If you’re an author, you can self publish your books on iBooks. You’ll want to leverage multiple platforms to increase your visibility, but don’t forget Apple. As The Mac Observer editor-in-chief, Bryan Chaffin, wrote, Apple’s eBook platform isn’t perfect, but it is worthwhile to use.
How-To
macOS Photos: Create Smart Albums Based On Camera Type
A handy tip for macOS Photos users is to create Smart Albums. A Smart Album automatically organizes your photos based on certain criteria that you choose. Today Andrew shows us how to create a Smart Album based on camera model. The album is perfect if you use multiple cameras and need to separate them easily.
How To (Sort of) Block Emails In Apple Mail On macOS
Using a simple trick, you can block emails from a specific person using Apple Mail on macOS. This should work on all versions of macOS that have Apple Mail preinstalled. Now you have can peace of mind from trolls, exes or spammers. Andrew walks us through this easy tip.
How to Install ddrescue and Recover Files for Free
Recovering files from a failing hard drive is stressful and it can be pretty expensive, too. Reliable backups can help with the stress part, and ddrescue can help with the rest because it’s good at recovering files, and it’s free. The catch is that it requires a little command line mojo, but we’ve got you covered. Follow along to learn how to install and use ddrescue, plus we’ll show you how to give it a graphic interface, too.
Report Problem iTunes Purchases through Apple's Website
Our own Adam Christianson said that one of his MacCast listeners was able to get a refund for a mistaken purchase using a website where customers can easily report a problem with iTunes purchases. If you or a family member accidentally bought something within the past 90 days, you may be eligible for a refund.
iOS Tip: Create Your Own Live Wallpaper with LivePapers
When Apple announced the iPhone 6s, they debuted a new way to interact with your iPhone, called 3D Touch. 3D Touch lets you “peek” and “pop” your way around apps. The company also introduced Live Photos—animated pictures that you capture and bring to life by 3D touching the photo. Apple provided a handful of Live wallpapers to use, but many people wondered if it was possible to make your own. That is what we’ll explore in this tip.
How to Connect Your 2016 MacBook Pro to a mini DisplayPort Monitor
Want to connect your old Apple Cinema Display or another mini DisplayPort monitor to your new 2016 MacBook Pro? It’s possible, but not via the method you might think. Before you rush to pick up an adapter, be sure to check out these compatibility restrictions.
How to Transfer Files Between Mac and iPhone With iTunes
There are multiple ways to share files between Apple devices. You can use AirDrop, iMessage or even email. But an oft-overlooked feature is iTunes File Transfer. Andrew Orr explains how to use this feature to transfer files between your iPhone and Mac.
![How To Use Email Aliases In Apple Mail [Update]](https://www.macobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/macbook_apple-mail02.jpg)
How To Use Email Aliases In Apple Mail [Update]
At some point in your life, you might find yourself juggling multiple email addresses. Maybe you have several personal addresses, or a personal address and a work address. In any case, it can be a bit of a hassle to manage all of them. A way to solve this is to use an email alias. [Updated for clarity when setting up aliases in the web version of Mail on iCloud.com]
For Geeks Only: Hey Alexa, Tell Sonos to Play Stevie Wonder in the Kitchen
Sonos and Amazon jointly announced their Alexa integration earlier this year and the world rejoiced. Voice control of your Sonos system is one of those holy grails. The integration is expected to be available at some point in 2017. But I’m an impatient geek so, while I’m waiting for official support to be available, I spent an hour yesterday getting this working using freely-available open-source tools. You can do this, too, and I’ll walk you through what you’re doing and how to get started.
Podcasters: How to Log Chapter Timestamps with Keyboard Maestro
Many podcasters – and especially podcast listeners – have come to appreciate having chapters in podcast episodes. Putting chapters into a show can be a real chore for podcasters, though, especially for a show that’s recorded live. For all the podcasts I host, I employ a few Keyboard Maestro macros that, used together, allow me to have an internal clock running that simply pastes the existing timestamp wherever my cursor is. Here’s how I do it… and a download link to the macros I’ve already created for you!
