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  • iPhone 101: Quickly change camera modes in iOS 7 without accidentally snapping a photo

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.29.2014

    One of the main reasons why I love my iPhone is its outstanding camera that allows me to capture a photo at a moment's notice. As noted when iOS 7 was released last year, Apple's latest version of iOS significantly improved the camera app, providing options for panorama mode, square photos and slow-mo video on select models. When you are shooting with the default iOS 7 camera app, you can swipe to switch between the modes to select the one you need for the moment. Most people instinctively swipe on the small bar where the modes are labeled in the iOS app. This small area can be difficult to tap especially when you are in a hurry, leading you to accidentally take a photo, choose a filter or open the thumbnail view. There is an easier way to switch between modes -- instead of swiping on the labels, swipe anywhere on the screen. Swiping anywhere on the screen will cycle you through the modes. If you are lazy with your swipe, you may accidentally activate focus, but if you are prompt, you will be able to select your photo mode in just a few seconds.

  • Mac 101: Use Command-P to print and other useful Finder keyboard shortcuts

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.28.2014

    Yesterday, our Editor-in-chief Victor Agreda misfired in one of his keyboard combinations -- selecting multiple files and then hitting Command-P, instead of Command-O when trying to open the documents. He was reminded of this longstanding "Print" feature and other similar shortcuts that are often overlooked by new and veteran OS X users alike. Besides Command-O to open documents and Command-P to print them, there is a long list of keyboard combinations specifically for the Finder. Below you will find the list as documented by Apple. Key combination Action Command-A Select all items in the front Finder window (or desktop if no window is open) Command-Option-A Deselect all items Command-Shift-A Open the Applications folder Command-C Copy selected item/text to the Clipboard Command-Shift-C Open the Computer window Command-D Duplicate selected item Command-Shift-D Open desktop folder Command-E Eject Command-F Find any matching Spotlight attribute Command-Shift-F Find Spotlight file name matches Command-Option-F Navigate to the search field in an already-open Spotlight window Command-Shift-G Go to Folder Command-Shift-H Open the Home folder of the currently logged-in user account Command-Shift-Control-T Add to Dock Command-I Get Info Command-Option-I Show Inspector Command-Control-I Get Summary Info Command-Shift-I Open iDisk Command-J Show View Options Command-K Connect to Server Command-Shift-K Open Network window Command-L Make alias of the selected item Command-M Minimize window Command-Option-M Minimize all windows Command-N New Finder window Command-Shift-N New folder Command-Option-N New Smart Folder Command-O Open selected item Command-Shift-Q Log Out Command-Shift-Option-Q Log Out immediately Command-R Show original (of alias) Command-T Add to Sidebar Command-Shift-T Add to Favorites Command-Option-T Hide Toolbar / Show Toolbar in Finder windows Command-Shift-U Open Utilities folder Command-V Paste Command-W Close window Command-Option-W Close all windows Command-X Cut Command-Option-Y Slideshow (Mac OS X v10.5 or later) Command-Z Undo / Redo Command-1 View as Icon Command-2 View as List Command-3 View as Columns Command-4 View as Cover Flow (Mac OS X v10.5 or later) Command-Comma (,) Open Finder preferences Command-Accent (`) (the Accent key above Tab key on a US English keyboard layout) Cycle through open Finder windows Command-Shift-Question Mark (?) Open Mac Help Command-Left Bracket ([) Go to the previous folder Command-Right Bracket (]) Go to the next folder Command-Up Arrow Open the folder that contains the current folder Command-Control-Up Arrow Open the folder that contains the current folder in a new window Command-Down Arrow Open highlighted item Command-Shift-Up Arrow Make the desktop active Right Arrow (in List view) Open the selected folder Left Arrow (in List view) Close the selected folder Option-click the disclosure triangle (in List view) Open all folders within the selected folder Option–double-click Open a folder in a separate window, closing the current window Command–double-click Open a folder in a separate window Command-click the window title See the folders that contain the current window Command-Tab Switch application–cycle forward Command-Shift-Tab Switch application–cycle backward Command-Delete Move to Trash Command-Shift-Delete Empty Trash Command-Shift-Option-Delete Empty Trash without confirmation dialog Space bar (or Command-Y) Quick Look (Mac OS X v10.5 or later) Command key while dragging Move dragged item to other volume/location (pointer icon changes while key is held--see this article) Option key while dragging Copy dragged item (pointer icon changes while key is held--see this article) Command-Option key combination while dragging Make alias of dragged item (pointer icon changes while key is held--see this article)

