• November 21, 2024

    First Wave of Apple Intelligence Features Appear in macOS 15.1 Sequoia, iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1

    Is it time to make your Apple devices smarter? Apple has just released macOS 15.1 Sequoia, iOS 18.1, and iPadOS 18.1 with an initial collection of Apple Intelligence features and a promise of more coming in December. The company is making a big deal about... Read more
  • November 19, 2024

    A Few of Our Favorite Things: Tech Edition

    The holiday season is fast approaching, but we’re asked to recommend tech gear year-round. Here are some recommendations if you’re looking for a geeky gift for that special someone or need to supplement your tech toolkit with new or updated equipment. We don’t have personal experience with all these items, and there are undoubtedly many worthy alternatives—next time we chat, let us know about p... Read more
  • November 14, 2024

    New Seventh-Generation iPad mini Adds A17 Pro for Apple Intelligence

    Although the first wave of Apple Intelligence features won’t upend the user experience for most people, Apple is pushing hard to ensure that all its new devices can participate. That’s largely what’s behind the recently released seventh-generation iPad mini. It’s physically unchanged other than a few new colors, but u... Read more
  • November 12, 2024

    Apple’s Tips App Provides Extensive User Guides and Helpful How-Tos

    Apple has included the Tips app with the iPhone and iPad since iOS 8 in 2014 and on the Mac since macOS 10.14 Mojave in 2018. Initially, it didn’t contain much useful content, and many longtime users ignored it. However, Apple has significantly increased the amount of information in Tips over time, adding device-specific tips, full device and app user guides, highlights of new features, and mor... Read more
  • November 7, 2024

    Use Guided Access for Securely Allowing Others to Use an App on Your iPhone or iPad

    iPhones and iPads are highly personal devices, but you might want to let someone else use a particular app on yours without letting them poke through Messages, Mail, and Photos. For example, a child could play a game, a volunteer could check in attendees, or a friend could take photos. To allow this, Apple created Read more
  • November 5, 2024

    Watch Out for PayPal Invoice Phishing Scams

    We’ve seen an uptick in fake invoices from scammers using PayPal. Because they’re being sent through PayPal itself, spam filters won’t catch them, and they have few of the usual markers of phishing email (but look for sketchy names and email addresses at the top). Some are even forged to appear as if they come from Apple. Never pay a PayPal invoice that you can’t tie directly to something you’v... Read more
  • October 29, 2024

    How to Minimize Downtime and Lost Work from Tech Failures

    Macs are much more reliable than in the past, but it remains the case that computers and apps can fail in a wide variety of ways. And they’ve become so integral to daily life that an occasional failure is almost inevitable. Unfortunately, if you aren’t prepared for that eventuality, you may lose work and suffer from unnecessary downtime. A little forethought can significantly minimize the impac... Read more
  • October 24, 2024

    Setting Up and Managing iCloud+ Storage

    Apple’s online iCloud storage underpins many of the company’s services, including iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, iCloud Backup (for iPhones and iPads), iCloud Mail, and Messages in iCloud. Numerous independent apps also rely on iCloud storage to sync data between devices. Apple gives everyone 5 GB of storage for free, which is enough for core services, like iCloud Keychain, and to try the othe... Read more
  • October 22, 2024

    In iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, Control Center Is Now Highly Customizable

    Control Center has been a part of our iPhone and iPad experience for over a decade, first appearing in iOS 7 in 2013. It provides direct access to important controls so we don’t have to hunt through Settings or apps. On the whole, it has been a welcome addition. Although Control Center has changed a bit over the years, it provided relatively minimal customization options until iOS 18 and iPa... Read more
  • October 17, 2024

    Passwords Becomes a Real App in macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18

    Although we’re still fans of 1Password, and there are plenty of other good password managers out there, like BitWarden and Dashlane, Apple has finally removed the last hurdle to using its bu... Read more