All Current Tutorials

Introduced in macOS Ventura, Stage Manager has had mixed reactions amongst Mac users. While some love it, many can't quite grasp what it's trying to do. Don takes you through the basics of using Stage Manager on macOS and shares some useful tips on how to use it.

Read-it-Later services have been around for a long time. But few are providing any real innovation. Readwise aims to do so by offering a service that not only helps you get more out of what you read, and Readwise Reader provides a fresh take on RSS. Using his iPhone, Mike shows you how to set up both apps. He walks you through the Library and Feed options in Reader, shows you the various ways to send things to it (including YouTube videos), and how your highlights sync to Readwise automatically. This allows you to review information later and help it stick using a variety of tools.

Darcy takes you on a discovery, that of the podcast listening app Pocket Casts, an alternative to Apple's Podcasts which has been around for some time. Darcy focuses on iPhone in this video, and shows you how Pocket Casts can import an existing podcast library, and how it uses folders and filters to organize your shows for easier access. This also gives you a taste of the advanced features offered by Pocket Casts Plus, their subscription model.

Following on from the recent Mastodon tutorial, this update show brings a new announcement from ScreenCastsOnline plus a look at some new innovative clients for iOS and the Mac.

ScreenCastsOnline members can now join a safe, moderated Mastodon instance run by ScreenCastsOnline - you'll find an invitation link in your member profile on the ScreenCastsOnline website. In this episode, Don takes you through accessing the new instance as well as giving optional instructions on how to migrate if you so desire. In addition, Don introduces you to three Mastodon clients: Mastonaut for the Mac along with Ice Cubes and Ivory for iOS.

With a number of established window management utilities already available on macOS, it's always interesting to see another player hit the market and Lasso is a great addition to this space. In this video, Lee runs through the application in detail, including a feature that is unique to Lasso: Global shortcuts.

Do you sometimes wonder if you can get more out of your Mac? In this video, Darcy takes you through the Shortcuts app, which helps you automate repetitive tasks using actions that you can connect in a myriad of ways. Learn how to easily combine PDFs, split screens, rename files, and a lot more. These examples all come from the Gallery, and are a great way to introduce you to Shortcuts without the need to dive deep into actions as you get your first glimpse of the app. Darcy wraps up by showing you how to build a simple shortcut to track a saving goal, using a third-party app's Shortcuts actions.

Diarly is a well designed journaling app that allows users to write, draw and even record audio as a way of keeping a daily journal. Darcy takes you through all the features in this short video, including multiple journals, goals, links, and much more.

As suggested in the weekly newsletter (and subsequently requested by many members) Don demonstrates in this week's show how he has set about configuring his new Mac mini and Apple Studio Display. And rather than trading in his 2017 iMac Pro, he is utilising both machines in his desktop setup and shows you how they’re connected to work together.

Following on from the recent Craft Update show (1225), as promised, Don brings you information on the Craft AI Assistant. This is a tool based on GPT-3 artificial intelligence that "helps you write faster, generate ideas, proofread your work, translate text into any language, summarize documents, and find information contained within your Craft space, in seconds."

In this tip video, Don takes you through some of the standard options as well as exploring some of the extremely powerful features of the built-in Craft AI Assistant. 

Read-it-Later services which allow you to consume articles from various sources, come and go, and very few stand the test of time. One application that has done precisely that is Instapaper. In this video, Lee shows you how to use the iPad version of this cross-platform app. You learn how to create an account, add content from various services and media types, and enjoy some added features, such as Text-to-Speech and Speed Reading.

Quick Look on the Mac is a powerful tool that lets you quickly preview the contents of files without having to open them. It allows you to view documents, images, video and audio, and even plain text files, just by pressing the spacebar. Quick Look also features built-in sharing and preview options, so you can easily share files with colleagues or quickly open them in an appropriate application. With Quick Look, you can view information about the file, such as its size, location, and creation date, without having to open it in another application. Lee guides you through some of these in this short tip video.

Craft is your ultimate writing companion. It's an intuitive, customisable tool that works hard to help you craft any document and keep it organised with ease - perfect for those creative projects!

Lee Garrett originally covered Craft in 2021, not long after receiving an Apple Design award. The application was impressive then, and it's continued to improve and add additional functionality ever since. In this week's tutorial, Don refreshes the basics of Craft on the Mac, focusing on the new features rolled out over the last 24 months.

Context menus are an integral part of macOS, however over time, as more applications are installed, they can become heavy and bloated with lots of different options that often need cleaning up. In this video, Lee shows you some simple tips on how to keep your context menus streamlined and relevant. He also gives you a refresher on how flexible Quick Actions, Share, and Services can be in your everyday workflow on the Mac.

Darcy takes you on a deep dive of Apple's security systems in this screencast. You learn about advancements in hardware protection with Apple's custom processors, and how encryption is handled. Customisable privacy features as well as enhanced iCloud protection are also covered in this video.

We've all come to know Siri over the years, but today Darcy is focusing his lens on the lesser-known commands you can use with the automated assistant. You learn how to perform actions on calls and text, general knowledge, and your parked vehicle. Darcy thinks you might just pick up a new trick or two, as he did while preparing for this tip video.

With the recent updates across its operating systems, Apple have finally released Freeform, a new way to collaborate and brainstorm ideas on all devices. Don takes you through the basic concepts of adding and organising the various objects available on your Freeform board.

Apple has given iCloud.com a new look along with some new features available in your web browser. Tag along with Darcy as your guide to see how you can use these to find your devices, create email aliases, access you files, and more! You also see how you can access your Pages, Numbers, and Keynote files from iCloud.com on your Mac.

Allison this week tells you about an application that she's been using for years, and that's Under My Roof (né Home Inventory, which Allison covered back in 2014). The purpose of Under My Roof is to help you keep track of everything to do with your home. This includes all of the items that you own, from your car to your computer equipment, right down to your stamp collection. It also excels at keeping track of related documents, such as receipts, insurance policies, certificates, and the like. It is truly a fully-featured app and with Allison as your guide, you discover how it can assist in your quest to document everything under your roof.

If you are looking for an elegant dashboard-style app for controlling your HomeKit devices, Todd has got you covered in this week's tip. HomeDash brings a dashboard filled with widgets to your iOS device. Those widgets are customizable and create a look and feel that is not only beautiful but also quite functional, especially on iPad. Todd walks you through HomeDash's features and how to set up a dashboard. He also shows you his setup so you get a better feel for what this app can bring to your smart home experience.

We bring you something a bit different for the last show of 2022, as Don goes through his Top 10 apps for this past year, 5 on the Mac and 5 on iPhone. He shows you how each one integrates in his daily routine.