Welcome to my blog
Join me on my journey as I share my insights and experiences on web development, business, and content creation.
Join me on my journey as I share my insights and experiences on web development, business, and content creation.
Lessons Learned From 2014 until 2022 I built and ran a series of successful IT consultancies, from a one person solopreneurship (Jon Brown Consulting), to a startup (Mac Gurus) to its more mature and accomplished predecessor (Grove Technologies) where I eventually sold the business and exited the industry. It was a hard path and each step and stage of the companies existence I learned more and more not only about how to run a business, but about myself, and my clients and their needs. More importantly I learned that you...
What is a pentest and why should I have it performed? Organizations are faced with the increasing scrutiny of more complex and sophisticated attacks by threat actors against key information systems that are essential to the organization. Complex attacks such as ransomware and data exfiltration are being used against organizations or systems that they encounter or somehow get access to. When an attacker wants to break into a system, they will typically choose the easiest and most direct methods in means in order to access it. The problem is an...
Cybersecurity Threats and Talent Shortage Cybersecurity risks and threats are issues that all organizations, large and small, must deal with. Whether the issues are information security program related or a technical challenge, organizations need to have the personnel resources to solve the cybersecurity issues as aligned to the business requirements set forth. In an ever-growing cloud-based services industry, information security risk is never greater. Cyberattacks are growing in impact and frequency. Not a week passes without a headline of another cybersecurity attack such as a data breach or a ransomware...
Why is a cybersecurity training so important? Security awareness training is one of the most critical and important security requirements for any size organization to consider implementing within their environment. Arguably, the greatest risk faced by any organization is the danger of insider threat as employees are can be considered a weak link in the chain as they are susceptible to curiosity, greed, envy, etc. To further increase risk, employees may be faced with the threat of social engineering attacks including phishing, baiting, spear phishing, tailgating, scareware, pretexting, quid pro...
Why is a risk assessment so important? A cyber security risk assessment is a critical activity performed on your company’s security policy procedures and infrastructure to reveal potential threats to key corporate assets and vulnerabilities in your current security controls as implemented. What is the goal of a risk assessment? The goal of a security risk assessment is to define the appropriate safeguards that your company will need to implement in order to align to your company’s risk assessment objective, profile, and priorities. An organization faces many types of threats...
What is the CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model), and what does it mean for you? The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is the Department of Defense’s (DoD) latest cybersecurity program designed to ensure that cybersecurity controls and processes adequately protect Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) that resides on Defense Industrial Base (DIB) systems and networks. The DIB consists of all suppliers of DOD related services including primes/subs/consultants that provide any type of service on a DOD related contract. The DoD implemented requirements for safeguarding CUI information and cyber incidents through the release...
In November, Apple unveiled its new M1 chip and three new Macs that use it: the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. The M1-based MacBook Air replaces the previous Intel-based MacBook Air, but with the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac mini, Apple continues to sell some Intel-based models with beefier specs—most notably a higher memory ceiling. Even though Apple makes impressive performance claims for the new Macs, the community was still somewhat skeptical. Were these new Macs as fast as Apple said? Would they be limited in...
Even beyond its often controversial behavior in the 2020 US presidential election, Facebook continually makes news headlines for its numerous privacy and security problems. Most notable, of course, were the 50 million Facebook profiles gathered for Cambridge Analytica for the 2016 election. Closer to home, the company pushed a VPN service in the Facebook iOS app that collected all your mobile data traffic for Facebook. After pressure from Apple, Facebook pulled the VPN but reused it for the Facebook Research program, which paid users as young as 13 for their...
In 2018, Apple dropped support for creating print projects from within Photos, including greeting cards, calendars, and books. Instead, Apple allowed other print-service companies to build Photos Project extensions that gave users the same sort of capabilities. At first, they didn’t match up with what Apple had previously provided, but they’ve improved over time. It’s the holiday card season again, and given how little we’ve all been able to see friends and family, we expect a lot more people will be sending cards this year. You’re welcome to use Mimeo...
Many of us have been using iPhones for years, and apps we bought or downloaded long ago molder in corners of our Home screens. Even if you haven’t played Flappy Bird in years, its pixelated icon still stares glumly at you every time you peer at its Home screen, and it’s far from alone. To find out how many apps you have, go to Settings > General > About and look next to Applications. So where are they all? Unless you’re one of those highly organized people who keeps every...
