The wait is over, Team Fortress 2 has been released for Mac OS X. Often called TF2, Team Fortress 2 is a fun multiplayer first person shooter that has cartoony graphics and fast paced gameplay.

TF2 System Requirements

The system requirements to run Team Fortress 2 are similar to other Steam games; Intel processors only, newer versions of Mac OS X, and a decent video card. Obviously the better your Mac the better the game will run. Read on for some tips you can use to improve the performance of TF2 in Mac OS X (the tips work for Windows versions too btw).

TF2 Performance Tips & Tweaks for Mac

If Team Fortress 2 performance is a little slow on your Mac (either lagging graphics or low FPS rating), give these tips a try:

• Turn off Anti-Aliasing (AA) support – this typically gives the biggest frame rate boost
• Disable HDR (high dynamic range) in graphics options
• Change graphics settings to Low or Off
• Lower the game resolution to a setting below your displays capability
• Update to the most recent version/patches
• Restart Team Fortress 2

Performance reviews of Team Fortress 2 on a Mac have been mixed so far, while some gamers say the app runs great, other users are reporting choppiness, general bugs, lagged network play, and lower frame rates than they’d expect. Much of these problems are likely the result of growing pains, as this is the first version of TF2 to show up on the Mac platform. It’s safe to assume that most of these complaints will be ironed out in update patches released over the coming weeks as Valve refines the Mac user experience, so hang in there if you’re experiencing anything unusual!

Release announcement

Valve was a day late on the release (not that they ever set a definitive date for TF2 for Mac), the protocol had been that every Wednesday a new Steam game is available for Mac gamers to download. I don’t hear anyone complaining though, everyone is just excited to get their hands on the fun filled FPS.

The announcement came on June 9 in a peculiar manner from Valve’s TF2 blog:

Big things are happening RIGHT NOW at Valve. Things involving cultivated tree-fruit. BIG things. Things that rhyme with “grapple.” Things that rhyme with “Speem Gortress zmavailable on the Babac.”

Not today. But tomorrow. BIG THINGS. Stay tuned…

Obviously cultivated tree fruit rhyming with ‘grapple’ is Apple, and this is indeed pretty big news for Mac gamers. TF2 has been a big hit in the Windows world, and now Mac users will get to join in the multiplayer fun. So when you launch Steam you’ll be able to download the Mac TF2 client, awesome huh?

Here’s a screenshot of Team Fortress 2 in the Mac section of Steam:

For a limited time the price is $9.99, or you can get it as part of the larger Orange Box for $29.99. The game was actually free to play until June 14th, and you’ll get a free set of in-game earbuds as well (not sure how that works exactly).

So WWDC charged full steam ahead this year with news about iOS 4 with a noticeable absence of things related to Mac and Mac OS X.

This is pretty much what many developers had feared when WWDC 2010 was first announced as being App Store centric.

So what gives?

We at iOS Daily suggest it’s about the inevitable splitting of computer uses:

…the future of computing is already branching into two groups of computer users: the average person, and the creators…

Basically, the average person doesn’t need a Mac, they can get by fine with an iPhone and iPad. Meanwhile, creators and developers will still need a Mac so that they can create content for the average person. Interesting theory, and I think there is a lot of truth to it.

You can read more at our new sister publication “iOS Daily: Does iOS signal the death of the Mac?”.

Slightly off topic, It’s worth mentioning that iOS Daily is brand new, so don’t be surprised if some things aren’t working 100% quite yet.

Sure the original iPad wallpaper background is phenomenal, but there are a lot of other fantastic potential background pictures out there for iPad too!

Case in point: A friend of mine just sent me this absolutely amazing picture of the night sky over Maui taken by photographer Eric Rolph.

Maybe I am an Apple nerd, but the first thing that I thought was: this will make an awesome iPad background picture!

Click through the image or on the Flickr link to get the full size version, it’s rather large at 1267×1900, but it does indeed make an awesome iPad background pic.

