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Category: Networking

Adam Engst 31 comments

Microsoft Outlook for Mac Now Free, with Strings Attached

Microsoft has released its Outlook for Mac email and calendar app for free, but it displays ads, requires the "New Outlook" user interface, and asks to sync all your data to the Microsoft Cloud.

Glenn Fleishman 30 comments

Mastodon: A New Hope for Social Networking

With centralized, ad-driven social networks in disarray and suffering from misinformation, harassment, and declining users, can the long-simmering Mastodon microblogging system offer a distributed future for conversation and community?

Glenn Fleishman 6 comments

Is Your Future Distributed? Welcome to the Fediverse!

A growing set of services let users on independently operated servers interlink with standard, open-source protocols for microblogging, photo sharing, and dozens of other purposes. Could the Fediverse be a solution to the ugliness of commercial service algorithms designed to drive outrage and titillation?

Adam Engst 43 comments

Apple Releases iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1 Ventura, watchOS 9.2, and tvOS 16.2

Apple has updated all of its operating systems, adding the Freeform digital whiteboard app, support for Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, Apple Music Sing, Stage Manager on external displays, and various smaller improvements. A fix for a serious security vulnerability encourages updating soon.

Adam Engst 34 comments

Apple’s Advanced Data Protection Gives You More Keys to iCloud Data

Apple has announced Advanced Data Protection, an optional switch that enables end-to-end encryption for more types of iCloud data, including iCloud Backups, iCloud Drive, Photos, Notes, Reminders, and more.

Adam Engst 37 comments

Apple Says More about Emergency SOS via Satellite Technology

How did Apple enable the iPhone 14 lineup to communicate with satellites in low-earth orbit? Through extremely complex engineering and the investment of large quantities of money in satellite company Globalstar.

Adam Engst No comments

e3 Software Sponsoring TidBITS

Please welcome our latest long-term sponsor, e3 Software, makers of the powerful Mac-native email newsletter and marketing app Direct Mail. 

Josh Centers 18 comments

Regain Control of Your Inbox with SaneBox

Drowning in unimportant email, despite your best efforts at filtering? The SaneBox service is a power tool that can help clean up even the messiest of inboxes.

Adam Engst 17 comments

Messages Becomes More Flexible and Forgiving of Mistakes

For many people, Messages gains some of the most welcome new features of iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS 13 Ventura. You can now mark messages as unread, edit messages, unsend messages, and more.

Adam Engst 5 comments

No More Security Updates for First-Generation Eero Devices

Amazon subsidiary Eero has announced that although first-generation Eero devices will continue to work for the foreseeable future, they will no longer receive security updates. Amazon is providing a trade-in discount.

Glenn Fleishman 29 comments

USB Simplifies Branding but Reintroduces Active Cables

The group that creates USB standards listened to feedback and has released a reduced set of logos that make it easier to figure out the capabilities of your ports, peripherals, and cables. But changes to USB4 also mean the return of active cables to provide maximum throughput for a new 80 Gbps data rate over distances beyond 0.8 meters.

Josh Centers 6 comments

T-Mobile Offers Three-Month Network Pass Test Drive

T-Mobile is expanding its Test Drive program with the new Network Pass, which gives you unlimited T-Mobile cellular data free for 3 months.

Josh Centers 14 comments

Who Has the Best Enhanced 5G: AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon?

Which American carrier has the best Enhanced 5G? Opensignal performed the industry’s first direct comparison to measure both coverage and performance.

Josh Centers 10 comments

PCMag Crowns T-Mobile the Best Mobile Network of 2022

Intrepid PCMag testers roamed the United States to figure out which of the three big cellular networks reigns supreme. Also, a surprising fact about contemporary Internet usage.

Adam Engst 16 comments

Solving Connectivity Problems Caused by Interlocking Apple Privacy Settings

In its ongoing effort to protect users’ privacy, Apple has built a series of related technologies into macOS 12 Monterey, iOS 15, and iPadOS 15. Unfortunately, they can cause network connectivity issues, such that you might want to disable one or more. Here is how we think they work.