How to Work a Mac

MAC addresses (not to be confused with Macs) are unique identifiers assigned to network devices in order to access the internet. Hotels use these Mac addresses in order to check if a registered patron has agreed to their terms and conditions, how much bandwidth is being consum ...more

When you think of Terminal, you probably imagine some hacker sitting in front of their computer in a dimly lit room trying to break into an FBI database. In reality, it's just a simple tool that can make using your Mac much easier. Now, I'm not saying that learning Terminal c ...more

The dock in Mac OS X is intuitive, customizable, and aesthetically pleasing, which is a stark difference from its clunky Windows alternative. In fact, in Windows, it takes both the Start menu and taskbar to accomplish what Apple's dock does—but it doesn't have to be like that. ...more

This year, Google released two Nexus phones to glowing reviews, and as we've grown to expect, the Android community wasted no time in coming up with a root method for both. In fact, legendary root developer Chainfire even devised an entirely new "systemless" method for rooting ...more

Apple may have made Mavericks more accessible to Mac users everywhere at the fair price of zero dollars, but unfortunately, they made it trickier to create a bootable install drive of the Mac OS X 10.9 operating system. Don't Miss: How to Create a Bootable Install Drive of 10 ...more

Apple's latest update to Mac OS X, 10.11 El Capitan, is currently available in the Mac App Store for everyone to download and install at no cost. The new OS features Split View mode for better multitasking, a cleaner Mission Control, smarter Spotlight, a way to mute Safari tab ...more

McDonald's is probably the most recognizable fast food chain in the entire world, with over 34,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. In may not be the healthiest place to get a meal, but like millions of kids in America, I grew up on McDonald's unquestionably delicious p ...more

For those of you still using a BlackBerry smartphone, this article will show you the tips and tricks to installing emulators and playing some classic Game Boy Advanced games on your device. You can find a few tutorials and videos out there on getting Game Boy Color or NES game ...more

Sharing your internet connection with others through wifi, is easy. follow the steps and your Mac will emit a wifi signal. Step 1: Open System Preferences. Step 2: Open Sharing, in Internet and Wireless Section. Step 3: Select the Option of Internet Connection You Have on the ...more

Voicemails are like chores for me. I have to listen to them, but never really feel like doing it. When I finally do, most of them get deleted right away, but every so often they'll be one I save and listen to over and over again, whether it's a cute birthday wish from grandma ...more

If you're a Mac user, it's fair to assume that you may be a little skeptical when it comes to Microsoft products. Microsoft knows this, of course. Which is why the company has decided to offer Mac users a free, one-month trial of the latest version of their popular Office prod ...more

For those of you who've already gotten Beta Preview or Developer Preview access to Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, I highly recommend installing it on a separate partition on your hard drive. There have been many reported bugs and even blank gray screens that prevent access to the s ...more

Nostalgia sometimes gets the best of us—hence the reason we geek-out when we see emulators for SNES on Apple devices or N64 on Android. The excitement lies in getting our hands on classic video games and their respective systems, but older computer operating systems are also ...more

As a regular Mac OS X user, I have a love/hate relationship with the "Open With" contextual menu. Sometimes, it has just what I need. Other times, it's often packed with unnecessary or duplicate items, or missing the app I want to open the file up with the most. Unfortunately ...more

Although I know it will never happen due to Apple and Google's tempestuous relationship, I sometimes wish I could cast iTunes or Apple Music from my Mac to Google's Chromecast. When you don't have speakers to blast your music, the television is a great alternative to amplify y ...more

Macs are generally highly power efficient due to, in part, the optimized sleeping schedule with OS X. Yet in certain scenarios, you might not want your Mac to go to sleep: downloading a huge file, reading a book, reviewing a spreadsheet, analyzing some content on the screen... ...more

If you don’t have any little children to blame for an inadvertent or misguided app, book, or music purchase from Apple, you might still have a fighting chance. Apple has a very strict return policy, specifically stating that all sales and rentals of products are final for purc ...more

When most people think of "gaming computers," they're probably thinking of Windows-based PCs. They offer a huge variety of devices with better equipped software and hardware for a cheaper price, and there are more available games than there are for OS X-based systems. But tha ...more

