Tuesday, 01 October 2019 09:06
Beware Scammers when Selling Your Old Tech Hardware Online
Written by Adam Engst
Whenever Apple releases hot new hardware, it’s tempting to order the latest and greatest and then put your old Mac or iPhone up for sale on a classifieds site like Craigslist. If you do that, be cautious about potential buyers—it’s increasingly common for a scammer to request that you ship them the device and then […]
Tuesday, 01 October 2019 09:05
Which Precise Mac Model Do You Have? Here’s How to Find Out
Written by Adam Engst
Apple likes to keep Mac names simple, but that’s not always helpful. For instance, if you want to add RAM to your Mac, it’s not good enough to know that it’s an iMac. You’ll need to know that it’s a 27-inch iMac with Retina display from late 2014. To find that out, choose About This […]
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Let’s be honest—text editing in iOS has never been anywhere near as good as it is on the Mac. We may be more accustomed to our mice and keyboards, but the Multi-Touch interface has always been clumsy when it comes to text. Apple keeps trying to improve iOS’s text editing features, and iOS 13 (and […]
Tuesday, 01 October 2019 09:03
What Does Having a T2 Chip in Your Mac Mean to You?
Written by Adam Engst
If you own an iMac Pro, or a Mac mini, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro model introduced in 2018 or later, your Mac has one of Apple’s T2 security chips inside. On the whole, having a T2 chip in your Mac is a good thing, thanks to significantly increased security and other benefits, but there […]
Tuesday, 01 October 2019 09:02
Everything You Need to Know about Multitasking in iPadOS 13
Written by Adam Engst
With this year’s operating system updates, Apple has formally acknowledged that the iPhone and iPad have different uses and different needs. To that end, Apple has given the iPad version of iOS 13 its own name—iPadOS 13. The big changes include a desktop-class version of Safari that works better with complex Web apps, a redesigned […]
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Tuesday, 01 October 2019 09:01
We Recommend You Delay Upgrading to macOS 10.15 Catalina
Written by Adam Engst
Dear clients, Apple plans to release macOS 10.15 Catalina sometime in October, and like all major operating system releases, Apple has been talking it up since it was introduced at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June. It will feature new Music, TV, and Podcasts apps to replace iTunes. A new Mac Catalyst technology will […]
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Wednesday, 11 September 2019 12:06
The Scoop on the New iPhone 11, Apple Watch Series 5, 7th-gen iPad, and Apple Services
Written by Adam Engst
At its September 10th special event, Apple unveiled a slew of new products and services, including the iPhone 11, the Apple Watch Series 5, the seventh-generation iPad, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV+. The company also said that iOS 13 and watchOS 6 would ship on September 19th, with iPadOS 13 appearing on September 30th and […]
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Tuesday, 03 September 2019 12:08
Want to Use Your Friends’ Nicknames in iOS? Here’s How
Written by Adam Engst
If you have a friend whom you refer to only by his nickname, it can be annoying to feel like you should use his proper first name when adding him to Contacts. Worse, then he shows up in Messages with a name you don’t recognize as easily. Here’s how to convince iOS to use his […]
Tuesday, 03 September 2019 12:07
Personalize Your Mac with Custom Document Icons
Written by Adam Engst
Do you have a document that you open regularly, perhaps from your Desktop? If you’d like to make it stand out from other documents, why not give it a custom icon? This was common practice on the Mac back in the day, and it’s still possible in modern versions of macOS. Go to Google Images […]
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Tuesday, 03 September 2019 12:06
How to Get Custom Alerts for Email from Your VIPs
Written by Adam Engst
Few people get so little email that they want an iPhone notification for every message that rolls in. But many of us have just a couple of people—our personal VIPs—whose messages are important enough to warrant an alert. If that’s true for you, and you want to know right away when your boss or your […]
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Tuesday, 03 September 2019 12:05
Two Secret Key Combos for Forward Delete on the Magic and MacBook Keyboards
Written by Adam Engst
Traditionally, extended keyboards come with a Forward Delete key that, when you press it, deletes characters to the right of the insertion point, unlike the main Delete key, which deletes to the left of the insertion point. Forward Delete still exists on Apple’s Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad, but it’s missing from the Magic Keyboard […]
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Tuesday, 03 September 2019 12:04
When Should You Upgrade to macOS 10.15 Catalina, iOS 13, iPadOS 13, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13?
