Mac OS Tips Features
How To: Do Almost Anything on Your Mac Using Only a Keyboard (No Mouse or Trackpad Required)
On average, it takes three seconds to move your hand from the keyboard to the mouse, then click once and move your hand back to the keyboard. While the time wasted my sound trivial, it can add up quickly throughout the day.
How To: Keep Your Desktop Tidy by Hiding Inactive Windows on Your Mac
To contemporize a popular quote, "A cluttered desk(top) is a sign of a cluttered mind." Of course, it's difficult to maintain a tidy desktop... as you read this, mine is cluttered with screenshots, folders, Word documents, videos, pictures, and apps.
How To: Use El Capitan's New Split View Mode in Mac OS X Mavericks or Yosemite
Mac OS X has finally added a way to use two apps side by side in full screen mode, à la Microsoft's Windows Snap. But since it's only available in 10.11 El Capitan right now, those of us with older systems will have to wait until the El Capitan Public Preview or final build is released later this year.
How To: Dual Boot Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9 & Yosemite 10.10
For those of you who've already gotten Beta Preview or Developer Preview access to Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, I highly recommend installing it on a separate partition on your hard drive.
How To: Get the Public Beta Preview of Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite on Your Mac
Apple announced the successor to Mac OS X Mavericks at their Worldwide Developer's Conference 2014, and it's called Yosemite. Named after California's Yosemite National Park, it will be available as a free upgrade from the Mac App Store for everyone this fall.
How To: Find Out If the FBI Is Keeping Tabs on Your Apple Device (UPDATED)
It's no secret that there's a lot of surveillance going on these days. It's easier than ever to end up in a database, and even former government agents are speaking out about the atrocious amount of spying being done against our own citizens. They've targeted our laptops, cars, IP addresses, and now they're coming for our iPhones. AntiSec hackers managed to get their hands on a list of over 12 million Apple UDIDs (Universal Device IDs) from an FBI computer, and they published 1,000,001 of the...
How To: Import Your Spotify Playlists into Apple Music
With iOS 8.4 and iTunes 12.2, we got our first look at Apple Music, Apple's new streaming subscription service. While it's a little late to the party, there is definitely an incentive for iOS and Mac OS X users to switch over from competitors due to its heavy integration with the Apple ecosystem.
How To: Create a Hootsuite Mac App to Manage All Your Social Media Accounts from Your Desktop
As this generation continues to evolve, we become more involved with social media. For example, you may have a Facebook, Twitter, and a Google+ account, and be heavily involved in using all three, but the constant switching between sites, logins, and conversations can get very tedious.
How To: 11 Ninja-Level Quick Look Hacks for Your Mac
Quick Look, first introduced in 2007, is an instant preview feature on the Mac operating system that lets you view files and folders without opening them up. Just highlight a file, like a picture or text document, then press the spacebar on your keyboard to get a speedy preview of it.
News: 3 Unique Alternative Web Browsers for Your iOS Device
A few weeks ago I wrote about Atomic Web as the best web browser for iOS devices, and while I believe it is a superior option, Atomic Web is not the only alternative web browser you can use on your iOS device. There are three more—Dual Browser, iCabMobile, and iSwifter—that are all great options because of their unique features. Let’s check them out.
How To: 10+ Time Saving Menu Bar Applications for Mac
If you‘re new to Mac, you may not realize that the Dock is not the only place you can access applications and folders. The menu bar of your desktop can also hold a dozen or more applications and plug-ins for easy access to lots of content on your computer.
How To: Get Your 'Damaged' Mac Apps Working Again
If you're seeing "damaged" apps on your Mac, you're not alone. A huge digital rights management blunder in Apple's Mac App Store on Wednesday, November 11th has rendered some apps unusable. When opening certain apps, the following message could be displayed:
How To: Make Your Mac's Screen Saver the Apple Watch Clock Face
Most of us only see our screen savers in passing, as some sort of slide show or animation as we glance up at the screen or walk by the computer. Usually, anything is better than a boring blank screen—even the classic Pipes screensaver is better than nothing.
How To: Unlock Your Mac Using Your iPhone's Touch ID or Lock Screen Passcode
Apple's Touch ID, introduced on the iPhone 5S, has definitely made my life a little easier. Not only can I unlock my device, I can use the tech to log in to websites, make purchases through iTunes, and buy groceries at Walgreens using just my fingerprint. Still, as awesome as Touch ID is, it's pretty limited as to what it can do on native apps.
