Browse Mobile Mac Help and Tips

Browse Mobile Mac Help and Tips

Six ways to get online from anywhere
Can't find a hotspot? Don't worry: There are other ways to get online when you're on the road. Glenn Fleishman explains what they are and how to set them up.
Macworld Buying Guide: Mice
We’re in the Golden Age of Rodents. It’s time to look at the mice you’re missing. However, the wealth of choices can be daunting. We have a few tips to help you.
Macworld's complete Mac buying guide
In this buying guide, we'll cover all the Macintosh models available, tell you how they've changed over the previous model, and how well they did in our benchmark tests.
Automatically mute sound before meetings
Use a couple of very simple AppleScripts and iCal to mute your laptop before (and unmute it after) you head to meetings, lectures, or other scheduled events.
What's your wireless signal strength?
When you're having trouble with your wireless connection, it can be frustrating to figure out the strength of the signal from your client to the base station. Glenn Fleishman shows three ways to get the information you need.
Mac 911 and the summer vacation
Lessons learned during a recent summer vacation.
Can an SD card startup disk be used on any Mac?
Can an SD card startup disk be used on any Mac? Roman Loyola does a little bit of testing, and finds the answer may be yes.
Switch network settings with ease
OS X's built-in Location feature lets you quickly change network settings based on where you are. Glenn Fleishman shows you how to get the most out of this feature, and how to tweak it with third-party tools.
Make the most of the Genius Bar
Prepare in advance for a trip to Apple's Genius Bar and you’ll likely go home smiling -- with a Mac that’s working again.
Check your Wi-Fi speeds
Glenn Fleishman shows you how to use AirPort Utility to find out at what speed has connected to an Apple base station.
Understanding Wi-Fi's two spectrum bands
The versions of AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule released earlier this year can operate simultaneously over the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum bands. Glenn Fleishman looks at common problems and solutions that might plague you in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and offers advice on manually setting channels in both bands or creating two unique networks with a simultaneous dual-band base station.
Solve an obscure Back to my Mac issue
Learn how a matter of time may prevent Back to my Mac from working.
Access all Exposé modes on newer keyboards
Learn how to access all of Exposé's modes via the F3 key on new keyboards (laptops and standalone)
Macworld Buying Guides: Portable hard drives
A portable hard drive allows you to carry a large amount of data without you, in a device that can easily fit in a bag, backpack, briefcase, or pocket.
Troubleshoot your MacBook
Is your laptop lagging? Notebook not its usual self? Ted Landau has some suggestions for solving the most common problems with portable Macs.
Keep working when you’re not online
Sometimes you don’t have an Internet connection. But you can still check e-mail and browse the Web. Joe Kissell explains how.
Bugs & Fixes: When file downloads from MobileMe fail to open
When testing a new way to share files via your MobileMe disk, Ted Landau discovers a bug that prevents some files downloaded from Apple's online service from opening properly.
Alternatives to MobileMe
Apple's MobileMe service is a fine way to sync your calendars and contacts, to publish Web sites, and to share photos—as long as you don't mind the $99 annual fee. If you'd rather not pay the fee, you do have other options. Joe Kissell explains what they are.
9 iPhone business apps
Need to get real work done on your iPhone? Bill Wiecking suggests nine iPhones apps to enhance your productivity on the road.
Macworld Buying Guides: Apple’s Mac lineup
How well do you know Apple’s current Mac lineup? We’ve put together summaries of each type of Mac on the market today that will tell you when they were last updated, what changed, and how each system performs.
Bugs & Fixes: When MobileMe contacts refuse to delete
Ted Landau wanted to clear some contacts from his MobileMe account. After trying several dead-ends, he ultimately tripped over what is almost certainly a bug in Apple’s MobileMe software. And he came up with a work-around, too.
Transferring files securely
If you're on the road and need to send or receive files without worrying who might intercept them, you've got plenty of options for sending them securely. Kirk McElhearn explains how.
Bugs & Fixes: Vanishing contacts and calendar events
Ted Landau tells you what to do if contacts and calendar events synced via MobileMe suddenly disappear from your iPhone. And he returns to smart flash drives, the subject of last week’s column.
Force subscribed calendars to sync to MobileMe
MobileMe won’t sync all the events from your subscribed calendars. Until such time as it does, this hint provides a usable, if not perfect, workaround.
Securing your iPhone 2.0
The iPhone 2.0 software update offers some dramatic improvements in security management, though gaps remain. Glenn Fleishman takes a closer look at iPhone security.
Secrets of Mac trackpad, from iBook to MacBook Air
Depending on which Mac laptop you have, there are up to 10 specialized trackpad functions you can use to make navigating the screen, Mac OS X and various applications faster and easier. Computerworld’s Ryan Faas takes a look at each of them.
Essential mobile gear
As a Macworld editor, I’m often asked what I pack in my laptop bag; here’s a look at the kinds of accessories that are on my must-have on-the-go list, along with some specific examples of them.
Fix and prevent iPhone freezes and crashes
Freezes and crashes are generic iPhone problems that can occur in any iPhone software, from Safari to Maps. In this excerpt from Take Control of Your iPhone, Ted Landau explains how to recover from freezes and crashes and how to avoid them in the first place.
Fitting your files on a MacBook Air
If you’ve ordered a MacBook Air, you’ve got some storage decisions to make. The 80GB of storage that ships with this thin notebook goes against the trend of higher-capacity hard drives. But not to worry—Joe Kissell has some advice on how to make sure all your vital files and applications fit on your new laptop.
Mobile Mac: The portable hotspot
If you travel with colleagues for business trips, or if your multiple-Mac family brings its laptops on vacation, getting Internet access for everyone can be an exercise in configuration frustration. There is an alternative: a cellular router.