When I am on the road, it is nice to see a product launch. It is one more thing to cram into an always overloading work trip. There are some products that are better tested on the road.
Since the summer, I have been running a preview of macOS 13 Ventura on my desktop. Such things are not for everyone. Stage Manager has been appreciated on the big screen. I usually use a majority of the new features for the duration of the review period, and then forget they exist.
Stage Manager has been in the middle of it all. The company decided to skip iPadOS 16 in favor of skipping to 16.1 around a month or so later, due to the poor implementation of the betas. Stage Manager wasn't perfect from the get-go on the desktop, but I have never shut it off since I enabled it on the first day.
Brian Heater is the image's author.
The feature keeps all windows open at the same time. Most of the space is occupied by the primary window, while the others are minimized on the side of the screen. It is similar to a toolbar composed of openAPPS. The main staging area will be swapped for any of these. Pull out a few and make a stack that will be minimized and expanded.
When the feature is enabled, there is a noticeable reduction in the amount of stuff on the desktop. The sidebar will leave the way if you maximize the window. I would suggest an update to the feature. The Finder window is dropped when you unZIP a window. It can be annoying to pull individual windows out of a stack. Stage Manager is the best Mac productivity update in a long time. I have been utilizing it on the desktop and notebook.
The Continuity Camera was not received well when it was introduced. The critique feels like a Band-Aid on a bigger problem, rather than addressing the root cause. Apple has neglected laptop webcams for a long time. It was an issue that was brought into relief during the Pandemic due to the fact that Apple has been making the effort to improve video capture through a combination of changes to the internet service provider and improved hardware.
Brian Heater is the image's author.
The bigger issue with existing hardware was addressed by Continuity Camera. It offers a way to use the iPhone as a makeshiftWebcam instead of buying an external one. Even the most recent Macs are behind the iPhone in terms of video capture. The setup is simple if you have the same Apple account. You can mount it to the top of the laptop or desktop using an accessory like the one recently released by Belkin. The rear-facing cameras are used for the webcams. As far as solutions go, this isn't among Apple's most elegant, and the iPhone 14 Pro is too heavy for the Air's lid to support at a 90- degree angle. The solution does work in a pinch. I intend to keep the attachment in my bag.
I think those are the headline features. These sorts of releases are major feature dumps with updates. Spotlight is getting a lot of love. You probably don't think much about it. I limit my desktop searches to local files, and I also use the internet.
Apple wants the desktop version of Spotlight to be like the one-stop shop it has become on the iPhone. It makes sense on a mobile device, but I am not sure if it is more convenient to use the macOS version. The feature offers a more streamlined design, along with searches within Photos, Messages and Notes, which are hopefully not things you will find in a browser based search.
Music and films are included on the list. Quick actions are the handiest addition here, and they offer a way to do things like create alarms. It will save you a little time.
Ventura gets a lot of love in the big system updates because of the popularity of the browser. I have to be clear about not being a daily user. I am too wedded to chrome as a browser and account sync service. Sharing groups of tabs is one of the biggest news here. Messages and Mail can be used to share a group on a theme.
With the addition of end-to-end encryption through Passkeys, there is a nice security upgrade on board. Imagine what Password Manager has to offer. The feature has been extended to non- Apple devices.
Brian Heater is the image's author.
There are some new additions to Messages. You can un send a message or change it. You can type directly into the message with the latter. The app keeps a paper trail due to feedback from users. The message has a tag that says "Edited". Clicking into that will show the history of the edits.
Users can watch movies or listen to music in Messages with SharePlay. Sharing notes, reminders and more can be done through the app. There are a lot of new sharing options in the Photos app.
The system settings have a new look. The redesign can be streamlined. If you have spent a lot of time on the phone, there's no need for a learning curve. The gap between the two operating systems is continuing to close.
The last big thing worth mentioning is Freeform. Apple's attempt to crack the frustrating world of virtual whiteboards has yet to launch. The company promises to arrive later this year. There's more on that close to launch.
Ventura is a free download for Macintosh computers produced in the last two years.
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