The greedy ways Apple got to $1 trillion

For being the richest company ever with $243 billion in cash, Apple sure cuts corners in the stingiest ways. The hardware giant became the first trillion-dollar company week. Yet it’s tough to reconcile Apple earning $11 billion in profit per quarter with it still screwing us over on cords and keyboards. The “it just works” philosophy has slipped through the cracks of the money-printing machine.

We still turn to Apple because it makes the best core products. But the edges of the customer experience have frayed like the wires of a Lightning cable. The key to Apple’s fortune is obviously selling high margin iPhones, not these ways it nickels and dimes us. But the company has an opportunity to raise its standards after this milestone, though, and win back the faith that could push it to a $2 trillion market cap.

1. Frayed Charging Cables

Apple gives you that tingly feeling in the worst way. Can it not build Lightning cables and MacBook chargers a little sturdier? If you avoid losing one long enough to put in some serious use, it inevitably ends up splittling where the cord meets your iPhone or exits the laptop power supply. Whether it’s wrapping them in electrical tape or the spring of a retractable pen, people have come up with all sorts of Macgyver methods to make their Apple chargers last. It got so bad that Apple was sued into offering a MacBook charger replacement program, but that expired years ago. If these are what allow us to play with the fancy devices it invents, shouldn’t they get the same quality of industrial design?

Image via Sophia Cannon

2. Buried iTunes Subscriptions Cancellation

Want to cancel your Apple Music subscription or some other service you got roped into with a free trial? It’s SUPER easy. First, click the totally unlabeled and generic circle with a blotch in it that’s supposed to be a profile picture icon. You should see a “Manage Subscriptions” option…but you don’t. Instead, you’ll have to know to tap “View Apple ID”. Once you auth in with the same face or thumbprint that opened your phone in the first place you’ll find the option to cut them off. And as thank you for this convenience, you’ll get to pay 30 percent extra on some subscriptions if you pay through Apple. It’s clearly exploitative dark pattern design.

3. Keyboard Claptrap

The MacBook keyboard is the on-ramp to the information superhighway, yet a single grain of sand can cause a pile up. Renowned Apple pundit John Gruber called it “one of the biggest design screwups in Apple history”. The new butterfly key design Apple rolled out in 2016 can get jammed by dust, requiring a lengthy disassembly process often requiring a professional to fix. Suddenly your work grinds to a halt. Apple wouldn’t always cover this repair, even under warranty. It took a lawsuit and tons of public backlash for Apple to offer free fixes, and that still typically leaves you without a laptop for a few days. I’m typing this article on a cracked-screen 2013 MacBook Pro because I refuse to upgrade until they make the keyboard design more resilient.

4. Killing Affiliate Fees Blogs Rely On

Apple benefits from a legion of blogs obsessing over its hardware and software, hyping up everything it sells. Just this week it returned that favor by announcing it will cut off one of their core sources of revenue. Websites would previously earn a 7 percent commission from Apple in exchange for affiliate link clicks leading to purchases on the App Store. But over the past few years, Apple has begun to sell ads inside the App Store too, competing for advertisers with those external blogs. It’s also built up its own editorial team that curates what’s featured, and apparently doesn’t want competition in being a king-maker. So in October Apple is shutting down the affiliate program that app review sites like TouchArcade and AppShopper depend on, potentially spelling their doom.

5. Dongle Hell

What’s the opposite of “it just works”? Paying extra to lug around a slew of gangly cord connectors you need just to plug things into your laptop or phone. Dongles are the emblem of Apple’s abandonment of the user experience. A Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 dongle runs $50 while it will cost you $9 to plug in any pair of headphones from the past half-century once you’ve inevitably lost the Lightning dongle you’re allocated. Apple loves pushing us towards its vision of tomorrow, like Bluetooth headphones (that it sells) and USB-C fast-chargers (that it sells). But ditching headphone jacks and old school USB ports makes Apple’s latest devices incompatible with sanity. Even its own commercial shows musician Grimes struggling with her dongles. Sorry you can’t pass me the aux cord. I’m from the future.

