How to Speed up a Mac: 10 Top Performance Tips and Tricks

A Mac can bring some serious computing power to the table for your daily and occupational needs. But not every model is supercharged with the latest components. And, unlike PCs, you can’t easily upgrade your Mac if it’s not getting the job done.

The good news is you don’t have to. Unless you’re a tech guru, you probably haven’t made Mac performance tweaks that can bring even an old computer up to speed. Best of all, even a new Mac user can make these improvements — they’re that easy.

Struggling with unexpected slowdowns? Learn how to speed up a Mac with these 10 simple tips.

Jul092020

Why You Shouldn’t Use Postmates

If you’re subscribed to our YouTube channel, you might have watched today’s video. What was the topic? Uber acquired Postmates for a lot of money. I go on to talk about how we’re not really fans of meal delivery apps because they’re almost all problematic. Then, while I’m combing through old drafts on our blog, I found this gem. I didn’t change the title. I’m not going to mess with the photos that I uploaded over a year ago. This was first drafted on May 8th 2019. We haven’t used Postmates since.

Apr292020

7 Useful Sleeping Apps To Help You Sleep Better

A good sleeping pattern delivers a lot of benefits. It helps to keep you looking and feeling young while protecting you from illness and disease. Sleep also improves your mood, making stress and anxiety easier to handle. However, many of us struggle to get our recommended 7-9 hours each night, check out this article from Sleep.Report about fixing your sleep schedule. If you’re one of the many people struggling with sleep right now, there could be a solution.

While you might assume that your phone should be the last thing you use before bed, sleep apps are becoming increasingly popular. These tools improve your sleeping patterns, boost relaxation and even encourage less stress. Let’s look at 7 of the best options.

Apr102019

The Best Workout Headphones

If you’re here looking for answers, you might want to look elsewhere. Despite working out in the gym, every single day for the past 12 years, I still haven’t discovered the best ones. Some people don’t like training with music, but I struggle when I’m training without music. Sure, there are some activities that don’t mix well with wearing headphones, but for gym sessions (especially lifting weights) I benefit from the motivation and constant intensity boost that comes with good tunes!

Feb212017

Stove to Oven Apple Crumble Dessert

One night, after a delicious supper of leftovers, Hungry and I were craving something else. We had a fridge full of goodies so the world was our oyster. What did we want for dessert? More than just a square of chocolate. What about making something? What about pairing Hungry’s cooking skills with Fit’s baking skills? Yes! Sounds like the right way to go. We had plenty of apples and I always like to add a topping, so we created an apple crumble dessert! This recipe was so fun, but also relatively un-intimidating and simple to do: we cooked on the stove and then baked to finish it in the oven. If you can, grab a partner to make this lovely dessert with you in the kitchen!

Jan282014

WaterFi Waterproof iPod Nano Review

This is a guest post from our good friend, Nerdy Neanderthal, a nerdy fitness dude (see pic below). Expect more posts from him ranging from workouts to beer discussions to nerd surges!

Sick tattoo!!

Pros:

Good price point (156 dollars)
Helps monotony
iTunes is easy to use
Small size
Free Headphones

Cons:

Doesn’t function the way it should (can’t skip songs!)
Sound is inconsistent above and below water
Can easily get in the way
Headphones wont stay in

This product barely does what it is supposed to do. I hopped in the pool and clipped the nano to my suit. Swam one lap, that was great, but it was all downhill from there. Buttons stuck, hollow sound and most of my workout with less than two headphones in my ears.

Before even going into my swim, my biggest problem with this product is its functionality: I CAN’T SKIP SONGS! Customer service told me that the buttons can get stuck in the water-proofing process. Solution, put the iPod between a desk and a heavy book and press down in circular pattern. I did all this and all I got was a better understanding of the word, “futility.” This is a huge issue for me because I listen to 40 minute podcasts when I do cardio. So if you listen to quick songs and make a good playlist ahead of time, this won’t be a big issue.

Now, to get to my actual swim. Off the first flipturn of my swim, I push with moderate force and out pops the right earbud. Finish the lap, readjust. Third wall less push but same result. Put a cap on over my ears and now when the headphones come out they hang half in your ear; both physically annoying and psychologically. I get the hang of pushing weakly off the wall and using my biceps during streamline to squeeze the headphones back into place. Even when I did hit a rhythm the sound is hollow and far away below water.

Like the night before a hangover, this product seems like a good idea at the time. It’s cheap, barely more expensive than the base Nano, came with free waterproof headphones, and dropped off by USPS free of charge. (I used Amazon) The computer side of the input is a breeze for anyone familiar with Apple products. The size is a great plus, exact same diminutive size as the regular Nano; easily fits in any pocket. When I got the headphones to stay in, the right track on the Nano, with the correct volume it did create that “in the zone” feeling I was looking to obtain.

My thoughts on this MP3 player are hugely mixed. My Nano couldn’t skip tracks, creating this feeling of uselessness in the device. The headphones that came with this product were garbage, both in sound and staying in during rigorous exercise. But even with these massive negatives, it is still a waterproof Apple iPod for barely more money than its base partner. Like the proverbial moth to the flame, I will come back to this device once I can get it working properly. I can not damn this product, but I do wish to severely hedge your expectations.

Your Nerdy Neanderthal gives the WaterFi iPod Nano a 4/10.

Sep262013

iOS 7 Review

This is a personal review. It is not professional. Although I have a lot of experience with technology and cellular devices, I want to talk about this update as a “real” person.

