How to Access & Use Different Emoji Skin Tones on Mac

Apr 14, 2015 - 16 Comments
Diverse skin tone emoji in Mac OS X

Now that many of our Emoji characters have various skin tones in iOS and OS X, you may want to access and use the new diverse emoji icon set on the Mac. This is quite simple, but do note that not all Emoji have the diverse skin and hair color options.

WWDC 2015 Starts June 8, New Versions of iOS & OS X Expected

Apr 14, 2015 - 7 Comments
The Apple Logo icon

Apple has announced their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place June 8 through June 12 in San Francisco, California.

iOS 8.4 Beta 1 Released for Developers

Apr 13, 2015 - 7 Comments
iOS 8.4 beta 1

Apple has released the first beta version of iOS 8.4 to those registered with the iOS Developer program. The first iOS 8.4 build arrives as 12H407d and looks to prominently feature a freshly redesigned Music app with several new features.

How to Create a New Photo Library in Photos App for Mac

Apr 13, 2015 - 38 Comments
Photos app icon in Mac OS X

The Mac Photos app allows for the creation of entirely new photo libraries, which means it’s easy to make a separate photo library if you want to keep some pictures outside of a primary image collection. This can be helpful for many reasons, whether to differentiate a personal photo library from a work picture library, … Read More

Use the Camera Self Timer on iPhone & iPad for Better Group Photos or Selfies

Apr 12, 2015 - 9 Comments
Use iPhone Self Timer by selecting the timer option in Camera app

The iPhone Camera app includes a self timer function, a great feature for any camera that allows you to set a countdown timer before a picture is snapped. There’s many uses for the timer function, but it often allows for the photographer or camera owner to be in the picture frame as well, rather than … Read More

Lose the Cartoon Yellow People Emoji! How to Access Diverse Emoji Icons in iOS

Apr 11, 2015 - 30 Comments
The Emoji skin tone variation explainer for iOS

Apple has changed the Emoji characters in iOS and OS X to include many new diverse emoji variations. In the process of diversifying our Emoji keyboards, Apple also turned most of the default people emoji icons into curious looking yellow characters, which look a bit like LEGO characters meet The Simpsons. But once you understand … Read More

Resolving Finder Problems in Mac OS X

Apr 10, 2015 - 95 Comments
Finder of Mac OS X

Some Mac users may occasionally run into issues with Finder, discovering that Finder will misbehave wildly, sometimes becoming very slow and unresponsive, crashing, or using inordinately high CPU. Given that Finder is a critical component of the Mac and nearly all Mac OS users rely on it for file system navigation, Finder trouble can be … Read More

Security Update 2015-004 Available for OS X Mavericks & Mountain Lion

Apr 9, 2015 - 5 Comments
Security Update 2015-004

Mac users who are running OS X Mavericks and OS X Mountain Lion will find an important security update available to them. Labeled as Security Update 2015-004 1.0, the software update includes many fixes to a wide variety of potential security issues for OS X, and is therefore recommended for all Mac users running OS … Read More

iTunes 12.1.2 Released for Mac OS X & Windows with Improvements

Apr 9, 2015 - 12 Comments
iTunes album art player

Apple has released an update for iTunes, versioned as iTunes 12.1.2. The small update is available now for Mac OS X and Windows, includes various improvements to the media management application that is basically essential for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. This update is particularly important for Mac, as it enables syncing photos between … Read More

iOS 8.3 Update Released with Many Fixes [IPSW Download Links]

Apr 8, 2015 - 166 Comments
iOS 8.3 download

Apple has released iOS 8.3 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The software update includes 300 new Emoji icons, a variety of small new features, some minor user interface changes to keyboards, a variety of new languages for Siri, and a handful of performance fixes and optimizations, including resolutions to various wi-fi issues and Bluetooth … Read More

OS X 10.10.3 Update Available for Yosemite with Photos App, Wi-Fi Fixes, New Emoji

Apr 8, 2015 - 126 Comments
OS X Yosemite

Apple has released the final version of OS X 10.10.3 to all Mac users running Yosemite. The public version of OS X 10.10.3 includes the Photos app to replace iPhoto, and contains a handful of bug and performance fixes as well, including improvements to Wi-Fi stability and performance, over 300 newly designed Emoji icons, Spotlight … Read More

Open Containing Folder of a Recent Document or Application in Mac OS X

Apr 7, 2015 - 11 Comments
Hold Command Key while selecting a Recent Items menu option to jump to it in Finder of OS X

Can’t remember where a file you recently opened was stored on the Mac, or where an MacOS X app you recently used was kept or originated from? Maybe you don’t know where something you recently used went to? No big deal, a simple keystroke modifier trick allows you to jump directly to the containing location … Read More

How to Resize a VirtualBox VDI or VHD File on Mac OS X

Apr 7, 2015 - 53 Comments
VirtualBox manager

If you use VirtualBox to run guest operating systems within a virtual machine on the Mac, like Windows 10 or Ubuntu Linux, you may find yourself needing to resize the virtual disk size where the OS resides. This is often the case when you inadequately estimate how much space is required for properly installing in … Read More

Tame High WindowServer CPU Use on a Mac

Apr 6, 2015 - 37 Comments
WindowServer, why do you eat so much CPU? I bought you a new Mac, what else do you want? Please WindowServer, be nice.

The Mac received a great many changes with OS X Yosemite along with a notable visual redesign, but some of those changes and various transparent effects may be taking a toll on some users Mac performance with errant WindowServer behavior. This is typically demonstrated with the WindowServer process spiking into heavy CPU use for seemingly … Read More

How Change Stack View Styles in Dock for Mac OS X

Apr 5, 2015 - 9 Comments
Change the Dock Stack view style in OS X

Stacks offer a method of displaying folders or collections of multiple items in the Dock of the Mac. When clicked, the “Stack” will pop open and show the contents sprawling out of the Dock. Dock Stacks always display on the right-side of the Mac OS X Dock and they default to contain things like the … Read More

How to Enable (or Disable) Motion & Fitness Tracking with iPhone

Apr 5, 2015 - 32 Comments
Toggle fitness and activity tracking on iPhone

Newer iPhones have the ability to track fitness activity and motion and displaying that data in Health app and other applications. Fitness tracking is done by using a low-power motion coprocessor that determines steps, altitude gain and lost, and distance traveled, and many users like this feature as it represents an easy way to keep … Read More

4 Stunning Wallpapers Hidden in Plain View on the Apple & Wired Websites

Apr 4, 2015 - 15 Comments

There’s something about good wallpaper that makes using a Mac, iPhone, iPad, ok, even a Windows PC or Android device, just even better. We’re bringing you four gorgeous high resolution wallpapers that are basically hidden in plain sight from two sources, a recent Wired article about Apple Watch, and Apple.com product pages. All it took … Read More

Apple Watch Pre-Orders Begin at Midnight on April 10

Apr 3, 2015 - 8 Comments
Apple Watch models

Those interested in purchasing an Apple Watch early will be able to pre-order the device just after midnight at 12:01 AM PST (3:01 AM EST) on April 10, according to the Apple website. The pre-ordered devices will be shipped to an address or available for pickup at an Apple Store on April 24.

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