Written by Adam Engst
As we get into September, it’s a good bet that Apple will be pushing out the next major versions of macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS, along with the new iPadOS, which is iOS with iPad-specific tweaks. Apple previewed these new versions back in June, and they’ve been in public beta since. Once Apple makes macOS […]
Tuesday, 03 September 2019 12:03
Make a Backup before Upgrading to Catalina or iOS 13!
Written by Adam Engst
Confession time. If there’s one topic we can’t stop talking about, it’s backups. Backups are essential, since no one can guarantee that your Mac or iPhone won’t be lost or stolen, be caught in a flood from a broken pipe, or just fail silently. It happens. You should have a good backup strategy that ensures […]
Tuesday, 03 September 2019 12:02
Some of Our Favorite Features of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13
Written by Adam Engst
It’s hard to sum up iOS 13’s benefits succinctly because Apple has made so many improvements (we’ll get to what’s cool about iPadOS 13 later in the article). That means there’s something for just about everyone. Here are some of the changes we think you’ll most appreciate. Better Text Handling An area in iOS that […]
Tuesday, 03 September 2019 12:01
Some of Our Favorite Features of macOS 10.15 Catalina
Written by Adam Engst
In a break from Apple’s pattern of alternating cycle of releases, macOS 10.15 Catalina is not a refinement of 10.14 Mojave like 10.13 High Sierra was for 10.12 Sierra. Instead, Catalina boasts significant changes, both obvious things like new apps and less-obvious things like under-the-hood improvements. Here are some of our favorites. iTunes Is Dead! […]
Thursday, 01 August 2019 13:08
Annoyed by Your Holiday Music Playing out of Season? Stop It with This Tip
Written by Adam Engst
“Winter Wonderland” may be a great song to listen to when the snow flies, but if you’re sweltering in the summer heat, having it pop up while iTunes is shuffling through your music feels wrong. Happily, there’s a way to prevent holiday music from playing out of season—this trick is also useful for keeping children’s [R30;]
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Thursday, 01 August 2019 13:07
Migrate Your Data from an Old iPhone to a New One with iOS 12.4’s New Feature
Written by Adam Engst
Most people are probably waiting until September to buy a new iPhone, but Apple is laying the groundwork for making the migration from an old phone to a new one even easier this time around. In iOS 12.4, Apple introduced a new way to migrate your data directly from one iPhone to another. This is [R30;]
An ever-increasing number of people have hearing loss due to exposure to loud noise and age. If you’re in that group, but don’t yet need hearing aids, try using your AirPods to help you hear better in certain situations. iOS’s Live Listen feature uses your iPhone’s mic to pick up specific sounds and then sends [R30;]
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Thursday, 01 August 2019 13:05
Need to Restart a Mac That Has Frozen? Here’s How
Written by Adam Engst
It’s extremely uncommon for a Mac to freeze or crash these days, but it can happen. What should you do if your Mac locks up and becomes completely unresponsive to the mouse and keyboard? The trick is to press and hold the power button until the Mac turns off. Wait 5 or 10 seconds, and [R30;]
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Thursday, 01 August 2019 13:04
What Can You Store in Apple’s Wallet App? Credit Cards, Boarding Passes, Tickets, and More!
Written by Adam Engst
Have you wondered what you can do with the Wallet app on your iPhone? Although it started out life called Passbook, Apple soon realized that the only sensible name was Wallet. That’s because it stores digital versions of roughly the same sort of things you might put in a physical wallet: credit and debit cards, [R30;]
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Thursday, 01 August 2019 13:03
Learn How to Autofill SMS Login Codes in iOS 12 and Mojave
Written by Adam Engst
An ever-increasing number of Web sites boost their security via two-factor authentication (2FA), which requires you to type in a short numeric code to complete a login after entering your username and password. It’s a big win because that code is generated on the fly and is good for only a short time (often 30 [R30;]
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Apple has put a lot of effort into Mail, providing lots of features you can employ to get through your email more quickly. But one of the most effective ways to improve your email productivity has nothing to do with an app. Instead, train yourself to write better email and you’ll cut down on a [R30;]
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