Six Colors
Six Colors

Apple, technology, and other stuff

This Week's Sponsor

Magic Lasso AdblockBlock ads in iPhone, iPad and Mac apps


By Dan Moren

Apple is removing its Advanced Data Protection feature in the UK

Following recent reports that the United Kingdom was seeking access to end-to-end encrypted data on Apple platforms, the company on Friday announced that it would be phasing out its iCloud Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature in the UK. As of February 21, users in the country can no longer enable the feature; those users who currently have it on will have to disable it in the near future.

ADP allows users to store their own encryption keys for several types of data that are otherwise encrypted, but for which Apple itself holds the keys, including iCloud Backups, iCloud Drive, Photos, and more. While ADP helps users store that data more securely—including preventing access via law enforcement—it’s not without tradeoffs: it can also prevent Apple from directly helping recover lost data.

“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” said the company in a statement.

According to Apple, this change won’t affect data that is end-to-end encrypted by default, such as health data and iCloud Keychain. That does, however, leave one longstanding loophole: though Apple’s Messages in the Cloud system is end-to-end encrypted, the encryption key for those messages is backed up in iCloud Backups, for which Apple holds the keys. Those are, in turn, accessible to law enforcement under the proper procedures.

Since Apple cannot disable ADP for UK users who’ve already turned it on, the company says it will provide future guidance in the near term for the process to turn it off.

Though Apple also says ADP will continue to be available for users elsewhere in the world, one fact it did not specifically address is that the UK government was supposedly seeking the ability to access this end-to-end encrypted data worldwide—a matter, perhaps, to play out on a larger political stage. Apple’s move on Friday seems to suggest it considers its removal of ADP sufficient to meet the demands of the UK government.

But the fight may not be over. Apple’s statement also reaffirmed the company’s stance on security and privacy. “Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before,” the company said. “Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom. As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”

That last line, in particular, reads as a canary in the event that the company is forced to make further changes that it might not, as per the UK law, be able to actually communicate to its users. And it remains to be seen whether this move establishes a precedent for other world governments to follow in the UK’s footsteps.

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors, as well as an author, podcaster, and two-time Jeopardy! champion. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the sci-fi spy thriller The Armageddon Protocol, is out now.]


Super Bowl streaming, NFL dreams, and TV picks from us and listeners. (Downstream+ subscribers also get: Seeking “Paradise” on broadcast TV, Netflix taunts Apple TV users, and a SNL50 triumph.)


By Jason Snell

How to bulk download Kindle files, while you can

Sideloading into Calibre

Amazon is making a big change to how it handles serving ebooks to those who have bought them from the Kindle store1. Starting on Feb. 26, it’s closing the “USB sideloading” hole that allowed owners of older Kindle hardware to download a file in their web browser and transfer it to their Kindle via USB.

This feature was designed for users who had connectivity on their computer, but not on their Kindle. But it’s also been the easiest pathway to get ebook files out of Amazon’s copy protection scheme so that they can be converted to play back on other devices. As someone who switched to Kobo a few years ago, that’s important to me. I bought these books—if I want to read them on something that’s not controlled by Amazon, that’s my business.

While I remain optimistic about the ability of scrappy underdogs to circumvent the copy protection regimes of big tech companies, the fact is that Amazon’s newer file format has been incredibly difficult to crack—hence the value of the USB downloading hole that Amazon’s about to close.

I should be absolutely clear here that if all you do is use a Kindle or the Kindle app, nothing is changing and you’ll still be able to download your books on your devices or in your apps. All that’s happening is that Amazon is eliminating a way to easily download an ebook file directly, which is useful in converting those files to other formats.

If you have a substantial library of Kindle books and want to download them before Feb. 26, you’ll find that Amazon’s website makes it laborious to download them a book at a time. Fortunately, there’s a tool that will automatically download everything.

