Geek

Fanboy.

I no longer shy away from the label of “Apple Fanboy”. I’m a Crazy One. I love my Apple products. I’ve tried everything else and lord knows I’ve wretched about Apple over the years, but when you shake away all the complaining, the fact of the matter is I find that Apple still provides the best computing experience available. Other hardware pales in comparison. Windows 10 feels cobbled together to me. And, as much as I’ve tried, I just can’t get behind the idea of Linux on the desktop (or laptop). That is way too much work.

So I wear my Crazy One t-shirt in pride. I proudly gave a presentation at work this morning using my work provided 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, including the couple of dongles I needed to connect to the projector and network. There was an ooh and aah from the crowd as I made my way through my Keynote Presentation. It had that extra bit of polish that I strive for.

I look forward to what Apple has in store for us. I know they will continue to delight.

19 April 2017 by Geek 0

Clips.

There’s a new app from Apple available for iOS 11.3 called “Clips”. A really basic video app, this allows users to make little videos without having to go through the “complexities” of iMovie. 

It was quite simple to make my first video. The interface has a surprising number of features and fun things to explore. 

I look forward to playing around with the app over the weekend. 

[evp_embed_video url=”http://blog.jpnearl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Clips17-04-06_14-06.mov”] ​

6 April 2017 by Fun and Games Dept Geek 0

Future Technology.

Earl and I had stopped at the local Microsoft store today just to look over their line of Surface products. It was the first time that I had a chance to go hands-on with the Microsoft Surface Studio, which is in all in one computer that can lay down like a drafting table so you can comfortably use a pen on it.

I was beyond impressed.

I know that it was just the other day that I mentioned that I was still solidly an Apple boy, but I have to say that Apple is completely missing the boat when it comes to this type of technology. Having a touchbar in a MacBook Pro does not even come close to being able to lay your computer monitor down and draw all over it. Carrying around multiple devices is tedious: for graphics or programming work I need to carry my MacBook Pro. For quick blogging and such on the go, I can take my iPad Pro. Of course, I always have my phone with me, so at times I could be carrying three different Apple devices all to do nearly similar things. Wouldn’t it be great if I could carry one device to fill this need? I’d be willing to pay a premium price for a device that can handle all of my needs. Having one device would bring us closer to making technology frictionless.

I want the technology that sustains the type of world as demonstrated in this video. I have shared this video, and others like it, before. I believe it’s worth sharing again.

18 March 2017 by Geek 0

Privacy.

As an avid tech enthusiast (what kind of enthusiast wouldn’t be avid?), I am starting to become a little paranoid about my online activity, especially in light of the fact that I’ve become rather outspoken on Twitter about the Trump Presidency.

I’ve started using a couple of tools in my online arsenal to make my experience with the Internet a little bit safer, and I thought I would share these with you.

Private Tunnel
Private Tunnel is a service that provides VPN (Virtual Private Network) connectivity to the Internet. This basically “hides” your location by routing all of your network traffic encrypted through a remote server. It also assures that all communication between you and the remote server is encrypted. This is particularly important when you are on the road using public hotspots.

Private Tunnel is free up to a certain amount of bandwidth and I found their subscription model to be affordable for my needs. The software client is available for a number of platforms which includes Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android. At the very least I use this service for all monetary transactions. I routinely use it for all other browsing, especially if I’m using a public, unsecured network.

For more information, check out their webpage here. If you decide to go with a subscription, help me out by using this link. I believe my unlimited data plan was $29/year.

Better
Better is an iOS and MacOS Safari Extension that helps block all trackers, ads and the like while surfing the Internet on Safari.

While many of the ad blockers available for the various browsers do a decent job of blocking ads and the like, many are still supported by ad companies, which are placed on a “white list”, so their ads still get through to you. Better is not supported by any ad company or Venture Capitalist, so they have no obligation to anyone. Development is based solely on the purchase of the app or extension.

This blog entry better (heh) describes Better and if you’re interested in making your online activities untargeted, ad free and lighter (because all of that ad data is blocked from coming down your network connection) you should definitely check out Better. Link to the Mac App Store and Link to the App Store (for iPhone and iPad).

1Password
I’ve written before that no one should be using the same password across multiple sites. You should never have the same password for Twitter as for your email as for Facebook, etc. If someone has your password they’re able to get into everything and that’s not good.

