An extensive New York Times investigation has revealed that the FBI bought the controversial Pegasus spyware in 2019 but never used it. | Continue reading
Wyze Labs has announced that it has discontinued its first-generation WyzeCam and is advising against using it going forward. | Continue reading
Brings improvements and bug fixes to the calendar and contacts apps from BusyMac. ($49.99 new for each, free updates, various sizes, macOS 10.12+) | Continue reading
Apple has consolidated advice shared across many of its support documents and user manuals into one relatively concise guide. While welcome, it has room to improve. | Continue reading
Brings new and enhanced features and bug fixes to the video conferencing app. (Free, 25.8 MB, macOS 10.9+) | Continue reading
Adds support for drag and drop from the Search Results window. ($29.99 new, free update, 20.5 MB, macOS 10.13+) | Continue reading
Patches four WebKit-related security vulnerabilities. (Free, various sizes, macOS 10.15+) | Continue reading
Patches security vulnerabilities in Big Sur and Catalina. (Free, various sizes, macOS 11 and 10.15) | Continue reading
Apple had a typical record-breaking quarter, with especially robust growth for the Mac. But iPad and Japanese sales were notably weak, with no satisfactory answers from Apple. | Continue reading
Apple has updated all of its operating systems with bug fixes and security updates but no new features apart from Siri on the HomePod learning to recognize two new languages. | Continue reading
After much sleuthing, Adam Engst uncovers why some TidBITS readers experience a situation where an article in a TidBITS issue would be formatted as a column of text a single character wide. The culprit? An ancient email retrieval protocol as implemented by Yahoo Mail. | Continue reading
Many Mac user groups have dissolved or are a shadow of their former selves. Not so the Naples MacFriends User Group, which has embraced the Internet and attracted hundreds of members from around the world. Adam Engst shares more on that, plus recommends Howard Oakley’s work at th … | Continue reading
AT&T and Verizon have started using C-band wireless spectrum that will speed up their 5G cellular service and make it available to more customers. This important step in 5G’s overall evolution brings AT&T and Verizon more in line with T-Mobile, which has had an edge in available … | Continue reading
Brings an updated Export for Web tool and adds the capability to space objects of different sizes evenly. ($39.99 new, free update, 434.5 MB, macOS 10.15+) | Continue reading
Apple’s Do Not Disturb feature has evolved into the ecosystem-wide Focus, which provides so many options and capabilities that it may be impossible to predict when notifications will work and when they won't. Adam Engst shows you how to use Focus and suggests that you stick to th … | Continue reading
Simply Piano gamifies the tedious process of learning to play piano, but is it worth the subscription cost? | Continue reading
Brings full support for M1-based Macs to Excel. ($149.99 new for one-time purchase, $99.99/$69.99 annual subscription options, free update, macOS 10.14+) | Continue reading
Brings an all-new reference edit pane to the reference management tool. ($59.99 new, free update, 99 MB, macOS 10.13+) | Continue reading
Maintenance release focused on bug fixes for the word processor. ($49 new, free update, 91.6 MB, macOS 10.9+) | Continue reading
Maintenance update with improvements and bug fixes for the screencast recording and video editing app. ($149 new, free update, 84.4 MB, macOS 10.15+) | Continue reading
Brings a couple of welcome tweaks to the audio control utility. ($39 new, free update, 25.3 MB, macOS 10.14+) | Continue reading
Brings new features, improvements, and bug fixes to the native macOS client for Gmail. (Free, 8.5 MB, macOS 10.15+) | Continue reading
Maintenance updates for the two personal information management apps with improvements and bug fixes. ($39.96 annual subscription, free update, 54.7/32.6 MB, macOS 10.13.2+) | Continue reading
Resolves issues with tracking recent files and addresses interface hiccups. ($34.95 new, free update, 16.5 MB, macOS 10.10+) | Continue reading
Updates the open-source video conversion program with improvements and bug fixes. (Free, 35.9 MB, macOS 10.13+) | Continue reading
Adds detailed information about all recent hardware and operating system releases, including macOS 12 Monterey and the M1-based MacBook Pro models. (Free, 171 MB, macOS 10.12+) | Continue reading
