Author

Sarah Guarino

I have been using Apple products for over ten years. My first Mac was a 14″ Late 2004 iBook with a 1.33 GHz Power PC processor, 60 GB hard drive, and 512 MB of RAM. Now, I write and work on a 15″ Mid 2010 MacBook Pro with dual core 2.4 GHz i5 processors, 500 GB hard drive and 8 GB of RAM.

I currently have a 16 GB iPhone 4S, a 32 GB iPad 2 Wifi Model, a third-generation Apple TV, a 8 GB fourth-generation iPod Touch, a fourth-generation iPod shuffle, a seventh-generation iPod Nano, and a (rare!) @mac.com email address.

How-to: Setup and use iCloud Keychain for Mavericks and iOS 7

Sarah Guarino Oct 26 2013 - 9:00 am PT

iCloud Keychain is a brand-new cloud service in OS X Mavericks and iOS 7.0.3 and launched with the new operating systems on October 22nd. iCloud Keychain stores your usernames, passwords, Wi-Fi networks, and credit card information so that you can easily fill in forms or logins whenever you need. This will sync across Safari and with third party apps that support iCloud Keychain. Your information is securely protected using 256-bit AES encryption, preventing unauthorized use of your information. iCloud Keychain also includes a powerful password generator, which will create unique passwords for your online accounts so that you no longer have to come up with secure or hard-to-guess passwords.

This article will teach you how to setup and use iCloud Keychain for iOS and OS X.

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Boxie Dropbox iPhone app gains passcode lock, smart text selection & folder-by-folder sorting

Sarah Guarino Oct 25 2013 - 9:36 am PT

Boxie, a new Dropbox client that was launched last week, is already receiving significant updates to make this an even more powerful alternative to the Dropbox app.

Boxie version 1.1 has a lot of behind-the-scenes improvements and optimizations. The update fixes issues with deleting items and offline access. It also adds support for more language including Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, German, and Portuguese. The new version introduces new error notifications when uploading items into a shared folder fails. It also adds automatic smart selection of text when renaming folders.

New folder-by-folder sorting options let Boxie remember your sorting settings for each folder rather than the app as a whole, allowing you to use customized views in each folder without having to change the view every time you change the folder. Last but not least is an important security setting that allows you to set a passcode to open Boxie, complete with customizable time interval settings and the ability to securely wipe local data.

If you have not tried Boxie yet, check out our in-depth review to learn more about all the features and benefits. Boxie is available in the App Store for $2.99.

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Popular universal IM app IM+ Pro redesigned for iOS 7, adds sync & typing status

Sarah Guarino Oct 23 2013 - 8:56 am PT

IM + Pro 7,a feature-rich messenger app, has been redesigned to reflect iOS 7’s user-interface style. Today’s update also adds several new features and become a universal app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

It allows users free texting, sending photos, videos and voice messages. It supports a dozen IM services including Skype, Facebook, Twitter DM, AIM, iChat, ICQ, MSN, LiveMessenger, Jabber, Yahoo, Google Talk, and MySpace. It supports Group Chats in Skype, AIM, ICQ and Neighbors.

New features include setting up multiple accounts per service, typing notifications, iCloud sync and beep mobile-to-mobile messenger alerts. If you forget your iOS device at home, you are always able to log on from a computer using their website. IM + Pro 7 is available in the App Store for $4.99.

Getting ready for Mavericks: How to backup your Mac and set up OS X 10.9

Sarah Guarino Oct 22 2013 - 12:28 pm PT

Apple’s latest desktop operating system, OS X Mavericks, is available today. In this post, we’ll take you through the steps required to protect your data by backing it up, upgrading the OS, and getting started with the latest version of OS X.

Before you get started, you’ll want to make sure you have everything you need. To backup your data, you’ll need an external hard drive with at least the same amount of storage as your hard drive (or a Time Capsule). You’ll also need to make sure your Mac is capable of running Mavericks (we’ll show you how below), and you’ll want to make sure you have an iTunes account to purchase the update.

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Review: Catch the Berry, a new original addicting physics-puzzle game made by Random House Digital

Sarah Guarino Oct 17 2013 - 3:00 am PT

Random House Digital launched their first original game app today: Catch the Berry. In this physics-based puzzle game, mystical creatures called the Telfnords harvest and collect magical berries. The object of the game is to catch the berries and gems in the Telfnords’ basket using your knowledge of gravity, velocity, and acceleration.
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Review: Boxie for iPhone makes Dropbox management even easier

Sarah Guarino Oct 16 2013 - 11:00 am PT

Many of us keep files in the cloud using services like Dropbox. While Dropbox has a decent iPhone app, there are quite a few features that it lacks. Boxie is an intuitive and beautiful new Dropbox client that aims to alleviate some of those issues. From the ability to view any file’s previous revisions and restore deleted files to the simple drag-and-drop file manager, Boxie has a ton of advantages over the official Dropbox app.