For those who work in organizations, regardless of size, you know how much effort is involved with coordinating a group’s technology. It can take quite some time to set up a new Mac, iPad, or iPhone with all the right apps, settings, and logins. And that’s just to get started—on an everyday basis, maintaining solid security practices is essential, and support requests are inevitable. The solution to all this is MDM, or mobile device management, which is a way of centrally administering computers, tablets, and smartphones to simplify setup and...
On the Mac, nearly every file has an extension, a set of characters after a period that indicates what type of file it is and determines which app opens it. So, .png indicates a PNG graphic that opens in Preview by default, .pages denotes a Pages document, and .docx identifies a file as belonging to and opening in Microsoft Word. Plus, the extension for all applications is .app. Depending on what you do, how often you exchange files with people on other platforms, and your personal preference, you may wish...
The holiday shopping season is fast approaching! Given the significant stresses placed on society’s fulfillment, distribution, and delivery systems by the pandemic, we recommend you start thinking about your holiday gift-giving sooner rather than later. Even Apple, which generally does an excellent job predicting demand and shipping products quickly, has been suffering from delays this year. But if you order in time, Apple has a wide variety of products that would make great gifts for your Apple-using loved ones. AirPods and AirPods Pro Apple makes two models of its insanely...
With the release of the next OS from Apple, macOS 11 Big Sur, you may be tempted to upgrade right away and enjoy the newest features and sparkling new look of Apple’s newest OS. With all the new features, it’s tempting to hit that “Upgrade” button right away, but Grove Technologies is recommending that you wait until version 11.0.5 is released, which usually takes a few months. New versions of operating systems can be sluggish and buggy, they can slow down your Mac, and there are always compatibility issues with...
We all have things we do regularly on our iPhones, whether it’s checking the weather, searching Google, or invoking the magnifier. Apple has long provided ways of making your most common actions easier to access. You might put an app on your Dock, open Control Center, or take advantage of the triple-press Accessibility shortcut. With iOS 14, Apple has opened up a new and customizable way of triggering actions: Back Tap. With a double or triple tap on the back of any iPhone 8 or newer running iOS 14, you...
Continuing its pandemic-driven approach of short, focused announcements, Apple once again took to the Internet to stream its “One More Thing” event. On center stage this time was the Mac, or specifically, three Macs, all of which replace the longstanding Intel chip with Apple’s new M1 chip. All three Macs can be ordered now and will be available within a week or so. What Is the M1 and Why Should You Care? Before we talk about the Macs that are now based on Apple’s custom-designed M1 chip, let’s explain what...
A significant new feature in iOS 14 is Home screen widgets, information-rich tiles that share space on a Home screen with app icons. iPhone users familiar with Google’s Android smartphone operating system have long clamored for widgets because they provide quick information at a glance, without having to launch an app or swipe right on the Home screen for Today view. In fact, you could think of iOS 14’s Home screen widgets as having escaped Today view—which is still there and provides access to a scrolling list of widgets that...
When disaster strikes, your company needs to be ready. As the pandemic has shown in 2020, many small businesses were not ready for the scope and impact that a disaster may cause in terms of disruption and unavailability too critical systems and essential employees. Many small businesses were forced to scramble at the last minute to accommodate remote work solutions with the bare minimum preparation or experience to support continuity requirements. Small businesses should take into account the types of disasters that they may occur or impact their company. Here...
Cloud computing has taken the technology industry by storm in recent years, providing businesses small and large alike with convenient and cost-efficient solutions to store and share data. Platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure provide web hosting for some of the largest and most popular websites on the internet. Cloud Solutions are attractive options for small business owners, as they eliminate the need for spacious and expensive data warehouses and provide for fast and easy scalability. However, these new and evolving benefits are accompanied by an...
The modern office, small and large, have largely driven the practice of access to company data anywhere at any time. With COVID-19 forcing many companies to adopt a remote workforce, organizations must provide access solutions to their workers in order to safely and efficiently perform their tasks. The cost to provide organization provided devices can be expensive so the rise of BYOD (bring your own device) policies have largely given rise to the concept of using employee-owned devices to access organizational resources. This reduces the cost of equipment and reduces...
The small screen of the Apple Watch prevents new watchOS features from being as obvious or splashy as those in iOS and iPadOS. But watchOS 7, now available for the Apple Watch Series 3 and later when paired with an iPhone 6s or later running iOS 14, has quite a few notable changes. Here are our favorites: Family Setup, sleep tracking, handwashing reminders, and new watch faces and complications. Family Setup Since the original Apple Watch, Apple has required that every Apple Watch be paired with an iPhone to simplify...
