tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907457520836993052024-02-21T04:20:06.213+00:00The Apple HarvestViews and reviews about Apple kit and software running on it.Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-64966373489678158172022-08-30T14:16:00.000+01:002022-08-30T14:16:04.173+01:00Apple Music for macOS Still Sucks and it’s getting worse<div>It has been a little over two years since my last major rant about Apple Music. I occasionally whinge on Twitter or FaceBook, but no one really pays any attention — mainly because they are currently busily techsplaining why the latest Apple Hardware sucks. I currently have three issues, and they are all show-stoppers!</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1pRYcDsaZL2suqJDdTEyPbGwPOOtfdIpVk-gYy9dw3abAeUKCR8oC8_VeaSNIUB58Y5zw7gdG5MHjdr7NgV2oDRAaskfetTNPfjeZsVtqnoQBciMlwBxvqsX-c1N7_ah6XnU3_Kew8MnAFTVcLKxfYEm1XdD6_Apo0kWM3UfLCFFgudAPKCJeSQbiRQ/s6720/mick-haupt-SvTyJZEsBQM-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4480" data-original-width="6720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1pRYcDsaZL2suqJDdTEyPbGwPOOtfdIpVk-gYy9dw3abAeUKCR8oC8_VeaSNIUB58Y5zw7gdG5MHjdr7NgV2oDRAaskfetTNPfjeZsVtqnoQBciMlwBxvqsX-c1N7_ah6XnU3_Kew8MnAFTVcLKxfYEm1XdD6_Apo0kWM3UfLCFFgudAPKCJeSQbiRQ/w400-h266/mick-haupt-SvTyJZEsBQM-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash</div></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>I usually can’t quit Apple Music without having to resort to a piece of third-party software</li><li>Search regularly crashes the Music app</li><li>I sometimes can’t add any more music to my library (sometimes I can!)</li><li>Downloaded albums and playlists randomly get stuck during playback at the end of a song</li></ol></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Apple Music ignores the request to Quit</h4><div>When I have to use a third-party piece of software to close the Apple Music application, I’m pretty sure that the end is nigh. 99 times out of 100, Apple Music won’t Quit, won’t Force Quit, won’t quit via Activity Monitor — occasionally it pretends to, but then it reopens immediately. The only way I can get it to quit is to use NoTunes. This is insane. Nobody should have to write a utility to close a standard commonly used application on a modern operating system!</div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Search crashes the Music App</h4><div>Another regular glitch is attempting any search crashes the Music app completely. It doesn’t matter if I’m looking in my library or Apple Music (iTunes Store seems to be exempt, though!), the app will panic and die. Of course, that then requires the automatic library check to kick in, during which time I can do nothing except wait. Why can’t this be a partially modeless activity? At least let me look at Listen Now, Browse Apple Music or reset my sound levels.</div><h4 style="text-align: left;">What’s with the 100,000 iCloud Library limit?</h4><div>I’m old school. It comes from having lived abroad with crappy, expensive and low data allowances, which means I store all my music on external drives rather than streaming. My music library (my own music (ripped or purchased) and Apple Music tracks — I split out TV and Movies years ago) is now just under 1Tb in size with over 100,000 songs, split across 9000 albums by 2000 artists. So, it’s big, and it’s now subject to the ridiculous Apple restriction that an iCloud music library cannot contain more than 100,000 songs.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let’s just quickly look at that restriction. Officially, that 100,000, apparently arbitrary limit, doesn’t include purchases from the iTunes Store. It says so in Apple’s documentation, although by all accounts, this is acknowledged by Apple support to be incorrect, and they keep saying that the documentation needs to be updated. If this were true, I wouldn’t have any problems because three-quarters of my music was purchased from iTunes! Even a 100,000-song library takes up less than 2Gb of space. As an Apple+ subscriber, I have access to 2Tb of storage, so that sounds like nonsense unless Apple Music developers simply cannot understand how to work with large libraries — which, in this day and age, also sounds like nonsense. It gets a little more bizarre, though. Under certain (random) circumstances, I can add music to the library. Sometimes just a song, sometimes a couple of albums, but mostly, I get an error message saying this addition would take me over the 100,000 song limit. Even more bizarrely, I can continue adding albums to my iOS devices, although they won’t appear in the macOS library. It’s the inconsistency that I hate.</div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Music randomly stops playing after a downloaded song ends</h4><div>Now I’ve got that particular rant off my chest; here’s the real problem. When I play downloaded music, regardless of whether it was purchased or part of the Apple Music collection, I rarely get to listen to more than a couple of tracks before it stops playing. Usually, a track will finish, and another one or maybe two tracks will play before it all goes quiet. The progress bar will show the first track that failed and indicates that the song never started playing. At some stage in the process, Apple Music hangs briefly and then recovers but has lost its memory and can’t figure out what it’s doing. The only way to recover is to open Apple Music and physically stop the ‘current’ track, and either start playing it again or skip to another track. If like me, you are listening to music in the shower and this happens, there is nothing you can do. Even Siri can’t help because the system status has got so confused that it can’t work out what’s happening.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have tried everything ever mentioned in the history of Apple Music and iTunes, but I cannot get over this. It happens on multiple M1 and Intel Macs. It happens with different drives and even the internal drive — I’m lucky enough to have a 2Tb SSD on my M1 13” MBP, which happened on that when I tested it. I have rebuilt the library from scratch. I downloaded every single track again. I’ve deleted caches. I reinstalled macOS time and time again, including a clean install.</div><h4 style="text-align: left;">The case for splitting Apple consumer apps out of macOS gets better by the day</h4><div>And this last idea of having to download and reinstall the entire OS to fix a problem with one app is out of the dark ages of bad software design and delivery. It’s long gone time that Music, Mail, TV, Maps, Home, Photos and maybe even Messages, Safari, FaceTime, Calendar and Contacts were all built and delivered as stand-alone apps, just like Pages, Numbers and Keynote. As a developer back in the day, the mantra was always to decouple code and subsystems as much as possible so that a problem with one part had as little effect as possible on the system as a whole. Why do the developers of the consumer apps need to work to the same delivery cadence as the macOS team? That’s simply bad management. iOS allows you (these days) to install just about any Apple app independently of the OS. It’s high time the mothership caught up! Even if they are unwilling to change the cycle of releases, at least let us delete and reinstall consumer apps via the Mac App Store!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>With the Far Out event due to take place next week (September 7th) and the imminent release of Ventura, I’m hoping that some of these problems may magically disappear. But I’m not going to hold my breath! Failing that, it may be the next best thing will be a clean install of Ventura rather than an update — and then see what new problems I’ll encounter! Better the devil you know?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-37658933715547837932022-08-02T10:45:00.001+01:002022-08-02T10:45:44.428+01:00Apple Studio Display — I’m loving it!<p>I hit my 60th birthday earlier this year, and after over 45 years of staring at screens both at work and ‘play’, my already dodgy eyesight is not getting any better. When I returned to Prague in 2019, I bought a cheap Dell 24” monitor to sit alongside my work and personal laptops and used a hardware switch to flip between them. Back in the UK, I have been using a Dell P2719H 27” monitor which is a bit easier on my eyes, but still not ideal.</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDnJGjW5xpQ5lDpl292eNRroRgqloZNXh7ESy8WgwUgzi24sesnaavNXL3IyGKqSQDuWgvNOhhuOjTOXP9SB4xRMQkxPoRnd-Aw3XnFXSvTZLHBCW1CV3RiLDOcEIeaejWWmLjLrr2WXj5vR5ANRFN8vGvxvK7md9fpb57Ni_bNFArxubXo6frXwqb1Q/s3767/E8DD94AD-D0DF-4946-83D1-D5B4B9BD06C4_1_201_a.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2118" data-original-width="3767" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDnJGjW5xpQ5lDpl292eNRroRgqloZNXh7ESy8WgwUgzi24sesnaavNXL3IyGKqSQDuWgvNOhhuOjTOXP9SB4xRMQkxPoRnd-Aw3XnFXSvTZLHBCW1CV3RiLDOcEIeaejWWmLjLrr2WXj5vR5ANRFN8vGvxvK7md9fpb57Ni_bNFArxubXo6frXwqb1Q/w400-h225/E8DD94AD-D0DF-4946-83D1-D5B4B9BD06C4_1_201_a.jpeg" title="Adding the Studio Display to my UK office set-up (photo from author)" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">New Studio Display in my UK office set-up (photo from author)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p>So, I’ve been looking at buying a new monitor for a while, and it has proved to be a really difficult decision. My needs appeared to be fairly simple, or so I thought:</p><p><br /></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>It needed to work in an exclusively Apple environment (no more Windows for me now I’ve retired!) with M1 Silicon</li><li>I wanted a minimum of a 27” display with 4K resolution</li><li>From a design perspective, it needed to look the part</li><li>A few additional ports would be useful</li><li>Good all-round display quality for photo-editing, writing and website design</li><li>It needed to be delivered on my next trip to the UK — between June 26th and July 13th</li><li><br /></li></ul><p></p><p>There were a few unknowns — did I like the idea of a curved monitor? Was a 34” screen overkill (and would it even fit on my desk?)? Would I keep the existing 27” Dell (which does have a portrait mode which I like for documents)?</p><p><br /></p><p>I had a short list with 27–34” monitors from the usual suspects — Dell, Ben-Q, Samsung, LG and even Huawei. And the Studio Display from Apple. I watched dozens of YouTube videos and eventually ruled out the Huawei because even though I loved the design, I’d prefer to err on the safe side of data privacy. I also liked the Samsung M8 but decided I wanted a monitor, not an all singing, all dancing video box. My desk is quite constrained regarding worktop space, so I stopped looking beyond 27” and curved monitors. After watching more videos about the scaling issues with 4K and Apple, I was becoming more inclined to stay in the Dell stable and choose a U2719D UltraSharp 27 with 2560 x 1440 resolution. But there was a nagging doubt in my mind about whether I would regret not going for the outrageously expensive Studio Display and end up buying one in a year anyhow…</p><p><br /></p><p>My trip to the UK was only going to last three weeks. Our local Apple store is in Leicester, and it looked like they had some base Studio Displays available for in-store collection, but by the time I got back to the UK, the cupboard was bare and would stay that way until August/September. A quick search indicated AO.com had the base model in stock for next-day delivery, so I bit the bullet and placed an order. AO.com came to my rescue when I wanted the 13” M1 MBP in a hurry last time I was. I knew they’d come up with the goods in the UK, and it was no more expensive than buying from Apple.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was confident that the base model would be right for my needs. I use a Twelve South Curve Riser on my desk, so I figured I wouldn’t need the height adjustable stand; I’ve always been comfortable with the glossy screens on iMacs I’ve owned in the past, and I don’t have a monitor arm (or enough space on my current desk).</p><p><br /></p><p>Despite watching various unboxing videos for the Studio Display, when it turned up on the doorstep the next day, I was taken aback at how big, and heavy the box was and was grateful I hadn’t decided to try and bring one home on the bus from Leicester! If you’ve watched any of the unboxing videos, you’ll know that this is an experience in its own right. A few minutes later, the display was on the stand and plugged directly into the 13” M1 MPB via the Thunderbolt port. I plugged my 2 SanDisk Extremes into the USB ports and my Quntis light bar into the third slot. Finally, I sorted out the power cable, booted up the laptop, and installed the Studio Display software update.</p><p><br /></p><p>Quite simply, this is the best display I have ever used by a long way. Text is crystal clear even for my dodgy eyes. The speakers are so good that I’ve unplugged my old faithful Harmon Kardon Soundsticks II and now use the Studio Display speakers in conjunction with an original HomePod sat on the bookshelf behind me.</p><p><br /></p><p>I’m not going to get involved in the discussion about the webcam. I like that there is one built in; quite frankly, it’s plenty good enough for my purposes. The first time I used it in anger was during a call with my financial advisor, where both myself and my fiancée could fit in the viewfinder without having to be sat on top of each other. Quite frankly, in these days of WFH, where many of my former colleagues had such poor internet connections that they turned their cameras off and often asked other participants to do the same thing, webcam quality is the least of my problems! It works, and it’s good enough.</p><p><br /></p><p>I’ve been using a Twelve South Curve Riser as a monitor stand. It also serves to hide the Thunderbolt Hub and keep it cool. This proved a little too uncomfortable with the combined height of the Studio Display and the riser, but setting the monitor on the middle shelf fixed this problem perfectly. The hub now sits atop the monitor's base in the shelf space.</p><p><br /></p><p>My big challenge is to figure out how to set up a dual display with the M1 13” MBP using both the Studio Display and the 27” Dell. I purchased the Hyper Dual 4K HDMI 10-in-1 USB-C Hub, but it arrived after I returned to Prague, so haven’t had a chance to set it up yet. The workaround has been to use the 27” Dell monitor on the M1 MacMini, and use universal control to make it look seamless, which works about 90% of the time, but needs a nudge from time to time. I suspect that the sleep settings were perhaps out of sync.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also really, really need a bigger desk…and another Studio Display in my Prague office...</p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-69917277891895048952022-03-27T12:13:00.002+01:002022-03-27T12:16:02.753+01:00Apple Silicon - Round 2: Choosing a new laptop<p>A few weeks ago I wrote about my <a href="https://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2022/02/a-first-foray-into-realm-of-apple.html" target="_blank">pre-empted first foray into using Apple Silicon</a>. After eight months of using the M1 Mac mini (16Gb / 512Tb) as my primary machine, I am well and truly hooked. I hinted that I was going to swap out my 2017 15” MPB for a new M1 laptop and I have now made good on that decision. But before I spill the beans on what I eventually purchased I want to reflect on the decision making process.</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheq1B0fx40cZ4aLIWr3NeecVPuBUIDEuB5paz3wpgUNfw7YJBKPYLesP7AmOzaX0KMI2vonCx3JDcNQUxhDBmoIP9NTLdmpNWAbvztDuZnlcwHCKmjJ9HE_FwEiL8oO_uYdShKaE7pTGM7IkiCpqf0EmS2H0vOvX0BJecSGmNeIXWxRe6tr6R2bC5h2Q/s3264/480CA4C6-5575-4D6A-83A3-49CE5ECFB9B0_1_201_a.heic" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheq1B0fx40cZ4aLIWr3NeecVPuBUIDEuB5paz3wpgUNfw7YJBKPYLesP7AmOzaX0KMI2vonCx3JDcNQUxhDBmoIP9NTLdmpNWAbvztDuZnlcwHCKmjJ9HE_FwEiL8oO_uYdShKaE7pTGM7IkiCpqf0EmS2H0vOvX0BJecSGmNeIXWxRe6tr6R2bC5h2Q/w400-h300/480CA4C6-5575-4D6A-83A3-49CE5ECFB9B0_1_201_a.heic" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apple Harvest Prague office set-up</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p>I’ve been using Macs since 2007 when I was finally driven out of the Windows stable. I was working in Oslo in Norway, and my personal laptop at the time was an ASUS R1F, one of the first machines that doubled as a laptop and tablet. The computer itself was fine and I really liked using it, but it was the time of Windows Vista and at one stage it seemed that every time I switched the computer on I had an hour’s worth of updates to deal with before I could do any work. </p><p><br /></p><p>I made the switch to a 15” MacBook Pro just after the release of OS X Leopard and have never looked back (that machine still boots up and works perfectly well!). Since then I’ve owned a couple of iMacs, a couple of MacBook Airs in addition to the current kit. I think carefully about every machine I buy. I think about my specific use case and do my research to align my purchases to my needs. Like most people, I set a budget to work with, although I’m fortunate enough that, as my own boss, I can be flexible within reason.