Mavericks
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'Mavericks' promises 1,000-player battle-royale mayhem
It's difficult to stand out in the battle-royale genre right now. Fortnite's bright and zany combat has attracted over 125 million players, while PUBG stands firm with its slower, military-inspired shooting. Blockbuster franchises such as Battlefield and Call of Duty are readying modes inspired by the pair's breakout success. If you're a newcomer like Automaton, a 40-person studio based in Cambridge, England, how do you differentiate and, more importantly, persuade people to switch from the competition? With larger maps and 1,000 player skirmishes, apparently.
Here's what our readers think of OS X Yosemite
The public beta of OS X El Capitan might be out now, but plenty of users will continue using OS X Yosemite through the fall and beyond. And at first glance that's just fine: In our own review we called Yosemite "a solid update for Mac users" that offered a "clean new design" and close integration with iOS devices. However, quite a few of our readers disagreed. Almost 30 of you chimed in on Yosemite's product database page to give this iteration of OS X a user score of 4.8 out of 10, possibly making it the most contentious product on our site. What is it about Yosemite that makes it more shaky than solid for many users?
Apple updates OS X to protect 'advanced UNIX users' from Shellshock
Although OS X is among the systems listed as vulnerable to the recently-uncovered Shellshock / Bash security flaw (still not sure what that is? Let us explain.), Apple has said it isn't a problem for most users. For those potentially vulnerable due to enabling certain UNIX services, 9to5Mac reveals the company has just pushed patches for the Mavericks, Lion and Mountain Lion versions of its desktop operating system. You can download the updates from Apple's website now, and it should be available via software update soon. [Image credit: Robert Graham, Twitter]
PSA: Do not upgrade to iCloud Drive during iOS 8 installation
Today is the day Apple is making iOS 8 available to the public. The latest version of iOS has several new features like widgets and third-party keyboards that make it a must-have upgrade for most iPhone owners. If you are upgrading to iOS 8, there is one "gotcha" during the upgrade process that you must avoid and that is iCloud Drive. We cannot stress enough how important this is -- if you make a mistake with this iCloud Drive option, you may lose the ability to sync all your files stored in iCloud with your Mac and iOS 7 devices. We are not the only ones warning you -- developers such as Realmac and Day One are issuing similar advisories. Background on iCloud Drive iCloud Drive is Apple's new and improved iCloud syncing and file storage feature that allows you to share documents between your iOS 8 devices and your Mac running OS X 10 Yosemite. When you upgrade to iOS 8 and enable iCloud Drive, your documents are migrated from Apple's older iCloud "Documents and Data" sync service to the company's new iCloud Drive service. iCloud Drive may be a wonderful addition to Apple's ecosystem, but it is NOT COMPATIBLE with older versions of iOS (iOS 7 or earlier) or older versions of OS X (OS X 10.9 Mavericks or earlier). This presents a major problem for iPhone owners with an older iOS device that can't run iOS 8 or those with a Mac as OS X Yosemite is not available publicly yet. This iCloud Drive option has the greatest potential to trip up Mac owners as many owners are still on OS X Mavericks as it is the most current public release. OS X Yosemite is available only to Mac developers and to users who are participating in Apple's Yosemite Beta program. What version of OS X am I running? If you are unsure which version of OS X you are using, then click on the icon in the upper left corner of your menu bar and select "About This Mac." A dialog box will appear that shows the basic details about your Mac, including the version of OS X that you are running. If you are running OS X Yosemite Beta, it will be stated clearly in the dialog box. If it does not say "OS X Yosemite Beta," then you are still running OS X Mavericks or earlier and should not upgrade to iCloud Drive in iOS 8. Do not upgrade to iCloud Drive If any of your devices are running iOS 7 or earlier or your Mac is on OS X 10.9 Mavericks or earlier, then do NOT UPGRADE to iCloud Drive as you will lose the ability to sync your documents that are currently installed in iCloud. If you are not sure, then play it safe by refusing the iCloud Drive upgrade. If you accidentally upgrade, there is no going back and you will not be able to sync your iCloud documents with your Mac until OS X Yosemite debuts later this fall. What to do during the iOS 8 upgrade During the upgrade process for iOS 8, you will see an option for iCloud Drive as shown below, please select "Not Now." Once you select, "Not Now" all your iCloud data will remain accessible and all your iCloud-enabled apps will continue to sync data between all your iOS and OS X machines. When OS X Yosemite is released later this fall, you then can safely start using iCloud Drive. Until then, avoid it like the plague. What to do if you accidentally upgrade to iCloud Drive If you accidentally upgrade to iCloud Drive, don't panic. You cannot go back to the older iCloud "Documents and Data" sync feature , but all is not lost. You have two options -- you can do without iCloud syncing, use your apps on one platform and wait until OS X Yosemite debuts. In this scenario, you could use the Clear task manager on your iPhone and not use the Mac version of the app until Yosemite is available publicly. Most people, though, can't do without iCloud syncing and need to restore the feature as soon as possible. These users should apply for Apple's OS X Yosemite Beta program and update their Mac to the beta version of OS X as soon as possible. They also should upgrade all their iOS devices to iOS 8 so they can sync data between their iPhones and iPads. Once all devices are running OS X Yosemite and iOS 8, then syncing across platforms should be back up and running.
