Thank you Apple for saving me $400

I watched with great interest Apple’s latest announcements on new iPhones. In the work I do I feel like I need to stay fairly current with new phone technology so I typically plan on replacing my phone every couple of years. It also helps that I have a daughter who still loves to have my leftovers and I’m always happy to help her out.

Apples this year announced three new phones. The iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro max. I am typically one that doesn’t like to carry a really large phone so I typically am not interested in the max version of the phone. Just a few years ago Apple would reduce the technology level in the non-Max version of their phone and that was really in my opinion a poor idea. I’m glad they’ve gotten over that and made both of the pro phones pretty much exactly the same with the exception of the screen size and battery.

Beginning last year, Apple inserted a new phone in the lineup just below the two top-of-the-line phones for people who are a little more cost conscious. Last year‘s phone, the iPhone XR, was a terrific phone that I had the opportunity to set up and make adjustments to over the last year while working with a number of different people. But generally, I have been one that wanted the highest end, top-of-the-line device. Until this year…

If you look at the announcements closely, it’s pretty easy to see Apple inserted a lot of filler material in between the true new features of the devices they were set to announce. This showed both in the phones and in the Apple Watch 5 announcement.  The long discussion of the processor describing the architecture of the cores struck me as filler particularly considering the fact that this type of announcement and presentation is truly intended for the masses who don’t care or know what a processor core is. The filler material at the end talking about the Apple Store also had me wondering if they just had a few extra minutes to kill.

In the end, after further analyzing the new announcements this year it seems to me that was exactly the case. Either some of the flagship features of the new phone design did not make the final cut or perhaps they did not work to Apple’s high standards.  If you look at the new phones, and you make the general assumption that there’s going to be a new faster processor every year, the additions in this year‘s phones seem to be a little thin.

So what’s new in the new iPhone 11 Pro? As I look at the announcement, you can basically say there are three major things but the Pro brings to the table. First off the processor is faster, significantly faster if you believe the pre-delivery reports. That additional performance will definitely allow for better Augmented Reality performance and less general phone lag. The second major thing was of course the camera pack. The addition of a wide angle lens to the standard and telephoto lens the previous version had. This three camera configuration is certainly state of the art and will definitely add the ability for people to take better photographs and more creative photographs. Couple that with the software magic apple can perform and it’s clear the point and shoot stand alone camera is definitely dead.  The third thing that could be considered major is battery life. If your phone is going dead in a normal workday, this phone may be the one for you. Four or five hours better battery life is a big deal and this phone can provide it. There are a number of other minor additional features such as support for new Wi-Fi speed, the addition of Dolby Atmos, and Apples new U1 chip (which they didn’t really talk about use cases) but by and large, that’s pretty much what you see in the new pro phones. And just as a note, those minor features are in the iPhone 11 also.  The case design is basically the same although they may have improved the materials to make the phone a little more impervious to breakage and I have to admit that Jade Green color looks stunning.  But again those are pretty minor things to the average user and not really compelling for the high end user.

That brings me to the third phone announced that day, the iPhone 11. This phone uses the same processor, has the same Wi-Fi, sound, and chip enhancements, has a one hour battery life extension from last years iPhone XR, and now has two cameras. Apple chose to remove the telephoto camera from the traditional two camera pack and add the wide-angle lens. So this camera has both the standard and wide-angle lens allowing for some of the new features to work from Apple‘s new camera app. The other thing Apple did with this phone was drop the price by $50. That’s pretty amazing considering the tariff situation going on right now. That Apple would actually reduce the price is actually pretty much unheard of. The new iPhone 11 also comes in a number of colors as the iPhone XR did.

