As I'm sure most of you have noticed, MacOSXHints was not in action since mid-May. There was an issue with the site software, but I'm really happy to say that is now fixed, and I look forward to resuming publication of new hints. This is especially pleasing as the Public Beta of OS X Yosemite approaches, and the new goodies in iOS 8 as well.
Today is my last day running the Mac OS X Hints website. I'd like to thank all of the site's readers, and especially those who have submitted hints, for visiting the site and helping us provide neat hints and tips about OS X.
Lex Friedman of Macworld will be replacing me. I wish him all the best, and hope that Mac OS X Hints continues to be a place where you can find great ways to work more efficiently with your Mac.
Now that Apple has presented the iPhone 5, will you buy one? It's an evolution, not a revolution, and many people won't see the need to upgrade. In addition, lots of iPhone owners get subsidized phones and are stuck with contracts. What about you? Vote in the iPhone 5 poll.
With Amazon due to present new Kindles today, I thought it would be an interesting poll topic to discuss which ebook reader you prefer (assuming you use one).
You may have more than one - I have a Kindle Touch and an iPad. (I also have an iPhone and iPod touch, but don't consider them practical for reading books.) But which one do you use most? Which do you really prefer?
For me, I like the Kindle Touch because it's a lot lighter than the iPad. However, the lack of a backlight is limiting, so I do use my iPad from time to time. And for this reason, an iPad mini or iPad air would suit me quite well for reading.
Vote in the poll. And feel free to post any comments here or on the poll page.
My guess is that a fair number of people likely to submit hints about Mountain Lion have developer accounts and are already running the GM. If so, you can start submitting hints now; there is already a System 10.8 category. I won't run any of these until the official release date, but I'll be able to test and prepare them in advance.
I'm looking forward to tons of interesting hints with Mountain Lion. And thanks in advance for submitting them!
As SSDs become more common, and prices drop, more and more people are either buying Macs with SSDs, or installing them in their Macs. Personally, I started using an SSD with the first MacBook Air in 2008, and bought my current Mac - a Mac mini, purchased in 2011 - with an SSD. The gains in performance are huge, though the price still makes them a choice that is not for everyone.
So, what about you? Does your main Mac - the one you use most - have an SSD? Feel free to post in the comments to the poll which model, whether you bought it with the Mac or installed it yourself, or any other comments you may have about SSDs.
It's time for a new poll. Following Apple's quarterly earnings call, where the company announced selling 4 million Macs in the last quarter (see Macworld's discussion of Apple's earnings), this could be a good time to find out which model Mac OS X Hints readers prefer. Will it turn out that laptops are popular with readers of this site? They represent 70% of Apple's sales. Or is the Mac Pro still a favorite?
You can vote in the poll, and feel free to post comments on that page about why you selected a specific model.
Mac malware has been in the news, with the Flashback malware taking advantage of a Java vulnerability to infect several hundred thousand Macs. Macworld ran a detailed article by Rich Mogull giving the history of this malware, and discussing how it works and what you can do. But it's clear that this target represents a new level of malware on the Mac, being "the first widespread drive-by malware to attack Macs," and, as Mogull says, "it does represent a major advance."