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In Show 1597, Lee looked at Brave's Browser and Search Engine and in this Tip video, he looks at two more products in the suite, namely Brave News, that gives you an aggregated news feed, directly in your browser, and Brave VPN which is an optional paid service that gives you a VPN on up to 10 devices. In this video, Lee shows you how to set the VPN up on both macOS and iOS.

If you've ever wondered whether there's a browser that actually looks out for you by default, rather than making you dig through menus and install a stack of extensions just to feel a bit safer online, this show is for you. Lee takes a proper look at Brave, the free browser built around blocking ads and trackers automatically.

In addition to the browser, Lee also looks at how Brave Search works. It can be used in any browser and contains some features that may make you consider switching search engines, even if you choose not to use Brave as your daily browser. You also learn the ins and outs of Leo, the built-in AI assistant that handles far more than a simple chat window.

In Part 2 of our Pages 2026 series, Lee picks up where show 1571 left off and takes you deeper into understanding what Pages can do. You learn how to work with images — inserting, styling, cropping, and removing backgrounds — as well as shapes, text boxes, and lists. Lee covers page setup including margins, columns, and paper size. He then moves on to sections, showing how to control headers, footers, and page numbering independently across different parts of your document. The video also covers building a Table of Contents, adding bookmarks and footnotes, and using the Track Changes and Comments feature for document collaboration.

Whether you're writing reports, collaborating with colleagues, or creating designed documents from scratch, this episode gives you the tools to get the most out of Pages on your Mac.

There was a time when Apple Mail was a really user-friendly email client that offered a variety of customisation options to help keep you on top of your Inboxes. This, was down to the word that the software company SmallCubed put in to its suite of plug-ins, called MailSuite.

Now, years later, they are back with their own email application that is turning heads with its user-friendly approach, called MailMaven. Taking all of the best features of MailSuite, MailMaven tries to do the impossible and make email fun again or, at least, bearable.

In the first of a two-part series, Lee first sets up MailMaven, then gives you a tour of the interface. He then looks at how MailMaven helps you process messages quickly using a variety of shortcuts. You also learn how to configure Inbox, Outbox and Keystroke Rules to ensure the right messages are in the right place at the right time.

In this episode, Mike explores the latest features in MindNode, one of his favorite brainstorming tools.

Discover its handy iOS widgets, Shortcuts integration, and Apple Watch companion app. Mike also demonstrates real-time collaboration using the newly launched MindNode Next.

MindNode requires macOS 15 and newer, iOS or iPadOS 18 or later, and watchOS 9 or later.

Have you ever wished you could write your own application but didn't know where to start? Do you find programming to be difficult and intimidating? Well it's now possible to create apps from scratch with zero programming knowledge; All you need is an idea.

In this tutorial, Don dives into the power of Replit, a web-based platform that creates apps, websites and more, without you needing to write a single line of code. You learn alongside Don as he designs a simple to-do app, improving on it using Replit Agent which does the heavy lifting, and bringing it to life as a fully featured, multi-user web app and iPhone app.

Ecamm Live may be best known as a tool for live streamers, but this powerful Mac video production studio can also significantly improve the quality (and effectiveness) of any online workshop or presentation.In this screencast, Mike walks you through the Ecamm Live interface and shows some specific workflows for switching camera sources, creating scenes. He also goes over using the Ecamm's virtual camera with Zoom to make your next meeting a lot more polished.Ecamm Live runs on a Mac from 2015 or later, running macOS 11.2 or newer.

Large language models (LLMs for short) have been making lots of waves in the past year especially, but Google's NotebookLM takes a different approach. It does so by providing answers based on only the sources you choose to upload to it. This gives you responses that are much more specific and relevant.

In this episode, Mike covers the new iOS version of this one-of-a-kind research assistant. You get to learn how to create notebooks, have a chat with your source documents and files, create a two-host podcast based on your sources, and much more. Mike also points out the differences between the iOS version and NotebookLM on the web.

NotebookLM on iOS requires iOS 17 or newer.

Whether you are going on vacation, or working in a role that requires you to translate both voice and written text, your iPhone is a great tool to assist you. In this video, Lee shows you the different ways you can use the Translate app to meet your needs. Whether it's a conversation that needs to be understood, or a restaurant menu that's leaving you perplexed, this tutorial has you covered.

Lee also demonstrates how to use Apple Watch for those quick, one-off phrases you need to work with.

Translate runs on iOS 14 or newer.

Gamma is a web service that utilises cutting edge AI to both lay out and create content. You can use existing files, blog posts, or documents to generate stunning presentations or websites. AI prompts can also be the starting point to creating detailed cards and slides that can be shown in a live presentation or turned into a website.

Gamma also allows you to host a website on their platform with your domain, giving you full control over your content. Join Don as he introduces you to Gamma and shows you its presentation mode. You also learn about building a web site, as Don walks you through his pet project, yourbitcoinjourney.com, step by step.

In show 1449, Lee started to walk through BusyCal, an alternative calendar application on the Mac (also available for iOS), that offers far more features than the native Calendar app. Whilst that video mostly looked at basic features, in Part 2 we look at elements that set it apart. This includes tagging events to help with organisation, Smart Filters that only show you what you need to see at a given time, and also how to integrate BusyCal with Zoom so you only need one interface to schedule that all-important conference call. By the end of this screencast, you'll be ready to take your calendar management to the next level!

BusyCal requires macOS 11 or newer.

The native Calendar app on macOS serves a purpose for most users, however there are alternatives that offer more with their feature set. In this video, Lee starts walking you through his application of choice, BusyCal. It's been around since 2006 and in that time, has always iterated, and added useful features along the way. This first of this two-part series looks at the basics of adding accounts, working with the different event types you can add (did you know you can journal within a calendar application?) as well as customise your view settings and work with the menu bar to quickly add items using natural language. Lee also shows you how you can group related calendars together, then quickly reveal or hide them with one click.

BusyCal requires macOS 11 or newer.

In this video, Don takes you on a rapid refresher of some of the basics functionality of Numbers, Apple's spreadsheet app that's been around for quite some time. He follows this up by sharing 10 of his favourite tips and tricks, which he uses almost daily when working with Numbers. Don is using the latest version of Numbers which runs on macOS 14.0 or later.

The social media landscape has become severely fragmented over the last couple of years. For nerds like us, there are a few platforms where people tend to hang out: Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads.  Maintaining a social media presence on multiple platforms, however, can be time-consuming.That's where Aaron Vegh and Ben McCarthy's Croissant comes in, a simple app for iOS and macOS that lets you crosspost to all three services at the same time. In this episode, Mike shows you how to write once and publish everywhere, including how to mention people on multiple platforms, create threads, and more. Croissant runs on iOS 18 or newer, and macOS 15 or later. Subscriptions are $2.99 per month, $19.99 annually, or you can purchase a lifetime license for $59.99.

There are lots of great calendar apps out there, but few of them actually help you find the time to take action on what's really important. Morgen attempts to do just that by giving you scheduling tools to wrangle your calendars and schedule time for the things that really matter. By acting as a bridge between your calendar and your task manager, Morgen can help you block time for the things that are on your to-do list.

Morgen will run on macOS Catalina 10.15 and newer.

You can find the pricing information in the Resources section of this page.

MacWhisper is a gem of an application that has evolved greatly since its launch. In a recent update Jordi Bruin, the developer, has added the ability not just to dictate text directly into almost any macOS application, but also to use ChatGPT to automatically carry out prompt actions, such as translate it into another language or perform grammar checks. It's a wonderful addition to a great app and in this video, Lee shows you how to make the most of it.

With Version 5, Alfred released its own built-in gallery that allows you to download workflows from a centralised location. Prior to this, workflows needed to be sourced from GitHub repositories and other locations on the Internet. They still can be retrieved that way, however having a one-stop shop for finding tools that make your day-to-day tasks on macOS easier is a great feature.In this short video, Lee guides you through browsing the new Alfred Gallery, and goes through installing useful workflows such as a Thesaurus, and Currency Converter.

• Alfred requires macOS 10.14 or newer

Alfred coverage on ScreenCastsONLINE

Alfred - App Store

Alfred - Product Page

Screen sharing on Mac is nothing new, but like any base feature there's always a developer that will come along and make the experience exceptional. Screens (now at version 5) takes the cake by offering a slew of features and functionality in a simple and approachable way. The app from Edovia allows screen sharing between Macs, and from a Mac to an iPhone, iPad or Vision Pro device.You can easily connect and view Macs on your local network, manually access them using URLs and remote access using your account with Screens. Follow along as Darcy guides you through the app and discover just how functional your Mac can be when you're away from it.

Screens requires:

iPadOS 17.0 or later

iOS 17.0 or later

macOS 14.0 or later

visionOS 1.1 or later

In-App Purchases:

Yearly Subscription $24.99

Monthly Subscription $2.99

Lifetime $99.00

More information:

Configuring macOS for Remote Access

Screens Connect Download

As a quick follow-up to episode 1375, which covered Little Snitch 6, Lee walks you through its lightweight little brother, Little Snitch Mini. This application is ideal for those who don't need to deal with the complexity of creating rules and rule groups. Instead, Little Snitch Mini presents you with a simple interface for blocking applications and processes in real time, as well as implementing Block Lists to filter out specific domains.

Little Snitch Mini requires macOS 12.0 or later.

In-App Purchases (USD)

Yearly Subscription $13.49

Monthly Subscription $1.49

In the project management world, Microsoft Project has long been the standard for project managers using Windows. When Lee started freelancing as a Project Manager and a Mac user, options were limited. OmniPlan was the best option available and finally, he gets to cover it on ScreenCastsONLINE. Lee walks through the fundamentals of the application and shows how it can be applied to home as well as work projects. You learn how to automatically schedule tasks, create dependencies, resolve violations and create baselines to ensure you are keeping to task.

Please note: This video covers the Standard version of OmniPlan, and not the Pro version.

Minimum system requirements for OmniPlan: macOS 12.0, iOS or iPadOS 16.0, visionOS 1.0 or newer.