So hows a person to choose. Well honestly I’d love to experiment with the new three camera pack in the pro phone but that said, when I look at my standard use case, it just seems to me it’s hard to justify the price of that phone for so little improvement. The pro phones definitely have a better screen, but all of the phones are retina and if you believe Apple’s hype from just a few years ago, beyond retina really doesn’t make a lot of difference. My last phone, and iPhone X, has 256 GB of storage of which I’m using 87 gig. But in the pro phones, you either get 64 gig or 256 gig. Bumping up that storage is $150 additional cost. Now I truly suspect the amount of ram in the phones may be different too. It wouldn’t surprise me to see 4 GB of RAM in the pro phones and only 3 GB of RAM in the iPhone 11 and that will certainly make the speed slightly different, but I don’t believe that’s different enough to cause me to change my analysis.

So here’s my analysis…

iPhone 11 Pro, 256 GB – $1149
(Telephoto camera, better brighter screen, possibly slightly faster)

iPhone 11, 128 GB Dash $749
(Same processor, retina display, white angle camera, and money in my pocket)

Cost difference is $400 for basically an additional camera lens.

So thank you Apple for convincing me that I can spend $400 less on an iPhone this year. The minor improvements, coupled with how similar the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Pro are make me less able to justify that higher cost.

Now my biggest problem is trying to decide which color iPhone 11 I want to get.

If you have a new Mac with a T2 security chip, you need to know this….

Most all new Macs have an imbedded T2 chip that performs many useful functions. The Apple T2 Chip is Apple’s second-generation, custom silicon for Mac. Apple uses this chip to improve video processing, process audio input, and most of all control the security of the machine.

At this point in time,the Apple T2 Security Chip is included in these new Mac computers:

  • iMac Pro
  • Mac mini introduced in 2018
  • MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later
  • MacBook Pro introduced in 2018 or later
  • MacPro when introduced in 2019

While we all have to applaud Apple for rating up security on the Mac from software only to a hardware/Software combination, we also need to understand the ramifications of doing just that.

On these new Macs, Apple includes a new firmware based utility called Startup Security Utility.  Startup Security Utility offers three features to help secure your Mac against unauthorized access: Firmware password protection, Secure Boot, and External Boot.

To open Startup Security Utility:

Turn on your Mac, then press and hold Command-R immediately after you see the Apple logo. Your Mac starts up from macOS Recovery.  When you see the macOS Utilities window, choose Utilities > Startup Security Utility from the menu bar.
When you’re asked to authenticate, click Enter macOS Password, then choose an administrator account and enter its password.

Here is some detail on the options:

Firmware password protection

Use a firmware password to prevent anyone who doesn’t have the password from starting up from a disk other than your designated startup disk. To set a firmware password, click Turn On Firmware Password, then follow the onscreen instructions. Learn more about firmware passwords.

You can also use External Boot to prevent even those who know the firmware password from starting up from external media.

Secure Boot

Use this feature to make sure that your Mac starts up only from a legitimate, trusted operating system.

And now for the most important thing you need to know: External Boot

Use this feature to control whether your Mac can start up from an external hard drive, thumb drive, or other external media. The default and most secure setting is Disallow booting from external media. When this setting is selected, your Mac can’t be made to start up from any external media:

Startup Disk preferences displays a message that your security settings do not allow this Mac to use an external startup disk.

Startup Manager allows you to select an external startup disk, but doing so causes your Mac to restart to a message that your security settings do not allow this Mac to use an external startup disk. You’ll then have the option to restart from your current startup disk or select another startup disk.

If you are a good Mac user and are using two backups for your Mac, the second backup should likely be of the disk image type. Utilities like Caron Copy Cloner from Bombich Software make this easy to do and give you the ability to just boot to the backup in case of a disaster.  Except if you are using a Mac with the T2 Chip.  On those machines you need to set them to allow this type of boot.

To allow your Mac to use an external startup disk:

  1. Open Startup Security Utility.Select Allow booting from external media.
  2. Your Mac doesn’t support booting from network volumes, whether or not you allow booting from external media.
  3. If you want to select an external startup disk before restarting your Mac, quit Startup Security Utility, then choose Apple menu > Startup Disk.
  4. One important note is that to make changes to these settings you need the machine password.

