‘Destiny 2’ studio will remove armor that looks like a ‘hate symbol’

Destiny 2 came out much fanfare September 5th, with a much-improved storyline and a better shared-world experience. One of the fun bits of the meta gameplay is finding improved armor and weapons that can make your Guardian even more of a badass than before. On Twitter, developer Bungie said that it had found a set of gauntlets (armor gloves) that shared “elements with a hate symbol.” The development team promised that this was “not intentional,” and that it will be “removing it.”

1/2 It’s come to our attention that a gauntlet in Destiny 2 shares elements with a hate symbol. It is not intentional. We are removing it.

— Bungie (@Bungie) September 12, 2017

A second tweet offered the company’s deepest apologies, saying that such hate symbols do not represent its values. The team is “working quickly to correct this. We renounce hate in all forms.”

While Bungie gave no specifics as to which armored gauntlet it was referring to, Polygon reports that a Reddit user thinks that they have figured it out. According to the Destiny 2 subreddit, the Road Complex AA1 gauntlets have a symbol on the shoulder that looks similar to the fictional flag of Kekistan, which some associate with the alt-right and hate-groups. The Kekistan flag itself seems to share much in common with the Nazi flag flown by Germany in World War II. We’ve reached out to Bungie to find out more on this matter and will update this post when we hear back.

Via: Polygon

Source: Bungie/Twitter

Apple’s New iPhone Lineup: SE for $349, 6s for $449, 7 for $549, 8 for $699, X for $999

With the introduction of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, Apple has lowered its prices on previous iPhone models, introducing a new iPhone lineup that offers devices at a range of different price points.

The 4-inch iPhone SE continues to be Apple’s most affordable iPhone, but it has a new lower price point. Pricing on the iPhone SE starts at $349 for the 32GB version and goes up to $449 for the 128GB version. With carrier financing, prices start at $14.55 per month.

The iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus are the middle-tier devices, available in 32 and 128GB capacities. Pricing on the iPhone 6s starts at $449 ($18.71/month with carrier financing), while pricing on the iPhone 6s Plus starts at $549 ($22.88/month with carrier financing).

Apple is continuing to offer the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, also in 32 and 128GB capacities. Pricing on the iPhone 7 starts at $549 ($22.80/month with carrier financing) and pricing on the iPhone 7 Plus starts at $669 ($27.88/month with carrier financing).

Apple’s new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are available in 64 and 256GB capacities. The iPhone 8 is priced at $699 for the 64GB model and $849 for the 256GB model. With the iPhone Upgrade Program, prices start at $34.50 per month.

The iPhone 8 Plus is priced at $799 for the 64GB model and $949 for the 256GB model. With the iPhone Upgrade Program, prices start at $39.50 per month.

The iPhone X is the new flagship high-end iPhone, available in 64 and 256GB capacities. The 64GB iPhone X is priced at $999, or $49.91 per month with the iPhone Upgrade Program, while the 256GB model is priced at $1,149 or $56.16 per month with the iPhone Upgrade Program.

The iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus will be available for pre-order on Friday, September 15, with the devices launching on September 22. The iPhone X will be available for pre-order on October 27 ahead of a November 3 launch.

Related Roundups: iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone SE, iPhone 8, iPhone X
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone (Don’t Buy), iPhone SE (Caution)
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Charitybuzz Auctioning Off Vintage ‘Schoolsky’ Apple-1 Computer

Charitybuzz today launched an auction for a rare Apple-1 computer known as the “Schoolsky” Apple-1. The Schoolsky Apple-1 earned its name from Adam Schoolsky, who was gifted the computer by Steve Wozniak when he worked at Apple. It was never sold to the public.

David Larson, who purchased the computer from Adam Schoolsky in 1994, is selling it via Charitybuzz. The Apple-1 was constructed by Steve Wozniak and it is in working condition.

It comes with an original Apple-1 operation manual, original box, Apple-1 Cassette Interface Card and early cassette, an original advertisement for the Apple-1, three issues of 1970s magazine the Silicon Gulch Gazette, a conference program for the first West Coast Computer Faire, a letter from Adam Schoolsky to David Larson, a drawing from original Apple employee Ron Wayne, and more.