Disarming and Deleting Calendar Spam Without Auto-Notifying the Spammer
Calendar spam is now a thing. Bryan Chaffin shows you how to disarm calendar spam. More importantly, he shows you how to delete calendar spam without auto-notifying the spammer.
macOS Sierra: Enabling Your Mac's Firewall and Stealth Mode
Your Mac is pretty safe on your private home network, but what about when you’re surfing the Web in coffee shops? Anyone with a computer and rudimentary hacking skills could target you, which is why it’s important to make sure your Mac’s built-in firewall is enabled—and that Stealth Mode is turned on, too. Read on to learn how.
Mute/Unmute Apple Watch Activity Reminders in watchOS 3
Apple Watch Activity Reminders are great, but sometimes you just need to mute them—or to unmute them. That setting is hidden in the Watch app in iOS 10, and Bryan Chaffin shows you how to use it.
Lyrics App for iMessages Makes it Easy to Find and Share Lyrics
I’ve been having a lot of fun with the new features in Messages in iOS 10. Apps and stickers increase enjoyment and utility, both, and I have a great example of that for you with an iMessage app called Lyrics. It makes it easy to find, quote from, and share song lyrics. Bryan Chaffin shows you how to work it.
How to Share an iTunes Playlist with Apple Music
Most of us have made our fair share of playlists in iTunes. With Apple Music, you can share those playlists for your friends or the world to enjoy with you. In that playlists are the mix tapes of today, Bryan Chaffin shows you how to share an iTune playlist using iTunes 12.5.x.
How to Control Which Messages Photos Save to Camera Roll
Messages in iOS 10 changes a fundamental way your iPhone (or iPad) camera works: if you take a photo from the preview camera, it doesn’t save to your camera roll. But if you use the full camera app, it does. Here’s how to understand, manage, and control what gets saved where and what doesn’t get saved.
iOS 10: Print to PDF With and Without 3D Touch
One of the new features in iOS is the ability to natively print to PDF, similar to what you can do with macOS. It’s relatively simple, but not necessarily obvious. It involves getting the print preview up on the screen, and then switching to share mode in order to generate a PDF. We’ll show you the steps!
How to Set Up Universal Clipboard for Your Mac and iOS Devices
iOS 10 and macOS Sierra support a new feature called Universal Clipboard that lets you copy text or graphics on one device and paste them into documents on another. It really is as simple as copy-and-paste—assuming everything is configured correctly. Read on to learn how to make sure you’re set up to use Universal Clipboard.
Can't Remotely Control Your HomeKit Devices? Enable iCloud Two-Factor Authentication
If you upgraded to iOS 10 on your iPhone or iPad, and tvOS 10 on your fourth generation Apple TV and now can’t remotely access your HomeKit devices, there’s probably an easy fix for that. Odds are you haven’t enabled iCloud Two-Factor authentication, which HomeKit in iOS 10 and tvOS 10 requires. Read on to learn how to get set up.
Install Secure XFINITY WiFi Profile On Your New iPhone
Comcast provides free Wi-Fi for many its customers where available. Like most free wi-fi, though, it’s unencrypted. Wanting to allow their users to have secure connections, Comcast now offers a WPA-secured “XFINITY” network in many places. To connect you either need to know the password – something Comcast won’t tell you – or you need to install a profile on your iPhone that has the password baked in. We’ll show you how to do the latter!
iOS 10: How to Use Your iPhone as a Magnifying Lens
If you really stretch the whole “the best camera is the one you have with you” thing, you can say the same about magnifying lenses, too. Since your iPhone is always with you—hence, the best camera line—why not use it as a magnifying lens, too? That’s exactly what you can do in iOS 10.
How I Turned a Bunch of Drawings into iOS 10 Sticker Packs
What happens when you tell artists they can make sticker packs for iOS 10 Messages easily? They do, and I took that as an invitation, so I went through the process of creating two sticker packs to learn how the process works. It’s a win-win scenario, because I know a lot more about what developers experience, and you get two sticker packs.
Three Ways to Free Up Space on your iPhone and Remove Old App Data
Recently on Mac Geek Gab the topic of phantom app data has come up, mostly in the context of how one can remove it. This data can be from deleted apps, temp files from existing apps, or sometimes even data that iTunes has downloaded for temporary storage. Over the course of the past few episodes we’ve found three ways to delete this data.