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Apple Magic Christmas – Macintosh Throughout our Years

November 22, 2011 By

As the holidays approach, I think back to all of the Christmases in my life that have involved electronics. The Pong game back in 1976. The Fairchild gaming system (the first one with cartridges!) in 1978. The Atari 2600 in 1979. The Compucolor II by Intecolor in 1981. There was an “Adam” in there somewhere. Our parents, especially Mom, loved electronics and computers, and wanted their three boys to be geeks long before it was chic.

Well, I don’t know. Is it chic yet?

A major turning point was in 1985, when my brother Michael, who was working at a computer store while attending college, received a christmas bonus for his sales that year. With it, he bought (and brought home to the family) our first Macintosh.

He had already purchased his own shortly after its release in 1984, so he left this one with us. That was my senior year in high school, and I used this computer to write my class papers, something that pleased all the teachers who had struggled to read my “doctor’s” handwriting, or suffered through typewritten pages covered in “Wite-Out”. We found some odd little games to play on it. Did some black and white artwork on it. I loved it.

Since then, I’ve had only Macs. LCII, Quadra, PowerPC — I haven’t committed to memory all of the models I’ve used. That’s something I believe a lot of people do simply to impress others and not because they actually really owned those computers. I could pick mine out of a line up, and that’s all I care about. Given Apple’s market share in those days (late ’80s, early ’90s), I find it amusing how many people now seem to say they were early Apple fans.

We had a Miles Davis “Think Different” poster on our office wall, sure, but even before Steve came back, all through Apple’s “dark ages”, we were using and collecting all things Mac: Stickers. Pins. Our contract and non-disclosure agreement for beta testing QuickTime 1.6 in 1993, when we were a multimedia CD-ROM production company. The “25,000,000″ pin from MacWorld in 1996. Here’s one of my favorites:

Apple Magic Christmas

Yes, we love Apple long time.

I don’t know what year that T-shirt is from because I can’t even find another one when I Google it.

I’m rambling. I guess you can do that with a blog, right? Especially when you only make an entry every month or so?

My point is: Sure, it’s cool that our company has Apple certifications in OS X client, OS X Server and iOS devices such as iPhone and iPad. Yes, we know about iCloud and every version of the OS from System 7 (remember the Chooser?) through Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion. It’s great that our three technicians have been “sanctioned” by Apple because we’ve studied hard, taken official Apple training courses and passed our tests. But to me, what makes Technology Pros truly special is that we’ve lived and breathed Apple pretty much since the beginning.

So here I sit near the end of 2011, and I reflect on the years of Macintosh desktops, laptops, servers, towers, Apple color printers, Airports (both Extreme and Express), iPhones, iPads, iMacs and more.

And I wonder what’s next? What will be in my stocking in 2012? 2015? 2020?

Whatever it is, rest assured we will learn all about it so that we can help you with it, too.

Original Apple Logo Pin

Filed Under: Apple News, General Technology and IT, Uncategorized

Apple iOS Security and Mobility, MTC and Mobile Device Management

September 13, 2011 By

Just a few hours ago, after two months of preparation that included reading a 300-page tome, a test on the Apple Consultant Network website and a 2-day Apple-sponsored class/workshop in Chicago, I passed Apple’s Security and Mobility exam at a Prometric testing center. This makes me (and consequently, our company) certified in Mobility Technical Competency, or MTC for short.

What does this mean? If anyone reading this is considering the deployment of a large number of iPads, iPhones and/or iPod Touches, My Technology Pros can help you make decisions before, during and after that deployment. We can help you decide if you need to join Apple’s iOS Enterprise Developer Program, run a mobile device manager (MDM), or set up provisioning certificates. We can make sure your devices are secured in ways that would surprise you, such as limiting user activities like watching YouTube or using the camera. We can require difficult passwords and help your employees reset them remotely if forgotten, saving them the hassle of bringing the device back to the office. We can also put systems into place that will allow us to remote wipe devices that have been lost or stolen, ensuring the safety of your corporate data.

We can make all of this happen within your own network as well as securely (via VPN, for instance) from public networks so that sales people can safely check their calendar, mail, address books and internal services from their Apple mobile devices while on the road, minimizing risks to corporate intellectual property.

This just scratches the surface of what’s now possible, and we’re proud to be on the cutting edge of these new services.

As of this writing, September 13, 2011, I am one of fewer than 100 people in the country — and the only person in the state of Florida — with the MTC designation. So take advantage of this new knowledge and let me put it to work for you.

After all, you’re the reason we keep learning!

Filed Under: Apple News, Future Tech, General Technology and IT

Why doesn’t my WiFi work in the Kitchen?

May 29, 2011 By

As common as wireless internet connections are, there’s a lot that remains mysterious about them to the non-technical crowd.