Mailbox for Mac begins rolling out in beta to a handful of lucky testers
The transition from mobile to desktop seems like a natural evolution for Mailbox, which began as a clever time-saving email app for iOS. Four months ago, the Dropbox-owned venture excited fans by announcing that it would soon have an option on Mac as a limited beta. Today's the day: Mailbox is ready to roll out the app to the first batch of early adopters. The service will begin rolling out to those who've signed up for the beta online, as well as a handful of current Mailbox users. If you're not one of the lucky winners tomorrow, be patient -- the rollout will come in batches, and the company assures us that you'll still get your hands on it before the final version is ready. Each beta tester will be issued a betacoin (not to be confused with other forms of digital currency), and you'll even receive additional betacoins to share with friends as soon as you download the app.
Apple's changes to app signing could leave some apps blocked by Gatekeeper (Updated)
Heads up for developers: you'll want to take a close look at the changes that have been introduced in the latest Mavericks and Yosemite developers previews. According to prerelease notes for OS X 10.9.5 and Yosemite Developer Preview 5, changes are coming to signed apps. Some developers will have to re-sign their apps, and submit an update to the Mac App Store to keep from being tagged by Gatekeeper as having an invalid signature. Gatekeeper blocks apps with invalid signatures from running. Beginning with OS X version 10.9.5, there will be changes in how OS X recognizes signed apps. Version 1 signatures created with OS X versions prior to Mavericks will no longer be recognized by Gatekeeper and are considered obsolete. If your team is using an older version of OS X to build your code, re-sign your app using OS X version 10.9 or later using the codesign tool to create version 2 signatures. Apps signed with version 2 signatures will work on older versions of OS X. If your app is on the Mac App Store, submit your re-signed app as an update. This could cause issues for users as Mac apps they've come to rely on suddenly get flagged by Gatekeeper, though this will mostly affect third party apps downloaded from outside the Mac App Store. If you're a developer still working in OS X 10.8 or older, your apps will fail to launch in 10.9.5 or Yosemite until you update and re-sign the app. Otherwise, users will have to change their security settings or right click on your app and then select "Open" from the context menu to have your app work on their machine. The good news is that apps developed with Mavericks will still run on older versions of OS X. This change will only affect developers who are still working in older versions of OS X and their users who have updated. Update: 6:31PM ET Apple has sent the following message to developers explaining what they need to avoid being caught by the app signing changes. With the release of OS X Mavericks 10.9.5, the way that OS X recognizes signed apps will change. Signatures created with OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 or earlier (v1 signatures) will be obsoleted and Gatekeeper will no longer recognize them. Users may receive a Gatekeeper warning and will need to exempt your app to continue using it. To ensure your apps will run without warning on updated versions of OS X, they must be signed on OS X Mavericks 10.9 or later (v2 signatures). If you build code with an older version of OS X, use OS X Mavericks 10.9 or later to sign your app and create v2 signatures using the codesign tool. Structure your bundle according to the signature evaluation requirements for OS X Mavericks 10.9 or later. Considerations include: Signed code should only be placed in directories where the system expects to find signed code. Resources should not be located in directories where the system expects to find signed code. The --resource-rules flag and ResourceRules.plist are not supported. Make sure your current and upcoming releases work properly with Gatekeeper by testing on OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 and OS X Yosemite 10.10 Developer Preview 5 or later. Apps signed with v2 signatures will work on older versions of OS X.
