OS X Yosemite
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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?
Researcher says Apple hasn't fixed major OS X security flaw
Earlier this month, Apple released an update that was supposed to patch a serious flaw in OS X, albeit only for Yosemite users. But, according to a recent finding by an independent researcher, the company from Cupertino failed to fix the problem. Objective-See, a website that provides tools to prevent OS X malware, reports that the backdoor security flaw, known as "RootPipe," can still be exploited. The root access vulnerability is a major one too, as it could give anyone with bad intentions a way to take over a user's machine and, if they want, inject malware into the operating system. We've reached out to Apple for comment and will be updating this story if and when it gets back to us.
OS X Yosemite 10.10.2, iOS 8.1.3 updates now available
After quite a few weeks of 10.10.2 release candidates and rumors about iOS 8.1.3, Apple has released the updates today. The OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 update includes fixes for Wi-Fi disconnection errors, slow web page loading, and a nasty potential security bug that caused Spotlight to load remote email content even when the preference was disabled in Mail. If you use Bluetooth headphones, you'll be glad to know that audio and video sync has been approved, and you can now browse iCloud Drive in Time Machine. VoiceOver speech performance has been enhanced, and a bug that caused VoiceOver to echo characters when entering text on a web page has been squashed. Finally, an issue that may cause the input method to unexpectedly switch languages was fixed, and stability and security in Safari has been improved. Whew! You can get that update this very second by pulling up the Mac App Store and clicking that Update button. Likewise, iOS 8.1.3 has finally dropped, with the usual "bug fixes, increased stability, and performance improvements." But wait, there's more! The latest update to iOS (which weighed in at 294 MB on my iPhone 6 Plus) decreases the amount of storage required to perform a software update, fixes an issue that prevented some users from entering their Apple ID password for Messages and FaceTime, and addresses an issue that caused Spotlight to stop displaying app results. It also fixed an issue preventing multitasking gestures from working on iPad, as well as adding new configuration options for education standardized testing. Be sure to tap on Settings > General > Software Update to install iOS 8.1.3. As usual, Apple has made security information about the updates available here.
Here's the root cause and a workaround for iOS 8 and Yosemite Wi-Fi issues
You know those pesky slow Wi-Fi issues that have been plaguing iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite? Well, co-founder and CEO of Colorado Springs-based Quantum Metric and all-around good guy Mario Ciabarra appears to have found the root cause and a workaround to keep your Wi-Fi running happily until Apple finally fixes the problem. He wrote up a trending post on Medium titled "WiFried: iOS 8 WiFi Issue" about his find and let us know so we could pass the info along to our readers. I won't go into the deep, dark details -- you should absolutely read Ciabarra's post. But the key points are these: the issue is due to the use of Apple's Wireless Direct Link (AWDL) that's used for AirDrop, AirPlay and gaming connections. To quote Ciabarra, "I'll go out on a limb and say the WiFi issues are because of Apple's choice of using Bonjour over AWDL and that, given the constraints of the WiFi hardware, this will be difficult to get right." Ciabarra has been able to reproduce the WiFi performance issues (see the video below) and even offers a way for readers to reproduce it themselves. The issue can also occur on nearby devices simply by waking an iOS device; doing so causes the device to browse for other devices and advertise itself to them, and that can slow down devices in the near vicinity. The solution is to disable AirDrop and doing AirPlay directly with other devices. Unfortunately, the fix that Ciabarra has created only works on jailbroken iOS devices but allows you to enable and disable your device-to-device Wi-Fi and Apple Wireless Direct Link under the AirDrop settings in Control Center. Hopefully Apple will choose to put this same fix into a future version of iOS 8 so that users who aren't using the features can get full-steam-ahead Wi-Fi. Ciabarra also discovered that this is the same root cause for the issue on Mac OS X Yosemite. Fortunately, you can resolve the Yosemite Wi-Fi issues with a quick Terminal command: sudo ifconfig awdl0 down That will take AirDrop and AWDL down, but hey, you'll have fast Wi-Fi. To restore AirDrop and AWDL, here's what you want to type into Terminal: sudo ifconfig awdl0 up We can only hope that Apple decides to really fix the problem for both iOS and OS X soon, or at least provides a way for users to toggle the services on and off. Many thanks to Mario Ciabarra for digging into the issue and finding a workaround.
