Mac

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Unsurprisingly, iPhone Messages bug crashes iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, WhatsApp, Twitter and Snapchat

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 29, 2015

An odd software bug which causes the iPhone's Messages application to crash and sends the handset into a respring after a certain text is received affects the iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, too. In addition, the text bug apparently affects third-party social and messaging apps that deal with text, including WhatsApp, Twitter and Snapchat, The Guardian newspaper learned today.

That's hardly surprising. The issue can be traced back to a specific series of Unicode characters, suggesting a bug in the text engine framework called CoreText that exists in iOS and OS X.

That would explain why third-party apps that deal with messages, like Twitter and Snapchat, were affected as they tap into Apple's CoreText engine to manage strings of text and layouts.

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Latest MacBook Pro supports 5K displays with up to 5,120-by-2,880 pixels at 60Hz

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 28, 2015

If you purchased Apple's new fifteen-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and Force Touch trackpad, congratulate yourself as you're the proud owner of Apple's very first notebook capable of driving external displays in glorious 5K resolution.

The new 15-inch MacBook Pro also support single-stream 4K screens at a 4,096-by-2,160 display resolution at 60Hz, another first for Apple.

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How to fix a “referencing media on the camera” error in Final Cut Pro X

Jeff Benjamin ∙ May 19, 2015

Every now and then, you may run into an issue with Final Cut Pro X where a file doesn't successfully import. Due to this, the media that you're working with in your project is still referencing the location where the file originally was (i.e. SD Card, Camera HDD, etc.).

When this happens, and you try to share/export a project, you'll receive an error message that says "This item cannot be shared while it is still referencing media on the camera."

To fix this problem, you'll need to reimport your footage from the original source using the File menu. It's fairly straightforward, but it's not exactly obvious as to what you should do when you first encounter this issue. Inside, we'll show you the error message and the quick fix in our brief video tutorial.

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Apple launches 15″ MacBook Pro with Force touch, refreshes 27-inch iMac while bringing down price

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 19, 2015

Apple on Tuesday launched a new 15-inch MacBook Pro model with Force Touch trackpad, Intel's faster fourth-generation Haswell chip and other features

In addition, the Cupertino firm has refreshed its 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina screen while making the system more affordable than before.

The new baseline iMac configuration has a slower 3.3GHz chip (previously 3.5GHz) and the traditional 1TB hard drive instead of the Fusion drive. More importantly, it now starts out at just $1,999, a much appreciated discount from the previous asking price of $2,499. In addition, the top-end iMac configuration is now available at a lower price of $2,299.

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‘Rising Tide’ expansion for Civilization: Beyond Earth announced, arriving in fall

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

Developer Aspyr Media, in partnership with 2K and Firaxis Games, today announced that a new expansion to Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth, titled 'Rising Tide', will be arriving on Mac, Windows and Linux later this year.

The expansion pack is currently in development for Mac and Linux operating systems and is scheduled for release in autumn 2015.

Rising Tide will enhance Beyond Earth experience with a variety of new gameplay capabilities, adding more choices and diplomatic options and providing “near limitless” ways to create a new future for humanity on an alien planet.

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Oculus Rift’s Mac development ‘paused’ as team focuses on 2016 Windows launch

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 15, 2015

Both OS X and Linux development of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset has been put on hold as the team focuses on a strong launch of the Windows version of the product, the company has confirmed in a blog post today.

While Oculus focuses its energies on a “high quality consumer-level VR experience at launch across hardware, software and content on Windows,” they want to “get back to development for OS X and Linux” but “don't have a timeline” yet, said Atman Binstock, Chief Architect at Oculus and technical director of the Rift.

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How to filter iPhone and Apple Watch screenshots in the Photos app on Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

As you might imagine, I take tons of screenshots on a weekly basis for work. Instead of connecting my iPhone to my Mac and importing screenshots manually, or instead of using AirDrop, I simply use Photo Stream to do the grunt work.

Photo Stream allows me to access any photo taken with my iPhone, including screenshots, directly from the Photos app on my Mac. Just a few seconds after taking a picture with my iPhone, the photo appears on my Mac. This is great for quickly grabbing iPhone screenshots, and it even allows you to easily access screenshots taken on the Apple Watch.

In this post, I'll show you how I set up a simple Smart Album to separate screenshots—Apple Watch screenshots included—from regular photos.

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Lock or unlock your Mac right from your wrist with MacID for Apple Watch

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 12, 2015

MacID, a cool app by developer Kane Cheshire that lets you lock and unlock your Mac using Touch ID on your iPhone, or your passcode, is now available on the Apple Watch.

If you want to unlock your Mac right from your wrist, and own an Apple Watch, you should grab the new MacID 1.2 for iPhone, a $3.99 download from the App Store. You can even use the Apple Watch app to see what's playing on iTunes or Spotify, and start screensavers on your Mac.

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Fantastical 2 for Mac picks up loads of new features and refinements in a new update

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 11, 2015

Developer Flexibits has updated its popular calendar, reminders and to-do alternative, Fantastical 2 for Mac, with more than a dozen new features, enhancements and bug fixes. The app now includes a new-look birthday event interface and has added a pending invitations section to view all incoming invitations in one place.

You can now drag text from other apps to quickly create an event and drag items from OmniFocus, which also creates a related event.

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