How Tos - Page 77

Google Lens can now recognize over a billion items in the world around us, the search engine giant announced this week. That's four times as many things that the AI-powered feature could identify when it was first launched last year, thanks partly to a huge number of Google Shopping products which have been added to its knowledge base. While its optical character recognition engine has...

In a previous how-to, we explained how to add a special stack to your Mac's Dock that enables quick access to recently opened or favorite items. This unique stack can be configured to show your most recently opened apps, documents, or servers, but what you can't do is make it show all your recent items, regardless of kind. One solution is to add a recently opened items folder to your Dock ...

When you set up a new Apple TV and power up the set-top box, the Apple Remote that comes in the box should pair automatically as soon as you press one of the buttons. If the Apple Remote stops working, it's probably out of juice and needs charging for 30 minutes via a USB to Lightning cable connected to a USB outlet. But if that doesn't fix the problem, your best bet is to re-pair the...

Apple's iPad Pro models, available in 11 or 12.9-inch size options, feature edge-to-edge displays with no Home buttons included. The lack of a Home button has resulted in some re-mapped gestures and features, with Apple introducing new restart, shut down, and force restart methods in the tablets. A shut down and a restart are the same gesture now, while a force restart, used if a regular...

Have you ever woken up to your iPhone or iPad alerting you to the fact that "You Have a New Memory" on this day, in the form of photos and videos you shot years ago? If the answer is yes, you've been the willing (or unwilling) recipient of a Photos feature notification called Memories. In iOS 12, the Photos app automatically curates photos and videos that you've taken into specific memory...

To go with the new 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, Apple designed a second-generation Apple Pencil. In addition to doing away with the Lightning connector thanks to a new built-in magnetic charging method, the Apple Pencil 2 also supports tap gestures. Tap gestures can be used to do things like swap between a drawing tool and an eraser in a sketching app, which is a super handy way to...

In macOS Mojave, you can choose to encrypt and decrypt disks on the fly right from the desktop. Using this convenient Finder option, we're going to show you how to encrypt a USB flash drive (or "thumb drive"), which is useful if you're traveling light and want to take sensitive data with you for use on another Mac. Finder uses XTS-AES encryption, the same encryption that FileVault 2 uses to...

Apple's newest iPad Pro models, available in 11 and 12.9 inches, are the first iPads not to feature a Home button. On traditional iPads, you press on the volume button and the home button to take a screenshot. On the new iPad Pro models, taking a screenshot is just as easy, but the gesture is a bit different. To capture a screenshot, press on the power button located at the top of the device...

In macOS, transparency – or more properly, translucency – is a visual effect many apps use to create a sense of depth by hinting at content residing in the background. An example of transparency is when content behind a window shows through in interface elements like menus and sidebars. It's evident in the screenshot above, for example, in which the colors of the desktop wallpaper bleed ...

Duet Display is an app made by former Apple engineers that allows you to use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac. In this article, we'll explain how it works and the steps you need to follow to get things up and running. Duet Display is a great way to extend your Mac's desktop and can come in especially handy when you're working away from home and want to broaden your productivity...

Over the next few weeks, YouTube is rolling out a new feature for its mobile app called "Autoplay on Home," which automatically plays videos that appear on your Home tab. As you scroll through your Home feed, videos will begin to play on mute with captions auto-enabled. Google claims the previously Premium-only feature is a better way to experience new content on the go, and will help you...

In iOS 12, Apple has included a somewhat hidden feature that lets you see the day's weather forecast on your iPhone's Lock Screen when you check it for the first time after waking up. The feature is part of Apple's Do Not Disturb at Bedtime mode, which prevents notifications from being displayed on your iPhone's Lock Screen when you're supposed to be sleeping. Many users don't realize...

Although HomePod is available in Apple's Home app, the company's smart home speaker as of yet can't be integrated into HomeKit scenes and automations. With such a feature, users would be able to activate their favorite ‌HomeKit‌ scenes, alongside a specific Apple Music playlist, album, or song from their ‌HomePod‌. Reddit user Running_In_Space on r/‌HomeKit‌ explained recently that this is...

In the last installment of our regular how-to series, we showed how you can set up an iOS device to get unique alerts when emails are received from your VIP contacts. In this article, we're going to show you how to do the same thing on your Mac. In the native Mail application in macOS, the standard way of ensuring you receive new message notifications from VIPs is to go into Mail's Preferences ...

If you use the VIP feature in the iOS Mail app then you'll already know how they can help you keep track of important messages from your key contacts amid the daily torrent of incoming emails. Keeping on top of VIP emails can be made even easier by ensuring you receive a specific sound or vibration alert whenever one comes through on your iPhone or iPad. That way you'll know if a new message...

In macOS, the Open With contextual menu that appears when you right-click (or Ctrl-click) on a file provides links to all the applications installed on your Mac that are associated with that file type. At the top of the list is the default app that macOS launches whenever you double-click on files that share the same suffix or extension, with other apps associated with the file type below...

There are several ways to search the web in Apple's Safari browser. In this article, we're going to highlight a way of searching specific websites using a lesser-known Safari feature called Quick Website Search. The option is designed to work with sites that have a built-in search field, like the one you can find at the top of the main page at MacRumors.com. Here's how it works. Let's say...

Next time you find yourself with your hands full and you want to make a call on your iPhone – or even if you're in bed and your phone's just out of reach – don't forget that you can get Siri to start a speakerphone call for you, handsfree. All you need to do beforehand is make sure that your iPhone is set up to listen for the "Hey Siri" voice command. You can check this by following the ...

Apple includes an accessibility feature in iOS that's useful if you have a visual impairment, but can even come in handy if your eyes are simply tired or you're struggling to read something like small print, especially in poor light. It's called the Magnifier, and has several advantages over just opening up the camera app and zooming in to get a better look at something. Enabling it is ...

If you connect your Mac to an external display, you may find that the Mac's on-screen and keyboard volume controls are disabled. That's because HDMI, DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt connections carry a fixed volume digital audio signal, so the external device (in this case, a monitor) controls the sound level. This can be frustrating if the volume controls on your external display are...