Most new Mac keyboards are fairly simplified when compared to their PC counterparts, and you’ll find that some of the extraneous keys like “Home” and “End” are nowhere to be found on the Mac wireless keyboard or any keyboard included with a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. Longtime Mac users appreciate this simplicity, but newcomers to the Mac platform can be a bit confused or frustrated as they’ve come to rely on the instant-action buttons on PC keyboards, sometimes making the incorrect assumption that similar actions are impossible in Mac OS X.

But even without the dedicated buttons on a Mac keyboard, this does not mean you can’t perform the exact same function in Mac OS as what the Home and End buttons offer in Windows and Linux. Instead of pressing a single key though, on the Mac keyboard you press keyboard shortcut to achieve the same desired effect.

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All modern releases of Mac OS X include a powerful built-in version control system that allows a user to revert to any previously saved version of a file or document, assuming the app supports the version revision feature. This ability is often overlooked by Mac users, but it can be a real lifesaver when you’ve caught yourself having modified a file inadvertently, or discovered that recent changes to a document should be undone. In some sense, you can think of this feature like a file-level “Undo” feature included in OS X, and it works fairly similar to the Time Machine backup browser on the Mac.

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Following up the original seven movies, Apple has picked four new gorgeous videos for their “Shot on iPhone” video campaign, each of which shows off the cameras rather impressive video capture abilities.

A global batch, the videos are shot in Norway, Australia, Netherlands, and the USA, and demonstrate to great effect the fancier effects possible on iPhone camera, ranging from slow-motion to time-lapse, while some are just simply shot in the standard video capture mode. Each is beautiful as usual, with a few being particularly artsy, all dedicating half the screen time to the impressive video and ending with the “Shot on iPhone 6” text and an  Apple logo.

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Apple has released the sixth beta of OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 to Mac users who are participating in the developer and public beta programs.

The new build arrives versioned as 14E36b and is downloadable from the Mac App Store Updates function as usual, assuming the user is opted-in to receive beta software, or is currently running a prior beta version. Developers can also access the download through the Apple Developer Center.

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Mac users who choose to dabble in early releases of OS X El Capitan will find that dual booting the release alongside OS X Yosemite or OS X Mavericks is a better solution than simply updating their primary OS X installation. One easy way to do this is to partition the Macs hard drive and install OS X El Capitan onto that new separate partition, this will insure that OS X El Capitan 10.11 remains away from the stable build of OS X 10.10 or 10.9, and allows the user to boot between the Mac OS releases as they see fit.

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The Mac Calculator app may appear somewhat limited at first glance, but there are actually two other calculator modes contained within the app; a full featured scientific calculator, and a programmer calculator too.

Accessing the alternate calculators in OS X is really easy, but like many of the other interesting Calculator app features, it’s pretty easy to overlook or just not imagine to be there.

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Group messaging is a great feature that makes conversations with multiple people much easier, but what if you want to add someone else to an existing group chat from iOS? No sweat, you can quickly add a new contact (or several) to a group message conversation from your iPhone or iPad with a few easy steps.

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This featured Mac setup John L., a professional panographer who has a great workstation complete with a furry visitor / assistant to keep the desk cozy. Let’s learn a bit more about the hardware and software that gets put to use:

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iOS 9 may be exciting with new features and refinements, but running beta software on a primary iPhone or iPad is rarely recommended, as the experience is less than optimal at the moment. For
those who installed iOS 9 beta only to discover it’s current state is a bit of a buggy battery drain, the best solution is to downgrade back to a stable iOS 8 release. Reverting from iOS 9 is fairly easy to do, though it’s a bit more technical than your average iOS restore process, if you follow along you’ll be back on 8 in a few minutes.

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Many Mac users interested in running OS X El Capitan may wish to have a bootable install drive of the new operating system. We’re going to demonstrate how to do this with a USB flash drive, but technically you can create a boot installer out of just about any USB device which has sufficient space. The process of creating the boot installer for OS X 10.11 is easy enough, though users should have some experience and comfort with the command line before attempting to do so.

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Though Apple typically only allows iOS beta software to be installed on devices with a UDID registered with the developer program, iOS 9 beta can technically be installed on any compatible iPhone or iPad right now. But, despite all the excitement for new features and changes with iOS 9, you should wait before jumping in, at least until the iOS Public Beta program launches in the coming weeks, if not for the final version in the fall. The reason for waiting is quite simple; the current beta release of iOS 9 is intended for developers, meaning it’s buggy, performance is not up to bar, and the whole experience is a bit rough around the edges, in other words, it’s typical early beta software.

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Apple is aiming to further improve and refine the iPhone and iPad experience with the release of iOS 9, and with many new features and enhancements, it’s sure to be a worthwhile system update for most users. Anytime a new version of system software is released though, users inevitably wonder if their devices will be able to run the next version, and that’s no different with iOS 9, but to answer answer that question we’re providing the full list of compatible devices.

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With an emphasis on performance and reliability, OS X El Capitan is expected to be a great system software update for Mac users. Of course, updating to the next version of Mac OS X will only be possible if the Mac hardware supports the new version. Fortunately for those wanting to update to OS X El Capitan, the system requirements are quite forgiving, and basically if your Mac can run OS X Yosemite or OS X Mavericks, it will almost certainly be able to run OS X El Capitan as well.

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Apple has a knack for picking beautiful wallpaper to accompany software releases, and iOS 9 is no exception with it’s wonderfully colorful wave image adorning the iPhone and iPad background. Rather than run the first beta version or wait until the fall public release, you can get the full resolution wallpaper right now.

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OS X El Capitan will be finalized and available for public use in the fall, but you don’t need to be wait until then or use the developer beta release if you just want to get your hands on the gorgeous wallpaper of the namesake granite monolith (and yes, that’s where the name El Capitan comes from, it’s a very large prominent mountain in Yosemite National Park).

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Apple has released a new beta version of OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 for Mac users in the developer program and participating in the public beta. The release is versioned as build 14E33b.

Mac users who are eligible to receive the new Yosemite beta can find the download available now through the Mac App Store Update mechanism.

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Apple has released the fourth beta version of iOS 8.4 to users participating in the developer testing program, the same build is also available to those in the iOS Public Beta program, though it’s labeled as iOS 8.4 Public Beta 3. The latest build arrives as 12H4125a and includes the newly refreshed Music app, complete with the Apple Music service.

The primary focus of iOS 8.4 seems to be the inclusion of the new Music app, though the accompanying release notes to the download mention that bug fixes and other improvements are included in the release.

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The first beta version of iOS 9 is available to download for users who are registered members in the Apple Developer program. The iOS 9 beta 1 build arrives as 13A4254v and is compatible with all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models which can run iOS 8.

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