TidBITS

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.

Enables the app to update itself and allows users to choose between two update cadences. (Free, 25.8 MB, macOS 10.9+)

Brings new features, improvements, and bug fixes to the native macOS client for Gmail. (Free, 8.5 MB, macOS 10.15+)

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.

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+)

If you’ve wanted to enable HiDPI scaling for sharper text on a 1440p display connected to an M1-based Mac, you’ve been out of luck… until now. The open source BetterDummy helps you take full advantage of 1440p external screens.Read original article

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…

We’re taking the next email issue of TidBITS off to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, although we’ll continue to publish articles on our Web site. You can look forward to the next email issue on 6 December 2021.

Fixes a bug that could cause the Finder in macOS 12 Monterey to relaunch at login repeatedly. ($34.95 new, free update, 16 MB, macOS 10.10+)

Character discovery and font exploration utility adds support for Unicode 14.0, including Emoji 14.0. ($€29.99, free update, 5.5 MB, macOS 10.10+)

Improves installation and updating for the network traffic management utility. ($45 new, free update, 34 MB, macOS 11+)

Brings improvements and bug fixes for the Swiss Army knife of graphics programs. ($39.95 new, free update, 266 MB, macOS 10.9+)

Brings improvements and bug fixes to the native macOS client for Gmail. (Free, 8.5 MB, macOS 10.15+)

New FaceTime features like links, grid view, and a Web client make FaceTime in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey more competitive with video conferencing apps like Zoom.

Maintenance update for the popular automation and clipboard utility following its recent major upgrade. ($36 new, $25 upgrade, free update from version 10, 34.4 MB, macOS 10.13+)

Apple has released watchOS 8.1.1 to address charging problems with the Apple Watch Series 7.

Maintenance update for the professional video editing app. ($299.99 new, free update, 3.2 GB, macOS 10.15.6+)

Major update to the macOS scripting utility with improved script execution and search functionality. ($39.95 new, $19.95 upgrade, 5.4 MB, macOS 10.15+)

Apple has released iOS 15.1.1 exclusively for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 to address a bug causing dropped calls.

After lobbying against right-to-repair legislation for years, Apple has seemingly done an about-face by announcing the Self Service Repair program, which will provide genuine Apple parts, tools, and repair manuals to individuals who want to repair their Apple…

Thanks to Apple’s Weather app picking up features from Dark Sky, the company that Apple acquired in early 2020, you can now turn on next-hour precipitation notifications in iOS 15. But they aren’t reliable for some users—how about you?

Reports of massive memory leaks in macOS 12 Monterey have been traced back to custom pointer changes. Resetting custom pointers should reduce or eliminate the problems until Apple releases a fix.

This week, Adam asks for help tracking down an email formatting bug in TidBITS issues, points those worried about ransomware to RansomWhere and Retrospect 18, and looks at more utilities that perform OCR on text in images.

Drive-cloning and backup utility adds a new macOS Downgrade Assistant. ($39.99 new, free update, 19.0 MB, macOS 10.15+)

A week after the release of the third-generation AirPods, Apple subsidiary Beats By Dre unveiled Fit Pro earbuds that offer a compelling alternative thanks to a more secure fit, H1 chip, and active noise cancellation.

Josh Centers and Julio Ojeda-Zapata team up to give you their first impressions of Apple’s third-generation AirPods.

Maintenance release with bug fixes and improvements for the professional audio app. ($199.99 new, free update, 1.1 GB, macOS 11+)

Adds support for macOS 12 Monterey and Adobe Lightroom Classic 11. ($39 new, free update, 27.2 MB, macOS 10.14+)

Resolves a problem that prevented the capture key from working in macOS 12 Monterey. ($40 new, free update, 31.7 MB, macOS 10.12+)

Adds support for AppleScript and running Shortcuts on macOS 12 Monterey. ($42 new, free update, 20.8 MB, macOS 10.13+)