Category Archives: MacBiz

Apple releases Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0 for mid 2012 MacBook Air.

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Screen Shot 2013-05-16 at 2.41.24 PM

Apple has released a new firmware update for the mid 2012 MacBook Air today that helps to address problems with the device recovering from a crash. Apple release notes said the update addresses “a storage firmware issue that, in rare cases, may cause a system to fail to recover from crash.”

The MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0 is available to download on Apple’s websitehere and should be hitting Software Update soon. The 1.69 MB update is available for mid 2012 MacBook Airs running OS X 10.7.5 or OS X 10.8.3.

Source: 9to5Mac.

Save Space On Your Hard Drive – Delete Unwanted Speech Voices From Your Mac.

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Speech Voices

Hard drive space is at a premium these days, with files getting larger and solid state drives (SSD) becoming more affordable and ubiquitous. I’m typing on a Macbook Air right now, and making sure I don’t clutter up the drive with unnecessary files is important to me.

One way to do this is to get rid of the voices that Mac OS X uses for text-to-speech. These files can take up a decent amount of space, which may well be why iOS only allows the one onboard, now that I think about it.

Anyway, if you’re not using those text-to-speech voices, you might as well clear them off your drive and save some space. Here’s how.

If you want to get rid of the whole kit and caboodle at once, launch Terminal from the Applications folder, the dock, or with an app launching system, like Alfred. Type or paste the following command:

cd /System/Library/Speech/

This will change the directory (cd) you’re focusing on to the one in which the speech files are contained. To delete them all, simply type or paste the following:

sudo rm -rf Voices/*

This will dump every single text-to-speech voice on your system, so don’t do it if you want to keep one or more voices. In that case, navigate to the /System/Library/Speech/Voices/ folder on your hard drive and delete the voices you aren’t going to use, like Cello, or Bahh. Because, really, how often do you have your Mac read to you in the sound of string instruments or sheep?

Source: Cult of Mac.

Save Space On Your Hard Drive – Delete User Cache Files.

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Delete User Cache Files

Saving space on your Mac hard drive is a key strategy, especially when you’re using a Macbook Air, with it’s strictly solid state drive (SSD). Even if you’re using a desktop Mac with a hard drive that seemed like “plenty of space” when you bought it, there will come a time when you’ll be looking to save some of it for more data. Why not get rid of the non-essential stuff on your Mac’s hard drive?

When you delete apps to help recover disk space, they can leave user cache files behind. These are the files that help improve the performance of OS X and various apps that are installed on your Mac. If you’re no longer using an app, you can delete these files to free up some space. Here’s how.

In the Finder, press Command-Shift-G or click on the Go menu, selecting Go To Folder. In the resulting field, type or paste ~/Library/Caches/. This will bring up the folder that contains the user caches. Once there, you’ll want to sort the list by size, which means you’ll want to set up that window to calculate all the sizes of files and folders.

Go to the View menu and choose Show View Options, or hit Command-J on your keyboard. Click the checkbox next to Calculate All Sizes and then close the View window. Your Mac will now show a number for everything in that Finder window, including folders. Now, if you don’t already, set the window to List view, either in the View menu or with a Command-2 on the keyboard.

You’ll now see all the biggest cache files near the top of the list (if you only see the smaller files at the top, click on Size again at the top of the column), and you can delete stuff that you no longer need. Spotify can have a bigger user cache file, as can some gaming apps.

Be careful not to remove anything you think you might need, of course. If you delete something that an app you still use needs, you might see some weird stuff go on with it.

Source: Cult of Mac.

A Vintage Mac Turned Into An Exquisitely Beautiful Piece Of Modern Art.

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Screen Shot 2013-05-13 at 10.53.23 AM

Todd McLellan is an artist whose forte is taking things apart and arranging them neatly, peeling back the layers of an everday object and allowing you to see the shocking mechanical complexity within. He’s like one part Andy Warhol, one part .

This is McLellan’s dissection of a Macintosh Classic, every single piece separated from one another and neatly laid out for your examination. It’s part of his Things Come Apart series, in which “fifty design classics—arranged first by size and then by intricacy—are beautifully displayed, piece by piece, exploding in midair and dissected in real-time, frame-by-frame video stills.” .

In addition, McLellan has a book coming out at the end of the month called Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living. The cover art for the book is actually the striking image above. If you want it, you can preorder it online from Amazon.

 

Source: Cult of Mac.

Apple releases stability fix firmware update v1.2 for Thunderbolt.

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Users of a Thunderbolt equipped Mac will want to head on over to the Apple Support pages and grab the latest firmware update. It’s not a huge update, in fact the download is just 1.22MB in size, but does promise stability fixes for Thunderbolt and for Target Disk Mode. And we’ll always welcome stability fixes.

A restart of your Mac will be required following install, and to grab the new firmware hit the source link below.

Source: iMore.

Best Buy Offers $125 Discount on MacBook Airs.

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In honor of Mother’s Day, Best Buy has discounted its MacBook Airs by a total of $125. The company is offering a base discount of $100, plus a ‘MOM25′ promo code that drops the price another $25.

bestbuymothersdaysale
The prices with the discounts are as follows:

11-inch MacBook Air 4GB/64GB – $874.99
11-inch MacBook Air 4GB/128 GB – $974.99
13-inch MacBook Air 4GB/128GB – $1074.99
13-inch MacBook Air 4GB/256 GB – $1274.99

Office for Mac 2011 Update Brings Office 365 Support.

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Microsoft has updated Office for Mac 2011, fixing some bugs, adding some features, and adding compatibility with the Office 365 subscription service.

Office Mac

The latest Office for Mac 2011 version 14.3.4 includes a variety of feature additions that brings the application suite somewhat up to spec with its Windows counterpart, and includes bug fixes for compatibility issues that hindered interoperability between PC and Mac versions of Word, Outlook and other titles.

In what could be the most important update, Microsoft added the ability for existing Office for Mac 2011 users to integrate with Office 365, the subscription service that gives users access to the latest and greatest software updates, SkyDrive cloud storage, and SharePoint access for Word.

Fixes included in the new version:

  • Coauthoring session with Microsoft PowerPoint Web App and Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac
  • After token expires, does not prompt for credentials in Microsoft Outlook for Mac
  • Calibri Light font not included in Office for Mac
  • SetupUI is shown to user on start after Office for Mac is already activated
  • Saving files to SkyDrive and SharePoint in Microsoft Word for Mac
  • Folder contains excess white space: Error 1025 in Outlook for Mac
  • XLIST command that is used by Gmail is deprecated in Outlook for Mac
  • Local group mail cannot be sent in Outlook for Mac
  • Remote devices lose control while in Presentation Mode in Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac
  • File format extension support in PowerPoint for Mac
  • Searching continues after user cancels in Outlook for Mac
  • Items go into Junk Mail in Outlook for Mac
  • Blocked Senders List under Junk Email Protection in Outlook for Mac

Tuesdays update will allow Office 2011 users to sign up for Microsoft Office 365 if they’d like. A subscription to the Home Premium edition runs $99.99 per year, or $9.99 per month. The subscription allows the use of Office on up to five computers.

The update is available through Auto Update or Microsoft’s website.

Source: MacTrast.