Apple's WWDC 2014 in numbers: 40 million on Mavericks, 800 million iOS devices and billions of apps
Charts, graphs and stats: These are the things Apple keynotes are made of, and today's WWDC 2014 kickoff was no different. CEO Tim Cook took to the stage this morning at the Moscone Center in San Francisco armed with enough numerical ammunition to put your best boardroom PowerPoint Keynote to shame. Cook kicked things off boasting that over 40 million copies of OS X Mavericks have been installed and more than 50 percent of the install base is working on its latest OS. He went on to point out that while PC sales continued to slip (down 5 percent, according to Cook), Apple's computer sales are growing.
Mac 101: How to add images to an iMessage
Adding images to an iMessage on your iPhone is easy to do as there is a "camera" icon right next to the message composition field. On the Mac, though, this option is not readily apparent, leaving many desktop users scratching their head when they want to add a simple image to a message they are writing. Though it is not intuitive, Messages for Mac does allow you to attach on image to an outgoing message. There are two basic ways -- one uses the Finder, while the other uses the sharing feature that is available in most apps. Using the Finder If you haven't started writing a new message, you can select the image in Finder and right-click on it to bring up the contextual menu. Select "Share > Messages" from the contextual menu to create a new message. This opens a small dialog box directly over the Finder window that allows you to enter the recipient information and a text note before sending the image. If you already have a message in progress, then you will need to follow the steps below: Position the Finder window and the Messages window side-by-side on your screen. This makes it easy to drag the image from one window to another. Select an image file in the finder. (This also works in iPhoto if you have that app open) Drag the file to the text entry field in Messages. You will see a "+" icon as you add the image. You can add text directly after the image or use Option-Return to add some line returns between the image and your text. Using the "Share" feature in third-party apps Many OS X apps that work with images, such as Preview or Acorn, allow you to select an image and then choose the Share option either from the main menu bar or from the contextual menu. When you share an image from a third-party app, Messages launches a small dialog box where you can enter the recipient information as well as add some text before sending it along.
Apple pushes out 10.9.3 update to OS X Mavericks
Check the Mac App Store for a minor update to OS X which hit today. It's not a stellar update with tons of new features, but here's what Apple tells us: Improves 4K display support on Mac Pro (Late 2013) and MacBook Pro with 15-inch Retina Display (Late 2013) Adds the ability to sync contacts and calendars between a Mac and iOS device using a USB connection Improves the reliability of VPN connections using IPsec Resolves an issue that prevented Font Book from installing PostScript Type 1 fonts Improves reliability of copying, editing and inspecting permissions of files on an SMB file server Improves reliability of network home directories Improves stability when installing configuration profiles Improves login speed for users in Active Directory groups Includes Safari 7.0.3 As always, after downloading the 10.9.3 update your Mac will require a reboot to complete installation. The update went smoothly for me, and I'm not seeing reports of troublesome issues so far. Apple also did a minor update to iTunes today, which is also available from the Mac App Store.
Mac 101: How to change the email addresses for individual contacts in a group
Like most good contact managers, the OS X Contacts app allows you to create a contact group that you can use to send emails to several people at once. Contact groups are indispensable for users who communicate with a variety of different friends, associations, organizations and more. One question I often see about these contact groups is how can you select the correct email address for individual members when the address book entry lists two email address. For example, you want to add your co-worker to your business contact group, but you want to use his business email for the list and not his personal gmail address. Selecting the email address for individual contacts in your group is easy once you know where to look in the OS X Contacts app. To find this setting, just select "Edit" from the menu and then select "Edit Distribution List" near the bottom. This will allow you to select a group and then edit the individual members. If a contact has two email address, you can choose the default address you want to use. You can determine which email is the default one as it will be bolded.