The Apple-1 Cassette Interface Card in particular is a rare find with an Apple-1, as most of the surviving machines do not include it. The card is designed to allow the Apple-1 to be connected to a cassette recorder.

Back when the company was first founded, Apple made 175 Apple-1 machines by hand. Only 50 to 60 of the machines still exist today, and just a handful of those are functional.

Previous Apple-1 auctions have brought in up to $905,000. The last Charitybuzz auction for an Apple-1, the “Celebration” model, sold for $815,000.

A portion of the proceeds from the Charitybuzz auction will benefit the Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service, aka FAIRS. Founded in 1991, FAIRS educates citizens about disaster preparedness and provides radio equipment and technology for areas in need.
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AI re-creates ‘Super Mario Bros.’ game engine by watching gameplay footage

Why it matters to you

AIs aren’t just getting good at playing video games — they are teaching themselves about how they work under the hood based on nothing more than video footage.

Over the past few years, we have seen various attempts to teach an artificial intelligence how to play a video game. Now, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Interactive Computing published a paper outlining a method of teaching AI how to learn a game engine.

In previous projects, the AI has only been instructed on how to excel at a particular game. This study goes one step further, aiming to instill a deeper understanding of the mechanics at play, rather than just the fastest route to success.

The researchers decided to use Super Mario Bros. for the study, describing it in the paper as a “classic platformer.” The same game was at the core of previous researchers performed by the study’s authors, which developed an AI that was capable of creating new stages in the vein of those seen in the original.

For the purposes of this research, the AI was not given access to the game’s code, which would make it very easy for it to understand things like the height that the character could achieve with a jump or the effect various enemies had on the protagonist. Instead, it was fed video footage that it used to make assumptions how the game engine worked.

The footage was analyzed via a three-step process, starting with a scan that determines which objects were present in a given frame. A greedy matching algorithm was then run over a pair of adjacent frames to gauge changes made to those objects before each frame was parsed — if the second frame differed beyond a set amount from what the system expected to see in the next frame, an engine search would be performed.

“We anticipate this technique to aid in applications for automated game playing, explainable AI, gameplay transfer, and game design tasks such as automated game design,” the team states in the paper.

However, there are some limitations to the AI in its current form. For one, the technique that is currently in place doesn’t take player death or level transitions into account, but the team hopes to address this issue in a future study.

Here are five things we like about the iPhone X (and two we don’t)

Not content with two next-generation iPhones (the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus), Apple chose to give its audience a third helping with the iPhone X (pronounced “ten”). Apple hails the new phone as the future of the smartphone, and while such lofty praise is nothing new from the company, the iPhone X does have some nifty features. Here are five things we like about the iPhone X, and a couple things we don’t.

What we like

No more home button

Lately, Apple seems driven to ax features from its products. First went the headphone jack, now the home button. Whereas the removal of the headphone jack was a travesty for anyone who prefers to listen to music on a nice pair of wired headphones — and drew criticism at the time of announcement — it’s doubtful anyone will miss the home button. The iPhone X’s display now runs edge-to-edge, top-to-bottom, and users can return to the home screen with a simple swipe. Although the iPhone X still has buttons on the sides, the removal of the home button is the next step toward a gesture-oriented future for smartphones, and it contributes to the phone’s minimalist appearance.

FaceID could be convenient

The home button didn’t just let you jump to the home screen, however; it also contained a fingerprint sensor for easy unlocking. Apple has decided that fingerprint scanners are old hat, apparently, and the iPhone X instead uses a robust suite of sensors to scan the user’s face, immediately unlocking whenever they look at the phone. Apple claims that FaceID will even adapt to changes in the user’s face, so if you grow a beard or put on a funny hat, your phone should still recognize you. This could theoretically remove even the tiny inconvenience of pressing your thumb to a sensor, although any technical hiccups would be annoying.

True Depth camera system makes for lovely photos

People use their iPhones as much for photography as for calls these days, and Apple has continually upgraded the cameras in its phones for ever more beautiful photographs. The True Depth camera system not only lets you unlock your phone with a glance, but it makes for some nifty social features, too. The advanced front-facing camera allows users to use the new Portrait lighting feature for stunning selfies. In a wacky twist, users can also use the camera system to create “animoji,” emoji you can animate using facial movements, even recording voice messages. Some might say this ruins the elegance of old-fashioned emoji, but the animoji feature at least looks fun.

