Friday, 01 May 2020 09:05
Do You Know Who Can Track Your Location? It’s Worth Checking Periodically
Written by Adam Engst
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 Contacts, in the Find My app, and so on. You can share your location for an hour, until the […]
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 embarrassing, and overall better if we follow a few basic audiovisual tips. Make Sure You Have Decent Lighting Natural light is best, but […]
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Friday, 01 May 2020 09:03
Forrester Research and IBM Studies Show Macs Are Cheaper than PCs
Written by Adam Engst
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 macOS is better than Windows, or that Apple’s hardware quality is superior. Still, our friendly local bean counters have […]
Friday, 01 May 2020 09:02
Want to Push Some Buttons? Make the Most of Control Center in iOS
Written by Adam Engst
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 default buttons if they’re just taking up space. Opening and Closing Control Center To open Control Center in iOS 11 and […]
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Friday, 01 May 2020 09:01
Use the Mac’s Built-In Screen Sharing to Provide Remote Help
Written by Adam Engst
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 look directly at their Mac to see what was going on. Now, however, with everyone staying at home due to the […]
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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 $399. Whereas the original model used the svelte, easy-to-hold iPhone 5s case design with a 4-inch screen, this new iPhone SE repurposes the larger iPhone 8 design with its 4.7-inch screen. […]
Wednesday, 01 April 2020 10:08
Apple Releases COVID-19 Screening Tool App and Web Site
Written by Adam Engst
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 questions about symptoms, risk factors, and recent exposure. Then it offers customized CDC recommendations, including guidance on social distancing and self-isolating, how to […]
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Wednesday, 01 April 2020 10:07
You Can Now Export and Download Apple Card Statements
Written by Adam Engst
Apple’s credit card, the Apple Card, offers a nice mix of integration with Apple Pay, daily cash back, and an elegant interface in the Wallet app on your iPhone. Until recently, however, it was impossible to get your transaction data out of Wallet except in PDF form. Apple has now added exports in either CSV […]
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Wednesday, 01 April 2020 10:06
Try Using a Magic Trackpad 2 with Your iPad Running iPadOS 13.4
Written by Adam Engst
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 well, but in the meantime, you can control an iPad entirely via a Magic Trackpad 2 (the wedge-like one that recharges […]
Wednesday, 01 April 2020 10:05
Upgrade to iOS 13.4 to Fix Mail’s Lousy Toolbar Interface
Written by Adam Engst
In iOS 13, in what can only have been a prank gone wrong, Apple simplified the message toolbar in Mail, putting the Delete button where the Reply button had been in iOS 12 and leaving a lot of blank space in the toolbar. As millions of users accidentally deleted messages instead of replying, hilarity ensued. […]
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Wednesday, 01 April 2020 10:04
Tips for Setting Up a Comfortable and Effective Home Work Space
Written by Adam Engst
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 was probably even a little thrill of “I get to work from home!” at first. But as those who have telecommuted […]
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Wednesday, 01 April 2020 10:03
Need to Stay in Touch? Try One of These Videoconferencing Apps
Written by Adam Engst
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 solution, whether it’s the built-in videoconferencing features of Slack or Microsoft Teams, or a dedicated videoconferencing system like Zoom or Webex. But what if you’re in a small […]
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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 difficult to stay focused with so much news rolling in. For friends and family, Facebook might seem to be the […]
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Wednesday, 01 April 2020 10:01
Having Mac Troubles? Running Apple Diagnostics May Help Identify the Problem
Written by Adam Engst
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 June 2013, Apple instead included a similar set of diagnostics called Apple Hardware Test.) Apple Diagnostics is a set of hardware test […]
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Wednesday, 18 March 2020 13:32
MacBook Air Update Features Magic Keyboard, iPad Pro Gets a Trackpad
Written by Adam Engst
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 processors, enhanced graphics, and more storage options, all for $200 less than before. Apple also threw back the curtains on an updated iPad Pro that will […]
The Mac Business Solutions Team is working hard to ensure that our staff and clients stay healthy. We are taking some precautions and planning contingencies for the next few weeks. This is a serious concern and we recommend that everyone obtain information from trusted sources regarding COVID-19.
Monday, 02 March 2020 09:08
Unsubscribe from Marketing Email to Lighten Your Inbox Load
Written by Adam Engst
Are you overwhelmed by email? Is your Inbox filled with promotions, special offers, and the like? These messages aren’t spam—you almost always bought something from the company or have some sort of relationship with the sender—but that doesn’t mean you want to hear from them repeatedly. Luckily, it’s easy to get off the lists of […]
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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 selected in System Preferences > Mission Control.) Before macOS 10.15 Catalina, you had to click and hold on the green full-screen […]
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Monday, 02 March 2020 09:06
Set Your Preferred Name and Photo for Messages in iOS 13
Written by Adam Engst
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 feature in iOS 13 lets you share your preferred name and avatar picture with other iMessage users (blue-bubble friends). […]
Monday, 02 March 2020 09:05
Disable or Remap the Caps Lock Key to Avoid Accidental ALL CAPS
Written by Adam Engst
As you undoubtedly know, TYPING IN ALL CAPS is considered shouting on the Internet. Doesn’t it bug you when you accidentally tap the Caps Lock key and start writing in uppercase? The Caps Lock key is vestigial—it was invented as a “Shift lock” key to make it easier to type the second characters on the […]
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Monday, 02 March 2020 09:04
COVID-19: Preparing Your Organization to Work from Home
Written by Adam Engst
As of this writing, the respiratory disease COVID-19 has caused nearly 3000 deaths and infected over 100,000 people worldwide. There are relatively few cases in North America currently, but that could increase significantly. For high-quality information about COVID-19, turn to the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For now, […]
Monday, 02 March 2020 09:03
Troubleshooting Steps for When Your Mac Won’t Print
Written by Adam Engst
There’s little more frustrating than being unable to print a document when you need it. You choose File > Print, and nothing happens. Or, worse, macOS looks like it’s printing, so you focus on some other task, only to realize 20 minutes later that nothing has come out of the printer. Now what? Try these […]