Welcome to my blog
Join me on my journey as I share my insights and experiences on all things Apple, Business and Entrepreneurship!
Join me on my journey as I share my insights and experiences on all things Apple, Business and Entrepreneurship!
This can lead to unsavory results. Results like a version of Chrome that updates and starts to slow down your computer because it was written for 10.13 but your still on 10.10. Or Adobe Photoshop automatically pushing you to move to their latest creative cloud version of Photoshop leaving old, once working fonts left unusable. In these cases what can you do to make sure that your running the latest version of software on your computer but without leaving yourself in a vulnerable position?
To start, you might want to quantify the problem, and for that, you can turn to a free iPhone app called Moment. Written by developer Kevin Holesh, Moment is designed to track three key pieces of data:
But no. When you answer, it’s “Heather,” a pre-recorded voice wanting to sign you up for a resort vacation, give your business a loan, or help with your credit card debt. Angered by the intrusion, you tap the red hangup button, wishing you had an old-style telephone receiver to slam down.
If your like me you want to check the status of your iPhone’s processor speed to see if it is being throttled and/or check if your iPhone battery needs replacing here’s how you can do it for free.
iBooks Author With its iWork like workflow if you are used to Numbers and Pages iBooks author will get publishing your eBooks in no time.
Well one really useful Accessibility tool is the AssistiveTouch feature, if your iPhone power button stops working for example how can you restart the device or lock the screen? (hint the iPhone will turn on if it has switched itself off when you connect the charging cable).
Better Search Just like Spotlight the Mail App now supports natural language search, if that phrase leaves you stumped it means you can search using in a more natural way such as using “from Jon last week” rather than specifically jon@gmail.com 11/13/2017.
Apple has announced the iMac Pro will be available to order on the 14th of December 2017.
It’s very easy when you have a compatible printer. You can print wirelessly with just the click of a button. Check the list of AirPrint printers available on Apple’s website. Apple’s AirPrint technology has been available for several years. Today the technology can be used on printers that do not have AirPrint installed but are wirelessly connected and can be accessed via a third-party software app and/or hardware.
Start with opening the System Preferences menu. This is the gear icon. You may have it in your Dock already (appears by default). You can also access it by clicking on the Apple icon on the upper left of your top toolbar menu and selecting System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
The Photos App on your Mac also comes with a range of pro editing tools allowing you to make quick edits to your photos right from the App.3 To reveal the editing tools press the “edit photo” button:
Similar to the tracking feature available on iPhones and iPads, macOS offers a convenient way to track packages you are receiving without having to log into a browser. You can quickly track your package via email or a message that contains the tracking number. This data detection feature quickly recognizes any active tracking number you have received such as FedEx, UPS, Amazon or other.
Before Face ID on the iPhone X recognizes you, the notifications show but with no detail. This is happening because Notification previews are set by default to “When Unlocked” on the iPhone X whereas other iPhones still get the notifications with the previews that we are so used to.
We live in a very different world now. Macintosh computers are just as vulnerable to malicous attacks. Spyware and ransomware can affect both PC and Mac computers alike and the once stable platform that we all knew and trusted has become less secure. Less secure obviously detracts from the experience that many people buy a Mac computer for in the first place, which is frustrating for many that turn from their ravaged past with their PC to a Mac; only to be greeted with the same annoying problems.
This could make the iMac Pro the first Mac to feature an A series Microprocessor, which are the same chips found in iPhone’s.
This latest iOS update fixes the keyboard bug that can cause the letter “I” to be mysteriously replaced with another character. See (our previous blog)
The app provides text-based content, videos, and photos from various sources, and now you can publish straight to Apple News yourself!
If like myself your fingers are too large for the visual touch keyboard on iDevice’s already then this is another Typo hell waiting to happen.
Finally Apple has included a QR scanner in the Photos App I’ve been waiting for this since the original iPhone! You no longer need a third party App to use a QR code.
Well this Tuesday the 31/10/2017 Apple has released iOS 11.1 which fixes a security concern know as a KRACK attack.
So what? Well it makes the platform more secure as Apple can focus it’s team on supporting the latest version(s) of iOS instead of providing patched to older versions.