Longer battery life

All this new hardware under the hood seems like it would require sacrifices, specifically to battery life, but Apple claims that the iPhone X’s battery will actually last two hours longer than the iPhone 7’s. That’s a nice boon, especially paired with the next feature.

Wireless charging

Is there anything worse than fumbling with a cord as you try to plug your phone in while in a moving car, or lugging your bags around an airport, or simply lying in bed in the dark? The iPhone X can eliminate that frustration via Qi wireless charging technology. Apple is even rolling out its own AirPower charging mat, which accommodate the iPhone X, Apple Watch, and AirPods, and is large enough to fit all of them at the same time. That means no more fighting with your friend for control of the one USB cable in the room!

What we don’t like

All-glass display could be fragile?

The iPhone X sports glass on the front and back, and while that contributes to the phone’s sleek aesthetic, it also poses some risks. Will the glass scratch or even shatter if one drops their phone? Will the glass be prone to fingerprints and smudging, a problem exacerbated by the increased focus on swiping and other gestures? These are concerns that have arisen with other glass-screen phones; it may behoove you to get a sturdy case for your iPhone X.

Is FaceID the next step toward a cyberpunk future?

The iPhone X’s face-scanning technology may be a convenient way to unlock your phone, but it also raises some unsettling concerns about privacy. In a world where massive data leaks are commonplace (and protections for consumers scarce), how safe is it to have a detailed, digital scan of your face stored on your phone? Imagine a world where face-scanning becomes commonplace, where it can be used for everything from unlocking your front door to making a withdrawal at an ATM.

What happens if data thieves can then steal your face? Even if hackers never manage to get your face-scan data, one should always be concerned about what corporations like Apple are doing with it. For years now, tech companies have been stretching their tendrils into every facet of consumer’s lives, and handing over biometric data is yet another concession to the growing power of corporations.

Microsoft, Google patching ‘BlueBorne’ vulnerabilities linked to Bluetooth

Why it matters to you

Microsoft and Google are now issuing patches to fix vulnerabilities related to Bluetooth, but you may want to switch it off on other platforms for now.

Bluetooth was originally created in 1998 to serve as a secure short-range wireless connection between two devices. It pairs our wireless mice to our laptops, our smartwatches to our smartphones, and so on. But a recent report published by security firm Armis points to eight Bluetooth-related vulnerabilities — four of which are critical — that reside on more than 5 billion Android, Windows, Linux, and pre-iOS 10 devices. The company dubs this “epidemic” as BlueBorne.

“These vulnerabilities are the most serious Bluetooth vulnerabilities identified to date,” Armis said on Tuesday. “Previously identified flaws found in Bluetooth were primarily at the protocol level. These new vulnerabilities are at the implementation level, bypassing the various authentication mechanisms, and enabling a complete takeover of the target device.”

The problem starts with the complexity of Bluetooth itself. The specification stretches across 2,822 pages, which is massive compared to the base Wi-Fi specification (802.11) consisting of only 450 pages. Because of its complexity, Bluetooth does not receive the same scrutinized audits as other less-complicated protocols. That means vulnerabilities get buried as Bluetooth evolves.

Many issues prior to Bluetooth v2.1 were resolved with the introduction of Secure Simple Pairing, thus the security community shifted its attention away from Bluetooth. But a thorough inspection still needed to be performed and Armis says that its discovery of eight vulnerabilities in a recent analysis of Bluetooth could very well be “the tip of the iceberg.”

Overall, the BlueBorne set of vulnerabilities can enable a hacker to take control of a device, access its content, and use it to infect other Bluetooth-enabled devices with malware. Outside the actual vulnerabilities, the root of the issue stems from keeping Bluetooth turned on. A device will listen for Bluetooth traffic even if it is not set to discoverable mode, so all a hacker needs to know is its Bluetooth device address (BDADDR), and its MAC address.

