OS X Mavericks - page 2

When you update to OS X Mavericks beta 5, you might notice something rather exciting in your Applications folder: iBooks for Mac!

Double click on the iBooks icon to launch iBooks for Mac, and then click Agree on the iBooks Author Software agreement. You’ll see the iBooks splash screen as above. Click Get Started.

You’ll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID. Click on the blue Sign In button and enter your Apple ID and password. If you’re not ready to connect your Apple ID, click Not Now. When you do connect up, you’ll be able to get your purchase history from iCloud and sync your bookmarks, highlights, and notes you may have created on your iPad or iPhone over to your Mac.

Apple’s Dev Center has been down since Thursday, but that isn’t stopping the company from releasing new beta software to developers.

Earlier today, we cautioned that the hacking of the Dev Center could result in delayed updates to the iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks betas. But Apple has still pushed out the fourth developer preview of Mavericks today.

Until the Dev Center comes back online, developers won’t be able to login and directly download the new version of Mavericks. The update is only currently available in the Mac App Store for those already on a previous version of the beta operating system.

The third developer preview Mavericks came out two weeks ago. We’ll let you know if there’s anything of note in today’s version.

Are you a registered developer with Apple? Do you want to try out Mavericks without risking your entire Mac to a potentially wonky version of OS X? I haven’t seen any major issues, yet, but that doesn’t mean that mission critical softaware you rely on will work in Mavericks beta.

So, here’s the solution. Boot up from a USB stick that has been configured as a bootable OS X Mavericks drive. Here’s how.

The Dashboard has been getting less and less attention lately, and so it’s surprising that it’s still in OS X Mavericks beta, to be honest.

It does have a nicer background, to be sure, but if you’re feeling like it has outlived its purpose on your Mac, here’s how to get rid of it.

Of course you know already that you can send iMessages to your iOS or OS X using friends and family via the Notification Center, because we told you that a while ago.

Did you know, however, that you can reply to iMessages sent to you in that very same Notification Center? If not, read on and learn how to do so, and how to make sure that your Mac is set up correctly to allow it to happen.

One of the features I’ve been most looking forward to in OS X Mavericks is the ability to send directions from my Mac to my iPhone, to be able to take my directions on the go, even when I’m searching on my Mac. I hate having to go to my iPhone (or iPad) and re-enter the starting and ending addresses again; I just did that on my Mac!

While you still can’t do that with Google directions, you can now send directions from OS X Mavericks Maps right to your iOS Maps. Here’s how.

After I started my Mac mini running OS X Mavericks Developer Preview, or beta, today, I visited the Mac App Store to see what was new.

What greeted me there was a host of new software updates, all part of OS X Mavericks Developer Preview 2, as noted by Apple on the Developer page.

As you can see in the screenshot above, there are quite a few of these little updates bundled together.

Safari has been updated in OS X Mavericks, of course, with a host of under-the-hood improvements, along with quite a few new features. One of them lets you see what your social connections are recommending to their various social network sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In.

If you want easy access to the links your friends, acquaintances, and business contacts are sharing on their social sites, all you need to do is add your social network credentials, and then open up Safari.

The new Mac Pro is looking like it will be an absolute powerhouse, but even regulars Macs should see a major performance improvement running OS X 10.9 Mavericks, thanks to the new operating system’s incorporation of OpenGL 4.

Remember that the OS X Mavericks beta isn’t a final version—it’s meant to be used by developers to ensure that their software will work with Apple’s latest and greatest. With that disclaimer in mind, let’s check out yet another little feature in the beta.

Prior to OS X Mavericks beta, the Dashboard, loaded with useful widgets of all stripe, used to be limited to two states: disabled, or locked to the top left side of the Mission Control screen.

Now, however, with the advent of OS X Mavericks beta, that’s no longer the case. The Dashboard is now treated the same as any other Space when enabled. Here’s how to get it enabled, and then how to move it around.

Apple’s beautiful new wave wallpaper for OS X 10.9 Mavericks can now be enjoyed on your iPhone too. iOS designer and developer, AR7 published two great wallpapers for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S this morning that are a redesign of the Mavericks wave.

Here are the download links: iPhone 5 | iPhone 4S

Source: Twitter

As we continue to look at some tips for the new OS X beta this week, remember that OS X Mavericks isn’t a final version—it’s meant to be used by developers to ensure that their software will work with Apple’s latest and greatest.

With that disclaimer in mind, let’s continue.

If you need to use Java for any reason on your Mac, and you install OS X Mavericks beta on it, you’ll be sad when you try and run that Java-reliant bit of software.

For me, it was setting up the Minecraft server for my kid after I installed the beta last night to take a look at things. When I went to run it in Terminal, I got an error, saying there was no Java installed. So, even though I’d had Java installed in Mac OS X Mountain Lion, the Mavericks install seems to have taken Java off my Mac. No worries; it was kind of an easy fix.

One thing’s for sure: once you have iOS 7 installed, OS X Mavericks sticks out like a sore thumb. iOS 7 is where Apple’s software design is headed, and OS X Mavericks is what Apple’s software design aesthetic is fleeing from.

