Despite lack of official support, you can use Blu-ray on the Mac. It just takes a few more steps than on a Windows machine, and only comes with a lot of help from third-party software. But it can be done. Here’s how. Read more »
The Mac App Store officially launched today as promised, at around 5:30 a.m. PST. Users can gain access to the new OS X software distribution platform by downloading and installing the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update, available either through Software Update or direct from Apple’s website. Read more »
Apple today announced that the Mac App Store will officially launch on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. The Mac App Store, like its iOS equivalent, will be used to sell and distribute applications, only for Mac OS X instead of for Apple’s portables. Read more »
Parental Controls in Snow Leopard are an absolute hit with parents. But the usefulness of those tools don’t just stop at the kids. From blocking websites to tracking time, they can also be used to increase your own personal productivity. Here’s how. Read more »
Apple and Oracle have partnered to bring the OpenJDK project to Mac OS X. The news comes on the heels of a revelation last month that it will no longer be providing its own line of custom Java packages through Software Update. Read more »
It’s time to fire up Software Update! The latest version of OS X, version 10.6.5, has just landed. Aside from the standard “general operating system fixes,” there’s also a slew of specific ones addressing some common bugs, and improved Microsoft Exchange server reliability. Read more »
As Liam argued yesterday, Apple is aiming for the consumer market these days, which is why it should come as no surprise that it would discontinue its Xserve enterprise server. The rack-mountable Xserve will no longer be available as of Jan. 31. Read more »
According to the October report from Net Applications, the Mac remains mainly an American platform. Mac market share in the U.S. has been steadily climbing, rising in recent months from 11.2 percent in August to 11.4 percent in October. Globally, though, there’s a different story. Read more »
Moving from Windows to Mac is a big change, and can be a little disconcerting at first. A friend of mine described the feeling akin to being “underwater.” One of the biggest differences between the platforms is in how windows are managed. Read more »
iLife ’11 brings no update for iWeb. Users should rightly wonder what the fate of the app will be. It’s a shame that iWeb is being ignored, because it made web design accessible to all Mac users. But maybe it’s just time for a new model. Read more »
In my coverage of OS X Lion, I wondered how the app resume feature would work. I noticed that in the preview, the activity indicators in the Dock (those white dots) were all gone. Then I realized: There are no activity indicators in iOS. Read more »
Much as I like Mac OS X, I’ve never been happy with the native Finder, and for some reason, I’ve never liked the best-known Finder replacement, Path Finder. So I was interested to see that there’s now another replacement for Finder, called TotalFinder. Read more »
The invite from Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event clearly shows an image of a lion, which strongly suggests that the next iteration of OS X is going to be announced. But what new features will “Lion” bring? Here’s a list of interesting possibilities. Read more »
Apple will hold a press event Oct. 20 unveiling Mac updates. The event is called “Back to the Mac,” which is an acknowledgement that Apple’s focus has seemed to be elsewhere of late. But the teaser image reveals we could see more than just new hardware. Read more »
New data from web metrics firm Net Applications reinforces the notion that iOS is the future for Apple, and OS X the past. During the past year, OS X went from 5.33 to 5.03 percent of OS market share. iOS went from 0.35 to 1.18 percent. Read more »
What was once Quicksilver would provide the basis for Google Quick Search Box. With both a community-supported version of Quicksilver that runs smoothly on OS X 10.6, as well as the Google-backed Quick Search Box, which is the better choice for daily use? Read more »
I’ve used Safari as my default browser since 2008, but lately I’ve decided to give Google Chrome a shot at becoming my new standby. I made the switch owing to Chrome’s reported performance advantages. Would they prove convincing enough to make the change permanent? Read more »
Apple is celebrating a big milestone today, as its Mac OS X operating system turns 10. We probably won’t see a major update to the OS Macs are running before next year, but when it does come it probably won’t look much like it does today. Read more »
One annoyance that I’ve found in dealing with multiple windows in OS X is how each application seems to view the green plus button a little differently. Divvy is an app that provides a user-defined solution to that oversight, and does it in style. Read more »
With Apple’s release of operating systems slowing down considerably, some are left to wonder if OS X has any life left to it. Snow Leopard was considered a release aimed at polishing the experience with significant under the hood changes, but what could be next? Read more »