But how do you get this information? By using open-source hardware sold online that can sniff out encrypted Bluetooth connections passing through the air. These packets of information contain plain text data pointing to the Bluetooth device address. Hackers can then use that address to send unicast traffic if they are within physical proximity of the target device.

“If the device generates no Bluetooth traffic, and is only listening, it is still possible to ‘guess’ the BDADDR, by sniffing its Wi-Fi traffic,” the firm explains. “This is viable since Wi-Fi MAC addresses appear unencrypted over the air, and due to the MACs of internal Bluetooth/Wi-Fi adapters are either the same, or only differ in the last digit.”

Device owners may want to switch Bluetooth off in public until patches are released by original equipment manufacturers and platform developers. This especially holds true in corporate environments where an attacker could gain access to multiple devices, and then hop onto the local network to steal data, and more. BlueBorne should not be an issue within the home environment.

Google and Microsoft released patches on Tuesday, September 12 to address the eight vulnerabilities. Other OEMs and platform developers are working on patches as well.

Microsoft, Google patching ‘BlueBorne’ vulnerabilities linked to Bluetooth

Why it matters to you

Microsoft and Google are now issuing patches to fix vulnerabilities related to Bluetooth, but you may want to switch it off on other platforms for now.

Bluetooth was originally created in 1998 to serve as a secure short-range wireless connection between two devices. It pairs our wireless mice to our laptops, our smartwatches to our smartphones, and so on. But a recent report published by security firm Armis points to eight Bluetooth-related vulnerabilities — four of which are critical — that reside on more than 5 billion Android, Windows, Linux, and pre-iOS 10 devices. The company dubs this “epidemic” as BlueBorne.

“These vulnerabilities are the most serious Bluetooth vulnerabilities identified to date,” Armis said on Tuesday. “Previously identified flaws found in Bluetooth were primarily at the protocol level. These new vulnerabilities are at the implementation level, bypassing the various authentication mechanisms, and enabling a complete takeover of the target device.”

The problem starts with the complexity of Bluetooth itself. The specification stretches across 2,822 pages, which is massive compared to the base Wi-Fi specification (802.11) consisting of only 450 pages. Because of its complexity, Bluetooth does not receive the same scrutinized audits as other less-complicated protocols. That means vulnerabilities get buried as Bluetooth evolves.

Many issues prior to Bluetooth v2.1 were resolved with the introduction of Secure Simple Pairing, thus the security community shifted its attention away from Bluetooth. But a thorough inspection still needed to be performed and Armis says that its discovery of eight vulnerabilities in a recent analysis of Bluetooth could very well be “the tip of the iceberg.”

Overall, the BlueBorne set of vulnerabilities can enable a hacker to take control of a device, access its content, and use it to infect other Bluetooth-enabled devices with malware. Outside the actual vulnerabilities, the root of the issue stems from keeping Bluetooth turned on. A device will listen for Bluetooth traffic even if it is not set to discoverable mode, so all a hacker needs to know is its Bluetooth device address (BDADDR), and its MAC address.

But how do you get this information? By using open-source hardware sold online that can sniff out encrypted Bluetooth connections passing through the air. These packets of information contain plain text data pointing to the Bluetooth device address. Hackers can then use that address to send unicast traffic if they are within physical proximity of the target device.

“If the device generates no Bluetooth traffic, and is only listening, it is still possible to ‘guess’ the BDADDR, by sniffing its Wi-Fi traffic,” the firm explains. “This is viable since Wi-Fi MAC addresses appear unencrypted over the air, and due to the MACs of internal Bluetooth/Wi-Fi adapters are either the same, or only differ in the last digit.”

Device owners may want to switch Bluetooth off in public until patches are released by original equipment manufacturers and platform developers. This especially holds true in corporate environments where an attacker could gain access to multiple devices, and then hop onto the local network to steal data, and more. BlueBorne should not be an issue within the home environment.

Google and Microsoft released patches on Tuesday, September 12 to address the eight vulnerabilities. Other OEMs and platform developers are working on patches as well.

Conducting plastic used in touchscreens could help fight — or grow — bacteria

Why it matters to you

The conducting plastics used in touchscreens could be employed by hospitals to fight the spread of bacterial infection.

