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Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

All Rhyme, No Reason, Just Tabs

Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

Dave Hamilton, Pilot Pete & Adam Christianson

Tech News, Technology, How To, News, Education

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

All Rhyme, No Reason, Just Tabs — Mac Geek Gab 1123 episode image

You kick off the year by tightening your Apple habits, starting with smart Quick Tips that actually stick. You build year-based music playlists for offline listening, flip on Airplane Mode when you’re out of service to save serious battery, and let the Health app handle reminders for meds and eye drops so nothing slips. You’re reminded of power-user staples like Cmd-Shift-5 for screenshots, learn how Google Sites can double as a surprisingly effective bookmark manager, and get clarity on when and how to disable VPNs properly, including on Apple TV for region-locked content. Along the way, you discover tools that reliably track Apple refurb inventory and dig into the oddly fascinating logic behind Safari’s tab close order.

Then it’s time to not get caught. You hear why Time Machine now warns you when your backup drive is too small, why storing Notes “On My Device” can bite you later, and how increasing cloud storage often means increasing local storage, too. Listener questions keep things practical, from tracking a missing Apple TV remote to deciding when an iPad beats a laptop. A deep dive into strange Safari tab behavior brings it all home, followed by Cool Stuff Found that helps you update Macs more intelligently, evaluate startup risks, replicate Mac setups with Ansible, and even capture insights from podcasts using AI. It’s a fast, practical reset that helps you start the year sharper, safer, and a little more in control.

Transcript

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0:00.0

It's time for Mekkeeb, and listener Joe brings us our quick tip of the week with a very simple music hack.

0:10.2

I sometimes travel outside the country and I don't always have cellular or even Wi-Fi service.

0:16.0

I'm stuck with what is downloaded on my devices.

0:19.4

Like many folks, I make playlists by decades, 70s, 80s, 90s. I found a simple,

0:24.6

uh, I found simply making a playlist from 1975 through 1885, I get a fresh sound when I hit shuffle.

0:33.8

Coming up with other odd lists is a good way to break my monotony as well.

0:38.3

A simple, easy way to mix things up.

0:42.0

So year-based music playlist, great tip.

0:46.1

More tips like this, plus your questions answered today on Mac Geek Gab 1123 for Monday, January 5th, 2026.

0:54.6

Happy New Year.

0:56.7

Woo!

0:57.0

Greetings, folks, and indeed, happy new year.

1:13.4

And welcome to Matt Kiekeap, the show where you send in tips like that.

1:18.0

We share them.

1:19.1

You send in cool stuff found.

1:21.0

We share them.

1:22.1

We send in questions.

1:23.3

We share them.

1:24.0

We answer them, hopefully.

1:25.2

Or at least provide some troubleshooting assistance and guidance, all with the goal of each and every one of us getting to learn at least five new things every single time we get together.

1:40.3

Here on National Whiped Cream Day, first time for this show in 2026 in Durham, New Hampshire.

1:49.5

I'm Dave Hamilton.

...

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