If you want to eject a disc from your Mac, there are currently two ways of doing this in OS X that most users know of, but there’s actually a hidden app that you may not know about that resides in the menu bar. Read more »
A prediction has been going around the blogosphere for a few months saying that Apple will eventually replace OS X with iOS, and a lot of people seem to agree. I don’t. That prediction has never sounded to me like something Apple would do. Read more »
Notify is a neat little email notifying app for OS X; it’s particularly useful for people who primarily rely on webmail services. It sits in your menubar, displaying the number of unread messages you have and playing a sound when you receive new email. Read more »
Adding a printer in OS X is typically a simple task, but we’ll show you some extras you might not know about. We’ll also walk you through creating printer setting presets so you don’t have to go recreate all your settings each time you print. Read more »
It won’t be possible for me to disconnect entirely; I’ll need to be on call, and to have access to my work. But I want to carry as little as possible, and make the transition from the office to the train as painless as I can. Read more »
Looks like Mac Developers will be in the running for an ADA after all…ADA as in “Ars Design Award,” that is. Ars Technica is stepping up to fill the empty space left by Apple this year by hosting their own ADAs. Read more »
Taking screen captures in OS X is pretty simple and powerful. Today I’ll explain how to use the built-in screen capture functionality, the included application Grab, and a couple of third-party options that offer extra functionality. Read more »
Sometimes, for whatever reason, you need to quit all your open applications. But going through each application and quitting them is a pain. Good thing Apple included a nifty little scripting language in OS X called AppleScript that will allow us to quit applications in one fell swoop. Read more »
As predicted, an update to Apple’s Snow Leopard and Leopard operating systems, which fixes a record number of vulnerabilities, is now available. The sizable patch, which weighs in at over 700MB, tends to a number of known security problems within the latest client and server versions of OS X, and is the largest update Apple has ever put out. Read more »
Over on TheAppleBlog, Chris has posted a useful video showing how to set up printer sharing on Mac OS X. The video walks through setting up printer sharing, printing to a shared printer, and adding new printers via System Preferences: Read more »
So here we are, just past the six month mark since Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard was sprung last August 28, and I’m still using OS 10.5 Leopard. I have lots of company. The NetApplications HitsLink Market Share data for February 2010 shows that Leopard is […] Read more »
A few months ago, I looked at email client Postbox. I found it an interesting enough app then, but a new release for the Mac brings even more feature additions. If you passed on Postbox earlier, now’s the time to give it a second look. Read more »
The last stop in our series of better file management through ideas based on smart folders brings us to iTunes, iPhoto and Aperture. All of these apps provide support for organizing your files similar to Address Book and Mail. The beauty of “smart” file management, of […] Read more »
If you are already struggling with the decision of whether or not to go ahead and buy a first generation iPad model, then a new rumor that has sprung up regarding the device might help you make up your mind. The rumor has me leaning strongly […] Read more »
Looking at data from web metrics firm Net Applications, the first month of the new year was not big news for Apple. Both Mac OS X and Safari reached something of a plateau in market share, and the growth rate of iPhone OS slowed. OS X […] Read more »
Have you ever noticed that little dark circle that appears within the close button of a document window in OS X when you have unsaved changes? Yeah, me neither. After years of diligent Mac use, this subtle little element somehow escaped me until now. I guess […] Read more »
Apple’s original implementation of “smart” file management isn’t just limited to the Finder, and in fact, you’ve probably seen it more often in other applications like Address Book and Mail. Here are some ideas of how you can harness the power of these two applications using […] Read more »
The last report for 2009 from web metrics firm Net Applications ends another solid year of growth for the iPhone OS. In contrast, Mac OS X appears to be flattening out at around five percent, while Chrome has officially passed Safari to become the third most […] Read more »
The very capable, and conversion-headache-preventing (HUH?), open-source VLC player is one of the very first things I install on any new Mac, after Firefox. If you’re playing anything that isn’t a straightforward .AVI file, and especially if you want to play the notoriously tricky .MKV format, […] Read more »
In an unexpected twist in the drawn-out battle between Psystar and Apple, the two companies agreed Monday to a partial settlement that could end the case after 17 months of back-and-forth between them, Computerworld is reporting. Details on the settlement are sparse, but what is known […] Read more »
