Do you want to change how often Mac OS checks for available software updates? It’s possible to adjust the Mac software update frequency with a little effort.
Mac OS X now automatically checks for software updates, and a notification pops up if you have updates available. But unlike older versions of Mac OS X, there is no pulldown menu in System Preferences to change how often system updates are checked for, so if you want to adjust the update checking behavior from once a week you’ll need to turn to the command line.
Messages app Preferences in OS X defaults to greying out the “Set Font…” option, a peculiar choice considering a fair amount of people like to change the font size of their instant messages to make it easier to read. That doesn’t mean you can’t change the text size though, and there’s a simple solution that lets you use the Set Font button to increase or decrease the text size of your messages, though it’s not necessarily intuitive:
Open Messages app and open “Preferences” from the Messages window
Click the “Messages” tab and then click the pulldown menu next to “My background color”, set it to anything other than “Automatic” to unlock the “Set Font…” button
Now click on “Set Font” and choose the font size you’d like to use for your iMessages
Interestingly, the Set Font button for a senders fonts is always available, so changing their text size is just a matter of clicking the button, it’s only your personal messages where it’s disabled by default. A curious default setting that has certainly raised a few eyebrows.
Confused? Watch the video below:
Thanks to Elizabeth for the tip idea, don’t miss other great iMessage tips while you’re poking around
Have you ever wanted to broadcast a live stream of your iPhone or iPad screen to a group of people? Or maybe you just want to demonstrate something on your iPhone to a single person? You can easily livestream iOS screens to the world either through the web or iMessages.
A new potentially dangerous Java security vulnerability has been discovered that could allow malicious code to run on a Java-enabled computer, be it a Mac or Windows PC. Most Mac users will be safe from the vulnerability because OS X Mountain Lion does not include Java by default, and OS X Lion includes an older version of Java that is not vulnerable to the exploit. That said, if you have recently updated Java or installed it manually in OS X Mountain Lion, you’ll want to double-check which version you have. Yes, Oracle will release an update to resolve the issue, but for the time being take a few basic steps to protect yourself by disabling Java either system-wide or in your web browser of choice.
Summary:
Java SE 7 (1.7) is vulnerable
Java SE 6 (1.6) or lower is safe
Here is exactly how to check if you are vulnerable, plus how to disable Java and protect yourself.
Check Which Version of Java is Installed (If Any)
There are two easy ways to determine which version of Java is installed in OS X, one is using the GUI and the other uses the command line.
Check Version of Java Installed Using Java Preferences
Open the Applications folder and then open Utilities
Double-click on “Java Preferences”
Find the Java version under Name and Version, ie: Java SE 6
If you don’t have Java Preferences installed, that means you don’t have Java installed either, which indicates you are safe. If you see “Java SE 6” you are also safe, if you see “Java SE 7” you need to act.
Check Version of Java Installed Using Terminal
Launch Terminal, found in /Applications/Utilities/
Type the following command exactly
java -version
If you see java version “1.7” you need to act, if you see java version “1.6” or lower, you are safe
Protecting Yourself: Disable Java System-Wide in Mac OS X
You may recall that disabling Java was the number one tip we suggested when protecting a Mac against viruses and trojans, that’s because the majority of security problems that have effected Macs lately come from Java. If you haven’t done that yet, here’s how to do it now:
Open “Java Preferences” from /Applications/Utilities/
Uncheck “Enable applet plug-in and Web Start applications”
Uncheck “ON” next to Java SE
Disable Java Per Web Browser in OS X
If you don’t want to disable Java everywhere because you need it for something like Eclipse or Minecraft, disable it on the web browser you use instead.
Disable Java in Safari
Pull down the Safari menu and select “Preferences”
Click the “Security” tab and uncheck the box next to “Enable Java”
Disable Java in Chrome
Type “chrome://plugins/” into the URL bar, locate Java and click disable
Disable Java in Firefox
Open Firefox Preferences and under the “General” tab click “Manage Add-ons…”
Select “Plugins” and find Java (and/or Java Applet), click the Disable button
These are the recommended tips to take to protect yourself, and though they’re geared towards Mac OS X you should find that disabling Java in web browsers is the same in Windows too.
We’ll post an update when an updated version of Java is released that addresses the security issue.