Other than the fact Apple has changed the name from Drive to Files (at least 20 minutes lost googling what happened to my iCloud Drive) there is nothing I don’t like about Files in iOS 11.
We touched on the possibilities of Augmented Reality in our news of the Apple Watch 3 and Apple is in a very strong position to provide "AR" tech with ARKit framework being rolled out by Apple back in 2016.
Here is how to use the new contextual menu (pop up) “Website Settings”:
Bad Rabbit Lock Screen Countries we know to be impacted so far are Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Germany, with attacks centered on targets as wide-ranging as infrastructure, transportation, and media outlets. It is unknown at this time whether the attack will continue to spread, but it does have the same capacity for lateral infection (the ability to move deeper into a network and gain additional points of control) as the Petya/Not Petya ransomware.
However it is a necessary evil and if you purchase your hardware from a good manufacturer such as HP or Dell, and do not but the cheapest offering Windows machines are not the glorified food trays they once could be.
Pull up Disk Utility to create a disk image that contains the content inside a saved folder or connected device such as a USB device. Doing this will not copy over the free space from the device on to the disk image. After saving the disk image, you an restore the disk image to another volume to access the data.
However most owners have bemoaned the lack of functionality such as making calls from the Apple WATCH, or streaming music to the WATCH.
Most Mac users cannot wait to install and get running with the most elevated macOS so far. Follow these 6 steps for a Happy High Sierra!
As expected, Apple’s new iPhone X is a premium luxury model offering new features and capabilities unlike any other smartphone previously. CEO Tim Cook called iPhone X “the future of the smartphone.” Members of the press who got to test out the new iPhone X during the Apple Event in the Steve Jobs Theater earlier this month, frequently commented on the speed, ease of use and remarkable resolution of the new OLED screen.
The Menu bar on your Mac display, flush against the top of the screen offers convenient, quick access to your current apps on the left side and static Status icons on the right. Some third-party apps like Dropbox and Adobe may also install icons in the Menu bar for quick access next to your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplay, Battery, Time, Siri, Spotlight and Notifications indicators. If you find that your Menu bar is starting to get cluttered and/or losing usefulness, it is time to remove some apps and icons and clean...
Whether you are looking to archive old user accounts because you are reformatting your hard drive or you are backing it up for safekeeping, here’s how you do it.
When you text message a friend, family member or colleague via your iPhone, your text message may appear blue or green. The color indicates the method you’ve used and also at times, the type of device you are sending to.
CrashPlan for Home, owned by Code42, has provided secure storage backup options for consumers across the country since 2001. Code42, a privately funded software company based out of Minneapolis, made the decision to exit the consumer market and focus primarily on enterprise level and small business audiences as of August 22, 2017.
Apple’s new TV show ambitions became evident with its ‘Planet of the Apps’ reality TV show available via Apple Music, headlined by Hollywood actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba earlier in June 2017. The two women are also entrepreneurs of lifestyle brands Goop and Honest Company respectively, serve as judges on the new show where contestants pitch their app concepts.
Rumors have been circulating about a new facial recognition software that will be replacing the Touch ID software entirely on the new OLED iPhone X. These rumors were confirmed by developers who had access to beta software and were able to test out some features including the setup process of the new ‘Face ID’ feature.
However it is still possible to get malware (viruses, adware, and spyware) on a Mac that infect other systems on the Mac such as JAVA or third party browsers such as Google Chrome. Plus you could be passing on Windows viruses that do not affect your Mac but will happily be passed on to Windows machines.
With a total revenue predicted to be between $49 billion and $52 billion for the final quarter of 2017 Apple is one of the biggest Tech Giants out there with greater revenue than Facebook and Amazon.
With support for the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro’s using Parallels Touch Bar Wizard it will be possible to customize the Touch Bar to work with your Windows Apps when using them in a Parallels virtual machine.
The easiest method to free up space is to use iCloud Photo Library and choose the option for Optimize iPhone/iPad Storage.
And yes you can watch them on websites that are mostly illegal depending on the country and jurisdiction which you live under, however after you have spent twenty minutes finding the film and 10 minutes downloading malware you have lost valuable viewing time if not your freedom.
