Apple has released OS X 10.11.1, bringing along with it a number of fixes and improvements. The update, which is available now through the Mac App Store, brings new emoji, improvements for Microsoft Office 2016 compatibility and much more. A full list of the changes in OS X 10.11.1 include:

• Improves installer reliability when upgrading to OS X El Capitan
• Improves compatibility with Microsoft Office 2016
• Fixes an issue where outgoing server information may be missing from Mail
• Resolves an issue that prevented display of messages and mailboxes in Mail
• Resolves an issue that prevents certain Audio Unit plug-ins from functioning properly
• Improves VoiceOver reliability
• Adds over 150 new emoji characters with full Unicode 7.0 and 8.0 support

It may take a little before you see the update show for you in the Mac App Store, but keep an eye out. If you happen to notice any other improvements or issues with this build, let us know in the comments below.

If you've recently upgraded to iOS 9, you may find that you can no longer sync your beautiful new Notes app with your Mac. This is because on OS X Yosemite, your Notes app is still the same sad, pre-attachment version that you had in iOS 8—and they can't talk to each other.

Good news: OS X El Capitan has an iOS 9-compatible Notes app. Bad news: OS X El Capitan doesn't ship until September 30.

But don't worry, friends: You don't have to rush to install the OS X El Capitan beta if you're relying on getting your notes from iOS to OS X. Instead, you can use iCloud.com for your syncing needs. Unfortunately, this does only talk from iOS 9 to iCloud.com—so you'll have to do your notes-writing in one of those two places, and leave the OS X Notes app alone until you upgrade to OS X El Capitan.

Note: This only works for Notes you're syncing through iCloud.com; if you're syncing them through a different service, you won't be able to see them.

How to view iOS 9's Notes on a Mac running OS X Yosemite

1. Open Safari on your Mac.
2. Visit iCloud.com and enter in your username and password.
3. Click on the Notes app.
   
   

From there, you should be able to edit your current notes, add checklists and text, and delete any unwanted information.

Apple recently started pushing out a new Digital Camera RAW Compatibility update for OS X Yosemite today that brings RAW format support for a number of new cameras. The update clocks in at version 6.06 and covers RAW compatibility for the following list of cameras:

• Canon PowerShot G3 X
• Leica Q (Typ 116)
• Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GX8
• Sony Alpha ILCE-7R II
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 II
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 IV

The update is a necessary addition to add system-level RAW support for the listed cameras when working in imaging applications on your Mac. The update measures a small 7.8MB large, and should be available on the Mac App Store now.

Source: Apple

OS X Yosemite has been updated to version 10.10.4 and with it Apple has surfaced a trim command in Terminal. Trim enables more efficient "garbage collection" on Macs equipped with some third-party solid state drives (SSDs). Not all SSDs are created equal, though, and that raises some issues to consider before you pull the trim trigger.

Let me point out right off the top that if you're using a Mac with built-in SSD storage, none of this applies to you. Trim support in 10.10.4 is only relevant to Macs with upgraded third-party SSD. And even then, trim may only be relevant to a subset of those Macs.

"Trimming" is a technique used by operating systems to do "garbage collection" on an solid state disk. Trimming enables the SSD to consolidate blocks of flash memory to make sure performance remains high. Without garbage collection, an SSD can slow down over time as more data is written to the drive.

If you bought your Mac with an SSD factory-installed by Apple, you don't have to worry. First party SSDs do their own garbage collection, so no changes are necessary for those systems. Third-party SSDs equipped with SandForce controllers, like the ones sold by Other World Computing (OWC), don't need any help, either.

With Mavericks and previous OS X releases, some Mac users who had upgraded their computers with third-party SSDs used Trim Enabler and other tools to get trim support to work on their drives. That went away with the release of Yosemite, which enforced a new security measure called "kext signing." Kernel extensions, or kexts, are system drivers. Kext signing makes sure system drivers stay unaltered to prevent potential security problems. Unfortunately, this meant that utilities which altered the way SSD drivers work stopped working on Yosemite.

While kext signing is still Yosemite's law of the land, 10.10.4 introduces a new "trimforce" command that enables trim on SSDs. OS X 10.10.4's new "trimforce" command is entered through the Terminal:

sudo trimforce enable

The operating system barks back a long and potentially scary message about how using trimforce may cause "unintended data loss or data corruption" before turning it on.

The problem is that not all SSDs implement trim support the same way, and some models from some manufacturers appear to have very buggy trim implementations all together.

So why did Apple enable this? Well, it looks like this is an early implementation of something we expected in El Capitan, but many newer third-party SSDs don't have any trouble with trim support and will benefit from it, so it's a net positive.

Again, if you're using a Mac equipped with a factory-installed SSD or one that uses an SSD that has a SandForce controller, this doesn't apply. If you're using a third-party SSD, use this command at your own risk. I'd strongly recommend checking with user support forums and any other online resources for your SSD maker before enabling trimforce on your Mac, and whatever you do, back up early and often.

Amidst iOS 8.4's release and the introduction of Apple Music, Apple on Tuesday also released a point update to OS X Yosemite, 10.10.4. If you've been having problems with flaky networking issues since upgrading to Yosemite, including wake from sleep issues and devices getting renamed on your network, I'd recommend giving the new update a try.

Networking problems with Yosemite came to a boil this Spring following some comments from developers, who attributed the troubles to Yosemite's use of networking software called "discoveryd." Discoveryd was also the culprit behind some memory leaks and CPU hogging, according to various reports on Apple developer and OS X user forums around the Internet.

Once Apple released the first beta version of OS X 10.10.4 in May, many of these problems went away. So, it turns out, did discoveryd: Apple replaced it with mDNSresponder, the networking code in Mavericks and previous versions of OS X going all the way back to 10.2 Jaguar. mDNSresponder had been modified to support newer foundational networking technology in Yosemite like Handoff.

10.10.4's improvements don't end with just networking, however. Apple also lists a variety of "reliability" improvements including changes to Migration Assistant, better functioning for external displays, better iCloud Photo Library video and photo syncing, improved iPhoto and Aperture upgrading to Photos, and a change to prevent Photos from crashing when importing certain DNG files from Leica digital cameras. Outgoing email problems have been fixed in Mail and a JavaScript exploit has been closed in Safari which could keep you from navigating away from a web site that throws repeated popups at you.

Apple also lists several changes of interest to enterprise IT managers: A fix for problems associated with hanging Macs connected to directory services, adding the ability to create mobile accounts using the "createmobileaccount" tool, and a Profile Manager fix that will keep users from installing beta software when the setting is disabled.

On Tuesday Apple released a new beta version of OS X Yosemite. The new 10.10.4 release, build 14E26a, went into the hands of developers and Mac users who are signed up for Apple's AppleSeed public testing program. And it makes an important change to OS X's underlying network technology that may yield improvements for those of us who have been suffering a host of problems for the past several months.

Specifically, a key piece of networking code called discoveryd is gone. In its place is mDNSResponder, the old code that was in Mavericks and every OS X release since Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar" came out in 2002. 9to5Mac reported the change late Tuesday.

Discovery has been at the heart of criticism lobbed at Apple by developers for months. The problems with Yosemite's networking have run the gamut. Wake from sleep stopped working consistently, for example. You'd open your laptop only to stare at a blank screen or a cursor without any activity. Wake On Demand (a feature that makes a Mac wake up when it's pinged by another device over the network) stopped working consistently. Bonjour, Apple's implementation of zero-configuration networking, stopped working consistently. Devices on the network would get renamed with incremented numbers (like "Peter's MacBook Pro (2)"). And DNS, the core technology that translates human-readable domain names (like "imore.com") into their IP addresses, would randomly stop working.

Not all of these may be related exclusively to discoveryd, but discoveryd certainly is contributing to many of them. Discoveryd also demonstrated a penchant for grabbing 100 percent of the CPU's attention and grabbing huge amounts of RAM, too.

Discoveryd was introduced when Yosemite came on the scene last year, and even during the initial beta period, it appeared to cause a lot of trouble. Through months of incremental updates to Yosemite, the problems haven't gone away.

Replacing discoveryd with mDNSResponder is a procedure described on developer discussion boards. It's a fairly elaborate process. It requires using the Terminal command line, so it's not something within the range of many Mac users who prefer to spend their time working in the relative comfort of the Mac graphical user interface. But developers have gotten it to work. Apple seems to have elected to go that route rather than continue to distribute discoveryd, which clearly wasn't up to snuff for many users.

For better or worse, Apple rarely communicates with developers and end users about problems like this. It's frustrating, even for seasoned Mac and iOS developers, when months of complaints, bug filings in Apple's "Radar" system and queries posted to Apple discussion forums lead nowhere. Apple hasn't, to the best of my recollection, published any support articles to help Mac users troubleshoot these problems, either. For that matter, we still don't have a clear idea of why discoveryd replaced mDNSResponder when Yosemite was first released. All we know is that things have sucked since then.

So the latest beta release of 10.10.4 comes as a surprise — a welcome surprise for many of us who have been suffering from discoveryd problems, obviously. But there's still no clear communication from Apple to explain the change. What's more, the 10.10.4 release is a beta. There's no way to know if this is a permanent change from Apple or a temporary fix while Apple address discoveryd problems in a more substantive way.

Since I installed the latest beta, my Mac's network name hasn't jumped any digits. It's waking from sleep faster than at any time I can remember since I installed Yosemite. To that end, trusty old mDNSResponder seems to do the job better than discoveryd. I'll temper my optimism by reminding you that I've had the latest beta installed for less than a day.

Will this change be permanent? I doubt it. Apple replaced mDNSResponder with discoveryd for a reason. But it's certainly an improvement for now, and I welcome it.

Are you using the latest beta? Or are you still suffering problems in 10.10.3? Sick and tired of networking problems plaguing your Yosemite machines? Or are you not having trouble at all? Sound off in the comments.

Iconfactory developer Craig Hockenberry posted to his blog about persistent problems he's run into with OS X Yosemite (warning: strong language). Hockenberry gives me some insight into a problem that has also dogged me since Yosemite was in beta last summer: Problems with Macs waking from sleep, and devices on the network being arbitrarily renamed.

Hockenberry, writing on Furbo.org

According to Hockenberry, Macs are losing network connections when waking from sleep and Apple network devices are being renamed with a number in the title, like "Apple TV (2)" or "Peter's MacBook Pro (3)."

It's been happening to me as well, so it resonated for me.

Hockenberry lays the blame for the problem at the feet of "discoveryd," a service that debuted with Yosemite and handles a bunch of networking-related functions. Prior to 10.10's launch OS X used another piece of code called mDNSResponder, which worked pretty well.

Hockenberry isn't the only one out there who says "discoveryd" is the problem. Instapaper creator Marco Arment agrees:

Apple moved to "discoveryd," in part, to enable new features like Continuity, a suite of services that lets Mac and iOS devices effortlessly communicate with one another — text messages on the iPhone are relayed to the Mac; the Mac can use the iPhone as an Internet hotspot without any configuration; email and web page information is passed between devices, and more.

Continuity has changed the way people expect their Macs and iOS devices to work, and provides a way for those devices to work better together than they can apart. It's incredibly important technology. It's also disturbingly fragile, especially given than we're now more than six months past Yosemite's initial release (and even longer since Yosemite went into the hands of developers and public beta testers).

Hockenberry learned a workaround: Shut off Apple TVs on the local network, reboot the AirPort Extreme. Hockenberry theorizes why it works:

Bonjour is Apple's implementation of zero-configuration networking, to help the Mac and peripherals just work when they're connected to a network. Hockenberry admits, however, that it's just conjecture, since Apple hasn't been forthcoming with information about the problem. Hockenberry also suggests that the Dilbert Principle may be the ultimate cause for why this problem has dragged out for so long (to wit: that someone in Apple's middle management is trying to cover their ass by obfuscating what's going on).

Marco Arment's network topology is different: He has problems with wired network connections and doesn't use Apple AirPort routers. Arment writes:

"Discoveryd" is one of the many reasons why some of us would like Apple to take a step back from pouring a lot of new features into the next releases of OS X and iOS, instead focusing on making what's already there better. There are maddening inconsistencies and broken features right now.

"Discoveryd" is a foundational technology for Yosemite, iOS 8, the Apple Watch, and everything that comes after. Apple has to get this stuff right before it expects us to start using even more new features, or before those new features introduced in Yosemite get more complicated. So I don't think this is something that's just going to persist.

But after six months, I'm wondering when a solution is finally going to get here.

Are you having these troubles with your Mac, Apple TV or other devices connected to your network? Have you noticed things are worse in Yosemite than they were in Mavericks? Sound off in the comments.

First, we wrote the original gigantic review. Then, we got together and chatted about the operating system three months later. Now, six months after the release of OS X 10.10, the iMore team is back at it to talk once more about Apple's national-park-named operating system.

Design

Ren: The more I work with OS X Yosemite, the more I love its design and aesthetic. It flows really seamlessly when you're switching between iOS and OS X, and I love the new Safari window more every day. I only wish I had a Retina computer to really take advantage of the new design.

Ally: Yosemite fuses iOS and OS X together for the first time. Design language is important and it's one of the very first things people notice. Anyone already using an iPhone or iPad will now be instantly familiar with a lot of the same aesthetic features on the Mac, thanks to Yosemite. It makes the switch from PC even more enticing, and that wasn't on accident.

Peter: It didn't take me long to get used to the visual changes to Yosemite, producing more consistency with iOS 7 and 8. It's also Retina-optimized, which means it doesn't look quite as nice on the MacBook Air and older Macs. I must say it looks especially nice on the new MacBook.

Rene: Yosemite is the first version of OS X for me where it's almost painful to go back to an older version based on looks alone. I mentioned during the 3 month later review that, unlike previous generations where I've waiting a year or so to upgrade my podcast studio Mac, the new interface had me upgrading almost immediately. It's clean, it's crisp, and it's deep. I like it so much I'm even more interested in seeing how, if at all, Apple will tweak it for OS X 10.11 this year.

Extensibility

Ally: This is one area I'd really like to see developers do more with. On iOS I can create workflows through extensions, add deliveries, view source code, unzip files, and do tons of other neat things. Sadly, a lot of that same love hasn't yet been given to the Mac. The app that have implemented it have made my life even easier. But whenever I try and use a share or action extension that isn't available in OS X that is on OS X, it makes my heart sad.

Here's to hoping developers will continue to try and find even more unique and useful ways to take advantage of extensions on OS X, because we aren't quite there yet.

Peter: Still not as much of a feature smorgasbord as I would like to see, though where it's been applied has made my worfklow a lot more seamless.

Ren: I use Extensibility all the time on my iPhone and iPad, but rarely on my Mac. The same library for sharing extensions just doesn't exist on OS X yet, though I hope developers address that this year.

Rene: We're going to look back and see extensibility as one of the biggest changes in computing technology in recent years if not decades. Decoupling interface and unbundling apps so that functionality no longer has to be hunted down but can be pushed up is fundamentally transformative. I agree with my colleagues, however, that right now it's far more impactful on iOS than it is on OS X. The combination of Touch ID and action extension on iOS, for example, makes 1Password a better experience now on the iPhone or iPad than the Mac.

Perhaps that's because OS X has always been a less controlled, more functional environment, or perhaps it's because developers have better engaged with extensibility on iOS than OS X. Time will tell.

Continuity

Ally: I use Continuity constantly, whether it be for calling or messaging. I've said it many times and I'll say it again, if you own a non-iOS phone, we can be friends again my green bubble freak friends. Before, it just broke up my workflow too much to stop what I was doing and respond to a regular text message. With Continuity, I don't have to. I'm not quite sure what people without a built-in messaging solution do, and yes, I'm looking at all the PC people in the room. And then there's apps like Pixelmator that let me pass what I'm doing off from my iPhone or iPad to my Mac, and vice versa. I've become completely spoiled by it.

If I'm at my Mac, I almost never pick up my iPhone or iPad any more, because I don't have to, thanks to Continuity.

Ren: I go back and forth on Continuity being my favorite thing or just something I happen to use on occasion. Handoff still isn't (for me, at least) regularly reliable enough for me to always use it; if I expect an app to be ready to hand off in my Dock and it's not there, it breaks the experience. SMS Relay is excellent, however.

Rene: I'm using Continuity more now than I was previously. I'm still not answering my phone on my Mac regularly, like Peter, but I am using Handoff to sling everything from half-composed mail and messages around to half-read webpages. (Though I wish webpages could push scroll position reliably as well.) Instant hot spot is my constant coffee shop companion and during the transition period from My Photo Stream to iCloud Photo Library, Air Drop was a life saver for screenshots. Now we just need some hot Continuity for iTunes action and things will get even more interesting.

Peter: Continuity is my most used Yosemite feature. I don't even think twice about using my iPhone as a hotspot or a relay to my "green bubble friends" from my Mac. It works like magic. It hasn't always. But it's getting more solid with each successive built of OS X and iOS 8.

Spotlight

Ren: Launchers forever! I use Spotlight early and often, and the Flashlight plugin has essentially let me turn it into a full-fledged launchbar utility. It's great. I do wish you could move the Spotlight search bar to another location, though — sometimes I'll be doing calculations and the Spotlight bar drops over whatever I was referencing, which is a pain.