  • Mac 101: How to type an accented character in just a few seconds

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.27.2014

    If you communicate internationally, there will be times when you need to use an accented character in your prose. If you don't use these special characters very often, you may fumble around OS X looking for a way to add to your text. Don't waste extra time hunting through the preferences or the character viewer looking for a match, these accented characters are right at your fingertips if you know where to find them. The quickest way to add an accented letter also is the easiest one to remember. Just tap and hold the letter key and a box will appear with a selection of the available accents. You can click on the correct character or type the number underneath the character that you want to enter. It works with all the vowels as well as a few consonants that have special accents, like C, L and N. Now that you this trick, it'll only take you a few seconds to enter "olé" the next time you want to express your enthusiasm.

  • iPhone 101: Five useful Clock app tips for iPhone and iPad owners

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.26.2014

    Since the beginning, Apple has always included a Clock app in iOS, providing iPad and iPhone owners with a world clock, an alarm clock, a stopwatch and a timer. You likely are familiar with the basic functions of the app, so here are five tips to help you get even more out this simple, yet handy utility. 1. Tap on the clock in World Clock to change the clock style (iPhone only) If you tap on the clock face in the World Clock on the iPhone you can switch between an analog clock and a digital clock. I prefer the analog version because its shows night and day, with a black clock face for locations where it is night and a gray one for daytime areas. 2. Tell the time down to the second using the Clock icon (iPhone and iPad) Did you know that the iOS 7 clock icon on your home screen is dynamic? It displays the current time and even has a red hand that ticks off the seconds. The seconds feature is useful when you need to time something for less than a minute and don't want to open a dedicated timer app. 3. View weather around the world (iPad only) Add your favorite cities to the Clock app in iOS 7, and you can quickly view their weather by selecting the World Clock tab. Only on the iPad, the World Clock displays a map that locates each city and highlights its time, temperature and weather conditions. 4. Drag to change the time for an alarm (iPad only) The iPad version of the Clock app displays each alarm on a calendar grid, allowing you to see your alarm schedule quickly and easily. If you want to change the time for an alarm, just tap, hold and drag it to a new time. You can adjust the alarm time in 15-minute increments using this method. 5. Use the timer to play music until you fall asleep (iPhone and iPad) You can use the timer in the iOS 7 clock app as a sleep timer that plays background music as you fall asleep. Just open the Clock app, choose timer and set the amount of time you want the music to play. Tap on the "When Timer Ends" option, choose "Stop Playing" from the list and then tap on "Start" to begin the countdown process. Now open the Music app, select your favorite "fall asleep" music and relax knowing that your music will stop playing when the timer ends.

  • Mac 101: How to scroll quickly through a web page or long document

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.22.2014

    In so many areas of OS X, Apple has added quick little tricks that make it easier for you to complete an action -- such as using the Option-Shift key when adjust volume to raise or lower it in smaller increments. When you are reading a long document that does not have a text entry field, you can use the space bar to scroll quickly down the document. The space bar will jump you down the page in large increments and is a much faster method of scrolling than the page down arrow, which moves you in smaller increments. When you reach the bottom of a document, you can use the shift-space bar combination to move back up the document in an equally quick manner. The only caveat is the space bar option does not work when the document has a text entry field as you need the space bar to add spaces between your words. As a result, you cannot use this trick when you are writing a long blog post in a web page editor or using a desktop text editor to modify a long document. It works perfectly, though, when you are reading a long webpage or browsing a PDF in Preview.

