Apple Invites Media to ‘Hello Again’ October 27th Mac-Centric Event

The October event is expected to focus on the introduction of new Macs, headlined by a much-rumored and highly anticipated revamped MacBook Pro. According to rumors, the new MacBook Pro will feature the first redesign to the machine since 2012.

A thinner, lighter body is expected, with a wider, pressure-sensitive trackpad and a flatter MacBook-style keyboard with the same butterfly key mechanism. The MacBook Pro will be available in the same 13 and 15-inch size options, and will feature USB-C with USB 3.1 support for faster transfer speeds, Thunderbolt 3, and Touch ID.

Touch ID is expected to be built into a new OLED touch panel built into the top of the MacBook Pro, where it will replace the physical function key row. The OLED touch panel is said to feature contextual buttons that will change based on each app that’s in use. A leaked chassis suggests it will feature four USB-C ports and a headphone jack, but no HDMI port, no USB-A ports, no MagSafe connector, and no SD card slot.

A refreshed 13-inch MacBook Air with USB-C ports has also been rumored, but it is not clear if other internal changes will be made to Apple’s low-cost machine. It’s possible the 13-inch MacBook Air will be a standalone product going forward, based on rumors suggesting the 11-inch model will be discontinued.

Apple is also said to be working on updated iMacs with AMD graphics chips, which could be introduced at the event, and we might possibly see the debut of a rumored 5K Retina display with an integrated GPU. Apple discontinued the original Thunderbolt Display earlier this year, but an updated product has been in the works and it makes sense to release it alongside refreshed Macs if it’s ready to launch.

Apple’s Mac Pro and Mac mini are in dire need of refreshes, having been updated last in 2013 and 2014, respectively, but it is not clear if these machines will also see updates at the event.

OS X: Pasting Text into Emails, Much Faster

So if you’ve gotta copy some text on your Mac and paste it into a new email, how do you typically do that? I’d say that most people select the text, press the keyboard shortcut for Copy (Command-C), go to Mail, open a new message, move their cursor to the body, and then press the shortcut for Paste (Command-V). There’s a way that’s just so much faster that I love it to bits, and I think you’ll like it too.

What you’ll do is select the text you’d like to email (or send through Messages, or tweet about, or add to Notes, etc.) and then right- or Control-click on it. When you do so, a contextual menu will appear, and one of the available options is “Share.” If you hover over that, you’ll see your choices.

Pick “Mail,” and the text you selected will be inserted right into the body of an email, ready for you to pass it along. That sure does make things faster! And if you select “Messages” or a few of the other options, you’ll instead get a little box overlay for you to compose and edit as you see fit.

This works in quite a few places around the operating system, including Safari and Mail, so if you need to forward only a bit of a message to someone else, for example, you can do so. That’s awesome. I just love step-skipping!

File Cabinet Pro Offers Powerful File Management Features Directly from the OS X Menu Bar

Users needing easy to use, yet powerful file and cloud management features might want to take a look at Writes for All Inc.’s File Cabinet Pro, its powerful file manager for the OS X menubar. The app allows users to open, move, rename, tag, trash, copy and paste files, all from a popover window that appears from the menubar. File Cabinet Pro also allows users to copy files to their iCloud Drive without needing to open a window in Finder.

In addition to file management capabilities, the app also offers a built-in text editor, image viewer, PDF viewer, and media player. Document types supported include: txt, rtf, rtfd, png, bmp, mov, mp4 and many more.

Features:

• Create subdirectories in File Cabinet Pro
• Click into subdirectories and open documents
• Store files locally and in iCloud
• Drag and drop files to and from iCloud
• Tag files – Select files in File Cabinet Pro, right click, and then simply add or remove file tags from the control in the context menu
• Show in Finder
• Rename files
• Copy and paste files
• Trash files
• View items as icons or in columns
• Launch the application at login – You can have File Cabinet Pro automatically launch when you login to your Mac (optional feature, disabled by default)
• Built in lightweight text editor – Create and edit .txt, .rtf, and .rtfd files
• Built in lightweight image viewer/editor. Rotate images, crop images, and apply filters to images
• Built in media player – Watch video and play audio files
• PDF viewer
• Editable files support document versions

File Cabinet Pro for Mac OS X is $29.99, and is available from the App Tyrant website. [GET IT HERE]

Classic Mac gets saved from dumpster only to become a trash bin

We’ve seen old busted Macs get transformed into everything from aquariums to planters, but have you ever seen a Mac go from the dumpster to a trash can you can toss all your rubbish in?

