Top all-time · #1442
Under the Microscope
Company blog · weblog.rogueamoeba.comprogrammingbusiness
Under the Microscope is the company blog at weblog.rogueamoeba.com, writing about programming and business. Since 2013, 50 different Hacker News readers have linked it 67 times, most often “Rogue Amoeba software no longer requires reduced security or extensions”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-25, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (15) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Rogue Amoeba's blog for posts on macOS audio bugs and updates, AirPlay and Airfoil, Piezo's removal from the Mac App Store, and the history of Mac app design.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 15 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
The Rogue Amoeba Blog
Most-linked posts?
- Rogue Amoeba software no longer requires reduced security or extensions7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2024-12-14
- Removing macOS 26 Tahoe's unwanted menu icons4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2026-01-10
- Turn Speech into Text with Audio Hijack 4.3's New Transcribe Block3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-11-20
- Making More Outside The App Store3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-02-12
- On the Sad State of Macintosh Hardware3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-06-14
- The RIAA vs. Steve Jobs3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-03-24
- Free The Icons: Apple should end their prohibition on shapes in macOS app icons2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-06-27
- /2016/02/12/piezo-1-5-arrives-piezo-exits-the-mac-app-store/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-02-12
- A bug saved the company2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-08-21
- macOS Sierra and Gatekeeper Path Randomization2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-06-29
What Hacker News says?
It’s been a strict improvement on my computers, which isn’t to say that the author isn’t having problems, just that theirs (or mine!) isn’t the universal experience. And they’ve finally fixed some annoying, long-endured audio bugs: https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2026/09/24/macos-27-fixes-mul...
Comment linking /2026/09/24/macos-27-fixes-multiple-audio-bugs/
on “macOS Golden Gate Is a Buggy Mess”Submitted A bug saved the company as a story · 380 points
HN discussion> […] Airfoil software does all this & more […] Not quite; Airfoil Satellite does not implement an AirPlay 2 receiver which is what this is all about. See https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2018/06/25/current-notes-on-a... : > Can Airfoil Satellite receive AirPlay 2 audio? Airfoil Satellite receives audio via the AirPlay 1 protocol. Because of this, it can’t currently be part of a multi-speaker group receiving audio fro…
Comment linking /2018/06/25/current-notes-on-airfoil-airplay-2/
on “Open AirPlay 2 Receiver”Submitted On the Sad State of Macintosh Hardware as a story · 317 points
HN discussionLinked story [0] in the footer sounds even better. [0] https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2023/03/24/the-riaa-v-steve-j...
Comment linking /2023/03/24/the-riaa-v-steve-jobs/
on “A bug saved the company”Submitted Making More Outside The App Store as a story · 119 points
HN discussionReplying to myself--it looks like they do have a new capture framework relying on much newer APIs (requires macOS 14.4). It just isn't rolled out to Loopback yet: https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2024/04/05/our-new-installer-...
Comment linking /2024/04/05/our-new-installer-free-setup-comes-to-audio-hijack/
on “BlackHole: macOS Audio Loopback Driver”Submitted AppleTV 6.0 requires Fairplay-DRM Airplay Sources as a story · 101 points
HN discussion> Cost isn't relevant, the commission is because Apple brings X hundred million credit cards to your door and presumably increases sales by at least that much. Except that developers have demonstrated with real numbers that that is not always true: https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2017/02/10/piezos-life-outsid...
Comment linking /2017/02/10/piezos-life-outside-the-app-store/
on “Apple cuts App Store affiliate commission from 7% to 2.5%”Submitted macOS Sierra and Gatekeeper Path Randomization as a story · 15 points
HN discussionThat is quite correct. When we removed Piezo from the Mac App Store a year ago, we didn't send out a press release, nor seek publicity over this move in any way. We simply removed it and explained why on our blog ( https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2016/02/12/piezo-1-5-arrives-... ). That was it. We can certainly debate how well-established or tech-savvy our users are (though I will note that Piezo is by far our simple…
Comment linking /2016/02/12/piezo-1-5-arrives-piezo-exits-the-mac-app-store/
on “What happens when you dump the App Store?”Submitted Rogue Amoeba software no longer requires reduced security or extensions as a story · 6 points
HN discussionPiezo, Rogue Amoeba's app, was removed from the Mac App Store with "minimal publicity", according to their blog post: https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2017/02/10/piezos-life-outsid...
