Stack Overflow reports that more developers now use OS X than Linux as their primary OS, and that if the trend continues, fewer than half of all developers will be using Windows next year.

One of the first people to try Windows 10 on the new Retina MacBook says that it actually runs more smoothly than OS X. The comment was made by Computer Science major Alex King, who tried upgrading his Boot Camp installation of Windows 8.1 to the preview of Windows 10.

Here’s the real kicker: it’s fast. It’s smooth. It renders at 60FPS unless you have a lot going on. It’s unequivocally better than performance on OS X, further leading me to believe that Apple really needs to overhaul how animations are done. Even when I turn Transparency off in OS X, Mission Control isn’t completely smooth. Here, even after some Aero Glass transparency has been added in, everything is smooth. It’s remarkable, and it makes me believe in the 12-inch MacBook more than ever before.

If you’re fortunate enough to have taken delivery of your own Retina MacBook and want to try the experiment for yourself, be prepared for a few glitches along the way. King said that not all of the Boot Camp drivers automatically installed, there’s no Bluetooth support and some Windows apps (like Steam) look blurry because they don’t support the full resolution of the Retina display. But overall, the experience sounds like a good one.

If you’re still not sure whether you’re the target market for the new lower-powered, ultra-portable machine, you can check out our own in-depth review and one-month-in video of just what it can and can’t do.

Apple today has released a pair of Safari betas for earlier version of OS X. Safari 7.1.5 beta for OS X Mavericks and version 6.2.5 beta for OS X Mountain Lion are both available on the Mac Developer Center for registered developers. Safari 8.0.5, which includes the same upgrades as the Mavericks and Mountain Lion versions, is not available as a separate download, but it comes as part of the OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 developer and public betas. Here are the focus areas for these Safari betas:

Following the launch of the current Mac mini in October of last fall, we noted that Apple had removed an option to purchase the entry-level Mac with 2TB of storage. It appears Apple has listened to feedback, and now users can, once again, buy a Mac mini with 2TB of storage. According to our digging into web archives, the 2TB option returned for the priciest Mac mini model in mid-December, right around the Christmas holidays. The 2TB Fusion Drive upgrade costs a $100 more than the 1TB drive, and it requires the machine to be built-to-order. Thanks, Bartosz for the initial find. 

Data from the NPD group indicates that MacBook sales grew 16 percent year-on-year during the 10-week back-to-school period, measured from 4th July to Labor Day week. The most significant sales were seen during the last three weeks of the period, where sales were up 27 percent.

Overall Mac back-to-school market share climbed from 24.2% last year to 26.8% this year, while Windows fell from 72.3% to 64.8%. The most dramatic growth, though, was seen in low-cost Chrome OS devices, up from 0.2% in 2012 to 3.3% last year and 4.5% now.

It’s interesting to see Mac sales continue to climb despite competition from low-cost notebooks. IDC data last month showed that iOS market share declined slightly due to competition from low-cost Android devices.

Lenovo’s $2.91 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google is still pending regulatory approval, however it looks like the company is already mapping out a new strategy. Despite being one of the world’s largest PC makers, Lenovo is halting the development of Windows tablets under 10 inches in size and migrating its remaining inventory to markets like Brazil, China and Japan where there’s more of a need for low-cost slates.

Apple, in turn, has had a huge success with the 7.9-inch iPad Mini which quickly became one of its best sellers after its introduction almost 2 years ago.

A day after it released an SMC update to address MacBook Air battery issues, Apple has issued an EFI update for the same mid-2013 and early-2014 models to address various other issues:

This update is recommended for MacBook Air (mid 2013 and early 2014) models.

This update improves reliability when waking from sleep and when booting while certain USB and Thunderbolt devices are connected.

This update also addresses a rare memory issue that may cause the system to randomly reboot, and an issue where the system may not properly sleep the built-in display when an external display is connected while running Windows using Boot Camp.

The update can be downloaded directly from Apple’s support website or it can be found via the Software Update tab in the Mac App Store.

