8 Ways Apple Improved the Camera App in iOS 14
It’s difficult for most of us to imagine that a camera—something that still feels like it’s a standalone object—could be improved significantly with a software update. But now that cameras are part...
M1-Based Macs Have New Startup Modes: Here’s What You Need to Know
For many years, Macs have relied on sets of keys held at startup to enable specific modes. Most notably, pressing Option displays the Startup Manager and lets you pick a boot drive, Command-R starts...
New Features You May Have Missed in the iOS 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3 Updates
We’ve published overviews of the major features in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, along with detailed looks at our favorite features. But Apple keeps releasing updates with new features, and we wanted to...
5 New Year’s Resolutions That Will Improve Your Digital Security
Happy New Year! For many of us, the start of a new year is an opportunity to reflect on fresh habits we’d like to adopt. Although we certainly support any resolutions you may have made to get enough...
Flash Is Dead—Uninstall Flash Player to Keep Your Mac Secure
In July 2017, Adobe announced that it would stop distributing and updating Flash Player on December 31st, 2020. Web standards like HTML5 provide a viable alternative to Flash content, and...
So, Are Apple’s New M1-Based Macs Any Good?
In November, Apple unveiled its new M1 chip and three new Macs that use it: the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. The M1-based MacBook Air replaces the previous Intel-based MacBook...
Take a Few Minutes to Lock Down Your Facebook Privacy Settings
Even beyond its often controversial behavior in the 2020 US presidential election, Facebook continually makes news headlines for its numerous privacy and security problems. Most notable, of course,...
When Should You Upgrade to macOS 11 Big Sur?
Apple made macOS 11 Big Sur available this week and, the question looms large—when should you install? (Note that we say when and not if. There’s no harm in delaying a major operating system upgrade...
Apple Unveils Big Sur, New M1-Powered MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini
Continuing its pandemic-driven approach of short, focused announcements, Apple once again took to the Internet to stream its “One More Thing” event. On center stage this time was the Mac, or...
Don’t Worry about an Occasional “Not Charging” Message on Your MacBook
Starting with macOS 10.15.5 Catalina, Apple introduced a battery health management feature that improves your battery’s lifespan by adjusting charging patterns to reduce the rate at which the...
Home Screen Widgets Take Center Stage in iOS 14
A significant new feature in iOS 14 is Home screen widgets, information-rich tiles that share space on a Home screen with app icons. iPhone users familiar with Google’s Android smartphone operating...
What’s MDM, and Why Is It Useful for Organizations?
For those who work in organizations, regardless of size, you know how much effort is involved with coordinating a group’s technology. It can take quite some time to set up a new Mac, iPad, or iPhone...
Apple Releases Four iPhone 12 Models and the HomePod mini
For the second time in less than a month, Apple has made a splashy announcement. In its “Hi, Speed” event, the company unveiled a new lineup of four iPhone 12 models along with the new HomePod mini....
Remember to Enable Text Message Forwarding When You Get a New Mac or iPad
You’ve long had text messages forwarding from your iPhone to your Mac and iPad, but after you get a new device, it might be a while before you realize that it’s not receiving texts sent to your...
Too Many Home Screens in iOS 14? Here’s How to Hide Them!
The App Library in iOS 14 ensures that you can find all the apps installed on your iPhone without having to hunt through Home screens. So if you already have a lot of Home screens that contain a...
Make Your Finder Window Columns the Right Size
We’re big fans of column view in Finder windows (choose View > as Columns). You never have to worry about missing icons that are outside the window, everything is sorted alphabetically, and...
Scribble: Why the Pencil Is Mightier Than the Finger in iPadOS 14
With iPadOS, you have to remember that it shares most of its capabilities with iOS. So if it seems that iPadOS 14 doesn’t have as many major new capabilities as iOS 14, that’s not quite fair—many of...
Our Four Favorite Features of watchOS 7
The small screen of the Apple Watch prevents new watchOS features from being as obvious or splashy as those in iOS and iPadOS. But watchOS 7, now available for the Apple Watch Series 3 and later...
Stop Snoops with Private Browsing and by Clearing Your Web Browsing History
With so many of us working at home these days, it’s worth remembering that spouses, children, and housemates may have easy physical access to your Mac. And, particularly if you share a Mac with...
Apple Releases Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch SE, new iPad Air, and Subscription Services
In its “Time Flies” special event on September 15th, Apple cleared the decks of some secondary releases to make room for the anticipated unveiling of the iPhone 12 in a few weeks. Secondary though...
Beware iCloud Phishing Phone Calls!
We’ve been hearing reports of an uptick in the scam phone calls that claim to be from Apple. If you answer, an automated message tells you that your iCloud account has been breached and asks you to...
Rename Bluetooth Devices for Easy Management
It’s all too easy to end up with a boatload of Bluetooth devices connected to your Mac. Apple devices will likely have sensible names, like Magic Mouse 2, but what if someone has given you a device...
What’s the Deal with All the Privacy Requests in Catalina?
Over the last few releases of macOS, Apple has been beefing up the Mac’s privacy controls so they more closely resemble what the company has done in iOS. You’ve undoubtedly noticed that when you...
Macs Switching from Intel Chips to Apple Silicon—Answers to Your Questions
At Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, the company dropped a bombshell: in the future, Macs will no longer be powered by Intel chips but will instead rely on custom-designed Apple chips....
Stop Group FaceTime Video Tiles from Bouncing with Recent Apple OS Updates
Since iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 Mojave, Apple has supported Group FaceTime, which lets you have a video call with up to 32 people. However, as has become painfully obvious in today’s era of non-stop...
