443: FBI Surveillance Van

Topics:

-Joe had some audio troubles. Could it be that he spilled water on his own computer?

-Jerry is tied of the “How did we do?” surveys for phone support.

-A Thanksgiving recap.

-Will Joe get a puppy?

-During Thanksgiving dinner, Jerry had to clarify that the FBI were not providing free Wi-Fi.

-Tech support for family is par for the course over the holidays.

-AT&T and T-Mobile have discounts for seniors but…only in Florida.

-After buying an AirTag, Jerry finds a nifty case from Elevation Lab. But he was not pleased with the outcome.

-After listening to The Beatles Documentary, Let It Be, Jerry gifts us his review.

-While on the subject, Sam recommends The Velvet Underground documentary. 

-Joe likes the From the Basement series

-How do you troubleshoot communicating with an Apple TV when you didn’t bring the remote with you?

-Sam uses his phone to prank his son when using Siri on Apple TV.

442: Streaming, It's A Good Thing

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Topics:

-Jerry encounters a personal situation with a client and Joe recalls similar situations, even remotely.

-Does this photo look like an electrical outlet or two USB ports?

-Joe has a heck of a day involving QuickBooks support.

-Unbelievably, after considerable support time on what he believed to be a Mac, Joe’s client sends him a photo that surprises him.

-Clients lack of planning shouldn’t be our emergency.

-Prepaid hourly blocks can feel like free work if enough time passes.

-Jerry asks the question; Is it Connect4 or Control4?

-One of Jerry’s clients cannot grasp the concept of cloud vs local music. And the A/V tech was not helping.

-Complex A/V systems can be cumbersome for a user.

-Joe experiences problems with a UniFi/Sonos setup.

-Using a modem purchased separately rather than “renting” from the ISP can be a good alternative.

441: Save Changes and Shut Down

Topics:

-After conversing with some old friends, Sam hears of the crazy concept of ending your workday at 5 or 6PM.

-Sam feels like he may be reaching a breaking point of work/life balance being tipped too far over.

-He talks about Craig Cohen at HCS who starts his day at 6 AM and leaves his laptop at the office at the end of the day.

-Sam realizes his productivity is hurt by his lack of focus.

-Command-Tab is Joe’s “what the heck am I doing?” shortcut.

-HCS is hiring! We need someone that has Jamf 200 certification or better to join our team. Reach out to Sam via MacAdmins Slack or email if you are interested.

-Joe let’s Sam know that a new hire will actually add to his workload. At least initially.

-What is multitasking?

-Jerry asks the question, should you be taking on less work to fit your life?

-Jerry also talks about the responsibility of taking care of people on your payroll.

-Perhaps a schedule of when to work after hours is a good start.

-Transitioning to tech, Jerry has an odd issue where Apple Mail was not respecting the Reply All button.

-Once you break the drives in a fusion drive iMac, the data is difficult to retrieve.

-Jerry has another weird one after a data transfer.

438: Interview With Adam Engst Of the TidBITS Content Network

Topics:

-This week we welcome back Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network.

-The supply chain issues are hitting many areas hard.

-Finding people to hire is no easy task of late. Adam gives us his thoughts based on recent research.

-Quality of life is affecting people’s decisions to go back to work.

-Adam uses Keyboard Maestro to automate specific tasks: https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/

-Sam is seeing customers that would rather pick up in store, even if the specifications are not exactly what they want, rather than wait for the supply chain delays.

-Joe & Jerry were comparing new models but didn’t quite pull the trigger.

-Not just increased processing power and unified memory, but faster SSDs.

-The 1080p HD FaceTime camera is still weak but better than the 720p camera in previous models.

-Adam talks about ergonomics like desktop height and keyboard/trackpads.

-He recommends a roller mouse from Contour Designs: https://www.contourdesign.com

-Does virtualization change anything for people on Apple Silicon?

-Gamers are still staying away from the Mac platform.

-Monterey appears to be an easier upgrade process in comparison to the issues that have plagued Big Sur.

-Upgrading from Mojave is still troublesome: https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-upgrade-to-big-sur-failed-stuck-progress-bar-fix-prevention/

-Get your Apple gifts on the early side as supply chain issues could affect timing.

-If you aren’t already a subscriber, get well written, professional Apple Content for you to use with your customers with TidBITS Content Network.

437: Interview With Dan Monge Of Mac IT Pros

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Topics:

-This week we welcome Dan Monge of Monge IT Consulting / Mac IT Pros

-In addition to running his business, Dan works with Watchman Monitoring in a variety of capacities.

-We have our usual Watchman discussion where we discuss use cases and helpful tips.

-Joe installs Watchman on his company computers as well, to keep tabs on the health of his equipment.

-Dan adds “Connect to Server” shares to make it easier for users to mount network volumes.

-Dan focuses on businesses only and refers any residential referrals to a fellow consultant.

Dan & Jerry talk about the fall of Google Ads and being mistaken for Apple.

-Another hat tip to our friends at TidBITS Content Network.

-smith.ai chat feature has really helped Jerry for no additional cost.

-Zendesk has a chat feature that Sam has put to use.

-What is chaff? Is it champing or chomping at the bit?

-The group discusses failed (or were they?) marketing ideas.

-Do you still use business cards?

-Company shirts and branded equipment gets noticed.

-Dan tries to convince Joe to move away from hourly to monthly plans.

-In Dan’s parting words, he encourages listeners to become patrons.

435: Less Than A Minute Remaining

Topics:

-Joe has to troubleshoot his own internet connection with the ISP.

-GoNetSpeed appears to be a new provider in the Fairfield County area in CT. https://gonetspeed.com

-Jerry has some challenges connecting routers that auto config to an Altice modem/router from Optimum Online.

-One of Sam’s clients decided to upgrade their ISP service without involving his team.

-Changing the all in one modem/router solutions can be extremely frustrating.

-Another one of Sam’s clients was down after the wiring consultant installed new equipment. It turned out to be oversight but it required a Saturday visit.

-Upgrading from Mojave to Big Sur is enough of an issue where there is a MacAdmins channel dedicated to it. (Channel: Mojave-Upgrade-Problem).

-Jerry has joined the Apple Silicon bandwagon.

-Has anybody else seen performance issues on Apple Silicon that requires a restart?