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macOS 12.3 Arrives With Universal Control, Spatial Audio Features (engadget.com) 121

Posted by BeauHD from the new-and-improved dept.
Apple has rolled out macOS 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4, bringing the highly-anticipated (and delayed) Universal Control feature. Engadget reports: The tool, which is in beta, allows you to control a Mac and iPad at the same time with a single keyboard and mouse (or trackpad). You can enter text on either device and drag files between them. Apple initially said Universal Control would be available last fall, but in December it delayed the release until this spring. Apple has enhanced spatial audio on M1-powered systems as well. Apple Music now has dynamic head tracking support for compatible AirPods. You'll find settings for fixed and head-tracking spatial audio in the Control Center. There's also several new emoji, more filters for the Podcasts app, optional notes for saved passwords and more accurate battery capacity readings, among other changes.

iOS 15.4 was also released today, adding the option to use Face ID while wearing a mask. "The updates also add 37 new emoji characters and they lay the groundwork for the new 'Tap to Pay on iPhone' feature that allows NFC-compatible iPhones to accept payments through Apple Pay," reports MacRumors. "There are also updates to add custom domains to iCloud Mail right on device, Siri enhancements, new Emergency SOS features, and tons more."
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macOS 12.3 Arrives With Universal Control, Spatial Audio Features More

macOS 12.3 Arrives With Universal Control, Spatial Audio Features

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  • KDE Connect has been doing similar to this for years.

  • "There's also several new emoji, more filters for the Podcasts app"

    FFS. How about fixing some of the long term bugs in your core apps Apple? You know, like when using Mail with gmail you often have to delete stuff twice before its actually deleted? And how about when the Mac goes to sleep it sometimes won't see the external monitor plugged into it when it wakes up. You know, minor things like that.

    But hey, new emojis! I'm sold!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
      I heard somewhere that Emoji was the deciding factor in getting the original iPhone to become hugely popular and also getting people to upgrade (and look forward to) each iOS update.

      Best link I could find on short notice:
      https://www.theverge.com/2017/... [theverge.com]
    • Or being able to forcibly terminate processes stuck in the "?E" state (The process is trying to exit) so that you don't have to power-cycle to restart the computer. That's only been a bug since, what...OS X in 2005?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Entrope ( 68843 )

        That bug is barely old enough to drive now. Why do you want to kill it in the prime of its youth?

      • Or being able to forcibly terminate processes stuck in the "?E" state (The process is trying to exit) so that you don't have to power-cycle to restart the computer. That's only been a bug since, what...OS X in 2005?

        Like the "File Is Open" bug in Windows that refuses to die.

        You can always use Activity Monitor, or Terminal, to kill a Process, if the 'nice way', Force Quit, doesn't catch it after a few tries.

        • You can always use Activity Monitor, or Terminal, to kill a Process, if the 'nice way', Force Quit, doesn't catch it after a few tries.

          No, kill -1, kill -2, kill -9, kill -s KILL, kill -s QUIT, etc., have no effect on processes stuck in the "?E" state because they're already trying to terminate - they are probably stuck in an infinite loop/wait somewhere and don't respond to signals. That's why you have to power-cycle the computer to recover, because the processes can't be killed to allow a restart/shutdown to complete.

          • Also, processes in the "?E" state aren't even displayed in Activity Monitor.

            • Also, processes in the "?E" state aren't even displayed in Activity Monitor.

              Interesting.

              So, this should be true in all, or at least most, *nix OSes; so what do Users of those platforms do?

              And you are claiming that a Process that is not visible to Activity Monitor, is nonetheless somehow Visible to the Shutdown Manager? Sounds quite unlikely.

              And if you cannot see the Process in Activity Monitor; how do you even know it is in an alleged "?E" state?

              Ok, well I found at least the reason a Process cannot be killed. Apparently, a Process that is executing in Kernel Space cannot be seen no

    • Apple is concentrating on making money, which they seem to have a knack for so if they think emojis figure in more prominently than bug fixes they are likely correct.