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Review: Weather Line is a simple way to track weather trends

Sarah Guarino Oct 16 2013 - 8:00 am PT

A beautiful new weather app called Weather Line launched this morning in the App Store. Weather Line is designed for iOS 7, and it adopts the updated design language and icons introduced in iOS 7’s native Weather app. The app is also compatible with iOS 6 for those using older devices like the iPhone 3GS or fourth-generation iPod touch. It provides a much deeper level of detail than you’ll find in the default Weather app.

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How-to: Mark up and caption images using Preview on OS X

Sarah Guarino Oct 12 2013 - 9:00 am PT

Screen Shot 2013-10-04 at 7.20.47 PM

Preview is a built-in Mac application that has many features that doesn’t get a lot of press. One of them is the ability to place a caption inside the body of the image. Another is to mark up images to remove confidential information. If you double click on an image outside of a photo editor like iPhoto or Aperture, it opens in Preview and can be edited.

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Poll: Which iWatch concepts are you a fan of?

Sarah Guarino Oct 10 2013 - 12:53 pm PT

Earlier this year, we reported that Apple is engaging in a push to hire talent to work on wearable devices (an “iWatch”). Since then, we noted that Apple hired two notable wearables specialists from Nike: Jay Blahnik (a consultant on the Fuel Band) and Ben Shaffer. Based on these hires, we believe that the iWatch will hit the market within the next couple of years.

iWatch concepts are constantly emerging. A new poll on Polar shows thirty-seven different iWatch concepts. Some of the concepts we have covered in our roundups, and others are new that focus on iOS 7 software design. Of course, these are all concepts and mockups that may not look at all like the actual product. However, we thought it would be interesting to gather polls from Polar indicating which concepts are most enticing to Apple fans.

In the above poll system, you can vote for your favorite concepts and use the arrows to move between images.

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How-to: Customize and use Notification Center in iOS 7

Sarah Guarino Oct 10 2013 - 11:10 am PT

Notification Center in iOS is a panel that keeps track of all of your incoming notifications so you can easily access them. It has been around since iOS 5, but it has been completely redesigned in iOS 7. In this article, you’ll discover how to increase enjoyment of your iOS device by customizing Notification Center. First, you’ll learn how to change the way certain apps show notifications. Then you will learn how to set Notification Center to show only the notifications you want in a customized view.

First, there are a few important settings you’ll want to pay attention to. On your iOS device go to Settings, Notification Center and scroll down to the bottom. Confirm that under Government Alerts, both AMBER and Emergency Alerts are ON. Both of these settings are optional, but they are potentially life saving…

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Review: Popular translator app iTranslate gets reimagined for iOS 7

Sarah Guarino Oct 10 2013 - 4:21 am PT

The popular language translation app iTranslate has been completely reimagined for iOS 7. Just like iOS 7, the app is heavily gesture-based. Because the new version features so many new gestures, a tutorial has been added that walks users through all of the new ways to interact with their translations.

At first glance, iTranslate does not feel as intuitive or as easy to use as the previous version. It takes a while to get acclimated to the changes, and to understand how to properly trigger the gestures, which can be a bit difficult at first. For example, when swiping, you have to swipe to the point where you will see the grey color transition to blue (for a shorter swipe), or purple (for a longer swipe) before the appropriate action will be triggered.

After going through the tutorial, the default languages are set to American English, and Spanish. Tapping on either English or Spanish pulls up the keyboard and you can type the text you want translated.

iTranslate supports text-to-speech, so that you can hear how the translation sounds. You can activate this feature using a swipe gesture. The user can choose from male and female versions of several dialects and adjust the speaking rate. Just tap on the countries’ flag to access the voice options and switch between languages.

iTranslate is available for free in the App Store for new and existing users. There is an in-app purchase for $4.99 that unlocks several premium features, which include removal of the ads at the bottom of the screen, voice recognition, and romanization (the option to convert other writing systems into Roman characters; an example of this would be converting 你好 into Nǐ hǎo). Voice recognition is powered by Nuance and automatically recognizes forty different languages and dialects regardless of which languages the text input is set to.

iTranslate is a very powerful tool, and I would recommend it for those who are traveling overseas or simply as a supplemental tool for learning a new language.

How-to: Setup and start using Evernote

Sarah Guarino Oct 6 2013 - 12:00 pm PT

Evernote is one of the most popular and talked about apps in the App Store. In this article, you’ll learn how to install and configure the app, gather and organize notes, and review workflows that include sharing and advanced features. You’ll also learn about Evernote’s accessories and “baby apps” that are fully integrated into it’s functionality. This article will enable you to use Evernote and its integrated apps as effective organizational tools.

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Anti-bullying focused app, book donating sales to charity this month

Sarah Guarino Oct 6 2013 - 10:09 am PT

This month is National Bullying Prevention Month and creators of an anti-bullying Kindle e-book and an iOS app are hoping to raise $100,000 through their sales during October and donate the revenue to several anti-bullying charities. The charities include Bullying UK, Stomp out Bullying, the Pacer Center and the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.

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How-to: Set time limits on your Wi-Fi network using AirPort Utility

Sarah Guarino Oct 6 2013 - 2:00 am PT

AirPort Utility is a built-in Mac app that is used to configure and control Wi-Fi networks using Apple’s AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, and Time Capsule. The AirPort Extreme is a base station router like you would use when setting up your Wi-Fi network. An AirPort Express is used to extend a Wi-Fi network to a larger area, or can be used to stream audio using AirPlay. A Time Capsule is a combination of an AirPort Extreme and an external hard drive, and comes in 2 TB or 3 TB. It automatically backs up all Macs on your network.

AirPort Utility has the ability to set limits on what time of day the network (and therefore the internet) can be accessed from specific wireless devices. This can be helpful in situations where parents want to keep kids off of the internet after a certain time. Time limits can be set for different times on different days of the week.

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Giveaway: DataMan Pro, a powerful & easy-to use data tracker on sale until tomorrow

Sarah Guarino Oct 5 2013 - 12:00 pm PT

With cellular devices and today’s often-limited data plans, it is important to monitor how much data you are using so you do not either pay for a data cap you don’t need, or you go over your cellular data limit, which results in extra fees. Even though in iOS 7, you can track cellular data usage for each app you have installed on your device, there are limitations to this. It does not reset the data every thirty days so it will coincide with your bill and you have to remember to do it yourself. If you want hassle-free, worry free data monitoring and tracking, this is where DataMan Pro comes into play.

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How-to: Automatically set up an Apple TV by touching it to your iOS Device

Sarah Guarino Oct 5 2013 - 12:00 pm PT

The easiest way to set up an Apple TV is with an iOS device. To use this easier setup mode, you’ll need a third-generation Apple TV, an iPhone 4s or newer, third generation iPad or newer, iPad Mini or fifth generation iPod Touch. Whichever iOS device you use must be running iOS 7.

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Review: Tricky Letters serves up daily messages to keep you inspired

Sarah Guarino Sep 29 2013 - 3:04 pm PT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4LX-6DTX00

Tricky Letters is a new app that serves daily inspiration. The app is simple to use and delivers its content in a unique, cute way. You receive letters everyday at random times that contain wisdom, inspiration, meaningful quotes, and art. Tricky Letters stands out in that it doesn’t serve up content on demand. Instead, it only delivers content when the app decides to.

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iOS 7 How-to: Make FaceTime Audio calls and check how much data they use

Sarah Guarino Sep 28 2013 - 8:18 am PT

New in iOS 7 is the ability to make FaceTime Audio calls. FaceTime Audio works internationally and works on a Wi-fi network, or on a cellular connection. Using Facetime Audio sounds nicer than actually using the iPhone to make calls. FaceTime Audio sounds deep, and closer to the actual sound of the voice. Another benefit of using FaceTime Audio is that it is associated with your Apple ID and phone number and is built right into the core operating system. For example, while you are texting someone, and you want to make a FaceTime Audio call, you can press the Contact button in blue in the upper right hand corner:

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Review + Giveaway: Velocity helps you get through your reading list faster

Sarah Guarino Sep 26 2013 - 12:23 pm PT

Velocity is a new speed reader app for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad that helps you read faster by presenting one word at a time using a technique called Rapid Serial Visual Presentation. Studies have shown that using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation helps increase reader’s reading speed because it forces the reader to stop reading out loud inside their head (subvocalization), and suppresses the tendency for eyes to backtrack the line while reading and searching for the end of the sentence. Generally a reader’s average reading speed is two hundred words per minute, but Velocity supports reading speeds up to one thousand words per minute.