One Redditor has created a trash can fit for Steve Jobs by taking a Macintosh that had been sitting in his attic for 15 years and giving it a second life as a receptacle for all his garbage, complete with a swinging door that looks just like a Mac display.

To make the swinging screen, Redditor HaHaBird says he used a 1/8-inch piece of thick black acrylic and attached it with some spring hinges. An opening was cut into the bottom of the Macintosh Plus so trash could fall down into the bin, which was built from 1/2-inch plywood that was painted to match the computer.

The entire project cost about $42 ($15 for paint, $15 for the screen and $12 for the plywood) and only took about eight hours to complete.

 

This Macintosh replica will have you lusting for wood

Love Hultén has created a beautiful replica of the original 128k Macintosh made almost entirely out of American walnut. Known for his craftsmanship in building replicas and concepts of gaming consoles among other gadgets, Hultén has taken that love and applied it to one of Apple’s most beloved products to date. He calls it the Golden Apple.

What’s even more impressive is that the replica works, though not the way you might expect. Hultén actually built the wooden housing around a functional Mac mini. The additional optical disc drive is in perfect alignment with where the floppy disk drive was on the original Macintosh. Judging by the UI on the display, the Mac appears to be running either OS X Leopard or OS X Snow Leopard.

The keyboard is also made out of walnut and “uses blue cherry MX tactile switches which are covered by gold plated key caps made from zink.” It’s designed to resemble the original Macintosh keyboard as well.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to buy this stunning creation, since Hultén really just makes these creations to show off but ultimately keep for himself. You can certainly browse through the gallery of photos and check out his very charming demo video on YouTube. Yes, I know, it’s not the same, but a drool-worthy tribute such as this deserves to be cherished even if just through the Internet.

Forecast Bar is the next best thing to having Dark Sky on your Mac.

Forecast Bar brings all the features you love about Dark Sky to a Mac app. Not only does it look similar to Dark Sky, but it’s powered by the same Forecast API which means you’re getting the same accurate weather predictions. Forecast Bar also works the way you want it to. Keep it in the menu bar or let it sit in your dock. Enable certain notifications and display a 3-day, 5-day or 7-day forecast — up to you. With its detailed weather and range of customization options, it should very quickly take your Mac by storm.

Whether you keep Forecast Bar in your menu bar or in the dock, it’s clear the app was meant to be in your menu bar. It works just fine as a dock app, but the window is still tall and slender as if it’s supposed to be dangling from the top of your screen. Don’t let the small footprint fool you though, Forecast Bar is packed with important weather data.

At the top, your standard information about the current conditions is prominent as it is in most weather apps. At a glance you can see the current temperature, high and low for the day and a description of the current weather. This is also where you add or switch locations, view a radar map or get details for severe weather alerts. The accuracy of the Forecast API seems to vary based on your location, but when you’re in one of its better locations, it’s hard to find something more reliable.

Underneath that is where the similarities to Dark Sky really become apparent. By default, a chart will show your 8-hour forecast. However, if rain is on the way within the next hour, this chart will switch to a detailed view of precipitation in the next hour. Below that is the extended forecast, which you can customize the length of in the app’s preferences.

Additionally, you can click any part of the app — whether it’s current conditions, the hourly chart or the extended forecast — to get more advanced details. These include wind, humidity and UV index that are cleverly organized in pop-up charts alongside the anticipated precipitation amounts. At the very bottom is Time Machine, which lets you pick any date over the past 70 years and see the weather on that day.

The Mac App Store has been pretty void of any decent weather apps for several years and it’s nice to see a solid entry make it through Apple’s gates. Carrot Weather debuted on the Mac recently as well, which is also powered by the Forecast API. It remains one of my absolute favorite picks.

Meanwhile, Dark Sky has garnered a pretty loyal fanbase on iOS. It features comprehensive forecasts, a pretty decent design and its famous down-to-the-minute weather predictions. Its developers haven’t gotten around to releasing a dedicated Mac app, but they do serve up the Forecast.io website and Forecast API for other developers to take advantage of instead.