For the second time in less than a month, Apple has made a splashy announcement. In its “Hi, Speed” event, the company unveiled a new lineup of four iPhone 12 models along with the new HomePod mini. HomePod mini Just as Apple did in its event, let’s get the HomePod mini out of the way first. The HomePod mini is easy to explain—it’s just a smaller, cheaper HomePod. For $99, you get a flat-topped sphere that’s about half the height and two-thirds the width of the HomePod, which currently lists...
In 2020, it seems like there is a new headline just about every week of another major company getting hit with a ransomware attack. Per the New York Times, “A woman died from treatment delays after a hospital in Germany hit by a cyberattack was forced to turn away emergency patients. Hackers released private information, including Social Security numbers, from a Las Vegas school district. A coronavirus vaccine trial was bogged down in recent weeks when researchers were locked out of their data.” Adding to this you see major companies like Garmin getting their core infrastructure...
In the third Quarter of 2020 Apple’s App Store made double what Google’s Play store made. With over 30 Billion app installs Apple’s App Store saw consumers spending around $30 billion in total according to the leading App Store analytics firm. App stores have seen sustained and expanding growth in the last couple of years with more and more companies launching App store / Launcher store models. In-app purchases, premium apps, & subscriptions totaled $19 billion worldwide on Apple’s App Store which is twice the amount brought in by Google...
In 2017 61% of small businesses in the United States suffered some kind of cyber-attack according to a report by the Ponemon Institute. This number reflects an over 50% increase year to year in cybersecurity assaults on U.S. small businesses. Even more discerning is that an August, 2020 report from Interpol is that 43% of small to mid-size businesses do not have any cybersecurity plans whatsoever. This includes no endpoint detection, malware detection, firewalls/basic defenses, and incident response/contingency plans. There are many reasons why small businesses need cybersecurity — privacy, client trust, systems availability,...
Now Offering full CMMC Consulting Services Get CMMC Consulting Services From a Team of Compliance Experts and Cybersecurity Engineers Trained to Get You Over the CMMC Finish Line. Learn More It’s been an interesting year and a busy few months with plenty of updates for the CMMC assessment requirements process. For some background, the CMMC (cybersecurity maturity model certification) was created by the DOD and requires that its 300,000 supplier, primes, and subs (i.e., the Defense Supply Chain (DSC)) become compliant with defined cybersecurity practices and processes at various levels...
As we get into September, it’s a good bet that Apple will soon—either this month or next—be pushing out major upgrades for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Apple previewed these new versions at its Worldwide Developers Conference back in June, and they’ve been in public beta for a few months. Once Apple makes macOS 11 Big Sur, iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14 available, the question looms large—when should you install them? (Note that we say when and not if. There’s no harm in delaying a...
Although Macs are great at managing their energy use which allows MacBooks to maximise the time they are able to run from battery power alone, there are situations in which you may wish to extend their energy efficiency even more. The Intel CPU running in your Mac that’s the i number usually from i3 through i9 in the current Mac line-up supports [Intel Turbo Boost which accelerates processor and graphics performance for peak loads, automatically allowing processor cores to run faster than the rated operating frequency. Intel Turbo Boost, unlike...
Over the last few releases of macOS, Apple has been beefing up the Mac’s privacy controls so they more closely resemble what the company has done in iOS. You’ve undoubtedly noticed that when you first launch a new app on your iPhone or iPad, it often prompts for access to your contacts or your photos, the camera or microphone, and so on. The idea behind those prompts is that you should always be aware of how a particular app can access your personal data or features of your device. You...
Imaginatively called Apple One, you can now pay for a single subscription which will provide access to the following Apple subscription services: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade & iCloud There will also be a Premier version of Apple One which will provide the additional extra services of; Apple News+ & Apple Fitness+. The Apple One service should launch in October 2020, on the official Apple website Books, iTunes, & Apple Card are not listed as one of the services that will be made part of the Apple One subscription,...
Harvest season is here again, and Apple has deemed iOS 14 (along with iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14) ready for the picking. Although the betas have been pretty stable and no major problems have appeared in the first few days, we still recommend waiting at least a few weeks before installing via Settings > General > Software Update. In large part, that’s because many developers were taken by surprise by Apple’s release, so they’re working hard to release updates that work properly with iOS 14 and take advantage...
