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TUAW's Daily Mac App: Onyx
Cleaning up a Mac is something many users never do, but if you want to squeeze all the performance and disk space you can out of your Mac, you need a tool like Onyx. A free multi-purpose utility, Onyx lets you run a myriad of system tasks such as disk maintenance, cache clean-up and index rebuilding. You can use Onyx to clear away the cobwebs that collect in things like the browser cache, font caches, boot, kernel and extension caches, as well as logs from crash reporters, system diagnostics and Software Update. If that wasn't enough, you can also get Onyx to delete previous iTunes libraries, the QuickTime Content Guide, recent items lists and even Mail downloads. OK, you can do most of these things yourself manually, but Onyx makes it fast and easy to do it all from one place. Cleaning isn't the only talent Onyx has -- it's able to do quite a few maintenance and repair tasks such as verifying your startup disk, which it will do on it's first run automatically. By rebuilding the Spotlight Index or LaunchServices, you can often cure small corruption issues with your Mac. You can check the S.M.A.R.T. status of your internal disks, verify file structure and fix disk permissions without having to open Disk Utility. Onyx will also let you change some hidden preferences in Finder and other Apple programs such as iTunes and Mail, allowing you to tweak a few things here and there. Onyx is a great free system utility that we've covered many times in the past and which allows you to perform a load of different tasks all from one application. If you're interested in cleaning out OS X, download Onyx today. By the way, Onyx also works well with OS X Lion.
Sprint updates Samsung Galaxy Tab to Gingerbread, gets over post-holiday blues
Samsung Galaxy Tab owners in the US have been anxiously waiting for their prized possession to get an update to Honeycomb and its tablet-optimized wonders, only to be warmly greeted by crickets for months. Fortunately, as we reported last week, Sprint's taken the first step in the right direction by bumping its Tab up to Gingerbread and throwing in a few standard maintenance fixes at the same time. The new build, also known as "GINGERBREAD.EF17," will be sent out OTA in stages; the deed should be done for every Tab on the Now Network over the next four days. To see if your tablet is ready to get its refresh on, go into settings, choose "About My Galaxy Tab," and select "system updates." Be sure to set aside five minutes for Gingerbread to download and install on your device, and you'll be good to go. It's no Android 3.1, of course, but at least Sprint's one step ahead of the pack.
Tuesday Morning Post: The week after
It's been exactly one week since the launch of patch 4.2. As we've all come to expect from the high-end raiding community, raiders have already ground Ragnaros into the dust time and time again on normal mode. As of today, we'll start to see legitimate hard mode kills, and it should be interesting to see which guild comes out on top this time around. Most of us are content with much more humble progression, though. My guild finished the week at 3/7, having taken our usual Monday evening raid night off to celebrate some wacky thing called "the 4th of July." I think it's a holiday commemorating Gilneas' shrugging off the hegemony of the Alliance of Lordaeron and striking out on their own? I'm not really sure, honestly. Today's maintenance will be ongoing for a few hours more as of this posting, so if you're feeling particularly bored, don't worry! WoW Insider had some great content this past week that you can catch up on today.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me tune my Mac
Dear Aunt TUAW, Think you should discuss how to speed up a mac that is bogging down with long beach ball spins, etc. I have been having this problem with a 3 year old iMac, and I know others are too.... What can I do to get it back to the way it should run? Your loving nephew, Austin Dear Austin, Auntie's answer is...it depends. Your problems are most likely due to software issues, but they can be caused by hardware ones as well. The standard answers may include reinstalling the OS to remove some of the cruft, fixing permissions, remove fonts, etc. Google around for any number of lists on these. Another thing you might try is rebooting into safe mode, which performs some basic maintenance as a side effect. Just hold down shift after you hear the chime until the Apple logo appears. After entering safe mode, reboot and see if your computer begins acting better. Sometimes the issues aren't just software. Long beach ball spins and a slowed down system may be due to a failing hard drive. Many Apple systems ship with SMART drives, which can self-monitor and report reliability issues. Volitans Software makes a GUI utility that can analyze your disk and let you know if you're approaching disk failure; it has a short trial period before you buy. The