Mac users may find that a system update, installer, or package (pkg) can get completely stuck in a verification sequence, with a pop-up alert that says “Verifying ‘name.pkg’…” while showing the Gatekeeper icon and a progress bar that never updates. The effect is the package or installer won’t run as it never completes verification, making it impossible to install. This is a strange issue that can cause some alarm, because it can happen with both third party packages and installers, as well as updates and packages that come directly from Apple. If you ever run into the package stuck on verifying issue within Mac OS X, we’ll show you how to fix the problem and get the package update to install on the Mac anyway.

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Many users are password protecting Notes on iPhone and iPad, which offers a secondary security layer for especially personal or private data stored within the Notes app. Because the Notes app uses a different password from the general password used on the iOS Lock Screen, and different from the password used by an Apple ID or iCloud account, it can be easy to see how that Notes password may be forgotten or lost. In such a situation, you may wish to reset the Notes app password in iOS, which allows you to set a new password for notes.

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A jailbreak for iOS 9.3.3 and earlier versions back to iOS 9.2 is now available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The jailbreak arrives from China through a group called Pangu, who has released similar jailbreaking utilities in the past for Mac OS X and Windows.

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Ever wondered where all the downloaded files go on your Mac? By default, most apps will transfer downloaded files into the user Downloads folder. This applies to all downloads to a Mac made from the web with Safari, Chrome, through AirDrop, or from the many file transfer apps out there.

There are many different ways to quickly find and access the Downloads folder on a Mac, we’ll review some of the fastest methods to get to that folder and find your downloaded files. Additionally, we’ll show you two ways to track down downloaded files that for whatever reason didn’t show up in the Downloads folder.

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Spotlight Search for iOS now has the ability to perform currency calculations and conversions using up to date exchange rates.

This is a handy built-in feature for travelers, anyone who needs to exchange money, and those who work across borders, and it’s built right into the latest versions of Spotlight for iOS on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

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Beta testers of macOS Sierra can send feedback and bug reports directly to Apple, offering a chance to help shape the future of the Mac operating system. Reporting bugs and offering feature feedback is part of the fun of beta testing (and part of the purpose of the public betas), so if you are running macOS Sierra on a Mac, be sure you take the time to send feedback and report bugs as you come across them.

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Little is dreaded more in the Mac world than the kernel panic, the Mac OS X equivalent of the Windows Blue Screen of Death of yesteryear. While modern versions of Mac OS X don’t display the kernel panic screen like they used to, that doesn’t mean you still can’t have some mischievous fun with a fake kernel panic screen saver.

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Custom email signatures are commonplace, whether they include simple contact details or a complete HTML signature on Mac Mail. A frequent further customization to email signatures is to include an image or logo, which is what we will show you how to create in the Mac Mail app for Mac OS X.

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A strange bug that continues to persist in iOS for iPhone mysteriously causes all phone contacts to suddenly disappear from the Phone app on the device. Most users will never experience the missing contacts bug, but it can be disconcerting if encountered.

This missing contacts bug is not subtle and seems to happen at random, with the Phone app losing the “Favorites” and “Contacts” tabs, as well as the Phone app losing all identifying contact information for existing phone numbers, making every phone number in the recents list appear as unrecognized with no attached contact name, picture, or any other details.

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Now that iOS 10 public beta is available to install for anyone, users can run the beta system software on any compatible iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Of course since it’s beta software, users may encounter bugs, or there may be behavior that is generally unexpected or could be improved upon in the iOS 10 betas.

Rather than just being annoyed, beta testers can do their part to improve iOS 10 by reporting bugs directly to Apple. Additionally, the Feedback app in iOS 10 Public Beta can be used to offer general feedback about iOS 10 to Apple, offering the beta tester the potential to help shape the next major iOS release.

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Some Mac users may wish to downgrade from MacOS Sierra Beta and revert back to OS X El Capitan, this is particularly common if you have found things to be less than stable or otherwise problematic and would like to return to a more stable operating system experience – a fairly common scenario for beta testers.
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Apple has released four new “Shot on iPhone” commercials, some demonstrating the slow motion video recording effect of the iPhone camera with a focus on wildlife, while another demonstrates the time-lapse camera capability.

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Apple has released OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 for Mac users. The minor point release system software update includes small bug fixes and security updates.

Additionally, Mac users running prior versions of Mac OS X system software including Yosemite and Mavericks will find a separate “Security Update 2016-004” release available for their machines.

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Apple has released iOS 9.3.3 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The small point release update arrives as build 13G34 and includes bug fixes and security updates to the mobile operating system.

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Apple has released updated beta builds to the various operating systems currently under development, including iOS 10 beta 3, macOS Sierra 10.12 beta 3, watchOS beta 3, and tvOS 10 beta 3.

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Spotlight Search displays various ‘news’ headlines in modern versions of iOS for iPhone and iPad, and while some users may find this information useful, others don’t care to see what are often tabloid-like headlines splashed across their iPhone and iPad search function. Fortunately with a little effort you can quickly turn off the News headlines from Spotlight and stop them from appearing entirely in iOS search results.

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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where Bluetooth needs to be enabled on a Mac, but you don’t have a mouse or keyboard handy? This can pose a conundrum; in order to re-enable Bluetooth, you must use a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard… That may sound a little silly, but it’s a situation which can arise if you use a Bluetooth keyboard or Bluetooth mouse, and if Bluetooth gets disabled somehow. Since most desktop Mac usage scenarios utilize Bluetooth hardware, it’s not as rare as it may sound, and it can be challenging to enable the Bluetooth service and thus regain access to input devices on the Mac.

We’re going to show you how to tackle that situation in Mac OS, so that you can enable Bluetooth even if you can’t connect a Bluetooth mouse or Bluetooth keyboard to the computer to do so.

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Ever wanted to be alerted to comments and activity on a specific Instagram account or post? Maybe it’s your best friends Instagram, your kids, a brand contest, something posted by a crush, or someone you’re secretly admiring, whatever the reason you can selectively enable notifications for individual Instagram accounts posts rather easily. This is all the more useful now that Instagram has started using a strangely discombobulated algorithmic timeline where missing out on particular IG posts has become a common theme.

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