Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

If you have iOS 12 and an iPhone X, XS or XR, you can create Memoji characters to add to the existing Animoji characters to use in Messages as animated talking videos. You can design the Memoji using a variety of facial attributes. You can then use these in Messages and also in FaceTime to have a live conversation with the Memoji replacing your actual face.

A new feature of iOS 12 is the ability to view how much time you have spent on your iPhone or iPad and what you are doing wit that time. You can also restrict the amount of time you spend with apps, or turn off access to features of your devices completely. Screen Time can be used to help you spend less time on your devices or in certain apps. It can also be used to restrict usage of a device by a child.

A small but useful new feature in iOS 12 is the ability to position the cursor in text using a trackpad-like function. When you are typing text, whether it is in Pages, Notes, Mail, or whatever, you can tap and hold the spacebar and after a second the keys go blank and you can drag the cursor around like you are using a trackpad. This works on both iPhones and iPads, but iPads have had a slightly different trackpad function in the past.

Several different rumors over the last few days point to a new iPad Pro in the coming weeks. 9to5mac mentions that the beta of iOS 12.1 supports syncing Memoji across devices. That feature would make the most sense if one could own an iPhone and iPad capable of using Animoji, which would require a new iPad with the same front-facing cameras as the iPhone X series. MacRumors notes support for landscape FaceID, which would also likely be a feature of a new iPad Pro. In addition, there is support for 4K video output in the simulator used by iOS developers for the iPad. This could mean that the new iPad Pro uses USB-C as a connector instead of a Lightning port. It could make sense that an iPad Pro is the first device to jump to USB-C ahead of iPhones possibly moving there next year. (more...)

The Shortcuts app from Apple allows you to create your own Siri Shortcuts from building blocks. A large gallery of sample shortcuts is a good place to start to learn about using shortcuts. When you select a shortcut from the gallery, you customize it while adding it to your active shortcuts. You can then trigger it with Siri or pressing a widget button.

The simplest way to take advantage of the new Siri Shortcuts feature in iOS 12 is to just use one of the suggestions in the Settings app. You can look through a list of recent activity and quickly create a shortcut from that, assigning a Siri trigger phrase to use the shortcut over and over again.

In addition to the release of iOS 12 today, Apple also updated their three office-like apps with a few new features. The update includes compatibility with new macOS Mojave and iOS 12 features, such as Continuity Camera and Dark Mode. (more...)

Take a look at the top new features of iOS 12, available today for iPhone and iPad. You can now customize Siri, adding your own commands that trigger actions. You can use filters and graphics in FaceTime. You can create your own Memoji on newer iPhones and even use them in live FaceTime conversations. Screen Time lets you keep track of your use. Notifications and Do Not Disturb get more controls. There are also redesigned apps and more.

A meme is a humorous image, caption, idea or action that spreads on online. Memes have been around since the beginning of the Internet and are usually just harmless fun.

The big news items yesterday were the three new iPhones and the Apple Watch Series 4. But in addition to those, we also learned released dates for iOS 12 (September 17) and macOS Mojave (September 24). The absence of any mention of new Mac and iPad models seems to make it almost certain that Apple will have another event in coming weeks to announce more fall products. (more...)

Is the default size of text in the Mac Notes app too small? You can change it in Notes, Preferences. You can also change it in iOS by going to Settings, Display & Brightness, Text Size. But this also changes the size of text in many other apps as well.

If you a Mac with a trackpad, are you aware of all of the different gestures you can use to make life easier? You can use Smart Zoom to zoom in an out on an element on a web page. You can rotate images. You can also bring in the Notifications Center sidebar and activate Mission Control. Try learning a new trackpad gesture to get the most from your Mac.

Apple announced a new line of iPhones today, building on last year's iPhone X. The new iPhone XS is the successor to the iPhone X, and a new iPhone XS Max is a larger-screen version. A new iPhone XR is a LCD-screen budget model. In addition, Apple announced a new Apple Watch Series 4 with a slight redesign and new features. Release dates for iOS 12 and macOS Mojave were set for later this month.

You can copy and paste text on an iPhone or iPad just like you can on a computer. However, instead of a mouse or trackpad to select text and keyboard commands to copy and paste, you need to use touchscreen gestures to select and special on-screen commands to copy and paste. It takes some practice to be able to copy and paste as easily as you can on a computer.

Apple added the ability to browse all of their music charts by country. I love this because you can listen to popular music from all around the world and discover new things. You can look at the charts even if you are not using Apple Music.

As Wednesday’s Apple event approaches, the analysts are all guessing what Apple may unveil. As usual, a lot of predictions are vague and confusing, such as suggesting USB-C support for iPhones, which could just mean USB-C cables, and not the demise of the lightning port. (more...)

If you wish to have some of the photos on your Mac available in iCloud, but not others, a typical solution is to use two Photos libraries. But a more useful solution for some is to link some photos as referenced photos, keeping them separate from your Photos library while including them as linked photos. These items will not be synced to iCloud and will not be stored in your Mac's Photos library either. You can bring these photos into the library later on using the Consolidate command.

While each piece of unwanted software that tries to get on your Mac is slightly different, there are some general steps you can take to check for and remove malware. The LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons folders are usual locations to check. You should also look for unwanted browser extensions and do an audit of the files in your Applications folder.

In Safari, you can see where a link on a page goes before you click it. Just hover your cursor over the link and look at the bottom left corner of the Safari window. If you don’t see the URL appear there, then check to make sure you have the Status Bar turned on by going to View, Show/Hide Status Bar. But keep in mind that if the site uses a URL shortener or link service that you may not be looking at the final destination.

Some are reporting this week that Apple will release two new versions of the iPhone X, an “Xs” model and an “Xs Max” model. While the first will be a minor update to the existing iPhone X, the Max could have a larger screen and battery.

The use of “Max” in the name instead of a “plus” will be a change for Apple, and it seems very un-Apple-like. Rumors also include another iPhone model with a mid-sized LCD screen that could replace the iPhone 8 series. The announcement will come on the morning of September 12 during a special event at Apple headquarters.