Ally: I use Spotlight like I always have and it's one area that I don't think I use to its full advantages. I never look up Wikipedia info or search the web, mainly because I'm so used to launching a browser. Muscle memory right there.

I do use Spotlight often to convert currency though. Seriously, awesome feature. Try it.

Peter: Spotlight is, arguably, my main user interface element for doing almost everything. I usually don't go clicking around windows or relying on third-party menu bar apps or interface enhancements; just hit command-spacebar to bring up the Spotlight window, type my search query, the name of the app I'm looking for, movie times, unit conversions and more. Spotlight is easier to work with than ever in Yosemite thanks to extended data searching, which you can customize in System Preferences.

Rene: I'm with Peter. Spotlight is how I find almost everything on my Mac. The new Spotlight has a few new features that I like and use occasionally, but 6 months in I'm still primarily using it the way I always have — to launch apps and find files.

Mail

Ren: Mail continues to be more reliable than Mavericks, but still not as rock solid as Snow Leopard. Messages move to the folder I'm asking them to about 90 percent of the time — which overall is a pretty good record — but I'd still like to not doubt that when I do something in Mail, I may have to come back and do it again.

Ally: I don't use the built-in Mail app and haven't in years. I toggle regularly between Mailbox and Airmail 2 which I find to be way superior. At least enough for me to forego Handoff in order to use them.

Rene: I'm the anti-Ally. I use Mail both for my personal accounts and for my work account, and I still like the way it's set up and implemented better than third party alternatives. I wish I could get Gmail over Exchange the way I can on iOS, and I wish I didn't have to kill and restart it on occasion to get Gmail to update — and had a clue whether that was Mail or Google's quirky IMAP implementations — but the good far outweighs the bad.

I haven't found myself using Markup, however. When I annotate, I still do so in Napkin and then send by Mail.

Peter: I know Mail's been troublesome for some users, but I haven't run into any issues with it in a while. I manage a variety of different accounts with it too, including iCloud, Gmail and more.

Safari

Ally: Yosemite is the first time I've actually used Safari more than I do Chrome. I love the fact that previously clicked links on my iPhone or iPad also translate to my Mac, and vice versa. Features like iCloud Tabs, universal search history, and anything else that meshes my workflow together keep making Safari more and more appealing to me.

Fine Apple, you finally got me to use Safari full time. Happy?

Rene: When Yosemite launched there was a JavaScriptCore crash that would kill especially JavaScript heavy websites — including, iMore, alas. That was fixed a version or two ago, and everything has been fast and solid for me ever since. If I ever have to play a Flash video — looking at you TV channel embeds! — or open a Google Doc, I do so within a Chrome jail. For everything else, Safari's sleeker interface and ability to sync everything I've done on iOS just makes it such a better experience for me.

Ren: Hallelujah to fixing that JavaScript bug — it made Safari nigh-unsable for me for awhile. But now it's fixed, and I can enjoy the real delight of Apple's web browser on OS X Yosemite: its speed and cleanliness. Safari has always been quick, but it feels even lighter and faster in this version of OS X; I'm a huge fan of its minimalist design, as well. Though I tend to keep all the extra bells and whistles — tabs, the status bar, bookmarks — turned on, Safari never feels cluttered, guiding the majority of your attention to the website you're visiting.

Peter: Continuity's handoff of Safari web pages you already have open on another device, as Ally described, is a very cool reason to use it. It also does a much better job managing system resources than either Firefox or Chrome, which makes Safari a better choice for Mac laptop users who work untethered.

Photos

Rene: With Photos Apple has delivered on what I've always wanted: ubiquitous nearline picture and video storage. It's new and there are still some features missing that I'd like, but the core idea is solid and that's the most important thing for me. Any picture or video I take or save on my iPhone or iPad, or take, save, or import on my Mac, all just goes up into iCloud Photo Library, and the more recent, more frequently accessed, and most favorite get cached locally on all my devices.

Yes, the price plans are still expensive, especially when compared to the ad or data collection subsidized models of competitors, but I like the privacy and I like the architecture. Photos for OS X and I are going to be fast friends.

Ren: I've been using the Photos app with the OS X 10.10.3 beta for awhile now, but I am so happy it's finally hit the public stage. While not Aperture, the Photos app is an excellent all-purpose tool for image management and editing, and iCloud Photo Library makes it even better. I do have my gripes and wish lists, but overall, it's a great first step from the company.

Ally: All my photos completely in sync, across all my devices? Including albums? Yes please! It's something I've been wanting for entirely too long. It also forces me to better organize my crap, which isn't a bad thing. Aside from a few glitches and bumps in the road, I'm completely happy with Photos as an organization tool. For anything else, I still have Lightroom.

Peter: Photos had a mostly successful product launch with the release of 10.10.3; I think this is due in part to a lot of pre-release testing with OS X developers. Not everything is seamless in Photos, but integration with iCloud photo services is infinitely better.

Messages

Ally: Yeah, Continuity and Messages are pretty much the bees knees. I am not quite sure how I lived without them in my prior lives. Seriously. How did I?

Oh and being able to mute Rene's weird Star Wars references at midnight that I won't understand anyways? Priceless!

Peter: Messaging improvements in Yosemite have run hot and cold. Group messaging is something that we at iMore use every day to stay in touch with each other, while Soundbites — adding audio recordings to your Messages — isn't something that I use or that many other people I've checked with use either. The ability to mute conversations and to leave them all together was long overdue.

Ren: Messages by and large works very well for me on OS X Yosemite, but like Peter, I wish that group messaging was implemented more successfully. For every seamless SMS relay, I also have multiple group threads and general disorganization. I could also do with a smarter, faster search bar.

Rene: Star Wars is Harry Potter in space, Ally, except with cleaner, more self-actualized archetypes! That aside, I love messages on OS X. It's fast, it's fluid, and it's insanely productive. The only catch is occasional weird behavior like Peter mentioned. Not only the group messages splitting, which is apparently being fixed, but also the sometimes delay in populating messages after startup.

Also, because there are no instant selfie, video, or location senders, I find it less stressful overall than Messages for iOS where I'm one misclick away from accidental oversharing.

Cross-device messaging is a tough problem to crack, but that's Apple's job.

Bottom line

Ally: OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 tie together the entire Apple ecosystem in a way that was previously inconceivable. iOS owners that are new to Mac will instantly feel a warm familiarity, and that makes things a lot less scary.

However, Apple still wants a Mac to be a Mac and an iPhone to be an iPhone. They just want them to work together better, and they've succeeded.

Rene: Six months later Yosemite is the best version of OS X I've ever used. Sure, there are bugs and people are right to complain. Everything from Extensibility to Continuity to everything that drives them, like the discoverd daemon, were massive changes and brought with them some of the instability you get when massive changes are made. It's happened before — humans forget old pain while new pain burns sharply — and it'll likely happen again. It got everything in place from cross-device functionality, however, including Apple Watch, and it set Apple and us up for the next stage of computing.

Like everyone, I want the bugs fixed and fixed fast, but I also want Apple to continue to bring us the future faster.

Ren: OS X Yosemite gets better with every point release and bug fix. It packed some big changes into OS X, and carried them off largely without a hitch. There are snags here and there, but it seems like Apple is committed to fixing the holes and making its operating system even smoother and more solid as time goes on.

Peter: Apple understands that Macs and iOS devices are used for different reasons and have different strengths and weaknesses. There's no need to unify the user interface between mobile and desktop as Microsoft has tried to do with Windows. The benefit is in the unification of workthrough with technology like Continuity.

I hope the next year is more "rebuilding" year than year rife with more customer-facing features; I'd like to see Apple get obsessive in making sure this new tech works as solidly and seamlessly as it can before doing anything else.

The third major update to OS X Yosemite adds the new Photos app. Photos for Mac lets you manage your iCloud Photo Library, lets you browse, organize, and edit your photos, syncing your changes over to your other devices. Find out more about the app in our Photos for Mac FAQ.

OS X 10.10.3 also adds support for Google's two-step verification and adds Spotlight suggestions to Look Up. There are also more than 300 new emoji characters. You can check out the full set of changes in OS X 10.10.3 in the list below:

The OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 update includes the new Photos app and improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.

With Photos you can:

• Browse your photos by time and location in Moments, Collections, and Years views
• Navigate your library using convenient Photos, Shared, Albums, and Projects tabs
• Store all of your photos and videos in iCloud Photo Library in their original format and in full resolution
• Access your photos and videos stored in iCloud Photo Library from your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iCloud.com with any web browser
• Perfect your photos with powerful and easy-to-use editing tools that optimize with a single click or slider, or allow precise adjustments with detailed controls
• Create professional-quality photo books with simplified bookmaking tools, new Apple-designed themes, and new square book formats
• Purchase prints in new square and panoramic sizes

It's easy to upgrade your iPhoto library to Photos - just launch the app to get started. To learn more about Photos, please visit: https://www.imore.com/e?link=https%3A%2F%2Fapple.sjv.io%2Fc%2F221109%2F473657%2F7613%3FsubId1%3DUUimUdUnU31033%26subId2%3Ddim%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.apple.com%252Fmacos%252Fphotos%252F%26ourl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.apple.com%252Fosx%252Fphotos%252F%253Fafid%253Dp239%25257C159229%2526cid%253Daos-us-aff-ir%2526subId1%253DUUimUdUnU31033%2526subId2%253Ddim&token=Bs-KPgC6

This update also includes the following improvements:

• Adds over 300 new Emoji characters
• Adds Spotlight suggestions to Look up
• Prevents Safari from saving website favicon URLs used in Private Browsing
• Improves stability and security in Safari
• Improves WiFi performance and connectivity in various usage scenarios
• Improves compatibility with captive Wi-Fi network environments
• Fixes an issue that may cause Bluetooth devices to disconnect
• Improves screen sharing reliability

The update weighs in at 1.52GB, and can be found in the Updates section of the Mac App Store right now.

• Everything you need to know about Photos for Mac
• How to use Photos for OS X

Security is on everyone's mind these days. How secure is your Mac? Can other people figure out where you are? What apps have access to your most important data? Read on to understand how Yosemite's Privacy settings are configured, and how to master them.

R.C. writes:

Not quite. There's no GPS radio inside the Mac like there is in an iPhone, so you're not constantly in touch with a tower somewhere. Instead, your Mac figures out your location via Wi-Fi instead. When Wi-Fi is on, Location Services-related apps can work.

Certain apps like your Maps app benefit from being able to figure out precisely where you are — giving you directions to places you need to go with reasonable accuracy, then transferring that info to your iPhone so you can use it on the road. When you tell the Mac to enable Location Services, you're enabling it for those apps — and those apps only — to try to locate themselves in the world.

The Privacy tab in the Security & Privacy system preference is where you can manage that connection. If you want to turn off or edit Location Services settings, click the lock in the lower left and enter your system administration password.

To open Security & Privacy settings in Yosemite

1. Click on the  menu.
2. Select System Preferences.
3. Click on Security & Privacy.
4. Click on the Privacy tag.
5. Click on the lock icon in the lower left and enter your Mac desktop password.

Now you can edit which applications have access to Location Services.

J.T. writes:

Yosemite creates a few common databases when your user account is generated. Contacts, Calendar and Reminders databases are three of the most common ones. Different apps can work with those databases. You have ultimate control over which apps can and can't work with them, and you can adjust that from the same place you'd adjust Location Services.

In the Privacy tab of Yosemite's Security & Privacy system preferences pane, you'll find the setting you need to control access to your contacts, calendars and reminders databases. To get there, follow the steps above, but click on the Contacts, Calendars and Reminders icons in the left window.

Click the Lock button in the lower left, enter your system administration password and adjust the settings for each application.

Column view is a handy way to look at large collections of files in the Finder. It's my go-to default when I want to arrange contents of Finder windows in easy-to-track lists. I like to reset the column width, however, and I've discovered a handy trick to reset it across an entire window.

How to resize all columns in a Finder window

1. Open a new window in the Finder.
2. Organize the view by column by clicking the third button from the left above the word View (or, alternately, by typing command 3).
3. Hold down the option key on the keyboard.
4. Position the cursor over the edge of a column. It will change from the regular cursor to a column width cursor.
5. Click the mouse and drag the column to its new width. All the other columns in that window should move with it.
6. Let go of the mouse button to set the width, and let go of the option key.

If you don't hold down the option key, only the column you've selected will resize.

Any questions? Let me know.

Google's Project Zero research program has disclosed and released proof-of-concept code for a series of 0day — previously unknown — vulnerabilities found in Apple's OS X operating system for the Mac. These exploits are all fixed in OS X Yosemite 10.10.2, now in beta. Here's a report on the vulnerabilities from Ars Technica:

These vulnerabilities were reported to Apple in October of 2014 and made public as part of Google Zero Day's 90 day disclosure policy. (You can argue the merit of that policy in the comments below.)

None of these exploits can be used remotely, which means they'd need to be combined with remote exploits or with physical access to the hardware to be put to any practical use.

The first vulnerability, 130, which could result in privilege escalation, contains the following comment:

It includes the following:

That vulnerability, 121, is marked as fixed and closed as of January 8.

This could indicate the 130 vulnerability is also no longer an issue for people running Yosemite.

What's more, based on the latest build of OS X 10.10.2, seeded yesterday to developers, Apple has already fixed all of the vulnerabilities listed above. That means the fixes will be available to everyone running Yosemite as soon as 10.10.2 goes into general availability.

Nick Arnott contributed to this article.

Updated with reference to vulnerability 121.

The stability of Apple's platforms has been the subject of a lot of debate recently. Whether you agree with it or not, there's a growing sentiment that the quality of Apple's software has gone downhill in recent years, and that some form of "Snow Leopard moment" is needed to get it back on track. Our own Peter Cohen tackled the issue back in November:

Marco Arment brought a ton of attention to it, and made some excellent points both on his show, ATP, and on John Gruber's The Talk Show, as did many, many others.

I also loved Rich Stevens' take on it in last week's pixel project comic:

It reminded me of something I wrote two years ago called Seeing Apple through rose colored blasters:

Being passionate and advocating for change is exactly what Peter and Marco were doing. Unfortunately, keeping it in context is what people re-blogging them often missed. Ashley Nelson-Hornstein, however, missed nothing:

On Daring Fireball, Gruber expressed something similar:

For historical context, Gruber also linked a 2004 Ars Technica piece by Eric Bangeman about the last time Apple was caught in such an era:

OS X 10.0 to OS X 10.5 included the transition from classic Mac OS to NeXT-based technologies, the adoption of Aqua, an entirely new interface and design language, and the switch from PowerPC to Intel. It also set Apple up for the current leap forward — increasingly light, increasingly power-efficient mobile devices.

That era was famously capped off by Snow Leopard, when Tevanian's successor, Bertrand Serlet, convinced Steve Jobs to let them spend the majority of OS X 10.6 tightening the screws on everything they'd done before. There was 64-bit, Grand Central, and OpenCL under the covers, but mostly there was a focus on refining projects that had already been put in place by Leopard. Marketing came up with the "no new features" hook, figuring going all-in was the best way through, and engineering, without even bothering with a wine name, made it happen.

What we're in now is another period of transition. iOS 7 included an entirely new interface and iOS 8, a major functional upgrade. OS X Yosemite included a bit of both. They also set Apple up for the next leap forward — increasingly decoupled, increasingly interchangeable end-points.

Take the Apple Watch by way of example. It's going to rely on extensibility so that the iPhone can project information and apps onto its screen. And because that screen is small, it's going to rely on continuity so it can handoff any activity that requires more involved interaction back to the iPhone.

Those technologies (or something like them) had to be in place for the Apple Watch (and other future devices) to ship. Sure, Apple could have taken longer to roll them out and they could have moved the watch from this year to next, but then we'd have spent another year hearing about how Apple was no longer innovating, how they were falling behind, and how they were doomed.

Instead, iOS 7, iOS 8, and OS X Yosemite shipped almost every major feature, and set up almost every new device, people had been asking for. The greater scope and scale meant greater turbulence, but it also promised greater rewards. So far the gamble has paid off with the big and bigger screens of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but it will have to pay off again with the Apple Watch this spring.

Yes, there's been pain. It's arguable whether or not it's any more pain than last year, the year before, the year before that, the year before that, and so on. But it's inarguable that there's been pain. People at Apple know that. They and their families and friends use the same hardware and software we do. Whether or not the right people were paying attention to the right measures, recent events have at the very least made even those who might not have realized the sentiment aware of it now.

After all, what's a great leap forward without a great stuck landing?

Will iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 have as significant design and functionality changes? My guess is not. My guess is that, as in the past, we'll begin moving back into a phase of stabilization. Though my guess is that we'll still find a lot to — rightly — complain about.

As a long time user of Apple's cloud services dating back to iTools (and even dabbling with AppleLink back in the day), I just assumed that most people used iCloud. Until I started working at an Apple reseller and helping people with their Macs and iOS devices. And that's when I discovered that a lot of people don't. What's more, if they do start using iCloud and later change their minds, Apple makes decoupling from the service absolutely terrifying.

iCloud is by most measures a pretty clear success: More than a year ago, Apple counted more than 300 million users, and it's gone up quite a bit since then.

If you're one of the hundreds of millions of iCloud users, you're probably wondering why people wouldn't use it, or would disconnect. The reasons vary. The number one reason I hear from my customers is that they don't trust "the cloud" to begin with. They're nervous about putting any more information online than they have to.

They certainly recognize the benefit of syncing data through iCloud, having shared content to work with through iCloud drive, and being able to share and stream photos online, but that doesn't mean they trust Apple any more than they trust Google or any other service with that data. And well-publicized incidents like the celebrity nude photos scandal earlier this year breed further distrust.

As far as disconnecting is concerned, reasons vary: Some folks grow gradually more distrustful of iCloud and want to separate from it. Some, like me, have actually had problems that require us to disconnect, albeit temporarily, to see if we can resolve issues.

The problem is that Apple absolutely does as much as it can to dissuade users from iCloud — especially casual ones who may not understand a lot of technical intricacies that many of us take for granted. When you try, your Mac throws up a bunch of really scary messages.

The new Continuity features in OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 are great, but they're not bulletproof. I have had problems where my iPhone and Mac work great one day, but don't the next.

Troubleshooting the problem led me to try to decouple my Mac from iCloud, just temporarily, to see if signing back in would fix it (it turns out did). But in the process of signing off, this is what I saw:

...and so on.

Now, I'm sure you understand what those messages mean. And I certainly do too. The local content that's synced through iCloud is, at least in some cases, going to be deleted off the Mac.

It doesn't mean that I'm not going to be able to reconnect to iCloud and re-sync all my information. But for the average Muggle who doesn't necessarily read those error messages carefully, one thing pops out more than anything: The word "delete."

And that's a scary word for many people, because it means "I'm going to lose something that I have now."

Maybe that's enough. But I've talked with enough customers who feel resentful that they think they're being held hostage by Apple's cloud services to know that this process is intimidating. "Intimidating" should never be a word that we associate with the Mac (or iOS) user experience.

Of course, in my case, none of this would have been necessary if the new Continuity features had just worked the way they were supposed to. Which is another rant for a different day.

NSFW is a weekly op-ed column in which I talk about whatever's on my mind. Sometimes it'll have something to do with the technology we cover here on iMore; sometimes it'll be whatever pops into my head. Your questions, comments and observations are welcome.

Everyone's had that experience where you're promised something, and when you get it, what you get doesn't live up to your expectations. That's the way I've been feeling with OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.

Every operating system release has growing pains, and Apple has boxed itself into a corner especially this year by rolling out two new OSes that are so closely mated to one another. When it works, it works spectacularly. The problem is that it's so damnably inconsistent.

Getting my Mac and my iPhone to work with Handoff features has probably been the single biggest pain point. Instant Hotspot took me days to get working. It ultimately did start working once I changed the name of my phone (changing it back again still allowed connections) — clearly a bug.

AirDrop is supposed to work seamlessly between Mac and iOS device now, but "seamlessly" isn't the word I'd use — there are random dropouts and sometimes devices are just not able to see each other. What's worse is that Mac-to-Mac AirDrop transfer, which worked just fine before, is now sporadically unavailable. My wife and I spent an hour troubleshooting an AirDrop issue between our two machines the other night before I just gave up and asked her to send me the files a different way.

Thank goodness Dropbox still works.

iOS 8 got off to a rocky start, too. We all recall the iOS 8.0.1 debacle.

I've read pages and pages of complaints and problems from customers who have installed Yosemite and iOS 8, and have all sorts of problems, ranging from Wi-Fi issues to trouble connecting to Microsoft Exchange servers, problems with Handoff and more. And some of you have e-mailed me to let me know of the difficulties you're seeing; posted to discussion threads on our articles and elsewhere. So I know this isn't isolated.

I won't go as far as some to declare these releases the worst or the buggiest that Apple has ever released; that's ridiculous. I've lived through much worse. But it is annoying, when you're given a bill of sale and an expectation of how your gear should work, and the software isn't able to deliver.

Certainly doing a "clean install" can eliminate some of the problems that we're collectively having, but that's a painful and traumatic process on the Mac, at best. And it shouldn't have to be that way.

I'm an early adopter. I expect problems, and I'm not naive enough to think that everything that Apple ships is going to be flawless. I also recognize that operating systems are incredibly complex things comprising millions of lines of code.

But Yosemite and iOS 8 are fraught with enough difficulties for enough users that I feel like neither of them are fully baked.

Apple made the decision a few years ago to adopt an annual upgrade cycle for its operating systems. That's brought tremendous innovation to the Mac and to iOS in a relatively short amount of time, but it's also brought a lot of pain for users. Here's to hoping that Apple can iron out the problems with iOS 8 and Yosemite in less time than it took them to get us a reasonably stable release of Mavericks.

OS X Yosemite is available for download. It's free and will run on most Macs built in the last seven years. Before you install it, however, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Back up your Mac

Before you make any major change to your Mac, make sure to back up your Mac. It doesn't matter if you use Time Machine, copy files to an external hard drive or clone your Mac, just make sure things get backed up before you do.

• How to set up a complete backup strategy for your Mac: Time Machine, cloning, and the cloud!

Check with crucial app developers before updating

Now that Yosemite has been out for a bit, most application developers have updated their apps with new versions optimized for the new operating system. But others are still working on new versions. So the best thing to do is to check with each individual developer of the apps you rely on the most to make sure you're using the most up-to-date version, and that they've tested their software to work with Yosemite.

Download OS X Yosemite

To get Yosemite, just open the Mac App Store. Apple's heavily promoting Yosemite right now so you shouldn't have any trouble finding it and getting it, but you can always click here and make it easy on yourself. It's a free update, so you don't have to worry about getting charged for it.

Because you need to download it from the Mac App Store, Yosemite is able to upgrade from OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7), Mountain Lion (10.8) and Mavericks (10.9). If your Mac isn't running Snow Leopard, you'll need to get it there before you can install Yosemite. You can buy a copy from Apple's online store for $19.99; it's shipped on DVD.

Here's the list of Macs that Yosemite works with:

• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
• Xserve (Early 2009)

Bear in mind that not all Macs will run Yosemite the same way. Certain features like Handoff and Instant Hotspot only work on Macs equipped with Bluetooth 4.0, or Bluetooth LE. That's something you'll only find in most 2012 or later era machines.

Downloading Yosemite will deposit the installer inside your Applications folder. That installer measures several gigabytes, and will automatically delete itself after installation as part of its own housecleaning process. That's a great way to save hard drive space.

If you're upgrading multiple Macs with Yosemite, make sure to copy the installer to an external hard drive or a USB thumbdrive so you don't have to download it again. The installer can be copied like any other file or application - just drag it to the target disk.

If you don't happen to have an external hard drive handy, moving the installer out of the Applications folder should stop it from deleting itself once it's done upgrading your Mac.

Install Yosemite

Once Yosemite installs it will automatically launch. If you've saved it for later use, you can double-click it like any other application. Select the hard drive you'd like to install it on (for most of us, that's the only hard drive the Mac has), and then let the installer do its thing — your Mac will restart and begin the upgrade process.

For the most part, installing Yosemite is a hands-off process. Once the installer has put the new software on your Mac, just step back, go have a beverage or a snack, and let it do its thing.

Post Yosemite clean-up

After Yosemite is installed, the installer may ask you a few questions. It may also find software that won't work with the new operating system; if it comes across any, it will warn you. Then it will move these apps and system extensions to a folder called "Incompatible Software." Again, check with developers for updates to any apps you rely on.

If you've left the Yosemite installer in its default location in the Applications folder, it will have automatically deleted itself after it's installed. If you wanted to keep another copy but forgot to make one, you can always download it again from the Mac App Store for free.

Enjoy Yosemite!

Hopefully by now you're running Yosemite and enjoying Apple's efforts to modernize and harmonize the Mac with a new user interface, cool new features and more. For a complete rundown of everything that's changed in Yosemite, read our review.

• OS X Yosemite review

And if you have any questions, let me know in the comments.

Installing OS X Yosemite is as easy as downloading the installer from the Mac App Store and getting started. But there are times when you might want to create a bootable drive to run the Yosemite installer from, instead.

Installing Yosemite from a bootable drive comes in handy if you want to do a clean install - wiping your hard drive and installing a fresh copy of the operating system, for example, or if you're installing the software on multiple Macs and don't want to have to download it each time.

To do this, you'll need the Yosemite installer and you'll also need a bootable disk. You can use a USB thumbdrive with 8 GB or more storage capacity or an external USB hard disk; either will work just fine.

To download the Yosemite installer, click here. The installer is free, though you'll need to be signed in to the Mac App Store to download it. After it downloads, the installer app may automatically launch. Quit out of the installer if it does.

You'll need to make sure that external hard drive or USB drive is properly formatted for the Mac.

To format the drive for the Mac

1. Attach the drive to an available USB port on you Mac.
2. Open the Utilities folder.
3. Double-click Disk Utility.
4. Select the hard drive or USB thumbdrive from the list on the left hand side of the Disk Utility window.
5. Click the Erase tab. Name the drive whatever you'd like, but I'd recommend using one word, easy to remember. For the purposes of this How To, I've named it Installer. Remember it though, for the next step in our procedure.
6. Format it for "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)." Click the Erase button.
7. Quit Disk Utility.

To make the drive bootable for the Yosemite installer

The next step is to prepare the disk to operate as a bootable drive. This requires you to work in the Terminal application.

1. Open the Utilities folder if it's closed.
2. Double-click Terminal.
3. Remember how I mentioned it was important to remember what your hard drive or USB thumbdrive was called? If you didn't call it "Installer," you'll need to change the pathname where it says /Volumes/Installer to the name of your drive. Copy the following text: sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Installer --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction
4. Paste that text into the Terminal application and hit the Return key.
5. You will be prompted to enter your system password — the password you use to update apps on your Mac, or to login at boot.
6. The process of readying the disk as a bootable drive will begin. It should say "Copy Complete" when it's done.

Once it's done, you have yourself a bootable Yosemite installer drive. To use it, simply connect the drive to the target Mac with the power off. Turn the power on, hold down the Option key, and select the drive from the list that appears on the screen.

Have any questions? Let me know.

OS X Yosemite is now available for download. Before you pull the trigger on the upgrade, you should probably make sure that you're ready for it. I've jumped the gun enough times to know where the big landmines are, so learn from my mistakes and read on for details.

Make sure your Mac can run it

If your Mac is already running OS X Mavericks, chances are you're not going to have any trouble running Yosemite. You may not get all the same features as everyone else — some of Yosemite's Handoff features depend on having a later-model machine, for example — but you can still run it to get the benefit of the new Yosemite interface and many other under-the-hood improvements.

Here's Apple's official list of supported Mac models for Yosemite:

• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
• Xserve (Early 2009)

If you have an older Mac, make sure you can live with limitations

Yosemite introduces some really cool technology that we've been reading about for months, that people are really excited to try out: Handoff features and Instant Hotspot tethering, for example.

But some of these new features don't work on every Mac that can run Yosemite. So you need to calibrate your expectations accordingly; if you're running older hardware, you may have to brace for a bit of disappointment. According to Apple, here are the Mac models that support Handoff and Instant Hotspot features:

• MacBook Air (2012 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (2012 or newer)
• iMac (2012 or newer)
• Mac mini (2012 or newer)
• Mac Pro (Late 2013)

AirDrop between Macs and iOS devices has the same restriction, too. Mac to Mac AirDrop will continue to work in Yosemite, the same way it has before, but if you want Mac to iOS AirDrop or vice versa, you'll need to have one of those newer Macs.

(All these caveats and restrictions are due to the Bluetooth controllers used in each Mac model.)

Check with application developers for Yosemite upgrades before you upgrade

Developers have had months to get ready for Yosemite, and many developers have pushed out Yosemite updates just since Yosemite launched. but that doesn't mean everyone is good to go on day one. I'd strongly encourage you to check with the developers of the software you rely on the most to make sure that the apps you use are all ready to go for Yosemite.

If they are, then great. If not, you'll either need to find substitutes or you'll need to go without until they get their act together.

Back up your Mac

Before you do anything else, back up your Mac. Whether you use Time Machine, clone your hard drive, use an Internet-based backup service, or just copy stuff off to a flash drive or external hard disk isn't important. What is important is that you have a secure, reliable way to recover and restore files that don't make it through the transition.

Ideally you should be backing up regularly anyway. But doing something as significant as a new operating system install on your Mac without making sure your files are safe? That's sheer madness. Don't do it.

Make sure you have enough space

You're going to need about 5.1 GB of space to download Yosemite, and Apple says you'll need about 8 GB of space to run it. So plan accordingly, and back up or move files to another volume if you need to free up hard drive space to manage the download and install.

Need to check space? The easiest way to do it in Mavericks is the following:

To check available hard drive space

1. Select the  menu.
2. Select About this Mac.
3. Click the Storage tab.

OS X will show you how much of your hard drive is being used.

The bottom line

Yosemite is here, and if you've taken the steps to make sure your Mac's data is secure and you're going to get the most out of the software you can, then feel free to step up to the plate. Welcome to the future!

And at the risk of completely contradicting myself, here's a cautionary warning for anyone who hasn't thought this upgrade through:

• Planning to upgrade to OS X Yosemite? Wait!

If you run into any problems or you have any other questions, let me know in the comments.

OS X Yosemite introduces the first major interface changes to OS X in more than a decade. Yosemite offers flatter iconography, a cleaner design and better typography more suited to the increasing number of Macs with Retina displays. One change Apple's implemented is an optional "Dark Mode" that inverts the color of your menu bar and makes the dock darker too. Here's how to get the most of it.

Many Mac apps, including some of Apple's own like iMovie, GarageBand and Final Cut Pro, emphasize darker interface themes. So do some well-known Mac apps like Adobe Photoshop. The reason why they use darker interfaces is easy to understand: The content you're working on is emphasized, rather than tools and user interface elements. It can be less distracting, which can improve productivity.

The menu bar and dock in Yosemite are translucent, but use white as their base color. Activating the dark menu option changes that base color to black. Translucency is still maintained, so Yosemite still retains its 3D, layered appearance. What's more, menu type is changed from black to white, and individual menus will retain the dark look too.

To make your menu bar and Dock dark on OS X Yosemite

1. Click on the  menu.
2. Select System Preferences...
3. Click on General.
4. Under Appearance, check the box in front of Use dark menu bar and Dock.

That's all there is to it. Both the menu bar and the Dock should now be translucent black instead of their more familiar translucent white.

If you've installed third-party menu bar applications, they may need to be updated for Yosemite before they look right in dark mode, so don't be surprised if you still see white menus until you've updated, or until the developers get on board with the changes Yosemite introduces.

Have any questions about Yosemite's new dark mode? Let me know in the comments.

Now that OS X Yosemite is rolling out to everyone we're seeing app updates galore start to roll in. Apple's own iMovie is among the first batch and with version 10.0.6, which is rolling out as we speak, things have been given a full makeover in line with the visuals of Yosemite. So it looks pretty sharp.

Beyond the looks, which we love, Apple has also added some new features in there, some of which are again in line with new stuff from Yosemite. Here's the full changelog:

• Updated look for OS X Yosemite
• New file export options including Custom H.264, ProRes, and Audio Only
• Share any video frame as an image
• Email HD video with Mail Drop when signed in to iCloud
• Select a portion of a clip in the timeline by dragging across the bottom of the clip
• Adjustments Bar is always open for easy access to audio and video tools
• Improves performance on older Mac computers
• Addresses reliability issues with copying and pasting certain adjustments
• Support for Indonesian, Malaysian, and Vietnamese
• This update lets developers create app previews for the App Store, including:
• Support for iPhone and iPad screen recording videos captured with QuickTime Player
• 11 animated titles designed to showcase apps in action
• Share option to easily export for the App Store

The bottom few in particular look great for iOS developers. With iOS 8, Apple finally allowed video previews into App Store listings, so we're sure there's going to be a number of developers out there happy to have an easy way to get them done.

The update is pushing out right now through the Mac App Store and you'll find it at the link below.

• $14.99/Free - Download Now

As noted by Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple's Special iPad and iMac event, Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite is now available for free through the Mac App Store. It took a while after the announcement for the update to filter through, but it has now arrived, bringing along of ton of improvements and new features with it.

We've already given it an extensive review but now it's your turn to go hands-on with it. Will you be downloading it right now or holding out to see how others make out with the update? Let us know in the comments if you're jumping in or waiting. Keep in mind, things might be a little bit slow as many folks are trying to get Yosemite downloaded.

• Download Now

Sending files by e-mail attachments can be a big old P.I.T.A. thanks to restrictions imposed by service providers, corporate I.T. policies and a host of other things that can get in the way. Mail Drop on the Mac makes the pain go away.

How to use Mail Drop to send large files on Mac

1. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.
2. Select System Preferences from the drop down menu.
3. Click on iCloud.
4. Sign into your iCloud account if you aren't already.

That's all there is to it! There's nothing to configure or set up in order to use Mail Drop. As long as you're signed in to your iCloud account your Mac will handle the rest!

