You running on iOS 16 Beta now?, how Downgrade it to iOS 15

 Did you install the iOS 16 beta but now you’re having second thoughts about running it? If you want to downgrade from iOS 16 beta and revert back to a stable iOS 15 build, you can certainly do that.

 

The method covered here will downgrade an iPhone from iOS 16 back to the latest stable version of iOS 15, however it will erase the iPhone in doing so. This means if you did not create a backup to the computer from iOS 15 before installing iOS 16 beta, you will lose everything on the iPhone by downgrading.

If you are not comfortable with losing everything on the iPhone and do not have a compatible backup available, you should not attempt to downgrade the iPhone from iOS 16. Instead just continue on iOS 16 beta

How to Downgrade iOS 16 Beta to iOS 15.x

This method erases the iPhone to revert from iOS 16 to iOS 15. If you have a backup made from iOS 15 you can then restore that to get your stuff back. If you do not want to erase and lose all data on your iPhone, do not proceed with this method.

    1. Connect the iPhone or iPad to the Mac with a Lightning cable

    2. Open the Finder on Mac

    3. Put the iPhone into Recovery Mode by performing the following sequence: press and release Volume Up, press and release Volume Down, press and hold the Power/Side button until you see the restore screen on the Mac

    4. You’ll see a dialog window that says there’s a problem with the iPhone and giving you the option to restore the device, click on “Restore” to erase iOS 16 beta and restore iOS 15 to the iPhone

    5. Let the restore process complete, it can take a while

When the downgrade has completed, the iPhone will boot back into a clean install of the latest version of iOS 15 that is available, as if the iPhone was brand new. The iPhone will have nothing on it, having been erased.

Assuming you have a backup available that is compatible with iOS 15 on the Mac or archived, you can restore from that backup to get your old stuff back. 

Because this process erases the iPhone and requires a backup from iOS 15 be available to restore their stuff from, this may not be suitable for all users, because most people don’t like to lose everything on their iPhone. But if it’s a secondary iPhone or a test device, you may not mind.

 

Red: OsxDaily

 

Can I Play Fortnite on iPhone with GeForce ?

 You can play Fortnite on iPhone again, thanks to the impressive capabilities of GeForce Now. No, the Fortnite app is not back on the App Store for iPhone or iPad, but it is available to play by streaming from the web through Safari and the Geforce Now service, and believe it or not it works pretty well.

ou can play Fortnite for free but you’ll have limited game time of an hour, and performance is limited to 1080p, which depending on your network connection may be suitable anyway. Or you can pay for for better performance, unlimited game time, and for access to other games too.

How to Play Fortnite on iPhone with GeForce Now

    1. Go to play.geforcenow.com in Safari on iPhone

    2. Follow the onscreen instructions to add GeForce Now to your home screen as a bookmark

    3. Go to the home screen and launch the Geforce Now web app

    4. Sign up for a GeForceNow account if you don’t already have one (you can make a free account with the aforementioned limitations)

    5. Choose Fortnite, and tap Play, and away you go

As long as you have a decent internet connection, you’ll find gameplay is pretty good, even with the limited resolution at the free level. It’s certainly playable.

 

 

 

Whether or not you consider this better than using Xbox, Switch, or another platform to play Fortnite is up to you, but if you’ve been wishing you could play it on your iPhone all over again, this is another solution available.

If this seems familiar, it may be because this has been possible on the Mac and iPad by spoofing the browser user agent, but now it’s officially supported.

And for what it’s worth, you can also play Fortnite on your iPhone or iPad through a web browser with Xbox cloud gaming too. The choice is yours! Have fun and happy gaming.

 

Red: OsxDaily

 

 

 

 

 

Step by step Install MacOS Ventura

 MacOS Ventura beta is available to install and run for Mac users who are interested in trying out the developer version of the upcoming Mac operating system.

 

Installing the Ventura beta is pretty easy, though it’s currently only available to registered Apple Developers. Other users will have to wait until the public beta is released next month, or for the final version in the fall.

Requirements for Installing MacOS Ventura Beta

You will need access to the macOS Ventura beta profile, which requires a developer account. Technically you can find the profiles online, but don’t do that, just wait for the public beta next month.

You will also need a Mac compatible with macOS Ventura, which is a much more strict list than prior MacOS versions. Any Mac from 2017 or later can run Ventura, whereas any Mac from before that can not. Specifically, any iMac from 2017 or newer, MacBook Pro from 2017 or newer, MacBook Air from 2018 or newer, MacBook from 2017 or newer, Mac Pro from 2019 or newer, or iMac Pro can run macOS Ventura.