And by the way, OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 is out as well...
It must be update Monday at Apple today. No sooner had I updated my iPhone 6 Plus to iOS 8.1.1 than I noticed a little red notification badge on the Mac App Store -- which ended up being the official version of OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 (I've been running the developer beta version for a few days). As you can see from the notes above, the update improves Wi-Fi reliability, improves mail reliability with certain email service providers and Microsoft Exchange servers, and also makes Back to My Mac remote connections more reliable. It's ready when you are, in the Updates tab of the Mac App Store. Other notes about the update are available here.
What am I doing wrong?
Judging from the complaints and all-around bad feelings I've been seeing on social networks lately, it appears that Mac OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 are huge failures that are causing everyone a lot of pain and agony. So, if three Macs running OS X Yosemite and four devices loaded with iOS 8 are working just fine for me and my wife, what am I doing wrong? I'm not making this up, and I'm sure that those who are having issues are also telling the truth. But I have seen no major issues with either operating system, and certainly none of the show-stoppers that have had some of the people I follow on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus screaming that they're either going to dump everything Apple and go to Windows or Linux, and embrace Android on the mobile side. I sincerely want to know what's causing the issues for some people and I hope that they can get them resolved -- hopefully with a visit to the Genius Bar at their local Apple Store. For me, the computers consist of a 2009 27" iMac, an early 2013 27" iMac, and 2014 13" Retina MacBook Pro. The newer iMac was upgraded through several iterations of OS X Yosemite beta, while the other two were just given garden-variety App Store updates. On the mobile side, the devices consist of an iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air, and an iPad 3. All were upgraded to iOS 8 with the standard iOS OTA update. Have I seen slower than usual boot times on the Macs? No. If anything, the newer iMac (with Fusion Drive) is booting faster than it did with Mavericks. The old iMac takes about the same amount of time, and there's no discernible slowdown in bootup for the Retina MacBook Pro either. Am I seeing issues with Wi-Fi connectivity with any of these devices? No. And I have a fairly old Apple AirPort Extreme that runs my network. With the iOS devices, am I seeing any unusual random restarts? Well, I did on the iPhone 6 Plus with iOS 8.0, but that issue went away with 8.0.2 and 8.1. How about the OS X and iOS devices together? They're working swimmingly -- I've been sending video captures from both the iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air to the newer iMac through AirDrop with no issues. The first time I had a phone call come in on my pocketed iPhone 6 Plus that transferred auto-magically to the iMac -- all without any setup on my part -- I was shocked and amazed. And the other Handoff capabilities are starting to show their worth now that I understand what's going on. I don't want to discount the complaints I'm hearing from some people, as I'm sure that the random OS X reboots, "SPOD" while using Safari, Wi-Fi nightmares, and other issues I'm hearing about are not imaginary. Maybe I just have good karma, eat enough fiber, and have sacrificed just the right number of Windows XP installation CDs to the Apple gods. I almost feel guilty for not having problems with my Apple gear right now. If anything, the current state of affairs with my Apple devices is better than it's ever been.
Dark Dock, light menus -- it's possible with this Yosemite hack
A few weeks ago our very own Mel Martin pointed out that you can enable the new "dark mode" in OS X Yosemite simply by going to System Preferences > General and checking the "Use Dark Menu and Dock" box. But what if you're Mr. Fussypants, love the dark Dock, but don't exactly like the look of white letters on a dark background in the menubar? That's the dilemma that ManyTricks guru Peter Maurer found himself in. Thanks to a post on Rob Griffith's "The Robservatory" blog, we found Peter's trick to keep your Dock dark and your menus shiny white. You'll need to be comfortable with the command line interface before making the changes. Here we go: Launch Terminal, type in (or copy and paste) defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleInterfaceStyle Dark, then press Return. This sets your Mac to Dark Mode. Now at the prompt, type or paste killall Dock and press Return again. This will relaunch the Dock in its Dark mode. Finally, type in (or paste) defaults remove NSGlobalDomain AppleInterfaceStyle and press Return. This turns off dark mode, but the Dock ignores the command ... at least until the next time you reboot your Mac. Voila, you have your dark Dock and light menubar. Note that the App Switcher (Cmd-Tab) is associated with the Dock, so it will remain dark as well. If you decide to script the entire thing for automatic setup at login, be sure to put a slight delay between steps 2 and 3 so that the Dock has a chance to relaunch. It's a great trick, and many thanks to both Paul Maurer and Rob Griffiths for bringing it to light.
