November 20, 2013

027: Cleanup tools, repairing permissions, tracking down freezes and kernel panics

November 20, 2013/ Joe

Recorded live on November 19, 2013

Topics:

- Day 392: the Mac mini held hostage

- Apple Configurator insight/anecdote from Jerry; 20 device limit syncing to MacBook Air

- cleaning the dyld cache and font cache

- OnyX, Cocktail, CleanMyMac, TechTool Pro, DiskWarrior, memtest with 7 loops, Disk Utility's verify disk, Drive Genius hard drive test

- MacKeeper finds over 8 PB (Petabytes) of wasted disk space, courtesy Mike Kingsley

- use resetpassword Terminal command to reset home folder ACLs

- repairing permissions: helpful or just another 15 minutes of billable time? Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore

- repairing permissions can fix some printing issues; reset printing system is the nuclear option

- Knock your iPhone to unlock your Mac; great third-party app (not secret Cupertino project)

- Apple Stores configure machines to use OpenDNS and block DNS queries to non-OpenDNS servers

- VPN Reorder: app to reorder connections in VPN Status menu, courtesy Allen Hancock

Picks of the week:

- iStat Menus

- whatsmydns.com – Jerry

Memorable lines:

- Another 15 minutes of billable time! - Jerry, re: repairing permissions

November 19, 2013

026: Interview with Greg Brasher, Field Sales Executive for Rackspace

November 19, 2013/ Joe

Recorded on November 5, 2013

Topics:

- RackSpace offers Exchange hosting, mail hosting, managed SharePoint hosting

- public cloud vs. private cloud vs. hybrid

- "Fanatical Support" and the Fanatical Straightjacket award ceremony

- O'Fixies, the internal support "bar" at RackSpace HQ

- OpenStack, partnership with NASA; open source, massively scaleable cloud operating system

- RackSpace Partner Network and how ACNs can benefit from it

- Cloud Sites

- Hybrid cloud

Plus:

- the challenges of hiring someone to grow your consulting practice: very important to find someone who's willing to follow through, who can keep a commitment, who has a good work ethic, and who works well as a team player

November 12, 2013

025: Mobile Device Management and More

November 12, 2013/ Joe

Recorded live November 5, 2013

Topics:

- Apple Configurator and the issue with Find My iPad and Activation Lock

- using Apple Configurator in combination with a cloud-based MDM solution; e.g. AirWatch with AirWatch app

- LinkedIn proxying emails using its LinkedIn Intro service; see also

- MTC vs. MTC+: MTC focuses mostly on Apple's solution, whereas MTC+ focuses more on third party solutions

- basic Mobile Device Management features for small office use: remote wipe, remote lock

- tip about updating to iOS 7.0.3, removing and re-adding the stored Fingerprints

- Sam's impressions on the Synology DS1513+

- plus, Sam teases what's to come from his trip to Apple Professional Services Camp

Follow up:

- Jerry "rolling back" his client to Mountain Lion

November 04, 2013

024: Clients Plunging Headfirst into Mavericks

November 04, 2013/ Joe

Recorded live on October 29, 2013

Topics:

- Clients upgrading to Mavericks, and then asking for help

- Jerry's medical practice client finds out MacPractice is not yet Mavericks compatible

- Joe's clients encounter trouble with Juniper VPN and SoftRAID

- Sam's client encounters problems with Zimbra, VPN Tracker

- run Mountain Lion in a VM to run apps that do not yet work on Mavericks?

- according to VMWare, "Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Server, 10.6 Snow Leopard Server, 10.7 Lion client or server and 10.8 Mountain Lion client or server are fully supported on VMware Fusion while running on supported Apple hardware"

- Sam mentions CNET article: External drives experiencing data loss after Mavericks installation

- using Roaring Apps to determine app compatibility with Mavericks

- Sam and Jerry advise us to back up (archive) our OpenDirectory databases; this is built into Time Machine starting with Mac OS X Server 10.7.2 Lion

- Mavericks Prep service? flat rate to review installed apps, check file system, and advise client along a self-guided upgrade

- Promise Pegasus 2 and SANLink 2 announced

Follow up:

- John Siracusa tests battery life improvements from Mavericks on 2007 MacBook Pro and finds 25% improvement

October 23, 2013

023: Fall 2013 Releases - Mavericks, iLife, iWork, Retina MacBook Pro, iPad Air, Retina iPad mini

October 23, 2013/ Joe

Recorded Live on October 22, 2013

We have plenty to discuss this week about Apple's Fall 2013 releases, as well as new details about the forthcoming Mac Pro.

Topics:

- Migration Assistant bug upgrading to Mavericks; Apple updates Migration Assistant six hours too late to save Jerry's afternoon

- advising clients about when to upgrade to Mavericks

- using Carbon Copy Cloner's Disk Center to clone the Recovery Partition

- Carbon Copy Cloner's partner program: contact eddie@bombich.com

- iPad Air, iPad mini with Retina; Apple setting the stage for iPad Pro?

- hard drive upgrades, SSD upgrades, hybrid drives?

- Sam's client migration from iPhone to Android

- Mac Pro pricing and support for up to six Thunderbolt displays or three 4K displays

Follow up:

- 1Password 4 for Mac with Multiple and Shared Vaults; securely sharing data among members of a team using Secure Notes

Mentions:

- Lion Disk Maker

- Carbon Copy Cloner

- gizoogle.net

October 22, 2013

022: Interview with Thadd Weil, Public Relations Specialist for Synology

October 22, 2013/ Joe

Recorded on October 15, 2013

Continuing our storage vendor interview series, Jerry and Sam are pleased to be joined by Thadd Weil, Public Relations Specialist for Synology America Corp. (Joe was out of town for this interview.)