[ooyala code=”tyZ3RkZDptTdk4MiQaHJVCnxUdZyD8pf” player_id=”null”]

Today Autodesk launched FBX Review for Apple Mac OS X and iOS 7. The free standalone app gives professional artists and animators a powerful, lightweight tool to conduct detailed reviews of a wide range of 3D assets, including detailed 3D models, environments and character animations.

Now artists on the Windows or Apple platforms can use FBX Review to view 3D assets with a full feature set, without using commercial 3D animation software. An artist working in Autodesk 3ds Max can send an animation file to anyone who has installed FBX Review, and the recipient will have a full menu of features with which to view the assets.

New features coming to the Apple platforms are:

• Support for ZIP files: makes asset review easier by supporting ZIP files containing both geometry and texture files. When opening the ZIP fileFBX Review automatically assigns the textures, helping to streamline the review process by eliminating the need to bake textures.
• Geometry cache support: supports geometry cache playback, including Maya cache, 3ds Max cache, and the Alembic cache format. Geometry cache support is available only on desktop versions of FBX Review.
• Re-focus perspective camera: FX Review now supports changing the focus of the perspective camera by double tapping (mobile) or double-clicking (desktop) on the desired area of focus.

To download FBX Review for iOS, visit: http://autode.sk/1qzHAFX  and for Mac OS X: http://autode.sk/1spZtmp 

For a complete list of FBX Review features, visit: http://area.autodesk.com/products/features/fbx

After spending about a month and a half in the beta channel, Chrome is rolling out Google Now notifications to all users. To activate the feature, Google says to sign in with the same Google account used on iOS.

Some sums done by ComputerWorld show that Mac users are four times more likely to upgrade to the latest available version of the operating system than Windows users.

Microsoft has convinced just 11.6 percent of Windows users who acquired their system since 2001 and still actively use it to go online to migrate to the current edition of its operating system […]

Apple’s convinced 41.6 percent of Mac users who acquired their system since 2001 and still actively use them online to adopt the current edition of the OS.

A large part of it is cost, of course: Mavericks was a free upgrade, and previous upgrades have been priced far more competitively than Windows.

But Apple has also offered a simpler upgrade path, adding features rather than making major changes to the core user-interface. OS X also operates more efficiently, allowing Mavericks to run well on far older hardware than is the case for Windows 8.

From 9to5Toys.com:

Parallels again offers its $79.99 bundle of impressive apps at the retail price of Parallels alone.  Each one of the below apps is a keeper and they are all free with the purchase of the Parallels 9. You even get 6 free months of use of the Parallels iPad App.

We reviewed Parallels 9 in September and said:

PD9 is definitely the most noticeable Parallels Desktop upgrade ever. The performance boosts are the best part of the upgrade, but the sticky multi-monitor setup has been extremely helpful for me and saved quite a bit of time. As a Mavericks user, the software hasn’t been giving me any issues even though the operating system is still in beta.

Already have an older version of Parallels? Save $30 and get the ‘v9 Update bundle’ for $49.99.

From 9to5Toys.com:

Parallels again offers its $50 bundle of impressive apps at a $20 discount off the retail price of Parallels alone.  Each one of the below apps is a keeper and they are all free with the discounted purchase of the Parallels update. You even get 6 free months of use of the iPad App.

Note this is a Parallels update so you’ll need an older copy laying around, The full Parallels 9 bundle is $79.99

Save $319.99 – Buy Parallels Desktop for Mac and Parallels Access bundle

If you need occasional access to Windows and don’t want to install it from a DVD, a how-to guide by Sam Power may have the perfect solution. It talks you through exactly how to create a Bootcamp-compatible USB key installer for either Windows 7 or 8 compatible.

A 4GB USB key is sufficient, and the complete process can be done in 20-40 minutes.

(Update: sorry for the confusion. You can’t install Bootcamp onto a USB Key yet. You’ll need Paralllels or VWMware for that.)

If ever there was a simple visual to illustrate just how slow Microsoft was to wake up to the shift into mobile, it’s this one: a full 70 percent of Windows users also own at least one Apple product.

While there will be some joint Windows/OS X users in there, the majority of them will be people with Windows PCs and either an iPhone, iPad or iPod.

