Wednesday, 01 August 2018 10:06
A Simple Technique for Decluttering Your Reminders List
Written by Adam Engst
Productivity experts recommend offloading things you have to remember to a task-management app like Apple’s Reminders, which syncs your to-dos among your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. That’s particularly helpful for tasks you want to be reminded of in a few months or next year, but then those far-in-the-future tasks—especially repeating ones!—clutter your main [R30;]
Tagged under
Wednesday, 01 August 2018 10:05
Did You Know This Hidden Trick for Opening System Preferences Panes Directly?
Written by Adam Engst
The System Preferences app on the Mac contains about 30 icons, each leading to additional settings panes. Rather than opening System Preferences, scanning the collection of icons, and clicking the one you want, you can jump directly to the desired pane. Just click and hold on the System Preferences icon in the Dock, and choose [R30;]
Tagged under
Wednesday, 01 August 2018 10:04
Being an Apple User Means You’re Not the Product
Written by Adam Engst
There’s an Internet saying: “If you’re not the customer, you’re the product.” The point is that, if you’re getting a service for free, the company providing it sees you not as a customer, but as a product to sell, generally to advertisers. This is how Google, Facebook, and Twitter operate. They provide services for free, [R30;]
Wednesday, 01 August 2018 10:03
Here’s Why You Should Always Keep the Find My iPhone Feature Enabled
Written by Adam Engst
On the face of it, Apple’s Find My iPhone feature does what it says. If you lose your iPhone, you can identify its last known location by looking in the Find iPhone app or on the iCloud Web site, and you can make it play a sound. It’s great for tracking down a missing iPhone, [R30;]
Wednesday, 01 August 2018 10:02
Let Your Fingers Do the Walking: 13 Essential Trackpad Tricks for Mac Users
Written by Adam Engst
A trackpad is not a mouse. In some ways, that’s obvious—you swipe your fingers on it, rather than dragging it around. Less obvious, however, are the many gestures that make using a trackpad on your Mac faster and more fun. These gestures aren’t limited to laptop users, thanks to Apple’s Magic Trackpad 2, which brings [R30;]
Wednesday, 01 August 2018 10:01
Apple Is Discontinuing Its Photo Printing Services—Here Are 7 Alternatives
Written by Adam Engst
Sad news: Apple is discontinuing its photo printing services, which enabled you to create and order physical prints, cards, calendars, and books from within Photos on the Mac. If you’re building such a project right now, be sure to place your order before September 30th, 2018. After that, Apple is directing users to download a [R30;]
Friday, 13 July 2018 12:58
New MacBook Pros Provide More Speed and RAM, plus a Quieter Keyboard and Hey Siri
Written by Adam Engst
As students prepare to head off to college, Apple has updated the Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro line to provide even more powerful options for students and professionals alike. The changes are primarily under the hood, focusing on faster performance, more RAM, and larger SSD-based storage, but there are a few modest physical changes too, including a [R30;]
Tagged under
Monday, 02 July 2018 08:07
Tired of Skewed Lines in Your Photos? Use the Camera App’s Hidden Level.
Written by Adam Engst
If you’ve ever photographed a sheet of paper or some other rectangular object, the image may have come out skewed because you inadvertently tilted the camera. The iOS 11 Camera app has a level feature to help you avoid this problem, but it’s so subtle that you may not have noticed it. To use it, [R30;]
Tagged under
Monday, 02 July 2018 08:06
Did You Know You Can Customize the Columns in a Finder Window’s List View?
Written by Adam Engst
When a Mac folder contains a lot of files, the Finder’s List view often works best, since it lets you focus on a single folder and easily sort the contents by clicking the different columns: Name, Date Modified, Size, and Kind. But did you know that you can resize columns, rearrange them, and even add [R30;]
Tagged under
Monday, 02 July 2018 08:05
Remember That You Can Search for Nearly Anything in Your Photos Library
Written by Adam Engst
Apple’s Photos app on the Mac can identify thousands of different objects in your photos, so it’s easy to find photos based on their content. You can find objects (cars and trains), scenery (beaches and forests), and even some events (weddings and parades). This is both big fun and useful for those times when you [R30;]
Tagged under
Monday, 02 July 2018 08:04
Tired of “Sent from my iPhone” as Your Email Signature?
