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Charles Maurer 79 comments

Unless You Are a Masochist, Do Not Buy QuarkXPress

If you’re entering into a book layout project and considering QuarkXPress, don’t. Author Charles Maurer shares just a few of the horror stories from his experience using QuarkXPress to lay out his most recent book.

Josh Centers

#1525: Apple’s record Q3 2020 results, Congress vs. Big Tech, QuarkXPress horrors, updated Apple Style Guide

The global economy might be hurting, but Apple is still firing on all cylinders. Despite slowing growth in iPhone and wearable sales, the company still managed to break quarterly records thanks to preternaturally strong iPad…

Adam Engst 10 comments

TidBITS 2020 Holiday Hiatus—See You in 2021!

In keeping with our tradition, we’re going to take off the last few weeks of 2020, which this year means staying safe with our immediate households and scheduling virtual gatherings with our extended families. You can expect the next email issue of TidBITS on 11 January 2021. Thanks for reading TidBITS, and we hope you’ve found our content useful, accurate, and enjoyable!

Charles Maurer 36 comments

Better than the Printed Page: Reading on an iPad

The iPad is a great tool for reading electronic books, but its default settings and apps are unlikely to be ideal for your eyes. Charles Maurer draws from research into vision and perception to suggest how to tweak your iPad’s display to be more legible.

Adam Engst 98 comments

The Dark Side of Dark Mode

Apple has pushed Dark Mode hard in Mojave, and it will appear in iOS 13 as well. If Apple thinks Dark Mode is such a good idea, should you switch to it? Only if you’re more interested in being trendy than productive, since the science behind human visual perception is resoundingly against Dark Mode.

Adam Engst 3 comments

TidBITS 2018 Holiday Hiatus: Rest, Recover, and Recharge

In keeping with our tradition, we’re going to take off the last few weeks of the year to spend with family and friends, so look for the next email issue of TidBITS on 7 January 2019. Thanks for your attention in 2018, and we hope you’ve enjoyed both our content and our site redesign this year!

Adam Engst

#1410: Finder freezes, Apple TV 4K HDR, reading on the iPad, TidBITS transition

If all goes as planned in our transition to WordPress, SendGrid, and Discourse later this week, this issue will mark the end of one era and the start of another. Adam Engst explains how the…

Adam Engst 32 comments

No Mac Is an Island with macOS Catalina

At WWDC, Apple threw back the curtains on macOS 10.15 Catalina, bringing the Mac ever closer to iOS without losing sight of what makes the Mac unique. We’re particularly impressed with the work the company did on accessibility features.

Charles Maurer 7 comments

Fujifilm XQ1: A Professional Point-and-Shoot?

The XQ1 is a pocket-sized point-and-shoot from Fujifilm that can pinch-hit for pros when teamed up with the application Photo Ninja. Charles Maurer looks at both products and shows how they work together.

Adam Engst

TidBITS#1236/18-Aug-2014

Whether you’re a current student or a lifetime learner, you can save 50 percent on all Take Control ebooks this week in our Back to School sale! For TidBITS members following along with Charles Edge’s…

Charles Maurer 5 comments

The Lazy Man’s New Camera: the Fujifilm X-E2

Former commercial photographer Charles Maurer shares the details about a new small camera that competes with the heavyweights and wins.

Josh Centers No comments

FunBITS: Manual Gives You Total iPhone Camera Control

Are you a serious photographer who’s frustrated by the limitations of the iPhone’s camera? A new app opens up more of its potential, but it can’t work magic.

Adam Engst

TidBITS#1215/24-Mar-2014

After three years, Apple has laid the venerable iPad 2 to rest, bringing back the fourth-generation iPad to fill its entry-level shoes. Josh Centers has the details, along with the story of how he was…

Adam Engst 49 comments

FileMaker Closes the Lid on Bento

Despite selling over one million units, FileMaker Inc. has announced that it is discontinuing its personal database product Bento. Adam Engst delves into the details, and suggests that the moral of the story is that we users must constantly be vigilant when relying on an app or service to make sure we have an exit strategy.

Jeff Carlson 11 comments

“Take Control of Your Digital Photos,” Chapter 6

A previous chapter talked a lot about adding metadata during the import process because that’s the easiest way to apply it. Assigning keywords and other information during that initial stage takes some prep time, but when you click the Import button, the metadata is applied with a broad brush across all your incoming photos. After import, though, you still have some touch-up work to do. To make your photos easily searchable later — the ultimate goal in our organization project — you also need to apply more-specific metadata to individual photos. This might include identifying people and landmarks, or describing shots. In this chapter, I look at how to choose good keywords and how to apply them smartly. I also discuss how to fix incorrect dates and times, how to apply geolocation information, and why it may not be worth investing the time in your program’s facial-recognition tools.