If you want some other really cool pics, check out Eric’s photostream on Flickr, it’s full of amazing photography.

iPad friendly resolutions: we have received a few requests to provide the image at a more iPad friendly 1024×1024 resolution, so we cropped the picture into two variations. Click through the images below for them:

I use screenshots constantly to share bits of information with people, and they can be really helpful when troubleshooting as well.

Here’s all you’ll need to know about taking screenshots in Mac OS X, from capturing the screen in Mac OS X Finder and within applications, to changing the default screenshot file type, to taking screenshots from the command line.

Capturing screenshots in Mac OS X

You can use any of these commands to take screenshots directly in Mac OS X Finder or any running applications:

• Command+Shift+3: takes a screenshot of the full screen (or screens if multiple monitors), and save it as a file to the desktop
• Command+Shift+4: brings up a selection box so you can specify an area to take a screenshot of, then save it as a file to the desktop
• Command+Shift+4, then spacebar, then click a window: takes a screenshot of a window only and saves it as a file to the desktop
• Command+Control+Shift+3: take a screenshot of the entire screen (screens if multiple monitors), and saves it to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere
• Command+Control+Shift+4, then select an area: takes a screenshot of selection and saves it to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere
• Command+Control+Shift+4, then space, then click a window: takes a screenshot of a window and saves it to the clipboard for pasting

Some of the above instructions are borrowed from our print screen on a Mac article.

Change the screen capture file format

You can change the default file type for screen captures by using a terminal command. Most major image formats are supported including PNG, PDF, GIF, TIFF, and JPG, we’ll go with JPG since that is a common type of web graphic:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Then you must kill the SystemUIServer for changes to take effect:
killall SystemUIServer

Take a screenshot from the command line

You can take screenshots from the command line by using the screencapture utility:
screencapture test.jpg The screen capture will then appear in the directory that the command was executed.

If you want to open the screencapture in Preview immediately after being taken, type:
screencapture -P test.jpg

You can also take screenshots silently, without the sound playing with -x:
screencapture -x silentscreenshot.jpg

If you would like to have a delay added to when the screenshot is taken use -T followed by a number of seconds:
screencapture -T 3 delayedpic.jpg

Specifying a file type is easy with the -t flag:
screencapture -t pdf pdfshot.pdf

Naturally you can combine them all together:
screencapture -xt pdf -T 4 pic.jpg

You can get a full list of screencapture flags by typing:
screencapture -h

In case you missed it, iPhone 4 is a big deal. Running iOS 4, it’s packed with amazing features that blow any other smartphone out of the water. A powerful processor, high density screen resolution and display, video chat, HD video recording and editing, camera with flash, it’s all there.

iPhone 4 Availability

Supply is still struggling to keep up with demand, stores continue to sell out quickly. We’ll keep you updated on the latest availability information.

The following list applies to the USA demonstrating current iPhone 4 availability at stores:

• Apple Store: continues to sell strongly. Available at approximately 80% of Apple Stores, call to verify stock
• Apple Store Online: available for delivery 3 weeks after placing order
• AT&T: available in very limited quantities at AT&T stores, call your local store to verify current stock on hand, sells out quickly
• Best Buy: usually SOLD OUT
• Wal Mart: usually SOLD OUT
• RadioShack: usually SOLD OUT

iPhone 4 supplies will be replenished periodically at most Apple Stores and resellers throughout the summer months. Reports indicate that while additional shipments of iPhone 4 will be arriving, they too are expected to sell out.

iPhone 4 Availability Update on 9/17/2010:

Apple continues to cope with strong demand for iPhone 4 as the device remains a hot commodity, here’s the latest we know on availability :

• iPhone 4 continues to sell out at many Apple Stores, most Apple Stores have them in stock on a semi-regular basis now. Call or stop by a local store to find out for sure.
• iPhone 4 is often available at most AT&T stores
• All other resellers of iPhone 4 are sold out of existing stock
• You can still order iPhone 4 online from Apple or AT&T but the current estimated ship date is 3 weeks from the date of order
• White iPhone 4 has been delayed twice due to production challenges, there is no definitive release date for the white model
• Analysts predict Apple will not be able to keep up with continued summer demand for iPhone 4, supply constraints are actually limiting sales of iPhone 4 at this point and Apple is working with suppliers to meet demand
• Apple announced that over 1.7 million iPhone 4’s were sold in the first three days alone

For the USA, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Japan, iPhone 4 became available on the release date of June 24, all of the release date phones were quickly sold out. Pre-orders for iPhone 4 started June 15th and quickly sold out. Due to the immense pre-order demand, AT&T did not start selling iPhone 4 in stores until June 29.