Safari and other web browsers do a decent job of coming up with random passwords and storing this information for you, which in turn is stored behind another password to keep it all safe. The thing is, if you use both Windows and Mac or both iOS and Android, your saved Safari (or other browser) passwords may not sync between the dissimilar operating systems. Yes, Google Chrome works on just about everything, but remember, Google’s livelihood is supported by your data. You are not the customer, you are the product, so you probably should have another way of keeping track of all your passwords. Don’t write them down, put them in 1Password.

1Password is available for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. 1Password has a variety of sync options to choose from and no one but you can decrypt the data stored in your 1Password profile, so if you lose the password, you’ve lost your vault.

Their subscription model is quite affordable and I noticed that they now have a family plan available as well. Earl uses 1Password and finds it easy to use. I encourage users to keep their stuff safe with dissimilar passwords across platforms and to store them somewhere safe. 1Password definitely fits the bill.

FYI, the password to my 1Password account is over 25 characters long. I keep my stuff SAFE.

This is just the start of my arsenal of security tools. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or feel free to drop me a line.

Safe surfing for all!

28 January 2017 by Geek 2

Disappointing.

fullsizerender

I just committed the ultimate sin against Apple by opening my three-month old MacBook Pro Retina and expecting the screen to come to life so I could be productive. To accomplish my objective of using the computer, I wiggled my fingers on the trackpad, I stabbed at a few keys and waited a few moments. I then closed the lid and opened it back up, hoping something in my computer would awake so I could use my computer because, after all, “It Just Works”.

After about 60 seconds of desperation, I held down the power key to force the computer to shut down and then powered up from scratch. Once logged in, I was reminded that I turned the computer off in an inappropriate manner and was asked if I wanted to restore my session. Historically, an answer to the affirmative has led to a round-robin of reboot gaiety, so I opted to just start from scratch.

I know this is First World Problem, but I have to say that I am rather disappointed in my latest MacBook Pro. This computer has been plagued with many quirks. For example, something prevents my name from rendering properly at log in (as seen in the screenshot above). Is it a cosmetic issue? Possibly, but cosmetic issues in the world of Mac are usually a symptom of an issue lingering under the covers.

My computer reliably wakes up from Power Nap or Super Slumber or whatever it’s called these days about 50% of the time that I try to use my computer. The close cousin of Unix that powers macOS is known for its long stretches of computer uptime, the amount of time that a computer can go without needing to reboot, restart, power cycle, etc. I’m lucky if my MBPr goes from sunrise to sunset.

The primary reason that I find this all disappointing is because when I purchased this computer, as a replacement to my three-year old MacBook Pro Retina that was stolen from my hotel room during a work trip, I purchased the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro Retina that was available at the time. I have the biggest hard drive, the most RAM, the fastest processor, etc. that was available in a laptop from Apple as of July 2016. The fact that I sank all this money into a computer and that “It Just Works” is a complete fallacy with this machine is very disheartening to me.

It’s not like I’m asking the computer to do things outside of the Walled Garden. I use iCloud services. I surf on Safari. I use the Apple-provided applications whenever possible because I like the idea of “It Just Works”.

When I fire up Apple’s “Photos” app my laptop takes on the persona of an Airbus A380 ready for departure. The fans blast so loud that I’m sure it can be heard by the neighbors, and remember, this is the maxed out laptop of its time.

The little gimmick of your Apple Watch unlocking your computer works about 45% of the time. When it does work I’m left staring at a “Please wait…” message on my screen when in reality I could have typed my password in half the amount of time that my watch and my computer had a conversation.

Now that I’ve typed that last paragraph I’ve decided to just turn off that feature and see what that does.

While out in the world I’ve noticed more Microsoft Surface Pro ultrabooks being used by folks. I have to admit that I’m very intrigued by the Surface Pro but moving to a Microsoft environment scares the beejeesus out of me. I’ve tried Windows 10 and it seems to be sort of cobbled together and I’ve read enough about the security implications of key logging, traffic monitoring, etc. that I really don’t want to go down that road. These are the same reasons I don’t want to switch to a Chromebook and I’m too tired to provide the care and feeding that a Linux laptop requires.

The truth of the matter is, the amount of mediocrity that passes as “It Just Works” from Apple today is still probably the best experience a computer user can get, we’ve just come to accept mediocrity as a new gold standard. When marketing runs the show the results can be disastrous. I’m sure that will be proven once again in 2017 in the political arena, but that’s a whole other blog entry unto itself.

