Search the Community

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS Sonoma 14.5 update to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test the software ahead of its launch. The public beta comes a week after Apple released the second public beta and a day after Apple seeded the beta to developers. Beta testers can opt-in through the Software Update section of the System Settings app. Under Beta updates, simply toggle on the Sonoma Public Beta. Note that you must sign up to participate on Apple's beta testing website. There have been no new features found in the ‌macOS Sonoma‌ 14.5 developer betas so far, and Apple listed no additions in its release notes. It is likely that the update focuses on bug fixes and other small under-the-hood improvements. Related Roundup: macOS SonomaRelated Forum: macOS Sonoma This article, "Apple Seeds Third Public Beta of macOS 14.5" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

We're set to hear much more about what's coming with macOS 15 when Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) gets underway on June 10 – and one app in particular is rumored to be getting a major upgrade. That app is the Calculator app, and while it perhaps isn't the most exciting piece of software that Apple makes, AppleInsider reckons the upcoming upgrade is "the most significant upgrade" the app has been given "in years". It's so substantial, it's got its own codename: GreyParrot (that's said to be a nod towards the African grey parrot, known for its cognitive abilities). Part of the upgrade will apparently include the Math Notes feature we've already heard about in relation to a Notes app upgrade due in iOS 18. It sounds as though Math Notes is going to make it easier to ferry calculations between the Notes and the Calculator apps. A new sidebar showing the Calculator history is reported to be on the way too. This might well get its own button on the app, AppleInsider says. Currency conversions Currency conversions currently require a pop-up dialog (Image credit: Future) A visual redesign is also apparently on the way, with "rounded buttons and darker shades of black" to match the iOS Calculator. Users will also be able to resize the Calculator app window, with the buttons resizing accordingly, which isn't currently possible. Unit conversion is going to be made more intuitive and easier to access, AppleInsider says, with no need to open up the menus to select conversion types – at the moment, it's necessary to select currencies in a pop-up dialog. The thinking is that Apple wants to better compete with apps such as OneNote from Microsoft, and the third-party Calcbot app for macOS. It's been a long time since the Calculator app was changed in any way, and its rather basic feature set means it's lagging behind other alternatives. According to AppleInsider, there's no guarantee that Apple will go through with this Calculator upgrade, but it seems likely. Expect to hear much more about macOS 15, iOS 18, and Apple's other software products at WWDC 2024 on June 10. You might also like The latest macOS Ventura upgrade has caused plenty of problemsMy 3 favorite features after switching to macOS from WindowsThe macOS 14.4.1 update fixed what had become a notorious bug View the full article

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Sonoma 14.5 update to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test the software ahead of its launch. The public beta comes two weeks after Apple released the first public beta. Beta testers can opt-in through the Software Update section of the System Settings app. Under Beta updates, simply toggle on the Sonoma Public Beta. Note that you must sign up to participate on Apple's beta testing website. There have been no new features found in the ‌macOS Sonoma‌ 14.5 developer betas so far, and Apple listed no additions in its release notes. It is likely that the update focuses on bug fixes and other small under-the-hood improvements. Related Roundup: macOS SonomaRelated Forum: macOS Sonoma This article, "Apple Seeds Second Public Beta of macOS 14.5" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Hackers are targeting Apple macOS users with a range of different infostealers in an attempt to grab sensitive data and, possibly, money, experts have warned. A new report from cybersecurity researchers at Jamf Threat Labs found hackers were using multiple different approaches to try and drop the malware. In one campaign, they created a fake download website and fake ads for a browser called Arc and pushed them through search engines. Targeting macOS crypto fans "Interestingly, the malicious website cannot be accessed directly, as it returns an error," security researchers said. "It can only be accessed through a generated sponsored link, presumably to evade detection." Those that end up on the site and download the program will get Atomic Stealer, a known infostealer that was initially focused on grabbing cryptocurrency wallet-related information. Since its inception, Atomic Stealer, also known as AMOS, grew to target different operating systems, and grab more information, including stored passwords and sensitive files. In September 2023, security researchers from Malwarebytes reported on hackers tricking people with promises of software cracks, loaders, and key generators to get them to download AMOS. A separate campaign has seen hackers offering a fake free group meeting software which, in reality, downloads a different infostealer based on Realst. In this campaign, the victims are approached either to participate in a podcast, or in a job interview, and are invited to download the video conferencing tool. "These attacks are often focused on those in the crypto industry as such efforts can lead to large payouts for attackers," the researchers said. "Those in the industry should be hyper-aware that it's often easy to find public information that they are asset holders or can easily be tied to a company that puts them in this industry." More from TechRadar Pro Mac users targeted in new malvertising campaign delivering Atomic StealerHere's a list of the best firewalls around todayThese are the best endpoint security tools right now View the full article

