Snow Leopard

Apple’s big plans for iOS 12, this week on The CultCast

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iOS 12 is up for some big changes.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s got big plans for iOS 12, and we’ll tell you all about them this week on The CultCast. Plus: New details tell us more about 2018’s iPhone X Plus; Nintendo says a new Mario Kart is coming to iOS; Apple works to bring iPad apps to Mac; and don’t miss our review of the Elgato Stream Deck, a must-have accessory for you Twitch, Mixer and YouTube streamers.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off any hosting plan.

iOS 6.1.3-6.1.5 Jailbreak Gets Updated With Snow Leopard Support

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As a Christmas present, hackers over the holidays released two great jailbreaks. For the majority out there running iOS 7, Team Evad3rs released the much heralded Evasi0n jailbreak, while for the holdouts, p0sixninja released a working jailbreak for iOS 6.1.3, 6.1.4 and 6.1.5 called p0sixspwn. It’s the latter jailbreak which has been updated today with support for OS X Snow Leopard, and numeorus bug fixes.

2009 iMac Users Still Complaining Of Kernel Panic, Unresolved Since Snow Leopard

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iMac 2009
Hey, Apple? Can you maybe get back to us on this?

Some users of early 2009 iMacs who have upgraded to OS X Snow Leopard or higher are still reporting issues with a kernel issue that seems to be due to the Nvidia GeForce GT 130 graphics card that came with the machine, with nary a response from Apple proper. There’s a thread on Apple’s support discussion pages that is now around a year old that mentions the problem. According to the posters there, there was a faulty kernel extension released in one of the later Snow Leopard updates that can cause graphics glitches and even kernel panics when there’s a heavy load on the video card, like when playing games. Apple has not yet responded in the official forums.

OS X Snow Leopard Still On The Prowl On More Than 1 in 4 Macs

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Microsoft may have the numbers, but one thing Apple is really good about is getting people to shift their Macs over to the latest and greatest version of OS X in a timely manner.

For example, even though OS X Mountain Lion was only released in July, over 25% of all Macs ran it by October. OS X 10.5 Leopard hovers at a little less than 10%, while OS X Lion is on about 30% of all Macs.

What’s most surprising, though, is what operating system ties OS X Lion for the most popular version of OS X: OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard.

Make Sure Your Mac Asks If You Want To Save Changes To Your Documents [OS X Tips]

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Ask to save changes

So, Apple likes to change things; this much is a given. The software developers behind the operating system, OS X, are no different. They’re constantly changing the way things work from iteration to iteration of Apple’s computer software.

In Snow Leopard, when you made changes to a document and tried to close that document, you’d be asked by your Mac, in essence, “are you sure you want to do that?” and you could tell it to save the changes you made, or discard them. It was a way to let us know that there had, in fact, been changes to the document, whether we meant them or not.

In Lion, that little “feature” went away. Documents in Lion were always saved, regardless. This is a neat feature, in some ways, but it keeps you from knowing if you’ve made any unintended changes.

Luckily, Mountain Lion lets you choose the way you want it to work. If you want to have that failsafe “are you sure” save changes dialog, you can enable it. If you don’t want it, you can disable it.

Latest OS X 10.8.2 Developer Build Gives MacBooks Best Battery Life Since Snow Leopard

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Everyone knows that the “upgrade” to OS X Mountain Lion severely reduced the battery life in Mac laptops by up to 38%. And while OS X 10.8.1 helped things some, the fix was still meager compared to the oceans of juice you comparatively got on the same machine running OS X Lion.

OS X 10.8.2, though? Much, much better. In fact, according to The Mac Observer, in the latest Build 12C35 of OS X 10.8.2, not only does the latest development version of Mountain Lion give users a bigger upgrade in battery life than OS X 10.8.0 or OS X 10.8.1, but their test system — a 2011 15-Inch MacBook Pro 2.0GHz i7 — now has more battery life than it did running OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, the previous champ Mac operating system when it came to conserving juice.

In fact, while their test system lost 105.5 and 80.5 minutes of battery life compared to 10.6.8 in OS X 10.8.0 and OS X 10.8.1, respectively, it actually gained eight minutes against OS X 10.6.8 in OS X 10.8.2. Now those are some impressive results. Results I’m now off to test for myself.

