You know that Apple TV is a great set-top box that allows you to play games, watch TV shows and movies, and even listen to Apple Music streams.
What you may not have known is that you can connect Bluetooth speakers so that you don’t bother your roommates or family when you’re watching, enhance dialogue, and even change the audio language on supported media.
Here’s how to do all that, from the comfort of your couch with the new Siri Remote.
Like all well-designed products from the Apple mothership, the new Apple TV’s remote, also known as the Siri remote, looks simple but contains a surprising amount of depth.
Sure, you might know that one press on the Menu button will take you back one screen, but what about all the other secret moves (like how to restart your Apple TV with the buttons)?
Luckily, we’re here to help you discover all the secrets of the Siri remote. Today, let’s look at the buttons and their hidden features.
The new Apple TV remote is a thing of beauty. It’s got six simple buttons, it’s rechargeable and it features a beautifully simple touchpad at the top to swipe across menus, app icons and letters to enter passwords.
But the simple joy of using the touchpad is very Apple-like. There are hidden secrets to the surface uses, with
Here’s how to get the most out of your Apple TV remote touchpad.
The new Apple TV remote is a wondrous touch- and motion-enabled trackpad with a few simple buttons that lets you do everything on your new black hockey puck of joy, including playing games, swiping through apps, and, well, playing and pausing your movies and TV shows.
What happens when you lose it somewhere in the depths of your couch, though? The iPhone Remote app no longer works with the new Apple TV, and unless you have an Apple Store nearby, you’re gonna want to have a backup plan in place.
Might as well take a couple of minutes and set up your regular old TV remote to work with Apple TV, right?
Here’s how.
The new Apple TV is out and it’s pretty fantastic.
Running through setup is fairly simple, but we all could use a little advice on how best to make our choices along the way.
With that in mind, then, let’s run through the Apple TV arrangements in order.
Did you know that it’s incredibly easy to access open Chrome tabs on your Android and iOS device? So if you’re reading an article on your computer and you have to dash out, you can access it later while you’re on the go without having to search for it again, type in a URL, or email links to yourself.
Here’s how.
While you may chat about state secrets while on your Mac at work, you might not want your chats to get out there or be archived. The answer is to use encryption so no one can intercept your messages and figure out you’re really angry at your boss.
The Tor Project aims to make anonymous, off-the-record chats simple with a new instant messenger app you can run on your Mac or Windows PC. Simply run the app (now in beta), log in to your preferred instant messaging service or services, and talk about whatever you want, secure in the knowledge that your chats are safe from your boss’ prying eyes.
If you’ve got an Apple TV, you’ve got a ready way to get any videos from your iPhone or iPad onto your big screen.
While we all wait for the latest version of Apple’s famous “hobby,” why not watch a video or two on our current Apple TV, right from our iOS device of choice.
Here’s how to AirPlay videos from your iPhone to your giant TV.
Whereas most websites these days — Cult of Mac included — are responsive to whatever device you’re browsing on, there are still a few websites out there that will serve you a special mobile version when you head there on your iPhone.
Unfortunately, sometimes the functionality of the full desktop version of the website is missing from the mobile version. When that happens, you can use the iOS 9 version of Safari to get the full desktop versions even when the web developers don’t provide a link to do so.
Here’s how.
Every day, I delete files. Usually, they’re images or screenshots I download or use for my work here at Cult of Mac. These kinds of files pile up across a full day, and I just want to get rid of them to de-clutter my workspace.
Even if I use the Command-Delete keyboard shortcut to get them to the Trash, I still need to empty the Trash (with Shift-Command-Delete), making this a two-step process.
OS X El Capitan brings a feature that lets me skip one of these steps. Here’s how to delete your files immediately using your El Capitan-enabled Mac.
One of the coolest features of the new Apple TV is its absolutely stunning new screensavers, which fly you through some of the most gorgeous locations in the world.
Apple hasn’t announced any plans to bring the screensavers over to the Mac yet, but they’re such a perfect fit that developer John Coates created a new Swift app that lets anyone get the beautiful backdrops on their desktop.
Here’s how to do it:
The iPhone 6s Plus has a frame rate problem, and the only solution is more cowbell right here!
Although it’s not necessarily something your average user is going to get too concerned about, a number of people have noticed that the iOS transition animations on the phablet-sized iPhone 6s Plus look considerably slower and more jerky than those on the smaller iPhone 6s.
Fortunately there’s a way to fix it.
I’m a big fan of getting instructions off the internet: recipes, directions on car maintenance, or video game walkthroughs, for example. The problem is that you need to be online to view them.
Now in iOS 9, however, there’s a way to save web pages to a handy, offline-friendly PDF file. The next time you’re flying on an airplane and trying to get through Broken Age with a walkthrough, you’ll be in luck.
Here’s how to convert any webpage in iOS 9’s mobile Safari to a PDF and then read it in (or send it from) iBooks.
