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.

This is what AirDrop for iOS should look like

If you've ever used a Mac running OS X Lion, then there's a good chance you've played with AirDrop. The drag-and-drop feature allows users to share content between computers on a common Wi-Fi network with understated ease.

It's such a cool feature, in fact, that a lot of folks have wondered when Apple is going to bring it to iOS. Just imagine dragging and dropping files to your iPhone or iPad — it'd be awesome. Especially if it looked anything like this...

Apple starts raising WWDC banners at Moscone

You've heard all of the rumors and speculation, but just in case you needed more proof that Apple's highly anticipated WWDC event was on the horizon, here you go. As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple has started hanging WWDC banners at the Moscone Center.

Apple used its World Wide Developers Conference to unveil iOS 5 last year, but it has also been known to use the opportunity to show off new hardware. So what can we expect from this year's event? Keep reading...

Cook at D10: Why I’m not big on marrying iPad with MacBook

One of the inevitable subjects technology columnists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher pressed Apple's Cook on during yesterday's D10: All Things Digital opening-night talk touches upon the post-PC world and the convergence dilemma. As you know, Cook's predecessor Steve Jobs was a huge proponent of tablet computing.

Jobs used to passionately defend the tablet with all his heart and soul, insisting on the post-PC revolution spearheaded by the iPad. So, here's Cook's take on tablets displacing PCs, the iPad, the assumed convergence of tablets and PCs and more...

How Apple’s gadgets achieve smooth finish

If you ever wondered how the smooth and shiny finish of Apple products is achieved in manufacturing, here's your answer. The process called anodizing makes metals such as aluminum and titanium corrosion-resistant by growing an oxide layer into the metal.

A nice clip based on a chapter in the book Eight Amazing Engineering Stories explains the anodizing process in Layman's terms through the mouth of Bill Hammack the Engineer Guy.

As you know, anodizing is used on many Apple products, including most of the Macs sold today, and is likely to be applied to an upcoming iPhone 5 said to feature metal-clad back...

Indie app devs start massive game sale

I’ve always been as much of a sucker for not-to-be-missed deals on App Store games as the other guy. And why wouldn't anyone want great value for their hard-earned cash?

If you've been on the lookout for deep discounts on dozens of notable games for your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, you don't wanna miss out on this insane deal.

Organized by a bunch of independent developers who banded together for greater cause, it spans application stores across multiple platforms...

How to launch apps on your iPhone with Alfred

Did you know you can launch an iPhone app or respring your iDevice using Alfred for Mac? It's actually possible. You can invoke a hotkey, type Respring into your Mac, and your iPhone SpringBoard will restart automatically.

This tutorial is not for the feint of heart. It helps if you have a general understanding of OpenSSH, the command line, and scripting with AppleScript or Python. You will need to have a Mac with administrator rights and a jailbroken iDevice. Read on to get started...

25% of iPad purchases are from first-time Apple buyers

The NPD, a consumer market research firm, is out with a new report today regarding its recent Apple Ecosystem Study. The firm asked more than 3,000 consumers, of balanced demographics, on whether or not they owned Apple products. And if so, which ones.

As usual, the results are pretty interesting. The study found that one-in-five Apple owner households owns at least one iPad. But current Apple owners aren't the only people that are being drawn to the new tablet: one-in-four iPad buyers are first-time Apple buyers...

The 2012 Apple Design Awards nominations now open, get your apps ready

As Apple announced this morning that it will hold its annual WWDC conference from June 11-15 at San Francisco's Moscone Center, they also revealed details about this year's Apple Design Awards. The prestigious award recognizes the best of the best in iOS and Mac app design, innovation and technology adoption.

Developers who intend to have their work included for this year's Apple Design Awards consideration are required to submit their apps by May 1 through Apple’s developer portal. However, even if you don’t submit your app, Apple could still award your work in one of the categories...

Turn your iPad into a laptop with the NoteBookCase

9to5Mac spotlights an interesting iPad accessory that appears to turn the popular tablet into a miniature MacBook Pro. The NoteBookCase houses your iPad in a clamshell-like case with an Apple-style keyboard.

Of course, there is no shortage of keyboard-packing iPad cases on the market — both Zagg and Kensington make some pretty popular models. But none of them pack near the amount of features as the NoteBookCase...

Following the iOS debacle, Mountain Lion now asks permission to access contacts too

It seems that Apple's learnings from the Path Contacts debacle have extended to the Mac, too, with the latest Developer Preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion also seeing a Contacts-based new security addition.

Those with reasonable memories will remember that Path, the social networking app that was all the rage not long ago, got itself into some hot water for taking all the details from the iOS Contacts app – names, numbers, email addresses and more – and uploading them to its own servers. This led to all kinds of scaremongering and ultimately, Apple decided to add a warning message to iOS that tells users when an app is requesting access to contact details. Users then have to option of allowing or blocking that access.

Now it appears that Apple has pulled this security feature across from iOS to the Mac, or at least it will in the next version of OS X when it arrives later this year...

We’re giving away 5 copies of ‘Reflection’ – the Mac AirPlay Mirroring app

Yep, you heard right. The fine folks behind the Mac's Reflection app were generous enough to provide five of our readers with registration certificates for a full copy of their app.

For those of you who haven't already seen our coverage, Reflection is a Mac app that allows you to mirror your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S to your Mac, just as if it were an Apple TV.

From our hands-on testing we can confidently report that it works really well. Now you have the chance to experience the goodness for yourself.

It's easy to win, just step right in...