Advice Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find a pointy iPad stylus

by Erica Sadun (Jun 23rd, 2011)

Dear Aunty TUAW, I just bought an iPad and I want a stylus for taking notes, but every stylus I see online has a tip that's as blunt as a piece of chalk. Why aren't there any pointy-tip capacitive styli available? Your friend, R Dear R, Pointy styluses (stylii?) are a no-go because ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: How do I make iTunes forget my apps?

by Erica Sadun (Jun 15th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, The "Purchased" area added to the iPhone "App Store" will show you every app you have ever bought, including the accidental purchase you've made. I love that I can re-download anything I have bought in the past, but there are a few apps I want to permanently remove ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me switch between YouTube and iTunes

by Erica Sadun (Jun 8th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, Do you know if there exists a nice program or plug-in for safari which decreases the iTunes volume/pauses the current played song, when I am going to watch a YouTube movie? Each time I click a YouTube movie on Facebook, etc. I just find it really frustrating to go to iTunes, ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me join my life, my heart, my iTunes account

by Erica Sadun (Jun 2nd, 2011)

Dear Auntie TUAW, Can you believe my wedding is in a few weeks?! That's got me thinking all of our digital goods that we now will both share. While I would like to know if it is possible to combine 2 iTunes libraries and still keep metadata (like play counts and composers), I am more ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me sync the music without the video

by Erica Sadun (May 12th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I just downloaded Hunter Hayes' Storm Warning and loved it! [Ed: It's free over at iTunes this week.] It's a video, but I want to add it to my iPhone playlist as music, and I don't wanna waste carloads of space syncing the video. Almost 50 MB!!! Is there a way? How do I sync ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find a projector for my iPhone

by Erica Sadun (May 8th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I sometimes watch TV in my bedroom on my iPhone (3GS) via EyeTV before I go to sleep. The screen is, of course, a bit small and not ideally positioned for a relaxed posture in bed. What's your idea on pico projectors in combination with an iPhone (3GS)? Many thanks and best ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me propose on the iSly

by Erica Sadun (May 7th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, You have been on at me a long time now to make an honest woman of my girlfriend... or at least ask her to be my fiancé, which might or might not be the same thing. But I can't, because I've got an iPhone. Can you help? You see, we have no secrets from each other. If ...

Ask TUAW: iPhone US visitors, RAM upgrades, iPad buying advice

by Ask TUAW (Mar 28th, 2011)

In case you didn't know, the 2011 edition of the Great American Pastime starts Thursday the 31st. I'll be watching MLB.tv on my AppleTV -- and my iPhone and my iPad. Baseball everywhere! Awesome. MLB's television broadcast rules black out home team games via MLBtv, unfortunately, so I can't ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I renew MobileMe?

by Erica Sadun (Mar 13th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, So my MobileMe account is expiring on the 15th, but the rumors are all abuzz about the possibility of Apple launching MM as a free service in April. Sure, they're usually pretty good about giving some sort of refund or iTunes store credit if you're in a window just before they ...

Buyer's Advice: Now is a really bad time to buy an iPhone 3G

by Chris Rawson (Apr 13th, 2010)

If you're thinking about buying an iPhone 3GS right now, here's some very simple advice: wait. Based on not only industry rumors but also historical patterns of iPhone releases, it's widely expected that Apple will debut a new iPhone in less than two months. While we don't know anything concrete ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Apple borked my box. Now what?

by Erica Sadun (Apr 7th, 2010)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I ordered a 32GB iPad WiFi+3G model back in March, shortly after they were announced. I ordered a few accessories too, each of which has shipped separately ahead of the iPad. I received the first accessory today via FedEx--the iPad Dock. I've always been a fan of Apple's ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Did Steve Jobs gift me an iPad?

by Erica Sadun (Apr 1st, 2010)

Dear Auntie T, Hi! First time writer. I was just curious if anyone else was receiving an email like I received. My first instinct is to say it is fake and/or an April Fools' joke. However I want to be sure. The entire message is below. From: Steve Jobs Subject: Congratulations! You've won ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Does size matter (when it comes to iPads)?

by Erica Sadun (Mar 4th, 2010)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I am planning on getting an iPad WiFi+3G when they become available, but I am still undecided on which (storage) size I should get. I currently have a 16GB iPhone 3GS which comfortably, for now, holds all my media needs. While I have a lot of music and photos and some video I ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Why GPS?

by Erica Sadun (Feb 22nd, 2010)

Normally readers write directly to Aunt TUAW using our tips line or feedback form. But today, we're switching things up a bit. Instead, Auntie is responding to a comment left on her last post about whether you should buy the Wi-Fi only iPad or wait for the 3G version. That's because Aunt TUAW has a ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy the 3G iPad?

by Erica Sadun (Feb 19th, 2010)

Dear Auntie T, I was hoping you could help me decide something since I think many people will be trying to figure out the same thing. Namely, is the 3G on the iPad worth it for my purposes? I live in NYC, which has lots of available Wi-Fi. I have a laptop and I also have a Sprint mobile broadband ...