Articles about Mac

Microsoft's embracing of the open source movement grows ever tighter, and today the company announced that its Xamarin SDKs (available for Android, iOS and Mac) will be open sourced. It's not long since Microsoft bought Xamarin, and just weeks later the SDKs are being opened up.

Announced at the Xamarin Evolve 2016 event, the move sees Microsoft trying to encourage mobile developers. The company says it has already made great strides in this area: "we helped nearly 3.5 times more developers get started building great apps with Xamarin than ever in our history as a company".

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If you play PC games, you surely know of Steam. If you aren't such a gamer, please know that it is a video game delivery and management platform for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is a great way to purchase games, and unlike using Microsoft's Windows Store, games can take full advantage of your hardware.

Valve is not satisfied with Steam only being for games, you see, and the company is focusing on other media too. Today, Valve announces that Lionsgate movies will be distributed through its delivery solution. More than 100 films, including the wildly popular Hunger Games series, will be available on Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

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Today is the third birthday of the Docker containerization system and to celebrate the company is launching a beta program for Mac and Windows versions of its software.

It offers an integrated, easy-to-deploy environment for building, assembling, and shipping applications from Mac or Windows as well as having many improvements over Docker Toolbox.

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Apple earlier this week released new versions of its mobile and Mac operating systems, namely iOS 9.3 and OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan. They come with a significant number of changes, like Night Shift mode, extended Wi-Fi calling support and lots of security fixes, but also introduce bugs which are causing major issues for some early adopters.

It is not unheard of a new iOS or OS X release to break things, as Apple seems to be dealing with these kind of things quite frequently nowadays. Not everyone may be affected, but if you have an iPad 2 or use Apple's messaging services often on your Mac you might want to hold off on performing the upgrade.

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During the Windows 8 era, I was very worried about that operating system -- the UI and design choices were troubling. Luckily, as a longtime Linux user, I was not tied to any Microsoft OS. Unfortunately for some consumers, Linux-based operating systems can be difficult to install and use, while Mac computers are very expensive. Chrome OS and the inexpensive Chromebooks swooped in to save the day.

For those that stuck it out with Windows, or used other desktop operating systems, Google introduced a Chrome OS-like launcher -- the unimaginatively named Chrome app launcher. It allows Windows, Mac, and Linux users to launch Chrome apps from within their OS' native UI -- it sort of felt like Chrome OS running inside of them. Today, Google kills this project.

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ShareByLinkShareByLink is an open-source file sharing service and application for Windows, Linux and Mac.

The package is all about simplicity. There’s no registration, no account to create, nothing to set up: just install the program, then right-click a file and select "Share file(s) online...".

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Apple just released iOS 9.3, OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan, tvOS 9.2 and watchOS 2.2, following its Let us loop you in event, which, among other things, saw the unveiling of iPhone SE, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and new Apple Watch bands earlier today.

The latest batch of updates packs lots of changes, including security improvements and new user-friendly features but also bug fixes and better hardware support. Here is everything that you need to know.

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OS X and Linux are nowhere near as popular as Windows when we look at the PC market as a whole, but the two platforms are actually extremely popular with a certain crowd. According to a StackOverflow survey, 26.2 percent of developers use Apple's Mac operating system, while distributions based on the open-source kernel are not that far behind, having a combined 21.7 percent usage share.

This may come as a bit of a shock, but, yes, OS X and Linux are nearly as popular as Windows among developers. In fact, according to StackOverflow, "If OS adoption rates hold steady, by next year's survey fewer than 50 percent of developers may be using Windows" -- and, obviously, OS X and Linux will come out even more popular in the process.

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Group messenger app Blend started out as a college-focused photo sharing app. Having moved into group chat it’s now looking to enter the enterprise space.

Apps for Android, iOS and web platforms were rolled out last year and the company is now releasing a Mac desktop version. This will have the same sophisticated chat features of its mobile and web predecessors, with an attractive and intuitive user interface for private group messaging.

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Ransomware is a growing problem, with businesses and individuals increasingly having their data encrypted and held to ransom. As with so many forms of malware, it has been PC users that have borne the brunt of attacks, but over the weekend it was Mac owners that were targeted by the KeRanger ransomware.

The malicious software first appeared on Friday and is said to be the first fully-functional example of ransomware aimed at Apple devices. KeRanger was found to be installed alongside the Transmission BitTorrent client, and while Apple has used its Gatekeeper security system to prevent further infections, if you have installed Transmission 2.90 there are steps you need to take to clean up your system.

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To be on the cutting edge of technology you sometimes need to make some hard decisions. If you are a Mac user who is interested in Oculus Rift, you will have to choose between your love of Apple's computers and enjoying the virtual reality headset. That is because the two do not go hand in hand, as Oculus Rift only supports Windows PCs. Ouch!

Your Mac is not held back by Windows per se, because it can be easily installed via Boot Camp or Parallels -- and you get pretty much the same user experience as a PC user. The reason why Mac support is currently out of the question boils down to hardware limitations.

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A security specialist has discovered a flaw in Sparkle, a third-party framework that Mac apps use to receive updates, which makes a man in the middle attack possible when unencrypted HTTP connections are used.

If the attacker has the ability to intercept the unencrypted data stream for example on a public Wi-Fi hotspot they could possibly inject malicious code.

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Apple has made CloudKit much more appealing to developers by adding a server-side API to its framework. This will allow them to add much more functionality to apps that are powered by the service and to utilize it even when users have not interacted with iOS, Mac, or web apps.

Previously, CloudKit interaction was limited to the APIs that Apple provided in apps. It was useful for developers but did not give them the opportunity to implement more advanced features. Today’s modern apps make use of servers to perform tasks and collect information when a user is not using the app. With CloudKit’s new web API, developers can add these more advanced features into their apps using Apple’s tools instead of having to rely on third party services to do so.

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Finding an email app that I can enjoy using has proven to be quite a challenge. I want an app that is available on multiple platforms, that works on smartphones, tablets and PCs equally well. I also want it to support all my favorite email services, and make it easy for me to sort all my messages quickly. Sounds simple, right?

Those are not outrageous requirements, yet, until recently, the only app that came close was Outlook. However, it is far from perfect, as it lacks an OS X version -- which forces me to either use a different app on my Mac or turn to the browser -- and it also has some usability issues, depending on the platform or the provider I am using. I said until recently because I now find CloudMagic to be a superior option.

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While many people type with on-screen keyboards every day, let's be honest -- a physical variant can be much better. Typing on a piece of glass fails to give the user true feedback, which can lead to typos. Even worse, auto-correction on those typos can create messages that are not only wrong, but potentially embarrassing. On a smartphone in particular, the smaller screen means a smaller keyboard -- that can be frustrating.

Luckily, Bluetooth keyboards have been a godsend in this regard. While a smartphone or tablet are primarily consumption devices, a good wireless keyboard can make them productivity powerhouses too. Today, VisionTek unveils a new such Bluetooth keyboard. This wireless input device has one really cool feature that sets it apart from many -- it is waterproof.

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