If you’ve been suffering with an old version of Quicken for the Mac for years, new hope is on the horizon, as Intuit has sold Quicken to H.I.G. Capital and promises to expand the Mac team. OS X installers downloaded prior to 14 February 2016 are no longer working; Josh Centers explains why and how to fix the problem. Adam Engst takes a trip back to the country with a review of Noizio, which generates relaxing background sounds on Macs and iOS devices. Joe Kissell updates you on the many changes to Dropbox to mark the recent release of his “Take Control of Dropbox, Second Edition.” Finally, Josh discusses a pair of services that will negotiate your telecom bills, and offers his own tips for securing the best price. Notable software releases this week include Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.4, OmniOutliner 4.5, Default Folder X 5.0.2, 1Password 6.1, SpamSieve 2.9.24, and Retrospect 13.
Intuit has announced that it’s selling the Quicken personal finance app to the private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital. Promises are being made; we’ll see how it all pans out.
An expired certificate has rendered OS X installers downloaded prior to 14 February 2016 inoperable. We explain the problem and how to work around it.
Tired of listening to music? Looking for some simple background sounds to help you focus or even go to sleep? Take the Noizio app for a spin on either a Mac or an iOS device.
If you thought Dropbox was just for syncing and sharing files, think again! In the course of writing the second edition of “Take Control of Dropbox,” Joe Kissell discovered numerous useful Dropbox capabilities that even loyal, long-time users may have missed.
A pair of new services will haggle on your behalf to lower your Internet, phone, and TV bills. Josh Centers took one for a spin to see how they work, and he offers tips if you’d rather negotiate yourself.
Notable software releases this week include Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.4, OmniOutliner 4.5, Default Folder X 5.0.2, 1Password 6.1, SpamSieve 2.9.24, and Retrospect 13.
In this week’s gathering of the ExtraBITS, the Apple/FBI case continues to simmer, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights speaking out in Apple’s favor in its battle with the FBI, the San Bernardino District Attorney saying something unbelievably stupid, and Amazon removing encryption from Fire OS but quickly reversing course in the face of customer outrage. In other news, Kirk McElhearn explains how to slim down iTunes, Serenity Caldwell draws a review of the Apple Pencil, Apple blocks the first case of Mac ransomware, Apple support takes to Twitter, and Backblaze updates us on hard drive reliability.