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.

Tweetbot for Mac adds support for Twitter-hosted GIF and video image previews

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

To make the wait until a massive (and way overdue) Yosemite overhaul of Tweetbot, the most purchased Twitter alternative on the Apple platform, developer Tapbots on Thursday pushed a small yet important update to Tweetbot for Mac.

This new version at last added official support for Twitter-hosted animated GIFs and video image previews. In addition to these enhancements, this edition of Tweetbot saw improvements in storage and memory usage.

So now when someone attaches an animated GIF to their tweet or records a video in Twitter's native video format, you'll see the video thumbnail inline. Previously, it wouldn't show any thumbnail at all, leaving you with clickable URLs that opened in a browser.

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TweetDeck for Mac gains group DMs, inline video and GIFs and other goodies

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 1, 2015

TweetDeck for Mac, the popular Twitter-owned desktop client, on Wednesday received its first significant update since August 2014.

Available free of charge, the refreshed application now displays native Twitter video and animated GIF files inline and allows you to exchange direct messages with multiple users in group conversations, in addition to half a dozen other improvements.

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Foursquare for iOS enables Handoff with Mac, brings Citymapper directions

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 1, 2015

Foursquare, the world's top crowd-sourced local search and discovery service and mobile app, has pushed a refresh to its iPhone and iPad places-discovery application available at no cost in the App Store.

Among other new features, Foursquar 8.1 enables Handoff support between iOS and the Mac and lets you easily access Citymapper from the app. For those wondering, Citymapper is a fast-growing, real-time transit service available on the iPhone and coming to the Apple Watch next month.

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EA debuts ‘Get To Work’ expansion for The Sims 4 featuring three career paths and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 1, 2017

Publisher Electronic Arts on Tuesday launched the first major expansion pack for its popular life simulation game for Mac and Windows PCs, The Sims 4. “It's time to take your career to the next level,” says EA, revealing that the add-on is all about different career paths your Sims can take.

In addition, entrepreneurial types can now build and manage their own retail stores and earn money by selling all sorts of items. You can set prices yourself, hire and manage employees, customize uniforms and work to make the final sale.

EA says there's no limit to the type of retail business that can be created, from clothing boutiques to art galleries, or bakeries to bookstores.

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Apple seeds OS X 10.10.3 beta 6 to developers, public testers

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple seeded another beta of OS X 10.10.3 on Monday for both members of the Mac Developer Center and public beta testers. The new build, available to download through the Mac App Store's Software Update mechanism, carries the build number 14D127 - compared to the previous build number of 14D113 that was released one week ago.

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Review: Fantastical 2 for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 25, 2015

The sequel to the popular language-parsing calendar utility for the Mac has arrived and it's everything you've been hoping for! Much more than a major new update, Fantastical 2 for Mac is a whole new app that feels instantly familiar while offering productivity-boosting improvements.

In addition to the revamped appearance optimized for OS X Yosemite's look and feel, Fantastical 2 is now a proper replacement for Apple's stock Calendar and Reminders apps.

Fantastical 2 has its own full-blown window and gorgeous full-screen mode while its menu bar thing can now be detached and dragged anywhere on the screen. The software is packed to the gills with a bevy of new features like iCloud Reminders and time zone support, light/dark theme, birthday reminders, a more powerful and friendlier natural language parser and more.

As a whole, the app feels tighter and more streamlined. Developer Flexibits was kind enough to put me on its limited list of beta testers, this is what I was able to gather from my weeklong hands-on time with the software.

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This app turns your Mac’s Force Touch trackpad into a drawing tablet

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 24, 2015

Apple's improved Force Touch trackpad on the new 12-inch MacBook and early-2015 MacBook Pro models has pressure sensors that make possible all sorts of new interactions, among them pressure-sensitive drawing with your finger.

In OS X Yosemite, for example, you can press lightly on the trackpad for a thin stroke or harder for a thick one when marking up a Mail attachment or creating a signature for forms in Preview.

And now, a Mac application called Inklet has been refreshed with superior pressure-sensitive drawing capabilities, basically turning the Force Touch trackpad in your Mac notebook into a powerful drawing tablet.

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How to get a 3D dock on OS X Yosemite

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 22, 2015

Do you miss OS X's 3D dock? OS X Yosemite finally did away with the 3D dock that's been present since the release of OS X Leopard, but you can get it back by using a simple application called cDock.

cDock includes, among a host of other features, the ability to theme the dock with over a dozen built-in themes. There are night themes, fullscreen themes, pink themes, and, of course, 3D themes. If you've been reminiscing about the "good ol' days", then you can easily relive the past with this handy little application.

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Review: Das Keyboard 4 Professional for Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

I've been using the Das Keyboard Professional Model S for the last two years, and I've thoroughly enjoyed typing on this mechanical keyboard. If you do any sort of long form typing on a regular basis, then having a mechanical keyboard can make a huge difference in your life.

After typing on my MacBook's chiclet keyboard for years, I began to develop problems with severe wrist pain. Although it was never officially diagnosed, I'm pretty sure that I suffered from some sort of repetitive stress injury, which made it excruciatingly painful to type for extended periods of time. Needless to say, having a mechanical keyboard has alleviated 99% of these issues, and I can never see myself going back to using the MacBook's chiclet keyboard full time.

Earlier this month, Das Keyboard released an updated keyboard for Mac with new features and functionality. The Das Keyboard 4 Professional for Mac, as it is called, brings a similar typing experience to the table. Is it something you should consider if you're in the market for a new keyboard? Should previous Das Keyboard owners upgrade? Have a look at our video review and walkthrough for the answer.

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How to use window snapping with HyperDock on Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

As many of you guys know, I'm a huge HyperDock ($9.99 on the Mac App Store) proponent. I use it primarily to have access to window previews of running apps in the OS X dock, but the tweak has additional features as well.

The biggest side benefit to using HyperDock is its window snapping capabilities. It's not the deepest window snapping feature-set out there, but if you need basic Windows-like functionality, it's should have more than enough to win you over.

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