It’s also not ideal to run beta system software on primary hardware, so preferably you have a test machine to try Ventura out on. And don’t forget that removing Ventura means you have to erase the entire Mac, you can’t simply reinstall Monterey.

How to Install macOS Ventura Beta on a Mac

Be sure to backup your Mac with Time Machine or otherwise before installing macOS Ventura beta. Failure to backup could result in permanent data loss.

     1. Visit the Apple Developer downloads site and login with your Apple ID, then choose MacOS 13 beta (Ventura)

    2. Choose to “Install Profile” to download the macOSDeveloperBetaAccessUtility.dmg file to your Mac

    3. Mount macOSDeveloperBetaAccessUtility.dmg and run the package installer, this installs the MacOS Ventura 13 beta profile onto the Mac

    4. Open System Preferences and go to “Software Update” to find the MacOS 13 Beta available to download and install

     5. Choose to “Upgrade Now” for macOS 13 beta *

     6. Let the macOS Ventura beta installer download, when finished it will reboot the Mac automatically directly into installing

    7. Proceed with the installation as usual, there are no onscreen prompts as Ventura just immediately installs

* Important Note: macOS Ventura beta immediately starts installation and reboots directly to installing over the current operating system, it is not like prior macOS versions where an installer application is downloaded into /Applications/ that you can manually quit.

** Important Note 2: You can also not remove or uninstall macOS Ventura easily, even by booting into Recovery Mode which will only offer the option to reinstall macOS 13. If you want to remove macOS Ventura beta from a Mac, you have to erase the entire hard disk and then use a USB installer drive for macOS Monterey to install that and start over again.

MacOS 13 Ventura beta will restart a few times to complete installation, and when done you will boot directly into Ventura. Again, there is no opportunity to select a different target disk to install Ventura onto, it just starts installing right away as soon as you click “Upgrade Now” from the Monterey system preferences.  

MacOS Ventura is obviously in early beta thus it’s not going to perform as well as expected, and you should anticipate bugs and crashing apps and unusual behavior. Also, many of the features will be refined as the beta period continues, so don’t be surprised if things change and shift as the versions continue to evolve towards the final release this fall. Hopefully things like the System Settings (replacing System Preferences) changes back to a more Mac like interface as well, since as of now it looks like someone copy/pasted the iOS Settings onto the Mac and looks very out of place and is not intuitive at all. There’s also something strange about the fonts display, maybe they system font is thinner, but whatever it is is causing me eye strain. Overall, I would not recommend installing the Ventura beta at this point, for anyone except true developers working on app compatibility.

 

Red: OsxDaily

 

 

iPad Air 5, how to to Restart & Force Restart this Device

 Occasionally you may need to shut down, restart, or force restart a device, and iPad Air 5 is no exception.

 Whether it’s force restarting because of a frozen app, troubleshooting an issue, restarting for any number of reasons, or shutting down the iPad Air for a flight, we’ll cover how you can perform these common tasks for the iPad Air 5.

How to Force Restart iPad Air 5

You can forcibly restart an iPad Air 5 by initiating a series of button presses using the physical power and volume buttons on the device. Here’s the sequence to force restart:

    1. Press and release Volume Up

    2. Press and release Volume Down

    3. Press and hold the Power button until you see an  Apple logo on the screen

After you see the  Apple logo, the iPad Air will boot up as usual. Sometimes a forced restart can take a little longer than a regular restart.

This is a useful technique to know, because it turns out that the method of force restarting the iPad Air 5 is also used on any modern iPad that has Face ID and/or without Home button, including M1 iPad Pro, iPad Pro,, and iPad Mini. And, you use the same sequence to force restart any modern iPhone with Face ID as well.

 

How to Restart iPad Air 5

A graceful restart of iPad Air can be achieved by powering off and back on again:

    1. Press and hold the Power button and the Volume Up button until a “Slide to Power Off” shows on screen

    2. Swipe to turn off the iPad Air 5

    3. Wait a few moments, then hold down the Power button to turn the iPad Air 5 back on, effectively restarting the device

Basically turning the iPad Air 5 off, then turning it back on again, is how you restart the device.

How to Shut Down iPad Air 5

If you want to turn off iPad Air 5 completely, you can do that by shutting down the device:

    1. Press and hold the Power button and the Volume Up button until a “Slide to Power Off” shows on screen

    2. Slide to turn off the iPad Air 5

With the power off, the iPad Air 5 is turned off. This will allow the device battery to last quite a while as it’s going unused, and the device will not connect to any networks while powered off.