Recently My Technology Pros did a WiFi install at a 10,000 square foot home on a private island (living in Florida is really awful; you shouldn’t come here). And even with four access points, there were some parts of the home that simply were impenetrable. The client asked us why this was so. Here, with slight modifications to protect the innocent, was our response:

First of all, we need to discuss in simple terms what wireless internet actually is. All we’re doing is taking the wired internet connection from your cable or DSL modem and instead of plugging it directly into your computer, we’re plugging it into a box called a wireless router. Examples are Apple’s Airport Extreme, Time Capsule or Airport Express. The wireless router converts that signal to radio waves. Wireless devices like your Macbook Pro, iPhone and iPad can send and receive those signals to communicate with the router (and therefore the internet) so that you are not tethered by a cable to a wired router.

So where’s the problem?

In simple terms: radio waves, like all waves, can get blocked or refracted. Several factors affect these waves. We’ll discuss each one below.

First, HVAC equipment — elevators, ovens, stoves, refrigerators — create interference on several levels. These big devices have big electromagnetic fields around them which (obviously) can block, reshape or otherwise interfere with a radio frequency. Since several of those devices (fridge, stove, freezer) are generally found in or near a kitchen, the interference is almost always greatest in that room of the house. Additionally, they are generally thick, have motors or are made of metal; all things that can interfere with waves. You might have noticed that the internet signal drops almost the second you cross the threshold into the kitchen. That’s why! We worked in an office once which was dropping WiFi around Noon every day for a while. We ultimately realized that people were using the microwave at that time, and that killed the signal. (There’s a great video I might be able to dig up that shows on an oscilloscope what happens to WiFi when a microwave is nearby).* Anyway, Channels 1 and 6 tend to avoid microwave interference, so we ended up on one of those channels for the office. That helps with microwave interference, but not with all interference. But I digress.

Secondly, physical barriers like walls present an issue in any building. Just as a wall blocks sound waves, so can it block radio waves like those transmitted from a wireless router. Every wall you put between the transmitter and the receiver reduces the signal. The material used and the solidness of the wall determine how much of the signal is blocked. Foil-backed insulation, metal studs and grates like air returns and vents are the worst; they can create what’s called a Faraday effect. Glass is also bad — especially the thick glass windows you have to protect that house from damaging hurricane winds. This is why almost no signal gets outside of that house; it’s too well built!

Finally, there are low level types of interference like low voltage lighting or lights with dimmer switches, wireless phones, fans or anything with a motor. Each one of these devices in the WiFi signal’s path can effect its strength and reliability.

As for the signal outside of the home, there is also ample evidence to suggest weather conditions play a role. Lightning (obviously) can cause problems, but even fog can block a signal as the droplets of water refract the signal repeatedly. Trees, rain and bad weather in general have been the bane of many satellite customers.

In summary, that house has pretty much ALL of the factors that make WiFi difficult, though we can certainly try some additional tricks if a signal in the kitchen is important to you. Just give us a call.

Hope this explains it!

*I found the video here. It’s probably boring to non-geeks, but it’s fairly short and worth a look if you’re interested in how people are investigating wave interference.

Filed Under: Apple News, General Technology and IT Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Apple Macintosh Reliability and Service

February 19, 2011 By

In a 2010 survey, Apple topped Asus, Toshiba and Sony — and crushed Dell and HP — in both reliability and service.  The report starts, “Apple once again smoked the competition in the desktop, notebook, and smartphone categories, winning high praise from customers in all reliability and service categories.”

It seems that every year more people learn that Apple makes great products and makes them very well.

To be clear, all computers are made of similar components: a processor, memory chips, a graphics card, a hard drive, etc. And those components can and do fail. They just fail less often in an Apple product because Apple uses high quality components, a factor often overlooked by people who think Apple products are expensive.

As certified Apple consultants and technicians, My Technology Pros has decades of experience helping people set up and configure their Apple products: MacBook, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, MacPro, iMac, iPad and iPhone. But we also have experience in replacing the occasional part that needs replacing. It’s been more than 10 years since I’ve had to replace a broken hard drive in a Macintosh, but I’m currently upgrading two laptop hard drives (digital media fills drives up fast these days, but that’s another blog post…). The data transfer is humming along in the other room as I type this.

PC World’s survey shows that you’re very unlikely to have component failure in an Apple product. But if you do, and you’re out of warranty — or even if you just want to upgrade your hardware — call  in the Pros!

ITechnology Pros knows Apple Macintosh

Source: PC World

Filed Under: Apple News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Choose Certified Apple Consultants

July 24, 2010 By

A new client recently told me this story when I was at his house:

I came across a Windows-only application that I was interested in. I had heard about the application called Parallels, which allows you to run Windows on your Macintosh computer without rebooting the machine. So I bought a copy and dug out my old Win XP installer CD. When I started the Parallels installation, I was a little confused by some of the options, and decided I didn’t want to take it on by myself. The kid next door to me has a Mac, so I asked him for help. (I used to get asked to mow the lawn; how times have changed!)