Most of the books you download from Amazon will come with an older form of copy protection. This is easily circumvented if you have the right software, as well as an older Kindle. (Which you should have, because Amazon should only allow you to download books for sideloading if you have such a device linked to your Amazon account!)

The process involves using Calibre, a free open source ebook library utility I’ve written about a lot. You’ll also need to install the DeDRM tools package, which is designed to remove copy protection from ebooks. When you configure DeDRM, you’ll need to enter in the serial number(s) of the hardware Kindles you own, so they can be used to decrypt the book information.

With this all set up, you should be able to drag files downloaded from Amazon into Calibre, and then export them to other devices or even to read on standalone apps. When my Kobo is connected to my Mac, I can select items in my Calibre library, right click, and choose “send to device.” The files are automatically converted to the Kobo ePub format and placed on my Kobo. It’s really well done.

Begin the bulk download!

So now, the bulk download part. I used the Amazon Kindle eBook Bulk Downloader by friend of the site Sam Davis. You will need some Terminal know-how (or the help of a friend who has it). Following Sam’s instructions, I installed bun, ran bun install, added my Amazon username and password to my environment variables via the export command, and then ran bun run start —baseUrl "https://www.amazon.com" since I’m in the United States.

At that point, Sam’s tool took off and downloaded 1,692 items! It took a while, but then I dragged the results into Calibre and now if I ever want to read a book I previously bought for my Kindle on a Kobo or anywhere else that doesn’t have a Kindle app, I can do so.

If you or a Terminal-confident friend want to make sure you’ve got access to your Kindle library on other platforms (such as Kobo), make some time before Feb. 26. And if you’ve already moved away from Kindle and didn’t realize you could still access your old books, maybe this post will give you the inspiration. Better hurry.


  1. The Kindle comic book store, formerly Comixology, is also affected. 

By Dan Moren for Macworld

iPhone 16e: The ‘e’ means everything

It’s not every February we get an iPhone announcement—in fact, it’s rarely February. But rarely doesn’t mean never, and this week Apple took the wraps off the iPhone 16e, a new model that brings cutting-edge internals to an older form factor.

But tempted as you might be to call the 16e the fourth-generation iPhone SE, this new model doesn’t precisely fit the mold. For one thing, this is the first time Apple is using this new lower-end iPhone to launch a brand new piece of technology. For another, this “lower-cost” iPhone isn’t exactly as low cost as its predecessors.

So the iPhone 16e may not be your parents’ iPhone SE, but after almost a decade of those models, Apple seems to be taking a slightly different tack this time around.

Continue reading on Macworld ↦


By Jason Snell

Some first thoughts about the iPhone 16e

iPhone 16e

On Wednesday, Apple unveiled the iPhone 16e, the replacement for the iPhone SE. (The iPhone SE and iPhone 14 were removed from the Apple price list.) Here are a few things that strike me about this announcement.

So much for a “low-cost” iPhone. At $599, the iPhone 16e is the cheapest new iPhone you can buy, but its starting price is 40 percent higher than the $429 iPhone SE. There’s been a lot of talk about the iPhone SE being an important phone for Apple to use in emerging markets that are much more price sensitive, but after this move, it’s hard to imagine that such a strategy is still in effect. Using older models and this new 16e, Apple now sells iPhones at $599, $699, $799, $899, $999, and $1199.

Apple has generally resisted raising its base prices despite the recent bout of inflation. But this indicates that, on its most important product, it is unwilling to sacrifice margin just to offer a bargain-basement phone in emerging markets.

I’m also reminded of the classic “good-better-best” marketing strategy. In this case, this might suggest that the iPhone 16e allows Apple to say the iPhone 16 lineup starts at $599… but once they get you in the store, they quickly convince you that the $799 iPhone 16 is a better buy for the money. After all, why buy good when you can buy better?

