What’s That Little Orange Dot by Control Center in macOS 12 Monterey?

Have you noticed a little orange dot next to the icon for Control Center on the menu bar in macOS 12 Monterey? (And if not, you can’t miss it now.) Apple added that dot to alert you that something is using the Mac’s microphone to listen to the room. Click the Control Center icon [...]

By |2022-08-03T14:30:14-04:00August 9th, 2022|Mac Tips|Comments Off on What’s That Little Orange Dot by Control Center in macOS 12 Monterey?

How to Restore Missing SMS Two-Factor Authentication Codes

Many websites, from Adobe to Zendesk, let you receive two-factor authentication codes via SMS text messages. That’s good—any form of two-factor authentication is better than none—but you’re often effectively locked out of your accounts if those text messages don’t arrive. A simple fix is to call your cellular carrier and ask to have any blocks [...]

By |2022-08-01T16:55:01-04:00August 2nd, 2022|iOS Tips, Mac Tips|Comments Off on How to Restore Missing SMS Two-Factor Authentication Codes

Manage Email Faster in Mail by Swiping

We all get too much email, and while Mail can’t help you get less (other than by making it easy to unsubscribe from mailing lists), it does provide shortcuts for processing your mail more quickly. Regardless of whether you’re using iOS, iPadOS, or macOS, you can swipe on messages in the message list to [...]

By |2022-07-01T18:56:03-04:00July 29th, 2022|iOS Tips, Mac Tips|Comments Off on Manage Email Faster in Mail by Swiping

Do You Keep Losing Your Pointer on a Large Screen? Try This Tip for Finding It

A large screen—or several screens!—increases productivity by helping you see more content at once. It’s a big help to refer to a Web page in one window while writing in another, for instance, or to check your calendar while composing an email. But the more screen real estate you have, the easier it is [...]

By |2022-07-01T18:51:11-04:00July 26th, 2022|Mac Tips|Comments Off on Do You Keep Losing Your Pointer on a Large Screen? Try This Tip for Finding It

Get Some Color (On Your Mac) This Summer with the Color Picker

If you’re over 40, you probably remember the point in The Wizard of Oz where the movie switches from black-and-white to Technicolor (and if not, go see it!). It wasn’t the first color film, but the vibrant images of Dorothy’s ruby slippers, the yellow brick road, and the Emerald City helped make the movie [...]

By |2022-07-01T18:54:40-04:00July 22nd, 2022|Mac Tips|Comments Off on Get Some Color (On Your Mac) This Summer with the Color Picker

Copy and Paste between Your Apple Devices with Universal Clipboard

Everyone is accustomed to using the Copy and Paste commands on the Mac, but fewer people know that you can also copy and paste between your Mac and your iPhone and iPad. Apple calls this feature Universal Clipboard, and it’s so deeply integrated into macOS, iOS, and iPadOS that it can be easy to [...]

By |2022-06-03T09:16:53-04:00July 1st, 2022|iOS Tips, Mac Tips|Comments Off on Copy and Paste between Your Apple Devices with Universal Clipboard

Where to Find Lyrics in Apple’s Music Apps

It’s often tough to figure out exactly what a singer is saying (which can lead to some amusing mistakes), but for many songs in Apple Music, you can bring up full lyrics in the Music app, regardless of which device you’re using. On the Mac, click the speech balloon button in the upper-right corner [...]

By |2022-06-03T09:09:05-04:00June 28th, 2022|iOS Tips, Mac Tips|Comments Off on Where to Find Lyrics in Apple’s Music Apps

The Best Characters to Use When Naming Files and Folders

Back in the early 1980s, DOS filenames couldn’t be more than 8 characters long with a period and a 3-character extension. That was limiting, so when Apple developed the Mac operating system in 1984, it allowed longer names and eliminated the need for an extension, although Mac OS X’s Unix roots meant a return [...]

By |2022-06-03T09:13:05-04:00June 17th, 2022|Mac Tips|Comments Off on The Best Characters to Use When Naming Files and Folders

Easily Share Wi-Fi Passwords with Other People and Devices

You’re on vacation with your family, staying in an Airbnb, with multiple Apple devices to connect to the apartment’s Wi-Fi. Typing the password repeatedly would be a pain, but happily, Apple has added a password-sharing feature to all its operating systems. Once you enter the password on your iPhone, whenever someone else—or another of [...]

By |2022-06-03T09:05:38-04:00June 14th, 2022|iOS Tips, Mac Tips|Comments Off on Easily Share Wi-Fi Passwords with Other People and Devices

How to Recover from Overzealous Auto-Correct Curly Quotes

Most of the time, it’s appropriate when an auto-correct feature turns single and double hash marks into single and double curly quotes. However, there are times when the curly quotes are awkward for some reason or actively wrong. For instance, hash marks indicate feet and inches, as in 5′ 6″. You could attempt to disable [...]

By |2022-06-03T09:02:36-04:00June 7th, 2022|Mac Tips|Comments Off on How to Recover from Overzealous Auto-Correct Curly Quotes
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