How To: Make Your Screen Automatically Adjust to Eye-Friendly Color Tones
If you're like me, you spend a lot of time on your computer, which can be damaging to your eyes in the long run. Studies have shown that staring at a computer screen or television up close for extended periods of time can have harmful effects on your vision.
How To: Add Battery, CPU, Memory, & Other Custom Usage Stats to Your Mac's Notification Center
On mobile devices, the Notification Center received a huge facelift when iOS 8 was released, but it wasn't until Yosemite that its Mac OS X counterpart received the same amount of love—especially the much needed ability to add custom widgets, like a FaceTime dialer.
How To: The Easiest, Fastest Way to Free Up Space on Your Mac’s Hard Drive
It's nice that most apps ship with multi-language support, but if you only need to utilize one, those extra language packs are doing nothing more than taking up space on your computer. And when you're getting close to filling up your hard drive, every little bit counts.
How To: Get the Public Beta Preview of Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Apple announced the release of their newest Mac OS X version at this year's Worldwide Developer's Conference, and it's called "El Capitan." Like the majestic rock formation it's named after (located within Yosemite National Park), El Capitan promises to emphasize and expand on some of the great features we used on 10.10 Yosemite.
News: "This Guy Has My MacBook"—A Tale of Evil, Redemption & the Power of the App
This Guy Has My MacBook is a gripping tale for iOS nerds far and wide, documented via interaction designer Joshua Kaufman's tumblr. When Kaufman's MacBook was stolen from his apartment in Oakland, CA, on March 21, 2011, he quickly activated Hidden, a previously installed app that enabled Kaufman to collect photos of the thief, as well as screen shots of the computer in use.
Butler: The Ultimate Time Saving App for Mac
As a follow up to my article 10 Time Saving Menu Bar Applications for the Mac, this video covers Butler, one of my favorite menu bar applications. Produced by ManyTricks.com, Butler can help you quickly launch applications, websites, and other items on your Mac. It also includes a web search feature, a clipboard manager, a hot key launcher, and much more.
How To: Customize Your Mac's Top Keys to Control Either Functions or Built-in Features Without Using “Fn”
Mac keyboards are great when listening to music or watching a movie, since you can control what's playing without going back into iTunes or QuickTime Player. However, when you're using an app like Photoshop that uses the F7, F8, and F9 as shortcuts, it gets pretty annoying to have to hold down the Fn key. Why can't you just hit the back, play/pause, and skip buttons alone?
How To: The Single Most Useful Keyboard Shortcut Every Mac User Should Know
Keyboard shortcuts can make using your Mac faster and easier, and leave your mouse feeling archaic. With just a few taps, you can save files, open new tabs, or play a movie—all without using your mouse even once.
How To: Use Easy-to-Install Plugins to Customize Almost Any App on Your Mac
When you buy a Mac, you accept that you're giving up the customization found on Windows or Linux systems for a more fluid and secure machine. This is great for most consumers, but for those of us who'd rather opt for a tailor-made experience, there are always developers that can combine functionality with stability.
How To: Open Apps Faster on Your Mac Using Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
All of those keys on your keyboard can do much more than just help to update your Facebook status or fire off a scathing tweet. By learning all of the keyboard shortcuts for apps on your Mac, you can cut back on mouse or trackpad usage to perform actions faster and more efficiently.
How To: Automate Tasks on Your Mac Whenever You Come or Leave Home via Bluetooth
As a multitasker, I've embraced the hustle and bustle that has filled my life. I'm constantly doing several things at a time, while looking for shortcuts to finish all of these things quicker than before. I brush my teeth with my cell phone in hand and drive to work with breakfast in mouth—I spare no time. Well, now there's an application for the Mac users among us that can help take some of the stress out of doing a thousand things at once.
How To: Activate Dark Mode in Yosemite with a Single Click
Apple has been one of the biggest trolls when it comes to adding new features to their software. Whether its adding a new boot screen and not letting all devices use it, or adding Dark Mode and making it a hassle to toggle on and off, there is always to be a caveat attached to each new addition.
How To: Keep Your Mac's Display from Dimming on You While You're Reading Using Audio and Voice Detection
Sitting in the Powell Library at UCLA was a constant thing for me. Directly after class, I would streamline my way there to study all night until my eyes shuttered to sleep. For the most part, my classes and professors managed to keep my studying online via PDFs, emails, long essays and journal entries.