You can also shut down the iPad Air through Settings, but currently there is no restart option in Settings.

The new model iPad Air 5 is a nice upgrade to the iPad line, and many users coming to the new iPad Air may be upgrading from a device with a Home button, which offers a different method of shutting down, restarting, and force restarting. Thus it’s reasonable to expect some users are unfamiliar with the new procedure for restarting and force restarting the fifth gen iPad Air. Once you learn how and practice it a few times, it will become second nature.

 

Red : OsxDaily

 

 

 

 

Activate Feature Voice Isolation with FaceTime on Mac

 Voice Isolation mode allows FaceTime on the Mac to emphasize your voice while on FaceTime calls, thereby reducing background noises and sounds. This is a nice feature if you have some background noise going on that may drown out your voice when talking or make you otherwise difficult to hear, whether that’s a loud fan running in the background, a cat meowing, dog barking, a neighbors bad music blasting, or any such situation. You can use this on any FaceTime call, whether it’s video, audio, or group chat.

You’d be forgiven for failing to find any setting for voice isolation or background noise reduction while digging around in the FaceTime preferences, because that’s not where the capability resides. Instead, you use the Control Center, as we’ll demonstrate.

How to Reduce Background Noise in FaceTime on Mac with Voice Isolation

This feature is only available on the latest versions of macOS system software (12.0 or later), so if you haven’t updated yet you will need to do that before having access to the feature.

        1. Open FaceTime on the Mac if you haven’t done so already

        2. Now open Control Center on the Mac by clicking on the little switches icon in the menu bar

        3.  Click on “Mic Mode” to switch the microphone mode

 

        4. Choose “Voice Isolation” from the microphone mode options

 

        5. Return to FaceTime and make your FaceTime call as usual, whether video or audio

It’s a little curious that you have to go to Control Center to access the microphone mode to aim for background noise reduction in a FaceTime call, but that’s where the toggle is located. Perhaps in the future there will also be an easy option directly from the FaceTime call or app itself.

This is a feature that is available in macOS Monterey and newer, so if you’re on an earlier version of MacOS you won’t find the feature available.

This feature is really useful if you spend a lot of time making FaceTime calls, whether for personal or professional purposes. You’ll find it works pretty well.

While we’re covering the Mac here, you can also use background noise reduction with FaceTime calls on iPhone and iPad too using the same technology to isolate your voice and reduce background sounds.

Try it out, it works really well. 

You can further improve performance by using a microphone, AirPods, or even the wired EarBuds. In testing with a set of AirPods, I was able to run a vacuum cleaner while chatting on a call, and the person said they couldn’t hear the vacuum at all.

This feature is useful enough that it’s a little surprising it isn’t enabled by default for calls, since most people are making calls to hear a person chat, and not the background noise. Perhaps that will change down the road.

 

Red: OsxDaily

 

 

 

Released, iOS 8.3 Beta 4 to Developer and Public Beta to Users

Apple has released the fourth beta release of iOS 8.3 to those registered with the iOS developer program, or who are participating in the iOS Public Beta. The build is versioned as 12F5061 and is available now for compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices.

The simplest way to install iOS 8.3 beta 4 is through the Over-the-Air software update mechanism on the iOS device. This is accessible through Settings > General > Software Update. As always, back up the device before updating system software, this is particularly important when that iOS software is a beta version. Additionally, it is not advised to run beta software on a primary device.

The new beta build IPSW can also be downloaded from the iOS Dev Center for those registered with Apple.

iOS 8.3 continues to focus on improvements, bug fixes, and feature enhancements, and the version is expected to include new diverse Emoji icons, wireless CarPlay connectivity, Apple Pay improvements, new languages for Siri, and Google 2-factor authentication support.

While this is the fourth beta of iOS 8.3 overall, this is the second release available to Public Beta users of iOS. There is no known timeline for iOS 8.3 being released to the general public, but one could reasonably expect a final version to arrive before Apple Watch debuts.

Separately, Apple has also made Xcode 6.3 beta 4 available to iOS developers.

red:Osxdaily 

Released OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite Beta 5, anyone dare testing it?

Apple has released a fifth beta version of OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 to those participating in the OS X
Public Beta program, or registered in the Mac Developer program. The new build arrives as build number 14D113c and continues to include a focus on the new Photos app for OS X, along with other bug fixes and feature improvements.

The new beta version is available to download now from the software update mechanism of the Mac App Store, refreshing the Updates tab should reveal the download if it’s not seen immediately.

An update to the Yosemite Recovery drive is also available with the OS X 10.10.3 beta 5 download.

There is no known timeline for OS X 10.10.3 to debut, though Apple has stated that the Photos app will be available sometime in “early 2015″. With that said, the beta release schedule is clearing picking up steam, and it’s quite likely that we’ll see a public release of OS X 10.10.3 sooner than later. Apple typically goes through multiple beta versions before unveiling a final build to the public.

The new OS X Photos app will replace iPhoto for Mac, the app looks and feels quite similar to the Photos app experience in iOS that many users have become accustomed to.

red:Osxdaily

Tips to Tell if Someone Snooped Your iPhone / iPad & Read Emails, Messages, Call Log

If you suspect someone is snooping through your iPhone call log, messages, email, or through other apps, you can set a simple trap of sorts to potentially catch such intrusions on privacy. The idea behind this is pretty simple: quit out of all apps to leave the task bar empty, then check on the multitask screen to see if someone used an app. Since most people don’t bother to check what apps are running, they will unintentionally leave their app usage traces behind.

Here’s how to set the app-trap on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and how to check it later to see if someone was using apps and meddling about your business:

Setting the Snoop Trap in iOS

If you’re convinced (or paranoid) that someone is peeking at your apps, messages, or private details, you can do this every time you leave an iOS device alone:

• Double-click the Home button to summon multitasking
• Tap and hold on an app icon then tap the red (-) button to kill the apps – you can use multitouch on the red buttons to quit multiple apps at the same time to speed up the process
• With a blank multitask screen, tap the Home button again to return to the home screen as usual

Now you just need to leave the iPhone, iPad, or iPod alone, placed somewhere that you think the snoop may use the device to poke around in apps, messages, call logs, snap chats, whatever you are suspicious someone is being overly nosy with.

(Note: iOS 7 requires a swipe up on apps to kill them, the tap-and-hold function no longer works to quit apps. All else is the same, however)

Checking the Snoop Trap to See if Someone Used Your iPhone / iPad

After you have set the trap and suspect someone may have used the device, catching the snoop is quite simple:

• Double-tap on the Home button again to summon the multitasking screen – if any apps appear in the menu then you know someone has opened them in your absence

In this screen shot example, someone launched the “Messages” app after all the other apps had been quit, indicating that someone used the iPhone and poked around in the messages application to read texts or iMessages:

Determining if someone read emails would be indicated by Mail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or whatever email client being left open. Call logs would be shown as the Phone app, and whatever other app(s) left open could be suggestive of someone poking around in there.

If multiple apps have been opened, the order in which they appear – from left to right – indicates which app was most recently used or gone through. You could be a bit more subtle and leave a series of apps in the task bar this way, then simply look for that sequence of apps to be out of order or rearranged to catch prying eyes.

Of course, if someone is savvy enough to check the multitasking bar or is aware of this app trap concept, they’ll be able to evade such tactics by quitting the apps again after browsing through them. Nonetheless, for the average iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch user, this should be sufficient to catch your average petty snoop of a curious little sibling, a suspicious partner, or an invasive roommate.

We’ve discussed similar tricks for the Mac to help determine if someone was opening files or applications, but unlike OS X, iOS offers no easily accessible system logs demonstrating unlock or wake records.

Preventing Privacy Invasions & Snoopers

The best way to prevent any snooping, poking about, or general invasion of your iOS device privacy is by using a pass word on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, preferably setting a strong passcode that is alphanumeric and not easily guessed.

Finally, if you backup an iOS device to your computer through iTunes, be sure to enable backup encryption for the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to prevent determined parties from being able to easily gain access to the device backups, including text messages, call logs, and other personal data.

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Heads up to CultOfMac for this busybody buster trick.

How to See Proceses Are Running in the Background of iOS

iOS platform does not have an Activity Monitor or task manager the way that desktop Macs do within OS X, but if you’d like to see what apps and processes are running in the background of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can do so using a few different methods. For most users, simply showing the multitasking bar is sufficient, but the curious can also reveal system-level processes using alternate methods with a third party app or, for users who have jailbroken their devices, the command line.

1: The Basic iOS Task Manager

Just about every iOS user is probably aware of the task manager by now, which is accessed by double-clicking the Home button. The row of icons across the bottom show what apps are running in the background, and you can flip left or right to see more of them.

The task manager only shows apps though, and if you were hoping for something a bit more specific or technical, you’ll need to turn to another solution from a third party.