same underlying software can be downloaded and compiled for the command line as well -- albeit without the friendly interface. When Auntie faced a recent system slow-down, it turned out that her 3 year old Mini was experiencing drive failure. Yikes. Fortunately, Josh Carr of the Denver-based MacWorks was able to update her mini with a brand new SSD. SSDs are a bit pricey, so if you go that route, be prepared to work out some strategies for moving data off your main drive onto secondary units. Auntie used application prefs to place her Safari download folder onto a USB data drive, along with her iTunes library, and all her e-mail. Auntie ensured that these items are still all backed up using Time Machine even though they don't live on the primary drive any more. MacPaw's Clean My Mac offers a tour-de-force of OS X tuning tools that allow you to streamline your system by removing extraneous cache files, logs, unused languages, and so forth. It can greatly decrease the space the OS occupies, so you can use more of that SSD for personal files and less, for example, for French, German, and Japanese translations. Clean My Mac also slims down universal binaries (which won't ever be needed on Lion, now that Auntie thinks of it), scrubs iPhoto's separate built-in trash folder, and more. On Josh's advice, Auntie enabled 10.6.8 TRIM support for her new SSD. TRIM allows SSD drives to proactively scrub deleted files to enhance performance over time. So how is Auntie's mini? It reboots like a dream, even though the somewhat limited drive size does make her a bit nervous. Even with a new drive and tuning tools to keep things running smoothly, Lion lurks on the horizon. Auntie is unsure how performance tuning will work under 10.6 although she suspects a lot of the approaches will remain the same: safe mode, cleaning up extraneous files, checking for hardware failures. Got any suggestions for how to keep your Mac running fast and smooth under Lion? Let Auntie know in the comments. Love, Auntie T.
Tuesday Morning Post: By patch day be purged edition
Last week, Ahune busted our instance servers. This week, Ragnaros gets the chance to do the same as we fully expect patch 4.2 to go live as of this writing. Now mind you, I'm not saying servers will crash, but hey -- might as well be prepared, right? Yes, I know that's the wrong raid boss's catch phrase, but I used my only "by fire be purged" joke for the title. As you might expect, downtime is currently scheduled for 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time, so even if everything goes smoothly, you'll still have plenty of time to read up on patch 4.2 before the servers come up. I recommend starting with Mat's excellent patch 4.2 roundup. Then you can check after the break for a quick roundup of all the other good stuff from the past seven days. Don't stop once that's done with, though; we'll have plenty more piping hot patch 4.2 news and info for you in the coming days and weeks.
Tuesday Morning Post: One week more
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It seems like we're all just waiting for patch 4.2 now. Everything's in place. We've been given an explanation of all the class changes. We even have a patch trailer. But as much as we were hoping it would drop this week, we have to wait one more week for them to work out the final kinks. Luckily, there's plenty of other news to keep you busy and keep the buzz going while you wait, such as that whole authenticator change. In addition, the Midsummer Fire Festival begins today, and we have an achievement guide for you. For these and more stories, check out our usual roundup behind the break. We only have to deal with rolling restarts this morning, but you can take those few minutes of downtime to read up, right?
Tuesday Morning Post: Ready! Aim! Firelands!
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. With PvP Season 9 slated to end as early as June 21, and a new patch 4.2 update on the PTR that's marked for release, it's probably safe to say that we'll see the new patch before July comes. This week, we're just seeing some quick rolling restarts, though, starting at 5 a.m. PDT. While you wait for those to pass, why not catch up on the latest news? We have updates on the last few changes to go up on the patch 4.2 PTR, as well a look at what the developers are saying over on the official forums. Read on for all this and more.
Tuesday Morning Post: Mass glee edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone, and welcome to the day after Mass Effect Monday. I have just one word for you: OMNI-BLADE. Okay, now that I have that out of my system, it's back to the WoW stuff. Don't get me wrong -- there's some pretty exciting stuff going on here, too. We have plenty of patch 4.2 news, as well as all the usual class, dungeon, profession, and PVP guides and discussions, waiting for you after the break. Scheduled maintenance this morning is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have plenty of time to read it all.
