Articles about macOS

Apple's macOS Sierra is a solid operating system. It is very mature and beautiful, not to mention, it is chock-full of user-focused features. Quite frankly, from a user experience perspective, it is probably the best OS by far. Still, there are other quality operating systems too, including Microsoft's excellent and always-improving Windows 10.

As great as macOS Sierra is, it is not perfect, meaning Apple is constantly looking to make it better. Today, the company releases the newest such version, 10.12.5. While not a revolutionary update by any means, it offers some important bug fixes and enhancements. The most interesting aspect of macOS Sierra 10.12.5 is improved Windows 10 Creators Update support for Boot Camp.

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GNOME is not just a desktop environment, but a collection of apps too. Some are useful, while others... not so much. Case in point, GNOME has a new program called "Recipes." It is quite literally a searchable database of cooking recipes. While there is nothing really wrong with creating such an app, it sort of duplicates the functionality of a search engine, like Google or Bing. If resources were unlimited, I'd say more power to the developers. The open source project largely relies on donations, however, and it could be argued that Recipes is a bit unnecessary.

There is one particularly interesting aspect of Recipes -- it is available for macOS. You see, the developers have successfully ported the app to Apple's desktop operating system. While I'm dubious that Mac users will actually want the app, it is still rather cool.

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We first learned of Microsoft's plans to bring Visual Studio to the Mac last year in November, but it is not until Build 2017 that the software giant announced the general availability of the much-awaited version of its IDE. That's right macOS users, Visual Studio 2017 for Mac is finally here.

Visual Studio 2017 for Mac arrives two months after Microsoft released the Windows version and the fourth beta of the macOS IDE, and brings with it a number of new features related to things like .NET Core, web tooling and Xamarin.

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Back in 2013, Apple released a seemingly revolutionary desktop computer -- the cylindrical Mac Pro. It was beautiful and powerful, although it did resemble a garbage can. The problem? Apple neglected the computer, letting it stagnate. Then, in 2016, it released new MacBook Pro laptops, but many professionals panned the device for being under-powered. Ultimately, it seemed like Apple didn't care about professionals.

Not so fast. Apple not caring about professionals? Blasphemy. True, the company's profits largely don't come from "Pro" machines nowadays, but it historically has catered to creative professionals, such as hardcore photographers, videographers, and designers. Today, John Gruber of Daring Fireball shares an interesting interview with Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, who drops a bombshell -- the Mac Pro is getting a redesign! The company is even looking to release a new dedicated display -- a good idea after the LG monitor fiasco.

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With the launch of iOS 10.3 and macOS 10.12.4, there was great excitement about the arrival of a new file system as well as improvements to performance -- even if they were only perceived improvements. Something that didn’t get a great deal of attention, however, is the introduction of replies to reviews.

Just as has been an option in Google Play for years, developers can now respond to the reviews that people leave about their apps and games. It's something that has been a very long time coming, and finally brings a dialog to the App Store, meaning that users and developers have a two-way channel of communication.

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Reducing exposure to blue light before bed can help you sleep better, which is why Apple has introduced Night Shift in macOS Sierra. The new display mode is designed to reduce the negative effects by changing the colors on your Mac's screen to warmer tones. However, it's not enabled by default.

Just like on iOS, where Apple first introduced Night Shift, you can easily activate and configure it to suit your preferences. Here is how you can do that.

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New releases always present a challenge for system admins and that applies to Apple just as much as other systems.

Device management specialist Jamf is offering zero day support for the latest spring releases of iOS (10.3), macOS (10.12.4), and tvOS (10.2).

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The Vault 7 leaks this week suggest that the CIA has been able to exploit vulnerabilities in a wide range of popular hardware and software, including Windows, macOS and Linux. One of the suggestions is that the agency produced EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) rootkits for MacBooks called DarkMatter.

To help calm the fears of MacBook owners, Intel Security has pushed out a tool to check for such rootkits. Apple issued a statement earlier this week indicating that it had addressed "many of the issues" exposed by WikiLeaks, but Intel Security's further intervention will bring some peace of mind to concerned users.

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Microsoft today releases Visual Studio 2017 and the fourth preview of Visual Studio for Mac. The latest official version of its longstanding IDE for Windows adds improvements related to productivity, performance, mobile apps, cloud development, DevOps and the ecosystem surrounding Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2017, according to Microsoft's blog post announcing the release, features an improved startup and project load times, better navigation, the ability to edit files without having to open a project or solution, CMake support and Linux support for C++, Xamarin Forms Previewer, a new Connected Services experience, the ability to build .NET Core 1.0 and .NET Core 1.1 apps, support for Azure App Service and more.

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Thanks to its Unix foundation, macOS is a rock-solid desktop operating system. While it is not infallible, there are far fewer malware threats for Apple's OS compared to, say, Windows 10. With that said, Microsoft's desktop offering is more targeted due to its monstrous market share.

As more and more consumers buy Mac computers, evildoers will have increased incentive to write malware for macOS. Luckily, users of Apple's operating system that choose to use Google Chrome for web surfing will soon be safer. You see, the search giant is improving its Safe Browsing initiative to better warn macOS users of malicious websites and attempts to alter browser settings.

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Cyber security firm Bitdefender says it has recently uncovered a new type of malware which targets macOS users. The company says that the malware, which it has dubbed Xagent, is capable of stealing passwords, taking screenshots and grabbing iPhone backups stored on the machine.

Bitdefender says it still can’t be absolutely certain of who is behind the malware, but all evidence points in the direction of the APT28 cybercrime group. The company says this group uses the same dropper / downloader, as well as the same control center URLs. On top of that, Bitdefender says same artifacts have been hardcoded in the binary files.

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Parallels Toolbox is a macOS app for power users that provides easy access to dozens of utilities -- like camera controls, screenshot options, archiving and more -- from the menu bar. Now, there is a new version available and it comes with three changes designed to improve the user experience.

Toolbox 1.5 adds the option to drag and drop tools, capture audio from the Mac, and change the sources for the camera and microphone. Let's take a closer look at the latest changes.

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The latest official macOS Sierra update that Apple recently introduced did not bring any new features to the table, as it focused on improving performance and fixing bugs, but that is about to change as Night Shift will finally arrive in the upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.4.

Night Shift should sound familiar to iPhone users, as Apple debuted this feature nearly a year ago in iOS 9.3. What is it? Night Shift is a mode that, when activated, reduces blue light to help you sleep better.

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One of the big hurdles for people looking to switch from Windows to Linux or macOS is a dependence of software that requires Microsoft's operating system. This is becoming less of an issue, however, as more and more programs become cross-platform. Not to mention, a lot of software solutions are web-based nowadays, meaning they can run on any operating system with compatible web browser.

If you are someone that depends on software that only runs on Microsoft's operating system, you should probably stick with Windows. I mean, why deal with headaches? But OK, if for whatever reason you would rather use macOS or a Linux-based operating system like Ubuntu, there is a solution -- Wine. This is a compatibility layer that can be used to run Windows software on other operating systems. With that said, it is not perfect -- it can be a frustrating experience.

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For far too many years the process of providing feedback in the App Store has been a one-way dialog. At long last Apple is opening things up so developers will be able to respond to reviews that are left by customers.

References to the new option is to be found in the documentation for iOS 10.3 beta, and Apple says that it will be available to developers when the final version of iOS 10.3 is released; it will also be available in the Mac App Store. Importantly, just as with Google Play, responses that are left will be visible to all and a new API will make it possible to leave feedback from within apps.

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