Addressing Mac OS X Yosemite's most annoying "features"
Mac OS X Yosemite has been in the wild for about a week now, just long enough for tech bloggers and many users to find things that frankly drive them nuts about the new OS. Longtime Macworld writer and fellow ailurophile Kirk McElhearn toted up his list of Yosemite gripes, but instead of just kvetching about the changes he didn't like, he did something about it -- he wrote a post about how to set things back to the way they used to be. Where's My iTunes Sidebar? TUAW's Mel Martin already covered one of the annoyances, which is the loss of the sidebar in iTunes 12. That's a rather easy fix -- just click on the "Playlists" link at the top of iTunes 12 when in Music, Movies, or TV Shows, and a sidebar showing your playlists appears. It's not a total replacement for the previous sidebar, but if you "just gotta" have a sidebar, it should calm your nerves a bit. Safari and the Missing Full Web Address McElhern points out one of the flukes of Safari now -- looking a web page, all you're going to see in the address bar is the top-level domain. For example, pointing Safari to a post from a week ago (http://www.tuaw.com/2014/10/17/where-is-my-sidebar-in-itunes-12/) simply shows "www.tuaw.com". That's fine if you're just looking at one page on a site, but if you need to see the full address, it's nowhere to be seen. My personal solution is to just click on the visible URL, which then expands into the full address. But if you'd always like to see the full address, McElhern points out that you can go to Safari > Preferences > Advanced, look for the Smart Search Field section of the pane and then check "Show full website address". Those Translucent Menubars... Can't stand those translucent menubars and windows? Although I've found these to be quite attractive, I can see why some people just don't want translucency in their user interface. It's easy to change; McElhern points us to System Preferences > Accessibility, click on the Display button, and then check the Reduce Transparency box. McElhern also notes that the term "transparency" is incorrect -- it's "translucency", and hopefully this will be fixed in the Accessibility settings soon. Update, anyone? Spotlight Has Become Too Bright When you're searching for files, tunes, pictures or documents, Apple's Spotlight has become the go-to tool. With OS X Yosemite, Spotlight now does even more, providing you with search results from Wikipedia and assorted websites, as well doing conversions and more. But for some users, the wealth of responses from Spotlight under Yosemite is just too much! To cut down on the responses, go to System Preferences > Spotlight and uncheck those items you don't want to see. McElhern notes that you can also make life better by putting the items you want to see first near the top of the response list, which is done by dragging the categories up or down into your preferred order. Do you have other tips for your fellow Yosemite explorers? Leave 'em in the comments below.
The only OS X Yosemite review you need to read
Over the past 10+ years, John Siracusa of Ars Technica has been delivering comprehensive OS X reviews that put all others to shame. The level of detail provided in Siracusa's reviews is astounding, the breadth of topics covered impressive. Siracusa's review of OS X Yosemite is no different. Spanning 25 pages, and conveniently categorized to boot, Siracusa's extensive write-up touches on all aspects of Apple's latest desktop OS, from surface level aesthetic changes to nitty gritty technical details. It's well worth a read for anyone with even a mild interest in Apple's latest iteration of OS X.
OS X Yosemite review: a solid upgrade for everyone (especially iPhone users)
Apple's latest desktop operating system, Yosemite, is available today as a free download for anyone with a reasonably new (or not-so-new) Mac. Here's the thing, though: Many of you are already using it. In an unusual twist, Apple not only gave us a sneak peek of the software, but also allowed a large section of the public to take it for a spin while it was still in development. Though the company has declined to say how many people signed up for the beta program (there were a million available spots), we're sure many of you are running it right now, and don't even need to read a full review. That said, I wanted to finish what I started. Back when I posted my initial preview, I was able to discuss lots of things -- the iOS-inspired design, the new Safari browser -- but certain stuff wasn't ready for prime time. I'm talking about iCloud Drive, Apple's new cross-platform storage service, as well as "Continuity," a set of features that allow Macs to better integrate with iOS. Think: the ability to receive calls on your Mac, or to start reading an article on your iPad and finish it on your laptop. Now that the software is final -- and now that I've had a chance to test all the features -- I'm ready to weigh in. Suffice to say, it's clear that to make the most out of Yosemite, you need an iDevice to go with it. But even for Mac users who don't also own an iPhone (guilty!), this is still a solid upgrade. Read on to see what I mean.
