You can AirPlay a video directly from the QuickTime movie player in Mac OS X with the latest versions. This makes it easy to send a video that’s playing on a Mac to an Apple TV over the wireless AirPlay protocol, similar to how it works to AirPlay videos from iOS. And because AirPlay is also supported by third party apps and media players like Kodi (XBMC), you don’t have to have an Apple TV to use the feature, as long as another computer or media center is running a compatible AirPlay receiver it can receive the AirPlay video from QuickTime.

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An optional inbox sorting option is available to Mail users on iPhone and iPad which allows for quickly viewing only emails that have an included attachment. This offers an easy way of finding specific types of emails with attachments of any kind, without having to use the Search function or browsing through the regular inboxes, and should be helpful to many iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users.

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The ability to perform a three-finger drag gesture on Mac and MacBook trackpads allows users to move windows and items on screen with a gesture rather than the usual click and drag, this feature is well liked by many Mac users and has been in OS X for quite some time.

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Apple has released the second beta build of OS X 10.11.3 for users in both public and developer Mac beta testing programs. The new build arrives as 15D13b and presumably focuses on bug fixes and feature improvements, it’s unlikely that any new features are to be included.

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Some users have noticed that Safari hangs unexpectedly when attempting to type a search or URL into the address bar. This is usually a temporary disruption, and after a moment or few the text entry begins again within the Safari address bar as the address bar populates with smart search data and search results from the default search engine in the browser.

Safari freezing up when typing a URL or search into the address bar is pretty annoying however, but fortunately with a few adjustments you can usually resolve this issue rather quickly in OS X or iOS.

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The latest versions of iOS automatically remind users, frequently, to install whatever awaiting version of iOS is available for their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. While you can postpone the software update 24 hours or choose to install it automatically in the middle of the night, often times users don’t want to install the update at all for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, you’ll be reminded again to install the iOS software update until you do. But can you stop iOS software update notifications and reminders from constantly popping up on your iPhone or iPad?

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Apple has released a fresh second beta version of iOS 9.2.1 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The new build arrives as 13D14 and is available now for users participating in the developer beta and public beta programs.

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Done using your Apple TV and want to turn it off? Maybe the Apple TV is on but you’re finished with it and need to turn it off with your TV? No sweat, but the Apple TV isn’t like your average device with an off and on switch, as you may have noticed by now.

Instead of turning Apple TV off in the traditional sense, you’ll actually be putting the device into a sleep mode where it’s effectively off until you go to use it again, when it will turn itself back on. Sound confusing? It’s not, it’s actually really easy.

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Transparent effects have had a prominent place in the user interface of Mac OS X ever since the Mac got a face lift with recent versions of MacOS Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, OS X El Capitan and Yosemite. Many users like the transparency found throughout the window title bars and sidebars, but some users may not like the feature, and additionally some Macs can gain a performance boost by turning off the eye candy effect of translucent UI elements.

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Have you ever wished you could see pictures taken exactly a year ago? With the iPhone 3D Touch feature, you can quickly do exactly that, with a simple trick that shows photos on the device from a year ago.

Here’s how this works, it’s quite simple but requires a 3D Touch enabled iPhone like the 6S or 6S Plus:

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Did you know you can use your nose to control the touch screen on iPhone, iPad, and even Apple Watch? While many iPhone users have discovered the nose trick to unlock their device, open apps, and perform functions in iOS, but who really nose (knows, nose, get it? OK show me the door) how many Apple Watch users do too?

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The new Apple TV Siri Remote features a rechargeable battery that lasts quite a while and is overall certainly easier to deal with than swapping out one-time use batteries. But how do you know when the Apple TV remote is ready to be recharged?

While there is no visual indicator on the remote itself of battery charge or the battery life remaining, you can turn to the Apple TV Settings to discovery battery remaining on a connected Apple TV remote and the Siri remote controller.

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Mission Control is the powerful window management feature in Mac OS X that allows for sorting through windows, full screen apps, split-view, and utilizing virtual desktops called Spaces. The latter Spaces feature is what we’ll focus on here, which is the ability to create a new additional blank desktop space to work within, either for a set purpose, a particular app, or just to clear off the screen while you work on something else with less distraction.

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iCloud will automatically sync Safari history between all Mac and iOS devices that are using the same Apple ID and that have the feature enabled. While this happens automatically and behind the scenes on a regular occurrence, you may encounter a situation where a particular Mac or iPhone was offline for a period of time, and the Safari history becomes out of sync. In such a situation, you can either wait for iCloud to sync the Safari history on it’s own, or, as we’ll cover here, forcibly sync the Safari history through iCloud.

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The new Apple TV is generally really quite stable and should rarely need to restart, but in the rare occasion you find something not working properly, you can reboot Apple TV through the system settings on the device itself. Rebooting Apple TV is fast and should only take a moment to complete, so if you find yourself needing to do so there is little downtime.

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The Apple Watch display defaults to staying on and active for 15 seconds when the screen is tapped or activated, but with new versions of WatchOS you can choose to keep the Apple Watch screen on for considerably longer before it dims itself again. This is helpful for many situations, whether you just want to observe the screen longer when you’re wearing watch, for demonstration purposes, and also when the Watch is placed into Nightstand Mode.

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Changing phone platforms is easier than ever before, and if you’re moving from an Android phone to an iPhone, you’ll find that Apple has made this process incredibly simple with the help of a free migration tool. Appropriately called “Move to iOS”, the utility is easy to use and migrates all contacts, photos, calendars, notes, and much more, transferring everything from the Android phone to the new iPhone.

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OK you waited until the very last minute, and now you need to get gifts or presents for someone. Or maybe someone unexpected is showing up for the holidays. Whatever the reason, this is the very last minute, and you’re tight on time. Running around the stores is basically out of the question, and this is far past the deadline for getting crafty or waiting for FedEx to deliver in the new year, so you’re on the web, looking for answers…. hmmm! But not to fret, you’re not alone and there are numerous email delivery options for great last minute gifts….

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