A curious collection of features. Speaking of the differences between the 16e and the standard 16, they’re fascinating. The iPhone 16 is colorful, but the iPhone 16e comes in only black and white. Both have A18 processors that support Apple Intelligence, but the 16e uses a binned version with one fewer GPU. The 16e has an Action Button but doesn’t have Camera Control. It’s got a 48MP camera, but not the additional ultrawide. Portrait mode, Photographic Styles, and the Ceramic Shield glass coating on the front are all a generation older than on the 16. And the display is notched, rather than having a Dynamic Island. Most surprisingly, there’s no support for MagSafe, though there is support for Qi wireless charging.

I’m not at all surprised that the iPhone 16e is a combination of some current iPhone features mixed with a bunch of older, cost-saving bits of tech from previous generations. I am, admittedly, a little surprised at some of the details. (What, if anything, prevents the new Photographic Styles from working on the 16e?)

For the most part, though, this is what we expected this phone to be. It has the internals required to run Apple Intelligence and stay “current” for a few years, but it cuts corners by using past-generation tech like the older OLED display with the notch. It also has that great 48MP camera sensor Apple’s been using lately, which is versatile enough to generate some amazing binned shots, true 48MP shots, or center-cropped “2x zoom” optical shots.

Family resemblance? The omission of MagSafe support is a real surprise. Naming this model the iPhone 16e is smart, in that it ties it to the rest of the iPhone family—but then it breaks basic compatibility with a whole set of modern iPhone accessories. I can only assume that some aspect of engineering this model simply precluded the proper placement of magnets for MagSafe, but it means that the 16e is an outlier compared to most of the iPhones Apple has sold in recent years.

What’s in a name? I like the choice of name, honestly. The iPhone SE name didn’t stand for anything, really, and it made it seem like an outlier outside of the flow of time. (Which it sort of was.) Now it’s firmly part of a particular generation of iPhone. It also increases the likelihood that Apple will update this model more regularly, maybe every two years instead of every year?

The size wars are over, and we lost. For a lot of people, the iPhone SE was a proxy for “a smaller iPhone.” But it never was, really—it was just an older phone design, and since all smartphones have gotten larger over time, that meant that the iPhone SE was smaller. Those days are over—the 16e is just the same size as an iPhone 16. As someone who bought and loved an iPhone 13 mini, let me say it: The days of the tiny iPhone ain’t never coming back. I know, I know, but the market has spoken, and it turns out that bigger phones just sell better. Fans of smaller phones are just going to be unhappy, and I’m sorry about it, but that’s where we are.

This iPhone is memorable for a single reason. As a collection of features familiar from previous and current iPhone models, the iPhone 16e is utterly unremarkable. The model’s historical relevance comes down to a single feature, if you can even call it that: its cellular modem is the Apple C1, the culmination of a story that began when Apple bought Intel’s modem business nearly six years ago.

Theoretically, this allows Apple to control more of its destiny by not being forced to rely on a competitor (Qualcomm) for the lifeblood of its most important product. In the long run, the C1 and its successors could even become a competitive advantage for Apple. But in the short term, we’ll all be watching the 16e’s cellular performance and seeing if any quirks might give Apple a little bit of a black eye. (I’m sure Qualcomm is rooting for that!)

Still, this is why Apple is introducing the C1 with the iPhone 16e: It’s a minor Apple product, even though it’s an iPhone. If its cellular performance lags in any way, the company will be able to shrug it off and point to the fact that the 16e is a lower-priced product. But everyone at Apple will be hoping that everything goes smoothly so that the 16e can mark the company’s break from Qualcomm into cellular independence.


Thoughts on the iPhone 16e, our morning beverage tech, whether we’re interested in smart rings, and how we use tech to de-stress.



By Dan Moren

Apple launches iPhone 16e

Don’t call it an iPhone SE. Apple on Wednesday launched the new iPhone 16e, a more affordable member of the iPhone 16 family that starts at $599, and offers a customizable Action button, Face ID, and support for Apple Intelligence. It’s also, perhaps most notably, the first iPhone to use a modem chip created by Apple, which the company has dubbed C1.