One of my favorite things about iOS 9 is picture in picture mode, which keeps a small window of a movie visible on screen at all times. Unfortunately, OS X El Capitan doesn’t have an equivalent: you can watch a movie while multitasking, sure, but it doesn’t stay on top of your window stack no matter what, which is the genius of iOS 9’s interpretation.
I’m hoping OS X 10.12 will address this issue. In the meantime, though, there’s an app that will give OS X iOS 9-style picture in picture mode. And it’s free!
You’re probably excited about all of the fun new emoji characters that you just got in iOS 9.1, but one of the new additions won’t show up on any of your keyboards.
The “Left Speech Bubble” emoji isn’t part of the official canon yet, but Apple went ahead and added it, anyway. Here’s what it looks like and how to add it to your pictorial lexicon.
Forget self-driving cars that will drive you to the store while you sit back watching Netflix, because where we’re going, we don’t need roads.
Google has leaked highly “confidential” plans for a new time-traveling car the company calls Project Flux.
Maybe there aren’t a ton of new features in iOS 9, but you may find yourself getting tighter with Siri.
Siri is out to earn the title of “Best Assistant” with a series of new tricks aimed at making your life easier.
You no longer have to set a time for Siri to remind you to do tasks. You will automatically get reminders once you arrive or leave a location. No time to read an email or an interesting article? Ask her to remind you later and she will do so.
Siri can call up any photo you like based on a location or timestamp. She can also give you sports scores without directing you to a website, can convert measurements and, if you have a shiny new iPhone 6s, there is no need to press the home button to summon her. Just say, “Hey Siri.”
To see how Siri worked for me, check out the video below.
The iPhone 6s’ new Live Photos feature created a new media format, but there’s one major problem with the new moving pictures: You have to own an iPhone 6s to see them.
Most of your friends probably haven’t upgraded yet, which means those cool Live Photos you’ve snapped are only viewable by you. However, there is a way to transform your favorite Live Photo into a shareable GIF or video file, allowing everyone to see the movement in your picture, no matter what device they’re on.
Here’s how to do it:
Facebook’s algorithmic nostalgia is all well and good — until it starts pulling up the worst memories you’ve shared. Not everyone wants to be reminded of these awful memories.
Introduced this past March, “On This Day” is a Facebook feature that lets you re-share important digital memories from one year ago. Now you can keep specific people and/or dates from appearing in your feed, thanks to a pair of filters introduced on the social network.
Here’s how to make sure your worst memories aren’t surfaced by Facebook.
When I lose track of my mouse cursor, I’ve always just wiggled it a bit to find it on the screen. It’s a natural gesture, and Apple’s capitalized on it with its new “shake to find” feature in El Capitan.
If you’re constantly shaking your mouse or swiping quickly on your mousepad, maybe while gaming or editing, the new feature might bug you.
Here’s how to turn it off (and turn it back on again if you want to).
You should be excited to get Siri up and running with your new Philips Hue bridge and control your lights with the power of your voice, but one annoying error might stop you. It definitely had me scouring the Internet for answers when I was setting up my smartbulb system this afternoon, and I’d love to save you that time.
Because if you’ve spent $200 on fancy lightbulbs, you probably want to start using them right away, damn it.
Seriously, people, we have families to feed. Kittens to adopt. We need your ad impressions.
The new iOS content blockers, as well as traditional ad-blocking browser plugins, threaten the wallets of every ad-supported website, including Cult of Mac. Luckily, it’s easy to whitelist us (and any other sites you want to support). It’s incredibly easy to restore order to the online universe, whether you’re using an iPhone or a Mac.
AT&T finally activated Wi-Fi calling on its network, allowing iPhone users to seamlessly switch to their local wireless network to place calls when their LTE signal is weak.
Apple added WiFi Calling in iOS 8, but you probably haven’t had a chance to use it yet because the only carrier in the U.S. to support it has been T-Mobile. Now that the nation’s second-largest carrier is getting on board, more iPhone users than ever can take advantage of the feature to place calls anywhere in the United States, free of charge.
Here’s how to turn it on:
OS X El Capitan has arrived, and it’s a free for most Mac users, making the decision to upgrade super-simple. Once you have it installed, there are some awesome new features you have to try out. See them all in action in our video tour below.
Not all iPhones 6s units are created equal, and yours just might have a weaker processor thanks to Samsung. Chipgate rocked the Internet with the revelation that Apple used two different suppliers for the A9 chips in its latest iPhones and one processor looks like a serious under-performer.
Even though Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s 14-nanometer A9 chips are bigger than Samsung’s 12-nanometer A9 chips, if you have an iPhone 6s with a TSMC chip, you might get an extra two hours of battery life on your device.
There’s no way to tell if you’re getting stuck with a Samsung A9 processor when you purchase your iPhone 6s in stores or online, but you can find out whether you got saddled with a crappier processor with some help from a couple of apps.
Here’s how to find the maker of the A9 processor in your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus: