MacMost: Archives

You can create a very short Automator action to take text as input, manipulate it, and replace the original text. In this example, we'll create a Javascript JXA action that encloses the text in quotes. You can use this in conjunction with a keyboard shortcut to quickly apply quotes in Pages and other apps.

News site Cheddar is reporting that Apple may be adding games to its upcoming subscription service plans. This is probably just research and development from Apple at this stage, so it is too early to tell if this would be like Netflix for games or something else, or which Apple devices it would include.

Sometimes you need a series of shortcuts to accomplish a task, not just one. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create three small shortcuts to save and recall text clippings. The first two allow you to save the clipboard or the selection to a file in a folder. The third shortcut lets you recall one of those clips so you can paste it into a document, email, note or just about anything.

A new version of iOS for beta testers has revealed two possible upcoming features. The first is a magazine subscription service, which has been long rumored. The second is the ability to use voice-activated “Hey Siri” with the wireless AirPods.

A common complaint from Mojave users is that when you copy and paste a file icon to create a custom icon for a file or folder, the result is blurry. It turns out that this only happens when the icon image is not square. Convert the image to a square one, or copy a square portion of the image, and the result is crisp and clear.

You can share the screen of another Mac pretty easily. But it seems like it is impossible to do the same with another account on the same Mac. However, if you use Terminal to set up an ssh tunnel, you can share the screen of a second account using an alternate port number. This allows you to stay logged in to one account, while you use another account in a screen sharing window.

AirPods have quietly built up a strong fanbase, myself among them. The wireless in-ear earphones fit, work and sound much better than anyone expected. Rumors of second generation AirPods pointed to a 2018 and now first-half 2019 release. But what new features will be included? AirPods fans are speculating online about what will really be in the second generation of the device.

When you view movie trailers on YouTube or other sites, you often have to sit through advertisements to see the trailer. This means you are watching an ad before you get to the trailer, which is essentially an ad itself. Apple gives you a site where you can watch high-definition trailers without ads. In addition, you can use Siri or Spotlight to go right to a trailer. On iOS, there is even an official Apple Movie Trailers app.

Over the last 24 hours Apple has released minor new versions of all of its major operating systems: macOS 10.14.3, iOS 12.1.3, watchOS 5.1.3, and tvOS 12.1.2. All updates will show up automatically as regular software updates on each device over the next day or so.

A common problem people have been reporting is the inability to reformat an APFS drive as something other than APFS. It appears in Disk Utility that you can only erase a disk and keep it as APFS. However, a simple switch in Disk Utility is preventing you from selecting the device rather than the volume. Once you select the volume, you can reformat however you like.

A tech news site is reporting that suppliers are still producing parts for Apple’s AirPower, despite Apple being quiet about its release. Apple first announced it in 2017 as a 2018 product, but pulled all information about it from their site a few months back. However, it looks like the charging mat may be here later this year.

An industry news site is claiming that touch panel suppliers are shipping new screens for a set of new entry-level iPads for release in the first half of this year. These could be a new iPad mini and basic iPad model.

You can use Dictation Commands to trigger a keyboard shortcut, menu item, or to even insert some text. You can do this while typing, or while dictating. You can set the spoken phrase to precede a dictation command to make sure the command only executes when you want it to.

GIF is an image file format that is commonly used to post images to the web, social media or messages. They are not ideal for photos, but are often used for graphics. Animated GIFs are commonly used to convey emotion on social media and messages. You can find free animated GIF images online and from tools right inside social media apps and messaging apps.

When you save a file you get to assign a name and pick a location. The standard save dialog provides a lot of power user techniques that most people don't know about. You can harness the power of Finder windows to choose a location, you can use keyboard shortcuts to jump to locations and cancel. You can click on existing files to inherit the same name.

Apple released new iPhone battery cases for the XS, XS Mac and XR models. These cases feature a sizable battery as part of the back of the case, giving you extra hours of battery life for those that need it. They cost $129. (more...)

Many apps will give you alerts that appear in the upper right corner of your Mac screen. You can set whether these alerts need you to click on them to dismiss, or they dismiss themselves automatically, or they don't appear at all. The settings for this are in System Preferences, under Notifications.

The DuckDuckGo search engine started using Apple Maps in its search results today. Previously it used OpenStreetMap, Google, Bing and other solution to display locations. DuckDuckGo cited privacy as the primary reason they chose to go with Apple’s solution. The search engine’s main feature is a commitment to user privacy. (more...)

You can switch a text selection to use all uppercase letters, or just capitalize the beginnings of words, by using a style change rather than retyping the words. This makes it easy to try different capitalization options and always be able to switch back to your original text. You can also display text as Small Caps, which uses uppercase letters of different sizes to show which letters are really uppercase. This also works in Numbers and Keynote.

A Japanese rumor site reported today that suppliers are mentioning Apple may be looking at developing a new iPod Touch. The current model is from 2015 and at $199 is the cheapest way to get an iOS device. However, while it supports iOS 12, it may be getting too old to support future versions of iOS. (more...)