Adam Engst
Adam C. Engst is the publisher of TidBITS. He has written numerous books, including the best-selling Internet Starter Kit series, and many magazine articles thanks to Contributing Editor positions at MacUser, MacWEEK, and now Macworld. His innovations include the creation of the first advertising program to support an Internet publication in 1992, the first flat-rate accounts for graphical Internet access in 1993, and the Take Control electronic book series now owned and operated by alt concepts. His awards include the MDJ Power 25 ranking as the most influential person in the Macintosh industry outside of Apple every year since 2000, inclusion on the MacTech 25 list of influential people in the Macintosh technical community, and being named one of MacDirectory's top ten visionaries. And yes, he has been turned into an action figure.
Apple has pulled back the curtains on the new features it’s adding to iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 15, watchOS 10, and tvOS 17. Here are the 12 that Adam Engst finds the most immediately interesting.
With the release of the M2 Ultra-based Mac Pro alongside a new 15-inch MacBook Air and upgraded Mac Studio, Apple has completed its promised transition of moving the entire Mac line to Apple silicon.
After becoming a convert to vertical tabs thanks to Arc, Adam Engst is now seeing and hearing about vertical tabs support all over the place. Though none are luring him away from Arc, he runs down the options in Brave, Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Orion, Safari, SigmaOS, and Vivaldi. So many browsers!
Google's new .zip top-level domain has raised concerns from the security community due to the ease with which it enables ambiguous URLs that could be used in phishing attacks.
It's hard to get excited about a watchOS update that lacks descriptive release notes or even an indication that it might address security vulnerabilities. Install it sometime.
Apple has announced that My Photo Stream will shut down in 2 months. If you find its syncing capabilities useful, consider switching to iCloud Photos, which may require paying Apple for iCloud+ storage.
After Twitter put a $42,000-per-month API fee for enterprises into effect, the WordPress Jetpack service dropped its Twitter connections, ending automatic posting of TidBITS articles on Twitter. Curious if he could sort out a free replacement, Adam Engst dug around and pieced one together.
The Gmail-specific email app Mimestream has emerged from a multi-year public beta with a 1.0 version that’s familiar, fast, and fluid. Adam Engst explains why he has chosen Mimestream as his preferred email client.
Security patches for Monterey and Big Sur. (Free, various sizes, macOS 12 and 11)
Patches five WebKit security vulnerabilities in Monterey and Big Sur. (Free, various sizes, macOS 11+)
The latest updates to Apple’s operating systems increase the visibility of sports in Apple News and bring four-up multiview sports games to the Apple TV 4K. Otherwise, there are just a few bug fixes and a new Pride Celebration wallpaper and watch face. Most important are the security updates, which explain the Rapid Security Responses and address another zero-day exploit.
Apple has now released iOS 15.7.6 and iPadOS 15.7.6 to address a bunch of security vulnerabilities, three of which are actively being exploited in the wild and two of which were fixed in the new operating systems' Rapid Security Responses. Update immediately.
An online poster who leaked accurate Apple corporate secrets says they received them from a family member but have now been found out by Apple. Both face possible legal repercussions, and Apple reportedly fired the family member. Adam Engst explores the enticing but corrosive nature of both providing and consuming rumors.
StorCentric and subsidiary Drobo have recently converted their mid-2022 Chapter 11 bankruptcies to Chapter 7, implying that it's unlikely they'll recover. If you use a Drobo storage device, it's time to look for replacements.
Apple has announced a slew of new and improved accessibility features that it plans to bring to the next versions of its operating systems in 2023.