Well, the main difference between him and me was that I could admit that I didn’t have the necessary knowledge and experience to do the job.  As he went through my computer, he decided that my dock settings needed to be changed, that my network preferences were wrong, that I needed a password on the wireless router (okay, that was a good call, but still, it’s not what I needed). He also increased my screen resolution, making it harder for me to read, and enabled things I didn’t know how to use. When he finally got around to the Parallels installation, he clearly didn’t know much more than I did about it. I was risking my data on his learning curve. I wish I’d have called you guys first.

The “kid next door” story, also sometimes told as the “guy in the office who knows computers” story, has been told to us many times.

One of the great things about Apple products is their extraordinary ease of use. Most people can take a Macintosh, an iPhone or an iPad out of the box and be using it within minutes.  Apple’s engineers have made “plug-n-play” a reality – and fun – for many years.

However, there are times when you encounter a problem that you just can’t troubleshoot on your own. After all, the modern Macintosh operating system, for all of its ease and beauty, is built on Unix, which is a very complex operating system. The graphical user interface (GUI) Apple created simply covers up all the things that are happening “behind the curtains” when you click on a button.

So it’s highly likely that at some point, you will run across a problem with your Mac computer that you can’t quite figure out on your own.

Whom do you call for help?

Naturally, Apple’s retail stores are an excellent resource. But it’s not always practical to bring your computer – or your entire network – to a store.  So Apple created the Apple Consultants Network (ACN). In order to become a member of this network, an individual must pass at least one certification exam proctored at an Apple Authorized testing center, via Prometric.  When that individual works at a company, the company can also use the ACN logo in its promotional materials. My Technology Pros is a proud member of the Apple Consultants Network with three Apple-certified consultants: Patrick Junkroski was the first person to hold Apple certification in Southwest Florida with an ACHDS certification for OS 10.4, after completing Apple Authorized training in Houston in 2006.  He now holds 10.4 server certification (ACTC), 10.6 desktop and server certification (ACSP and ACTC) and desktop technician certification (formerly ACDT). Michael Junkroski, who has been a Macintosh user since its introduction in 1984, and Paul Novak also hold Apple desktop certifications. We work with Apple products all day, every day.

Our company works closely with the area’s Apple Stores to provide a seamless experience for customers. Your purchases are done at the Apple Store; your support can be done on-site by My Technology Pros.

Using certified consultants means you are getting people who truly know your products. Just as you would hire an attorney who has passed your state’s bar exam or only go to a doctor who has graduated medical school, so should you be equally prudent in hiring a technology consultant. Technology is not a sideline for us. It’s a way of life.

So while we do encourage people not to be afraid of doing some of their own troubleshooting on a Macintosh computer, we also remind them to recognize that “the kid next door” isn’t really a viable alternative when you get in a pinch. Call in the Pros.

Filed Under: Apple News Tagged With:

iPad doesn’t do magic, but it’s pretty amazing

May 14, 2010 By

Unless you’ve been in hibernation the past couple of months, you have probably heard that Apple has introduced the iPad. No, we didn’t camp out over night at the Apple Store to be first in line when the store opened. For once we were very patient when it came to our own new product purchase – we waited until just after lunch.

Once again, Apple has not disappointed. Yes, it is a very cool device and as Certified Apple Consultants, we can attest to its ease of use. Of all the great apps and features, here is our top 5 list:

  1. Media – Above all else, this is a media device. The video is sharp and crisp, the built in speakers put out impressive sound for their size. But reading on it is something special. Where the Kindle and other eReaders fail – and where Apple always shines – is in the details. Turning a page “feels” real. The support for graphics makes children’s books come to life in a way that is simply not possible on other devices.
  2. The Elements – this application is interesting even if you’ve never really understood chemistry that well. It makes excellent use of the graphics chip, with nice 360-degree photos of the elements and their uses. The text is witty and interesting, and there is a live connection to the Wolfram database for additional information.
  3. Scrabble – this classic game translates extremely well to the iPad. Their programmers really took advantage of the underlying operating system by adding features like playing on a local network with other players or joining a game through your Facebook account. Our favorite is the ability to use your iPhone as a tile rack when playing with other players with iPhones in the same room.
  4. Notes – a simple but powerful notepad app like the one on the iPhone. We use it daily in meetings.
  5. The Internet in your pocket. The iPad is a magnificent eMail and web device. The Safari browser on the iPad is quite possibly the fastest browser we’ve used on any platform. Checking eMail on the iPad is actually a fun, rather than tedious, experience. Once Mail threading is available with iPhone OS 4 (which also runs the iPad), you’ll never check mail on a desktop or laptop computer again.

If you are tempted by the iPad, but think it may be too much of a toy for business use, don’t be fooled. Though it doesn’t always compete with a normal PC or laptop, excellent apps are available for word processing, spreadsheet work and business presentations.

Contact My Technology Pros for iPad help.

We would be happy to discuss how the iPad may be the right tool for your business needs and how it can be integrated in to your existing network.

Filed Under: Apple News Tagged With: