Articles by Matt Cone
Matt Cone is a technical writer at Fastly. He has experience creating documentation for organizations like Linode and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Matt’s first book, Master Your Mac, was published by No Starch Press. To get in touch with Matt, visit https://www.mattcone.com.
How to Unblock Phone Numbers on Your iPhone
January 23, 2021
If you previously decided to block a phone number on your iPhone and you’ve changed your mind, you can unblock the phone number so you can receive calls from the phone number again on your iPhone. After you unblock the phone number, you’ll be notified of calls and voice messages from the caller. Here’s how to unblock a phone number on your iPhone: From the iPhone’s home screen, tap the Settings icon.
How to Block Phone Numbers on Your iPhone
January 22, 2021
Getting unwanted calls on your iPhone? You can use a feature on your iPhone to block the phone number from calling your iPhone again. After you block the phone number, the caller will still be able to leave you a voice message, but it won’t appear in a notification on your iPhone. Tip: If you’re receiving a lot of “Scam Likely” calls on your iPhone, you may want to block all of the Scam Likely calls on your iPhone.
How to Tell What Shell Your Mac is Using
January 22, 2021
Every Mac comes with a Unix shell that provides a command line interface. Macs running macOS 10.15 and later use Zsh by default. Before that, Macs used the Bash shell by default. Of course, no matter what version of macOS you’re using, you can change the shell your Mac is using. What shell is your Mac using? There’s an easy way to tell — here’s how. Open the Terminal application on your Mac.
How to Disable Siri on Your iPad
January 21, 2021
Siri is Apple’s virtual voice assistant. Freely available on all of Apple’s devices, including iPads, Siri can help you find information, add calendar events, and send email. While many people find Siri helpful, some people find it distracting. Others worry about the privacy implications of their voice commands being sent to Apple. In any event, there’s a quick and easy way to turn off Siri on your iPad. Here’s how to disable Siri on your iPad:
How to Enable Git Tab Autocomplete on Your Mac
January 21, 2021
The git version control system is a popular choice among developers when working with source code. Git is automatically installed on every Mac by default, but you might want to enable the git tab autocomplete feature to help you automatically complete commands and branch names. This feature is a must-have if you work with long branch names. For example, if you typed git checkout ma and then pressed the Tab key, git tab autocomplete would automatically fill in the rest of the branch name, like this: git checkout main.
Connect Your MacBook to the Internet Using an Ethernet Adapter
January 20, 2021
Using an ethernet cable has always been a popular way to connect to the internet, but newer MacBooks don’t have ethernet ports. Fortunately, with the help of a low-cost ethernet adapter, you can connect an ethernet cable to your MacBook. The ethernet adapter is a dongle that plugs into your MacBook’s USB-C port. We recommend the Belkin USB-C ethernet adapter. This adapter works natively with your MacBook and macOS, and it supports gigabit internet speeds.
How to Change the Default Search Engine on iPad
January 19, 2021
By default, your iPad’s search engine is set to Google when using the Safari web browser. Fortunately, there’s a quick way to change your iPad’s default search engine from Google to another search engine like DuckDuckGo or Ecosia. Here’s how to change the default search engine on your iPad: From the iPad’s home screen, tap Settings. Tap Safari. Tap Search Engine. Tap the name of the search engine you want to use on your iPad.
How to Change Your iPad's DNS Servers
January 19, 2021
Just like in macOS, you can change the DNS servers on your iPad. This can significantly speed up Safari and other iPad apps that use the internet. For a general introduction to DNS, and to learn why you would want to change the DNS servers on your iPad, see How to Change Your Mac’s DNS Servers. Before we start, you should know a couple things about how your iPad handles DNS.
How to Change the Default Search Engine on iPhone
January 18, 2021
By default, your iPhone’s search engine is set to Google when using the Safari web browser. Fortunately, there’s a quick way to change your iPhone’s default search engine from Google to another search engine like DuckDuckGo or Ecosia. Here’s how to change the default search engine on your iPhone: From the iPhone’s home screen, tap Settings. Tap Safari. Tap Search Engine. Tap the name of the search engine you want to use on your iPhone.
How to Repeat One Song in the Mac's Music Application
January 18, 2021
Sometimes you just want to play one song over and over again on repeat. It’s easy to do this in the Music application on your Mac. Once this feature is enabled, the song you start playing will play over and over again until you pause the music. Here’s how to repeat one song in your Mac’s Music application: In your Mac’s Music application, click the repeat icon repeatedly until a “1” appears on the icon, as shown below.