Via Business Insider

Wifi-equipped cameras have long been one of those things that promise more than they deliver. In theory, you can take a photo on your camera and have it instantly and wirelessly transferred to your Mac. In practice, not so much. You either need to go via an iOS device, or go via a router with ridiculously-convoluted networking configuration required to make it work. 

Eye-Fi seems to be getting one step closer to the theory, announcing beta software at the Showstoppers CES event that allows photos to be sent direct from camera to Mac. The beta version is free, though you have to register for the company’s labs project to get access, but it seems the release version will be chargeable.

The app is only compatible with Mobi cards – earlier versions won’t work. Hopefully the reliability of the cards has improved since I last tried them.

There’s been no shortage of debate regarding Apple’s latest holiday commercial as some have found it inspiring and emotional as others find it ridiculous and lacking a clear message. There will be debate in the coming weeks over Apple’s intentions with the message and whether or not they succeeded in tugging at our heartstrings. That being said, Apple looks like a gem, an angel, a bright light on a dark road compared to Nokia’s newest ad for the Lumia 2520. It’s true that Apple may have paused its traditional product-first advertising angle and replaced it with an arguably emotional holiday spot for the iPhone 5s, but it works leaps and bounds better than Nokia’s latest embarrassing excuse for advertising.

It looks rather like a steampunk version of a traditional 16mm cinema camera, and that was indeed the inspiration behind the SI-2K Black Betty, a camera aimed at independent film-makers and used as a secondary camera in the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

It combines a Silicon Imaging 2K camera head, with its film-like 2/3″ CMOS Imager, with an SSD-equipped Mac Mini inside running Silicon Imaging SiliconDVR software. A 7-inch touchscreen monitor completes the package. The result is a self-contained camera that allows the film-maker to shoot, edit and upload.

As the name suggests, it’s capable of shooting 2K video at 30fps. If you know your videography, it shoots CineForm compressed RAW files with up to 11-stops of dynamic range at up to 500ISO. If you don’t, well, let’s just say it’s a very capable camera.

The Mac Mini was likely chosen because it offers the capability of a desktop machine in something with very low energy requirements: the complete system uses only 40 watts.

The Black Betty has only two physical buttons: on/off and start/stop: everything else is controlled via the touchscreen.

Sadly for Mac fans, the Mini isn’t running OSX: the SiliconDVR software is Windows-based, so that’s what the machine runs – but that’s one of the beauties of a Mac, you can run OSX, Windows or both.

The camera isn’t available to purchase, but you can rent one via Rule Boston Camera.

Via Engadget

MacTech Magazine, which recently announced its upcoming MacTech BootCamp II, today looked at two of the most popular virtualization products for Mac with an in-depth benchmarking analysis of the most recent versions of Parallels Desktop 8 and VMware Fusion 5. We have seen Parallels 8 come out on top in benchmarks from previous reports, but this is by far the most comprehensive comparison.

MacTech put the two apps to the test in a number of areas including launching various OSes, application performance, 3D graphics tests, Retina Support, and much more. The conclusion: Parallels Desktop 8 won on the majority of general tests and 62 percent of 3D graphics tests.

In the vast majority of our overall tests, Parallels Desktop 8 won. Again, if you count up the general tests (including the top 3D graphics scores), Parallels won 56% of the tests by 10% or more. If you include all the tests where Parallels was at least 5% faster, as well as the balance of the 3DMark06 graphics tests, Parallels increased the lead further.

We recommend checking out MacTech’s lengthy analysis.

Parallels 8 for Mac currently sells for $55 on Amazon, while VMware Fusion 5 is available for as low as $46.99.

According to a job listing from game developer DICE, EA might be looking to bring its popular Battlefield 3 franchise to OS X. The Battlefield3Blog pointed us to the job listing seeking a Mac OS X engineer to be”part of a team focusing on bringing Frostbite to Mac.”

Frostbite is looking for developers who want to join us in taking our engine to the next level. You will be part of a team focusing on bringing Frostbite to Mac and work closely with game team customers and the Frostbite team to deliver an engine as great on OS X as it is on Windows and traditional console platforms.

