classics – Page 2 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Even in the download-only era, it’s easy to make yourself offline OS X install media. Andrew Cunningham It was 2009 when Apple last released a new operating system on physical media . Things have proceeded remarkably smoothly since version 10.7 switched to download-only installers, but there are still good reasons to want an old, reliable USB stick. For instance, if you find yourself doing multiple installs, a USB drive may be faster than multiple downloads (especially if you use a USB 3.0 drive). Or maybe you need a recovery disk for older Macs that don’t support the Internet Recovery feature. Whatever the reason, you’re in luck, because it’s not hard to make one. As with last year , there are two ways to get it done. There’s the super easy way with the graphical user interface and the only slightly less easy way that requires some light Terminal use. Here’s what you need to get started. A Mac, duh. We’ve created Yosemite USB from both Mavericks and Yosemite, but your experience with other versions may vary. An 8GB or larger USB flash drive or an 8GB or larger partition on some other kind of external drive. For newer Macs, use a USB 3.0 drive—it makes things significantly faster. The OS X 10.10 Yosemite installer from the Mac App Store in your Applications folder. The installer will delete itself when you install the operating system, but it can be re-downloaded if necessary. If you want a GUI, you need the latest version of Diskmaker X app—we wrote this article based on version 4 beta 2, but if a “final” version is released alongside Yosemite we’ll update the article. This app is free to download, but the creator accepts donations if you want to support his efforts. An administrator account on the Mac you’re using to create the disk. The easy way Diskmaker X remains the easiest, most user-friendly way to get this done. Andrew Cunningham Once you’ve obtained all of the necessary materials, connect the USB drive to your Mac and run the Diskmaker X app. The app will offer to make installers for OS X 10.8, 10.9, and 10.10, but we’re only interested in Yosemite today. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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How to make your own bootable OS X 10.10 Yosemite USB install drive

The Chromebooks we usually see around these parts can be summed up in two words: competent and cheap. This nicely sums up our reviews of both Samsung’s $249 ARM Chromebook and Acer’s $199 C7 . Google’s recently announced Chromebook Pixel goes against that grain: it’s a high-quality machine with a gorgeous 2560×1700 display, but you’ll pay a hefty $1,299 (or $1,449, for the LTE version) for the privilege of owning one. Our full review of the computer—and, with it, our continuing thoughts on whether this machine makes any sense —is in the works, but in the meantime we took the Pixel out of its box to give it a good once-over. “Understated” is an understatement The Chromebook Pixel’s box is simple to the point of being nondescript. Andrew Cunningham 15 more images in gallery Read on Ars Technica | Comments

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Unpacking the Pixel: A first look at Google’s expensive new Chromebook