Tip-of-the-day Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Listen to FM radio on your iPod nano - Tip of the day

by Erica Sadun (Sep 27th, 2011)

Want to listen to FM radio on your iPod nano? You need to plug in a head set. The iPod nano uses the attached cord as its antenna, allowing it to pick up radio signals. Say you want to dock the nano and play its radio back on speakers? You'll still need to attach a cord of some kind to the earplug ...

Typing the euro symbol - Tip of the day

by Erica Sadun (Sep 26th, 2011)

Want to type the € euro symbol on your keyboard? How you this depends on your region. In the US, the secret combination is option+shift+2. For many (but not all) Europeans, it's Option-E. Apple's TA26547 knowledge base post contains a handy list of other region-specific solutions. ...

Apple TV DFU mode - Tip of the Day

by Erica Sadun (Sep 21st, 2011)

Need to put your Apple TV into DFU mode? Hold down both Menu and Down button for about 6 seconds (until the device starts to reboot) and then switch immediately to Menu and Play buttons. If you are connected to iTunes via a micro USB cable, keep holding Menu and Play until iTunes says that it ...

Recycle your iPhone - Tip of the Day

by Erica Sadun (Sep 19th, 2011)

New to iPhone? Want to recycle your old non-Apple unit? Apple offers free recycling of your old mobile phone, a prepaid shipping label, and instructions. You can find more information at www.apple.com/recycling. If you recycle an Apple product, you'll receive an Apple Gift Card for your troubles ...

Make your own Lion recovery drive

by Erica Sadun (Aug 24th, 2011)

Don't want to cough up $69.99 for a Lion USB stick? Make your own recovery drive instead. It won't contain a full Lion install, but it can save you if your hard drive goes south. Download a copy of the Lion Recovery Assistant and use it to build a recovery drive from your current Lion install. The ...

Create a guest account in OS X Lion

by Steven Sande (Aug 18th, 2011)

Want to let someone else use your Mac temporarily and have OS X Lion clean up their info and files afterwards? Open the Users & Groups pane in System Preferences, click on the Guest User, and check "Allow guests to log in to this computer." Guests can then log in without a password and ...

How to auto-join hotspots in Lion

by Michael Grothaus (Aug 15th, 2011)

Lion makes it easy to join free Wi-Fi hotspots with landing pages, like those at Starbucks and McDonald's (often offered by AT&T in the US and BT OpenZone in the UK). Technology baked into OS X Lion eliminates the need to use a browser to pass a landing page that stands between you and the ...

Track packages automatically in Lion Mail

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Aug 4th, 2011)

Mail in Lion has added a "data detector" for tracking packages. When you get an email with a tracking number in it, you can hover over the number and click the arrow to select Track Shipment... This should open a window in Mail that shows you shipping details for that package. ...

iTunes screensaver gains playback in Lion

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jul 22nd, 2011)

You know that iTunes artwork screensaver in OS X? With Lion, you can finally play music with it. Go to System Preferences and choose Desktop & Screen Saver. Choose the iTunes Artwork screensaver, and make sure your display doesn't go to sleep before the saver becomes active. While the artwork ...

Setting your Apple ID in Lion

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jul 21st, 2011)

While it only affects a few functions now, like AirDrop, your Apple ID will be even more important when iCloud is available. To set your Apple ID in Lion (provided you have one), go to System Preferences and click on Users & Groups. There you will see your login information plus a button to ...

Turning off Autocorrect in Lion

by Erica Sadun (Jul 20th, 2011)

Sick of Lion autocorrecting your slang and your friends' names to "real words?" Disable the autocorrect feature in System Preferences > Language & Text > Text > Correct spelling automatically. Still autocorrecting? You may need to log out and in or reboot for the updated ...

Mac screen brightness

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jun 9th, 2011)

To adjust the brightness on your Mac, go to System Preferences > Display and adjust the slider to your liking. ...

Inverting colors

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jun 3rd, 2011)

To invert colors on your Mac's screen, go to System Preferences > Universal Access > and under the Seeing tab there's Display, with an option for White on black. This will invert all colors on the screen if you have issues with brightness or reading black-on-white text. ...

TUAW Tip of the Day

by TUAW Blogger (Jan 3rd, 2005)

In OS X applications such as iChat where you can select a photo to use as an avatar, you can rotate the image in addition to resizing it or selecting a specific area to use in the picture-selection window. Rotate the image by holding the option key while dragging the mouse. ...