How it works

Mail Drop simply acts as an intermediary, temporarily hosting your file attachments so you don't actually have to push them through the e-mail server. That way nothing is going to get in the way of sending that big file you need to, whether it's pictures of you and the family on vacation or an updated presentation that your boss needs for his Shanghai business trip.

Many mail servers impose strict limits on the size of a file you can attach to an e-mail — it's usually measured in megabytes, and usually not that many megabytes at that. If your file enclosure is larger — if you're sending big media files, for example — you're stuck relegating yourself (and the recipient) to another file sharing method, such as Dropbox, OneDrive or a host of other systems that will require both you to maintain an account.

Mail Drop, on the other hand, works with files up to 5 GB in size. The files are uploaded to iCloud, instead. What's more, it's seamless, especially on the Macintosh. If you're sending the file to a Mac user, they're going to see it attached just like they would with any other file.

People who aren't using the Mac won't have a hard time, though - they simply see the file attachment as a file marker in their mail message. When they click on the attachment, iCloud begins to download the file onto their computer.

I've mentioned iCloud, and you may be wondering if the file attachment counts against your total file allotment in iCloud, and I'm glad to say that it does not. So attach away! 5 GB is your new file size limit, thanks to Mail Drop!

Have any questions? Let me know in the comments.

Markup is a new feature in the OS X Yosemite Mail app that lets you easily annotate and edit images inline. While you'll still want advanced graphics program for heavy editing, Markup makes it extremely easy to get your point across without having to launch Photoshop, Acorn, or something similar.

How to use Markup in OS X Yosemite Mail

1. Launch Mail on your Mac running OS X Yosemite.
2. Create a new message and click on the paperclip icon to attach an image — alternately, you can just drag and drop an image if you'd like.
3. Hover your cursor over the newly inserted image and a dropdown arrow will appear in the top right corner of it.
4. Click on the dropdown arrow and select Markup.
5. You can now use any of the tools to add text, magnify a part of an image, add shapes, and much more.
6. Use Markup to edit and annotate your image as much as you'd like. Once you're happy with your edits, click Done in the Markup toolbar.
7. Once you're done, fill out the rest of your email if you haven't already and send it on its way like normal!

That's all there is to using Markup. One important note about Markup — it's not limited to just the Mail app. Markup can be accessible to any Mac app that uses Apple's standard protocols for managing text and images. So if you've attached an image in TextEdit or any other app, click on it and check for the Markup menu dropdown!

Sometimes it's just easier to say something than it is to type it out. iMessage in OS X Yosemite's adds a new feature that demonstrates this principle. It's called Soundbites and this is how it works.

To send a Soundbite with iMessage in OS X Yosemite

1. Launch the Messages app.
2. Start a new message or click on an existing one.
3. Click on the microphone icon that sits to the right of the text entry field.
4. Start talking to record your message.
5. When you're done recording, click on the red stop button to end the recording.
6. Press either Send or Cancel.

Messages attaches the Soundbite along with the iMessage. Just like a regular iMessage, Messages will tell you when the Soundbite has been delivered to its recipient. There's also a clickable text field that will enable you to save the Soundbite snippet away from the iMessage stream, so you can make sure to keep those really important (or incriminating) Soundbites for future reference.

Use Soundbites carefully. If you're accustomed to being able to refer back to your iMessage stream to see what you've said to friends and colleagues, Soundbites throws a wrench into search usefulness since iMessage makes no attempt to convert speech to text, so you'll need to click on each Soundbite individually to know what was said.

That's all there is to it. Anyone who uses OS X Yosemite or iOS 8 will be able to hear the mellifluous tones (or enraged bellows) of your voice along with whatever text you want to send!

Safari's toolbar has been dramatically reworked in OS X Yosemite. It's a much simpler setup, but there's still plenty of power under the hood. The first thing you may notice about Safari in OS X Yosemite is how simplified it is. Your favorites are gone, too. Or are they? If these are questions you find yourself asking, follow along for a detailed walkthrough of where your stuff went and how to access it!

Where to find your bookmarks, favorites, and more with Safari in Yosemite

The default toolbar set is different in OS X Yosemite. Gone are iCloud Tabs and Downloads buttons. Instead, a Sidebar button now appears to the left of the Address and Search field while a Share button appears to the right of it. A Show All Tabs button is also part of the default set now.

You're still able to customize the toolbar however you'd like — simply click the View menu and select Customize Toolbar..., and you can click and drag your favorite buttons into place. Once you're happy with the setup, click the Done button. And if you get it hopelessly mucked up, you can simply drag the default set into the toolbar.

The Address and Search field works like it always has. But as soon as you soon as the cursor pops up in the address bar, you'll see how different it is. A drop down menu displays all of your favorites. And if you have folders there, you'll see them with an embellishment you might recognize from iOS: Thumbnails showing you what's inside of each folder too. Your frequently visited sites are also here.

The Safari toolbar searches Wikipedia, Maps and iTunes, just like with Spotlight. Type in a search query and Safari will work its tendrils out to the Internet to see what comes back, will give you directions and will show you iTunes links too.

So as you can see from above, all of the features you've grown accustomed to in Safari are still there. They've just been condensed in some cases, or even became optional so folks that don't use them, don't have to. So what is your take on the new Safari? Do you like it better, worse, or not sure yet? Be sure and let me know in the comments!

One of the new features of OS X Yosemite is the ability to add new widgets to Notification Center, to help you consume even more information at a single glance. Whether it's weather forecasts, time zones across the world, and a plethora of other things App Store developers no doubt have in store for us, the possibilities are pretty much endless. Here's how it works!

Here's an overview of how Notification Center has changed in Yosemite:

• Notification Center in Yosemite: Explained

Widgets are mini-applications that you can download from the Mac App Store. Installing them causes them to appear in the Notification Center window, and offers you additional functionality that you've never had before in Notification Center.

How to add apps from Yosemite Notification Center

1. Open Notification Center by clicking on the Notification Center icon in the upper right hand corner of your Mac's menu bar — alternately, if you're using a trackpad and have gestures enabled, you can swipe in from the right of the trackpad with two fingers in order to invoke Notification Center.
2. Click on the Edit button at the bottom of Notification Center — you'll need to be in the Today View tab.
3. Click on the plus sign next to the widget you want to add — any apps that support OS X Widgets should show up in this list.
4. Reorder your Notification Center widgets however you would like before exiting edit mode by dragging them up or down.

How to remove apps from Yosemite Notification Center

1. Open Notification Center by clicking on the Notification Center icon in the upper right hand corner of your Mac's menu bar — alternately, if you're using a trackpad and have gestures enabled, you can swipe in from the right of the trackpad with two fingers in order to invoke Notification Center.
2. Click on the Edit button at the bottom of Notification Center — you'll need to be in the Today View tab.
3. Click on the red delete button to the left of the widget you'd like to remove from Notification Center.

This way you can manage what you have in Notification Center to include only those items most important to you, and you can customize Notification Center to include new apps that contain functionality you'd like to see! Keep in mind that removing widgets from Notification Center doesn't actually delete them from your Mac, but just removed them from the Today view.

If you need to send a file to another Mac or iOS device user, OS X Yosemite makes it more convenient than ever by using AirDrop. AirDrop provides a configuration-free way to share files, and is available for use between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac for the first time ever. Here's how it works!

Remember, AirDrop is a point-to-point file sharing system, so your recipient, either on their Mac or OS X, will need to have AirDrop open on their device in order to receive your file.

How to use AirDrop in Finder

1. Click on Finder in your Mac's dock.
2. In the top menu, click on Go.
3. Click on AirDrop — you may also find Airdrop in the Favorites section of every Finder window as well, unless you've removed it.
4. The AirDrop window will appear. An icon should appear for your recipient. Drag the file or folder you want to send to them.
5. Once they agree to accept the file, it will begin to transfer.

How to use AirDrop in Share sheets

1. Click on the Share icon in the app's menu bar.
2. Select AirDrop.
3. That'll open the AirDrop window, and from there you can share the file with the intended recipient.

With OS X Yosemite, sharing via AirDrop has gotten even easier — not only is it more accessible than before, but it's also supported across OS X and iOS for the first time, making it possible for you to share files with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch the same way you've been able to with the Mac. If you have any questions, fire away in the comments!

At the special event today in Cupertino, Apple has finally answered one of the burning questions we've had about OS X Yosemite since June when WWDC rolled around; when can we get it? The good news is that's been put to bed now and you'll be pleased to know that you can get it today!

As with Mavericks, Yosemite will be a free download and it will be offered through the Mac App Store.

Keep your eyes peeled for our OS X Yosemite review, coming real soon!

Update Here's Apple's full press release for OS X Yosemite

OS X Yosemite Available Today as a Free Upgrade Introduces New Design & Amazing Continuity Features

CUPERTINO, California—October 16, 2014—Apple® today announced that OS X® Yosemite, the latest major release of the world's most advanced desktop operating system, is available as a free upgrade for Mac® users from the Mac App Store℠. Yosemite delivers a fresh, modern look and introduces Continuity features that make it easy to hand off activities between Mac and iOS devices and even make and receive iPhone® calls from your Mac. Yosemite also includes a new Today view, a redesigned Spotlight® and updated versions of Safari®, Mail, Messages and iTunes®.

"OS X Yosemite is the most advanced version of OS X we've ever built, with a brand new design, amazing Continuity features and powerful versions of the apps you use every day," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "OS X Yosemite ushers in the future of computing, where your Apple devices all work together seamlessly and magically. It's something only Apple can do, and it's available today."

OS X Yosemite has been redesigned with a fresh, modern look, while maintaining the power and familiarity users expect from a Mac. Streamlined toolbars make more room for your content, and use translucency to reveal additional app content as you scroll. Other translucent elements, such as window sidebars, take on the feel of your desktop picture and give you a sense of what's hidden behind the active window. App icons have a clean, consistent design, and a new system font improves readability on every Mac and looks stunning on a Retina® display.

Yosemite includes amazing Continuity features that make your Mac and iOS devices perfect companions.* Handoff automatically passes what you're doing from one device to another, like writing an email or surfing the web. Instant Hotspot makes using your iPhone's hotspot as easy as connecting to a Wi-Fi network.** AirDrop® now works between Mac and iOS, so you can quickly and easily share content across devices. All the SMS messages that previously only appeared on your iPhone now can automatically appear in Messages on your Mac and all your iOS devices. You can even make and receive iPhone calls on your Mac.***

Yosemite introduces innovative new features, including: Today view in Notification Center, giving you quick access to informative widgets for Calendar, Weather, Stocks, Reminders, World Clock and social networks. You can also add widgets like Yahoo! Sports from the Mac App Store to customize your Today view; a new Spotlight, delivering rich information right to your desktop from Wikipedia, Maps, Bing, App Store℠, iTunes Store®, iBooks Store℠, top websites, news and movie showtimes; iCloud Drive℠, so you can store files of any type in iCloud®, organize them any way you like, and access them from your Mac, iPhone, iPad® or even a Windows PC; a streamlined new Safari that delivers the fastest performance, as well as the longest battery life for web browsing and Netflix HD video streaming on the Mac; an updated version of Mail, which includes Markup for quickly filling out and signing forms and PDFs right within Mail, plus Mail Drop, which makes it easy to send large attachments up to 5GB for free; enhanced Messages, so now you can add participants to your ongoing group conversations, see their locations on a map, quickly access attachments and even mute notifications; iTunes 12, which has a sleek new look, is fast and simple to use, and makes it easier to switch between browsing your music library and discovering new music on the iTunes Store. A new Recents view makes it easy to access the media you just purchased or recently played; and Family Sharing, so family members can now browse and download each other's iTunes, iBooks® or Mac App Store purchases.

Yosemite also delivers platform technologies that make it easier for developers to create amazing new Mac apps. Swift™ is a powerful, next-generation programming language for iOS and OS X that's fast, modern, interactive and helps developers write safer and more reliable code. SpriteKit makes it easier for developers to incorporate realistic motion, lighting and physics in games and when integrated with SceneKit, makes it simple to create games with animated 3D scenes and effects.

Pricing & Availability OS X Yosemite is available as a free upgrade today from the Mac App Store. Yosemite supports all Macs introduced in 2009 or later, and some models introduced in 2007 and 2008. For a complete list of system requirements and compatible systems, please visit apple.com/osx/howtoupgrade. Continuity features require iOS 8.1, which is available as a free upgrade starting October 20. OS X Server 4.0 requires Yosemite and is available from the Mac App Store for $19.99 (US).

• Some Continuity features require advanced Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi features available only in more recent Macs. ** Check with your carrier for hotspot availability. *** Cellular data charges may apply.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

OS X Yosemite makes key improvements to Messages to help enhance productivity and make it easier to communicate. Among the improvements in this update are soundbites, compact audio files you can record with the click of a button and include in your iMessage; SMS/MMS support through the iPhone; and group messaging. Let's take a look at the new features.

Soundbites

Sometimes it's just easier to tell someone something than it is to write it down. To that end Soundbites can help; this new addition of Yosemite lets you add quick audio clips to your messages.

Soundbites don't replace Voice over IP, Skype or any other streaming audio technology; they're just supplemental files that can be sent between iMessage accounts, either to Mac or iOS device users.

Soundbites are trivial to use: Just click the microphone button, record your message and it will be sent. You can either keep the message (by clicking on a "Keep" button) or let it expire after a couple of minutes, so your chat log doesn't fill up with audio files.

No need (and no way to) customize the audio; the Mac takes care of all that for you, and sends it to the recipient. The soundbites themselves are sent encoded as .amr files. Adaptive Multi Rate is an audio compression format optimized for speech recording; it's not high fidelity, but it gets the job done and it's compact.

You've long been able to include audio files on your iMessages, but it's relied on having an external app to record the audio, which you then have to save as a separate file and then click and drag into the iMessage to send. Soundbites simplifies the process down to a couple of clicks, making it infinitely easier for everyone to use.

iMessage and SMS/MMS

OS X's Messages apps is a handy tool if you're trying to communicate with other iMessage users on Macs and OS X, or if your messaging takes place on one of the other services that the Messages app supports (like Google Talk, Jabber, Yahoo or AOL Instant Message).

Where Messages on OS X has failed, however, is to keep us in touch with the many people who rely on their non-iOS mobile devices as an instant messaging tool. Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) reign supreme on those devices. Since that messaging is managed through the wireless carrier, Messages on OS X hasn't been useful to stay in touch with the people Craig Federighi cheekily called "our green bubble friends" at WWDC 2014.

That changes with Yosemite thanks to Apple's Handoff technology, which blurs the line between the Mac and iOS devices. With Yosemite on the Mac and iOS 8.1 installed on your iPhone, you can see SMS and MMS messages you're getting from non-iPhone using colleagues, and what's more, you can send them too.

Both the Mac and the iPhone need to be on the same Wi-Fi network, and both must be signed in using the same Apple ID. But once they are, new messages you get on your phone will now show up on your Mac as well, even if the person isn't an iMessage user.

Group messaging

Group messaging gets some big improvements in Yosemite — it's now much easier to manage them, thanks to the inclusion of a new "Details" button in the upper right hand corner of the chat window.

Now it's possible to give your chat a title, helping to (hopefully) direct participants to stay somewhat on topic, so chats don't veer off wildly into unexpected territory. What's more, you can mute notifications for the chat, so if you're carrying on a group conversation but don't want to be distracted temporarily (say you're in a meeting or on a call), you can silence the chat and pick up later when you're ready.

You can add new participants as you go along, and what's more, you can even remove yourself from the chat entirely, if you're done.

The Details control panel also gives you other handy tools — like using Find My iPhone, if it's turned on, so you can see the location of the people you're chatting with. Participants can share their screens with one another. You can review images and files that have been transfered in chat. And that's also where you can mute notifications if you don't want to be bothered for a bit.

Bottom line

Apple's taken a mostly iterative approach to Messages in Yosemite, making key improvements to help reduce user discomfort with features like improved group messaging and soundbites. One feature stands out above the rest, though, and that's Handoff.

Handoff blurs the line between Mac and iOS device, making it possible for you to use both devices together in elegant, intuitive ways that you can't do alone. With the ability to make and take phone calls now present as well, the iPhone just may be the killer app to help improve productivity on the Mac.

Apple had posted a copy of the OS X Server 4.0 Developer Preview that will work on OS X Yosemite to the developer center for download. The OS X Server 4.0 software, considered beta, comes just after Apple had released a second gold master of the OS X Yosemite beta for developers earlier this week. You can grab the download from Apple's developer portal.

Back in October of 2012, senior vice president of industrial design, Jony Ive, became the person in charge of all design at Apple, both hardware and software. As a result, iOS 7 got a down-to-the-pixel interface update that set the iPhone and iPad up for the future, but left years of "back to the Mac" consistency behind. Apple simply didn't have the resources last year to redesign OS X at the same time. This year they do. This year OS X Yosemite not only gets onto Apple's new design language, but gets to take it even further into the future...

Like water from candy

The original OS X interface was called "aqua" and featured buttons that looked like beautifully rendered gum drops, windows that like emerged like genii from the bottle, and elements that were, at the time, referred to as "lick-able". Also, early on, pin-stripes.

Some awkward years followed as well, including forays into brushed metal, stitched leather, and linen. Yet it had good years as well. Sane years. Snow Leopard and Mavericks years that matured the interface, and made it more consistent, even if at the expense of some color.

