Mondays are unquestionably rough, but the Internet Archive is making this particular Monday a little more exciting. The Internet Archive announced today that it has added emulation for early Macintosh software to its library. This means that you can spend your day as if you were still living in the 1980s, exploring some of the earliest operating systems Apple ever released.
Microsoft has quietly announced a new tool that makes it easy to abandon Mac in favor of its own Surface products. Aptly called ‘Mac to Surface Assistant,’ this tool allows macOS users to quickly back up folders of their own choosing to a USB flash drive or hard drive, which can then be used to transfer the content to a Surface laptop as a single ZIP file.
The Nintendo Switch is earning not a few criticisms as they honeymoon period swiftly comes to an end, but there are a few things you have to congratulate Nintendo for. Specifically, it has adopted more industry standards rather than proprietary systems. Like using USB-C for charging and microSD for external storage. And, just like its Wii-mote, the Joy-Cons, both of them, can also be used as regular Bluetooth controllers for Windows PCs, Macs, and even Android devices.
Faithful Mac users might have to wait a bit longer to get their fair share of the virtual reality pie. That is, unless Apple suddenly comes up with its own VR platform and headset within the next six months. That’s because Oculus, one of the three biggest VR companies, doesn’t yet have macOS in its sights. Not even within the next six months. This was the situation revealed by co-founder and now head of Rift Nate Mitchell as he talks about the company’s future in the face of recent setbacks and challenges.
It looks like the Humble Freedom Bundle has resonated with PC players. The massive collection of video games and books has managed to raise more than $4 million for three different charities - the ACLU, Doctors Without Borders, and the International Rescue Committee - in just two days. That makes it one of the most successful Humble Bundles ever released.
Mac users might be proud of their platform being the go-to for much creative work, but there is one party it hasn’t been officially invited to yet. The rush of virtual and augmented reality technologies have so far catered only to the Windows crowd, leaving macOS patiently waiting for better days. Some, however, have taken it up themselves to do the heavy lifting that VR makers don’t seem to be interested in. Like this VR Desktop from Cindori which uses an Oculus Rift DK2 to give Mac users a foretaste of what a VR office would look and feel like.
Ever since it first got rolling all those years ago, Humble Bundle has offered a countless number of pay-what-you-want bundles for charity. If there was ever one that was too good to pass up, though, it might be the latest. Say hello to the Humble Freedom Bundle, an absolutely massive bundle that brings together dozens of books and games in one big package that benefits three very important charities: the ACLU, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and the International Rescue Committee. What's not to love?
Last year, LG teamed with Apple and introduced its new UltraFine 5K monitor, which was meant to replace the outgoing Thunderbolt displays. It was encouraging to see LG stepping in to fill a gap, but then a few days back a strange problem reared its ugly head: the monitors stopped functioning correctly when they were placed too close to a router.
An exciting new iPhone, advanced wearables, and a seamless smart home: Tim Cook was light on specifics but not short on the big picture as he described Apple's year to come. Speaking on his company's financial results call, in the afterglow of a record-breaking quarter which saw iPhone sales beat expectations and Mac turn around its decline, Cook name-checked a number of areas Apple will focus on moving forward. Even for struggling sectors like tablets, the CEO is buoyant.
Apple has had a record-breaking financial quarter, confounding market expectations with its highest holiday quarter results ever. The Cupertino company announced revenue for the Q1 2017 fiscal quarter of $78.4 billion, for $3.36 earnings per diluted share. That's up $2.5bn compared to the same three month period a year ago.
Apple's Logic Pro X has gained Touch Bar support on the latest MacBook Pro, with the music software - and its GarageBand for iOS cousin - getting a big update today. Logic Pro X 10.3 not only embraces the slender touchscreen strip on Apple's latest notebook, but revamps the UI throughout; as for GarageBand for iOS 2.2, that gets a brand new synthesizer and a new interface. Meanwhile, music-makers using both products will be better able to create on the move thanks to new remote access options.
Consumer Reports is re-testing battery life on the latest MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, after Apple released a software update intended to address wildly varying runtimes. The patch, which is being released to the macOS beta channel today and will eventually be included for all users of the software, focuses on a buried setting in Safari, the browser which Consumer Reports used for its controversial testing back in December. Back then, the organization found that despite Apple's claims of around 10 hours of battery life for the new notebooks, the MacBook Pro models it bought would sometimes deliver just a fraction of that.