If for some reason, you have forgotten the machine password, you seem to be out of luck to make these changes. Don’t confuse the machine password with the setting to turn on a firmware password. That is an additional layer of security above and beyond the machine password and FileVault disk encryption that you may be using.

Information included from an Apple Tech Note on the Startup Security Utility,

 

Mac Users: You’ve probably been seeing alerts like this one


Apple has announced that macOS 10.14 will be the last version capable of running 32-bit applications.

As Apple finalizes its transition to all-64-bit code, Mojave and High Sierra present an alert like this when you launch a 32-bit application. While it’s not a crisis at present, you’ll need to update or upgrade those applications before you update to macOS 10.15 later this year.

Finding out which of the applications you use each day is a good idea before you upgrade to MacOS Catalina.  St Clair Software has a great little application that can scan your hard disk and list the applications that will have problems.  The application is called Go64 and best of all, its a free download.  Check it out and make sure a critical application to your workflow will not be dying in the next Mac update.

Never… Never…

Recently I have been seeing this type of Malware on Macs much more often.  This is a great article describing how it can infect you.  I have said it before, and I will say it again, never update or install flash.  There is nothing on the web worth the risk.

This malware is not removed by simply running Malwarebytes.  Thats a good start but there are a number of other steps that need to be completed to get rid of it.  The article is a good place to help you to understand what you got from that flash installer.

Posted in Mac

Tips on Working with Images in WordPress

I have been blogging off and on for quite a few years.  I was first encouraged to blog by a buddy of mine named Steve Mays. He worked for Learfield communication and was responsible for assisting clients to create blogs of their own mostly related to sports teams.  Steve got me involved in a product called TypePad and over the years I moved on and off of other blogging platforms that are mirror footnotes in blog history. Finally, Steve recommended that I move to WordPress and that seems to have been one of the best recommendations I’ve had in my blogging history. 

I was having coffee with Steve this week and talking about an individual I was working with to begin a new blog. After our talk, Steve wrote up some tips for me on about utilizing the WordPress Media Library.   As I read through the tips I knew I wanted to post them on my blog for others to be able to get the benefit of. Steve graciously allowed me to do so.

WordPress Media Library Tips

The WordPress Media Library is powerful but it takes some thought and discipline to get the most out of it. And the time to start is when you launch the blog. Or before. The following are some things I’ve done right — and wrong — with images (and video) on my blog.

Use a good file naming convention. IMG_0850.jpg is not a good file name. Before uploading, take the time to rename the file and there’s no compelling reason to keep the file name short. In the example below I named the file “exhaust pipe 2apr2019-A” but could have just as easily named it “Land Rover original exhaust pipe brazing April 2, 2019 – A”. The more descriptive the better. And be consistent. Use the same format on all images.

WordPress Media Library

The first field in the WordPress form below is “Alternative Text.” This is what one would see when they hovered their cursor over the image. Especially useful for those with vision problems. The link in the form has more on “alt text.”

Title. By default WordPress uses the file name but you can edit this to title the image as you choose. As far as I know this doesn’t appear anywhere on your blog post.

Caption. I tend not to use captions but this will depend a lot on how you display images in your post. I prefer to describe the image within the body of the post. I just don’t like the way way WP handles captions.

Description. I discovered this useful field relatively recently. I wish I had made better use of it from the first day I moved to WP. Again, as far I have been able to determine, the contents of this field does not appear with the image in the post. I started using this field when I discovered the text is searchable. So if you have 1,000 images in your library and would like to search for all with the phrase “Lake of the Ozarks” in the Description field, make sure you include that phrase. There’s no real tagging feature for images but you can use this field for that. For example, you might include the word *gear* for any photo of equipment; *John and Jane Doe* for each photo of John and Jane; *fall foliage* for… you get the idea.