Yosemite isn't the evolution of either Snow Leopard or Mavericks, nor is it the revolution of iOS 7. There's plenty new here, but there's also a a remarkable restraint. Yosemite isn't built on a physics or particle engine. There's nothing bouncing or colliding. But it is flatter, cleaner, and more coherent than what's come before. It's also darker...

Flat, with shadows

Flatness, or the eschewing of rich textures for solid colors, is the prevailing trend in modern interface design. Some believe it to be more authentic to the nature of the machines. Others as a sign that we, as a collective, have matured beyond the need for skeuomorphic cues and affordances. Still others as massive misstep when it comes to both design and usability.

Where ever you fall on the spectrum, Apple is falling just short of totally flat. Gone are the gum-drop style buttons, and the last of the green felt has been left by curb.

Instead we have solid colors, but subtle gradients. We have clean windows that still drop shadows. We have clear sidebars that blur the background behind them, and streamlined tool bars that blurs the content beneath them. Combined, they minimize distraction but still provide a sense of placement and personalization.

The colors from your wallpaper show through. The photos and icons and documents from your files show through. As much as it breaks up the window and seems odd at first, it can also tie everything from the desktop to the folder grid together.

Because OS X is a multi-window environment, that shadows remain helps visually separate and stack different apps. It's one of the ways Yosemite is less extreme and better balanced than iOS 7 or iOS 8. It embraces the new without jettisoning what worked so well in the old.

Perhaps nowhere is that better exemplified that the dock. Where it once went from blessed 2D to faux 3D, it's now not only returned to past glory, it's done so in a newly translucent form. It really is the best of the past and the present, and hopefully a sign of what's to come from both of Apple's platforms in the future.

Icons newly iconic

Yosemite doesn't just give windows and interface elements a makeover, it goes all the way down to the icons. Apple has standardized on three shapes — the rounded square, the circle, and the tilted rounded rectangle. Oh, and a new, shiny, translucent trash can.

The rounded square is used for system-related apps. That includes not only the new, happier, even slightly more embossed Finder, but the new System Preferences as well.

The circle is used for content-focused apps, like iBooks, the App Store, Safari and the new, red, iOS-Music-app-matching iTunes.

The tilted round rectangle is used for traditional apps, especially productivity apps, like Mail, Calendar, TextEdit, and Preview, often with a smaller icon at the bottom left to better hint and functionality, like a stamp for Mail, a pen for TextEdit, and a magnifier for Preview. It's no longer in perspective, but it does have depth.

There are a ton of exceptions, of course. Time Machine is round and Maps is tilted, to name but two. In general, however, the new look makes for a new feeling — a more ordered and organized one.

Still, Apple designers are Apple designers, and that means the icons are still filled with great colors, amazing details, and even small touches like a subtle reflection effect on the metallic icons, blues and oranges as though they were situated in the environment of Yosemite itself.

Going dark

For those who want to keep focus on active windows and tasks at hand, Apple is also minimizing the potential distractions of menu bars and menus by introducing a "dark mode".

As you'd expect, dark mode changes the menu bar and drop down menus themselves to a deep, translucent, charcoal gray reminiscent of some of Apple's pro-apps past.

Dark mode looks good enough that even people who don't care about distractions might want to try it out.

Straight to Helvetica

Lucida Grande has been the OS X system font for as long as there's been a system a font. It was perfect for an era of lower resolution displays and subpixel antialiasing. Yet now we live in the era of Retina.

With iOS 7, Apple switched not to their own, custom font for iPhone and iPad, but to Helvetica Neue. With OS X they're doing the same for the Mac.

It doesn't have the personality of Lucida Grande, or of a custom Apple font, but it looks great on high density displays, and it even looks fine on older Macs with standard displays.

More importantly, it looks consistent with iPhones and iPads, which means anyone considering a Mac as their next computer will feel even more at home with OS X. And that's a feature.

The bottom line

With Yosemite Apple has achieved an even better balance than iOS. They've brought the Mac interface fully into the modern age without leaving behind everything that worked well in the past.

Apple has flattened out the textures and gone solid, but instead of losing the visual differentiation between apps, they've deferred to apps' own content, made it more prominent, and hence made the app itself more recognizable.

They've added transparency to let the desktop shine threw and integrate the overall look, but kept the drop shadows so the layers are better separated visually and the depth is even greater.

And the dock, the icons, the new system font, and everything else ties Yosemite together in a way no other version of OS X has been tied together before, at least not since it first launched.

OS X Yosemite's new design language isn't perfect, but it's lightyears ahead of where it was, and arguably iOS could learn a lesson or two from where it is now.

Overall it accomplishes two critical tasks — it once again makes the Mac consistent and comfortable for iPhone and iPad owners, and it breathes bold, clean new life into OS X.

Apple has just released an update to the OS X Yosemite public beta. The release makes this the fourth beta for the Yosemite public beta preview program, and the update should be available through the Mac App Store for download.

OS X Yosemite is due for a consumer launch this fall. Developers participating in a separate beta program are now being seeded with a gold master of OS X Yosemite, suggesting that Yosemite may soon be launching to all consumers.

At this point, it seems that the roll out is still gradual and the update may not be available to everyone just yet. Have you received the Yosemite public beta 4 update?

Source: Apple developer

Photos for iOS 8 brings significant enhancements to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, including the new iCloud Photo Library, favorites, smart search, smart editing, custom photo and sharing extensions, and PhotoKit so developers can get in on al the action. Apple announced it at WWDC 2014, and then they did something unexpected — they announced Photos would also be coming to the Mac. Rebuilt from pixel to bit, Photos for Mac won't arrive with OS X Yosemite this fall, but will arrive sometime early next year. So what does all of this mean for existing iPhoto and Aperture customers, and, going forward, photography on the Mac?

iPhoto, Aperture, and OS X Yosemite

The first and most important thing to understand is that, when OS X Yosemite ships this fall, both iPhoto and Aperture will continue to work just like they do on OS X Mavericks today. Both will still be available in the Mac App Store. Existing iPhoto and Aperture libraries will all still open, and existing iPhoto and Aperture tools will continue to "just work". Everything will be right in the universe.

Next year, after the new Photos app for Mac is released, Apple will remove iPhoto and Aperture from the Mac App Store. You'll still be able to keep and run your old copies, but Apple will no longer be updating or improving them. However, at some point in the future, they'll be outdated enough you'll want to move on.

Moving from iPhoto and Aperture to Photos for Mac

Come early next year, you'll be able to migrate your existing Aperture library to the new Photos app for Mac. When you migrate, all your albums, folders, keywords, and captions will move from Aperture to Photos. All the non-destructuve edits you've applied to your Aperture photos will be preserved in Photos, and preserved non-destructively. Likewise, if you use iPhoto, you'll be able to migrate your library over to the new Photos app as well. (Aperture and iPhoto libraries are already compatible, and have been shareable since versions 3.3 and 9.3 respectively.)

In terms of organization, Apple has shown that the same, automatically generated Years, Collections, and Moments views that currently exist in Photos for iOS will be implemented in Photos for Mac, as will Albums. How existing iPhoto Events get mapped, be it to Moments, to Albums, or to something else, remains to be seen.

Shared photos will keep track of all your Shared Photo Streams, likely including the automatic shared family album set up as part of Family Sharing on iOS 8.

There's also a Projects tab in Photos for Mac, though we'll have to wait and see how that maps to projects as they currently exist in iPhoto and Aperture. Likewise, Apple hasn't said how "special" albums like Faces or Places will be handled, but hopefully more information will be made available about that as Photos for Mac gets closer to release.

The important part here is that, wherever you're accustomed to finding a photo or video in Photos for iPhone or iPad, that's where you'll be able to find it in Photos for Mac. When it comes to learning and remembering, less really is more.

Bringing Photos to the iCloud

iPhoto and Aperture are, by modern standards, old apps. They were built in an era before iOS and before iCloud and while they've had some interface and compatibility layers bolted on, they were never rebooted the way iMovie and Final Cut Pro were in terms of interface, or Pages, Numbers, and Keynote were in terms of compatibility. Not until now.

With Photos, Apple is saying pictures and video — our memories — are so important they're going to make them an integral part of iOS, OS X, and iCloud at the system level. They're going to make Photos not just an app but a service for everyone on every Apple device.

Hundreds of millions of people own an iPhone, iPod touch, and/or an iPad. Increasingly, more and more of them own a Mac as well. Apple wants to make sure that anyone with both an iOS device and a Mac gets a seamless experience with their photos, same as they already get with everything from their iCloud mail to their iTunes music to their iWork documents.

To accomplish all this, Apple is introducing iCloud Photo Library. Built on their new CloudKit service, iCloud Photo Library will make sure every picture and video you take, import, save, or otherwise bring into Photos is synced to all of your Apple devices, including iCloud.com, along with its organizational information and any and all non-destructive edits you've applied to it.

What's more, all your pictures and videos will be stored (and backed up) on Apple's servers, at full resolution, in its original format — including RAW. Apple is using "nearline storage" for this, so the most recently added and accessed pictures and videos are kept locally, optionally at device-optimized resolution, and immediately available to you. Older and less frequently accessed pictures and videos are kept online so they don't end up consuming all your local storage, but can be re-downloaded quickly any time you want them.

Think about it as a hybrid drive, but instead of HD/SSD fusion, it's local/cloud fusion. It's concept that's been employed in data management for years, and it's something Apple's been doing for music for a while with iTunes Match. While it might not sound as important on the Mac as it does on smaller capacity iPhones and iPads, MacBooks are mobile devices too. A MacBook Air starts at 128GB of SSD storage, so photo library size matters on OS X as well.

Making Photos smart

Apple has only provided a brief demo of Photos for Mac. Exactly how much of Photos for iOS 8 makes its way into Photos for OS X Yosemite, and what Mac-specific features are implemented remains to be seen. However, based on what was shown off at WWDC 2014 — understanding that features in pre-release software can and will change — auto-enhance, crop, filters, redeye removal, retouch, and rotate tools are all in place.

Being able to find your photos is also a high priority for Apple. The ability to hit a heart-shaped button to favorite a photo or video is visible in the demo, as is a search box. Photos for iOS uses a similar search box to access smart filtering — nearby, one year ago, favorites, and home — that let you quickly find photos and videos geotagged close to your current location, taken a year ago from the current date, those you've hit the heart button on, and those geotagged to where you live. It also includes the new smart search feature which lets you find photos and videos based on based on months of the year, city and other location names, and the titles of your albums. Both make just as much sense on the Mac.

Apple did demonstrate the same smart editing tools on the Mac as on iOS. With them you can perform quick adjustments to light, color, and black and white, or to dive deeper into exposure, highlights, shadows, brightness, contrast, and black point, into saturation, contrast, and cast, and into intensity, neutrals, tone, and grain.

Depending on your time and interest in a particular photo, you'll be able to go from a single click to a couple of sliders to detailed, granular adjustments. And any and all changes you make will be non-destructive and synced via iCloud Photo Library to all your other devices.

Extensions are the new plugins

The Extensibility feature coming to both OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 is like a new, more visible, more accessible version of plugins. They're system wide but can also be content specific. With sharing extensions, social networks and upload services like Pinterest will be able to appear inside the default Share Sheet alongside Messages, Mail, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. Any social network or upload service that wants to can make a share extension so, very literally, the cloud's the limit when it comes to options. Whatever you choose to use, you'll likely be able to find for Photos.

Although Apple hasn't said anything about photo-specific extensions for OS X, they have said action extensions will be there, and it's hard to imagine a plugin-like architecture for filters and transformations won't evolve around Photos as well.

Bottom line

With Apple bringing Photos to the Mac, and with the eventual retirement of iPhoto and Aperture to follow, some level of concern is inevitable. For casual photographers Photos will almost certainly end up being a better, more consistent, more approachable app to use than anything that's come before. For professional photographers, however, the answer won't be as clear.

I've been using Photoshop for decades and Aperture for years. I don't use Lightroom because, for me, it doesn't make as much sense as either Photoshop for pixel-level editing or Aperture for more general editing and organization. Rather than try to force myself into moving from Aperture to Lightroom pre-emptively, I'm going to use the time afforded by Aperture's OS X Yosemite compatibility to wait and see. I'm going download Photos for Mac when it arrives early next year, I'm going to give it a fair try, and I'm going to determine for myself if and how much it can replace Aperture for my needs. My guess is quite well, because a seamless experience between iOS and OS X is incredible valuable to me.

Other people's needs will be different, of course. Just like when iWork was relaunched with compatibility between iOS, OS X, and iCloud, some features were lost. A few of those, including major ones, have since been added back. Extensibility support might take the edge off. Developers could come up with extensions that not only fill gaps but add entirely new capabilities. However, while Photos will likely end up being better for the vast majority of people, it may not end up being better suited for everyone, no more than iPhoto or Aperture are today.

The important part is this — Photos for Mac isn't stuck with an aging codebase from a bygone era, struggling to keep up. It's new and built for now. Apple is working on it and it'll benefit from all the effort and attention they're pouring into not only the Mac but iOS and iCloud as well. Photos is their new foundation for picture and video handling.

Photos is the future.

Editor's note: NSFW is a new weekly feature we're trying on iMore starting today. It's an editorial soapbox; I'll be sharing thoughts that may or may not have anything to do with the technology you read about the rest of the week here on iMore. Hope you enjoy!

A busy week in Apple news, what with Yosemite Public Beta's introduction and Apple's quarterly earnings report. I was really happy with the Mac numbers for this past quarter; the Mac is continuing to truck along nicely despite the PC's continued decline.

While I'll cop to at least a bit of schadenfreude in knowing that PC sales suck, I have to admit that my tune's changed over the years. I just find being an advocate for much of anything to be a pointless waste of energy. Trying to get people to change their minds is just more effort than it seems to be worth most days.

I've heard a lot of grousing about Yosemite Public Beta and what a mistake it is for Apple to let the great unwashed masses near Yosemite prior to release. How it's going to cause support problems for Mac IT people and others. Yeah, there's some truth to that. I spend my weekends working at a Mac retailer. I had a guy stroll in a few weeks ago with a MacBook Pro that was hosed — he'd installed a Yosemite developer preview on it and not understood why it was kernel panicking.

I gave him two options — nuke it and pave it back to the original operating system, or do nothing and have him sort it out. He was unhappy with both options (he chose the latter). Because when it comes to beta software, you roll the dice, you take your chances. Beta operating system software, especially.

I don't think he had a backup, either, which was just beyond stupid. There is absolutely no excuse to jeopardize your data simply because you're interested in and anxious to install a public beta.

So I'm cognizant of the psychic pain that people who support Mac users feel about this. And there is some merit in reminding people about the risks they run by installing software like this (and giving them tips to avoid problems). After all, Apple's supposedly opened a million slots for the public beta — that's a lot of potential users to have to worry about.

But it hasn't gone to general release. And the million slots are people who are asking for the software and are, presumably, aware of the risks of installing a pre-release version of OS X. And even if they're not, they're pretty much on their own until it gets released, as far as really proactive support from Apple (and its duly appointed representatives) is concerned.

But here's the thing: In retrospect, Mavericks' rollout was sort of a mess last fall. It's taken until just recently — 10.9.4's release — for Mavericks to stabilize really well. And even so, Mavericks Mail is still brutal for many people who depend on Gmail and some other e-mail services, and things like SMB support for cross-platform file sharing isn't as ironed-out as we'd have hoped. There are other lingering issues that I presume Apple will get to in due course.

Mavericks didn't go through a public beta like Yosemite is. Maybe if it had, some of these issues would have been ironed out sooner. That's all I'm saying.

If you're part of the OS X 10.10 Yosemite beta program, you can now grab Developer Preview 4 from the Mac Dev Center. What's in the update is hidden behind the veil of the nondisclosure agreement, but members of the developer preview program can now download and install the latest version of the beta to both test it for bugs and (perhaps more importantly) develop new and updated apps that take advantage of the new stuff that Yosemite has to offer.

If you're in the developer preview program, the beta should now be available to download through the Mac App Store.

Yosemite brings a flattened user interface to the Mac that's reminiscent of what launched in iOS 7, as well as greater integration between OS X and iOS 8.

Though Yosemite is currently in a closed beta, Apple is expected to release a public beta for the OS later in the year, once we get closer to launch (which is likely only a few months away).

In the meantime, what new features in Yosemite are you most looking forward to?

OS X's Yosemite's new Markup tool is an example of a new class of technology called Action extensions. Action extensions promise to save you time and make you more productive with the software you're already using.

How Action extensions work

Let's look more at Markup as a practical example of how Action extensions work. Markup will let you make changes to photos and other image files. You can embed arrows, dialogue bubbles and other shapes, add text, even add a magnification loupe to zoom in on part of the picture.

Markup as demonstrated at WWDC shows off new functionality in Mail, but it doesn't stop there, because Markup can work in any application that handles text and images. So will other Action extensions.

Action extensions aren't just there to let you mark up images - they can transform all kinds of data. Need to do language conversions? Action extensions can make it happen. Developers can limit Action extensions to whatever type of data is best suited for them.