Image via Notebookcheck

[Featured Image via Instructibles]

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The greedy ways Apple got to $1 trillion

For being the richest company ever with $243 billion in cash, Apple sure cuts corner in the stingiest ways. The hardware giant became the first trillion-dollar company week. Yet it’s tough to reconcile Apple earning $11 billion in profit per quarter with it still screwing us over on cords and keyboards. The “it just works” philosophy has slipped through the cracks of the money-printing machine.

We still turn to Apple because it makes the best core products. But the edges of the customer experience have frayed like the wires of a Lightning cable. The key to Apple’s fortune is obviously selling high margin iPhones, not these ways it nickels and dimes us. But the company has an opportunity to raise its standards after this milestone, though, and win back the faith that could push it to a $2 trillion market cap.

1. Frayed Charging Cables

Apple gives you that tingly feeling in the worst way. Can it not build Lightning cables and MacBook chargers a little sturdier? If you avoid losing one long enough to put in some serious use, it inevitably ends up splittling where the cord meets your iPhone or exits the laptop power supply. Whether it’s wrapping them in electrical tape or the spring of a retractable pen, people have come up with all sorts of Macgyver methods to make their Apple chargers last. It got so bad that Apple was sued into offering a MacBook charger replacement program, but that expired years ago. If these are what allow us to play with the fancy devices it invents, shouldn’t they get the same quality of industrial design?

Image via Sophia Cannon

2. Buried iTunes Subscriptions Cancellation

Want to cancel your Apple Music subscription or some other service you got roped into with a free trial? It’s SUPER easy. First, click the totally unlabeled and generic circle with a blotch in it that’s supposed to be a profile picture icon. You should see a “Manage Subscriptions” option…but you don’t. Instead, you’ll have to know to tap “View Apple ID”. Once you auth in with the same face or thumbprint that opened your phone in the first place you’ll find the option to cut them off. And as thank you for this convenience, you’ll get to pay 30 percent extra on some subscriptions if you pay through Apple. It’s clearly exploitative dark pattern design.

3. Keyboard Claptrap

The MacBook keyboard is the on-ramp to the information superhighway, yet a single grain of sand can cause a pile up. Renowned Apple pundit John Gruber called it “one of the biggest design screwups in Apple history”. The new butterfly key design Apple rolled out in 2016 can get jammed by dust, requiring a lengthy disassembly process often requiring a professional to fix. Suddenly your work grinds to a halt. Apple wouldn’t always cover this repair, even under warranty. It took a lawsuit and tons of public backlash for Apple to offer free fixes, and that still typically leaves you without a laptop for a few days. I’m typing this article on a cracked-screen 2013 MacBook Pro because I refuse to upgrade until they make the keyboard design more resilient.

4. Killing Affiliate Fees Blogs Rely On

Apple benefits from a legion of blogs obsessing over its hardware and software, hyping up everything it sells. Just this week it returned that favor by announcing it will cut off one of their core sources of revenue. Websites would previously earn a 7 percent commission from Apple in exchange for affiliate link clicks leading to purchases on the App Store. But over the past few years, Apple has begun to sell ads inside the App Store too, competing for advertisers with those external blogs. It’s also built up its own editorial team that curates what’s featured, and apparently doesn’t want competition in being a king-maker. So in October Apple is shutting down the affiliate program that app review sites like TouchArcade and AppShopper depend on, potentially spelling their doom.

5. Dongle Hell

What’s the opposite of “it just works”? Paying extra to lug around a slew of gangly cord connectors you need just to plug things into your laptop or phone. Dongles are the emblem of Apple’s abandonment of the user experience. A Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 dongle runs $50 while it will cost you $9 to plug in any pair of headphones from the past half-century once you’ve inevitably lost the Lightning dongle you’re allocated. Apple loves pushing us towards its vision of tomorrow, like Bluetooth headphones (that it sells) and USB-C fast-chargers (that it sells). But ditching headphone jacks and old school USB ports makes Apple’s latest devices incompatible with sanity. Even its own commercial shows musician Grimes struggling with her dongles. Sorry you can’t pass me the aux cord. I’m from the future.