In 2016, Apple introduced the Touch Bar with the MacBook Pro. It’s a long, thin display above the number keys on the keyboard that shows a variety of buttons and controls. By default, it changes depending on which app you’re in, and it also displays the Control Strip, a collection of controls that roughly mimics the functions accessible from the F-keys that traditionally live in that position. Finally, it includes the Touch ID sensor that brings fingerprint authentication to the Mac. Since its launch, however, the Touch Bar hasn’t migrated...
In a normal year, most kids would be back in school by now. But the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many schools to offer online instruction, and many families are now settling into a remote back-to-school arrangement. We’ve provided some advice on working from home in previous posts, but what about schooling from home? Here are some suggestions. Create a Dedicated School Workspace It’s hard enough for kids to pay attention when they’re in school. Just think how difficult it will be for them to pay attention to online classes if...
It’s inevitable—your Time Machine backup drive is going to fill up. Time Machine is smart about backing up only files that have changed, but after months or years of usage, the drive will run out of space. What happens then? Before we explain, some background. On its first backup, Time Machine copies everything on your startup drive to the backup drive. After that, Time Machine keeps hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. If you modify the...
If you have 20/20 vision or are still wondering why your parents have reading glasses, count yourself lucky. But if you're like many people—over 60 percent of the population by some estimates, including most people over 45—reading the tiny text on your iPhone or Apple Watch might be impossible if you don’t happen to have the right pair of glasses handy. What we really want is a screen that corrects automatically for its user's individual vision problems—research into such technology has taken place at UC Berkeley and the MIT Media...
Here’s the solution to a problem that clients have run into on occasion. In a workgroup that relies on Adobe Creative Cloud apps, one person might upgrade to the latest versions of Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, whereas others don’t. Suddenly, if that person opens and re-saves a file in the new version, those using the old version may not be able to open it, or certain aspects of the file may disappear. Upgrading isn’t always possible—some people may have too-old Macs or not be running a new enough version of...
Apple’s workhorse desktop Mac, the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display, hasn’t seen an update since March 2019—nearly a year and a half ago. Happily, the company has finally released a new version of the popular iMac, outfitting it with 10th-generation Intel processors, increasing its RAM and storage capacities, and improving its audio and video capabilities. Prices haven’t changed, with the low-end model starting at $1799, the mid-range model at $1999, and the high-end configuration at $2299. Separately, although Apple didn’t update either the 21.5-inch iMac or the iMac Pro,...
With so many people working from home, lots of attention has been dedicated to making sure everyone has a functional computer, a reasonably ergonomic workspace, and a decent videoconferencing setup. One thing that many have overlooked, however, is the need for a reliable uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Particularly for those using desktop Macs or external hard drives, a UPS is essential because it protects your work—and your devices—against surges, brownouts, and outright power failures. That’s especially helpful as we head into the summer thunderstorm and fall hurricane season. What is...
Grove Technologies Ranked Among World’s Most Elite 501 Managed Service Providers Annual MSP 501 Identifies Best-in-Class Global MSP Businesses & Leading Trends in Managed Services Grove Technologies has been named as one of the world’s premier managed service providers on the prestigious 2020 annual Channel Futures MSP 501 rankings. For the 13th year running, MSPs from around the globe completed an exhaustive survey and application this spring to self-report product offerings, annual total and recurring revenues, profits, revenue mix, growth opportunities and company and customer demographic information. Applicants are ranked...
The pandemic has forced large numbers of those who are still employed—nearly half the American workforce, by some estimates—to work from home. And while that has actually improved productivity for many people, partly due to eliminating time-consuming commutes, remote work comes with its own challenges. Here are three of the top problems we’ve been helping our clients solve. Get in touch if you’re suffering from these or other tech issues that are preventing you from working as effectively as you would in your office. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all these issues revolve...
Have you ever set up a group meeting, whether in person or via videoconferencing, but found it cumbersome to find a time that works for everyone? Or maybe you want to solicit volunteers for an event? There’s a neat online tool that makes such logistics easy: Doodle. You can use it for free (with ads)—even without setting up an account. Or, if you want to eliminate the ads and get support for calendar syncing, deadlines, reminders, multiple users, and more, there are paid Premium plans. You can use Doodle in...
Introducing Munki Theme Maker For many Mac administrators in a variety of sectors an open source tool called Munki, a patch management tool, is more than prolifically used. Our mantra of being a technology agnostic consultancy agency exposes us to a wide range of Mac tools. Munki is one that we internally have used for years. Last year at the Mac Admins Conference at Penn State we gave a talk and showed off a script that we had been using internally to take the Munki product and make it fit...
At Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, the company dropped a bombshell: in the future, Macs will no longer be powered by Intel chips but will instead rely on custom-designed Apple chips. As surprising as this is, the company has made such massive transitions twice before: first in 1994 with the move from Motorola’s 68000 chips to IBM’s PowerPC platform, and again in 2006 with the jump to processors from Intel. Here are answers to the main questions we’ve been hearing. What is “Apple silicon”? For many years now, Apple has...
Every year at its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple lays out its roadmap for the next releases of each of its operating systems. The COVID-19 pandemic forced Apple to record its keynote presentation ahead of time rather than having it live, but the company doesn’t seem to have tempered its ambitions for macOS 11.0 Big Sur, iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7. Apple never promises ship dates this early in the process, but it’s a good bet that we’ll see these operating system updates in September or October, given past...
We called it earlier this week saying Apple is likely to move Macs to their own ARM based processors, Well Apple have announced Macs will be available with ‘Apple Silicon’ from late 2020. So, what does it mean for you if you have just bought a Summer 2020 Mac? Very little in all fairness as we discussed in the article earlier this week Intel Macs will still be relevant for most of the 2020’s the final death nail will probably be App developers no longer supporting Intel processors much like...
Rather than just a word processor Pages does much more it’s also a Desktop Publisher “DTP”. At one stage around 2009 Pages was actually far superior to Microsoft Word for desktop publishing however Microsoft Word has started to fill those gaps and is a good PAID for alternative. But let’s get back to the fact Pages is a really powerful app and now if you own a Mac or an iOS device it is free. If it’s not already installed open the App store on your Mac or iPad/iPhone and...
One of the most significant changes in macOS 10.15 Catalina was the breakup of the long-standing iTunes app into separate Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. But what about backing up iOS devices, which you also used to do in iTunes? In Catalina, Apple moved this function into the Finder. So if you’ve upgraded to Catalina or bought a new Mac that comes with Catalina, here’s how you can continue to back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in the Finder. One note first. If you haven’t been using iTunes...
Need help with something? On occasion, we all need tech support. Speaking as the people who are sometimes on the other end of those requests for help, we have some suggestions on how to get the support you need as quickly as possible. For instance, think about what we have to do if we receive an email message along the lines of “I keep getting a note that my backups aren’t working.” All we can tell from that message is that something may be wrong with the user’s backups. But...
It has been touted for several years that Apple may start using ARM processors in their Mac line up. However, in recent months with AMD releasing more and more powerful Ryzen processors pundits have been guessing Apple will announce an ARM based Mac at the upcoming Apple WWDC. What could this mean for us Mac users and should you hold off on buying a new Mac? Well only 15 years ago Apple successfully moved their desktop Mac line up from PowerPC processors to intel. This was done because Intel based...
Apple recently released iOS 13.5, incorporating a new Exposure Notification API in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve seen a few people freaking out about this, but seriously, calm down, folks. At best, the Exposure Notification API could lower contact tracing costs, reduce the spread of COVID-19, prevent life-changing health consequences, and save lives. At worst, it won’t prove particularly effective. In neither case does it pose any threat to personal privacy. Why have Apple and Google—two companies that normally compete tooth and nail—formed this unprecedented partnership? Contact tracing...
Have you ever been to the Doctors gotten home and thought “I forgot to ask about the pain in my side”?, Well the iOS health App will be there to help when the new update hits. The ‘Symptoms’ area shows users being able to add symptoms of illnesses including muscle ache, nausea, appetite change, & dizziness. Users of the Health App will be able to add symptoms using the Health app giving you a way to track symptoms that relate to illness. Users can add details about each of their...
We all want Mac laptops that can run for days on a single charge and never need their batteries serviced. Sadly, we’re always going to be disappointed. Battery and power management technologies continually improve, but those improvements are matched by more powerful processors and smaller designs with less room for battery cells. And, because physics is a harsh mistress, current lithium-ion batteries are always going to age chemically, so they hold less of a charge over time. In the just-released macOS 10.15.5 Catalina, Apple has introduced a new battery health...
1. Speak to your Mac! The Mac’s ability to listen and talk is excellent using Dictation. Since Siri’s launch on the Apple line-up this has eclipsed the Dictation feature. Hold Command-Space for a few seconds, or press Command-Space and type Siri, if you are using a recent Mac (any Mac since 2018 pretty much) say ‘Hey Siri’. You may need to open System Preferences > Siri and make sure it is enabled. Siri on the Mac is more powerful in Mojave and Catalina; Siri can even control system functions hold...
