Homebrew now has an official MacOS GUI app for visual package management, offering a graphical alternative to the popular command line tool. The Homebrew GUI app makes it easy to install new packages, update existing packages and casks, manage packages, and find new Homebrew packages, and is a worthwhile addition for Mac users who use Homebrew anyway.

The Homebrew GUI app will obviously require you to have installed Homebrew already on the Mac. If you haven’t done that, or if you have no interest in Homebrew as a package manager or command line, this won’t be of particular relevance to you. But if you’re a Homebrew user, and you want to use the official Homebrew GUI app (as opposed to third party alternatives like Applite), here’s how to install it.

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If you’re looking for a great desktop Mac, the Mac Studio and Mac mini are both fantastic. Amazon is offering the latest Mac mini and Mac Studio at some nice discounts, taking up to $200 off the Studio and $150 off the Mac mini in select configurations.

• M6 Mac Mini – 16GB / 256GB – $779 (down from $899)
• M6 Mac mini – 16GB / 512GB – $949 (down $150 from $1099)
• M5 Pro Mac Mini – 24GB / 512GB – $1619 (down from $1699)
• M5 Max Mac Studio – 32GB / 512GB – $2299 ($200 off, down from $2499)

You’ll need a display for the Mac Studio or Mac Mini:

• Dell 27″ 4k display – $350
• ASUS ProArt 27″ display – $650
• Apple Studio Display 27″ – $1599

And a keyboard and mouse too:

• Magic Mouse (black) – $89
• Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad (black)- $199

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A somewhat rare reason that MacOS can feel excessively slow is due to a runaway process in the background, in this particular case; rpcsvchost. You might find this in Activity Monitor or another resource monitor, consuming an unusually large amount of RAM and/or CPU, in which case you’re probably wondering what this process is, and whether it’s safe to kill it.

If you were wondering, yes, rpcsvchost is a legitimate system process for MacOS, but it can still occasionally misbehave and contribute to unusually high CPU usage or excessive memory consumption (enough to swap and use virtual memory), both of which can make a Mac feel notably slower.

Let’s dive a bit into what rpcsvchost does, why it might be using excessive system resources, and how to troubleshoot the problem.

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Amazon is discounting just about every M5 MacBook Air model in 13″ and 15″ sizes, all color options, and various storage configurations, taking $200 off the retail price.

$200 Off M5 MacBook Air 15″

• 15″ M5 MacBook Air – 24GB – 1TB – $1799 ($200 off)
• 15″ M5 MacBook Air – 16GB – 512GB – $1299 ($200 off)

$200 Off M5 MacBook Air 13″

• 13″ M5 MacBook Air – 24GB – 1TB – $1599 ($200 off)
• 13″ M5 MacBook Air – 16GB – 512GB – $1099 ($200 off)

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If you’re still running MacOS Sequoia on your Mac, it’s probably for good reason. Whether that’s due to specific app compatibility, workflow, preference, or whatever else, if you have chosen not to install MacOS 27 Golden Gate let alone MacOS Tahoe 26, you’ll likely want to continue to stay on MacOS Sequoia. But Apple’s Software Update settings panel is fairly aggressive with the upgrade pitch to MacOS 27 Golden Gate, just like they were for Tahoe, and if you’re running MacOS Sequoia and would like to simply update MacOS Sequoia without installing MacOS 27 Golden Gate, read along to understand how this works.

And to be clear, MacOS 27 Golden Gate is a pretty good operating system, and for most users it’s an upgrade over MacOS Tahoe, and some even for Sequoia. This is simply aimed at users who have determined that they want to stay on MacOS Sequoia, and apply updates to MacOS Sequoia.

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Apple has announced some sort of event for October 13, where the company will presumably unveil new and updated products.

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Marketing Greg Joswiak posted a short video on X/Twitter (you can follow us there too) for the announcement, posted below, where a graphic says “Welcome Home” and shows two women embroidering a retro rainbow Apple logo.

The ‘home’ reference has led to much speculation about the event being geared towards their Home line of products, and the possible debut of a long rumored new HomePod device which is said to have a screen and speaker and vaguely resemble the classic lampshade iMac, and that device can apparently be used for things like FaceTime and Siri AI. There are also assumptions that Apple will update the current HomePod speakers lineup with new specs and capabilities.

Separately, a new Bloomberg report claims that Apple will launch a touchscreen MacBook Pro, updated MacBook Pro, and new iPad mini later in October, though it’s unclear if those products will be announced at the October 13 event or at that yet-to-be-unveiled later date.

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If you have an older Mac that’s still perfectly usable, as most older Macs still are, then you might be interested in running a modern web browser on that Mac, and that’s what Momiji is for. Momiji is based on Firefox, so it includes up to date security patches, and support for modern web browsing features and capabilities.

The Momiji web browser brings a modern browser with support for OS X Lion 10.7, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, MacOS 10.12 Sierra, MacOS 10.13 High Sierra, and MacOS 10.14 Big Sur, which covers a lot of Macs built all the way back in 2007.