</p><p><br /></p><p>Since the newest 14 and 16 inch M1 laptops were announced I’ve seen countless questions from people asking complete strangers for advice on what to buy. For every question, I’ve seen dozens of useless answers and incorrect comments. I’ve come to the conclusion that no one does any real work anymore. Everyone who uses a MacBook seems to be doing professional video editing for a living and therefore need to buy the highest specification laptop regardless of how sensible that may be. Despite the numerous vloggers and tech reviewers reporting how even the basic M1 MBA, Mac mini and 13” MBP make video editing a relative breeze, the recommendations still come in to buy 16” M1 Max MBP with 32Gb of RAM and 2Tb SSDs regardless of how “over the top” this is for many people. </p><p><br /></p><p>I suspect that anyone recommending a minimum of 32Gb of memory still doesn’t understand that unified memory works in a different way to memory in an Intel architecture. I also suspect that most people who claim to be doing professional video editing perhaps make a few adjustments to their 30 second iPhone videos taken in the pub on a Saturday night and push them out on TikTok when they’ve sobered up sometime on Sunday afternoon. But mostly I suspect that many of the people recommending these high-level machines to everyone and his dog, don’t actually possess one, but make people think they do, by posing as an ‘authority’ on the subject. Basically, amongst the Facebook classes, buying a Mac has become something of a pissing contest! It reminds me of my slightly eccentric late uncle who used to buy top range HiFi equipment and then buy crappy 99p cover compilation albums from Woolworths!</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyhow, this was my use case:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>1. I’m potentially leaving Prague for good this year so I wanted to move the Mac mini and 2017 MBP back to the UK and get a single M1x laptop</p><p><br /></p><p>2. The laptop will normally be used as a desktop, and there are already Thunderbolt 3 and other hubs in place so no need for lots of extra ports, and there is a Dell 24” monitor in place to act as the primary display</p><p><br /></p><p>3. When the laptop does get used as a laptop I want it to be small, light and usable on aeroplane and train tables. I already have a variety of multi-port dongles</p><p><br /></p><p>4. The specification only needs to be as good as the M1 Mac mini, since the work I’m doing will be the same - although a larger SSD might not be a bad thing as my photos library continues to grow and I’d prefer it not to live on an external drive</p><p><br /></p><p>5. I’d still like the Touch Bar because I do use it and will continue to use it and maybe will use it even more than I currently do</p><p><br /></p><p>6. The delivery date needed to be before 12th March at the very latest to align with my travel plans</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>When I looked at the best options I really have three choices - an M1 MBA, an M1 MBP 13” or the 14” MBP M1 Pro. I know I don’t need the power or ports on the 14” although it does provide a better display. The MBA doesn’t have the ToolBar, so by default I opted for the 13” MBP, but I decided to go for the 1Tb SSD option.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fate has a habit of disrupting plans, however. I finally made my decision whilst in the airport waiting for my flight back to the UK. The Mac mini was in my hold baggage and I’d adjusted my office set-up in Prague to accommodate a new laptop. The delivery date for my option was the next day, so it would be in Derby sometime on Saturday. </p><p><br /></p><p>By the time I arrived home and was ready to submit the order, the delivery date for all non-standard builds from Apple was in three weeks' time - a week after my return to Prague. Checking around, the story was the same everywhere - no one could deliver the 1Tb option before the 12th March - my drop-dead deadline. Eventually, I found a supplier who could deliver by the 8th March but only the 2TB option so I decided to go with this rather than face having to take the Mac mini back to Prague. It’s more than I intended to spend but sometimes you have to take what’s on offer. And before you start telling me that for £200 more I could have got a 14” MBP with a 2Tb drive, those weren’t shipping until even later in March. Other folks may be thinking that I should have waited until the Apple Peek Performance event but let’s face it, there’s no guarantee of what may be revealed at that session or when these models may be shipped. </p><p><br /></p><p>The nature of the computer/tech business is such that every piece of kit is liable to be superseded within days of us purchasing it. We just need to accept that inevitability and teach ourselves that buyer’s remorse is equally futile. I know that when my new laptop arrives, I shall have addressed my needs for now and the next few years. </p><p><br /></p><p>UPDATE: Since I first drafted this piece, the new laptop has arrived and is all set up and running perfectly. In the end, it didn’t arrive as expected but a day later - it took DPD 24 hours to ship the box from their Birmingham depot to the one in Leicester (about 40miles up the road!). I’ve had stuff arrive from Shanghai in less time! And since the rumours of the M2 13” MPB were completely scotched at the event I feel totally vindicated in my decision.</p><p><br /></p>Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0Prague, Czechia50.0755381 14.437800521.765304263821157 -20.7184495 78.385771936178855 49.5940505tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-43627330537622405702022-02-25T09:58:00.004+00:002022-02-25T09:59:12.076+00:00Fruity Picks #13 - KeyCue 10 is a Game Changer for Keyboard Warriors<p>Last week <a href="https://www.ergonis.com/products/keycue/index.html" target="_blank">KeyCue 10</a> became available and it was a real game-changer for those of us who use keyboard shortcuts in anger.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was a bit of a late starter for using keyboard shortcuts despite having been a Mac user for over fifteen years. I've always relied on the mouse - maybe it's something to do with being left-handed, who knows? But over the last few years, I've come to rely more and more on keyboard shortcuts. This is partly because I'm starting to get more aches and pains in my mouse hand as I get older, but also because I've started to realise how powerful these shortcuts can be. This has also partially been as a result of using the Elgato Stream Deck to automate many of my often used shortcuts, keyboard and others, and I'll post about this in the near future.</p><p><br /></p><p>Traditionally, keyboard shortcuts need to be added by using the Keyboard option in System Preferences. Within that preference pane, you select Shortcuts and then App Shortcuts. This is a really clunky way to create keyboard shortcuts and relies on you getting the menu structure absolutely right - a single spelling mistake will make the shortcut fail. For deeply nested menu items - the sort that would really benefit from having a shortcut - this can be a problem.</p><p><br /></p><p>KeyCue 10 changes that, and allows the user to create dynamic shortcuts from within an application. I’m currently writing the draft for this post in Ulysses so I’ll use it as an example.</p><p><br /></p><p>In Ulysses, there is no keyboard shortcut to insert an image into a Ulysses sheet. Using KeyCue 10, all I have to do is to find the appropriate menu item to perform the function - in this case, Edit->Attach->Image… and the using the key combination that I want to use, simply keep these pressed until the shortcut is accepted. </p><p><br /></p><p>This GIF from Ergonis explains it far better than I can!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_vjkkqVMkcbgbnhjesOcNgJuV1ey4yajYFpk91DrI8t5ONmD_0xzFwk0UzvbkiObQxW8Y0X7QmZJK-U7C2H-5gqDlLWHX_vAkm8DWZdFIxuBHVQ7AhC9-pvu2r0jfFaA7SQuGZAxFDtNG3p99cSCWyzEgux4Kyc7derBZ_Y2UODGF_y7d6mTv5gwE4Q=s660" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="660" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_vjkkqVMkcbgbnhjesOcNgJuV1ey4yajYFpk91DrI8t5ONmD_0xzFwk0UzvbkiObQxW8Y0X7QmZJK-U7C2H-5gqDlLWHX_vAkm8DWZdFIxuBHVQ7AhC9-pvu2r0jfFaA7SQuGZAxFDtNG3p99cSCWyzEgux4Kyc7derBZ_Y2UODGF_y7d6mTv5gwE4Q=w400-h191" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>If you're not familiar with KeyCue in general, I would highly recommend you check it out for the other primary features it offers. The biggest of these is that it will show you, at the push of a hotkey, exactly what keyboard shortcuts (user, system, and app defined) are being used and how. This will help you establish potential key combinations that could be used for a new shortcut without interfering with an existing combination. </p><p><br /></p><p>The software is available from <a href="https://www.ergonis.com/" target="_blank">Ergonis</a>, and at the time of writing costs 19.99 EUR (£17.00)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-32171428447390491692022-02-01T13:08:00.003+00:002022-02-01T15:53:02.939+00:00 A First Foray into the Realm of Apple Silicon<p>Sometime in the autumn of 2020, my beloved 2017 MacBook Pro started doing something horrible. As soon as the machine went into any form of sleep mode, even just launching the screen saver, a white light started flashing at the right end of the Touch Bar. It would stop as soon as I started using the computer, but immediately it started to idle, the flashing resumed. Initially, the intensity and frequency of the flashes weren’t too bad, but over time the problem worsened. </p><p><br /></p><p>Searching for potential solutions brought only bad news. It wasn’t an uncommon problem, although it was rare, it looked like the only fix was to take it to a service centre and potentially required a new motherboard. This was seriously bad news. Not only was it going to cost a load of cash but we were in the second phase of lockdowns in Prague and getting the fix could take a serious amount of time. And without the computer I was helpless. So, I did the only sensible thing - I put a cloth over the end of the Touch Bar and buried my head in the sand.</p><p><br /></p><p>I managed to get back to the UK for Christmas in 2020 and the problem vanished for a short while but started up again just before I was due to return to Prague. My trip was too short to get the machine into a service centre in the UK, and besides, I was in quarantine for all but one day! But to add to the misery, the battery was also now showing signs of failing…</p><p><br /></p><p>In July I decided to bite the bullet and take decisive action. So I bought an M1 Mac mini. I’ve never used a Mac mini before and to be honest I’ve been a bit sceptical about them in the past. I didn’t need/want another laptop. I wanted a cheap replacement that would be able to help me continue to operate while I finally took the MBP in for repair (by this time the service centres were operating again and I decided that the fix had to be done whatever the cost…)</p><p><br /></p><p>I went for the M1 Mac mini, 512Gb/16Gb combo which worked out at £1,050, slightly cheaper than in the UK! I already had a Dell 24” monitor set up along with all the peripherals I needed so I only had to buy the unit which helped keep the costs to a minimum. I could probably have managed with the 8Gb version, but I figured I’d saved a lot of money while the pubs were closed, so what the heck…</p><p><br /></p><p>It was a breeze to set up the Mac mini using a Time Machine backup of the MBP and from unboxing to having a working computer probably took no more than a couple of hours. The biggest issue was rearranging the desk so I could now accommodate three computers (including my work laptop). From a connection perspective, all I needed to do was swap the cable from my <a href="https://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2019/01/czeching-out-i-tec-thunderbolt-3.html" target="_blank">iTec TB 3 hub</a> from the MBP to the mini and everything was immediately accessible. Simple - just the way Macs are supposed to be!</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioW__YYOUrhsSEkQw7og8fpj5wpLBKnT44_gB05rYRIDqKfMzQDvRxEcyL3cALzkAi-389HeDHO7GUBPH0NmXgUKHjS9cKJgnnQox2oiai6hwNBdIJW2Jc-luaEpcgemSJY751qKqkk5zQoRM9mwpOuc22P38Zdq7RTpjcMEV8m-pDAQdNC3qflLuQdg=s3264" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioW__YYOUrhsSEkQw7og8fpj5wpLBKnT44_gB05rYRIDqKfMzQDvRxEcyL3cALzkAi-389HeDHO7GUBPH0NmXgUKHjS9cKJgnnQox2oiai6hwNBdIJW2Jc-luaEpcgemSJY751qKqkk5zQoRM9mwpOuc22P38Zdq7RTpjcMEV8m-pDAQdNC3qflLuQdg=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The current Apple Harvest configuration (Feb 2022)</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p>The M1 (called Kampa) is an absolute joy to use. It’s absolutely silent and apart from a couple of pieces of software that I could no longer use there was little impact on my workflow. The biggest downside was that I could no longer use TotalSpaces from Binary Age (and TotalFinder from the same stable) which meant having to learn how to use Mission Control properly - more on that another time). I purchased a Satechi hub to complement the Mac mini - the one that sits under the mini and connects via USB-C and provides 6 extra ports (non-SSD version).</p><p><br /></p><p>But what of the MacBook Pro? A few days after getting the M1 setup and functional, I trudged down the road to the iStyle service centre on Revolucni in Prague’s New Town. I explained the problem and they took away my baby and told me they’d need to run some tests and come back to me with a quote. A few days later they sent me an email with the cost of the fix - for both the hardware issue and a replacement battery - under £240! I was stunned. I was expecting to have to pay a minimum of £500, and probably closer to £1,000. I agreed to have them perform the repairs before they could change their minds, and two weeks later I collected the fixed computer (it took a little while for them to source the correct battery).</p><p><br /></p><p>Like many long time Mac users, I’m now struggling a little with the Intel-based MBP. When it’s sitting alongside the M1 Mac mini I really notice it huffing and puffing while doing very little real work. It feels old, whilst before this whole story started it was my pride and joy. So it begs the question of what next? And that, dear reader, is a question I can’t currently answer, although I’m tempted to go for an M1 13” MacBook Pro. It would meet my needs for a laptop, fit nicely into my workflow and besides, despite the pain, it’s caused me, I still love the Touch Bar!</p><p><br /></p>Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-70174261928732108802022-01-27T11:31:00.002+00:002022-02-01T15:54:00.128+00:00A Return to the Apple Harvest<p>After a three year hiatus, I’m trying to get back in the habit of writing again. My blogging output has been almost non-existent since I moved back to Prague in March 2019. I’ve published a couple of posts on my Prague blog, one on my business blog but this site has remained fallow since February 2019! </p><p><br /></p><p>You’d expect that having spent the best part of three years living alone and in and out of lockdown there would have been plenty of time to indulge me. After all, it’s not as if technology stood still even though many other things were put on hold. But, back in full-time employment in Prague after a year’s absence, I had plenty of things on my plate and my blogs fell down to the bottom of the backlog.</p><p><br /></p><p>Picking up after such a long time, it’s difficult to know where to start. So much has changed in both the Apple ecosystem and the world at large. I expected to be back in Prague until the end of 2019 but the contract went so well that I was offered an additional year. I went home in March 2020 for my birthday weekend, and two days after my return to Prague we went into total lockdown. The opportunities to return to the UK were few and far between then and now although finally, things seem to be getting better. The unexpected outcome of the lockdown is how much new kit I’ve acquired (and how the heck I’m going to get it all home when I finally leave!)