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iDB holiday gift guide: Christian’s picks

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Is it that time of year again? Gosh, time surely flies, doesn't it? And what an action-packed year it has been in terms of exciting Apple product releases and upgrades, new-category product launches, interesting new accessories, novel new apps and games and what not.

I believe in smart holiday shopping that doesn't force you to break the bank just to purchase cool gifts that your friends and family will actually love, not pass along like a hot potato. So without further ado, I present you my personal holiday gift guide.

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Duet Display now works on iPad Pro, lets you run iOS and Mac apps together

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 9, 2015

Duet Display, a terrific app which turns an iOS device into an external display for the Mac, has been updated in the App Store with official support for the iPad Pro and major performance improvements on both iOS and OS X.

The best thing about the updated app is its ability to allocate one-third of the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 4' display for iOS apps, with the remaining two-thirds of the screen real estate dedicated to Mac apps.

Dual-screening using an iPad Pro and Duet Display comes with zero lag, developers claim. Crafted by ex-Apple engineers who worked on the iPad and iMac, Duet Display through its desktop helper app appears as an external display hooked up to your Mac or Windows PC via the USB port.

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Apple releases OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan update

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Following an extensive testing, Apple on Tuesday released OS X 10.11.2 (build number 15C50), the second major update to El Capitan, for public consumption. In addition to improving the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac, OS X 10.11.2 improves iCloud Photo Sharing for Live Photos, as well as the reliability of Wi-Fi networking, Handoff and AirDrop.

Moreover, the software update includes fixes for Bluetooth devices disconnecting on a whim, the Mail app deleting messages in an offline Exchange account and problems with importing photos from an iPhone to a Mac using a USB cable.

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Today’s Pixelmator for Mac update brings several new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Pixelmator, one of the best Photoshop alternatives on any platform, has received a nice little update in the Mac App Store this morning. Bumped to version 3.4.1, the refreshed app brings half a dozen new features and refinements and packs in nearly two dozen bug fixes and stability improvements, including faster and more responsive performance on 2011 Macs with Intel's HD 3000 graphics cards.

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Review: CleanMyDrive 2—stylish, lightweight app to get rid of junk cluttering your drives

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 17, 2017

MacPaw, a fresh, independent developer behind the versatile and powerful CleanMyMac application, today unleashed a major update to CleanMyDrive.

CleanMyDrive is a free-of-charge Mac utility designed to help reclaim free disk space by cleaning the junk from your internal hard drives and external storage devices such as USB thumb drives, SSDs and more

The new and much improved CleanMyDrive 2 app boasts a completely redesigned user interface that lets you check disk stats, drag-and-drop files directly to any drive, automatically clean disks after hitting the Eject button and more.

With it, cleaning hidden junk that's been clogging up your drives is easy and fun.

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How to disable password prompts for free iBooks downloads on the Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2015

Since last year's iOS 8.3 software update iOS devices have had the ability to stop asking for a password when downloading free applications from the App Store. Soon after, that feature found its way into iTunes and iBooks for Mac.

As electronic books are no longer managed through iTunes, disabling password prompts for iBooks Store downloads is now handled in iBooks for Mac. In this post, you will learn how to disable Apple ID password prompts when downloading free electronic books from Apple's iBooks Store, and we'll also show you how you can manage password settings for paid items.

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Next-generation Yahoo Messenger now available on iOS, web and Yahoo Mail

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Yahoo today announced it's re-launching its venerable messaging software—Yahoo Messenger—on iOS, Android, on the web and in Yahoo Mail on the desktop.

The app offers a fresh new messaging experience rebuilt from the ground up, integrates the best of the Flickr, Tumblr and Xobni, does photo sharing and animated GIFs and is focused on group messaging with features such as sharing, unsending and liking.

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Review: SiriMote—control media playback on your Mac with Siri Remote

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2015

Wouldn't it be nice if you could use the Siri Remote that came with your new Apple TV to control media applications on your Mac? After all, the remote is Bluetooth-based and Mac itself has robust support for Bluetooth networking.

With SiriMote, a new freeware app, now you can. Created by Vienna, Austria-based Eternal Storms Software's Matthias Gansrigler, SiriMote lets you control various functions of the Mac using your Apple TV's Siri Remote.

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Chrome for Mac nixes notification menu bar

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2015

Google's Chrome browser was updated yesterday to version 47 on Windows, Mac and Linux. The latest stable release of the browser includes bug fixes and removes a rarely used feature: the notification center in the Mac's menu bar.

Chrome for iPhone, iPod touch iPad also received an update yesterday in the App Store, bringing out support for 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and enabling more shortcuts via external wireless keyboards.

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Readdle’s PDF Expert 5 for Mac picks up new features for easier document manipulation

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 1, 2015

Ukrainian developer Readdle launched the Mac edition of PDF Expert, its popular PDF viewer app for iOS, in mid-November. Today marks the first major feature-focused refresh of the app in the Mac App Store.

The app now lets you mail a flattened copy of your PDF and rotate a page without entering the Pages mode. It will remember on what page you've left your document so that the next time you open the same file you can continue right where you left off.

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