512 Pixels

It’s been a while since I’ve written about my home network, which I totally rebuilt after moving last year.

Here is my rack as it stands today:

I am all in on UniFi gear, as you can see from all the Apple-like aluminum hardware in that photo. From top to bottom, here is how things are set up:

• Cable Modem: My Comcast connection comes straight into this, and then is passed to my network over a 2.5 GbE Ethernet connection.
• Dream Machine Special Edition: This is my gateway. In the UniFi world, this is what manages the entire network, including routing, the firewall, content filters, and more. The Dream Machine can be used to run Protect, Unifi’s home security and camera system, and even record footage with its built-in hard drive, but I have a standalone Protect box further down the stack, as when I initially built this out, I was not using a gateway with its own storage. The Dream Machine uses Comcast as its upstream Internet connection, but it can fail over to my backup ISP — a super-slow AT&T DSL connection.¹ That green fiber optic cable runs to a workshop off my garage, where I have a secondary switch running two of my cameras and one wireless access point.
• A 24-port patch panel with a hodgepodge of keystones.
• My main switch is a Pro Max 24 PoE. Yes, its name is terrible and a rip-off of Apple’s terrible naming, but it’s a heck of a switch. I use its two SFP ports to connect it to the Dream Machine and to my NAS. It has a handful of 2.5 GbE ports that I use for connections at my desk and for my access points. The colors correspond to the link speed of the connected device, which is a handy way to see if something is acting up with just a glance.
• Below the switch is my UNVR, or network video recorder. I have three cameras, and all their footage is stored locally on this device. This is overkill for just three cameras, but I already had it (and had opened it up to install quieter fans) so it is here to stay.
• The next two rack units are a bit deceiving. At the front of the rack is a mere placeholder, but at the back is Unifi’s Power Distribution Pro, which is basically a networked power strip. Combined with the UPS at the bottom of the rack, the Dream Machine can turn off network equipment individually if the power is out and the UPS is nearly depleted. I could do this with just the UPS, but it doesn’t have enough battery-backed outlets for the rest of the gear in the rack, so I run everything through the PDU Pro instead.
• That box full of hard drives is the UNAS Pro, UniFi’s older rack-mountable NAS product. It lacks some of the niceties of UniFi’s newer offerings (like the ability to use an SSD as a cache to speed up file access), but it works well enough for what I need. I should note that this is not something like a Synology that can run things like Docker containers. I just needed a bunch of storage on my network.

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but the rack itself is actually two Toolless Mini Racks stacked together. Had I known I would need so much space, I would not have taken this route, but I got a great deal on the second one, so I stayed the course.

For Wi-Fi, I am using three U6 Enterprise APs. Wi-Fi 6E is plenty fast for my needs, and my first run at Wi-Fi 7 didn’t go super well. To have coverage outside, I’ve got a set of U6 Mesh APs outside — one for the front yard and one for the back.

UniFi’s management tools are pretty great. I can monitor my network, cameras, and NAS from anywhere in the world using either the web or a set of iOS applications.

A common complaint about UniFi is that its hardware often outpaces its software. For example, the ability to shut down and restart devices based on the UPS’s state was pretty broken until just recently. I also have an issue where the network dashboard retains the port assignments even after I move items to a different port.

That said, I love that I own my hardware, that my camera footage is stored locally in my house, and that accessing it doesn’t require a subscription.

Is this pile of equipment overly complicated and expensive for a home user, even if that user works from home? Sure. But we nerdy folk like that sort of thing, and I certainly enjoy the stability and flexibility this setup offers me.

(Oh, the top of the rack houses a Mac mini, a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant, and a UniFi PoE Smart Chime that goes off when someone rings my doorbell.)

This week on the show:

WWDC26 has come and gone, and the guys have scores to pick, topics to discuss, and Liquid Glass sliders to adjust.

Marcin Wichary at Unsung:

I’ve been emulating the Apple Lisa recently, and I was struck by how many of its UI strings were slightly or wholly different than what we’re used to.

It makes sense. Lisa came out in 1983 as Mac’s predecessor and really the first GUI that is directly linked to what we’re using today. Even though it borrowed things from work done at Xerox, tons of conventions were not established yet.

So, I thought it would be fun to actually take a closer look.

What follows is an in-depth look at the writing across the Lisa’s operating system. It’s clear it was designed at a time when everyone was still figuring out how to communicate what would happen when a user performed certain actions.

This is my favorite example from Marcin’s wonderful post:

From time to time, WWDC gives us a glimpse of what’s coming in the next year, like when Apple wanted developers to make sure their iOS apps could run on iPhones of different sizes.

As Dan Moren writes, this is one of those times, with nods to both touch-enabled Macs and a foldable iPhone.

This NASA document from 1979 is a wild look at how the space shuttle was pitched:

An unlikely looking flying machine stands on its tail above the watery, thicketed Florida sandscape. The time is the mid-1980s, and the Space Shuttle preparing for launch is one of a fleet of four that now plies routinely, about one round trip a week, between the United States and Earth orbit.

On average, the shuttle would fly once every three months or so, if you count the five years where it grounded for accident investigations after the Challenger and Columbia disasters in 1986 and 2003.

From that opening paragraph on, this document represents a vision that was never close to being realized. To be sure, the space shuttle’s legacy includes great achievements, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station, but it could never live up to how it was talked about in the 1970s. It’s a heartbreaking look at a future never realized.

Samuel Hardiman at The Daily Memphian, following up on April’s news that xAI was pausing work on a water treatment plant that would take wastewater, clean it, and use it for cooling at its Colossus I site:

Memphis City Attorney Tannera Gibson said the company has recently assured the city that it would be completing the plant.

