Now playing: Watch this: How to make your laptop battery last longer 1:24 My aging MacBook Pro doesn’t hold a charge like it once did. That’s not surprising, since it’s nearly five years old and batteries tend to lose their capacity over time. And the less time my MacBook’s battery lasts, the more I fear …

If you are like me, then you are more concerned with the battery life of your laptop than the battery life of your cell phone. My aging MacBook Pro barely makes it to lunch on a single charge, while my iPhone lasts all day. I have tweaked a few settings to extend the life of my laptop’s battery, but I …

Now playing: Watch this: iPhone’s Live Photos can be shared on social 2:33 If you have an iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus or iPhone SE and you enjoy the Live Photos feature that captures a few seconds of video when you snap a photo, then sooner or later you will create a Live Photo worth sharing on social media. Your …

You have always been able to hide posts from your Facebook page after the fact, but now Facebook lets you post to the News Feed without the items ever touching your Timeline. This new feature, perhaps inspired by the popularity and ephemeral nature of Snapchat, is useful for, say, a quick question for some of your Facebook friends or a …

One reason I switched from Windows to OS X years ago was to avoid the constant barrage of Windows alerts and warnings. OS X is less of a pest than Windows in this regard, since it lets you control when and how you receive notifications. Here are three ways to control when and how your Mac and its apps alert …

Google recently made it easier to find a lost Android phone, and today the company announced similar search options for owners of lost iPhones. Google has added a new Find your phone section to the My Account page for your Google account. Click on it and you will see a list of the devices — including phones, tablets, Android and …

The Mail app in OS X detects phone numbers, addresses, potential appointments and more to help you use that information without leaving Mail. When Mail finds a bit of text in an email message it thinks you might find useful, it outlines the text with a dotted line and shows you a small down-arrow button when you mouse over the …

As a freelance writer, I split my time between my home office, my kitchen table and coffee shops. When I’m working in a coffee shop, I need help staying focused and productive. I also want to keep my MacBook safe and its contents private during the occasional bathroom break or trip to the counter for a refill. With that preamble …

Apple’s Podcasts app is no longer the worst app Apple ever made, as my colleague Rick Broida argued years ago. Broida checked back with the app last year and discovered that, after a major overhaul, it was serviceable, which may be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about the Podcasts app. For me, the app’s serviceability makes it all the …

Apple introduced pressure-sensitive 3D Touch last year for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. If you have either phone, I’d wager you have used 3D Touch gestures more on accident than intentionally. For example, if you press down hard enough on the left edge of the display to engage 3D Touch, you can then call up the multitasking tool …