2: Use a Process App like DeviceStats

DeviceStats is a free third party app that may not be the prettiest thing in the world, but it works to show you which processes are actively running in the background of an iOS device, including daemons and background tasks.

• Grab DeviceStats from the App Store

Launching DeviceStats on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch will show a variety of tabs and options, but what we’re interested in is the “Processes” tab, which will also have a red badge on it to indicate the total number of processes running.

Scrolling through the list should reveal some familiar names of apps that you have open, things like Camera, Calculator, Videos, Photos, Preferences, Music, etc, and there will also be many tasks shown that are background processes, system tasks, and daemons.

Nothing listed within DeviceStats is directly actionable through the app itself, meaning that even if you identify a process you can’t really do anything about it unless it’s a standard app. Standard apps can be quit as usual, or killed (forcibly quit) through direct measures. There is no way to kill or quit out of background daemons and tasks running within iOS, however.

3: Using ‘top’ or ‘ps aux’ from the Command Line – Jailbreak Only

Users who have jailbroken their iOS devices can access the command line directly, either by using an app like MobileTerminal or by connecting directly to the device through SSH.

Once connected through the command line, you can use the ‘top’ or ‘ps aux’ command to see all active processes. “top” will provide a live updated list of processes, whereas ‘ps aux’ will print a snapshot of all processes and daemons, but not update any live CPU or memory usage. Processes that have been identified by ps or top can also be killed directly through the command line, but that may have unintended consequences for the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, and cause it to freeze up or crash, requiring a device reboot. Again, this is only accessible through jailbroken devices, which makes this option fairly limited.

Short ways to change the Home Button Click Speed for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you probably know by now that double-clicking and triple-clicking the Home button is required to perform some actions in iOS, like bringing up lock screen music controls, showing the multitasking bar, inverting the screen, enabling zoom, summoning Assistive Touch, or even turning on Guided Access to lock iOS into a single app.
The default speed required for clicking the Home button can be problematic for some individuals though, as it requires a fairly speedy double or triple tap to work. Thankfully, with iOS 6 onward we can now easily make changes to the required click speed required to activate the Home button:

• Open Settings, then go to “General” and “Accessibility”
• Tap on “Home-click Speed” and choose either “Slow” or “Slowest” as the new Home click setting

Tapping any of the Home-click speed choices will cause the iPhone or iPad to vibrate at the new speed required to activate the double-click or triple-click, providing a good indicator of the new leniency allowed.




The “Slow” setting is a fairly reasonable alternative for many people, but for young kids, those with motor impairments, or anyone with a broken hand or wrist, the “Slowest” option will prevent a lot of frustration.
 
You will need iOS 6 or later installed in order to have this feature, but it works the same on an iPad, iPod, or iPhone.

Microsoft Surface Tablet with Windows 8 Takes Aim at iPad

Microsoft released Surface today, their direct competitor to the iPad and Android tablets. As you’d expect, the device is a touchscreen tablet but differs from the iPad in that it comes in two distinct versions; a traditional tablet model based on ARM architecture and runs only Windows RT – that’s Metro for those who don’t follow MS closely – and the other is a pro model based on Intel Ivy Bridge chips that runs full-fledged Windows 8 desktop.

Other than providing a look at Apple’s competition, perhaps most interesting to iPad users is the cover that ships with the tablet. Upon first appearance it looks like a Smart Cover knock-off, but it actually one-ups Apple’s offering by including a completely functional multitouch keyboard built directly into the cover itself. It certainly looks fascinating, and assuming it works well you can bet third party cover manufactures will be cranking out similar cases for the iPad soon.

Onto the Surface specs:

Surface – Standard model

• Windows RT (Metro-only interface)
• ARM CPU
• 32GB and 64GB available
• 1.5lbs
• 9.3mm thick enclosure made out of magnesium, with built-in stand
• 10.6″ ClearType HD Display (retina-ish?), 16×9 aspect ratio
• MicroSD card slot, USB 2.0, MicroHD video, 2×2 MIMO antennae (?)
• Bundled with Office Home & Student 2013 RT
• Multitouch cover with built-in keyboard

Surface – Pro model

• Windows 8 Pro (standard Windows desktop & Metro)
• Intel Ivy Bridge CPU
• 64GB and 128GB storage
• 2lbs
• 13.5mm
• 10.6″ ClearType Full HD Display (not sure how this differs from other model)
• MicroSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort, 2×2 MIMO
• Bundled with Touch Cover, Type Cover, and magnet stylus pen

Noticeably missing from either spec sheet provided by Microsoft is any word on battery life, device pricing, or availability of the Surface.

