The big news that kept Adam Engst at his keyboard until late came from Apple’s WWDC26 keynote, where the company introduced OS 27 while addressing user and developer complaints, responding to parental concerns about technology abuse, and unveiling the next generation of Apple Intelligence, including the long-delayed Siri AI. Also this week, Adam details how he fought off a denial of service attack on the TidBITS server with assistance from Claude, and wonders whether the iOS 26 lens cleaning hint feature actually works. Notable Mac app releases this week include BBEdit 16.0.1, DEVONthink 4.3.1, Mactracker 8.2.3, and Typinator 10.1.
Adam Engst investigates the mysterious “Lens cleaning hint” feature introduced in iOS 26. Despite his best efforts—including one involving a tomato—the warning message never appeared. Is it broken, or just random about what counts as smudged?
Troubleshooting an inaccessible server is challenging at the best of times and doubly so when you are out of practice. Read how Claude guided Adam Engst through troubleshooting and mitigating a denial of service attack.
Apple spent the entirety of its WWDC26 keynote responding to external pressures, including user complaints about Liquid Glass, community and regulatory worries regarding child safety, and the embarrassment of Siri delays and Apple Intelligence weaknesses.
Watchlist
Maintenance release for the recently upgraded text editor. ($59.99 new, upgrades available, free update for version 16 licenses, 32.1 MB, macOS 14+)
Maintenance release refines the new Markdown parser and some image-generation AI models. ($99 new for standard and $199 for Pro, free update, 90.5 MB, macOS 13+)
Popular encyclopedia of Apple products updated with several throwback additions. (Free, 267.5 MB, macOS 11+)
Introduces at-a-glance display of statistics showing time saved, expansions, and corrections. ($29.99 annual subscription, free update, 47.5 MB, macOS 13+)
