Ever wondered what maintenance is truly essential for a Mac? Maybe you’re wondering what the best backup solution is? Or maybe you just want to secure your Mac a bit more? Take the time for these simple digital resolutions to make your Mac perform better, be safer and more secure, plus give you some added peace of mind. We’ve broken these tips into three simple sections; system maintenance, file backups, and security measures, so follow along and your Mac will thank you for years to come.
2012 is at it’s end, and just like with our favorite Mac tip collections of the year, OSXDaily.com is looking back and gathering some of the most useful multi-trick collection posts for iOS, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch too. Again, we are aiming to give you the absolute most bang for your reading buck here by focusing on our favorite multiple tip roundup posts and so we’re skipping the single walkthroughs and guides that we post every day. Read through them all and you’ll be mastering iOS with must-know tips, typing tricks, genuinely useful Siri commands, better iPhone macro photography, faster website access, and much more.
6 Tips for Freeing Up Storage Space in iOS
Because of their smaller storage capacity, it’s easy to run out of storage on an iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Spend a few minutes with these tips though and you’ll be freeing up tons of space in iOS in no time at all.
8 Typing Tips for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch
Typing on the touch screen keyboards can be challenging, but you can type faster by using a variety of smart tricks for the iOS virtual keyboards
6 Tips to Improve Typing on the iPad
Speaking of typing in iOS, this a collection of ways that should improve your typing specifically for the iPad
7 Genuinely Great Uses for Siri
Siri is incredibly useful and can perform a lot more tasks than you may realize. If you aren’t using the iOS virtual voice assistant there is no better time to get started, you’ll be making hands-free phone calls, checking and replying to emails, getting movie times, and much more.
10 Tips to Reduce iPhone & iPad Personal Hotspot Data Use
The iPhone and iPad can both share their cellular internet connections and serve as a personal wi-fi router, but before you setup Personal Hotspot, consider these tips that can help you reduce your data usage so you can avoid costly overage fees.
3 Best Places to Sell Your Old iPhone
Did you get a new iPhone this year? If you have an old iPhone laying about, here are the three best places to sell it, letting you get the most cash for your old device. This is geared for iPhones, but it’ll pertain to iPads and iPods too…
2 Ways to Listen to Podcasts with Music App Again
The iOS Music app is often a better choice for listening to podcasts because it’s faster on many devices, and here are some simple ways to do that again after iOS 6.
2 Super Simple Tips to Get to Websites Faster in iOS
Sometimes the simplest tips are the most used, and these two are as easy as pie while letting you jump to websites faster than ever on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
With 2012 coming to an end, OSXDaily.com is looking back and gathering some of the most useful Mac multi-tip and trick collection posts from the year past. Yes, we post individual tips and walkthroughs every day, but we’re aiming to give you the most bang for your reading buck here by focusing on our favorite roundups, so take the time to read them all and you’ll be mastering a wide range of Mac topics. From general OS X tips that improve Mac productivity, little known keyboard shortcuts, to some more advanced tips for the command line, we’ve got something for everyone at every skill level, so read on and learn some new tricks for the new year! (Don’t miss our favorite iOS, iPhone, and iPad tip roundups too!)
4 Simple Mac Maintenance Tips
Maintaining your Mac is critical for optimal performance, but it shouldn’t be complicated. Here are a few super simple tips to follow to keep a Mac in tip-top shape.
9 Command Line Tricks for OS X You Should Know
Whether you’re an advanced user or just want to learn more about the command line that sits underneath OS X’s GUI layer, these terminal tricks are essential.
5 Quick Tips to Free Up Disk Space on a Mac
Everyone runs out of disk space sooner or later, but you may be surprised to find out where all your storage capacity has gone. Run through these quick tips and you’ll be freeing up tons of drive space on a Mac in no time.
9 Reasons a Mac is Running Slow, and What To Do About It
If your Mac feels like it’s running slower than it should, there are usually reasons why that is. We cover the 9 most common reasons Macs start to run slow, and more importantly, we tell you what to do about it so you can be back to normal again.
8 Tips to Protect a Mac from Viruses, Trojans, and Malware
Macs are much more resilient to viruses, trojans, and malware than Windows PC’s, but they’re not completely impervious. The good news is, Macs are extremely easy to protect against such baddies, and with some simple tips you can protect any Mac from almost all known threats.
11 Must-Have Free Apps for Macs
Whether you just got a brand new Mac or you just want to get some new apps, these 11 apps are essentials for any OS X user, and best of all, they’re completely free!
5 Tips to Make iTunes Look Normal Again
iTunes 11 completely changed the interface of Apple’s desktop media player and store, and while some people are OK with those interface changes, others would rather iTunes look familiar again. These tips will make iTunes 11 look normal again, so you won’t be fumbling around looking for podcasts, media, iOS devices, and that ever-useful sidebar.
21 iTunes Keyboard Shorcuts
Master iTunes with keystrokes for just about everything, from accessing libraries to controlling your media library and playing music.
8 Shortcuts to Navigate the Mac OS X Dock
Did you know the OS X Dock can be navigated with just the keyboard? Forget the cursor, you can launch and switch apps easily without ever lifting your hands from the keys.
If you’ve sent emails out with Siri before, you have probably noticed that Siri will often respond to the initial email request with an inquiry about what the mail subject or body should contain, making you respond with another phrase and continue a back-and-forth dialog with Siri until the to, subject, and message fields are completed. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that approach, but you can write complete emails with Siri much faster by using certain keywords in your speech commands.
The important keywords to use for complete mail messages are: “to”, “about”, and “and say”, and they must be used in a command format like so:
send email to [recipient] about [subject] and say [email body]
For example, to send a complete email addressed to “Danny DeVito” with the subject of “Taco Carts” and the body message of “I found the best taco cart ever” you would use a complete phrase with Siri like that shown below. The important keywords have been placed in bold to emphasize their placement in relation to the command:
Send an email to Danny Devito about Taco Carts, and say I found the best taco cart ever
Siri will write out the email as usual, but rather than requesting a body or subject from you again, it will fill everything in automatically, with the mail message immediately ready to send out. Siri will finish by asking if the message is ready to send, you can simply say “Yes” or tap the “Send” command on screen yourself.
This is significantly faster than the question and answer method that goes along with the standard “email name” command, give it a try with Siri yourself.
Siri is impressively useful in more ways than you may initially realize, don’t miss our other Siri tips to get more use out of the virtual voice assistant.
Finding the black MacBook is a bit like playing Where’s Waldo, it’s barely visible under the MacBook Pro stand. The photo was taken with an iPhone 5 32GB.
Send us your Mac & Apple setup shots! Email a good picture or two, along with a brief description of hardware and what the hardware is used for to osxdailycom@gmail.com
Minimally styled clock screen savers are fairly popular and we’ve shared a variety of them here before, but it’s hard to get more minimal than a binary clock. The aptly named BinaryClock is just that, a free and simple binary clock screen saver for OS X that has some nice color effects that change with the time. Binary clocks are also fun because the average person may look at it with utter confusion, while you’ll be able to read the time (and don’t worry, if you don’t know how to read binary clocks, we explain it simply below).
To install the quartz file as a screen saver, download the “BinaryClock.qtz” file from GitHub and save it to ~/Downloads or the desktop. Now launch System Preferences from the  Apple menu and choose Desktop & Screen Saver. Locate the BinaryClock.qtz file and then drag and drop it into the preview pane of the Screen Saver preference panel to install it. Alternatively, but perhaps better for most advanced users, you can just toss the .qtz file into ~/Library/Screen Savers/ to install it manually.
BinaryClock has a few configuration options regarding the screen savers color schemes, and you can choose to hide or show the numbers on the clock itself. Speaking of showing numbers, if you’re new to reading binary clocks it’s best to keep them shown until you get the hang of reading the time.
How Do I Read a Binary Clock Anyway?
Though it may look foreign, it’s actually easier to read than you may think at first glance. This screen saver makes it even more simple because it doesn’t include the time in seconds as well, but the basic idea is just a matter of adding the highlighted numbers in the top row to get the hour, and adding the highlighted numbers in the bottom row to get the minutes. The screenshot below demonstrates this with the numbers shown, and once you remember the positions of the numbers you can hide them and the method remains the same.
You’ll find that not all binary clocks are positioned exactly the same way, but the method of telling the time is the same whether the numbers are shown in columns or rows.
Update: Right after publishing this, we discovered a minor albeit important typo in the BinaryClock screen saver, where in the minutes the 4 is duplicated twice, the 2nd of which should be the number 2. Basically, if you show the numbers but don’t correct that in your head, then the time will be off by two minutes. Presumably that bug will be fixed by the developer quickly, but anyone with knowledge of Quartz Composer can also do it themselves easily.
Update 2: The aforementioned typo has been fixed, that was quick!
Did someone send an Emoji to your iPhone, iPod, or iPad and you have not the faintest of clues as to what it’s supposed to mean? With the vast array of emoji icons out there, you’re not alone, but there’s an excellent little-known feature that uses iOS text-to-speech to give a precise definition of the emoji icon in question, spoken right to you. We’ll show you exactly how to use the Speak function to define any Emoji character on iOS.
Snapchat is a very popular quirky picture messaging client for Android and iPhone that allows people to share pictures and have conversations that disappear after a very short time interval, after which the shared content is gone forever. The spontaneous and fleeting nature of the messages has given the app an interesting reputation that you can now enjoy on the desktop, despite not having an official client for Mac or Windows. Instead, with the help of Bluestacks (basically an Android app emulator), you can install and run Snapchat on a Mac or PC right now.
Some OS X apps are so great and so universally useful that they earn the title of “must-have” on just about any Mac, and we’re bringing you an essential list of these must-have apps that also happen to be completely free.
Whether you have a brand new Mac that needs some new apps and utilities to get it going, or you just want to expand your app collection to get more done and have some great new tools at your disposal, don’t miss this collection of some of the best free Mac apps out there. We’re covering eleven essential apps here, but don’t forget to add your own must-have recommendations to the comments!
External wireless keyboards can be connected to and used with iPhones and iPod touches through Bluetooth. This can help when typing anything of length, particularly if you’re not as fast a typer with the virtual keyboard, and it allows you to create an immediate (albeit tiny) workstation just about anywhere. There’s also a very nice software-side bonus to using an external keyboard with iOS too; the virtual keyboard disappears when an external keyboard is paired, letting you see the entire screen unobstructed while you type.
We’ll use an official and generic Apple Wireless Keyboard with an iPhone for the purpose of this walkthrough, but you can use any compatible Bluetooth keyboard and any other iOS device, whether it’s an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
If you’re anything like me, you waited until the absolute last minute to get Christmas shopping done and you’ve probably already raided the gift card rack at a grocery store to stock up on last minute presents. But don’t forget to take advantage go email-friendly gift cards from Apple’s iTunes Stores, Amazon, and if you’re shopping for an iOS user, just sending a whole slew of specific apps or media as gifts, even a gift card, right from the iTunes Stores on either a Mac/PC or iOS device – yes the latter means you can buy someone a gift as you are sitting on the couch watching them open other presents, the ultimate savior for last second shoppers.
Sending Apps, Movies, & Gift Cards from iTunes & App Store
You can also send anything from the App Store and iTunes Store as a gift, including apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, and books, and they will be billed to your iTunes account.
Send iOS apps as gifts and set a delivery time by going to any app, movie, or song, tapping Share > Gift > Set the recipient and delivery time – or send right away – and you’re good to go
Send iTunes Gift cards by launching iTunes, going to the iTunes Store, choosing “Buy iTunes Gifts” > select email or print delivery > enter the recipient and amount, and confirming the purchase
Amazon Printable & Emailable Gift Cards
Amazon sells just about anything imaginable which makes gift cards from there appropriate for just about anyone.
If you want to have something physical to wrap and put under a tree or into a stocking, both Apple and Amazon also let you print out gift cards in any dollar amount that can be redeemed online easily just as if it was bought from a store.
The emailable solutions are particularly helpful if you find yourself at a holiday event with an extra person or two you weren’t expecting, or if you’re just feeling a little more generous at the last minute and want to add another something to a present.
Christmas Eve is upon us, and that means it’s Santa tracking season! Whether you’re keeping an eye on Santa’s yearly world journey for yourself or just the little ones in your life, tracking Santa is now easier than ever.
You can track Santa directly from your iPhone with an official NORAD app, use the official NORAD Santa Tracking website which uses Bing Maps, or go with Google Maps Santa Tracker. Believe it or not, NORAD Santa even maintains it’s own Twitter account which posts updates on where Santa is flying around to at the moment (while you’re on Twitter give us a follow too).
There’a also a dedicated Santa NORAD Android app for the Android users out there.
My personal favorite is either the official NORAD page or Google’s World Tracker, since they both show live-updating world maps with Santa’s current location, alongside gift totals, and where he has already visited and dropped off presents. Google even counts down the next location and gives Santa some cute animations as he scoots across the globe at lightning speed, hucking gifts off his slay as he flies from destination to destination. They’re all fun for kids and kids at heart, so pick one to keep an eye on Saint Nick and have a Merry Christmas!
Apple has started running their Christmas ad for this year, and it shows off the iPad and iPad Mini with a girl playing a ukelele while singing the classic “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” song to a relative over FaceTime.
The video is embedded below, and you’re likely to catch the ad airing the next few days if you watch TV, and Apple has a knack for airing these advertisements during prime time in particular.