Think your roommate's been using your computer while you're not around, but don't have any proof? Worried your little brother or significant other is snooping through your stuff? Here's how to check on both Windows and Mac OS X so you can catch and confront anyone who's loggin ...more

Sometimes, the volume buttons on a MacBook can be pretty annoying. It's too loud, so you turn it down one notch, and now you can't hear your movie at all. It's too low, so you turn it up one notch, and now you can't even hear yourself think. But, there's something a lot of Ma ...more

AirPlay is probably one of the most underutilized features in Apple products. It allows users to wirelessly stream photos, music, or video directly from their iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or Mac to their Apple TV or AirPlay-supported speakers. The Apple support page has a complete ...more

The desktop layout in Mac OS X Yosemite is undeniably beautiful—it's sleek, simple, and easy to admire. Thing is, I do too much on my Mac to install a developer preview as my main OS (even though I can make a bootable install drive and dual-boot it), but I do want the aestheti ...more

While change is good, it isn't always welcomed. All software updates with radical redesigns and brand-new features bring at least a few complaints from those accustomed to previous versions. iOS 7 got a lot of flak from iOS 6 users, as did iOS 8 from iOS 7 users. When it come ...more

Like a car, your Mac needs to be monitored and cared for to keep it running as smoothly as possible. While your vehicle comes with a ton of gauges to keep track of your oil, temperature, and in some cases, even tire pressure, your Mac has no easy way to watch for low memory or ...more

Macaroni and cheese is one of those dishes that automatically make me feel all is right with the world. I even like the boxed kind in a pinch. However, real macaroni and cheese is pretty easy to make and is worlds better than the boxed kind. It's also pretty easy to make reall ...more

Software update notifications are meant to be a reminder to keep your operating system and apps up to date, but that doesn't mean that they never get annoying. I get a notification telling me to update every day. Not that there's anything wrong with this, but sometimes I'm co ...more

Apple announced the successor to Mac OS X Mavericks at their Worldwide Developer's Conference 2014, and it's called Yosemite. Named after California's Yosemite National Park, it will be available as a free upgrade from the Mac App Store for everyone this fall. If you want to ...more

Apple's latest updates to its operating systems add another security feature to its Find My service, so you have an even better chance at locating your lost iPhone, iPad, or Mac should it ever happen. As long as you have the option enabled, you can leverage other Apple users' ...more

Today, I'm going show you how to back up all of your apps and their data using Android Debug Bridge (ADB)—an essential function for all softModders. These commands will be especially useful when you are updating your version of Android, since they don't require a third-party p ...more

Welcome back, my budding hackers! Metasploit, one of my favorite hacking/pentesting tools, has so many capabilities that even after my many tutorials on it, I have only scratched the surface of it capabilities. For instance, it can be used with Nexpose for vulnerability scann ...more

Admit it, you wish Siri was on your Mac, and so do I. She stole my heart on iOS, and now every time I open up my MacBook, I feel something missing. Wouldn't it be great if we could, I dunno, hack Siri onto our Macs? Yeah, it would! This is not an Apple-verified version of Sir ...more

If you've ever wiped your computer without having a proper backup of your operating system, or just wanted to cause some havoc online, chances are you've had to rely on Linux to help you out, specifically the Ubuntu distro. Ubuntu doesn't get a lot of love compared to powerho ...more

When was the last time you restarted or shutdown your Mac? In the post-iPhone era, most devices are now powered on almost constantly. For better or for worse, the computing landscape has accommodated this "always on" trend, but you still need to periodically restart your devic ...more

This is the very first article in my series on setting up a Mac for hacking. In this series, I will be operating under the assumption that you have a clean install of macOS (previously OS X). If you aren't starting with a clean installation, there may be a few differences, but ...more

Cleaning the clutter off of your desktop every so often is a great idea. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that you're actually going to do it. Whatever the reason, you may not have time to get everything organized, but luckily there is a way to temporarily "clean" your desktop ...more

If you store important, sensitive information on your iPhone in Notes, you'll want to be more careful. When Notes syncs across your iPad and Mac via iCloud — devices that family members or coworkers may share — you run the risk of having your notes read, edited, and deleted by ...more