• Get Momiji web browser for older Macs

If you’re not familiar with downloading apps from Github, go to “releases” and then download the most recent DMG or PKG installer file. While Momiji is open source, you most likely do not want to download the source code.

Having a modern up to date web browser on an older Mac can be the difference in continuing to have it be a usable computer or not sometimes, particularly if a critical site is not compatible with the older browser. And that’s really what makes apps like Momiji so useful, allowing you to continue to get usage from an older Mac, even if Apple has long ago stopped supporting it, and every other major browser also long ago gave up releasing supported versions for those older MacOS and OS X versions.

If you try out Momiji, or have a preferred alternative modern browser for older Macs and MacOS versions, share it with us in the comments!

The Liquid Glass interface offers a fresh look for the iPhone and iPad interface, with plenty of translucency across the operating system. With iOS 27 and ipadOS 27, Apple has introduced a new feature that lets you adjust Liquid Glass, allowing you to control the level of translucency and transparency considerably.

Whether you want maximum Liquid Glass look, or you find the transparency effects distracting or difficult to read, the Liquid Glass slider lets you adjust the interface to exactly how you like it, from more clear, to tinted.

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Amazon is offering some great discounts on AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Max:

• AirPods Pro 3 for $179 (down from $249)
• AirPods Max for $449 (down from $549)

Save $100 on M4 iPad Air 11″ and 13″

iPad Air M4 is available at a nice discount for both the 11″ and 13″ display sizes, in various color and storage options.

• 11″ M4 iPad Air – 128GB – $649 (down from $749)
• 13″ M4 iPad Air – 128GB – $849 (down from $949)

Up to 26% Off iPad Magic Keyboard

The iPad Magic Keyboard is one of the best possible accessories for iPad Air, converting the iPad into a laptop experience. The white color model is rarely discounted, but it is now.

• White Magic Keyboard for iPad Air 11″ – $200 (down from $269)
• White Magic Keyboard for iPad Air 13″ – $250 (down from $320)

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If you don’t use Apple Intelligence and Siri AI capabilities on your Mac, and you’re comfortable with Terminal-based third party removal tools, you might be interested in disabling and removing Apple Intelligence, Siri AI, Siri, and all related tools from your Mac with a newly popular utility.

A third party open source tool called RemoveMacAI promises to do just that, and will completely turn off all of the following Apple Intelligence features; Siri, Hey Siri, Siri menu bar icon, Writing Tools (including “Write with Siri”, which we recently discussed how to turn off), Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT, Apple Intelligence summaries in Mail, Messages, Safari, Notes, Notifications, smart replies, text predictions, spatial photos, photos AI features including Clean Up, and Xcode predictive completion. RemoveMacAI also removes the Apple Intelligence on-device models including the foundation model. The end result is that you might recover a bit of disk space, as well as completely disable all of these features.

With MacOS and System Data frequently bloating into multiple hundreds of GB that is weirdly difficult to slim down, it’s no surprise that users are turning to just about anything they can to try and recover disk space. But removing Apple Intelligence will only recover around 7GB-12GB (if that, some users have reported that RemoveMacAI doesn’t actually recover any disk storage for them as the Apple Intelligence space transfers into the ever-expanding black hole of “System Data”). So if recovering some storage capacity is your interest in this tool, perhaps don’t expect much on that side of things.

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The all new “Write with Siri” feature in MacOS 27 Golden Gate for Mac, iOS 27 for iPhone, and iPadOS 27 for iPad, allows you to easily compose, rewrite, and proofread text by using Apple Intelligence, and it works basically anywhere that you can type.

Write with Siri works by analyzing your prompt or query to generate a draft, or to refine existing text, and directly in your current application. For example, if you’re in the Mail app, you can use it to compose a new email, or to rewrite and refine an existing draft. Write with Siri works in basically any system app from Apple, including Safari, Notes, Mail, Messages, Pages, and the like, as well as third party apps that have added support for the feature.

The “Write with Siri” feature is a super handy feature that you’ll likely get some usage out of, so let’s learn a bit more about how to use it on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

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Apple has released the third beta versions of iOS 27.2, MacOS 27.2 Golden Gate, and iPadOS 27.2, to users who are enrolled in beta testing Apple system software.

The betas are for iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, and MacOS 27.2, and not iOS 27.1 or MacOS 27.1, but that doesn’t mean that OS 27.1 is being skipped entirely. There is speculation the version differences are because iOS 27.1 and MacOS 27.1 may arrive on upcoming yet-to-be-released hardware, like iPhone Duo, and updated Macs, and the OS 27.2 releases will unify everything back onto the same versions.

iOS 27.2 beta includes a redesigned Health app that takes advantage of new features available on Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, including insights and longevity scores, and support for several new languages to use Siri AI on compatible devices. It’s likely that MacOS 27.2, iOS 27.2, and ipadOS 27.2 will include bug fixes and security updates as well.

The most up to date non-beta versions of Apple system software are currently iOS 27.0.1, iPadOS 27.0.1, and MacOS 27.0.1.

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Amazon is back with some fantastic early Prime Day deals, you’ll want to be sure you have an Amazon Prime Membership (or free trial) to take full advantage of these and expedient shipping options.

