Apple has released macOS Big Sur 11.7.4 with no release notes apart from a comment on the Apple Security Updates page that it “has no published CVE entries.” In other words, it’s a security update, but Apple isn’t saying what it fixes, which is somewhat out of the ordinary.
Although many companies continue to invest in podcasts, and overall downloads continue to rise, interviews with a dozen current and former podcast producers and executives indicated increased reluctance among publishers to fund projects with no obvious path to short-term profitability. Short-run or seasonal narrative podcasts, which have a limited window to build audiences and attract advertisers, are under especially sharp scrutiny.
At NPR, even long-running and successful shows like “Planet Money” have pulled back on resource-intensive reporting and relied more heavily on reruns in order to cut costs.
The only way to know if an iPhone has Wi-Fi syncing turned on is by checking in Finder on the trusted Mac, or in iTunes on a Windows PC. If Apple is not retiring this feature, it should be possible to see if an iPhone has Wi-Fi syncing enabled on the phone itself.
There’s a software update you might have missed: a new firmware for the Apple USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable used to charge the newest MacBook Air and MacBook Pros.
In what will be a disappointment for some, Apple will stream every game in 1080p. That's the same quality the company offered for its weekly Major League Baseball games last year. However, it's an improvement for MLS as every game wasn't available in 1080p previously. The plan is to have more cameras on the field at each match, so despite a lack of 4K, the comprehensive nature of the visuals should be better than what fans are used to seeing.
The new release brings over 100 new features, improvements, and bug fixes including the ability to reorder fields and sections inside items, keyboard shortcuts, improved search, Continuity and Handoff support for Apple devices, and much more.
The company estimates that there are over 100 million people worldwide with various disabilities that can affect access to mobile devices. In addition to helping people with disabilities, Athena Eye Control can also support people whose hands are occupied or who would prefer to read hands-free.
Plex is out with a new feature that lets you easily skip the ending credits for any TV show or movie. Called “Credits Detection,” this is designed to let you quickly move on to the next episode of a TV show or find post-credit content.
The iPhone maker is now aiming to unveil the product at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential. Apple made the decision to delay the launch earlier this month after product testing showed that both hardware and software issues still needed to be ironed out, they said.
I have been listening to podcasts since the invention of podcasts back in 2004, and I have never run out of podcasts to listen. I am not worried about not having enough podcasts to listen anytime soon.
Making and distributing podcasts is still not as easy as, say, posting in Mastodon. And I hope now with the success fo Mastodon, we can take another stab in making it easier to create podcasts in the open web.
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Thanks for reading.