</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOAP0ZsALEsbsaEKLqxeaj24WfBcQwPBd32JY_7UJNZfVHCh08yVs0DXjx1MyrBk1ZSRFgQn_8C-UXsJAg-uog4EQwEKHkMeOrM6Ia-jwuouJvp8tarKyEQMtp0FZOLuxDNU3WdjRkzlFl2IobWcAXl0Dpmu9kdj6zFgi0ZT1VeZmlwsG2OoKo3e7Gpw=s542" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="421" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOAP0ZsALEsbsaEKLqxeaj24WfBcQwPBd32JY_7UJNZfVHCh08yVs0DXjx1MyrBk1ZSRFgQn_8C-UXsJAg-uog4EQwEKHkMeOrM6Ia-jwuouJvp8tarKyEQMtp0FZOLuxDNU3WdjRkzlFl2IobWcAXl0Dpmu9kdj6zFgi0ZT1VeZmlwsG2OoKo3e7Gpw=w311-h400" width="311" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Apple Harvest in Prague - 2020-22</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p>Like many potential readers of this blog I have made the transition to Apple Silicon and bought my first ever Mac Mini. I’ll write a separate post about that experience and how it came about. I’ve also swapped out my Apple Magic Keyboard and mouse and now use the Logitech MX Keys and MX Anywhere 3 mouse as my main input devices. I’ve become a big fan of other input devices, namely the Elgato Stream Deck and most recently the Xencelabs Quick Keys device. </p><p><br /></p><p>Having spent most of the last two years working from my apartment there are a few other devices that I’ve acquired to make the experience as comfortable as possible. One is a light bar, another is the Twelve South HoverBar Duo for my iPad Pro. </p><p><br /></p><p>With so many new devices and the limited ports available on the original M1 devices a new hub became an essential to compliment my <a href="https://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2019/01/czeching-out-i-tec-thunderbolt-3.html" target="_blank">i-tec Thunderbolt 3 docking station</a>. The CalDigit TB4 Element Hub fitted the bill perfectly. </p><p><br /></p><p>I’ve also become a convert to HomeKit. My home in the UK has been ‘smart’ since I installed a complete Hive control system but that was primarily driven by Alexa. When Hive announced that their systems would now be compatible with HomeKit I decided to go down that road here in the apartment in Prague. I’ve had plenty of fun with that which I’ll share in due course.</p><p><br /></p><p>My Apple Watch helped me focus on my health during the dark days of lockdown when, initially, we weren’t even supposed to go more than 500 meters from your door. I recently upgraded to the Apple Watch 7 which finally ticks all the boxes. It’s amazing how far this product has changed from the Series 0 which I started off with. </p><p><br /></p><p>Music and video have been a mainstay and I was thankful that I packed my HomePod and Apple TV when I first came back. These were joined by a HomePod mini which sits in my bedroom and helps control the smart home. </p><p><br /></p><p>I upgraded my iPhone from the X to the 12 Pro, indulged myself with a pair of AirPods Max, and fell foul of the curse of the AirPods Pro but with a happy ending. </p><p><br /></p><p>I’ve also had some interesting experiences with mass storage, including a catastrophic disk failure on my last visit back to the UK in September 2021 which highlighted the importance of a robust backup strategy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Hopefully, that’ll be enough to whet your appetites. Next time I’ll explain the reasoning behind buying the M1 Mac mini along with my new dilemma of what next!</p><div><br /></div>Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0Prague, Czechia50.0755381 14.437800521.765304263821157 -20.7184495 78.385771936178855 49.5940505tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-59049524161355427552019-02-15T14:42:00.001+00:002019-02-15T14:42:06.317+00:00Fruity Tips #3 - Got a Slow Boot Problem On A MacBook Pro?My love affair with my new refurbished 2017 15" MBP was on the verge of needing a trip to Relate recently. Whilst it has been a brilliant performer and has easily coped with everything I've thrown at it over the past three months, it has had something of a teenage strop in the last few weeks. It has been taking ages to reboot and be ready for me to start to do any actual work.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8cwwogonBXZa0eHSDyXIwNkt4-AppkEPOxOOvw47LsmqzKoeSOffibq0cJRKPNzUmZxdyWiynksYKKyVG852yIL_d1BkDFPbSlQRk5_Pc0MZzY5x83AJLEHJmbbJ3XcM6hAWyu1_CM5e/s1600/antique-classic-clock-1095601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8cwwogonBXZa0eHSDyXIwNkt4-AppkEPOxOOvw47LsmqzKoeSOffibq0cJRKPNzUmZxdyWiynksYKKyVG852yIL_d1BkDFPbSlQRk5_Pc0MZzY5x83AJLEHJmbbJ3XcM6hAWyu1_CM5e/s400/antique-classic-clock-1095601.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm used to Windows machines taking an age between powering them up and being able to do anything productive - that was the primary motive for me making the move to a Mac. And I've never had any problems with MacBook Airs or iMacs in respect of boot time. Even the latest addition to the Apple Harvest was fine until a few weeks back. And then it suddenly started taking an age to reboot. I'd get the Apple logo and progress bar which would get to about 60-70% and then hang. I'd power down and re-power and the same thing would happen.<br />
<br />
I hate it when this kind of problem occurs because you usually know it's going to take a lot of sleuthing and pain to find the root cause. And it's almost certainly going to take a lot of time and patience (and as I get older, patience is sometimes in short supply).<br />
<br />
I started off with all the usual experiments:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Reboot in Safe Mode - the outcome was even worse. I nearly wore out my fingertips waiting for the logo to appear</li>
<li>Reset SMC - no change</li>
<li>Reset PRAM - no change</li>
<li>Reboot into recovery - result!</li>
</ul>
<div>
Once in recovery, I could at least test the SSD using disk utility and this showed there were no problems (but indicated there were 9 APFS snapshots, each of which took an age to verify). In addition, with access to the Terminal app, I also set the boot arguments to automatically start up in Safe mode and with verbose output. I started the laptop and retired to a safe distance rather than sitting there watching it and being tempted to interfere. I returned after about an hour and the MBP was indeed booted into Safe mode. Phew! I becoming was less concerned that this was a hardware issue and more of a software or configuration problem. I reset the boot argument and started again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A reboot into Safe mode is sometimes all that is needed to fix a teething problem, but not so in this case. When I restarted in normal mode I still had the same problem. This time I left the laptop to its own devices and it took over twenty minutes to get to the login screen. In theory, I could have things as they were. I generally keep my MacBook powered on, just putting it to sleep every night and waking it up every morning using a schedule set up in <a href="http://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2016/01/fruity-picks-7-get-control-of-your.html" target="_blank">Power Manager</a>. I only switch off the machine on a Saturday night, again, using an automated schedule which then wakes it early on Sunday morning. Since the machine is set to switch on before I wake up, I wouldn't see how long it takes to boot! Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I already knew it was a problem, so I needed to resolve it. It's just the way I am, and who knows, it could be hiding a bigger problem just waiting to happen. Next step was to reinstall Mojave. I have a USB installation drive for such contingencies, so I booted that up (it booted almost instantly) and ran the installation. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Still no improvement on the boot time. But since the USB drive boot was quick, it was becoming clearer that this was now either a problem with the SSD, which I deemed unlikely or it was a third party software configuration issue.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I started searching for similar reports of poor boot times and was kind of relieved to find I was far from alone. A boot time of twenty minutes was far from uncommon. One particular discussion on the Apple support forum ran to twenty-three pages (with no obvious resolution). One area that caught my attention was that the APFS snapshots could have been responsible and I went back to verbose mode to see if this was a problem but it turned out to be a red-herring.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Eventually, I happened upon a discussion about <a href="https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html" target="_blank">Little Snitch</a> and some people reporting that they had isolated their boot time problems to a specific set of releases of Little Snitch. A support query on their web page concerning this problem runs to 7 pages. Since I was into my second weekend of trying to isolate the problem, I was willing to give anything a go, so I disabled Little Snitch and rebooted. Wham, bam and thank you, mam. I got back to the kind of boot time I was expecting, around 20-30 seconds (I have quite a lot of stuff that gets loaded at boot time). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To try and prove the point and verify that this was the problem I re-enabled Little Snitch and went back to a twenty-minute reboot. A few days later, Objective Development who own Litte Snitch released a new version which resolved the problem - a problem that Objective Development say they've been unable to recreate, which I find extraordinary. Nonetheless, Little Snitch 4.3 Build 5256 appears to have fixed the problem...For now at least! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuofWG2zMQCEdjvNsEtKV22k9O_yemMJf9pjG6qwap8AW8xxoffeYyRHREKqVQB4kMY0JPf_IwqxATTA337NUOeGVkIxgPK5H9SUj6AAAdwAE0W8CQc1fceKilfUwbMbFqdZmpfkDbvRJJ/s1600/beautiful-business-celebration-1851363.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuofWG2zMQCEdjvNsEtKV22k9O_yemMJf9pjG6qwap8AW8xxoffeYyRHREKqVQB4kMY0JPf_IwqxATTA337NUOeGVkIxgPK5H9SUj6AAAdwAE0W8CQc1fceKilfUwbMbFqdZmpfkDbvRJJ/s400/beautiful-business-celebration-1851363.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And it was just in time for Valentine's Day - so the machine and I could continue the love affair and no machines got massacred during the writing of this blog post!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-4594284089969345832019-02-05T14:15:00.002+00:002019-02-05T14:15:20.226+00:00Warning: Suspicious User in the Users folder! Don't Panic?Unless you physically glue up the ports on your computer, remove the wireless chips and all the other input capabilities, no matter how careful you are, it’s still possible to get caught out by unwanted surprises.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj88Oh1TqVIgN0geBht_WAYNyzKoXkZ6I7YeD1jYiFEhylHZA-SmjAws3kyZbZLFM8uL98dki5-XfgR59ZhcYqcMTIKSm-tgQzFETv0AVCeQDv653ybE19_4tQEAD-x5m0SNpjpfS46Lk_d/s1600/business-dirty-door-241028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj88Oh1TqVIgN0geBht_WAYNyzKoXkZ6I7YeD1jYiFEhylHZA-SmjAws3kyZbZLFM8uL98dki5-XfgR59ZhcYqcMTIKSm-tgQzFETv0AVCeQDv653ybE19_4tQEAD-x5m0SNpjpfS46Lk_d/s400/business-dirty-door-241028.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I was doing a bit of routine maintenance on my MacBook Pro over the weekend and I noticed an unusual item in the Users folder of my primary disk. At my local supermarket an “Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area” is the grocery shopper’s equivalent of an air raid warning, and is met with shivers, sweaty palms, red faces, and an overwhelming sense of wanting to go and hide in a deep hole. On a Mac, an unexpected User in the Users folder is even worse.<br />
<br />
To make it worse, the unexpected user went by the name “tsninja”. Having any sort of ninja lurking, uninvited, on your computer does not bode well, and I immediately started panicking. How long had it been there, how did it get there, what was it doing there, and most importantly, what the heck had it been doing while it had been there.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkjVinb4tT9AlQDvuXupP-Q-Y_wdzyiNHbZDMVhWw7qF0IJfuT3Sa833-AKPH598olOIVGhcSleuVcq5OgAY3C9cBTWI1iRxMuqxQqVe0AqrpogvG02iUdgkOxLvurVtp68z3chYE_3wu/s1600/Screenshot+2019-02-01+at+12.48.38.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="58" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkjVinb4tT9AlQDvuXupP-Q-Y_wdzyiNHbZDMVhWw7qF0IJfuT3Sa833-AKPH598olOIVGhcSleuVcq5OgAY3C9cBTWI1iRxMuqxQqVe0AqrpogvG02iUdgkOxLvurVtp68z3chYE_3wu/s400/Screenshot+2019-02-01+at+12.48.38.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What sane person creates a User account called 'tsninja'?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Let’s just add some context before going any further. I take precautions. I have firewalls in place, Little Snitch is installed and configured, I don’t spend my time surfing ‘adult’ sites, I have Malwarebytes set up to scan the laptop every day, the computer is protected with ultra-strong passwords and TouchID, and has never been accessible to members of the general public. In other words, it’s about as secure as it can be, within reason. But something had created this intruder user and I wanted to find out what.<br />
<br />
Donning my best deerstalker, I began to investigate. Google didn’t proffer any useful indicators. I ran Malwarebytes again but it came up clean. I ran EtreCheck but nothing untoward there. I guess the smartest thing to have done now, would have been to attempt to delete the ‘fake’ user and get on with my life, but I couldn’t let it lie.<br />
<br />
So I started to dig down into the tsninja folder, and this is what I found:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaDeRpM2lDBxVbIbnSjj5jqvNOR_hZkeX3Q8fZevZkJuK___mztiK7nYXdVNX_iA5xbYyJwfn8e1uayhkjNaUjZgJ0zFKP-HcpCDZsYSzkjSP51mZB1f226vo1ZFdKx_YtiIVIrQgrGIPx/s1600/Screenshot+2019-02-01+at+12.53.37.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaDeRpM2lDBxVbIbnSjj5jqvNOR_hZkeX3Q8fZevZkJuK___mztiK7nYXdVNX_iA5xbYyJwfn8e1uayhkjNaUjZgJ0zFKP-HcpCDZsYSzkjSP51mZB1f226vo1ZFdKx_YtiIVIrQgrGIPx/s400/Screenshot+2019-02-01+at+12.53.37.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">User folder tsninja appears to contain MS-Team configuration data</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This didn’t look much like a normal User folder. A little further investigation on the internet suggested that the files at the lowest level of folders were configuration data for Microsoft Azure, and everything in the entire tsninja folder was timestamped on the same date and at the same time. Sure enough, I’d installed <a href="https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software" target="_blank">Microsoft Teams</a> (for research purposes) at about the same time according to the system logs. By this time, some of the panic was beginning to seep away, but I really wanted a second opinion.</div>
<br />
I asked some chums on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/mactothefuture/" target="_blank">Mac To The Future (MTTF) Facebook</a> group if they’d encountered anything similar. I got a response pretty quickly saying that they’d used MS-Teams for about six months but couldn’t reproduce the issue. I checked my fiancee's laptop because we’d also installed MS-Teams on her MBA. Nothing was showing up on her machine either. Signs of panic were beginning to reappear. My MTTF FB chums weren’t making any reassuring noises.<br />
<br />
I decided to try a brute force experiment. I deleted the whole ‘tsninja’ folder. Interestingly it just let me! Usually attempting to delete a Users folder would require a password at the very least. Anyhow it was gone, for now.<br />
<br />
I relaunched MS-Teams and although it appeared to have to found a glitch it ran as expected. But lo and behold, as soon as I quit the programme, the ‘tsninja’ folder had reappeared in the Users directory. That was too much of a coincidence. But why was it showing up on my system but no-one else’s?<br />
<br />
