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.

VIDEO 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.

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.

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 a 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!

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! VIDEO

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.

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.

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.