Enlarge / Macs running macOS Ventura. (credit: Apple)

Apple's iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS 13 operating systems are all due to be replaced with new versions in the next two or three months, but some bugs can't wait for a whole new release. The company has released iOS/iPadOS 16.6 and macOS 13.5 to fix several "actively exploited" security bugs, plus a handful of other security fixes for problems that have been reported to Apple but aren't being exploited in the wild yet. The release notes also mention unspecified "bug fixes" for each OS.

The new updates don't add anything by way of new features—at least, there aren't any mentioned in the release notes. This will likely be the case for most iOS 16 and macOS 13 Ventura updates going forward, as Apple shifts its focus to newer operating systems. The iOS/iPadOS 17 and macOS 14 Sonoma updates should be available in September or October, if Apple sticks to its historical release schedule. The public betas were released earlier this month.

Several of the security fixes in these updates were originally part of a Rapid Response security update for iOS 16.5.1 and macOS 13.4.1. The original version of that update was pulled post-release after it broke a few major websites on devices that installed it, but a working version with the same fixes was released soon after.

Enlarge (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Apple released its first public beta for macOS Sonoma (among other operating systems) this month, and per usual, headlining features like desktop widgets have gotten a lot of coverage. We'll take a more comprehensive look at the big-ticket items in our review later this fall, but there are always some features and changes worth discussing that get buried or lost in the shuffle. Here are a few deeper cuts we've played with so far.

Better screen sharing

The new Screen Sharing app, which is actually an app and not just a window you type an IP address into. Note the mix of Macs and PCs. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Apple first added basic screen sharing support to macOS back in 2007, with version 10.5 (Leopard). Screen sharing did use a dedicated app, but it was hidden in macOS' system folders rather than in the Applications or Utilities folders—it was really only intended to be launched indirectly, either using the Finder or the Connect to Server menu . If you did launch it directly, its interface was a simple "connect to" dialog where you could enter your desired hostname or IP address. Functional, but minimalist.

Screen Sharing in Sonoma revamps the app itself, as well as how the underlying technology works. You'll now find a Screen Sharing app in the Utilities folder (the same place as Terminal, Disk Utility, and others), signaling that Apple has made it a full-fledged app. The new Screen Sharing app looks a bit like a (very) light, feature-limited version of the Remote Desktop management software, with a list of all computers you've connected to in the past, the ability to see all computers on your local network with screen sharing enabled, and the option to create groups of computers so you can easily sort systems based on how you use them.

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

Apple is officially releasing the first public betas of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS 14 Sonoma today, a little over a month after releasing the first developer betas at its Worldwide Developers Conference.

Though it's not as big a milestone as it has been in past years—developer betas are now available to anyone who signs up for a free Apple developer account , and the builds being released today are essentially identical to the third developer betas Apple released last week—the public beta period typically signals that Apple's newest OSes are approaching the level of stability and polish needed for a public release.

To get the new iOS or macOS betas, first sign up for Apple's public beta software program with your Apple ID . Then, on a compatible device, navigate to the Software Update page in the settings and opt into the beta of your choosing (there's also a separate beta track available for those continuing to test iOS 16 and macOS 13 updates). Per usual, you should make sure you have current backups before you upgrade, and don't install beta software on any devices you rely on day to day since the only way to go back to non-beta software is a full reset in recovery mode .

Enlarge / Product photography of the Google Glass wearable. (credit: Google)

Google's head of operating system and software platforms for augmented and mixed reality devices, Mark Lucovsky, has left the company after months of turmoil for the company's mixed reality projects and staff. He publicly announced his departure in a tweet on Monday:

I have decided to step away from my role at Google, where I was Senior Director of Engineering, responsible for OS and Software Platform for AR and XR devices. The recent changes in AR leadership and Google’s unstable commitment and vision have weighed heavily on my decision.

It's unclear exactly which leadership changes he's referring to, but it seems possible or even likely that he's talking about the recent departure of Clay Bavor, who had led Google's XR work since 2015. Bavor left the company in March of this year.

Google was one of the pioneers of mass-market AR when it piloted Google Glass with developers in 2013, but things have been rocky of late. The company killed Glass, brought it back as an enterprise-only product, then killed it again . Rumors swirled that the tech giant was working on a new AR product called Project Iris , but it was reportedly canceled this year amidst a wave of company layoffs.

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

Yesterday, Apple published a new Rapid Security Response update for iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura to patch yet another actively exploited WebKit code execution bug. But shortly after installation, users began having issues accessing certain websites, and Apple has apparently pulled the update to fix the problem.