I have never been happy with Apple operating system updates at first. iOS 6 grew on me but I always regretted updating. One of the major issues that I faced was a battery bug that resulted in my phone randomly turning off whenever it was under 40% charged. At that point, despite having battery power, it would not turn back on until it was plugged in again. When it was plugged back in the phone would have the same charge that it had when it shut off randomly. You can imagine how frustrating that must have been for a 4S in perfect condition.

With that being said, I have had a Macbook since 2007 and it is still my only laptop. I broke the logic board when the computer fell off of my bed, but it is still fully functional with the exception of the built in speakers. I have never had a problem with any of those operating system upgrades although I can’t say that I certainly got leopard, snow leopard, lion or mountain lion yet (The purpose of this paragraph was to show that I don’t automatically hate all Apple operating system changes).

This is the point where I start to actually talk about iOS7 for the iPad and the iPhone. I currently have an iPhone 5 and a 4th Generation 64GB iPad. I updated the two at the same time and the update took nearly 15 minutes for each. I had them attached to a strong wifi signal and they were also plugged in at the time. I decided to not use them in order to hopefully speed up the process and it may or may not have worked.

Upon resetting the devices after the download and the installation, there was a setup that included basic questions such as: do you want to enable location settings, do you want to set up airdrop and iCloud, do you want to register with Apple, what language would you like to use, do you want to enable passcode restrictions, etc. Nothing too complicated but make sure you think about the passcode restrictions since it makes it much more difficult to quickly access features.

Oh, quick side note, you NEED 3.1 GB of free space on your hard drive before you can start the download.

In Colorado, it seems as if talking and texting while driving is not illegal. This is a stupid law. It needs to be changed. Nevertheless, if you are driving and using your phone and now need to unlock it as well that may increase the risk of accident or mishap. Just a warning.

The layout is much smoother and more attractive, in my opinion. With that being said it does take longer to move from one screen to another. It may look smoother but it takes longer as a result. I haven’t timed it but it seems pretty obvious. That doesn’t mean that it’s a painfully slow process, I just notice the little things.

You no longer need to swipe left in order to get to the screen to search your device. You can simply swipe down so that eliminates a pointless screen. If you pull the top menu down it is relatively similar but much less cluttered. If you pull the bottom up you receive a new menu that is quite clean and useful. My problem with that is now you can access the flashlight (you get a new FREE built-in flashlight! which is worse than the one I have always had), calculator, camera, and clock multiple ways. You can access the camera three different ways. It makes your device more cluttered! The nice part of that swipe up menu is that it gives you very easy access to changing the mode of your device. You can go into airplane, silent, locked, sleep, wifi, and bluetooth mode easily now.

Speaking of the camera, it has some new features and it laid out in a much more organized manner. It includes built-in filters and allows easy access to video, panorama, and more. Safari also presents an interesting interface when you have multiple tabs open. I think it is quite attractive and practical enough.

The only other practical change involves closing out your apps that are open. You can still double tap your home key on the bottom of your phone but now your screen is taken over so that you can swipe the apps upwards in order to close them.

Other than this I have not found other practical changes that are worthy of me mentioning. A lot of the changes are just aesthetic, some work for me and some don’t. All in all I like iOS6 for my personal use on my iPhone but I prefer iOS7 on the iPad. I don’t think this new setup works for people who have very streamlined efficiently working phones that they use at work and in the gym and on the go. It is slower which is why I do not mind it on the iPad. If I could, I would go back to iOS6 for my iPhone and keep iOS7 on the iPad.

My recommendation for you is to find a friend that has the update and see if you like it first. I told Alana not to get it on her phone and she has not yet decided. Half the population loves it and half hates it. I’m sure people will get used to it but we all know the old saying, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

My FAVORITE part of the update pertains to a matter I have been bothering Apple about for years. The newsstand is a waste of space, especially since it is not collapsible and cannot be put into a folder. WELL NOW IT CAN! Technology is a complicated way that can or cannot help you stay hungry and fit!

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BONUS KITTY PIC

Kitty pile on Alana for Castle marathon!

Aug062013

Techie Tuesday: CARROT To-Do App

So I’ve become obsessed with getting things done lately. Which is GREAT. Great for me, great for the house, great for everybody. But why? Well…I give all credit to my new to-do app, CARROT. I constantly struggle to find apps that improve my productivity and organization, and still would like more, but as far as to-do apps go, CARROT really works for me.

CARROT is brilliant for gamers or competitive people because here’s the thing: it’s an AI to-do list with personality that gives you points for completing tasks. So I started at Level 1. I’m now at Level 41. Yeah, I’ve been going crazy. But at Level 1, I didn’t have many capabilities. Some people may be turned off by that, saying if I’m paying for an app, I should get all the capabilities right away before me! I totally hear you. But I’m okay with this because it actually improves my productivity. I want to complete more and more tasks so I get more and more upgrades. So at first, I couldn’t set reminders, now I can. I couldn’t rearrange my list, now I can. And so forth. Even though it holds back all it does until you gain levels, that is one of the biggest reasons you want to keep being productive.

My to-do

Obviously, it’s very different from other to-do apps as it’s interactive. It gets mood swings. CARROT will be happy if you complete many tasks, but if you slack, CARROT will turn angry and turn all black and red and make me scared. It’s not always an upgrade when you level up, sometimes you get a KITTEN (yup) or sometimes he tells you a story. Or asks you to sacrifice bunnies for him. I think it’s a female, but I always change the gender.

All in all, CARROT has all the features other to-do apps have, but it makes you work for them so that you are improving your productivity. It makes getting things done fun because who doesn’t like leveling up? I think I may have found my to-do app, finally! Check it out here: http://www.meetcarrot.com/. Use this app to stay hungry and fit!