Tuesday Morning Post: Lazy Monday edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. As I write this, it is the end of a lazy Monday, where much of the USA is just finishing up some awesome barbeque and maybe a beer or two and generally having a grand old time. As you read this, the same Americans are dragging themselves back to work, grumbling all the way. Cheer up, everyone! Look at this way: Most of you probably only have a four-day work week now, which is actually pretty sweet. The big news this week was, of course, the news that tier 11 normal modes will be nerfed come patch 4.2, to allow more people to run the old content. If that bothers you, don't worry, you can run tier 11 heroics in their original unnerfed glory. If that still bothers you, Ol' Grumpy would like a word with you. Oh, and I guess there was that other story about gold farming prisoners. If you're not concerned about any of that old stuff, don't worry, there's plenty more to read and discuss from the past few days. Blizzard's apparently taking it easy this morning too, as we have nothing more than rolling restarts for downtime this morning. So before you ease back into your work week, why not read on?
PSA: PSN maintenance today, no Store update
The PlayStation Network will undergo maintenance today, according to an announcement on PlayStation Blog. The downtime is scheduled to begin at 11AM ET (in 10 minutes!) and conclude eight hours later, at 7PM. That might sound like perfect timing for the return of the North American PlayStation Store's weekly update, but ... it's not happening. "For those asking about the PlayStation Store, we're still targeting restoration of all services by the end of this month," adds Jeff Rubenstein, the Blog's manager. "Contrary to reports, the Store will not be publishing today." Rubenstein notes that some users may have trouble signing into PSN during the maintenance, but assures that "the majority of consumers will be able to play online as well as sign in to external sites that require PSN authentication" -- only account registration and management (including password resetting) will be inaccessible. On the European PlayStation Blog, manager James Gallagher suggests you sign into PSN and remain online before maintenance begins -- so, like, ASAP! -- to ensure connectivity throughout the day.
Tuesday Morning Post: Gnome more edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. I'm going to be honest here. Downtime this week doesn't bother me. Do you know why? I'll tell you why. It's because I am just going to be mesmerized by gnomes. The gnomes have me in their grip, and they will not let go. Join me. If gnomes aren't your thing, there's plenty of other stuff here on the site to tickle your fancy, such as the unveiling of Nozdormu's (frankly pretty damn hot) mortal form. I want to know when we PCs get to look like him. Of course, downtime is minimal this week, lasting only one hour, but all the same, it's enough time to take a break and skim a few articles. Check after the break for our usual roundup.
Tuesday Morning Post: Archaeology supremacy edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The patch 4.2 news continues fast and furious, but I'm going to take this opening paragraph to focus a little further. We received the answers to our professions questions for Ask the Devs #7 today, and there were a few doozies in there. Chaos Orbs will be going unbound, for one, perfect news for my two leveling tailors who want themselves tons of Dreamcloth. What really caught my eye, however, was all the archaeology love. As a pretty obsessed archaeologist, I am tickled at the idea of getting awesome dailies, being able to say "it belongs in a museum" instead of vendoring my finds, and being able to focus on those stupid dwarven sites so I can finally get that silly staff for my caster alts. As usual, there's even more awesome news to review from the past week, and not all of it is patch 4.2-related, I swear. Maintenance this morning is limited to rolling restarts at 5 a.m. PDT, but that still gives you at least a few minutes to get caught up. The usual list is after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Hot off the presses edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! The biggest news this week is, of course, the dawn of the Patch 4.2 PTR. The long-awaited Firelands raid is upon us, along with a bunch of other cool stuff. While Blizzard's dialed it back a bit on official previews as compared to last week, the dataminers have found a lot of delicious stuff to hold us over. If you don't want to partake of patch 4.2 just yet, don't worry, we have plenty of news, guides, and features for other things as well, including a nice little speculation post on the cast of the WoW movie and a guide to aging your elf. With downtime stretching from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT this morning, you should have plenty of time to read it all.
Tuesday Morning Post: Gnome appreciation edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! As we settle into the first full week of patch 4.1, I feel we should take a break from all the headers full of trolls and troll dungeons to appreciate the other semi-homeless race of WoW, the gnome. The Alliance loves them because they provide the technological backbone we need to fight back the orcish war machine. The Horde loves them because they're bite-sized and puntable. Plus, apparently, they're pretty good at music. If you aren't much into the whole gnome thing, don't worry, there's plenty of news to go around. There's a bunch to discuss about patch 4.1, as well as news about patch 4.2, all waiting for in our usual nice tidy roundup. Downtime this morning is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have plenty of time to read up.