Availability of White iPhone 4

Apple has again delayed the release of the White iPhone 4, due to challenging production constraints. Apple has confirmed that the white iPhone 4 will not be available until late July, due to production difficulties. Historically, the Black iPhone has sold out faster and been more popular than the white iPhone. Here is the press release from Apple, issued June 24, 2010:

White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

The newest press release, issued on July 23, 2010 regarding the delay of the white model specifies a date of ‘later this year’:

White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

iPhone 4 Availability by Country

• UK – SOLD OUT
• Japan – SOLD OUT

The 4th generation iPhone is being released at different dates throughout the year around the world. Here are the expected release months and accompanying countries.

June: USA, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan
July: Australia, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
September: Additional countries are expected to have iPhone 4 available by the end of September. Apple says 88 countries are planned to carry the device.

Stores Selling iPhone 4

Here are the current US resellers of iPhone 4. Not all resellers took pre-orders:

• Apple Store – iPhone 4 available to purchase at any official Apple Store, as well as the online store
• AT&T Store – stores are carrying the device, they began selling at a delayed release of June 29
• Best Buy – one of the few retailers who will sell iPhone 4
• Walmart – Walmart will sell iPhone 4 but did not take pre-orders
• RadioShack – the only other electronic reseller to have iPhone 4

iPhone 4 Pricing

iPhone 4 is is offered in two models and the pricing depends on the storage capacity.
* iPhone 4 16GB: $199 (requires renewing AT&T contract in USA)
* iPhone 4 32GB: $299 (requires new 2yr AT&T contract)
Both iPhone 4 models are available in black and white at the same price. You can get more information about iPhone 4 price structures, including data plans, upgrade prices, the price of iPhone 4 without a contract (it’s not cheap!), and more, at our iPhone 4 price guide.

I already own an iPhone in contract, how do I get iPhone 4?

If you already have an iPhone in contract and you want the newest model there are very reasonable options for you too. Check your iPhone 4 upgrade eligibility with AT&T and you likely won’t have to wait until your old contract expires. In most cases, you’ll be able to renew your contract and buy the new iPhone with a minimal (if any) fee, and this fee is usually waived for anyone whose contract expires in 2010.

Upgrading to iPhone 4 is easy and expected. Initial sales figures say that 77% of the initial wave of iPhone 4 purchases are upgrades from existing iPhone customers, Apple and AT&T are aware of this and intend to make upgrading to the new device a simple process.

What’s the difference between iPhone 4 and iPhone 4G?

We’ve had several emails asking us what the difference is between iPhone 4 and iPhone 4G – there is no difference. iPhone 4 is the proper name, but because it’s the 4th generation iPhone some people are referring to it as iPhone 4G, which is technically incorrect and is not the name of the product. Regardless of the naming convention, the device continues to run on the 3G network.

What store is most likely to carry iPhone 4?

This is another question we get asked frequently. While supply of iPhone 4 continues to be limited, your best bet at getting your hands on the device is either to order online and wait until it ships, or to go to Apple and AT&T stores, since they are the official manufacturer and carriers. When demand eases, you should be able to visit any of the other resellers and pick up the device, but this could take weeks or even months.

Is there a central iPhone 4 availability checker?

No, there is no central database of iPhone 4 availability that is in the public hands, only Apple holds this data. That said, we do our best to update this page based on information we receive from users and our own inquiries. The only way to check if iPhone 4 is available at any particular store is to call to verify existing stock.

If you have a lot of albums by a single artist, it’s nice to be able to group all their music together by artist and by album.

To do so, you’ll want to sort iTunes Albums by the Artist rather than just the alphabetical title of all albums by all artists.