So here I am trying to be my best in a world of low expectations. God help us all.

21 November 2016 by Geek Why. 1

Security.

With the upcoming changes in Administration (basically, everything) coming up in the next couple of months, I’ve accordingly kicked my online paranoia ways up a notch. I’d like to share the additional security measures I’m taking to make sure my online presence is safe.

A couple of weeks ago I received word that my credit card number had been stolen again. This was disheartening because I take many measures to make sure I keep my financial safe. I use Apple Pay whenever possible, as Apple Pay uses a “bogus” credit card number during the transaction, never revealing my real number. I keep my cards safe in my wallet, I never write down the number and I always make sure I have a secure connection when I’m entering my transactional data for online purchases.  Since my credit/debit card is the one used for our family’s monthly recurring payments (online music, iTunes, etc), it’s out there much more than the other cards in the family. Nevertheless, my card number was stolen and I was issued another card earlier this month. I am keeping track of every site where I enter my card number.

I have added a couple extra layers of security for my online presence:

  1. I now use a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, service whenever I’m away from the house. My service of choice is PrivateTunnel (https://www.privatetunnel.com). There are free options available if you want to try them out.  Basically, a VPN encrypts your network traffic from Point A to Point Z. This makes it more difficult for others to sniff and log your network traffic when you’re on a public access point. My first and foremost rule, regardless of where I am (home, cell service, whatever), is that I am using PrivateTunnel whenever I am entering financial data online. There is a yearly subscription model that’s pretty affordable.
  2. I now use Boxcryptor for my “sensitive” Dropbox activity. If you’re not familiar with Dropbox, it’s a service that maintains copies of your files in your Dropbox folder in the cloud and seamlessly syncs them with all of your devices.  If I put ReadMe.txt in my Dropbox folder in my Mac, I can access it from any other computer (using a web browser) or grab it from my iPhone, iPad or any other computer I have registered with the service (Mac, Windows, Linux).  So I had a Linux computer, the contents of my Dropbox folder would be the same on all three computers with little effort from me. The issue is, the security is a little weak for my tastes.  Boxcryptor is a service the encrypts the data in specified folders within the Dropbox (or similar iCloud Drive) environment. Dropbox is storing encrypted data, not regular data, which makes it nearly impossible for others to access without your password. Like PrivateTunnel, Boxcryptor (https://boxcryptor.com) is available with a pretty reasonably subscription model.
  3. I have instituted stronger, dissimilar passwords for all my accounts. They all use special, upper case and numeric characters, and all are at least 15 characters in length. My password for my Boxcryptor vault is 26 characters long! Remembering these passwords can be a bit of pain so I use 1Password (https://1password.com/) from AgileBits. Earl uses the same program. My passwords are synced amongst my devices and the software makes it wicked easy to remember my passwords, use them when necessary and keep them secure. My only struggle with the software is to remember putting my passwords in the app and/or letting the app recommend passwords for me. After 35 years of having to remember passwords, it’s difficult for me to not remember them and rely on a software product. I highly recommend some sort of password management system for everyone so that we all use stronger passwords that are difficult to crack.
  4. Last, but not least, I am evaluating a new email service called ProtonMail (https://protonmail.com). ProtonMail uses encryption to store your email (similar to Boxcryptor explained above, but applied to the actual mailbox on the server) and if you exchange email with another ProtonMail user it’s automatically encrypted end to end. I’m still exploring this service but so far I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen.

I’ll admit that I’m completely paranoid when it comes to being safe and secure online. The idea of people sharing accounts or email addresses or whatever completely boggles my mind and makes me a bit crazy. I believe in preaching about computer security and sharing my knowledge when I can. 

Stay safe, be secure and happy surfing!

13 November 2016 by Geek Ponderings and Musings 0

Superbook.

features_continuum_1920x1080
Photo from getsuperbook.com
In my previous blog entry I mentioned that my ideal computing setup would be focused on my iPhone, or realistically, smartphone. I think it’s kind of silly that we’re all carrying around two or three devices. Our backpacks and purses and the like are crammed with a phone, a tablet and a laptop.

Enter the Superbook.

A few months ago I supported a Kickstarter campaign for the Superbook. This magically device is a laptop shell that is powered by the computing power of your Android device. There’s no tricky firmware to install, you don’t have to go through a million steps to make it work, you download one app from the Google Play store and plug in your Android device. Voila! You’re working on a laptop powered by your smartphone. And because you’re using your smartphone, you have instant access to your cell, wifi and Bluetooth connections.

The only kicker of this project is the fact that it is limited to Android devices, however, further reading showed that you can hook the Superbook up to non-Android devices and use it as a second screen. I backed the Kickstart campaign and hope to see my very own Superbook at the beginning of the year.

Videos that depict what technology can bring us in the near future, realistically the beginning of the next decade, are usually focused on one device providing all the computing horsepower we need. Corning Glass’ “A Day Made of Glass” focuses on personalized tablets that tie into glass displays scattered about the world. Microsoft’s “Office 2019” and “Office 2020” series focuses on translucent phones that interact with panels, surfaces, etc. In none of the videos do we see users carrying around multiple devices, juggling data between an iPhone, an iPad and a MacBook Pro. The interaction is simple, immersive and most importantly, condensed.

The recent hardware announcements from Apple don’t really play into the version of the future that other companies are envisioning. I think that Apple can make amazing hardware that plays into the “single device” paradigm, but honestly I think they’re more protective of their revenue stream. iCloud often feels like a “me too” product. It can be clunky and cumbersome to use.

In the long run it’s my hope to see the future depicted by Corning and Microsoft, with one powerful personal device doing all everything, come to fruition during my lifetime. That’s the future I’d like to see and I may have to shift my computing paradigm to help make that future come true.

Superbook is an excellent step in the right direction.

1 November 2016 by Geek 0

Innovation.

macbook-pro
Photo from 9to5 Mac.

Like many Apple users, I watched the latest keynote presentation from Apple last Thursday. The highlight of the event was the announcement of their new MacBook Pro lineup. I’m not in the market to purchase a new laptop, having just purchased a replacement for my stolen computer in July, but I’m always curious as to what Apple is up to so I blocked off my calendar and watched as I went about my work.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed by what I saw and for the first time in my history of using Apple products, happy that I didn’t wait for the upgrade announcement before buying a computer.

The new MacBook Pro is a thinner, lighter version of what’s been around for years. The highlight is the new TouchBar, which is a miniature Retina touch display that lives where your function keys normally go. So the row of keys that has Escape, F1, volume, etc. is gone and now you have this dynamic area that presents what you need for the application you are currently using. At the right end of the row is a TouchID sensor similar to what is found in the iPhone and iPad. In addition, the MagSafe connector, along with all the other ports, have been removed and been replaced with up to four USB-C connectors. USB-C allows for data exchange and power charging all in one port. There’s also a bigger trackpad and a traditional headphone jack.

A few things immediately came to mind during the presentation:

  • You can’t purchase a brand new iPhone 7 and plug it into a brand new MacBook Pro without buying an adapter. The provided iPhone 7 cable requires an older USB connector. So you can’t sync or power up your phone without a dongle.
  • Programmers that rely on the Escape key for software used for writing code no longer have a physical button to hit, they now have to find the TouchBar version.
  • You can no longer carry one set a headphones to listen to music on your computer or your brand new iPhone without also carrying a dongle. Since the iPhone 7 doesn’t have a headphone jack, the provided headphones use the proprietary Lightning connector. The new MacBook Pro doesn’t provide a Lightning connector without a dongle.
  • If I were to buy this new computer, I could no longer take the SD card out of my GoPro or other cameras and insert it into the computer, since the SD card slot was removed. I would now either need a dongle or purchase a camera or SD card with wi-fi capabilities
  • The replacement of the function keys with the Touch Bar prohibits me from interacting with necessary functions when my laptop is closed and docked and I’m using an external monitor, keyboard and mouse (my daily work setup).
  • I can’t connect my Apple monitors to my Apple laptop without a dongle.

Thankfully, the folks on the stage did not go into some litany about “courage” for removing all of these ports. Afterwards I read that Apple has removed the classic startup chime so closely associated with the platform. The glowing Apple in the laptop lid has also been removed.

I feel like Apple has moved the Mac computing experience from a computer you interact with to a computer you use. Much of the humanity that older Apple products strove for seems to be drained from this latest generation. In a world where touch screens are becoming the norm, you still can’t touch the screen of your Mac and have anything happen but smudge marks. Touchscreens are becoming the standard on PCs and laptops. Other platforms are mimicking the touch ability found on our mobile devices. But Apple is determined to keep the two experiences separate.