Powered by the same A18 processor that underpins the iPhone 16 (albeit with 4 GPU cores, one fewer than the 16’s version), the 16e also has the same 6.1″ Super XDR display and the same aluminum frame. It also supports satellite connectivity, has Apple’s Ceramic Shield front glass, and a USB-C port supporting up to USB-2 speeds, all like the iPhone 16 line.

But the 16e is also unlike the iPhone 16 in some key ways: for one the 16e has a notch, rather than the Dynamic Island; for another, it features a “2-in-1” 48MP camera system that sports just a single lens, which the Camera app will allow you to use as the same “2x” crop that other iPhones offer. It also lacks the MagSafe charging option of other more recent iPhones, supporting only wireless Qi charging up to 7.5 watts.

The 16e starts with 128GB of storage for $599, with 256GB and 512GB upgrades for $699 and $899 respectively, and is available in white or black. Preorders start at 5am Pacific this Friday, February 21, and will be in stores on February 28.

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors, as well as an author, podcaster, and two-time Jeopardy! champion. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the sci-fi spy thriller The Armageddon Protocol, is out now.]


It’s Myke’s last episode before paternity leave, so he and Jason draft Apple things they think will happen between now and his return.


By John Moltz

This Week in Apple: Sadvertising

John Moltz and his conspiracy board. Art by Shafer Brown.

Apple returns to the gutter, new ways to watch TV+ roll out, and Tim Cook teases an event.

All fixed

Terrific news, everyone. Apple has returned to advertising on the site formerly known as Twitter, which is now owned by someone.

“Apple Resumes Advertising on X”

Now, before you get your state-issued vaccine-free undergarments in a wad, this is clearly because everything that caused Apple to leave the platform in the first place has been fixed. Obviously. Why was it Apple stopped advertising in the first place?

The decision comes following antisemitic remarks that Musk made on Wednesday.

Oh. Well, there you go. Because since then he has, uh, apologized by going on to, um, shadow-run the entire federal government in order to implement a type of neo-apartheid. So, clearly he’s, uh, in a state of, um, contrition. Definitely safe to go back. Apple is obviously not just trying to take advantage of short attention spans.

Likewise everything must be fixed with TikTok because it’s back, baby!

“TikTok is back in the App Store”

The return follows US Attorney General Pam Bondi sending a letter to Apple assuring that it won’t be fined for hosting the app…

Well! OK, then! All is well? Who knows.

Remember when tech news was about gadgets? Man, those were the days.

At least the circuses are good

Let us put aside the unpleasantness and turn to the world of entertainment. Because… sheesh.

There was good news for Android users this week!

“Apple TV+ App Now Available on Android”

God as my witness, while I knew that turkeys could not fly, I thought this was already a thing since TV+ has long been on a number of television operating systems. Anyway, since TV+ is brand new for Android users, I think they should have to struggle through at least a few episodes of See like the rest of us had to back in the platform’s early days.

They tried something. It didn’t work, but they tried something, OK?

Meanwhile, Amazon has revamped the Prime Video app for the Apple TV, adding Siri Remote gestures, new search features, and other improvements.

It briefly looked like there was a real shocker: that Netflix had at long last added Apple TV integration to its app, as several users reported being able to add Netflix shows to their watchlists. Alas, a Netflix representative said this morning that was just a mistake. You know how that happens, when you code up a thing that you don’t intend to release and then you accidentally release it, creating joy for millions and then you’re like, oops, that was a mistake, and you yank it back? Yeah, you know what I’m talkin’ about.

Finally, big, dare I say huge, news in Apple Accounts: after years of suffering, people who have digital purchases on separate Accounts can finally (can I get a “FINALLY!”?) finally consolidate them into one. Finally. Be warned, though, that TestFlight apps do not transfer, so you’ll need to sign out of any betas and then sign back in on the account you’re migrating to.

Finally.