Even in the relatively short period of time that they have been around, the technology involved in touchscreens has advanced at an impressive rate. Researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute in Stockholm have an unusual new application for the conducting plastic used in touchscreens, however: manipulating the growth of bacteria.

In an innovative piece of research, scientists from Karolinska Institute’s Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center reveal how conducting plastics can also be used to “trick” the metabolism of certain pathogenic bacteria. By either adding or removing electrons from the plastic surface of a touchscreen, bacteria can be made to either grow more or — often ideally — less.

“In order for bacteria to grow they need to respire, just like humans,” Professor Agneta Richter-Dahlfors, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “When doing so, they produce electrons. We have used a surface made of conducting polymers as a dynamic interface. By removing the electrons from the conducting polymer via an electric circuit, we help bacteria to get rid of their electrons by delivering them to the surface. By doing so, bacteria grow very well, and they form a dense layer — a so-called biofilm — on the surface. In contrast, when we fill the conducting polymer surface with electrons, again via an electric circuit, all spaces become occupied so bacteria have nowhere to deliver their electrons. This is bad for bacterial growth, and bacterial growth is hampered.”

At present, it’s still relatively early in the research but the team hopes it will be able to use this insight to develop a new, highly-effective antibacterial coating technology. While we would personally love to see something like this used to keep our smartphones bacteria-free, the scientists behind the project have more pressing applications in mind: Namely employing it in hospitals to hinder bacterial infection. It could also be used, conversely, to promote the growth of bacterial biofilms where they are needed — such as in wastewater management systems.

Who knew that some of the technology which makes our iPhones work could also be used to potentially save lives?

A paper describing the research was recently published in the journal NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes.

iPhone X hands-on review

Research Center:
Apple iPhone X

It’s hands down the best iPhone ever, but is it the smartphone of the future? That’s the million dollar question – or, considering the $1,000 starting price and the number of phones Apple is likely to sell, let’s call it the trillion dollar question.

The iPhone X (pronounced “ten,” not “ex”) was announced Monday in Apple’s new Steve Jobs Theater at the company’s revamped, $2.5 billion Apple Park campus, and it’s the premium flagship in Apple’s lineup. With a bold new design and a myriad of new features sure to impress everyone from casual owners to tech enthusiasts, it’s bound for success. So let’s get the big question right out of the way: Yes, lots of people are going to buy this, and yes, they’re going to be very happy with this phone.

Beautiful all-glass design

In my brief hands-on time with the phone, I was struck first by how substantial it is. The iPhone X is not heavy, but it’s definitely more phone than the Galaxy S8 and iPhone 7 I brought for comparison. It feels great in the hand, too; it’s slim, efficiently designed, beautiful to look at and hold. Gone is the slippery aluminum back that many have complained about. In its place is an all-glass back. Now you can drop your phone and shatter it on both sides. Complainers gotta have something to whine about, right?

Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends

Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends

Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends

But forget the build, think about the display: A 5.8-inch OLED screen with deep, inky blacks and colors so vibrant it looks like someone spilled paint all over the phone. I don’t usually gush about icons, but I could stare at these for hours. The absence of the home button is something long-time iPhone owners may complain about, but it allows for a clean slate interface. Swipe up to access the home screen, and pull down from the top to get to the Control Center, which used to be accessible from the bottoms up swipe. Swiping left gets to the notification center, or maybe it was pulling down one of the “ears” around the cut out at the top of the phone. Pulling in from the right gets to the camera – or did I just click the camera icon by accident?

Sure, these gestures are easy to learn, but they aren’t super intuitive. The absence of a grounding feature like the home button may confuse people who like the iPhone because it’s easy to use. Does the iPhone X just work? I’ll reserve my judgment on that one for the full review.

Second to market, but more refined

But what about the hardware and new features? Permit me a digression first: I bumped into Steve Wozniak prior to the event, who noted that today’s flagship smartphones have become little miracles: they’re powerful, beautiful, and it’s hard to go wrong. The iPhone X is no exception in the looks department, but it’s a bunch of new features that will really impress consumers – and that’s where Apple aims to set itself apart from the competition. Remember that “smartphone of the future” thing? It’s all about the software.