  • Mac 101: How to manage website Push Notifications in OS X Mavericks

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.21.2014

    OS X Mavericks added a new feature to Safari that allows websites to send you push notifications when there is breaking news and other new content. Websites that support this function will display a pop-up asking you if you want to receive alerts when you visit their website for the first time. If you are like me, you may click on the button just to get the alert out of the way without realizing what you just permitted. Thankfully, Apple provides an easy way for you to manage these push notifications within Safari. In Safari's preferences section, you can see which websites are sending you alerts and which ones are disabled. You also can disable those sometimes annoying push notification requests entirely. Follow these steps below to manage your Safari push notification list and other push notification preferences: 1. Open Safari and select "Safari" from the menu and then choose "Preferences." 2. Click on the tab labeled "Notifications." 3. The dialog box should display your website list at the top, with each site's push notification status clearly indicated as "Allow" or "Deny." 4. Select "Allow" if you want a website to send you push notifications or "Deny" if you want to disable the alerts. 5. You also can use the buttons at the bottom to remove websites from the list, individually via "Remove" or in bulk using "Remove All." 6. At the bottom, there is a checkbox labeled "Allow websites to ask for permission to send push notifications", which is the global switch that toggles on and off the notification request feature (the popup that asks if you want alerts). 7. If you select that checkbox, then websites will ask you whether you want push notifications. 8. If you deselect this checkbox, Safari will ignore all push notification requests and you can browse uninterrupted. Note: If you don't see this checkbox then you need to update Safari as it is only available in Safari 7.0.3. 9. If you want to fine tune your alerts, you can click on the "Notifications Preferences" button to open the system-wide notification settings for OS X. 10. This notification panel allows you modify how the alerts are displayed (None, Banners, Alerts) as well as prevent the alerts from appearing either on the lock screen or in Notification Center.

  • Mac 101: How to add images to an iMessage

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.20.2014

    Adding images to an iMessage on your iPhone is easy to do as there is a "camera" icon right next to the message composition field. On the Mac, though, this option is not readily apparent, leaving many desktop users scratching their head when they want to add a simple image to a message they are writing. Though it is not intuitive, Messages for Mac does allow you to attach on image to an outgoing message. There are two basic ways -- one uses the Finder, while the other uses the sharing feature that is available in most apps. Using the Finder If you haven't started writing a new message, you can select the image in Finder and right-click on it to bring up the contextual menu. Select "Share > Messages" from the contextual menu to create a new message. This opens a small dialog box directly over the Finder window that allows you to enter the recipient information and a text note before sending the image. If you already have a message in progress, then you will need to follow the steps below: Position the Finder window and the Messages window side-by-side on your screen. This makes it easy to drag the image from one window to another. Select an image file in the finder. (This also works in iPhoto if you have that app open) Drag the file to the text entry field in Messages. You will see a "+" icon as you add the image. You can add text directly after the image or use Option-Return to add some line returns between the image and your text. Using the "Share" feature in third-party apps Many OS X apps that work with images, such as Preview or Acorn, allow you to select an image and then choose the Share option either from the main menu bar or from the contextual menu. When you share an image from a third-party app, Messages launches a small dialog box where you can enter the recipient information as well as add some text before sending it along.

  • What happened to my 'Most Recent' Newsfeed in Facebook v10 for iOS?

