macOS

If you’ve ever used a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, you’re probably familiar with one common convenience. Love it or hate it for everything else, the Touch Bar is really good for two specific things. Now that it’s gone, there’s an opportunity for macOS to learn from the Touch Bar.

Along with macOS 11.5 being released, security updates have arrived for both macOS Catalina and Mojave. Fixes included are for flaws that could lead to malicious applications gaining root access, arbitrary code being executed with kernel privileges, and more.

Now that the macOS 12 Monterey public beta is available, it’s a good time to consider whether or not you’ll make the jump to Apple’s latest beta update for Mac. Although I definitely don’t recommend running Monterey on a production machine used for work, you can install Monterey on a spare machine or a separate APFS volume. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough as I step through over 100 macOS Monterey changes and features.

Being able to install macOS on non-Mac computers is nothing exactly new thanks to the Hackintosh process, but a YouTuber decided to put Apple’s operating system on a rather unusual machine. Ike T. Sanglay Jr. has built a tiny handheld PC that runs the Intel version of macOS Big Sur, which is the latest available to users right now.

During a livestream event today, Microsoft officially unveiled its next operating system, Windows 11. The new OS features a number of elements inspired by macOS like a centered Dock, rounded corners for windows, and more. Microsoft also took the opportunity to take a shot at Apple’s App Store commission as it announced the new Windows 11 Store where developers can keep 100% of revenue.

Following Apple debuting its new Mac software at the WWDC keynote today, the company has released the first beta of macOS 12 Monterey for developers. The new software includes a host of new features including Universal Control, FaceTime’s SharePlay, AirPlay to Mac, Focus mode, the Shortcuts app, and much more.

Alongside unveiling macOS 12 Monterey with a variety of new features and changes, Apple detailed which machines the new software will be able to run it. Read on for the full list of Macs compatible with macOS Monterey.

With every new major version of macOS comes a new codename. Since 2013, versions of macOS have been named after beautiful places in California. So far, we’ve had: Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur. It’s fun to speculate what upcoming versions might be called, but Apple has quietly and consistently left a trail of breadcrumbs that make it easier to decipher what a release could be named. Over the past year, Apple has renewed and abandoned a few trademarks that might hint at what macOS 12 will be called.

Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.4, which comes with expanded support for external GPUs, bug fixes in Safari, and more. However, this update also makes the system more secure as it patches an exploit that let malware take screenshots without the user’s knowledge.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article looking at what was the best calendar app for iPhone. While considering all the various options, I started coming across a lot of macOS alternatives. For whatever reason, the built-in calendar for Mac hasn’t been working great for me recently, so I thought I’d look at what’s the best calendar app for the Mac.

Maxon is out today with the news that its popular Redshift rendering software is launching for macOS. Along with the debut comes support for Apple Silicon Macs and Apple’s Metal API. Notably, early testers are reporting “crazy results.”

Flappy Bird, despite being removed from the App Store seven years ago, remains one of the most iconic iPhone games of all time. Now, developer Neil Sardesai has taken to Twitter to showcase how he brought a clone of the game directly to the macOS Big Sur Notification Center.

As we shared earlier today, the macOS operating system — formerly called Mac OS X — is turning 20 years old this Wednesday, March 24, 2021. To celebrate the occasion, none other than Scott Forstall decided to use his Twitter account tonight to congratulate Mac OS X.

A new backdoor threat has been discovered that aims to compromise Apple developers’ Macs with a trojanized Xcode project. This malware can record victims’ microphone, camera, keyboard, and also upload/download files. The first in the wild example of the threat was found within a US organization.

A study looking at new malware found in the wild during 2020 says that threats developed for macOS saw a huge jump – almost 1,100% compared to 2019. But taken into context, that total was less than 1% of the new malware that was discovered for Windows in the same period.

The popular PCalc calculator app has received a great update for Mac today. The latest version brings a full-on button layout editor to create the exact calculator you want on your Mac – including customization of the menu bar widget. Other new changes include widget layouts available to use in the main app, the ability to resize button layouts, and more.

Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 to the public, alongside supplemental updates for macOS Catalina 10.15.7 and macOS Mojave 10.14.6. In addition to a fix for MacBook Pro charging issues, the update also brings a notable security fix for a Sudo bug that was reported last week.

Today, a team of designers and developers unveiled an incredible new Mac app dubbed “Freezeframe” that lets you save different workspaces for later. The app essentially takes a snapshot in time of your windows and tabs and lets you return to them through a handy menu bar icon. It’s like Mission Control on steroids.