• August 13, 2024

    Missed an Alert? Check Notification Center

    iOS, iPadOS, and macOS all let you specify whether any given app should show no notifications, temporary banners, or persistent alerts: look in Settings > Notifications and System Settings > Notifications. Temporary banners appear briefly and then automatically disappear, which is appropriate for notifications requiring no acknowledgment. But what if you see a temporary banner only as it’... Read more
  • August 8, 2024

    Protect Domains That Don’t Send Email from Email Spoofing

    We recently wrote an article for those who manage their own Internet domain names about using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to prevent your domains from being used in phishing attacks and enhance the deliverability of legitimate email. But what about other domains you own but don’t use for email? To make phishing attacks more believable, spammers sometimes forge email so it appears to come from parked d... Read more
  • August 6, 2024

    Be Careful When Scanning Unknown QR Codes

    QR codes, those square, blocky codes you scan with your iPhone’s camera to load a Web page, have become ubiquitous. So much so that we seldom pause before scanning any QR code we see. But if you think about it, that’s the same as clicking random links in emails or texts, which is a terrible idea from a security perspective. “Quishing” (QR code phishing) isn’t commonplace yet, but some sources s... Read more
  • July 27, 2024

    Choosing the Best Mac for a College-Bound Student in 2024

    Is your child heading off to college soon? They’ve undoubtedly been using a computer throughout high school, though now is a good time to look at getting them a new one, especially if theirs is old or unreliable, is shared with other family members, or was a school loaner. If you haven’t been keeping up with Apple’s Mac lineup, you might be unsure which model is the best choice. First, check... Read more
  • July 22, 2024

    Remember the Magnifier App When You Need to Read Tiny Text

    Trying to make out a tiny serial number or some fine print you can barely read can be frustrating. Years ago, Apple added a magnifier mode to its accessibility options and turned the feature into a standalone app in iOS 14. You can find the MagnifierRead more
  • July 20, 2024

    How to Copy an App Icon on the Mac

    Let’s say you’re writing documentation to help colleagues use Preview to edit images, sign PDFs, and convert graphics. (A worthy task for which they will thank you!) For this documentation, you want to include the Preview app’s icon so they know what to look for in the Applications folder and Dock. To copy a high-resolution version of any app icon that you can pa... Read more
  • July 15, 2024

    Insert Emoji More Easily with Text Replacements

    For many of us, emoji are fun, but we don’t want to choose Edit > Emoji & Symbols whenever we want to insert one. A faster, better technique is to set up text replacements for emoji you insert often. Open System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements, click the + button at the bottom, and enter the “trigger” text you want to type and the emoji you want entered. You can set the tri... Read more
  • July 13, 2024

    Apple Explains Its Approach to Device Longevity

    We Apple users tend to believe that our devices usually last longer—both physically and functionally—than Windows PCs and Android smartphones. For instance, Apple’s current operating systems work on nearly all Macs, iPhones, and iPads introduced in 2018 and later, albeit with some feature loss on the oldest devices. In a white paper entitled “Read more
  • July 8, 2024

    It’s Usually OK to Share Full-Size Images in Email and Messages

    In the early days of the Internet, when most people connected via slow modems, saving bandwidth was a big deal. You could watch images load on Web pages, and you’d have to wait to download a large email attachment before the rest of your email would appear. For most people, in most situations, bandwidth isn’t nearly as big of a deal anymore. The average Internet download speed in the US is near... Read more
  • July 6, 2024

    Prep Your Tech for Travel

    Long ago, to get ready for a trip, we’d mostly make sure we had our plane tickets, books and magazines to read, and a snack. Prepping for travel in today’s tech-heavy world comes with a new set of tasks, most of which shouldn’t be left to the last minute.

    Identify Devices, Chargers, and Cables to Bring

    Resist the temptation to bring every piece of tech you have. Do you really need yo... Read more