My only guess is that I had set my system up as the host for a Team, with my MBP effectively acting as a server, whereas my fiancée was a member of that team. The guys I was talking to on MTTF were also in a similar situation; they were members of other teams.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, we collectively came to the solution that it is just shoddy programming by Microsoft. Despite (or maybe because of) Apple’s guidelines about where application support data files should be stored, Microsoft have a history of doing their own thing. In this instance, it’s cost me a bit of time trying to track down the root cause of the problem, and a few more ageing lines. And despite sending messages to the MS-Team product support people, they have declined to reply although I have now joined the MS-Teams community and started the discussion there. I’ll report back on any updates.<br />
<br />
For now, I'm comfortable with my own explanation, and I'm not batoning down the hatches. But seriously, for a professional programmer writing business application software, creating a user folder called tsninja and sticking it in a reserved space should be a disciplinary offence. It's childish and unnecessary, and it's cost me a couple of lost days and an uncomfortable night. Time to grow up Micrsoft!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-45331356228639634072019-01-16T11:45:00.001+00:002022-02-01T15:57:53.597+00:00Czeching out the i-tec Thunderbolt 3 Docking StationIf you’re going to buy a shiny new MacBook Pro you really should have the right supporting kit to go with it. After all, you wouldn’t buy a Ferrari and then never take it out of first gear, would you? Fast toys need to be paired with fast supporting tools! <i>(NB - I would never recommend that anyone buys a Ferrari if they need an estate car, and the same mantra applies for computer peripherals; get the right tool for the job!)</i><br />
<br />
Initially, I had my refurbished 2017 MBP linked up to an old Thunderbolt 1 Belkin Hub. A few weeks later I swapped out the Belkin for my OWC Thunderbolt 2 docking station which was a significant improvement. Since then I’ve been looking lustily at TB 3 docks, but they don’t come cheap.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_TsVa6v4Rs" target="_blank">top contenders</a> I was checking out were the CalDigit TS3, StarTech TB3, OWC 12 or 14 port docks, Elgato TB3 and the latest Belkin 3 dock. I had some quite specific criteria in mind:<br />
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>SD Card slot <sup>(1)</sup></li>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>HDMI slot <sup>(2)</sup></li>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gigabit Ethernet</li>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3+ USB-A ports</li>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2+ TB3 ports</li>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Less than £250 pounds</li>
</ul>
<sup>(1)</sup> I have SD card reader dongles but I wanted this feature built into the dock<br />
<sup>(2)</sup> I only need two screens and the laptop is one of them. 4K and 5K video options are not important to me at present<br />
<br />
This whittled out the Belkin and Elgato (no SD slot and too expensive), the CalDigit (DisplayPort rather than HDMI and too expensive), the StarTech (no SD slot or HDMI) and left the OWC docks neither of which met the price point I was looking for. I was resigned to staying with the current OWC TB2 dock and waiting for the prices to drop when I came across a new contender, the i-tec TB3HDMIDOCK.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://i-tec.cz/en/" target="_blank">i-tec</a> is a Czech based company with a range of docking stations and adapters in their catalogue. I bought their USB 3.0 Dual docking station a few years ago when I needed to switch between my MBA and a Windows laptop that I’d been supplied with from a contract I was working on. This was well built and completely reliable and was great value for money compared to the competition.<br />
<br />
In fact, i-tec had two TB3 docks listed the <a href="https://i-tec.cz/en/produkt/tb3hdmidock-2/" target="_blank">TB3HDMIDOCK</a> and the <a href="https://i-tec.cz/en/produkt/tb3hdmidockplus-2/" target="_blank">TB3HDMIDOCKPLUS</a>. The only difference was the PLUS model supports 85W charging compared to 60W charging for the standard model. And the PLUS model on Amazon UK was £25 more expensive. In the end, I found the standard version of the dock for less than £200 including delivery from a company called <a href="https://www.tekshop247.com/" target="_blank">tekshop247</a>. I put the order in on Thursday evening and it arrived by post on Saturday morning!<br />
<br />
It took all of 30 minutes to unbox and install the new dock and most of that was clambering around under my desk to swap over the power bricks for the i-tec and OWC docks. Swapping over the attached devices was almost as easy. Ethernet, HDMI, 4TB USB-A hard disk and USB-A hub were straight swaps. My Lacie USB-C 5TB drive is now attached to the dock whereas it used to be connected directly to the MBP. A 1TB Buffalo Thunderbolt disk which I use as an additional Time Machine disk is now connected via the Apple TB2/TB3 adaptor to the MBP.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFBTRkOGFUbNtsbenyShBo0pR49SVkyvYyEvhs-sLnGWx-BcfsgkGKdhyxRV1P84zBbSKy4_iqPxMaesC0O7oH1_-tp1egic4XKkZrZPxB-MwXKYQbzYTt7wXbS95LACGVoVoy_8wzELN/s1600/i-tec+TB3.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1360" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFBTRkOGFUbNtsbenyShBo0pR49SVkyvYyEvhs-sLnGWx-BcfsgkGKdhyxRV1P84zBbSKy4_iqPxMaesC0O7oH1_-tp1egic4XKkZrZPxB-MwXKYQbzYTt7wXbS95LACGVoVoy_8wzELN/s400/i-tec+TB3.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rear side view of the i-tec Thunderbolt 3 dock</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br /><div>
Strictly speaking, since the MacBook Pro is generally plugged into the mains these days I could use the dock to power the laptop directly, but I’m still using the original power supply with the First2savvv magnetic connector I mentioned previously.<br />
<br />
Finally my Harmon-Kardon Soundstick II wired speakers plug into the front 3.5mm headphone jack on the front of the dock. This is the only thing I don’t like. I’d prefer the socket to be at the side or at the back rather than in the front. I can see why it’s positioned where it is for headphone users but it’s an aesthetic anomaly for me. This just leaves two spare front-facing USB-A slots and the SD card slot which was so important for me.<br />
<br />
There is no software installation required, and even the ethernet connection worked first time without me having to cajole it into operation as I usually do. I did learn the valuable lesson that in order for externally powered peripherals to work properly, they have to be connected to the mains. I did forget that last step, which explained why the two front LEDs didn’t glow as I expected once all the bits were plugged in. The left hand LED glows green when power is supplied, and the right-hand side glows blue when Thunderbolt devices are connected.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6ZwSP8zCUrQMbeWUraNHAC8mgAtK1OKTJPOfOoUpxBU897rJGWOdK0GjWWgC73xKSDjbDFdYtDQ9Eag44faDMf1qPtKZ1hRJILmSuwgl1CN0OzFJxrMkpeERO5ccm0JQldjwNBDQlsup/s1600/aQdfFUaITTax4tKaD4UkqA.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6ZwSP8zCUrQMbeWUraNHAC8mgAtK1OKTJPOfOoUpxBU897rJGWOdK0GjWWgC73xKSDjbDFdYtDQ9Eag44faDMf1qPtKZ1hRJILmSuwgl1CN0OzFJxrMkpeERO5ccm0JQldjwNBDQlsup/s400/aQdfFUaITTax4tKaD4UkqA.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front view of the dock in situ (yes the monitor stand needs a dusting!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br /><div>
The overall footprint of the i-tec dock is really quite small, measuring 229mm across, 87mm deep and 27mm tall. It can only be used in a horizontal orientation. I have mine raised off the desktop with a couple of wooden blocks which allows air to circulate and keeps the unit running relatively cool - it isn’t at all uncomfortable to put my hand firmly on the top even though it has been running 24x7 for the last four days!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtsOkcUYooYqswsXb1Hrrsvq7FJnSkx_EMavAbddw_-Qp7jWaZHqWPwllETxwnq_mqlx61p2znC4kiVne8pQ6X2rmsJC1nGVEm1_Et8oI9oPZPMF1rYJC01ZvkLt8EuVvCxrr76eNdUcI/s1600/C%2525L3hzCdQLWOiz89pFWHBg.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="1600" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtsOkcUYooYqswsXb1Hrrsvq7FJnSkx_EMavAbddw_-Qp7jWaZHqWPwllETxwnq_mqlx61p2znC4kiVne8pQ6X2rmsJC1nGVEm1_Et8oI9oPZPMF1rYJC01ZvkLt8EuVvCxrr76eNdUcI/s400/C%2525L3hzCdQLWOiz89pFWHBg.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apple Harvest HQ 2019</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br /><div>
Ironically, of all the docks I've looked at (and this also goes for dongles), all the manufacturers are backwards-looking and supplying USB-A slots rather than USB-C. In some respects, I would have prefered to have a dock with five or more TB3/USB-C slots and bought another bunch of adapters to deal with legacy USB-A devices. No doubt this will change in time, and at least this dock can support up to 5 daisy-chained TB3/USB-C devices.<br />
<br />
In hindsight, perhaps I should have paid the extra £20 and bought the higher-rated charging version, but to be honest I'm not really bothered (and I never thought to look on the tekshop247 website!). At home, the laptop spends so little time on the battery that the charging is not an issue, and whilst the dock is quite small, the same cannot be said about the power brick, so it's probably not going to be going far in the future! The other point is that although I'm not bothered about 4K or 5K video at present, this dock does support both so it's relatively future proof should my needs change.<br />
<br />
This is a really compact little dock that offers great value for money. The build quality is as good as that on the old OWC. If you're in the market for a budget TB3 dock, look no further.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
UPDATE 2022-02-01: I now have both the 60 and 85W models - the higher powered one in Prague with me and the older one is back in the UK. Both continue to perform brilliantly!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div></div></div>Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-37004346390107910452019-01-11T12:48:00.000+00:002019-01-11T12:48:22.226+00:00Fruity Picks #12 - Hyper Plan: Budget Visual Project ManagementAs a freelancer, I often find myself with my fingers in many pies. Currently, I’m doing some volunteer work for my local village museum, developing two websites, posting in my three blogs, and trying hard to finish at least one of the three books I’ve started writing. Managing my time is important to me, and with my background in project management, I like to have some semblance of a plan to keep track of what’s happening and when.<br />
<br />
Whilst I am perfectly comfortable with software like MS-Project, it’s pretty much overkill for what I want but in the same vein, most ToDo applications aren’t quite good enough. I’m also a convert to visual planning tools having been using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_board" target="_blank">Kanban</a> style boards in a number of consultancy gigs I’ve had.<br />
<br />
When I came across <a href="https://www.hyperplan.com/index.html" target="_blank">Hyper Plan</a> a few years ago I got quite excited, and after playing with it for a week or so, I’ve been using it as my project management tool of choice for my own work ever since.<br />
<br />
Hyper Plan was created by Oryx Digital Ltd, a UK business owned and run by Andy and Claire Brice, and is aimed very much at people like me, who need flexible planning tools that are also affordable. Version 0.5.0 was released in beta at the end of 2014 and the latest version is 2.9.3 which went live midway through last year. The home edition costs £25 whilst the pro-edition is twice that but enables links (connections) between planning items. This is not a subscription model (thank goodness!) and is available on a 60-day trial.<br />
<br />
If you are familiar with Kanban boards you’ll immediately feel comfortable with Hyperplan’s appearance. The screenshot below is for my writing activities.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSOIIb76-BEzx-MGLtvF_sxGe_c3Hp4cZyoUi5Hc92uDu7kG-XRLmhdur4SBKomOxUdGx72wrqLM7GOcLB9qmRIUOTxdYyI_jk5OP1TdvQ6zhmjTAO9w8uhUaHKLe2fNkMx5RSWTE-zeBW/s1600/Screenshot+2019-01-11+at+12.04.53.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSOIIb76-BEzx-MGLtvF_sxGe_c3Hp4cZyoUi5Hc92uDu7kG-XRLmhdur4SBKomOxUdGx72wrqLM7GOcLB9qmRIUOTxdYyI_jk5OP1TdvQ6zhmjTAO9w8uhUaHKLe2fNkMx5RSWTE-zeBW/s400/Screenshot+2019-01-11+at+12.04.53.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My high-level, overall writing plan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As I mentioned, Hyper Plan is amazingly flexible. Rows and columns are completely user definable, and you can add as much or as little detail as required to manage your work. As items move through your defined workflow, you simply drag and drop them and the appropriate properties will automatically update. Planning items can be assigned to team members if you are in a bigger outfit than my one-man band, as can scheduled dates, detailed item descriptions and status flags. In the pro version, you can add timing constraints (connections) so that items are forced into a chronological sequence or can be linked by another relationship. Almost every property can be customised to your specific working practices - and it’s not often that a tool adapts to you rather than the other way around.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9yFoJr5WLv_fAwNOYeYa4ao9rhnjgXFxXbyQnu16KD83CzfCCcxpSTKRM4VGZvd_7K5s7yQoe5JGHJEJXd4QMhyM2-iLXa6MNZrNJhAlN6J9xgk9uCpz7uwKyjmok1QmnbiOdcmFmU5k/s1600/Screenshot+2019-01-11+at+12.38.59.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9yFoJr5WLv_fAwNOYeYa4ao9rhnjgXFxXbyQnu16KD83CzfCCcxpSTKRM4VGZvd_7K5s7yQoe5JGHJEJXd4QMhyM2-iLXa6MNZrNJhAlN6J9xgk9uCpz7uwKyjmok1QmnbiOdcmFmU5k/s400/Screenshot+2019-01-11+at+12.38.59.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost everything is configurable</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
In addition, you can link to other Hyper Plan plans so it’s possible to maintain a master plan and directly access subordinate plans, although as far as I’m aware not changes will propagate between the plans so you still need to update items manually.<br />
<br />
For Kanban purists, you can see the work in progress counts for each part of the workflow, but there is no way of limiting it automatically.<br />
<br />
If you need to share your plans with a wider audience there are various output options available to you. Multi-user access is not currently supported but the developers have indicated that they will add this if there is sufficient demand. I suspect that for most people this will not be an issue.<br />
<br />
This is such a great tool for managing work. I heartily recommend it, especially for freelancers, writers, web developers and anyone else involved in complex activities where you need to be on top of things. Download the trial version. You won’t be disappointed.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-82150322904585817342019-01-10T21:24:00.000+00:002019-01-10T21:25:38.225+00:00Fruity Picks #11 - Keyboard MaestroIn my last main <a href="https://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2019/01/technology-would-work-perfectly-if-it.html" target="_blank">post</a>, I briefly mentioned <a href="https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/" target="_blank">Keyboard Maestro</a>. Now over 17 years old, Keyboard Maestro was first released in 2002 by Michael Kamprath and became part of the Stairways Software portfolio in 2004. The latest version is 8.2.4 which was released in August 2018.<br />
<br />
The software falls into the ‘must have utility’ categorisation, and it has appeared on every pretty much serious Mac users essential apps list for years. As the name suggests Keyboard Maestro enables the design and creation of macros to enable the automation of all kinds of routine functions.<br />
<br />
I’ve been a casual user for many years but only recently started to investigate the power of the tool to help me fix specific problems I’ve encountered in my most recent daily work.<br />
<br />
For example, I have created a macro to archive the Rapid Weaver project file I am using for our local village museum website. The macro is triggered from the Keyboard Maestro menu, copies the latest version of the RW8 project file to an archive folder, unmangles the path and filename of the file, asks for a date to be entered and rebuilds the filename using this date.<br />
<br />
