How to Access & Use Different Emoji Skin Tones on Mac

Apr 14, 2015 - 16 Comments

Using the diverse skin tone Emoji in Mac OS X

Now that many of our Emoji characters have various skin tones in iOS and OS X, you may want to access and use the new diverse emoji icon set on the Mac. This is quite simple, but do note that not all Emoji have the diverse skin and hair color options.

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By Paul Horowitz - Mac OS, Tips & Tricks - 16 Comments

WWDC 2015 Starts June 8, New Versions of iOS & OS X Expected

Apr 14, 2015 - 7 Comments

WWDC 2015 logo

Apple has announced their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place June 8 through June 12 in San Francisco, California.

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By Paul Horowitz - News - 7 Comments

iOS 8.4 Beta 1 Released for Developers

Apr 13, 2015 - 7 Comments

iOS 8 logo

Apple has released the first beta version of iOS 8.4 to those registered with the iOS Developer program. The first iOS 8.4 build arrives as 12H407d and looks to prominently feature a freshly redesigned Music app with several new features.

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By Paul Horowitz - iPad, iPhone, News - 7 Comments

How to Create a New Photo Library in Photos App for Mac

Apr 13, 2015 - 38 Comments

How to make a new photo library in Photos for Mac OS X

The Mac Photos app allows for the creation of entirely new photo libraries, which means it’s easy to make a separate photo library if you want to keep some pictures outside of a primary image collection. This can be helpful for many reasons, whether to differentiate a personal photo library from a work picture library, or perhaps to keep a private photo library separate from other less private pictures on the same computer.

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By Paul Horowitz - Mac OS, Tips & Tricks - 38 Comments

Use the Camera Self Timer on iPhone & iPad for Better Group Photos or Selfies

Apr 12, 2015 - 9 Comments

How to use the Camera Self Timer on iPhone

The iPhone Camera app includes a self timer function, a great feature for any camera that allows you to set a countdown timer before a picture is snapped. There’s many uses for the timer function, but it often allows for the photographer or camera owner to be in the picture frame as well, rather than just shooting pictures from behind the lens.

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By Paul Horowitz - iPad, iPhone, Tips & Tricks - 9 Comments

Lose the Cartoon Yellow People Emoji! How to Access Diverse Emoji Icons in iOS

Apr 11, 2015 - 30 Comments

Access the Diverse Emoji in iOS Keyboard

Apple has changed the Emoji characters in iOS and OS X to include many new diverse emoji variations. In the process of diversifying our Emoji keyboards, Apple also turned most of the default people emoji icons into curious looking yellow characters, which look a bit like LEGO characters meet The Simpsons. But once you understand how to access the diverse Emoji skin tone variations, you can change the yellow people emoji to default to your choice of the diverse emoji variations.

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By Paul Horowitz - iPad, iPhone, Tips & Tricks - 30 Comments

Resolving Finder Problems in Mac OS X

Apr 10, 2015 - 95 Comments

Finder crashing in Mac OS X

Some Mac users may occasionally run into issues with Finder, discovering that Finder will misbehave wildly, sometimes becoming very slow and unresponsive, crashing, or using inordinately high CPU. Given that Finder is a critical component of the Mac and nearly all Mac OS users rely on it for file system navigation, Finder trouble can be pretty frustrating, but fortunately the issues seen with Finder in MacOS and Mac OS X are generally very easy to resolve. This guide will aim to help troubleshoot common Finder problems on the Mac.

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Security Update 2015-004 Available for OS X Mavericks & Mountain Lion

Apr 9, 2015 - 5 Comments

mac os x security update Mac users who are running OS X Mavericks and OS X Mountain Lion will find an important security update available to them. Labeled as Security Update 2015-004 1.0, the software update includes many fixes to a wide variety of potential security issues for OS X, and is therefore recommended for all Mac users running OS X 10.9.5 or OS X 10.8.5 to install.

Users who are running OS X Yosemite will find the same security fixes bundled within the OS X 10.10.3 software update, thus there is no separate security update patch available for Yosemite.

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By Paul Horowitz - Mac OS, News - 5 Comments

iTunes 12.1.2 Released for Mac OS X & Windows with Improvements

Apr 9, 2015 - 12 Comments

iTunes icon

Apple has released an update for iTunes, versioned as iTunes 12.1.2. The small update is available now for Mac OS X and Windows, includes various improvements to the media management application that is basically essential for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. This update is particularly important for Mac, as it enables syncing photos between iTunes and the new Photos app in OS X.

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By Paul Horowitz - iTunes, Mac OS, News - 12 Comments

iOS 8.3 Update Released with Many Fixes [IPSW Download Links]

Apr 8, 2015 - 166 Comments

iOS 8.3 final available to update

Apple has released iOS 8.3 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The software update includes 300 new Emoji icons, a variety of small new features, some minor user interface changes to keyboards, a variety of new languages for Siri, and a handful of performance fixes and optimizations, including resolutions to various wi-fi issues and Bluetooth connectivity. Full release notes for iOS 8.3 are listed below.