      To me the stranger emoji related thing is from MacRumors:

      37 new emoji characters and they lay the groundwork for the new 'Tap to Pay on iPhone' feature

      The pay app has emoji library dependencies?

    • "There's also several new emoji, more filters for the Podcasts app"

      FFS. How about fixing some of the long term bugs in your core apps Apple? You know, like when using Mail with gmail you often have to delete stuff twice before its actually deleted? And how about when the Mac goes to sleep it sometimes won't see the external monitor plugged into it when it wakes up. You know, minor things like that.

      But hey, new emojis! I'm sold!

      Never had either of those things happen.

      • So? Do you also think bones don't break because you've never had a broken bone?

        • So? Do you also think bones don't break because you've never had a broken bone?

          Absolutely not.

          I merely stated that it had not happened to me.

          Do you also think that others cannot have differing experiences from your own?

          • I'm well aware that other people have differing opinions. I'm also aware that software bugs don't have to be universal to be valid, and that your chiming in of 'that's never happened to me' is implicitly intended to convey an idea of 'therefore you're doing something wrong, the software is fine.'

            There's no other reason I can think of, at least, to volunteer that little datum in a forum like this.

            • I'm well aware that other people have differing opinions. I'm also aware that software bugs don't have to be universal to be valid, and that your chiming in of 'that's never happened to me' is implicitly intended to convey an idea of 'therefore you're doing something wrong, the software is fine.'

              There's no other reason I can think of, at least, to volunteer that little datum in a forum like this.

              So, if you are truly interested in getting this bug fixed, then why didn't you supply your monitor make/model; so I could search for more reports of the sleep no-reconnect bug, and if there is a fix or at least a workaround?

        • But if one person is complaining about constantly breaking bones meanwhile most others have never experience it more than once in recent memory then it suggests it's perhaps something that person needs to resolve themselves. I have a mac and if I try to wake it by pressing a key on the keyboard the keyboard stops responding for 30 seconds. This doesn't happen when using bootcamp and running the same mac on windows. I have 8 other keyboards, none of them have the same issue therefore I'm going to assume not

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Viol8 ( 599362 )

            "s, only one of them fails to wake from sleep; conclusion: AOC's fault, not apple's."

            I suggest you google the issue before spouting more self righteous BS.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Viol8 ( 599362 )

        Ok. And? Do you think your negative anecdote proves these bugs don't exist?

        • Ok. And? Do you think your negative anecdote proves these bugs don't exist?

          No.

          But I think they are more likely linked to a problem with $RANDOM_MONITOR and some combination of your particular gmail and Mail.app settings than any widespread problem with macOS.

          I will say the most recent search hit for a similar problem I could find involved a problem in OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and Gmail’s IMAP implementation.

          What version of macOS and what Monitor? Impossible to further research without that info.

    • And how about when the Mac goes to sleep it sometimes won't see the external monitor plugged into it when it wakes up.

      This drives me crazy multiple times a day. Sometimes a power cycle of my thunderbolt dock wakes it up. Sometimes it takes a reboot for no other reason than I would like to use the 34" display I have plugged in, instead of it just being desk decoration. And the thing that burns me up is that the old-school multi-display support didn't do that until they reworked it in the 10.8 or 10.9 days (can't remember which) and it's been worse ever since.

      Literally, Mac OS 9 had better multi-display support.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Viol8 ( 599362 )

        Sometimes it seems like all the low level devs who understood hardware and drivers have left Apple and now they're just left with coders little better than script kiddies who think adding childish icons is somehow important for an OS upgrade.

    • using Mail with gmail you often have to delete stuff twice before its actually deleted

      What? I've been using Mail with gmail since they added IMAP support and I've never noticed this. The closest thing I can think of is that Mail backgrounds everything and displays user feedback before the operation has committed. This lets you work super fast even on slow connections, but it can cause issues if it can't resolve your changes at which point the reality of the IMAP server just pops back up as if nothing has happened. Bad, but IMHO infinitely preferable to Outlook which was freezing for up to 30

  • I have a 2015 Macbook Pro with top specs at the time. It's still working fine, but when I upgraded to macOS 12 (Monterey) everything slowed down to a comical degree. Just swiping between desktops/VMs became stuttery and sluggish. Everything is slow as molasses. Starting some application could take 100% more time.
    I downgraded within a week and started to look at System 76 for when Big Sur is end of life.