The screenshot below shows the very simple macro I wrote to ensure that TotalFinder relaunches automatically whenever Finder restarts.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeD0A5qew2760IVWmkLAGF2oA-dab0UyCvyDBEs39nvKdX0MC_s7WC_cOAaBpnreT6zU00k3t6_Nr3zKNnQkV59ndxXRND96JNyuIx1cuRSMxXs5-uu59hze64xwtQiZSuzNyThgzlwOIh/s1600/Screenshot+2019-01-10+at+21.16.01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeD0A5qew2760IVWmkLAGF2oA-dab0UyCvyDBEs39nvKdX0MC_s7WC_cOAaBpnreT6zU00k3t6_Nr3zKNnQkV59ndxXRND96JNyuIx1cuRSMxXs5-uu59hze64xwtQiZSuzNyThgzlwOIh/s400/Screenshot+2019-01-10+at+21.16.01.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keyboard Maestro editor window and actions</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I use another macro to refresh the Weather Dock Express desklets on my screen which occasionally get overwritten. This runs invisibly in the background every couple of hours or can be forced to run on demand.<br />
<br />
Keyboard Maestro is an incredibly powerful tool, with in-built debugging facilities, and a large library of built-in actions. It has logic and control flow features and can run embedded Apple Script within its macros. It's one of those tools that, the more you use it, the more you find you can do with it. There's a massive online manual and wiki and you have access to a <a href="https://forum.keyboardmaestro.com/" target="_blank">community of users</a> to assist and inspire you in your creative endeavours.<br />
<br />
At the time of writing the software is available for about £35 (including VAT) from the <a href="https://sites.fastspring.com/stairways/order/confirm" target="_blank">Stairways Software Store</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-19768341732266914322019-01-01T18:52:00.003+00:002019-01-01T18:52:32.840+00:00Technology Would Work Perfectly If It Wasn't For End-Users!As we start another new year, I’ve been intrigued by a few discussions I’ve been party to during recent days. One was about upgrading to Mojave (macOS 10.14) and the other was about a smart home system that is very popular in the UK called <a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_287422347"></span>Hive<span id="goog_287422348"></span></a>. The conversations were quite different yet they shared some key similitudes. Both indicated that there are large numbers of people who make key decisions about technical matters by casually surfing the internet and reading negative comments, primarily on social media.<br />
<br />
In the two specific discussions I’m referring to, both on Facebook, the original posters were inclined to ignore the good advice and being swayed by both ill-informed suggestions or by completely misinformed statements.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIzNiWIw5fknPxJxBavc6-ebsuk6QZo8kQpJxZ-oBe13f49yJAKfVVewMHRSO_S0rq4ytwVv19ODKxagqs_mRS_G9K6P-q7n9CaIEFv4l5V0wCNZZOQnoLAV8kKiF_gFp9rcR6yNH-U7Wn/s1600/Kegworth01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIzNiWIw5fknPxJxBavc6-ebsuk6QZo8kQpJxZ-oBe13f49yJAKfVVewMHRSO_S0rq4ytwVv19ODKxagqs_mRS_G9K6P-q7n9CaIEFv4l5V0wCNZZOQnoLAV8kKiF_gFp9rcR6yNH-U7Wn/s400/Kegworth01.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
By the end of 2019, it will have been thirty years since I first touched a computer. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even a computer; it was a dumb terminal attached to a mainframe system in a different part of the city. Since that October day, I’ve witnessed staggering changes in the IT industry which I have ended up spending my life in.<br />
<br />
The biggest difference, of course, is that back then, computers were anything but the consumer units that they have become today. The MBP that I’m writing this on is many orders of magnitude more powerful than the old ICL1900 I first used. In those days, before the infinite wisdom of the public was harnessed into the ultimate truth of today’s internet, if you had a problem you had to figure out a solution yourself. And so it has been for most of my working life. In general, you had to programme your way out of problems. Even today, many teething computer problems can be overcome with a bit of imagination and a couple of useful tools. Luckily, some of the smart people who write some of these tools are also generous enough to hang out on the internet and provide amazing advice to those of us who are prepared to do a bit of work and actually think about a problem rather than just expecting someone else to fix it for us.<br />
<br />
Whenever you get a new Mac (or upgrade to a new OS) there are often a few things that don’t work quite the way they did. In an ideal world, you’d have the wherewithal to dig down and find out the root cause of the problem and fix it. Sadly, most of us don’t have that luxury these days. I recently found that my new MBP had a minor problem when it auto-switches from Light to Dark modes (using <a href="http://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2018/12/fruity-picks-10-nightowl-for-mojave.html" target="_blank">NightOwl</a>). For some reason, this switch forces a Finder restart and this, in turn, means that <a href="https://totalfinder.binaryage.com/" target="_blank">TotalFinder</a> terminates. My solution was to use <a href="https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/" target="_blank">Keyboard Maestro</a> to build a macro so that whenever Finder restarts, TotalFinder will automatically restart as well. It’s a seamless action and I don’t have to do anything.<br />
<br />
My point is, that with a bit of imagination and a few readily available tools we can get over niggling problems with fairly simple workarounds. Sure, it took me a couple of hours to isolate the problem, research potential fixes and eventually create my own but was that a good enough reason not to upgrade to Mojave and solve a whole bunch of other problems. Clearly not. But many people out there seem to be looking for excuses not to do things which are pretty much common sense. And they are aided and abetted by others who are determined to make things worse - like the guy who stated that Mojave will not run 32-bit apps. Funny, that, because my version does!<br />
<br />
After reading about the person who decided that they had read so much bad press about Hive in a Facebook Hive and Nest forum that they were going to go with a completely different system, I was reminded about the recent reviews I read on Amazon about products I have purchased and found worked perfectly. Although technology has become more prevalent in our homes and daily lives, the majority of people still don’t have any idea about how it works, how to install it correctly, or how to use it correctly. In many cases, they don’t even know why they’ve bought it. “I’ve just bought an Apple Watch - what does it do?”….<br />
<br />
So it’s easy for people to buy something, plug it in and then sit back and complain that it doesn’t work rather than actually take the trouble to do it properly. Much of our technology is still emergent - it doesn’t always work exactly as it should, but for many people, it does for most of the time. They just don’t tell the rest of us, because they are quite happy getting on and using the time they’ve saved to do something interesting rather than whine and criticise things they simply don’t understand!<br />
<br />
Are problems with Apple kit on the increase? Probably not. But there are now 100,000,000 Mac users all of whom have access to the internet and many of whom are all too ready to bad mouth the technology when it doesn’t work the way they expect. So problems become exaggerated and other people believe the negative hype.<br />
<br />
For the record, I have Hive installed in my house and recently we installed it in my fiancee's house. 99% of the time it works perfectly, and I’d be happy to recommend it to a prospective buyer.<br />
<br />
For many years I’ve held the belief that if end-users didn’t exist there wouldn’t be any issues with technology. That’s never truer than now!<br />
<br />
Happy New Year!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-84437554168068022302018-12-20T16:25:00.001+00:002018-12-20T16:25:25.851+00:00Fruity Picks #10 - NightOwl for Mojave (macOS 10.14)I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed writing this blog and I’m really pleased I’ve picked it up again. But after an absence of two years, it’s actually quite hard to know where to focus; so much has been going on. But, that’s part of the reason that I started the Fruity Picks series, to help me out when I was stuck for an in-depth post. So, now is as good a time as any to revive the Fruity Picks with #10 - NightOwl.<br />
<br />
I’ve been using Mojave (macOS 10.14) since just before the formal public release in September. One of the things I had been looking forward to was Dark Mode and by and large I wasn’t disappointed. But as in all things, you can have too much of a good thing, and moving to Dark Mode as a permanent UI choice wasn’t for me, especially in the northern hemisphere where it’s dark enough during the short days.<br />
<br />
Of course, it’s easy enough to change from Light Mode to Dark Mode, but a German student, <a href="https://twitter.com/fuekiin" target="_blank">Benjamin Kramser</a>, has developed a great (free) little tool to automate the process through user-specified parameters.<br />
<br />
NightOwl lives in the menu bar and allows you to schedule when Dark Mode kicks in and out (either on a fixed sunrise/sunset basis or your chosen times). You can also choose to overwrite specific application settings so those apps will always display in Light Mode. Finally, you can toggle modes using a hotkey combo. Small and simple - just like me!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB6gxXPlt2LNjX4GJVCK8RFmbr0J69XwYxTpspyWXmxWiV2sOwDQ0TJk6e8sNH_mTvhTm7XMDGGQ97e62oAOS-y2_6-rxbYUKLQ8hqhVPq0M7yr92LsZtPQvipd6guXlQdqltnLxWB-VBX/s1600/Screenshot+2018-12-20+at+16.06.17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB6gxXPlt2LNjX4GJVCK8RFmbr0J69XwYxTpspyWXmxWiV2sOwDQ0TJk6e8sNH_mTvhTm7XMDGGQ97e62oAOS-y2_6-rxbYUKLQ8hqhVPq0M7yr92LsZtPQvipd6guXlQdqltnLxWB-VBX/s400/Screenshot+2018-12-20+at+16.06.17.png" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NightOwl lives in the menubar and does one thing really well</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />You can download NightOwl from the <a href="https://nightowl.kramser.xyz/index.html" target="_blank">website</a> (which, by the way, is beautifully designed) and you can also provide a PayPal donation via the site. The software is currently at version 0.2.8<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-59601691498251548822018-12-08T21:58:00.000+00:002018-12-08T22:00:48.762+00:00"It's Simply The Best" - My Honeymoon Period with the 2017 15" MacBook ProTwo weeks on since I took possession of my new MacBook Pro and I’ve not lost that loving feeling. On the contrary; I’ve become seriously bonded to the machine and I find I miss not working on it so I keep sneaking off to do more work. It’s simply the best.<br />
<br />
Before I embarrass myself any further with dubious song references and suggestions of deviant man-machine behaviour, let me run through the new Apple Harvest configuration. For the record, this is Apple Harvest HQ at my fiancee’s house. I’m back in the UK after nearly four years of living in Prague and last year Mel and I got engaged (in Prague, on her birthday!). I set up a temporary AH HQ here back in 2013, and now we’re settling down to domestic bliss, it’s back up and running.<br />
<br />
To be honest, not a great deal has changed. The old 2011 MBA got replaced with a 2015 MBA which has now been replaced by the 2017 MBP. As I indicated in my last post, this is a refurbished 2017 Space Grey 15inch model. It’s the quad-core "Kaby Lake" i7 2.9GHz version, with 16Gb of RAM, 512Gb SSD, with Radeon Pro 560/4Mb and Intel HD 630 1.5Mb. At the time of writing, I’ve just updated the OS to Mojave 10.14.2.<br />
<br />
Initially, the laptop was connected to my old Belkin Thunderbolt Hub, but at the weekend I swapped this out with an <a href="https://www.owcdigital.com/products/thunderbolt-2-dock" target="_blank">OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock</a> that was idling away at my house (which I never got around to writing about, but it’s a great piece of kit). This was a good idea for various reasons:-<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>It’s at least twice the speed of the Belkin, which didn’t quite meet the original TB speed potential because of design constraints</li>
<li>It has an HDMI port which the Belkin doesn’t and this frees up a TB2 port for a TB2 external hard drive</li>
<li>There are two additional USB-A 3.0 ports making 5 in total as well as a FireWire 800 port</li>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYBjX1CkaJcqiKWlO2ec76rknbentz0BZzNvvjyG8svQR_LLIs6QuRNdF3VG1DSsTiIJkQx5i5cobx1BzP9PbXdclwCI_6dWNgv2rA7pJth79g2mcL__Gz4ZdcBk_ZZL5ETviTcDikaX3/s1600/OWC_Thunderbolt-Dock_1024x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="950" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYBjX1CkaJcqiKWlO2ec76rknbentz0BZzNvvjyG8svQR_LLIs6QuRNdF3VG1DSsTiIJkQx5i5cobx1BzP9PbXdclwCI_6dWNgv2rA7pJth79g2mcL__Gz4ZdcBk_ZZL5ETviTcDikaX3/s400/OWC_Thunderbolt-Dock_1024x1024.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">12 port OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
All in all, it’s a much tidier set up, and it means I’m only using two of the ports on the laptop - one to connect to the hub (using an <a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MMEL2ZM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter?afid=p238%7CsL4w7cF5j-dc_mtid_187079nc38483_pcrid_104154899041_&cid=aos-uk-kwgo-pla-btb--slid-----product-MMEL2ZM/A-UK" target="_blank">Apple Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter</a>) and one for the power (more on that in a moment).<br />
<br />
I’ll admit, the idea of a laptop furnished with only Thunderbolt 3/USB-C connectors made me a little bit nervous. But in reality, I’m not really sure I understand what all the fuss is about. I miss the SD card slot that proved so useful on the MBA with only 256 Gb of onboard storage but having twice that storage capacity on the MBP made it slightly redundant. I was using it to keep all my Apple Mail files on, and a used a thumbnail flash drive for my photo library - all of these now live on the SSD - a much better arrangement.<br />
<br />
I appreciate that when I’m on the road things will be a little different, but I have that covered. I purchased a set of 3 USB-C to USB-A 3.0 adapters, a 7-in-1 USB-C dongle which includes Gb Ethernet, SD card, micro SD card, headphone, HDMI and 2 USB-A 3.0 ports and a USB-C extension lead for a little over £40. Job done! For reference, this was the <a href="https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GKL1KGG/?tag=lookjarcom-21" target="_blank">ATZEBE</a> which I managed to get on an Amazon Lightning deal for £27.19 down from £35.99. So far, I’ve only used the SD card slot, but that worked perfectly well. The <a href="https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B074P2VPB6/?tag=lookjarcom-21" target="_blank">USB-C/USB-A adaptor</a>s were £5.91 for a packet of three.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1WXn4pJ7zAA_bSQpxpM_mG4hoRMMVPhYR_5YXa6wseJ3tgfRxE09J6HaTzRDlsvTCSH-POoWu9L55xBdjkSe_Juh8wSl5geDloLeOnElC2qOAdmZ23KMsRYLpAN69r2ZNrdHKYjOXtO2/s1600/IMG_0562.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1WXn4pJ7zAA_bSQpxpM_mG4hoRMMVPhYR_5YXa6wseJ3tgfRxE09J6HaTzRDlsvTCSH-POoWu9L55xBdjkSe_Juh8wSl5geDloLeOnElC2qOAdmZ23KMsRYLpAN69r2ZNrdHKYjOXtO2/s320/IMG_0562.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ATZEBE 7-in-1 USB-C dongle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since Apple, in their less-than-infinite wisdom, decided to do away with the MagSafe power connector I decided to go with a third party USB-C option which is ideal. I got a <a href="https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FDD67PC/?tag=lookjarcom-21" target="_blank">First2savv Magnetic USB Charging Cable</a> which is rated at 87W/4.3A which means it’s perfectly capable of charging the MBP at full speed and does it in about 90 minutes. To emphasise that it’s a charging cable I got it in bright red! It’s currently selling for £11.99 on Amazon, but I got mine for under a tenner.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVsVCvX-nzQDEZC13hFGPe4YEHNnfl2s3GKi3iHexhJ81pLBCzZyh9BkBSsN-5u3adEnpEyqIOj02oyZvXaYWudhhOaXxMfko80fvSZzHbF4iMKScGrTDNTNe7YXV14MrS8erVRSSftZU8/s1600/IMG_0561.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVsVCvX-nzQDEZC13hFGPe4YEHNnfl2s3GKi3iHexhJ81pLBCzZyh9BkBSsN-5u3adEnpEyqIOj02oyZvXaYWudhhOaXxMfko80fvSZzHbF4iMKScGrTDNTNe7YXV14MrS8erVRSSftZU8/s320/IMG_0561.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">USB-C Magsafe type connector from First2savv</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