Image via Notebookcheck

[Featured Image via Instructibles]

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Facebook Helps You Fight Your Social Media Addiction

Facebook is launching new tools to help you manage your time on Facebook and Instagram. The idea is to inform users how much time they’re spending on Facebook and Instagram, and give them the tools they need to make social media great again.

Do You Use Facebook and Instagram to Excess?

While many of us only check social networks occasionally, some people are hooked on them. Facebook has decided to do something to help those individuals, and, as detailed in this Facebook Newsroom post, it’s introducing tools to help you manage your time.

Both apps are getting an activity dashboard, a daily reminder to stop using the app after a set amount of time, and a new way of limiting notifications. All of these tools are entirely optional, and purely designed to help those people who feel they need them.

Announcement alert: we’re going to start rolling out new tools to help people manage the time they spend on FB and IG ? https://t.co/RAeUNSgiCF

— Facebook (@facebook) August 1, 2018

To access the Facebook activity dashboard, click Settings, and then tap “Your Time on Facebook”. To access the Instagram activity dashboard, click Settings, and then tap “Your Activity”. You’ll then see a dashboard showing you how long you spend using the app.

From here, you can set a daily reminder which will trigger an alert when you’ve been using the app for an amount of time of your choosing. By tapping Notification Settings, you can also “Mute Push Notifications” for any length of time between 15 minutes and 8 hours.

Don’t Quit, Just Manage Your Time Better

While this may look like an altruistic move, the truth is a little more complicated than that. People are waking up to the fact that social media can have a negative impact on their lives, and some are choosing to quit Facebook altogether as a result.

By offering up tools that allow users to manage their time on social networks, Facebook must be hoping to dissuade people from quitting altogether. And it might just work. After all, getting an addiction under control, is surely preferable to going cold turkey.

Read the full article: Facebook Helps You Fight Your Social Media Addiction

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5 Chrome Extensions to Improve Facebook in Every Way

Ah, Facebook. It drains productivity, infringes upon privacy, and even makes us sad. But we can’t live without it, can we? You can’t escape Facebook, so let’s try and make things better at least.

This article focuses only on the desktop Facebook experience when used with Google Chrome. But remember, you can use Chrome extensions in Opera and other Chromium-based browsers, as well as in Firefox.

New Tools And Design: Remove Sidebars, Auto-Scroll, and More

How much of a difference can one extension make? A lot, as it turns out. New Tools And Design adds so many cool things to Facebook that it’s hard to track them all down. Here’s a quick list of the most salient features:

• With one click, it hides the left and the rights sidebars of Facebook, where you usually see links or stories. It’s a cleaner Facebook interface, focussed on the News Feed alone.
• Speaking of the News Feed, you can switch it on and off. There’s also a really handy “Auto Scroll” feature that goes to the next post on your News Feed after a few seconds. It’s really cool, and you’ll have to try it to see how well it works.
• The extension also adds a timer to see how much time you spend on Facebook. It’s nice, but don’t install for this alone as there’s a standalone extension for tracking your Facebook usage, listed below.
• Pages News Feed lets you read only those posts from Facebook Pages you follow, rather than a mish-mash of posts from friends as well as brands.

Apart from these, New Tools and Design has plenty of other tweaks. You can discover Facebook Live videos, check the Calendar in a click, get the weather in any city, and much more.

Download: New Tools and Design for Chrome (Free)

Timely: How Much Time Have You Been on Facebook?

Facebook is a time sink that routinely turns five minute breaks into much longer sessions of time wastage. You’d be shocked by how much time you spend on the site if you actually counted it. Timely is here to give you that dose of reality.

When you open Facebook in a new tab, Timely starts two stopwatches. The right stopwatch displays how long it has been since you opened Facebook in a tab. The left stopwatch displays the total spent time on Facebook per day. The stopwatches change color as you spend more time, like turning red when total time goes beyond one hour.

