Get more done with these 10 Mac tips

Amid the ongoing distractions of the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s important to remember  millions are using their Macs every day to get work done. These tips should help you work more efficiently, giving you more time to catch up on everything else.

Use Do Not Disturb

Zoom calls, Teams conferences, phone calls, emails, instant messages, Slack conversations – does anyone else get stressed out that working remotely ends up being so noisy? It’s hard to focus through interruption, so use Do Not Disturb to buy yourself some mental space.

On your Mac, press the Option key and tap the Notifications icon in the top right. You’ll see its color change to light gray, which means Do Not Disturb is activated. Now you’ll receive no application notifications until you enable it again.

Staying online 

They used to say only death and taxes were certainties in life. Today you can add “and intermittent Internet access” to the list. If you use an iPhone as well as a Mac, you can try this (though it won't help with death and taxes). Open Catalina’s System Preferences>Network and look for the new-to-Catalina Auto Hotspot item which will automatically connect your Mac via your iPhone if you have Personal Hotspot running on your smartphone.

Full screen, Split View

Tap the green traffic light icon in any app to enter full screen mode. This gives you the greatest possible display space (though you can make this even greater by hiding your Dock and enabling Automatically hide and show the Menu bar in System Preferences>General.

You can open two applications side by side in this attention-preserving mode. There are several ways to achieve this, but I recommend the following approach.

• Launch both required applications and set one to full screen mode by tapping the green button, or Control-Command-F .
• Tap Mission Control (F3), or slide four fingers up on your trackpad.
• Drag-&-drop the preview of the second application into the image containing the full screen app.
• Both applications should now open side-by-side.

Get Gestures

Working in full-screen mode is even easier when you learn to use trackpad gestures:

• Slide four fingers on the trackpad left or right to move between spaces.
• Slide three fingers up to return to Mission Control.
• Slide two fingers up or down to scroll.
• Swipe left from the right edge with two fingers to open Notification Center.

There are many other trackpad gestures you can use on your Mac.

Automate stuff that wastes your time

There are numerous ways to automate repetitive tasks on your Mac. Text Replacement can be particularly useful at times. Text Snippets are even better.

• The problem: You have text you enter into documents frequently.
• Solution: Write the text (it can include links), select it and drag it to the Desktop.

You now have a text clipping. Just drag that clipping into documents to automatically enter it.

Save smarter

You probably save your work into specific folders. You may have lots of these. Did you know that you can use the Print dialog to speed this process up (so long as you want to save it as a PDF)?

Here’s what to do:

• OpenFile>Print, open the PDF item lower left and scroll down to Edit Menu...
• In the next box tap the Plus 
• In the Finder twindows hat then appears, navigate to the folder you want to save items to.
• Click it and hit Save.

Now all you need to do when saving a document is tap Command-P (print), and then select the new destination in the PDF drop-down menu.

Get results – fast

You’re using Command-Space to use Spotlight and you’ve become accustomed to employing this to search the Web. Next time you make a search query, type it in the usual way and then tap Command-B. You’ll be taken directly to the search result in Safari. Tap Command-Tab to return to your previous application.

Share a web page

The quickest way to share a web page is to type Command + I in order to send an email containing the page, or Command + Shift + I if you only want to share the URL.

Send a PDF – of (almost) anything

You can easily share a PDF of anything you can print on your Mac in iMessage or Mail using the Print menu. Just open File>Print and tap PDF and use Send in Mail or Send via iMessage.

Command-Space

Command-Space is the most useful Mac tip in the book. Use it to access Spotlight search, where you can search the contents of your Mac, search the Internet, open applications and so much more. Get used to using it and you’ll save oodles of time.

Best Video Doorbells to buy..

So one of the ways that I am keeping myself busy during the pandemic is by doing work around the house for my mother.  One of those things I did was install a video doorbell.  She lives in an area that would make it easier for her to have one and I figured I might as well use my skills to get it done. Coincidentally, I was contacted by a website that just published a review of video doorbells.  So without any delay, click here for the review from safety.com!

Cord Cutters Beware - 6 Unfortunate truths you will have to accept!

Channel switching isn’t instantaneous

If you’ve been subscribing to cable for a while, you’ve become accustomed to instantaneous channel surfing: You go to the guide, press to view a channel, and the video changes. That’s not quite how it is with streaming. There’s still a guide (which will take some getting used to, depending on your service), but the jump is quite a bit slower. First, it takes a second or so to tune, then you’re probably going to get a fuzzy picture for another couple of seconds as the stream evens out. It’s not the end of the world, but in an era of instantaneous everything, it took some adjusting.

For the rest of the nuisances, click here for the rest of the article from www.techhive.com

DIY: Make your own Hand Sanitizer

This is not the kind of stuff we normally cover but given the circumstances, and some of the inaccurate news that’s been going around, we’re going to branch off into safety today and teach you how to make hand sanitizer at home.

