TidBITS

The Consumer Technology Association predicts the tech trends of the year to come in its annual opening of CES. Jeff Porten shares the thrust of the talk and provides commentary.

In which Adam Engst finally hops on the HomeKit bandwagon for real and gets totally sucked in, installing smart outlets, controlling motorized shades, and adding some Flic buttons. 

Apple has announced some of the ways it will be using the $100 million it committed toward projects in its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, which will invest in education and businesses for people of color.Read original article

Adds full compatibility with M1-based Macs. ($29/$19 new, free updates, various sizes, macOS 10.13+)

CES launches into unknown territory by holding its first-ever entirely virtual event, leading Jeff Porten to wonder whether it’ll be a disappointment compared to in-person. But the first batch of gadgets he has seen have some interesting contenders for your…

Maintenance update for the automation and clipboard utility with several improvements and bug fixes. ($36 new, free update, 34.3 MB, macOS 10.11+)

Changes the default location for the BBEdit Backups folder. ($49.99 new, free update, 18.7 MB, macOS 10.14.2+)

Fixes a bug that could prevent the Open/Save dialog enhancement utility from launching correctly. ($34.95 new, free update, 15.7 MB, macOS 10.10+)

Over at Wired, Lily Hay Newman focuses on the potentially massive harm done to US cybersecurity by the mob of rioters who stormed and then occupied the US Capitol. Read original article

Facebook is unhappy with the enhanced privacy requirements that Apple recently unveiled. Apple will soon require that apps ask for and get explicit consent from their users in order to track them across apps and sites—and that’s a good thing. Apple has…

Adds support for M1-based Macs and Office 365 Hybrid Authentication. ($49.99 new for each, free updates, 23.1/12.7 MB, macOS 10.12+)

Do you find yourself having to go back and forth when trying to identify a compatible meeting time with a group of people? Doodle has long been a good solution for this problem, but the When2Meet service is faster, easier, and free.

Adds support for Apple ProRAW photos. ($39.99 new, free update, 217 MB, macOS 10.14.4+)

Introduces the capability to share projects with team members and view their time entries in the Timing web app. ($42 annual subscription, free update, 35.6 MB, macOS 10.13+)

Maintenance update that focuses on fixing a few key issues, including sluggish behavior in macOS 11 Big Sur. ($65 new, free update, 277 MB, macOS 10.11+)

Maintenance release for the document organization and archiving app. ($40 new, free update, 31.2 MB, macOS 10.12+)

Adds compatibility with M1-based Macs and brings enhanced cloud contact integration for chat/call features. (Free, 23.3 MB, macOS 10.9+)

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…

Maintenance release for the calendar app adds an option to choose which browser to use for conference calls. ($39.99 new, free update, 41.3 MB, macOS 10.13.2+)

Keyboard-driven launcher now runs natively with both Intel-based and M1-based Macs. (£23 new, free update, 4.8 MB, macOS 10.11+)

Adds support for importing Apple ProRAW, Photoshop PSB, and Canon CR3 files. ($39.95 new, free update, 250 MB, macOS 10.9+)

Text expansion utility brings user interface and compatibility improvements with macOS 11 Big Sur. (€24.99 new, free update, 7.2 MB, macOS 10.8+)

Improves performance for note loading, the sidebar, and attaching files, plus adds several user interface improvements. (Free, 148 MB, macOS 10.10+)

Adds new restrictions, payloads, and commands for Profile Manager and now requires macOS 11 Big Sur. ($19.99 new, free update, 79.2 MB, macOS 11+)

Adds support for M1-based Macs and importing bookmarks from the Brave Web browser. (Free/$4.95/$49.95, free updates, various sizes, macOS 10.10+)

Adds full compatibility with macOS 11 Big Sur and initial support for M1-based Macs. ($29 new, free update, 311.5 MB, macOS 10.13+)

Maintenance release with improvements and bug fixes for the long-form writing tool. ($49 new, free update, 85.3 MB, macOS 10.12+)

Brings a spate of improvements and bug fixes to the writing app. ($49.99 annual subscription, free update, 30.6 MB, macOS 10.14.4+)

Discerning Mac users will be hard-pressed to find a satisfactory monitor, but the LG 27UK850-W is close enough and not too expensive.

Now asks you if you want to reopen documents after a crash or force quit. ($49.99 new, free update, 18.7 MB, macOS 10.14.2+)