I find this odd.

While I’m sure the TouchBar is an amazing piece of technology and will be useful, it seems small and a half-hearted attempt to provide touch capabilities to the Mac without compromising the revenue stream from iPhones and iPads. I would rather have the ability to nearly embrace my computer experience by touching the screen instead of hunching over my computer watching a miniature display do its thing and pecking at a dynamic button.

I’ve been fearing that Apple is losing its ability to innovate and is instead focusing on keeping revenue streams alive through the purchase of multiple devices with multiple dongles required to connect things together. In a perfect world I wouldn’t have a MacBook Pro, an iPad and an iPhone. Ideally I’d like an iPhone that can power a MacBook or iPad shell; one device with enough horsepower and smarts that handles everything and can be fitted to the appropriate form factor. That would be amazing. But it wouldn’t sell a lot of hardware.

Innovation in the tech industry has become stagnant over the past couple of years. We seem to be locked into a paradigm of phone-tablet-computer that needs a good shakeup. Unfortunately I don’t think that Apple is the company that’s going to do the shaking.

They don’t seem to Think Different anymore.

1 November 2016 by Geek 0

iOS 10 Mail

Like millions of other iPhone and iPad users, I recently upgraded to iOS 10 on my various devices. For the most part I’m happy with the upgrade; both my iPhone (6s Plus) and iPad (Pro) feel snappier, though my older iPad Mini 2 that I use solely for airplane use seems to be slower than it used to be.  I actually upgraded my iPhone when the third beta of iOS 10 came out because I like to see how these things are developing and give feedback to Apple as they’re making their final tweaks to their software.

There has been one thing that has been driving me crazy about iOS 10 and that’s the way emails are ordered in the Mail app. I have two accounts for Mail, one through iCloud and the other through the host that supports jpnearl.com.  Mail has worked the same for several generations of iOS; when you have an email chain going with several responses, the latest response is on top.

Until iOS 10. Now the latest response is either at the bottom or buried somewhere in the middle of the message. I don’t know if others have experienced this fun and frivolity but the OCD in me has been getting irked by this.  So I went poking around in Settings and found this new entry


Once I turned on “Most Recent Message On Top”, sanity seemed to be restored in my little email universe.

Whew!

I have no idea why Apple made this change as it seems to run counterintuitive to every email program I’ve used since the year 1996 or so but nevertheless, they rethought something and luckily gave us an out for us curmudgeons that aren’t used to change.

12 October 2016 by Geek Ponderings and Musings 1

The iTunes Conundrum.

screen-shot-2016-09-25-at-9-12-16-pm

This is one of my very first iTunes purchases. If you’re not seeing the image above, I’m referring to “What Did I Do To You?” by Lisa Stansfield. It’s the original album version, which encompasses the complete “vision” Ms. Stansfield had for the track. It was purchased in 2003 using my old iTunes username (I don’t think we called them Apple IDs back then). I’ve been looking for the track for ages and was deleted when I finally found it on a backup CD-R with “2004 backup” scrawled in Sharpie across the label side of the CD.

Eager to listen to this track again, I fired up an old iMac and imported the file into iTunes. I was prompted for the password of that forgotten account. Unbelievably, I remembered the password. The file was imported successfully but with a few caveats.

* iTunes Match wouldn’t recognize the track
* I couldn’t add it to a playlist
* The track would propagate to my other Apple devices. No iPhone, no iPad, No MacBook Pro.

I ended up copying the file by hand, using Dropbox, to my MacBook Pro. I imported it there as well after going through the password rigamarole.

Hunting around in Finder, I found the actual file and discovered that it was an m4p file, Apple’s old proprietary format that has DRM (Digital Rights Management) built into it. I converted all of my m4p files to m4a years ago using the iTunes Match service. The track is apparently not available in Apple Music today, as I can only find the edited down 7-inch version. Clicking on “Add to My Library” makes iTunes crabby.

I really want this song to be included throughout my Apple devices. It’s suppose to “just work”, right? Does anyone know how to get this song to become part of a playlist in iTunes? How do I convert it to a friendlier format without spending $40 on a piece of software that I’m going to use only once?

I know that I’m a huge Apple geek, but I’m at a loss on this one. If you have any suggestions (other than telling me to get Windows or something), please feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

25 September 2016 by Geek Macboy Music. 1

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

All The Places

Visit my Linktree
May 2024
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031