Faced with the inability to gather signatures in person on a commemorative certificate for a departing friend, Adam Engst simulated the process by collecting messages with Google Forms, turning them into text graphics with handwriting fonts, and arranging them in a layout program.

The Intel-based Mac Pro may be around for a good while yet, given that Apple has just released new graphics card modules for the high-end workstation Mac.

The social media service TikTok is known for how it algorithmically decides which videos you want to watch. The Wall Street Journal created dozens of automated accounts to see how it works so well, or rather, how it tends to send people down rabbit holes that may not be healthy.

Sometimes you want to take a screenshot of a dialog that’s attached to a window. It turns out you can do this by pressing Command-Shift-4, pressing the Space bar, and then holding down the Command key when you mouse over the desired dialog.

Bare Bones Software has released BBEdit 14 with a new Notes feature that recognizes the extent to which many users keep numerous untitled documents open in BBEdit at all times. The release also provides significant enhancements to source code editing thanks to support for Microsoft’s Language Server Protocol.

Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 365 service promises to let you stream Windows from the cloud to a Mac or iPad. It could be a win for those looking for an x86 Windows solution on an M1-based Mac.

Online backup service Backblaze is raising its prices to $70 per year to accommodate larger backups and higher component costs. But you can lock the previous $60-per-year price in for another year by prepaying now.

Smile’s PDFpen, which has long provided a powerful yet inexpensive alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, has been acquired by Nitro Software for $6 million in cash. 

We’d like to welcome our latest sponsor, Global Delight, makers of the Boom 3D audio enhancement utility for the Mac.

If you’re perturbed by Google’s tracking and profiling based on your searches, there’s a new alternative in town that doesn’t, like DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, rely on Microsoft Bing. The new Brave Search provides fully anonymous searches using an independent search index, though it also currently checks its results for quality against Google using anonymous queries.

Looking for the perfect gift for an Apple fan? Look no further than Stephen Hackett’s 2022 Apple Hardware Calendar, a 20-by-13-inch wall calendar featuring product photos and launch dates.

Concerns about MagSafe in the iPhone 12 interfering with pacemakers, defibrillators, and other implanted medical devices surfaced earlier in the year. Apple now cautions that many of its magnet-using products could cause problems for such devices.

After suffering from uncontrollable shivers and a fever, Adam Engst (and his family) worried that he might have been infected with COVID-19, despite being fully vaccinated. He was able to use the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test—a rapid antigen test—to set everyone’s mind at ease. And the technology involved was a geek’s delight.

If you’re a Mac user who wants to turn Google Docs into a standalone app using a site-specific browser, you have at least seven choices. However, as Adam Engst discovered, there’s a great deal of variability in the site-specific browser world, and a number of the options work poorly with Google Docs in particular.

Confused by what’s involved with the recent bills proposed by lawmakers in the US House of Representatives aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech? Ben Thompson of Stratechery breaks down each bill and evaluates the impact on different companies, including Apple.