TidBITS

TidBITS has published practical, timely articles designed to explain, educate, and entertain to the Apple Internet community since 1990. Follow TidBITS today!

By Adam Engst

Apple
How to Cancel Apple News+
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A month has passed since Apple launched Apple News+ (see “Apple News+ Debuts With Magazines, Newspapers, and Web Sites,” 25 March 2019). If you …
Apple
Apple Recalls Some International Three-Prong AC Adapters
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Apple is recalling some older three-prong wall plug adapters designed for use in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Hong Kong because they can break …
Luminar 3.1
tidbits.com - Agen Schmitz
Improves the Accent AI smart image enhancement feature. ($69 new, free update, 18.4 MB)
DuckDuckGo
LaunchBar 6.11.1
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Maintenance release with bug fixes and improvements for the keyboard-based launcher. ($29 new, free update, 15.7 MB)
Tim Cook
Tim Cook Again Calls for Tech Industry Regulation
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In an interview at the TIME 100 Summit, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again called for government regulation of the tech industry. He has already publicly …
TidBITS Marks Its 29th Anniversary... and Earth Day! - TidBITS
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Last year’s TidBITS anniversary happened during the crunch of replacing our entire Internet infrastructure, so we never publicly marked the date. …
Smart TV
How To Find the Best Deal on Digital Movie Rentals
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More options for digital movie rentals exist now than ever, but they’re surprisingly uniform in price and duration. Yet, it’s still worth shopping …
Microsoft
Microsoft Office for Mac 16.24
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Updates app icons and makes small improvements throughout the productivity suite. ($149.99 new for one-time purchase, $99.99/$69.99 annual …
Mac App Store
Pixelmator Pro 1.3.3
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Maintenance update with improvements and bug fixes for the image editing app. ($39.99 new, free update, 170 MB)
Mac App Store
Moneydance 2019.2
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Maintenance update to the personal finance app provides improvements to its online banking infrastructure and QIF file imports. ($49.99 new, free …
Evernote
Evernote 7.9.1
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Addresses an important security vulnerability that could allow attackers to run malicious code. (Free update, 72.2 MB)
Best Thing
Was Your Data Included in Recent Security Breaches?
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So far in 2019, I’ve received four email notifications from the Have I Been Pwned service, each one alerting me that I was one of tens or hundreds of …
Apple Watch
Google Keep Now Supports the Apple Watch, Apple’s Notes Still AWOL
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Apple’s Notes app for iOS has improved in recent years (see “Five Major New Capabilities in Notes in iOS 11,” 5 October 2017), but it still suffers …
Apple Pencil
Charging an Apple Pencil Can Keep You From Unlocking Your Car
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File this one under “Apple news of the weird.” On the main support document about the Apple Pencil, the company now acknowledges that when a …
Qualcomm
Apple and Qualcomm Settle Patent Royalty Suits and Agree to Licensing
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After years of patent battles, Apple and Qualcomm have suddenly dropped all legal action and are now partnering up again, with Apple paying Qualcomm …
Note-Taking
Tinderbox 8.0
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Major upgrade for the note-taking assistant and information manager adds new features to help you visualize and analyze your data. ($249 new, free …
Walt Disney Company
Disney Pulls No Punches Going after Netflix
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Disney has been talking up its upcoming Disney+ streaming service for years, but the company has finally announced details: Disney+ will launch in …
Google
CloudPull Discontinued, Look Elsewhere for Google Backups
tidbits.com - Adam Engst
Due to security-related changes in Google’s permissions, Golden Hill Software has discontinued the CloudPull utility for making local backups of data …
Lawn Mowing
3M WorkTunes Headphones Make Yardwork More Tolerable
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Yardwork season is here in the Northern hemisphere, and for those of us blessed (or cursed) with lawns, that means time spent every week with loud, …
CleanMyMac X 4.4
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Adds the Space Lens visual storage analysis feature. ($89.95 new, free update, 44.2 MB)
Typinator 7.9
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Provides bug fixes and new versions of the predefined English and TidBITS auto-correction sets. (€24.99 new, free update, 6.7 MB)
Amazon Echo
Amazon Workers May Be Listening to Your Alexa Conversations
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Reporters for Bloomberg have revealed that thousands of Amazon workers around the world spend their days listening to recordings from Alexa, Amazon’s …
David Price
Apple Drops $99 Data Migration Fee for New Macs and Repairs
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Apple has dropped the $99 fee that it previously charged for migrating data from an old Mac to a newly purchased machine. TidBITS reader and …
Should You Pay For Apple News+? Warning: It Has Issues
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Of the services Apple revealed at its 25 March 2019 special event, only one—the Apple News+ digital magazine service, a paid add-on to the company’s …
Netflix
Netflix Removes AirPlay Support from Its iOS App
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Netflix has removed AirPlay support from its iOS app, citing “technical limitations” that outside observers suspect have more to do with the …
Jony Ive
A Close Look at the Titanium Apple Card’s Design
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Designer Arun Venkatesan has published a detailed study of the physical Apple Card, due later this year. A lot more thought has gone into it than you …
Apple Music
Survey Responses: Apple Music and Apple News+
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It’s time once again to loop back and look at the results of our two most recent surveys. These aren’t in the slightest bit statistically significant …
App Store
OmniFocus 3.3
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Introduces optional subscription pricing and patches several bugs. ($39.99 new, free update, 34.1 MB)
App Store
BBEdit 12.6.3
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Maintenance release with bug fixes, and a return to the Mac App Store. ($49.99 new, free update, 13.9 MB)