Ask Adam LLC: macOS & iOS consulting
Over the last few releases of macOS, Apple has been beefing up the Mac’s privacy controls so they more closely resemble what the company has done in iOS. You’ve undoubtedly noticed that when you first launch a new app on your iPhone or iPad, it often prompts for access to your contacts or your photos, […]
Apple’s iconic desktop Mac, the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display, hasn’t seen an update since March 2019 — nearly a year and a half ago. Happily, the company has finally released a new version of the popular iMac, outfitting it with 10th-generation Intel processors, increasing its RAM and storage capacities, and improving its audio […]
Photos makes it easy to create and switch between libraries. That’s good when photos need to be kept completely separate. For instance, an interior designer might want to keep personal photos separate from photos taken for work. But too much separation is annoying — you have to keep switching between libraries, and it’s easy to […]
Every year at its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple previews the next releases of each of its operating systems. The COVID-19 pandemic forced Apple to record its keynote presentation ahead of time rather than having it live, but the company doesn’t seem to have tempered its ambitions for macOS 11.0 Big Sur, iOS 14, iPadOS 14, […]
At Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, the company made a major announcement: in the future, Macs will no longer be powered by Intel chips. Instead, they will run custom-designed Apple chips. As massive as this is, the company has made such transitions twice before: first in 1994 with the move from Motorola’s 68000 chips to […]
While Independence Day marked freedom for some Americans, Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in America and represents the promise of freedom for all. On June 19, 1865, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston Texas to free a quarter of a million Black people still enslaved following the end […]
There are plenty of situations where it makes sense to put a date in a filename, but if you don’t use the right date format, the files may appear out of order when you sort them a list view. Using the names of months doesn’t work, since they’ll sort alphabetically, putting April before January. And […]
We all want Mac laptops that can run for days on a single charge and never need their batteries serviced. Sadly, we’re always going to be disappointed. Battery and power management technologies continually improve, but those improvements are matched by more powerful processors and smaller designs with less room for battery cells. Lithium-ion batteries are […]
Apple’s prices for Lightning, USB-C, and Thunderbolt 3 cables often seem high—$19 for a USB-C to Lightning cable or $29 if you want a 2-meter version? Unfortunately, when it comes to cables, you often get what you pay for. Happily, other reputable hardware manufacturers like Anker and Belkin make quality cables and often charge less […]
By default, Apple populates your Mac’s Dock with all sorts of apps and arranges them in a particular order. But there’s nothing sacred about the defaults, and you shouldn’t be afraid to add, remove, and rearrange apps on your Dock. To add an app, drag its icon from the Applications folder to the desired spot […]