When WWDC 2024 takes place in June, Apple will unveil the next-generation version of macOS, macOS 15. While most of what we've heard about upcoming software has been focused on iOS, macOS and iOS often share many features, so we have some idea of what's coming to macOS as well. AI Features Apple is working to add a number of AI-centric features to its operating system updates, many of which are likely to be cross-platform. AI-generated Apple Music playlists. AI-assisted writing in Pages. AI-assisted slide deck creation in Keynote. AI code writing features in Xcode. Siri improvements and deeper integration with Shortcuts. ‌Siri‌ could benefit the most from AI improvements, and there are rumors suggesting the personal assistant will be better at natural conversation and user personalization, with the new functionality set to be available cross-device. Apple is specifically working on improved interaction between ‌Siri‌ and the Messages app, so ‌Siri‌ will be able to do things like auto-complete sentences more effectively and follow multi-part, complex commands. Deeper integration with the Shortcuts app could allow users to automate complex tasks that involve multiple apps. There is a slim possibility there might be some kind of chatbot based on generative AI, as rumors suggest that Apple is considering partnering with Google or OpenAI to use their large language models, but Apple may also just be planning to use generative AI for system features. Other New Additions There are several other features that are rumored to be coming to ‌macOS 15‌. Accessibility - Apple is working on an Adaptive Voice Shortcuts feature for creating a custom phrase and linking an accessibility setting to it, plus there will be an option for organizing Live Speech into user-created categories. Freeform - A Scenes feature will let users select specific sections or Scenes within their boards for faster navigation and sharing. Maps - The Maps app may gain support for creating custom routes, and it may also be upgraded with topographic maps. Name Since 2013, Apple has been using California landmark names for the Mac operating system, and there's no sign that's going to change. Apple has trademarked several names over the last decade, and some of the possibilities that have yet to be used include Redwood, Grizzly, Sequoia, Mammoth, Pacific, Rincon, Farallon, Miramar, Condor, Diablo, and Shasta. Apple could go with a non-trademarked name, and it has done so several times in the past. These are the names that Apple has used since it started naming macOS after California landmarks: Mavericks Yosemite El Capitan Sierra High Sierra Mojave Catalina Big Sur Monterey Ventura Sonoma Release Date ‌macOS 15‌ will be previewed at the ‌WWDC 2024‌ keynote on Monday, June 10. The first beta will be provided to developers that same day, and a public beta will likely follow in the summer. ‌macOS 15‌ will then see a public launch sometime in the fall, either in September or October based on past launch timelines. Read More For more on what to expect in ‌macOS 15‌, check out our ‌macOS 15‌ roundup, which we will keep up to date both before and after WWDC.Related Roundup: macOS 15 This article, "What to Expect From macOS 15" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Terraform from HashiCorp is provided as a command-line tool that must first be installed locally before excution. It’s easy to install, as the full tool is contained within a single executable. This makes it easy to put terraform in any folder on your machine for use. Although, to make it executable from anywhere on your […] The article Terraform: Install Latest Version on macOS and Linux appeared first on Build5Nines. View the full article

Starting today, customers are able to view the latest macOS versions supported on their EC2 Mac Dedicated Host, which enables them to proactively validate if their Dedicated Host can support instances with their preferred macOS versions. As each macOS version requires a minimum firmware version on the underlying Apple Mac to successfully boot, a host may not support booting the latest macOS versions if the firmware on the Apple Mac is outdated, which may happen if an allocated Mac Dedicated Host has remained idle for an extended period of time. To ensure supportability for the latest macOS versions, customers can launch and terminate instances on their allocated Mac Dedicated Host which will trigger the host sanitization workflow and update the firmware on the underlying Apple Mac. A Dedicated Host with a long running instance will be updated automatically when customers stop or terminate their running instance. View the full article

