Articles about Mac

Three questions buzzed among investors and around the Interwebs ahead of today's Apple fiscal first quarter 2016 earnings report: Would iPhone momentum remain; how big could be revenues; and what would be guidance for the quarter in progress? Wall Street consensus was 76.54 million handsets sold and $76.582 billion in sales. Actual: 74.78 million iPhones and $75.872 billion revenue. More unsettling: Apple forecasts its first sales decline in 13 years; guidance is lower than analyst estimates.

After the closing Bell, Apple answered these questions. Revenue rose 2 percent year over, while net income climbed the same to $18.4 billion from $18 billion. Earnings per share of 3,28 nudged ahead of $3.23 consensus estimate. Gross margin reached 40.1 percent, up from 39.9 percent a year earlier.

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Microsoft has decided to let Mac users participate in its Office Insider program. It gives users running the popular suite on an Apple computer the opportunity to test new features earlier than the general public.

Windows and Android users have been able to be a part of the Office Insider program for some time now, and Mac users are finally getting their chance to try it out.

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Things are not looking good for the PC market. The fourth quarter of 2015 registered the biggest-ever year-over-year drop in shipments, as IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker revealed a 10.6 percent fall compared to the same period in 2014. For the whole of 2015, shipments are said to have dropped by 10.4 percent compared to the year prior.

Lenovo was the vendor with most PCs shipped in 2015, followed by HP and Dell. However, with the exception of Apple, all other vendors in IDC's top five have seen their shipments dropping last year. Mac shipments rose by 6.2 percent, according to the report.

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If you have an online porn habit you like to indulge from time to time, you're probably well-acquainted with Chrome's Incognito mode. Like Microsoft Edge's InPrivate browsing, and Firefox's Private browsing, Google's browser includes a mode that can be used to keep your browsing secret. At least that's the idea...

One gamer and unashamed porn consumer found that his X-rated browsing sessions were exposed by Diablo III. Running the game on his Mac, Evan Andersen found that cached images from his Incognito browsing sessions were displayed as the RPG title loaded. He managed to grab screenshots of the bug in action, and even went as far as writing a program to show what's happening.

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Cross-platform viruses and malware are something of a rarity, but now there's a first-in-its-class JavaScript-based ransomware that can infect Mac, Windows and Linux. Ransom32 uses the Node.js runtime environment running on the NW.js platform to burrow into the target operating system and hold files to ransom.

While on the face of it, this is just another example of ransomware that encrypts files and seeks Bitcoin payments to decrypt them, it is more than that. The NW.js framework not only allows for cross-platform infections, but also means it is harder to detect. Ransom32 bears some resemblance to CryptoLocker and has been dubbed Ransomware-as-a-Service.

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The anti-virus software for Apple’s OS X, MacKeeper, kept the user data of more than 13 million of its customers online without much protection, and someone eventually stumbled upon it.

Yes, stumbled is the perfect word in this instance, as the data was accessed through an IP address, no username or password required.

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Apple devices are becoming an integral part of today's enterprise environment, with nearly all enterprise IT professionals saying that their internal teams provide support for Mac, iPhone and iPad devices.

This is among the findings of a survey amongst IT professionals by Apple device management company JAMF Software. It shows that 96 percent of teams support Macs, 84 percent iPhones and 81 percent iPads.

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Apple must believe that all good things come in threes, because it just released new updates for its three major operating systems, bringing iOS 9.2, OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan and watchOS 2.1 to its users.

The updates are quite extensive, packing lots of bug fixes, performance and stability improvements, and new functionality. Most changes are brought by iOS 9.2 and watch OS 2.1, while OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan is more focused in the areas it is designed to improve upon.

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If you want to run Windows 10 on a Mac there are really only two options worth considering: a native install using Boot Camp or virtualization through Parallels. Each is excellent in its own right, but which one best meets your needs?

Trying to answer that question can prove to be a daunting task for many Mac users, based on my experience. The conundrum: Boot Camp is easy to use and readily available in OS X, while Parallels is the most versatile software of its kind for OS X. It's not easy. Fortunately, this article will help you understand which one is right for you.

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A huge proportion of the web is powered by WordPress -- more than a quarter, in fact. As a CMS it's incredibly flexible, and today the company unveiled not only a new look for WordPress.com, but also a desktop app for easier site maintenance.

It has taken a long time for a desktop app to appear, and this is something that's all the more surprising when you consider that mobile apps are already available. To start with, it's Mac users who are treated to WordPress goodness, but Linux and Windows versions are on the way as well.

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What’s the next step after an operating system upgrade on a Mac or PC? To see if you can work with your existing applications. When moving to OS X El Capitan and Windows 10 I got off to a rough start, which left me frustrated.

Let’s address the El Capitan problems first. Did the upgrade install? Yes! Was I able to work? Nope.

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Mechanical keyboards are all the rage nowadays, and for good reason; whether you are a gamer or typist, you can experience improved accuracy and feedback using them. Quite frankly, once you use one it is hard to go back, as many modern keyboards are mushy and terrible.

Today, Penclic announces the MK1 Mechanical Keyboard. This model has some nice features, such as brown switches and backlit keys. My favorite aspect, however, is the key design -- the font looks funky; caps lock and shift are particularly unique. Even cooler? The "super" button does not have a Windows logo; Mac and Linux users should appreciate that. It would go great with an Ubuntu-powered System76 computer.

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While I am not a huge fan of the Surface Book, some people apparently are. You see, the high-priced hybrid computer is, according to Microsoft, selling well. Could Apple fans be converting?

The Windows-maker is clearly targeting Mac users with this offering, as it constantly compares it to the MacBook Pro. Just in case Microsoft is successful in converting a few OS X users, the company has launched a new website titled 'Making the switch: MacBook to Microsoft Surface Book', to help with the transition.

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When Apple releases an update for iOS these days you can expect to find new versions of OS X and watchOS too. So, today, on top of making iOS 9.1 available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices, Apple is also bringing OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan to Macs and watchOS 2.0.1 to Apple Watch. So, let's take a look at what's new.

The common denominator between the three operating system updates is a refreshed collection of emoji, which now includes over 150 new items -- and, yes, the middle finger emoji is among them as the controversial photo above would suggest. But, probably, the most-awaited changes are under-the-hood.

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Windows users have long been the primary targets of all manner of security attacks, but now the tide is turning towards Mac users. In recent years there have been more viruses and malware attacks aimed at OS X, and security company Malwarebytes is now warning that Mac owners could fall victim to support scams. iPhones and iPads are also at risk.

It's a story that will be familiar to PC owners: fake technical support agents offer to remotely connect to a victim's computer to fix a (fake) problem, and then take control of the system and wreak unknown havoc. Apple does have its own, genuine remote support system accessible through ara.apple.com, but fraudulent pages with similar addresses are being used to trick people into installing remote access software.

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