As was mentioned earlier today during Apple’s special event, Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite is now available as a free upgrade for users running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and 10.9 Mavericks. To get the update, you can head to the Mac App Store or, alternatively, simply click this direct link.
Apple has just posted a pre-release build of OS X Server version 4.0 on its developer portal. The update is designed for systems running the upcoming OS X 10.10 Yosemite and has a build number of 14S323. The seed notes are below:
OS X Server 4.0 Developer Preview
OS X Server 4.0 Developer Preview 14S323 (app version 3.5.9) is now available for testing. This version is designed for OS X Yosemite and includes many new features and improvements.
Minimum System Requirements
To install OS X Server 4.0 Developer Preview 14S323, you need one of these computers:
• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) • MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
• Xserve (Early 2009)
Your Mac needs:
• OS X Yosemite Developer Preview
• Atleast2GBofRAM
• At least 10 GB of available disk space (50 GB if you wish to use Caching Server)
Clean installs, updates from OS X Server 4.0 Developer Preview 14S310 and upgrade and migration from OS X Snow Leopard, OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, and OS X Mavericks systems are supported (exceptions noted below) for this seed.
What’s New In OS X Server 4.0 Developer Preview Server Application
• OS X Server can perform network diagnostic tests to verify your server is accessible from the Internet. Network diagnostic tests verify reachability by checking your server’s host name, and service ports.
• Firewall and user/group-based service access controls can now be defined in the Access tab of Server pane. Access restrictions may be applied in multiple levels – for
all networks, local networks, this Mac, custom networks, and for specific users and groups.
File Sharing
• SMB 3 is the default protocol for sharing files in OS X Yosemite. SMB 3 helps protect against tampering and eavesdropping by encrypting and signing data “in-flight.” In addition to SMB 3, OS X Yosemite maintains support for SMB 2, AFP and SMB network file sharing protocols, automatically selecting the appropriate protocol as needed.
• SMB 3 provides end-to-end encryption to protect data and secure communication on untrusted networks. SMB 3 uses AES CCM for encryption to ensure communications between client and server are private.
• To guard against tampering, SMB 3 adds a signature to every packet transmitted over the wire. SMB 3 uses AES-CMAC to validate the integrity of the signature, ensuring the packets have not been intercepted, changed or replayed and that communication between hosts is authenticated and authorized.
Profile Manager
Profile Manager features new payload settings and Mobile Device Management (MDM) support for new features in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite.
iOS and OS X
• MDM support for device renaming
• MDM query to display which VPP account is configured on a device, if any • Network settings for WPA-2 Enterprise and WPA2-PSD security types
• VPN settings to support “Always On” and Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2)
iOS 8
• MDM support for pushing the installation of media assets including PDF, EPUB and
iBook Author files
• MDM query to determine the most recent iCloud backup
• Restriction setting to Allow user to configure restrictions on a device
• Restriction setting to restrict cellular data usage
• Restriction setting to allow or restrict use of Handoff
• Restriction setting to prevent backup of managed books
• Restriction setting to prevent syncing of highlights and notes of managed books • Restriction setting to allow Internet results in Spotlight search
• Restriction setting to Allow Erase of All Content and Settings
• Restriction setting to Allow Managed Apps to Store Data in iCloud
• Network setting for EAP-SIM random key challenges
• Updated Content Filter setting for third-party Plug-in filters
• Updated Mail setting with per-message S/MIME signing encryption switch
• Managed Domains setting to manage web and mail account domains
OS X Yosemite
• MDM support for OS X enterprise app installation
• AD Certificate settings to support AllowAllAppsAccess and KeyIsExtractable
• SCEP and AD Certificate settings to allow specifying certificate renewal notification
time
• Passcode setting to prevent login after a specified number of incorrect attempts
Mail Server
• Simpler interface for setting up email for multiple domains.
Calendar Server
• Administrators can store address information for all meeting rooms in the Calendar Server. This allows Calendar clients to associate map location with a schedule-able location, support travel times, etc.