Expanding and extending

You can liken Action extensions like Markup to plug-ins in applications like Photoshop. Action extensions provide really specialized, context-sensitive ways to both show and modify content you're creating.

Ultimately, Action extensions will let you access the capabilities of the apps you depend on from anywhere in the OS, without having to actually launch the app. The possibilities are endless — it's really up to app developers to figure out how and where Action extensions will be used.

Conceptually, Action extensions are a much bigger deal for iOS 8, because Apple has, up to now, prevented iOS app developers from having that access. As Rene Ritchie explains:

New spin on an old idea

But OS X is different. Since the very first version of OS X, there has been a Services menu (buried in the application menu) — it's actually a vestige of the NeXTSTEP operating system upon which OS X was based. Action extensions provide similar data transformation capabilities. Apple calls Action extensions the spiritual successor to the Services menu.

Accessing Action extensions will be easy. Select content, move the cursor over it and click the button that appears — the Action extension you've selected will spring into...well, action. Action extensions will also be available through the Share toolbar and menu. Developers can also create custom toolbar buttons for Action extensions.

The bottom line

It'll be interesting to see how app developers and Apple alike implement Action extensions in Yosemite. Services in OS X have often gone ignored and underutilized, but they're also more limited in scope.

Action extensions make it possible to do more to your content without having to shuffle different applications. By doing so, Action extensions continue a concept we've seen Apple iterate over and over again with iOS 7 and Mavericks: The idea that the interface should just get out of your way.

I've previously discussed Metal in iOS 8 and why it's so important: Because reducing overhead imposed by OpenGL ES means games (and other apps) can run faster and more efficiently on the right iOS hardware. Can the same happen for OS X?

Metal and the problem it solves

First, let's do a quick recap on what Metal is. Metal is a forthcoming iOS 8 technology that will enable dramatically faster graphics performance on devices that use Apple's A7 processor: Right now, that includes the iPhone 5S, iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display. (We can safely presume that future iOS devices that use new generations of Apple processors will retain this ability.)

Macs don't use A7 processors. They rely on Intel CPU technology, instead. Most of the new ones use Haswell processors that were first introduced on Mac models in 2013. And because of that, the short answer is no: Metal won't be coming to OS X.

But the story doesn't end there.

Macs and iOS devices share an important heritage. Both depend on software code called OpenGL to produce graphics on the screen. iOS's version is a little different: It's OpenGL ES, a special variant made for smartphones, tablets and other systems.

The kind of processors that OpenGL ES was made to run on have changed a lot since it was first introduced. Apple's A7 processor is a lot more capable than older systems, and the problem that Apple's trying to solve with Metal is how to most efficiently use that hardware.

Macs face different challenges

And it's worth reiterating that Metal works on a very specific subset of iOS hardware: Right now, that's only the A7 chip.

Compare the Macintosh. Macs use a lot of different hardware under the hood. Apple's newest Macs use Intel CPUs; most new models use Haswell processors, which were first introduced in 2013, but the Mac Pro uses a Xeon chip, while the "standard" $1199 MacBook Pro and Mac mini still rely on an Ivy Bridge processor that came out in 2012.

Many Macs use integrated graphics — everything from Intel HD 4000 to Intel Iris Pro — while some (like the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro and the higher-end iMacs and Mac Pro) rely on discrete graphics subsystems made by Nvidia and AMD.

And that's just current systems. Mavericks and Yosemite run on Mac hardware that's been around for years. It's a constantly changing target. All this adds up to a hardware mishmosh that makes the whole Metal thing, focusing on A7, to be impractical.

It's a double-edged sword: this diversity and maturity of hardware enables the Mac to handle overhead from OpenGL more effectively than a mobile device. But it also makes the Mac much less predictable and consistent for overall graphics performance.

If a game runs slow, is OpenGL to blame? Is it the GPU or the integrated graphics system, or some related technology, like main system RAM vs dedicated video RAM? Is it the porting technique that's used?

The point is that on a Mac, a lot of different factors can affect the performance of games and other graphics-heavy software.

Getting closer to the metal

Getting back to Metal for a moment, the "Metal" moniker itself is a reference to a programmer's term, close to the metal, working deep in the guts of the system to get the best performance possible. And while implementing Metal may not be feasible in OS X, getting closer to the metal is certainly achievable.

It's actually something that the makers of these graphics subsystems have worked on for years, in different ways. Nvidia has a technology called CUDA, for example. It's not aimed at game developers but rather scientific, engineering, enterprise and other app developers looking to tap into the parallel-processing power of Nvidia graphics processors. While CUDA works on the Mac, Apple emphasizes developer support for OpenCL, an open standard that provides similar functionality — Apple VP Phil Schiller mentioned OpenCL by name when he introduced the Mac Pro, with massive parallel-processing workstation graphics processors, at WWDC in 2013.

AMD has made a lot of noise with Mantle, a technology designed for its own graphics processors that use its GCN architecture — and this one is aimed at improving game performance. Mantle is aimed at reducing driver overhead on PCs much in the same way that Metal is aimed at reducing driver overhead on iPhones and iPads running iOS 8. Unfortunately, Mantle in its initial implementation is designed specifically for Windows, though AMD is leaving the door open to future development for OS X and Linux.

Closer to the metal graphics APIs have gotten a lot of attention in the PC graphics market in recent months. OpenGL is moving in that direction, AMD has Mantle, and Microsoft is emphasizing closer to the metal improvements in DirectX, its own 3D graphics API used in Windows.

The Mac needs help

Hopefully some of these improvements will eventually trickle down to OS X. Because frankly, the Mac could certainly use help in the graphics performance department.

It's no secret that a game will often run slower on OS X than the same game will on the same hardware running Windows (using Boot Camp).

As I said before, there are a lot of factors that can contribute to a Mac game's performance that aren't driver specific, such as the method used to convert a game's code to run on the Mac in the first place.

But there are significant foundational differences in the way drivers are managed on OS X that contribute to the problem. Apple controls OpenGL drivers for its operating systems. Vendors like AMD and Nvidia can work with Apple to make improvements that yield better performance, but Apple is the gatekeeper. Those changes get rolled out incrementally with new versions of OS X.

Apple is consistently several steps behind the working group that manages OpenGL, so the latest and greatest innovations to the technology Apple depends on are not in the latest versions of OS X. And sadly, that hasn't changed with Yosemite.

Ultimately, I hope that Metal is a sea change for Apple: That it yields such impressive performance improvements for iOS 8 gaming that it will force Apple to rethink the way it handles graphics drivers on OS X as well.

Ultimately, I'd like to see OS X get closer to the metal too. Because in its current state, OS X is a second-rate gaming system. Macs and Mac gamers deserve better.

During the WWDC 2014 keynote presentation Apple showed off a new app for OS X Yosemite currently in development called Photos. It won't be out until 2015, but it looks like it's going to replace both iPhoto and Aperture on the Mac. This promises to be a good thing for consumers, but where does this leave professional and prosumer photographers on the Mac?

On Friday Apple revealed to Jim Dalrymple at The Loop that Aperture, Apple's pro photo app, is being discontinued in favor of Photos. This is a blow to anyone who's depended on Aperture for its organizational abilities and its extensive non-destructive editing functions.

Apple's shown over and over again that it's willing to cause some short-term discomfort to users of existing products for long-term benefit. iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Pages, Keynote and Numbers — there are lots of examples where Apple has essentially scrapped the product and started over because a different path was chosen. And they're doing it again with Aperture and iPhoto.

iPhoto vs. Aperture

iPhoto comes with the Mac, and it provides a full array of photo editing, cataloging and sharing capabilities right out of the box. iPhotos is set up to offer you as much organization functionality as possible without your direct intervention. iPhoto organizes photos by event, for example. It incorporates facial recognition, so you can more easily find pictures of family and friends. And it reads GPS data (when embedded in your photos' metadata), so you can organize photos easily by location.

A variety of built-in editing tools help iPhoto make your images look better. You can crop images, straighten them, remove red-eye, perform one-click enhancements that make adjustments to lighting, color saturation and other attributes, apply effects, and get down into the nitty gritty by adjusting various aspects of the photo like exposure, contrast, saturation, color levels and more.

Aperture is to iPhoto what Logic is to GarageBand. Some of the same basic concepts, but greatly enhanced for the needs of professionals. Aperture emphasizes non-destructive photo editing that doesn't take up huge amounts of hard disk space, so you can undo what you've done or just subtract specific elements that you don't like (iPhoto has some non-destructive editing capabilities; Aperture has a lot more).

Aperture also emphasizes work with "raw" digital formats — the data that the camera actually recorded on its imaging chip, not compressed and changed with JPG. Raw images are supported on iPhoto, but Aperture's entire workflow is based on the assumption you're starting with raw files. Accordingly, Aperture has a more complete feature set of image adjustments and retouching abilities.

Another area Aperture really sets itself apart from iPhoto is in its vast organizational abilities. Pro photographers shoot a lot of images and need to make sense of what they've shot. Aperture helps them do that, and helps them make changes to the metadata associated with each picture to help photographers catalog faster too.

Unfortunately, both Aperture and iPhoto have been prone to a lot of problems over the years. Stability issues, database corruption problems, not to mention really atrocious performance problems have all be reported and complained about by frequent users.

Ultimately iPhoto and Aperture were both hot messes. They needed to be replaced. But will Photos be able to replace both of them?

Photos

Both iPhoto and Aperture will be replaced by Photos beginning in 2015. Photos for the Mac borrows its name and its icon from its iOS counterpart.

So far public information about Photos is pretty scant. Outside of a precious few minutes getting demoed by Apple senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi on the WWDC keynote stage, very little is known about the new Photos app on the Mac. What we do know is that it has an interface that looks thoroughly optimized for multi-touch gestures on a trackpad or Magic Mouse.

Federighi showed off some image retouching functionality in Photos and gave a brief demonstration of navigating within timelines to emphasize its "beautiful, buttery scrolling."

Federighi calls Photos "a new grounds-up photo solution for the Mac built with iCloud in mind." And Federighi also demonstrated some impressive retouching capabilities that promise to make it easier to make your photos look better.

Photos promises to be a better mainstream photo editing and cataloging tool for iPhoto, but Apple's set the bar low there. And as it exists now, Aperture and iPhoto's iCloud support seems more grafted on than truly integrated.

One way or the other, it'll take a lot more than what we saw to fill in the blanks to Aperture users' satisfaction.

The end of Aperture

In the interest of full disclosure, I have — or at least had — a horse in this race. At one time, shortly after Aperture first came out, I became an Apple-certified Aperture trainer. I really loved Aperture. I got to know the app pretty well and I was impressed with its flexibility, with Apple's focus on making it a great workflow tool for people who spent all day long taking and editing photos.

Over the years I heard a lot of complaints from photographers about Apple's development and improvement to Aperture compared to Adobe, with its rival Lightroom software. Adobe was more nimble, more responsive to photographers, quicker to make changes to Lightroom and advance new photography workflow concepts.

It had become clear years ago that despite early promises to pro photographers, Apple just wasn't that invested in keeping Aperture competitive.

So I started grinding my teeth when I read Apple's reassurance to Dalrymple that development on other pro apps like their video and audio editing tools continues unchanged. My first thought is that it's true for as long as it's expedient for Apple to do so. At one time Apple made similar promises to professional photographers.

I am thoroughly disappointed, but I can't say that I'm surprised. As I said, the writing has been on the wall for a while. Aperture has languished compared to other pro-level tools from Apple.

What's more, many professional photographers have more thoroughly incorporated Adobe Lightroom into their workflow, as they were already using Photoshop to improve and retouch images. Like many creative professionals, many photographers are more invested in Adobe's software ecosystem to begin with, so it was a simpler transition.

The bottom line

Both Aperture and iPhoto still work today and Apple has promised an Aperture compatibility update for OS X Yosemite when it ships this fall. What happens next year and the year after is a different story. But right now, most people using these tools can stay the course until Photos is out in the world.

Professional photographers who haven't already looked at Lightroom probably ought to at this point; Adobe offers a free trial version so you can get started.

Even assuming Photos can fit the Aperture bill, Apple has an uphill climb to regain the trust of professionals who invested in Aperture as the center of their digital photography workflow.

Do you do a lot of digital photography with your Mac? Do you use Aperture, Lightroom or something else to manage it? What do you think of Apple's decision? Sound off in the comments.

Steve Jobs famously told the creators of Dropbox that their app was a feature, not a product, and they proved him wrong. Dropbox and other file sharing services have grown to near ubiquity as people find more uses for them. Apple's not ready to cede Jobs' position, though. iCloud Drive is coming to iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, and it provides a lot of the same functionality that Dropbox does, but with much better top-to-bottom integration with Apple's ecosystem.

Cloud-based file service integrated with the system

iCloud Drive is a file sharing service that works in the cloud — iCloud, as the name implies. Files are visible on your Mac and your iOS device, and can be manipulated on the Mac by simple drag and drop. You can also create files using iCloud-aware apps on your iOS 8 device.

iCloud Drive appears on your Mac just like any other drive or service: it's listed in the Favorites sidebar; clicking on the icon will open the iCloud Drive folder. Inside the folder are documents and other folders, each containing the files you've put there. From your Mac you can store any file on iCloud Drive you want to, in whatever folder structure you want, and you can access them from your Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad running iOS 8.

To move a file into the cloud you simply drag them into the iCloud Drive from the Finder. You can also create a new document using an iCloud-enabled app on your iOS device; those files are then stored in their own folders on iCloud Drive.

Smoothing the rough edges out of file sync

For years iOS users have begged Apple to provide some sort of visible file system for iOS, to make it easier to move documents between applications and to do more with those files. While iOS 8 won't have a visible file system, iCloud Drive does solve a big problem: the "siloing" of documents that can only be opened by their respective applications.

In the case of iOS devices, apps will be able to open any iCloud Drive document that registers as readable to them, so you'll be able to import graphics you've made from one document into the presentation document you've created using Keynote, say.

This is a huge step in the right direction for iOS device users who expect the same sort of workflow flexibility out of their iPhone or iPad that they get out of their Mac.

"Sherlocking" Dropbox

Where does iCloud Drive leave services like Dropbox? I'm sure that Dropbox's developers aren't overly concerned at this point: More than 200 million registered Dropbox users were around by the end of the last year.

But it does save Mac, iPhone and iPad users from having to download a third-party utility that has to jump through hoops to provide some level of basic integration with its host computer and devices. This is an Apple-made solution that's going to see widespread support in fairly short order after launch.

Apple's smart to make iCloud Drive work on PCs, too. Many of us depend on PCs in the workplace or other environments where a Mac just isn't available. The apps available in iCloud.com — along with all the other related services — work just fine on the PC already.

Dropbox will remain a popular option for many users who want to share files with each other regardless of what platform they're working on, but users dialed into the Apple ecosystem may find that iCloud Drive is a friendlier end-to-end service for their file needs.

Bottom line

I'm a long-time Dropbox user, but it's never been a perfect solution for me. Despite its developers' best efforts, Dropbox has never really gained complete integration with either my Mac or iOS workflow: It's always felt grafted on. I'm excited about iCloud Drive for exactly that reason — instead of a product, it really is a feature. And a useful one at that.

Do you plan to replace Dropbox with iCloud Drive? Does iCloud Drive solve problems for you in iOS? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Continuity is one of the most important features in both iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite and one of the most important features in Continuity is call answering. Sure, Handoff is great, as is cross-compatible AirDrop and Instant Hotspot, and keeping in touch with our green bubbled SMS/MMS friends and family. But being able to use your Mac and iPad as if they were iPhones? Being able to call Dr. Dre from your desktop? That's magic. And here's how it works!

Why voice calling matters

iPhones have full on cellular voice radios. That's what lets them make and receive calls over the traditional telephone network. iPads can optionally have cellular data radios, but that doesn't give them access to the telephone network. Macs haven't yet been given any cellular radios of any kind. iPads and Macs can both use Apple's FaceTime Audio service, or other voice-over-IP services like Skype, and that works great if you initiate or get a FaceTime or Skype call. But it doesn't help you at all if your iPhone rings and you're sitting across the room with your iPad or at your Mac.

Continuity's call making and answering does.

Apple ID and Wi-Fi connected

Other devices have tried transporting phone calls from phones to tablets or computers before, typically over Bluetooth and using a protocol that essentially handled the tablet or computer as if it were a wireless headset. It was the same technology, for good or for ill, that worked on a speakerphone system or in-car hands-free setup. Apple isn't using Bluetooth or mimicking a headset. Apple's using Wi-Fi and mimicking a telephone system.

As long as you are logged into the same iCloud account (Apple ID) on all your devices, and your iPhone is within Wi-Fi range, you can use Continuity calling. Your Apple ID is to ensure that your phone calls can only ever be made or taken on your devices. The Wi-Fi network not only allows for the transport, but makes it highly likely your devices are in your possession, or at least in your vicinity, which likewise keeps your calls personal and secure.

The end result is, whether it's in your pants pocket, your bag across the room, or plugged in on the charger across the house, any phone call that comes in can be answered on your iPhone or iPad instead.

