os

All Mac systems should by default have at least one administrator account for installing programs and otherwise changing the system configuration and settings. However, there may be times, when after an OS upgrade or other major system configuration change, that the administrator privileges of an account might get stripped, leaving you with no way to change a number of system settings.

This occurs quite rarely, but if it does happen, one quick but well-known and convenient trick for recovering administrative status on a system is to activate Apple's OS X setup assistant again. This assistant is generally only used … Read more

Happy Free Shipping Day, fellow cheapskates. Nearly 1,700 online merchants are offering "free delivery by Christmas Eve," so today might be the ideal day to finish up your holiday shopping.

That said, lots of stores offer free shipping every day, and I have no doubt we'll see lots of other "free shipping in time for Christmas" offers in the days to come, so don't fret too much if you miss FSD.

Today I couldn't decide on a single deal, so instead I rounded up a bunch of good stuff -- a little … Read more

My first Android phone, the original Motorola Droid, was one of the first phones to debut Google Maps Navigation. Now, Google knew that this feature would get drivers interested in using their Android phones in the car and that the tiny virtual buttons and shortcuts that worked well when the device was handheld wouldn't cut it behind the wheel. So, when users popped their Droids into their car docks, they were presented with a simplified interface with large shortcut buttons to car-centric apps, designed for safer use while driving.

Smartphones have come a long way since I retired my … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions about RAM upgrade options for new MacBook systems, using a Mac laptop as a desktop workstation, song progress options for the iTunes 11 mini player window, and updating external secondary recovery partitions. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: RAM upgrade options for new MacBooks MacFixIt reader David asks:

Forget spring cleaning. The winter holidays seem to be inspiring the impulse to tidy, with everyone sprucing up their mobile apps. Dropbox is the latest to release an update.

The cloud storage provider announced that it has revamped its iOS app, and the big focus here is on the photos experience.

Based on the new design and features, it looks like Dropbox is diving deeper into the photo-sharing side of its storage service.

The main addition is a new timeline of photos automatically uploaded from the user's mobile devices. The new viewing abilities look more glamorous on the iPad … Read more

You can now upload a photo to a specific Facebook album using the iOS and Android apps. There have been various methods in the past to get a photo into a preferred album, but the process is now streamlined.

iOS users will have the ability to add a photo, or photos, to an existing album or create a new album during the upload process. Android users will only be able to upload photos to an existing album. Before uploading a photo, however, Android users can create an album by visiting the Photos tab from the menu and tapping on the … Read more

iOS users searching for holiday gift ideas can head on over to Apple's App Store.

You can now directly send a paid app to someone as a gift, a feature that was previously available with iOS 5 but disappeared when iOS 6 debuted this fall.

To use the feature, open the App Store app on your iOS device. Choose a paid app that you'd like to gift. Click on the Share button in the upper right corner. The Share options window appears with a new icon in the lower right called Gift. Tap on the Gift icon.

You'… Read more

In its ongoing attempts to cash in on mobile, Facebook released yet another iOS update today, just hours after releasing its Android app.

The new iOS app boasts faster loading times for the news feed and Timeline, and the ability to choose which album to upload photos to. Facebook has been releasing these app updates at lighting speed over the last few months as part of the company's new mobile-first strategy. Its previous update, sent out less than a month ago, added the coveted "share" button.

Its new Android app also delivers a faster experience -- photos … Read more

It appears that 2013 will be the year that mobile shopping becomes pervasive. According to the just-released "Q4 2012 Developer Survey Report,"  from research firm IDC and Appcelerator, a mobile-platform developer, it's likely that most retail companies will have enabled mobile commerce in 2013. 

The survey, which encompasses the views of nearly 3,000 Appcelerator customers, predicts that 86 percent of shoppers will access a retailer's site on their mobile device while shopping in a retail store, and 71 percent of those surveyed predict the mobile wallet will "permeate" the consumer … Read more