Apple’s fourth-quarter financial results are in, and while the company is still making billions and billions of dollars, profits are once again down from the year-ago quarter. In other news, the FAA is finally clearing iPhones and iPads for takeoff, bundled utility software on Western Digital hard drives may cause data loss in Mavericks, and TidBITS readers can save 50 percent on Tonx coffee beans. Getting back to the practical, Adam Engst tells you how to make the most out of Finder tabs in Mavericks, and Josh Centers reviews Marked 2, a must-have tool for Markdown writers. This week’s FunBITS feature is Delicious Library 3, an attractive and useful tool for managing your physical media collections and recommending new items. Also new and recommended this week are the first two chapters of Josh’s in-progress ebook, “Take Control of Apple TV.” The introductory chapter is open for everyone to read, but Chapter 2, “Set Up Your Apple TV,” and subsequent chapters are a bonus for TidBITS members. Notable software releases this week include Napkin 1.1.1, 1Password 4.0.5, PDFpen and PDFpenPro 6.1, and Parallels Desktop 9.0.23140.
If you use a Western Digital hard drive, be aware that the bundled utilities could cause data loss under Mavericks. Western Digital is recommending that users delay upgrading or delete the utilities.
At long last, the FAA has announced that personal electronics in airplane mode will be allowed on commercial airline flights once the airlines certify their planes. The announcement generated commentary from both the real White House and characters from the fictional White House of “The West Wing” TV show.
Apple is still selling a ton of iPhones, but dividends, free software, and complex devices are cutting into the company’s bottom line. CEO Tim Cook is hoping it’ll be an iPad Christmas.
If you have an Apple TV attached to your television, our in-progress book from Josh Centers, “Take Control of Apple TV,” has the advice you need to get more great content and use it more fluidly than ever before. Tune in regularly to read each chapter as it’s published!
See who won bags of Tonx coffee in last week’s DealBITS drawing, and if you’re not among them, read on to save 50 percent on a 6-ounce bag of coffee beans.
For the most part, using tabs in the Finder in Mavericks works as anyone who is accustomed to tabs in Safari would expect. But there are some differences, and a few hidden keyboard shortcuts that might improve your Finder tab usage.
Brett Terpstra’s Marked 2 is a powerful Markdown preview and editing app that shows you what your text will look like and provides tools to improve your writing.
Winter is coming, so what better time to catalog your media collection? Josh Centers gives you a tour of Delicious Library 3, the ultimate tool for managing physical books, albums, movies, and videogames.
Notable software releases this week include Napkin 1.1.1, 1Password 4.0.5, PDFpen and PDFpenPro 6.1, and Parallels Desktop 9.0.23140.
This week, we have quick reviews of the new Fantastical and Tweetbot updates for iOS 7 and podcast appearances from two TidBITS editors. Plus, over at Macworld, Chris Breen solves the mystery of broken video previews in OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and Joe Kissell kicks Gmail to the curb.