Plain-English explanations of the terms our apps touch. Short answers up top, longer reads if you want them. Updated whenever something changes.
A 0-9 scale that tells you how active the geomagnetic field is, and whether the aurora is reachable from your latitude tonight.
The ring around each magnetic pole where the northern (or southern) lights are most likely to be visible at any given moment.
A right-click menu that lets any app pass selected text or files into any other app, including small tools you install.
The strip at the top of your screen and the icons on its right side, which third-party apps can extend with their own controls.
Apple lumps anything it cannot classify into Other. It is almost never the system files you fear it is.
A simple measure of how busy your processor is right now, expressed as a percentage from 0 to 100 per core.
A saved, searchable record of every file in a folder or on a drive, so you can find things without opening the folder.
The contents of a folder shown as a list. Every Finder window is one, and so is the output of the ls command.
The information about a file that is not its contents: dates, size, format, camera settings, and more.
The metadata a camera writes into a photo, including date, camera model, exposure, and often GPS location.
A short string computed from a file. Same checksum means identical files, so it is used to verify and deduplicate.
A fast 32-character fingerprint of a file. Great for spotting duplicates, but not safe for security.
A secure 64-character fingerprint used to verify downloads and prove a file has not been tampered with.
A second copy of the same content. Exact copies and near copies are different problems with different fixes.
CSV is plain and portable. Excel keeps formatting and thumbnails. Which to pick when you export a file list.
A list that describes the contents of a package or delivery, often with checksums to confirm nothing is missing.
When you should pick one over the other, and why the wrong choice can lose detail after upscaling.
Apple's default photo format is smaller and sharper, but it trips up plenty of older tools. Here is when each makes sense.
The AI technique behind apps that turn photos into cartoons, anime, or oil paintings.
Exact copies, near-duplicates, and burst frames are three different things. iOS only catches one of them.
Why your neighbour's router can slow yours down, and how to pick a channel that does not collide.
Range versus speed, in plain English, and when to force a device onto one or the other.
The protocol your Synology, Mac, or Windows machine uses to share files over a local network.
The small set of patterns you actually need 90% of the time, with examples.
A way to turn raw binary into safe ASCII text, used in everything from email attachments to JWTs.
A short, signed string that a server hands a client to prove who they are without keeping a session on the backend.
The character that separates one field from the next - a comma, tab, semicolon, or pipe - and why CSV and TSV files rely on it.
A 4-4-4-4 breathing pattern used by Navy SEALs, surgeons, and stressed-out office workers alike.
A slower technique meant to help you fall asleep, popularized by Dr. Andrew Weil.
The original earthquake magnitude scale, what it actually measures, and why it has mostly been replaced.