Tuesday Morning Post: Maybe soon edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. With the Rise of the Zandalari trailer out and an official release of the patch notes and major feature descriptions, it seemed pretty obvious that patch 4.1 was dropping today. Then we got an ominous blue post: The PTR is still up. Testing will end "soon." It's unclear what exactly that means, but by the time you read this, hopefully we'll know for sure. In the meantime, we do still appear to have extended maintenance going on from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific, so regardless, you'll have time to catch up on the news. There's a lot of juicy patch 4.1 stuff to keep you busy until they finally give us the patch, as well as other stuff, including a few fun interviews and a look at some of our favorite old content. Take a look at it all after the break.
Extended maintenance announced for Tuesday, April 26
Barring force majeure, it looks like patch 4.1 lands tomorrow, folks. Not only is the 4.1 trailer out, Blizzard has also announced extended maintenance for all realms for Tuesday, April 26, beginning at 3 a.m. PST and ending at 11 a.m. PST. Expect it to last longer, as patch day maintenance usually does. While servers are down, check out our Guide to Patch 4.1, including class analysis, dungeon previews, UI additions, and more. Stop the machinations of the Zandalari! WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR, and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.
Sony still investigating scope of PSN attack as maintenance outage enters Day 6
As Sony's forced PlayStation Network and Qriocity outages continue, stretching into what is officially Day 6, the company issued a very un-update to would-be users this morning: "Unfortunately, I don't have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time," said corp. comm. director Patrick Seybold on the PlayStation Blog. "As we previously noted, this is a time intensive process and we're working to get them back online quickly." Speaking to PCWorld, SCEJ spokesperson Satoshi Fukuoka clarified that a "thorough investigation" was ongoing into what the company has characterized as an "external intrusion" into its system, which prompted the service suspensions. More troubling than any frustration caused by downtime over this past weekend, however, is the continued uncertainty about the extent of the attack. According to Fukuoka, Sony had yet to determine if users' personal information or credit card numbers had been accessed by the apparent hackers. If that's found to be the case, he assured, Sony would promptly inform those potentially affected. On Saturday, Seybold noted that "additional security" would be put in place before the services relaunch, calling this "re-building" effort both "time-consuming" and "necessary."
PSN 'down for maintenance' in North America and Europe [update]
Both SCEA and SCEE are acknowledging service outages for the PlayStation Network (as is our own PS3, for that matter -- we just wanted to play Castle Crashers for a few minutes!). Users have been reporting inability to sign in to PSN since yesterday, and a thread on the EU PlayStation site calls out specific issues with Qriocity, PlayStation Store, and account management. On Twitter, Sony said PSN is "down for maintenance." That message board thread will be updated, Sony says, when there's more information on the outages (like when they'll end). Right now it's just one useful post followed by seven pages of complaints, and complaints about complaints. Update: The PlayStation Blog now reports that "it may be a full day or two before we're able to get the service completely back up and running."
Tuesday Morning Post: Please release me edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. With the words "release candidate" allegedly showing up on some versions of patch 4.1 over on the PTR, we're all waiting more impatiently than ever for the drop. There are new dungeons to run, there's new loot to grab for the casuals, and there's so much more. Alas, it doesn't look like this is going to be the week. Scheduled maintenance is only from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time, far too little for a patch. Luckily, that is more than enough downtime for you to catch up on all the latest WoW news. We got a lot of stuff to cover, from patch 4.1 news and loot drops to BlizzCon tickets and new official lore. Check it all out after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Call to Arms edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. By now, I'm sure most people have heard this week's biggest WoW news: Patch 4.1 will bring with it the dungeon finder Call to Arms, which will provide BoA goodie bags to those who fill the most needed role in the dungeon finder queue. I call it a tanking stimulus package. Many of my colleagues prefer to call it a bribe. Whatever you call it, it's the hot topic of the hour and is bound to stay that way for the near future. If you're getting tired of all the hubbub, though, don't despair. There's plenty of other news to review and discuss as well, and we have the usual roundup ready to go. This week marks a return to server downtime starting at 5 a.m. Pacific and continuing until 11 a.m. Pacific, so you should have time to read it all.
