Two Easy Tips for Being More Productive on Your Mac

· · Dr. Mac's Rants & Raves

Personal Productivity

Dr. Mac has been obsessed with personal productivity since time immemorial. He says that while Macs have improved immensely over time, some things haven’t changed much including a pair of tips that appeared in his first book, Dr. Macintosh, way back in 1989, as well as his current book, Working Smarter for Mac Users.

5 Less Expensive Wireless Alternatives to AirPods

· · Dr. Mac's Rants & Raves

Decibullz Custom Fit Bluetooth Wireless Earphones are great for otherwise hard-to-fit ears.

Last week Dr. Mac said he thought AirPods were too expensive… For those looking for decent-sounding, comfortable wireless headsets to use primarily with a single Apple device—an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac—he says he knows many models that will serve your needs and cost you less than AirPods.

Blasts from the Past: Classic Mac Apps

· · Dr. Mac's Rants & Raves

Crystal Quest still rocks!

Dr. Mac says today’s column is a blast from the past dedicated to Mac users who still remember Macintosh System 6, MacPaint, Crystal Quest, and other golden age Mac apps—whether fondly or not. He adds that even shorter-time Mac users will find it interesting and amusing. So you have no excuse not to read it!

An Excellent New iPad at a Reasonable Price

· · Dr. Mac's Rants & Raves

The new 9.7-inch iPad (left) and 9.7-inch iPad Pro (right) are more similar than different.

There’s a new iPad in town—a 9.7-inch model with the lowest prices ever for a full-sized iPad—priced from a mere $329 for a 32GB WiFi-only model (vs. $599 for the least expensive 32GB WiFi-only 9.7-inch iPad Pro). Dr. Mac has been testing one for a couple of weeks and is convinced the biggest difference between it and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is its price—$270 less than the cheapest  9.7-inch  iPad Pro, without an Apple Pencil or Smart Keyboard  ($99 and $149 respectively).

6 Cool Tech Things Going On in Germany

· · Dr. Mac's Rants & Raves

Hamburg Elbphilharmonie (concert hall) as seen from the harbor.

Dr. Mac was in Germany last week, where he found six cool tech things, including his first encounters with Microsoft’s HoloLens Augmented Reality (AR) headset and HTC’s Vive Virtual Reality (VR) headset, plus robots galore, a very cool drone, and more.

Smart Deadbolt Makes More Sense Than Expected

· · Dr. Mac's Rants & Raves

Schlage Smart Sense Lock

Dr. Mac was recently invited to review a smart deadbolt. He explained that he’s not a do-it-yourself type of guy, and probably didn’t have the tools or skills to install a deadbolt. He also questioned the need to ever unlock his door using an iPhone instead of a key. A Sense Smart deadbolt kit arrived a few days later; he installed it himself in under an hour.