Here’s the thing: Many of the features Apple is bringing to this new phone are familiar ones other technology companies brought to market earlier. But … does it matter? Ford didn’t invent the car, Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb, and Apple didn’t invent the smartphone. It’s the people who did it right that history remembers. So does Apple do it right?

Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends

Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends

Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends

Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends

Microsoft Windows Hello brought us face recognition in Windows 10-based computers, and in my experience, it’s been lightning quick. I didn’t get to enroll my face with the iPhone X – we’re looking forward to putting the phone through its paces – but I saw Face ID in action, and Apple has brought a similar speedy experience to the phone. The Galaxy S8 can unlock through iris and facial recognition, which is similarly quick, but infrared cameras and software that map the contours of your face in real time make Apple’s implementation much more secure (as well as more complex and harder to do). Heck, it even works in the dark.

That said, Windows Hello performance deteriorates over time, in my experience. How will Apple’s fare over time?

It’s the people who did it right that history remembers. So does Apple do it right?

Wireless charging is another feature users will welcome, and it’s long overdue. Android phones have had this feature for years, and seen it improve steadily. That said, can Apple do it better? A new wireless charging pad introduces what looks like a proprietary feature to the Qi standard, allowing a user to monitor multiple devices charging at multiple speeds simultaneously. Is Apple doing it better or just doing it differently?

Apple clearly has a hit on its hands. The OLED screen is gorgeous, the phone feels great in the hand, and the added power — thanks to the A11 Bionic processor — means it’s responsive and powerful as heck. So will consumers spend $1,000 on a phone like this? Absolutely – Apple’s smartphone of the future may be your future smartphone, and if so, you future looks pretty bright.

Apple iPhone X Compared To

Apple iPhone 8

Apple iPhone 7

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

Apple iPhone SE

iPhone 6S

iPhone 6S Plus

Apple iPhone 6 Plus

Apple iPhone 6

Apple iPhone 5C

Apple iPhone 5

Apple iPhone 4S

Apple iPhone 4

Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB

Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB

Apple iPhone (4GB)

Speed up your Mac with these 11 tips and tricks

Is your Mac slow? Are you tired of seeing that annoying, spinning beach ball? Here’s a quick guide for how to speed up your Mac, without shelling out a fortune for additional RAM or a faster hard drive.

Apple’s operating system is good about optimizing itself, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to speed up a slow system. Let’s dive in!

Update your Mac’s software

First things first — make sure your Mac is up-to-date. The latest security patches are essential to keeping your Mac running well, and Apple is pretty good about optimizing new releases for better performance. Click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of you display and select App Store to head to the App Store.

Next, select Updates at the top and click the Update All button. If you’re using a MacBook, plug it in before doing this. The process will update MacOS and most of your apps, ensuring they take advantage of the most recent security patches and optimizations.

Do a quick malware scan

The whole “Macs don’t get viruses” thing is a myth. While it’s true that MacOS has certain security advantages because the vast majority of malware targets Windows users, Macs are still prone to the occasional intruder. Need an example? Mac malware is on the rise. 

Thankfully, there are tons of free options designed to keep you safe, from around-the-clock scanners to one-time tools.

If you don’t know what to pick, Malwarebytes for Mac offers a free one-time scan that catches and removes the most common malware found on the platform. It’s also quick at doing so.

Run it as part of your regular Mac cleanup habit, and you’ll catch the most common malware designed for the platform. If you want ongoing protection, consider Avira. Just know that constantly-running antivirus software could potentially slow down your system, which is the opposite of what we’re going for here.

Disable login items

If your Mac takes forever to start up, there’s a good chance you’ve got way too many apps starting up with your system. Disabling these login items will not only speed up the booting process, but potentially free up system resources and speed up your system as a whole.

To begin, open System Preferences, which you can find by clicking the Apple icon in the left-hand side of the menu bar. Once there, click Users & Groups and select the Login items tab to see a list of apps that start up when your Mac does.

If you see any that you don’t need, select them in the list and click the minus button at the bottom of the screen.

Disable transparency

OS X Yosemite added all sorts of visual effects to MacOS, mainly transparency. Everything is transparent now, which is why the menubar takes on some of the colors from your wallpaper, among other things. While El Captain really reduced the impact of these effects on performance, there’s still a pretty big productivity gain to be had by turning them off, even on the most recent update, Sierra.

