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.
Nick Bilton worries about a day when our desire for the dopamine hit of Vision Pro-augmented makes all other devices feel flat and dull.
Yes, the Vision Pro is expensive, but as many as 200,000 people believe it's worth the price. How about you? Please vote in our poll.
Please welcome our latest long-term TidBITS sponsor, Art Authority, whose most recent project is the new Art Authority Museum, an immersive virtual museum for Vision Pro.
After reading and watching reviews of Apple’s just-released Vision Pro, Adam Engst came away with some initial impressions and thoughts about the near and far future of the product.
Apple has made good on its promise to add Stolen Device Protection to iOS 17.3, allowing users concerned about iPhone passcode and snatch-and-run theft to require biometric authentication and sometimes a delay to carry out critical security and financial actions. We look at what it does and doesn’t protect, how to turn it on, and who can’t use it.
Numerous publications have posted articles surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Mac, and we’ve collected a bunch of the best ones.
Sometimes, you need to share private information—a password, financial details, a confidential document—over the Internet. Adam Engst looks at eight popular methods of transmitting your secrets securely to others.
Apple has released a large set of operating system updates, including iOS 17.3, iPadOS 17.3, macOS 14.3 Sonoma, watchOS 10.3, tvOS 17.3, HomePod Software 17.3, macOS 13.6.4 Ventura, macOS 12.7.3 Monterey, iOS 16.7.5 and iPadOS 16.7.5, and iOS 15.8.1 and iPadOS 15.8.1. New features include Stolen Device Protection in iOS 17.3 and Apple Music collaborative playlists.
Some macOS 13 Ventura and macOS 12 Monterey users are being upgraded to macOS 14 Sonoma after dismissing notifications that encourage an upgrade. It’s a nasty bug, but the TidBITS Talk community has some advice on how to avoid the forced upgrade.
The Epic vs. Apple antitrust lawsuit is finally over. Although Apple won on most counts, the judge ruled it had to allow developers to link to external payment systems rather than using in-app purchases. That may start happening soon.
While Apple’s appeal of the International Trade Commission import ban on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 is being decided, the company has disabled the blood oxygen feature so it can continue sales of those models in the US.
You can adjust the length of time necessary for a touch-and-hold action to activate. That might be a welcome customization for many people.
Those who use Apple’s Magic Keyboard will automatically receive a firmware update that prevents an attacker with physical access from monitoring Bluetooth traffic. It’s not something to worry about but is an indication of the kind of attacks possible today.
The results of our poll asking how frequently you use widgets show that roughly 50% of users never use widgets at all, with 25% to 50% of people using them slightly or heavily. But those numbers are complicated by the availability of three types of widgets on the iPhone and iPad, two on the Mac, and one on the Apple Watch.
The latest major update to the venerable text editor BBEdit brings connections with ChatGPT, new navigational and reference aids, and a plethora of helpful refinements.