Apple has released a fifth beta version of OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 to those participating in the OS X Public Beta program, or registered in the Mac Developer program. The new build arrives as build number 14D113c and continues to include a focus on the new Photos app for OS X, along with other bug fixes and feature improvements.
Each release of MacOS or Mac OS X has a unique build number assigned to it to represent the changes found in that version of system software, often these changes are minor and incremental, but with major Mac OS X releases the build numbers can change significantly. Though average Mac users won’t need to know the build number of their system software, those running developer builds and beta releases often pay attention to these software versioning alphanumeric strings. With that in mind, we’ll show you a few ways to quickly find the build number of Mac OS X system software installed on any Mac.
This weeks featured Mac setup is the amazing quadruple tiled display desk of Teemu A., who uses this great workstation to run and manage a startup. Let’s jump right in to learn more about the hardware and software used to get things done.
If you have a Mac and an iPhone, you can now make phone calls from your Mac using that iPhone. The phone call will sound through the Mac speakers and use the Mac microphone, but the actual call itself routes through the iPhone. This is a part of the Continuity suite, which is really nice feature set in newer versions of iOS and Mac OS X that allow for seamless transition between Macs and iPhones and iPads. Phone calling from the Mac is quite simple to use once you have it set up properly.
We’ve all experienced it, a huge number of texts and iMessages arriving on our iPhone or iPad, that you either know aren’t important or you already read on another devices Messages app. Or maybe the messages are coming from someone you’d just prefer to ignore, whatever the case, you can instantly mark all messages as read in iOS using a quick little known trick.
Apple is planning on releasing an all new Apple TV set-top box this summer, according to a report from Buzzfeed. The new Apple TV is said to feature a redesign, all new hardware components, an App Store, and Siri.
Apple has released an important security update for OS X Yosemite users. Labeled as “Security Update 2015-003 1.0, the update is available to all Macs running OS X Yosemite 10.10.2.
All domains are associated with an IP address, whether it’s for a website, mail server, or whatever else. While using nslookup offers a simple way to get DNS information and an IP for a specific website or domain, if you want a significantly more detailed retrieval, you can use the host command instead. The host command performs an extensive DNS lookup for whatever domain it’s pointed at, which makes it much more useful than nslookup or dig for many situations. This can be helpful for many situations, whether to troubleshoot and discover DNS propagation issues or simply to get an actual IP address, CNAME, IPv6 address, or otherwise.
Hidden wi-fi networks are becoming more common as network administrators look for additional measures to secure wireless connections. Hiding the network functions as a means of security by obscurity, but the main user-side issue with a hidden Wi-FI network is that the routers SSID is not broadcast which can make it difficult to find for users on an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple Watch. Fortunately, joining a hidden wi-fi network from iOS is really easy, you just have to know how to do it.
Many Mac users have a gaming console or two as well, and if it happens to be a Playstation 4, then you’ll find that using that PS4 controller with Mac OS is incredibly simple. This basically means your DualShock Playstation 4 controller will work as a native game controller for any supported game running on a Mac, ranging from native Mac OS X games to emulators. It works very well, and since many of us prefer to play games with a controller it’s a great way to extend the value of a pricey PS4 purchase.
Apple has released a group of important security updates for the Mac Safari web browser, versioned as Safari 8.0.4 for OS X Yosemite, Safari 7.1.4 for OS X Mavericks, and Safari 6.2.4 for OS X Mountain Lion.
The notes accompanying the download are brief, simply recommending the security update for all Mac users as it offers “improvements to stability and security.”
If you find yourself frequently connecting to a network share or remote server from your Mac, you should do yourself a favorite and add it to the Favorites list in the Connect to Server screen of Mac OS X. Though the feature is right in front of our faces, very few Mac users seem to use this handy ability, though it will undoubtedly make your networked life easier.
Apple is said to be working on a subscription-based streaming television service, according to two new reports from The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Many users have a love or hate relationship with iTunes, which is required to sync an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to a Mac or PC (presumably an Apple Watch too). When iTunes syncing works as intended, that’s fantastic, but sometimes things don’t work out that way. iTunes 12 in particular appears to have some annoying issues with syncing that causes a sync and media transfer to get stuck on a step and never complete, sometimes just filling up your device with music and song names that can’t actually play. Another frustrating syncing issue is an outright refusal to sync, where iTunes just becomes unresponsive when you try to sync data between your iPhone/iPad and the computer.
Apple has released the fourth beta of OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite for testing. The new beta build arrives as 14D105g and includes updates to the OS X 10.10.3 system software and seems to continue focus on the new Photos app for Mac. Additionally, the new beta build apparently fixes a bug that impacts newly released Mac hardware.
The shift and caps lock key in iOS can be toggled at will to either capitalize a word or to type out something in ALL CAPS, but using the new Quick Type keyboard, you can switch casing of existing words very easily. This works really well on the iPhone and iPad, and once you learn how to use this, it’ll probably become your preferred way to capitalize a word that has already been typed out, or to switch the casing to all upper or lower case.
It’s time for another featured Mac setup! This time around we’re sharing the dual-screen desk workstation of developer Carlos P., let’s dive right in to learn more about the hardware and what iOS and OS X apps are put to use:
Want to quickly make an iTunes Gift Card purchase? Just ask Siri. Yes, really. Siri, our very own personal assistant that lives on modern iPhones and iPads, can assist in the purchase of gift cards from the iTunes Store and App Stores, and even the Apple Store itself, at least kind of (more on that latter situation in a moment).
To start the gift card buying process, just do the following on any iPhone or iPad:
Read more »