It should be noted that Apple hasn't mentioned Bluetooth in regards to Continuity SMS/MMS, only Wi-Fi network. However, that doesn't mean Bluetooth isn't used to handle negotiation or pairing (the way it is for the new, easier Continuity tethering). I'll be experimenting some more to find out.

Call display, call answer, call defer

When your iPhone rings, Continuity can show you the name and number of whose calling on your iPad or Mac. It works just like the call display you're used to (provided you have call display service from your carrier and the identity information is available). Also, just like your iPhone, if the caller is in your contacts you'll see your contact picture for that caller, making them instantly recognizable even at a glance.

And just like on your iPhone, you can swipe the incoming call notification on your iPad, or click it on your Mac, to answer. Of course, if you're giving some big fancy keynote or are likewise busy and can't answer, you can choose to ignore the call, or even to respond with an iMessage or SMS message to let the caller know you'll get back to them ASAP. (Presumably, if you ignore the call on your iPad or Mac, it will get sent to voicemail, if available, on your iPhone.)

Call from contacts, calendar, or Safari

Making calls from your iPad or Mac is just as easy as receiving them. Any time you have a phone number in the built-in Contacts app, Calendar app, or Safari web browser, tapping or clicking on it will give you the option to call. Choose it and your call will be placed using the Wi-Fi connection to your iPhone, and your iPhone's connection to the telephone network.

Once a call is connected you'll see a time indicator — useful if you're counting local or long distance minutes — and you'll be told the call is "using your iPhone". Right below that is a sound wave just to add some visual flare.

You'll also get additional options, similar to what you get now on the iPhone. You can switch to a FaceTime video call, in which case the traditional telephone call is ended and the FaceTime call seamlessly connected in its place. You can also choose to mute the call so you can speak freely without the person on the other end hearing what you're saying, and end the call when you're done.

Bottom line

Apple hasn't shown off nor have they said whether Continuity calling will work with conference calls, though there was nothing in the demos that suggested an interface for handling them. However, starting off simply and adding functionality over time is a cornerstone of Apple's approach. The point being, this is a beginning, not an ending.

This fall millions of iPhones will ring and millions of people will be able to answer them on their iPads or Macs. Millions of people will also be able to place calls without reaching into their pockets, crossing the room to their bags, or sitting across the house tethered to their charging cable. If Continuity calling works as advertised — and we'll have to wait until the shipping version really gets hammered on to know for sure — then that's exactly the problem Apple will have solved.

If you've got an iPhone and an iPad or Mac, are you looking forward to making and taking calls on all your devices?

More of iOS 8: Explained

• Handoff in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite: Explained
• Making and receiving phone calls on iOS 8 for iPad and OS X Yosemite: Explained
• Sending and receiving SMS/MMS on iOS 8 for iPad and OS X Yosemite: Explained
• AirDrop and Instant Hotspot in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite: Explained
• QuickType keyboard in iOS 8: Explained
• Interactive notifications in iOS 8: Explained
• SceneKit in iOS 8: Explained
• Metal in iOS 8: Explained
• Widgets in iOS 8: Explained
• Share extensions in iOS 8: Explained
• Action extensions in iOS 8: Explained
• Inter-app photo and video editing in iOS 8: Explained
• Custom keyboards in iOS 8: Explained
• Family Sharing on iOS 8: Explained
• iCloud Drive and Document Picker for iOS 8: Explained
• Document provider extensions in iOS 8: Explained
• TestFlight in iOS 8: Explained
• Apple Maps in iOS 8: Explained
• iMessage in iOS 8: Explained
• Photos in iOS 8: Explained
• Spotlight in iOS 8: Explained
• Health in iOS 8: Explained
• Touch ID in iOS 8: Explained
• HomeKit in iOS 8: Explained
• Adaptive UI in iOS 8: Explained
• Manual camera controls in iOS 8: Explained

If there's one singularly weak spot in Mavericks, it's Apple's Mail app. It a mess, especially for Gmail users, and every Mavericks update has sought to fix it somehow. What's so incredibly frustrating is that Mail was, for the most part, solid in Mountain Lion. Mavericks Mail's many faults has left some users apoplectic, while others have gone to third-party mail clients in search of a better experience. Fortunately, Apple seems to have gotten the message, because Mail in OS X Yosemite is better.

Back to the fundamentals

Apple hasn't apologized for how much of a disaster Mail is in Mavericks, but the message was apparent at the WWDC 2014 keynote.

"...we really focused on the basics," said Apple SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi at the WWDC keynote. "Reliable syncing, fast switching between mailboxes, quick fetches of your new mail, the basics."

In other words, everything that Mavericks Mail managed to screw up. Thank goodness.

I'll reserve final judgment for the general release later this year, but I will say that Yosemite Mail is snappier than before and less prone to many of the problems I'm accustomed to in Mavericks, so on balance I'd say it's a welcome change.

Improved interface

Like other Apple applications in Yosemite, Mail has gotten a facelift to conform to the Yosemite look and feel. Typography is clearer, with translucency added to the Mailboxes sidebar.

There aren't any major changes to Mail's layout in this new release, just some enhancements here and there for clarity and simplicity. You'll now see a round profile image appear to the right of the sender's e-mail address. If no profile image is available, Mail displays their initials instead.

Markup

Mail has always made it easy to attach documents, but Apple's taking it one step further by introducing a new feature in Yosemite called Markup. Markup makes it possible to do exactly that — mark up the files you attach in mail.

What's more, Markup sports a magnifying loupe, so you can draw attention to a specific portion of the attached document by zooming in. You can also draw shapes like arrows, and circles, which Markup will automatically try to straighten and neaten up. You also have the ability to draw shapes and add text annotations, and fill out PDF file attachments, complete with signature.

Markup isn't doing anything that you can't do already with apps like Napkin or Skitch, which may leave some concerned that Apple is once again pushing out third party developers with this new feature. But Napkin and Skitch are standalone apps that enable you to mark up images. Markup is embedded as a feature of Mail, which limits its overall utility as a markup tool.

Mail Drop

One of the biggest pain points with mail use is attaching files. Internet service providers and e-mail providers often put restrictions on the maximum size of file attachments to keep their servers from getting clogged up with pictures of people's kids and videos of graduation processions. Apple's doing something about that with a new OS X Yosemite Mail feature called Mail Drop.

Mail Drop shunts off the collection and retrieval of file attachments to iCloud, making it possible to attach much larger files than you ever could before — up to 5 GB at a whack.

As far as other Apple Mail users are concerned, it's business as usual: Apple's made the process transparent, so you'll still see the file enclosure attached just like you always have.

But if you're using a different Mail client, or if you're on a PC or another computer, you'll see the attachment as a text link. Clicking on it will then retrieve the file.

The bottom line

Even if Apple only makes good on the promise of improving Yosemite Mail's "fundamentals," they'll give plenty of reason for Mavericks users to celebrate. The new features like Markup and Mail Drop are certainly going to make many Mail users' lives easier, too.

Have you had problems with Mavericks Mail? Do you often attach big files to emails? What features in Yosemite Mail excite you? Let me know in the comments.

While there are a number of web browsers available for OS X, only one is included: Safari. That makes Safari an incredibly important application for Apple, because it's one of the first things Mac users will use, and for many of us, it's the only web browser we use. So Safari is getting some big improvements in OS X Yosemite, both to usability and to performance.

Streamlined toolbar and "smart search field"

The first thing you'll notice in Safari is a new, streamlined smart search field that's been integrated directly into the title bar. That provides more room below for actual web content.

That design has found its way into other Apple applications in Yosemite, like Calendar and Maps. The menu bar contains previous page and next page buttons, a button to activate the Sidebar, a Share button, Show all tabs button, and Show downloads button.

Safari now follows its mobile version's convention in iOS of masking the URL: Only the root URL of the web page is displayed, rather than the complete thing. For example, looking at this page in Safari on Yosemite will only show you "imore.com" in the search field, until you click in the field, then the full URL is revealed.

What makes it a "smart search field" is Safari's integration with Spotlight. Now as you type in a search term, Safari drops down hits in Spotlight including links to Wikipedia, to make it easier to find what you're looking for.

Another behavior inherited from Mobile Safari - Clicking in the search field reveals a dropdown menu containing thumbnails of favorite web pages, along with frequently visited sites. As a result, the Favorites bar is gone by default, though you can resurrect it with a keystroke.

In Mavericks, Safari had an "iCloud Tabs" button that showed you tabs shared between your Mac and iOS devices. Now iCloud tabs are visible in that dropdown menu as well.

Better tabbed browsing

Tabbed browsing has been greatly improved in Safari, too. You can have an unlimited number of tabs open, and navigating through them is as easy as just clicking back and forth.

What's more, there's a new Tabs button on the menu that enables you to view all open tabs at a glance. Clicking on the button yields a new window that pops up thumbnails of all of your open tabs a la Mission Control; simply click the tab you want to make that page active.

Easier sharing

Sharing content from Safari is easier in Yosemite than it was before. The Share button has been revamped to include new functionality. Right off the bat, AirDrop is supported (and just a reminder, AirDrop actually works between Yosemite and iOS 8 now). But Apple's paved the way for further enhancements that won't require Safari to be reworked.

A new "Recent Recipients" list at the bottom of the Share menu shows people who you've recently emailed or messaged, so you can more quickly share content with them.

A new "More..." menu option brings you to the Extensions system preference. Extensions in Yosemite enable third-party developers to add new features and functionality to the operating system.

Extensions has a dedicated entry for the Share menu, so as social media sites and other services provide sharing extensions, you'll be able to add them to simplify the process of sharing your content with others.

Improved Privacy

There are some times when you may not be comfortable generating a web page history or letting cookies get installed, such as when you're doing online banking or looking at personal content you'd rather not see tracked (yeah, and porn too). That's where Private Browsing comes in handy.

Safari pioneered the concept of Private Browsing — when it's enabled, no data is recorded about that session. Cookies aren't stored, web pages aren't added to the history list, names of downloads are removed from the Downloads window, Autofill information isn't saved and searches are not added to the search field's pop-up menu.

But Private Browsing in Safari has, up to now, been inconvenient for one reason: it's either all on or all off. You can't set up one window with Private Browsing while still using other windows normally. Set up Private Browsing in one window and open another to visit Facebook and see what happens: You'll have to sign in again, because Safari isn't remembering your user ID and password.

In Yosemite Safari that all changes. New Private Window is how private sessions are handled now. What happens in the new private window stays in the new private window, but you can have other sessions open normally with no ill effects. A long overdue improvement. What's more, that private window can support its own series of tabs, all of which stay private too.

Better performance and efficiency

As I said at the outset, Safari is an incredibly important app for Apple, because it's the web browser most Mac users depend on, and it's a showcase app. So Apple's really dug into the guts of it to eke out the best performance possible. To that end, they've made a number of improvements to performance that should yield even snappier results than you have now.

Yosemite Safari sports support for WebGL, a JavaScript-based technology used to render 2D and 3D graphics on web pages that works without needing a plug-in. SPDY, an open networking protocol, is also supported: It reduces web page load times by prioritizing the transfer of web page resources.

Back in April Netflix made noise about moving away from Silverlight, the (deprecated) Microsoft streaming video plug-in they now use, in favor of HTML5. They've developed "HTML5 Premium Video Extensions" accordingly: A suite of technology using JavaScript and other technologies to manage video streaming, Digital Rights Management (DRM) and cryptography to protect video streams.

Though support for HTML5 Premium Video was initially available for ChromeOS, Apple said that Yosemite Safari will support the technology as well, and their preliminary results are impressive: A Mac streaming Netflix content using the new technology runs significantly more efficiently: Up to two hours longer battery life on a MacBook Air watching a 1080p HD movie from Netflix than before.

Apple's also improved multi-tab browsing energy efficiency in Safari, with dramatically improved performance in JavaScript — up to 6.5 times faster than Chrome, according to Apple, with twice the performance for most web apps, too.

The bottom line

Safari demonstrates a core philosophy Apple's employing across Yosemite: To reduce pain points or user interface awkwardness for people whose primary experience using Apple products has been iOS. Changes like the drop-down Favorites menu will be immediately familiar to iOS users.

The new functionality is also welcome. Private browsing in Safari is way more convenient than it was before, and the Share menu's link into Extensions promises a lot more social networking integration than was ever possible. The improved performance and efficiency, especially for video content, will be welcome for anyone running Yosemite from a laptop.

What are your pain points for Safari in Mavericks? Has Apple answered them with this new version of Safari? Let me know in the comments.

Spotlight is getting a major overhaul in OS X Yosemite. Not only does it look different but it acts differently too. It's no longer a passive search tool that just looks at file names and the content of files, then shunts you off to other apps if you need more help. Spotlight in Yosemite has been utterly reworked to be a very powerful information-finding tool that helps you get the data you need and act on it. So, how does it work?

Center screen

Spotlight's greater prominence as a search tool earns it greater prominence on the Yosemite screen. Clicking on the Spotlight icon in the menu bar, or hitting CMD + Space, yields a search bar in the middle of the screen, instead of a pop-down field that hangs from the menu bar in Mavericks.

A larger type face makes it easier to enter search terms, and a new search window shows you scrollable previews of your search results.

Expanded (and intermediated) search

In Mavericks, Spotlight pushes you to your web browser to search the web and Wikipedia. In Yosemite, Spotlight integrates those results directly into its summary window, saving you a step. Wikipedia entries are shown as a summary with a thumbnail image; if you want more details, an embedded link will open the page in your browser when you click on it.

Spotlight also links to Apple's Maps data. Entering an address will yield an embedded map with options for directions and other information. Apple also noted integration with Microsoft's Bing search engine, but that functionality appears missing in the first developer preview release that Apple offered at WWDC.

Interested in a movie that's now playing in theaters? Type in the name of the movie and you'll see a summary with a movie poster, links to trailers and even links to showtimes near you.

You can also ask Spotlight to do calculations and conversions. It's not quite as complete in the WWDC build as the actual Calculator application, but you can enter simple arithmetic or measurement units and Spotlight will yield results on the fly.

Yosemite Spotlight vs. LaunchBar, QuickSilver, and Alfred

Third-party developers have certainly filled in Spotlight's gaps over the years, and when Apple showed off the new features of Spotlight, some users of Running With Crayons' Alfred noticed some similarities right away, such as quick Web searches, map searches and more. In the same token, Objective Development's LaunchBar and Stranded Design's Quicksilver both help Mac users find content quickly and easily with just a few keystrokes.

When Apple introduced its third iteration of the Sherlock search tool — Spotlight's distant predecessor — it focused on web search instead of local search, as previous versions had done. Apple was accused of copying the concept wholesale from Karelia Software's Watson, which offered similar functionality. Ever since then, the term "Sherlocking" has existed to describe what happens when Apple incorporates a feature into OS X that had previously been supported by an independent developer.

In truth, Apple hasn't "Sherlocked" any of these apps with the new Spotlight. Each of them has features and functionality unique to themselves, and it'll be up to the individual developers to continue to differentiate their products to appeal to customers.

Bottom line

Apple has evolved Spotlight from a simple file search tool to something much more robust — a general search tool. It's doing the work of several applications you already depend on, like your web browser, the Maps application and others. But Spotlight isn't replacing them. Instead, it's layering on top of them, providing you with a front-line interface to get at the information you need to get things done.

Looking forward to getting your hands on Yosemite? Does Spotlight look like something you'll use regularly? What do you think of the changes? Sound off in the comments..

Handoff is a major element of Apple's "integration" theme, and of the new Continuity feature set for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, which also includes cross-compatible AirDrop, iPhone call and SMS handling on the iPad and Mac, and the new, much easier to connect, tethering service. Rather than trying to fit one interface across a range of different devices, or making the cloud the center of the universe, Apple is promising to transparently, seamlessly move whatever activity you're doing to whatever device you want to continue doing it with. It's a person-centric choice and a bold one, but if Apple delivers, it could forever change the way we use our iPhones, iPads, and Macs. So, how does Handoff work?

Your iCloud account, your devices

In order for Handoff to work you have to be logged into the same iCloud account on you iPhone, iPad, and/or Mac. That's how Handoff knows those devices all belong to the same person — you. Since your iCloud account (Apple ID) is also used for backup and restore, iMessage and FaceTime, iCloud email and Documents in the Cloud, and a lot more, it's a safe, reliable way to make sure you're really you and your devices are really your devices.

Being logged into the same iCloud account also means that, if you have documents stored on iCloud, they're available on all your devices already, so Handoff doesn't have to waste time and power pushing files around. It only has to push your current activity. (More on that later.)

Bluetooth LE and proximity

Handoff also requires that your iPhone, iPad, and/or Mac be within close proximity to each other. Devices are automagically paired via Bluetooth LE (Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy) when they come into range and activities are made available for Handoff for as long as they stay within that range.

Enforcing proximity is a good idea and one in keeping with Handoff's person-centric approach. It prevents private websites you're visiting, emails or messages you're composing, or documents you're working on from accidentally getting pulled over to a machine that's logged into your account, but at another location where it's not within your physical control. For example, if you're working at home, you don't need your stuff popping up on a device at school, or if you're at the coffee shop, you don't need it popping up on your work computer.

Proximity allows for both convenience and privacy, the best of both worlds.