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.15.2014

    Facebook updated its iOS app this week to version 10.0, adding an offline writing mode and a new review feature that previews your posts and allows you to remove links before sharing your status with friends. As noticed by many users (myself included) and reported by iMore, Facebook also removed the popular "Most Recent" newsfeed option from the main screen and buried it in the settings. This feature lets you sort your newsfeed according to the most recent posts instead of the most popular, which is the default option. Follow these steps below to access your most recent newsfeed: 1. Open the Facebook app and tap the "More" button at the bottom right side of the screen. It is the one with three lines as shown above. 2. This opens the settings portion of the app, providing access to your events, pages, groups and more. 3. Scroll down until you see a section labeled "Feeds," as shown below. 4. Tap on the "Feed" title bar to expand this section. You should see a list of available feeds, including those from your close friends, family and others. 5. Scroll down until you see the feed labeled "Most Recent," as shown below. 6. Tap on the "Most Recent" link to open the newsfeed. The posts now should be sorted by date with the most recent status updates appearing at the top of the feed . Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do within the Facebook app to make it easier to access this most recent feed. You'll have to get used to jumping through several hoops instead of just one, if you want to view your friend's latest posts.

  • Mac 101: How to quickly hide desktop icons

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.15.2014

    If you need to use your Mac for a presentation at work or school, you may want to tidy up your machine by removing all the icons that are cluttering up your desktop. You can drag all the icons off your desktop for your presentation and then drag them back when you are done, but that method can be inconvenient and increases the chance that you could accidentally lose a file or two in the moving process. There is an easier way that allows you to temporarily hide the icons, while still keeping the files in their original location. The simplest way of hiding your desktop icons is to use a third-party app to do all the work for you. You can check out Camouflage (US$5.99), which has been around for a long time and is regularly updated to support the latest version of OS X. There's also Desktop Curtain ($4.99) that supports a variety of options for setting the curtain coverage amount, extending the cover to external monitors and more. If you prefer a no-frills option, then you should download the free HiddenMe app and see if that does what you need it to do. OS X owners who are comfortable with the terminal app can use the following command to hide all icons on the desktop without deleting or moving the files stored in the desktop folder. This first command will remove the icons: defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false && killall Finder While this second one will restore all the icons: defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true && killall Finder If you have any other interesting Finder or terminal tips, please share them in the comments.

  • Mac 101: How to work with two apps without switching windows

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.13.2014

    OS X has a little known feature that allows you to scroll open windows while they remain in the background. Usually, you discover this feature by accident when you are using an app in one window, hover your cursor over another open app window and scroll your fingers by mistake. You then are shocked when the background window contents move in response to your fingers. The ability to scroll the content in a window that does not have the focus (is in the background behind the window in which you are working) is available in OS X and many Linux distributions, including Ubuntu. I use this background scrolling all the time when I write. I keep my text editor in the foreground and the web browser in the background. This arrangement allows me to scroll a web page and not have to switch windows when I am done reading and want to type in my text editor again. This background scrolling works with any combination of apps. One bonus feature is the ability to interact with a web page that is in the background using the command key. If you are reading a page and it has a link, you can open the link in a new tab without losing your focus by holding down the command key and then clicking on the link. This option is useful when you are multitasking and don't want to be slowed down by switching windows. For example, I can stay in my email client and open a few browser windows while I wait for an email attachment to download. If you have any other OS X tips, please share them in the comments.

  • How to save offline maps in Google Maps 3.0

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.12.2014

    Google recently improved its offline maps feature in the popular Google Maps app (version 3.0), making it easier to both save a map to your iPhone or iPad for offline use and access it when you need it for travel purposes. Here is a quick rundown on how to save a map for offline use and how to access the list of saved locations so you can view them or delete them as needed. Saving a map for offline use 1. Open Google Maps when your iPhone or iPad is connected to the Internet. You will need an active Internet connection to download the maps before you head offline. 2. Search for the map area you would like to save or move the map to that location if your destination does not have a landmark compatible with search. 3. Open the search location information that appears at the bottom of your screen, or tap the search field if you moved the map to your location. This displays an information sheet with details about the area and an option to save the map for offline use. 4. Tap the "Save map to use offline" button in order to begin the process of saving the selected area of the map. 5. You can adjust the area being saved by panning and zooming the map. When you have selected the correct region, tap "Save" at the bottom of the screen. 6. Enter a name for the map and then tap "Save" to begin downloading the map to your phone. Google Maps will start the download process and will display a confirmation message when the map area has been saved. Accessing your saved maps while offline 1. Open the Google Maps app on your iPhone or iPad when you are offline. 2. Tap the person icon in the top right corner of the home screen to open your Maps Activity page. 3. Scroll down to the "Offline maps" section at the bottom of the Maps Activity page. 4. Tap the saved map that you would like to view or tap "View all and manage" to see all your saved maps. Remember that you can only access the saved maps data when offline. You cannot search or retrieve driving directions as they both require an active internet connection. Managing your offline maps 1. Open the Google Maps app. 2. Tap the person icon in the top right corner of the home screen to open your Maps Activity page. 3. Scroll down to the "Offline maps" section at the bottom of the Maps Activity page. 4. Tap the "View all and manage" link to see a list of all your saved maps. 5. Tap the menu icon (set of 3 dots) to the right of the saved map in order to edit the map details. 6. Tap either Rename, Update, or Delete. Rename and Delete are self-explanatory, while Update allows you to expand or contract the map area that is saved in your offline map. 7. Make your modifications and then confirm changes.

