Adam Engst

If you’re looking for more trusted sources in tech coverage, Adam Engst recommends 404 Media, an independent media company founded by four investigative journalists who set out on their own after the demise of Vice Media.

At a recent party, a friend watched me use Arc Search on my iPhone by tapping a widget and dictating a search, but iOS guessed wrong on an easily confused word. Slightly embarrassed at the voice recognition failure, I used trackpad mode to position the insertion point to tweak the incorrect word. My friend was amazed, partly by Arc Search’s results but more because she had long struggled with positioning the insertion point on the iPhone. No one had ever told her about trackpad mode.

I have a mental image of how a best-selling novelist sits down to work every day. (If that’s you, feel free to set me straight.) I imagine them opening a specific set of apps and documents, arranging a few folders just so, cracking their knuckles, and starting to write. (There’s usually a cat involved, too.) Perhaps they need a word processor with documents for the in-progress chapters of their latest thriller, a note-taking app where they keep ideas and snippets of text, various ebooks for historical reference, a particular playlist of music, and more. Rather than assemble all those items each time, my imaginary novelist could consider using

Each month, when I do a podcast with Allison Sheridan (see “ Adam Engst Joining CCATP Podcast Regularly,” 12 July 2024), she asks me to record my side of the conversation in QuickTime Player. That generates an M4A audio file that’s over 100 MB, large enough that it’s problematic to send to her using email or Messages. Services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, and Google Drive would work, but she showed me something more straightforward and perfect for the job:

Apple has said nothing more about the nag level of screen recording permissions requests in the betas of macOS 15 Sequoia since I wrote “ macOS 15 Sequoia’s Excessive Permissions Prompts Will Hurt Security ” (12 August 2024) and “ Apple Reduces Excessive Sequoia Permission Requests, Shifts to Monthly

Apple has revealed that the initial versions of its 2024 operating systems—macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, tvOS 18, and HomePod Software 18—will ship on 16 September 2024.

The new Apple Watch Series 10 is the thinnest, lightest Apple Watch yet, even while providing a larger, brighter display. It now comes in aluminum and titanium models. Apple updated the Apple Watch Ultra 2 with a new finish but no new hardware features.

At its Glowtime event, Apple unveiled its latest crop of iPhones, with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus gaining the new Camera Control, along with the Action button from last year’s Pro models. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max boast larger screens, better cameras, and faster performance.

The new AirPods 4 introduce an updated industrial design that Apple says will fit more ears and include a more expensive model with Active Noise Cancellation. However, the more exciting news may be the addition of hearing tests and a Hearing Aid mode for the current AirPods Pro 2.

Having spent 10 years writing tech books and another 14 publishing Take Control Books, I’m a sucker for publishing systems. Even though I no longer create long, structured documents, I couldn’t resist checking out adoc Studio, a new Mac, iPad, and iPhone app from ProjectWizards, the German company behind the powerful project management app