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How-To - page 75

How to unlock your iPhone’s secret LEGO Batman Movie Easter egg

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Call Siri
Call Siri "'Puter" and see what happens.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

Apple hid a delightful Easter egg on iPhones for The LEGO Batman Movie, the new animated film that is dominating the box office this week.

In the new film, the Dark Knight has his own helpful digital assistant that responds to voice commands. The voice for the computer is the same one as Siri on iOS, but when Bruce Wayne needs help he just says, “Hey ‘Puter” instead of “Hey Siri.”

Apple quietly updated Siri so that she responds to the command. Here are some of the hilarious replies.

Skip the gym: Get in shape with the complete CultFit Home Workout

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Complete CultFit Home Workout
Devote 10 minutes a day to the CultFIt Home Workout, and you'll be in shape in no time.
Image: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

CultFit Home Workout You don’t need a pricey gym membership to get in shape. With the CultFit Home Workout routine, you’ll use simple exercises, common household items and your iPhone (and Apple Watch if you’ve got one) to build muscle and increase flexibility.

It’s free, it’s easy and it takes only about 10 minutes a day. So what are you waiting for? Get started with the complete CultFit Home Workout using the four lessons below.

How to get the most out of Instagram

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These Instagram tips will help you connect with photographers who share your interests.
We don’t want to see photos from everyone we follow.
Photo: Lee Peterson/Cult of Mac

Instagram isn’t simply a social network for sharing images. Used properly, it’s a powerful tool for connecting with like-minded photographers and getting feedback about your images.

I’m passionate about photography, and finding communities I can engage with is really important when it comes to helping me improve and get ideas for new projects. These Instagram tips and tricks, which I use on a daily basis, can really help you grow as a photographer.

Anyone can get in shape in 2017 with the CultFit Home Workout

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Get fit in the privacy of your own home using everyday objects
Get fit in the privacy of your own home using everyday objects
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

CultFit Home Workout If your New Year’s resolution is to get in shape in 2017, but you spend all your waking hours in front of your MacBook, we’ve got the answer: our new CultFit Home Workout.

All you need is your iPhone, plus your Apple Watch if you have one, and some everyday objects you’ll find around your home or office. No gym membership required. It’s a great way to get started on your fitness journey, and it only takes 10 minutes a day.

Stay strong in 2017 with CultFit Home Workout, Week 2

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Kill it with a skillet in Week 2 of our CultFit Home Workout.
Kill it with a skillet in Week 2 of our CultFit Home Workout.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

CultFit Home Workout If you got started on your 2017 New Year’s resolution last week with our CultFit Home Workout, we’re here to help you keep up the good work with Week 2. (If you missed it, it’s still not to late to start with Week 1).

All you need is your iPhone, plus your Apple Watch if you have one, and some everyday objects you’ll find around your home or office. No gym membership required. It’s a great way to get started with your fitness journey, and it only takes 10 minutes a day.

Add new exercises to your fitness routine with CultFit Home Workout

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Give your fitness a lift in 2017 with our CultFit Home Workout
Give your fitness a lift in 2017 with our CultFit Home Workout.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

CultFit Home Workout With New Year’s Eve a distant memory, your resolutions for 2017 should now be well underway. To help keep up your good work, here’s Week 3 of our CultFit Home Workout. (If you missed it, it’s still not to late to start with Week 1).

All you need is your iPhone, plus your Apple Watch if you have one, and some everyday objects you’ll find around your home or office. No gym membership is required. It’s a great way to get started with your fitness journey — and it only takes 10 minutes a day.

Supersets will take your fitness to the next level with CultFit Home Workout

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It's crunch time for your fitness resolutions.
It's crunch time for your fitness resolutions.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

CultFit Home Workout It’s the fourth and final week of our CultFit Home Workout. Congratulations if you have made it this far. (If you missed it, it’s still not to late to start with Week 1).

For this easy home workout, all you need is your iPhone and some everyday objects you’ll find around your home or office (plus your Apple Watch if you have one). No gym membership is required. It’s a great way to get started with your fitness journey — and it only takes 10 minutes a day.

How to use Apple Pay on your Mac with macOS Sierra

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Antitrust investigators want to know if retailers were compelled to use Apple Pay
Get ready to start spending on your Mac! (Even more, we mean.)
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

With macOS Sierra, Apple Pay finally comes to Macs so you can use the mobile payment service to buy stuff online. The feature works best on the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, but don’t worry Pad if you own an older Apple computer: You can still use Apple Pay if you’ve got a 2012 or newer Mac, as long as you have the latest software and an iPhone or Apple Watch with Apple Pay enabled.

To get started, just follow our handy guide on how to use Apple Pay on Mac. You’ll be spending money online in no time!

How to reset your AirPods to fix battery drain

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AirPods in case
AirPods should offer around 5 hours of use between charges.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

AirPods offer some of the best battery life you can get from wireless earphones, but many users have been unable to enjoy it. An apparent glitch is causing some units to drain power when they’re not in use, but a simple reset could fix it.

Here’s what you need to do.

How to charge, connect and customize Apple’s AirPods

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x
AirPods arrived just in time for Christmas.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s new AirPods have finally arrived after months of waiting.

Shipping estimates for the new wireless earbuds have already been pushed back to 2017, thanks to the overwhelming demand, but if you’re lucky enough to get them in your ears this week, you’ll need some tips on getting started.

Here’s everything you need to know to use AirPods:

How to fix Mac App Store download problems

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App Store tutorial
If you're experiencing certain download issues, this is an early bit of troubleshooting to do.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Macs are renowned for “just working,” but sometimes you might run into problems while downloading software from the Mac App Store. You might encounter files that say they’ve downloaded despite evidence to the contrary, or face verification errors or other installation difficulties.