No doubt the arguments about cables and adaptors will continue for the next couple of years - don’t they always? The thing is, it’s a fact of life that technology changes. Apple is often an early adopter and if you haven’t got used to that by now then you’re in the wrong ecosystem. Quite frankly, if I’m going to be carrying the extra pound of weight of a 15inch MBP compared to a 13inch MBA, I’m not likely to complain about an extra few ounces of additional dongles!<br />
<br />
In my last post, I hinted that my initial purchase of the same spec'd MBP from eBay was about to go to arbitration. It did, and I got a full refund without any issues. Happy days!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-3772797768164505602018-11-29T12:44:00.002+00:002018-11-29T17:26:57.214+00:00I Just Got My Apple (MacBook) Mojo BackI can’t believe it’s two years since I last posted on this blog. Wow! It’s not even as though there’s been nothing to write about. In fact, that’s been the problem. There has simply been too much to write about but unfortunately for readers here, most of what I have been writing has been on other topics in other blogs.<br />
<br />
So why now, you may ask. Well, quite simply, I just got my Apple mojo back. You remember that feeling you had when you bought your first mainstream Apple product - with me it was my 2007 MacBook Pro with Leopard (OS X 10.5). I just got that same feeling for the first time in years. After eight years of being a MacBook Air devotee, I have gone back to my MBP roots and splashed out on a 2017 15” MacBook Pro.<br />
<br />
Which is quite simply, a thing of absolute beauty! And it goes like the clappers!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipgquda62mtyo6TePi3ohMrotOBBtmVHwixYMouCEvkKg3zlASyhTuuCK9mvReiBRWLhzR8zHXCz0WccoPJvaoEwBidiu8CfMJgdOMT3TisdfJ3vbICoy7elyCxcJ8LjBV05JWMA1fmhqL/s1600/AoJbnPcLSLuxajuy55GEbQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipgquda62mtyo6TePi3ohMrotOBBtmVHwixYMouCEvkKg3zlASyhTuuCK9mvReiBRWLhzR8zHXCz0WccoPJvaoEwBidiu8CfMJgdOMT3TisdfJ3vbICoy7elyCxcJ8LjBV05JWMA1fmhqL/s320/AoJbnPcLSLuxajuy55GEbQ.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2017 MacBook Pro 15" i7 2.90 512Gb/16Gb (Space Grey)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I love the MBA - I wrote about my first one back in <a href="http://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2011/08/out-with-hackintosh-long-live-macbook.html" target="_blank">August 2011</a> and its replacement in <a href="http://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2015/12/2015-and-all-that-or-out-with-old-in.html" target="_blank">December 2015</a>. But recently I faced a similar situation to what I encountered in 2015. My needs have outgrown the capability of the MBA; specifically the limited 8Gb memory, the restriction of the 256Gb onboard SSD and the slow Thunderbolt 2 bus. Even a year ago this wasn’t too much of an issue, but these days I find myself spending too much time looking at spinning beach balls and listening to the fans thrashing furiously. A year ago, I was really using the MBA as a mobile device - playing music, processing photos and some office work. Now, I’m more desk-bound. I’m still doing all the above, along with web development, a lot more writing and office work and more intensive photographic editing.<br />
<br />
I half-heartedly started looking for a replacement machine about two months ago and was torn between the new MBA or a 13in MBP. With a minimum specification of 16 and 512 Gb of RAM and SSD space, this started to push the price up towards crazy money which I couldn’t justify. So I started looking at the refurb market and plumped on an Apple refurbed 2017 13in MBP before I checked out the eBay market and found a new 15in 2017 MBP for a similar price. In the heat of the moment I bought it - and that deal will soon be going to eBay for arbitration; I’ve still not received the laptop after three weeks and the seller is not responding. Caveat emptor!<br />
<br />
Having rashly gone out and bought a bunch of accessories designed to fit a 15in MBP I was kind of stuck in that direction, but luckily found a refurb from a reputable outfit that was only £150 more expensive than the no-show.<br />
<br />
The new box came via DPD within 24 hours and my Apple mojo was packaged with it. It took a day to set up - one of the most painless transfers I’ve ever done and it is performing flawlessly.<br />
<br />
The MPB is connected to my old <a href="http://appleharvest.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-belkin-thunderbolt-express-dock.html" target="_blank">Thunderbolt 1 Belkin hub</a> which isn’t the fastest box in the world, but I can’t afford a TB 3 replacement just yet. But it works. My photos and mail are now back on the internal SSD having been off-loaded onto external flash drives previously, and that helps speed things up considerably, although obviously with the trade-off of using up space on the SSD.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1MOYr6sIGff3KfUNpJ1pZ0N_B9nxPtwGdvJTY4jdpt-5TYU9RjCZYFv0E173wD8Ga4DCvgJMDQxgRX6bmytEGQjT0pjI5Rqn2x3yejFs-RcuDUTJtd-haWg-XnDJFwDFHk5iDDbns2dWG/s1600/%252Bc3jC709QlWu99uV%2525BjNDA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1MOYr6sIGff3KfUNpJ1pZ0N_B9nxPtwGdvJTY4jdpt-5TYU9RjCZYFv0E173wD8Ga4DCvgJMDQxgRX6bmytEGQjT0pjI5Rqn2x3yejFs-RcuDUTJtd-haWg-XnDJFwDFHk5iDDbns2dWG/s320/%252Bc3jC709QlWu99uV%2525BjNDA.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apple Harvest HQ - November 2018</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of course, it's early days, and I've not yet tried using the laptop as a laptop as it's been tethered to my desk while I iron out any migration issues. The keyboard which has caused a fair amount of controversy remains untested, and the much-vaunted toolbar (by Apple) is just a little too far out of reach to have had any major use. (Personally, I'm looking forward to playing with the toolbar in earnest).<br />
<br />
Next time, I'll have a look at some of the other changes that have impacted Apple Harvest HQ in the last couple of years.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="TnITTtw-tooltip-main-wrap TnITTtw-tooltip-2 TnITTtw-t" data-ttid="2" id="TnITTtw-tooltip-wrap" style="left: 164px; max-height: 325px; max-width: 450px; top: 1141px;">
<div class="TnITTtw-t TnITTtw-arr0w TnITTtw-top-arr0w">
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-t TnITTtw-inside-layout">
<div class="TnITTtw-t TnITTtw-content">
<div class="TnITTtw-t TnITTtw-help-selected-wrap TnITTtw-hsw-2 TnITTtw-has-bottom-arr0w">
<div class="TnITTtw-t TnITTtw-help-inside-layout TnITTtw-hil-2">
<div class="TnITTtw-unpinned-utils TnITTtw-t">
<div class="TnITTtw-pro-img TnITTtw-t">
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-close-unpinned TnITTtw-t">
</div>
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-utils TnITTtw-t">
<div class="TnITTtw-util-butt0n TnITTtw-listen-original TnITTtw-t" data-from="<%=from%>" title="">
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-util-butt0n TnITTtw-unpin TnITTtw-t" title="">
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-show-reversed TnITTtw-t" title="">
<img class="TnITTtw-flag TnITTtw-from-flag TnITTtw-t" /> <div class="TnITTtw-swap-arrow TnITTtw-t">
</div>
<img class="TnITTtw-flag TnITTtw-to-flag TnITTtw-t" /> </div>
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-trVisibleLayout TnITTtw-t" id="TnITTtw-trVisibleLayout-2">
<div class="TnITTtw-trEntireLayout TnITTtw-t" id="TnITTtw-trEntireLayout-2">
<div class="TnITTtw-t TnITTtw-content-layout TnITTtw-content-layout-2">
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-tr-scrollbar TnITTtw-t" id="TnITTtw-tr-scrollbar-2">
<div class="TnITTtw-track TnITTtw-t" id="TnITTtw-track-2">
<div class="TnITTtw-dragBar TnITTtw-t" id="TnITTtw-dragBar-2">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-translate-human TnITTtw-t">
Translate by a professional</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-info-warn TnITTtw-iw-2 TnITTtw-hide TnITTtw-t">
<a class="TnITTtw-t" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank" title="There is a localized version of this website">Check the localized version of the site</a> <div class="TnITTtw-close-info-warn TnITTtw-t" data-ttid="2">
</div>
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-loading TnITTtw-t" style="display: block;">
<div class="TnITTtw-mate-loading TnITTtw-t">
</div>
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-offline TnITTtw-t">
<span class="TnITTtw-t">No Internet Connection</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="TnITTtw-t TnITTtw-arr0w TnITTtw-bottom-arr0w" style="display: block; margin-left: 148.5px;">
</div>
</div>
Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-20664401921190634482016-09-24T21:32:00.003+01:002016-09-25T07:36:41.156+01:00Oops - I(Tunes) Did It Again...Another new operating system for the Mac and another half baked version of iTunes...<br />
<br />
The Apple Harvest has never shied away from commenting on the mess that iTunes has become. It's hardly a lone voice either. But it would appear that none of the professional or personal voices are being heard by Apple. Or if they are, they are not being listened to.<br />
<br />
In my day job I'm a business improvement consultant. I help companies understand their problems and give them ideas on how to solve them. I help them look for opportunities where they may be blinkered. I also help them manage change, and one of my golden rules is "Continuous Tinkering is not Continuous Improvement". I even wrote a <a href="http://allygillcouk.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/continuous-tinkering-is-not-continuous.html" target="_blank">post</a> about it on one of my other blogs.<br />
<br />
Apple have well and truly got into the rut of continuous tinkering when it comes to iTunes. Each step forward (and I genuinely do like some of the things they do each time a new release comes out) results in a number of steps backwards.<br />
<br />
It really is time for one giant step change for the product team who need to throw away the legacy and start again from scratch.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6E934Avep5iHwN3mpga0a4atZCV2wohN649EtV5yq1PkMltk-UeUO2BJM_r6EOKqyGOD83K8YwY5pr7HGqwccGvDc6MDHI-3qXsZyCFh-liVT8bMYMhv882PxxvzPs3L9Zhj9T1VsNB7U/s1600/headsman__oops__i_did_it_again____by_maniacunknown-d4ppqiz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6E934Avep5iHwN3mpga0a4atZCV2wohN649EtV5yq1PkMltk-UeUO2BJM_r6EOKqyGOD83K8YwY5pr7HGqwccGvDc6MDHI-3qXsZyCFh-liVT8bMYMhv882PxxvzPs3L9Zhj9T1VsNB7U/s400/headsman__oops__i_did_it_again____by_maniacunknown-d4ppqiz.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So what exactly has upset me with this latest version of iTunes?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Technology now allows us to see over a billion colours on a screen but Apple insist on using white backgrounds for everything. Now I know that not everyone liked the colour option of iTunes 11, but it was a preference and they could turn it off. Now we have no choice - we have to have our eyes blown out by blindingly white backgrounds (same goes for the Notification Centre - brilliant white only)</li>
<li>For You used to be really quite an attractive option - the only thing I like about this new incarnation is the inclusion of new music</li>
<li>It used to be really easy to flick between an artist's music in your library and that on Apple Music that isn't in your library - now it's virtually impossible without having to make notes. OK, not a problem with a small library, but I have over 4000 albums, and I don't have an eidetic knowledge of which albums by which artists I have in my library</li>
<li>When I click on the first track of an album I expect to be able to play the album and then finish. I don't want the next 'n' tracks in my library to appear in the current play list</li>
<li>It would be quite useful to have better visibility of the current playlist in general - for example I would love to be able to delete a selection of songs without having to delete each one individually (and have it replaced by the next song in the library)</li>
<li>Play Later seems to only be available under certain conditions - I'm not yet entirely sure what they are</li>
<li>Who on earth decided that the Shuffle option should be turned on by default? </li>
<li>Pre-ordered albums with a few songs available seem to exist in an alternative universe to all other albums - pulling in tracks from other albums/singles and EPs </li>
<li>The Recently Added library list shares none of the characteristics of other items like Albums or Artists</li>
</ul>
<div>
Then, of course, there are the bugs that still cause problems especially the iCloud Music Library option unchecking itself at random.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I could probably, just about, live with any one of these, and try and establish workarounds for them, but as a whole, they make using iTunes a proverbial pain in the butt! The Music app in iOS 10 has another set of quirks, but at least the overall experience is more consistent than iTunes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Apple seems to have forgotten that not all users listen to music the same way - those of us with large downloaded libraries, particularly those of us who are album oriented, listen to our music in a different way to those who stream singles and odd songs. In different circumstances, our listening methods change, but Apple is seemingly forcing us into a specific way of listening to our music and is removing the flexibility for us to take back any control. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But above all - it would be great not to have to constantly have to relearn how to use an application that is so fundamental to so many users every time a new release comes out. We actually want consistency and continuity - we don't want constantly changing ways of doing the basic things we've been doing for years. Some things don't need innovation - they just need to do what they're supposed to do. And with a minimum of fuss and effort on our part!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, please Apple, either redesign iTunes from scratch, or give us the flexibility to tweak it to suit ourselves. But please, above all....stop tinkering and pretending that its an improvement! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-4941444629929337732016-09-23T09:51:00.002+01:002016-09-23T09:51:41.268+01:00Fruity Picks #9 - Smatree Travel Case for Apple WatchWhile the official Apple Watch Dock, reviewed in Fruity Picks #8 is a bit of a one-trick pony (which it does very well), the same cannot be said for the <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smatree-SmaShell-Power-Case-Multi-function-Original/dp/B019WCQ51O/ref=sr_1_18?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1463730365&sr=1-18&keywords=smatree" target="_blank">Smatree SmaShell A100</a> which combines a travel case, dock and power bank for the Apple Watch.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmi_5bHB_SwqQSZGb_1utNMB6pUqQRAIIxYvLUvN9zBA1gcGt02sJbnJYBFpZJMe9HzOMHTBMKytfXg7BdkVJT6kd0q5PA5ZElg38zVFbQyqtjvccUdA1Mrg8QrItIm3hOUOgE_F7k38lk/s1600/SmaShell+A100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmi_5bHB_SwqQSZGb_1utNMB6pUqQRAIIxYvLUvN9zBA1gcGt02sJbnJYBFpZJMe9HzOMHTBMKytfXg7BdkVJT6kd0q5PA5ZElg38zVFbQyqtjvccUdA1Mrg8QrItIm3hOUOgE_F7k38lk/s320/SmaShell+A100.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
To be honest, I'm not convinced as to why I would want to put my Apple Watch in a case for travelling purposes as it's far more useful on my wrist...but that aside, this is a really useful little gadget. Although it doesn't come supplied with the a watch charger, I happened to have a spare short charger (0.3m) lying around which is ideal for the SmaShell. It's easy to install the charger and once it's in place, an Apple Watch can be charged in the night-stand mode as shown in the picture above. Although, you have to remember to push the charge button to actually turn on the juice from the in-built battery.<br />
<br />
There's enough juice in the internal battery to charge an original Apple Watch up to six times (I have to admit I've not needed this - I've only needed three but that was no problem), and because it has a USB port you can also charge an additional device from it, but again, not a function I've used in anger. Clearly this wold reduce the number of Watch charges you could get from the battery.<br />
<br />
There's room in the carrier for a couple of spare Watch bands which can be useful if you need to glam up for an evening do after a hard day in the office.<br />
<br />
Best price in the UK is around £30 on the UK Amazon store. Recommended for weekend travellers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-38439466651581470012016-08-11T10:03:00.002+01:002016-08-11T10:03:09.538+01:00The Old Ones Are Often Still the BestI forget exactly when, but I'm guessing it was about four years ago, that I bought a Logitech K750 Solar keyboard (Mac version). Without question, it is the best keyboard I've ever used. I have an office full of Apple keyboards, both wired and wireless, including the latest Lightning Magic Keyboard. I even bought the Mobi magic wand, to convert the earlier model into a rechargeable device. I also bought the smaller Logitech K760 Solar keyboard. Whilst I do like the alternatives, none of them can hold a candle compared to the K750.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPLbZiHKwlpmy74egWYl994_lPjzuJ9ToxqoGDXe6GPB_aCoXqvpcolx4it84wS5tPO50G5aPjssHcfe8i_RUIaBDsMKbWBycTkhu_z_r5qFJyIYa9S85490_zYzGonl77Dg2EXYF_f4s/s1600/k750-for-mac-gallery.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPLbZiHKwlpmy74egWYl994_lPjzuJ9ToxqoGDXe6GPB_aCoXqvpcolx4it84wS5tPO50G5aPjssHcfe8i_RUIaBDsMKbWBycTkhu_z_r5qFJyIYa9S85490_zYzGonl77Dg2EXYF_f4s/s400/k750-for-mac-gallery.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<h4>
The Pros</h4>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Solar powered, obviating the need for continuous replacement or recharging of batteries</li>
<li>Full length, with numeric keypad/arrow keys</li>
<li>Light, thin and wireless</li>
<li>Beautiful action</li>
<li>Solar App to help manage charging levels</li>
</ul>
<h4>
The Cons</h4>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Uses a Logitech wireless dongle rather than Bluetooth</li>
<li>Logitech Unifying Software doesn't work well on the Mac</li>
<li>Internal battery is the devil's own job to replace</li>
<li>Attempted built-in obsolescence </li>
</ul>
<div>
So when it died a couple of days ago I was really upset, especially as a new replacement is now twice the price of what it was when I bought it. Logitech no longer make the Mac version so it is becoming something of a rarity, and therefore commands high prices.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rHrx9Y839VzmyDqde2AptGEePEJUAM0cwepw7tXAsIZ64N1aGJIbHJVwFLkC4qryb54RHariRPXO-Sw9W0Rcx5-LPJCXo6RSJSidoQTF5-EgM2MxCd_q5ZLcrDnuCtUS-yCVWSSLNDwJ/s1600/K750battery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rHrx9Y839VzmyDqde2AptGEePEJUAM0cwepw7tXAsIZ64N1aGJIbHJVwFLkC4qryb54RHariRPXO-Sw9W0Rcx5-LPJCXo6RSJSidoQTF5-EgM2MxCd_q5ZLcrDnuCtUS-yCVWSSLNDwJ/s200/K750battery.jpg" width="200" /></a>A quick search on the Internet gave me a little bit of hope when I found that the cause of the problem could have been an internal battery failure, and an <a href="https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Logitech+K750+Keyboard+Battery+Replacement/23376" target="_blank">iFixit</a> site which had instructions on how to replace it. I duly ordered a replacement battery, an <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maxell-Lithium-rech-industrial-battery-Battery/dp/B01AT3RM58/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470905596&sr=8-1&keywords=ml2032+battery" target="_blank">ML2032</a> (it's <b><u>really</u></b> important to get this one which is rechargeable, not a standard CR2032) - which had to be shipped from France for more cost than the battery itself and although the delivery time was indicated as being sometime in September, it arrived this morning.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Removing the old battery involved prising the battery holder out of the case (inflicting a small amount of damage to the underside) using pliers, screwdrivers, and brute force. The battery itself had a sticker on it from Logitech explaining that the battery was not user replaceable (they would rather you purchase a new keyboard!) but I popped the new one in and crossed my fingers.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I ran the Unifying Software package to pair the keyboard (which had previously gone dark) and it appeared immediately. Although I couldn't get past the next stage of the set-up, I'd done enough for the iMac to see the keyboard and accept keystrokes. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We're back up and running!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-73518996603015876102016-04-26T11:57:00.000+01:002016-05-01T09:13:39.812+01:00That Moment When...You Think Your SSD is DeadI use Power Manager to automatically start (and power down) my new MacBook Air at various times on weekdays and with a different schedule at the weekend. Recently, however, the system has got stuck during the boot process and the first thing I see on the screen is the Apple logo with the half completed status bar underneath. I expect to see a fully operational Mac. Usually, it's enough to restart the machine, but today was different.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Today nothing happened on the restart. Nothing, nada, nil, The speakers attached to the device lit up briefly and then the laptop powered right back down again. And again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I tried various power up options, safe boot - nothing, clear PRAM - nothing, Diagnostics - nothing. Eventually I tried the Recovery mode and that worked, so my first port of call was Disk Utility. Running First Aid on the flash drive indicated that it was OK, but subsequently running the tool on the start-up partition repeatedly failed. I was starting to get a bit nervous, especially given this was a four month old MBA.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxWF6AchJSYZ893I6TNulH7KpbpVKRF6v-6e8dvhNAjxXO0-4PUUwv8HyA47vgLUPOAdWGosnp71pQelGudQQDAkmPlQQudODwB7N16PFvX1yicUBDl0FPqKZyRVv3BGvxDj2pv9kjop6/s1600/flashstorage-1200x630-c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxWF6AchJSYZ893I6TNulH7KpbpVKRF6v-6e8dvhNAjxXO0-4PUUwv8HyA47vgLUPOAdWGosnp71pQelGudQQDAkmPlQQudODwB7N16PFvX1yicUBDl0FPqKZyRVv3BGvxDj2pv9kjop6/s320/flashstorage-1200x630-c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Since I run a reasonably effective back-up routine, with a weekly clone in addition to a default Time Machine backup I decided that I could afford to be a bit aggressive in trying to resolve the problem so I opted to reformat the flash drive partition. This also repeatedly failed. I was beginning to think that a visit to the repair shop was on the cards, especially as I was running out of time before having to leave for work.<br />
<br />
I closed down the MBA and shoved it in my bag and headed off to the office for the day. There isn't an Apple Store in Prague yet, and although there are Apple certified resellers and repair outfits, my MBA is my most valuable possession here, and I really did not like the idea of parting with it for even a couple of days. So I was determined to fix the problem myself.<br />
<br />
During my breaks in the office I tried a few more tricks, and eventually I managed to format the flash drive completely, not just the start-up partition. Of course, this wiped the disk completely so the next time the machine restarted I was presented with an icon of a question mark in a folder. Unfortunately I couldn't get access to the guest WiFi in the office as it needs a browser to log in which meant an internet recovery was not going to happen. So, for the rest of the working day, I was stuck. I got copies of my invoices, proof of purchase and Apple Care documents printed out, just in case, and eventually headed off home. It was Friday, and I had visions of a long night ahead.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr1HIF5902jhaYym9aqLR3QH3v_soRBw_QR1jSpXxGqUCAlm9LC0-MN61iPYUdNWkGrxczFtKwoi3rB3x5aL98wftLko71YITAcvvfcrYV07FYYlfRq6H4rl99HpluoFclhyphenhyphenBuICtIhI3w/s1600/Apple+QM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr1HIF5902jhaYym9aqLR3QH3v_soRBw_QR1jSpXxGqUCAlm9LC0-MN61iPYUdNWkGrxczFtKwoi3rB3x5aL98wftLko71YITAcvvfcrYV07FYYlfRq6H4rl99HpluoFclhyphenhyphenBuICtIhI3w/s1600/Apple+QM.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Once back at the Pent-Palace (my nickname for Apple Harvest HQ for this trip) I switched on the laptop and launched it into Recovery mode once more. To my relief it worked without any problems. I checked the flash drive again and no errors were reported. An empty partition was already set up and I chose to restore the most recent backup. Everything went according to plan (prayer?) and about three hours later the contents were restored. I rebooted and things started looking good.<br />
<br />
But there's always a catch. Once I hooked up the OWA Thunderbolt 2 dock, which included access to a 4 Tb external drive, Ethernet network and second monitor and rebooted both screens were blank. I tried again with the same outcome. Booting into the laptop without connecting the dock was fine, and then reconnecting the dock was fine. So, theoretically, all the hardware was working, all the cables were fine, and all the software was fine.<br />
<br />
In the end, I decided to let it be and left things to settle down overnight. First thing in the morning, I rebooted with everything connected and lo and behold - it all worked perfectly.<br />
<br />
The bad news is that I have no idea what caused the problem in the first place. Any console logs are long since destroyed. The only clue was in disk utility which seemed to hint that there was a corrupt directory entry on the start up partition, but as to what caused it, I have no idea.<br />
<br />
But happily I didn't need to call on the engineers and I didn't even lose any sleep over the problem.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-48535371742709625902016-04-17T12:09:00.003+01:002016-04-17T12:09:59.325+01:00Fruity Picks #8 - Apple Watch DockOne of Apple's more controversial product offering over recent months was the announcement of the first official Apple Watch Dock (OK - the bump case for the iPhone generated far more derision but I'm not in a position to comment on that).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPYbvi_A5K4EwNCr7q0HAJLhsrxpYp53-UOxlWX8UACGqpVChsv6KTZNaDmNs4-ui6W7JyfzCuNN7B2yUwO-fOqXO6o6dBRQKWphkhH7dizoolBiF6t02Pqg1cj23aMTKZR2asCkEvgo4b/s1600/Watch+Dock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPYbvi_A5K4EwNCr7q0HAJLhsrxpYp53-UOxlWX8UACGqpVChsv6KTZNaDmNs4-ui6W7JyfzCuNN7B2yUwO-fOqXO6o6dBRQKWphkhH7dizoolBiF6t02Pqg1cj23aMTKZR2asCkEvgo4b/s320/Watch+Dock.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
I have to confess I was a little uncertain about the Watch Dock. It seemed a bit over-sized, and certainly seemed a bit expensive for a one trick pony. I had been looking at the <a href="http://www.hellonomad.com/products/pod-for-apple-watch" target="_blank">Nomad Pod</a> and <a href="http://www.hellonomad.com/products/pod-pro" target="_blank">Pod Pro</a> products, but these still need a charger cable and weren't really quite what I was looking for.<br />
<br />
Just before Christmas, I was on a business trip to Basel in Switzerland and with a little time to kill I found myself in the Apple store. For some extraordinary reason, a lot of Apple kit in Switzerland has been (in my experience) considerably cheaper than in the UK - unlike pretty much everything else in Switzerland. The Watch Dock was in keeping with my previous experience and rattled in at about £20 cheaper than at home. So I bought one on the spot.<br />
<br />
The Watch Dock is classic Apple design which just works. It is a simple and elegant solution especially given that it uses a lightning USB cable to connect the dock to a power source rather than a separate Apple Watch charger.<br />
<br />
What more is there to say? I'm really pleased I have one even though I think it's far too overpriced. It has become my watch dock of choice and I'm pretty sure I'd have ended up buying one anyway but who doesn't like a discount!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-20257956955091744732016-04-17T11:57:00.001+01:002016-04-17T12:10:24.705+01:00iTunes - Time for A Major MakeoverJust over four years ago I posted an <a href="http://appleharvest.blogspot.cz/2012/02/is-itunes-suffering-from-senility.html" target="_blank">article about iTunes</a> and how I'd spent a week trying to recover from a series of iTunes induced cock-ups. Following the latest update to 12.3.3 I've spent another week trying to recover from another set of iTunes induced cock-ups.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2H_RAmivHKaRzROGxVTBF09r15awepa02t3NpK3QQUZCY-Ug9FvI8mu9g49PiJeIFSPPAWCWbIPqqOEGzcgY8CJF1HuGme1v4AvHxdOTRIdYGfqTKtVYwGqsq1Jwg8uUTJzSGS97TdKDn/s1600/20150702itunes_12_2_bug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2H_RAmivHKaRzROGxVTBF09r15awepa02t3NpK3QQUZCY-Ug9FvI8mu9g49PiJeIFSPPAWCWbIPqqOEGzcgY8CJF1HuGme1v4AvHxdOTRIdYGfqTKtVYwGqsq1Jwg8uUTJzSGS97TdKDn/s320/20150702itunes_12_2_bug.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
If iTunes was an old pet we would probably have taken it to the vet by now and put it out of its misery. Sadly Apple doesn't perceive iTunes as old pet but some kind of sacred cow which must be kept alive in its current state regardless of its pain. In fact, iTunes is turning into a kind of dangerous dog, like a Pit Bull Terrier, which should be put to sleep before it inflicts both physical and mental damage to its owner.<br />
<br />
Years ago, when I was cutting code we had a similar problem with our commercial set of programmes. They had originally been written for the MS-DOS platform, then hurriedly converted to Windows 3 and were constantly being expanded and modified. After about five years we took the decision to call it a day and re-architect and re-engineer the entire portfolio before it imploded and became impossible to salvage. There was a business requirement as well as a technical requirement, in that a new bunch of players had come into the market and were starting from scratch, making our offerings looking tired, slow and very sad.<br />
<br />
It really is time that Apple took a similar approach with iTunes. The whole platform needs re-architecting and re-engineering in order to make it a better solution for it customers. Many iTunes users, like myself, don't really have the luxury of moving to a different solution. My music library, which relies heavily on playlists, iMatch (and more recently Apple Music) now stands at about 45,000 songs. The video library of films and TV shows is just over a terabyte. The whole library consumes about 1.7Tb. And just like our old portfolio, iTunes has grown out of control and has been showing signs of imploding for at least four years. The rate of decline is now growing even faster, and it's time to take urgent action.<br />
<br />
So, what is behind this latest call for an iTunes re-design?<br />
<br />
After the 12.3.3 update I had a few teething problems with my music library. (As an aside, and to be fair, the video and TV libraries don't appear to have been affected, but then again, I tend not to pay so much attention to them). These teething problems then turned into a big, big, problem. A 54Gb problems to be precise. For some reason, during the update, the options to use Apple Music and iCloud Music Library were deselected. Every time I tried to re-enable them iTunes would crash. Eventually I signed out of iTunes and signed in again. I could now enable the two options, but to my horror about half my Apple Music downloads were now showing as not downloaded. They hadn't been deleted from the hard drive, but they were definitely missing in iTunes.<br />
<br />
The only obvious way to fix this was to delete the problem albums and redownload but this meant going through every folder in my Apple Music library to find out the offending items, and then spending hours doing the downloads. There had to be a better way - I just had no idea what it was. So I got in touch with Apple iTunes Support via Twitter. We spent the next three days going nowhere as they asked me question after question about my setup - which I'd already explained right at the start. I felt completely patronised, and in the end they couldn't help anyway. I not even sure they understood the problem.<br />
<br />
I now realise that I'm not the only one with problems - and to be honest I actually feel quite lucky. At least I have a workaround to fix my problem. It would appear that there a many folk out there who don't, short of starting from scratch (or abandoning iTunes altogether).<br />
<br />
