Top all-time · #189
Michael Tsai
Personal blog · mjtsai.comprogrammingsystems
Michael Tsai's personal blog at mjtsai.com covers programming and systems. Since 2007, 241 different Hacker News readers have linked it 518 times, most often “Mail Data Loss in macOS 10.15”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 2 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
Linked as a running archive of Apple and macOS news and criticism, mostly cited as the source for claims about App Store policy, bugs and Mac hardware. One commenter calls its running list good; another lists it among prolific, good blogs.
- Recommended for · 2 comments
- One commenter calls his running list of MacBook Pro reactions a good running list; another lists his blog among prolific and good blogs.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Mail Data Loss in macOS 10.157 people · 11 mentions · first linked 2019-10-11
- /blog/5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-02-27
- Disabling Dropbox's Haxie4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-03-24
- Unhelpful Amazon Order Confirmation Emails4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-06-02
- /blog/2017/10/14/the-impossible-dream-of-usb-c/3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2019-07-04
- /blog/2016/10/10/apple-and-kapeli-respond/3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2019-11-20
- Apple Reneged on OCSP Privacy3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-06-16
- Apple's Dormant Cups3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-03-27
- UTM Blocked Outside App Store via Notarization3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-06-14
- Scripting Languages to Be Removed from macOS3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-06-05
What Hacker News says?
> they can simply toggle a switch for all users to "no unsigned binaries" That switch was toggled with Big Sur and Apple silicon: https://mjtsai.com/blog/2020/08/19/apple-silicon-macs-to-req...
Comment linking /blog/2020/08/19/apple-silicon-macs-to-require-signed-code/
on “macOS unable to open any non-Apple application”Submitted Apple News No Longer Supports RSS as a story · 781 points
HN discussionA couple other links. Insane that no USB-C hubs exist. https://superuser.com/q/1381139/122042 https://mjtsai.com/blog/2017/10/14/the-impossible-dream-of-u...
Comment linking /blog/2017/10/14/the-impossible-dream-of-usb-c/
on “16-inch MacBook Pro”Submitted Video Pros Moving from Mac to Windows for High-End GPUs as a story · 447 points
HN discussionThe trash command for macOS that's being talked about above is native in the OS now, since v14 according to its manpage, though I see it may have really been v15[1] 1: https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/08/26/the-trash-command/
Comment linking /blog/2025/08/26/the-trash-command/
on “Scripts I wrote that I use all the time”Submitted The State of Apple's Developer Documentation as a story · 371 points
HN discussionAccording to the article, its privacy is worse. Also, its implementation of ITP leaks more information when it is enabled (the default) than when it is disabled. https://mjtsai.com/blog/2020/01/24/information-leaks-via-saf...
Comment linking /blog/2020/01/24/information-leaks-via-safaris-intelligent-tracking-prevention/
on “Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings”Submitted APFS does not normalize Unicode filenames as a story · 313 points
HN discussionTim Cook overrides the advice of high-ranking employees in the name of greed and profit, even when warned such decisions will sour long term relationships. https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/02/26/testimony-on-external-pur... I’m not saying anyone will be better than Tim Cook, I’m saying he’s actively bad. Will his successor be actively bad too? Maybe, but the sooner we find out, the better.
Comment linking /blog/2025/02/26/testimony-on-external-purchase-fee-and-scare-screens/
on “Apple's Software Quality Crisis”Submitted SwiftUI in 2022 as a story · 306 points
HN discussionMy work Macbook sometimes drops random characters from the lock screen password input. You hit a key and a black dot does not appear; the password is consequently rejected. It's not exactly this: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/458099/macos-lock-... The system is not lagging at all. It's not this: https://mjtsai.com/blog/2023/08/29/mac-wont-accept-correct-l... It's a bit like this, but only for the system…
Comment linking /blog/2023/08/29/mac-wont-accept-correct-login-password/
on “Apple's Software Quality Crisis”Submitted Omni Group Layoffs as a story · 286 points
HN discussion> Link to a screenshot of this Safari notification when Chrome is run? https://danieljwilson.me/2019/10/16/a-catalina-double-standa... > Reference to an article about this? It's this article: https://mjtsai.com/blog/2020/02/17/the-paywalled-garden-ios-... But it's referencing this tweet: https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/1228431785442381824 > This is something other apps can't display...? You're right, I should…
Comment linking /blog/2020/02/17/the-paywalled-garden-ios-is-adware/
on “Can't you just right click?”Submitted Mail Data Loss in macOS 10.15 as a story · 280 points
HN discussionOn a related note, the macOS 11 Beta 5 released today reveals that Apple silicon Macs will require all ARM executables to be signed: https://mjtsai.com/blog/2020/08/19/apple-silicon-macs-to-req... , https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-note...
