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.
After spending several weeks using Apple Maps and Google Maps constantly while traveling in Switzerland, Adam Engst has a few thoughts and recommendations that could ease your future trips.
After nearly four years, it’s time once again for a reader survey to make sure we’re producing the kind of content you want to read. We’d appreciate it immensely if you would take a few minutes to give us feedback on our articles, Web site, and more.
Apple took well-deserved flak in the press for having contractors listen to Siri conversations—and inadvertent initiations where people didn’t know they were being recorded. But Adam Engst suggests that we users should instead teach Siri about its mistakes.
If you dislike being in the Netflix Apple TV app because of the autoplay previews or just because it’s constantly pushing new shows on you that you don’t want to watch, Apple TV apps from Reelgood and WatchAid provide a front end to your queue. Neither is ideal, though.
FileMaker Inc. has announced that it will once again be known as Claris, indicating a larger vision for the Apple subsidiary.
It turns out that so many people signed up to receive $125 cash instead of credit monitoring in the Equifax breach settlement that no one will receive much money. There’s nothing we can do about it, and that has many of us fuming.
A search engine marketing consultant has shown that it’s simple to use Google AdWords and YouTube videos to further a specific agenda. That might be a good thing, such as by encouraging suicidal people to call a hotline, but it could equally as easily be used for evil.
Capital One has announced a security breach that affects approximately 100 million people in the United States and 6 million in Canada.
Security expert Jon Callas has written a four-part series for the ACLU on problems with the latest government proposal—this time from the UK’s GCHQ—to allow the government to listen in on encrypted communications. Spoiler: it won’t work.
Apple has released macOS 10.14.6, iOS 12.4, watchOS 5.3, and tvOS 12.4. In a surprise move, the company also pushed out iOS 10.3.4 and iOS 9.3.6 for older iOS devices that can’t run iOS 12.
Planning a European vacation? If you don’t want to pay through the nose for cellular connectivity, look into the Orange Holiday Europe SIM, which provides 3 GB of data (or 8 GB if you activate soon) for just $22.
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.