Thursday, February 9, 2017

Apple rolling out macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta 2 for Mac

By the time you read this, the latest version of Mac OS X – sorry – macOS, will be available to download from the App Store. macOS 10.12 Sierra, to give it its full title, finally sees Apple move away from the OS X nomenclature given to every version of its desktop operating system since 2001. 

You might be thinking, "Why macOS?" Well, the answer is simple: the new naming convention brings it in line with Apple's other operating systems: iOSwatchOS and tvOS. After previously naming versions of OS X after big cats of some description, the company turned to locations in California for recent releases.

Apple tends to release new versions of macOS with a "tick, tock" cadence. Back in 2009 it followed up OS X 10.5 Leopard, which introduced hundreds of new features and improvements, with Snow Leopard – a performance-focused update. It repeated the trick with Sierra's predecessor, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, which was basically a much faster version of Yosemite with a few new multi-tasking features baked in for good measure. 

Instead of using the new name as an opportunity to overhaul OS X, Apple has made Sierra another iterative release in the vein of its recent predecessors. 

However, it makes a clear attempt at swinging the focus back to new functionality and features, rather than performance. Sierra places a firm focus on usability while allowing you to be more productive on the desktop - especially so if you use your Mac in conjunction with Apple's mobile devices. 

Whether you're clasping a shiny new iPhone 7 or Apple Watch 2 in your hand, Apple wants you to make you feel like your investments are more than the sum of their parts. Clearly this is something of a double-edged sword, as Mac owners that don't own them are bound to feel like they're missing out. Not prepared to buy more Apple products? Then the message is clear: you're not getting the full experience.

It almost feels churlish to moan, however, as Sierra continues tradition by leaping from the App Store onto your machine for the princely sum of nothing – just like every version of macOS has been since OS X 10.9 Mavericks. A word of warning, though: be sure to check out Sierra's system requirements before you hit the download button, as they are more taxing than what has gone before.Supported Macs 

Here are the Mac models that are compatible with macOS Sierra:

  • MacBook (Late 2009 and later)
  • iMac (Late 2009 and later)
  • MacBook Air (2010 and later)
  • MacBook Pro (2010 and later)
  • Mac mini (2010 and later)
  • Mac Pro (2010 and later)
Latest news 

A few months past the release of macOS Sierra, Apple’s newest operating system continues to serve as a highlighted selling point for prospective Mac buyers. And, now that it’s patched out one of the new MacBook Pro’s battery life issues, macOS has that much less to hold it back. 

Speaking of MacBook Pro, a handful of new Kaby Lake models have been discovered in the second macOS 10.12.4 software beta. This news stems from Apple fan site Pike’s Universum, who claims to have discovered that there are two 13-inch MacBook Pro sans Touch Bar models, three 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models and three 15-inch MacBook Pro models in the works. 

What’s more, Night Shift is coming to macOS, too, complete with all the proven color temperature techniques to help deter restlessness. If you’re up late at night browsing the web on your Mac rather than your iPhone or iPad, the reduction in blue light should have the same effect here as it does there.Siri lands on the Mac 

With Siri's arrival on the Mac, owners of Apple's computers no longer have to look at iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch owners with envy. Apple's personal assistant is arguably even more useful on the Mac than it is on the company's mobile platforms as you can drag and drop Siri's search results from the Notifications pane and into other apps for sharing or accessing on a later date. 

Those results include images pulled from the web, which appear as thumbnails along the right-hand edge. Siri can also retrieve other information as part of searches, including maps results, location data and user reviews courtesy of Yelp. 

As far as its basic operation goes, Siri works just the same on the Mac as it does on other devices. You click the purple icon in the top right-hand corner, instead of holding a button, before speaking into your Mac's microphone. You're given a five second window before Siri gives you what can only be described as a digital nudge and reminds you of what phrases you can ask. 

You can also retrieve a list of actions that Siri can perform by simply asking, "What can you do?". Some are basic, such as asking Siri to open a folder on the Mac or launch an app. It's also possible to start a FaceTime call, set up a meeting using the macOS Calendar, or find photos from a particular date. If you're a social media addict, the ability to post updates to Twitter and Facebook could prove a big time-saver. 

So, how well does it work? Very, in fact: Siri's voice recognition engine is near-flawless. Even in my strong regional accent, it picked up what I was saying almost every time. Siri only struggled with words that sound the same but are spelled differently. For example, she repeatedly failed to distinguish the difference between questions based around the country Wales, and ones about whales.Siri commands to try 

Things that you can ask Siri include:

  • Tell me what movies are playing today
  • Read my latest email
  • Text John 'See you soon smiley exclamation point'
  • Find a table for four tonight
  • Call Dad at work
  • Find me books by C.S. Lewis
  • How's the weather in London on Saturday?
  • Did Manchester United win?
Keeping tabs 

It's now possible to use tabs in any almost application, whereas El Capitan restricted them to OS-specific apps such as Safari, and Finder. Apple's apps that support tabs from the off include Mail, Maps, TextEdit and the three iWork apps - Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Apple says that you can open tabs in any app without the need for extra coding from developers, but that depends. That is the case where the app can open multiple windows, but you aren't suddenly going to be flicking through tabs in ones like Spotify, Ulysses or Evernote, which already have their own sidebar-based navigation systems. 

Apps that currently support tabs let you activate tabs using the View menu. The obvious benefit here is that you don't have to open as many new windows to multi-task, which comes in especially useful in split screen mode. For example, somebody writing up an essay could position Safari (or any other browser) on the left and Pages on the right. Previously it would have only been possible to view one website at a time in full screen mode, whereas tabs allow multiple webpages to be opened. 

This can be particularly useful when used in conjunction with note-taking services such as Evernote. Suddenly it's possible to flick between multiple notes open in various tabs for retrieving information while maximizing the amount of information that can be displayed on the other half of the screen. It's especially useful for owners of Apple's Macs that don't offer much real estate - including both sizes of its MacBook Air and even the 12-inch MacBook. 

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