Treat Your TV Like a Monitor

You kick off this episode with a rapid-fire blast of Quick Tips that sharpen how you use your Mac, iPhone, and apps every day. You learn how to tame iOS typing quirks, get the most out of dictation in ChatGPT’s Mac app, clean up Safari’s sidebar, and jump straight into System Settings with an alphabetical view. Then you dive into the spam-text battlefield, where forwarding to 7726, filtering, and blocking help you stay ahead. And because it’s Mac Geek Gab, you’re reminded: Don’t Get Caught letting your smart TV monitor more than you expect.

From there, you get practical answers to real listener questions: backing up external Photos Libraries, deciding whether you trust Tailscale (and your relatives!), keeping network drives mounted in macOS 26, and dealing with the fact that Messages aren’t included in your Apple Data Archive. You round things out with a strong Cool Stuff Found segment covering tools to clean your menu bar, manage your watch history, secure your Mac, replace Bento, and more. It’s a full week of tips that tighten your workflow and expand what your Apple gear can do for you.

• 00:00:00 Mac Geek Gab 1118 for Monday, December 1st, 2025
  • December 1st: Eat a Red Apple Day
  • MGG Monthly Giveaway – Enter to win a copy of OpenIn!
  • The MGG Merch Store is Live!
  • MGG’s CES 2026 Sponsors:
    • BusyCal (with code MACGEEK10)!
    • Eero
    • Ecamm
    • MacPaw
    • CCC Backup
• Quick Tips
  • 00:00:01 Darrin-QT-Set Amazon Auto Buy
  • 00:04:47 Susan-QT-Maybe disable “slide to type” to tame iOS typing?
  • 00:07:09 QTR-Dictating to ChatGPT’s Mac App is really handy
  • 00:07:59 Bruce-QT-1116-Manage Safari’s Sidebar to your liking
  • 00:09:11 Gene-QT-System Settings Alphabetical List
  • 00:13:28 DGC-Dealing with those SPAM Text Messages
    • Forwarding to 7726 Reports SPAM to your carrier
    • Screen, filter, report, and block text messages on iPhone
• Don’t Get Caught
  • 00:18:09 Todd-DGC-Beware of your TV se