OS X Yosemite available publicly starting today for free (Updated: Now Live)
After unveiling OS X Yosemite earlier this year at WWDC, Apple today announced that its next generation desktop operating system would be available publicly starting today, October 16. Similar to past releases, Yosemite will be bundled on all new Macs and will be available for free to existing Mac owners. The latest version of OS X includes several notable improvements including a redesigned interface that mimic the styling of iOS. Apple also improved OS X's notification center and made Spotlight search more powerful by pulling information from third party sources. Yosemite also ties in closely with iOS 8, allowing iOS device owners to call and text from their Mac, instantly serve as a Mac hotspot and edit documents seamlessly on both platform using Handoff. OS X Yosemite will be available to download for free from the Mac App Store later today. Update: OS X Yosemite is now live in the Mac App Store.
Join us tomorrow for a liveblog of the Apple event
Time flies! It seems like it was just yesterday that we were prepping for Apple's last product announcement event, and here we are again. This time, we expect to see new iPads, new Macs, and probably an announcement of the release date for Mac OS X Yosemite ... provided it isn't just released to the public tomorrow. As usual, we'd love to have you join us in watching the event livestream, complete with commentary by our very own Erica Sadun on one of our wildly popular liveblogs. Our liveblog of the Apple event will begin at about 12:55 PM ET (9:55 AM PT) tomorrow, with the actual livestream from Apple scheduled to start at about 1 PM ET (10 AM PT). Our crack team of bloggers will be on hand to provide you with breakout articles on all of the announcements, and the liveblog is always available after the fact for your review. Here are two very important web pages for you to bookmark: TUAW Liveblog of the October 16 Apple Event The Apple Livestream of the Event
VMware Fusion/Fusion Pro 7 ready for OS X Yosemite
With the impending release of OS X Yosemite this fall, the virtual machine wars have heated up with the release of VMware Fusion 7 and Fusion Pro 7 today. On August 20th, Parallels announced the latest version of its virtual machine environment, Parallels Desktop 10; now VMware is making sure that its flagship VM application is ready for Yosemite. The company announced over 50 new features in VMware Fusion 7, which is designed from the ground up for compatibility with OS X Yosemite. The app takes design cues from Yosemite, including the typeface, translucency, and more. Yosemite can be run as a guest system under VMware Fusion 7 on an OS X Mavericks machine, perfect for those who wish to test the new OS but not have to devote a Mac to the testing. Designed for the latest Macs, VMware Fusion and Fusion Pro 7 have been optimized for not only the current Intel Haswell CPUs, but also any future Macs that might run Intel's Broadwell processors. Virtual machines can now have up to 16 virtual CPUs, 64GB of RAM, and up to 2GB of video RAM. As you'd expect with an update, performance has been enhanced significantly. Multimedia apps are doing about 11.5 percent better in performance benchmarks, while more CPU-intensive apps are seeing performance enhancements of up to 45 percent over VMware Fusion 6. MacBook-toting Apple fans will love that the energy impact of VMware 7 is down 42.16 percent as measured by the OS X Activity Monitor app. VMware also took Retina displays into account while updating VMware Fusion. The virtual machine environment now handles Retina displays better, especially in Unity mode. For anyone who is new to virtual machines and VMware in particular, the company has added an enhanced Learning Center providing built-in support and videos. Fusion Pro has been extremely popular with power users and enterprise administrators. Since professional use of Macs is exploding in the enterprise market, Fusion Pro is seeing a lot of growth. The app now supports over 200 separate operating systems, from Mac OS X to many versions of Windows, and countless Linux distros. VMware Fusion Pro 7 can now take advantage of dual GPUs on MacBook Pros, with a selection of either the integrated GPU or a discrete GPU. And there's a surprise in this version -- your virtual machines can now access the iSight camera in your Mac for use in applications like Skype. The new version also allows a connection to vSphere, so virtual machines that are running on other more powerful computers in an enterprise environment can be accessed from rather low-end Macs such as the MacBook Air. If you purchased VMWare Fusion or Fusion Pro between August 1 and September 30, 2014, you'll be able to get a free downloadable upgrade. The cost of upgrading from VMware Fusion 5 or 6 to version 7 is just US$49.99, while the upgrade from VMware Fusion Pro 5 or 6 to version 7 is $79.99. If at any time you decide that you need the extra features of Fusion 7 Pro, you can upgrade from Fusion 7 for $79.99. Of course, all of your Macs -- desktops and laptops -- can run on just one license.
Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac upgrade arrives, supports OS X Yosemite
Like the turning of the seasons, we can always expect an upgrade of Parallels Desktop about this time of year. 2014 is no exception, and Parallels announced today that Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac and Parallels Desktop for Mac Enterprise Edition are now available for current users. As one would expect with an upgrade, Parallels Desktop 10 provides some significant performance enhancements. Windows documents open up to 48 percent faster, battery life on MacBooks is extended by up to 30 percent, the virtual machines take up to 10 percent less of the Mac's memory, Office 2013 apps launch up to 50 percent faster, and the virtual machines now only take up as much space on the Mac hard drive as required. There's real-time optimization that compacts the virtual disk automatically. Setup is now made easier -- new users can select what their primary usage is (design, development, productivity, games) and the VM will be optimized. All virtual machines and configuration settings are now controlled from a new Parallels Control Center, and the process of setting up Windows installations has been streamlined as well. If your Mac is currently using a particular set of regional settings, those are installed by default on the Windows VMs. If you're thinking about giving OS X Yosemite a test drive before release, you'll be happy to know that you can set up the Developer Preview as a virtual machine within Parallels Desktop 10. Once you're running Parallels Desktop 10 under OS X Yosemite, it will provide Windows access to many Yosemite functions such as iCloud Drive. Current users can upgrade to Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac starting today, while the new version will be available for purchase at online and retail stores starting on August 26. The upgrade costs US$49.99 for current Parallels Desktop 8 or 9 users, while the new version is available for $79.99 to new users and at $39.99 for students. TUAW will feature a full review of the new version soon; in the meanwhile, here's a video covering the new version. </iframe</p>
Security breach may be reason for Gatekeeper app signing changes (Updated)
A discussion has been brewing on Twitter today regarding the recent app signing changes that could leave some apps blocked by Gatekeeper if developers don't re-sign the apps. Apple had let developers know that "With the release of OS X Mavericks 10.9.5, the way that OS X recognizes signed apps will change." According to Twitter user @SomebodySW, the change may actually be a response to a security breach in the Developer Portal, not just a change in the method of recognizing signed apps. Update 11:54 AM 08/19/2014: TUAW received separate confirmation of the breach from a second source via IRC, stating that Apple's certificates may have been compromised and that the company's changes to Gatekeeper are in part intended to mitigate the risks of those breaches. We have still not received any confirmation or denial of the Dev Portal breaches from Apple. @marczak @cabel @danielpunkass @mikeash The keys used for Gatekeeper* were stolen in that Developer Portal breach a while back. Consider thi - Somebody Somewhere (@SomebodySW) August 18, 2014 @marczak @cabel @danielpunkass @mikeash s your heads up. *and many other keys for many other things - Somebody Somewhere (@SomebodySW) August 18, 2014 How plausible is a security breach that resulted in the theft of not only Gatekeeper's keys but "many other keys for many other things"? Plausible enough that we reached out to Apple for confirmation. At this point, no response has been received. Ben Doernberg, a security and bitcoin expert, has also pinged Apple, saying in a recent tweet that: Just talked with Ryan James at Apple, says he'll look look into if device signing keys were stolen last year, no confirm or deny @SomebodySW - Ben Doernberg (@BenDoernberg) August 18, 2014 According to @SomebodySW, "Other keys were stolen too: The Enterprise Signing Key, a key that could be used (and was) used to sign Activation Tickets (bypassing iCloud locks) and several developer ID related keys also some keys iPhone 4/4s/5 hardware 'knows', used to authenticate the OS installed as being from Apple/unmodified". @SomebodySW notes that he received an offer to buy the device signing keys from the person who performed the breach of the Apple Dev Portal shortly after the theft occurred. While this still isn't definitive proof that the Gatekeeper and other security keys were stolen, TUAW received separate confirmation from a second source. We'll keep on top of this story and let you know how it develops.