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By Paul Horowitz - iPad, iPhone, News - 166 Comments

OS X 10.10.3 Update Available for Yosemite with Photos App, Wi-Fi Fixes, New Emoji

Apr 8, 2015 - 126 Comments

OS X 10.10.3 Update download available for all Mac users

Apple has released the final version of OS X 10.10.3 to all Mac users running Yosemite. The public version of OS X 10.10.3 includes the Photos app to replace iPhoto, and contains a handful of bug and performance fixes as well, including improvements to Wi-Fi stability and performance, over 300 newly designed Emoji icons, Spotlight Look Up suggestions, a resolution to some Bluetooth connectivity issues, and improvements to Safari and Screen Sharing. Full release notes are included below.

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By Paul Horowitz - Mac OS, News - 126 Comments

Open Containing Folder of a Recent Document or Application in Mac OS X

Apr 7, 2015 - 11 Comments

Open the location of a recent item in the Finder of Mac OS X

Can’t remember where a file you recently opened was stored on the Mac, or where an MacOS X app you recently used was kept or originated from? Maybe you don’t know where something you recently used went to? No big deal, a simple keystroke modifier trick allows you to jump directly to the containing location of any app or file found in the “Recent Items” list of Mac OS X.

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By Paul Horowitz - Mac OS, Tips & Tricks - 11 Comments

How to Resize a VirtualBox VDI or VHD File on Mac OS X

Apr 7, 2015 - 53 Comments

Resizing a VirtualBox VM file If you use VirtualBox to run guest operating systems within a virtual machine on the Mac, like Windows 10 or Ubuntu Linux, you may find yourself needing to resize the virtual disk size where the OS resides. This is often the case when you inadequately estimate how much space is required for properly installing in a virtual machine with dynamically allocated storage.

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By Paul Horowitz - Command Line, Tips & Tricks - 53 Comments

Tame High WindowServer CPU Use on a Mac

Apr 6, 2015 - 37 Comments

WindowServer consuming CPU and slowing down a Mac

The Mac received a great many changes with OS X Yosemite along with a notable visual redesign, but some of those changes and various transparent effects may be taking a toll on some users Mac performance with errant WindowServer behavior. This is typically demonstrated with the WindowServer process spiking into heavy CPU use for seemingly no reason, often with an accompanying inordinate usage of memory, leading to very sluggish and choppy behavior during general usage of Mac OS X and MacOS on some computers.

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How Change Stack View Styles in Dock for Mac OS X

Apr 5, 2015 - 9 Comments

The list view

Stacks offer a method of displaying folders or collections of multiple items in the Dock of the Mac. When clicked, the “Stack” will pop open and show the contents sprawling out of the Dock.

Dock Stacks always display on the right-side of the Mac OS X Dock and they default to contain things like the Applications folder, Downloads folder, but many users add a Documents folder or even a Recent Items Dock menu stack.

The default for most stack items is set to Automatic, which means it will change as the folder (or stack) item changes to accommodate the contents. But you can also just choose to set the style of the Dock Stack yourself with a simple right-click on the stack item you wish to change in MacOS or Mac OS X.

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By Paul Horowitz - Mac OS, Tips & Tricks - 9 Comments

How to Enable (or Disable) Motion & Fitness Tracking with iPhone

Apr 5, 2015 - 32 Comments

Health app icon Newer iPhones have the ability to track fitness activity and motion and displaying that data in Health app and other applications. Fitness tracking is done by using a low-power motion coprocessor that determines steps, altitude gain and lost, and distance traveled, and many users like this feature as it represents an easy way to keep an eye on their activity levels, and perhaps work towards that goal of an active 10,000+ steps per day.

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By Paul Horowitz - iPhone, Tips & Tricks - 32 Comments

4 Stunning Wallpapers Hidden in Plain View on the Apple & Wired Websites

Apr 4, 2015 - 15 Comments

Four amazing hidden wallpapers hidden in plain view on Wired.com and Apple.com

There’s something about good wallpaper that makes using a Mac, iPhone, iPad, ok, even a Windows PC or Android device, just even better. We’re bringing you four gorgeous high resolution wallpapers that are basically hidden in plain sight from two sources, a recent Wired article about Apple Watch, and Apple.com product pages. All it took to uncover these amazing wallpaper shots was a little digging around with the web inspector tool, and we’re going to share the source links with you.

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By Paul Horowitz - Customize - 15 Comments

Apple Watch Pre-Orders Begin at Midnight on April 10

Apr 3, 2015 - 8 Comments

Pre order Apple Watch at midnight

Those interested in purchasing an Apple Watch early will be able to pre-order the device just after midnight at 12:01 AM PST (3:01 AM EST) on April 10, according to the Apple website. The pre-ordered devices will be shipped to an address or available for pickup at an Apple Store on April 24.

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By Paul Horowitz - Apple Watch, News - 8 Comments

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