Comment linking /blog/2020/08/19/apple-silicon-macs-to-require-signed-code/
on “Can't you just right click?”Submitted Catching Native Apps as a story · 196 points
HN discussionThey claim to, but they drag their feet, demand terms most researchers find so unacceptable as to be a bit immoral (the point of "responsible disclosure" isn't, in fact, to hold secrets from the public arbitrarily long), and often end up paying only a fraction of what was expected, if anything. https://pxlnv.com/linklog/apple-bug-bounty-troubles/ https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/looking-f... https:…
Comment linking /blog/2021/07/13/more-trouble-with-the-apple-security-bounty/
on “New speculative attacks on Apple CPUs”Submitted Everything about the state of the Mac as a story · 166 points
HN discussion> It’d be interesting to see the results of a survey on this I think ... I like the new keyboard Gruber put it rather succinctly: "These keyboards are the biggest mistake in Apple’s history." https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/04/26/johnston-macboo... There has certainly been more criticism than praise for the butterfly keyboard: The New MacBook Keyboard is Ruining My Life https://theoutline.com/post/2402/the-ne…
Comment linking /blog/2018/10/16/the-2018-macbook-keyboards-have-the-same-old-problems/
on “Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client”Submitted System memory allocator free operation zeroes out deallocated blocks in iOS 16 as a story · 163 points
HN discussionDevelopers that charge extraordinary amounts via subscription should be listed somewhere too, so we know who to avoid. BUDGE used to make children's games that unlocked for $5 - $15 one-time purchase, now the same size and caliber titles are each almost $100/year, just a big Apple-sponsored bet on zombie subscription fraud staying "acceptable" for a few more years till Apple fixes the problem they created that ampli…
Comment linking /blog/2019/07/12/predatory-ios-app-subscriptions/
on “You download the app and it doesn’t work”Submitted William Cook has died as a story · 150 points
HN discussionContext: https://mjtsai.com/blog/2018/07/13/macos-10-14-mojave-remove...
Comment linking /blog/2018/07/13/macos-10-14-mojave-removes-subpixel-anti-aliasing/
on “Infinite Mac”Submitted iOS 12: Core Data External Binary Data Storage Becomes Corrupt as a story · 149 points
HN discussionIt didn't seem to help the Dash developer. As far as I know, he never got his developer account back. https://mjtsai.com/blog/2016/10/10/apple-and-kapeli-respond/
Comment linking /blog/2016/10/10/apple-and-kapeli-respond/
on “Apple has locked me out of my developer account”Submitted VLC vs. the App Stores as a story · 142 points
HN discussion> Phil Schiller Rings a bell. > Tim Cook asserted his control over the company, putting his own personnel in place, and now his authority is absolute. Even those few others who remain from the Jobs era, such as “Apple Fellow” Phil Schiller, are overridden by Cook https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2025/5/6.html by way of https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/05/23/apple-turnaround/
Comment linking /blog/2025/05/23/apple-turnaround/
on “More on Apple's Trust-Eroding 'F1 the Movie' Wallet Ad”Submitted Mac App Store Ransomware as a story · 138 points
HN discussionApple has completely lost the goodwill of Mac developers. The one and only reason the ones that haven't gone bankrupt are still staying is because they have no other choice due to platform lock-in. Every single conversation that I've had with indies recently have gone along the same lines: Apple is killing the indie scene. I wrote about the MAS exodus [1] more than a year ago and people were skeptical back then. Thi…
Comment linking /blog/2015/11/24/quicken-2015-switches-from-mac-app-store-to-direct-updates/
on “Leaving the Mac App Store”Submitted Janky Apple ID Security as a story · 133 points
HN discussion