How To: Quickly Encode a Video for the Web with This Drag & Drop Automator Action
Automator takes the work out of common repetitive tasks. I don't enjoy compressing videos for quick sharing or uploading to the web, so I created an Automator action to handle the process for me.
How To: Download & Run the Latest Developer Build of Mac OS X for Free
Apple has announced the release of their OS X Beta Seed Program today, which allows anyone with an Apple ID and a Mac to download and run the latest developer build of Mac OS X 10.9.3—the most updated beta version of Mavericks. The OS X Beta Seed Program allows us to run software that was once only available to limited test audiences or registered Apple developers—with the latter costing $99 a year for a membership. With this program, not only do we get our hands on extremely new software, bu...
How To: Stop Your iPhone from Switching Tracks While in Motion
Whenever I listen to music on my iPhone while walking, the song skips to the next track from the movement. Little did I know, there's a quick fix in settings. Check it out.
How To: Use Split View Mode in Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Catching up with Windows 8, Apple has finally included a way in Mac OS X to use two apps side by side in full screen view. In the 10.11 El Capitan update, it's called Split View, and it works fairly well for the most part. It's not quite as intuitive as it should be, but easy enough once you get the hang of it.
How To: Use Snapchat from Your Mac
Who said you need a smartphone to use Snapchat? A new application in the Mac App Store, appropriately dubbed Snappy, allows you to send and receive Snapchats directly on your computer. Check out the guide below to learn how to go through all of your Snapchat stories, take and send photos with filters, and text just like you would on your mobile device.
How To: Get a Refund from Apple in iTunes or the Mac App Store
If you don’t have any little children to blame for an inadvertent or misguided app, book, or music purchase from Apple, you might still have a fighting chance. Apple has a very strict return policy, specifically stating that all sales and rentals of products are final for purchases made in the iTunes Store, Mac App Store, App Store, and iBookstore. But if you play it carefully and do a little digging, a return and full refund may still be possible.
How To: These 9 Tips Make Gaming on Your Mac Not Suck
When most people think of "gaming computers," they're probably thinking of Windows-based PCs. They offer a huge variety of devices with better equipped software and hardware for a cheaper price, and there are more available games than there are for OS X-based systems.
How To: Don't Have an Apple TV? Use AirPlay to Stream Content to Your Mac Instead
AirPlay is probably one of the most underutilized features in Apple products. It allows users to wirelessly stream photos, music, or video directly from their iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or Mac to their Apple TV or AirPlay-supported speakers. The Apple support page has a complete list of all the supported and needed devices. Mirroring is also available, but only for the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPad 2, all of which need to be running iOS 5 or later.
How To: Install Siri on Your Mac
Admit it, you wish Siri was on your Mac, and so do I. She stole my heart on iOS, and now every time I open up my MacBook, I feel something missing. Wouldn't it be great if we could, I dunno, hack Siri onto our Macs? Yeah, it would!
How To: 6 Tweaks You Should Be Using on Your Mac Right Now
All of Apple's products are praised for being extremely easy to use. So much so, that your grandma can pick one up and be a "pro" within a few hours. However, this isn't necessarily a good thing for us real power users who want more granular control of our devices.
News: 10 Uses for the Front-Facing iPhone Camera
If you're a lucky owner of the iPhone 4, you know that the upgrade to its camera app includes a front-facing camera feature which acts like a video cam on your computer. Apple, of course, intends the front-facing feature to be mainly used for the FaceTime application which enables you to hold video phone conferences with other iPhone 4 and Mac users who have FaceTime installed on their device. This is all well and good, but there several other ways the front-facing camera can be used.
Apple's iCloud: What You Should Know
As I was listening to Apple's WWDC conference today, what ran through my mind the most is if there were ever a time to switch to the world of Apple computing now is it. Today's WWDC keynote presentation was chock-full of new and updated iOS mobile software—too much to cover in this one article. But the most "new thing" coming from Apple this Fall is iCloud, a file sharing and streaming service that requires no wired connections.
How To: Get By with the Cheaper 16GB Option for iPhone or iPad
There are a few different types of Apple iPhone and iPad users: general household users who largely consume media—e.g. surfing the web, watching movies, listening to music. Other iPhone and iPad owners use their device(s) to produce stuff—written documents, edited movies, blog posts, music tracks, and the like. And then there are those who are very mobile with their devices. They commute to and from work on a regular basis with their iPhone or iPad. Some users may travel a lot on business, or...