Phone Travel

We’re not talking about what happens when, in rage, you throw your phone across the room. Rather, what’s worth considering when traveling outside your home area to a domestic or international location where your primary cellular carrier lacks service? Over the last few weeks, I have been helping my parents and others navigate the [...]

2024-02-09T16:50:54-08:00October 2nd, 2023|Mac Mondays|

Changing Passwords

On an upcoming episode of Mac Geek Gab, you’ll hear a tip from Allison recommending not to follow the common Internet security recommendation to regularly change passwords, except when enforced. In 2016, while on leave from Carnegie Mellon University, Lorrie Faith Cranor was the FTC’s chief technologist. She published an article indicating that such password changes are [...]

2024-09-30T15:46:37-07:00September 26th, 2023|Mac Mondays|

Upgrades Galore

Today, Apple is releasing iOS 17, iPadOS 17, tvOS 17, and watchOS 10. The new versions may even be available by the time you read this email. Next Tuesday, macOS Sonoma will be generally available. I generally recommend installing the first four within two weeks of their release. The iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch hardware platforms are [...]

2024-02-09T15:16:59-08:00September 18th, 2023|Mac Mondays|

Introducing Arc

As the arc of my life story reaches a new milestone, so does my web browsing experience. I’m excited to introduce you to something new. The “browser wars” started in the late 1990s when the primary competition among web browsers was between Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Both have long since been discontinued [...]

2024-02-09T12:33:58-08:00September 11th, 2023|Mac Mondays|

Interdependence Day

In observance to today’s holiday, I want to share a few recent articles and postings that represent the evolution of technology and enable me to stay in business. There is an interdependence present in how technology changes over time, users need to continuously exercise their learning muscles, and I get to play a role [...]

2024-02-09T11:55:10-08:00July 4th, 2023|Mac Mondays|

The Speed of Touch

When you press and hold on some screen elements, you are effectively selecting a specific item for the purpose of acting on it in a specific way. Thus, long-pressing an app, image, or word, for example, displays a menu with contextual commands. This feature is called Haptic Touch. In iOS 12, Apple introduced Haptic Touch [...]

2024-02-09T11:39:58-08:00June 26th, 2023|Mac Mondays|

Shear & Be Shorn?

Today’s tips have nothing to do with cutting hair. Rather, they help you use your iPhone to see and be seen, hear and be heard. Voice Isolation Do you often talk on the phone in areas with a lot of background noise? No longer are you restricted to using special headphones with noise [...]

2024-02-09T09:41:25-08:00June 19th, 2023|Mac Mondays|

I Am Who I Am

An increasing number of websites require or encourage users to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) or two-step verification. After entering username and password, this system generally provides a temporary 6-digit number that enables the user to complete their login. Enabling this feature increases the security of the user’s account because, after entering a password (the [...]

2024-07-21T14:34:59-07:00June 12th, 2023|Mac Mondays|

Finding Nemo

When you’re looking for a particular word, phrase, or even series of characters on a website, locating it simply by scanning with your eyes can be challenging among all the text on the page. That’s why applications have a Find command. Find is a way of searching for text on a page or in a document. [...]

2024-02-08T20:54:46-08:00June 5th, 2023|Mac Mondays|

Personal Automation

Did you know you can use your Apple device to automate your personal technology behaviors? For example, suppose you have poor cellular reception at home and use Wi-Fi Calling instead. You can toggle Airplane Mode when you arrive at home, rely on Wi-Fi alone while there, and switch Airplane Mode back off when you [...]

2024-02-08T20:35:10-08:00May 29th, 2023|Mac Mondays|
Go to Top