At its special event today, Apple announced a plethora of new services, including Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, and Apple Card. Only Apple News+ is here today, and Julio Ojeda-Zapata has an overview in this issue. Also this week, Josh Centers looks at the upcoming Apple Arcade gaming service, and we’ll publish more in-depth looks at Apple TV+ and Apple Card—both of which Apple promised for later in the year—on our Web site soon. As expected, Apple also released iOS 12.2, macOS 10.14.4, and tvOS 12.2—Adam Engst runs down the main changes for you. Finally, we look at what changed in the new iMacs and AirPods that Apple released last week in an effort to clear the decks for today’s announcements. Notable Mac app releases this week include PopChar X 8.6, MarsEdit 4.3, Mail Archiver X 5.0, BBEdit 12.6.2, Final Cut Pro X 10.4.6, Compressor 4.4.4, Motion 5.4.3, TechTool Pro 11.0.1, Firefox 66.0, CleanMyMac X 4.3, and Things 3.8.2.
Apple News+ may be the main change in iOS 12.2 and macOS 10.14.4 Mojave, but Apple has also added small features and options to a number of apps and technologies, including AirPlay, Apple Pay, Safari, and Screen Time. There are also a handful of bug fixes and a slew of security fixes.
Apple has announced a new gaming service called Apple Arcade, but it won't be available until fall 2019, and the company provided few firm details.
After nearly two years, Apple has beefed up the 21.5-inch and 27-inch Retina iMacs with faster processors, graphics chips, and memory. The company also added some high-end options to the iMac Pro.
Apple has released second-generation AirPods that respond to “Hey Siri,” offer up to 50% more talk time, connect twice as quickly, and can be fitted with an optional wireless charging case.
Apple has debuted Apple News+, a $9.99-per-month digital news service with access to about 300 top magazines along with a handful of major newspapers and digital publications. The new offering, built into Apple’s News app for iOS and Mac, will give multiple members of a Family Sharing group access for a single monthly fee, and it promises to shield users from advertisers.
Watchlist
Maintenance update for the character discovery utility. (€29.99 new, free update, 4.9 MB)
Blog editor improves handling of uploaded GIF images. ($49.95 new, free update, 15.6 MB)
Long-standing email archiver updates mail parser and adds support for Dark mode in macOS 10.14 Mojave. ($44.95 new, free update, 151 MB)
Maintenance release no longer prompts for sandbox access at startup for non-App Store builds. ($49.99 new, free update, 13.8 MB)
All three apps improve reliability when sharing video to YouTube and convert media files that may be incompatible with future versions of macOS. ($299.99/$49.99/$49.99 new, free updates)
Major upgrade for the hard drive repair and system maintenance tool adds compatibility with macOS 10.14 Mojave. ($129 new, upgrades available)
Adds a new Block Autoplay feature that prevents Web sites from automatically playing audio and video. (Free, 64.9 MB)
Adds the new Space Lens feature for building a storage map and revealing the biggest space wasters. ($89.98/$39.95 new, free update, 72.4 MB)
Maintenance release of the task manager with a bevy of bug fixes and improvements. ($49.99 new, free update, 16.8 MB)