Viva Mavericks: OS X Beta Seed program now open to all
Really, who among us hasn't wanted to run a presumptively unstable operating system? Until today, the delights of beta releases of OS X were reserved to those who signed up for Apple's developer program (and paid the $99 fee to enroll). That fun and frolic is now open to anyone 18 and over with an Apple ID, via the new OS X Beta Seed program. [As noted on Daring Fireball, before now the OS X Beta Seed program was invitation-only for non-developers. -Ed.] Simply sign in at Apple's beta site, agree to the terms and conditions (including a prohibition on sharing information about the beta versions), and activate the Mac you want to use with the provided Beta Access Utility. Once you're live, the beta builds of OS X will appear in the Mac App Store. It should go without saying that you need to back up thoroughly before updating to an unreleased Mavericks build; you also should not run beta software on any machine you need for production, time-critical or revenue-generating activities. If you can't live without your Mac, don't dance on the bleeding edge! [hat tip Engadget]
Apple's OS X beta testing is now open to the public
Apple has released public beta tests of individual Mac apps in recent years, but OS X itself has largely been off-limits unless you've registered as a developer. That changes now that Apple has launched the OS X Beta Seed Program. Starting with OS X 10.9.3, you can try pre-release operating system updates by signing in with a garden variety Apple ID; oddly enough, you still have to sign a developer-style agreement promising to keep some details a secret. We wouldn't sign up solely because of the upcoming Mavericks update, but the program represents an all-too-rare opportunity to both preview features and provide direct feedback as an everyday user. If you're willing to live with a few bugs, you can start with your first beta at the source link.
A rack mount for the Mac Pro and other news for March 27, 2014
It's been a rather quiet morning, but here are three stories we found for you. Sonnet Tech has announced a 4U rack mount for Apple's cylindrical Mac Pro. The so-called xMac Pro Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Enclosure rolls off the tongue and includes three PCIe single-width expansion slots; Thunderbolt 2 compatibility, as the name indicates; and hardware for mounting additional storage. The whole thing comes with a 300W power supply and a 75W PCIe power connector. BusyMac Software has announced new software BusyContacts. They call it a "complete replacement" for Apple's built-in Contacts app and its design resembles that of iTunes. BusyContacts offers sync support for iCloud, Google Contacts, Exchange, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A public beta is now open. Mavericks adoption is chugging along at a nice pace. The folks at Chitika note that Mavericks now generates nearly 40% of all North American OS X-based web traffic. They also note that Mountain Lion was at 26.8% after seven months. It's important to note here that Mavericks is free, of course.
How to identify battery-draining apps in OS X
Notice that your MacBook battery level is falling at an alarming rate? Want to find out which apps are causing the power to drain? There are two easy ways to identify apps that are consuming the battery in your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. First, you can select the battery icon in your OS X menu bar to get a peek at those apps that are using significant energy, as shown below. You can't close the offending apps from the menu bar, but you can select an app and view its details in the Activity Monitor app, where you can shut it down. The Activity Monitor app in OS X Mavericks lets you view important information about your Mac, including a list of apps that are draining valuable energy from your notebook's battery. You can open Activity Monitor from the Applications folder or the "Other" folder in Launchpad. Once Activity Monitor is opened, you can select the "Energy" tab to display the amount of energy that is being consumed by open apps and background processes. You then can sort this list by Energy Impact. The number in this column represents the energy that currently is being used by individual processes, with a higher number meaning more power is being consumed. You also can look at the Avg Energy Impact column, which shows the energy impact for each app over the past eight hours or since the Mac last started (whichever time is shorter). Processes with the highest average Energy Impact recently have consumed the most power. If a process is consuming too much energy, you can quit these processes by selecting them in Activity Monitor and then tapping the "x" button in the upper left corner. OS X will ask you if you want to quit this process, and you can choose to either "quit" to end the process or "force quit", if you think the process is locked up and may have difficulty closing.
