Hasty Briefsbeta

All tags

macos

21 stories total

Bilingual

Show HN: Widen – Open-source Mac Postgres GUI with local or cloud text-to-SQL
2 days ago
- Widen is a free, open-source, native macOS GUI for PostgreSQL with AI-powered text-to-SQL.
- Its agents automatically search the schema, draft SQL, and verify it against PostgreSQL before presenting it to the user.
- On-device AI mode works on macOS 26+ with Apple Silicon, while cloud mode uses any model via OpenRouter; query results never leave the Mac.
- Features include review-before-run, persistent sessions, schema discovery, and support for SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE.
more...
About the security content of macOS Tahoe 26.6
4 days ago
- macOS Tahoe 26.6, released July 27, 2026, includes security patches for numerous vulnerabilities across various components.
- Vulnerabilities addressed include issues in Accounts, Kernel, WebKit, and many others, with impacts such as privilege escalation, sensitive data access, denial of service, and arbitrary code execution.
- The update fixes over 100 CVEs, with contributions from many external researchers and organizations.
- Additional acknowledgments are given for assistance in identifying and resolving security issues.
I Can't See Apple's Vision
5 days ago
- Companies often lose their vision as they grow, adding layers of management that stifle creative passion, as Steve Jobs noted.
- Apple's macOS has lost a clear, cohesive vision, unlike iPadOS and iOS, which still have strong guiding principles.
- The macOS Tahoe release shows a struggle between good engineering (e.g., clipboard manager, Spotlight improvements) and poor visual design (e.g., oversized UI elements, confusing notifications, forced iOS features).
- Copying iOS features without adapting them to the Mac's desktop environment leads to awkward, user-unfriendly experiences (e.g., Control Center, Shazam on Mac).
more...
The Shape of Apps
5 days ago
- Mac app icons historically had varied silhouettes, but macOS Big Sur encouraged rounded-square (squircle) icons to harmonize with iOS, allowing some creative boundary-breaking.
- macOS Tahoe introduced mandatory squircles and 'Squircle Jail' for icons that don't fit, with three types: masked to squircle, scaled-down pre-Tahoe icons on gray backgrounds, or voluntary custom-colored squircles.
- The shift to flat design (iOS 7) and squircle uniformity was partly to make icon creation easier for third-party developers and big companies, at the cost of losing arbitrary shapes.
- Treating the squircle as a canvas rather than a container allows icons to fill the shape completely, avoiding 'Squircle Jail'.
more...
I patched iozone for better disk benchmarks on modern macOS
5 days ago
- The author patches iozone to compile on Apple Silicon Macs running newer macOS versions.
- iozone is a cross-platform disk benchmarking tool used since 1991, still maintained by Don Capps.
- The patches fix compilation issues that broke PyInfra benchmarking scripts on a MacBook Neo.
- The author used a local Qwen model to help validate the C code fixes.
more...
Nativ: Run AI models locally on your Mac
5 days ago
- Prince Canuma, developer of MLX-VLM, now offers a Mac desktop app that wraps MLX in a full interface similar to LM Studio.
- The app includes a chat interface and a localhost API server for accessing AI models.
- The app automatically detects and uses MLX models from the user's Hugging Face cache directory.
- Recent articles include topics on OpenAI's cyberattack, a chat with Claude Code team members, and the Kimi K3 benchmark.
Malware I got infected with (out of curiosity)
7 days ago
- A macOS infostealer loader uses the EtherHiding technique, storing its C2 address in a blockchain smart contract instead of hardcoding it, making it resistant to takedown.
- Persistence is achieved by writing a LaunchAgent plist that loads at login and relaunches if killed, with the script encoded in base64 and piped to osascript to avoid disk traces.
- The loader resolves its C2 from the Polygon blockchain via JSON-RPC eth_call to a specific contract, disguising traffic as benign crypto activity and allowing the attacker to change the C2 by updating the contract.
- Stage 2 is fetched via a curl POST request and executed directly by osascript, enabling arbitrary remote code execution that can be refreshed on every login.
Show HN: I built a native macOS terminal with Git integration in 5 days
8 days ago
- kero is a free, native macOS workspace built around the terminal, with no telemetry or subscription.
- It organizes projects and sessions: each repo is a project, with multiple terminal tabs and split panes per project, all restoreable on relaunch.
- Features include a git panel for staging, committing, and branch management, inline diffs, a files panel with tree-sitter editing, and session info on processes and TCP ports.
- It uses your existing shell (zsh, fish, bash) unchanged, built on libghostty, supports desktop notifications, progress reports, and fonts like JetBrains Mono.
more...
Silent Replacement of Trusted macOS App Executables
9 days ago
- macOS allows silent replacement of a trusted app's main executable under /Contents/MacOS/ after archiving and restoring the app bundle, without triggering authorization prompts or security warnings.
- The attack requires only code execution as the current user, no elevated privileges, and works on apps downloaded from the web after their first launch.
- The replaced executable is ad hoc signed and can impersonate the trusted app in system permission prompts to request access to Keychain secrets and TCC-protected files.
- Apple declined to fix the issue, arguing that no Gatekeeper or TCC bypass occurred and that convincing users to approve prompts is social engineering.
more...
Show HN: Chalk: a Mac app for technical diagrams with a built-in MCP for Claude
11 days ago
- Zero-friction macOS app for visualizing thoughts by drawing.
- No tabs, notifications, or accounts; just a clean drawing space.
- Minimal palette of tools with native macOS performance and fast launch.
- Supports pasting screenshots, annotating with arrows and callouts, and copying results to clipboard.
more...
"Disk Not Ejected Properly": What It Means
22 days ago
- The 'Disk Not Ejected Properly' alert on macOS indicates the system unexpectedly lost communication with a storage device, either due to physical disconnection or a communication failure while the device remained attached.
- Mounting a disk involves IOKit managing hardware, DiskArbitration handling volume mounting, and filesystem drivers preparing the volume; unmounting gracefully only removes the mount point, while ejection discards all IOKit device objects.
- Repeated alerts often stem from hardware issues like faulty cables, USB ports, or hubs, or from firmware crashes in the storage device itself, which may be resolved by erasing or replacing the drive.
- While occasional alerts are generally harmless, frequent occurrences can risk data corruption if writes are interrupted, especially during backups, and should be investigated to ensure reliable storage.
Show HN: Rekody, free on-device voice dictation for macOS
19 days ago
- Rekody is a free, open-source dictation app for macOS 13+ on Apple Silicon (Intel via CLI).
- Hold Space to speak and release to insert transcribed text at cursor; Tap Space for continuous dictation.
- All transcription occurs on-device ensuring privacy: no accounts, telemetry, or audio sent to servers.
- App installs via drag-and-drop; CLI version available via Homebrew, supporting Intel Macs and cloud options.
Stacks: Run classic HyperCard stacks on modern macOS without emulation
23 days ago
- Run HyperCard stacks directly on modern macOS without an emulator
- Browse and run stacks from the Internet Archive's collection with one-click
- Includes sound, instruments, period-accurate typography, MacinTalk speech synthesis, and cross-stack navigation
- Universal binary requiring macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
macOS 28 will not support encrypted HFS+ volumes
24 days ago
- Encrypted Mac OS Extended disks will not be supported in macOS 28 and later; only unencrypted ones will be compatible.
- Check volume format and encryption via Disk Utility by selecting the volume and looking for 'Mac OS Extended' and 'Encrypted' under its name.
- To prepare for macOS 28, either reformat the volume to APFS or APFS (Encrypted), which erases all data, or decrypt it if not a Time Machine backup disk.
- Decrypt by unlocking the drive, Control-clicking its icon in Finder, and choosing Decrypt; this can take time for large volumes.
more...
Show HN: Davit, a Apple Containers UI
