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Free the Icons
8 days ago
- Apple changed MacOS app icons in Tahoe to a 'Liquid Glass' style, making them blurry and less distinct.
- In Golden Gate betas, Apple improved icons by removing excessive Liquid Glass, making them sharper.
- Apple forced third-party app icons into a uniform squircle shape in Tahoe, reducing usability and creativity.
- Distinct icon shapes help users differentiate apps, especially for those with color vision deficiencies.
- Apple should allow varied icon shapes again to improve usability and restore artistic expression in MacOS.
Transparent Compression with Folder Actions in macOS
4 days 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.
- By default, applesauce uses LZFSE, but you can choose LZVN for faster decompression or ZLIB for better compression ratios.
- Compression savings are visible in Finder's Get Info, with the size in brackets showing the reduced disk usage.
- Manage Folder Actions setup via the Folder Actions Setup dialog to enable or attach actions to multiple folders.
Dissecting Apple's Sparse Image Format (ASIF)
7 days 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.
- Reading from ASIF requires calculating table and chunk indices based on offset, chunk size, and group mappings.
- The implementation is available in dissect.hypervisor, allowing tools to parse ASIF files and extract disk and volume information.
macOS Golden Gate icon comparison
6 days 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.
"Fix" MacBook Neo Cursor Lag: Record 1 Pixel of the Screen Every 10 Seconds
12 days 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.
- The app includes menu options to toggle functionality, enable launch at login, and exit.
- The screen capture uses a 1x1 resolution with a 10-second frame interval to keep permissions active.
- The script sets up the app bundle, compiles the Swift code, and opens the app directory upon completion.
Show HN: Dockside – I turned unused space around the macOS Dock into a workspace
2 days 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.

Hasty Briefsbeta

#macos

Free the Icons

Transparent Compression with Folder Actions in macOS

Dissecting Apple's Sparse Image Format (ASIF)

macOS Golden Gate icon comparison

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

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