2022 is around the corner, and we need your help to keep bringing you TidBITS. Will you join over 3600 other TidBITS members in supporting the practical Apple content you read here every week? Confused by USB-C? It was meant to be the one connector to rule them all, but things haven’t worked out that way. Cables with USB-C connectors support all sorts of different technologies that don’t always work well together. Glenn Fleishman does his best to clear up the confusion in what has already become one of our most popular articles of the year. Glenn also covers how Apple is fighting back against iPhone spyware by taking the Israeli company NSO Group to court and providing financial and technical support to independent security research groups. Have you been frustrated by how much time you spend browsing and searching instead of just following links? Adam Engst would encourage you to read the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking and start evangelizing Apple and your favorite developers to support more linking. Finally, Adam’s next installment of LittleBITS discusses Apple Watch birthday messages and quirks related to printer drivers. Notable Mac app releases this week include Pixelmator Pro 2.3, Mimestream 0.31.1, Zoom 5.8.6, BBEdit 14.0.3, Fantastical 3.5.1, and Parallels Desktop 17.1.1.
TidBITS has been bringing you the Apple news, advice, and technical details you need for over 31 years, but the only way we can keep it up is if you chip in a few bucks to make it happen. Join the TidBITS membership program today!
watchOS 8 wished Adam Engst a happy birthday recently, which was both a nice touch and a small surprise. He also discusses some quirky problems related to printer drivers.
Apple has sued the notorious NSO Group and will be funding two prominent research groups that specialize in discovering and describing cyber surveillance attacks. These moves appear to be the first step in a new strategy against companies that weaponize operating system flaws to profit off surveillance.
A collection of well-known Apple developers, podcasters, and professors have signed on to the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking, a call to action among software developers and users alike to encourage capabilities that allow linking between information resources, both local and on the Web.
USB-C was supposed to make connectivity easier. Instead, it has acquired a profusion of footnotes, exceptions, and labeling that can leave average users frustrated—and with the wrong cable. USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 are our last best hope.
Watchlist
Major update that adds an automatic background removal feature, automatic subject selection, and a Select and Mask tool. ($39.99 new, free update, 433.4 MB, macOS 10.15+)
Brings new features, improvements, and bug fixes to the native macOS client for Gmail. (Free, 8.5 MB, macOS 10.15+)
Enables the app to update itself and allows users to choose between two update cadences. (Free, 25.8 MB, macOS 10.9+)
Maintenance release focused on user-reported issues. ($49.99 new, free update, 21.6 MB, macOS 10.14.2+)
Adds support for creating and deleting Google calendars and task lists from within the calendar app. ($39.96 annual subscription, free update, 55.5 MB, macOS 10.13.2+)
Makes it easier to download and install Windows 11 on an M1-based Mac. ($79.99 annual subscription for standard edition or $99.99 perpetual license, free update, 318 MB, macOS 10.13.6+)