Here’s how you can clean up your mobile devices and get them running better. Clearing up space on your iPhone or iPad will improve performance especially on older models and clearing out memory also helps you be more productive as you’ll know where everything is and can focus on what’s relevant.
The new iPhone 8 has an OLED screen, which makes it difficult to embed a Touch ID fingerprint scanner. Apple is expected to replace its popular Touch ID feature with a new facial recognition software. However, given that the company is still testing out this feature, it may not be announced in the first iPhone 8 product launch but later in the year, according to industry experts such as Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, known for giving accurate predictions regarding iPhones and other Apple products over the last decade. Some...
So you are out in the field and you haven’t got access to your clients files! Not any more, yes you can set up screen sharing which is great but you need to have either a fixed IP address or a DYDNS subscription set up. Or you can use Back To My Mac as part of iCloud which will automatically configure the correct IP address for both file sharing and Screen sharing and allow you to sign into the remote Mac by simply having the same iCloud username and password...
iOS 11 brings great new features to the iPhone , iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV with closer integration with macOS High Sierra also due for release in Fall of 2017.
Apple made this tedious process easier with its built-in Preview available on all Macs that have OS X Lion or later installed. You can electronically sign your PDF and save time and effort. This is especially helpful if you have multiple documents that you need to sign.
Initially, there was a lot of excitement that Apple might be developing its own car, but instead it seems that the company has chosen to focus only on the autonomous driving system with the final deadline of late 2017 for feasibility or the project will be axed, according to Bloomberg. The project labeled ‘Titan’ has had its ups and downs, with a rocky 12 months since Bob Mansfield, a veteran executive of Apple, took over management.
Although Apple sells roughly three iPads for every Mac sold the Mac’s make more profit for Apple. By reducing the cost of iPad’s and introducing entry level iPad’s through to the iPad Pro it has made iPad’s more attractive for customers that do not require all the features available on the iPad Pro. iPad’s can be used for a variety of tasks including POS (replacement for a conventional till were cash is not needed) teaching aids as replacement for books and basic IT tasks as well as watching videos.
Switching Apps If like me you regularly use multiple apps to complete a task such as Photoshop , BBEDIT, & Pages. Switching between the apps can be time consuming moving the mouse around looking for the correct icon in the Dock.
The name You may expect “iPhone 8” to be the name as it follows all of the names Apple has given to previous iPhones however with some of the new nomenclature (naming convention) that is being used for other Apple products it would be reasonable to expect a name such as the iPhone Pro, you have to admit it has a nice ring to it.
Thanks to Apple using 2FA across all of your devices it is very easy and makes accessing Apple’s Cloud Services very secure such as iCloud Drive, you will now need more than just the email address and password you use for your Apple ID.
The review process on ad blocking apps seems to have changed recently with several ad blocking apps updates being blocked by Apple. This relates to 4.2 of the App Store Developer Guidelines:
Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Displays. If automatic brightness is enabled on your Mac the screen will also be dimmer if the ambient light is not as strong which can make your eyes even more strained.
Files you can AirDrop include:
Recently, Apple started sharing interactive HomeKit experiences at 46 Apple retail stores so that customers could try out the smart home platform and get familiar with HomeKit. New stores keep being added and having HomeKit available to test out with different devices and environments, makes it easier for customers to understand how it could work for them.
Apple has improved upon its popular Apple TV and even brought Amazon Prime into its fold of popular shows. You know you want one now, and here’s a quick walk-through with tips to set up.
You can see which apps you have that are 32-bit by opening the Activity Monitor which you will find in Applications folder > Utilities folder:
Not only did the thieves steal my Mac they stole the backup hard drive which was connected to it :-( . Luckily I had my MacBook which I use for work safely in the trunk of my car, but no copy of the 3D files to continue with, hence months of work was lost and in the end abandoned.
Earlier last month, Apple previewed watchOS 4 at WWDC. The new watch software features a proactive Siri watch face that contains information you find relevant every day and a new way of experiencing music. The update also offers an updated Workout app and introduces GymKit, that helps you connect your workout to existing cardio equipment. View Apple’s Preview here.