  • A roundup of last week's popular and featured articles on TUAW

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.11.2014

    Last week was a busy one with your favorite TUAW writers posting some excellent How-To guides, commentary and other useful articles. Here's a quick roundup of our recent feature worthy posts you may have missed: HealthPatch biosensor bandage brings clinical-grade monitoring to iOS iPhone 101: How to use Control Center when the keyboard gets in the way Samsung's business strategy detailed: Copy, counter-sue, and delay Crowdfunding Roundup: News from Kickstarter and Indiegogo Steve Jobs' wise decision to avoid Blu-ray Mac 101: How to use OS X macros to quickly enter long strings of text The foolhardy notion that Apple is "too rooted to hardware" and that hardware is "becoming a commodity." Play It On A Mac: Outlast When Steve Jobs and Apple started taking patents seriously Bad App Reviews: Minecraft iPhone 101: Control Center getting in the way? Here's how to disable it Please don't attempt to hunt down your stolen iPhone on your own How to copy text when previewing a document using Quick Look in OS X Dish Network's mistake is a blast from the Mac past Rumor Roundup: Year of the Mockup TUAW will be back next week with another round of handy features, so be sure to drop by to see what's new and what's useful.

  • iPhone 101: How to use Control Center when the keyboard gets in the way

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.09.2014

    When you are writing an email or typing a note in iOS, the iOS keyboard takes over the bottom part of the screen, making it impossible to access Control Center. This singular focus on the keyboard is useful for entering text, but it is not so handy if you need to switch quickly to Control Center to brighten your screen or switch to the next track of your background music. There is a workaround, shared by reader Mark Ducoff, that allows you to access Control Center even when the keyboard open. As a refresher, Control Center is an excellent addition to iOS as it makes it easy for you to access commonly changed settings such as WiFi, brightness, volume and more. You can open Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, and you can close it by swiping down. These swiping gestures work remarkably well, as long as you don't have the keyboard open. Opening the keyboard interferes with the opening upward swipe -- instead of registering the swipe, iOS picks up a space bar press. When you want to open Control Center and not exit from your typing session, you can just double tap the Home button to open the iOS app switcher. The switcher places the keyboard into the background, allowing you to swipe up from the bottom to bring up the Control Center drawer. To get back to your typing, just tap the Home button once to close Control Center and then tap it again to return to the original app. Easy peasy. If you have any other Control Center tips, please share them in the comments.

  • Mac 101: Using the OS X application switcher for more than moving between apps

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.08.2014

    Command-Tab​​ key combination is familiar to most experienced Mac users. It brings up the Application Switcher, allowing you to switch from one application to another just by hitting the Tab key to cycle through the running applications. If you know the correct key combinations you also can close or hide apps as well as use them to open documents. Moving beyond just tabbing through the open apps is easy, just use this cheat sheet of key combinations as a guide: Command-Tab​​: Will move you forward through the open apps. Command-Shift-Tab: Will move you backward through the open apps. Command-Tab​​-Q: Will close the app selected in the switcher. Command-Tab-H​​: Will hide the app selected in the switcher. Command-Tab-1: Will show the open windows of the app selected in the switcher. Drag Finder document to Command-Tab: Start to drag a document in Finder, hit Command-Tab to launch the application switcher and drag the doc to the appropriate app in the switcher. If you have your own tips and tricks that work with the application switcher, please share them in the comments.

