• September 6, 2022

    Read This Article Before Transferring Your Data to a New iPhone

    Are you among the millions of people planning to get a new iPhone 14? It’s exciting, we know, but don’t move too fast when getting started with your new iPhone, or you might cause yourself headaches. Instead, follow these instructions once you’re ready to transfer your data to the new iPhone:
    1. Make sure you know your Apple ID and password! You will likely have to enter them at least... Read more
  • September 1, 2022

    Use Your iPhone to Identify Plants, Wildlife, and Birds with Seek and Merlin

    Now and then, we run across iPhone apps that feel magical, and we want to share two of them: Seek and Merlin. They both use machine learning to help you identify something from the natural world using your iPhone. If you’re at all curious about the plants, wildlife, and birds you encounter outside, you’ll want to download these free apps.

    Seek from iNaturalist

    You’re out for a walk a... Read more
  • August 30, 2022

    15 Ways to Solve Call Failures on Your iPhone

    Sure, we know that phone calls aren’t the most common thing people do on their iPhones—especially anyone under 30—but it’s still important to be able to make and take calls. There are a wide variety of reasons that outgoing or incoming calls might fail, so the solutions vary equally as widely. Some may seem a little scattershot, but most are easy to try and set back if they don’t help.
      ... Read more
  • August 25, 2022

    iCloud, Google Calendar, Microsoft Exchange: Choosing a Personal Calendar Service

    We Mac, iPhone, and iPad users have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to calendaring flexibility. Apple provides free calendar services via iCloud, and the Calendar app lets you add calendar accounts from a wide variety of providers. Most notable among them are Microsoft Exchange and Google Calendar, which are commonly used in the business world. Read more
  • August 23, 2022

    Follow These Steps before Bringing Your Mac in for Repair

    It has finally happened. Keys on your MacBook Pro aren’t responding, there’s a crack on the screen, or the battery no longer holds enough of a charge to make it useful. A repair is in your future, which entails bringing the Mac to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider or shipping it back to Apple. Regardless of what repair approach you take, there are some steps that we—and Apple—... Read more
  • August 18, 2022

    Choosing the Best Mac for a College-Bound Student in 2022

    Do you have a child starting college soon? It’s likely that your kid has been relying heavily on a computer throughout high school, but if it was a school-provided laptop or shared family computer, now’s the time to get them something of their own. And even if they had their own laptop throughout high school, if it’s old or unreliable, college is a good excuse to bring them up to date. If you h... Read more
  • August 16, 2022

    Go Beyond Get Info with the Finder’s Inspector Window

    You probably know that selecting a file in the Finder and choosing File > Get Info (Command-I) brings up the Get Info window. This window provides information about the file, including its name, kind, size, creation and modification dates, and much more. You can also use Get Info to hide or show filename extensions, lock and unlock files, and change permission... Read more
  • August 9, 2022

    What Should I Do If I Get an “AirTag Found Moving With You” Message?

    First, don’t panic. Most likely, you’re borrowing something with an Apple AirTag location tracker attached to it, or someone left something with an attached AirTag in your car. Second, tap the alert to open the Find My app, which displays a map showing where the AirTag has been with you, which might shed some light on wh... Read more
  • August 4, 2022

    What’s That Little Orange Dot by Control Center in macOS 12 Monterey?

    Have you noticed a little orange dot next to the icon for Control Center on the menu bar in macOS 12 Monterey? (And if not, you can’t miss it now.) Apple added that dot to alert you that something is using the Mac’s microphone to listen to the room. Click the Control Center icon to see which apps are using the mic. In nearly all situations, it will be entirely innocuous: Siri needs to listen fo... Read more
  • August 2, 2022

    How to Restore Missing SMS Two-Factor Authentication Codes

    Many websites, from Adobe to Zendesk, let you receive two-factor authentication codes via SMS text messages. That’s good—any form of two-factor authentication is better than none—but you’re often effectively locked out of your accounts if those text messages don’t arrive. A simple fix is to call your cellular carrier and ask to have any blocks removed from your account. Automated scam and fraud... Read more