Resize Columns If like me you organize your files into a folder structure of some kind, you will find from time to time that the columns do not fit the file names:
You might think that macOS High Sierra is not the most inspiring name for the latest macOS however Apple’s own marketing team said it is “fully baked”.
It’s very convenient how your Macintosh computer immediately opens up any file you double click on in its default application. You can get going on what you want to do right away. For example, when you click on a Microsoft Word file that you have, your computer opens up the file for you in your Word program.
You can also print screen which saves a screenshot of your monitor(s) to the desktop by pressing ⌘ Command + ⇧ Shift + 3, if you have multiple monitors this command will save a screenshot of each screen to the desktop.
HomePod is being touted as the privacy focused smart assistant, which could be seen as a shot across the bows of the offerings from Amazon and Google which are known to be data hungry “they’re analysing what you do”.
For its 10th edition of the iPhone first, Apple is expected to have a dramatic redesign. Since 2012, Apple has unveiled new iPhone editions in the first or second week of September consistently. Expectations remain that Apple will follow this schedule, announcing its new iPhone 8 in roughly 80 days from now.
Retrieving an old password that you have forgotten may seem difficult at first, but in most cases, can be done easily if you are using Mac OS X Keychain. Whether you need access to an old password or you’re helping a friend or family member, it helps to know how to retrieve an old password on your Mac. It’s easy to forget old passwords you have not used in a while. Maybe you got a request like this:
Don’t worry it is not a step into the unknown APFS is already running on your iOS device (ipad,iphone etc).
That being said this tip can really help extend the working life of your Mac.
Apple has improved upon one of its best-selling and well made products, the iPad Pro this year with the addition of 2 new models, the 12.9 and 10.5 inch iPad Pro models that offer larger displays by using smaller bezels. The 10.5 inch iPad Pro replaces the prior 9.7 inch model. Apple said that it chose the new screen 10.5 screen size because it allows for a full on-screen keyboard as well as an add-on Smart Keyboard.
Change System Preferences with Siri Before you go searching for your system preferences, try using Siri instead for simple changes. Talking to your Mac may feel a bit strange at first, but you’d be surprised how much Siri’s grown in the past two years alone!
Organizational abilities. One of the better features Photo’s provides are its organizational abilities. Extending the built in features such as geotagging and face recognition organizing photos into Albums manually is fine for single events. However if you want to quickly find all the Pictures of your favorite person, place, activity or even organize all Pictures taken with your iPhone this can take a long time going through hundreds or thousands of images.
Apple has caught onto this fact and has promised to revamp the Mac Pro line (watch this space), in the meantime Apple has decided to launch the iMac Pro range due to launch later this year in December.
At my company we already had a proper SSL certificate so I was able to skip a good third of the pdf that discusses in detail the proper way to generate the CSR and to create the certificate. WebHelpDesk recommends the use of a program called Portecle a java based utility that takes your certificates and creates a java keystore (.JKS). This is the file that actually secures Web Help Desk.
While investigating methods to improve our web hosting I stumbled upon Digital Ocean, these guys are awesome! Digital Ocean boasts a virtual private server environment running various flavors of Linux with amazing CPU and Memory options. Ironically the third tier server with Digital Ocean costing $20 per month together with our website code optimizations put us over the top.
While looking at the options out there for laptop security and recovery, and reviewing all the options, it seemed wise to take a step back and ask the question, what is the end goal? What do you expect to happen when your precious laptop or desktop is lost or stolen? Do you expect to retrieve it? Will you claim it as a loss and report it with your insurance company? The answers to these questions will impact how you should consider the choice for what kind of solution to use...
Note, I was struggling to get this to work and realized that if you do not have a mass deployment serial number or serial key that is valid for a volume license then the installation seems to fail. Thats because the steps we are about to take use a command line utility to register the software on install and then suppress the prompts to register the software. If you get software installation errors then make sure that your serial number is valid.
Again, since I do not have any looming restrictions in my workplace I have found a piece of software that would never be allowed in larger Government facilities but works nicely for what I need. The problem, from time to time I need to re-image or re-core a massive amount of computers, sometimes hundreds of computers. I have a team of two, me and a Helpdesk Technician. This is a daunting task and since I do not like to work weekends, I find that Deploy Studio Server helps me keep...
