One of my biggest concerns about Apple distributing Mac OS X 10.7 Lion via the Mac App store has been resolved. One intrepid Lion beta tester has discovered a hidden secret inside of Lion’s installation application.
Want to test out iOS 5 but don’t have a developer account? No worries: a new vulnerability makes it pretty trivial to upgrade to iOS 5 on any iPhone.
Be careful, though… rolling back to iOS 4 if things go south isn’t officially supported. This is for pros only, and there’s a lot that can go wrong.
As the impending launch of Mac OS X Lion creeps closer and closer, it’s getting harder and harder to wait for all of the new features Apple has promised, like Launchpad and AirDrop, just to name a couple. Well, if you want to get a taste of Mac OS X Lion before it’s here, there are a few quick things you can do to transform your aging install of Snow Leopard into a Lion like experience. In this video, I’ll show you what to do.
iTunes is often called Apple’s worst piece of software. It’s criticized for being a bloated and slow way to manage music and sync iOS devices. This becomes especially apparent if you store a lot of content on your device or have a large iTunes library. iTunes doesn’t have to be so painful to use though. In this video, you’ll see a few ways you can make iTunes speedier and more responsive.
While the iPad’s onscreen virtual keyboard is nice, it still doesn’t compare with a physical keyboard in usability. Fortunately, Apple includes some relatively hidden features which can greatly improve typing speed as well as usability on the iPad’s keyboard. In this video you’ll find out how to enable these features and use them to their full potential.
Amid all the talk of malware scares for Mac users recently, here’s a useful guide to Mac security basics, from the NSA of all people.
When Apple released QuickTime X with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, it seemed like little more than another version of QuickTime with a new User Interface. In reality though, there are quite a few features either new to QuickTime X, or previously only available in the Professional version, that make it much more than just a media player. In this video, you’ll see how you can get more use out of QuickTime X.
The newest Mac OS X Malware, MACDefender, has taken the Apple community by storm. Some are claiming that Mac Malware is getting worse, and even Apple won’t help you with this one. Fortunately, if you’ve been infected with this pesky new malware, the solution to uninstalling it is quite simple. It only takes a minute or two, and if you follow the steps outline in this video, your Mac should be back to normal in no time. Alternatively, here’s a text guide if you’d prefer that.
At this point, you probably know all about the Mac Defender thats doing the rounds. According to AppleCare Support reps, it’s exploding on Macs all across the country… but if you call Apple, they won’t lift a finger to help you remove it.
So how can you tell if you’re infected by MacDefender? Luckily, it’s pretty easy to spot it on your system… and even easier to remove it, if you know how.
Have you ever had the desire to change how your applications look your Mac? Perhaps you want them to look like the icons found in iOS, as seen in the picture above? Although fairly unknown, it is possible in Mac OS X. All you’ll need to get started is img2icns. While there is no plain and obvious way to go about it, it’s actually fairly simple once you know what to do, as demonstrated in this video.
Hopefully you already know how great Preview is. It comes built in with every Mac, it handles PDFs and images with ease, and does a great deal of basic image editing just fine, saving you the bother of opening more substantial, more expensive image editors. Here’s a tip for getting perfect square crops inside Preview.
A growing number of iTunes customers are reporting that they are unable to make purchases or upgrade apps, and Apple’s new method of validating addresses might be to blame. Here’s what went wrong, and how to fix it.
Sometimes, even Macs get laggy. Logging in can be sluggish, and even just routine tasks can start to crawl. Whether you know it or not, resource hogs can be lurking in your system and slowing down your work. After following these five simple steps though, your Mac can be almost as good as new.
Sean Power, a Canadian tech consultant and author, recently had his MacBook stolen along with some other valuables in his bag, including his birth certificate and cell phone. Using a free piece of software, Sean was able to track down his belongings and organize their safe return with the help of a bunch of friends on Twitter… and we can tell you how to do the same if it happens to you.
Google Music Beta launched yesterday, beating iTunes into the cloud by at least a couple months, but with one big drawback: it wasn’t supposed to work on iOS devices, but just one day later and Google Music is already up and running on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
Here’s how to use Google Music on your iDevice.
While the iPad has seemingly countless uses, one fairly uncommon one is the ability to use it as an external display for your Mac. iDisplay, a simple little app from the App Store, lets you achieve this. After all, if you already have the iPad, why not use it to your advantage? This video will show you how to set up iDisplay and tweak it to your liking.
It’s a safe bet that most Cult of Mac readers – and certainly all the Cult of Mac writers – are broadly in favour of almost everything Apple creates.
Almost everything.
If there’s one feature of OS X (Snow) Leopard that drives me and every other Mac user I’ve ever known mad with fury, it’s the Help Viewer, and its obstinate insistence on floating on top of every other window in sight.
GeekTool is a neat little System Preferences add-on that lets you expand the usability of your desktop. Whether it be adding the time, date, weather, or even your Twitter feed, GeekTool can change your desktop from a boring backdrop to a useful information center. This video will show you how to setup GeekTool to fit your needs, as well as where to find many useful add-ons for it.
Apple’s iOS updates lately have been interesting because they haven’t performed a complete restore and recovery of my data — in other words I didn’t have to reload all my apps, media, etc. after the firmware was updated. This happened recently with iOS 4.3.3 and previously with iOS 4.3.2.
In some cases after short firmware updates like these I’ve experienced problems with apps, my internet connection, multitasking, and a few other things. Here are some tips that will help you eliminate these problems if you encounter them.
I often take these basic iOS troubleshooting tips for granted and I thought that this would be a good time to share them with all of you.
Don’t trust your kids with open access to your credit card? I can’t blame you. In order to let your kids have an iTunes account though, you need to enter your credit card information, giving them free reign over your purchases, right? Wrong. While it may appear this way, there is a way to set up an iTunes account that involves absolutely no credit cards at all. This video will show you what to do.
Have an old iPod Nano? Want to spruce up its interface and software a bit? You’re in luck! This post is going to tell you how to really Pimp Your Pod! It’s rather straightfoward, and shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes to complete from start to finish. Please be aware that the iPodWizard portion is using software that’s Windows only, so you should get that virtual machine or Boot Camp install cookin’ for a little while. Read the rest of the post for more information.
When you buy an external Hard Drive for use with Time Machine, Apple’s backup software, you will most likely need to format it before you can use it, since chances are that it is formatted for a Windows based computer. You could always spend the extra money to get a Mac formatted Hard Drive, but what’s the sense in that? You can format your own external Hard Drive right from Mac OS X. This video will show you how.
Sometimes Dashboard can seem like a hassle. While it can be very handy for quick tasks, having to open a specific application to access these widgets can become cumbersome. It is also impossible to perform other tasks while using these widgets. Well, a simple command can fix all of that, and let you enjoy widgets alongside Mac OS X applications. Find out what to do in this video.
Got multiple iTunes accounts? Tired of switching manually from one to the other all the time?
If you’re in that position, you might like to check out this thread on Reddit, which offers a few solutions to make your life easier.
Have you ever needed to insert a special character while typing a document in Mac OS X, but didn’t know how? Apple doesn’t provide an easily accessible way to view which keys generate which characters. Buried in System Preferences though, is a keyboard viewer which will let you figure out which keys give which symbols. This video will show you how to enable this function and use it to discover helpful key combinations.