Here’s How to Set a Default Printer on the Mac
If you have access to multiple printers, you probably know that you can choose one from the Printer pop-up menu at the top of the Print dialog. But macOS has a feature that should make it so you...
Find Files in the Finder Better by Specifying a Search Scope
This isn’t about periscopes or mouthwash—when it comes to searching, a scope is the area in which a search takes place. When you use the Search field in a Finder window to look for files and...
Approve App Authentication Requests with Your Apple Watch in Catalina
Tired of typing your admin account password whenever you try to install software or change security settings on your Mac? A new feature in macOS 10.15 Catalina removes that requirement for Apple...
How to Back Up an iPhone or iPad with Your Mac Running Catalina
One of the most significant changes in macOS 10.15 Catalina was the breakup of the long-standing iTunes app into separate Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. But what about backing up iOS devices, which...
Here’s How the Exposure Notification System from Apple and Google Protects Your Privacy
Apple recently released iOS 13.5, incorporating a new Exposure Notification API in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve seen a few people feeling panicked or uncertain about this. At...
Got a Mac Laptop? Here’s What You Need to Know about Battery Health Management in Catalina
We all want Mac laptops that can run for days on a single charge and never need their batteries serviced. Sadly, we’re always going to be disappointed. Battery and power management technologies...
Apple Updates 13-inch MacBook Pro with Magic Keyboard and Twice the Storage
In a move that completes the transition of the MacBook line from the troubled butterfly keyboard to the Magic Keyboard, Apple has released a new 13-inch MacBook Pro. The company also doubled the...
Want to Push Some Buttons? Make the Most of Control Center in iOS
Starting back in iOS 11, Apple made Control Center significantly more useful by letting you customize it more to your liking by adding and rearranging buttons. You can even remove a few of the...
Customize What Appears in New Finder Windows with This Tip
When you’re in the Finder, choosing File > New Finder Window does, as you’d expect, open a new Finder window. But what folder appears in that window? By default, new Finder windows open to...
Ever Wondered Which Words to Capitalize in a Title? Use Capitalize My Title!
When you’re writing a blog post or email newsletter, you’ll eventually hit the question of how to capitalize words in a title. There is no one right way, but just as with poor spelling and grammar,...
Do You Know Who Can Track Your Location? It’s Worth Checking Periodically
Sharing your location works well when you’re out with friends or family and want everyone to be able to see where everyone else is. It’s easy to enable in various spots in iOS 13—in Messages, in...
Audiovisual Tips for Better Videoconferencing
Whether for work or socializing, we’re all spending a lot more time in video calls these days. But—surprise!—it turns out that many of our group video calls could be more pleasant, less...
Forrester Research and IBM Studies Show Macs Are Cheaper than PCs
It’s taken as gospel that Macs are more expensive than PCs. A quick look at the Dell Web site reveals laptops for as low as $300. Sure, we can say that the configurations aren’t comparable, that...
Use the Mac’s Built-In Screen Sharing to Provide Remote Help
Are you the person your friends and family members turn to for questions about the Mac? In normal times, those questions might come over dinner or at another in-person gathering, such that you could...
Apple Introduces New iPhone SE Starting at $599
Four years after the release of the original iPhone SE, Apple has introduced a second-generation iPhone SE with aggressive pricing that starts at just $599. Whereas the original model used the...
Apple Release COVID-19 Screening Tool App and Web Site
In partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control, Apple has released a free COVID-19 Screening Tool iOS app and nearly identical Web site. The interactive screening tool poses a series of...
Try Using a Magic Trackpad 2 with Your iPad Running iPadOS 13.4
When Apple released iPadOS 13.4 recently, it came with an unexpected feature: trackpad and mouse support. Apple plans to release a Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro that has a built-in trackpad in May as...
Tips for Setting Up a Comfortable and Effective Home Work Space
Vast numbers of people who previously reported for work at an office every day are now working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s sensible, and if you’re included in that group, there...
Need to Stay in Touch? Try One of These Videoconferencing Apps
With many people under stay-at-home orders, videoconferencing is going mainstream. If you work in a sufficiently large organization, you probably have already been indoctrinated into a recommended...
Create Your Own Chat Group Via Slack
Whether you’re working from home or just stuck at home, it can be tough to communicate with colleagues, friends, or family. Sure, there’s email, but that gets hard to manage quickly, and it can be...
Having Mac Troubles? Running Apple Diagnostics May Help Identify the Problem
If your Mac is acting up and you suspect a hardware problem, there’s an easy first step that you can—and should—try before calling for tech support: Apple Diagnostics. (On Mac models released before...
MacBook Air Update Features Magic Keyboard, iPad Pro Gets a Trackpad
In a widely expected update, Apple has introduced a new MacBook Air that replaces the much-maligned butterfly keyboard with the new Magic Keyboard. The MacBook Air also gains faster...
macOS Catalina
Clients and friends, 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...
Invoke Split View More Easily in Catalina
Split View on the Mac helps you focus on your work in one app—perhaps a word processor—while providing access to one other app, like a Web browser. (Make sure “Displays have separate Spaces” is...
Set Your Preferred Name and Photo for Messages in iOS 13
In your list of conversations in Messages, you probably have lots of people who have generic icons next to their names or numbers. You likely look like that to other people as well, but a new...
What to Do If You Run Low on iCloud Storage Space
By default, Apple gives every iCloud user 5 GB of storage space. That disappears quickly, given how it’s shared between iCloud Mail, iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, Messages, and iCloud-enabled apps....
Is Your iPhone Reporting “No Service” When You Know There’s a Signal?
Have you ever seen the dreaded “No Service” label at the top of your iPhone’s screen, even when you’re pretty sure there should be cellular reception? It’s not common, but the iPhone’s cellular...