It’s update day again, with Apple releasing minor feature updates to all its current operating systems with improvements in iPhone voice quality and crash detection, duplicate checking in iCloud Shared Photo Library, notifications for Web apps added to the Home Screen, and more. There are also security updates for the older iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. Sad news—the venerable photography website DPReview is shutting down, the victim of corporate parent Amazon’s cost-cutting measures. Professional photographer Jeff Carlson pays his respects to a site that has been the Internet’s go-to source for camera and lens reviews for decades. Finally, Adam Engst looks at LucidLink, an innovative cloud-storage service that breaks from the Dropbox mold to provide direct, rather than synced, access to cloud-native data. Notable Mac app releases this week include macOS Monterey 12.6.4 and Big Sur 11.7.5, Safari 16.4, Pixelmator Pro 3.3.2, Zoom 5.14, and Default Folder X 5.7.6.
It’s update day at Apple again, with updates to all the company’s operating systems. A few changes may be particularly welcome, including Voice Isolation for cellular calls, duplicate handling in an iCloud Shared Photo Library, and Web app notifications.
Alongside its current operating systems, Apple has released iOS 15.7.4 and iPadOS 15.7.4 to address a slew of security vulnerabilities, one of which is actively being exploited in the wild.
The essential photography resource DPReview is closing in April as part of parent company Amazon’s efforts to cut costs. The culling includes decades of in-depth product reviews, vibrant community forums, and the DPReview TV YouTube channel.
After learning more about the nitty-gritty of consumer-level cloud storage services for an article, Adam Engst is introduced to LucidLink, which promises high-performance cloud storage using a completely different model.
Watchlist
Security patches for Monterey and Big Sur. (Free, various sizes, macOS 12 and 11)
Patches security vulnerabilities in Monterey and Big Sur. (Free, various sizes, macOS 11+)
Adds new Apple device mockups and a Book Club-themed collection of customizable design templates. ($49.99 new, free update, 561 MB, macOS 11+)
Adds the capability to set status to Out of Office. (Free, 98.8 MB, macOS 10.10+)
Bug fix release for the Open/Save dialog utility. ($34.95 new, free update, 13.7 MB, macOS 10.13+)
