Apple seeds OS X 10.11.4 beta 5 to developers and public testers

Cody Lee ∙ March 1, 2016

Apple on Tuesday pushed out the fifth beta of OS X 10.11.4 to both developers and public testers. The beta is available either via the Mac App Store, in the Updates tab, for those who are already running 10.11.4, or on the websites of each of the respective testing programs.

Today's beta comes one week after Apple seeded 10.11.4 beta 4 to developers, and nearly two months after the first beta was released. It's mostly under-the-hood improvements, but it does include a few new features such as Live Photo support and password-protected Notes.

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Get a taste of Siri on your Mac right now with this neat trick

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated May 15, 2019

Ever since Siri was announced in 2011, Apple users have been excited about the prospect of the digital assistant coming to OS X. More recently, rumors have indicated that a Mac version of Siri will ship with OS X 10.12 this fall. September is quite a long way off, but it's possible to get a taste of Siri-like voice commands on your Mac right now, thanks to the accessibility features baked in OS X.

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Tip: use 3D Touch to export PDFs on your iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 10, 2019

iOS includes a Share sheet action for saving PDFs to iBooks. This is great for, say, turning a webpage or other document into a PDF form with one notable complaint—not everyone wants to read PDFs in the Books app.

As it turns out, you can export a PDF to any app on your device with 3D Touch right from iOS's Print Preview screen. This is an extremely convenient feature, but it's unfortunate that it requires 3D Touch so owners of previous-generation and older iPhones cannot take advantage of it.

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iOS 9.3 lets your boss lock apps to the Home screen and impose other restrictions

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2016

Apple's upcoming iOS 9.3 software update will allow employers to lock apps to the Home screen of company-issued devices, preventing them from being moved around, as first discovered by Irish developer Steven Troughton-Smith.

Buried within Apple's documentation for developers, the Home Screen Layout Payload, which defines a layout of apps, folders and web clips for the Home screen, is supported on iOS 9.3 and later.

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Rumor: iPhone 7 has a thinner Lightning port, flush camera and stereo speakers

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2016

The fairly reliable Japanese blog Mac Otakara today shared some new details pertaining to Apple's iPhone 7 refresh, which we're expecting around its usual September timeframe.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Mac Otakara says that the next iPhone will be 1mm thinner than the current iPhone 6s, which measures 7.1mm in depth, making the new phone the same 6.1mm thickness as the sixth-generation iPod touch.

Somewhat surprisingly, the iPhone 7 won't be waterproof after all and should also incorporate a thinner Lightning port. The camera bulge on the back will be gone because the phone's iSight camera is now flush with the chassis. Oh, and the new iPhone will come outfitted with stereo speakers—for the first time in iPhone history.

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Get directions to home and work with 3D Touch and Google Maps

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2016

As part of yesterday's update to Google's iPhone and iPad mapping application in the App Store which brought pit stops to navigation mode, the refreshed software has replicated one of my favorite 3D Touch features found on Apple Maps: the ability to get directions to home and work right from the Home screen.

In the new Google Maps 4.16 for iOS, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus owners can press the app's Home screen icon to bring up the shortcut menu with two useful Quick Actions: Directions to Work and Directions to Home.

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GoPro is buying powerful iPhone video-editing apps Replay and Splice

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2016

GoPro, an American manufacturer of action cameras that are popular in extreme-action videography, has acquired two mobile video editing apps, Replay and Splice.

In a media release yesterday, GoPro said that merging these apps into its mobile strategy will help them deliver powerful mobile editing solutions to GoPro customers “and billions of smartphone users,” indicating the apps will continue to be available in the App Store.

In fact, both apps will be coming to Android later this year, said GoPro.

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Apple patents hybrid wireless/wired earbuds for iPhone that are magnetically detachable

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2016

The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday awarded Apple a patent for magnetically detachable earbuds for an iPhone that could work in both wired and wireless mode. The invention is of particular interest in light of the rumor that the next iPhone will ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of Lightning-enabled and wireless Bluetooth headphones.

The proposed device would use two cables, one to connect the headphones together in wireless mode (like the connecting cable found on the Beats Solo2 wireless headphones) and the other to connect the headphones to a host device in wired mode.

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Sony confirms remote play feature for PlayStation 4 games coming to the Mac soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2016

Sony today confirmed in a blog post that it's working on a Mac and Windows app with remote play functionality for PlayStation 4 games.

“We’re bringing PS4 Remote Play to Windows PC and Mac,” said the Japanese gaming giant. “This feature won’t be available to test in the beta, but you can look forward to it soon.”

Remote play via Mac and Windows will require the forthcoming PlayStation system software update version 3.50, codenamed “Musashi,” which is now available to those who have signed up for the beta and were selected.

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Let’s Talk iOS 124: Downgrading the iPad

Sébastien Page ∙ March 1, 2016

Episode 124: It is impossible not to talk about the upcoming event Apple is rumored to be holding in March where it may unveil a new iPad, as well as a new iPhone. Before talking about a more serious topic like the ongoing battle between Apple and the FBI, Cody and Sebastien discuss their favorite Apple Watch bands. Finally, the discussion drifts to our favorite mail clients for both iOS and Mac.

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