Protect Your Tech Gear from Power Fluctuations

It has been a tough year for extreme weather events. While the connection between weather and technology may seem tenuous, heat waves, high winds and lightning strikes can play havoc with all sorts of powered and networked electronic devices. Why Protect Your Tech Anything that causes power fluctuations—spikes, surges, sags, brownouts and blackouts—can hurt your tech gear. Protecting… Continue reading Protect Your Tech Gear from Power Fluctuations

Make Your Mac Work for You!

Consider Moving Your Mac’s Dock to the Side of the Screen For most of us, our Mac’s screen is wider than it is tall, so longer Web pages and documents often benefit from more room from top to bottom. To maximize the amount of usable vertical space and reduce the need to scroll as much,… Continue reading Make Your Mac Work for You!

Which Should You Use — a Mac, iPhone or iPad or Web App?

Apps are everywhere these days, but it can be hard to remember that many exist in multiple versions. You can often run the same app on a Mac, an iPhone or iPad and in a Web browser. There are benefits for each of them. Mac Apps Generally speaking, Mac apps: Have better-designed, more obvious interfaces that… Continue reading Which Should You Use — a Mac, iPhone or iPad or Web App?

Save Your Sanity – and Your Photos

How to Mask Nearby Noise Do you have trouble concentrating at work because of a loud office environment? Or do you work at home and want to block out the sounds of kids or appliances? In macOS 13 Ventura, Apple added background sounds you can play to mask what’s going on around you. Go to:… Continue reading Save Your Sanity – and Your Photos

How to Back Up iPhone Photos on Your Mac

If your iPhone were to be stolen or suffer an unfortunate accident, would you lose all your precious photos? Those using iCloud Photos are probably shaking their heads smugly, thinking that all those baby and vacation photos are backed up securely in iCloud. iCloud Photos does store a copy of all your photos, but you… Continue reading How to Back Up iPhone Photos on Your Mac

Is Your Wi-Fi Network a Security Risk?

We all send sensitive data online, including passwords, financial information and personal details, all of which could be used for identity or outright theft. For those who work at home, this data may also include important corporate credentials and information. In addition, if your Wi-Fi network is open for everyone and has a bandwidth cap, you could… Continue reading Is Your Wi-Fi Network a Security Risk?

A Practical Guide to Identifying Phishing Emails

“Phishing” is any communication, usually an email, that tries to lure you into revealing login credentials, financial information or other confidential details. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more common. A State of Phishing report from security firm SlashNext claims that there were more than 255 million phishing attacks in 2022, a 61% increase from the year before. Luckily,… Continue reading A Practical Guide to Identifying Phishing Emails

You Can Now Upgrade to macOS 13 Ventura When You’re Ready

When upgrading to a new version of macOS, we err on the side of caution, at least in our recommendations. (We’ve been using macOS 13 Ventura for some time now and often install beta releases on secondary machines for testing purposes.) Upgrading is easy, but if you upgrade too soon, the new macOS version could… Continue reading You Can Now Upgrade to macOS 13 Ventura When You’re Ready

How to Use Safety Check

You definitely do not want to accidentally share information from your iPhone with an unauthorized person. Apple to the rescue with Safety Check! You should repeat this security check every so often to make sure your information is secure. Why Use Safety Check? Safety Check lets you easily see critical information you may be sharing,… Continue reading How to Use Safety Check

Apple Powers Mac mini and MacBook Pro with New M2 Chips, Releases New HomePod

With a handful of press releases buttressed by a 19-minute video, Apple pulled back the curtains on its new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips and announced updated Mac mini and MacBook Pro models that rely on the new chips. There are no significant design or feature changes with these updated models. They are offering faster performance, enhanced… Continue reading Apple Powers Mac mini and MacBook Pro with New M2 Chips, Releases New HomePod