Doing this is easy, in iTunes list view, click on the ‘Album’ column header a few times until the text changes to “Album by Artist”.

In the midst of all the exciting news about iPhone OS iOS 4 and the new iPhone 4, Apple snuck in yet another bit of innovation in the release of Safari 5. With little surprise, the most advertised of new features are enhancements to the rendering of HTML 5. Of the HTML 5 improvements, full screen video support is of most intrigue due to the on going “war” (of sorts) between Apple and Adobe over video content delivery. The release notes also talk about how Safari’s Nitro Engine will run JavaScript 30% faster than Safari 4, 3% faster than Chrome and over twice as fast as Firefox 3.6. Last but not least is the addition of Bing to the list of available search providers and (finally!) Safari now has support for Extensions, or as the rest of the web broswing world calls them, “Plugins”. Read on for a more complete list of features.
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Apple has renamed iPhone OS to iOS, which is appropriate considering the operating system runs on more devices than just the iPhone. iOS 4 encompasses the iPhone, iPad, the iPod Touch, and there are rumors that it will run on future versions of the Apple TV. With over 100 new features in iOS 4, it’s an exciting free software update.

iOS 4 for iPhone and iPod Touch Available Now

The iOS 4 software update for iPhone and iPod Touch is available now for download. Launch iTunes and plug in your device to see the download and update option.

iOS 4 Availability and Release Dates:

Availability and release dates depend on the device. iPad users will be waiting longer for iOS 4 update than those who own other devices.

• iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G users can get the download for free now! iPhone OS 4 was made available on June 21st
• iPod Touch 2nd and 3rd generation users can get iOS 4 now, it was released June 21st
• iOS 4 for iPad is due out sometime in the Fall of 2010, there has not been a definitive date set for release

It is likely that iOS 4 on iPad has a delayed release because it will include features that are iPad specific, thus taking longer for Apple to develop.

Prominent features of iOS 4:

* Multitasking – run multiple applications at the same time
* Folders – organize apps into folders
* Improved Mail – multiple mail accounts in a single inbox, open attachments in 3rd party apps
* iBooks – browse, buy, and read eBooks
* Create iPod playlists – create playlists directly on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
* 5x Digital Zoom – the same digital zoom technology that’s included in digital cameras
* Tap to Focus Video – video will refocus to whatever you tap on screen, cool!
* Faces & Places in Photos – view photos based on where they were taken and who is in them
* Home Screen Wallpaper – change the background picture on your devices home screen (this feature is already on the iPad)
* Gift Apps – send apps as gifts to others
* Spell Checking – built-in spell checker for Mail, Notes, and other apps that access the function
* Wireless Keyboard Support – use a wireless keyboard on the iPhone (you can use a wireless bluetooth keyboard with the iPad right now)

iOS 4 compatibility:

iOS 4 will work with iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G, and newer iPod Touch 2nd and 3rd generation units, but the feature set degrades on older devices. For example, iPhone 3G can not use multitasking or change the background picture, and neither can the 2nd generation iPod Touch. It’s strongly speculated that the performance of iOS 4 will be best on iPhone 4 and iPad.

Have you ever wanted to know how you can check to see if your AT&T account is eligible for an iPhone upgrade? You can instantly check your AT&T iPhone upgrade eligibility by dialing a simple short code on your phone.

This is super easy, here is how you can check your iPhone upgrade eligibility with AT&T:
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Did you know that you can use a MacBook 13″ MagSafe power adapter on the 13″ MacBook Pro? Or a MBP 15″ adapter on the 13″ models? And the 11″ MacBook Air adapter with a 13″ MacBook Pro, and so forth? In most cases you can interchange power adapters, this also means the older white MagSafe adapters work just fine on the new 2010 MacBook Pro 13″ model, and vice versa. In other words, if you just upgraded to a new MacBook, don’t toss the old MagSafe adapters!

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Single Application Mode is an interesting feature of MacOS and Mac OS X that is often misunderstood, we’ll discuss what the feature is, how it works, and how to enable it on your Mac running nearly any version of Mac OS still in use, whether that’s macOS 12, 11, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, or newer.

