Welcome to 2017 and thanks for your continued support! The big news in the Apple world over the last two weeks was the much-anticipated release of the AirPods — Julio Ojeda-Zapata reviews Apple’s wireless earbuds, and Josh Centers explains how you may be able to fix connection and stuttering problems. macOS 10.12.2 Sierra made its appearance after our last issue too, and while it addresses some glitches with the new MacBook Pro models, it introduces a serious new problem with editing PDFs to Sierra’s already troubled PDF support. If you need help with Sierra, you might turn to Apple’s new Apple Support app for iOS — it doesn’t provide anything you can’t find on the Web, but it might be easier to navigate. Finally, Glenn Fleishman takes a deep dive into ChronoSync 4.7’s intriguing new features to see if it makes sense for cloud backup. Notable software releases this week include SEE Finance 1.1.2, ChronoSync 4.7.2, HandBrake 1.0.1, GraphicConverter 10.3, Quicken 2017 for Mac 4.4.1, LaunchBar 6.8, MoneyWiz 2.5.3, Default Folder X 5.1, Boom 2 v1.5.1, Capto 1.2.3, BBEdit 11.6.3, and iTunes 12.5.4.
Apple has released a new Apple Support app for iOS to streamline the support process. It’s far from ground-breaking but is nonetheless useful.
Just a few days after receiving them, Josh Centers started to have connection and stuttering problems with his AirPods. Here’s how he fixed them.
The macOS 10.12.2 Sierra update offers a few important fixes for the recently released MacBook Pro models, as well as some improvements that will benefit any Sierra user.
The initial problems ScanSnap had in Sierra were just the beginning. It turns out that Apple rewrote the underlying PDFKit in Sierra and introduced numerous bugs that are bedeviling Mac developers and users alike. The quick takeaway? Don’t edit PDFs in Sierra’s Preview for now!
AirPods, Apple’s cordless versions of its iconic EarPods, are finally here. Julio Ojeda-Zapata spent time with the Bluetooth earbuds and found them to be worth the wait. Their audio quality is not spectacular, but voice calling works superbly, and wireless pairing with Macs and iOS devices is painless.
The latest update to the long-standing synchronization and backup app ChronoSync lets you perform scheduled backups to Amazon S3 and Google Cloud and via SFTP. This is particularly interesting from the perspective of off-site backups.
Notable software releases this week include SEE Finance 1.1.2, ChronoSync 4.7.2, HandBrake 1.0.1, GraphicConverter 10.3, Quicken 2017 for Mac 4.4.1, LaunchBar 6.8, MoneyWiz 2.5.3, Default Folder X 5.1, Boom 2 v1.5.1, Capto 1.2.3, BBEdit 11.6.3, and iTunes 12.5.4.
We’re kicking off 2017’s ExtraBITS with two distressing links for Mac fans: a critical review of the new MacBook Pro by a professional filmmaker and evidence that the Mac is losing clout inside Apple.