Yosemite

How to disable transparency effects on your Mac

The release of OS X Yosemite in 2014 gave the Mac's user interface a fresh coat of paint in part through adopting much of the transparency effects that Apple added to iOS 7 in prior year.

Transparency is used throughout macOS and can be observed on the desktop and seen in drop-down menus, title bars, sidebars and toolbars.

This post will teach you how to disable transparency for all user interface elements that have a translucent appearance on your Mac.

Apple brings some El Capitan features to Yosemite and Mavericks users with Safari 9.0 update

In addition to releasing the major OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update for the Mac, Apple has also posted a Safari update for Yosemite and Mavericks users. In addition to improving your privacy, compatibility and security, the Safari 9.0 update for Yosemite and Mavericks systems includes some controls found in the El Capitan edition of Apple's web browser.

These mainly include the ability to mute audio in tabs and additional viewing options in Safari Reader, but not the new Pinned Sites feature.

Apple seeds OS X 10.10.5 beta 3 to developers

Apple on Thursday seeded the third beta of OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 to developers. The software, labeled build 14F25a, is available to all registered Mac developers in the Updates section of the Mac App Store, or as a standalone download from Apple’s dev portal.

Beta 3 of 10.10.5 comes just one week after the second developer beta, suggesting that the software is nearly ready for a public release. The most recent OS X update, 10.10.4, arrived at the end of June with Wi-Fi fixes, and improvements to Mail and Photos apps.

Apple seeds OS X 10.10.4 beta 4 to developers, public testers

Apple on Tuesday seeded the fourth beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 software to both developers and public testers. The update, labeled build 14E26a, is available through the Update tab in the Mac App Store, and the Dev Center for all registered Mac developers.

OS X 10.10.4 has been in testing since mid-April, and we have yet to see it bring about any significant user-facing changes or new features. It appears that the release will be more of a maintenance update, as Apple attempts to iron out remaining bugs and other known issues.

How to use the Pixelmator Repair Tool extension on Mac

One of the most under-the-radar new features to hit OS X Yosemite was the addition of extensions. Action extensions are particularly nice, because they allow apps to interface with other apps directly.

Some app developers, such as Pixelmator ($29.99 on the Mac App Store), have brought third-party extensions to the Mac, which demonstrates how beneficial extensions can be. Watch our video that showcases Pixelmator's Repair Tool extension to see what I mean.

Apple seeds OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 beta 1 to developers

Thursday, Apple seeded the first beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 software update to its Mac developers, as first reported by MacRumors. Registered Mac developers can grab the installer manually through Apple's portal for developers, or automatically, using the OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility.

We'll be reporting on any interesting new features, changes and enhancements in OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 beta 1 as we encounter them.

How to migrate your iPhoto Library to the new Photos app

Now that OS X Yosemite has been officially released, it's time to think about migrating your old iPhoto library to the new Photos app. Migrating over is extremely easy, as there are multiple ways to do so. In this post, we highlight one of the easiest and most straightforward ways to migrate an iPhoto Library over to a new Photos app install.

Business owners can now claim POIs as their own via Apple Maps on iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3

One of the welcome changes in the iOS 8.3 and OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 software updates, which hit yesterday, includes the ability for business owners to claim any point of interest as their own using an updated Report a Problem tool in Apple Maps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac, as reported Thursday by AppleMapsMarketing.

The company began allowing local businesses to manage their listing in the service last October, but required them to use its Maps Connect web service.

At the same time, the iPhone maker appears to be removing some TripAdvisor hotel reviews which started showing up in its Maps service last week.

OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 with Photos for Mac, 300 new emojis and other enhancements now available

As promised earlier this morning, Apple has now released the OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite software update for public consumption. It comes with the long-expected Photos app replacing iPhoto as the default consumer photo-management solution on Macs.

Other new features in the 1.52-gigabyte update include 300 new emoji with racially diverse designs, improvements to Wi-Fi networking, bug fixes, performance improvements and more. The software is available via the Mac App Store's Updates tab.

OS X 10.10.3 with Photos for Mac dropping today

Get your Macs ready for a major software refresh as Apple gears up to release the OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 software update with the long-awaited Photos for Mac app and other improvements.

Associated Press, which ran a review of Photos for Mac earlier this morning and first reported that the software update is due today, praised the software's professional-level and advanced fine-tuning tools such as granular color correction.

“Apple’s new Photos app for Mac computers, available Wednesday as a free software update, makes it easy to organize and edit your pictures,” the news organization wrote.

Apple seeds OS X 10.10.3 beta 6 to developers, public testers

Apple seeded another beta of OS X 10.10.3 on Monday for both members of the Mac Developer Center and public beta testers. The new build, available to download through the Mac App Store's Software Update mechanism, carries the build number 14D127 - compared to the previous build number of 14D113 that was released one week ago.