Forecast Bar is $5.99 in the Mac App Store, which is less expensive than Carrot Weather, but it does come with some very odd in-app purchases. The app will refresh data every hour, but if you want more up-to-date reports, you’ll have to get them with a purchase. 10-minute updates cost you a one-time fee of — wait for it — $29.99. I can’t see why anyone would pay for that, but the good news is you don’t have to.

Overall, Forecast Bar is a reputable new weather app for the Mac. For six bucks, it’s one you should consider adding to your menu bar.

Here’s the Apple Watch emulating a vintage 20 year old Mac.

The Apple Watch might not seem like it has the most powerful processor on the block, but it’s still an A5-caliber CPU, similar to the one shipped with the iPad 2, the original iPad mini, and the iPhone 4S.

That means the Apple Watch’s processor is still more powerful than pretty much every other CPU of the last forty years. And it’s certainly up to the task of emulating a vintage Mac, as this video abundantly proves.

Software developer Nick Lee has figured out a way to emulate a 20 year old Macintosh, all on his wrist.

By hacking an Apple Watch running watchOS 2.0 beta, Lee was able to get Mac OS System 7.5.5, first released in 1996, running on his wrist, all courtesy of the MiniVMac emulator.

As you can see, it’s not super functional, a necessary casualty of the Apple Watch’s limited input capabilities and postage-stamp-sized display. But Lee’s video does do a good job of showing the possibilities ahead: the Apple Watch has plenty of processing chutzpah to run far, far more than notification apps, and watchOS 2 is what’s going to unlock them.

Touch ID might be coming soon to MacBooks, Magic Mice and trackpads.

Touch ID has completely changed security on the iPhone, and now Apple’s fingerprint-scanning technology could soon be coming to the Mac.

Apple is planning to bring Touch ID to the upcoming 12-inch MacBook Air, according to sources at Taiwanese Apple blog Apple.Club.tw. In the past, the site successfully leaked the iPad Air 2 logic board, the Touch ID sensor and the iPhone 6 Lightning port, so it has a track record for accuracy. The site claims Apple has big plans for Touch ID in 2015 and wants to put it in everything from MacBook Pros to Magic Mice.

Touch ID will reportedly be integrated into the trackpad of the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pros. Desktop Mac users won’t be left out, according to the rumor: The Apple Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad will get built-in Touch ID technology too.

Along with the additional security, Touch ID will also help Apple pursue Apple Pay more aggressively for online shopping. The rumor site doesn’t mention a timeline for when the new devices will be available.

Apple.Club’s report also throws in an extra rumor that three color options — silver, gold and space gray — will be available for the 12-inch MacBook. The site says the next MacBook Pros will also come in the three colors, but we’re not totally convinced anyone actually wants a gold 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, so take the rumor with a heavy grain of salt.

Mac Help: Creating a guest network.

What’s the best way to limit [a guest’s] access to my Wi-Fi?

Here’s the scenario: A friend or relative is visiting and wants Internet access, which you’re happy to provide. But for whatever reason, you have misgivings about giving them open access to everything else on your home network. What should you do? There’s a solution, if you have an AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, or Time Capsule of relatively recent (2009-later) vintage.

There are myriad reasons for wanting to isolate guests from the rest of your network. Maybe you have open computers sharing files you’d prefer not to have get into the wrong hands. Maybe you don’t want them wasting your precious (and expensive) inkjet cartridges printing out cat pictures off the Internet. Or maybe you just can’t be sure that friends and relatives who will be accessing your home Internet connection are going to exercise the same common sense that you do, and may make themselves susceptible to malware, adware, and other nefarious Internet problems that you’d prefer not to introduce to the rest of your computers.

If you’re using an AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule, you’re in luck, because Apple’s AirPort Utility enables you to create a guest network that still provides users with access to the Internet — without compromising the security of other devices.

Before you begin, take note that if you have your AirPort device set up in “Bridge” mode — which defers off things like DHCP and network address translation (NAT), protocols necessary for devices on your network to get an IP address — then this won’t work. So it may take some rejiggering of your network setup to get it all in order, and that may mean reconfiguring your cable modem.

