Apple

Quick roundup of major El Capitan features

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

El Capitan is here and with it arrive tons of under-the-hood improvements that will make your Mac run faster and your daily computing smoother than before. Even though El Capitan is a Snow Leopard-style release focused on speed and core OS improvements, it nonetheless packs a pretty punch when it comes to user-facing features.

From a more streamlined Mission Control and a smarter Spotlight Search to more efficient multitasking in Split View mode and an all-new Notes to perfected stock apps and iOS-style gestures in Mail, El Capitan is about refinements to the already great Mac user experience and little things that are worth getting excited about.

Here's a short overview of major new features in El Capitan.

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Apple brings some El Capitan features to Yosemite and Mavericks users with Safari 9.0 update

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

In addition to releasing the major OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update for the Mac, Apple has also posted a Safari update for Yosemite and Mavericks users. In addition to improving your privacy, compatibility and security, the Safari 9.0 update for Yosemite and Mavericks systems includes some controls found in the El Capitan edition of Apple's web browser.

These mainly include the ability to mute audio in tabs and additional viewing options in Safari Reader, but not the new Pinned Sites feature.

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OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update is now available for your Mac, get downloading

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 29, 2024

Keeping true to its promise, Apple today launched the OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update for the Mac. El Capitan has the same system requirements as Yosemite, meaning it should run on any Mac introduced in 2009 and later, and some models introduced in 2007 and 2008.

The software update offers several new headline features while packing in a bunch of under-the-hood refinements designed to make your Mac run faster and more efficiently than before.

If you don't see the update in the Mac App Store's Updates tab yet, give it a while as these things take time to propagate through the Interwebs. By the way, you can manually run a search for 'El Capitan' in the Mac App Store and install it from there.

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OneDrive for iOS gains new command gestures and cool ways to work with PDF files

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

Microsoft today updated OneDrive for the iPhone and iPad, its cloud-storage client app, with several new features such as a simpler way to share things with an all-new radial contextual menu and cool new ways to work with and annotate PDF files.

For starters, you can now draw smiley faces or whatever your like on PDF files, sign documents and more. And thanks to OneDrive's newly gained Outlook integration, you can share OneDrive files as email attachments through Outlook, if it's installed.

OneDrive's Document Picker extension on devices with iOS 8 or later permits you to open your cloud files in third-party apps like Keynote and Pages. Oh, and you can now see folders shared with you, alongside your own OneDrive folders, and sync them on your computer.

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Apple seeds iOS 9.1 beta 3 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated June 12, 2018

Apple on Wednesday seeded the third beta version of iOS 9.1 to developers. The software is available to registered developers either over-the-air, for those running the latest iOS 9.1 beta, or via Apple’s developer website.

Today's release comes one week after beta 2 was made available to developers, and 3 weeks after iOS 9.1 was first introduced to the public during Apple's iPhone 6s event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

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iPhone 6s Plus teardown reveals a 165 mAh battery downgrade versus last year’s iPhone 6 Plus

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

After taking apart the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s, repair wizards over at iFixit have now disassembled its bigger brethren, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus (model A1687/A1634) After popping the handset open, the iFixit team immediately discovered a largely unchanged layout from the iPhone 6 and a slightly smaller battery versus last year's iPhone 6 Plus.

In line with the rumors, the battery inside the iPhone 6s Plus is of a 2,750 mAh variety, representing a modest 165 mAh downgrade versus the iPhone 6 Plus battery rated at 3.82 V and 11.1 Wh of energy, for a total of 2915 mAh.

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Viber for iPhone and iPad gains group likes, 7,000-character messages and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

Viber's free mobile application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad was updated earlier today in the App Store with four new features. Bumping the version number to 5.6, the new Viber for iOS lets you express yourself in a more detailed manner than before with support for 7,000 characters long text messages.

In addition, you can now like messages in group chats, forward the contents of public chats and take advantage of better video messaging features that improve your experience.

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Is iPhone 6s waterproof? iFixit has the answer

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

So, is the new iPhone 6s waterproof or not? A lot of ink has been spilt following a video that showed an iPhone 6s surviving being submerged in bowls of water for over an hour. People have been wondering whether the poster had used Liquipel to protect their device from water damage or if Apple has in fact done something to improve water resistance of the new iPhones.

iFixit was wondering the same so they set out to put this debate to rest once and for all. So then, is the new iPhone waterproof or not? Read on to find out.

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Apple Music, iTunes Movies and iBooks make their long-expected debut in China

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

Apple on Wednesday announced that users in China can now enjoy Apple Music, as well as browse and download their entertainment from the iTunes Store and iBooks Store, marking the first time customers in the 1.33 billion people market will have access to Apple’s entertainment ecosystem with music, movies and books right at their fingertips.

“Customers in China love the App Store and have made it our largest market in the world for app downloads,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “One of the top requests has been more great content and we’re thrilled to bring music, movies and books to China, curated by a local team of experts.”

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Chromecast support, people labeling and shared albums coming to Google Photos

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 29, 2015

In addition to a pair of new Nexus smartphones and an upcoming $14.99 Google Play Music family tier, the search giant dedicated a few minutes of stage time at its media even this morning to the mobile Photos app, which launched on iOS and Android in May 2015.

An upcoming update to Google Photos, the company said, will add a few missing features to the software, like people labelling, Chromecasting, album collaboration and more.

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How to make your iPhone and iPad more secure with 6-digit passcodes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 6, 2017

Starting with the release of iOS 9.0.1, Apple has increased your security by defaulting to 6-digit passcodes on Touch ID devices. “If you use Touch ID, it’s a change you’ll hardly notice,” says Apple.

Compared to 4-digit passcodes which have 10,000 possible combinations, their 6-digit counterparts strengthen your security with one million possible combinations, meaning 6-digit passcodes will be a lot tougher to crack.

Non-Touch ID iPhones and iPads still default to less secure 4-digit passcodes, however. You can enable a 6-digit passcode with a quick trip to Settings, here's how.

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