Apple may have discontinued the Time Capsule, but many Mac users still need a network-based Time Machine backup. This article reviews what options exist and weighs their pros and cons. | Continue reading
Jeff Porten virtually attends CES for the Consumer Technology Association’s annual Tech Trends to Watch forecast for 2022. | Continue reading
Apple has released highly focused iOS 15.2.1 and iPadOS 15.2.1 updates to tackle two bugs and a nasty HomeKit vulnerability. | Continue reading
Mainstream and technology media report that stalkers and criminals use AirTags to track unsuspecting people and aid in car theft. Do a handful of anecdotes truly reveal a broader pattern? | Continue reading
Feeling overwhelmed by negativity? Adam Engst shares some 2021 wrap-up posts showing that even in a pandemic-ridden year, a lot of good stuff happened that didn’t make the headlines. He also looks at the solution to a macOS upgrade problem and explains how to bring back the menu … | Continue reading
What is Wordle? It’s the Internet’s latest word-game craze, and it’s quick and easy to play. We show you how. | Continue reading
Annoyed by constantly picking up his wife’s MacBook Pro instead of his MacBook Air, Adam Engst decided to decorate the laptops with inexpensive full-color vinyl skins. It worked like a charm, and the skins also make the laptops more secure to carry and offer protection against sc … | Continue reading
The State of Missouri may pursue criminal charges against a reporter for discovering (and ethically reporting) Social Security numbers in the HTML source code of a state website. The mind boggles. | Continue reading
We recently covered the dizzying confusion of USB standards, but HDMI standards for displays are even more confusing and even misleading. Read on to see what we mean. | Continue reading
Updates the Swiss Army knife of graphics programs with improvements and bug fixes. ($39.95 new, free update, 270 MB, macOS 10.9+) | Continue reading
Brings various new and enhanced features and bug fixes to the video conferencing app. (Free, 25.8 MB, macOS 10.9+) | Continue reading
Introduces a a redesigned Assistant with extended statistics and more timely recommendations. ($89.95 new, free update, 82.2 MB, macOS 10.10+) | Continue reading
The new Apple Music Voice Plan is a bargain at $4.99 per month, but it mostly limits you to using Apple’s Siri voice assistant for searches and playback. The Voice Plan has been met with some skepticism, but Julio Ojeda-Zapata thinks it’s a good option for casual music listeners. | Continue reading
Brings a variety of enhancements, including a new investment dashboard toolbar, account sidebar indicators, auto-reconcile, and bill pay. ($35.99/51.99/77.99 annual subscription, free update, 110 MB, macOS 10.13+) | Continue reading
Adds support for exporting to Motion format and improves support for SVG files. ($39.99 new, free update, 433.1 MB, macOS 10.15+) | Continue reading
Did you know that pressing Control-H in Mail deletes the current message? You do now. Adam also shares a story about a Pakistani security researcher reporting a vulnerability on the TidBITS site and a reader tip about avoiding USB hubs when updating an iPhone from a Mac. | Continue reading
Fixes a regression in the FTP/SFTP browser window. ($49.99 new, free update, 21.6 MB, macOS 10.14.2+) | Continue reading
Notchmeister is a free utility that lights up your MacBook Pro’s notch when the pointer is hidden behind it. It even provides a genuine replacement notch if you don’t have a new MacBook Pro. | Continue reading
If you’re a Verizon customer, the company has likely already enrolled you in its new “Custom Experience” data-collection scheme, but you can turn it off and delete the collected data. | Continue reading
In keeping with our tradition, we’re going to take off the last few weeks of 2021, which this year means slightly larger gatherings with our immediate families and video calls with far-flung relatives. You can expect the next email issue of TidBITS on 10 January 2022. Thanks for … | Continue reading
Maintenance release with bug fixes and added support for lenses and cameras (including iPhone 12). ($9.99/$19.99/$52.99 monthly Creative Cloud subscription, free update for subscribers, macOS 10.15+) | Continue reading
Image editor now remembers the last location an image was saved to for subsequent exports. ($39.99 new, free update, 19.3 MB, macOS 10.14+) | Continue reading