This feature isn’t unique to Apple routers, of course, so if you’re not using an AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express or Time Capsule, check your router’s documentation to see if it’s a supported capability. But here’s how you do it with an Apple device:

To set up a guest network

1. Type Command + Space on your Mac’s keyboard to bring up Spotlight Search.
2. Start typing in Airport Utility and click on it or hit Enter on your keyboard when it appears.
3. Click on the picture of your main Airport Base Station.
4. Click the Edit button in the popup menu.
5. Click the Wireless tab.
6. Select Enable Guest Network.
7. Give the guest network a name.
8. Select the appropriate security protocol from the Guest Network Securitypop-up menu, then enter a password.

PicoPro: A laser projector about the size of an iPhone 6 Plus.

Pico projectors – projectors that are so small that they can be slipped into a pocket on a backpack or in a briefcase. Designed to make presentations on the road less burdensome, pico projectors have always had one Achilles Heel – the visual quality of the image they project. A new projector from Celluon called the PicoPro (US$279) aims to bring high resolution and contrast, long battery life, and noise-free operation to tiny projects.

The PicoPro was introduced to the world at CES 2015.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 6 x 3 x .5 inches (152.4 x 76.2 x 12.7 mm)
• Weight: 6.7 ounces (189.9 grams)
• Resolution: 1920 x 720p (16:9 aspect ratio)
• Interface: HDMI/Miracast/DLNA
• Battery life: 2 hours for wireless, 3+ hours for cabled
• Contrast Ratio: 80,000 to 1

Design

Design-wise, the PicoPro is a tiny box that’s smaller in length and width than an iPhone 6 Plus. It’s divided into two “sections”, one that contains the actual projector and the other containing the various ports (HDMI, micro-USB for charging, headphone).

There’s no need to focus the PicoPro, as it uses lasers to project the image and has infinite focus. It focuses as sharply an arms-length away from a wall as it does from 10 feet away.

The PicoPro comes with a small carrying pouch, and with iOS devices you’ll need to supply your own digital AV adapter to connect to the HDMI cable. Unfortunately, PicoPro doesn’t support AirPlay, so all iOS and Mac connections will be through the HDMI cable. For those who are fans of this site who use other mobile platforms, a slightly less expensive version called PicoAir is available for $299 that works only with the wireless Miracast and DLNA interfaces.

It’s a stylish little device, and one you won’t be embarrassed to pull out of your briefcase.

Function

With any projector, the proof is in the viewing. Just how bright is the image, and is it easily readable? Can the projector be used in a bright room, or does it require near-darkness. How much noise does it make? And does it do a good job of projecting Keynote and PowerPoint presentations?

To test the PicoPro, I connected it to an iPhone 6 Plus using the Apple Lightning to HDMI connector and an included HDMI cable. My test documents were a number of Keynote presentations that I use while teaching an iOS class.

Holding the PicoPro in my hand and wandering around my home office to find “targets”, I was able to clearly see the bright image from the projector on a variety of surfaces. Your best bet will probably still be to project onto a reflective screen in a slightly-darkened room, but I was able to project slides onto a textured ceiling in daylight and clearly read all of the text. Even on a very saturated blue wall with some daylight coming through windows, the text on my slides was very readable.

The color reproduction of the PicoPro is incredibly good, and the image is sharp from edge to edge. The fact that you never have to focus is worth the price of admission. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched as a hot projector has slowly gone out of focus. There are some additional positives – it’s absolutely cool in operation and creates no sound at all. No more raising your voice to be heard over the scream of a cooling fan!

Following is a video of the PicoPro from “Eli the Computer Guy” at CES; note that the flickering is due to filming the projection with a digital camera – in reality, the image shows virtually no flicker unless you’re moving it around.

Conclusion

Up to this point, I haven’t been impressed with any of the pico projectors I’ve seen. However, that has changed with the Celluon PicoPro. The image quality and brightness out of this tiny box is stellar, and to think that it does it all without making a sound or getting hot. There are no expensive bulbs to burn out (those often cost just as much as the PicoPro itself!), and using an iPhone, an adapter, and this projector makes for a featherweight presentation tool.

My only negative is that the device doesn’t support AirPlay. The non-HDMI, wireless-only version of this project will sell for $299, and it would be awesome if Celluon would support iOS – the choice of enterprises everywhere. We were also unable to get word on a shipping date and retail outlets for the PicoPro.

Rating: 3-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible