I’ve been using this A LOT lately. Going from a phone to my computer is fine (image capture is great and simple) but the other way is a little tricky. You can email or message a file or image, but Airdrop is so much easier. Works for other files too, like pdfs. Great for quickly loading a pdf doc on my phone before I run out the door.

Take a look at this walk through on OSXDaily about using Airdrop between iOS and MacOS

I am a HUGE advocate of Synology NAS units (no sponsorship / not getting paid for this.) I have about a dozen or more units deployed at the offices I support; as well as using one for my own company. They are easy to setup and maintain, reliable, have a ton of easily installed apps and utilities, and support every protocol and access format I could hope for. Most of the units I have deployed in offices have smaller Synology units in remote locations for off-site backups, but for smaller, one unit setups an external drive backup is an extremely smart move.

Check out this article on using a standard USB hard drive to back up your Synology NAS systems. And reach out to me at [email protected] if you are interested in getting a Synology setup for your office!

I’m usually on the Apple Developer program and install the new betas on my iPads. I don’t typically install the beta softwares on my iPhone as it has become a rather critical component of my business. Thus I usually wait until the GM build to install the beta on my iPhone; it gives me some extra time with the software before my clients begin installing it and asking questions, but is usually very stable and most of my apps will have been updated by then. My iPad has traditionally been less critical, so I usually install it sooner, however I have been very busy and have honestly been using the iPad so much in my day to day business I’ve been a little reluctant to install the beta as early as I usually do. However I think they are probably far enough along that I will most likely install a beta in the next week or so, time permitting. The new iOS 11 features look impressive, especially for the iPad.

Take a look at some great iOS 11 how-to videos from OSXDaily

I usually set my hotspot password to some word / phrase I can remember, in case I want to add a new device to my phone or iPad. The default passwords are fine and secure, but it means I need to look at the phone and my connecting device every time, vs knowing the password and typing it in after enabling the hotspot and putting my phone away. Just personal preference.

Take a look at this tip at OSXDaily on changing the password for your iPhone or iPad hot spot

Not sure I’ll remember the syntax / search term, but worth making a note of. Personally I altered the screenshot location using terminal (to a specific folder on my desktop) so my screen shots are easier to locate.

Take a look at this tip on locating screen shots on your system.

Great (if slightly advanced) tips on getting full control over your Mac’s volume. I also use the option key when clicking on the volume menu button to control the input / output sources of my audio. I regularly have different mics / headphones attached in varying ways (bluetooth usually) and this allows me to choose where my sound is coming from (or being recording from) at the drop of a hat. More

I’ve found the messages app to be more and more useful as each version of Mac OS X has arrived. Between adding text messages and screen sharing back into Messages proper, it has become my go to messaging app. I only wish the iOS version were as useful. I’d love to add messaging protocols like gmail chat to my iOS messaging app and keep all my messaging together like I do on my desktop. This is a great little walkthrough about pulling images from your messages to save and use later. Straightforward but still a great tip. More

Repairing disk permissions can help fix buggy issues you may have form time to time in Mac OS X but it is also a misunderstood toll that should only be used when needed as it can have unexpected results. Take a look at the article and see if repairing permissions is the right step for you. More

I often get calls from clients asking about the “other” space they find in their Mac OS X machine. While I typically use Disk Inventory X as a tool for determining where & what files are taking up space, this is a great article on finding and removing some of that “Other” stuff that seems to crop up in Mac OS X.

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Disk utility can be a very powerful tool in you Mac arsenal and I highly recommend becoming familiar with it. As we move to a post-optical drive age, disk images and similar services provided by Disk utility are more and more required. Take a look at this helpful article from Macworld More