Caching Server
• IP address range registration to support caching content in non-NAT’ed networks.
What’s New and Noteworthy to Test
• Upgrade and migration from OS X Snow Leopard and higher systems • Xsan
Bug Reporting
When reporting a bug, enter the following command in Terminal, then attach the output to the bug report.
$ sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/
serverloggather
Known Issues Server App
• On first launch following a migration from a OS X Server 3.1.2, Open Directory users and groups may not appear. The workaround is to quit Server App and relaunch. Wiki service.
Xsan
Configuration Instructions
• Create a SAN
• Start Xsan and create a new SAN. This machine will become an Xsan Controller.
• Joining a Controller to an existing SAN • Start Xsan and select to Join a SAN.
• Clients
• Use the “Save Configuration Profile” command available on the Xsan pane of Server App to add a client to the SAN and copy the profile to the client. Install the profile on clients by double-clicking the profile and following the installation process.
Configure SAN Clients Using Profile Manager
Clients can be configured using an Xsan Configuration Profile generated using Profile Manager.
1. Enroll one of the Xsan controllers into Device Management of Profile Manager.
2. Enroll each SAN client into Device Management of Profile Manager.
3. Use Profile Manager to push the Xsan configuration profile to the Clients.
4. Install the Profile on each SAN client.
Upgrade and Migration
1. 2. 3.
Upgrade or Migrate your legacy Primary MDC first • Launch Server App and turn Xsan ON
• Select to Restore a previous SAN configuration
Upgrade or Migrate your legacy Backup MDC’s (one at at time) • Launch Server App and turn Xsan ON
• Select to Restore a previous SAN configuration
Upgrade or Migrate Xsan Clients
• Xsan will not be enabled at the end of the upgrade/migration
• Copy the Xsan Configuration Profile from one of the MDC’s and install on
the client OR Configure SAN Clients using Profile Manager (see notes above)
On Tuesday Apple provided developers and beta testers with the GM build of OS X Yosemite, which will likely be the version that ships to consumers later in October (although since this is only a “GM candidate” we may see another build sometime before then). Earlier we noted that this build includes updated videos to demonstrate the trackpad gestures in System Preferences that showed off new iWork icons.
As it turns out, those demo videos also give us a quick look at what will almost certainly be the next major version of Apple’s iWork suite. Above you can see an unreleased version of Pages that features a redesigned toolbar and other tweaks. Another of the videos has our first look at the updated Keynote app:
Anyone testing iPhone Handoff calling on OS X Yosemite, Apple’s latest Mac operating system, have probably noticed one major detail missing: a dialer. Student developers Eytan Schulman and Harrison Weinerman have created a very useful utility called Continuity Keypad that solves that problem.
Essentially what the app does is bridge a gap created by Handoff and FaceTime when making calls on your Mac using your iPhone. It creates a dialer similar to the one found on your iPhone allowing you to easily call numbers using your iPhone from your Mac, and it uses transparency to fit in with the new look of OS X.
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The latest beta software for the Apple TV brings one of iOS 8’s headline features to the (former) hobby device: iCloud Family Sharing. While the feature isn’t yet functional, it’s expected that users will be able to log into one account and access purchased music and movies, shared photos, and more from other devices on the same family sharing account…
One big change for Apple with the unveiling of OS X Yosemite today is Bing web searches in the completely revamped Spotlight feature. Spotlight, which allows users to look up anything locally on their Mac as well as perform web searches, received a redesigned user experience in Yosemite, but it might have also received a switch to Bing from Google search.
To be fair, the “web search” feature of spotlight prior to Yosemite actually just defaults to the default search engine in your browser of choice. If that happens to be Safari or Chrome like it is for most users, that meant Spotlight would typically send users to a Google search results page if they hadn’t changed their default preference. Now, Apple is listing Bing searches– but not Google– as a feature of Spotlight regardless of the default option (pictured above). We’ve yet to confirm that Bing is the only web search option for Spotlight in OS X Yosemite, as we’ve not yet been able to get the new Spotlight web search feature to work properly in the first beta.
