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How to find good apps

Questions about finding apps

  1. Is a free app any good? There are some great free apps in the App Store so if you come across one that sounds good, go ahead and install it. If it turns out that you don’t like it, you haven’t lost anything.3952984450_953c33c096_m
  2. Is it worth paying for apps? Often to get something of good quality, you do need to pay for it. App developers make a living by selling their creations and when they are a sole operator or small company they need to charge in order to cover their costs.  If an app is targeted at a niche market, then fewer people are likely to buy it and the developer will not recoup money quickly.  As a general rule, this is why popular apps are cheap and less commonly used apps are expensive.
  3. How can I find things in the App Store? I don’t know what to search for! If you search for something like “spelling”, you will get thousands of results. Some of these apps will not be anything like what you want.  The good ones will be hidden among the thousands and it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack! There are two ways to get better results.

Ways to find good apps

  • Do an internet search, making it as specific as you can, e.g. “best spelling apps for 7 year olds”. Refine the results in the search engine’s filter so you get recent results.  Browse through a few of the results and find some apps which other people have reviewed favourably and that sound like they fit your criteria. Remember that many apps are made for an American audience so think about whether they will suit your context.
  • Go to the App Store, scroll down to Categories, choose the category you are interested in and look at the featured apps. These categories have been curated by Apple which means that someone looks at new apps and decides whether they are worth recommending.
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    Scroll down from the top of the page until you                            find the categories.

    Photo credit: Helga Weber via Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/helga/3952984450

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Maximise Mac Battery Life

Maximise Mac Battery Life

These 10 power saving tips will maximise Mac battery life

In this post we run through the tips to get maximise Mac battery life on a single charge. This way you won’t have to worry about your battery running out when you need it most. Whether you’ve forgotten your power cable or can’t get to a power outlet these power saving tips will come in handy.

1. Check your battery health

The first thing you should do before trying to maximise Mac battery life is check its health. To do this hover your mouse over the battery icon in the top right of your screen and hold down the option key. You should see “Condition: Normal.” If however you see “Replace Soon” you may need to get your Mac serviced and battery replaced.

2. Determine your battery’s cycle count

After a period of time all batteries run at less than their original capacity. To do a further check on the health of your Mac’s battery:

  1. Click on the Apple icon in the top left hand corner of the screen
  2. Select “About this Mac”
  3. Select overview and the system report button
  4. Select power from the left hand side bar

There is a section that displays “Cycle Count.” Depending on the model and age of your Mac, you can expect to get about 500-1000 cycles from your batter before it reach 80% of its original capacity.

3. Switch off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi

To maximise mac battery life only use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you need it. They both act like a wireless radio that uses battery power. Most people don’t even realise that Bluetooth is turned on. To switch either or both of these off, click on their respective icons in the top right hand corner of your Mac screen.

4. Turn down Screen Brightness

The brighter the screen, the more battery you use. To turn down your screen brightness hold down the F1 key (to increase it press F2). Adjust the brightness to a level where you can still comfortably read the screen.

5. Turn off backlit keyboard.

If your working in daylight there is no real reason for the backlit keyboard. Maximise Mac battery life by switching this feature off. Hold down the F5 key until the light is completely off (hold F6 to switch back on).

6. Turn on energy saver preferences.

Energy saver preferences are what come into effect during periods of inactivity.

To access energy saver preferences:

  1. Open system preferences
  2. Click the energy save icon
  3. Select the battery tab
  4. Adjust downwards the “Computer Sleep” and “Display Sleep” bar to a level that is comfortable

To save more battery juice select the checkboxes that “put hard disks to sleep when possible” and “slightly dim the display when using this power source.”

7. Close unused applications.

One well known tip to maximise Mac battery life is to close apps that your not using. What is often hidden from view is that some apps will still use system resources – and therefore battery life – even when they’re not running.

To check up on this:

  1. Open the Activity Monitor
  2. Click on the CPU tab
  3. Select “All Processes” from the drop-down menu
  4. Sort the apps by CPU%
  5. Close any apps consuming a large percentage (more than 70%)

 8. Turn off Time Machine.

Time Machine is a great way to backup your Mac. However copying data across to another drive uses battery power. Consider switching it off when running on battery power. To do this:

  1. Open System Preferences
  2. Select Time Machine and then Options
  3. Un-tick the box that says “Back up while on battery power.”

9. Enable private browsing.

Private browsing allows your to maximise Mac battery life because the browser no longer has to access the hard drive to cache pages and images.

10. Eject disks and disconnect unused peripherals.

Any external devices connect to your Mac, such as a mouse, draw power and reduce battery life. Even when not in use the Mac can spin the disk drive and drain the battery.