Timely is a sobering look at how addictive Facebook is. If you think you’re spending too much time on it, consider a social media detox.

Download: Timely for Chrome (Free)

Nudge: Make Facebook More Productive

When it debuted, Nudge was a tool to delete your Facebook News Feed. It’s turned into a much better extension now, bringing more to the table.

Like Timely, Nudge wants to make you more aware of how much time you are wasting on Facebook. It has a cool mechanism to do this. Nudge visualizes time spent on Facebook by adding colored rings to the screen, that grow with every five minutes.

Similarly, Nudge also hides the two sidebars on Facebook, and even your News Feed. You can click and view them at any time, but hiding it by default makes it less likely you’ll get distracted. Nudge also tries to block Facebook, so that you aren’t tempted to visit it.

Of course, you can still use it to delete your News Feed, of course, and it happens in a jiffy. Overall, Nudge does everything it can to make you more productive and stop distractions.

Download: Nudge for Chrome (Free)

Private Notes: Add Notes Only You Can See to User Profiles

Facebook is a Rolodex for your social life, containing connections to all the people you’ve met, some of them even only once. Much like a good Rolodex, it helps to add notes to the back of the contact card.

Private Notes is a simple extension that displays a private notepad that only you can see on the user’s profile page. It’s a simple text pad, so think of it like a sticky note for you to write details about that person, like how or where you met, or something about them you want to remember.

The notes are saved in your browser’s cache, so if you clear cache, the notes will be gone with it! If you want, you can back up those notes as a simple CSV file to open in any spreadsheet app.

Download: Private Notes for Chrome (Free)

Social Book Post Manager: Batch Delete Your Old Posts

Have you ever tried deleting your old posts on Facebook? It’s an absolute nightmare. Facebook makes it as difficult as possible to get rid of them, forcing you to find each one and manually delete it. Social Book Post Manager finally simplifies that process.

The extension scans your post history based on filters. First, go to your Activity Log. Then in the extension, you can filter by year, month, or posts that contain (or don’t contain) certain words. Let the scan finish and from the options at the top, you can “Select All” and delete. It works like a charm and is the easiest way to bulk-delete posts.

Of course, if you’re really concerned about your privacy, this step isn’t going to be enough. You should instead look to deactivate and delete your Facebook account.

Download: Social Book Post Manager for Chrome (Free)

Wait, We Have 15 More Extensions

This isn’t an exhaustive list, of course. In fact, we have previously looked at another 15 extensions for a better Facebook experience. From removing all numbers to protecting your privacy, you’ll find plenty to love here.

Read the full article: 5 Chrome Extensions to Improve Facebook in Every Way

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Facebook Dating will be a feature, not an app; here’s a peek

Facebook Dating doesn’t plan to launch a standalone dating app, which should temper expectations about how deeply it’s diving into Tinder and Match Group’s territory. The feature will be based inside Facebook’s main app, alongside its many other utilities buried beyond the home screen. It’s not ready for the public yet, but company employees are now internally testing it — though they’re warned that it’s not for dating their co-workers.

Facebook gave a preview of its Dating features back in May at its F8 conference. Now we’re getting an early look at its onboarding process thanks to screenshots pulled from the Facebook app’s code by mobile researcher and frequent TechCrunch tipster Jane Manchun Wong. The designs give a sense of the more mature vibe of Facebook Dating, which seems more purposeful for finding a serious partner than a one-night stand.

Once you opt in to activating Facebook Dating, only other people who have also turned it on will be able to see you, and it won’t be shared to News Feed. You can choose if friends of friends can see you or not, and Dating profiles allow non-binary and transgender and orientation options. You’ll unlock Groups or Events you’re a part of for Dating, and you’ll be able to browse potential matches based on the plethora of info Facebook knows about you. If two people express interest in each other (no swiping), they can text each other over Messenger or WhatsApp.

