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Category: Productivity

Adam Engst 7 comments

Apple to Expand Accessibility Options in 2023

Apple has announced a slew of new and improved accessibility features that it plans to bring to the next versions of its operating systems in 2023.

Adam Engst 11 comments

Did You Know That the Option Key…

Check out Apple consultant Guillaume Gète's list of eighty actions that are modified in intriguing ways by the Option key.

Adam Engst 144 comments

Arc Will Change the Way You Work on the Web

The Web browser Arc has made a larger difference in jaded tech reviewer Adam Engst’s digital work life than any app in decades. Read his deep dive on what sets Arc apart from other browsers.

Glenn Fleishman 5 comments

PowerPhotos Enables Ventura Users to Migrate iPhoto and Aperture Libraries

With Apple dropping support for migrating iPhoto and Aperture libraries to Photos in macOS 13 Ventura, Fat Cat Software has thrown a lifeline to people who still have old photo libraries.

Glenn Fleishman 5 comments

Authory Provides Writers a Permanent Record of Their Articles

Authory preserves articles you write for any website, giving you a permanent copy that’s also searchable by others. It’s worth a look for anyone who wants a record of their personal or professional writing that’s independent of any given publication or platform.

Adam Engst 34 comments

Dealing with Leading Zeroes in Spreadsheet Data

After receiving an “undeliverable” holiday card back, Adam and Tonya Engst discovered that their approach to extracting data from Contacts to print labels inadvertently deleted leading zeroes in ZIP codes. Can they ever send snail mail to New England? Here’s what happened—and how to avoid similar errors.

Adam Engst 26 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.

Adam Engst 7 comments

Reuters Uses AirTags to Track Donated Shoes Destined for Recycling

Ever wondered what happens to donated old running shoes? Reuters decided to verify the claims that they would be recycled into playgrounds by tracking them with AirTags. Spoiler—no playgrounds were built with the tracked shoes.

Adam Engst 25 comments

Auditing Free Drive Space: Where Have All the Gigabytes Gone?

Curious about how Time Machine snapshots can supposedly prevent the space occupied by deleted files from being recovered right away, Adam Engst ran some tests and came away more confused than when he started.

Adam Engst 12 comments

Center Cam Solves Webcam Eye Contact Problem

Center Cam puts a tiny webcam on a thin gooseneck stalk such that you can position it right over another person’s video window, ensuring that watching them makes it seem that you’re looking them in the eye. If only it weren’t so sensitive to light.

Adam Engst 43 comments

Notifications Unexpectedly Silenced? Blame Focus

After some confusion about why people were being told that his notifications were silenced in Messages, Adam Engst found that the Driving Focus from his iPhone was being incorrectly set on his MacBook Air.

Adam Engst 14 comments

Microsoft Authorizes Parallels Desktop for Windows Virtualization on M-Series Macs

Microsoft has officially blessed Parallels Desktop as a way to run Windows 11 on Arm on Macs with Apple silicon. Can support for VMware Fusion be far behind?

Adam Engst 16 comments

Site-Specific Browser Examples from TidBITS Sponsor Coherence X

Do you like the idea of using a site-specific browser but have trouble coming up with use cases? We share real-world examples of how Coherence X users create and use site-specific browsers to increase their productivity.

Adam Engst 16 comments

Mastodon Clients Could Do So Much More

Current releases of Mastodon clients look and work essentially like apps for Twitter, with a chronological timeline of posts. Can Mastodon’s open architecture let clients advance beyond the Twitter paradigm?

Adam Engst 10 comments

Large Retina Monitors Coming from Samsung and Dell

At CES, Samsung announced a 27-inch 5K display and Dell a 32-inch 6K display. We hope they'll give Apple's Studio Display and Pro Display XDR some more-affordable competition.