TidBITS

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is turning 70, and he’s inviting everyone to celebrate his birthday with him online.Read original article

Apple has announced that it has made its longtime marketing head, Phil Schiller, an Apple Fellow and promoted Greg “Joz” Joswiak to senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. TidBITS publisher Adam Engst shares stories from his history with both men.

Adds a new widescreen view and a Speech toolbar icon. ($59.99 new, free update, 71.6 MB)

The time and productivity tracking app adds the capability to track time on YouTube.com, improves performance, and reduces memory usage. ($42 annual subscription, free update, 21.1 MB)

Major new release of audio control utility brings a dramatically overhauled interface, automatic application management, and more. ($39 new, free update, 13.9 MB)

Maintenance update for the automation and clipboard utility with several improvements and bug fixes. ($36 new, free update, 26 MB)

Tired of the nonstop drumbeat of negative news? Science, technology, and even governments are doing amazing things that are actually improving the world in significant ways. To give your brain a break, Adam Engst recommends the Future Crunch newsletter’s…

The successful completion of the NASA Demo-2 mission recently made headlines, but it turns out there was an Apple-related twist during the mission.Read original article

Six Colors publisher Jason Snell has started a series of essays, podcasts, and videos that will explore 20 notable Mac models. Adam and Tonya Engst will make guest appearances on the podcast, so be sure to tune in.Read original article

Bill English, the co-creator of the computer mouse, has died at 91. Largely overlooked while he was alive, his contributions make him one of the most influential people in the history of computing.Read original article

At long last, Apple has updated the workhorse of its desktop Mac line, the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display. The new iMac features faster Intel processors, a higher RAM ceiling, next-generation graphics chips, more storage, and Apple’s T2 security chip.…

Apple’s new Security Research Device Program provides security researchers with special iPhones to help them find vulnerabilities in iOS for Apple. Former Apple engineer David Shayer examines how Apple might be tweaking iPhone hardware to make this work.

Brings a few helpful tweaks to the writing app. ($39.99 annual subscription, free update, 20.5 MB)

Adds the Micro.blog platform as an officially supported publishing system and addresses a variety of bugs and crashes. ($49.95 new, free update, 15.9 MB)

CEOs of four of the biggest companies in tech, including Apple’s Tim Cook, recently appeared before Congress to answer questions about their business practices. Here’s a roundup of the coverage.

Apple has updated its style guide, both on the Web and in Apple Books, which triggers TidBITS publisher Adam Engst to discuss how TidBITS makes stylistic decisions in writing and editing. He also examines a few of the changes to the style guide that Apple has…

For its third fiscal quarter of 2020, Apple reported quarterly record financial results that far exceeded consensus estimates, managing to show revenue increases in all of its product segments and geographic sectors. Chalk it up to people working and learning…

Since the release of Catalina, owners of older ScanSnap scanners have been scrambling to find a way to keep their devices functioning after Fujitsu refused to upgrade its software. In a surprising—and very late—move, Fujitsu has released the 64-bit…

The Power Mac G4 Cube was Apple’s most beautiful failure, a cutting-edge and memorable machine that sold fewer than 150,000 units. Wired’s Steven Levy looks back at it, 20 years after its introduction.Read original article

Apple’s Distinguished Educator program has hit the quarter-century mark, and the company noted the occasion by highlighting one of its first participants.Read original article

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is suing YouTube over a Bitcoin-related scam. A similar scam made headlines recently with a mass Twitter attack.Read original article

If you use a VPN service based in Hong Kong to secure your Internet traffic and protect your privacy, you may wish to switch, given what security researchers have discovered.Read original article

A new system from Reincubate lets you use your iPhone’s camera as a virtual camera for your Mac, giving you a higher-quality option for videoconferencing services and other video apps. Plus, Camo provides unprecedented control over the iPhone camera’s…

In an effort to encourage more security researchers to look for security vulnerabilities in iOS, Apple will provide approved researchers with a Security Research Device, a custom iPhone with key security controls disabled. It’s a good way for Apple to engage…

If you’re afraid that your webcam may be spying on you, Micro Snitch from Objective Development monitors your Mac’s webcam and microphone, alerting you when an app activates them and maintaining a log of all activity.

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.

Drive-cloning and backup utility reverts to using its own file copier for establishing new bootable backups after the macOS Catalina 10.15.6 update. ($39.99 new, free update, 14.6 MB)

Maintenance release with numerous improvements and fixes for the calendar app. ($39.99 new, free update, 22.6 MB)

Adds a new Search tool, improves performance, and optimizes memory usage for the AI-powered photo editing app. ($89 new, free update, 18.8 MB)

Brings a lengthy list of improvements and bug fixes for the long-standing text editor. ($49.99 new, free update, 14.2 MB)