If you’re interested in creating a bootable macOS Sonoma beta USB installer drive, out of a USB flash drive or similar disk device, you can do so easily. Many Mac users like to use bootable USB installer drives to perform clean installations of MacOS Sonoma, to update multiple Macs easily, or just to have for troubleshooting purposes, amongst myriad other reasons.

To get started, you’ll need a USB flash drive that is at least 16GB in size, and you will need the full installer of MacOS Sonoma on your Mac in the /Applications folder.

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Apple has issued MacOS Sonoma Release Candidate to Mac users who are participating in the beta testing program for MacOS system software. The update is available to users enrolled in either the developer beta or public beta program, and MacOS Sonoma RC carries the build of 23A339.

Note that many M2 Mac users running Sonoma are not able to find the MacOS Sonoma RC available to download on their computers. The Sonoma RC download not showing katup on M2 Macs is a widely reported issue on Apple’s forums as well as throughout social media, and the web of Apple-fan sites like the one you’re reading right now.

MacOS Sonoma features over 100 new screen savers and wallpapers, a neat moving wallpaper feature, a redesigned Lock Screen, the ability to place widgets for things like weather and stocks on the Mac desktop, FaceTime Video Voicemail support, Safari Profiles support, along with many smaller features and improvements.

Separately, Apple has also issued iOS 17 RC, iPadOS 17 RC, watchOS 10 RC, and tvOS 17 RC to beta testers running those operating systems on their Apple devices.

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Apple has issued a release candidate build for iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. The iOS 17 RC and iPadOS 17 RC builds are available to download now for users enrolled in either the public beta or developer beta programs.

RC (Release Candidate) builds are often the final beta build of a beta testing cycle, unless some critical bug or issue is found. Given that Apple has said that iOS 17 will be released on September 18, this particular build is likely to match the final build.

Separately Apple has also issued RC builds for tvOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS Sonoma RC.

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MacOS Sonoma will be released on Tuesday, September 26. MacOS Sonoma, which is versioned as macOS 14, will be will be available as a free update to Mac users.

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Apple has released the all new iPhone 15 series, including the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

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Apple has announced that iOS 17 will be released on Monday, September 18. The new version of system software will be available to all users as a free software update.

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iPadOS 17 will be released on Monday, September 18, according to Apple. The latest version of iPad system software will be a free software update, available through the typical software update channels.

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Apple has issued a series of software updates for older versions of system software for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac that contain important security fixes, and are therefore recommended for all eligible users to install. These new updates include the same security fixes that were just made available in iOS 16.6.1, iPadOS 16.6.1, and macOS Ventura 13.5.2.

Specifically, iOS 15.7.9 is available for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone SE 1st generation, and iPod touch 7th generation, while iPadOS 15.7.9 is available for iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4th generation.

macOS Monterey 12.6.9 is available for Macs continuing to run the Monterey operating system, while macOS Big Sur 11.7.10 is available for Macs running the Big Sur operating system.

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Amazon is again offering the 15″ M2 MacBook Air at a solid discount, taking $200 off the retail price. The deal brings the 256GB model down to just $1099 from $1299, and the 512GB model to just $1299 down from $1499. You can get the discounted price in every available color, whether you’re looking for Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, or Silver.

The MacBook Air 15″ features the powerful and efficient M2 chip, a 15.3″ Liquid Retina display, 1080p camera, two USB-C / Thunderbolt ports, Touch ID, backlit keyboard, a MagSafe Charger, and excellent battery life.

The M2 MacBook Air 15″ base model with 256 GB storage and 8 GB RAM is available for $200 off at the following links:

• 15″ MacBook Air M2 – 256GB – Starlight – $1099 (from $1299)
• 15″ MacBook Air M2 – 256GB – Midnight – $1099 (from $1299)
• 15″ MacBook Air M2 – 256GB – Space Gray – $1099 (from $1299)
• 15″ MacBook Air M2 – 256GB – Silver – $1099 (Reduced from $1299)

The M2 MacBook Air 15″ model with 512 GB storage and 8 GB RAM is available for $200 off as well:

• 15″ MacBook Air M2 – 512GB – Midnight – $1299 (from $1499)
• 15″ MacBook Air M2 – 512GB – Starlight – $1299 (from $1499)
• 15″ MacBook Air M2 – 512GB – Space Grey – $1299 (from $1499)
• 15″ MacBook Air M2 – 512GB – Silver – $1299 (from $1499)

Separately, Amazon also has a nice deal going for the AirTags 4 pack, offering a 10% discount on the tracking devices when bought as a bundle:

• AirTags 4 pack for $89

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 have an Xbox One, Xbox Series X, or Xbox Series S, and you want to watch Apple TV+ content on the Xbox, you can do so by downloading the official Apple TV app for the Xbox. The Apple TV app will allow you to access and watch Apple TV+ content directly from the Xbox.