iTunes does not play well when it's trying to do too many things. The program should be streamlined into its components at least - Apple Music, Apple Video and the Apple Store. iTunes doesn't play well with large music libraries and the system should be more rigorously tested against very large libraries, which I think will become increasingly common with Apple Music. Apple Tunes Match is still suffering from bugs reported over four years ago - once or twice a week I have to clean up my music library to eliminate the issue of songs with a valid last played days but a zero play count. Even as I write this, over 14500 songs are showing this erroneous attribute. Additionally, most people need external storage for their media libraries because of their sheer size, and I'm sure that this is one of the major contributing factors in iTunes failures - the programme simply wasn't optimised to work with external volumes. This is a critical aspect that needs addressing.<br />
<br />
Given that iTunes is probably one of the three most used of the stock OS X applications, along with Safari and Mail, it's about time that it worked without so many problems.<br />
<br />
I've now fixed the issue with my library but it has been time consuming and painful. I have a relatively slow internet connection in Prague, but at least it is unlimited. If I been on a capped service, I might still be trying to resolve the problem into next year! But how I miss my 200Mbps connection at Apple Harvest HQ!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-40710839049935012122016-01-12T17:04:00.002+00:002016-01-12T17:04:21.732+00:00Fruity Picks #7 - Get Control of your Power ScheduleBy default OS X 10.11 gives you limited control over your power settings by allowing you to set times for when you want to start (or wake up) your Mac, and when you want to shutdown or sleep the machine. Of course, for many people even this is overkill, they just switch on the machine when they need it and close it down when they're done.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While I'm based overseas, I'm loathe to have my MBA plugged in all day, potentially screwing up the battery, especially when it's not actually being used for 8-10 hours of the day. (I rarely take the laptop into the office these days since almost all my needs can be met through my iDevices). However, I like my laptop to be on when I wake up in the morning, and then again when I get home in the evening. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<br />
<div>
If you want this kind of flexibility then you have a couple of options. The first is to use the 'pmset' command line tool (see <a href="http://www.macos.utah.edu/documentation/administration/pmset.html" target="_blank">here </a>for a tutorial), but this requires you to be prepared to go 'under the hood' and might not be that much of an option for more casual users. The second option is to get a copy of <a href="https://www.dssw.co.uk/powermanager/" target="_blank">Dragon Software Power Manager</a> which is a more user friendly option (albeit at a price - approx £40 at the time of writing).<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6VEhR6sn6WUfD5fKguDoniDTYDhtDNNJCWe8tmWz0j0Os-XU2zB2ssB6XSD7GoDJG_H3h6I16KdFoezYjkn1XA13t-bbEQRxr8WdKBhzRoyw2pWl-LyRnjkaFSVDxhbqlyoI8eTuUxXma/s1600/PowerManager.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6VEhR6sn6WUfD5fKguDoniDTYDhtDNNJCWe8tmWz0j0Os-XU2zB2ssB6XSD7GoDJG_H3h6I16KdFoezYjkn1XA13t-bbEQRxr8WdKBhzRoyw2pWl-LyRnjkaFSVDxhbqlyoI8eTuUxXma/s400/PowerManager.tiff" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
In addition to setting up complex power management schedules, Power Manager, also allows scheduling of other actions - the only limit is most likely to be your imagination. There's even a remote version for iOS devices (iOS8/9 are not currently supported but the website suggests that a new version is under development).<br />
<br />
£40 might feel a bit steep, but if you value your MBA battery, and consider the cost of replacement it could work out as a sensible investment!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-56423793399813354412015-12-29T13:43:00.002+00:002015-12-29T13:43:42.894+00:002015 And All That (or Out with the Old, In with the New)I can't believe it's been six months since my last post on the Apple Harvest blog - I do apologise! It's not like Apple have been slumbering since last June, and it's most certainly not because nothing has been going on at Apple Harvest HQ(s)...far from it. There's a shed load of new kit to write about and a few excellent iOS and OS X apps to boot. The problem is knowing where to start...how about a list or two? Hardware first...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>MacBook Air (early 2015)</li>
<li>OWC Thunderbolt 2 Hub</li>
<li>New Magic Mouse, Keyboard and TrackPad</li>
<li>4th Generation Apple TV</li>
<li>2Tb TimeCapsule</li>
<li>Apple Watch Dock</li>
<li>Wireless Charging Devices</li>
</ul>
<br />
...and some of the software:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Dragon Systems PowerManager</li>
<li>TunaBelly TGPro</li>
<li>The Room 3</li>
<li>El Capitan</li>
<li>iOS9</li>
<li>Watch OS2</li>
<li>TV OS</li>
<li>Cloud Magic</li>
</ul>
<br />
...that should be enough to get started with over the next few posts! Let's just hope my accountant and bank manager aren't reading this. My long suffering girlfriend is already in the know, but she does at least get most of the hand-me-downs to try and ease the pain!<br />
<br />
The Apple Harvest HQ returned to Prague in October this year - although I'm going to be doing quite a lot of additional travelling over the next few months. My early 2011 MBA has put in a stellar performance over the years and to be fair, it still got a lot of casual use left in it. But the 4Gb memory constraint is beginning to cause me problems and I knew an upgrade was on the cards. I just wasn't sure what to replace it with, or more critically when! In the end, I decided to stay with the 13" 256Gb MBA, with 8Gb of memory, and bumped up the processor to the 2.2GHz i7.<br />
<br />
I would have liked to have had the luxury of waiting until the new lines were unleashed sometime in the new year, but nothing was going to be able to fix the memory issue which is also causing the fans to work overtime given the loads I was putting onto the processor. I also had a time constrained discount that I wanted to make use of (about 6% so nothing to be sneezed at!), and while Apple do have a limited presence in the Czech Republic it was a lot easier to deal with the purchase while in the UK over the Christmas period.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho7pTxsdIdShOfkZ_t38T70A6yeKvtgPnzP-uaQsMtlsXc3CsE-xyPesGeB9Ee_7FZr_8xIvcY9z9nKAnTiNnMBIhQRylLGsFq8g0OqUaGNtbCN9TCTfbWPrNAwHbVsVSm2itYiRd-ITB5/s1600/IMG_1891.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho7pTxsdIdShOfkZ_t38T70A6yeKvtgPnzP-uaQsMtlsXc3CsE-xyPesGeB9Ee_7FZr_8xIvcY9z9nKAnTiNnMBIhQRylLGsFq8g0OqUaGNtbCN9TCTfbWPrNAwHbVsVSm2itYiRd-ITB5/s320/IMG_1891.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Market in Prague Old Town Square</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of course, when you think about it, the change from a 2011 MBA to the most recent 2015 model is a major upgrade. People have been whinging about the mediocre improvements between successive models, but since 2011 the MBA has got significantly better battery life, gone from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0, Thunderbolt 1 to Thunderbolt 2, has faster SSD storage, more efficient processors (1.8GHz i7-2677M - Sandy Bridge to 2.2GHz i7-5650U - Broadwell (real geeks can see <a href="http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/869/Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_i7-2677M_vs_Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_i7-5650U.html" target="_blank">here</a> for a comparison) and HD Graphics 3000 to HD Graphics 6000) and faster memory (1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM to 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM) as well as an improvement in wireless. with 802.11ac compatibility now built in. For some reason, handoff never worked out of the box with the 2011 MBA although it could be persuaded to (see <a href="http://appleharvest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/fruity-tips-2-enable-handoff-and.html" target="_blank">Fruity Tips #2</a>), but that's no longer anything to worry about with the new model.<br />
<br />
Once the decision was made I made the order on the morning I left Prague. It arrived at my home in the UK first thing the next morning, less than 24 hours later. I cloned the old machine with Carbon Copy Cloner and by lunchtime I had a new working MBA. Over the course of the next few hours I had a few tweaks to make - there are always a few little things that don't work quite the way they're expected to, but then again, some things that were broken suddenly appear to work on a different machine.<br />
<br />
The real test will be when I get back to Prague at the end of this week and plug into my Apple Harvest HQ rig in my apartment, but all the issues that I'd had problems with have happily disappeared - the new MBA is operating at a much lower temperature and the fans are usually silent. Most importantly, the beach ball doesn't seem to be making so many appearances, especially when iTunes, Safari and Photos are running alongside each other - a common scenario which was becoming unmanageable on the old machine.<br />
<br />
Now, what to do when Apple announce the next generation MBA in the spring? Well, the moral of the story is that maybe there's no need to wait to get the newest and shiniest box on the shelf. I'm expecting this baby to last at least another four years!<br />
<br />
Happy New Year!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-50114375588762686312015-09-27T16:22:00.001+01:002016-02-01T21:55:49.153+00:00Wireless Charging - More a Convenience than a Game ChangerFor a while now, Samsung have been using wireless charging as a key differentiator between its newer Galaxy phones and the iPhone. Personally, the idea of wireless charging is not really much of a game changer to me. Let's face it, you still need a charging pad attached to a power source to pair up to the charging unit in the phone, so it's not really wireless at all. - it's just shifting the position of the wire away from the phone. But I'm a sucker for new tech so I decided to see what the fuss was about and I have to admit to being rather surprised. It is actually quite cool and it's not that expensive to get started. <br />
<br />
Initially I bought a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/GMYLE%C2%AE-Wireless-Charging-Receiver-Solutions/dp/B015MT5GLQ/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1454360809&sr=8-26&keywords=gmyle+wireless+charger+qi" target="_blank">GMYLE Qi receiver</a> unit which slips between the iPhone body and any (reasonably thin) case. The receiver has a lightning connector which simply plugs in and out of the lightning socket on the phone. I paired this up with a<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00WRYV006?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage" target="_blank"> GMYLE Mini Qi </a>charging pad. To start charging it's simply a matter of placing the phone onto the pad until a contact is made. I was surprised how quickly the phone charged,<br />
<br />
On the downside, it was getting the phone in the right position to start the induction process - not a real problem and one which becomes easier after a few days - but it can be a bit hit and miss. Also, the process does appear to generate more heat than using a normal charging cable plugged into a USB port.<br />
<br />
Once I was happy with the proof of concept I decided to splash out a little bit extra and buy a proper charging stand and charging case. I went for the portable (collapsible) <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00XL4KYL2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage" target="_blank">T-310 Foldable stand</a> from DLAND and the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B010VWOGK6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage" target="_blank">KD iPhone 6 Wireless Charging case</a>. This combination works so well that I bought a second stand to keep in the office. And a few days ago, I purchased a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005LVN6OU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00" target="_blank">Moxia Energizer QI Enabled Induction case</a> for my old iPhone 4. This works equally well with the existing kit.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEJQ7LBull18hNXkHc0HFryJX75RdMxsZxRtYvxjarNAmtJ_hABB1BUsdDS7pSeidoAsDcRRpAn-U-Ign_FGpRoLrx85m4QsU6LFTwhXL08nIblrqN2BCOSA65fjlAf7B7rUPa5AjxKu8e/s1600/IMG_1975.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEJQ7LBull18hNXkHc0HFryJX75RdMxsZxRtYvxjarNAmtJ_hABB1BUsdDS7pSeidoAsDcRRpAn-U-Ign_FGpRoLrx85m4QsU6LFTwhXL08nIblrqN2BCOSA65fjlAf7B7rUPa5AjxKu8e/s320/IMG_1975.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
All the charging pads connect via Micro USB and the charging cases themselves act as reasonable protectors as well as providing the necessary juice to the phones. So, when you're on the move you still need to take cables with you. Just for the record, the cost of the stand and case for the iPhone 6 was about £45, but you can do it on the cheap for under £20.<br />
<br />
There are rumours going around already that the iPhone 7 will have true wireless charging capability, but I'm afraid I have my doubts right now. But there is no doubt that not plugging cables in and out of the phone is preferable to the alternative - but it really is no more than a convenience at present. True wireless charging - now that will be a game changer!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190745752083699305.post-61330500778174362382015-06-25T10:29:00.001+01:002015-06-25T10:29:50.022+01:00Fruity Picks #6 - Kanex Thunderbolt Adapter (USB 3/Ethernet)When I'm at Apple Harvest HQ my 2011 MacBook Air is usually connected to a Thunderbolt hub. For a long time it's been the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock (original model) which I reviewed in <a href="http://appleharvest.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/review-belkin-thunderbolt-express-dock.html" target="_blank">July 2013</a>. I've now moved this to my partner's house for when I'm taking refuge with her and I've set up the new OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock at HQ.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When I'm on the road, especially abroad, it isn't convenient to transport a full blown hub around especially with the power bricks they generally require, but I still want to harness USB 3.0 and Ethernet capabilities normally provided by the hub.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kanex-KTU20-Thunderbolt-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B00LOLBX5K/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1435223088&sr=1-9&keywords=kanex" target="_blank">Kanex KTU20 Thunderbolt adapter</a> is an ideal compromise to solve the problem. This little black box plugs into the Thunderbolt slot on the MacBook Air and adds a USB 3.0 port and a Gigabit Ethernet port to enhance the MBA capabilities. The adapter is about 5x8x2 cm and weighs just 91g.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0jdI7mS4PypHjlEvbTDqgAVt-p5CD-mMsLhvOjUOGpHqRRu1gPTqvF2JjGXo6OLGJygN67s6h0tIc3L3z4QeJhUspv6iX-ZU8vnJ-ozh_AHH4_J1ZN4DIo8N6r6XtNRQTedr9eSX33bBM/s1600/ktu20_08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0jdI7mS4PypHjlEvbTDqgAVt-p5CD-mMsLhvOjUOGpHqRRu1gPTqvF2JjGXo6OLGJygN67s6h0tIc3L3z4QeJhUspv6iX-ZU8vnJ-ozh_AHH4_J1ZN4DIo8N6r6XtNRQTedr9eSX33bBM/s320/ktu20_08.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's not a particularly cheap solution - it'll set you back about £75 - but it is compact and it doesn't require any additional power cables. I used it most recently on my 7 month stay in Prague where I used it to connect to the apartment's router and the HGST Touro Desk Pro 4Tb USB 3 hard drive I took with me. By combining this with a 7 port USB hub I had access to all my USB requirements (albeit running at USB 2 speeds but none of these devices were performance critical).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Kanex KTU20 will stay packed my travel bag - it's ideal for short trips involving hotel stopovers. It's just a shame it doesn't have Thunderbolt pass-through capability...but now I'm just being greedy!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Ally Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266980121207923495noreply@blogger.com0