TechCrunch has learned some new details from Facebook, as well. Facebook is considering a limit on how many people you can express interest in, which would prevent a spammy behavior of rapidly approving everyone you see. Blocking someone on Dating won’t also block them on Facebook, though that’s not finalized.

Facebook has no plan for paid subscriptions to premium Dating features. It’s currently not going to show ads in Dating, though it could reconsider that later.

Dating will be 18+ only in the U.S. and abide by local laws on who is considered an “adult.”

For now Facebook is taking careful steps toward Dating. It’s not blitzing into the market with a big flashy app. Instead it’s hoping the feature could create the meaningful relationships that make people appreciate Facebook and stick with it over the years. That’s more important than ever with all its recent troubles.

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These Cheap Flight Websites Will Save You Tons of Cash

When you need to buy flight tickets, you can always perform a search on Google Flights for good prices. But you’re missing out on potential cheap flights if you don’t use these websites to find the best deal for your money.

All these cheap flight websites will ask you to first choose your place of departure and destination, along with dates, the number of people traveling, and whether it’s a round-trip. But after that basic information, each website has a different purpose thereafter.

Best Website to Book Flights: Skyscanner

For years now, Skyscanner has been our constant recommendation for the best website to book flights. It’s so easy that anyone can use it, and it has mini-sites across the world with localized customer care.

Skyscanner is an aggregator. This means that it will check for the best flight prices across dozens of sites, including both official airline portals as well as other travel aggregators like Skyscanner itself. The idea is to find the cheapest flight price possible, and Skyscanner has regularly delivered this in spades.

In fact, you can actually get even better deals through a few tricks and tips in using Skyscanner. For example, if your travel dates are flexible, Skyscanner uses historical data to show the cheapest month you can travel between two destinations. You can also see any whole month’s prices. Skyscanner lets you compare flight prices at nearby airports, getting a much better deal if you’re willing to put up with a little bit more commute by land. These small things add up to save some big bucks.

Get Alerts When Tickets Are Cheapest: Hopper

Hopper is a mobile app, but it does something that none of the websites manage to do. Using a variety of historical data points about flight prices across the year, Hopper specializes in figuring out when the flight is at its cheapest.

Here’s how it works. Airplane prices go up and down, and just because you book in advance doesn’t mean you have got the best deal. Hopper removes that guesswork. You set up the destination you want to go to, and the desired dates of travel. In the background, Hopper will silently watch prices for that route. Once it determines the price is at its lowest, you’ll get an alert telling you to book it. Simple, right?

I’ve tried out Hopper for multiple flights and found it not only gave me the best price possible but also recommended shorter flights at the same price. Hopper also tries to predict how much higher the price might go, in case you want to wait. It’s one of the best apps to get cheap airline tickets.

Download: Hopper for Android | iOS (Free)

Best Website for Cheap Last Minute Flights: Kiwi

In the travel industry, it’s common knowledge that last-minute flights cost more. No, airlines don’t try to discount their tickets to fill up seats. But what you can do instead is use Kiwi, a travel aggregator similar to Skyscanner, and its smart tools.

Kiwi enables a couple of things that you don’t get with other tools like Skyscanner. First, you can add multiple points of origin. So instead of searching for flights from Philadelphia to London, you can search from Philadelphia and New York to London. You can also change a place to include other airports around it, so it won’t just say London but other nearby airports too.

Kiwi also uses its algorithms to find cheaper flights by adding a layover between your travel. Sure, layovers can often be a pain in the neck, but when your flight price reduces by 20%, you don’t seem to mind as much. And that’s a hefty percentage when it comes to last-minute flights.

Best Website for Secret or Hidden Cities: Skiplagged

Skyscanner, Kayak, Ixigo, Cleartrip, and all these other popular flight search aggregators can’t show you “hidden cities”. Skiplagged can. And chances are, you’ll save big amounts with it.

Hidden cities are layovers that the flight operator doesn’t disclose. For example, when you search for flights from Dallas to Los Angeles, the carrier won’t always show you options on the New York-Dallas-LA flight. It’s a short layover in Dallas and they don’t want to spend too much time there. So Dallas is a “hidden city” on that path. And with Skiplagged, you can still book a seat on that flight.