While Spotlight is going to use Bing, Apple’s revamped search bar in Safari still uses Google as does iOS 8. Its easy to imagine Apple is only continuing to use Google search in Safari due to contractual agreements, but it’s harder to imagine it just decided to use Bing for Spotlight with no plans to possibly use it in its other products down the road.
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Live from the WWDC keynote presentation, Apple just unveiled the next version of of the Mac OS X and with it introduced some big changes for the operating system including a significantly redesigned user interface. The new release is called OS X Yosemite.
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Apple has updated its website to announce that it will be live streaming next week’s WWDC Keynote address for all to watch. As per usual, the event will be available on Macs running Safari 4 or later, iOS Devices running iOS 4.2 or later, Windows machines running Quicktime 7, and via an application on the Apple TV. The event kicks off at 10AM Pacific/1PM Eastern time on Monday, June 2nd. Apple says that it has “exciting announcements” in store for the event (as it says for all of its events), which is likely to include talk of iOS 8 with Healthbook, a redesigned OS X 10.10, and new hardware products. We’ll be on hand live to bring you the latest news from the conference.
Concept: jivaldi.com
On Tuesday we reported that Apple was planning to reveal its entry into the wearable market in August or September. Now a new Digitimes report corroborates that timeframe. According to the new report, three different firms have supplied Apple with samples of flexible circuit boards that will be integrated into the iWatch for a fall release.
The companies involved are Flexium Interconnect, Career Technology, and Zhen Ding Technology Holding, according to Digitimes. Zhen Ding Technology Holding is currently Apple’s largest supplier of such parts and is reportedly planning to increase production in order to meet increased demand for iPhone and iPad circuitry.
As with all Digitimes reports, it’s probably best to take this with a grain of salt given their less-than-stellar track record.
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While Apple only officially announced its 2014 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last week, we have been reporting all of the known information about what Apple plans to unveil at the event over the course of the past few months. Now that WWDC is official, we have compiled a roundup of everything we know about Apple’s next-generation iOS device and Mac operating systems below, and we’ve also included some new tidbits not found in our earlier reporting. You can find out what there is to know so far about iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 below:
Last week, we reported that Apple has begun development of the successor to the upcoming OS X Mavericks: OS X 10.10. We reported hearing that the future operating system is internally dubbed “Syrah” (a type of wine), and now we have received evidence of the codename. Above is a screenshot of operating systems available for installation by Apple employees internally. As you can see, “Syrah” is available as an operating system newer than Mavericks and the recently released OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5…
Apple is closing in on finishing up work on OS X Mavericks ahead of its public launch, according to a source familiar with the new operating system’s development. This source says that the operating system will reach Golden Master status internally by the end of this week or early next week, and it will be labeled as a build number in the high 13A590s or low 13A600s. This will be a slight increase over the current developer build that is version 13A584. Earlier today, Apple seeded OS X Mavericks build 13A598 to members of its AppleSeed program, but it is unclear if that new version will ever reach developers.
AppleSeed members believe that this build is a GM candidate, but a source says that Apple is already internally seeding newer builds. The source has also corroborated our previous report by indicating that OS X Mavericks is currently scheduled to arrive on the Mac App Store within the last ten days of the month of October. Mavericks was supposed to reach GM status a few weeks ago, but critical bugs have kept pushing back the release, according to claims from sources.
Since being announced at WWDC, OS X Mavericks is said to have picked up a few minor unannounced features. Namely, the Messages and FaceTime applications have received the ability to block phone numbers and Apple IDs from sending the Mavericks user messages and/or FaceTime calls. This addition brings parity to iOS 7 and the two operating systems will sync in this manner. While this enhancement is probably not surprising, it has not been present in any Mavericks Developer Preview to date. (Update: The aforementioned addition is coming in a point update in the coming weeks) Mavericks will also bring the launch of iCloud Keychain…
