desktop

Recently, I’ve been using my old Mac more and more, even thought I’ve long preferred using an iPad for both work (writing) and play (making music, and all the other dumb stuff you do on a computer when you’re goofing off).

And It’s gotten me thinking. Why do I prefer the Mac for some tasks? And I mean, strongly prefer. I’m so used to using both iOS and macOS that it’s not a questions of familiarity. Nor is it that I’m trying to squeeze the Mac way of doing things into the iPad, and vice versa — a common problem for new switchers.

No, my preference comes down to two small yet fundamental differences between the iPad and the Mac. These two features are present on the Mac, and will probably never make it to the iPad. What are they?

Some of the most creative iPhone home screen designs we’ve ever seen use blank gaps to separate icons into groups or to create interesting stepped patterns. But how is that even possible? After all, if you delete a home screen icon, the others close ranks to fill in the space.

The answer is to add blank icons to create those gaps. Then, you can add a blank row to organize your iPhone home screen, or move all your apps the the bottom of the screen instead of the top.

Most people are animals. They drop files onto their Mac desktops the way teenagers drop junk food and candy wrappers in the street, littering the place up until you can’t find anything. I’m not gong to try to cure you of that habit. That was your parents’ job, and they already failed. But I can show you a few quick ways to access your shameful desktop when you decide you can face it.

Fall has finally arrived, but the Cult of Mac Store is staying warm with a fresh shipment of hot new deals. This week, we’ve got a comprehensive bundle of iOS 11 courses that’s yours for whatever you want to pay. Plus, we’ve got a 1080p snaking camera, a tool for streamlined file sharing, and an app for clearing gigs of space on your Mac. Everything is top shelf and hugely discounted. Read on for more details:

Developers received an all-new beta build of iOS 11 today, just two weeks after Apple seeded the previous one.

iOS 11 beta 4 brings a host of bug fixes and performance improvements, plus a few key changes that make Apple’s mobile operating system even better. New beta builds are also available for macOS High Sierra, tvOS 11 and macOS High Sierra.

If you want the fastest possible web browsing experience on Mac, don’t sway from Safari.

Apple promises that Safari 11, which will debut in macOS High Sierra this fall, is “the world’s fastest desktop browser.” And tests show that it does not disappoint.

When Apple unveiled the new iMac Pro at WWDC this week, not only was it the most powerful Mac ever made, it was also one of the most pricey ever.

At $5,000 for the baseline model, the iMac Pro is aimed at the most professional of Pro users, but according to a new price analysis on competing super-powered PC, the iMac Pro might actually be a killer deal.

Game streaming platform Twitch today unveiled its new desktop app for Windows and Mac.

It will offer all the features you expect from the service, including voice and video calling, and you’ll be able to get your hands on the beta later this month.

Google Chrome is already the best third-party web browser on iOS, and with every update, it gets even better. The next will bring a Safari-like Reading List feature that lets you save web pages for later.

After Apple brings an OLED touch pad to the MacBook Pro later this year, the feature is likely to make its way to other notebooks — and maybe even the Magic Keyboard. This awesome new concept video imagines what that might look like.

Android has long been available on desktops in some form, but it has never been done right. That’s going to change later this month with Remix OS, a platform that brings Android to almost any Mac and PC — and makes it usable by adding a familiar desktop interface.

Android users are into some pretty weird… stuff. I know you’re probably denying that now — I tried, too — but you can’t, because Pornhub has its eye on us all. Sort of.

According to the website’s latest browsing statistics, the list of things Android users are into makes for a much more intriguing reading that that for iOS users. Mobile devices are also crushing the desktop when it comes to overall traffic, and Android has the edge.

Yay?

Grovemade already makes some of our favorite wooden accessories for the iPad and iPhone, but now the San Francisco based woodworkers are entering the realm of the desktop with the Grovemade Desk collection, a gorgeous array of accessories for the wood-obsessed Mac fan.

Does the iOS-centric IBM-Apple deal equal the end of the road for desktops? Absolutely it does, if you believe Bob Tinker, CEO of the newly-public company MobileIron.

Discussing the recent alliance between the two tech giants during his company’s first earnings call, Tinker pointed to the IBM-Apple deal as something of a signal moment for mobile. “I think of it as a positive that IBM’s committed to building mobile apps for enterprises, switching away from Windows to mobile platforms,” he noted.

“This signals the end of the desktop era. IBM once made a deal with Microsoft in the late 1980s that ushered in the era of the desktop, and now they’re ending it with Apple.”

The team behind CyanogenMod has released a new CyanogenMod Installer tool for Mac that makes it easy to load the latest versions of its custom ROMs with just one click. Compatible with both smartphones and tablets, the installer does not require devices to be rooted or an unlocked bootloader.

UPDATE: Facebook has now confirmed auto-playing ads will rollout this week. See the update at the bottom of this post.

Facebook’s auto-playing video ads, which first appeared on iOS last week, will be seen by all users on all platforms later this week, The Wall Street Journal reports. You’ll see them on your desktop as well as your mobile devices, and they will play automatically as you scroll through your timeline.

Viber, the hugely popular cross-platform messaging service, now offers low-cost calls to mobile phones and landlines worldwide as part of a new service called Viber Out. It’s available on Android, iOS, and though the Viber desktop client, and it boasts call fees substantially cheaper than Skype’s.

Movable Ink — a New York City-based company whose technology allows clients to create more relevant email marketing campaigns — has put together this data visualization graphic, showing the United States divided by whether they prefer using smartphones and tablets to access their emails, or the classic desktop approach.

Edifier is a lesser-known company with roots in China, and a design lab in Vancouver, British Columbia. While Edifier speakers have seen table time in Apple stores in the past, they seem to be making a bigger push here in the States within the last year or two.

Their latest set is the e25 Luna Eclipse, Bluetooth-equipped speakers stuffed with some trick tech and 74 watts of power per channel — at the upper end for a set of desktop media speakers.

1Password, the popular password manager from AgileBits, has today been updated to finally support Wi-Fi syncing between Mac and iOS devices. The update also adds the ability to change the built-in browser’s user agent, and improves support for the latest iOS 7 firmware.

Google is already serving you Gmail ads on your desktop, and soon you’ll see them on your mobile, too. Although they aren’t active just yet, there is evidence for them in the latest Gmail for Android release, which was made available to download via Google Play last week.

BlackBerry failed miserably in its attempt to bring BBM to Android and iOS last week, but the Canadian company hasn’t given up on making its popular messaging service available to all. In fact, it isn’t just targeting other mobile platforms, but it’s also planning to bring BBM to your desktop, too.

Wunderlist, the hugely popular cross-platform productivity app that now boasts over 5.3 million users worldwide, got a new feature called Comments this week, which brings the conversation to your to-do list. If you use Wunderlist in a professional environment, you can now discuss tasks and projects with your team within individual to-dos.

What’s more, you can now try Comments — as well as Files and Assigning — for free for a limited time, without signing up to Wunderlist Pro.

The Skype app for iPad has been updated today to introduce support for HD video calling — but there’s a catch. The feature is only available on the fourth-generation iPad with Retina display, and not any of its predecessors or the iPad mini.