Tune in next Wednesday

Hey, I heard you like gadget news. Well, stay tuned because Apple appears set to announce some new hardware next week.

“Tim Cook Teases an ‘Apple Launch’ Next Wednesday”

If you’re wondering where he teased this event, he did so on a social media site owned by the nation’s new edgelord-in-chief. The name of which escapes me. So, that’s cool.

As the announcement does not specify a time, it is expected to be more of a press release type of event than a keynote-based event. A new iPhone SE is the odds-on favorite for the announcement but also possible are new MacBook Airs, iPad Airs, and regular ol’ iPad iPads.

Apparently tech companies are still making things and not just hastening the collapse of society. I mean, they are still hastening the collapse of society… it’s just… they’re doing both is what I’m saying. Walking and making the rest of us chew just the worst possible tasting gum, if you will.

[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]


Back to Mac after 8 years on iPad

Matt Gemmell on switching back to the Mac after being iPad-only for a very long time:

Suffice to say then, that this was not a dalliance. The iPad was my one and only computer. I didn’t use a Mac for anything, unless I absolutely had to grab one for 5 minutes to get something done like flashing a new firmware onto a mechanical keyboard, or doing something on the (thankfully increasingly rare) web site that truly requires Chrome. Those recourses were countable on the fingers of one hand, per year. Until very recently, I don’t think I’d used a Mac in more than a year.

This is a long and thoughtful piece that has none of the drama you’d expect from the subject matter. Gemmell seems acutely aware of the limitations and advantages of both platforms.


By Dan Moren

Have Apple and Netflix finally made an Apple TV deal?

Update: According to The Verge, Netflix has said this integration was in error and is being rolled back. Boo, I say. Boo. As Six Colors contributor Joe Rosensteel wrote, “Netflix deeply regrets accidentally making Netflix a better product for its customers.”

Just yesterday on our Six Colors podcast, I suggested it was high time for Apple and Netflix to make a deal to get Netflix content in the Apple TV app. And it seems maybe, at long last, after years of no movement, finally such a deal is happening?

After hearing from a member in The Incomparable’s Discord that they’d gotten Netflix’s Midnight Mass to show up in their watchlist, I decided to give their method a shot. I searched for the show in tvOS’s unified search, hit the Open In… button, and sure enough was prompted if I wanted to connect Netflix to the Apple TV app.

A tvOS screen offering to let you connect Netflix to the Apple TV app.

Yes, please.

Unfortunately, since doing that (and verifying that Netflix does now appear in Settings > Apps > TV under the Connect to Tv section) I’ve been unable to actually get any shows to appear in my own watchlist, despite starting several episodes of various series. If this is indeed rolling out—as other places, such as 9to5Mac, are also now reporting—it’s doing so gradually.

But an end to our long national nightmare might finally be in sight and maybe the TV app will finally fulfill its destiny of being the place to see everything you want to watch. All it needs now is a live TV grid.

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors, as well as an author, podcaster, and two-time Jeopardy! champion. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the sci-fi spy thriller The Armageddon Protocol, is out now.]


Amazon updates Prime Video on Apple TV

Emma Roth at The Verge:

Amazon’s Prime Video app just got a big update on Apple TV. The app is now better optimized for tvOS, allowing you to swipe on the Siri Remote to scroll through Prime Video’s shows and movies as well as use touchpad gestures for fast-forwarding, rewinding, and scrubbing through content.

As Joe Rosensteel pointed out just yesterday, one of the things Amazon does really well is live TV. The new app seems to have more “On now” signifiers (pointing to live channels) and offers a really solid live guide.

There was a time when Prime Video was one of the worst major streamer apps on tvOS, but those days are over.


Apple Intelligence Take 2

Rumored new Apple products, Apple’s relationship with live TV, and imagining the next phase of Apple Intelligence.



Improvements we’d like in Apple’s Photos app after acquiring Pixelmator and Photomator, thoughts on Apple renaming the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America on Maps, a realistic task for a robot, and whether we use AI tools and which ones.