One of the best ways to kid-proof (and generally fool proof) an iPhone or iPad is to turn off in-app purchases. That’s great for the iOS world, but for the desktop you can do something similar by disabling access to the iTunes Store completely, this will prevent unintended purchases of apps, music, movies, books, or anything else, by blocking access to the entire store. Read more »
Preview is a great basic image editing app bundled with Mac OS X, but newer versions of Mac OS have simplified the available image Export Format options down to JPEG, JPEG 2000, OpenEXR, PDF, PNG, and TIFF. Or at least that’s what you see on first glance, but it turns out you can still access all the traditional image format options from the Save, Save As, and Export screens just by using a simple key modifier when saving a file in Preview app on the Mac.
This is kind of a little known secret (well, at least until we told you about it!) but once you learn how to use it, you’ll be able to reveal many image format save options in the Preview for Mac application.
GIMP is a popular and fairly powerful free image editor from the linux world that is basically like a freeware version of Photoshop, complete with many of the tools used for photo retouching and image manipulation that you’d expect. It’s is a great free PS alternative, but Mac users have long had to install X11 to get it to run. But not anymore!
The newest version of Gimp for Mac OS X is bundled as a self-contained native app, that means no X11 installations, no Xcode, nothing but a simple dmg download. Just download, and launch the app like any other.
The next time you’re using Maps on an iPhone or iPad to get directions to get from point A to point B, do yourself a huge favor and use the Live Traffic feature to help plan your route. From the Maps app here is see live traffic in any area:
Tap the page curl icon in the corner of Maps
Tap the “Show Traffic” button, then tap the page curl again to return to Maps
With traffic view enabled, the roads end up color coded based on live traffic conditions:
Green – easy sailing, no traffic
Yellow – slow moving traffic, but it’s moving
Red – basically gridlock, avoid if possible, high traffic
I thought this was a widely known feature, but some friends were absolutely amazed by it the other day so that tells me maybe it’s only the more savvy of us who know about this. The feature works the same on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, and Google Maps on the web, you just need internet access of some sort to use it. The feature should work just as well in iOS 6’s new Maps app, though when Google releases their own app it may be a good idea to download that as well.
Where is the Traffic Data Coming From?
You! Well, you and every other iPhone, Android, Blackberry, WindowsPhone, and every other smartphone user really. Google takes anonymous location data from GPS equipped cell phones and uses it to calculate traffic speeds and congestion, the result is an incredibly accurate crowdsourced picture of traffic that is updated live 24/7.
Dashboard got a user interface overhaul with new versions of OS X and it now more closely resembles – surprise surprise – iOS and OS X’s very own Launchpad. You’ll find the new look when you go to add a widget to the Dashboard, and just like iOS you can now arrange all those widgets into Folders to prevent clutter and bring some organization to the widget collection.
The latest versions of Mac OS let you move files directly into iCloud from your Mac, these files can then be opened on any other Mac or iOS device set up with the same iCloud account. This is extremely convenient if you want to quickly move a file around but don’t want to copy it manually or with a USB drive, particularly when text documents that are lightweight and easily sent around through the cloud.
You can easily start and create conference calls on the iPhone regardless of what cell provider, network, or iOS version yo use. In fact, the iPhone phone app itself has a great feature that lets you add additional callers to any existing conversation or phone call, joining the calls together to create a conference call, and it’s surprisingly easy to use.
Let’s detail how to make a conference call with iPhone.
Mac users with Mac OS X Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and Mountain Lion finally have the option to bring back the much-loved “Save As” feature that was removed from Lion. It’s slightly hidden though, and there’s a few quirks with it, but we’ll show you how to access “Save As” and even better, how to have it always be visible by enabling a reasonable keyboard shortcut to use the feature again with a simple keystroke.
If you have a Mac laptop you probably know by now that OS X Mountain Lion removed the Time Remaining option from the menubar battery indicator, opting instead to show an iOS-like percentage left. For many of us, knowing the remaining battery life is valuable information, and thanks to a great free app you can not only see that number again in the menu bar, but you can push alerts of the remaining battery life to Notification Center in OS X.
Alerts are shown stacked atop one another in Notification Center, sorting the Notifications by Time makes this more useful:
You can configure the apps basic settings to alert you at whatever percentage level you want just by pulling down the menu bar. You’ll also find the Battery Time Remaining menu shows you some other important battery info, like the total charge capacity, the current battery cycle count, power usage, and the batteries temperature.
Whether your Mac is experiencing the battery life issues with Mountain Lion or not, this is a great free app and well worth downloading if you’re on the go and rely on a MacBooks battery to get things done. It’s also a lot more full-featured than a recently covered app that just displays the time remaining.
The next iPhone will be released for sale on Friday, September 21, a week and a half after the expected launch date of September 12, according to a series of reports from TechCrunch.
