Last Week on My Mac: Does Apple support its security software?

If you reported to Apple Support a failed attempt to remediate malware, would you expect to be told never to look in the log, and that the report must be false because macOS didn't show a dialog? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 17 days ago

Paintings by a Baltic Beach 1

A trip to the Baltic coast, with Caspar David Friedrich, Carl Gustav Carus, Eugen Bracht, Eugen Dücker, and Carl Irmer's landscape paintings. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 18 days ago

Saturday Mac riddles 252

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: Waterproof to […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 18 days ago

Searching with regular expressions: the mighty regex

How you can use regexes to make search more powerful and reduce the number of irrelevant entries it returns. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 18 days ago

The Truthful Vision of Jean-Léon Gérôme 3

Three paintings about prostitution, a reception for Napoleon III, Cleopatra smuggled in a carpet, the Crucifixion, Napoleon I in Egypt, and a grim execution. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 19 days ago

Should power affect the speed of external SSDs?

Do external SSDs draw so much power that they're likely to exceed that available from Thunderbolt or USB4? What would the consequences be in terms of heat? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 19 days ago

A to Z of Landscapes: Japan

In the late 19th century, it evolved from classical painting dating back to the 1400s, to Barbizon School and Impressionism, with some traditional artists continuing. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 20 days ago

Text with style: using styles in TextEdit and beyond

How to set up your own styles in TextEdit, DelightEd or another editor using macOS's features. Use them to make laying out styled text easier and more powerful. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 20 days ago

Sea of Mists: Philipp Otto Runge

After training in Copenhagen, he became involved in the Romantic Movement, developed his own colour theory, but died at the age of only 33. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 21 days ago

SwiftUI on macOS: Life Cycle and App Delegate source code

Source code for the main article about SwiftUI on macOS, to be read alongside that article. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 21 days ago

SwiftUI on macOS: Life Cycle and AppDelegate

Apple advises that SwiftUI apps for macOS avoid using AppDelegate. How can you substitute initial app setup, and cleaning up before an app quits using just SwiftUI? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 21 days ago

Reading visual art: 128 Donkey

The humble beast of burden, carrying drunken kings, Mary and the infant Jesus, the Good Samaritan, Sancho Panza, and young lambs. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 22 days ago

How robust is your Mac’s encryption?

Quantum computers are coming, and with them the likelihood they can break today's encryption methods. Prepare now against the future, using iMessage's latest features. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 22 days ago

Changing Paintings: 15 Pyramus and Thisbe

The earliest known story in the Western canon to end with the suicide of frustrated lovers, it was the precursor to Romeo and Juliet, and extensively depicted. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 23 days ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 251

I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 251. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Obtained […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 23 days ago

APFS: Special file types

Overview of clone files, dataless files, sparse files, symbolic links, and firmlinks, and how used and free space is accounted for in APFS. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 23 days ago

Helen of Troy: victim or villain? 2

Perhaps she wasn't as much abducted as seduced by Paris, but after he's killed in the war, she plays a crucial final role in the destruction of Troy. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 24 days ago

Last Week on My Mac: Why good external SSDs are faster with Apple silicon

Why an Intel Mac's up to 40 Gb/s from Thunderbolt 3 is less than an Apple silicon Mac's up to 40 Gb/s from USB4, and how you can benefit from it. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 24 days ago

Helen of Troy: victim or villain? 1

Daughter of the King of Sparta, abducted as a child by Theseus, rescued by her brothers, married to the King of Sparta, then given as a bribe in a divine beauty contest. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 25 days ago

Saturday Mac riddles 251

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: Obtained by […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 25 days ago

Are Dictionary’s days numbered?

