The media company O’Reilly has announced that it is not just canceling its in-person conferences, it’s also exiting the entire in-person conference business. The world has been forced by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to change, and it may never return to its previous state. But that may not be an entirely bad thing.
Numerous brick-and-mortar stores are closed, and you’re likely stuck at home, perhaps without some gear you need to do your job. Josh Centers offers some advice about package precautions, why you may need to look beyond Amazon, and how Best Buy is adapting to the coronavirus pandemic.
We’re having trouble paying attention to anything outside the COVID-19 news, so here’s what we think we can contribute at the moment. Let us know what else you might like to hear from TidBITS on this topic.
What better day than Friday the 13th to check that your backups are actually working by restoring some critical files?
Will wonders never cease! Netflix actually listened to feedback from its customers about how much they hated auto-play previews and—a full year later—introduced an option to disable them. Hallelujah!
Nagged by the question of whether Apple still uses the term “Macintosh” anywhere, Adam Engst pores over targeted Google search results to confirm that the company has excised “Macintosh” from all modern uses, with a few odd exceptions.
Forget Big Brother. We have much more to worry about from the numerous “Tiny Brother” location data companies that track our every movement via software embedded in smartphone apps.
A new bill coming before the Senate would establish a quasi-judicial body in the Copyright Office that would be empowered to levy fines of up to $30,000 for even inadvertent instances of copyright infringement. This is the last chance to stop or modify the CASE Act.
By most accounts, the release of iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 Catalina have been troubled, with numerous significant bugs making it past Apple’s internal testing and the public beta phase. Former Apple engineer David Shayer explains the underlying reasons these releases have had so many problems.
Apple’s own software, as well as apps produced by independent developers following Apple’s lead, are increasingly reliant on ellipsis buttons that have no clear meaning or consistent action.
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.
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.
Do you have a closet full of electronics that never quite worked out? If you follow veteran reviewer Glenn Fleishman’s guidelines, it’s less likely you’ll wind up with piles of worthless gear.
Apple has pushed Dark Mode hard in Mojave, and it will appear in iOS 13 as well. If Apple thinks Dark Mode is such a good idea, should you switch to it? Only if you’re more interested in being trendy than productive, since the science behind human visual perception is resoundingly against Dark Mode.
If it seems like Apple products—and many of today's tech products—are designed solely for young people, you’re not imagining things. Design guru and former Apple VP Don Norman has an editorial in Fast Company calling for more inclusive design.