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10 things you need to know before installing public OS X 10.10 Yosemite beta

As we told you earlier in the morning, general public can get a taste of Apple's upcoming OS X 10.10 Yosemite desktop operating system for Macs by signing up for a public beta over at the OS X Beta Program webpage starting tomorrow.

The company has said that the public beta will only open to the first million applicants so you better sign up now if you haven't already. Here are a few things you should know if you plan on taking Yosemite for a spin...

Everyone can try out OS X Yosemite Public Beta preview starting tomorrow

In years past, only Apple's registered Mac developers were given access to early betas of OS X builds. With OS X Yosemite, Apple has changed tactics and is now allowing everyone to get in on the action by signing up for its new Public OS X Yosemite Beta preview program.

Apple has said that it will open up Public Yosemite beta for everyone later this summer and now CNET is reporting that the company is set to release the beta version of OS X 10.10 Yosemite to the public on Thursday, July 24...

Hearthstone ‘Curse of Naxxramas’ expansion now available

Just a heads up for all of you gamers out there, the highly anticipated 'Curse of Naxxramas' expansion for Blizzard's Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is now available. It's available on both Mac and iPad, and the first quarter is free.

Blizzard intends to release the Naxxramas expansion in five quarters over the next five weeks, beginning with the Arachnid Quarter. Additional quarters will cost money, but Arachnid is free to anyone who participates in the launch event...

Apple seeds OS X Yosemite Preview 4, redesigned iTunes 12 and Yosemite Recovery Update

In addition to seeding the fourth beta of iOS 8 this morning, Apple has also released the fourth Developer Preview of its new OS X Yosemite operating system. The update comes two weeks after Preview 3, and well over a month after Apple announced Yosemite at WWDC.

The update is labeled as build preview 4 1.0 and can be downloaded via an update in the Mac App Store, or as a full download from Apple’s online developer center. It does not, however, appear to be out in Apple’s recently-launched public Yosemite Beta Seed program yet…

The best icon packs for OS X

As a follow-up to our recent article on how to change app icons in OS X, we've scoured the internet for the best icon packs for Mac apps in existence. The result is a beautiful assemblage of icons that is certain to give your Mac a fresh, new look.

In addition to large, themed icon sets, we've added several individual icons of third-party applications that have received an early update from independent graphic designers, who took inspiration from iOS 7, OS X Yosemite, and Apple's pre-Yosemite designs for iBooks, iLife, and iWork...

Launch of 12-inch Retina MacBook may be pushed back to 2015

Taiwan's Economic Daily News is reporting tonight that the launch of the 12-inch MacBook with Retina display may be pushed back due to Intel processor delays. The long-rumored hybrid laptop was expected to finally launch later this year.

The problem is, the new MacBook, said to strike a better balance of performance and portability, is believed to be tied to Intel's 14-nanometer Broadwell chips. These chips have been delayed several times, and now may not land until 2015...

EU officials upset as Apple remains mum on proposed IAP policy changes

In-App Purchase, a way overused feature which provides a way for supposedly free games and apps to ask users for cash in order to enable advanced features or unlock virtual items, is increasingly drawing ire of regulators across the globe.

In-App Purchases are notorious for fooling less-informed adults and kids into downloading so-called freemium apps so it's no wonder the European Union officials have repeatedly warned that companies like Apple and Google should stop labeling free-to-download apps that contain In-App Purchases as "Free".

Companies could soon be forced to make the “true cost of apps” unambiguously clear before purchase, according to a complaint the European Commission filed today...

Hearthstone ‘Curse of Naxxramas’ expansion hitting iOS, Mac July 22

Back in March, Blizzard launched its popular free-to-play collectible card game ‘Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft’ on the Mac. A month later, it brought the game to the iPad, and promised an expansion pack for both platforms.

Today, the studio made good on its promise, announcing that Hearthstone's first expansion 'Curse of Naxxramas' will be landing on PCs, Macs and iPads on Tuesday, July 22nd. You'll find all the details on the add-on pack below...

Wunderlist 3 previewed: fast sync, gorgeous UI and 60+ improvements

Berlin, Germany-based 6Wunderkinder, the makers of the popular Wunderlist to-do, task and list management app, is getting ready to release a major new version. The wait for Wunderlist 3 is almost over, developers told me via email.

Filed as "our biggest update ever," Wunderlist 3 brings fast real-time sync engine, top-to-bottom makeover with a beautiful new design and over 60 various improvements to put the fun back into note-taking, task management and list creation and curation...

Sonico launches iTranslate for Mac with voice output, dictionaries, 80+ languages and more

German developer Sonico Mobile makes some fairly nice translation apps for the iPhone. Their excellent iTranslate app, available free for the iPhone and iPad, allows you to translate words and text into over 80 languages.

It supports voice input and output for most language pairs, which works much better than you'd think in terms of dialects, gender, speaking rate and other variables affecting translation accuracy.

Sonico is now bringing that same experience to your Mac with the launch of the native iTranslate for Mac app, a free download from the Mac App Store. With over 80 languages supported out of the box and features like voice output, fast text input, romanization and built-in dictionaries, Sonico's software enables the App Store's most popular translator tool on your Mac...

OS X Yosemite Developer Preview usage 4x greater than Mavericks

Adoption rates of the OS X Yosemite Developer Preview are smashing records with four times greater usage than its predecessor, OS X Mavericks. Developers' striking interest in the software is evidenced by usage stats web analytics firm Chitika provided Wednesday.

According to data, adoption figures of the Yosemite betas in North America have significantly outpaced those of OS X Mavericks, by as much as a factor of four.

Early adopters have helped OS X Yosemite Developer Preview hit 0.20 percent of total U.S. and Canadian web traffic originating from Mac OS X. By comparison, the OS X Mavericks Developer Preview was only able to hit a meager 0.05 percent mark after 30 days...

Retina MacBook Air hits roadblocks as Intel’s Broadwell chips face new delays

It's hardly a secret that Apple is looking to phase out non-Retina models from its MacBook Pro lineup.

Furthermore, the expected switch to all-Retina notebooks should over time affect Apple's ultra-portable MacBook Air model, too.

I mean, even Apple's Taiwan-based suppliers have been adamant that a long-expected version of the MacBook Air with Apple's Retina display is due in the second half of 2014.

Unfortunately, it's now almost certain that a Retina MacBook Air won't see the light of day this year because the crucial components - Intel's next-generation, extremely low-power Broadwell chips - reportedly won't be available in volume until mid-2015...