If you feel like you have spent a significant amount of your time updating system software on your Apple devices lately, you’re in for a treat; another round of system software updates! This time around, Apple has released MacOS Sonoma 14.6.1 along with MacOS Ventura 13.6.9 for Macs, complete with bug fixes, just one week after releasing MacOS Sonoma 14.6 and Ventura 13.6.8.

But that’s not all. The update adventures are not over, since Apple has also released iOS 17.6.1 for iPhone, iPadOS 17.6.1 for iPad, iOS 16.7.10 for older iPhone, and iPadOS 16.7.10 for older iPad models, so you’ll be busy with yet another round of installing updates on multiple devices.

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The latest versions of MacOS Sequoia beta include a really nice forest wallpaper and screen saver that is enabled by default, called Sequoia Sunrise. But you don’t have to install the Sequoia beta to have access to the wallpaper, you can grab it right now.

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Apple has released the third public beta of iOS 18, MacOS Sequoia, and iPadOS 18, for users enrolled in the public beta testing program. These public beta builds match the 5th developer beta builds that were issued the day prior.

There are also new public beta builds for tvOS 18 and watchOS 11 for those beta testing those versions of system software too.

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MacOS Sequoia beta 5 is now available for users enrolled in the developer beta testing program to download and install onto their Macs. MacOS Sequoia beta 5 carries the build of 24A5309e, and usually a new developer beta build is soon followed by a matching build for public beta testers as well.

MacOS Sequoia is set to bring a variety of new features to the Mac, including iPhone Mirroring, a new window tiling feature, dedicated Passwords app, Apple Intelligence AI, a series of new screensavers and wallpapers, improvements to Safari and other default apps,a nd more.

Separately, Apple has also released iOS 18 beta 5, ipadOS 18 beta 5, watchOS 11 beta 5, tvOS 18 beta 5, and visionOS 2 beta 5.

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iOS 18 beta 5 and iPadOS 18 beta 5 are now available for testing. The beta 5 updates are currently available to registered developer beta testers. Usually a public beta with the same build will arrive soon after a developer beta is released, which in this case would be versioned as public beta 3.

iOS 18 for iPhone and iPadOS 18 for iPad both include a multitude of new features and capabilities, including a new Passwords app, dark mode icons and widget options, color tinting for icons and widgets, customizations to Control Center, a redesigned Photos app, Apple Intelligence AI features, Calculator app for iPad, and many other smaller features and changes including additions to Notes and Safari, and much more.

The latest beta 5 updates include some changes to the confusingly redesigned Photos app on iPhone and iPad, and also includes a new Distraction Control feature in Safari that lets you hide annoying on-page elements that encumber many modern websites, like mailing list pop-ups and obnoxious stuff that overlays content.

Separately, macOS Sequoia beta 5, tvOS 18 beta 5, watchOS 11 beta 5, and visionOS 2 beta 5 are also available for beta testers.

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As you might know already, using the latest versions of PowerPoint on Mac offers two handy features that are aimed to prevent data loss; autosaving, and autorecovery. Autosaving does just what it sounds like, and it will automatically save a file that you’re working on even if you don’t manually save it yourself. The next handy feature is called autorecovery, which automatically saves a copy of the file(s) you are working on in Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, every 10 minutes. You can use this feature to restore and recover an unsaved PowerPoint file on your Mac, and it’s really quite simple to use.

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You might be aware that VMWare Fusion Pro is now free to download and install, and perhaps you installed it on a Mac to test virtual machines or to play around with, and now you’ve decided you no longer need VMware on the Mac.

But VMware Fusion Pro does not come with a dedicated uninstaller, and while you can uninstall it through System Settings or by dragging the VMWare Fusion app into the Trash, neither of those methods will remove all traces of VMWare from the Mac, like the daemons, caches, preferences, and library support files. That’s what we’re going to cover here, walking through how to manually uninstall VMware fusion from Mac, including all of the associated files.

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Apple Intelligence is a set of AI features that Apple is rolling out in beta, and will debut to a larger set of Apple device owners in the fall. Apple Intelligence offers many features from writing and creating text and emails, to taking actions and operating across different apps, to image generation, document and text summarization, and much more.

If you’re interested in the AI Apple Intelligence features, you will find it’s now available on select models of iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but first you have to join the beta program to test Apple Intelligence and meet the system requirements.

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Apple has issued security updates for prior generation iPhone and iPad models that are not compatible with iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6. Specifically, the new updates are versioned as iOS 16.7.9, iPadOS 16.7.9, iOS 15.8.3, and iPadOS 15.8.3, and include important security fixes making them recommended for all users to install onto compatible devices.