Comment linking /2017/02/10/piezos-life-outside-the-app-store/
on “What happens when you dump the App Store?”Submitted macOS 15.2 Brings More Audio Bug Fixes as a story · 6 points
HN discussionFor context, the app (Piezo) in question was removed from the Mac App Store (not the iOS App Store, as I first assumed on reading!) by its developers. It's an audio recorder which can record audio from other apps. The App Store introduced a sandbox which prevented the app from working, but they got around that by simply not updating the app and thus retaining the ability to work outside the sandbox. However, other a…
Comment linking /2016/02/12/piezo-1-5-arrives-piezo-exits-the-mac-app-store/
on “Making More Outside The App Store”Submitted When a Bug Saved the Company as a story · 5 points
HN discussionOriginal link to the author's article: https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2018/06/14/on-the-sad-state-o... which was discussed earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17312588
Comment linking /2018/06/14/on-the-sad-state-of-macintosh-hardware/
on “Popular Mac Developer Slams Apple for 'Sad State of Macintosh Hardware'”Submitted Free The Icons: Apple should end their prohibition on shapes in macOS app icons as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSigh, you're just not getting it, sorry to say. I have NO TROUBLE imagining that Apple will continue to tighten the screws on this, enforcing signing through Developer TOS and requiring MAS apps to pay for distribution certs. Direct download isn't going away, not after all the work that's gone into securing it, but if you think you can sell an app off your own site without giving Apple some identifiable info about w…
Comment linking /2008/03/07/code-signing-and-you/
on “BlueJeans also runs a webserver when installed on macOS”Submitted Removing macOS 26 Tahoe's unwanted menu icons as a story · 4 points
HN discussionKind of a rip off of this blog post[0] from Rogue Amoeba, down to the same screenshot and everything. https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2018/06/14/on-the-sad-state-o...
Comment linking /2018/06/14/on-the-sad-state-of-macintosh-hardware/
on “Apple’s ‘Behind the Mac’ ads have a double meaning”Submitted The Developers Who Came in from the Cold as a story · 4 points
HN discussionDelicious Library was the start of a gilded age of Mac shareware focused on style over substance. > In the past year or so, Mac development had shifted from applications providing new functionality that appeared at the dawn of OS X to applications (and ideas) built around flash and sizzle, with plenty of marketing hype to fuel the fire. his had created something of a toxic atmosphere in the Mac development world. A…
Comment linking /2006/11/06/the-delicious-generation/
on “Recreating Delicious Library in 2025?”Submitted The RIAA vs. Steve Jobs as a story · 4 points
HN discussionInteresting! How did you go about keeping this working in a sandboxed app? I know Rogue Amoeba had some issues with that up until lately: https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2024/12/13/the-developers-who...
Comment linking /2024/12/13/the-developers-who-came-in-from-the-cold/
on “Show HN: Autodio – Auto Audio/Sound Device Switcher for macOS”Submitted The RIAA vs. Steve Jobs as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI miss disco so much. Back from the Delicious Era [1] of apps that were functional yet had character and play. [1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007/05/the-delicious-genera... I wholly disagree with rogueamoeba's assessment that these were "style over substance". They were dead-simple to use, and you could always disable the smoke if you hated fun. They may not have all the bells and whistles of the bloated 40MB…
Comment linking /2006/11/06/
on “Making macOS Apps Uninstallable”Submitted Customer Service That Remembers as a story · 3 points
HN discussionRogue Amoeba (whose UX work I greatly admire) agrees with your aside [1]: > Many of us inside Rogue Amoeba lament the recent "flattening" of app icons on the Mac, and the attendant loss of personality. [1]: https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2022/09/09/the-design-of-audi...
Comment linking /2022/09/09/the-design-of-audio-hijack-4/
on “The Brand New Thunderbird Logo”Submitted Removing Tahoe's Unwanted Menu Icons as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