This speculative release date is based on TechCrunch sources within AT&T and Verizon citing a store employee vacation blackout at both companies beginning on September 21 and ending September 30:
We’ve received yet another bit of evidence confirming the next iPhone’s September 21 launch. According to an AT&T sales rep, AT&T staff has been given a vacation blackout from September 21 to September 30, just like Verizon employees. Our source also mentioned that blue carrier employees are undergoing training for an “iconic release.”
September 21 is one day before the official start of Fall, which Apple has provided as a vague release timeline for iOS 6.
The next iPhone (new iPhone, iPhone 5, whatever you want to call it) is expected to have a 4″ display and feature a taller chasis to accomodate the 16×9 screen. Multiple pictures claiming to be the device have leaked and appear to show a rather thin aluminum enclosure, available in both black and white. Other features are likely to include an A5X CPU, improved camera, and 4G LTE networking capabilities.
The default setting for Notification Center in both Mac OS X and iOS is to sort alerts from apps manually, a setting which doesn’t make much sense if you use Notifications as a timeline of events and want the most recent always on top. Fortunately, changing Notification Center to arrange alerts by time is as simple in OS X as with iOS:
Did you know you can put calls on hold on iPhone? This suspends the phone call without hanging it up, but it prevents you from being able to hear the individual on the other end and they can’t hear you either. It’s a slightly hidden feature that you won’t see at the normal phone options, but here’s how to use it:
While on a call, tap and hold on the “Mute” button until it turns to “Hold”
Tap it again to resume the call as usual
Apparently this is only available on GSM enabled iPhones (AT&T and T-Mobile in the USA), and the Verizon and Sprint iPhone doesn’t support the feature on their networks. Users on CDMA networks can always just use the Mute feature instead though.
Battery life on portable Macs running Mountain Lion improved slightly with the OS X 10.8.1 update, but still generally underperforms the same Macs running Lion. Since updating to OS X 10.8.1 from 10.8, we have conducted several unscientific tests on a variety of different Macs and found there is a minor improvement to battery life between the two versions of Mountain Lion, though most users probably won’t notice a significant change.
The hardest hit Macs tend to be any portable model with a Core i5 and Core i7 CPU from 2011 and 2012, including the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, while, interestingly, Core 2 Duo machines seem to be less impacted with battery performance remaining mostly the same in Mountain Lion as it was in Lion.
MacBook Air 13″ Core i7 (mid-2012)
OS X 10.8.1 – 4:36
OS X 10.8 – 4:33
MacBook Air 13″ Core i5 (mid-2012)
OS X 10.8.1 – 4:48
OS X 10.8 – 4:31
MacBook Air 11″ Core i5 (mid-2011)
OS X 10.8.1 – 3:26
OS X 10.8 – 3:32
MacBook Air 11″ Core 2 Duo (late-2010)
OS X 10.8.1 – 5:45
OS X 10.8 – 5:47
Not all Macs have been impacted negatively by Mountain Lion however, a MacBook Pro 2010 model reported no noticeable change in battery life regardless of the version of OS X running on it.
Only after the next-generation iPhone is out the door and on sale will Apple announce the smaller iPad it’s been working on. That device, which is expected to have a display of less than eight inches, will be uncrated at a second special event, which sources said is currently scheduled for October.
This confirms some speculation that has occurred about the timing of the next iPhone and iPad mini events, and AllThingsD suggests the two launches will be Apple’s biggest hardware announcements of the year.
AllThingsD is a sister publication to the Wall Street Journal and is generally viewed as a very reliable source of Apple rumors and leaks.
Little is known about the so-called “iPad Mini”, but piecing together rumors and some common sense suggests the following may be true about the hotly anticipated device:
7.85″ display running at 1024 x 768
A5X CPU from current iPad 3
Front and rear cameras
8GB base storage and up
Weight of about half the current iPad 3
Appearance to resemble a larger iPod touch with thin side bezels, similar to picture shown at top according to 9to5mac
Preview is a great basic image editing app bundled with Mac OS X, but newer versions of Mac OS have simplified the available image Export Format options down to JPEG, JPEG 2000, OpenEXR, PDF, PNG, and TIFF. Or at least that’s what you see on first glance, but it turns out you can still access all the traditional image format options from the Save, 
Dashboard got a user interface overhaul with new versions of OS X and it now more closely resembles – surprise surprise – iOS and OS X’s very own Launchpad. You’ll find the new look when you go to add a widget to the Dashboard, and just like iOS you can now arrange all those widgets into Folders to prevent clutter and bring some organization to the widget collection.