OS X update closes networking security hole, brings more FaceTime features
Just days ago, Apple released an update for iOS that closed up a web networking security hole, and today Macs running OS X Mavericks have gotten similar treatment. The update to 10.9.2 doesn't explicitly list the SSL vulnerability patch among its updates in the download notification, but we've confirmed its presence with Apple. The update also brings along a slew of other security fixes as well. And, if you aren't running Mavericks just yet, Apple tells us not to fret, for separate security updates tailored to other affected versions of OS X will be coming along shortly. Along with the peace of mind knowing your laptop is more secure than it was yesterday, the update also delivers FaceTime audio calling and call waiting to desktop voice chats, plus iMessage is getting the power to block folks from sending you messages. Naturally, 10.9.2 also brings various audio, Safari and email bug fixes, too. The update's available now, so don't let us keep you from it. Stay safe, folks.
Here's a quick way to send a file to a screen-shared desktop
I've been doing a lot of Mac development recently. This means I often need to screen share to my headless OS X Mountain Lion system for testing. This morning, I was updating my folderol app to add features for folder tagging. I had to make sure that those Mavericks-only features wouldn't show up when the app was run on 10.8. Normally, I mount the headless system as a foreign disk drive and then copy/drag to the drive using finder. But for whatever reason today, I thoughtlessly dragged the app directly to the shared desktop. And I'll be gobsmacked, but it worked. The file just transferred, and a new File Transfer window opened to show me that the process was successful: I honestly have no idea how long this feature has been around. For all I know it goes back to the OS X stone ages. [It does go back quite a ways... drag and drop file transfers using Apple Remote Desktop were introduced in v3 back in late 2006. –Ed.] But I also know that if it was a pleasant surprise to me, some of you out there will appreciate knowing about it too.
Report Card: Grading Apple in 2013
2013 was a huge year for Apple, both in terms of hardware and software. iOS got a massive facelift and OS X broke free of the cats for the first time ever, while the Mac Pro got new life and the iPads continued their commanding lead in the consumer tablet space. But not all of Apple's product lines were so lucky, so let's take a look at how each of Apple's offerings fared over the past year. Mac It was a big year for the biggest Mac, with the new Pro being shown for the first time and eventually going up for sale just a few days ago. The Pro is a beast of a machine with a ridiculously compact design that surprised just about everyone. That power comes with an enormous price tag, but we kind of expected that, didn't we? The iMac and Mac mini didn't get quite the same attention, with the iMac receiving a timely processor upgrade in the fall, and the mini getting absolutely zero attention whatsoever. It would have been nice to see the tiniest Mac brother get a little bit of love at some point in the last 12 months, but everyone is so busy gawking at the Mac Pro that they barely noticed anyway. Grade: B+ MacBook With the introduction of the 13-inch MacBook Pro w/ Retina coming in late 2012, Apple spent 2013 upgrading the processors of both the Pro and the Air lines. Some pundits seemed sure we'd see a Retina-equipped Air at some point this year -- and boy would that have been great -- but it was not to be. However, the jump to Haswell chips for both the Air and Pro was welcomed with open arms. Overall, Apple's notebooks kept pace with the refresh cycle (and maybe even jumped a bit ahead), but did little else. Grade: B iPad The iPad got arguably the most attention out of any Apple product in 2013, with the company introducing us to both the all-new iPad Air as well as the iPad mini w/ Retina. Then, while we were all still digesting the fact that the two iPad minis would exist side-by-side, Apple dropped the bomb and brought the Retina mini into processor parity with the iPad Air, making it a ridiculously capable little slate. The Air is really what made the year for the iPad, and the fact that Apple was able to shave even more weight off of what was already a pretty light device is really a testament to their engineering wit -- or perhaps proof that they are indeed dabbling in black magic. When the year began, Apple had three distinct iPads on offer, and that seemed to be more than enough. As we enter 2014, there are four. Grade: A+ iPhone Oh, the iPhone. When the year began the blogosphere was filled with theories that a bargain-basement iPhone was inevitable and nobody knew what Apple truly had up its sleeve when it came to its top-of-the-line offering. TouchID, the A7 processor, and slow-mo video made the iPhone 5s a huge hit, and the not-so-cheap iPhone 5c seems to be carving its own niche while proving that Apple isn't in the business of making "bargain" products. It was a good year for the iPhone. Not the best it's ever had, but certainly