How-to Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Mac 101: Create a guest account

by Kelly Guimont (Nov 22nd, 2011)

"Can I use your computer real quick?" Depending on who asks you this question over the next week, reactions may range from nothing to frantic flailing toward your machine to see if you can make it do something that looks like it is unusable, getting you out of having to relinquish it to a ...

Holiday Gift Guide: Buying an iPad

by Steven Sande (Nov 18th, 2011)

Whether it's a gift for yourself, a friend, or a loved one, buying your first iPad can be cause for some trepidation. After all, there are a number of combinations of three variables -- network type, carrier, and storage on the device -- that add up to puzzlement for some folks. In this Holiday ...

Download Amazon MP3s in Terminal with clamz

by TJ Luoma (Nov 13th, 2011)

If you've ever wanted to download Amazon MP3s via Terminal or over ssh, or ever found yourself unable to use the "Amazon MP3 Downloader.app" then I have good news for you: there is another way. The problem Amazon's MP3 Store annoys me to no end. I love the deals that they occasionally ...

Blogging with your voice: Siri, Blogger, and post-by-SMS

by Erica Sadun (Oct 21st, 2011)

As I mentioned on my earlier post, Steve Sande and I have been hard at work collaborating on "Talking to Siri," an ebook that will soon hit the Kindle store. One of the topics we're exploring is how to push Siri beyond its advertised limits. Take blogging, for example. Did you know that you ...

iPhone 101: Disable Siri with iPhone passcode to prevent unauthorized use

by Steven Sande (Oct 20th, 2011)

Welcome to iPhone 101, the series that explains the basics of iPhone operation. This time, it's making sure Siri doesn't let anyone use your locked iPhone. Almost immediately after the release of the iPhone 4S, TUAW started receiving emails from readers who noticed that even when they had a ...

How to check if you're eligible for an iPhone upgrade

by Steven Sande (Sep 28th, 2011)

With a new iPhone or two just around the corner, TUAW has been getting the usual flood of "how can I check to see if I'm eligible for an upgrade" emails. At least for those of us in the US on either the AT&T or Verizon networks, that's a fairly easy proposition. Here's how to see if you'll ...

Mac 101: Reclaiming space by cleaning out the Downloads folder

by Steven Sande (Sep 22nd, 2011)

To new Mac users, the Downloads folder is quite confusing and even "invisible." As a Mac consultant, you wouldn't believe the number of times I've found multiple copies of downloads, updaters, and pictures in the Downloads folder -- all taking up valuable room on your disk. Reader Joe Delk ...

Mac 101: Upgrade your Mac's RAM

by Chris Rawson (Aug 30th, 2011)

Upgrading your Mac's RAM is one of the simplest and cheapest ways to improve its performance, and it might be more necessary than ever if you're running OS X Lion. While Apple states that the minimum required RAM for Lion is 2 GB, in my experience this is nowhere near enough memory to get ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: What is this cheap iPhone data plan you speak of?

by Erica Sadun (Aug 10th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, What is this "cheap" AT&T SIM with data for the iPhone that you often speak of? You've written about it numerous times. Please dish. Fondest regards always, Mister Humann Dear Humann, Auntie is talking about AT&T's standard PAYG plans. She usually buys the ...

Lion: Deleting apps in Launchpad, and starting clean

by Michael Rose (Jul 25th, 2011)

Launchpad in Mac OS Lion shares a key behavior with its iOS counterpart: deleting an app from the launcher also uninstalls it from the computer, as long as the app was purchased from the Mac App Store. Of course, it's quick and easy to redownload the MAS apps if they're needed. While this ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: What is this "Lock" TextEdit speaks of?

by Erica Sadun (Jul 22nd, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, I have a list of books that friends recommend to me. I don't update it a lot but when I do, I just want to go into the list and add new ones. Today, I was going to add M. K. Hobson's Native Star and Text Edit stopped me, saying the file was locked because I hadn't made any ...

Make a backup copy of the MacBook Air USB Software Reinstall Drive

by TJ Luoma (Jul 14th, 2011)

Since it doesn't come with an optical drive, giving MacBook Air buyers a DVD of the operating system wouldn't be very helpful. That's why Apple's lightest laptop comes with the USB Software Reinstall Drive -- a very small white USB drive. Sometimes USB flash drives are referred to as "Thumb ...

How to make sure you're charging your iPad correctly

by Matt Tinsley (Jul 8th, 2011)

Recently I noticed that my iPad was not charging as quickly as it used to. Only a month or so ago I was impressed at how my iPad's battery would easily charge up to the 80% range in a couple short hours, but more recently the same charge time would produce a meager 10% if I was lucky. It was ...

How to create a unique iOS home screen icon for your website

by Matt Tinsley (Jul 8th, 2011)

GIGAOM has put together a nifty article detailing the process for creating a unique iOS home screen icon for your website. When iOS users visit your website and create a home screen icon shortcut to easily access your site again, you want that icon to stand out and be easily identifiable ...

iPhone: What is DFU mode, and what's the difference from recovery mode?

by Matt Tinsley (May 25th, 2011)

In the past couple of days, we've seen reports here and there of iPhones getting stuck in a restart loop. The black screen with the Apple logo shows up, holds for a while, and then disappears again; repeat ad infinitum. While it's not clear yet exactly what's triggering the issue (the ...