I’m sure you’re already using some of the shortcuts (also known as keyboard commands) in MacOs for some hints on copy and paste see our article on keyboard shortcuts here.. However, in MacOs shortcuts are not just for copy & paste, right in the finder there are some really useful shortcuts for managing your files. Command Space will open the Spotlight Search functionality; from there you can quickly launch an App even apps that are not listed in Applications or Utilities: Command + Shift + N : will create a...
It’s taken as gospel that Macs are more expensive than PCs. A quick look at the Dell Web site reveals laptops for as low as $300. Sure, we can say that the configurations aren’t comparable, that macOS is better than Windows, or that Apple’s hardware quality is superior. Still, our friendly local bean counters have trouble getting past those low upfront prices. However, unless you’re Rancho Gordo, the goal isn’t to count beans, it’s to get work done, and that’s a different scenario. Let’s look at a few ways that...
It seems simple enough, but there are some great features, built in apps, and third party apps that can really improve your workflow when copy and pasting. The very basics are on a Mac are; highlight the content you want to copy and press Command + C. Then where you want to paste the content you have just copied place the cursor and press Command + V. You can also copy & paste using the contextual menu, which is accessed using a right click or holding the CTRL Key and...
QuickTime is great, but it won’t play an AVI file out of the box or the lesser-known MKV for example. And with the introduction of MacOS Catalina we have had to say goodbye to our beloved QuickTime 7. QuickTime 7 offered the Pro version for a one time payment which basically upgraded the standard QuickTime player adding many useful video editing features and import / export options, I’m still using it to this day! Just not on a Mac running Catalina. If you try to open an .avi file or...
If like me Apple’s move from the original 30-pin port in 2012 to the Lightning ports you saw this as a positive move, the Lightning connector being a much more user-friendly connector. Next they took away the home button and the headphone socket, the home button going in favour of a larger screen was no real hardship once you learnt the new interface. However losing the headphone jack was a real annoyance for some people, as a compromise Apple provided a free lightning headphone set with new iPhones, sadly this...
So the Tech world’s software giant has released a version of its web browser for MacOs again after a 17-year absence. It’s actually big news as the last time a Web Browser from Microsoft was available on the Mac it was Internet Explorer 5 which saw the end of a 5 year partnership between Apple & Microsoft where Internet Explorer was bundled with MacOs and was the default browser. Following several years of antitrust actions against Microsoft for bundling their web browser with their operating system & Apple’s announcement it...
If like us you are itching to get into your local Apple store to check out the latest offerings from our favourite tech company you may be in for a wait. Apple said on the 13th of March it was closing all retail stores not in China as a result of Covid-19. As of today the 13th of May Apple are reopening in certain countries & states in a phased reopening plan. Apple has opened its stores in China and is reopening stores in other countries throughout Asia Pacific, this...
Are you the person your friends and family members turn to for questions about the Mac? In normal times, those questions might come over dinner or at another in-person gathering, such that you could look directly at their Mac to see what was going on. Now, however, with everyone staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, answering those questions has seemingly gotten harder. But it doesn’t have to be that way, thanks to a built-in feature of macOS that you may not have known about: screen sharing. With the...
Video Blog We work with lots of businesses, all Mac based businesses. The biggest point of confusion for many Mac based small businesses is to understand all the business offerings that Apple has to offer. Apple has many offerings for Apple businesses. From where to buy and how to buy *(Apple Retail vs Apple Resellers). From purchasing and pricing options *(Apple Card vs Leasing). As well as its own support offerings *(Applecare, Apple Store & Joint Venture) the path forward for many businesses is not always clear and with so...
When you’re in the Finder, choosing File > New Finder Window does, as you’d expect, open a new Finder window. But what folder appears in that window? By default, new Finder windows open to Recents, which is a built-in smart folder showing recently opened documents. If you’d prefer to see items in a fixed location on your drive, go to Finder > Preferences > General and choose any location from the New Finder Windows Show pop-up menu. We’re partial to Desktop or Documents, but you can choose whatever folder makes...
Top Tips on Working From Home Securely The necessity of working from home is becoming a reality for many workforce members that may not have had this access before. While remote working offers many benefits to employees, many more risks appear as cybercriminals prey on the lax security protocols of the remote worker. It is critical that we as employees treat this access as a privilige, making security our top concern. Your organizations remote access policy will layout the requirements you should be adhering to during remote sessions. If your...
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