one of the better off-years the Apple smartphone has seen. Grade: B iPod I'm not convinced Apple even remembers that they still sell the iPod. Ok, that's not true, but without a single significant upgrade in 2013, the iPod line is definitely looking a bit long in the tooth. In the past 36 months, Apple has introduced two new iPods in total (7G Nano and 5G Touch), with the Shuffle and Classic continuing their stagnation. Apple still leads the pack when it comes to the shrinking media player market, and opinions seem to range from "they shouldn't do anything" to "they should just stop selling the iPod." The latter simply isn't going to happen, and the former isn't exactly Apple's style, or at least it hasn't been until lately. Is there still innovation to be mined in the media player space? If we don't see Apple prove it in 2014, maybe there isn't. Grade: D- Apple TV It was a relatively slow year for the Apple TV despite the new model launching in January. As the months rolled on the box got access to WatchESPN, HBO Go, Crackle, ABC, and a few others, but nothing that suddenly made it significantly more desirable than it was a year prior. Grade: C+ Software iOS 7 was obviously the biggest change this year when it comes to Apple software. The new face of mobile did away with almost all of the skeumorphic design elements that originally helped make iOS so appealing, and added a whole bunch of eye candy on top. There was a vocal minority that absolutely despised the changes -- and a vocal majority who noticed significant battery life decline -- but in the end the change was for the better. OS X no longer has its feline flair but Mavericks added a good deal of usability improvements that breathed a bit of new life into the aging platform. New notifications, Maps, and Tags are just a few of the things that gave Mac users incentive to upgrade. Oh, and Apple decided to make Mavericks free, so that probably helped as well. iWork and iLife got a facelift as well, but some of the tweaks made to bring in new users left veterans feeling a bit miffed. Apple has begun bringing back some of the functionality that was originally removed, but the company said it would take a full six months to finish adding everything it plans to. iTunes Radio is the biggest news in the music section, giving (almost) all iTunes users on iOS, Mac, and Apple TV access to free streaming radio with customized radio stations based on their interests. This is great for iPhone and 4G iPad owners, but since streaming requires an internet connection (obviously), it's not of much use on Apple's dedicated music players unless you're in WiFi range. Overall, the positive changes strongly outweigh the negatives, but some of the transitions could have been a wee bit smoother. Grade: B+ Giving the entire company a grade for its efforts in 2013 is significantly more difficult than grading any of its various products -- and likely involves even more opinionated stances -- so we'll leave that to you. Let us know what you loved and loathed from Apple over the past year and feel free assign some grades of your own.
FaceTime Audio included in OS X 10.9.2 beta release
Just a few days after releasing OS X 10.9.1, 9to5Mac relays that Apple yesterday seeded OS X 10.9.2 to developers. One of the more welcome additions to the impending update is the inclusion of FaceTime Audio functionality. Apple first introduced FaceTime Audio with the release of iOS 7, and now it appears that it's just a matter of time before Mac users will be able to get in on the fun and make high-quality VoIP calls to other Mac and iOS users. As it stands now, Mac users interested in making high-quality audio calls via an internet connection have to rely on third-party applications like Skype.
Apple releases OS X 10.9.1 with Mail fixes, more
Apple has released OS X 10.9.1. The update is the first major update for OS X 10.9 Mavericks since it shipped in October. It includes a number of fixes for mail issues in Mavericks, including improved support for Gmail in OS X's Mail app, Smart Mailbox improvements and improvements to group contacts in Mail. OS X 10.9.1 also resolves a VoiceOver issue with spoken sentences containing emoji and now updates shared links periodically when open in Safari's sidebar. You can grab the OS X 10.9.1 update by running Software Update on your Mac.
Poll: What's been the best OS X in recent years?
OS X Mavericks has gotten off to a good start for Apple, with generally positive reviews and a high adoption rate. Part of this is no doubt due to the fact that it's free. But that doesn't lessen the operating system's great features, like tabbed Finder windows, iBooks and Maps. This got many of us talking about which version of OS X has been the best in recent years. While Mavericks is on the list for many, some still say OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was the best. For me, I'd have to choose Snow Leopard over Mavericks for the simple fact that Snow Leopard was the last OS X to support the "Save as" function. But what do you think is the best OS X of the last several years? Vote in the poll below and then sound off in the comments. %Poll-85830%