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Apple has released macOS Sonoma 14.6 for Mac users running the Sonoma operating system.

The MacOS Sonoma 14.6 software update primarily focuses on bug fixes and security updates for most Macs, however it does include a nice new feature specifically for the 14″ M3 MacBook Pro series allowing that Mac to support two external displays when running in clamshell mode (ie; the laptop lid is closed but the Mac is on).

Separately, Apple also has released iOS 17.6 for iPhone, iPadOS 17.6 for iPad, tvOS 17.6 for Apple TV, watchOS 10.6 for Apple Watch, visionOS 1.3 for Apple Vision Pro, along with MacOS Ventura 13.6.8, MacOS Monterey 12.7.6, iOS 16.7.9, iPadOS 16.7.9, iOS 15.8.3, and iPadOS 15.8.3.

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Apple has issued software updates for iPhone and iPad, versioned as iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6, respectively.

The new software updates include bug fixes and security patches, and do not include any new features or changes to the operating systems.

iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6 are now the latest final stable builds of operating systems for iPhone and iPad, while the betas for iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 are under concurrent development by Apple.

Additionally, Apple has also released security updates for MacOS Sonoma 14.6, tvOS 17.6, watchOS 10.6, visionOS 1.3, MacOS Ventura 13.6.8, MacOS Monterey 12.7.6, iOS 16.7.9, iPadOS 16.7.9, iOS 15.8.3, and iPadOS 15.8.3.

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Apple has released MacOS Ventura 13.6.8 and MacOS Monterey 12.7.6 with important security fixes for Mac users who are running the Ventura and Monterey operating systems. These updates include the same relevant security patches that are available in Sonoma 14.6.

Ventura and Monterey users will also find an update for Safari 17.6 as well.

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Apple has issued the first beta versions of iOS 18.1, MacOS Sequoia 15.1, and iPadOS 18.1, each with Apple Intelligence AI features. These .1 beta releases are separate from the concurrent betas of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and MacOS Sequoia 15, each of which is currently still versioned as beta 4.

The beta 1 version of iOS 18.1, MacOS Sequoia 15.1, and iPadOS 18.1 with Apple Intelligence features are only available on devices that are compatible with the Apple Intelligence AI features, which have remarkably strict system requirements.

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Users who are engaged in the public beta testing programs for upcoming Apple system software will find updates available for their devices, including iOS 18 public beta 2, iPadOS 18 public beta 2, macOS Sequoia public beta 2, tvOS 18 public beta 2, and watchOS 11 public beta 2.

The second public betas match the build numbers of the fourth developer betas for each of these operating systems. Users can switch between the public beta to developer beta if they’d like to, but other than getting the new beta updates a little earlier there isn’t much reason to do so.

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The Steve Jobs Archive, which was launched by Laurene Powell Jobs, Tim Cook, and Jony Ive, has shared an hour-long video of a then 28 year old Steve Jobs speaking in Aspen at the 1983 International Design Conference, as well as some thoughts from Jony Ive, and a nice collection of old photographs and Apple ads.

In the main video, Steve can be seen making jokes, discussing computers and their design, the future of computing, and how computers will impact our lives.

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Apple has issued updated 4th beta versions for iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. The new build is 22A5316k.

It’s unclear what the purpose of the newly released 4th beta build is, but given it’s small size and quick release, it’s reasonable to assume it’s either a bug fix or security patch.

If you have already installed iOS 18 beta or iPadOS 18 beta as a developer, you’ll find the updates available right now through the standard software update mechanism.

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Apple Maps is now available on the web, just in case you’d like to use a web based interface for Apple Maps instead of the Maps app on iPhone, iPad, or Mac. The introduction of a web interface for Apple Maps also means that Android users and Windows users can access Apple Maps now, if they so choose.

It’s worth noting that Apple Maps on the web is currently in beta, and has a beta URL that will surely change by the time it is finalized, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it right away.

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Some Mac users occasionally discover the ‘chronod’ process in MacOS is either consuming a large amount of system resources, or is requesting access to network connections. Sometimes chronod is flagged by overly zealous anti-virus apps as well. While there are plenty of people who ignore this kind of thing, another curious type of Mac user is actively curious about what specific resource heavy processes are, or what the intention is behind a process that wants or requires internet access.

So what is chronod on the Mac, why is it using high CPU and system resources, and why does it want network access? Let’s explore the chronod process a bit to better understand it’s fuction.

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