We’re taking the next issue of TidBITS off to view the total solar eclipse, so TidBITS will appear in your email inbox again on 15 April 2024. Apple has set dates for WWDC, so we can look forward to seeing what’s coming in the next OS versions—perhaps an AI-driven version of Siri that works better? In the news, we look at Canva’s acquisition of Serif, maker of the popular Affinity apps that provide an inexpensive alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud. This week’s feature article delves into Apple’s built-in password management features and how to use them in Web browsers other than Safari. Finally, we warn about a new type of denial-of-service attack aimed at Apple users and ask how frequently you use macOS’s versioning feature. Did you even know that macOS has a versioning feature? Notable Mac app releases this week include Airfoil 5.12, ChronoSync 11.0.2, Hazel 5.3.3, and Safari 17.4.1.
We’re taking the next email issue of TidBITS off to view the total solar eclipse, although we’ll continue to publish articles on our website. You can look forward to the next email issue on 15 April 2024.
Mark your calendars—Apple has announced that its Worldwide Developer Conference will kick off on 10 June 2024. Will the keynote bring an AI-powered version of Siri?
Canva specializes in easy-to-use online design tools with collaborative features, whereas the Affinity apps offer a powerful but inexpensive alternative to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. The acquisition could bring more collaborative capabilities to the Affinity suite and give Canva more design power.
Password managers like 1Password have long provided a deep set of features for creating, storing, and entering passwords and other confidential information. The iCloud Passwords extension for Chromium browsers makes Apple’s built-in password management features available outside Safari, but how do they compare to independent password managers?
Watchlist
Wireless audio broadcasting app brings a new audio capture backend and a warning about updating. ($35 new, free update, 39.7 MB, macOS 14.4+)
Adds workarounds to address changes in macOS 14.4 Sonoma that broke File Provider support. ($49.99 new, free update, 100.1 MB, macOS 10.14+)
Maintenance release for the file automation and cleanup utility. ($42 new, free update, 22.3 MB, macOS 10.14+)
Patches an image-processing vulnerability in Ventura and Monterey. (Free, various sizes, macOS 12+)