Apple apps and Handoff

So far, Apple has announced that Handoff will work with the following apps:

• Mail
• Safari
• Pages
• Numbers
• Keynote
• Maps
• Messages
• Reminders
• Calendar
• Contacts

With them, you can start composing or reading an email or web site, editing a document, spread sheet or keynote, finding a location, typing a text, picking a reminder, entering an appointment, or looking up an address on your Mac and continue or finish it on your iPhone or iPad, or vice versa.

Apple hasn't yet announced any Handoff functionality for media, for example starting an iTunes playlist on your Mac and continuing it with the iTunes Music app, or starting a game on your iPhone and continuing mid-level on your iPad. Nor have they announced any Handoff features that would let you, for example, push a movie from the Apple TV to the iPad if you wanted to change rooms. (The reverse of AirPlay, which has to start on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.)

It's still early days, however, and every new feature has to start somewhere.

Third-party apps and Handoff

Apple has provided the same APIs (application programming interfaces) to developers that its using for its own apps. Developers need to specify which discreet actions are available to Handoff — precise activities like composing a tweet or reading an RSS item — and the apps involved all have to be owned by the same developer Team ID. That makes things secure for customers, so we don't have to worry about one app trying to intercept activity from another.

Handoff-capabale apps also have to be made available through the App Store or, alternatively on the Mac, signed by a registered developer. Again, that allows for security, and even a degree of flexibility.

Websites and Handoff

Handoff doesn't only work between apps but also between websites and apps. For example, if you're reading iMore.com or perusing Facebook.com on Safari on your Mac, and then pick up your iPhone to leave the room — assuming the developers have implemented it — the iMore or Facebook app will show up to accept the handoff.

Apple has provided APIs so that developers can prove they own their websites and apps, and that they're all related to each other. That secures both endpoints of the transaction.

To move to the browser, Handoff sends a URL (universal resource locator) from the originating device to the device where you want to resume your activity. Open the browser, load the URL, and you're right where you left off.

To move to a native app, activities specified on the website are sent over to the appropriate location in the associated app. Open the Facebook app, load the page you were looking at, and you're likewise where you left off.

Continuation streams

Apple also says developers can bi-directionally stream between two open instances of the same app on two different devices. That allows for continuous interaction, including read and write, between the original and current device. For example, so both devices to be used to work on the same activity at the same time.

How developers — and Apple — will make use of such streams remains to be seen...

An icon away

Handoff is based on actions. When an app or browser is launched, brought back to the foreground, or tabs are switched, Handoff identifies the current actions you're doing — composing an email, reading a particular web page, editing a Pages document, etc. — and starts to broadcast that activity.

Other devices within proximity identify the activity and call up the appropriate icon for it.

On the iPhone or iPad the icon is placed either on the bottom left of the Lock screen or, if the device is unlocked, to the left of the Home screen in the multitasking card interface (the one you get to by double clicking the Home button.)

On the Mac the icon is placed either to the left of the Dock or to the right of the application switcher (the one you get by hitting CMD + Tab.)

Once the icon is hit, Handoff will request the activity from the originating device. If you're using Documents in the Cloud, only the state needs to be transferred. If you're on the web, only the URL. Otherwise, whatever you're working on will get sent across. Once any necessary data is passed (presumably over direct Wi-Fi connection), you're taken to the app and your activity is resumed right where you left off.

For example, if you were composing an email on your iPhone and you walked within range of your Mac, the Mail.app icon would appear in a new segment to the left of your OS X Dock. Click on it and you'd be in OS X Mail, in the compose window, with the same email open and ready for you to finish, right where you left off.

If you were working on a Keynote on your Mac and you picked up your iPad, you'd see the Keynote app icon to the bottom left of your Lock screen. Hit it and you'd be taken to the Keynote app on the iPad, the same document open to the same slide you'd just been working on.

Security and privacy

Apple hasn't yet released any information on how Handoff is secured and kept private. However, given Apple's recent history with security and privacy, there's every reason to be optimistic. For example, Apple has previously explained how AirDrop, another service now marketed under the Continuity banner, handles security and privacy and it's beyond impressive:

Also, since Handoff appears on the Lock screen, how passcode, Touch ID, and enable/disable will be handled in Settings remains to be seen. (It's possible BT LE and proximity is allowing Handoff devices the potential to be treated as trusted devices for security purposes.)

Resources for developers

Apple has a preliminary Handoff Programming Guide available on the Apple Developer center{.nofollow} that explains in greater detail how Handoff works and how it can be implemented in third party apps.

There's also an excellent Adopting Handoff in iOS and OS X session available as part of Apple's WWDC 2014 video collection.

Bottom line

Handoff promises a fundamentally different approach to computing than Microsoft's "Windows Everywhere" or Google's "everything in the cloud". With Handoff, there's no convergence of interface or single truth kept on a server. Apple is keeping the Mac the Mac, and the iPhone and iPad the iPhone and iPad. They simply all integrate together so that your activities can go from device to device transparently, seamlessly, wherever you go.

At least that's the theory. iOS 8 is still in beta. Things aren't finished yet and they can and will change as Apple approaches release. So, we'll have to wait for this fall to see how Handoff really works.

Timing is the difference between hitting and missing. Winning and losing. In technology, timing is the difference between products that dent universes and those that languish in return bins. Between features that change lives and those that merely check boxes. Timing requires enormous amounts of audacity and patience. You can't hesitate but you can't rush. Being first is seldom the same as being best, and being late is often the same as being never. 2014 feels like a pivotal year for Apple when it comes to timing, and what's more — that's it's only just beginning.

WWDC 2014 saw Apple senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi knock out the biggest list of new software features since iOS 4. From iOS 8, OS X Yosemite, and the dev tools section, two of them stand out — the new Extensibility framework and the new Swift programming language. For years Apple has been accused of being behind competitors like Android and Windows Phone when it comes to inter-app communications, and the whole "Avoiding Copland" saga has played out over the course of almost a decade.

For inter-app communication, Apple took their time. They built a rock-solid security model, ported XPC, their communications protocol, over from OS X to iOS, separated their windowing service, SpringBoard into SpringBoard (foreground) and BackBoardd (background) and, with iOS 7, completed a massive re-imagining of how mobile interface and interaction should work.

Once all of that was done, Apple built a system that's secure, that respects privacy, that runs off a daemon rather than requiring an entire system to power and maintain it, that persists even if its source app is jettisoned, and that can serve as the foundation not only for moving content between apps but for building a widget system, a third-party keyboard system, an interactive notification system, and more. It wasn't the first inter-app implementation on the market, but it looks to be one of the best.

Likewise Swift. Apple brought Chris Lattner, now head of dev tools, on board with LLVM (lower level virtual machine) and later added Clang. Those technologies freed them from GCC dependency and made them masters of their own compiler destiny. Over the span of years things like blocks and ARC (automatic reference counting) were added to Objective-C and then, when everything was in place, when Lattner and team had gotten to where they needed to be, Apple took the C out of the Objective-C and unveiled Swift.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if there were similar projects going on and similar foundations being set for future versions of iOS and OS X, for new files systems and multi-pane apps and things we've not yet even thought to begin complaining about.

Big changes like the NeXT acquisition, like the switch to Objective-C and OS X are rare. More common are the small changes over time. Pieces get updated one by one. Then, only years later, are the true scope of the changes appreciated.

I've written similar about hardware before. In 2008 we got a 3G iPhone. In 2010 we got a Retina iPhone. In 2012 we got a 4-inch iPhone with LTE. In 2014 it isn't hard to imagine we'll get yet another evolution of the iPhone... or two. Why now? Why this year? Because we're at the end of the last two-year cycle and Apple's put a lot of things in place to scale both its production and its development chains to reach 4.7 and 5.5 or whatever's the next number(s) are they intend to reach.

Consistent gesture navigation, touch-and-release radial controls, constraint-based layout, dynamic text, storyboarding that can span a range of sizes and orientations, the capacity to manufacture more than one new phone a year, high-quality panels that, at large sizes, can be made at the right price and with the right yields to supply hundreds of millions of devices. All of it, put in place.

We've seen how hard Apple pushes technology, how limited supplies of Retina panels, Touch ID sensors, and other cutting-edge components have been in the past. Try to go too early and that technology simply can't be produced at sufficient quality in sufficient amounts, or results in horrible battery life, pentile pixel arrangements, or other usability hits. Go at just the right time and you have 800,000,000 devices sold by a single manufacturer.

Markets have to be ready as well. For the last few years Apple sold more 4-inch and under phones at over ~$500 in the US than all their big-screen competitors combined. When faced with the choice between an iPhone and a bigger sized not-an-iPhone, more than enough people were choosing the iPhone because of, or in spite of the size, that nothing bigger was yet needed.

Now, if the rumors are true, just like when Apple moved from AT&T exclusivity to multi-carrier, and everyone who wanted an iPhone but couldn't or wouldn't use AT&T could finally get iOS on the carrier of their choice, those who want an iPhone but can't or won't use one 4-inches or smaller will finally be able to get iOS on the screen size of their choice.

Timing. Patience.

That's not to say there aren't the early experiments at Apple as well, the things like Apple TV and Passbook that seed massive markets like television and mobile payments to see where they're going. And also mulligans, like MobileMe and Core Data sync that get replaced with iCloud and CloudKit.

As much as I, as a technology enthusiast, love companies that throw everything at the wall just to see what sticks, I also value those that have patience to counterbalance their audacity, that take their time and pick their shots. I value the ones that wait for the Treos and the BlackBerrys to pass the early adoption stage, the Intents and the Contracts to get hammered on, the Pebbles and the FuelBands to hit the market. I value the ones that wait and see where each product is brilliant and terrible, figure out how and where they can make something better, and then focus on the implementation and the packaging and give me something truly great.

That requires timing. And 2014 feels like the year we get to see a lot of Apple's timing pay off.

The embers still are warm from the WWDC 2014 keynote, but that hasn't stopped Apple from posting the entire keynote for your rewatching pleasure. It streamed live, yes, but now the complete two-hour event is available for streaming again. Unlike the live stream, however, this one doesn't require you be using Safari to make it work. So who is up for some iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite.

Check it out at the source link below.

Source: Apple

Those WWDC 2014 banners keep going up and the latest looks a lot like El Capitan in Yosemite. Does that mean we'll be seeing OS X 10.10 Yosemite come Monday? With Apple nothing is certain until it's certain, but it's certainly a California landmark and a fitting choice of name for the next generation in Mac operating systems.

Last year was the first of the new naming convention, which replaced the big cats and OS X Mountain Lion with California locations and OS X Mavericks. OS X 10.10, currently codenamed Syrah, is supposed to be getting a lot of attention this year, including a redesign and perhaps some major work on developer-facing APIs. Yosemite is certainly a big name for a big change.

We'll find out for sure Monday starting at 10am PDT and iMore will be at the keynote live. In the meantime, let me know what you think!

Source: The Verge

iCloud Keychain lets you generate, store, and manage strong, unique passwords between your iPhone, iPad, and/or Mac. In theory, that's an amazing win for both convenience and security. Unfortunately, it's only in theory. Sadly there are two big problems with iCloud Keychain, one conceptual, one architectural, that make it so that I — and anyone concerned with security — can't use it. Luckily, it's something that can and hopefully will be fixed with iOS 8 and OS X 10.10.

Re-authentication

The first problem with iCloud Keychain is that it doesn't demand re-authentication before it works. That means, as long as your iPhone, iPad, or Mac is unlocked, anyone using it has access to your stored passwords and credit cards. That also means, if iCloud Keychain is enabled, I can't hand my iPhone, iPad, or Mac over to a friend, colleague, acquaintance, family member, or anyone else, at all, ever, without having to worry about my passwords and credit cards being accessed.

If someone needs to make an emergency call, or look something up on the web, or try out one of my games, or do any of a hundred other things other people typically do when you hand them your device, there's a gaping security hole in the form of iCloud Keychain.

That's why third party password managers require a "master password".

The idea is, even if you unlock and hand your iPhone, iPad, or Mac over to a third party, they'd be required to re-authenticate with your passcode, password, or Touch ID before iCloud Keychain could auto-fill a password or credit card.

Yes, the idea behind iCloud Keychain is to be so convenient that people using weak, repetitive passwords find it enticingly easy to stop doing that.

Apple's well aware of that because it's exactly how the App Store and iTunes Store work right now. After a certain, fairly short, length of time, you're required to re-authenticate in order to buy something. It's less convenient but way more secure. And, thanks to the App Store and iTunes Store, we're used to things working that way already.

With Touch ID, which should make it's way into the next generation iPad and mid-tier iPhones this fall, the loss of convenience would be minimal as well. Touch the sensor and the password or credit card fills. Simple as that.

Either way, iOS and OS X shouldn't treat web passwords and credit cards with any less protection than they treat iTunes accounts.

Better cryptography

Apple uses amazingly good, privacy and security-centric cryptography in almost every aspect of the iOS architecture. The big, glaring exception appears to be iCloud Keychain. Here's Security Now!'s Steve Gibson on the problem:

I'm not smart enough to understand the details to the level Gibson does, but none of that sounds good to me. Here's how our security editor, Nick Arnott puts it:

If Apple can use rock-solid crypto throughout the rest of the system, it'd be great if they could use it for something as important as iCloud Keychain in iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 as well.

Because, again, there are few things as critical to keep safe as web passwords and credit card information.

iCloud Keychain: The bottom line

I should make clear that I don't think Apple has intentionally made iCloud Keychain weak, flawed, or otherwise compromised. Secure sync is incredibly hard. Balancing security and convenience is incredibly hard. Getting betas and releases out given Apple's deadlines is incredibly hard. Inevitably features get pushed back and things go missing.

But iCloud Keychain is incredibly important and these two things — re-authentication and better cryptography — simply need to be in place before I can use it and before I can recommend anyone else use it.

Hopefully iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 will do just that.

Meanwhile, let me know — are you're using iCloud Keychain, and what you think of the feature?

OS X 10.10, code-named Syrah, us currently sprinting its way towards developer beta for WWDC 2014, which kicks off June 2. Syrah is rumored to be getting a Jony Ive-led interface refresh this year, like iOS 7 got last year. That makes a lot of sense, since part of the opportunity cost of iOS 7 getting all that attention was that there wasn't much left for OS X Mavericks. It shipped with a few rough edges, like stitched leather, shaved off but others, like green felt, remaining. 2014 should see a reversal of those fortunes, with iOS 8 getting refined but Syrah getting a more significant visual upgrade. But how far will it go? Craig Hockenberry writing on his blog, Furbo.org

Hockenberry's is not an uncommon sentiment. Apple's desire to bring iOS "back to the Mac" is what resulted in not only the aforementioned stitched leather and green felt finding their way to OS X, but also universal naming conventions for built-in apps and even the concept of an App Store. While both remain distinct platforms that require distinct functionality, the usability overlap between the two remains huge.

However, Hockenberry being Hockenberry he's taken it a step further and written a tool that "swizzles the NSFont class methods to return a different system font". With it you can see what apps designed with the current OS X system font in mind, Lucida Grande, look like in a Helvetica Neue world.

You can find more information on it, and access the tool, via the link below. Check it out and then let me know — can you see the OS X system font changing this June?

Source: furbo.org

Based on what I posted last week, it's clear that many of you — like me — want Apple to adopt a more uniform user experience between iOS 7 and OS X — a flatter interface for OS X 10.10. Rumors have abounded since January that Apple is working on just that by creating a "flatter" interface for OS X 10.10 (code-named Syrah) that makes icons and other interface elements more consistent with their iOS 7 counterparts. We don't have to work too hard to imagine what it'll look like: Just open iCloud in a web browser.

Admittedly, iCloud.com uses an extraordinarily simplified interface compared to OS X. But from the Home screen icons to the apps themselves, iCloud certainly has more in common with iOS 7 than it does with OS X. Even the dynamic background on the home screen echoes iOS 7's. As does the concept of a home screen.

But the design principles as they could be applied to OS X shine through. Clear typography. An emphasis on clean, open space and crisply-edged icons. Two dimensional illustrations with bright colors.

Mavericks has already begun the transition to a flatter interface. While more rounded three-dimensional icons still abound, apps like Calendar have gotten a rework to more closely resemble their iOS counterparts. I expect to see that process continue with OS X 10.10, of course.

But if you look at iCloud.com in full screen on a Mac, as simplified as it is, it does look striking. Imagining that same design sensibility employed across the entire OS X user interface isn't too much of a stretch.

This isn't to imply that Apple plans to simplify the actual Mac user experience with any sort of user interface rework. The Mac remains fundamentally different terrain than iOS, with an emphasis on file management that is almost completely absence from iOS. The way applications work on the Mac, with multiple windows, is completely different.

iOS 7's visual rework was a jarring change. Not all users liked it. But most of us who didn't love it at first blush have grown accustomed to it and many of us are willing to admit that it did move the goalposts forward for future innovations in iOS.

What's more, those changes didn't fundamentally change our usage of iOS. Things worked the same way they did before, they just looked different.

If this truly is the year OS X gets a makeover, I expect the same to apply. Things may look different — and it'll take developers time to adjust — but it'll still work the same.

In the interim, check out iCloud.com and see for yourself. Is that the future of OS X? Tell me what you think.