TidBITS

With the rise of fast solid-state storage that doesn’t offer much room for data and Macs that don’t let you swap out their hard drives, external drives have become essential in the Mac world. But are you treating yours well? Josh Centers offers some advice on keeping your hard drive and its data healthy. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Monument Valley is a puzzle game based around optical illusions and beautiful design that is every bit as relaxing as it is confounding. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Apple has yet again updated its iWork apps for Mac, iOS, and iCloud, continuing to polish and enhance the functionality of the retooled productivity suite. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Mac and iOS developers can now register for the WWDC ticket lottery through 7 April 2014. If you’re among the 5,000 people randomly selected to attend, you’ll have until 14 April 2014 to purchase the $1,599 ticket. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

There wasn’t much gaming to be found on the Macworld/iWorld show floor, but Josh Centers found a number of fun products that might even tip over into the useful category. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Amazon has released its long-rumored challenger to the Apple TV, and it’s a doozy. Josh Centers, author of “Take Control of Apple TV,” gives the rundown on how it stacks up. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Without further ado, here’s the concluding set of products we stumbled across at Macworld/iWorld that we just had to share with you. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

One of the best parts of walking the show floor at Macworld/iWorld every year in San Francisco is stumbling across the products that raise the pulse of the cynical tech writer. “Oh, that’s cool,” we think, “People will really like that!” Read on for the first installment of our roundup of the products that caught our attention. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Want a lightweight way to scan through new email as quickly as possible, without worrying about getting sucked in? The iOS app Triage makes short work of that task. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Adam Engst reflects on what it was like to attend Macworld/iWorld 2014, and wishes that everyone in the Apple community could experience what makes Macworld special. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Most companies that do business on the Internet have published privacy policies, and although they’re often full of tedious legalese, they’re worth reading. Whether they do anything to protect you is another question. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Faced with an iPhone 5 that had become increasingly unreliable after installing iOS 7, particularly as the weather got colder, Adam Engst replaced its battery himself, a task that proved significantly more nerve-wracking than doing so for an iPhone 4. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

It appears that Apple has pushed Snow Leopard off the back of the support truck, releasing the most recent security fixes only for Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks. Adam Engst explains what’s likely behind the decision and offers suggestions on what Snow Leopard users can do next. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

The first feature update to iOS 7 is now out. iOS 7.1 offers a number of changes that make the interface more visible, adds support for CarPlay, enhances iTunes Radio and Siri, and more. It should also eliminate annoying Home screen crashes, improve iPhone 4 performance, and make Touch ID more accurate. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

The latest Apple TV update makes it easier to hide apps, and an update to Remote adds controls for iTunes Radio and purchased iTunes content. Josh Centers, author of “Take Control of Apple TV,” has the details. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.