Aunttuaw Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me get user guides for iBooks

by Erica Sadun (Mar 13th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, While it is possible to track down Apple user manual .pdf files on their support site and then import them to iBooks, why doesn't Apple simply make them available for free in a special section of the iBooks app? Your loving nephew, Jeremy Dear Jeremy, They do. Just search for Apple ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me access the lock-screen camera

by Erica Sadun (Mar 12th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, Have you been receiving reports that the camera button on the iOS 5.1 Lock screen doesn't work? It doesn't matter if the phone is actually locked, or just on the lock screen. Press the camera button and the whole screen just bounces a couple times, then does nothing. I looked ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I upgrade to the 3rd Gen iPad?

by Erica Sadun (Mar 9th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I own an iPad 2. It suits my needs just fine. I don't use the camera and the apps I use are not that processor intensive. I'm looking at the 3rd Gen iPad and can't seem to make myself pull the trigger on upgrading. What do you think? Your loving niece, Meg Dear Meg, Auntie is torn ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me de-install Pogoplug

by Erica Sadun (Mar 6th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, My Pogoplug died several months ago. I haven't been using it since then. Today I discovered that it was still launching about a half dozen background processes, for example: 93 ?? 0:03.62 /Applications/Pogoplug/.resources/bin/hbwd /Applications/Pogoplug/.resources/bin/hbadmin. Help ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me manage my Dropbox

by Erica Sadun (Mar 1st, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I really love my Dropbox account, but sometimes I get frustrated trying to manage my space. I'm at 3.75 GB max storage right now and I'm hovering near the top end of that. Can you suggest any OS X tools that can help me figure out which files to keep, and which to recycle out of ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: The quick hit edition

by Erica Sadun (Feb 28th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, How can I move books purchased at the Apple store from my library in my iPad to my drop box so I can share them with my friends? Your loving niece, Jacqueline Dear Jacqueline, You can't. Apple books use FairPlay DRM. Although this protection has been cracked by the Brahms Requiem ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Will the iPad 3 double its memory options?

by Erica Sadun (Feb 24th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, Has there been any information on the likely storage capacity of the "iPad 3?" Is it likely to keep the 16/32/64 paradigm, or might we see a doubling at current prices of $499/$599/$699? Your loving nephew, Dave Dear Dave, Auntie rather doubts that the storage options are going to ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me transfer music into iOS iTunes

by Erica Sadun (Feb 23rd, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, In the "Post-PC" era, is there a way to get an audio file, such as one stored on Dropbox, onto an iPad? Is a tethered transfer of audio from iTunes the only solution? Your loving nephew, Chris R. Dear Chris, In a word, no. iTunes maintains its own asset library system that isn't ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I mess with my recovery partition?

by Erica Sadun (Feb 16th, 2012)

Dear aunt tuaw, I'm hoping you can tell me how to perform a non-destructive reclaim of the recovery partition space. I'm on Mac OS X Lion and wish to simply reclaim that odd 700 MB without jeopardising my main partition. Your loving nephew, Oscar Dear Oscar, Auntie is sorry, but this sounds to her ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy AppleCare+?

by Erica Sadun (Feb 15th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I was wondering how you felt about AppleCare+ vs Best Buy's extended warranty. My wife and I just bought 2 iPhone 4S's and would like to protect our investments. The Best Buy option would cost us US$15/mo. for each phone. That is $720 over the next two years. AppleCare+ is $99 for ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I clean up my drive?

by Erica Sadun (Feb 14th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I was looking at some apps that claim to help remove stored caches and temporary files. Are these apps a good way to clean up my Mac and remove temporary files? Your loving nephew, Chris Dear Chris, Auntie is super-paranoid about these third-party tools. When it comes to clearing ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me share my iPhone data to my iPad

by Erica Sadun (Feb 9th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I find myself in an interesting position. I am going to be traveling for several weeks within the US. I have my iPhone on a grandfathered unlimited data plan and a wifi iPad 2. I would like to be able to use my iPad while away not only for FaceTime but also general use and even ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Why does Siri read smilies as colons?

by Erica Sadun (Feb 6th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I love Siri. I'm surprised at how much I actually use it beyond the gimmicky stuff. Texting while driving (through my car's Uconnect system) is so handy. One thing I've noticed is that when I dictate a message, add a smiley face and have her read it back to me, she says, "Have a ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Can I boot from a RAM disk?

by Erica Sadun (Feb 3rd, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I would like to run Mac OS X 10.6.7 off a RAM disk, for better performance/security while browsing the World Wide Web (I don't want to save the image with all those gnarly cookie crumbs to disk). I understand that a family living down the street from me is able to run Linux from a ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find a WiFi stumbler app for Lion

by Erica Sadun (Feb 2nd, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I'm a Mac IT professional, and often find myself configuring, troubleshooting, and optimizing wireless networks. In the past I used AP Grapher to graph wireless strength and find competing Wi-Fi networks as I walk around my clients' offices. This allows me to pick the best channel ...