New Books; Museums Nearly Sold Out
I’ve written two major updates to ebooks in the last few weeks to reflect some big changes Apple has made to products and services.
Take Control of Your M-Series Mac is now at version 1.1 to encompass the release of 24-inch M1-based iMacs, more information and some changes to the startup and recovery processes, the release of Big Sur 11.3 (which has its own set of changes), and the release of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for macOS, which allows running a pre-release version of Windows for ARM processors.
I’ve also revised Take Control of iOS & iPadOS Privacy and Security to version 1.1 to cover a number of changes made over the last few months that have culminated with:
- Apple’s roll out of iOS 14.5/iPadOS 14.5, which includes App Tracking Transparency. That changes requires new and newly updated apps to disclose whether they track users across websites and other apps, and provide an opt-in dialog.
- Revisions to the crowdsourcing Find My network, Apple’s method of letting its gear—iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, and new AirTag—report their location by other people’s iPhones, iPads, and Macs nearby relay the information in a secure and privacy-protecting manner.
- The release of the AirTag, a compact tracker that lets you find things you’ve lost via the Find My network, but which Apple has designed to protect the privacy of any one who finds one, too.
- A significant changes a few months ago to how iOS and iPadOS show media playing on your device and remotely controlled devices, like HomePods and Apple TVs.
On a different front, I continue to sell the last Tiny Type Museum & Time Capsules that I have on hand. The planned edition was 100, and 97 of those have been sold—two just in the last week.
My collaborator, Anna, and I made eight additional: four as backups in case of the loss or damage in shipping or other flaws found in the edition of 100; four for her and I. The four held in reserve will go on sale after the edition has fully shipped and been delivered!
That’s seven left for sale forever. If you’re interested in one, now’s the time to act.