Here is Microsofts …unusual… promo video for Surface, it is more similar to the Motorola DROID commercials than any Apple advertisement:

How to Downgrade iOS 6 Beta to iOS 5.1.1

If you went ahead and installed iOS 6 beta and determined the buggy nature of the first developer release isn’t for you, it’s time to downgrade. Most developers should know how to do this already, but if not this process is easy and you’ll be back to running iOS 5.1.1 in no time at all.

Downgrading is identical on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

1. Turn the device off, connect it to the computer via USB, and launch iTunes
2. Place the iOS device into DFU mode: with the device off, hold down the Power and Home buttons together for 10 seconds then release the power button, continue holding Home button until iTunes notifies you of a device in recovery mode being detected. The devices screen should stay black as if turned off.
3. Restore within iTunes through either method a or b:
• a: Restore from the iOS 5.1.1 backup you made prior to installing iOS 6 beta
• b: Restore to iOS 5.1.1 IPSW by Option-Clicking the “Restore” button, and then restore from iCloud backup when finished
4. Let iTunes restore back to iOS 5.1.1, the device will reboot when finished

Typically you can’t downgrade iOS versions so easily, but because Apple is still signing iOS 5.1.1 this allows downgrading to commence with minimal effort.

Troubleshooting the Downgrade:
If you get any strange errors (3194, 1013, etc) when trying to restore, you probably have Apple’s servers blocked in your hosts file. This is relatively common for people who jailbroke a device at some point in their iOS usage. Remove any blocks to Apple’s servers from /etc/hosts and try again.

4 Steps to Run 2880×1800 Native Resolution on MacBook Pro

The Retina MacBook Pro 15″ screen resolution is 2880×1800, but because of how a retina display works the effective resolution is 1440×900 and the onscreen elements are just running in HIDPI mode. Apple provides an option to run at 1920×1200 through System Preferences, but as of now there is no built-in approach to running the retina display at the screens true 1×1 native resolution of 2880×1800. Instead, you must activate the 2880×1800 option through a variety of third party approaches, the result of which is a gigantic amount of screen real estate, albeit with tiny onscreen elements. If that sounds good to you, here are three four different ways to enable the true 1-to-1 native res:


SwitchResX
A reasonably simple solution, SwitchResX is a third-party preference panel that allows you to run custom resolutions on any display. Install the preference panel, select the Retina Display, and add a custom resolution setting for 2880×1800.

• Download SwitchResX from the developer

This shareware app is free to use for 10 days before it wants to be registered. SwitchResX has a lot of technical customizations available within it, possibly making it overkill for this task.

SetResX
Probably the easiest option of them all, SetResX is a little menu-bar app that allows you to run 2880×1800 easily.

• Get SetResX (be sure to click the lower download link, not the ads on the page)

Hopefully the developer of SetResX will find a less shady site to host their app, but nonetheless SetResX is a nice little find by CultOfMac

scrutil
Slightly more advanced due to the nature of the command line, the free utility called screenutil gets the job done immediately with a quick entry into the Terminal:

• Get ScreenUtil now (direct download link)

Launch Terminal and drag and drop scrutil into the command line to use it once, but if plan on using it often it’s a good idea to toss scrutil into /usr/local/bin for easy future access. Once installed, changing the retina display to native 2880×1800 with screenutil is achieved with the following command:
 

scrutil s 2880 1800 16




The command will report back the resolution change, the 16 at the end is color depth so you can set that to something else if you’d like. You can set it back to the default resolution either through System Preferences or with scrutil s 1440 900.




ChangeResolution
ChangeResolution is a new tiny AppleScript front end to a command line utility that changes the resolution to 2880×1800:

• ChangeResolution

Pick whichever method best suits your needs, though with the Retina MacBook Pro just now starting to ship to many customers there’s a high likelihood that better options will soon be available. We’ll keep you posted.

How to Use FaceTime for Voice-only Calls When Video Stutters or is Problematic

If you’ve used FaceTime in an area without the best internet connections you’ve probably experienced the choppy video, breaking audio, and other call difficulties that can arrise as a result of poor internet service. Rather than giving up on the communication completely, you can turn the video call into a voice-only call and dramatically increase the calls audio quality. This allows you to basically use FaceTime as a voice over IP (VOIP) service, with very clear voice chat working even when the bandwidth is restricted enough for an otherwise awful connection.


