This week Dr. Mac has hints, tips, recommendations, and advice on a bunch of things including Blood Oxygen levels, iPhone and Apple Watch battery life, and free guitar lessons.
Articles by Bob LeVitus
On Protecting Your iPhone's Screen
Dr. Mac has tested many screen protectors; check out his recommendations in this week’s Dr. Mac’s Rants & Raves.
The Case for Cloning (Your Startup Disk)
Do you back up your Mac? If not, you should, but even if you do, backing up may not provide all the protection you need should disaster strike.
Swift Playgrounds: Not Just for Kids Anymore…
Dr. Mac has gotten over his fear of coding with Swift Playgrounds on his Mac and iPad, and his biggest takeaway is that it’s not longer just for kids.
macOS Troubleshooting Checklist Part II
Dr. Mac is back with more things to try when good Macs go bad…
A Trio of Low-Cost macOS Effort-Savers
This thrilling episode (#395 for those keeping score) offers up a trio of inexpensive utilities Dr. Mac uses regularly to speed his workflow and keep his Macs running smoothly.
Superb Apps You Won’t Find in the Mac App Store
Dr. Mac says, “If you only buy apps from the Mac App Store, you’ll miss out on many useful, reasonably priced, and effort-saving Mac apps.
Dr. Mac's Checklist for Buying Hard or Solid-State Drives
Dr. Mac is frequently asked for advice on adding storage to a Mac, so he distilled his thoughts into a checklist to help you decide on your next storage upgrade.
Setapp (the Netflix of Mac Apps) Just Keeps Getting Better
Dr. Mac has been a fan of Setapp (the Netflix of Mac apps) since it was introduced and thinks it’s a fantastic value, allowing you to use any or all of its 180+ high-quality apps for just $9.99 a month.
Brainstorm by Mapping Your Mind (Part 2)
In the thrilling conclusion to last week’s mind-mapping column, this week Dr. Mac talks about four macOS mind-mapping apps.
Macworld All-Star Band Reunites for Musicians’ COVID Relief Fund
The Macworld All-Star Band, best known for appearances at the now-defunct Macworld Conference & Expo, reunited for a virtual performance of “Feelin’ Alright,” that was released earlier today.
Livestream Video Like a Pro
Dr. Mac has been live-streaming video since time immemorial—here are some tips he’s developed over the years to make his live streams look cooler and more professional.
Parallels Toolbox: Like a Swiss Army Knife for your Mac
Dr. Mac really likes Parallels Toolbox, which includes more than 30 different tools for macOS (and/or Windows 10) for $19.99/year.
Creative Things to Try for Free
Dr. Mac says some of the bright spots in this dark time are formerly paid services and apps now available at no cost for a limited time in response to the crisis and shares a handful of his faves.
Luminar 4 is the Best Luminar Yet
Bob “Dr. Mac” says that Luminar 4 has all of those things he loved so much in previous releases, but that adds several “stunning” new features.
A Tale of Two GarageBands
Find out why Dr. Mac says GarageBand on an iDevice is so different from GarageBand on a Mac that it should have been called something else like, “GarageBand Touch” or “GarageBand Mobile.”
Apple CarPlay: Better than Bluetooth
Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus takes a close look at AirPlay, which he says is better than Bluetooth for car connectivity.
In Search of Longer MacBook Pro Battery Life
Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus has been looking for ways to eke out more battery time from the 7-year old MacBook Pro, and he shares what he’s learned.
A Better Way to Type on an iPhone?
Dr. Mac is fascinated by Typewise, the first keyboard app designed from the ground up for the iPhone (or other smart phone) and its claim that it can reduce typos up to 80%.
Apple Notes May Be Better Than Ever(note)
Dr. Mac’s been playing with Apple Notes lately and he thinks it might finally be mature enough to replace Evernote Premium in his workflow (which will save him $70 next year).
Activ5: Fun Isometric Workouts (Almost) Anywhere
Dr. Mac has been playing (actually, working out) with an Activ5 Portable Fitness Device from Activbody for the past few weeks and so far he’s impressed.
PowerPhotos: Photo Management for Photos (App)
At some point, Dr. Mac decided that my iPhoto/Photos library was too big and archived everything prior to 2014 in a second iPhoto/Photos library, which is where PowerPhotos came in.
Pixelmator Pro: Image Magic via Machine Learning
Dr. Mac has discovered something approaching the holy grail of image-processing—a way to enlarge (or reduce) an image with fewer visible artifacts and jagged edges, and less blurriness and other unwanted elements.
BBEdit Just Keeps Getting Better
Dr. Mac is impressed with the latest release of Bare Bones Software’s venerable Mac text editor, BBEdit, saying it just keeps getting better and better, with the latest release (BBEdit 13), adding several extremely useful features.