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.
One slick feature of Android handsets is the back button. No matter what app you’re in or what screen you’re on, you should be–in theory–able to back out the way you came. It’s tremendously helpful.
With iOS 7 beta, Apple has quietly introduced a gesture that does the same thing, and it seems to work in most apps like Safari, Mail, and Settings. Here’s how to make it work.
In yet another addition to the OS X Finder in OS X Mavericks, you can now tag your files. This is a wonderful way to keep track of stuff, since unless you’re an obsessive folder and sub-folder maker, tags are much easier to define and apply on the fly, making the dynamic organization of your files easier and less permanent.
OS X Mavericks tags seem a lot like Labels did, with a couple of differences. You can apply more than one tag to a file or folder, and you can sort your files by tag, as well. 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.
A promising feature of the upcoming iOS 7 is the automatic updating feature for apps. As Senator John McCain knows, manually updating ever sigle app on your iOS device–especially as you start to collect a bunch–can be a real time sink.
Fortunately, iOS 7 beta has the ability to just let all your apps update in the background, automagically, with nary a trip to the App Store UPdates tab to waste your time. HOwever, if you want to be able to pick and choose which apps to update, you’ll need to make a trip to the Settings app.
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.
OS X Mavericks (named after a surfing hot spot in California) was announced recently, and it contains a ton of new features for Mac users to pore over and learn anew. While not as incredible an overhaul as the concurrent update to iOS 7, Mavericks still contains some fairly helpful features and additions to make it worth some poking around, even in the beta.
Speaking of the beta, remember that any of the stuff we talk about below may only exist in the beta, or in some other form, so enjoy playing around with these things, but don’t worry when things are different when Mavericks releases for real in the Fall.
That said, let’s take a look at five new, hidden, and above all, interesting, features of the latest beta for OS X: Mavericks.
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.
iOS 7 beta is fresh out of the gate, and already we’re finding a bunch of hidden and new features bundled into Apple’s latest revolution in mobile operating system software for iPhone. While we can’t guarantee these will work the same way–or even exist, to be honest–when iOS 7 comes out for real this coming fall, it’s a ton of fun dropping into the features and playing around a bit.
Be sure you don’t use iOS 7 beta for anything mission critical, as it’s still not quite ready for prime time, and it could mess your data up in some way unexpected.
That said, let’s look at five hidden secrets in the new beta for iOS 7, shall we?
Disclaimer: Seriously, folks, iOS 7 beta is a pre-release version of iOS. Don’t use these tips as proof that anything will be in the final release, or that they’ll work past the beta. We’re providing these as a fun way to explore Apple’s new mobile OS, is all.
The iPhone’s built-in navigation system has profoundly changed my life. No longer do I need to plan extra time to get to a meeting so I can deal with my ability to get lost on even the most benign route in my own hometown, since I can use turn by turn spoken directions to get me to my destination.
When walking however, I’m the guy who’s usually staring down at his iPhone, waving it around in some weird figure eight pattern to resolve interference, and generally bumping into things along the way.
No longer, though, as iOS 7 beta has turn by turn walking directions. Here’s how to use them.
If you’ve used an iPad for any significant amount of time, you know that after a while, it can get rather unwieldy to hold and use, especially with one hand. Gripping it on the side bevel is a decent sort-term solution, but the larger iPad just gets too heavy to make that a tenable stretegy for long, and even the iPad mini, with its significantly smaller bevel size, can be a challenge to hold.
There are probably a metric ton of iPad and other tablet cases out there that try to remedy this, adding bulk and unwieldy solutions along the way. In addition, cases that strap around an iPad can’t be used for other tablets or eReaders at all; they’re specifically tailored to each device’s measurements.
Two designers from Simi Valley, California aim to change all that with the HandTab, a medically-safe handgrip for the iPad and any other tablet you might own.
If you’re growing tired of the way iOS 6 keeps your photos together in one big shoebox of sorts, only letting you categorize photos and create albums manually, there’s a new app out that will help you do much more than that, and it’s free to boot.
Photoful is a new, free app that offers something of what you can expect to find in the upcoming iOS 7 version of Apple’s own Photos: an elegant, good-looking, well-designed app focused on helping you organize and display your camera photos in a better way.
I remember when I got my first computer, ever, at the age of 24. It was a Macintosh Performa 638CD, and it came with this sweet little 14.4 baud modem that was my entree to the whole of the internet, which really wasn’t that popular back then.
I remember finding this cool little icon on the Mac with a little hand-drawn person on it, called eWorld. Hmm, I wondered. What the heck was eWorld?
Clicking through, I found an adorable little electronic village, all in that hand-drawn, gentle style. Oh, this must be like Compuserve, or Prodigy, right?
Well, yes and no. The softer, gentler world of eWorld was only for Macs, and it was my favorite place to go. Never mind that it was kind of empty; it was beautiful and I loved it.
Remember that any of the iOS 7 beta features and tips we share with you could change before the latest mobile operating system from Apple hits the streets this coming fall.
Also, be sure that you’re not using a beta iOS 7 on an iPhone you need to get work done on–-Apple has provided it without guarantee for developers to start working with, not for you to use on any mission critical tasks.
Another of the most exciting new features coming to iOS 7 is call blocking, in my opinion. To be able to keep folks from texting or calling has got to be one of the more requested features on the iPhone, since the beginning.
iOS 7 beta has two places to block numbers. Here’s where they are, and how to add numbers to your blocked list.