Some Mac users who updated to Apple's latest macOS Sonoma 14.4 software release are experiencing connectivity issues with USB hubs and monitors with USB ports, with several reports of mice, keyboards, and other peripherals no longer being detected. Users have taken to the MacRumors forums, Reddit, X (Twitter), and the Apple Support Community forums to relay their experiences, a selection of which we've reproduced below. MacRumors forum member mjodotcom: 14.4 definitely breaks USB hub monitor functionality. Things worked without a hitch until my work MBP upgraded to 14.4 and now no devices are detected. On my personal MBP that is still on 14.3 everything is detected without issue. Clearly a OS related problem. Reddit user Nobodys10: I have my MacBook (MacBook Pro 16 M2 Pro) connected to my monitor (Gigabyte M34WQ 34 Inch IPS Ultrawide WQHD (3440 x 1440)) via a thunderbolt 3 cable. I have my keyboard and mouse connected to the USB ports in my monitor. After updating, my keyboard and mouse are no longer being detected on my MacBook. Before updating, it was working fine.Apple Support Community user LucaPascarella: I have the same issue with my MacBook Pro M2 Max 64GB RAM and monitor Dell U3219Q; none of the USB peripherals connected to the Monitor's USB hub work. On the contrary, all peripherals work fine when I attach a Windows computer to the Dell Monitor. In addition, I check every USB peripheral by attaching them directly to the Mac, and of course, they are working. I rebooted the Mac and detached the power plug from the Monitor, trying any configurations or sequences of rebooting as possible. Nothing is working since the update to Sonoma 14.4.X user Rhys Morgan: Love that macOS 14.4 has completely killed the use of my display KVM. Just not picking up any USB devices plugged into my monitor (or even that my monitor is a USB hub too).While Apple works on a fix, a handful of users have had some success by changing the setting "Allow accessories to connect" to "Ask for new accessories" under the Security section of System Settings ➝ Privacy & Security. Have you had a problem connecting peripherals over USB hubs since updating to macOS Sonoma 14.4? Let us know in the comments. (Thanks, Matt!)Related Roundup: macOS SonomaRelated Forum: macOS Sonoma This article, "macOS Sonoma 14.4 Causing USB Hub Issues for Some Users" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

With iOS 18 and macOS 15, Apple intends to introduce a plethora of new features and enhancements affecting system applications and settings. Through industry sources, MacRumors has received details about the updated version of the Freeform app, which is set to include an interesting addition. Known as "Freeform Scenes," the new feature will give users the option to select specific sections or "Scenes" within their boards for easier navigation. Once selected and named, users will have the ability to easily return to them after viewing other areas of the board. Users will have the option to edit scenes after the fact as well, and will even be able to collaborate with others in doing so. Our sources claim that Freeform Scenes will be compatible with iCloud, allowing for easier sharing and editing. The controls for the Freeform Scenes UI will be located near the zoom controls, towards the bottom left area within the app. Users will see a new sandwich-bar type icon with three vertical lines, and tapping or clicking the icon will show the Scenes UI. The Scenes UI includes a bar with individual arrow icons for easier navigation between Scenes, along with a square icon between the two arrows. Clicking or tapping the square icon will present the user with additional options to select or navigate between scenes. Apple has also developed the following keyboard shortcuts for Freeform Scenes: Save – Shift + Command + S Next Scene - Option + Command + ] Previous Scene – Option + Command + [ Although this feature is in testing, it is worth noting that not all features make it to release, and Apple also sometimes delays new additions until a later version of iOS. While Freeform Scenes is in development for ‌iOS 18‌ and macOS 18, it could be pulled or introduced at a later date. For more details on what to expect with Apple's upcoming operating systems, check out our rumor roundup page for iOS 18.Related Roundup: iOS 18Tags: iOS 18, macOS 15, Freeform This article, "iOS 18 and macOS 15 to Include Updated Freeform App With 'Scenes' Feature" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4, the fourth major update to the ‌macOS Sonoma‌ operating system that launched last September. ‌macOS Sonoma‌ 14.4 comes over a month after ‌macOS Sonoma‌ 14.3, an update that brought collaborative Apple Music playlists. The ‌‌‌‌‌macOS Sonoma‌‌‌ 14.4‌ update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.5 release for those who are still running macOS Ventura and a macOS 12.7.4 release for those who have macOS Monterey installed. With ‌macOS Sonoma‌ 14.4, Apple is introducing new emoji characters and adding support for reading Podcast Episode text in full with search support. There are new features for Business Updates in Messages, along with a toggle for showing only icons for websites in the Safari Favorites Bar. Apple's release notes for the update are below. macOS Sonoma 14.4 introduces new emoji as well as other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac. Emoji - New mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain, and shaking heads emoji are now available in emoji keyboard - 18 people and body emoji support facing the opposite direction This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes: - Podcasts Episode text can be read in full, searched for a word or phrase, clicked to play from a specific point and used with accessibility features such as Text Size, Increase Contrast, and VoiceOver - Business Updates in Messages for Business let you get updates that you've opted into, like order status, flight notifications, fraud alerts or other transactions from trusted businesses - Safari Favorites Bar adds an option to show only icons for websites Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices. For detailed information about the security content of this update, please visit: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222More information on the features that have been introduced in ‌macOS Sonoma‌ to date can be found in our macOS Sonoma roundup. Related Roundup: macOS SonomaRelated Forum: macOS Sonoma This article, "Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

