Tutorials
How to Upgrade Your MacBook's Hard Drive
Matt Cone June 2, 2012
Tip: Do you own a MacBook Pro? Check out two of our other articles: How to Upgrade Your MacBook Pro’s Hard Drive, and How to Upgrade Your MacBook Pro’s RAM. Upgrading your MacBook’s internal hard drive is a simple way to store more documents, music, movies, applications and other files on your new Apple portable. Hard drives (or hard disk drives) are large capacity storage devices which store all of your data - everything from Mac OS X to your latest iTunes music album.
How to Upgrade Your MacBook Pro's RAM
Matt Cone June 2, 2012
Upgrading the RAM is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to boost your computer’s overall performance. RAM, or random access memory, stores the code and instructions for OS X and any applications open on your Mac. Installing larger RAM modules in your MacBook Pro will allow you have more applications open at once and perform more tasks simultaneously. For example, you could open a bunch of memory-hogging applications while ripping a CD, watching a DVD, and uploading photos to the Internet - all at the same time.
Create a Keyboard Shortcut for any Menu Item
Matt Cone June 1, 2012
Keyboard shortcuts are an integral part of Mac OS X, but you may have noticed that not every menu item has one. This can pose a real problem for those of us who like to work fast and efficiently. To access menu items that don’t have shortcuts, you’ll have to use the mouse - a big annoyance that’ll slow you down! Fortunately, Mac OS X allows you to assign a keyboard shortcut to a menu item that doesn’t have one.
Remove Rental Movies from an iPad or iPhone
Matt Cone May 29, 2012
If you’ve ever rented an iTunes movie on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, you know that the movie is automatically removed from your device 24 hours after you started watching it. But did you know that you can manually remove movie rentals after you finish watching them? Doing so allows you to free up disk space on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch and store even more music and movies.
Where to Find Saved PDF Files on an iPad
Matt Cone May 19, 2012
In another tutorial, we discussed how to save PDF files on an iPad. But where do you find the PDF files that you’ve saved on your iPad? They’re stored in the iBooks app, but you might have to change collections to see them. Collections are essentially folders for the books and files stored in iBooks. By default, all PDF files are stored in the PDF collection. If you have a different collection open, you won’t see the files in the other collection.
How to Minimize Windows in Slow Motion
Eric Buczynski May 18, 2012
Ready to learn a fun trick that has absolutely no practical value whatsoever? A trick that you can use to impress your friends and show off your Mac skills? Then you’ve come to the right tutorial! We’re about to teach you how to minimize windows to the Dock in slow motion. In other words, we’re going to take the default minimize window action and slow it way down by a factor of 100 or so.
Change an AirPort Extreme's DNS Servers
Matt Cone May 17, 2012
If you own an AirPort Extreme and use it as a router, you can specify default DNS servers for all of the devices connected to your wireless network. This is a great way to enforce enterprise network policies using OpenDNS, which allows you to implement security and filtering controls. And if you’re a home user, you can protect your children by configuring DNS servers for the entire house and enable parental controls with OpenDNS.
Change the Background of Finder Windows
Eric Buczynski May 16, 2012
Are you tired of seeing the boring white background of the Finder windows? Change it! You can spice up your Desktop by setting a folder’s background to a picture or a solid color. Note that this only works when the layout of the folder’s window is set to the icon view. You won’t see the background if you view the items in the list, column, or cover flow views. Setting a Solid Color Background Here’s how to change the background of a Finder window:
How to Update Your iPad's Software
Matt Cone May 9, 2012
This week Apple released iOS 5.1.1, the newest version of the operating system for iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touch devices. You used to have to connect to a computer with iTunes to install updates, but not anymore. With the “over-the-air” update feature built into iOS, you can use your iPad to download and install the iOS updates while connected to a wireless network. This guide will show you how to update your iPad’s iOS software wirelessly using the over-the-air update feature.
Connecting a Bluetooth Keyboard to an iPad
Matt Cone May 8, 2012
As someone who writes for a living, I need to be able to type fast and accurately. That’s just not possible with the iPad’s Qwerty keyboard. I initially thought the built-in keyboard would work, and that it was just a matter of training myself to use it. But as time went on, I realized that the keyboard was only large enough to fool me into thinking I could type with two hands.