Mac

Stay up-to-date on the latest Mac news, and tutorials. Get expert tips and tricks to optimize your Mac’s performance and learn about the latest Apple products and software updates. Discover the best Mac apps and accessories to enhance your user experience.

Review: Leaf, a minimalist RSS reader for the Mac

Leaf for Mac by Rocky Sand Studio is one of the most elegant and easy to use RSS readers available in the Mac App Store. Selected by Apple as one of its Best New Apps of 2015, this powerful app has gone free for the firs time since its inception, but for the next 24 hours only.

Leaf offers a carefully crafted set of essential features regularly used by average users, but don't let that fool you—this is a very capable app.

Leaf offers light/dark theme, supports popular syncing and sharing services, has a clutter-free mode, customizable keyboard shortcuts, supports trackpad gestures and notifications and much more.

If I were you, I'd grab Leaf right now before the price goes back up.

10+ things to do if your Mac won’t switch on

MacBook powering on and showing the Apple logo with a progress bar below it

Most of the time, when you want to use your Mac, you can just press the power button or lift the MacBook screen, hear a startup sound, and your computer will begin booting, so you can use it.

Sometimes, however, you don’t get so lucky. There may be a time when you go to use your Mac, and it doesn’t turn on at all.

As reliable as Macs can be, they can hiccup occasionally. In this piece, we talk about what you can do to troubleshoot if your Mac won’t power on after you press the power button.

GarageBand for Mac updated with Music Memos support, new Apple Loops and more

Apple on Thursday pushed out an update for GarageBand for Mac, bringing the software to version 10.1.1. The release brings about several improvements, including improved compatibility with GarageBand for iOS and Live Loops projects.

The update also brings about support for Logic Remote on the iPhone and iPad Pro, 2,600 new Apple Loops and sounds, and support for Music Memos—the app Apple released earlier this year to help musicians and songwriters capture ideas.

Mountie: a simple way to mount your iOS device side-by-side with your MacBook

Whether you're looking to make multitasking easier by having your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad right next to your computer, or you're using some kind of screen-extension software like Duet Display, the Mountie by Ten 1 Design is a great way to use your iOS device side-by-side with your Mac or PC.

The Mountie, which can be had in either Blue or Green flavors on Amazon for just under $25, is an affordable way to keep your iOS device right where you want it – in front of your face – without needing to shell out big bucks on fancy desk stands.

In this review, we'll show you how the Mountie works and give you our general opinion on why you should or shouldn't consider it for your Apple accessory wish list.

OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 beta 1 also seeded to developers

Just over two weeks after posting OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 for public consumption, Apple this morning seeded the first beta of OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 to its registered developers. A fifth major update to the the most recent operating system powering the Mac, OS X 10.11.5 includes bug fixes, performance improvements and general security and stability fixes.

It is not expected to bring any major user-facing features. The new beta carries a build number of 15F18b and can be installed on computers running a prior OS X beta through the Mac App Store's Updates tab.

New console firmware with support for playing PlayStation games on Mac is due tomorrow

As promised, Sony will release tomorrow a firmware update for its PlayStation 4 console which includes Remote Play functionality for playing PlayStation 4 games on a Mac or Windows PC, the company announced in a blog post this morning.

“With this update, we’re expanding PS4’s Remote Play capabilities to work with Windows PC and Mac,” said Sony. The Remote Play app, which launches tomorrow and will be available for download through the Sony website, lets you connect a DualShock 4 to your Mac via a USB cable as the controller for Remote Play.

How to remove unwanted email addresses from the Mail app on Mac

One thing I hate about the Mail app on my Mac is how when I go to enter someone's name to email them, macOS has a nasty habit of picking the wrong email address for that person and I always notice it when it's too late.

I had this happen to me the other day and my email was sent to the wrong inbox of that person – an email address that they don't even use anymore – so they never got the email I sent and I had to resend it.

If you've ever had this happen to you before, then you're reading the right tutorial, because we'll be showing you how to delete email addresses from Mac Mail history so they aren't auto-suggested for you when you start to type someone's name.

Simple tips for safely cleaning your Mac and other Apple devices

Cleaning Mac keyboard

Your Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and/or any other other fancy high-tech devices you have are fun to use, but they'll easily get dirty and collect dust, sneeze splatter, and bacteria from your fingers over time, whether they're used frequently or not.

To combat grime, you can clean your devices every so often, but like anything else, there's a right and a wrong way to do this.

In this piece, we'll share with you some handy tips for cleaning your Mac and other Apple devices safely so you don't accidentally damage them.

1Password for Mac gains new import options, automatic login naming and more

Developer AgileBits today pushed a brand new 'Tricks Edition' update for 1Password for OS X, its popular password-management that's available across iOS, OS X, Android and Windows platforms.

Available in the Mac App Store at no charge for existing users, this particular update sports some interesting new options for 1Password's data importer and includes a much improved browser extension that can now automatically name the login it creates, among other enhancements.

1Password is $64.99 in the Mac App Store.