By Joe Rosensteel

Apple should embrace the live TV grid, FAST

a programming guide showing the web interface for Amazon's FAST offering.

Unless you’re looking at tiles in the Sports tab, Apple’s TV apps would prefer to pretend that live TV is not a thing that exists.

This is bad. FAST, or free ad-supported streaming television, is one of the fastest-growing segments of streaming. Tubi just broadcast the Super Bowl for the first time for free, and many networks offer free news streaming channels.

Cable TV is back, sort of

Leaving aside live sports and news, numerous streaming services now offer “live channels,” which are basically playlists that allow users to tune into a television channel and let the programming wash over them.

You like playlists, don’t you? Sure you do. So the people at the streaming service build a playlist in all sorts of categories—for example, Peacock offers hot and cold running Law & Order, Dick Wolf Chicago shows, Murder She Wrote, SNL, romantic movies, sitcoms, and many more. When you show up, you join in where it’s playing. Some channel providers offer you the ability to pause and resume those streams or start over a show you just joined from the beginning.

It’s basically old-fashioned linear programming with an imaginary DVR attached. The appeal is in the programming itself, whether it’s on a theme or it’s a mega marathon of a single show. It can increase the discovery of new shows, but perhaps more importantly, it can reduce decision paralysis where you just don’t know where to even start. Turn on the sitcom channel and start folding that laundry!

Pretty often, my boyfriend “just wants to watch TV,” so he’ll turn on the America’s Test Kitchen FAST channel. I’m pretty sure everything on it is available on YouTube, and I pay for the premium tier because I hate YouTube’s ads so very much. But he’d rather turn on the ATK FAST channel. He doesn’t have to choose what recipe video to watch, and he doesn’t have to keep picking new ones when the last one ends. The FAST channel just plays an assortment of videos interspersed with the same pharmaceutical ads that are like nails on a chalkboard for me. People are different. Who knew?

TV manufacturers often include FAST channels on their devices, but not in any kind of system-wide interface. Samsung has its uniquely named Samsung TV Plus FAST service for Samsung devices. Roku is the backbone of many low-end TVs, and it offers the Roku Channel (which is not a channel) that mixes video on demand with live TV channels.

The most ambitious, in my opinion, is Amazon. It’s pretty safe to say that I have a love-hate relationship with Amazon’s various TV offerings. They’ve got great stuff, but what a painful mess it is to try to get to that great stuff. A good thing they did was add their unified live TV guide in 2022, where the Fire TV provides a programming guide for all the services and apps you use. All of them—not just Amazon’s FAST channels.

The included FAST channels on Prime Video were recently strengthened with the addition of PBS, which has no ads and is free for Prime Video subscribers. It can streamline the experience of watching PBS for households that have cut the cord and don’t pay for PBS Passport, which requires a minimum $5 monthly contribution.

Amazon will even aggregate some live TV from partners in the Prime Video app on any platform without requiring a Fire TV. For example, if you subscribe to Paramount+ through Prime Video, you get access to the Star Trek channel.

Apple has elected not to participate in any of this. No guide that aggregates what’s available to watch on your services. Apple provides no channels of live programming. Just those sports tiles. Yay, sports.

The power of channels

There are plenty of ways that Apple could benefit from leaning into the idea of live channels. The company recently did a promotion during the first weekend of 2025 where Apple TV+ was available for free to give people a taste of Apple’s shows and movies in the hopes people would sign up. (People of a certain age will remember that cable used to have “free preview weekends” for HBO.)

Great idea, but it would be even more productive if there were channels in a guide with selected and themed Apple TV+ programming to watch. I know that most Apple TV+ shows are heavily serialized in nature, so coming in on episode four of Severance season two wouldn’t be ideal, but that’s what life was like before video on demand. If you catch something that seems interesting, you could subscribe to Apple TV+ and watch the whole thing! (And yes, if Apple wants to experiment with advertising in Apple TV+, one way to do that would be to offer FAST channels with ads.)

