Apple by the numbers, from WWDC 2013

At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple touted the latest numbers for its devices, apps, and operating systems circa June 10, 2013.

iOS devices sold: 600 million Percentage of iOS users using iOS 6: 93 percent Mac installations: 72 million, more than double the number from five years ago Mac sales: Have risen 100 percent over the past five years, versus just 18 percent for Windows PCs Mountain Lion sales: 28 million since its debut, making it the best-selling release of Apple's desktop OS Apps in App Store: 900,000 Number of apps geared for the iPad: … Read more

Apple's WWDC 2013 keynote: Join us Monday (live blog)

Editor's note: Apple cranked out the news during the WWDC keynote, from the Mac Pro and MacBook Air to iOS 7, Mac OS X Mavericks, and the long-awaited iTunes Radio. Follow all the news from WWDC 2013 here.

Apple kicks off its annual developers conference Monday, June 10, and we'll be there to bring you all the news.

The press conference, where the company has promised a first look at new versions of iOS and OS X, kicks off at 10 a.m. PT at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. We'll also be running a … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers asked about the necessity of running regular permissions fix routines, how to prevent Time Machine from backing up over VPN, and resizing PDF files in QuickLook.

I welcome contributions from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: The necessity and utility of running regular permissions fix routines MacFixIt reader Jim asks:

I was taught it was a good idea to occasionally do a "repair permission" periodically, … Read more

Prevent resume from occurring at application launch

Apple's autosave and resume features are convenient for maintaining your workflow, even when you do not save documents. So in a program like Pages, for example, you could work on a document and simply quit the program or restart your computer, and the next time the program opens, your documents will be reopened with the changes to them preserved.

While convenient, especially in the event of a crash, hang, or power outage, this feature does have one potential drawback: it could reveal some personal or otherwise private information at inopportune times.

You can avoid this by quitting programs with … Read more

How to prevent Spotlight from indexing files

Apple's Spotlight search technology is a quick way to find files, applications, contacts, and numerous other items on your system, but there are times when you might like to keep some things from being indexed and included in search results.

For example, if you have a collection of outdated program versions in a folder called "past versions," you might wish to keep Spotlight from showing them all, and only have it locate the most recent one that you use. This might also be true for temporary files you have on your system, such as those in the … Read more

Terminal Tip: Close windows after clean exit

If you regularly script tasks in the Terminal, you might find at times that handling windows can be a burden. While an unused Terminal window can quickly be closed by pressing Command-W or clicking the red button at the top of the window, if you run numerous scripts then you may be left with a number of windows to close.

One way you can better manage these windows is to change the default Terminal behavior for when a terminal shell exits. By default, the Terminal will keep the window open and display the text "[process completed]," leaving you … Read more

How to change the icon for multiple items in OS X

The generic icons that Apple and third-party developers provide for files and folders are usually enough to help you identify file types in OS X, but there are times when you might want to use a different representation. One option that Apple offers is the ability to show file previews as icons, but this is only available for some file types and not for others.

An alternative option is to add custom icons to files and folders, which can be a fun and useful way to give your system a unique look. To do this, simply select an item and … Read more

Apple's WWDC 2013: Rumors and expectations

Apple's 24th annual developers conference kicks off next week, and will be the company's first event in more than seven months.

The conference lasts the entire week, but the highlight is Monday's keynote address, where Apple typically announces new products and services. This year, Apple has only said it will give developers new versions of iOS and OS X software, though there's likely to be a surprise or two.

CNET's live coverage of Apple's WWDC 2013 keynote

Expectations are high, in no small part because it's been so long since Apple has released … Read more

Tackle problems installing 10.8.4

Yesterday Apple released the OS X 10.8.4 update for Mac users, which brings a number of fixes for network connectivity, VoiceOver, Boot Camp, and online services like FaceTime and Exchange.

While the update has been relatively smooth so far, a few people are experiencing problems in which the update does not properly install. In some cases the update will download and then give an error when running; in other instances the update will appear to work properly but then the system will reboot to OS X 10.8.3.

If you experience these or similar problems when attempting … Read more