If you have an Intel Mac, you can make it boot directly into the boot disk options startup manager by issuing an nvram terminal command. This could be helpful for advanced users in particular whether they’re troubleshooting, have dual boot situations with multiple versions of macOS, macOS and Windows 10 in Boot Camp, macOS and Linux, for accessing a USB boot drive, a Time Machine restore disk, or myriad other situations where you’d want to boot a Mac directly into the startup manager.

Whether or not this is easier or faster than booting an Intel Mac from an external drive by holding down the Option key on system start and choosing the external volume to boot the Mac from is entirely up to you and your use case. But perhaps the Option/alt key isn’t working for some reason on a Mac, or you want to explore the boot options, or you can’t hold down the key on boot for some reason.

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Looking to be sneaky while texting your friends and colleagues on Signal? Not everyone wants to let the other person know that they’re typing. Signal gives you a unique setting unlike most other messaging platforms that allow you to disable typing indicators if necessary.

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Do you utilize the Notes app on your iPhone or iPad for note-taking, making to-do lists, or for writing down any other important information? If you own a HomePod, you’ll be pleased to know that you can also add notes to the Notes app, directly from the HomePod and without typing them out. That’s right, you can add notes with just your voice.

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Apple has released macOS Big Sur 11.2.2 for Mac users, the update aims to prevent damage to newer MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models that when using some third party USB-C hubs and docks.

Due to the severe nature of the potential problem with MacBook Pro (2019 or later, Intel or M1) and MacBook Air (2020 or later, Intel or M1), it is recommended for owners of those machines to install the 11.2.2 update, particularly if they rely on USB-C peripherals, docks, hubs, or powered dongles.

The macOS 11.2.2 update does not appear to include any other updates, changes, bug fixes, or security enhancements.

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Do you regularly use the built-in Voice Memos app to record audio using your iPhone or iPad? In that case, you may be interested in using this neat but simple trick to improve the quality of the recorded audio.

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Don’t know where you last placed your iPhone? Unable to find it anywhere in the house even after a thorough search? Maybe it’s buried in a couch cushion somewhere or under the bed? Not to worry, because you can now use your HomePod to locate your iPhone, and all by voice.

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Do you want to access specific files and folders on your Windows computer right from your iPhone or iPad? Thanks to the built-in Files app, it’s fairly simple and straightforward to connect to SMB file servers which includes shared Windows folders on a network.

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Want to add events to your Calendar through Apple’s HomePod or the HomePod Mini? If you’re completely new to smart speakers, you may have trouble figuring out how to get some simple tasks done, like marking events on your calendar, adding reminders, or anything else really.

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Do you frequently take advantage of Siri to perform various tasks on your iPhone? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that you can now use Siri without taking your phone out of the pocket, or in other situations where the iPhone screen is covered.

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Did one of your apps stop responding while you were working on a Mac? Perhaps you tried closing or quitting the app but to no avail? This can happen from time to time where an app freezes up or becomes unresponsive, and while it’s frustrating, there are multiple ways to fix frozen apps easily on the Mac.

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If you’ve been motivated by others to get on the popular Signal messenger app, chances are decent that you also got invited and added to a group chat. Group chats are a quick way to get started on a new messaging platform and hence, you may be looking to add some of your friends to the group as well.

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Managed to get your hands on a brand new HomePod or HomePod Mini? More importantly, is this your very first smart speaker? In that case, you may be wondering how to figure out some of the basic features that it has to offer. This may include things like setting an alarm or adding reminders via HomePod, but it’s actually pretty simple.

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Apple Watch wearers have no shortage of options in terms of selecting their favorite watch face. There are tons to choose from with Apple adding new ones with each major watchOS revision. But there’s one that is perhaps the smartest watch face available and if you’re going to use a smartwatch, why not go all-in? The Siri watch face will, after a little training, present the most useful information at the best time. So long as you give it the right data to work with anyway.

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You may already know that Facebook Messenger can be used for making video calls and group video calls from your iOS or iPadOS device. Messenger Rooms, on the other hand, are a different implementation of the same service developed by Facebook to compete against the likes of Zoom.

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The latest versions of MacOS default to automatically capitalizing new words at the start of a sentence, similar to iOS and iPadOS. For example, if you end one sentence with a period and start another, the first word will be capitalized. In addition, other words will automatically capitalize when typed o the Mac too, including proper names, states, and countries.

If you do not want the Mac to automatically capitalize words for you, you can turn this feature off for typing on a Mac.

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Keeping your hands clean is always an important thing to consider and while it might seem like one of the easiest things to do, it turns out that some people aren’t washing their hands for as long as they should. Apple wants to help out and it’s introduced a new Handwashing timer to do just that. With the feature enabled, and your Apple Watch will detect when you’re washing your hands and then count down from 20 to make sure you’re doing it properly.

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Have you ever want to set your iPhone to automatically switch between different wallpapers? You probably already know how to change wallpaper on an iPhone or iPad, but thanks to the built-in Shortcuts app on iOS and iPadOS devices, you can now set up dynamically changing wallpapers within a matter of minutes.

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Need to re-download a complete macOS Big Sur installer application, from a Mac running macOS Big Sur? If you’ve already installed and updated a Mac to Big Sur, you may find that trying to re-download it from the Mac App Store doesn’t always work, as it sometimes will simply loop you back to System Preferences, or not be available at all.

Not to worry, as it’s easy to download macOS Big Sur from macOS Big Sur by using the command line as we’ll show you.

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