  • Mac 101: How to use OS X macros to quickly enter long strings of text

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.07.2014

    Text substitution is a useful OS X feature that has been around since Snow Leopard. These macros allow you to type in a short string of characters, such as "omw" and have those characters automatically replaced with a longer string such as "On my way!" The feature is easy to setup, even easier to use and best of all, available without any additional cost since it is bundled into OS X. Creating Macros in System Preferences. The first step to using text macros is to setup a few of them in the system preferences as follows: Open System Preferences (it's in the Apple menu at the top of your screen). Open the Keyboard panel and select the "Text" pane, which will show a list of text substitutions. Click the + button at the bottom to add a new item. Be sure to type in the both the shortcut in the "Replace" column and the longer text in the "With" column. You also use smart quotes and dashes as described here. Be careful not to enter common phrases like "go" in the "Replace" field as you only want trigger a replacement under specific circumstances. If you want to use a common phrase, then add a modifier such as a parentheses, "(go)." Enabling Text Replacement Text replacement works on a per-application basis, with some apps not supporting the feature or disabling it by default. Once you create your text replacement list, you must allow text replacement in an app in order to use it. Just right-click within any text entry area to access the contextual menu, which contains a Substitutions submenu. Select this Substitutions submenu and see if Text Replacement has a check next to it. If there is a check, then the feature is enabled. If there is no check, then select Text Replacement to turn it on. Using Text Replacement Once you've defined the shortcuts and enabled Text Replacement, the next step is to use the feature. Type your phrase, hit the space key and your full text should automatically appear. There may be a slight lag as OS X replaces the text, but try to ignore it and keep on typing.

  • iPhone 101: Control Center getting in the way? Here's how to disable it

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.06.2014

    Apple introduced Control Center in iOS 7, making it easier for users to access commonly changed settings such as WiFi, brightness, volume and more. You can open the Control Center drawer by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, and you can close it by swiping down. Though incredibly easy to use, Control Center can be an annoyance when it interferes with apps, especially games that use a similar swipe-up gesture. If you find yourself accidentally pulling up the Control Center drawer when you mean to swipe in for a kill, then you should take a few minutes and learn how to disable Control Center when you want it out of the way and enable it when you want to restore the feature. Open the Settings app. Scroll and then tap on Control Center. Click the toggle to enable or disable "Access Within Apps." If the toggle is green, then the feature is enabled. While you are in the settings, you also can decide whether you want Control Center on your lock screen. (I leave it enabled because I often use the flashlight feature and don't want to unlock my phone just to turn on the light.) Keep in mind that this method removes Control Center from opening when you are working in an app. The feature is still available when you are viewing your home screen.

  • How to copy text when previewing a document using Quick Look in OS X

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.05.2014

    Quick Look is a fantastic feature that makes it easy for you to preview documents in the finder window with just a simple tap of the space bar. You can make the feature even more powerful with this terminal command that adds a copy function to any text you are viewing in the Quick Look window. As reported by LifeHacker, you can use the following terminal command in the OS X terminal app to enable text selection in Quick Look: defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool true killall Finder Once the text function is enabled, you can select text as shown above in blue and then use command-C to copy it to the clipboard. If you want to turn off the text selection and copy option, just change the value of "true" to "false" in the terminal command as shown below: defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool false killall Finder Once this feature if turned off, Quick Look will return to its original state, allowing you to read a document and not select any text.