    I'm having a hard time believing this is because of new awesome features in the OS. More likely is a "

    • I'm having a hard time believing this is because of new awesome features in the OS. More likely is a "Let the user know they have an old laptop so they start to think about upgrading"-feature.

      I'm having a hard time believing Apple would do this, and risk getting caught again.

      Then again, I've been talking a long time about Corporate Arrogance within the Too Big To Fail entities. This is exactly what it looks like.

      (Corporate Arrogance) Why are we slowing down your device? Fuck You That's Why. Now shut up and get out of line. There's another 5,000 customers behind you waiting. Oh, you'll fine us 5% of the profits we made from this? Let me mark my calendar. We call that "Executive Bonus Day"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
        I would bet money on the only change from the last time they got caught was that they realized these "features" needs to be vagely connected to some other feature, so they can be "explained".
        "No, it stutters on older hardware because we need to supersample the gyro* in case the screen tilts so we can adjust the flow better" or some bs.

        *no, it doesn't have a gyro, i know, that was not the point

        • Or that you have a 7 year old GPU and they modernized their renderer to take advantage of 7 years worth of GPU, library, and driver development that doesn't apply to your hardware in order to make it run really good on the >90% of the user base that has newer stuff than you?

          You know that while CPU compute performance increases generation-over-generation has become less exciting, the same has not happened with GPUs? And in fact, in many cases, GPU advances have been increasing generation-over-generation?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
            Would you argue a GTX 980 shouldn't be able to run Windows? That is what you are saying. Old GPUs like the 980 shouldn't be expected to run modern OS, let alone games. Complete bullshit.
            Shill...

            • You are expecting Microsoft and Apple to have the same levels of backwards compatibility, and that has literally never been the case. Oh, and Microsoft has TPM 2.0 as a requirement for Windows 11, and TPM 2.0 was released when? 2014. Which means it didn't really show up in hardware until 2015 models.

              Your. Laptop. Is. Old.

          • It's a phone, not a pocket 8K HDTV experience.

            And I expect a device I've paid a laptop's worth of fucking money for, to last.

            And the entire point here is, IT DOES LAST.

            Understand what planned obsolescence is before ranting your "point" next time.

    • I have probably the same machine: 3.1 Ghz dual core i7, 16GB DDR3, SSD of some sort I think I upgraded. Early 2015 model.

      It is fine running 12.2.1. Just as quick as before for the things you describe. I use it for personal stuff so it isn't doing anything very taxing.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
        That is weird. I got the quad core i7 and discrete gpu.
        Did you upgrade late? or did you try the first few versions also? I'm wondering if they might have fixed the issues and I should try again.
        Not getting my hopes up. Sort of settled on using Big Sur until it was EOL and just move on. Can't really complain on 8-9 years of updates (well.. of course I can, and do).

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cstacy ( 534252 )

          I'm running the latest Monterey on a 2014 Mini, and it performs great. I have lots of RAM, is maybe the difference?

      • 2.5 GHz quad I7 with 16 GB but just the Intel Iris graphics. Works OK on 12.2.1, but gets a bit sluggish if I'm running PyCharm, Virtualbox, and Docker at the same time.

        I'd use something like iStat Menus to check your thermals and think about opening it up to clean fans and vents - sounds like it could be thermal throttling due to additional GPU load from effects in the new version.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by waspleg ( 316038 )

      I'm not sure how you didn't see this coming as someone with a macbook for 7 years you likely are a repeat victim - er customer.

