Apple has opened the public beta program for its upcoming versions of macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS. watchOS 6 isn’t included, but Apple has started to invite select people to its AppleSeed program.

One of the mainstays of the Apple conference circuit—MacTech Conference—is returning to Los Angeles for its tenth anniversary in mid-October, a change from its November dates in recent years.

We’ve known since the beginning that TidBITS readers are an unusual and fascinating group, but George Jedenoff stands out. As an infant, he escaped the Russian Revolution with his parents, and after picking up a Stanford MBA and serving with the US Navy Reserve during World War II, he worked his way through the ranks of the steel industry, retiring as president of Kaiser Steel. And that was all before Apple even existed—he started with the Mac in 1987.

At WWDC, Apple threw back the curtains on macOS 10.15 Catalina, bringing the Mac ever closer to iOS without losing sight of what makes the Mac unique. We’re particularly impressed with the work the company did on accessibility features.

Investigative journalist Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post has discovered that numerous iOS apps include trackers that constantly send information about you back to data brokers.

Apple has created a PR page for the App Store aimed at responding to criticism from competitors and politicians.

Apple has pushed Dark Mode hard in Mojave, and it will appear in iOS 13 as well. If Apple thinks Dark Mode is such a good idea, should you switch to it? Only if you’re more interested in being trendy than productive, since the science behind human visual perception is resoundingly against Dark Mode.

Continuing to clear the decks before next week’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple has updated the iPod touch with a faster CPU and the option for a larger storage configuration. Everything else remains the same.

Just 11 days after the release of iOS 12.3, Apple has pushed out iOS 12.31 to fix bugs with Voice over LTE calling and unknown senders in Messages.

We’re taking a brief break from building an email issue of TidBITS next week in honor of the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, so look for the next issue in your mailbox on 3 June 2019.

If you make your living in the Apple world as a consultant, developer, designer, or tech, there are a wide variety of conferences you can attend to hone your skills, learn new topics, network with your fellow wizards, and open your mind to new ways of thinking. Here’s our list for 2019. Be sure to let us know if you run across any others. Updated for Layers, try! Swift San Jose, MacDeployment, iOSDevCamp DC, and MacSysAdmin.

Code42 has announced that it will be preventing CrashPlan users from backing up applications and VM image files—is this just a selfish move to reduce storage needs? After chatting with Code42 competitor Backblaze, Adam Engst discovers there’s more to it. And there are alternatives.

Security researchers have discovered a new class of vulnerabilities in Intel CPUs dating back to 2011 and beyond. Happily, Apple’s macOS 10.14.5 and Security Update 2019-003 provide fixes.

Apple has lost its attempt to dismiss an antitrust case that, if the company were to lose, could result in significant financial penalties or force changes in how we purchase iOS apps. Worse, it’s coming at a time when politicians are talking about breaking up powerful tech companies.

If it seems like Apple products—and many of today's tech products—are designed solely for young people, you’re not imagining things. Design guru and former Apple VP Don Norman has an editorial in Fast Company calling for more inclusive design.