How To

I happily plunked down $25 when iTunes Match was released last November. I loved the idea of accessing my iTunes music library from my iPhone and iPad. Since then, however, I ponied up for Spotify Premium, which I greatly prefer to iTunes Match. Between Spotify and Pandora, I rarely find myself firing up iTunes, and I can't remember the last time I used iTunes Match to tunnel into my iTunes library from my iPhone or iPad.

I suspected that my iTunes Match subscription would auto-renew after a year, and it turns out my suspicions were correct. If you do nothing, you'll drop another $25 for another year of iTunes Match. It's easy to turn off auto-renew for iTunes Match, if you know where to look.

Google has now made its Drive service more than an online storage product and productivity suite. You can now edit documents you have stored on Google Drive (or Docs, if you haven't moved over to the new interface) during those moments -- while sitting on an airplane or in a cabin in the woods or in a Wi-Fi-free coffee shop -- when you are not connected to the Internet. And when you open that same document when you are back online, the changes you made while offline are there. (For some reason, Google is putting this offline access under more

CollageIt Free seems to be making its way up the ranks in the Mac App Store, so let's take a look at what this free collage app can do.

When you first launch the app, it opens a window with a variety of templates spread across four styles: Mosaic, Grid, Center, and Pile. After you choose a template, you can then start adding photos to the app to start making your collage. You can either use the "+" button in the lower-left corner of the CollageIt window to browse photos to add to your collage, or you can simply drag more

The new MacBook Pro with Retina display has many noteworthy features, from a unique 2,880x1,800-pixel screen to new Nvidia graphics to large SSD storage options. But, the most surprising may be the multiple video outputs -- something not seen on a MacBook before now.

The last several generations of MacBook have had either a mini-DisplayPort or combo Thunderbolt/DisplayPort jack. HDMI has been on our most-wished-for lists for years, so Apple finally adding HDMI (which is found on pretty every other current laptop) is a big move, especially when combined with a second Thunderbolt port.

The initial review of the Retina Pro more

Sometimes dragging a cursor to select a portion of your screen to capture doesn't cut it. If your work demands screenshots that are sized just right, and you are on a Mac, take Precise Screenshot out for a spin. This $1.99 app lets you save preset sizes among other convenient controls.

When you launch the app, it places a small icon in your menu bar and opens three windows: a red framed capture area, a control panel, and a small preview window. You can drag the sides or corners of the red frame to resize the capture area,

The final build of Windows 8 is due out sometime later this year. If you're considering upgrading your current PC to Windows 8, you might want to get a head start on preparing for the upgrade. Here's how to check your PC for Windows 8 readiness, using the Windows 8 upgrade assistant:

To download the upgrade assistant, go to the Windows 8 download site, then click on the blue Download Windows 8 Release more

If the Internet and Facebook specifically have become a distraction during your workday, MenuTab for Facebook may help you stay on target. This Mac app gives you quick access to Facebook from your Mac's menu bar, saving you from having to open a new browser tab or window. Whether this leads to less frequent or shorter Facebook sessions is a question only you can answer for yourself. The app is free, so it won't cost you anything to give it a whirl.

When the app installs, it places an icon in your Mac's menu bar. Click on

All of Apple's computers feature a headphone jack or sound output of some kind, but only a few of them offer a recording input. The iMac includes one, as well as the 15-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac Pro desktop, but you won't find one on the MacBook Air, Retina MacBook Pro, or the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

So what's an audio geek to do (aside from invest in a decent USB sound card)?

Well, in the case of the 13-inch MacBook Pro (old and new), Apple includes the option of a switchable audio port than can be more

The primary filesystem format in OS X is Apple's HFS Plus (or Mac OS X Extended), which is the default used for any newly formatted disk. However, to increase cross-platform support Apple has included support for several other filesystem types, including FAT32, UDF, UFS, and NTFS (in read only mode), in addition to several networking filesystem protocols such as AFP, NFS, and SMB. While this support does allow a decent amount of flexibility in what disks can be handled by OS X, it does leave out support for some popular alternatives such as the ext2 and ext3 formats used more