To force FaceTime into voice-only mode:

1. Start a FaceTime video call as usual
2. After the connection has been made, hit the Home button on the iPhone, IPad, or iPod touch

This freezes transmission of video but allows the audio to continue streaming. You’ll end up at the homescreen with the iOS status bar showing an active FaceTime connection, saying “touch to resume”, but you’ll notice audio chat works perfectly and the quality of the audio is suddenly dramatically improved.

Presumably the reason this works so well is by reallocating the available bandwidth away from the video channel and all into audio, resulting in surprisingly high quality voice calls. The obvious downside of course is you’ll miss the video chat portion, but if you’re making an important call and either yourself or the recipient is using subpar internet service, a voice call is certainly better than nothing. 

This works wonderfully on iPad and iPhone, and it should even work in the Mac OS X FaceTime client if you just minimize the app into the Dock.

Of course, you can always make true VOIP calls with Skype and Google Voice, but since not everyone has those installed on their iPads, iPods, Macs, and iPhones, this FaceTime solution works for just about anyone. 

Apple "Do It All" with New iPad

Apple has begun to air a new iPad commercial, focusing on a variety of tasks being accomplished through various apps on the 3rd generation iPad. The narration says:

“Send a note. Stay informed. Catch a show. Make your point. Make a memory. Make a… masterpiece. Read something. Watch something. And learn something. Do it all more beautifully, with the retina display, on iPad.”

This it the video commercial :

 

This is the second recent TV advertisement released by Apple that focuses on the retina display technology, with last week Apple starting to air a new MacBook Pro with Retina display commercial as well.

Jailbreak iOS 6 with Redsn0w 0.9.13 is Available

The first beta of iOS 6 has only been in the wild a few days but has already been jailbroken. The DevTeam released a dev build of Redsn0w 0.9.13 to handle the jailbreak which works on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 4G, though each device is tethered for the time being and there are a handful of major issues with the jailbreak that should prevent most users from attempting to use it on their devices.

As the versioning implies, Redsn0w 0.9.13dev1 is intended for developers only. There are many components that do not work, including Apple’s default apps, many 3rd party apps, Cydia apps, and more. Furthermore, this version of the tethered jailbreak does not install Cydia. Because of all the caveats this is really a proof of concept and should not be widely adopted beyond those developing jailbreak tweaks or apps, but it does suggest that when iOS 6 is released to the public a jailbreak will accompany it rather quickly.

Download Redsn0w 0.9.13dev

For the brave devs that wish to try this, these are direct links:

• Mac
• Windows

If you’re a developer and you wish to try this out, point Redsn0w at the iOS 6 IPSW file to jailbreak, and then boot tethered. As the Dev Team mentions, anyone attempting to use this version of redsn0w will need a registered UDID to activate their device.

iOS 6 is scheduled for a public release this fall.

Compatibility & Supported Devices on iOS 6

iOS 6 comes with over 200 new features that will make the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch even better, but there’s a few caveats: first, it doesn’t run on all hardware, and second, on some of the supported devices the feature set will be limited. We’ll sort all of that out.

Devices Supported by iOS 6
According to Apple, the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPad 3, and iPod touch 4th gen will all run iOS 6.

Noticeably absent from the supported device lineup are the iPad 1 and iPod touch 3rd gen, despite those devices having similar hardware to some of the other supported hardware. If you have one of these older devices, consider an upgrade if you want the latest and greatest features.

iOS 6 Feature Compatibility
Here is where things get slightly more complicated: Even if your iPhone or iPad can run iOS 6 that doesn’t mean it will support all of the features.

Some of the more anticipated and prominent improvements in iOS 6 like FaceTime over 3G won’t be supported on the iPhone 4 or 3GS for example, and Siri will come to iPad 3 but not iPad 2. And many of the most exciting features won’t work whatsoever on the iPhone 3GS, and are barely supported by the iPhone 4. If this sounds complicated it’s really not, but to help decipher which of the bigger features will work with what, MacRumors put together a helpful chart…

You’ll notice it’s only the newest hardware that is fully compatible with most of the major features of the newest iOS, but keep in mind that all supported hardware will be benefiting from the smaller improvements, with things like the iPhones new calling features, Guided Access, Single App mode, Facebook integration, Do Not Disturb, and all of the many more subtle improvements that were demoed at WWDC.

iOS 6 was given a loose release date of “Fall” of this year.

on WWDC 2012: New Macs, OS X Mountain Lion, iOS 6, MacBook Pro, etc

If you don’t have time to watch the WWDC 2012 keynote video, here’s a quick summary of everything major that was announced at WWDC and also a few things that were quietly updated behind the scenes. New Macs, new operating systems, new apps, it was a big day for Apple.

