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FileVault, in OS X Lion and later, is part of a volume management technology called CoreStorage, which includes a full-disk encryption option that functions underneath the operating system, allowing it to be transparent to the operating system's functions and encrypt all data on the drive. This is a convenient way to secure OS X, but in order to work, it does need to have an unencrypted section of the drive that it uses to store the encryption keys for unlocking the drive.

Any drive encrypted with FileVault will have a small hidden partition that contains these keys, and for … Read more

If you're naming an operating system, best to avoid the word "Lion." You might find yourself in court, facing Apple.

The U.S. Office of Patents and Trademarks has approved the Cupertino company's trademark, giving Apple rights to the name for its "computer operating system and application development tool software." The trademark is spelled with a capital "L" followed by lowercase letters.

Apple filed the request on April 6, 2011, a few months before it filed for "OS X MOUNTAIN LION" and "MOUNTAIN LION." Neither of the later … Read more

One of Apple's newer features in OS X is the Dictation service that was introduced in Mountain Lion, which allows you to speak phrases and have the system enter it as text in entry fields. While useful in certain situations, some people who have tried using the service have found it to be unavailable on their systems.

When accessing the "Dictation & Speech" system preferences, instead of being able to click the on or off buttons, these options are grayed out, even in administrative accounts that ought to have full access to system services.

The Dictation service … Read more

DENVER--The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, held in Denver, was a must-see event for audiophiles young and old. The biggest change this year was a bonanza of affordable high-end products -- mixed in with the usual crazy expensive gear -- along with a good helping of midpriced goodies.

Music Hall had a rather plain-looking little monitor speaker, the Marimba ($349 a pair), that sounded big and truly powerful. I have never heard that level of bass "slam" coming out of such a diminutive speaker; I can't wait to get it in for review.

Woo Audio's stunning new … Read more

When you run a script or command in the OS X terminal, it can be useful to have some indication for when it is completed, especially if the script is a lengthy process you might not wish to monitor at all times. Unfortunately when a script or command finishes running, the Terminal will drop you to the command line again, without any notice to you. However, if needed, you can set up the system to run commands so it does offer some notification.

System alerts The first option is to have the terminal invoke the system alert after the command … Read more

Hard drives are easily surpassing 3TB storage capacities, either individually or when used in RAID arrays, and have become attractive options for external storage on various Mac users, not only for various data libraries (i.e., iTunes and iPhoto), but also for Time Machine backups. However, some people have encountered an apparent bug in which using some drives in Mountain Lion results in partitioning errors and the inability to access data on the drives.

When the problems happen, the drive becomes inaccessible, and when checking with Disk Utility users will see an error that states, "Error: Partition map repair … Read more

Apple's Bonjour service in OS X is a convenient zero-configuration autodiscovery technology that allows the operating system to locate and present various network services available to you. For example, if a computer on the network has file sharing available, then the system will discover that and make it available in relevant areas of the system such as the Finder, and also allow your system to easily discover shared printers, remote log-in capability, screen sharing, and similar services the remote computer may have enabled.

While convenient, most of the services that Bonjour broadcasts are contextual, meaning that they only appear … Read more

Apple's iOS isn't the only thing to get an update this morning. Alongside iOS 6, Apple quietly pushed out 10.8.2, the second minor update to Mountain Lion since it was released in July.

Chief among the additions is integration with Facebook, a feature that was promised for a fall release when Mountain Lion first debuted earlier this year. Facebook users can share items directly from share sheets now, as well as in Notification Center, and sync up contacts from the popular social network.

The update also adds the Power Nap feature to late-2010 MacBook Air machines, … Read more

When Apple released OS X Mountain Lion, it included some extra controls to help you keep personal information private. One area of personal information you now have control over is your Contact list. Prior to OS X 10.8, apps could access your Address Book (the name changed to Contacts with Mountain Lion) without alerting you, or requesting your permission.

When you run an app on OS X Mountain Lion for the first time, and it tries to access your Contacts, you'll see an alert similar to that above. Clicking OK will allow the app to access your Contacts, … Read more