If so, a relatively common fix involves emptying your Mac App Store temporary download cache folder. If you find yourself running into any of the Mac installation problems mentioned above, cleaning out this folder should be one of your first tasks.

But how do you do it? Follow our easy “how to” guide below.

How to set up single sign-on for Apple TV and iOS devices

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Apple TV Dark Mode
Apple just added four new TV providers to its single sign-on feature. Here's how to get set up.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s new single sign-on feature can be a serious timesaver. Just sign in to your cable, satellite or internet TV accounts — like Dish, DirecTV, Sling TV, etc. — via your iPhone or Apple TV. Then you’ll be automatically logged in to any app that’s compatible with your service.

No more fumbling around trying to remember your user name and password when you just want to watch some video!

How to use Portrait Mode like a pro

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The iPhone 7 Plus will completely change your photos.
The iPhone 7 Plus will completely change your photos.
Photo: Apple

Portrait Mode has quickly become the standout feature on the iPhone 7 Plus. When you get the new dual-lens camera in the hands of pro photographers, it’s not hard to see why.

Apple published a new guide today that reveals how photographers are using the new Portrait Mode. Most of the tips are pretty simple and can be mastered quickly.

Here’s how to get the most out of Portrait Mode with iPhone 7 Plus.

How to resize images using Apple’s Preview tool in macOS

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Resize Featured
You don't need a fancy third-party app to resize your pictures because Preview works just fine.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

In addition to being a photo viewer, the Preview app for Mac offers basic image-editing functionality. If you want a quick and easy way to resize images, this built-in Apple app will do the trick.

Here’s how to use Preview to resize photos and other images in macOS Sierra.

How to find out if your iPhone 6s battery is eligible for replacement

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The iPhone 6s has more junk in the trunk.
The iPhone 6s has more junk in the trunk.
Photo: Apple

Apple is offering iPhone 6s customers a free battery replacement for devices that unexpectedly shut down. The problem mostly affects iPhone 6s units made between September 2015 and October 2015.

If you’re not sure when your iPhone 6s was made, you can use a new tool created by Apple to find out if your device has a faulty battery.

Here’s how to check:

How to watch Netflix offline

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The new Netflix app reveals your internet speeds.
Finally, watching Stranger Things on the subway is a reality.
Photo: Photo: Shardayyy/Flickr CC

If you’ve been dying to watch Netflix offline, your life just got better. An update to the official Netflix app lets you download TV shows and movies so you can view them without munching through your data allowance.

Anyone who’s dreamed about watching Stranger Things or The Crown on the subway to work, or at 35,000 feet, this is your lucky day! Here’s how to get in on the action.

How to delete Safari extensions on macOS Sierra

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Extensions featured-2
Get rid of certain extensions for good!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Extensions can be very useful on Safari for Mac, adding functionality, and — in Apple’s words — letting users, “explore the web the way you want.” But how do you get rid of them once they’re installed?

If you have issues with extensions causing crashes, glitches, or you just don’t plain want them anymore, here’s our easy guide to removing them.

How to find and change Apple’s default wallpaper on macOS Sierra

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macos_wallpapers
macOS Sierra comes with some stunning wallpapers.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Sure, macOS Sierra has some great new features that will fundamentally change the way you work but — particularly if you’ve got one of Apple’s gorgeous 5K iMacs — it’s hard to undersell the value of some beautiful photography.

With that in mind, Apple’s latest operating system comes with some truly stunning new desktop wallpaper that users can choose to add some eye candy to their Macs. Here’s how you access the default wallpapers macOS Sierra comes with.

How to use Siri to send people money with PayPal

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Siri can now send friends cash using PayPal.
Siri can now send friends cash using PayPal.
Photo: PayPal

PayPal is making it super-easy to send friends money, thanks to new Siri support introduced in the company’s iOS app today.

Now you can use voice commands to tell Siri how much money to send, and who to send it to. All you have to do is set up the PayPal app to give Siri access. Here’s how to do it:

How to fix iPhone 7 Bluetooth problems

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iPhone 7
It can be easy to solve Bluetooth issues on your iPhone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

There are few things to complain about with iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, but Bluetooth connectivity could be one of them.

Lots of customers have reported Bluetooth problems since upgrading to one of Apple’s latest handsets. Recent iOS 10 updates were supposed to bring a fix, but they don’t appear to have eliminated the issues for everyone. Here are three ways you can try to fix Bluetooth yourself.

How to set up and track Apple Watch wheelchair workouts

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Apple watch wheelchair exercise
Apple Watch now supports wheelchair users.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

People in wheelchairs no longer get treated like second-class citizens when it comes to Apple Watch’s fitness-tracking features. With the recent watchOS 3.0 update, which brings lots of big changes to the fitness-oriented wearable, Apple Watch wheelchair workouts can be tracked after a quick and easy setup.

How to restore Mac startup chimes on 2016 MacBook Pro

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touchbar
We don't have the new MacBook Pro yet, and already we're missing the startup chimes.
Photo: Apple

By now, you’ve probably heard that the new MacBook Pro doesn’t automatically play Apple’s iconic startup chord when you power it on.

While not met with the same hostility as the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack on iPhone 7, the change definitely upset some people. Especially since the sound serves a useful purpose: It indicates that diagnostic tests have been successfully run and your Mac is working as it should.

With that in mind, nobody would blame you for wanting to restore the iconic audio cue on your new MacBook Pro. But how do you do it? Follow our simple steps to find out.