MacMost: Archives

You can use the App Switcher to quickly and easily switch between running apps. It is a keyboard shortcut, but not as simple to use as just pressing the keys. You can use it to see which apps are running and pick which one to bring to the front, all without lifting your fingers off of the keyboard. You can also use it to quit apps.

Once again, net neutrality is in the news. I’ve been getting questions about it: what net neutrality is, and whether it is important. Let me explain the situation and tell you why you need to take net neutrality very seriously.

You can create calendars in the Photos app that use your photos as the pictures. You can customize each month to include one or more photos, plus captions. You can also specify the items to be included on each date by using your own calendars. When done, you can order the calendars from Apple or print them yourself.

Many Mac news sites and blogs are reporting about a way that someone can gain access to your Mac without your password. However, the danger is usually overstated as someone needs physical access to your Mac to use the exploit. In this video I'll show you the problem and also a simple way to prevent it. However, Apple will probably have a fix for this in the next few days or even hours.

It is fairly simple to take a screen shot in iOS 11 on the iPhone or iPad, if you know the combination of buttons you need to press. With iOS 11, you can mark up or crop the screen shot and share it before saving it to your Photos library. Or, you can share it and skip saving a copy.

If you want to have several images in Pages or Keynote match in size exactly, but the original images are different size ratios, you can use resizing and masking to make them all exactly the same. You can also use this to make rectangular images square or some other dimensions.

The cursor is the visual representation of the point on your Mac's screen where you are about to perform an action. It is typically an arrow, but can change to a special line when over text. The text cursor is a second cursor that is a blinking line indicating the position where you are typing in a text area. You can increate the cursor size in System Preferences.

Today's iPhones can record up to 4K video resolution and the new Apple TV can play back 4K movies. What is the difference between 4K and 1080 HD? How about older standards like 720 HD and SD video? Learn the difference and how it can affect video quality. Learn how to set your video recording resolution on your iPhone.

You can easily block a phone number or Apple ID from calling your iPhone or sending you messages. Once you block a number, you can review the list and unblock any that may have been mistakes.

If you use the Activity Monitor app to check your CPU, memory, energy or disk use, you can hide the main app window and use the Dock icon to keep track of use. You can have the icon show CPU, disk or network usage in a little graph that updates continuously.

Apple has expanded iCloud over the years to include more and more services, like iCloud Photo Library, Apple Music, iCloud Drive and iCloud Keychain. It can be difficult to get your head around everything that makes up iCloud. Here is a handy infographic that ties it all together and explains each service. Click it to view larger, or download it!

Update: Here is a 2022 version I have been working on. Not completely pleased with it, so I’ll leave the one one below. If you want to see the 2022 version, view it here.

One feature of Apple Music is the ability to start a new streaming station with a song, album or artist. Apple Music will then attempt to play songs that are similar. You can further customize the station by indicating if you like the song choices.

There are several ways to attach an image to an email message. You can place the image anywhere you want in the message, or at the end. You can choose a size for the image, sending a smaller version or the full resolution image. You can also markup an image before sending it.

You can use one of four functions in numbers to convert monetary values from one currency to another. You can use the price from the previous day, or a historical value. If you need to know the special currency symbol, you can look that up online.

There are six variations on how to take screen shots using the built-on macOS functionality. You can save screens, areas and windows to files or the clipboard. There is also a Grab app that comes with your Mac that allows you to capture and preview your images before saving. You can also capture timed images. Preview can also be used to capture the screen and QuickTime Player can do video captures.

There are two emergency modes that can help you when you are in trouble. The first allows anyone to make an emergency phone call to the local authorities or to one of your emergency contacts. It also shows critical medical information that can help someone help you. Another mode can be triggered by you to call for help.

Normally, the screen saver starts after a period of inactivity, or when you use a Hot Corner. But you can also create a button in the Dock to start your screen saver with a click. This can be a handy way to quickly lock your Mac too.

New Mac users may not yet be using multiple user accounts, one for each individual using the Mac. Using accounts is a good way to keep from stepping on each other's toes when more than one person share a Mac. They are a must if you want to use iCloud or customize your Mac experience in any way. You can also set up a guest user account for one time uses.

A new feature of the iPhone X is the ability to create and send animated character videos made by using the Face ID cameras to capture your facial movements. You can choose between several fun characters and send the resulting video to anyone, not just iPhone X users.

A little-known use for the Mac Preview app is to import photos from an iPhone, camera or SD card. This functionality is similar to using Image Capture, but coupled with Preview's ability to view and edit the photos as well. It doesn't work perfectly with iCloud Photo Library, since it is hard to know which photos are actually on your iPhone at any given time.