25 days ago
- A fully native macOS app for running Linux containers on Apple silicon without Docker Desktop.
- Free, open source, MIT licensed, signed, and notarized. Requires macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon.
- Directly communicates with Apple's container daemon via XPC, avoiding Electron or background agents.
- Features include container management with live stats, streaming logs, interactive shells, and resource editing.
more...
Show HN: Dockside – I turned unused space around the macOS Dock into a workspace
a month ago
- Dockside is a customizable file shelf for Mac that works beside or independently of the Dock, offering drag zones, automations, and quick access to recent files.
- It supports a 14-day free trial and a lifetime license for $5.99, with features like offline privacy, no data collection, and Apple Notarization for security.
- Users praise it for boosting productivity, with reviews highlighting its flexibility, seamless integration into workflows, and responsive developer support.
"Fix" MacBook Neo Cursor Lag: Record 1 Pixel of the Screen Every 10 Seconds
a month ago
- The script is a Bash script for building a macOS application called 'Unlag Neo'.
- It compiles a Swift program that creates a status bar app to manage screen recording permissions and control screen capture behavior.
- The app monitors for fullscreen windows and can pause screen capture when a fullscreen application is active.
- It handles accessibility permissions and provides UI alerts for missing permissions.
more...
macOS Golden Gate icon comparison
a month ago
- WWDC introduces many platform changes; first noticed are updated macOS Golden Gate icons with bolder colors and adjusted designs.
- Significant changes in Liquid Glass effect refraction, especially in Journal icon, along with increased sharpness and flattening effect.
- Uncertain if sharp black edges on icons like Finder are intentional final design or early-beta artifacts.
- List of icons in macOS Golden Gate beta 1 compared to previous liquid glass Tahoe version provided for review.
Dissecting Apple's Sparse Image Format (ASIF)
a month ago
- ASIF is a new sparse disk image format for macOS 26 Tahoe, designed for virtual machines and similar to VMDK, VHDX, or QCOW2.
- The header includes fields like signature, version, directory offsets, sector count, chunk size, and metadata block offset.
- Data is organized into directories, tables, and chunk groups with bitmaps for allocation tracking, enabling sparse storage.
- Reverse engineering involved analyzing hexdumps and the diskimagescontroller binary to understand the format's structure and access algorithms.
more...
Transparent Compression with Folder Actions in macOS
a month ago
- AFSCT is a transparent file system compression built into macOS that compresses files on disk while keeping them accessible normally.
- Use applesauce (a modern Rust tool) for faster, parallel compression with safe atomic writes instead of the older afsctool.
- Set up a Folder Action with Automator to automatically compress files when they are added to a specific folder.
- Folder Actions only trigger on top-level file additions or removals, not on changes to existing files or subfolders.
more...

firstprev0next

macos

Show HN: Widen – Open-source Mac Postgres GUI with local or cloud text-to-SQL

About the security content of macOS Tahoe 26.6

I Can't See Apple's Vision

The Shape of Apps

I patched iozone for better disk benchmarks on modern macOS

Nativ: Run AI models locally on your Mac

Malware I got infected with (out of curiosity)

Show HN: I built a native macOS terminal with Git integration in 5 days

Silent Replacement of Trusted macOS App Executables

Show HN: Chalk: a Mac app for technical diagrams with a built-in MCP for Claude

"Disk Not Ejected Properly": What It Means

Show HN: Rekody, free on-device voice dictation for macOS

Stacks: Run classic HyperCard stacks on modern macOS without emulation

macOS 28 will not support encrypted HFS+ volumes

Show HN: Davit, a Apple Containers UI

Show HN: Dockside – I turned unused space around the macOS Dock into a workspace

"Fix" MacBook Neo Cursor Lag: Record 1 Pixel of the Screen Every 10 Seconds

macOS Golden Gate icon comparison

Dissecting Apple's Sparse Image Format (ASIF)

Transparent Compression with Folder Actions in macOS