Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

So I was playing with Automator and trying to use the built-in variables. Turns out you can use them for all sorts of things, like a Quick Action that inserts the date in text. By using a compound "Text" variable, you can build interesting strings of text to insert without using any other Automator actions or scripting.

Learn how to use the Finder's four views: Icon, List, Column and Gallery. Each view has its advantages in different situtations.

If you don't like the colors or brightness of the macOS Big Sur default desktop wallpaper, you can create your own. It is easy to take the default image and tint it to your own color or even add more to the design.

The MacBook Pro Touch Bar can be a useful productivity tool if you take the time to train yourself to use it. The first steps are to learn what it is capable of and how to customize it.

Hover Text is an Accessibility feature of Catalina and Big Sur that allows you to see the text your cursor is hovering over in a larger size. You can also see the text you are typing into fields or even apps like Pages. It is great for those that occasionally find text in an app to be too small to read.

I was curious whether there were any features unique to Microsoft's Edge browser that would make it useful to have it installed. I found six!

Spotlight in macOS Big Sur isn't as useful as it used to be. You don't het previews by default and suggestions get in the way of actual results. Which there's no fix for this problems, there are some workarounds that can make Spotlight more useful.

The Messages app has several new features in Big Sur, including inline replies, mentions, pinning conversations, custom icons and names for group conversations and more.

Watch as I build a printable PDF newsletter in Mac Pages. I'll use Page Layout mode to add tex boxes, link them, add images, captions, graphic elements and more.

There are many different ways you can launch apps on your Mac. You can use the Dock, LaunchPad, Spotlight. But it is also important to understand where the apps are actually located. There are also other ways like double-clicking a document or switching to an already-running app.

It looks like Ecosia is being added as a fifth option for a search engine in Safari on the iPhone and iPad. It is in the beta of iOS 14.3. Maybe it will be added to macOS too? Lets take a look at it and see what it is.

Learn how to find duplicate rows in Numbers using various functions and forumlas. You can also deal with the duplictes by deleting them or combining the data in them.

You can access premade guides in Apple Maps with lists of interesting places near a city. You can also build your own lists and share them with people, even if they aren't using Apple products.

There are many hidden features in the Dock that users don't know about. You can access them by bringing up a menu instead of a simple quick click.

There are more options than ever for customizing how macOS looks with Big Sur. The Menu Bar and windows get their color from the desktop, but you can also set them to ignore that. You can change the way sidebar icons and other elements look as well.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of the the Mac Mail app. Learn how to customize the sidebar, redirect messages, markup images and PDFs and much more.

Split View allows you to place two application windows side-by-side on your Mac with no other windows or elements. You can use this as an alternative to arranging windows on your desktop or using a single window in Full Screen mode.

I wanted to do a video on how Shazam is now available in Control Center on the iPhone. But that feature isn't nearly as cool as the Auto Listen feature I discovered in the process. You can just let your iPhone listen as you drive/party/relax and it will build a playlist from what it hears. You can even replay it all using Apple Music. Oh, and after I made this video, as I was uploading it, I tried the <strong>Mac App and it works there too</strong>! That even makes more sense, to have your Mac listen if you work with a radio on or at a coffee shop. Less of a battery issue.