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413: The Ultimate Technical Debt

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Topics:

  • Jerry talks about what he likes about SmallCube.

  • The group talks about Apple supporting old hardware.

  • Joe finally purchased a new refurbished Mac!

  • Jerry talks about a problem with a computer that would not download Big Sur and kept going black that had a weird solution.

  • This leads into Joe’s story about problems with a laggy bluetooth keyboard.

  • Pro tip: Don’t let your device just sit around for a long period of time.

  • Jerry shares a theory about kernel panics.

  • People don’t read on screen warnings, which can lead to trouble.

  • They have a conversation about how useful Omni Disk Sweeper is.

  • Joe has an update to the df command thanks to listener Viktor Glemme.

  • Terminal commands can be very helpful and efficient if you learn how to work with them.

  • Jerry shares a story about a client that had trouble going to certain secure websites with Safari.

411: It’s Weird That It's Not Weird

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Topics:

  • The group discusses the less than fruitful tech tag sale.

  • It’s weird that it isn’t weird to see people after awhile during the pandemic.

  • They talk about how things went when they met up for the first time in awhile.

  • Sam will not forget that Jerry owes him a cookie.

  • Joe struggled to diagnose a slow computer the other day. Turns out it was a heating problem and Jerry had to swoop in.

  • He shares an app he used to check the fan speed of a computer called Macs fan control. https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control/download.

  • The group thanks people who in the Slack community.

  • After Jerry praised Harmonizly a couple shows back, Joe suggested the app to a client and Sam ended up using it as well.
    https://harmonizely.com/?fpr=macworks

  • Sam shares a story about how he had to perform a wipe and setup a UDM Pro for a client whose previous technician had set himself as the owner. This leads to some head scratching results.

Thank you to our Patreon sponsors!

Thank you to our Patreon sponsors!

410: The Person Who Blows The Horn

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Topics:

  • Sam tells a creepy story about something that happened with one of his old devices the other night.

  • Did anyone hear a train in the background?

  • Joe & Sam talk about social events during the pandemic and how much more we appreciate seeing each other.

  • Joe brings up live desktop with Addigy.

  • Stay tuned to an upcoming episode where we welcome back the CEO of Addigy, Jason Dettbarn.

  • Joe’s Tip: du -sh command to display disk usage statistics.

  • The group talks about the large amount of spam calls they’ve been getting.

  • Joe discovered that the spam callers have actually been using real people’s numbers. They wonder how the callers have been doing this.

  • Joe has time on his hands to talk to spam callers.

  • Sam discusses one of the weird issues he’s had with his replacement iPhone that he can’t really figure out. And Joe could be on to something with a SIM card issue.

408: The Mystery System

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Topics:

  • Sam talks about how efficient the MFA set up on 1Password is.

  • When clients are prepared with their 1Password vault it makes it a lot easier for the group to do their jobs.

  • Creating a vault with client data can be very helpful.

  • Does anyone create separate vaults for each of their clients?

  • 1Password is huge for teams, however, setting it up isn’t always worth it if it’s just for one person.

  • Joe talks about the new, app-less 1Password extension.

  • Sam shares information from a recent article that came out about chrome data-harvesting.

  • Joe shares a story about a client who had a scary problem with the Nest security system because they didn’t migrate their account when Google bought out Nest. They refused to return her money when they weren’t providing the monitoring services she was paying for.

  • Lately companies have seemed a little lax when it comes to their clients threatening to cancel their service.

  • Sam is very hesitant to recommend Kitcast because of an issue he had with the customer service. They actually discovered they had a problem with how they deploy their app but they seem to be very slow on fixing it.

  • Joe asks Sam about his billing and MSP that they had talked about 6 months ago and the two of them discuss how they bill their clients.

  • Sam talks about an “uncouth” interaction he had with a rude client.

  • Joe explains how he used Omni Disk Sweeper to help discover what was causing a weird problem for one of his clients.

  • What is the mystery “System” that often contains a lot of data that seems to be non-removable?

404: Let's Just Say His Name Was Bill

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Topics:

  • Joe performed a fully remote project with a client where he had to help extend their Eero network into their outdoor garage studio all through email.

  • He works on a similar project for another client who gives him hard time about billing and the story ends with a surprising twist.

  • The group talks about the difficulty of charging for remote work.

  • How and when should you let a client know that there are going to be billable charges for a remote assessment and evaluation?

  • Some difficult clients aren’t worth the money. But it’s a tough decision if they represent a large portion of income.

  • Joe talks about “Fire Client Friday”.

  • When does a client go too far?

  • The group discusses how to figure out who you want to work with.

  • Sam feels like he’s in an awkward position of assisting a previous employee of a client who may be turning around and billing for the answers.

  • Joe and Jerry give Sam good advice on how to approach the issue.

402: Never Lose Your Trash Again!

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Topics:

Happy 400th episode!….2 episodes late.

  • Joe dropped his iPhone 11 Pro Max. He ends up replacing it with a new iPhone 12 pro which leads into a group discussion about iPhone repairs and carriers

  • He talks about the difficulties he had and the time it took when trying to get two carriers on his new phone. eSIM and physical SIM setup order is important!

  • Sam sets up three separate Genius Bar appointments for his iPhone 11, Apple Watch series 3, and AirPod Pro issues. This leads into a second unexpected event that causes him to be locked out of his car.

  • Pop quiz - What did Sam forget when he restored his iCloud backup to a new phone?

  • The group speaks about being treated as a normal consumer when purchasing technology or speaking with customer service.

  • Sam reveals his oversight with Google Authenticator.

  • iCloud Drive presents a challenge to Jerry in an experience he had with a client losing a very important file in iCloud drive.

  • Joe piggybacks off of Jerry’s story and talks about his client also losing data.

  • Should you use the trash to store files? PsiMac may have an offering for you!

Thank you to our Patreon sponsors!

Thank you to our Patreon sponsors!