This is a good Apple commercial that follows their traditional lead of showing off features that can improve lives, though it’s more is less humorous than the last two years. In 2011, Apple’s Christmas ad showed Santa using Siri for directions and to retrieve information while eating cookies, and in 2010 they focused on Santa using FaceTime to speak with a child while the Christmas Song played in the background.
Update: 12/24/2012 – Wondering what the “I’ll Be Home” commercial might be like had the girl had used the iPad Mini as the ukelele rather than a real one? Probably something like the video below, which shows a nice variation of the official Apple commercial with the help of the Futulele app (iTunes Store link) for iPad. Cool idea!
This weeks Apple setup comes to us from Pierre C., who uses his Mac for amateur photography and personal use. Pierre moved back to the Mac platform after a significant hiatus with Windows, and prior to this iMac his last Apple desktop was a Mac SE! As it often goes these days, his transition was initially to an iPad, and the jump to a Mac desktop was the next logical step for further integration.
Twelve South Magic Wand linking the keyboard and trackpad
LaCie 4TB & 3TB external hard drives for photographs and backups
Apple Time Capsule 3TB for Wi-Fi backups
JustMobile Mtable (stand for the iMac)
Espon 837 Wi-Fi Printer
Cable modem
The TwelveSouth Hover Bar holding the iPad looks incredible as always, if I ever had an iMac that’d be one of the first accessory purchases for it, whether for using with AirDisplay or just sticking with iOS.
Send us your Mac & Apple setup shots and it could be featured here on OSXDaily! Email us a good picture or two, along with a brief description of hardware and what you use it for to osxdailycom@gmail.com
Have you ever wished you could visit certain websites faster while you’re on the go? Maybe you know a specific website you want to get to, but you don’t visit the site enough to have a bookmark for it on the home screen. Or maybe you’d rather just type as little as possible on the touch screen. Rather than typing out the full URL, and perhaps most annoyingly, the TLD (TLD stands for top-level domain, that is the .com, .net, .org suffixes across the web), use these two super simple tricks that will help you visit websites faster on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
1: Forget the full URL: Typing “www” and “.com” are not necessary
If the domain you’re trying to get to is a .com, you don’t actually have to type the .com suffix! Likewise, if the site is standardized with the www prefix, you don’t need to type that either. Instead, in the iOS Safari URL bar, just type the domain minus both and tap the big blue “GO” button. Safari will instantly fill in the rest, and off you go to that site.
The example above will take you directly to OSXDaily.com just by tapping GO, despite not having the full URL entered.
2: Show more TLD’s: Tap and hold the “.com” button for more
What if the domain is a .net, edu, us, or .org? No sweat, in Safari you can quickly access the 5 most common domain TLD’s by just tapping and holding the “.com” button until the sub-menu of TLD’s appears. Tap what you’re looking for, and you’re good to go.
Note: the list of TLD’s shown is slightly different per country, and the country code at the end should vary widely depending on which keyboard you are using and where the device is localized to.
The Fastest Way? Bookmark Frequently Visited Sites
If you end up visiting a particular site often (like OSXDaily.com!), just bookmark it onto your home screen. Then you just have to tap the icon, there just isn’t a faster way to visit websites in iOS. All you need to do is visit the site in question, tap the share arrow, and choose “Add to Home Screen” and it’ll be there like any other app.
Knowing which wireless networks a Mac has been connected to in the past be can be helpful for a variety of reasons, including network troubleshooting, determining where a Mac has been, if a specific wifi password is recoverable, and a myriad of other technical reasons. Searching for past networks is completely different from finding currently available networks, and you won’t recover historical data from the menu bar item or otherwise excellent Mac OS X wi-fi scanner tool.
We’ll cover two simple ways to find past wi-fi network connections on a Mac, the first is the easy route through System Preferences, and the second approach uses a lengthy command line string to read the wireless networks from a plist file.
iPhone ringtones and text tones – both of which are .m4r files – are stored in the same location in the file system, whether they were made with iTunes, bought from the iTunes Store, converted from another format with QuickTime, created from within Garageband, or whether you downloaded them from elsewhere.
You can quickly locate the ringtone and text tone files locally on a computer, whether it’s a Mac or Windows PC, as long as you have synced the iPhone to that to iTunes before. We’ll show you where to look to find the files, and how to access them.
Many of us juggle multiple email accounts these days, one for work, one for personal, one for various web signups, and whatever else. While you can easily configure the default iOS Mail app to manage multiple accounts and inboxes and flip between them yourself, another approach is to separate the mail accounts completely by using different apps for each account, and launching them only when needed. Read more »
for iPad
