In a recent coaching session, a client summarized a key insight they’d just learned from me: Once you upgrade to a major version of macOS, keep it up to date. That is, install updates but temper your upgrade enthusiasm. Three years ago in Upgrades Galore, I shared a few tidbits of that year’s OS versions [...]
In OS 26, Apple introduced AlarmKit. This background feature enables a reminder to be deemed “urgent,” setting an alarm directly on the task. As such, you no longer need to create an alarm manually to ensure you don’t miss an upcoming activity. Like standard alarms, these break through the systemwide Silent Mode — whether [...]
Do you know the difference between search, browse, and find? For me, there’s an important distinction related to precision and context. I previously described these terms in Search Your Email Complex with Tokens and Finding Nemo, and focused on their specific Internet usage in Web Browser vs. Search Engine. I’m resurfacing them today to further [...]
Have you received email invitations to read Blue Mountain greeting cards or respond to Evite or Paperless Post messages that might not have been real? Worse, did a hacker use your email to send false messages like these to your contacts? There’s been a recent increase in such emails that aren’t legit arriving in [...]
Have you upgraded to macOS 26.4 or later and previously installed applications that haven’t been updated in a while? If you open one of these apps, you may see a notification that it will stop working in a future version of macOS. This is a good opportunity to assess your needs and prune applications that [...]
Did you know you can set your iPhone alarm to wake you gently with a song instead of with the jolt or startle of a ringtone? Also, when you upgraded to iOS 26, were you alarmed to discover it was suddenly more difficult to stop the alarm? The new default alarm behavior involves a [...]
In a recent episode of Mac Geek Gab (1134 at 00:23:40), Adam shared a tip about a way to eliminate in-game ads. Some game apps feed ads to users overwhelmingly and make gameplay tedious and unexciting. There may be an opportunity to pay a little to eliminate the ads, but that can also be [...]
Based on a couple recent client discussions, I’m realizing that Apple may support recent Macs significantly longer and that they may reach a more advanced age than their predecessors. Truly, I’ve wondered about the longevity of any Mac with Apple Silicon. These machines are still relatively young, the eldest not even 6 years old. [...]
QR codes have been around for over 30 years but only entered general usage with the advent of smartphones over the last two decades. A QR code often leads to a website. However, it can have other uses, like to initiate payment, represent an event registration or ticket, track products through a pipeline, or [...]
While Apple celebrates its 50th birthday this season, half that time has passed since it introduced iTunes. Initially, iTunes was just a music player that could import music users already had and sync music with the then brand new iPod. The iTunes Store opened a couple years later and Apple firmly planted its feet [...]
