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macOS

macOS is Apple's operating system for the Mac. It has been around quite a long time, but in its current form it really started in 2001 with Mac OS X 10.1. It's built on top of a UNIX core, which makes it very stable, versatile, and great for developers. It's popular with creators too, as a good platform for video editing and photography. More recently, Apple has begun working to bring iOS apps to the Mac, which could change how MacBooks, iMacs, Mac Pros, and Mac Minis work for everybody.

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Oracle warns that macOS Sonoma 14.4 on Apple Silicon breaks Java.

Product management director Aurelio Garcia-Ribeyro wrote on Friday that “all Java versions from Java 8 to the early access builds of JDK 22” are affected by a bug that causes the Java process to terminate unexpectedly.

Oracle’s issue tracker that lists the bug as open and unresolved says Macs on 64-bit Intel hardware are unaffected. The company recommends users wait to update.


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More accessibility features could be on the way with iOS 18 and macOS 15.

MacRumors’ sources say the new OS releases will include the ability to create custom voice shortcuts for accessibility features like VoiceOver and Voice Control. Live Speech could also get user-created categories for you to organize the phrases spoken by the text-to-speech feature. MacRumors also says that Apple is exploring using eye-tracking for accessibility, although it’s unclear how far along those plans are.


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The macOS Sonoma 14.4 update is here, bringing new emoji and transcripts in Apple Podcasts.

Apple released the fourth major update to macOS Sonoma‌ today. It includes the latest crop of new emoji, including a phoenix, a lime, a brown mushroom (to go with its red cap counterpart), and more.

It also brings searchable, auto-generated transcripts to Apple Podcasts. An update to Messages for Business will let users opt-in to notifications about flights, fraud alerts, order statuses, and more.


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Apple’s visionOS update that could make Persona avatars better-looking is almost here.

The visionOS 1.1 release candidate that’s now available to developers includes some upgrades to the Personas avatars, such as improved rendering of eyes, mouth representation, and hair and makeup appearance.

MacRumors points out that this release also has updates for the virtual keyboard, Mac Virtual Display, mobile device management, and more. With the iOS 17.4 update close to a public launch, Apple also put out release candidates for tvOS, macOS, watchOS, and Xcode.


Look at this bonkers, beautiful Mac-iPad hybrid.

Leave it to Federico Viticci and MacStories to go super, super deep on what it takes to smash together an iPad and a Mac into “The MacPad,” a beautiful mess of a touchscreen laptop. Building — and using — this setup is not for the faint of heart, and it looks totally ridiculous. But I can’t help myself. I want one.


A combination iPad and MacBook, held up by a hand.
The MacPad is a hare-brained beautiful mess of a hybrid device.
Photo: Federico Viticci / MacStories
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Apple tells its support staff not to shoot from the hip about sideloading.

Apple is preparing to release iOS 17.4 soon with many changes, including those meant to comply, to some degree at least, with Europe’s Digital Markets Act.

According to Bloomberg today, the company has told support staff not to engage with customers about whether or not the iPhone will get changes like third-party app stores outside of the EU.


What’s on your desk, Victoria Song?

Tech, tarot, junk journaling, and cats.

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Apple’s next iPads are “likely” due at the end of March.

So says Mark Gurman in the latest Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. That’s not all — in addition to two iPad Air models (one a 12.9-inch!) and OLED iPad Pro tablets, he writes that 13- and- 15-inch MacBook Air models will be updated with M3 chips at the same time.

That would be the first refresh of each iPad and the 13-inch MacBook Air since 2022.


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Apple brought Clarus to the Mac’s 40th birthday party.

Tim Cook shared a fun animation celebrating the 40th anniversary of the original Macintosh, and hidden amongst the colorful array of products and iconography is none other than Clarus, a lesser-known piece of Mac history otherwise referred to as the “dogcow.”

Designed by legendary graphic designer Susan Kare for the original Macintosh as part of the Cairo font, Clarus continues to make cameos in Apple’s software. Stephen Hackett has a great write-up at 512 Pixels on Clarus that I highly recommend, especially on a day like today.


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The Verge
PSA: Update your Apple devices now to avoid known exploit.

In case Apple’s new security features weren’t reason enough to update to iOS 17.3 and iPadOS 17.3, Apple has also confirmed that it addresses a WebKit vulnerability that “may have been exploited” in the wild, alongside other security updates. Its macOS 14.3 and tvOS 17.3 updates include a similar fix, and there are also fixes for devices stuck on older versions of macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. Get updating!


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You can AirPlay what’s on your Vision Pro to an iPhone.

