Technologies

Get Acquainted With These Mac Keyboard Shortcuts. You Won’t Regret It

If you want to make your life easier, you should memorize these underrated Command keyboard shortcuts on MacOS.

Every time you’re on your Mac, you’re using modifier keys on your keyboard. These modifier keys, like Command and Option, are probably the most important keys you have, because they can perform shortcuts that are necessary to be more productive and efficient on your computer.

The most basic and common examples are copy (Command-C) and paste (Command-V), but these keyboard shortcuts also allow you to do more complicated things like force-close an app (Option-Command-Esc) or quickly take a screenshot (Command-Shift-4).

And the most important modifier key of them all? Command.

With it, you can copy and paste text, undo typing, select all your items at once, open a new window and so on. And in addition to all the routine shortcuts it’s known for, the Command key is much more powerful than you might think.

Even if you’re a MacOS power user, you may not be acquainted with everything the Command key has to offer, such as the ability to quickly hide windows cluttering up your desktop or search for anything stored on your computer.

Check out six not so commonly known keyboard shortcuts that use the Command key below.

And if you want to learn more about your Mac, check out the best MacOS Ventura features, as well as 10 tips to help you flex your Mac superpowers.

1. Cycle through all the open windows on your desktop

The keyboard shortcut Command-Tab allows you to quickly step through every app window open on your desktop. As long as the window is open on your desktop and not minimized in your dock, holding down the Command-Tab combination will bring up a window with all your open apps. Continue holding down Command as you tap the Tab key to cycle through the apps and let go when the app you want brought to the front is highlighted.

2. Hide the window that’s currently open on your desktop

Instead of minimizing your window with the yellow minus button up in the top left corner, you can quickly hide any window that’s open on your desktop with the Command-H shortcut. Unlike minimizing, the hide keyboard shortcut hides the window from both your desktop and dock, without closing it completely. To open the window back up, simply click the app icon in either your dock or elsewhere. And if you want to hide all app windows except for the one in front, you can use Option-Command-H.

3. Bring up Spotlight to search for files and apps on your computer

Spotlight search is one of the Mac’s most powerful features. Bring up the search bar and type whatever you want to search for, such as text messages, emails, documents, applications, notes, music, settings, movies or locations. You can use the magnifying glass in the menu bar to bring up Spotlight search, but this keyboard shortcut is at your fingertips: Command-spacebar.

4. Highlight the URL in your web browser to quickly share it

Usually, if you’re sharing a web address you double-click in the search bar and then copy the selected text to your clipboard. However, there’s a faster way to do this: use Command-L. This will immediately highlight whatever is in the address bar in Safari, Chrome or another web browser, whether it’s something you typed or the URL of the website you’re on. You can then hit Command-C to copy it so you can paste it elsewhere.

5. Reopen any closed tabs in the Safari web browser

You may be familiar with Command-T in Safari, which opens a new tab, but there’s also a shortcut that can reopen an accidentally closed tab. Simply hit Command-Shift-T and you’ll recover whatever tab you most recently closed. And if you’ve closed several tabs and want to recover all of them, you can continue pressing the Command-Shift-T shortcut to open multiple closed tabs.

6. Open something new in various native Apple applications

The Command-N keyboard shortcut is not nearly used enough. While it’s almost universally known for opening up a new window in many popular applications, on your Mac the Command-N shortcut can open a new email in Mail, a text message in iMessage, a window in Safari, a note in Notes, an event in Calendar and more. Try it out in your favorite apps and see what Command-N can open for you.

Technologies

SXSW 2026 Updates: What We Expect on Tech and Culture From Austin

Technologies

Uber May Soon Let You Book a Zoox Robotaxi in Las Vegas and LA

Amazon-owned Zoox hopes to start offering paid robotaxi rides to regular riders sometime this year. Right now, the rides are free.

No steering wheel, no pedals, no problem. Zoox announced Wednesday that it’s partnering with Uber to make its robotaxis available on the ride-hailing company’s app in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, pending US government approval.

The multiyear partnership, announced by Zoox and Uber on Wednesday, would enable Uber customers to get rides on Zoox robotaxis in Vegas this summer and in LA in 2027. After the partnership launches, the app will match riders with robotaxis on eligible trips, Uber said in a statement. Zoox will also offer rides on its robotaxis through its own app, so customers can use either the Uber or Zoox app to ride in the vehicles.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi called Zoox an «ideal partner» in a statement.

«The Zoox robotaxi is unlike any othervehicle on the planet — it was purpose-built from the ground up to deliveran extraordinary experience,» Khosrowshahi said. «Zoox’scommitment to safety and their advanced autonomous driving technology makethem an ideal partner. We’re thrilled to work together to introduce moreriders to the future of mobility.»

Zoox, founded in 2014 and acquired by Amazon in 2020, currently offers free rides in Las Vegas and San Francisco during its demonstration phase of service. The company said its robotaxis have logged more than 1 million miles for more than 300,000 riders.

Zoox is also conducting tests in six other cities — Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and Austin, Texas — and announced earlier this week that Dallas and Phoenix are next. Only people in San Francisco and Las Vegas can currently get test rides through the Zoox app.

«We’re taking a measured, step-by-step approach by starting small, learning quickly, and scaling responsibly,» Zoox said in its announcement Wednesday. «This partnership with Uber will mirror that approach, beginning with a controlled deployment with the potential to expand as we refine our operations, technology, and customer experience.»

No steering wheel

The Zoox is a fully autonomous vehicle that can carry up to four passengers (PDF). It has no steering wheel, no accelerator or brake pedals, and is bidirectional, meaning it can go forward and reverse by simply switching which end of the car is considered the front. There are touchscreens and emergency call buttons. Zoox had early issues with erratic braking that caused injuries and a crash, but addressed the issue through software updates during the ensuing investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

CNET’s Abrar Al-Heeti caught a ride in a Zoox in Las Vegas. She said she felt «oddly at ease as I watch a stream of cars, chain restaurants and desert landscape flash past the windows.»

Before it can start making money on its robotaxi rides, Zoox must get an exemption from the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. NHTSA is now accepting public comments on Zoox’s application for the exemption — you can post a comment here until April 10.

Zoox is seeking eight federal vehicle safety exemptions, including from rules requiring windshield wipers and windshield defrosting systems, TechCrunch reported.

Waymo is currently the main player in the US robotaxi market, with fully autonomous service in 10 US cities. But several other companies are looking to ramp up their self-driving presence this year, including Zoox, Tesla and Uber. That market expansion aligns with a Goldman Sachs forecast that more than 35,000 robotaxis will operate in the US in 2030, up from 1,500 currently. That would represent 8% of the rideshare market, with traditional human-driven rideshare comprising the other 92%.

Uber has partnerships with 25 other robotaxi services around the world, primarily Waymo — you can use the Uber app to get Waymo rides in Atlanta and Austin — and China’s Baidu, which will be testing self-driving rides in London this year.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 12, #1005

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 12 No.1,005.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

I spotted a couple of the categories in today’s NYT Connections puzzle, but the fact that I don’t take a lot of gym classes hurt my knowledge. You avid exercisers will have an advantage today. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Beach time.

Green group hint: This way, then that way.

Blue group hint: Workout time.

Purple group hint: Chirp!