While some of these tips save more battery life than others, when used together they can maximise Mac battery life and add valuable minutes until you can next recharge.

 

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Sign Documents On Mac

sign documents on mac

Did you know that you can sign documents on Mac?

Mac’s preview program makes it easy to add a digital copy of your signature to documents like a PDF.

Why would I want to sign documents on Mac?

You can put your signature on an email, contained within a text document or even overlay it on an image.

How do I sign documents on Mac using tackpad?

The Mac’s preview program has a feature that will allow you add your signature to documents. You will need your laptop’s trackpad or an external trackpad linked to your desktop.

  1. The first step is to open the document you wish to sign in Preview. For example a PDF
  2. Secondly click the Toolbox icon that will appear in the menu above your document.
  3. A new menu bar will open with a range of icons, click on the signature option that appears in the middle.
  4. Press the ‘click here to begin’ button.
  5. Sign your name.
  6. Press any key once done.
  7. Click done.
  8. Next time you click on the signature icon you should see a visual version has been saved. When the signature is clicked it is added to your document.

Are there other ways to sign documents on Mac?

You can also sign documents on Mac using the inbuilt camera.

Follow steps 1-3 as listed above. Then simply write your signature on a white piece of paper and hold it up to the camera on your Mac. The camera will automatically seek out the signature. The next time you click on the signature icon it will be there waiting to be added to a document of your choosing.

Other tips when signing documents on Mac

When you add your signature using either the Trackpad or camera it can be scaled or shrunk without any distortion.

Press command + S or Option + Command + Shift + S to Save As to ensure your new signature is saved to the document.

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Ten Top Tips For Mac

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1. Talk and listen to your Mac

 

Talk

To save time writing, you can dictate speech to your Mac. Do this is any place your would normally type. A quick short cut to access this tool is to press the Function button twice.

 

Listen

Although this feature is primarily about accessibility it can be a handy tool for anyone. For example, it’s a great tool when proofreading a document. To access this feature highlight the text you want spoken. Go to:

Edit > Speech > Start Dictation

There are options to control the pace and the voice.

 

2. Screen shot an image

 

Having issues with your mac and need to show someone a screen grab? Need to quickly copy a conversation into an email? The ability to take a screen shot should definitely be in your arsenal of Mac tools.

Press Command > Shift > 4

This will bring up the screen shot icon. Simply drag the icon across the desired area. The image will save to your desktop.

 

3. Hide your dock

 

Is your menu bar in the way? Get rid of the distraction by pressing:

Command > Option > D

Need it back? Simply repeat the steps above once more.

 

4. Quickly close an application

 

Too many applications running? A quick way to close them is to the do the following:

Cycle through the applications you have running by pressing Command + Tab

Tab through the applications until you reach the one that you would like to close and press ‘Q’ to quit. Alternatively you can press ‘H’ and this will minimise the application.

 

5. Use Spotlight search as a calculator

 

Spotlight is also a calculator. Who knew? Press:

Command > Spacebar

This will launch Spotlight. This allows you to search for documents on your Mac. However you can also type a basic math equation in the search bar for your Mac to solve.

 

6. Create the Apple logo

 

To create the Apple icon at the drop of a hat:

Option > Shift + K

 and voilà.

 

7. Use special characters

 

Want to know how to create accents on letters like that featured above. Hold down the letter you would like the accent for and then press the associated number. For example you may want to write the word café with the accent. Hold down the letter ‘e’ and press 2. A menu bar with the options will be featured above.

 

8. Bring up emojis

 

The emoji craze shows no sign of slowing down. To jump on the bandwagon and access them quickly on your Mac press:

Command > Control > Space

 

9. Quickly trash a document

 

Instead of dragging documents into the trash a quick way to get rid of your documents is to press:

Command + Delete

 

10. Delete text from the right

 

To forward delete press:

Fn > delete

 

Via: TechRadar; Business Insider; Buzz Feed

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Woolworths – Welcome to Annerley

Woolworths OpeningWoolworths opened this week in Annerley, and its great to be able to welcome them to the community.

And what better way than the Christmas Fair at Annerley Junction on Saturday 7th December.  There will be lots of activities all along the shopping strip between 9am and 1pm.  We hope to see you there.  For more information about what’s happening at Annerley Junction, visit www.annerley.org or www.facebook.com/AnnerleyJunction.

So come visit us when you are doing your grocery shopping and take a look at the new Mac computers we have on display, or when you bring your Mac or PC in for service, you can also do some other shopping.  We have parking behind our store, and Woolworths have plenty of parking under their building.