Nearly 20 years old now, the Dictionary app seems to be slowly slipping into oblivion. It still provides access to reputable sources and Wikipedia. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 25 days ago

The Truthful Vision of Jean-Léon Gérôme 2

Orientalism, a duel in fancy dress, gladiators in the Colosseum, the assassination of Julius Caesar, and the cynic Diogenes. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 26 days ago

What to do if Apple contacts you about malware or security

Who to believe and what to do about warnings apparently sent by Apple, particularly its new threat notifications. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 26 days ago

A to Z of Landscapes: Ice and snow

From the snowy landscape of Brueghel's Hunters to Monet's Magpie, with Pissarro, Signac, Caillebotte and others. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 27 days ago

APFS: Encryption and sealing

Keybags, wrapping keys, VEKs and KEKs all explained. Did you realise how Recovery Keys are implemented? Or how the SSV protects against read errors? | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 27 days ago

Sea of Mists: JC Dahl 1829-1856

A series of barren trees in the snow, with ancient stone tombs and plenty of crows, Nordic ports by moonlight, ending with a burning windmill. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 28 days ago

How macOS opens a file in the correct app

Details of the chain of information, from the UTI of the file to be opened, through LaunchServices' database of document types. How to deal with problems. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 28 days ago

Reading visual art: 127 Mouse

The humble mouse seen in Millais' portrait of Cinderella, Klimt's Fable, still life paintings, and an illustration by the artist who died with Captain Scott. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 29 days ago

Which external drives have Trim and SMART support?

This has become more complex with increasingly popular hybrid drives that support USB4/Thunderbolt and fall back to USB 3.x. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 29 days ago

Changing Paintings: 14 Death of Pentheus

Pentheus pours scorn on the cult of the new god Bacchus, son of Semele. When interrupts revels, he is torn apart by his own mother and aunts, as foretold by Tiresias. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 250

I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 250. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Roman […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

APFS: Snapshots

What's in an APFS snapshot, and how the stages in its life-cycle work, from creation, through mounting and unmounting, to deletion and cleanup. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Blossom festival 2024: 20th century

Concluded with paintings from Willard Metcalf, Pierre Bonnard, JW Waterhouse, Nikolai Astrup, Paul Nash and others. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Last Week on My Mac: SwiftUI wrangling

SwiftUI is almost five years old. Following experience porting an AppKit app for macOS to SwiftUI, it still has a long way to go. Here's the current state of play. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Blossom festival 2024: 19th century

This is the time to get out and admire the blossom on the trees, with the aid of Samuel Palmer, Millais, Millet, Sisley, and above all Vincent van Gogh. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Saturday Mac riddles 250

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation. 1: Roman CCL […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

What are UUIDs and why might I need them?

Where would you find a 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC? How UUIDs have taken over to identify so much, and how to generate your own. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

The Truthful Vision of Jean-Léon Gérôme 1

First in a new series to celebrate the bicentenary of one of the major French painters of the second half of the 19th century. Early career as a Neo-Greek. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

A quick look at QuickLook and its problems

Thumbnails viewed in the Finder, and previews now supporting Live Text and more. But what if it runs into problems? Here's how to diagnose and solve them. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

A to Z of Landscapes: Hedges

Associated with the countryside of northern Europe, hedges are the product of enclosures made in the 18th century. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

A short history of versions

Introduced in OS X 10.7 Lion in 2011, this feature has undergone considerable change. Although it stored versions in iCloud Drive at one time, it doesn't now. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Sea of Mists: JC Dahl 1818-1827

After training in Copenhagen, he joined Friedrich in Dresden in 1818, and together they dominated German Romantic painting. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

How FileVault passwords work, and are they now vulnerable?

Recent oddities with FileVault Recovery Keys, and a new exploit GoFetch, raise concerns over how secure FileVault protection is. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Apple has just released an update to XProtect Remediator

Apple has just released an update to XProtect Remediator security software for Catalina or later, bringing it to […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Reading visual art: 126 Snail

The humble garden snail, seldom painted with associated with death and Vanitas, evil, whiling time away, and the sensation of touch. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

APFS: Containers and volumes

From the GPT division of storage space, through APFS containers, down to individual volumes, an account of how APFS works. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Changing Paintings: 13 Echo and Narcissus

Linked stories of Tiresias, the trans-gender soothsayer, Narcissus who fell in love with himself, and Echo who could only repeat what others said. | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 249

I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 249. Here are my solutions to them. 1: Brown […] | Continue reading


@eclecticlight.co | 1 month ago