After enabling disk encryption, creating encrypted disk images, installing KeePassX and iTerm2, and using Git with local repositories, the next step to getting your Mac computer ready for hacking is setting up a package manager that can install and update open-source hacking t ...more

With all of the bare-bones setup out of the way in our Mac for Hackers series, your Apple machine should be ready to run a significant amount of pentesting tools. We can pull tools from GitHub and compile them, we can pull dependencies or tools from Homebrew, we have both Pyth ...more

Now that we've talked about encryption and managing your passwords, let's continue this series on getting your Mac ready for hacking by turning our attention to the terminal. The terminal is a key component of any pentester's setup. We're going to be spending a lot of time wo ...more

You can use the F1 key to notably dim your Mac's display, but sometimes that just isn't dark enough. If you're working in pitch black conditions, have a migraine or tired eyes, or just want a more comfortable environment, you might want your screen even darker—without making i ...more

All of Apple's products are praised for being extremely easy to use. So much so, that your grandma can pick one up and be a "pro" within a few hours. However, this isn't necessarily a good thing for us real power users who want more granular control of our devices. Luckily, M ...more

While it's still a few months before iOS 8 and Yosemite are released to the general public, that doesn't mean you can't get a part of Apple's new operating systems on your devices right now. Check out some of the free wallpapers from Mac OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 below, with do ...more

With the use of Terminal, anyone can run multiple instances of the same application on a Mac. When you have multiple windows open in a web browser, the windows are all running under the same Process ID (PID). But, with multiple instances, each has its own unique PID. So why wo ...more

To really customize your Samsung Galaxy S3, you'll need to be rooted, because most of the coolest mods and hacks require root access. If you haven't rooted yet, you're just barely touching the surface of what your GS3 can do for you. However, if you've never rooted before, it ...more

Yes, screen savers are fun to look at for a few seconds, but those animations actually used to serve a purpose beyond simple entertainment. In older CRT and plasma monitors, and even newer OLED ones, leaving a static image on the screen for an extended period of time could cr ...more

Just because you have a Mac doesn't mean you can't root your Nexus 7 tablet. In fact, rooting Android 4.4 KitKat on both the 2013 and original 2012 N7 models is easy, if not easier than rooting it using a Windows PC. After rooting, you can enjoy many of tomorrow's features to ...more

While Windows 10 is still a few weeks away from a public release, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy its brand new features right now. Anyone with an Insider Preview account can install Windows 10 on their computer. And that doesn't just go for those that own a Windows PC—Mac u ...more

If you've ever wondered what exactly goes into a McDonald's sandwich (or what the heck that secret sauce stuff is anyways), you might be a little surprised to learn that all of the ingredients are readily available at your local grocery store. In an interesting move, McDonald' ...more

Have a PC but hate Windows? Maybe you've just heard a ton about the new Mountain Lion OS X and want to see if it lives up to expectations. Either way, you can install Mountain Lion on your Intel-based PC in a few easy steps. All you need is a copy of the OS X and an 8 GB USB f ...more

Mac OS X 10.11 and iOS 9 won't be officially released until later this year, but that doesn't mean you can't get a taste of it today. And the easiest way to do that is to download the new El Capitan and iOS 9 wallpapers. Don't Miss: The Coolest New iOS 9 Features You Didn't K ...more

Turns out, you no longer need third-party flight tracking apps to get information on yours or others' flights—your iPhone and Mac can now give you flight details right from your Mail, Notes, and Messages apps. Apple's flight data detectors were baked into iOS 9 and OS X El Ca ...more

When Yosemite was released, a more detailed boot screen came to your Mac. So now, just like on Apple's mobile devices, you will see a loading bar telling you how far into the startup process you are. Apple also decided to add a black version of this boot screen to newer Macs, ...more

We've been able to mark all or individual unread conversations as read in Apple's Messages app since iOS 8. Eight years later, Apple is finally letting us mark individual text and iMessage chats as unread. Try to remember how many times you opened a new message without replyi ...more

The new Android 4.3 Jelly Bean has been out for a while already, and most of you already have it installed on your Nexus 7 tablets. Many of you softModders have also probably rooted your tablet so you can take advantage of some of the more popular root-only softMods, like spee ...more