Category: Tech

Keeping track of software licenses

Just say no to spinny thingsSerial numbers, activation keys, product keys…it takes work to keep up with all those CDs and boxes and emails!

Store serial numbers

My favorite place to store my software serial numbers is 1Password. I love showing people how to get the most from it. The new iOS app is really easy to use. And you can purchase the excellent Mac app for $50 from the Mac App Store and install on up to 5 computers. Syncs over Dropbox easy-peezy.

Forget serial numbers altogether

Speaking of the App Store, if you buy there, you don’t ever actually have to remember your licenses! Unsurprisingly, Microsoft has yet to release Office there, but it’s only a matter of time.

Of course, there’s nothing like a good ol’ spreadsheet for shareability and printability. You might set up a simple sheet with all your software licenses. I just did this other post on current options for working with office docs, Microsoft and otherwise.

A reasonable compromise

Here’s a great new deal: Did you know you can now download Mac apps from Amazon now? I just bought Adobe Lightroom 4 that way. At $120, Lightroom has come down to a you-just-gotta-do-it price.

Then again, do I really need an app for that?

I can’t believe it, but if you want to work directly with Microsoft Office-formatted documents, there is still no fully-functioned office suite—word processor, spreadsheet, and presentations—in the Mac App Store. There are, like, 5 good ones for the iPad! But they lack the convenience of file-system access with something like Finder, the thing that makes a Mac a Mac.

I don’t consider Apple iWork fully compatible with Microsoft Office, because you can’t simply open and save Office docs in Pages, Numbers, or Keynote. You have to import and export each time. Who knows why. OpenOffice and NeoOffice have had the ability for years. No way would Apple and Microsoft have colluded to cripple Apple’s productivity suite, right? Right?

What a great time to consider using Google Docs, and ditching Office all together. A Google Spreadsheet is great for something like serial numbers. And Google recently released the excellent Google Drive for iOS. I can finally edit my Google Docs directly on my iPad. That’s a big change!

What are Smart Folders?

What are Smart Folders?

They are super helpful, is what!

On the Mac, Smart Folders in Finder (also Smart Playlists in iTunes, Smart Albums in iPhoto, Smart Mailboxes in Mail, Smart Groups in Address Book, etc.) are containers for files or folders that meet a certain criteria. Think of them as a permanent search.

For example, you could make a Smart Folder that shows you all the documents you’ve opened in the last 3 days, or one for all your PDFs that are bigger than 2 megabytes.

In iTunes, you could have a Smart Playlist that always has the jazz songs you’ve added this week. In iPhoto, I created a Smart Album for all the photos I’ve rated above 3 stars, and I sync that to my iPhone.

You can create a smart container in the File menu of any of these programs. You’ll immediately be presented with a dialog box that lets you pick your search criteria, stacking them with “any” (if this OR that) or “all” (if this AND that AND that).

Smart containers appear in the same list with their manual counterparts, but have a gear icon on them.

Try ’em out. They can really speed up your workflow!

Troubleshoot a slow Mac (short version)

What can I do to see why my computer has become extremely slow?

Yes! Open Activity Monitor (an app in Utilities)

  • In CPU, more black is better. More color = slower computer.
  • In System Memory, more green is better. You want at least 25% of the pie chart to be green.

If it’s not, restart your computer, and open Activity Monitor. See how things look then.

DNS, DoS, and recent cyber attacks

How concerned should I be in light of the recent cyber
attacks? Is my cable modem an “open resolver”? Can it be highjacked?

The short answer: I have configured most of my clients’ routers to distribute addresses for DNS servers provided by the OpenDNS project. Read on to learn how that protects you.

I had never considered the possibility of a hacked cable box, I suppose mostly because I’ve never heard a geek mention it. I just did a googling of “hack cable modem,” resulting only in discussions of how one might rejigger one’s own modem to elevate the connection speed or get free Internet, both of which appear to be quite prosecutable offenses.

I’m no hacker, but I have a decent handle on small-network security, and I have difficulty imagining the purposes to which a miscreant might put a cable modem. It can’t send data by itself, and your own local network is protected by the router that sits behind the modem.

So, onto discussion of the recent cyber attacks against Spamhaus.

As this article explains, the attack is actually performed on vulnerable DNS servers, such as those run by less vigilant Internet service providers around the world.

What’s a DNS server?