Apple's CDN is live, should speed iOS and OS X upgrades
Since Apple began relying on downloaded upgrades of its operating system and software products, the need for a fast content delivery network (CDN) has been apparent whenever millions of users have tried to reach out for upgrades, and were suddenly silenced. Well, the next upgrades should be a bit smoother, as an industry analyst reports that Apple's fast CDN has gone live in the US and Europe. The CDN can handle "multiple terabits per second of capacity," and according to Frost & Sullivan analyst Dan Rayburn, Apple has invested "well more than $100M in their CDN build out." That's not all -- Apple has reportedly paid Comcast and other internet service providers for direct access to their networks. Rayburn did a trace route on OS X downloads from a number of ISPs showing that the downloads were coming directly from Apple's CDN. Rayburn talked to ISPs who say that "Apple has put a massive amount of capacity in place, with many saying that Apple has more than 10x the capacity they are using today." That will come in handy when OS X 10.10 Yosemite is released later this year and should speed up other downloads as well. To quote Rayburn, Apple already controls the hardware, the OS (iOS/OS X) as well as the iTunes/App store platforms. Right now they control the entire customer experience, except for the way content is delivered to their devices, and they are quickly working to change that. While Apple doesn't own the last mile, paying to connect directly to it (in some places) and delivering content from their own servers allows them much more control over the user experience, especially for cloud based services. Over time, this is something that will make the experience and performance for consumers even better – and Apple's only just getting started.
Feedback Loop: Yosemite beta, Kindle Unlimited and more!
Ready for a fresh edition of Feedback Loop? This week featured discussions about Apple's OS X Yosemite beta, Kindle Unlimited, Nokia's naming conventions, MMO mice and iWatch speculation. Head past the break to talk about all this and more with your fellow Engadget readers.
Apple reportedly releasing OS X Yosemite in October alongside 4K desktop and 12-inch Retina MacBook
Well, this is a timely rumor: Today is the day Apple opens up OS X Yosemite for public beta-testing, and now we're hearing the final version of the OS will come out in late October. The report comes from Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac, who has a strong track record when it comes to Apple rumors, and he claims that in addition to OS X, Apple will release a 12-inch Retina display MacBook, and either an iMac or a standalone monitor with a 4K screen. Obviously, Apple could do a 180 and release the same old computers with minor spec bumps, but if you ask us, everything Gurman is reporting seems plausible. First of all, Apple already promised it would release a final version of OS X sometime in the fall, and surely it plans to do that before the holiday shopping season starts up in November.
TUAW TV Live: The penultimate episode
It's the penultimate TUAW TV Live, one of your last chances to watch the hosts talking about everything in general and nothing in particular. Today we'll talk a bit about the OS X Yosemite general public beta (and things to watch for), the WSJ "rumor news" of Apple supplier orders for next-generation iPhone parts, and more. My guest host today is the lovely and versatile @verso, sitting in for @docrock who is -- as we speak -- flying from HNL to SAN for ComicCon. To watch the show and take part in the chat, just scroll down a tiny bit, log into the chat room, and be sure to press the "play" button on the video window around 5 PM to watch the stream. If you don't have time to watch the complete show today, come back to this post later or first thing tomorrow when we'll have the recording available for your viewing pleasure. Contact the podcast Follow the hosts on Twitter: @stevensande, @docrock, @TUAW Send your questions to @stevensande E-mail us: tvlive at tuaw [dot] com
Apple opening its OS X Yosemite Beta Program to consumers on July 24
Apple confirmed it is opening up its OS X Beta Program to the public starting tomorrow -- Thursday, July, 23. Mac owners can sign up for the beta program on Apple's website using their Apple ID and will receive a Mac App Store promo code to download a beta version of OS X. Consumers must be have Mac running OS X Mavericks to be eligible for the program. Apple announced OS X 10.10 Yosemite at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, held in June of this year. The new version of OS X includes notable upgrades to Safari, Mail, Messages, Notification Center and the addition of iCloud Drive. Other features like Continuity and Handoff link OS X more closely to iOS 8 and are not fully supported in the beta program. If you haven't already registered, you better do so fast as the beta program is only available to the first one million consumers who sign up.