According to MacRumors , affected sites include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Zoom, which began showing warning messages about not being supported following the update.

Luckily for anyone who has installed it, Rapid Security Response updates can be removed just as quickly as they were installed; on iOS, navigate to the About page in the Settings app, tap on your iOS version, and then tap “Remove Security Response.”

Enlarge / Apple's M2 Ultra Mac Studio. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

The original Mac Studio , despite the absence of "Pro" in the name, was Apple's most compelling professional desktop release in years. Though it was more like a supercharged Mac mini than a downsized Mac Pro, its M1 Max and M1 Ultra processors were fantastic performers, and they were much more energy-efficient than the one in the most recent Intel Mac Pro, too.

Apple is releasing the M2 version of the Mac Studio this week , and even though it's being launched alongside a brand-new Mac Pro , it still might be Apple's most compelling professional desktop. That's partly because the new Studio is even faster than the old one—Apple sent us a fully enabled M2 Ultra model with 128GB of RAM—and partly because Apple Silicon Macs are designed in ways that make Mac Pro-style expandability and modularity impossible.

There is probably still a tiny audience for the redesigned Mac Pro, people who still use macOS and still use internal PCI Express expansion cards that aren't GPUs; it should also be relatively easy to add gobs of cheap, fast internal storage, a kind of upgrade the Mac Studio is still frustratingly incapable of . There's also a bit of awkward pricing overlap with the high-end M2 Pro Mac mini that didn't exist last year.

Enlarge / Apple's 15-inch M2 MacBook Air. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

It's a credit to Apple's chips that when I'm using my 13-inch MacBook Air, I feel much more constrained by the screen size than I do by the performance.

That wasn't always the case. The Intel MacBook Airs of years past were perfectly fine for basic computing, but you could feel the difference between an Air and an iMac or MacBook Pro as soon as you tried to edit something in Photoshop or Lightroom or export something with iMovie. The M1 and M2 Macs also feel slower than their Pro, Max, and Ultra counterparts, but for the kinds of light-to-medium-duty work that I spend most of my time doing, I rarely find myself waiting around for things to happen.

That's why I've been looking forward to the 15-inch MacBook Air, which has been rumored for at least a year and is being released to the public this week . Before now, getting a larger Mac laptop meant paying at least $2,000 for the privilege—$2,500 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro—because getting that bigger screen also came with extra ports, more powerful chips, and fancier screen technology.

An antitrust-based lawsuit accusing Amazon and Apple of colluding to keep Apple products priced higher in Amazon's store is moving forward after a judge declined to dismiss the case on the companies' motions. (credit: Getty Images)

A federal judge has rejected Apple's and Amazon's motions to wholly dismiss a consumer antitrust lawsuit, one that accuses the tech giants of colluding to eliminate all but the highest-price Apple products in Amazon's online store .

Writing in Seattle (PDF), Judge John C. Coughenour noted that Apple and Amazon do not dispute the existence of their agreement, which was publicly touted by the companies in November 2018 . Nor do they argue that it had an "effect on interstate commerce," as required by a lawsuit making a complaint under the Sherman Act . The issues pushed in the defendants' motion for dismissal is whether the Global Tenets Agreement (GTA) signed by the companies has an impact on "a relevant market" and whether it "imposes an unreasonable restraint of trade."

Coughenour dismissed one aspect of the plaintiff's lawsuit. He disagreed with Apple's and Amazon's positioning of themselves as competing to sell Apple products "at a horizontal level." Instead, they are, under their GTA, "vertically situated" as a manufacturer and distributor. But, given the "complex nature of the business relationships between the parties," Coughenour wrote, and the fact that the plaintiffs agree that not all resellers of Apple products were removed from Amazon's marketplace, a "per se" finding of antitrust violation could not be sustained.

Enlarge / Inside the Steve Jobs Theater building at Apple's headquarters. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple's 2023 Worldwide Developer Conference is just a few days away—it kicks off with a keynote on Monday, June 5. That keynote will be livestreamed (we'll liveblog it, too), and it's expected to be a doozy.

The WWDC keynote isn't always the most exciting for non-developers, as it usually focuses on iOS updates rather than exciting new hardware. There have been exceptions, though, and next week's event will surely be one of them. Apple is expected to finally unveil its rumored mixed reality headset, which has taken a long and winding path to market.

That will be the main focus, but there will be interesting new developments on the iPhone, Mac, and Watch. Here's what to expect from the WWDC keynote next week.