Online backup service Backblaze will soon increase the fee it charges to restore data by shipping you a USB hard drive from $189 to $279. However, the change is largely moot since the company refunds the full amount when you return the drive.

Apple has opened the public beta program for its forthcoming 2024 operating systems. Remember, these aren’t meant for everyday use. Only install them on devices that you can dedicate to testing!

Apple has updated a support document with helpful advice about how to identify and report social engineering attacks such as phishing messages, phony support calls, and more. Share it widely!

Apple’s upcoming operating systems have good historical hardware support, but devils dance in the details. Two MacBook Airs, three iPads, and three Apple Watches fall by the wayside this year. Older devices that are generally compatible won’t be able to take advantage of all the new features. Read on to find out what your devices will support.

If you like TidBITS and Apple tech podcasts, take note: Adam Engst is now a regular contributor to Allison Sheridan’s Chit Chat Across the Pond podcast. For the inaugural episode, they talk about how to avoid missing calendar and reminder notifications and a slew of related topics.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog, an early player in the Apple blogosphere that has been defunct for a decade, has been revived as an AI-powered site that rewrites content from other sites. iLounge suffered the same fate. Avoid both sites from now on.

Curious about what the Internet was like 30 years ago, in 1994? Fast Company has published an article looking at 15 websites from that year, but for a much more comprehensive (and amusing) view, check out the “Internet Explorer’s Kit for Macintosh” book by Adam Engst and Bill Dickson, now available online.

Despite the seemingly universal outrage about tech companies scraping the open Web to train their models, Adam Engst finds himself largely unperturbed. 

In his continuing search for apps that don’t let you forget something because you missed a single notification, Adam Engst looks at Due, which provides persistent notifications for reminders on all your Apple devices.

If you published a two-factor authentication app, wouldn’t you require authenticated requests to all endpoints?

In this wide-ranging podcast conversation, Adam Engst and hosts Joe Saponare and Jerry Zigmont explore some of the deeper questions surrounding generative AI.

Although much of the white paper addresses issues surrounding repairability, Apple points out that the larger goal of longevity requires a more all-encompassing approach.

If Slack on the iPhone displays “Only some people can post.” in channels where you should have posting permissions, force-quit it to fix the problem.

Apple Intelligence, backed by the company’s Private Cloud Compute service, takes a new approach to generative AI which prioritizes user security, privacy, and safety. Cloud computing expert and TidBITS security editor Rich Mogull explains how this works, starting with the chips in our iPhones.

Tired of being late to meetings because you were focused on a task and missed a subtle notification in the corner of the screen? The In Your Face app takes over the entire Mac screen for its alerts, ensuring you never miss an event again.