The trick is to spend some time thinking about this at the very beginning because it’s a pain to go back and do this after you have hundreds of photos and videos. And you’ll be surprised how fast your media library grows. And how often you want to reuse an image you you posted months or years earlier.

Ever wonder what the markings on an SD card mean?

When looking for an SD out micro SD card, the marking put on the card are there to help you choose the speed of card you need for the intended purpose.  I found this chart that helps you determine which card speed you might need to record what your device is capable of.

Choosing too slow a card will result in data loss.  Choosing too fast a card will work fine but cost you more if the device cannot perform the recording level that the card is capable of.

From the Adorama website:

The speed of the card you purchase is truly one of the most crucial aspects of buying an SD card, and is one that’s often overlooked by those unfamiliar with SD speed class ratings. It may seem complicated at first, but in reality, it’s fairly simple to understand.

 

SD cards are available six different speed classes, from slowest to fastest: Class 2, Class 4, Class 6, Class 10, U1, and finally U3. U1 and U3 cards are compatible with the UHS transfer bus used in newer devices, so you will often see a card rated with both U1 and Class 10. That means that when the card is used on a standard high-speed data bus, it will perform at Class 10 speed, but when used on a UHS bus, it will perform at U1 speed.

 

Class 2 – these cards are the slowest class currently available and are best suited for consumer-level point-and-shoot cameras, audio recording, and low-resolution SD video recording.

 

Class 4 & 6 – the “middle of the road” in terms of speed, these cards will work well with still cameras shooting jpeg files, and some very light HD video recording at 720p.

Class 10 & U1 – these cards are capable of recording at up to 10 MB/s, so they are well suited for pro-level still cameras shooting RAW photos, and HD video recording at up to 1080p. This is a great speed to purchase if you’re looking for a balance between compatibility with your current equipment and future usage as well.

 

U3 – these cards are overkill for most uses, but are absolutely crucial if you’re shooting 4K video with your device. 4K video files are large, and require a card with a high sustainable speed to be able to write them properly. U3 cards are quite a bit more expensive than the slower speeds, but if you need them, you really shouldn’t risk using anything slower.

What do the LEDs on my Orbi router and satellite mean?

A number of people I work with use the Netgear Orbing Router system.  Overall, I am very pleased with the setup and performance of these units.  Once in a while, you see colored lights coming from the router and like many things these days you just can’t find the documentation that comes with the devices to be able to determine what the lights mean.  Netgear has a great FAQ on this that gets right down to telling you what the lights mean:

Router and satellite power button LEDs

Solid green. Your Orbi router and satellite are powered on.
Solid amber. Your Orbi router and satellite are rebooting.
Pulsing amber. You must reset your Orbi router and satellite to factory default settings.
Pulsing red. Your Orbi system might need attention. Contact support.

Satellite and router ring LEDs

Pulsing white. Your Orbi router and satellite are applying a configuration or updating their firmware.
OFF. Your Orbi router and satellite are working normally.

Router ring LEDs

Solid white. Your Orbi router is powering up.
Pulsing white. Your Orbi router is in factory default mode.
Pulsing magenta. Your Orbi router ring LED might pulse magenta for the following reasons: the WAN port link is down, the router is unable to get the IP address from the modem or ISP, or the router is unable to connect to the Internet.
Pulsing blue and magenta. The Internet connection is blocked because the traffic meter is configured to block Internet traffic when it reaches the limit you configured.

Satellite ring LEDs

Solid white. Your Orbi satellite is powering up.
Pulsing magenta. When your Orbi satellite’s ring LED pulses magenta for the first time, it means that your satellite is attempting to connect to your Orbi router. If the ring LED pulses magenta for more than one minute, it could be for the following reasons: the satellite lost the connection to the router or the satellite is unable to get an IP address from the router.
Solid magenta. Your Orbi satellite ring is solid magenta for 10 seconds if it is unable to obtain the IP address from the router.
Solid blue. If your Orbi satellite ring is solid blue for 10 seconds, the connection between your Orbi router and satellite is good.
Solid amber. If your Orbi satellite ring is solid amber for 10 seconds, the connection between the router and satellite is fair.