With plans to bring the Frostbite game engine to Mac, it could also mean EA plans to bring Frostbite-powered titles previously only available on Windows, Xbox, and PS3 to the Mac. There is no mention of specific games, but on top of the Battlefield series, Frostbite has been used for Need for Speed and Medal of Honor titles. We’re assuming this is for Frostbite 2, but there’s also a possibility it could be a next generation of the engine.

If you haven’t heard, those who purchased a new Mac with Apple’s built-to-order 3TB hard drive option found themselves unable to utilize Boot Camp assistant to install Windows. Boot Camp Assistant is currently limited to drives up to 2.2TB. Apple hinted that support might come at a later date, but TwoCanoes shares a step-by-step guide for getting the job done in Boot Camp until then:

Since it is not possible to get around the 2.2 TB limitation with booting Windows, it is possible to organize the partitions so that Windows is the last of the first four partitons and is within the first 2.2 TBs of space on the drive. Since the Mac can see the remaining space above the 2.2 TB limit, this space can be used for addtional storage space for OS X.

In order for Windows to boot successfully and still be able to utilize all of the available space on a 3 TB (or larger) hard drive, Windows must be installed on the fourth partition. You can use Disk Utility to create the partition, but since Disk Utility does not show hidden partitions, it can be difficult to see what is going on if some partitions are hidden. To have Disk Utility show hidden partitions, open Terminal and run the following command:

You can get the full instructions on TwoCanoes here.

From 9to5Toys.com:

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Mac bundle season continues with a big one from StackSocial. Dubbed the Mac Utility Bundle, they’ve managed to knock $20 off the price of Parallels ($79 regular price) alone and added 4 more helpful utilities to boot. Great way to start off any Mac purchase you may be doing this holiday season.

Details below or on StackSocial.

Tim Bray notes a post on Neohapsis:

A working exploit for Sophos 8.0.6 on Mac is available, however the techniques used in the exploit easily transfer to Windows and Linux, due to multiple critical implementation flaws described in the paper. Testcases for the other flaws described in the paper are available on request.

Sophos responded with a post on the multiple vulnerabilities, and it responded over and over that “Sophos has seen no evidence of this vulnerability being exploited in the wild.” But, is that really good enough? How about issuing a fix in the two plus months that they’ve known about these issues?  It only takes one wild exploit.

Sophos gave 9to5Mac the following comment:

Some were fixed last month, and for others we started rolling out patches to our users today.  :-)

Users of Sophos products should be automatically updated, but if anyone wants to be sure they can initiate a manual update.

40.714513-74.005122

Here’s the Fun FAQ for Microsoft Surface users who are wondering why the 32GB version they bought actually only has 16GB of usable space:

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While Microsoft will certainly get off on the wrong foot here in terms of customer expectations, they are still technically accurate—at least in the old desktop world. When you buy a Windows/Mac machine with a 100GB HDD, you expect some of that (but certainly not half of it!) to be used by system software.  However, with the paired-down iOS/Android OSes currently so optimized, you pretty much get what it says on the box.

We reported on a Microsoft Engineer last month, saying users would have more than 20 GB of space.

This is part of Microsoft’s no compromises approach. You get a bunch of legacy stuff that requires a lot of legacy space.

[Via Engadget]

The 32 GB Surface tablet costs the same as the 16GB iPad, but it also comes with twice the storage capacity—or at least that’s what everyone thought until Microsoft’s AMA on Reddit yesterday.

Daring Fireball just linked to one of the Surface Team’s responses that regarded how much free space the tablet actually has available:

So, the entry-level Surface delivers 20 GB of free space with Office and a few apps, eh?

In case you did not know, the iPad’s OS consumes around 1 GB of space. But that’s not all: Microsoft’s Steven Bathiche handled more questions as to whether the Surface’s display stands up to the new iPad’s Retina display.

After giving a long-winded description of Microsoft’s ClearType display technology, Bathiche concluded, “[sic] Doing a side by side with the new iPad in a consistently lit room, we have had many people see more detail on Surface RT than on the Ipad with more resolution.”

Again, in case you did not know, the current iPad offers a 2,048-by-1,536-pixel resolution. Surface for Windows RT has a 1,366-by-768-pixel resolution.

The full AMA thread: IAm Panos Panay, GM of Microsoft Surface, AMAA – Ask Me or My Team Almost Anything