While these hidden city deals are usually cheaper, there are some restrictions. Hidden city flights only allow you to use carry-on luggage, you can’t check anything in. And such flights don’t count towards your frequent flyer points either. But hey, the savings are so good that it’s one of the best-kept secrets of expert travelers.

Best Website for Flight Deals: All The Flight Deals

Airlines, travel agents, and other travel companies often offer steep discounts or great deals on airfare. You can’t track them all, which is why some sites and bloggers specialize in doing that. Well, All The Flight Deals is an aggregator for those sites and bloggers, giving you the best deals from multiple sources, much like Skyscanner gets the best prices from multiple websites.

It’s simple. Key in the city you’ll be flying out from. You can choose filters like verified deals, non-stop flights, or the continent you’re interested in traveling to. In a minute, you’ll see a bunch of deals that fit your needs. Click what looks interesting, follow the usual steps to book a ticket, and you’re good to go.

All The Flight Deals is even better if you refine these settings the first time and then set up an email alert. You don’t need to go to the site every day, and instead get a simple newsletter whenever there’s a new deal that matches with your settings.

Follow Airline Flight Deals on Twitter

While All The Flight Deals does a great job, it will only alert you to good deals from your city. For the best deals going around, there is only one account you should follow: @TheFlightDeal. You’re almost guaranteed to never miss a great discount on flights again.

Flight tickets are one part of travel anxiety. But these sites should help you minimize your travel stress and have an enjoyable vacation or a business trip.

Read the full article: These Cheap Flight Websites Will Save You Tons of Cash

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The 5 Best Mac Screen Recorders for Capturing Your Screen

Interested in creating video tutorials to teach others how to use software? Or perhaps you need to communicate a computer problem you’re experiencing. Screen recording software is one of the most effective ways of presenting this information.

Fortunately, you’ll find an excellent selection for macOS at your disposal. Whether you need something simple and free or the advanced features of a paid solution, we’ve rounded up the best screen recorders for Mac to help you decide.

1. ScreenFlow

The first aspect you’ll notice about ScreenFlow is the price tag. Is it justified?

That depends on how many of the extensive features you’ll actually use. Calling ScreenFlow a screen recorder is like referring to Mount Everest as a sandcastle.

Not only can you record from multiple monitors, but you can choose to record from your webcam and connected iOS device simultaneously. Combine that with the ability to record audio, and you have the perfect setup for creating video tutorials.

Recorded media from all sources then saves to a single timeline where you can turn the raw footage into a professional-grade video quickly and easily. Annotations, callouts, and video motions are at your fingertips in an easy-to-use interface.

One particularly interesting feature is the touch callouts, which can demonstrate screen touches and gestures if you’re recording an iOS device.

ScreenFlow also has a variety of exporting options depending on where you’d like to view your finished video. You’ll find presets from lossless ProRes codecs to ones specifically for the Apple TV.

If you’re considering making many screen recordings that involve multiple sources, and you’d like to add some embellishments in post-production, ScreenFlow might be what you’re looking for.

Download: ScreenFlow (Free trial)
Download: ScreenFlow ($129)

2. Snagit

Perhaps having a fully fledged video editor is overkill for your use case. Maybe you’re looking to create mostly disposable videos quickly without needing many of the post-production enhancements that come with ScreenFlow. Snagit combines some of the best screen recording features in a simple interface.

It allows simultaneous recording from screens and webcams, but you can’t overlay the videos, and you will need to toggle between which one is recorded. Snagit also allows you to record audio; you can view your past recordings and tag them for finding them quickly in the future.

Snagit features a powerful image editor with a vast library of assets to annotate your images on the fly. One handy feature is the ability to export a video as a GIF with a single click from the preview screen.

Snagit is perfect if your focus is getting good-enough screen recordings that will probably have a short shelf life.