DNS is not hard to understand — it can be thought of as the phonebook of the Internet. When you ask your web browser to go to http://www.i-wish-elliot-spitzer-hadnt-been-such-a-schmuck.com…well, let’s use http://www.google.com as a shorter example…your browser first asks your computer what DNS servers it should use to look up the address.

In my house, my computer sends my browser to the OpenDNS Project’s servers 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220. (We always have a second server as a backup in case the first one isn’t available.)

Then my browser asks the OpenDNS server where to find http://www.google.com. It receives a numerical reply, the IP address of Google’s Web server. Then the browser goes to that IP address and asks for whatever web-page information the server cares to give it.

How does this help hackers?

To understand the recent malfeasance, it’s called a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This is one example:

Imagine someone hijacks one of these vulnerable DNS servers, so that when you ask for Google.com, you actually get directed to some other Web server. Now imagine everyone using that ISP’s servers having every single one of their browser requests directed to the same Web server. The unsuspecting server would get barraged by requests, and would have to start turning some of them away — denial of service.

Service breaks down, customers get angry, service loses money, attack successful.

The big ISPs in America protected themselves against these attacks a few years back. But even before that, when the attacks first reared their heads, I looked into the proscribed ways to protect oneself, and immediately started plugging in the OpenDNS servers into all my clients’ routers. Crisis averted, at least for us.

Hackers employ several methods to affect a DoS. As I understand it, the goal is not direct monetary gain, but perhaps a hobbling of an adversary, or even an expression of protest. DoS is a typical weapon of the hacker collective Anonymous.

As you can see on the OpenDNS page, using their servers offers other benefits and features, including faster replies to queries and configurable web-content filtering for those with tender sensibilities.

Bonus nerdy information

Google actually started its own public DNS service a little while ago. You can use the servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in place of the OpenDNS servers.

They have put up a page explaining DNS security in more depth.

I hope you find this information in any way helpful or reassuring.

CrashPlan might be filling up your hard drive

OK, this is no longer a coincidence: All CrashPlan users should please check the free space on your Macs’ hard drives.
On your desktop, click on “Macintosh HD,” then go to the File menu > Get Info…

If the Space Available looks low, say less than 10 GB, it might be that (pardon the expression) a CrashPlan log has grown unusually large. Open up Macintosh HD > Library > Logs > CrashPlan, and look for engine_output.log. See how big it is. I’ve now seen 30 GB, 80 GB, even 600 GB.

Throw engine_output.log in the trash, and empty your trash (right click on the trash can or Finder menu > Empty Trash…).

If the trash won’t empty, restart your Mac and try again.

Perhaps your hard drive is full for other reasons, in which case the excellent freeware Disk Inventory X can help: http://www.derlien.com/downloads/index.html

Me.com email doesn’t work

> My me.com email no longer works. It asks for my password, but the password no longer works. It was my mac.com account with same password.

The first thing to try is to log into icloud.com with your me.com address and password. That'll give you full mail functionality, and also tell you if your password is correct. You can then determine if you need to reconfig your mail client, perhaps by deleting and restoring your account.

Posted via email from J2 Tech Blog

How do I edit PDFs on Mac/iPhone/iPad?

Do I need Adobe Reader? Or Acrobat Pro? How do I edit PDFs?

Mac

PDFs are like food to a Mac. Whenever you print anything from a Mac, you’re creating a PDF. That’s why, whenever you go to File > Print, there’s a convenient PDF menu at the bottom left, with options like Save As PDF… and Mail PDF.

 

The Mac has an built-in app called Preview, which works with all kinds of image files, including PDFs. With Preview, I can sign PDFs with my signature, or notate the heck out of them.

Depending on what you do to/with PDFs, you might use Preview, or the even more awesome PDFpen, which can change text in a PDF, or the super badass PDFpenPro, which can teach your PDFs to sit up, beg, and roll over.

PDFpen can even read the text in a PDF, or turn a PDF into a formatted Word doc. It’s very powerful, and a fraction of the price of Acrobat Pro (which is still great if you do prepress).

iOS

PDFPen is also great on the iPad and iPhone.

I use GoodReader for my PDF reference library, with all my manuals and training documents and other legibles. It also has robust commenting and markup features.

