TidBITS

President Obama has announced modest reforms to the NSA spying practices revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden. Various organizations have graded the reforms, but the real question is whether Congress will take the necessary actions. 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.

Umoove Experience is a fascinating proof-of-concept that points to a future era of motion control for mobile games, and while it’s not yet ready for prime time, Josh Centers has high hopes for what it could mean for both the disabled and the mainstream gaming community.  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.

Recovering a user’s forgotten password used to require special tools or creative administrative management. It’s fairly easy in recent versions of Mac OS X, but many of us still have or need to help people with older operating systems. Here are all the different ways to get back into a Mac if you’re locked out, no matter what version of Mac OS X it’s running. 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.

Through 25 January 2014, you can save 50 percent on the entire Take Control catalog of ebooks. It’s a great opportunity to pick up titles that you’ve been wanting to read or that might be useful to have on your virtual shelf for reference. As always, all ebooks are DRM-free and available in PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket (Kindle) formats. 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 Apple TV isn’t just for entertainment, as Josh Centers shows in the “Present with Apple TV” chapter of “Take Control of Apple TV.” It makes an AirPlay connection to a projector when you want to project from Keynote, demo an iOS app, or even put a virtual guest on the big screen. 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.

Notable software releases this week include Default Folder X 4.6.2, Dropbox 2.6.2, and 1Password 4.1.3. 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.

This week in ExtraBITS, Josh Centers and Kirk McElhearn discussed the Consumer Electronics Show on The Tech Night Owl Live, we learned why some iOS apps cost $999.99, T-Mobile announced that it would start paying early termination fees for switchers, and AT&T launched sponsored data. We also got inside looks at the real business of CES and Mac game development, along with a detailed profile of Apple’s new retail chief, Angela Ahrendts. Lastly, Glenn Fleishman makes the case for why print books shouldn’t be replaced by ebooks in libraries. 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.

Google has made it possible for Gmail users to send email to Google+ users in their circles, even without knowing the recipient’s email address. Adam Engst suggests that while this feature — which is easily turned off — isn’t as big a concern as the OMG crowd would like to believe, more subtle aspects of it are troubling. 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.

Sidelined from running by heel pain, Adam Engst turns to the “You Are Your Own Gym” book for bodyweight exercises, but finds that the book’s app does a better job of presenting the material. 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’s little more annoying than having someone share a document in Google Docs with an email address other than the one you normally use for Google Docs. Depending on the specifics, you may be able to avoid the problem by associating alternative email addresses with your Google account.  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.

Jeff Porten makes it to a third CES side event, but he’s seriously considering getting a telepresence robot to replace him.  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.

Jeff Porten visits the Mirage and sees visions of 3D iPhones, laser sights, and revamped gizmos from decades past.  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.

Notable software releases this week include TinkerTool 5.1, GraphicConverter 9.0.2, Delicious Library 3.1.4, Audio Hijack Pro 2.10.9, LaunchBar 5.6.2, Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.0, Final Cut Pro X 10.1, and Logic Pro X 10.0.5. 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.

We’re back from our holiday hiatus with a number of festive ExtraBITS! Other World Computing has discovered that the new Mac Pro has an upgradeable CPU, Joe Kissell talked about iCloud on MacVoices, encryption can be cracked with a microphone, Walt Mossberg signed off from The Wall Street Journal, Ted Nelson wrote a touching eulogy for Douglas Engelbart, and we reveal Netflix’s hidden Apple TV diagnostic tool. 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.

Jeff Porten once again braves Sin City to cover the interesting bits of the International CES kickoff events. 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.