“The feelings are pretty positive and pretty strong based on recent conversations,” Gibson said.

Gibson made her comments after being questioned by members of the Memphis City Council about the paused plant.

“We’ve all gotten reassurances, but I want to hear those in public for everybody else,” Memphis City Council member Jerri Green said, referencing private conversations she’s had with SpaceX leadership. Green is a Democratic candidate for Tennessee governor.

Those conversations come after upheaval at SpaceX’s Memphis operations. Brent Mayo, the site’s former leader, is no longer with the company.

Basic Apple Guy:

One of the first things I noticed after installing the macOS Golden Gate beta was the updated icon design. The colours are much bolder, several icons have been adjusted, and the refraction in the Liquid Glass effect has changed significantly, especially in icons like Journal.

There’s also a noticeable sharpness to the icons, along with a flattening of the Liquid Glass effect. I’m not sure yet whether this is simply an early-beta artifact or the intended final look. For example, while I really like the redesigned Finder icon, the sharp black edges around the nose currently feel a little unrefined.

Here is that change to the Finder icon:

Photos really shows the difference:

I think these look better basically across the board, and I think the change is even better on the iPhone.

Every year, the new version of macOS ships with at least one new default wallpaper. macOS 27 Golden Gate continues that tradition.

I like this wallpaper; it has some Mac OS 9 vibes.

These unofficial ones from Basic Apple Guy are also great.

As spotted by MacRumors, the system requirements for watchOS 27 are pretty steep:

Apple today confirmed that watchOS 27 will not support the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra (first generation), or Apple Watch SE (second generation), effectively drawing a line at devices equipped with the S9 or S10 chip.

The only Apple Watch models compatible with watchOS 27 are the Apple Watch Series 10, Series 11, Ultra 2, Ultra 3, and SE 3. Despite the fact that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 contains the S9 chip, the Series 9 which contains the same chip will no longer be supported.

Of note, a bunch of iPads also got the axe, while iOS 27 will support the same devices iOS 26 did, reaching back further than ever before, to the iPhone 11.

Update: It looks like the Series 9 is supported.

David Smith:

Based on my analytics it looks like watchOS 27 will be available for download on around 40% of my Pedometer++ user’s watches. Which feels pretty small. That will certainly be boosted by whatever new devices get announced this fall, but it feels like I’ll be supporting watchOS 26 for a very long time as a huge number of devices will be staying there.

Today’s keynote didn’t include a formal handoff between Tim Cook and John Ternus (who wasn’t even in the video), but Cook did offer some closing remarks. As is his style, it was more about Apple than himself:

On a personal note, some of the greatest highlights of my time as CEO have been events like this. Sharing powerful new tools with all of you and then seeing what you create with them has been a constant reminder has no limits. Over the years you have helped people connect, create, learn, and experience the world in extraordinary new ways, and with the incredible capabilities we introduced today, and so many more still to come, I truly believe the best is still ahead.

At Apple, creating the best products in the world to deliver experiences that enrich people’s lives has always been our North Star.

It’s been the honor of a lifetime to help advance that mission with teams whose creativity, care, and conviction continue to make a lasting difference in people’s lives.

The WWDC keynote just wrapped up, and it was startlingly different. For years, Apple has gone through each of its operating systems, highlighting features it was bringing to each one.

That had broken down over time as more and more features were cross-platform. For example, Apple would announce something in its iPadOS section just for it to popup in macOS. Something in Reminders on the iPhone would also be present on the iPad.

I have been hoping for a change for years, and this year, I got it. After the customary naming of macOS, Apple broke its keynote down into just three major topics, including:

• Platform improvements
• Trust and Safety
• Apple Intelligence and Siri

Platform improvements included much-needed refinements to Liquid Glass (especially on the Mac), better performance across OSes, and some quality-of-life items like updates to cycle tracking in Apple Health.

Trust and Safety was all about better controls and tools for parents to manage their kids’ devices. As someone with two teenagers and a middle-schooler, I am truly looking forward to how these new features will work.

Lastly, the longest section covers Apple Intelligence and the new Siri AI. There is a lot to unpack here, but I think Apple built a case that it can do what it has promised. Google Gemini was mentioned by name, and all of the demos were shot with the presenter using the device in their hands, avoiding some of the issues present two years ago.

It will take some time to sort out what other features are coming in the OS Class of 27, but I like this new direction for WWDC, and I hope it continues in years that it makes sense.

Apple had previously announced that macOS 26 Tahoe would be the last release to support Intel-based Macs:

macOS Tahoe will be the last release for Intel-based Mac computers. Those systems will continue to receive security updates for 3 years.

Rosetta was designed to make the transition to Apple silicon easier, and we plan to make it available for the next two major macOS releases – through macOS 27 – as a general-purpose tool for Intel apps to help developers complete the migration of their apps. Beyond this timeframe, we will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks.

As such, the compatibility list for macOS 27 Golden Gate is refreshingly simple:

• MacBook Neo (2026)
• MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
• MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
• iMac with Apple silicon (2021 and later)
• Mac mini with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
• Mac Studio (2022 and later)
• Mac Pro with Apple silicon (2023)

The last couple of machines to ship with an x86 processor were the high-end Intel Mac mini that hung out until January 2023, and Mac Pro (2019) was replaced in June 2023 with the M2 Ultra model. Three years is also how much time elapsed between the final PowerPC Mac being sold and when Mac OS X went Intel-only with Snow Leopard.