News, Tips, and Tricks
For Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.
Make It Stop! How You Can Control Notifications on Your iPhone
Is every app on your iPhone or iPad constantly nagging you with notifications? It’s like a three-year-old saying “Look at me!” every few minutes, but on the plus side, a little work in the Settings app can quiet your device. And it won’t whine about being sent to...
The Quick Trick for Magnifying Your Mac’s Screen
No matter how good your eyes are, at some point there will be something on your Mac’s screen that’s just too small to see well. With just a minute of setup, you can take advantage of a macOS feature that lets you zoom the screen right where the pointer is. Open System...
9 Tricks that Make It Easier to Save Files on the Mac
There’s nothing sexy about the Save dialog in Mac apps. It’s not pretty, you can’t tweet from it, and Apple hasn’t changed anything about it in years. But every time you create a new document in a Mac app, you have to save it. Once in the Save dialog, you name your...
The Three Secrets of Backup Masters
“To go forward, you must back up.” Sure, it was an advertising tagline for backup software from the 1990s, but it’s still true. When it comes to losing data, the question is not “if,” but “when.” If you store valuable information—whether personal or professional—on...
The Fastest Way to Invoke Apple Pay
When it’s an option at a cash register, Apple Pay is faster, easier, and safer than using a credit card. But accessing it from the Wallet app is way too slow! Here’s the trick to pull up Apple Pay quickly. In Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay, under “Allow Access...
Don’t Get Burned by Bad Cables… Literally!
There are easier ways of getting to know your local fire department than using cheap charging cables. We recommend buying quality cables (and taking cookies to the firefighters).
Trash Files Instantly from the Keyboard
Every Mac user knows that you drag files or folders you want to delete to the Trash icon in the Dock. And you probably even know that you can select multiple items by Shift-clicking (for a sequential range of items in a list view) or Command-clicking (for an arbitrary...
Did You Know the iPhone Has a Button for Ignoring Telemarketers?
Telemarketers are a scourge on society, but if you’re getting too many telemarketing calls, you can at least reduce how much time you spend on them. When a call comes in, you can always tap the red Decline button, but it’s even faster to press the Sleep/Wake button on...
How to Stop Annoying Screen Flipping on Your iPad or iPhone
Normally, it’s helpful when an app on your iPad or iPhone switches from vertical (portrait) to horizontal (landscape) as you rotate the device. But it can be annoying to have the screen orientation flip back and forth, such as when you’re reading while lying on your...
Sonos PLAYBASE Setup
With its updated design and feature rich simplicity, the Sonos PLAYBASE is a fantastic edition to your home entertainment system. In this video, we unbox one, get it set up and share our initial reactions....
The Single-click Trick to Declutter Your Mac’s Screen
Is your Mac’s screen cluttered with windows from different apps? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to see a couple simultaneously, but having too many apps visible is often distracting. There are a variety of ways to focus on a single app at a time, but here’s one of...
Make the Most of the iPhone’s Panorama Mode
Panoramas are great for capturing mountainous vistas and sunsets at sea, but did you know that you can use the iPhone’s panorama mode right-to-left and for taking vertical panoramas as well?