The other thing about TV channels is that you can offer seasonal ones. Apple makes the old Peanuts holiday specials available for free, so just put them in a Channel on a loop from October to January. It’s not a year-round channel that needs to exist. Other FAST apps do things like have a fireplace channel. It doesn’t even need to be a TV show!

Apple could even have an Apple Music channel that streams these things called music videos. Apple also has promotional videos and video podcasts they’ve made for Music that get buried and neglected in the Music app (because that’s an awful place to put them) but could find a home in a programming block. There’s potential synergy with Apple Music’s live radio channels, too.

Putting the ‘broad’ in broadcast

I’m really struck by Apple’s decision not to do anything in this area at all—not only for their stuff, but for all the other apps on their platform. There’s a real opportunity here for Apple to give insight into what’s available to watch on the various channels that are available through your apps on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV.

The truth is that while some people don’t see the need for linear programming because they know what they want to watch and their preferred experience of using the TV is exclusively on-demand programming, that’s only one way of watching TV. Some viewers just want to turn on a channel and let it wash over them. That was something that traditional TV provided that on-demand streaming failed to, and it’s why FAST has become so popular lately. It fills that need—and when people have TV viewing habits, they tend to stick to them out of comfort.

Apple should support the concept of channels, both for its content and to unlock content across its platform. And it doesn’t even need to stay locked into Apple’s platform. Apple can also partner with other apps, services, and networks to carry Apple’s channels on their platforms. Their live programming can appear right in the Fire TV live guide alongside everything else.

In other words, Apple is losing two ways by failing to embrace live channels. It’s missing an opportunity to promote its content, and it’s making tvOS and the TV apps poorer by hiding the rich streams of content available elsewhere. FAST isn’t for everyone, but it’s for a growing number of people. Apple’s abandonment of this category needs to end.

[Joe Rosensteel is a VFX artist and writer based in Los Angeles.]


Classic games in your hands, cheap

Last year I read this piece by Brendon Bigley at Wavelengths about two low-cost handheld game emulators:

I’d argue the Miyoo Mini Plus is the best handheld for the most people at any price point, as its form factor feels comfortable in the hand while still being a device that fits easily in the pocket. The screen is gorgeous and the bezels are tiny, which gives it a kind of retro-future energy, and the control layout makes sense given its processing power — it’s best for those looking to comfortably play retro games up through around the GBA-era. This means N64, Dreamcast, or above are a bit hit-and-miss, enough so that they’re largely not worth buying the device to play. That said, the custom firmware OnionOS is one of the best user experiences you can find on any device, which makes the act of doing anything on this thing a joy. Don’t get one without installing OnionOS as your first move. The Miyoo Mini Plus is available in four colors for around $30 before shipping for the next two days on AliExpress.

After reading Bigley’s piece, I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus for something like $30. (As of this writing the price is up to $40.) I followed Bigley’s advice, installed OnionOS, and loaded it up with ROMs I have collected over the years. I gave it to my son for Christmas, and while I don’t know how much he’s using it, I sure enjoyed my two weeks playing favorite old arcade (Joust!) and console (NFL Blitz 2000 for PSX!) games on it. It was comfortable to hold in my hand, the color screen was gorgeous, and I loved the idea that all the video games of my first few decades were available in the palm of my hand.

I mention this all mostly because I wasn’t aware that we’ve reached the point where ultra-low-cost devices can have great screens, good ergonomics, and enough horsepower to emulate a surprising amount of stuff. Even at $40, it would’ve been a great deal. I’m tempted to buy another one for myself.

(Also if you’re a fan of different shapes of handheld, you can probably find one of these devices in that shape. Bigley’s story also recommends the Anbernic RG35XXSP, which is shaped like a Game Boy Advance SP, as is the Miyoo Flip.)



Search Six Colors