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Good deal: get Parallels + 7 awesome Mac apps for one super low price

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 20, 2013

Black Friday is nine days away, but that's not stopping companies from advertising huge holiday discounts like there's no tomorrow. Notable deals Cody told you about in the past week or so include 28% off the iPhone-controlled Cobra iHelicopter, 46% off id America's iPhone 5/5s accessory bundle, 55% off Jony Ive and Inside Steve’s Brain book combo and more.

You can put Parallels on your shopping list as the virtualization company is now offering eight great Mac apps for the price of Parallels Desktop 9 alone - that's 82 percent off or a cool $356 in savings right off the bat...

Tweetbot for Mac updated with quick notification replies, smoother scrolling

Cody Lee ∙ November 20, 2013

Tapbots has updated Tweetbot for Mac this afternoon, bringing the app to version 1.4. The update brings about the ability for OS X Mavericks users to reply to tweets or direct messages, directly from notifications.

The new app also includes a number of other welcome improvements as well, such as smoother scrolling (10.9 only) and faster refreshing on lists and saved searches. And as usual, there are a flurry of bug fixes...

How to launch Mac apps from unidentified developers on a case by case basis

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 18, 2016

OS X has a feature that prevents apps from unidentified developers from launching out of the box. While this is a noble cause, it presents issues when launching legitimate apps from great developers that don't happen to be on Apple's whitelist. That message reads "XYZapp can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer."

You can go into OS X's system preferences and disable this protection altogether, but there's a much more sensible option than that. Instead, how about enabling apps from unidentified developers on a case by case basis?

Best Buy knocking $100 off iPad 2 and up to $200 off Macs for Black Friday

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 15, 2018

Following Black Friday sale previews from Target and Walmart, major electronics retailer Best Buy has published a number of deals it will be offering up on the popular after-Thanksgiving-day shopping weekend.

Folks looking to get an iPad for a friend or family member for the holidays will be interested to hear that Best Buy will be selling the iPad 2 for $299—$100 off. And it will also be discounting Macs, iPods and more...

Apple support site now allows customers to initiate screen-sharing

Cody Lee ∙ November 12, 2013

Apple has updated its support site this week with a new feature allowing users to initiate screen-sharing with AppleCare representatives when receiving Mac help via phone call. This option was previously reserved for reps only.

But enabling customers to initiate screen-sharing with a support tech will one, give them more control over their overall support experience, and two, help facilitate quicker, more accurate responses from Apple's support staff...

How to quickly search the contents of iDB using Alfred

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Alfred is one of my favorite launchers available for OS X. It serves as a replacement for Spotlight search, and can do a whole bunch of other cool things using custom workflows, searches, etc.

I could write a whole series about Alfred, because it's just that deep. But first things first. To start, I'm going to show you how to perform a custom search on iDownloadBlog. I've included a downloadable custom search in this post that you can import directly into Alfred. Have a look inside to see how it works.

Apple addresses Mavericks issues with updates for Mail and iBooks

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Good news this afternoon for folks who have been dealing with teething issues in the just-released OS X Mavericks. Apple has posted updates today for the Mail and iBooks apps, which should resolve two of the more popular complaints.

The iBooks update brings the app to version 1.0.1 and includes bug fixes and stability improvements. And the Mail update promises to improve general stability and compatibility with Gmail, solving issues that made the client unreliable...

Apple’s Volume Purchase Program expands to Macs with Managed Distribution

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 5, 2013

Early in the game, Apple took advantage of its Volume Purchase Program (VPP) to allow Business and Education customers to buy iPhone and iPad apps carried on the App Store in bulk and with volume discounts.

Following the free OS X Mavericks update earlier in the month, the company has now updated VPP rules to include Mac App Store apps as well. With this change, Education and Business customers can for the first time buy Mac apps in volume.

In addition, the company has introduced a new Managed Distribution feature for iOS 7 and Mavericks devices which lets businesses and education institutions easily assign and revoke app licenses to individual users. Previously, these high-value customers had to rely on redemption codes to distribute software in bulk...

New ‘Knock’ app allows you to unlock your Mac with your iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 13, 2018

With the iPhone 5s, Apple made security more convenient by allowing users to unlock their devices with a quick tap of its Touch ID Home button. It's kind of like having a password, without having to type it in every time.

And that's essentially what Knock, a new iOS app by Knock Software, does for the Mac. It allows you to keep your computer secure, without having to type in a password every time. Simply give your iPhone a knock to unlock...

Google to add account authentication for saved passwords to Chrome for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 12, 2023

The great thing about Apple's iOS 7 password syncing feature is that setting up iCloud Keychain on your device with an iCloud Security Code prevents anyone from gaining access to your saved web passwords by going to Settings > Safari > Passwords & AutoFill > Saved Passwords. That is, viewing any saved entry there requires providing an iCloud Security Code, or your account password on the Mac.

This added layer of protection ensures I can't steal your iPhone while it isn't auto-locked and use the Settings app to hijack your online identities in a snap. Not so much with Chrome for Mac. Currently, Google's browser does not require any form of authentication to reveal saved passwords. The Internet giant is aware of the problem and is aiming to deploy enhanced security for saved passwords in an upcoming Chrome build...

Mavericks detects motion via light sensor to prevent system sleep

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 13, 2018

Concerned Mac users took to Twitter this morning following the revelation of a chunk of code found in OS X Mavericks update that resets idle time when the computer detects motion. They feared this meant the iSight camera is 'always watching.'

But as it turns out, that's not the case at all. The code, which was first spotted by Moshen Chen of Radiantlabs, actually makes clever use of the light sensor positioned to the left of the iSight camera by interpreting "changes in light" as movement...

How to use the iPhone 5s slow motion effects in iMovie

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 30, 2013

Taking slow motion video with your shiny new iPhone 5s is a piece of cake, but editing that video using a desktop app like iMovie may not be as straightforward or obvious. Fortunately, Apple has made it relatively easy to work with the 120 FPS video that your iPhone 5s is capable of shooting.

Just like on the handheld hardware, you can dial back the speed of video to showcase the high quality slow motion footage. Inside we'll show you how incredibly easy the process is.