OS X

Everything you need to know about the location services built into your Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 23, 2019

Not long ago, we took you through an overview of the location services settings that come with your iOS device and told you all about how you can increase your privacy by configuring your location services wisely.

It's worth noting, however, that even your Mac uses your location for certain things; and with that in mind, you may want to look at your location services settings on your Mac to make sure you're limiting what you need to limit and are only allowing location services for the things you actually use.

In this walk-through, we'll explain the location services settings that come with macOS and tell you all about what might be using your location in the background.

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Why you should avoid free VPNs

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

VPNs are great tools for helping secure your internet access on an unsecured Wi-Fi network, such as those at McDonald's, but did you know that not all VPNs are created equally?

By using a free VPN that you haven't carefully read the terms and conditions of, you might be putting your privacy at more of a risk than it would have been just using the unsecured Wi-Fi network to browse the web in the first place.

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Public beta testers: iOS 9.3 beta 2 and OS X 10.11.4 now available

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 27, 2016

Two days after seeding OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan beta 2 and iOS 9.3 beta 2 to members of the Apple Developer Program, public beta testers who are signed on the Apple Beta Software Program can now freely deploy these new beta builds on their Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices.

iOS 9.3 beta 2 is available as an over-the-air update in Settings → General → Software Update on enrolled devices. OS X 10.11.4 beta 2 can be downloaded through the Mac App Store's Purchased tab for those who are enrolled in Apple's beta testing program.

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This prank webpage will crash your iPhone, iPad and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

Jokers on Twitter are tweeting out links to a new prank webpage that, when clicked, will crash your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac, or cause the device to become unresponsive.

As Gizmodo explains, the aptly named website CrashSafari.com uses just four lines of code to crash Safari for iOS and OS X by running a script which adds thousands of characters per second into the address bar, causing Safari to overload its memory.

In the case of the Mac, you'll see the beach ball spinning and your computer will become unresponsive. On the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, Safari will hang and start heating up your phone until it reboots itself.

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Safari for Mac not resolving Twitter’s shortened “t.co” links? Apple’s identified a fix.

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 23, 2016

If you prefer to browse your Twitter timeline in Safari for Mac, you must have noticed the irritating issue where the browser won't resolve shortened “t.co” links, resulting in an error message informing you that “Safari can't open the page because the server where this page is located is not responding”.

What's really surprising is that this persistent Safari bug, which basically renders most Twitter links unreadable, has been around since last November, as evidenced by the Apple Support Communities.

According to an Apple engineer, a fix has been identified but it's unclear when an OS X software update, or a Safari patch, that would squash the bug might be issued.

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Apple Watch screensavers for Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 19, 2019

The watch faces on the Apple Watch are somewhat of an art form in themselves; beautifully crafted watch faces were created in collaboration with some of the best time-keeping experts in the world.

But now, you can have those wonderful faces as a functional Apple Watch screen saver on your Mac too!

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Tip: send app crash reports to your Mac’s Notification Center

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 2, 2019

I don't know about you, but I'm annoyed every time an app crashes on my Mac and the macOS Crash Reporter interrupts my work with a pop up warning in the middle of the screen. Wouldn't it be great if those crash reports were displayed as banner notifications?

As explained by LifeHacker, a simple Terminal command will override the default system behavior and send those app crash reports straight to the macOS Notification Center, so they don't interrupt your workflow.

In this tutorial you will learn about a Terminal command which will route crash reports through your Mac's Notification Center rather than display them windowed in the middle of your screen.

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Tip: use half-star ratings in iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 12, 2017

If you like to rate songs on Apple Music, including those you have purchased on the iTunes Store, chances are you will at some point want to submit your star-based ratings. Now, iTunes for Mac and Windows PCs used to support half-star ratings out of the box, but recent updates have changed this behavior to using full stars only.

Fortunately, as noted by The Loop's Dave Mark, this can be quite easily reverted back to half-star ratings with a quick Terminal command.

In this post, you will learn how to enable half-star ratings in desktop iTunes and rate music more accurately than before.

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Apple releases OS X 10.11.3 El Capitan update

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 19, 2016

After spending more than a month in testing, Apple on Tuesday released the third major software update to OS X 10.11 El Capitan, its latest and greatest desktop operating system that was released for public consumption in October 2015.

Available through the Mac App Store's Updates tab, OS X 10.11.3 El Capitan update is now available for download on any Mac running a prior El Capitan version and is primarily a bug-fix release.

The new software is being deployed throughout Mac App Stores around the world so wait a little if you don't see it yet as these things take time to propagate.

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