393: Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! We hope 2021 is a healthy and successful one.

392: Super Spreader Clients

Topics:

-PsiMac and MacWorks joined forces for a Wi-Fi job. Sam was feeling very left out. 

-UniFi and Eero and go to equipment for Wi-Fi jobs. 

-Jerry & Joe go into detail about the job in an aging house with some wireless challenges.

-Using UniFi on this job, Joe talks about adjusting wireless uplink settings in the UniFi Dream Machine controller.

-Sam finally gets to join in and he gets into working with Eero on a job. He begins by dealing with an oddity where an entire network comes to a halt when a particular computer gets turned off.

-He learns some things with Eero like the lack of functionality when using the web interface vs the app.

-Since we are all doing more remotely, Joe takes us through a remote Eero setup. 

-Joe found that setting up this network was actually faster offsite. Which is good on the one hand for efficiency but also a negative for business reasons as it means less billable time. Sam finds similar results.

-Sam brings back an old favorite “pop quiz”, networking edition.

-Jerry has a PSA regarding a Synology with Seagate drives. Be careful where you buy from.

-Amazon had an offer to give a 20% credit on old routers but Jerry has a bad experience with his return.

391: The Nana Package

Topics:

-After our show with Jon Brown of Grove Technologies, Joe wanted to listen again to absorb the information on things like pricing models. 

-Sam is exploring option for changing up his monthly number to a tiered system, similar to Grove Technologies. 

-As they get into the tiered option, the hosts begin to discuss their thoughts about everything from profit to detail of services. 

-Joe talks about his model and how he includes a smaller monthly fee with a discount on pre-paid hours. 

-We revisit reselling services that our clients need. Even small numbers add up over time. Services like Microsoft 365, Backupify, BackBlaze are common. 

-Sam discusses the ease of use with Backupify and has a recent use case. 

-Dopbox Business Partner Program has a good incentive for partners who sign up. 

-What about Synology and local servers? Where do they fit in with our clients?

390: A Cesspool Of Covid

Topics:

-One of Sam’s clients shows off their new podcast studio. Sam stays silent about Command Control Power since he likely has spoken about them. 

-Joe blows Sam’s cover about how he used his new fancy Rode microphone backwards on a recent show. 

-We discuss our first mics. 

-As the guys check in about business status, Sam talks about a client that finally suspended monthly services. 

-Most recently, one of Jerry’s education clients had to request a quote from multiple vendors during a renewal period.

-A recent client call sounded like a Kobayashi Maru and an impossible feat to accomplish so Jerry & Joe figure, let’s refer Sam!

-Joe is really hoping to replace his janky MacBook Pro.

-As this show was recorded before the M1 announcement, Joe considers what new Mac computers will be on the horizon.

-Sam has a strange volume issue with his 2020 MacBook Air

-As we revisit the HP driver issue, Joe credits the MacAdmins Slack for pointing him in the right direction. 

-Joe questions the validation process.

-Should you just live off the grid?

-One of Joe’s clients designed software once used on the space shuttle.

389: Pandemic Update With Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network

Topics:

-Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network  joins us once again to talk business during COVID and some new opportunities.

-The last time we had Adam on was mid March, just after the world began to change.

-Joe observes how things are once again going in the wrong direction.

-As the president of his local runner’s club, he is always on the lookout for important news to evaluate risks.

-We discuss the effects this has had on people not just with work or physical health, but mental health as well.

-Adam and the crew kick around many interesting thoughts and ideas about society as a whole.

-What’s going to happen with office space and real estate as a whole after this is all said and done?

-As companies have had to pivot during these times, Adam talks about how TidBITS has begun working with a school in Australia to distribute technical information.

-This opportunity of working with institutions with large IT footprints could be a new avenue for TidBITS Content Network.

388: Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network Discusses Apple's M1 Silicon

Topics:

-Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network joins us to talk about Apple’s release of the M1 chips.

-We talk about “One More Thing...”

-Joe goes on a tear about some history of Mac. 

-Joe is proud of his first generation JamBox. 

-Adam is very excited about the benchmarks he is reading about the M1 chips. 

-Even Rosetta 2 is showing a benchmark of 80% of native use!

-Adam talks about unified memory and how the memory is built in to the M1 chip. 

-Thermal capacity in the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini is discussed. The MacBook Air doesn’t even have a fan!

-Sam & Joe are emotionally scarred from recent MacBook Air models. 

-Adam is not impressed with the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro. 

-While we were once concerned about first generation chips, everything we are hearing has us excited. 

-Battery life is a notable difference that users will be most aware of. 

-50 of recent Mac purchases were customers new to the Mac. 

-Adam warns about issues to be wary of with Big Sur when it comes to third party backup programs like Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper. 

-Time Machine in Big Sur now uses APFS. You will likely want to start your backups fresh. 

-The low end MacBook Air has a 7 core CPU instead of an 8 core. Why?

-Adam is going to test his new computer by dumping all his apps in Login Items to see how it responds. 

-Sign up with TidBITS Content Network and have Adam and his team create meaningful content for your organization.