Clearly, OS X Mavericks was left alone this year because Apple couldn’t concentrate on two design overhauls at once. Instead, Ive & Co. simply satisfied themselves with stripping out some of OS X’s more Forstallian flourishes, like the Corinthian leather and gray linen textures.

But what about next year? What would OS X 10.10 look like if brought in line with the design of iOS 7? DeviantArt user Ohsneezeme‘s concept, while not perfect — he hasn’t touched the icons or the dock — is a strong guess.

I like it. What about you?

Steve Jobs used to take care of Apple’s biggest product unveilings prior to his passing in 2011, and since then, they’ve been shared around among the top company executives. Scott Forstall handled everything iOS, but his departure from Cupertino last year left the door open for someone else.

At WWDC on Monday, Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, took to the stage to present iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and he’s now being hailed the perfect frontman for Apple, with developers, fans, and even investors impressed by his pitch.

This is a neat little new detail in OS X Mavericks: if there are updates available for your system, the Notification will allow you to delay installing them for an hour, or until the evening when your system isn’t busy. And you can actually dismiss the damn thing now without it just immediately popping back up!

For other things new in OS X Mavericks, check out our gallery round-up.

Although it’s not quite the overhaul we’re seeing in iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks is an exciting new update to OS X that crams a lot of new features into the Mac operating system, including Maps, iBooks, iCloud Keychain, a new Safari, a more powerful Finder with tabbed windows and tagging, better Notifications, far improved battery life support, and much, much more.

We’re still delving into Maverick and spotting the best features. Here’s everything new we’ve spotted so far, and we’ll be updating this post with more screenshots of the new shiny in OS X Mavericks.

The first betas for iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks and are now available for registered developers to download in Apple’s Dev Center. The iOS 7 beta is only available for iPhone models and the iPod touch. Apple has said that an iPad version will be coming in a few weeks.

OS X Mavericks is available as well for Mac developers. The Xcode 5 developer preview is available with support for iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks. Apple has released an iOS 7 beta for the Apple TV as well. Lastly, there’s a new beta of the Find My iPhone app with support for the new security features Apple has in iOS 7.

Source: Apple

If you want to make your Mac look like it’s running OS X Mavericks but don’t want to wait for fall (or for the Apple developer site to stop crapping itself), here’s the default wallpaper OS X 10.9 now uses.

Looks great, doesn’t it? Download it in high-resolution here or here directly from Apple.

Rather than trying to invent some new big game cats to name the next version of OS X after, Apple has decided to start naming OS X after places in California which have inspired the company.

The first location Apple has used as inspiration for OS X is Mavericks, CA, an infamous surf spot in Northern California where waves routinely crest at 25 feet.

Here are some of the best shots of the place that inspired OS X Mavericks:

Apple just announced that OS X Mavericks is coming out in a developer preview for today. It will be available to everyone else in fall, presumably for the usual price of $19.99. Stay tuned for our hands-on of Maverick’s new features!

Maps isn’t the only iOS app coming to OS X Mavericks. Apple is bringing iBooks, allowing you to read, take notes, and have everything synced up across all of your devices. The standalone iBooks app looks like a nice powerhouse for reading and annotating on the desktop. There’s a neat notes feature which looks tailored for students.

The interface is clean and minimal, just like everything else we’ve seen so far in Mavericks.

It was bound to happen eventually. Whether you like it or not, Apple is bringing its official Maps app to OS X Mavericks.

The new app will let you search for locations and send directions from your Mac to your iPhone via iCloud. There’s full support for everything in Maps on iOS, like 3D flyover data and points of interest with services like Yelp. You can bookmark a place on the Mac and it syncs up with all of your devices instantly. Just don’t get lost.

Apple just showed off how Notification Center is getting supercharged in OS X Mavericks.

Now in Mavericks, if your machine is sleeping, you’ll see all the Notifications that came in while you were away, all on the lock screen.

Mavericks will also update your apps in the background. And if you get an iMessage or an email, you can reply right from the Notification.

There’s also apparently a new kind of Notification, where apps can send Push Notifications to iOS devices.

Notification Center was notoriously underbaked in Mountain Lion: it’s nice seeing Mavericks getting this right.

Image: Engadget

There are even more improvements in OS X Mavericks, and the first of them is iCloud Keychain.

Craig Ferenghi says the new iCloud Keychain will keep track of website logins, credit card numbers, and Wi-Fi passwords, synced across iCloud to all your devices.

iCloud Keychain can also generate unique passwords for you, then automatically store them. And since this is all database stuff, it implies iCloud can now handle Core Data… a big failing in iCloud beforehand.

It’s all encrypted, too. Of course, with data vulnerabilities at an all-time high, whether you want to use iCloud Keychain might depend on how paranoid you were.

Apple’s software guy, Craig Federighi, joked about calling the next version of OS X “Sea Lion” today at WWDC. He said the company didn’t want to delay the release due to a “lack of cat names.”

So instead, Apple is taking a new direction. Cat names are no more. Now OS X will be named after aspects of California, the state where Apple is based.

“We went to our backyard” for OS X 10.9, said Federighi. Enter OS X Mavericks.