This Safari vulnerability has not been exploited in the wild. Apple offers a mitigation, but the fix needs to be enabled manually.View the full article

Apple today seeded the first public beta of an upcoming macOS Sonoma 14.2 update, allowing non-developers to test out the software ahead of its release. The public beta comes a day after the first developer beta… View the full article

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) M1 Mac instances are now generally available (GA). Built on Apple Silicon Mac mini computers and powered by the AWS Nitro System, Amazon EC2 M1 Mac instances deliver up to 60% better price performance over x86-based EC2 Mac instances for building and testing iOS and macOS applications. You still enjoy the same elasticity, scalability, and reliability that the secure, on-demand AWS infrastructure has offered to millions of customers for more than a decade. EC2 M1 Mac instances also enable native Arm64 macOS environments for the first time on AWS to develop, build, test, deploy, and run applications for Apple devices. As a developer who is rearchitecting your macOS applications to natively support Apple Silicon Macs, you can now provision Arm64 macOS environments within minutes, dynamically scale capacity as needed, and benefit from pay-as-you-go pricing to enjoy faster builds and convenient distributed testing. To learn more or get started, see Amazon EC2 Mac Instances. View the full article

AWS GameKit is now extended to support Android, iOS, and macOS games developed with Unreal Engine. AWS GameKit, launched on March 23, 2022, gives game developers a powerful tool set to quickly and easily build AWS powered game features directly from the Unreal Editor. With today's update, the AWS GameKit plugin for Unreal Engine now supports developers who are building games for Win 64, Android, iOS, and macOS. View the full article

Linux systems already have many impressive built-in themes but you may get bored using them again and again. The interesting thing about Linux distributions is you can change the whole machine environment by altering the themes anytime. It does not only give a new look to the operating system but also provides a distinct experience. The macOS theme is undeniably the cleanest looking theme that any operating system has. How about getting the same theme on your Ubuntu? A collection of macOS themes is available on different online sources, pick any popular site and download your favorite theme from there. To get macOS theme on your Ubuntu environment, you need to remodel the following four features of the operating system: Theme Icons Dock position and appearance Shell appearance First, we need to download the “Gnome Tweak Tool”. The “Gnome Tweak Tool” is the Gnome shell extension that is used to make changes in the environment’s interface. With the help of this tool, you can modify the whole look of the Ubuntu system. Download the “Gnome Tweak Tool” using the command (if you don’t have it already): $ sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool You can get it from the following applications: Let’s start with the installation of the theme. 1. Installing macOS Theme on Ubuntu 20.04 There are several sources to get the macOS themes for Linux operating system. One of the popular sites to get the replica of the macOS theme on the Ubuntu system is “http://www.gnome-look.org/”. Open the link and a variety of themes will be listed in the browser. Search for the macOS themes here, and you will get plenty of them. I will go with the “WhiteSur-Gtk-Theme”. You can select any of your choices and follow the same procedure. Select the theme version you want to download. (I am selecting the “dark” theme) Click on it to start downloading. After downloading, go to the “Download” folder, and the “.zip” file will be shown there. Extract the downloaded folder. After unzipping the file, go to the “Home” folder and press “Ctrl+H” to unhide all the hidden folders in the home directory. (Note that all the folders having “.” before the name are considered as “Hidden Folders”) Search for the “.themes” folder in the hidden folders. If you haven’t found it, then make a new one with the name “.themes”: Click on the “Create” button. Now, move the extracted theme folder to the “.themes” folder. 2. Installing macOS Icons Set on Ubuntu 20.04 Visit the “www.gnome-look.org” site again, search for the macOS icons set and pick any of them. The installation process of the icons set would be the same as we have done above to install the macOS theme. Select the icons set and download it. Unzip the “.zip” file and search for the “.icons” folder in the “Home” directory. If it doesn’t exist, then make a new one and name it “.icons”. Copy the icons set extracted folder in the “.icons” folder. 3. Installing the Dock Extension: The next step after getting the theme and icon sets is to add the dock. For this, visit the Gnome Shell Extension site, “https://extensions.gnome.org/”, and install the browser extension as mentioned in the image. Once you clicked, a dialogue box will appear to ask for permission. Select “ok” to proceed. Now, search the “dash to dock” on the search bar for an extension. Open it and enable it by clicking on the toggle button. 4. Enabling Gnome Shell The next step is enabling the gnome shell. In the “Gnome Tweak Tool”, the shell option is disabled by default. We need to change the shell appearance as well to get the complete macOS look on Ubuntu machine. So, open the site “https://extensions.gnome.org/”, and select the “User Themes” option. Click and enable it by clicking on the toggle button. Setting MacOS Theme Using Tweak Tool So, the final setting would be done using the Tweak tool. Open it and go to the “Appearance” category in the sidebar. Navigate to the “Applications” from the “Appearance” tab and select the “WhiteSur-dark” theme option. You will see that the theme has been changed into a dark one. Similarly, go to the “icons” category and choose the “WhiteSur-Dark” theme for icons. Now move towards the “shell” option and change it as well. That’s it! The MacOS theme has been applied to the Ubuntu machine. Conclusion: Linux distributions are known for their flexibility when it comes to change the appearance of the operating system. In this write-up, we have seen how to get a MacOS theme on Ubuntu 20.04. There are few steps to follow to change the theme, icons set, dock, and shell. If you’re using the right approach (as mentioned above), then it won’t take more than few minutes. View the full article