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You may not know it, but OS X’s Mail.app has the ability to utilize plugins. Installing a plugin is not an overly difficult task. After the first install, the subsequent plugins become easier to get running. A lot of the plugins you download claim that installation is as easy as double clicking on the .mailbundle file, but my experience shows that it just wasn’t that simple! Thankfully, the work-around is simple and straightforward.

Install a .mailbundle file
The first step is to navigate to your Home folder (command-shift-h) in the Finder. Open the Library folder and then open the Mail folder. Look for a “Bundles” folder. If it doesn’t exist, you should create it (command-shift-n). Now place a .mailbundle file in the directory. For an example, I suggest using letterbox. Letterbox will allow you to view your mail in a three column view.

Enable the use of mailbundles
After you have everything in place, we need to tell Mail to look for and use .mailbundle files. Open the Terminal and type the following command:
defaults write com.apple.mail EnableBundles 1
If you were using letterbox, the next time you fire up the Mail application you should see your inbox presented to you using three columns. Very cool.

Here’s an amusing comic breaking down web browsers. Thanks to Joseph B. for the submission.

Is this pretty accurate? Out of all the browsers I think Firefox is really too slow to be usable anymore, and I find myself in Safari and Chrome almost exclusively now. I haven’t touched Opera in ages, and the description as a tiny smart car cracks me up… but the dead horse for Internet Explorer for Mac is absolutely hilarious to me and takes the cake!

MacBook Pro’s are great machines, the only thing that makes them better is when you add an external display, and what better external monitor to drive than a 30″ Apple Cinema?

[ from Flickr ]

Updated: 2/13/2012 – You have by now seen that Apple sells an official iPad dock that includes a handy keyboard. If you read this site you have likely also seen that you can attach the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard to your iPad as well. Believe it or not there is a third option if you would like to use your Apple USB Keyboard in conjunction with your Apple iPad; using a wired USB keyboard. The method is a minor “hack” of sorts, but it does work as evidence shown in the video below. The hack involves obtaining the power necessary for the keyboard to operate from a powered usb hub. You can find a powered USB hub at all major (and minor) electronic stores, including Amazon.

Requirements
USB Powered Hub
iPad Camera Attachment (this is where you will get a USB input from)
Apple USB keyboard

Using a USB Keyboard with an iPad

Getting a USB keyboard to work with an iPad is surprisingly easy:
1) Plug the Camera Connector into the iPad.
2) Connect a USB cable into your powered hub and the iPad Camera Connector
3) Plug the USB Keyboard into your Hub

It really is that simple if you meet the hardware requirements, and soon your typing experience on the iPad will be greatly improved without having to buy the iPad keyboard dock to just have yet another keyboard laying around when it’s not in use.

If you have any troubles, see the video below for a walkthrough:

Happy iPading!

Earlier today apple unveiled its HTML 5 showcase. The showcase covers Video, Typography, Gallery, Transitions, Audio, 360 views and Virtual Reality examples. This marks a continued campaign against the current provider of most of these types of content, Adobe’s Flash. If you haven’t read Steve Jobs’ open letter to the community on the topic of Flash, check it out. It makes some interesting points.

Personally, it is my opinion that Flash is a dying commodity and that open standards are always going to prevail over closed technologies when it comes to the web. So it’s time to give a quick run down of HTML 5. I also threw in a good deal of opinion, as after all, this is a blog. Read on for more.

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So you just downloaded the awesome Xcode code completion plugin (or any other) and you need to get it working… easy. You can install any Xcode plugin by dropping the .pbplugin file into the following directory:

~/Library/Application Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Plug-ins
If you haven’t used plugins yet, the Plug-ins directory does not exist. In this case, all you need to do is create the directory. After you have dropped the plugin file into the folder, relaunch Xcode and the plugin will be loaded automatically. Uninstalling a plugin is just a matter of removing it from the Plug-ins folder.

The Mac OS X Application Switcher is a handy way to quickly cycle through open applications, but did you know you can quickly quit programs you aren’t using with the Application Switcher as well?

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