OS X Yosemite - page 2

The best apps for OS X Yosemite

By

Yosemite apps
Photo: Ste Smith/ Cult of Mac

Like any new Apple software release, OS X Yosemite has great third-party apps that are worth checking out.

Developers can take advantage of iOS 8-like extensions, Handoff, iCloud Drive, Notification Center widgets, and more to create a better experience. Many apps also need to be updated aesthetically to look at home in Yosemite’s cleaner, flatter design. The ones that aren’t updated stick out like sore thumbs.

We’ve collected a running list of the best third-party apps that are already optimized for Yosemite:

OS X Yosemite now available as free download in Mac App Store

By

yosemiteOSX
Photo: Apple

After announcing new iPads and Macs today, Apple has unleashed OS X Yosemite on the world as a free download in the Mac App Store. Yosemite is a major upgrade to OS X that’s been in developer and public beta for the past several months.

“OS X Yosemite is the most advanced version of OS X we’ve ever built, with a brand new design, amazing Continuity features and powerful versions of the apps you use every day,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, in a statement. “OS X Yosemite ushers in the future of computing, where your Apple devices all work together seamlessly and magically. It’s something only Apple can do, and it’s available today.”

Before you install Yosemite, make sure your Mac is supported.

What to expect from tomorrow’s Apple event

By

oct event invite

Until September, 2014 was a pretty quiet year for new Apple products. But the drought is over.

After announcing new iPhones and the Apple Watch last month, another media event is being held October 16th at Apple’s Town Hall auditorium on its Cupertino campus. “It’s been way too long,” joked Apple in its invitation to select members of the press. For those itching to see new iPad and Mac hardware, indeed.

While Town Hall is only a fraction of The Flint Center’s size, October 16th’s event shouldn’t be viewed as any less important. iPad sales are stagnant, and Apple’s desktop displays have been needing an upgrade for years. Apple Pay, an entirely new venture for the company, is expected to come out any day now. And then there’s always the chance that Apple still has at least one surprise up its sleeve.

App widgets in OS X Yosemite will make Notification Center useful at last

By

things2_5-yosemite
Screenshot: Cultured Code

iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite are designed to work closely together. Just like iOS 8, third-party developers are even encouraged to write extensions and widgets for their Mac apps. The result is a more seamless experience between an app’s iOS and OS X versions.

Such will be the case with Things by Cultured Code, an Apple Design Award winning task manager that was recently updated for iOS 8. Cultured Code has shared with Cult of Mac its plans for the Mac app when Yosemite drops, including a first look at how third-party apps will utilize Notification Center on Yosemite.

Apple seeds third OS Yosemite GM to devs

By

Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Today Apple seeded the third golden master of OS X Yosemite to registered developers. The update is available in the Mac App Store for those already on the Yosemite GM and through the Dev Center.

It’s been only two days since the second Yosemite GM, which is curious given that Apple has typically saved the GM label for OS versions that are ready for public release. That wasn’t the case for last year’s Mavericks release, however, as it also underwent multiple GM updates.

Apple is expected to announce the public availability of Yosemite at next week’s media event, and these GM updates indicate that the company has needed to make last minute changes to the OS.

Use AirDrop to share files between OS X Yosemite and iOS 8

By

AirDrop has a serious problem.
AirDrop gives iOS 8 users no-fuss, no-muss file sharing. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

When you need to move files quickly between two Apple devices, AirDrop is an incredibly useful tool. It started out as a Mac-to-Mac thing, and then iPhone-to-iPhone, but with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, AirDrop becomes even more powerful: Now you can share files from Mac to iPhone (or iPad) and vice versa.

Here’s how.

How to use Continuity and Handoff with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite

By

Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Continuity and Handoff are great — at least the parts that work. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Continuity and Handoff sound great on paper. They let you transfer certain documents and data between your Mac and your iPhone or iPad, provided both are running the latest Apple system software — iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, which is currently in public beta.

When Continuity and Handoff work, it’s a brilliant display of Apple’s vision for truly interconnected devices. When they don’t, it’s frustrating. Some of the features work flawlessly for me, while others don’t function as advertised (at least on my gear — here’s a compatibility chart that will tell you if your gear is new enough to work with Handoff and Continuity). It’s probably because Yosemite’s in beta — it makes sense that not all features work right now. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

Ready to take the plunge? Here’s how to get set started, plus a brief look at the Handoff and Continuity features I was able to get working (and a few more that I was not).

How to use iCloud Drive the right way

By

Hacker who tried to extort Apple for $100k is spared prison
With these handy tips (and warnings), you'll master iCloud Drive in no time. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

If you haven’t been scared off cloud services by the Fappening or past horrors like MobileMe, you might want to try iCloud Drive, Apple’s answer to Dropbox and Google Drive. It’s a pretty great concept, an extension of the Apple philosophy from way back – documents are identified by the apps they were created by. Before, though, you needed to export a file from a drawing app to use it with a painting app. With iCloud Drive, you’ll be able to move from one app to another much more easily.

Before you begin, make sure you’ve read and understand the warning about using iCloud Drive if you haven’t yet installed OS X Yosemite on your Mac. If you haven’t installed the Yosemite public beta, apps on your iOS 8 devices will be unable to share data with companion apps on your Mac. Consider yourself warned.

If you choose to enable iCloud Drive on your iOS 8 device, and you have an OS X Yosemite beta installed on your Mac, here’s how to use it the right way.

OS X Yosemite Public Beta 3 and Developer Preview 8 are now available

By

Yosemite

Apple has made the third public preview of its upcoming OS X Yosemite operating system available to the one million beta testers via its AppleSeed program.

