Mac OS

Mac OS, Mac OS X, or macOS, is the operating system that resides on Apple’s desktop and portable computer lineup. Built upon a Unix core, it is easy to use yet highly advanced, extremely stable, and an excellent OS for productivity and creation. Browse through our articles or use the search feature to look for something specific that is pertinent to the Mac operating system.

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Change the AirDrop “Pop” Sound Effect

Aug 23, 2011 - 3 Comments
AirDrop in OS X Lion

AirDrop is a great local peer-to-peer file sharing feature in Mac OS X Lion that is surprisingly useful. That said, the ‘pop’ or drop sound effect that you hear when someone AirDrops you a file has always annoyed me because it’s the same sound effect you hear when you get a new iChat message. Like … Read More

Open Mac OS X Finder from LaunchPad

Aug 23, 2011 - 16 Comments
Drag Finder to the LaunchPad to open Mac OS X Windows from LaunchPad

Want to open the Finder and your standard desktop Mac OS X windows from LaunchPad? You can, but you have to drag the Finder application into LaunchPad. Here’s how to do this: From the Mac OS X desktop, hit Command+Shift+G to bring up “Go To Folder” and enter the following path: /System/Library/CoreServices/ Within /CoreServices/ locate … Read More

Run HP WebOS in an Emulator under Mac OS X with VirtualBox

Aug 22, 2011 - 11 Comments
HP WebOS

If you missed out on the $99 HP TouchPad deals that seem to have the entire tech web in a frenzy, don’t forget that you can experience WebOS for free right now on Mac OS X, just by using the SDK’s emulator. You’ll need to download VirtualBox and then the WebOS SDK which comes as … Read More

Launch and Use Any Mac OS X App When Booted from OS X Lion Recovery HD Drive

Aug 22, 2011 - 7 Comments
Launch Terminal from the Recovery Disk in Mac OS X Lion

Whether you made a Lion recovery drive with Apple’s Lion Recovery Disk Assistant Tool and you’re booting from that or you’re just relying on the Recovery HD partition, this technique works.

Set Language Priority in Mac OS X Auto Correct to Prevent Inaccurate Corrections Like “Colour” to “Color”

Aug 21, 2011 - 31 Comments
Fix spelling autocorrects language priority in Mac OS X Lion

Is autocorrect in Mac OS X driving you nuts? We’ve received a fair amount of complaints regarding Mac OS X spelling autocorrect feature erroneously correcting things like British English words to American English words, and changing the spelling of some words like “colour” to “color” and so on. The reason for this is a language … Read More

Access and Use Emoji in Mac OS X

Aug 20, 2011 - 34 Comments
use Emoji in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

Emoji are extremely popular picture characters and emoticons that are an integral part of Japanese tech culture and communication, and now that they are included in modern versions of OS X, the Emoji character set is available to everyone on a Mac regardless of your localization settings. Emoji are quickly taking the world by storm … Read More

Lion Tweaks Makes Customizing Mac OS X Lion Features as Easy as a Click

Aug 19, 2011 - 10 Comments
Lion Tweaks

Tired of tweaking OS X Lion on your own with all the defaults write commands? Don’t want to manually change iCals leather look back to aluminum? What about older tips like turning the Dock into 2D? Lion Tweaks to the rescue! This little free app is an extremely easy GUI front-end to a ton of … Read More

Disable Safari Spelling Auto-Correct in Mac OS X

Aug 18, 2011 - 28 Comments
Disable Auto Correct in Safari in Mac OS X Lion

If you disabled spelling auto-correct in Mac OS X but find yourself still being autocorrected as you type various words in Safari, that’s because the new versions of Safari has a separate spelling and grammar engine than the core OS. Admittedly, that’s a little confusing to have an app use it’s own unique spelling correction … Read More

Mac Image Editor Skitch is Now Free on the Mac App Store

Aug 18, 2011 - 2 Comments
Skitch is a simple free Mac image editor

Skitch, a simple image editor for Mac OS X, is now available free from the Mac App Store. Skitch calls itself an image swiss army knife, but you can think of it like Preview on steroids, with your standard basic image editing features of rotating, cropping, flipping, in addition to various screen grabbing features and … Read More

