Change the Name of your iPhone

Recently, I was on a Zoom call with several colleagues, and a participant showed up on the call from an anonymous “iPhone.” We had no idea who it was, so we stopped the meeting to inquire and make sure that the person was supposed to be on the call. It was, but the person indicated that they did not know how to change the name of their phone. Unidentified iPhones can be a problem, both for calls like this and also when you try to share a file or photo via Airdrop (a preferred method for sharing files or photos). In a crowded place, it can be nearly impossible to identify the recipient if the user’s phone does not have some clear identifier beyond “iPhone.”

Changing the name on your iPhone is an easy fix, so here is a short video tutorial to help.


Make a PDF from a Pages, Word or Google Doc

At my college, we use the document management system called Moodle. It is not the greatest course management system out there, but it is free, and many colleges choose to use it. When students upload documents to Moodle, they can do so as Word, Pages, or Google Docs, and they can also use plain text. But when professors interact with these docs, it is incredibly clunky because the documents need to be downloaded before anyone can read them. Uploading PDF files makes this process so much easier because the system can render a PDF without downloading the document. So I created a little tutorial for students who might not know how to save a document as a PDF file. This tip might seem obvious for many, but it is surprising how many students have no idea how to do this. So for them, here you go. Enjoy.

Connect Networked Printer To Your Mac

Connect Networked Printer To Your Mac

It is hard to imagine, but some work environments are less than friendly to those cuddly always-smiling and ever-happy Mac users. What to do for example when you can't connect to a networked laser printer or copier in your office?  What a pain. Well, if the IT folks were a bit less than careful in setting up their network, then there is a good chance you can still connect without too much fuss. 

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