Home
Forget Adobe Acrobat: Preview May Be All You Need to Work with PDFs
- Copyright: Copyright © 2020 TidBits
We regularly hear from people who think they need Adobe Acrobat DC to manipulate PDFs. Don’t misunderstand: Adobe Acrobat is the gold standard, but it’s complicated and expensive—$14.99 per month or as part of Creative Cloud for $52.99 per month. In contrast, Apple’s Preview is easy and free with macOS. Here are six tasks that people may think require Acrobat but can easily be accomplished in Preview.
Want an Early Warning System for COVID-19 Infections? Install NOVID!
- Copyright: Copyright © 2020 TidBits
With vaccinations underway, there’s light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel. But given the enormity of the task and the unknowns surrounding coronavirus variants, we’ll still be in this tunnel for some time to come. Happily, there’s a new app called NOVID that, if you and your friends (and their friends, etc.) install it, provides early warning as COVID-19 infections creep closer in your personal network of connections. It’s like weather radar for disease.
Developed by a Carnegie Mellon University math professor, NOVID is a free app for iOS and Android that relies on roughly the same smartphone proximity detecting technique as the Apple/Google exposure notification technology. If your phone can use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or ultrasound to detect another nearby phone with NOVID installed, the two phones record that completely anonymous interaction.
Getting Started with 1Password
- Copyright: Copyright © 2020 TidBits
We’ve long recommended that everyone use a password manager like 1Password instead of attempting to memorize or write down passwords. Although there are other password managers, 1Password is the leading solution for Apple users, thanks to a focus on macOS and iOS from its earliest days.
Home Sharing Lets You Access Media on Your Mac from Other Local Apple Devices
- Copyright: Copyright © 2020 TidBits
In the heyday of iTunes, Apple users stored their music, movies, and TV shows on their Macs and shared them with other Macs in their homes, as well as their iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs. Of late, however, streaming has become Apple’s preferred media consumption approach, thanks to the rise of Apple Music and the way the Apple TV app aggregates video streaming services like Netflix.
Nevertheless, even though iTunes has been replaced by the Music and TV apps on the Mac, it’s still possible to maintain your libraries of music and videos on your Mac. When you do that, sharing that media with your other Apple devices over your local Wi-Fi network continues to work through Home Sharing, but how you manage that technology has changed. To be clear, we’re talking about content stored in the Media folders specified in the Music and TV apps’ preferences—they may still point to an old iTunes Media folder.
Tips for Setting Up a Comfortable and Effective Home Work Space
- Copyright: Copyright © 2020 TidBits
Vast numbers of people who previously reported for work at an office every day are now working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s sensible, and if you’re included in that group, there was probably even a little thrill of “I get to work from home!” at first. But as those who have telecommuted for years know, it’s not as simple as settling down on the couch with your laptop. Here are a few tips.
What Are Those Orange and Green Dots in Your iPhone’s Status Bar?
- Copyright: Copyright © 2020 TidBits
In iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, Apple added two new status indicators to the right side of the status bar at the top of the screen. They’re designed to give you feedback about what an app is doing.
Latest Articles
- What Are Those Orange and Green Dots in Your iPhone’s Status Bar?
- Forget Adobe Acrobat: Preview May Be All You Need to Work with PDFs
- Reclaim Local Storage Space by Removing iCloud Drive Downloads
- Want an Early Warning System for COVID-19 Infections? Install NOVID!
- Keep Your Mac Quiet at Night and During Presentations with Do Not Disturb
- Getting Started with 1Password
- Keep iPhone 12 and MagSafe Accessories Away from Pacemakers
- Home Sharing Lets You Access Media on Your Mac from Other Local Apple Devices
- Not Enough Space to Install iOS 14 or iPadOS 14? Try This Approach
- New Features You May Have Missed in the iOS 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3 Updates