The Apple TV is an amazingly versatile device (see more on that here). It's very common for me to strongly recommend that people purchase an Apple TV for each TV in their home or business because the possibilities are limitless.
In order to get the most out of your Apple TV, there are some tricks you will want to know. In this post, I will tell you 7 of my favorite Apple TV tips.
Apple's Spotlight utility is amazingly powerful when you need to find something on your Mac. The way I like to describe it to Mac newbies is like this: Spotlight is to your Mac like Google is to the Internet. It's lightening fast (thanks to real-time file indexing) at searching your entire hard drive's contents for anything and everything... documents, emails, pictures, appointments, contacts, etc.
There are two ways to activate and use Spotlight:
Regardless of the method, Spotlight will quickly spring to action, looking like this:
By the time I write this post, OS X Yosemite has been available as a full release to the public for nearly a year, and each day, I still learn something new about how it can improve my workflow and productivity. Today's tip is something I learned recently that used to require a 3rd-party app to accomplish... renaming files in batch.
Not everyone batch renames files all the time, but when you need to, you need an easy way to do this. There are plenty 3rd-party apps that will help you to do this. Some of them are good, and most of them cost money. In a previous post, I even showed you how to batch rename using the built-in Automator app (click here for that tip), but that turns out to be a little more complicated than most people are comfortable with. In today's tip, I will show you how to batch rename files so easily and quickly, it will make your head spin with excitement.
As much as I would like to say that Apple's hardware is flawless, that simply isn't true. The fact is, Apple sources a lot of their internal components from companies like Intel, NVidia, and many others. Those components are then shipped to manufacturers like Foxconn in China to assemble. In some cases, the hardware used in a high-end MacBook Pro is the same component used in a mid-range HP EliteBook. Neither are 100% immune to hardware failure or issues. When these failures occur, it could result in catastrophic failure. At least those problems are easy to identify and resolve. The tougher challenge is when a less catastrophic problem arises. These can be tricky to identify.
I don't know many people who don't like a good movie (at least once in a while). I also don't know many people who don't like a good deal on a movie, especially if you can watch it on demand.
Did you know that iTunes offers a weekly $0.99 movie rental via the iTunes Store? If you haven't stumbled across this feature yet, you've likely missed out on some great movies at great prices! Here's how it works and where to get it.
When it comes to time management, there are a lot of tools and tricks to help you maximize your precious time. A simple calendar and clock are two of the most common tools, but even simple tools can be modified and extended to help you reach an even higher potential. A clock, for example, can be a much more powerful tool when you add alarm capabilities.
The built-in OS X Calendar app has a few extensible tricks up its sleeves to help you gain an incredible height of efficiency, if you know what to look for and how to use them. Here's a simple, yet effective tip, for using Calendar in a way that most people don't.
If you're like me, you're easily distracted. I could be in the middle of writing a proposal or reading a news article, and be completely thrown off track when a new message or tweet arrives. Sometimes these distractions are work-related, but a lot of times, they are personal in nature. It can really have a detrimental affect on your productivity when you're trying to get work done. Along the same line, when it's personal time, you should be able to leave work behind.
What makes this most difficult is that the line between work and play has been severely blurred. My Mail app has both work and personal accounts as active accounts. The same applies for Messages, social networks, etc. Sure, I could disable my personal accounts while I'm working and my work accounts when I'm at home, but that can be a massive pain (and a very manual process). Here's a tip that could minimize that hassle.
A reader recently asked for a recommendation for a good hard drive and SSD analysis tool. It can sometimes be difficult and even frustrating to determine just what type of data is utilizing your precious storage. In a previous post, I explain a manual process that will help you to identify ways to reclaim space on your drive.
A good drive analysis tool can help to make this process slightly easier, by giving you more information about your data. There are a few tools available for Mac users, but this is the one that I recommend.
I find myself emailing files all the time to clients, family members and vendors. In most cases, these files are fairly small, so it's not a big deal to email them. Occasionally, however, I will run into a situation where I need to send a large file. This file could be a series of images, a video... anything. The problem with doing this is that Email is extremely inefficient, and most mail providers set a limit on the size of messages (in some cases, as little as 10 MB).