Apple says, “Your iCloud storage is almost full”

Apple sent me an email saying, “You are currently using 4.8 GB of your total 5 GB of iCloud storage, which means your iCloud storage is almost full…device backups to iCloud will stop and apps will no longer be able to save documents to iCloud. To ensure your iCloud services continue without interruption, you can free up space or buy more storage by following the steps below…”

My settings show two iPhones. Is one of them my old phone?

iPhone screenshot

From the picture you texted me (heh, that sounds funny), yes, your old iPhone is still in your iCloud backups and can be deleted from the settings in your new phone. Just tap the old phone and tap “Delete Backup.” That should free up adequate room.

To remind you how to get back there: Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup

Perhaps later on, when you start to acquire more apps, or take more pictures at one time, or add an iPad to your arsenal, you might fill up your 4.7GB of iCloud backup storage legitimately, and will then need to tap “Change Storage Plan,” and choose from:

  • 10 additional GB (15 GB total): $20/year
  • 20 additional GB (25 GB total): $40/year
  • 50 additional GB (55 GB total): $100/year

(cf. This Apple support doc)

Note that you can also tap on your new phone (tagged as “This iPhone”) to get a list of what apps are taking up the most room on your device—Camera Roll for most people—and perhaps turn off apps that you don’t need backed up. Be judicious here. Few people will be surprised that I prefer that you buy more storage rather than remove app data from the backup.

What’s with this Google Fiber?

Nu, what’s with this Google Fiber?

Google recently entered the ISP business, they held a contest in which one small US city would get gigabit internet for its citizens. Kansas City, both KS and MO, won. And they are lucky bastards.

First, definitions:

“Fiber”, a.k.a. fiber-optic a.k.a. FIOS a.k.a. fiber to the home, is simply a faster land-based internet connection.

In order of speed, we have had:
First dial-up, then what we have called “broadband,” including ISDN (rare in a home) > T1 > various flavors of DSL > cable > T3 > fiber-optic

Wireless broadband comprises internet connections delivered through the air.

Wifi strictly means wireless networking on a local network. Wifi doesn’t deliver internet to the home or business; it distributes network resources, including the internet connection or a server or networked printers, to devices at the home or business.

You can think of wifi (I guess it’s “Wi-Fi,” but I say that’s fucking stupid, as is hyphenated “e-mail” or capitalized “Internet”)…You can think of wifi as the same link in the chain as an ethernet cable, more convenient, more hip, less secure, less reliable, and possibly more expensive or possible cheaper.

Random bonus jargon: WiMAX is more comparable to Google Fiber or cable internet, a “last-mile” solution for Internet deliver to the home that hasn’t really caught on.

Ref:
webopedia: internet connection types
wikipedia: internet access

Finally, and real crucially, gigabit means 1 million bits-per-second1, or 1Gbps. That’s a Dr. Evil-level number. Means fast fast fast. My home broadband connection, currently from Grande, is 30,000 bits-per-second = 30 megabit = 30Mbps. It’s satisfyingly fast. But gigabit will, reportedly, blow the face off all the internet to which we’ve so far been accustomed. It’s well above the norms of Japan or Europe, behind whom the US currently lags.

Google has always said, and loudly, that the more time that people spend on the Internet, the more money Google makes. Hence the Google Fiber contest, and the implication on their page that Kansas City is simply the first of many. I hadn’t seen the hardware they’ve developed, the stuff they pitch on their fiber page. Looks cool, at least.

Whatever the benefits for Google, faster internet is good for the nation.

1 Bits-per-second can be called baud. The term no longer appears much, but when dial-up was common, modems were measured in baud. Imagine a time when you might brag about your 2400-baud modem! So “gigabit” is a foreshortened term, but who’s gonna say “gigabaud”?

The State of Migration

I am currently migrating a client’s data from a MacBook Pro to a new MacBook Air.
We have tried it twice over Wi-Fi and it failed both times, so I asked her to bring it over, and I did it using a hard drive as a middleman. This time is working flawlessly.

Historically, migrating from one Mac to another has been the easiest thing going. But since they started eliminating FireWire, and thus Target Disk Mode, from many Mac models, they have had to kludge a solution together. They went with Wi-Fi, rather than telling people to use a hard drive in between.

My own previous experiences with migrating over Wi-Fi have been less than stellar. But my contractor said it always worked for him, so I’ve run with telling people that.

In short, if you run into problems migrating over Wi-Fi, try doing it from your Time Machine backup. And if that doesn’t work we can do it with an external hard drive.