Download: Snagit (Free trial)
Download: Snagit ($50)

3. Camtasia

Camtasia has been around since 2002, which makes it a screen recording veteran. Like Snagit, it’s developed by Techsmith.

While Snagit focuses on quickly recording and exporting, Camtasia is a beefier screen recorder with a fully featured video editor.

Camtasia’s interface may seem busy, but it becomes comfortable quickly. The first time you start Camtasia, it loads a sample project with a handy video tutorial. This extends to Camtasia’s numerous other video tutorials on its website to help you start churning out professional screen recordings as quickly as possible.

The app offers screen recordings from multiple sources, and records audio from both a mic or the system. You can also send recordings from your mobile device directly, but admittedly, this mobile device integration isn’t as smooth as ScreenFlow’s.

Camtasia’s trump card is in the plethora of assets that are available to enhance your videos. It includes beautifully designed annotations, callouts, transitions, and visual effects.

Since these are all drag-and-drop, you can apply and customize them in a matter of seconds. Camtasia also makes quick work of adding clicks, keystrokes, spotlights, and zooms so viewers can easily follow along with the instructor.

Like ScreenFlow, this app does come with a significant cost. But if you’re after a polished interface and looking to create videos that are stick around for some time, it might be worth the investment.

Download: Camtasia (Free trial)
Download: Camtasia ($249)

4. Movavi Screen Capture Studio

Movavi’s Screen Capture Studio is one of the highest-rated screen recorders. It has all the ingredients of a fantastic screen recorder, with the full range of editing tools to suit both casual and professional users.

Movavi sits in the sweet spot between price and functionality. It combines a broad set of tools with an easy-to-use interface, and has the benefit of being both a quick capture tool and full-featured editor.

Once you’re done capturing, you can make some quick edits before either saving or sharing directly to YouTube. If you need more advanced edits, you can open your capture in the video editor.

This editor is your typical timeline with an excellent set of editing tools, including a chroma key (used if you have a green screen). There’s also a good selection of filters, transitions, and titles. And the editor even offers two modes, one of which is an easy mode for creating a quick montage. Movavi also has a store containing a catalog of effects and transitions depending on the video you’re producing.

Movavi really shines when it comes to the exporting options available. You’re able to tweak the resolution, frames per second (FPS), and choose a specific format. You can also choose from a wide range of presets like exporting for specific mobile devices or 4K TVs. Movavi also allows you to upload directly to your YouTube channel from within the editor.

Download: Movavi Screen Capture Studio (Free trial)
Download: Movavi Screen Capture Studio ($60)

5. QuickTime

If you use case doesn’t involve complex editing, annotations, and filters, Apple has a screen recorder baked into macOS. QuickTime is a reliable video player, but it’s also a quick and easy screen recorder that you don’t have to pay for.

Just open QuickTime Player, then go to File > New Screen Recording. You’ll see a popup screen capture menu where you can choose the area of the screen you want to capture. Select the dropdown icon next to the record button to select a microphone for adding audio.

QuickTime features some essential editing tools like rotation, splitting, and trimming. You can also add clips to the end of a sequence if you’d like to combine your screen capture with something that you’re referencing. You will, however, need a video converter if you’re looking to export in anything other than MOV format.

QuickTime is perfect if you need to record your screen in a pinch and you don’t require any annotations, filters, or effects. Pair it with a free Mac video editor if you need more options.

Which Mac Screen Recorder Is Best?

Ultimately, choosing any piece of software is driven by both your requirements and budget. If you’re looking to record your iPhone or iPad along with your Mac screen frequently, ScreenFlow makes an excellent choice.

Snagit offers a good set of essential tools and makes it easy to share with other apps. The other paid options do come with a slight learning curve, but offer flexibility when making changes. They also have a good selection of assets to add that professional touch to your videos.

Aside from QuickTime, each of the screen recording apps mentioned above have trial versions. Make sure to test out the software before spending the money. And for more Mac tips, check out common tasks your Mac can handle out of the box.

Read the full article: The 5 Best Mac Screen Recorders for Capturing Your Screen

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