What you need

While you can make hand sanitizer at home, the ingredients for it will have to be purchased. If you can, try to order them online but remember that online orders can take more time to fill. Keeping your own safety and the safety of others in mind, do what’s best to buy the following;

1. Isopropyl or rubbing alcohol (91% – 99 % alcohol volume). This 91% – 99% is important and you should read the label on the bottle to confirm that you’re buying the right kind. This will be available in most pharmacies and can be bought over the counter. This is a transparent, runny liquid almost like water in appearance but somewhat thicker.
2. Aloe Vera gel. This can be bought at any regular drug store and/or pharmacy. You can also check online, or at the supermarket. Remember that you need this in processed form and any Aloe Vera you have growing at home can’t be used in its place. This will be a transparent gel that will be thick and will have to be scooped out with a spoon.
3. An essential oil. This is a complete list of essential oils. Some are more readily available than others e.g., Lavender oil, or Tea Tree oil. If you’re unable to find an essential oil, lemon juice will do the job too.

Equipment

You need to use precise measuring tools to make hand sanitizer. Regular kitchen measuring tools will do the job.

You can make this in almost any type of container but it’s a good idea to use either steel or glass. Try to avoid ceramic. Use a steel spoon to mix everything.

Make sure you have something to transfer the sanitizer to once it’s ready. You cannot leave out it in the open or it will evaporate.

Make hand sanitizer

Warning: DO NOT MAKE THIS NEAR AN OPEN FLAME.

In order to make hand sanitizer at home, you need to mix your three ingredients in the right proportions.

Add 3/4 cups of Isopropyl to your bowl. Add 1/4 cup of Aloe Vera gel to it, and mix it well. Add 8-10 drops of the essential oil and mix again. The oil might tint the solution a different color but don’t worry. When it’s thoroughly mixed, convert it to a bottle for storage and use.

If you need to make a much larger batch, you should read the instructions that WHO has for creating hand sanitizer in large amounts.

General-purpose cleaning

Hand sanitizer should be used when soap and water aren’t available. Whenever you can, you should wash your hands, and make sure you wash them for 20 seconds.

Hand sanitizer is for you but you should also disinfect other surfaces that you will touch frequently e.g., door knobs/handles. Lifehacker recommends using bleach and has a write-up on how to create the right solution and use it.

DO NOT MIX

The method for creating hand sanitizer at home is the same but its main ingredient i.e., Isopropyl might also be hard to find too. As such, there are several methods going around for alternative cleaning solutions that aren’t safe. We don’t have a definitive list of them but the following ingredients should not be mixed no matter.

Bleach and Vinegar: Mixing the two will release Chlorine gas which is highly acidic. It will burn.

Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar: This will make peroxyacetic acid which will burn you.

Bleach and Ammonia: Mixing them will release Chloramine which will cause breathing problems, and it might also burn you.

Bleach and Rubbing Alcohol: This makes Chloroform which is an anesthetic and a sedative when inhaled or ingested. It might not burn you but why take the chance?

The above are all household items, one of them is actually used to make a sanitizer but make sure you follow the correct method. Bleach is not supposed to be used on people. Also, don’t try to make Clorox wipes at home.

Google Launches Coronavirus Website, Nothing Like Trump Promised

Google's website to guide Americans through the coronavirus outbreak has gone live.

It dishes out information and data updated regularly. Google reveals top searches related to the coronavirus, but it also put forth several items that focus on education and prevention. When visiting Google's website, you'll see a standard information card explaining COVID-19 and how it spreads. Google then directs users to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, as they're trusted experts on the matter.

Further, the website includes several clips highlighting important information and state-specific links to understand measures being put in place at the local level. There's also an entire section dedicated to tips on working remotely, coping with stressful days, working out, and cooking.

Google didn't plan on rolling out a full-fledged website so soon, but White House officials put the Mountain View-based company on the spot in a press conference. It doesn't resemble what President Donald Trump described: an online resource for all Americans to locate testing centers and get tested; it's actually sister company Verily that is offering access to a limited number of tests to residents in the San Francisco Bay Area. Instead, all Americans are able to visit Google's generic website that offers information surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.

In addition to the website, there's also an update for Google Search. Google announced it's offering enhanced search results through information cards. They'll include an overview with top stories as well as tabs for symptoms, prevention, treatments, and statistics. Between all of this, tracking the coronavirus and understanding its nature shouldn't be too difficult.

Limited to the United States right now, the website should arrive in other countries and languages within the next few days. Google is developing a system that gathers information and data for all parts of the world to serve the general public. From there, it's just a matter of people listening to health organizations in a global effort to reduce the disease's ability to spread to more people.

13 Meditation Apps to Help You Fight Anxiety and Stress

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The state of the world is, in short, chaos. Your mental state does not have to be the same. It sounds counterintuitive, but the very device that is delivering anxiety-inducing news could be the thing that brings you a bit of calm. Meditation apps are a welcome window into a world of gentle bells, chirping birds, and encouraging words. Beyond the peaceful imagery, the ceasing of the mind's worry with meditation can have tremendous health benefits, easing anxiety, depression, and pain and even improving immunity.

We're here to share with you a few of our favorite ways to get our om on.

Click here for a review of all the apps from our friends at pcmag.com