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iOS 7 How-to: Monitor & track your cellular data usage

Sarah Guarino Sep 25 2013 - 1:37 pm PT

Have you ever wondered how much data you should get with your carrier? Do you barely use your data plan but pay for a huge one anyways? Or do you go over data each month with your data plan and have no idea why? New in the iOS 7 Settings application is the ability to track cellular data usage per each app you have installed on your device.

In iOS 6, it shows you how much data you use, but it did not define or described what made up that number. To monitor and track your cellular data usage in iOS 7, first go into Settings.

Then tap on Cellular. If you scroll down a little bit at first you will see your total history. It will show your Call Time and total Cellular Data Usage, just like it did in iOS 6.

If you scroll down further, you will get an alphabetical list of all the apps have use cellular data.

If you scroll all the way down at the bottom, you will see a button called System Services. If you tap on that, it will show you how much cellular data you are using for things like Messaging Services, Push Notifications, Documents & Sync, iTunes Accounts, Siri, Voicemail, Software Updates, Find My iPhone, Diagnostics and Apple ID Services.

The devices gather your statistics until you manually reset them on the device by tapping on the blue Reset Statistics button. If you want to monitor and track your cellular data usage, I would recommend setting up a reoccurring calendar event, or a reminder every thirty days to coincide with your cellular bill so that way you would remember to reset the cellular statistics every thirty days.

iOS 7 How-to: Reduce parallax motion effects, enable bold text

Sarah Guarino Sep 24 2013 - 8:19 am PT

Parallax is a new feature that is introduced in iOS 7. As the user moves their device, the background image and icons move on the screen to match the movement of the device. Parallax gives the device a quasi-3D effect and adds depth to it, but some people prefer to use their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch sans the motion.

If you are like these people on Apple’s Discussion forums, you might be getting dizzy from iOS 7’s new parallax feature.

To disable Parallax go into Settings, then tap on General.

Then tap on Accessibility.

Scroll down until you see Reduced Motion.

Tap on Reduced Motion. By turning on Reduced Motion it will:

Reduce the motion of the user interface, including the parallax effect of icons and alerts.

To turn on Reduced Motion, tap on the white circle, and it will move the switch and it will green indicating it’s on.

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iOS 7 How-to: Redeem iTunes gift cards with your device’s camera

Sarah Guarino Sep 23 2013 - 11:02 am PT

iTunes gift cards are a great gift for iOS Device users. They can be used to purchase content from the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore. However, entering in the string of characters to redeem the gift card balance has typically been a pain with the touch keyboards on iPads, iPhone, and iPod touches. Like iTunes 11 on the Mac, iOS 7 moves to solve this problem. You can now use your device’s camera to scan in the code.

Go to the main/featured page in whichever store you choose and to get to the redemption screen, scroll all the way down, and press on redeem:

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iOS 7 How-to: Easily delete, not archive, your Gmail messages in Mail

Sarah Guarino Sep 23 2013 - 7:45 am PT

Setting up your email in iOS 7 is just like setting it up in earlier versions of iOS. Just like before, you are able to have Gmail set up in the Mail app. To set up your email you would go to Settings, then tap on Mail, Contacts & Calendars, and then press Add Account. By default in iOS, Gmail is set to archive your emails as opposed to deleting them. Archiving email keeps the messages in an Archived folder, but Deleting moves them to the trash.

If you are viewing your inbox, and you swipe from right to left on the message, you do not get the option to delete the message. Rather, you get an Archive option or a More option. The More option gives you every other option except for deleting the message. You could always tap on More, then press Move Message, and then choose the Trash folder. That’s rather tedious for a simple task:

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Apple airs new iPhone 5c ad during Emmy’s, uploads iPhone keynote to YouTube

Sarah Guarino Sep 22 2013 - 6:37 pm PT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKl76uLyeR4

During tonight’s Emmy Awards, Apple has aired a new iPhone 5c ad. The new TV commercial is identical in style of the ad that Tim Cook played during the September 10th media event, but it is shorter in length and has a few new scenes. A few versions of the ad are below.

In the past couple of weeks, Apple aired two other ads for the iPhone 5c, but the company is yet to promote the iPhone 5s on TV.

Also today, Apple uploaded the full footage of the September 10th iPhone event to YouTube. The embed for that is below:

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