Articles by Matt Cone
Matt Cone is a technical writer at Fastly. He has experience creating documentation for organizations like Linode and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Matt’s first book, Master Your Mac, was published by No Starch Press. To get in touch with Matt, visit https://www.mattcone.com.
How to Create Free Ringtones for an iPhone
January 2, 2013
The iPhone and Mac make many tasks easy, but creating ringtones is not one of them. You’d think it would be a simple matter to create your own custom ringtones, but it’s not. In fact, many people aren’t even aware that they can create free custom ringtones for their iPhones! We’re here to guide you through the process. This tutorial will show you two ways to use your Mac to create free ringtones for your iPhone: Creating a ringtone from a YouTube video, and creating a ringtone from a song in your iTunes Library.
Setting Up an iOS Simulator on Your Mac
January 1, 2013
Web developers know it’s important to test their websites on every web browser and device possible. And with the growing popularity of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, it’s only natural that they’ll also want to test their websites on all of those devices. But short of stocking up on a bunch of Apple products, how can developers preview their websites in iOS? Actually, it’s easy. Anybody can do it by installing Apple’s iOS simulator on their Mac for free.
How to Enable SNMP on an AirPort Base Station
December 31, 2012
The AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, and Time Capsule are excellent wireless base stations, but it can be difficult to know exactly what they’re doing. For instance, you might be interested in knowing how many devices are connected to your base station, or how much bandwidth has been used by all of the connected devices over a certain period of time. To monitor statistics like these, you’ll need to enable something called SNMP, which stands for simple network management protocol.
Install the Old AirPort Utility in Mountain Lion
December 19, 2012
Earlier this year, Apple released a new version of AirPort Utility, the application that allows users to set up and maintain the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express base stations. The updated version, AirPort Utility 6.0, was supposed to streamline the interface and make it easier to set up networks. The only problem was that a number of advanced features went missing. If you’ve been missing the features in the old AirPort Utility application, we have good news: There’s a way to install it in OS X 10.
Visiting Apple's Campus: What It's Like
June 26, 2012
If you’re reading this article, you already know that Apple is much more than a company that creates great products. Apple is a way of life. It’s an inspiration, and to some, a religion. Apple is making history by forever changing the world as we know it. But after you’ve read the articles and biographies and watched the movies and documentaries, you can’t help but wonder about Apple’s headquarters. What’s it like there?
How to Send a Message to Your iPad Remotely
June 25, 2012
Did you misplace your iPad? If you enabled Find My iPad, you can make the iPad play a sound and display a message, increasing the chances that it will be found and returned to you. Note that the iPad must be turned on and connected to a cellular or wireless network for this to work. Of course, this feature also has other potential applications. If you’ve left the iPad with a spouse, friend, or child, you could use this feature to send them an important message.
Turn Your iPad into a Digital Picture Frame
June 22, 2012
You know those digital photo frames that create a slideshow of all of the photos on a memory stick? Believe it or not, you can set up your iPad to do the same thing. Using your iPad as a picture frame is a great way to enjoy your photos wherever you go. Just prop up your iPad, tap a button on the lock screen, and sit back and enjoy the pictures.
Tell Apple's Mail When to Receive Messages
June 20, 2012
Apple’s free Mail application is included with every Mac. Just add an account and you’ll be sending and receiving email in no time. But how do you control when the Mail application receives new email messages? This tutorial discusses your options and suggests ways you can configure Mail on your Mac to fit into your lifestyle. Drowning in Email? Enough is Enough! A constant barrage of new email can be distracting.
How to Hide the Explicit Label in iTunes
June 19, 2012
If you listen to a lot of loud, trashy music with “explicit” lyrics (ha, ha), you may have noticed that iTunes displays a special label next to many of your song titles, as shown below. This is a parental control designed to help parents quickly identify and quarantine offensive music in iTunes. Unfortunately for those of you who don’t have children, the explicit label is displayed by default, cluttering up your music library.
How to Move Your Email to Another Mac
June 18, 2012
If you use Apple’s Mail application, there will probably come a time when you’ll want to move your email messages and email account to another Mac. Maybe you just purchased a new Mac. Or maybe you’ve kept your personal email at work, and you now want to move those emails and that account to your Mac at home. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to move your mail! We’ll assume that your email account is located on only one Mac, and that you do not yet have an email account set up in Apple Mail on the Mac you’ll be moving your email to.