Quitting apps gracefully is typically done through the appropriate application menu by choosing “Quit”, but the Mac GUI is obviously inaccessible from the command line of Mac OS X. So when most command line users are confronted with the need to exit an application, they wind up using the ‘kill’ command to terminate the process … Read More
Troubleshooting complex issues on a Mac can be challenging as is, and if you’re ever confronted with some complex situations you may find the command line to lend a major hand. In this case, advanced users can boot a Mac into safe mode through the usage of the nvram utility, a tool which allows users … Read More
The networksetup utility offers a command line interface to configuring the variety of Mac networking features available in Mac OS X. We’ve discussed networksetup and accompanying features many times here for more advanced purposes, but one of the simpler uses of networksetup is that it can list out every piece of networking hardware attached to … Read More
Have a favorite song that you want to use to seed a new music station? Maybe you’re looking to find some new tunes to hear based on a particular song or artist? iTunes Radio makes this process simple, and you can instantly create a new iTunes Radio station from any playing song or artist, whether … Read More
Red Eye happens sometimes in photography, often if you’re shooting a subject while using the camera flash, or when a bright light is shining in their eyes. The appearance is striking and usually undesirable, with the subjects eyes literally glowing red. You may run into the red eye effect when taking pictures with any camera, … Read More
The iOS Dock sits at the bottom of our iPhone, ipod touch, and iPad home screen, intended to hold the most commonly used apps for quicker launching. While it’s well known that you can customize the apps that are contained within the Dock, what’s lesser known is that you can actually reduce the number of … Read More
Typically Mac users will retrieve the screen resolution of connected displays through the Displays system preference panel in OS X. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that approach, it’s easy and quick, but because it uses the graphical interface of OS X it’s not necessary helpful for scripting purposes or remote management through Remote Login and … Read More
Installing apps to iOS is easily done through the App Store, but uninstalling apps from the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is probably even easier. Yes, many users will know how to do this, but it always surprises me how many people don’t know how to remove an app from their iOS device. Fortunately, Apple … Read More
Cutting and pasting files within the Mac OS X Finder is an easy way to move files and folders around on the Mac, particularly for Windows converts, but by default the cut and paste function changes permissions and ownership during the file move process. For the most part that is desirable, but if you are … Read More
Safari Bookmarks default to saving their names as the title of a webpage or website. That means if a site has a long title, the bookmark name will be equally as long. For accessing bookmarks through the Bookmarks menu that isn’t too big of a deal, but when you’re using the Safari Favorites Bar, long … Read More
Having an external monitor hooked up to a Mac can boost productivity significantly, and most users who get a secondary screen just hook it up and start using it – it works, so why mess around, right? But to get the best picture and color representation out of your external display, you’ll want to take … Read More
Aside from using apps like Photoshop, one of the best ways to make a contact sheet on the Mac is to use Automator to generate the thumbnail sheet as needed. But because Automator requires the usage of an OS X scripting utility, it’s beyond the comfort level of many users, and it also takes time … Read More
Modern versions of iOS changed how Safari looks when a web page is loaded, particularly on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. To save screen space on these devices, all of the Safari navigation buttons disappear automatically once you start scrolling through a web page, hiding your standard back and forward features and other buttons. … Read More
The newest iPhone models support the recording of slow motion video with the native Camera app. This nifty feature was first introduced as a major part of the modern iPhone cameras and is able to shoot 1080p or 720p movies at 240 or 120 frames per second. But that doesn’t mean that slow-motion is limited … Read More
If your iPhone 5 battery suddenly shuts itself off, experiences shorter battery life than expected, or needs to be charged seemingly constantly, it may be a result of a battery issue that impacts some iPhone 5 devices, and Apple will now fix the issue for free.
If you’ve recently made a change to your iPhone service or SIM card, you may notice a mysterious red blank dot on the “Phone” app of the iPhone home screen. Typically that little blank red dot means you have voicemail, but the iPhone can’t retrieve it, and it usually occurs in one of the following … Read More
The Twitter for Mac client has a peculiar feature (bug?) which causes the app image cache to grow endlessly and without limitation. That means the Twitter image cache folder can easily become several gigabytes in size unbeknownst to the end user, and those cache files are also stored in virtual memory, which can cause unnecessary … Read More
How many iPhone and iPad owners wind up having a frayed USB lightning adapter with wires visible or protruding from the cable? One of my own Lightning cables ended up a frayed disaster after less than a year of being always plugged into a MacBook, and only used on a desk – not exactly demanding … Read More