      Apple is the closest modern embodiment of a Brave New World, "Just buy a new one" should be their motto.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
        Actually it is my first mac, and I've had laptops since passive LCD screens were a thing. Mostly at the high-end. Compaq, HP, Dell, Toshiba, IBM, Lenovo, Sony, etc

        The carbon fiber Vaio I had before it was delivered with Windows Vista and had a hardware switch to select between running the discreet or integrated GPU.Which I kind of liked. Being able to get some more time out of the battery when on the road.
        Windows 7 was released a few months after I purchased it, but Sony never bothered to create working d

      • "Just buy a new one" should be their motto.
        But fortunately it is not, and they care very good for old hardware.
        After all plenty of people keep their macs around for > 10 years.
        A friend of mine runs his old Titanium still, as jukebox.

    • I have an even newer iMac that had similar problems after OS upgrades. It's seriously become absolutely useless for most things. Open an application and go make a cup of coffee before you can use it again. It became so shitty I moved over to a similar aged Windows system for the things I can't get running under Linux yet. It's ridiculous.

      • I have an even newer iMac that had similar problems after OS upgrades. It's seriously become absolutely useless for most things. Open an application and go make a cup of coffee before you can use it again. It became so shitty I moved over to a similar aged Windows system for the things I can't get running under Linux yet. It's ridiculous.

        You do realize, of course, that if yours was not an extremely rare problem, that enough users would be affected that the problem would have been all over the Tech Press, Class Action Lawsuits and Congressional Inquiries would be launched.

        Think about it. Then try another install.

        BTW, are you trying to use APFS on a spinning-rust drive? Some say that is not the best idea, performance-wise; but I have no personal experience with that configuration.

        • Honestly, my Macs I never bother to think much about. If it works, it works. If it stops, I give up fast because I'm paying the damn things to freakin' work. This is by far the fastest any of my Macs have ever deteriorated, and since it happened at exactly the same time the phone and iPad slowdowns were happening, I just assumed it was meant to be that way. Besides, who in their right mind other than me keeps a mac running for more than two years before replacing it for the next shiny? Insanity!

          My previous

          • Honestly, my Macs I never bother to think much about. If it works, it works. If it stops, I give up fast because I'm paying the damn things to freakin' work. This is by far the fastest any of my Macs have ever deteriorated, and since it happened at exactly the same time the phone and iPad slowdowns were happening, I just assumed it was meant to be that way. Besides, who in their right mind other than me keeps a mac running for more than two years before replacing it for the next shiny? Insanity!

            My previous iMac ran fine for almost seven years before I handed it off to my brother-in-law as a web station. I needed more horsepower at that point for my music production. It'll be my last Mac.

            BTW, I did try a full reinstall on it twice. Can't get any of the known keyboard combinations to function at boot and finally gave up and shoved it aside. I don't have weeks of free-time to spend maintaining computers. That's my day job. At home, my systems better do what I want or they're gone.

            My daily driver is a mid-2012 Macbook Pro. It is fully supported through macOS Catalina; but frankly, I run High Sierra on it.

            Runs fine.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
          I have the same experience with my system. No spinning drives on the 2015 Macbook Pro. I don't have any numbers to argue against your "extremely rare" statement, but I suspect you don't have any data to support your statement either.

          I really don't know what is going on, but the effect of a clean install with Monterey on my system is ridiculous. I click on an application and it takes a long time to load. Reverting to Big Sur and it's no problems at all. Fluent animations are stuttering all over and the ent

          • I have the same experience with my system. No spinning drives on the 2015 Macbook Pro. I don't have any numbers to argue against your "extremely rare" statement, but I suspect you don't have any data to support your statement either.

            I really don't know what is going on, but the effect of a clean install with Monterey on my system is ridiculous. I click on an application and it takes a long time to load. Reverting to Big Sur and it's no problems at all. Fluent animations are stuttering all over and the entire system seems sluggish.

            Sorry about the Hard Drive red-herring. I wasn't paying close enough attention!

            Well, one thing I have read, is that many people have trouble with Monterey. Have you tried to find any correlation there?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
              I haven't really looked into it much. Sort of gave it up and settled on using Big Sierra until it is eol and then just move on. I'm kinda want to go back to linux on my laptop again. But maybe I'll try to reinstall with Monterey one more time and see if they have fixed the issue.