OS X Yosemite Preview 8 Build 14A361c has also been seeded to developers and is available for download in the Mac App Store or from the Mac Dev Center along with a new version of Xxode 6.1 beta 2 and Apple Configurator 1.7 beta 6.

Apple’s note to developers doesn’t mention the addition of new features, but does state that SMS Continuity has been removed from testing, but it will be available again in October via a free update to iOS 8. The note also states that only iPhoto 9.5.1 and Aperture 3.5.1 will run on OS X Yosemite Preview 8. We’ll update you with any new features we find once we get the new preview installed.

90 percent of users are running iOS 7 ahead of iPhone 6 launch

By

Screen Shot 2014-09-09 at 10.44.52
Picture: Chitika

With Apple set to unveil the eagerly-anticipated iPhone 6 later today, that can only mean one thing: that the public launch of iOS 8 isn’t far away. And chances are that OS X Yosemite’s not too far behind it, either.

As both of Apple’s operating systems are set for a refresh, Chitika Insights has run the numbers to examine iOS and OS X version distributions at this exciting juncture for Apple: sampling tens of millions of U.S. and Canadian online ad impressions running through the Chitika Ad Network.

The numbers, catalogued between August 25 and 31, show that a massive 90 percent of North American iOS Web traffic comes from devices running iOS 7, largely thanks to Apple’s update strategy of directly prompting eligible users to upgrade.

Yosemite will guess your next word as you type, just like iOS 8

By

Go home Mac, you're drunk! (Picture: Reddit user jilan)
Go home Mac, you're drunk! (Picture: Reddit user jilan)

The QuickType/Predictive typing feature found in iOS 8 has made its way to OS X Yosemite.

Although a similar feature has been used in OS X since at least Snow Leopard, accessible by hitting the ESC key, this ups the functionality by not just offering an autocomplete/autocorrect feature, but actually suggesting entire untyped words which can go on to write complete sentences.

Why Windows 9 could give OS X Yosemite a run for its money

By

post-292722-image-aae94dced64cd32d1b6310ca3fe1fc8a-jpg

For decades Mac and the PC have been at each other’s throats, competing for that No. 1 spot in the computing world. Vitriolic ad campaigns and entire product launches aimed at decimating Windows or OS X have firmly established a war that somehow hasn’t ended even in the post-PC era.

With Apple’s release of OS X Yosemite sitting just around the corner, the time for Microsoft to answer with Windows 9 is nearly here. In today’s video, we go into everything we know about OS X Yosemite and what we think we know about Windows 9 so far. We break down all the new features, design elements and more to help you start forming your opinion about which OS is best.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

Reimagining Finder’s ‘Get Info’ dialog for OS X Yosemite

By

60c8cc67d498d74ef578d5bdb77b54de

With Yosemite, OS X is getting its biggest visual overhaul yet, courtesy of Apple design head Jony Ive. But not everything is changing. Case in point: OS X’s File Inspector function.

Shown when you right click on a file in Finder and click ‘Get Info,’ Inspector shows you the nitty-gritty details of a file: it’s size, what file it is set to open with, it’s permissions, and so on. But in Yosemite, it looks pretty much as it ever did.

On Behance, user Ramotion has come up with a Yosemite-inspired redesign of OS X’s ‘Get Info’ menu that makes it more useful, intuitive, attractive, and flexible, especially when dealing with multiple files.

It’s gorgeous work, fitting of OS X Yosemite’s slick new design ethos as a whole. Take a look at the complete concept below.

See OS X Yosemite’s Beta 5 changes in action

By

post-290531-image-eb35f1cebff4ea78fc57a6812edc0bbb-jpg

The fifth beta of OS X Yosemite was released to developers a few days a go, with the operating system getting closer to a general release, in today’s video we take a look at the subtle changes Apple has made in the latest beta.

Take a look at the video to see the changes in action.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

iPhone 6 reveal date, Kanye’s tech pests and the rest of this week’s hottest news

By

post-290443-image-5496fba336361d9ddf2ea8faed46eebb-jpg

The iPhone 6 seems to get nearer and nearer each week as Apple fanboys and other tech enthusiasts await an official reveal date with mounting anxiety, but the age of the iPhone 6 might finally be close at hand. A year’s worth of leaks, rumors, and theories regarding the iPhone 6 are finally about to be put to rest, thanks to sources who revealed this week exactly when we can expect Apple to reveal their next generation iPhone.

Watch today’s Cult of Mac news roundup for all the details on the rumored iPhone 6 keynote date, as well as iOS 8 beta 5 details, and even why one piece of technology has Kanye West filing lawsuits like his name’s Johnnie Cochran.

Of course, don’t forget to subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube and catch all our latest videos.

Apple seeds OS X 10.10 Yosemite Beta 5 to developers

By

yosemiteosx1010

Along with the release of iOS 8 beta 5, Apple has seeded the newest OS X Yosemite beta build to developers.

OS X Yosemite 10.10 beta 5 is available via the Mac Dev Center or from the Mac App Store. A new build of Xcode Beta 5 wis also available in the Dev Center, along with new builds of Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, and Apple Configurator.

Yosemite brings a revamped UI to OS X along with a host of new features aimed at making your iPhone and Mac work smarter together. No official word from Apple on what’s inside the new preview but we’ll let you know what we find as soon as its installed.

5 tips to make your Mac the best college wingman ever

By

post-289545-image-5d5f3d04f86374c2d4fda455e770c2f2-jpg

Transitioning to the college lifestyle can be awkward at first. Being away from home, having a heavy workload and still wanting to hangout with friends can be a lot to manage all at once.

Luckily, your Mac can help relieve a little of that stress throughout the school year. In today’s video, take a look at these five hot Mac tips that can make your new year of college easier: be prepared for thieves, find the best way to take notes and more.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.