.

In any event, I now needed to write the script, which means I needed to figure out the specific rules that would define the right destination folder. In the end I realized that what I needed to do was find the most recently modified folder on my Desktop that contained a Logic X project file. AppleScript, while perhaps not the best tool for this job, is the tool that I know how to use.

 on getDefaultFolder(appName)

tell application "Finder"
    set folder_list to folders of (path to desktop folder as alias)
end tell
set theNewestDate to date "Tuesday, October 6, 1970 at 7:00:00 AM"

This first part gets a list of folders on the Desktop, and then sets a variable to a very old date for reasons that will make sense in a little while.

repeat with theFolder in folder_list

    tell application "Finder"
        set folder_contents to entire contents of theFolder
    end tell

    repeat with the_item in folder_contents
        if kind of the_item is "Logic X Project" then
            set theDate to (get modification date of theFolder)             
            if theDate is greater than theNewestDate then
                set theNewestDate to theDate
            end if

        end if

    end repeat

The next part loops through those folders, getting their contents. The script then loops through those contents to see if there’s a Logic project file inside. If so, the script compares that folder’s modification time to the contents of the variable theNewestDate, and if it’s more recent, that variable is updated to the modification time of the newer folder.

(In writing this script I discovered that AppleScript does let you compare dates, using the fantastic construction “if [a date] is greater than [another date].” Greater in this case means newer.)

    if theNewestDate is date "Tuesday, October 6, 1970 at 7:00:00 AM" then          
        set theResult to (path to desktop folder as alias)
    else
        tell application "Finder"
            set theDestinationFolder to (every item of (path to desktop folder as alias) whose modification date is theNewestDate)
        end tell
        set theResult to POSIX path of (item 1 of theDestinationFolder as alias) & "Audio Files"
    end if      
end repeat
return theResult
end getDefaultFolder

The final step (after making sure that there is a folder on the Desktop containing a Logic project, because if theNewestDate is still 1970, there isn’t one) is to find that newest folder, append the name of the Audio Files subfolder to it, and pass that result back to Default Folder.

The result is somewhat magical: Now when I record audio in Sound Studio and press save, the save dialog box bounces to the Audio Files folder within the newest Logic project folder on the Desktop. Nine times out of ten, it’s exactly where I want to be.

By Jason Snell

May 21, 2019 10:00 AM PT

Apple updates MacBook Pro processors and keyboard, extends Keyboard Service Program

Continuing its renewed commitment to update pro Mac laptops on a regular basis, Apple on Tuesday announced an update to its 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro Touch Bar models ten months after the previous announcement. These updates don’t bring any changes to the exterior of the MacBook Pro—it’s the same base design introduced in late 2016—but they do bring 9th-generation Intel processors with up to eight cores to the MacBook Pro for the first time. There’s also been yet another tweak to the controversial butterfly keyboard Apple first introduced in 2015.

Processor updates

The 15-inch MacBook Pro is the model most affected by these updates. It gains 14nm “Coffee Lake Refresh” 9th-generation Intel processors with six and eight cores. This is the first time Apple’s had an eight-core MacBook Pro. Here are the specs:

• $2399: 2.6 GHz 6-core i7 (4.5 GHz Turbo Boost)
• $2799: 2.3 GHz 8-core i9 (4.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
• Configure-to-order option: 2.4 GHz 8-core i9 (5 GHz Turbo Boost)

Apple says that the fastest model is up to 40 percent faster than the previous-generation six-core laptop, and that users looking to upgrade from the previous generation of quad-core-equipped MacBook Pros could see up to double the performance of those models.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is getting less of an update. It’s still using 8th-generation Intel quad core processors, but slightly faster ones with improved Turbo Boost speeds to help in tasks that primarily use a single processor core.

Keyboard update

Apple says these new models also feature a fourth version of the butterfly keyboard design, in response to customer complaints that the keyboard would end up in a sad state where key presses were ignored or doubled 1. While Apple is quick to say that the vast majority of MacBook Pro customers haven’t experienced any keyboard issues, the company still keeps tweaking this design. It claims that the change made in these new MacBook Pro models will substantially reduce the incidence of ignored or doubled characters.

Beyond that, Apple is also seeking to reassure its customers that they shouldn’t avoid buying a Mac laptop out of fear of having keyboard problems. As was reported last month, Apple is working to shorten the time it takes to repair keyboards in Apple Store. And today it’s extending its Keyboard Service Program to cover all laptops with butterfly keyboards, including not just these new MacBook Pros, but also all of its laptops released in 2018, including the new MacBook Air. That program is separate from the standard Apple warranty and covers keyboard repairs for four years after the first retail sale of the laptop.

What’s next?

It’s telling that Apple has chosen to make this announcement in advance of its developer conference, which will take place two weeks from now in San Jose, California. MacBook Pros are popular with Apple developers and there’s always speculation that new ones will be announced during the event’s keynote, though that rarely happens. This announcement reduces the expectations for that announcement, at least somewhat.

It also calls into question the validity of a report earlier this year that a new 16-inch MacBook Pro design was on the way, at least this summer. There was a lot of speculation that the new MacBook Pro would replace the current 15-inch model, but that model just received an update. It doesn’t mean a new-style MacBook Pro couldn’t be in the offing next month or later this year, but it definitely makes that report a bit more of a head-scratcher.

Where Apple’s laptop keyboard designs go from here is also a question. By extending its repair program and seeking to improve the turnaround of keyboard repairs in Apple Stores, the company is seeking to reassure customers that they won’t get stuck with a laptop with a bad keyboard. But the company also keeps tweaking the design in order to try and make it more reliable—an admirable attempt, but the sheer number of tweaks also send the message that Apple hasn’t really had a handle on the fundamental weaknesses of the design. Whether this new tweak is the one that finally solves the problem, or if it won’t be truly solved until this design is discontinued and fades into memory, remains to be seen.

But as the owner of two 2018 MacBook Airs, I’m happy that the keyboard service program has been extended to that model as well. We haven’t had any problems with either keyboard yet, but this program extension provides a little reassurance that it’s not going to be an issue if we do.