              • I haven't really looked into it much. Sort of gave it up and settled on using Big Sierra until it is eol and then just move on. I'm kinda want to go back to linux on my laptop again. But maybe I'll try to reinstall with Monterey one more time and see if they have fixed the issue.

                I just spoke with a friend last night that was having all sorts of issues with Monterey on his Intel Mac laptop. Did a clean reinstall, and a Migration Assistant "restore" from a Time Machine backup.

                It apparently fixed everything.

                I fully realize that anecdotes aren't data; but I offer it as the only assistance I can offer at this time.

    • You're probably right - but in fairness, you don't pay an annual subscription - and yes, apples are more expensive than lemons, so you're paying for it then, but supporting some 7+ year old hardware? They're a commercial entity, not someone doing it for the good of the people. By any stretch of asset depreciation, 5 years is about the longest you'd expect before writing off such an asset.

      You can't even get 3 decent years out of a Windows laptop. And as much as I like Linux, you don't get it there either. Ha

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
        It's true, but I don't think it's a good argument.
        Microsoft manages to support thousands of configurations with their OS. For Apple to support the handful of their own systems shouldn't be too hard, but I think this is more a question if they are actively sabotaging older systems. To force people to upgrade. That is a dick move, especially since they try to portray themselves as an environmentally friendly company.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cob666 ( 656740 )

          For Apple to support the handful of their own systems shouldn't be too hard, but I think this is more a question if they are actively sabotaging older systems. To force people to upgrade. That is a dick move, especially since they try to portray themselves as an environmentally friendly company.

          I think it's more likely that Apple isn't proactive about providing support for older systems. If software is optimized for the newest hardware configurations then there is probably going to be some kind of performance hit to older hardware. I'm not saying this is RIGHT, or even a good thing but from my experience this seems to be how they operate.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
            Yeah, might be. That or that they kinda let it slide on purpose.

          • If software is optimized for the newest hardware configurations then there is probably going to be some kind of performance hit to older hardware.
            Nope.
            a) new OSes on old hardware are usually faster than the original OS
            b) in general that is not how computers work - there is no reason some new code would run slower on an old machine. How would that work?

        • but I think this is more a question if they are actively sabotaging older systems.
          They aren't. Especially as it would be illegal.

          You simply have bad luck with your particular setup. Probably the problem is patched anyway, if it is worth your time install the newest version of that particular OS you wanted to have. E.g. on an external drive or USB Stick, to verify first if it works better now.

      • You can't even get 3 decent years out of a Windows laptop. And as much as I like Linux, you don't get it there either.

        You're talking out of your arse, mate.

        -- sent from my 11 year old Thinkpad W510 running Ubuntu, thankyouverymuch.

         

    • That's interesting because my midrange 2014 mini does very well on Monterey. I was expecting to have to reload Catalina, but decided to experiment, and Monterey is doing fine. I was surprised.

      The mini does have a fusion drive, so maybe the SSD helps? And I keep Safari closed unless I'm actually using it, and rarely more than three tabs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fuzzyf ( 1129635 )
        Macbook Pro have a really fast SSD (3-4 times SATA speed), so I don't hink that has anything to do with it.

    • I had a similar problem. After upgrading and updating and upgrading, my computer was so slow! I wiped it and installed fresh.. Didn't restore from Time Machine, but installed apps fresh. It was a HUGE pain, but now my machine is a fast as when it was new!

      Unlike Windows which is notorious for Winrot, Mac is much better, but still... after a ton of updating it over years...

    • Most likely an odd combination of problems.
      Newer OSes on older hardware are usually faster than the oder ones.
      My 2014 MacBook Air has no problems running pretty recent OSes (just don't know the OS name).

  • Most of this stuff I can already do if I'm logged into icloud -- the rest you use airdrop for (which works perfectly . . . n-1/n times . . . that 1 time it acts like Siri/Tim on the bridge). So they're going to merge it?

  • Um fellas, 12.3 deletes Python 2 without installing a replacement. Their only warning is to bother your developers.

    Iâ(TM)ve locked out all upgrades on my little toy Mini server until my most important application finds a fix.

    And yes, I know about Brew.

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