Today we are excited to announce the general availability of Docker Desktop for Mac [Apple Silicon], continuing to support developers in our community with their choice of local development environments. First, we want to say a big thank you to our community. The excitement you have shown about being able to run Docker Desktop on the new M1 chip has been tremendous and hugely motivating to us. Your engagement on testing builds and reporting problems has been invaluable. As soon as Apple announced the new M1 chip, you let us know on our public roadmap that this was a high priority for you, and it quickly became by far our most upvoted roadmap item ever. You also responded very positively to our previous blog posts. After the M1 machines were publicly available, those of you on our developer preview program tested some very early builds. And then as we moved into public tech previews and release candidates, many more of you joined in with testing your enormous variety of use cases, and reporting bugs. In total we have had 45,000 downloads of the various preview builds, and 140 tickets raised on our public bug tracker, not to mention countless messages on our community Slack. We know that Docker Desktop is an essential part of the development process for so many of you. We are very grateful that we have such an active and supportive community, and that you have shared both your excitement and your feedback with us. We couldn’t have gotten here without you. Thank you! Where can you get it? Download it here! Release notes can be found here! Looking for support? Did you know that you can get Premium Customer Support for Docker Desktop with a Pro or Team subscription? With this GA release, we’re now ready to officially help support you if you’re thinking about using Docker Desktop for Mac [Apple Silicon], for Mac [Intel] or for Windows. Check out our pricing page to learn more about what’s included in a Pro or Team subscription, and if it’s right for you. Have you tried multi-platform builds? Many developers are going to experience multi-platform development for the first time with the Macs powered by the M1 chip. This is one of the key areas where Docker shines. Docker has had support for multi-platform images for a long time, meaning that you can build and run both amd64(Intel) and arm64 (Apple Silicon) images on Docker Desktop today. The new Docker Desktop for Apple Silicon is no exception; you can build and run images for both x86 and ARM architectures without having to set up a complex cross-compilation development environment. Docker Hub also makes it easy to identify and share repositories that provide multi-platform images. Using docker buildx you can also easily integrate multi-platform builds into your build pipeline. Try it today. Join Us for DockerCon LIVE 2021 Join us for DockerCon LIVE 2021 on Thursday, May 27. DockerCon LIVE is a free, one day virtual event that is a unique experience for developers and development teams who are building the next generation of modern applications. If you want to learn about how to go from code to cloud fast and how to solve your development challenges, DockerCon LIVE 2021 offers engaging live content to help you build, share and run your applications. Register today at https://dockr.ly/2PSJ7vn The post Released: Docker Desktop for Mac [Apple Silicon] appeared first on Docker Blog. View the full article

Starting today, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Mac instances for macOS are generally available. Built on Apple Mac mini computers, EC2 Mac instances enable customers to run on-demand macOS workloads in the AWS cloud for the first time, extending the flexibility, scalability, and cost benefits of AWS to all Apple developers. With EC2 Mac instances, developers creating apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Safari can now provision and access macOS environments within minutes, dynamically scale capacity as needed, and benefit from AWS’s pay-as-you-go pricing. View the full article