Don’t forget 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 a new little feature in the beta.
Many apps have had access to special characters before, like iChat and Messages. You’d simply click the little smiley face, for example, and get all the fun emoticons Apple has provided.
If you wanted to type a special character in a text document, though, you’d have to remember that Option-8 is a text bullet, and Option-K is the degrees symbol, and Option-2 gives you the Trademark symbol.
Now, though, in OS X Mavericks beta, you can see visually what special characters are available to you across all applications. Here’s how.
Seriously, I’m kind of tired of playing the typical RPG in which I take on the role of the savior of the world. This kind of power fantasy, wish fulfillment story has its place, but boy would it be nice if we could see some different stories out there.
The developers behind Kickstarter project, Unrest, must have felt the same way, as their new online RPG is set in ancient India, for one thing (not a Tolkeinesque forest complete with Orcs and Elves), and will let you play as the ordinary folk struggling to maintain their freedom, safety, peace, and keep their children fed and happy.
World of Warcraft, this isn’t.
Before we get into today’s iOS 7 Beta tip, remember that any of the iOS 7 beta features and tips we share with you could change before the latest mobile operating system from Apple hits the streets this coming fall.
Also, be sure that you’re not using a beta iOS 7 on an iPhone you need to get work done on–-Apple has provided it without guarantee for developers to start working with, not for you to use on any mission critical tasks.
One of the most exciting features in the upcoming iOS 7, and it’s in the beta as well, is AirDrop, Apple’s configuration-free file sharing protocol that has been on OS X for a while. It’s making its way to iOS 7, and here’s how to use it in the beta, as well as how to set the privacy settings for the protocol.
Speech to text is the next new thing, with all devices we use, including our Macs, having the ability to listen to our speech and type what we say for us. What usually makes this magic possible are network-connected processing data centers, that take your speech and convert it to text, all somewhere other than your iPhone device, say. But what if you want to keep what you say to your devices private?
In the new version of OS X, Mavericks beta, there’s a new option to do just that. It’s called Enhanced Dictation, and here’s how to enable it.
If you haven’t played Torchlight, yet, you’re missing out. It’s essentially a Diablo-style dungeon crawling hack n slash game, which is no surprise considering that Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer, co-designers of Diablo and Diablo II, were on the team that made it.
Today, and for the next 48 hours, Torchlight is free to download and own on GoG.com, formerly known as Good Old Games, one of the best ways to get older games for your Mac without any digital rights management (DRM) mess.
That’s some seriously worth it for a download, but wait, there’s more!
Just like we said yesterday, remember that any of the iOS 7 beta features and tips we share with you could change before the latest mobile operating system from Apple hits the streets this coming fall.
Also? Be sure that you’re not using a beta iOS 7 on an iPhone you need to get work done on–Apple has provided it without guarantee for developers to start working with, not for you to use on any mission critical tasks.
That said, let’s take a look at a new feature in iOS 7: Smart Mailboxes. In OS X, you can create a mailbox with a bunch of filtering rules to help you gather together just email you’re interested in into one place.
iOS 7 beta doesn’t let you create your own smart mailbox, though. Rather, it has four or five new “mailboxes” that filter your incoming email into new categories, like Flagged email, email with attachments, or others. Here’s where to find, and ultimately enable, these new mailboxes in iOS 7 beta.
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.
Mailbox, the wondrous new email client for iOS that lets you manage your emails as they come in, has just gotten another update. Now you can use Mailbox on your iPad in the portrait orientation, instead of the landscape-only mode that was previously the only option on the bigger iOS devices.
As you may know, Apple released the first beta for its upcoming iOS 7 this past week, after an announcement at WWDC just prior.
We’ll take you through some lesser known features with our tips for a bit, giving you a sneak peek into the workings of the newest system to hit the iPhone. Be aware, however, that as this is beta software, any of these features and tips could change before iOS 7 hits the streets this coming fall. In addition, be sure that you’re not using a beta iOS 7 on an iPhone you need to get work done on–Apple has provided it without guarantee for developers to start working with, not for you to use on any mission critical tasks.
That said, let’s check out Mail, the built-in app for checking and sending your email from Apple. One of the biggest things I’ve always wished for in the previous app is a way to mark all the messages in my inbox as read in one fell swoop.
It looks like, in iOS 7 beta, anyway, that you can do just that. Here’s how.
OS X Mavericks (named after a hot surfing spot in California) was released last week, and even though it may have been overshadowed by the iOS 7 announcement at the same time, there are bound to be some new things in the operating system we can tip you about.
Remember, though, that as with all beta software, OS X Mavericks isn’t a final version–it’s meant to be used by developers to ensure that when it’s released this fall, all the devs with apps on OS X will have had time to make tweaks to their current Mac software, and start integrating Mavericks stuff into their next bits of software.
That said, let’s take a look at how to enable the new Do Not Disturb toggle in OS X Mavericks beta.
Battery life! It’s a thing!
To get the most time out of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch battery, you have to manage it. There’s no substitute for figuring gout how your iPhone uses power, and then optimizing your usage and the enabled services and features on your iPhone to make sure you get the most life out of your battery.
Here are five ways you can stay firmly in charge of your battery.