Inexpensive Security cameras for the Home

Wyze Cam V2

In the last year or so, the security camera market for your home has exploded.  Where once there were only a couple of options for cameras to choose from, today there are dozens out there and all have their pluses and minuses.  There is a lot to be said for selecting cameras that work inside the infrastructure that you’re already using in your home.  If you have nest products in your homes perhaps the nest cameras are best for you. If you have Ring products in your home maybe ring deserves a second look. The one thing you will find is that selecting one of these big-name infrastructure‘s will definitely cost you. Not only will the cameras be more expensive, but she’ll be forced to live with limitations with each and every set up.

I have tried a number of these different cameras and until recently I have been using a

mixture of D-link and blink cameras.  My DLink cameras have been around for quite a while and I felt like it was probably time to be in looking at other options.  My Blink cameras are only about a-year-old, and are there outdoor cameras. I really love the way they’ve set these up with being battery powered and waterproof. They definitely have a place in my smart home as my outdoor camera variety.

Recently a friend pointed me to some cameras from a company that’s trying to do things a little differently. They are in the process of building their own security infrastructure around their camera models but their big difference is in price. Rather than paying upwards of $200 for a camera, their cameras start at about 25 bucks shipped.  Obviously at that price you’re expecting quite a few limitations, and I would be remiss if I didn’t say there are a few but when it comes to price performance these little cameras are a great option for you to look at. The company I’m referring to is Wyze https://www.wyze.com/ and their Wyzecam products.  

Right now, these cameras come into varieties. The Wyze cam V2 and the Wyze cam Pan.

Wyze Cam Pan

The Wyze cam V2 is their most affordable model coming in at about $26 shipped.  This camera is well featured including night vision and motion detection and comes on an innovative little base that allows you to be able to turn and left the camera to position it exactly the way you want it. Neither of these cameras require a hub because they connect to your wireless network using Wi-Fi. They’re quite easy to activate using the app for your iPhone or android phone. Once activated, you can set them up to send you alerts based upon motion or sound. The cameras have the ability to automatically go into night mode and use the night vision to be able to see in the dark. They can record video to the cloud automatically through the app and also record to an SD card that you can place in the camera. All in all, these cameras have all the features of the $200 models at only $26.

The second model is called the Wyze cam Pan.  This camera is basically the same camera as described above but has the ability to pan left and right and up and down within the app by moving the camera on a rotating basis. Cameras like this from name brands are always very expensive. But this camera comes in at only $36.  It includes all the features of their less expensive model plus the pan feature. 

Wyze App for iOS

Wyze Is also working on adding external motion detection and door sensors to their product. While announced, these have not been released yet but to be quite inexpensive also. At CES this year, they also described a product that will value to have a external hard drive in your house they records all of your video and allows you to use the hard drive as a personal cloud.  If you have an Alexa display, these cameras also work directly with that. You can say “Alexa, show me The living room camera”, and the display shows you live you with that camera.   

Wyze Is quite an innovative company that has made the decision from the beginning to release products at low-cost. If you’re looking for indoor cameras, these definitely deserve a look. At the price they’re charging you can afford to buy one and try it and even if you don’t like it, you don’t have a lot invested.

Multi Camera Event View in Wyze app

And Now, The End is Near……

Beginning this week users of that venerable old operating system Windows 7, willl begin seeing prompts such as this at random intervals. Microsoft has been clear that the day of Windows 7 has passed and its time to begin to plan for the end.

As I work with users of Windows 7, I have certainly heard it all.  “I just like Windows 7”; “I don’t want to learn anything new”; “I heard Windows 10 had lots of bugs”; “I don’t want to change”, the list of excuses in endless.  But the time for excuses is gone.