Source: Mac Observer

Only One Month After Launch 10% Of All Macs Are Running Mountain Lion

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Apple’s latest desktop operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, launched just over a month ago, but its usage is spreading like a raging forest fire. 48 hours after its release the OS was already running on 3.2% of all Macs, but new data is showing that 10% of all Mac users are now running Mountain Lion on their machines.

Chitika has been tracking the adoption of Mountain Lion via their ad network, and says that the usage of Mountain Lion has been increasing steadily with no sign of letting up. The new OS is on track to outpace OS X Lion, which took three months to gain 14% use on all Macs.

Cats On The Prowl: The Evolution of Mac OS X From Cheetah To Mountain Lion [Gallery]

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The year is 2012, and the March of the Big Cats continues. Apple is about to release Mountain Lion, the latest iteration of (Mac) OS X, and citizens of the Appleverse are eager to explore what this new feline has to offer. How far we’ve come in just over a decade.

Back in 2001 Apple introduced their new, long awaited replacement to the Classic Macintosh System Software: Mac OS X. As Mountain Lion goes on the prowl, Cult of Mac reviews the Evolution of OS X and once again presents our look back at Apple’s Big Cats over the years – from Cheetah and Puma through to Apple’s current Felidae offerings.

Upgraded To Mountain Lion? There’s No Going Back To Lion Now

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The Lion is dead.
The Lion is dead.

If you rushed off to the Mac App Store to download OS X Mountain Lion as soon as it was released this morning, then I hope you like it. Because once you’ve handed over your cash, there’s no going back. Apple has now pulled OS X Lion from the Mac App Store, and once you’ve purchased Mountain Lion, it will be removed from your “Purchased” list.

Apple Sued By Chinese Chemical Company Over Snow Leopard Trademark

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Are you confused by the difference between a toilet cleaning compound and the Mac's operating system?
Are you confused by the difference between a toilet cleaning compound and the Mac's operating system?

Now that Apple has paid $60 million to end a thuggish extortion attempt on the part of China’s Proview over the iPad trademark, it looks like at least one additional Chinese trademark troll is coming out of the woodwork, looking for a payday. This time, however, it’s a dispute over a product Apple doesn’t even sell anymore: OS X Snow Leopard.

You Can’t Legally Join A Class-Action Lawsuit Against Microsoft, But You Can Against Apple (For Now)

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Microsoft plans to use license agreements to prevent class action lawsuits

 

Microsoft is a company known for creating strict, labyrinthine, costly terms in its commercial and end-user licensing. With Windows 8 seen as a make-or-break product for Microsoft, the company has already been adding licensing terms intended to strengthen its hand in the mobile market. As we reported earlier this year, Microsoft’s enterprise licensing for Windows 8 has provisions to coerce businesses into buying ARM-based Windows RT tablets while punishing those that deploy iPads with more costly terms.

Ratcheting things up a notch, Microsoft’s general counsel Tim Fielden announced new details about the company’s end-user license agreements. Although not mentioning specific products or services, Fielden posted on a Microsoft blog that many new agreements will prohibit users from initiating a class action lawsuit against the company.

Adobe Got Burned For Ending Legacy Support – Will The Same Thing Happen To Apple?

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Adobe backpedals after demanding users upgrade to receive security patches
Adobe backpedals after demanding users upgrade to receive security patches

Last week, Adobe created a firestorm of user unrest when it issued a series of security bulletins impacting three applications of its Creative Suite and said that users must pay to upgrade to the latest versions of the apps if they wanted patches that would close the vulnerabilities.

The company was quickly besieged by users, technology professionals, and security experts demanding that it reverse course and offer security patches to users who couldn’t afford the upgrades (or didn’t want to spend the money). Even though company quietly backpedaled and announced it would offer security updates without acknowledging the reason for its about face or offering an apology, the gaffe raises concerns that Apple’s yearly OS X release cycle might lead it down a similar path.

Boom 1.4 Update Promises To Deliver All The Features You’ve Been Requesting

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A sneak peek at Boom 1.4 for Mac OS X.
A sneak peek at Boom 1.4 for Mac OS X.

Boom, a terrific utility for Mac OS X that boosts system volume well above Apple’s default limit, is set to receive a new update that promises to deliver all of the features and improvements that Boom users have been asking for. That includes scroll gestures for those running Snow Leopard and Lion, the ability to access functions from the status bar icon, and more.

Apple Starts Giving Away Snow Leopard To Get Remaining MobileMe Users Onto iCloud

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Still using MobileMe? Time to make the jump to iCloud.
Still using MobileMe? Time to make the jump to iCloud.

Apple finally gave the notice that it would be killing off MobileMe once and for all on June 30th, 2012. The soon-to-be-defunct service has already been replaced with iCloud, but Mac users who are still not running an OS X version older than Snow Leopard can’t hop on the bandwagon. You must have Snow Leopard installed to then install OS X Lion from the Mac App Store and gain access to iCloud. And chances are that if you’re still using MobileMe, you aren’t running the latest version of OS X.

Flashback Trojan – A Big Wake Up Call For Mac IT Pros

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Macs in business that don't include centrally managed antivirus protection maybe time bombs waiting to go off
Business Macs that don't include centrally managed antivirus protection may be ticking time bombs

The after effects of the Flashback Trojan are going to be felt for a long time to come. Although there’s been the occasional Mac malware announcement over the past few years, none was ever found to be rampant in the wilds of the Internet. Most were easily avoided by Apple’s basic security elements or by simple user actions like telling Safari not to immediately open so-called “safe” files after downloading them.

As a result, the Flashback Trojan caught a lot of people off guard – including individual Mac owners and some IT professionals who ought to have known better. It also highlighted deficiencies on the part of Apple when it comes to security.

‘Flashback.G’ Trojan Is Infecting Macs With Older Java Runtime Software To Steal Your Personal Data

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Intego, the company behind the popular VirusBarrier security software for the Mac, has uncovered a new trojan horse called ‘Flashback.G’ that infects Macs running older versions of Java Runtime. The software installs itself on your system without your acknowledgement when you visit a malicious webpage, then it will record usernames and passwords for sites like Google, eBay, PayPal, and more.

GateKeeper’s Technology Isn’t Really New… But Its Control Over Developers Is

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Mountain Lion’s GateKeeper feature is designed to improve Mac security by harnessing the power of the Mac App Store and through a new developer program in which Apple will offer Developer IDs to members of its Mac Developer Program. Those IDs will let developers digitally sign their applications so that Mountain Lion Macs can verify an app’s authenticity and security before running it.

While this may seem like a new approach and an extension of the Mac App Store model, it’s actually based on technology that has been part of OS X since the release of Leopard.

Apple Intern Worked On ‘Secret’ Project Porting Mac OS X To ARM

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Mac OS X on iPad

While Apple has previously dismissed the idea of porting its entire Mac OS X operating system to ARM-powered mobile devices, the Cupertino company has at least been working on it. That’s according to one intern who worked with Apple’s Platform Technologies Group — a subdivision of the CoreOS department — for four months back in 2010. But does it really mean anything?

I Can’t Reinstall Snow Leopard After Installing Lion [Ask MacRx]

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Now here’s a bizarre headscratcher. A reader’s Mac Pro was upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion, then refused to subsequently boot off the Snow Leopard DVD to reinstall the older OS on another drive. Despite many different attempts, for this one Mac it appears perhaps you can’t go home again…

I use Bryce occasionally to produce art for friend’s projects. I just discovered it crashes under Lion. DAZ, the manufacturer acknowledges the problem but has no date when the fix will be made. Thinking I could install Snow Leopard and run Bryce under it, I set up a partition on an external drive and attempted to install SL. Lion was having none of it. I also attempted to boot from the SL install disk. It was also rejected out of hand.

Thanks for any help you can provide,
Mike

VMWare Is Going To Patch Leopard And Snow Leopard Virtualization Out Of Fusion

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Over the weekend, we reported that the 4.1 update to VMWare Fusion allowed users to virtualize Leopard and Snow Leopard; a strict violation of OS X’s licensing terms.

At the time, we supposed this was a conscious decision on VMWare’s part to leave Leopard and Snow Leopard virtualization up to the user. But no, nothing of the sort: it’s just a bug VMWare’s going to patch.