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Posts tagged with "os x"

Apple Releases OS X 10.8.3

After nearly four months in testing and thirteen betas seeded to developers, Apple has today released OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3. As with previous software updates, the new version is available on both the Mac App Store and Apple’s website.

10.8.3 includes some new features and bug fixes. Notably, the update comes with the usual stability improvements, but, this time, also a fix for the notorious File:/// URL bug that could crash certain Mac apps. Safari 6.0.3 is also part of the update, with improvements for scrolling on Facebook.com, fixes for zoom, restoring position, and bookmarks issues that could cause bookmarks to be duplicated on iOS devices.

As far as new features go, Boot Camp now comes with support for Windows 8 and Macs with a 3 TB hard drive. Introduced in late November 2012 with iTunes 11, Mac App Store gift cards can now be redeemed using a computer’s camera.

Detailed release notes can be found here. The software can be downloaded with the links below:

- OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.3 (540.46 MB)

- OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.3 Combo (793.69 MB)

Characters for Mac

Special characters are the bane of my scripting hobby. In dealing with text on a daily basis and constantly playing around with scripts and macros to make text editing faster, I inevitably come across the occasional Unicode Error that increases my headache and coffee consumption rate. Which is why, if you have the same issues with Python, I recommend watching this video that Dr. Drang kindly sent me a few weeks ago on Twitter.

Characters for Mac is a menubar app that wants to make the process of copying special character effortless and simple for both users and developers. Read more

Dropbox 2.0 For Mac Now Available

Dropbox has today released an update to its desktop client for Mac. The new version of the app has been available as beta on the company’s forums for a few months, and the final build can be downloaded here.

The new Dropbox for Mac comes with a redesigned menubar tray with a timeline of the latest changes in your Dropbox account. Back in September, the company tried to introduce a new menubar design with another beta on the forums, but the concept was abandoned as it didn’t meet the expectations of several Dropbox users. Inspired by the minimal design of the new Dropbox for iOS, the Mac app now comes with an iOS-like popover that contains two large shortcuts for your Dropbox folder in the Finder and dropbox.com at the top, a timeline of changes, and sync information at the bottom.

The key to the new tray is that files can be clicked to be opened directly in the Finder and shared inline without leaving the app or bringing up a contextual menu. Upon hovering over a file, in fact, a “Share” button will appear: you can click it to instantly generate a Dropbox link that will open a new tab in your browser and that you can immediately send to someone else. Besides sharing, you can also accept a shared folder invitation directly from the app: in my tests, notifications of folders that had been shared with me arrived simultaneously on iOS and OS X, allowing me to accept them without having to use the Dropbox website.

Different filetypes come with different preview icons (image thumbnails will show an actual preview of the image), and the “Up to date” checkmark icon doubles as spinning refresh indicator when files are syncing to your Dropbox account (it also “pulses” when sync is complete – a nice touch). While network speed isn’t shown in the popover while syncing, you can view it by clicking the Preferences icon at the bottom of the window (which will open a contextual menu showing both time remaining and speed).

As a side note, you can still get the old Dropbox 1.0 menu by Control-clicking the Dropbox icon in the menubar.

After months of iOS and web updates, it’s nice to see Dropbox focusing on desktop clients again. I believe the new Mac app is a great improvement over the old version, especially in terms of how quickly you can share new files and open them in the OS X Finder.

Dropbox 2.0 is available here.