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 of our phones, code is king. With iOS 14, the camera in your iPhone becomes all the more capable. You’d be excused for […]
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Monday, 04 January 2021 09:07
M1-Based Macs Have New Startup Modes: Here’s What You Need to Know
Written by Adam Engst
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 up from macOS Recovery, Command-Option-P-R resets the NVRAM, Shift starts up in Safe mode, D opens Apple Diagnostics to check the […]
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Monday, 04 January 2021 09:06
New Features You May Have Missed in the iOS 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3 Updates
Written by Adam Engst
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 take a moment to catch you up on what Apple has added in versions 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3. (If you’re running iOS […]
Monday, 04 January 2021 09:05
5 New Year’s Resolutions That Will Improve Your Digital Security
Written by Adam Engst
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 sleep, eat healthy, and exercise, could we suggest a few more that will improve your digital security? […]
Monday, 04 January 2021 09:04
Need to Save Bandwidth on Your iPhone? Try Low Data Mode
Written by Adam Engst
Even as we get 5G cellular connectivity and high-speed Wi-Fi networks, there are plenty of times when you might want to reduce your data usage. Perhaps you’re trying to avoid running over a data cap while traveling, or maybe you’re sharing a Wi-Fi network with a very slow Internet connection. Either way, you can prevent […]
Monday, 04 January 2021 09:03
Apple Provides Sensible Device and Data Access Safety Advice
Written by Adam Engst
Our iPhones are the keys to our digital lives, holding our most private photos, conversations, and financial data, among much else. That’s why Apple goes to such lengths to help us protect our privacy and security. But we all have people with whom we share some level of access, whether that means shared photo albums, […]
Monday, 04 January 2021 09:02
Not Enough Space to Install iOS 14 or iPadOS 14? Try This Approach
Written by Adam Engst
Suppose you have an older iPhone or iPad, especially one with only 16 GB of storage. In that case, it’s possible that you won’t have enough space to upgrade to iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 through Settings > General > Software Update. That’s often true due to an inexplicably large Other category when you look […]
Monday, 04 January 2021 09:01
Apple Expands the AirPods Line with AirPods Max Headphones
Written by Adam Engst
If you think of AirPods as earbuds, you’re not alone. But just as Apple has given us larger iPhone Max models, the company has now introduced the AirPods Max, which expand the traditional earbuds to full-sized headphones. The AirPods Max offer top-notch Apple design, premium materials, Active Noise Cancellation (with Transparency mode), Adaptive EQ, spatial […]
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Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:08
Flash Is Dead—Uninstall Flash Player to Keep Your Mac Secure
Written by Adam Engst
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 organizations that relied on Flash have had three years to replace it. Because Adobe will no longer be addressing security vulnerabilities in Flash with updates, […]
Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:07
Did You Know That Your iPhone Can “Name That Tune”?
Written by Adam Engst
Several years ago, Apple bought a company called Shazam, which made an app that identified songs by listening to the music playing nearby. Since then, Apple has built Shazam into Siri in iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS. Most recently, Apple added it to Control Center in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 as well, so you […]
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Photos in iOS 14 provides four views of your library: Years, Months, Days, and All Photos. For the first three, Photos picks representative images that may not include particular shots you’re looking for. The All Photos view shows everything, but it can be overwhelming. What’s not apparent is that you can navigate All Photos more […]
Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:05
A Quick Shortcut to Create an Instant Slideshow from a Folder of Images
Written by Adam Engst
You probably know that you can select an image in the Finder and press the Space bar to preview it in a Quick Look window. And you may know that you can use the arrow keys to preview other files in the same folder without closing and reopening the Quick Look window. But did you […]
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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 Air, but with the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac mini, Apple continues to sell some Intel-based models with beefier specs—most notably […]
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Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:03
Take a Few Minutes to Lock Down Your Facebook Privacy Settings
Written by Adam Engst
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, were the 50 million Facebook profiles gathered for Cambridge Analytica for the 2016 election. Closer to home, the company pushed a VPN service in the Facebook iOS […]
Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:02
Want to Send Holiday Cards This Year? Try Building Them with Motif for Photos
Written by Adam Engst
In 2018, Apple dropped support for creating print projects from within Photos, including greeting cards, calendars, and books. Instead, Apple allowed other print-service companies to build Photos Project extensions that gave users the same sort of capabilities. At first, they didn’t match up with what Apple had previously provided, but they’ve improved over time. It’s […]
Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:01
Overwhelmed by Apps? Use iOS 14’s App Library to Manage Your Home Screens
Written by Adam Engst
Many of us have been using iPhones for years, and apps we bought or downloaded long ago molder in corners of our Home screens. Even if you haven’t played Flappy Bird in years, its pixelated icon still stares glumly at you every time you peer at its Home screen, and it’s far from alone. To […]
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Wednesday, 11 November 2020 10:00
Apple Unveils New M1-Powered MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini
Written by Adam Engst
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 specifically, three Macs, all of which replace the longstanding Intel chip with Apple’s new M1 chip. All three Macs can be ordered now and […]
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Monday, 02 November 2020 09:08
Amazing New Tips for Rearranging Apps on Your iPhone or iPad
Written by Adam Engst
You’ve likely seen our tip on using the Dock on an iPhone or iPad as a temporary holding place that makes rearranging apps easier. We’ve learned two new tips that help even more! First, you can move multiple apps at once. Start by touching an app, waiting to feel a tap, and then moving it […]
Monday, 02 November 2020 09:07
Don’t Worry about an Occasional “Not Charging” Message on Your MacBook
Written by Adam Engst
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 battery chemically ages. (Find it in System Preferences > Energy Saver > Battery Health.) One thing to be aware of with battery health management is that it […]
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Monday, 02 November 2020 09:06
How to Make Sure Your iPhone Doesn’t Make Noise in the Night
Written by Adam Engst
You likely know that you can use Do Not Disturb to prevent random notifications on your iPhone from waking you at night—it’s easy to set a Do Not Disturb schedule for your usual sleeping hours. Another setting in there is important but often overlooked. If you ever use your iPhone during those Do Not Disturb […]
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Monday, 02 November 2020 09:05
Use These Settings to Show or Hide Filename Extensions
Written by Adam Engst
On the Mac, nearly every file has an extension, a set of characters after a period that indicates what type of file it is and determines which app opens it. So, .png indicates a PNG graphic that opens in Preview by default, .pages denotes a Pages document, and .docx identifies a file as belonging to […]
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Monday, 02 November 2020 09:04
New Back Tap Feature in iOS 14 Provides Two Customizable Shortcuts
Written by Adam Engst
We all have things we do regularly on our iPhones, whether it’s checking the weather, searching Google, or invoking the magnifier. Apple has long provided ways of making your most common actions easier to access. You might put an app on your Dock, open Control Center, or take advantage of the triple-press Accessibility shortcut. With […]
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