macs

Apple's new MacBook Airs: What we didn't get

SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple's new MacBook Airs look better than before, but they don't reach for the stars.

OK, so I'll admit: having a potential 12-hour battery life is incredible. It's a very big deal indeed. But the new 2013 MacBook Airs unveiled at Apple's WWDC keynote weren't revolutions of design, or even of features. They're another well-polished upgrade step to an already excellent laptop that's becoming as familiar in form as an iPod or an older MacBook Pro.

To be honest, there was more on my wish list. Primarily, this.

Higher-res … Read more

OS X Mavericks switches to SMB2 networking

The Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) was Apple's default networking protocol in the classic Mac OS as well as in OS X, but it has fallen out of favor with the advent of SMB2 in the upcoming OS X Mavericks.

Server Message Block (SMB) is a file transfer protocol that has been the main networking protocol for Windows-based systems. Having different default protocols has made the use of both Windows and Mac systems on the same network frustrating, since until Apple introduced native SMB support in OS X, users had to rely on third-party SMB support for sharing files with … Read more

Apple WWDC roundup: iTunes Radio, iOS 7, Mavericks, and MacBook Air

CNET Update keeps it simple:

In this episode of Update, get the highlights of Apple's WWDC keynote presentation in under three minutes. To dive deeper, check out these stories:

- Apple's iTunes Radio service finally revealed

- iOS 7 changes are overwhelmingly cosmetic

- Details on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks

- New MacBook Air aims for all-day battery life

- Apple offers sneak peek of next Mac Pro desktop

And during Apple's keynote presentation, Microsoft announced the Xbox One will arrive in the U.S. in November for $500. During the E3 presentation, Microsoft showed off new games … Read more

Memory compression brings RAM Doubler to OS X Mavericks

Today at the World Wide Developer Conference keynote, Apple announced a new feature in the upcoming OS X Mavericks that is reminiscent of the RAM Doubler technology available for classic Mac systems in the '90s.

In the mid-'90s, Mac systems came with 8MB to 32MB RAM, and as has always been the case, greater application usage required more RAM.

Overcoming RAM restrictions required you either purchase more RAM, or enable and expand virtual memory usage in the system's control panel to make use of the hard drive as a location for RAM contents. Unfortunately these features were either … Read more

Apple unveils new MacBook Air, gives Mac Pro sneak peek

Apple on Monday updated some models of its PC line with faster processors and improved battery life.

During a keynote address at the company's developers conference, Phil Schiller, Apple's head of marketing, unveiled a couple of new versions of the MacBook Air laptop and also gave developers a sneak peek of an updated Mac Pro desktop PC.

The new MacBook Air models are available Monday and start at $999. They include Intel's fourth-generation Core processor, dubbed Haswell, as well as a faster Wi-Fi known was 802.11ac.

Battery life is an area with significant improvement. The 11-inch … Read more

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

The next big cat isn't a cat at all

SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple announced the next version of Mac OS X today at the keynote for WWDC 2013. Named Mavericks, Mac OS X 10.9 brings more iOS features into the fold along with other tweaks including iBooks, Apple Maps, Finder Tabs, and a number of other time-saving enhancements.

Finder Tabs The new Finder Tabs work much in the same way they do in Safari. A plus sign button on the right lets you open a new tab, and you can drag and drop tabs just like in a Web browser. You could have one tab for AirDrop and … Read more

Features and fixes I want to see in Mac OS X 10.9

Apple's World Wide Developers Conference starts on Monday, and while the main focus appears to be on updates to iOS (read my iOS 7 wish list here) and various Mac hardware, it's highly likely we'll get an update for Mac OS X 10.9 as well. At this point, we don't know what will be announced and we don't even know which "cat" will be associated with the release. Even the picture above (a giant banner currently displayed at Moscone Center) is suspiciously free of any cats at all, so it's hard … 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

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