  • iPhone 101: How to find which iOS apps were recently updated and what they changed

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.02.2014

    iOS 7 now allows for the automatic downloading of app updates in the background, which is convenient for users who have a lot of apps installed on their iPad or iPhone. The downside to these automatic updates is that developers sometimes roll out a major overhaul to an app that takes a user by surprise. Even someone experienced as me can be taken aback for a few moments when an app icon changes or a UI is completely different. If you have automatic updates turned on and want to find out what apps were recently updated, you can find this information easily in the App Store app. Just open the App Store app and tap on the "Updates" button on the right-hand side of the bottom bar. You will then see a list of all recent app updates. Tap on the "What's New" link to view the changelog, which lists all the new features and other changes the developer made. You can turn on automatic updates using these instructions.

  • iPhone 101: How to use Lost Mode to find a missing iOS device

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    05.01.2014

    We lost an iPhone a few weeks ago while hiking and had no idea where on the trail it had dropped out of our bag. It was only partially configured -- iCloud was enabled, but not location services. I thought I was out of luck and had to re-hike the entire trail while looking for my phone, but then I remembered "Lost Mode." Lost Mode is a feature of Find My iPhone that is available in iOS 6 or later. It locks your device, displays a custom message and turns on tracking so you can see its location, even if location services was originally disabled. Here is how to use Lost Mode to find a missing device: Sign in to icloud.com/#find with the Apple ID that you use with iCloud. This will launch the Find My iPhone feature that is available in Apple's iCloud service. Click All Devices at the top of the interface and then select the device you want to track and lock. Click the center "Lost Mode" button (iOS 6 or later) as shown in the image below. Follow the onscreen instructions to lock the device, add a custom message and enable tracking. Note that if your iOS device already has a passcode, that passcode will be used to lock the device. If you don't have a password, you may be asked to enter one and that passcode will be required to unlock the device. Don't forget this passcode! You also may enter a phone number where you can be reached and that number will appear on the device's lock screen. Lastly, you may enter a message that will appear on the device's lock screen. If your device is online, it will lock itself and tracking will begin. If Location Services was turned off on the device, it will be temporarily enabled to allow your device to be tracked. If your device is offline, the passcode lock and tracking will go into effect the next time it connects to the internet Once detected and locked, a confirmation email with your phone's location details will be sent to your Apple ID email address. Besides email location alerts, you also can view your device's location on the map in iCloud. Once you have recovered your device, you can login to Find My iPhone on iCloud and click the "Lost Mode" button and then "Stop Lost Mode" to unlock your phone and stop tracking.

  • Mac 101: Adjust the volume or brightness in smaller increments using these handy tips

    by 
    Kelly Hodgkins
    Kelly Hodgkins
    04.29.2014

    Recent MacBook Pro and Air models have a wonderful keyboard that allows you to quickly adjust the volume of the system and the brightness of either your display or backlit keyboard. When you tap these brightness buttons, the levels are adjusted in single increments between 0 and 16. This is useful, but what if you want finer control over your volume or brightness level? Apple has provided a way on most recent versions of OS X to adjust the volume and the brightness levels in quarter increments using the Option+Shift keys. Just use the following combinations to make these finer changes: ⌥ + ⇧ + Volume Up/Down ⌥ + ⇧ + Display Brightness Up/Down ⌥ + ⇧ + Backlit Brightness Up/Down The volume and display adjustments are easily heard and seen as you change them, while the backlit changes are much more subtle. These keyboard tricks are available on OS X Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion and earlier. It was disabled for a short time in OS X Lion between version OS X 10.7 and OS X 10.7.3, but you can use an AppleScript to achieve a similar effect. These keyboard combinations were restored in OS X 10.7.4. For brightness levels, there also is an auto-brightness feature that automatically adjust levels based on your ambient light levels. You view the settings for the display by opening the Apple menu > System Preferences. Then click on the Displays pane, and then click on the tab for Display. Select the option to turn on/off ambient light sensing. The keyboard backlit option is similar, just go to Apple menu > System Preferences. Then click on the Keyboard pane, and then click on the tab for Keyboard. elect the option to turn on/off ambient light sensing