Or iPad, Mac, or any AirPlay-enabled device, including smart TVs. According to Apple’s website, the Vision Pro will support 720p AirPlay mirroring, however earlier on Friday, it said it would support 1080p AirPlay.

Correction, Friday, January 19th, 2023, 8:11PM ET: The description on Apple’s website changed after this post was originally published, and it has been updated to note the new resolution listed.


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Where’s everyone going? Bingo?

The Resident Evil 4 remake, where you can hear Leon Kennedy say one of the cheesiest lines of all time (once again), is now available for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPads and Macs with M-series chips. Thanks to Universal Purchase, you can buy the game once and play it across devices without buying it again.

Hopefully RE4 can tide you over if you’ve been looking forward to the recently-delayed release of Death Stranding: Director’s Cut on Apple platforms.


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Update your Mac to fix a potentially bad screen sharing bug.

macOS Sonoma 14.2.1, which was released today, patches an issue that might show windows you thought were hidden while you’re screen sharing, as reported by 9to5Mac. Craig Hockenberry, who Apple credits with reporting the bug, explains on Mastodon why the bug could be a problem.

Apple also released iOS 17.2.1 today, which the company says has “important bug fixes.”


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The 2023 M3 iMac looks like the last one on the inside, too.

iFixit published a video teardown today, and yeah, it’s a second verse, same as the first affair. Well, the video did call out that there’s one fewer CMOS battery.

iFixit didn’t give it a reparability score (the original model got a 2 out of 10), but did call out the “smart, repairable design” of its non-goopy screen adhesive.


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An inside look at Apple’s chip-testing labs.

This video from CNBC offers a behind-the-scenes look at the facilities where Apple tests its M-series chips for Macs and the A-series chips for iPhones. You can see the labs at around 3:21 and 7:05.

Aside from that, Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware, also hints at the possibility of the company developing its own modems, stating “We care about cellular and we have teams enabling that.”


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iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2 are out with some important security fixes.

The updates fix two WebKit vulnerabilities that “may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1,” according to an Apple support page. macOS Sonoma 14.1.2 is out, too, with fixes for the same vulnerabilities.


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macOS has a bunch of US keyboard shortcuts Apple never documented.

There are riches at the bottom of this TidBits story — a list of shortcuts that use the Fn key instead of command, option, or control. Some are easier than Apple’s listed alternatives (like using Fn-F versus the hand-contorting Control-Command-F to enter fullscreen.)

This delights me, a person who rages when using any interface that doesn’t support tabbing between text input fields.


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Verge Score

Apple iMac M3 review: searching for a purpose

The latest version of Apple’s venerable all-in-one desktop is an excellent and beautiful computer. It just doesn’t fit most modern computing needs.

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Logic Pro on the iPad gets new creator features in the latest update.

9to5Mac spotted that Apple updated the Mac and iPad versions of Logic Pro today. Updates include an automatic mastering tool called Mastering Assistant and 32-bit float recording.

Apple also ported over the iPad’s Sample Alchemy and Beat Breaker features to the Mac version, while the subscription iPad version gets drag-and-drop support from other apps.

Look for Logic Pro 1.1 (iPadOS) and Logic Pro 10.8 (macOS)


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The latest version of macOS comes with a liquid detection daemon.

iPhones have been able to alert users to liquid in the Lightning port since the iOS 10 beta period, and now the ability to at least detect liquid is in macOS Sonoma 14.1.

9to5Mac reported that the update brought a new “Liquid Detection and Corrosion Mitigation Daemon,” though the outlet reports that it seems limited to analytics for now.


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I used to be an artist.

I still have sketchbooks full of perspective and figure-drawing practice, experiments with comic book layouts, shading, endless sketches of my feet and hands.

But somehow I never decided to just study how light works in a water droplet? This post from Apple design alum Michael Darius about the influence of Wes Modes’ “Anatomy of a Water Drop” on the Aqua design of Mac OS X has a fun scan to pore over.


A Standard to Aspire To

[skeuomorphic.design]

Apple ‘Scary Fast’ Mac launch event: the 4 biggest announcements

Apple’s Mac-heavy product launch event gave us our first look at the M3-equipped iMac and MacBook Pro models.

Everything you need to know about Apple’s new M3 MacBook Pro and iMac.

Dan Seifert runs down the news from Monday night’s Scary Fast primetime product event, covering what’s new about these updates to the MacBook Pro and iMac lineup and who should be the most interested in an upgrade. (Anyone who needs that Space Black exterior or someone who is replacing an Apple machine with an Intel processor or the first-gen M1 chip.)