In situations like this, you could use a cloud-based storage system like Dropbox or iCloud Drive to upload the file to, then send a link to the recipient, but that requires a few extra steps, and it can make it a little more inconvenient or confusing for the recipient. Mail Drop to the rescue!
Subscribing to podcasts are a great way to learn a new skill or to improve a skill you already have. If you're looking for ways to improve your approach to gardening, for example, you may want to subscribe to the "Gardening Tip of the Week" podcast. As a reminder, podcasts are (for the most part) free. Very few podcasts are a paid subscription.
When it comes to improving your technology skills, there are a number of podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis that help to keep my ear close to the technology rail. While giving you a list of all the tech-related podcasts I subscribe to would be information overload for you, I will give a my top 5 podcast recommendations.
Apple iWork is an incredibly powerful (yet easy-to-use) suite of productivity applications used to get stuff done. Pages, Numbers and Keynote are the three applications that make up the iWork suite, and together, they allow you to create stunning documents and collaborate with others.
Like most software, you get out of it what you put into it. If you only understand the basics, you will only reap some of the benefits. The more you understand, the more you will find you can do. That's especially true with iWork for iOS (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch). Because it's a non-traditional User Interface, performing some of the functions can be a little less intuitive. Today's TechTalk post gives you 5 tips on getting the most out of iWork for iOS (or as I like to call it, "iWork on the Go").
Apple iWork is an incredibly powerful (yet easy-to-use) suite of productivity applications used to get stuff done. Pages, Numbers and Keynote are the three applications that make up the iWork suite, and together, they allow you to create stunning documents and collaborate with others.
Like most software, you get out of it what you put into it. If you only understand the basics, you will only reap some of the benefits. The more you understand, the more you will find you can do. That's especially true with iWork for iOS (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch). Because it's a non-traditional User Interface, performing some of the functions can be a little less intuitive. Today's TechTalk post gives you 5 tips on getting the most out of iWork for iOS (or as I like to call it, "iWork on the Go").
I'm going to tell you a little secret. This is a secret that very few people know, and once you know this secret, it may scare you a little. In fact, it may scare you a lot. OK, ready? Here we go...
Your Mac isn't as secure as you think. Gasp! Sure, you have a password on your account so that people can't casually log in under your profile, but believe it or not, it's super easy to bypass that password. There's a publicly-documented way to change a user account's password, and once a password has been changed, anyone could have access to anything and everything stored within your profile. While I'm not going to share with you how to change someone else's password (not everyone needs that kind of encouragement), I will share with you how to prevent others from being able to change yours.
There are lots of really cool hidden gems built-in to OS X that allows you to offer a rich set of flexible features, while maintaining a high level of security and protect your system (and data) from malicious behavior. The Guest account built-in to OS X is one of those features.
Most homes have a family computer located in a public area (kitchen, great room, etc). Most small offices have the same thing. It's a computer generally located in a public place for some employees or household members to use, but at the same time, can be used for visitors or guests to check their email, surf the web, etc. In most cases, the guest user asks an authorized user to log in under their account, but this can cause several problems. Not only is it inconvenient for both parties, but it also poses a security risk to both parties. OS X has a built-in Guest user account. This limited account option is there for one reason... to allow guests to temporarily log in to a computer with no risk or inconvenience to either parties.
The other day, I was asked which app was the one that I used the most on my iPhone. I had a pretty good idea, but never really paid too much attention to it. To validate my hunch, I spent the next 24 hours keeping mental note of which app was open and used the most.
While I set aside 24 hours to do this, it was pretty clear within the first 6 hours. And the winner is... Messages! Apparently, I text a lot! Not just on my iPhone or iPad, but on my MacBook Pro as well. When using Apple's iMessage network (i.e.: when the text bubble is blue), these text conversations automatically flow seamlessly between iOS devices and Macs, and it's worked this way for a while now. Historically, however, this only worked for iMessage messages and didn't include traditional SMS-based text messages between you and non-Apple users (i.e.: when the text bubble is green). Because I sit in front of my computer a lot during the day, it would be nice to be able to text those users from my computer as well. Fortunately, there's an easy fix for this
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