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macOS 12.2.1 Monterey is rolling out with Bluetooth, battery drain fixes and new security patch

iOS 15.3.1 patches critical vulnerabilities

The official news today begin some updates, the company just released iOS 15.3.1 and macOS 12.2.1 which bring some important changes. Starting with the Monterey update, this one fixes a Bluetooth issue, where your peripherals or any other devices connected to Bluetooth would drain an excessive amount of battery from your computer while on sleep mode or standby. The issue appeared on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs and would only stop happening if Bluetooth was turned off. This update also fixes a WebKit bug that allows hackers to execute and run malicious software on devices. Moving on to iOS 15., this one also patches that same WebKit issue but on mobile devices. And it also serves pretty much of the groundwork for the iOS 15.4 update that's supposed to bring big changes like Face ID finally working with your mask. Seriously, that can't come soon enough.

Foxconn says shortages are now easing

Let's shift gears on to the chip shortage that I'm sure your as tired of hearing about as much as I hate pronouncing chip shortage correctly, cause I always mix the c with the s. We have a new report from Bloomberg where Foxconn, Apple's largest manufacture, is reporting "major improvements" in the first quarter of this year when it comes to part shortages. Claiming that the "overall supply constraints" are expected to ease further down the line throughout the rest of the year. With a Foxconn spokesperson even saying that the shortage will ease down in the second half of the year. That sounds amazing but, on the other hand you got the other companies and even the Department of Commerce reporting that chip shortages won't end anytime soon. As a matter of fact, TSMC is currently warning that their chip supplies will affect their business to the point where they might not be able to serve all of their typical customers. And then you also got Qualcomm pushing them for production of the plus variant for the 8 Gen 1 with urgency but, we're not sure if they're going to be able to deliver.

Apple details new AirTag changes that will reduce unwanted tracking

Moving on, let's switch the spotlight back on to Apple and AirTags. Yes, I know we haven't really talked about them since they were released but they just got an important update. This update now gives you privacy warnings when you set up the AirTag where it specifies that these devices are to track your own belongings and not for stalking, and that they have a unique ID associated with your Apple ID, which law enforcement can use to track you down. Pretty much addressing the silent AirTag controversy that was going on a few days ago. There's also a new Precision Finding feature for iPhones with the UWB chip which would allow you to get a more accurate location of where your Tag is. They're also addressing the AirPods issues, where the Find My App would only state that there was an Unknown Accessory Detected, now the alerts will tell you that there's a pair of AirPods Pro Detected moving with you. Finally, when an unknown AirTag is around you, it will not only make a sound but display an alert on your phone as well. This will then let you use Precision Finding to locate it and it'll also adjust the tone sequence to make unknown AirTags easily findable. So yeah, over all positive and much needed changes for AirTags and the Find My App. I just wonder how it'll be when you go out to dinner with a friend who has an AirTag with them for their use. Like.. Is it gonna alert you that someone is trying to track you, cause that'll be kinda weird. Also, I just hope it stops telling me I left my AirPods behind when I'm clearly wearing them.

Android 13 Developer Preview is out, here’s what’s new

And Finally, for the hottest news today, let's keep talking updates but talk about Android for a change. Google just released the first developer preview build of Android 13, which of course comes with a new codename and new features. Going a little into a few of them, there's some new theming options that'll add to what we already get with Material You, which I hope make it as Material You as the name implies. The new engine would pick colors from the wallpaper and not only apply it to the widgets and the system, it's even coming to app icons and other things we didn't get with Android 12.. But which you've been able to do with pretty much every theming engine for years. Great timing Google. All developers have to do is give a monochromatic app icon for this to work. We're also getting new privacy features like a new Photo Picker API that allows users to share photos and videos without giving full access to all your photo library to the app you're using. Think of it as an extension of the Document Picker that has the same function, or pretty much the way iOS does it. Mountain View says that this feature will come to all devices rocking Android 11 and above. If there's any developers in the comments, you guys are also getting some love. Android 13 will come with a per-app language, letting you change the language for a specific app if you wish. You can now add a prompt to apps to ask users to add the app's quick settings toggle to the quick settings drawer and much more. Finally, Google also shared their roll out plans, with the first Beta coming out mid-March and the final release coming in July or August.