Category: TidBits

Choosing the Best Mac for a College-Bound Student in 2026
TidBits

Choosing the Best Mac for a College-Bound Student in 2026

If you have a college-bound student, it’s time to think about whether they need a new Mac. Perhaps their current computer is showing its age, or it was a high school loaner, or it would be better handed down to a younger sibling. Whatever the reason, navigating Apple’s current Mac lineup can feel overwhelming, especially given the wide range of

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Never Run AppleScripts from Untrusted Sources
Security

Never Run AppleScripts from Untrusted Sources

The latest scam to watch out for is fake websites that try to get you to open Script Editor directly from your browser with a pre-filled AppleScript. Don’t do this! Security researchers at Jamf Threat Labs documented an attack where a convincing Apple-themed page claiming to help “reclaim disk space” prompted users to allow Script Editor to open, then used

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Safari’s Compact Tab Bar Returns in macOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4
Productivity

Safari’s Compact Tab Bar Returns in macOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4

Safari’s compact tab bar option, which saves vertical space by placing the address bar in the current tab, went missing in the initial releases of macOS 26 Tahoe and iPadOS 26. Only Apple knows why this helpful option disappeared (Liquid Glass?), but as of macOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, it’s back! On the Mac, select it in Safari > Settings

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Today’s Fire Prevention Tip: Avoid Cheap Lithium-Ion Batteries
News

Today’s Fire Prevention Tip: Avoid Cheap Lithium-Ion Batteries

We always recommend buying from reputable manufacturers rather than no-name brands, especially for products with lithium-ion batteries, such as power banks, Bluetooth speakers, flashlights, power tools, e-bikes, and more. In a 2025 study, industrial scanning company Lumafield CT-scanned over 1,000 lithium-ion battery cells from ten different brands, including reputable manufacturers like Samsung and Panasonic, as well as low-cost and outright

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Get to Your Files Faster by Choosing the Best Finder View
Productivity

Get to Your Files Faster by Choosing the Best Finder View

If you can work comfortably with the Mac’s four Finder views, you’ll enjoy an easier experience when you try to get to your folders and files. Each view has its pros and cons, so using the best view for the job at hand will make you more productive. Here’s a look at the Icon, List, Column, and Gallery views, plus

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Customize the Camera Control on Your iPhone
Productivity

Customize the Camera Control on Your iPhone

The Camera Control on iPhone 16 and later models lets you open the Camera app and take a photo with the press of a button. But it’s more than just a simple button—it features a touch-sensitive surface that lets you adjust a variety of settings without having to tap the screen. To access the controls, you either lightly press the

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Speed Up Mac and iOS Typing with Text Expansion
Productivity

Speed Up Mac and iOS Typing with Text Expansion

Silicon Valley thinks everyone wants to delegate writing to AI, which is why Apple Intelligence constantly suggests replies for you in Messages and Mail. But there’s an excellent way to supercharge your typing speed without sounding like a chirpy chatbot or resorting to teenage texting abbreviations: text expansion. Text expansion speeds up typing words or phrases that you use regularly,

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Make Sure Your Home Network Router Is Secure
Security

Make Sure Your Home Network Router Is Secure

Securing your home network might seem uninteresting or unimportant—after all, who would bother to target you? The answer is that criminal hackers are interested in your router for a range of disturbing purposes, including attacks on your employer if you connect to a corporate network. It’s time to get serious about home network security, a fact underscored by recent news

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macOS 26.4 Warns Against Terminal-Based Malware Attacks
Security

macOS 26.4 Warns Against Terminal-Based Malware Attacks

We’ve warned before about scams that trick users into pasting malicious commands into Terminal. Attackers create fake CAPTCHA pages—often resembling Cloudflare’s “are you a human” tests—that instruct visitors to open Terminal, paste a command, and press Return. Because the user executes the command themselves, macOS’s security protections are bypassed. Malwarebytes recently documented a macOS infostealer called Infiniti Stealer that spreads

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Intel-Based Apps Will Stop Working in macOS 28
News

Intel-Based Apps Will Stop Working in macOS 28

Yes, we know we’re still on macOS 26. In 2025, Apple announced macOS 27 would be the last version to support Rosetta for most Intel-based apps. (Beyond that, Apple will maintain a subset of Rosetta functionality for older, unmaintained gaming titles.) This fact has become relevant because in the just-released macOS 26.4, when you launch apps that rely on Rosetta

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