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019: Interview with Elaine Kwok, Product Marketing Manager for Promise Technology

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Intro Recorded Live on October 1, 2013; Interview Recorded on September 24, 2013

Jerry, Sam, and Joe are pleased to be joined this week by Elaine Kwok, Product Marketing Manager for Promise Technology.

As with the original release of Thunderbolt in 2011, Promise will be first to market with Thunderbolt 2 peripherals to be released alongside the forthcoming Mac Pro redesign later this fall.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Elaine for taking the time to discuss the Promise product line with us, especially during this busy time as the company gears up for Thunderbolt 2.  Stay tuned for exciting updates from Promise!

But first, listen to Joe recount his recent data recovery success through his MacGyvering of a hard drive with a broken mini USB connector on the bridge board of a WD MyBook for Mac. The tools at his disposal were as follows: a USB connector salvaged from a non-working donor enclosure; a pair of needle nose pliers; a rubber band; a plastic dust cover from a mini-DVI to DVI adapter; a spare 3.5" hard drive; and a spool of kapton tape. Go!

Topics:

- VTrak E-Class, VTrak A-Class SAN solutions

- SANLink Thunderbolt to Fibre Channel adapter

- Pegasus R6 RAID Storage

- Pegasus J2 portable Thunderbolt SSD & Pegasus J4 2.5" Thunderbolt enclosure

 

Update – here's just the Elaine Kwok Interview.

018: New iPhones: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

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Recorded Live on September 24, 2013

Topics:

- iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c

- Maker Faire

- Touch ID security

- the trouble with Activation Lock in the Enterprise; disabling Find My iPhone

- wireless network improvements; outdoor enclosures to extend a wireless network outside

- Joe's story of seeing iOS 6.1.3 running on an iPad and thinking it was much older

- Verizon reps recommending Android phones, receiving commission

Picks of the Week:

- Macwireless.com – Joe

- Inssider – Sam

- WiFi Explorer & NetSpot (See also this review from Glenn Fleishman at Macworld) – Jerry

 

017: Client Relationships

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Recorded Live on September 17, 2013

Topics:

- when clients become friends, and friends become clients

- recommending AppleCare+ as an alternative to using a case: $99 for two years, plus $79 service fee per incident, up to two incidents; vs. $649 replacement cost of unlocked 16GB iPhone 5S

- vacation coverage and income when on vacation; "coopetition" as Kim Manitt calls it

Follow up:

- commando vs. case: Joe mentions experience with a client's Body Glove case affecting WiFi performance of iPhone 5; tested with SpeedTest.net

- iCloud Keychain removed in iOS 7 GM; to be added back when Mavericks is released?

Picks of the Week:

- Tunnel Bear – Jerry

- Quick Sig – Sam

- Track by 7sols – Joe

Tips:

- buy AppleCare at B&H to save around 30%

Memorable Lines:

"Type it out or leave it out." – Joe

Sam: "This afternoon I was in four different machines at once and I was doing a pretty good job of it." Jerry: "Did you have to pinch yourself?"

 

015: Unplugging and Unwinding

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Recorded Live on September 3, 2013

Topics:

- subcontracting for another consultancy

- OnForce

- what we do to unplug and unwind: stare at the wall, sail, hike/backpack, camp, kayak, run, play soccer, play poker, walk, listen to music, listen to podcasts, do yoga

- what you do to unplug and unwind: cook, row, do karate

- podcast recommendations

- standing desk recommendations

Picks of the Week:

- TeamViewer and join.me – Jerry

- Passenger – Sam

- Delivery Status – Joe

Mentions:

- Downcast

- Kangaroo Adjustable Height Desks (not to be confused with Kanguru.com flash drives!)

014: Pricing Roundtable

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Recorded Live on 8/27/2013

Sam, Jerry, and Joe discuss rates and pricing after a digression into Mac OS X Server services.

Followup:

- Jerry reports that Find My Mac only works on WiFi; only works when WiFi network interface is listed first in Network preferences set service order; requires Recovery Partition

Topics:

- password manager frustrations; Apple's opportunity to solve the problem with iPhone 5S and iCloud Keychain

- Jerry mentions Ryan Block's idea to prevent iPhone from turning off unless passcode was entered to improve security and allow Find My iPhone

- Sam discusses using Profile Manager to enable Remote Wipe without iCloud

- Mac OS X Server services discussion; in-house email hosting considerations

- rates discussion: how to charge; minimums; project-based billing vs. hourly

- onsite/phone/remote; labor; diagnostics fee; travel time

- discount for contracts/prepaid hours

- whether to post rates on the website

- remote support options: ARD over VPN, join.me, TeamViewer

- remote hard drive shredding vs. occupying space on the workbench to securely erase