What does the end of support mean to you

Ending support means Microsoft will no longer provide updates or security patches for Windows 7. So, as time passes, Windows 7 will likely become the main target of hackers.  More and more malware will be targeted at Windows 7.  If you are a user of Windows 7 at home, it likely may not mean much to you.  If a hacker destroys your operating system you may only lose your music library and all your pictures of your kids.  That’s not a problem because you have a good backup, right??  But if you are a business user, the elimination of security patches is critical.  You may end up exposing your customers data to hackers, cause a network wide infection, or have your computer crash at the wrong time.

There was a point in time when Microsoft made Windows 10 available for free to Windows 7 users but that time has past and Microsoft has shown no direction to give it away for free again. Your options are clear:

  1. Update to Windows 10 on each machine for a cost of between $139 and $199 depending on the version you need.  And don’t forget the labor cost to install it.
  2. Replace your computer with a new Windows 10 machine (or maybe a Mac)
  3. Take the risk that you won’t have any problems

The choice is yours…. Well maybe.  If you work with data that must be kept secure such as HIPPA information or SEC data, you may not have any choice at all.  Regardless, does it really make sense to update a machine that is a minimum of 5 years old when new replacement office machines may cost between $500 and $700 dollars?

So plan now and beat the rush. January 14, 2020 is the date and the clock is ticking.  It’s time to face the final curtain for Windows 7.  It was a long run but all good things come to an end.

 

 

Bottom Line: Don’t Update Flash Player

OK folks, it’s worth saying again, there are no dancing kitties or laughing dogs worth the risk of accepting an update to flash player. This specific post is going to cover updating your Mac flash player, but the same goes for flash player on the PC.  The only way to ensure that you don’t get caught from a scam flash player installer is to not update flash player.  

Analysts say that the the number one way that computers, particularly Macs get infected with malware is through flash player updates.  It usually happens like this. 

You’re surfing the web, perhaps looking for entertainment or searching for a product you want to purchase at a great price. All of a sudden you get a prompt that pops up telling you that your flash player is outdated and needs to be updated. This prompt looks completely legitimate. It looks just like the prompts from Adobe that you seen in the past.  But what you don’t realize is that it is truly a phishing scam it’s designed to look like a standard update.  If you click update, guess what? You’ve just infected your Mac with malware. Very likely you won’t even notice for a while because these type of infections typically download what’s called a “stub“.  This small program will run in the background and download other malware on to your machine. Perhaps it will change your homepage in your browser, maybe it’ll change your search engine to a search engine that looks just like Google but isn’t.  Maybe you’ll begin seeing pop-ups every once in a while. These are all signs that one click has infected your computer. 

This process is very similar on a PC. But typically, malware installed on a PC is much more advanced and can often search your computer for personal data and send it off to some website in the sky.

The answer is simple. Eliminate flash from your life. Resist the idea of installing, or updating flash on your machine. It just isn’t worth it. The risk of being infected from some of these flash player update prompts is much greater than any value you get from a little flash video.  You see the truth is, developer is no longer develop legitimate applications in flash. It’s old technology, it’s far from secure, and there are much better tools to develop anything current. 

But, there are millions of existing flash developed apps still out there on the web. Many of these are games that were developed 15 years ago when it was the only technology that would allow you to move things around on the screen easily. Even more might be ad platforms that allow people to use a JPEG and a link to purchase placements on legitimate websites. Whatever they are, the ability for you being able to see these is nowhere near worth the risk of problems installing flash player updates can cause.  

If you ever see prompts similar to this, ignore them. Move on.  There is plenty of content on the web for you to be able to see that doesn’t require flash player.

Often times, I finish a discussion such as this by describing the correct way to update your flash player. But I’ve recently seen so many of these infections on peoples Macs That I just can no longer recommend using flash at all. I’m sure you can search the web and find the correct way to do flash updates but my recommendation to you is to forget about flash, and forget about those puppies and kitties that often times lure us into clicking on things that hurt us.