Spotlight search has long been one of the greatest features on the Mac (and iOS for that matter), and now with the latest versions of MacOS (or Mac OS X) the near instant search engine that spans Apple platforms has some new capabilities that make it even more powerful and worthwhile. From being able to find vaguely referenced recent documents, to seeing the weather anywhere, to getting sports scores and game schedules, you’ll be sure to find Spotlight is more useful than ever before thanks to natural language search and recognition.

We’ll show you five specific new types of search tricks that are possible in Mac OS X 10.11 or later.

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Not all Mac users want to update to OS X El Capitan, and if you’re in the group who wants to stay put with OS X Mavericks, Yosemite*, Mountain Lion, or even Snow Leopard on their Mac, that’s perfectly OK*, you probably have a reason to stay with the earlier Mac OS X releases. But, if you’re on a prior release of OS X, anytime you open the Mac App Store and the Updates section, you’ll be presented with a large splash screen to install OS X El Capitan.

Obviously if you want to stay put and not update OS X, you don’t want a giant banner with a new version in your face, but fortunately you can hide the big splash OS X El Captain ‘free upgrade’ screen with a few simple steps:

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Some Mac users may like to perform what is known as a clean install with OS X El Capitan. Basically, a clean install involves erasing the Mac drive and starting fresh with a new installation of OS X 10.11, and users who opt for clean installs usually rely on their own personal backups to restore their personal file and data.

While most Mac users are well served by running the normal update process to OS X El Capitan after it has been downloaded from the Mac App Store, this guide is for users who want to start fresh.

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Split View is a new feature in Mac OS X which allows you to take two apps into full screen together, placing them split side-by-side. For example, you could take a Safari window into full screen mode and then split the fullscreen with another app, like Pages. Split View sizes the windows automatically for any screen size, so you don’t have to drag them to accommodate the display, and it’s quite easy to use once you learn how to access and use the split screen feature on the Mac.

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Apple has released Safari 9 for Mac users running OS X Yosemite and OS X Mavericks. The release adds some of the newer features borrowed from the El Capitan version of the web browser to Safari running on prior releases of Mac OS.

Perhaps the most notable feature added in Safari 9 is the ability to mute audio coming out of other tabs open in the Safari web browser, but there are a few other nice additions, as well as improvements to security.

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Many Mac users like to make a bootable installer drive for installing OS X El Capitan, whether for performing a clean install, or for making it easier to install OS X 10.11 onto multiple Macs. We will walk through creating a bootable install flash drive from OS X El Capitan with the final public version.

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Apple has released OS X El Capitan as a free update to all Mac users. The new version of system software is officially versioned as OS X 10.11, and the final build number is 15A284. Users can start the download now from the App Store using the direct link below.

OS X El Capitan brings performance updates and improvements to the Mac operating system, a including a new system font, split screen view, adjustments to the Mission Control window manager, improvements to Spotlight search, and various enhancements to bundled Mac apps including Mail, Safari, Notes, Maps, Photos, and Safari. The OS X El Capitan update should offer particularly worthwhile refinements to Mac users currently running OS X Yosemite.

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Apple has released iOS 9.0.2 with bug fixes and improvements for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Notably, the iOS 9.0.2 update resolves a problem where some users were unable to use cellular data after updating to iOS 9. Additionally, the update resolves an iMessage activation problem, a bug that caused manual iCloud backups to be stopped, fixes a screen rotation problem, and improves Podcasts app stability. The complete release notes are included below, along with IPSW firmware download links for each iOS device compatible with the update.

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Apple has released iOS 9.1 beta 3 for users participating in the beta testing program.

The update arrives as build 13B5130b is available now from the iOS Developer Center and software update mechanism on compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices running prior iOS 9.1 beta versions.

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Mac users have the chance to update to OS X El Capitan 10.11 as a free download, but before jumping into the installation process to update your Mac to the latest OS X release, it’s a good idea to run through a few basic preparations.

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Apple has released the second beta version of OS X 10.11.1 for those participating in the Mac beta testing programs. OS X 10.11.1 beta 2 arrives as build 15B22c, just a day before the final version of OS X 10.11 will be released to the general public, which is now available as a free download.

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While some users are having trouble with cellular data not working at all in iOS 9 with certain apps, another set of iPhone users are experiencing the opposite problem, with excessive mobile data consumption after updating their iPhones to iOS 9. Given that most users don’t have unlimited data plans, heavy cellular data usage can lead to overage charges pretty quickly, but fortunately there are some easy adjustments that can be made to resolve the hungry mobile data appetite of iOS 9 on iPhones.

If you’re experiencing abnormally high cellular data usage after updating to iOS 9, making some changes as outlined below should remedy the problem.

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Nightstand Mode is a feature of Apple Watch that allows you to use the device as a nightstand clock, where it’s able to function as a regular digital clock which shows the time and date, complete with full alarm clock capabilities.

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The all new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are built for durability, with a stronger aluminum enclosure that Apple describes as “made from the same grade used in the aerospace industry”, coupled with a glass screen that Apple says is the “most durable in the smartphone industry”. But is this just marketing speak, or are the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus actually tougher than ever?

We’ve gathered a few videos from around the web below which demonstrate just how durable the new iPhone is, and as you’ll see the results are pretty impressive, meaning the new iPhone 6s should hold quite well in various harsh situations.

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Getting an unlocked iPhone 6S or iPhone 6S Plus is now easier than ever, all you need to do is pay the full price for the new phone and buy it from Apple. That’s it, your new iPhone arrives unlocked and not tied to any cellular carrier. Essentially this means you can use the new iPhone anywhere on any provider as long as you have a compatible SIM card for it, making it easier than ever to buy an unlocked iPhone.

If you bought an iPhone 6s for full price, we’ll detail how to unlock the new iPhone and use it on another carrier, and as you’ll see, the unlock process is often just a matter of restoring from a backup and swapping a SIM card.

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This weeks featured Mac setup is the excellent workstation of small business owner Cory C., let’s jump right in and learn more:

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Much of what’s great about the iOS 9 update (ok, now technically iOS 9.0.1) is not blazingly obvious to the average iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch user. That’s intentional, as Apple put a lot of emphasis on under-the-hood improvements this time around, and iOS 9 offers some great enhancements that, unless pointed out, are fairly subtle.

In no particular order, here are three of the more important subtle improvements offered in iOS 9…

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If you’re getting a new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, you’ll want to be sure to set it up properly so that everything from the phone it’s replacing is brought along for the ride. To setup an iPhone 6S correctly and to successfully transfer your stuff over to the new phone, you’ll want to walk through a few specific steps. We’ll show you how to this in the quickest way possible so that you can get on and enjoy your new iPhone.

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