Macs & OS X Mountain Lion

• Next-Generation Retina MacBook Pro released, starts at $2199 and features a 15″ whopping 2880×1800 display while weighing 4.4lbs in a thinner unibody enclosure. Quad-core Ivy Bridge CPU’s, 8GB RAM and SSD standard. It’s freakishly powerful and attractive, hide your credit card or else you will probably buy one.
• MacBook Air gets updated at both 11″ and 13″ models, 4GB RAM standard and accepts maximum 8GB RAM, Ivy Bridge CPU, USB 3.0, Intel HD 4000 GPU, faster SSD drives, FaceTime HD camera, all models $100 cheaper. Decent update to great Macs.
• Existing MacBook Pro 13″ and MacBook Pro 15″ models got minor spec updates, Ivy Bridge CPU’s, Nvidia 650M GPU, it’s a matter of opinion but compared to the new Retina MacBook Pro and update MacBook Air line the MacBook Pro is now officially boring.
• OS X Mountain Lion release set for next month, priced at $19.99 and a single purchase installs on all of your Macs. As we mentioned a while back, you can upgrade directly from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion too. OS X 10.8 also has over 200 new features, heavy iCloud integration, iMessage, Share Sheets, Power Nap, and much more.
• OS X Mountain Lion Dev Preview 4 is now available for developers.
• Mac Pro got a quiet minor update so boring that it’s barely worth mentioning.
• MacBook Pro 17″ was silently discontinued. But did we mention the Retina MacBook Pro 15″?

iOS 6 and iOS Related

• iOS 6 Announced: Everyone knew it was coming but iOS 6 was officially announced at WWDC, along with a loose release date of “Fall” which probably coincides with whenever the next iPhone will arrive. Over 200 new features are packed into the update.
• New Maps app with turn-by-turn directions, crowd sourced traffic updates, and more
• FaceTime comes to 3G and 4G networks
• Siri gets major updates and improvements, can launch apps.
• Siri comes to iPad 3 with iOS 6
• Many new cars will have Siri integration, Apple working with auto manufacturers to bring Siri buttons directly into the steering wheel of upcoming cars, support from a huge range of manufacturers
• iOS 6 beta 1 for developers is now available to download.
• iPad “Smart Case” released, it’s basically a Smart Cover with rear protection as well.

Mac & iOS Related

• New AirPort Express was introduced
• Back to School Promo starts today for students, $100 iTunes gift card for a new Mac purchase, and $50 with a new iPad purchase
• iTunes 10.6.3 is out, has bug fixes and required for installing the iOS 6 beta

And that’s about it.

Available Download iOS 6 Beta 1 for Developer

The first developer beta of iOS 6 is now available to download for anyone registered with Apple’s Developer program. Arriving as beta build 10A5316k, it represents the first time developers outside of Apple will have a look at the new iOS version, which includes over 200 new features. A few of the most anticipated components of iOS 6 are the new Maps app with turn-by-turn directions, Siri for iPad 3, and FaceTime over 3G.

iOS 6 beta 1 is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch 4th gen, iPad 2, and iPad 3. There is a separate version available for Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3 as well. Installing any of the beta builds requires iTunes 10.6.3, and Xcode 4.5 developer preview is also available for developers to download.

Registered developers can get the updates now from Apple’s Dev Center, joining Apple’s developer program costs $99 per yearly membership. For everyone else, iOS 6 will be released in the fall as a free update. 

How To Redownload & Reinstall Apps on iOS

You can redownload and reinstall any previously purchased apps that have since been deleted from an iOS device, even if you deleted them a long time ago or never even installed them in the first place. Here is how:

1. Launch “App Store” on the iOS device
2. Tap on the “Purchased” tab at the bottom of the screen (iPhone & iPod users tap “Updates” and then “Purchased”)




3. Tap “Not On This iPad” or “Not On This iPhone” to see the list of apps that are not installed on the device
4. Find the app you wish to redownload and reinstall and tap the download icon, it’s a cloud with an arrow on it

This is what you’d do if you want to reinstall an app you deleted to quickly free up some space on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod that has run out of storage capacity. Likewise, this is the same procedure to restore an app that was accidentally deleted.

Another side to this is you can download and install apps you bought or owned on a different iOS device onto a new different one. All of this is possible thanks to the generous App Store policy that lets you buy an app once and then have free recurring downloads available for free, as long as it’s on an authorized device using the same Apple ID.