Yes, even though Apple makes Apple TV, and Microsoft makes Xbox, the two actually work pretty well together thanks to the app store experience.

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Do you remember the Apple Newton commercials from the mid 1990s? The Apple Newton, which was Apple’s Personal Digital Assistant and first tablet experiment, used a stylus for input, had internet connectivity, and some really cool features that only recently came to the iPad – like Scribble.

A YouTuber has put together a collection of all Apple Newton commercials from the 1990s, and it’s a fun watch. Some of the commercials are funny, and all of them show off some of the capabilities of the Newton.

The commercials are embedded below for easy viewing:

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Have you ever wondered if your iPhone battery needs to be replaced? Maybe you are experiencing rapid battery drain, or other battery health issues like sluggish performance, random shutdowns, or the dreaded swollen battery issue with your iPhone.

Read on and we’ll review five common signs that it’s time to replace the battery on your iPhone.

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Apple has released a series of software updates for various devices, including iOS 16.6.1 for iPhone, MacOS Ventura 13.5.2 for Mac, and iPadOS 16.6.1 for iPad. The updates appear to be include important security fixes for actively exploited issues, and no new features are included.

These small point release updates arrive ahead of the major new releases of iOS/iPadOS 17 and MacOS Sonoma 14 that are set to be released as soon as next week at the planned September 12 Apple event.

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As a Mac user, you’re likely already familiar with how to install macOS system software updates, which tend to be a simple process. But sometimes you get weird errors when loading the Software Update control panel, and those errors can lead to failures when attempting to install or even load available system software updates on the Mac.

Let’s take a look at some common troubleshooting tips if you encounter any of these peculiar errors.

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If you have ever used the “Use Image as Desktop Picture” feature in Safari for Mac to set your wallpaper, you know that you can set any image you run into on the web as the wallpaper on your Mac. Often, we may set an image from the web as our Mac wallpaper, and then forget where that image originated from, or we are not able to locate the source image again.

A reasonable question then becomes, where is the file location of desktop pictures that are set from Safari to become the wallpaper on that Mac? That’s exactly what we’re going to show you here.

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The 1999 movie “Pirates of Silicon Valley” offers a fun dramatization of the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft, from their origin stories at the beginning of the Personal Computing era, through their different philosophies and products. And the best part is, even though it’s Hollywood, it’s actually reasonably accurate!

Pirates of Silicon Valley is loosely based on the book “Fire in the Valley” about the birth of the PC industry, and even if the movie is nearly 25 years old, it’s still entertaining. It is also fun to consider if a movie like this were to be remade for the current era, since both Apple and Microsoft are in very different positions now compared to in 1999.

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Ever thought about converting that dusty old original Macintosh in your garage into a modern Mac? Probably not, but this person did, and they have documented the entire project of converting an original 1984 Macintosh into a modern Mac capable of running a much more modern operating system of Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Of course if someone were to repeat this project today, they could aim to be running MacOS Sonoma (and have a better fitting screen).

The project may be over a decade old, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still intriguing and fun, or it could even be used as a blueprint for a modern rendition of this project.

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WhatsApp may be one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, but a curious aspect of WhatsApp is that for a long time it has compressed images and photos, shrinking their size considerably and reducing their quality. That is changing, however, and WhatsApp now allows you to select an optional HD quality photo option, allowing you and your friends to send and receive HD high quality and high definition photos back and forth.

The ability to send HD high resolution photos on WhatsApp is available at any time when you’re sending a photo through the WhatsApp messenger, whether you’re on iPhone or Android. Let’s check out how this feature works so you can utilize it yourself when sharing images.

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