Apple has seeded the 4th developer preview of OS X Mavericks, and it's available for download right now. The download, which comes in at about 1.27GB for users of OS X Mavericks DP 3, can be found via the Mac App Store app. For those of you not yet running OS X Mavericks, the download would normally be available through the Mac Dev Center, but it's been down as a part of a well publicized security breach.
Safari has received a miniature overhaul in OS X Mavericks, and one of the most outstanding new features is Safari Shared Links. This is a features that takes links shared with from people you follow on Twitter or Linkedin, and makes them easily accessible directly within Safari for your consumption. In a world dominated by social networking, Safari Shared Links makes sense, and I find its implementation to be well done. Take a look inside as I guide you step by step through its usage on video...
Apple has released a new graphics update for OS X Mavericks. The update, which is aimed at users running OS X Developer Preview 3 is to resolve an issue where a Mac running OS X Mavericks Developer Preview 3 may reboot without warning. The graphics update, which is a 1.0 release, comes in at 4.9 megabytes and requires a restart after installation.
Have you ever opened a web page, and somewhere on the page a Flash video starts blasting sound? I'm sure almost everyone who's used a computer in the last few years has experienced that unfortunate occurrence. There are browser plugins and extensions to prevent such a thing, but Apple is now waging a direct assault on rogue plugins.
Safari Power Saver is a new feature exclusive to OS X Mavericks, and its job is to prevent plugins from auto starting while surfing the web. While that sounds good on paper, in practice this could potentially cause problems when you want to watch legit content that utilize certain plugins like Flash. The good news is that Safari Power Saver is smart enough to know which content is legit content that you want to use, and which content is stuff that you probably don't care to use.
I took a few minutes to put together a video demonstration of Safari Power Saver. Check inside for the full video walkthrough and detailed analysis.
Apple has released two new software updates for OS X Mavericks beta testers. Included is an update for AirPort Utility, bringing the release to 6.3.1, and a 1.0 update for the Mavericks Developer Preview Recovery Update. Both releases can be obtained by beta testers by opening the App Store app and clicking the Updates tab in the upper right-hand corner. Check inside for a few more details as to what the updates consist of.
To go along with Apple's release of iOS 7 beta 3 earlier today, Apple has also released the third developer preview of its desktop operating system, OS X Mavericks. The update, which comes in at just a hair over a gig, touches down two weeks after the second developer preview.
I've already installed DP3 on my test partition, and I haven't noticed any drastic changes thus far in my usage with it. Check out the release notes inside...
Among the headline new Mac features set to debut when OS X Mavericks gets released this Fall is a little but important enhancement to Dictation.
Hawk-eyed readers will recall that Dictation was brought to the Mac as part of OS X Mountain Lion last summer. Based on Siri's speech-to-text component, Dictation on the Mac requires a broadband Internet connection.
In Mavericks, Apple will let you optionally download a nearly 1GB package to power offline Dictation.
But Apple's engineers aren't stopping here and are reportedly privately testing offline Dictation for iOS 7. More details right after the break...
Apple with the iOS 5 release on September 19, 2012 brought in-app subscriptions to its mobile operating system. The feature was originally conceived to allow for the creation of subscription-based digital magazines and newspapers sold on the iOS Newsstand, along with enabling app-managed content offered on a subscription-basis. And now, subscriptions will be definitely coming to Mac apps carried on the Mac App Store when OS X Mavericks is released this Fall...
In a somewhat surprising move, Apple is allegedly asking select Cupertino locals for feedback on the interface changes in iOS 7. Specifically, the firm is thought to be holding campus sessions where they challenge cherry-picked Cupertino residents to weigh in on iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks.
Additionally, the company is said to be polling its retail store employees by seeding the initial preview of OS X Mavericks to Genius Bar and on-floor Apple Retail employees, the practice seemingly in line with Apple's previous major software updates...
As a huge TextExpander fan, and a person that relies on the app on a day to day basis, I freaked out a bit when I couldn't get TextExpander working on my MacBook. Yes, I'm one of the very foolish ones who decided to put a beta OS on their main work computer, but that's just how I roll.
At any rate, I needed to get this fixed ASAP, because it was hindering my ability to be productive. The problems stems from the fact that OSX 10.9 places the access to assistive devices option — an option absolutely necessary to run TextExpander — in a brand new location, under the guise of a new security setting.
So every time I received this error: "Please go to the “Universal Access” preference pane and enable access for assistive devices before using TextExpander!" TextExpander would point me to a section of the System Preferences that no longer exists.
How to fix? It's actually quite easy to do, follow me inside...
Apple has shared a bunch of software-focused updates during today's WWDC keynote, but only briefly touched on a few topics dear to my heart, due to time constraints. Among them: native LinkedIn sharing. As you know, OS X Mountain Lion already incorporates single sign-on for Facebook and Twitter. Truth be told, the company did make a passing mention of LinkedIn integration during the keynote's Safari segment and it would only seem natural that it will be bringing that capability to iOS 7 in the betas preceding a Fall release...
As we continue to sift through the mounds of new information Apple dropped on us today, one of the announcements that got lost in the shuffle is the new Calendar app in OS X Mavericks. The desktop OS didn't get quite the makeover that iOS did, but Calendar looks and acts completely different than its predecessor...