Resizing Windows in Mac OS X with Modifier Keys

Aug 18, 2011 - 4 Comments
Resize Windows in Mac OS X 10.7 with Modifier Keys

In modern versions of Mac OS X, the ability to resize any window from any corner or side of is possible; just grab onto it, and when your cursor turns into the little double-sided arrow, start dragging. That’s a great addition in and of itself, but the resizing feature gets even better when some modifier … Read More

Show System Info, Hostname, & OS X Version at Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Login Screen

Aug 17, 2011 - 5 Comments
Show System Info and Hostname at the Mac OS X Lion Login Screen

Prior to Mac OS X 10.7, you used to be able to click on the “Mac OS X” text to display additional system information about the Mac, showing things like IP Address, OS X version and build number, and the machines Hostname. Apple pulled that ability out of Mac OS X Lion, but you can … Read More

Mac OS X 10.7.1 Hides Your User ~/Library Folder Again, Here’s How to Make it Visible

Aug 17, 2011 - 7 Comments

Ahhhh the user Library folder has disappeared again! If you already installed Mac OS X 10.7.1 update, you may have noticed that your user library directory is hidden, again, returning it to the default invisible state that Lion wants. Mildly annoying, but it should be expected that system updates will revert things to how Apple … Read More

Make Easy Mac OS X Lion App Mockups with OS X Lion GUI Element PSD Kits

Aug 17, 2011 - 5 Comments
Mac OS X Lion UI Elements PSD

Whether you’re a UX or UI designer, app developer, or just want to create some mockups of Mac OS X Lion apps for fun, don’t miss these free OS X Lion UI Element kits from designers Jonatan Castro and Joshua Geiger. The GUI kits come as well labeled multi-layered PSD files that have all the … Read More

Sign PDF Files with a Digital Signature in Mac OS X Preview

Aug 17, 2011 - 47 Comments
Digital Signature in Mac OS X Lion

The newest versions of Mac OS X brings a revamped Preview app that includes the extremely useful Digital Signature feature built right in. Using your Macs built-in front facing iSight camera to capture your signature, Preview can keep multiple electronic signatures on file which can then be appended to PDF’s as needed, allowing for a … Read More

Mac OS X 10.7.1 Update Released (Direct Download Links)

Aug 16, 2011 - 24 Comments
Mac OS X 10.7.1 Update

Mac OS X 10.7.1 update has been released by Apple for all OS X Lion users to download. One of the most significant bug fixes pertains to dropping WiFi issues, so if you have been experiencing connectivity problems don’t miss this update. Other fixes address issues with HDMI and optical audio, Safari video, and migrating … Read More

OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive Now on Sale from Apple for $69, Cheaper to Do It Yourself

Aug 16, 2011 - 6 Comments
OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive

Don’t want to make an OS X Lion USB install drive yourself? Apple has you covered, and now the official Apple OS X Lion Thumb Drive is available for purchase through the Apple Store for $69. The main advantage to using a USB installer is that it allows you to install Lion without an internet … Read More

Firefox 6 is Available Now (Direct Download Links)

Aug 16, 2011 - 9 Comments
Firefox 6 for Mac OS X has been released

Firefox 6 has been officially released and is available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows users to download. The update is supposedly 20% faster and supports new HTML5 and CSS3 elements, in addition to having a variety of changes aimed at web developers. Somewhat disappointingly, version 6 for Mac OS X oddly doesn’t yet … Read More

Set Dashboard to Transparently Hover Over the Desktop in Mac OS X

Aug 16, 2011 - 14 Comments
Return Mac OS X Lion Dashboard to hover transparently over the desktop

Don’t use Dashboard often or maybe you don’t like Dashboard much in Mac OS X? It’s a great feature but it’s often underutilized, and if changing Dashboards background wallpaper wasn’t sufficient enough for you to start using it again, you can always return Dashboard behavior to the standard transparent hovering state that existed prior to … Read More

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