The option to do so exists, but is slightly hidden. Head to System Preferences and select Accessibility. Under Display, click Reduce transparency so it’s checked.

User interfaces will stop using the transparency effect once deactivated, and run a lot quicker.

Clear out your caches

If you regularly use your computer, odds are that it’s building up all sorts of cruft over time. That’s taking up space on your hard drive, and could also be slowing down applications. Web browsers, with their backlog of history and massive caches, are famous for this, which is why it’s a good idea to clear your cache from time to time. But they’re not the only programs that build up caches and other files over time, which is why we recommend you check out CCleaner for Mac.

This free application can simultaneously clear out your browsers’ caches, and the caches your system builds up over time. Keep in mind that a company also offers a premium version of the software on its site, but the free version is more than adequate for most users.

Uninstall software you don’t use

Freeing up space on your boot drive can increase performance, particularly if your drive is nearly full. An easy way to save a bunch of space is to delete apps you don’t use anymore. So if you’re the kind of person who installs a bunch of apps and then forgets about them, it’s time for a journey.

We need to head to your Applications folder and take out the trash. But don’t just drag your applications to the Trash icon – that will leave behind a bunch of stuff you don’t need. Instead, look into the free application AppCleaner.

Drag any app to this window, and you can also delete all related files, including caches and configuration files. Or, if you prefer, you can browse a complete list of your apps and delete them from there. This is the best way to ensure an application you don’t want anymore isn’t leaving anything behind, so get to it, and clean out that Applications folder.

Find and delete unnecessary files

Apps probably aren’t taking up most of the space on your drive — it’s files. But which ones? The free application Grand Perspective gives you a birds-eye view of your files, with the largest files taking the form of the biggest blocks. Explore this and see if there are any large files you want to delete or move to an external hard drive for long-term storage.

Another quick way to free up storage space on your hard drive is to delete languages you don’t use. Your Mac speaks several languages, and offers a spell-check tool among other features that most users don’t need. The free app Monolingual automates this, letting you delete language files you know you don’t want. Uncheck anything you want to keep, then click Remove. You’ll be amazed how this adds up.

Clean up your desktop

Here’s a quick tip: if your desktop is a cluttered mess of icons, clean it up. Your desktop is a window like any other, so if it’s so overwhelming you can’t find files, it’s also probably slowing down your system. Even putting everything on your desktop into a folder can help, if you’re too overwhelmed to actually sort everything. We get it.

Disable the Dashboard (or disable unused widgets)

When was the last time you used the Dashboard? Exactly. It was fun back in 2005, but in 2016, a collection of widgets that take up the entire screen just amounts to unnecessary clutter. Head to System Preferences, then click the Mission Control icon.

If you still love the Dashboard, sorry for what I said earlier. Also, consider disabling any widgets you don’t actually use, because they’re slowing you down ever so slightly.

Actually close applications

This is kind of Mac 101, but don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know this (lots of users don’t). When you hit the red “X” circle in the upper-left corner, it doesn’t close the app. It actually keeps it running — you can tell because a glowing dot still rests beneath the application in the dock.

To properly close an app, right-click the icon and select Quit. Alternatively, you can close apps using the keyboard shortcut “CMD”+”Q,” which shuts down any app. Having too many apps open can seriously slow down your system, so make closing apps a priority.

Run OnyX if things are still slow

All these tips didn’t work? Let’s get out the big guns, then. OnyX is a free application that runs all sorts of Mac-centric optimizations. Download the appropriate versions for your system, then install it and start it up. This is a power user’s tool, and probably shouldn’t be used by anyone who isn’t comfortable with that.

First, the application will verify your hard drive, which is already useful. Assuming everything is fine, head to the Maintenance tab and head to the Scripts section. From here, you can force the regular Mac maintenance script to run. After that, head to Rebuilding to force MacOS to rebuild a number of different caches — this can potentially solve slowdowns. The Cleaning section can also help, but largely overlaps with CCleaner as outlined above. As for the other configuration tools, feel free to explore, but for the most part, they aren’t meant to help with performance.

Updated 9-11-17: Brought up to speed for the latest MacOS release.