Written by Adam Engst
When you use Apple’s Mail app on your iPhone to send email, the default signature is “Sent from my iPhone.” If you’d rather not advertise that fact with every email, or would prefer to change it to something more personal, don’t bother poking around in the Mail app itself. Instead, go to Settings > Mail [R30;]
Tagged under
Monday, 02 July 2018 08:04
Have Your Online Passwords Been Stolen? Here’s How to Find Out.
Written by Adam Engst
Data breaches have become commonplace, with online thieves constantly breaking into corporate and government servers and making off with millions—or even hundreds of millions!—of email addresses, often along with other personal information like names, physical address, and passwords. It would be nice to think that all companies properly encrypt their password databases, but the sad [R30;]
Monday, 02 July 2018 08:03
What’s the Deal with Apple’s New Messages in iCloud Feature?
Written by Adam Engst
When Apple first announced macOS 10.13 High Sierra and iOS 11, one of the promised features was Messages in iCloud, a way of syncing your conversations in Messages via your iCloud account. Despite the fact that Messages already tries to sync its conversations between your devices, this feature proved difficult for Apple to deliver, and [R30;]
For many years now, Apple’s AirPlay feature has made it possible to stream audio from an iOS device or Mac to an AirPlay-enabled speaker, AirPort Express base station, or most recently, a HomePod. Because AirPlay transfers sound over a Wi-Fi network, it eliminates the need for stereo wires and lets you put your speakers where [R30;]
Monday, 02 July 2018 08:01
Invoke Special Views and Features on the Mac with a Flick of Your Wrist
Written by Adam Engst
Most Macs are busy places, with oodles of open windows cluttering the screen. If you want to look at the Desktop or do something different, you may find yourself clicking around or using keyboard shortcuts, but did you know that you can access many of the Mac’s special views with just a flick of your [R30;]
Thursday, 07 June 2018 09:00
Sneak Preview of What’s Coming from Apple This Fall
Written by Adam Engst
At Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote on June 4th, the company unveiled the first developer versions of all four of its operating systems: macOS 10.14 Mojave, iOS 12, watchOS 5, and tvOS 12. They won’t be available until this fall, likely in September or October, but here is a glimpse of what you can expect.
Tagged under
Friday, 01 June 2018 06:08
Use Copy as Pathname to Help Someone Find a File on the Mac
Written by Adam Engst
Have you ever needed to write directions for where to find a file on the Mac? That’s easy if it’s in a well-traveled location, like the Music or Pictures folder, but more difficult if it’s in an obscure hidey-hole. Rather than write out instructions like “Look in the Chrome folder inside Google’s Application Support folder [R30;]
Tagged under
Friday, 01 June 2018 06:07
How to Recover Space by Offloading Unused Apps in iOS 11
Written by Adam Engst
Running low on space on your iPhone or iPad in iOS 11? This problem may be easier to deal with than you expect because Apple has added a quick way to free up storage space by removing unneeded apps. Go to Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage, where you’ll see a Recommendations section. This section [R30;]
Tagged under
Friday, 01 June 2018 06:06
Did You Know Your EarPods Work as a Remote Shutter Button for Photos?
Written by Adam Engst
Have you ever composed the perfect photo in the iPhone’s Camera app and then been unable to tap the shutter button without jiggling the iPhone and blurring the image? That can be especially difficult with macro shots that require physical contortions to position the iPhone properly. Sometimes, pressing one of the physical volume buttons on [R30;]
Tagged under
Friday, 01 June 2018 06:05
Look Up All Sorts of Information with a Quick Click or Tap on the Mac
Written by Adam Engst
Apple makes it easy to look up information about any word you can see on your Mac, in nearly any app. To access this information, Control- or right-click the word and choose Look Up “word”, use the trackpad to tap the word with three fingers, or hover the pointer over it and press Command-Control-D. macOS [R30;]
Tagged under
Friday, 01 June 2018 06:04
What OS Version Are You Running? Here’s How to Find Out.
Written by Adam Engst
In Troubleshooting 101, one of the first questions is always, “What version of the operating system are you running?” There’s a big difference between Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and the solution to any particular problem will likely revolve around knowing what operating system is in play. The same [R30;]
As iPhones have become ever more prevalent, one of Apple’s bundled apps—Find My Friends—has become significantly more useful. Although there are legitimate concerns about sharing your location willy-nilly, Find My Friends gives everyone full control over what they share, making it truly helpful for families and close friends. So if you’ve ever thought it would [R30;]
Tagged under