TidBITS

If you need to enter numbers, dates, or times into your Mac by hand, there’s an easier way than typing them with your keyboard. Instead, try dictating them into your iPhone or iPad!

 

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A built-in security feature can turn your iOS device into a paperweight if someone enters an incorrect passcode too many times. Here’s how to recover from that situation.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced WPA3, a replacement for its current local network encryption options. WPA3 both fixes an exploit and increases security for those using open networks, all while reducing the burden on users. But don’t expect it to take over from WPA2 soon.

All Macs and iOS devices may be vulnerable to the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities, but Apple is continuing to release updates that mitigate the problems. The moral of the story? Keep your devices up to date!

If you do photography or video work, the Polaroid Flexi LED Light Panel provides 4500 lumens of light from a flexible grid of LEDs. It’s inexpensive and effective, and well worth adding to your toolkit to improve on-camera lighting.

Apple has published a letter to customers to apologize for silently reducing performance in older iPhones in an attempt to eliminate unexpected shutdowns. In it, the company explains the situation and announces a drop in the price of battery replacements.

Faced with a display that was getting whiter and brighter, Adam Engst finally realized that he had been inadvertently increasing the Display Contrast slider in the Accessibility preference pane via a keyboard shortcut.

Faced with a display that was getting whiter and brighter, Adam Engst finally realized that he had been inadvertently increasing the Display Contrast slider in the Accessibility preference pane via a keyboard shortcut.

In keeping with our tradition, we’re going to take off the last few weeks of the year to spend with family and friends, so look for the next email issue of TidBITS on 8 January 2018. Thanks for your attention in 2017, and here’s looking forward to the major Internet infrastructure changes for TidBITS in 2018!

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