Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Take Control Tackles Big Sur, iOS 14, and Zoom Adam Engst Our friends at Take Control have been hard at work exploring and documenting the betas for macOS 11 Big Sur, iOS 14, and iPadOS 14. While we don't expect Apple to ship the official versions of those operating systems until later this month or in October, you can prepare for them today with [1]Take Control of Big Sur and [2]Take Control of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. Meanwhile, our pal Glenn Fleishman has been keeping up with the non-stop changes in the Zoom videoconferencing software for an update to [3]Take Control of Zoom and a new, free book: [4]Take Control of Zoom Essentials. Take Control of Big Sur macOS 11 Big Sur brings the most radical change to the Mac's interface in many years, and it's also a significant change to Take Control's approach to covering a new version of macOS. Instead of separate titles for upgrading to and using the new operating system, Take Control publisher Joe Kissell has distilled both topics into his 140-page [5]Take Control of Big Sur, which you can buy for $14.99. In addition to ensuring that you're ready for the upgrade to Big Sur and walking you through the upgrade process, Joe shows you how to use Big Sur's new Control Center and overhauled Notification Center, how to take advantage of the new features in the redesigned Messages app, how to work with Look Around and other new features in Maps, and more. Take Control of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 Since his first swing at documenting iOS for Take Control in iOS 8: A Take Control Crash Course, TidBITS managing editor Josh Centers has been working from roughly the same manuscript, documenting everything new each year and providing detailed coverage of the fundamentals. For [6]Take Control of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, he started over from scratch, producing 101 pages of entirely fresh content focused on the new features of these operating systems. He shows you how to use the new App Library to organize your Home screen, beef up your Home screen with useful widgets, use new group discussion tools in Messages, find cycling routes in Maps, have conversations in another language with the new Translate app, protect your privacy with new features, and more. Those features are all common to iOS and iPadOS, but on the iPadOS 14-specific end, he shows you how to use the new Scribble feature to write text anywhere with your Apple Pencil and get more use out of your Apple Pencil in the Notes app. [7]Take Control of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 is available for $10.99, but if you purchase it with [8]Take Control of Big Sur, you can [9]get both for only $16.99. Take Control of Zoom Essentials and Take Control of Zoom With so many people stuck at home, working and attending school remotely, videoconferencing tools like Zoom are more important than ever. That's why Glenn Fleishman is giving away the 39-page [10]Take Control of Zoom Essentials, which focuses on getting you quickly started with Zoom, including how to set up your space, choosing equipment, and how to join meetings. It also provides advice on being an effective meeting participant, including details on how to share your screen. If you're tired of answering the same old questions, tell all your regular Zoom buddies to download a copy. If [11]Take Control of Zoom Essentials whets your appetite for more Zoom knowledge, you can also pick up Glenn's 196-page [12]Take Control of Zoom for $14.99. It provides comprehensive documentation of Zoom videoconferencing from start to finish, including essential information on how to host meetings. The new 1.1 version adds a chapter on giving Keynote and PowerPoint presentations via Zoom, additional coverage of alternatives to built-in webcams, and an appendix that explains virtual cameras. Other important updates reflect recent changes in the Zoom software, including an expanded explanation of the three types of meeting hosts (I didn't know there were three before this either). It's the busy season for Take Control, what with all the changes coming in Apple's new operating systems. Joe Kissell tells us that he hopes to release over two dozen new and updated titles in the next few months, including perennial favorites like Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac, Take Control of Apple Watch, Take Control of Shortcuts, and Take Control of Your Online Privacy. References Visible links 1. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/big-sur/?pt=TidBITS 2. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/ios-14-ipados-14/?pt=TidBITS 3. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/zoom/?pt=TidBITS 4. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/zoom-essentials/?pt=TidBITS 5. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/big-sur/?pt=TidBITS 6. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/ios-14-ipados-14/?pt=TidBITS 7. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/ios-14-ipados-14/?pt=TidBITS 8. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/big-sur/?pt=TidBITS 9. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/XAW2KHSV 10. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/zoom-essentials/?pt=TidBITS 11. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/zoom-essentials/?pt=TidBITS 12. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/zoom/?pt=TidBITS Hidden links: 13. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/big-sur/?pt=TidBITS 14. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/ios-14-ipados-14/?pt=TidBITS 15. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/zoom-essentials/?pt=TidBITS 16. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/zoom/?pt=TidBITS .