Not only are the Mac mini and Mac Studio great Macs for just about anyone, they are also becoming very popular choices for local AI models and agents. The best deal is the beefy upgraded M5 Max Mac Studio with 32GB RAM and a 512GB SSD which is discounted $200, but the Mac mini discounts are compelling as well if you don’t need quite as much power, or your budget is less.

• M5 Max Mac Studio – 32GB / 512GB – $2299 ($200 off, down from $2499)
• M6 Mac Mini – 16GB / 256GB – $779 (down from $899)
• M5 Pro Mac Mini – 24GB / 512GB – $1549 (down from $1799)

The all new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 are available at nice discounts from Amazon:

• Apple Watch Series 12 – $349 ($50 off)
• Apple Watch Ultra 4 – $799 ($100 off)

The latest M5 MacBook Air models are discounted $200 in basically all color and configuration options:

$200 Off M5 MacBook Air 15″

• 15″ M5 MacBook Air – 24GB – 1TB – $1799 ($200 off)
• 15″ M5 MacBook Air – 16GB – 512GB – $1299 ($200 off)

$200 Off M5 MacBook Air 13″

• 13″ M5 MacBook Air – 24GB – 1TB – $1599 ($200 off)
• 13″ M5 MacBook Air – 16GB – 512GB – $1149 ($200 off)

FTC: OSXDaily is an affiliate partner with Amazon, meaning if you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment which goes towards keeping the site running.

If you’re a Mac user who has updated to MacOS 27 Golden Gate, you might have quickly noticed the new “Write with Siri” Siri AI floating button tool that appears alongside basically every text entry point, whether you’re in an email app, Notes, Pages, Safari, or just about anywhere else. This is part of the new Siri AI Writing Tools feature, which you might really like, or might dislike, depending. You’ll also find that when you right-click just about anything, there’s a new “Ask Siri” or “Edit with Siri” item at the very top of the contextual menu. Critics of this feature say it’s intrusive and “Microsoft-esque” whereas fans of the Siri AI Writing Tools appreciate its always-there convenience of the floating button.

Curiously, there’s no easy toggle in the System Settings to disable these features, aside from just completely disabling Siri AI in general on the Mac, but if you don’t mind turning to the command line, you can disable the “Write with Siri”, “Ask Siri”, “Edit with Siri” and related floating button features in MacOS 27 Golden Gate.

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If you’re the type of Mac user who likes to keep track of your system performance and system resource usage and management, an intriguing and full-featured app called Mac Performance Monitor might be for you. As you might have guessed from the name, Mac Performance Monitor lets you see a dashboard, history, and breakdown of what your Mac is doing, allowing you to monitor system resources and usage like CPU, memory / swap, GPU, network activity, disk usage, battery, temperature and sensor readings, as well as processes that are impacting each of these.

What’s particularly neat about Mac Performance Monitor is that you can not only see what’s going on right now, but you can use the history recording feature to go back to whenever either a system slowdown or resource usage spike began, and figure out what caused it. This makes Mac Performance Monitor particularly handy for diagnostics and system resource management.

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Some Mac users who have recently installed MacOS 27 Golden Gate have noticed an unusually laggy and buggy experience with Mission Control, full screen apps, and Stage Manager.

Impacted users complain of a slow lag, delay, or stutter before entering Mission Control and/or Stage Manager, or swiping between spaces or full screen apps, flickering thumbnails, black or empty spaces when switching between them or when using multiple displays, window thumbnails failing to draw, frame rate issues, animation issues and stuttering, or even a complete lack of animations and a sluggish redrawing of the screen elements. These problems may be due to an incompatibility, or perhaps even bug in Mission Control and/or Stage Manager, or even WindowServer, as these features are reported to have been quite smooth and consistent visually for most MacOS users until they installed MacOS 27. It’s also conceivable that these type of visual hiccups and performance issues will resolve themselves over time as MacOS Golden Gate has finished indexing itself and performing background tasks, in a similar way that sometimes just waiting can help to resolve battery life issues experienced with MacOS 27.

If you’re experiencing issues with Mission Control, swiping between full screen apps and spaces, using Stage Manager, and interactions within these features, you’re not alone, and there may be some tweaks and adjustments you can make to improve the performance of these features.

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Apple has released MacOS Tahoe 26.7.1 and MacOS Sequoia 15.8.1 as security updates for Mac users who are still running those operating systems. MacOS Tahoe 26.7.1 and MacOS Sequoia 15.8.1 include security updates only and no other changes.

Separately, Apple also released MacOS 27.0.1 Golden Gate, iOS 27.0.1, iPadOS 27.0.1, iPadOS 26.7.1, and iOS 26.7.1.

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Apple has released iOS 26.7.1 for iPhone and iPadOS 26.7.1 for iPad as security software updates for users who still running the OS 26 series of operating systems and who are not yet interested in jumping into OS 27.

Separately, Apple has also released iOS 27.0.1, iPadOS 27.0.1 as minor bug fix updates, along with MacOS 27.0.1 Golden Gate, macOS 26.7.1 Tahoe, and MacOS 15.8.1 Sequoia.

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