by Lucy McAdams | Mar 30, 2018 | keyboard shortcut, Mac, Reminders
With Apple’s productivity apps like Calendar, Contacts, Notes, and Reminders, which look and work pretty much the same on the Mac and in iOS, what you see is largely what you get. Particularly in iOS, they tend not to have much in the way of hidden depths. With...
by Lucy McAdams | Mar 28, 2018 | Face ID, iPhone X, Security
Apple’s new iPhone X does away with the Home button, which has been a fixture since the original iPhone and has long served as the Touch ID sensor. To replace Touch ID, Apple developed a new facial recognition technology called Face ID. With Face ID, the iPhone X...
by Lucy McAdams | Mar 26, 2018 | Apple Pay, Tip, Wallet
File this as reason number 17 why Apple Pay is better than plastic. Let’s say your credit card expires and your bank sends you a new card with a revised expiration date. Or perhaps your bank replaces your card with one that has a new number. Either way, most credit...
by Lucy McAdams | Mar 23, 2018 | Mac, Tip
Here’s one for those who use Apple’s Notes app for storing bits of information. By default, Notes in macOS gives you a single window, with each note listed in a sidebar. But what if you want to see two notes at once? Or keep one always available no matter what else...
by Lucy McAdams | Mar 21, 2018 | Mac, Tip
Snazzy shadowed text probably isn’t appropriate for your company’s annual report, but if you’re whipping up a flyer for a birthday party, you might want to jazz up the text. You can do that in most Mac apps that support macOS’s system-level Fonts palette. Select your...
by Lucy McAdams | Mar 19, 2018 | App Store, Apple Music, Calendar, Family Sharing, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, iOS, iTunes Store, Mac, Photos, Reminders
Family life is all about togetherness, but keeping track of who’s doing what when can be tough. Apple’s Family Sharing service makes it easy to share apps, media, and more within a family of up to six members, and it provides a few helpful digital housekeeping...
by Lucy McAdams | Mar 16, 2018 | iOS, Siri, Tip
If you’re reading this, chances are good that you’re not in elementary school, but it’s still easy to end up with a bunch of numbers you need to calculate. Perhaps you’re trying to total receipts for an expense report, average your kid’s report card grades, or split a...
by Lucy McAdams | Mar 14, 2018 | iCloud, iCloud Photo Library, Mac, Photos, Tip, troubleshooting
File this warning under “unless it’s absolutely necessary.” If you use iCloud Photo Library on your Mac, don’t sign out from iCloud. Also, don’t deselect the iCloud Photo Library checkbox in either the Photos options of the iCloud pane of System Preferences or in the...
by Lucy McAdams | Mar 13, 2018 | iOS, iPhone
Junk calls are one of the great annoyances of the modern world. You’re minding your own business when your iPhone vibrates in your pocket. You pull it out, curious as to who’s calling, but don’t recognize the number. You may notice that it’s in the same exchange as...
by Lucy McAdams | Feb 28, 2018 | Battery, Control Center, iPhone X, Tip
Wondering what happened to the numeric battery percentage indicator on the iPhone X? The notch takes up enough space at the top of the screen that there was room only for the battery icon, which can be hard to interpret. If you want to see precisely what percentage of...
by Lucy McAdams | Feb 23, 2018 | Apple Watch, Emergency SOS, How-To, iPhone
Have you ever needed to call emergency services from your or someone else’s iPhone? Almost by definition, such calls take place at stressful times, and it can be hard to remember what to do. Or, if you’ve been in an accident, it might be difficult or impossible to...
by Lucy McAdams | Feb 15, 2018 | iOS, Reminders, Siri, Tip
Do you create reminders with Siri on the iPhone? Those reminders are automatically added to your default list, which you set in Settings > Reminders > Default List. That’s great generally—“Hey Siri, remind me to update watchOS tonight at 11 PM”—but less good...
by Lucy McAdams | Feb 14, 2018 | Firefox, Mac, Safari, Tip
For navigation, every Web browser offers back and forward buttons, generally represented by arrows in the upper left of the toolbar. You can also navigate by choosing menu commands and typing keyboard shortcuts—did you know that Command-Left arrow and Command-Right...
by Lucy McAdams | Feb 1, 2018 | Backup, Mac, Security
Malware makes headlines regularly these days, and although Macs are targeted far less than Windows PCs, Mac users still need to remain vigilant. A particularly serious type of malware is called “ransomware” because once it infects your computer, it encrypts all your...
by Lucy McAdams | Jan 29, 2018 | HomePod
Move over, Amazon Echo and Google Home, there’s a new smart speaker coming soon. First announced back in June of 2017, Apple’s long-awaited HomePod will ship in the US, UK, and Australia on February 9th for $349. You can get it in space gray or white. Where Amazon and...
