Apple has released the first beta version of MacOS Sonoma, or MacOS 14, to users participating in the developer beta testing program. While the first developer betas are available only to registered Apple developers, a public beta will be made available to anyone interested in July. MacOS Sonoma includes new features for the Mac, including … Read More
Apple has announced MacOS Sonoma as the next major version of MacOS. MacOS Sonoma, technically versioned as MacOS 14, features a new desktop widgets feature, new screen savers, new video conferencing features, a new Game Mode feature that optimizes performance when playing games, and more.
If you use git on the Mac platform, you likely have come across DS_Store files in a git repository. These can be annoying and clutter a git repo, and you may even run into unnecessary conflicts due to .DS_Store files being maintained in git repos, where you may see error messages like “The files .DS_Store … Read More
If you have some frequently used applications on the Mac that you routinely launch from the Finder, you can customize the Finder toolbar to include those apps. This offers a helpful alternative to launch frequently used apps that is Finder specific, and can be particularly handy for apps that you only use for drag and … Read More
Knowing the number of CPU cores a particular Mac has can be useful for performance optimization, stress testing, compatibility, and to otherwise make informed decisions about system performance on a Mac. For example, maybe you want to make sure you have multiple cores available to run a virtual machine, or you want to spawn a … Read More
Apple has released MacOS Ventura 13.4 for all Mac users running the Ventura operating system. The software update focuses on bug fixes including resolutions to an issue with Screen Time, a fix for Apple Watch auto-unlock, a fix for a VoiceOver issue, and a resolution to a Bluetooth keyboard issue where the keyboard would reconnect … Read More
Firewalls serve as a network security mechanism to monitor and control incoming and outgoing traffic to your computer and the network, or internet. MacOS includes a software firewall that can be enabled manually for users who would like to use the feature, or who require it for whatever purpose. The ability to use the firewall, … Read More
Occasionally you may find yourself in a situation where you are seeking to find what open TCP connections are in a listening state on a Mac. This can be useful whether you’re troubleshooting particular network issues, or simply looking to identify which processes are listening on specific ports on a Mac. We’ll be using the … Read More
Many advanced Chrome users may occasionally need to change the user agent associated with the browser, typically for testing purposes. Whether you’re a designer, developer, student, tinkerer, novice, or expert, changing the Chrome user agent isn’t particularly difficult, but it is hidden within a section of Chrome that most users never interact with; the developer … Read More
If you’re a Mac user running the latest versions of macOS system software, from Monterey 12, Ventura 13, or later, you can enable an optional Emoji quick-access feature that allows you to summon the Emoji picker instantly with the press of a single key on your Mac keyboard.
Many users choose to save login information and passwords into the Google Chrome browser’s built-in password manager. Sometimes you may need to manually access the passwords or login information that is stored within the password manager, so we’ll show you how you can access and view saved password and login information in the Chrome web … Read More
It’s not terribly uncommon to encounter flashing lights and strobing effects in videos, and while they can be annoying for most people, flashing light can be particularly problematic for people with epilepsy. Fortunately, the latest versions of MacOS offer a feature that will detect flashing lights and strobing lights in videos, and automatically dim them. … Read More
Some Mac users may wish to install GCC onto their MacOS computers. GCC, which stands for Gnu Compiler Collection, is a commonly used compiler with support for C, C++, Objective C, Go, Fortran, Ada, and more languages, and is frequently used for compiling command line programs, writing software, and more, whether for computer science classes … Read More
Apple has released the first rapid security response updates for MacOS Ventura 13.3.1, iOS 16.4.1, and iPadOS 16.4.1. The security updates are said to include important security fixes and are therefore recommended for all eligible users to download and install onto their Mac, iPhone, or iPad. The purpose of Rapid Security Response updates are to … Read More
Many iPhone, iPad, and Mac users may be interested in using various features related to Live Text, Visual Lookup, and Camera Translate, but not all hardware will support these features. Live Text, which allows you to select text from photos and images, Visual Lookup, which allows you to identify objects found in photos and images, … Read More
Some Mac command line users working with nodejs and npm may see an error message and command failure along the lines of “xcode-select: error: tool ‘xcodebuild’ requires Xcode, but active developer directory ‘/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools’ is a command line tools instance”. This error message sometimes appears after updating MacOS, migrating Macs, or If you experience this error … Read More
The latest versions of MacOS default to automatically installing what Apple calls ‘Rapid Security Response Updates’, which can patch security flaws and issues on the Mac without the standard process of installing software updates on the Mac. If you do not want these security response updates to install automatically on the Mac for whatever reason, … Read More
The Spotify app for Mac defaults to opening itself automatically every time the Mac restarts, boots, or a user logs in to the Mac. If you do not want Spotify to open automatically on the Mac, and you’re running MacOS Ventura or newer, read along to prevent this behavior and stop Spotify from opening itself.
