Lots of practical how-tos this week! Want to make your own Siri commands with the new Siri Shortcuts feature of iOS 12? Josh Centers explains it. Prefer a faster way to enter two-factor authentication codes sent via SMS message? Glenn Fleishman covers how to do that in iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 Mojave. Annoyed that you can’t use Apple News in your country? Adam Engst provides a partial workaround. And if you’ve wanted to make your own dynamic desktops for Mojave, Adam also shows you how to do so with GraphicConverter 10.6.5. Notable Mac app releases this week include CleanMyMac X 4.0.4, Quicken 2018 5.8.1, LaunchBar 6.1.0, Airfoil 5.8.3, OmniFocus 3.1, and Bookends 13.1.4.
A simple Terminal command will let people in countries other than the US, UK, and Australia launch and use the News app in macOS 10.14 Mojave. All the news is still in English, however, and not all publications may be accessible.
Want to create your own Mojave-style dynamic desktops? All you need is 16 appropriate images and GraphicConverter 10.6.5 running in macOS 10.14 Mojave.
Apple streamlined two-factor login confirmations via text message in iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 Mojave. But using SMS to validate your login remains problematic because of phone number hijacking. Apple should lead the way to retire it.
The new Siri Shortcuts feature in iOS 12 lets you create your own Siri commands for both built-in features and for capabilities provided by third-party apps. “Take Control of iOS 12” author Josh Centers explains how to create and use these custom Siri commands.
Watchlist
Major upgrade for the all-purpose cleaning and maintenance app. ($89.98/$39.95 new, $44.97/$19.98 upgrade, free update from version 4, 66.6 MB)
Adds a new menu item for accessing Quicken on the Web and fixes bugs. ($34.99/$49.99/$74.99 annual subscription, free update)
Adds compatibility with macOS 10.14 Mojave and its Dark mode. ($29 new, free update, 14.5 MB)
Updates the Audio Capture Engine for full compatibility with macOS 10.14 Mojave. ($29 new, free update, 12.2 MB)
Maintenance update to recently upgraded task management app brings improvements to macOS 10.14 Mojave's Dark mode setting. ($39.99 new, free update from version 3, upgrade pricing available, 45.4 MB)
Adds the capability to import references from multiple files at once via drag and drop, and now requires a minimum of macOS 10.10 Yosemite. ($59.99 new, free update, 49.4 MB)