Download videos from the Internet

How can I download and save videos from the Internet? Specifically from YouTube, rumble, etc.

Short answer: Click the big green “Get 4K Video Downloader ⬇” button on this page: https://www.4kdownload.com/products/videodownloader/4

Free for 30 days, one-time $15 after that.

Alternatives: There are so many of these apps that it took a bit to find one I could trust and that wouldn’t have a bunch of ads and junk. Also, I got led down a couple nerdy paths, the only fruit of which was a little self-education.

And even as I’m typing this, I just thought “oh what about this” which finally led me to a good free GUI: ViDL (https://omz-software.com/vidl/). And I found some trustworthy reviews of it.

Obviously Google doesn’t want us to do this, so the tools are…not clandestine, but let’s say, a bit grass-roots.

And finally, I can’t help pointing to my own usual solution, youtube-dl, which is all done in the Mac’s command-line. Here’s a short explanation by beloved Apple podcaster Casey Liss: https://www.caseyliss.com/2017/8/10/youtube-dl

Clean out Trash or Downloads

Should I clean out my Trash or Downloads folders regularly?

For sure, both Downloads and Trash are good to keep eyes on. The productivity nerds would say that ideally one keeps both folders empty, with the idea being that anything important enough to keep gets stashed somewhere else.

Less compulsive Mac folks might simply say that too many files in a folder can make Finder squirrelly, so keeping it under 500 files and definitely deleting bigger ones quicker should keep you running smoothly.

Got a new Apple TV

We bought the new Apple TV for the conference room. Is there anything special that I need to do besides plugging it in to to make sure that everyone is able to connect to it via AirPlay?

Should be pretty straightforward. Just name it something simpler, logical, and/or fun, and join it to your wifi. From there it should work straightaway.

There are some settings to consider for security, branding, and office environment in Settings > AirPlay and HomeKit, including new ones in the new aTV. You might especially look at Conference Room Display. I don’t think you necessarily want to require a PIN code every time someone wants to connect, unless that has ever been an issue, but you might wanna make sure that it is in fact off.

If you use AirPlay heavily in a business environment, and you have a more versatile router, you can give the Apple TV higher priority on the network to reduce hiccups.

Google cementing OAuth

As G Suite admins will have seen in email…

Starting February 15, 2021, G Suite accounts will only allow access to apps using OAuth. Password-based access will no longer be supported.

And fortunately, this particular thing can get quickly discarded from the pile of stuff you gotta worry about. It’s specifically about any third-party apps that you have given permission to access any of your Google accounts. For example, when we set up Apple Mail, we have to grant access to our Google account, and that goes over this OAuth the above email references. Any modern app should be similar.

Even if there were some app that we’ve connected a while back under the old scheme, we would just update it and reconnect it when we run into it not working. IOW, I ain’t concerned about this for any of my peeps.

Mac crashes during sleep

I may have to take back my iMac Pro! It keeps crashing while asleep. I put it to sleep at night and wake up to find it is off. When I turn it on I get the ol’ “Your computer was restarted because of a problem” error. It works ok when working but I wonder if this isn’t an omen?
This happens almost every time I put it to sleep for a while, even while going to lunch.

I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that’s not your iMac but one of your peripheral devices. Try unplugging everything you can when you put it to sleep, even keyboard and mouse. If you don’t encounter that error, leave keyboard and mouse plugged in next time you put it to sleep. If no error, plug in main backup drive. If no error, add your next most important device. You get the idea. Rinse and repeat. Eventually we all narrow it down to the cheap USB hub we bought 7 years ago… 😉 (In one case for me, it was actually a card reader that I had in the expansion slot of my MBP.)

Mesh Wi-Fi for the Home

Can you recommend a good whole-home mesh wireless system?

The options for home networking have evolved so much in the last couple of years. There are now several powerful systems that are sooooper-easy to set up.

As usual the Wirecutter has already done the hard part for me way better, with both explanation and product recommendations.

The upshot is: the Eero system, recently purchased by Amazon, is the best and easiest, and has been since they brought mesh Wi-Fi to the consumer market a few years ago.

I’ve rarely recommended it to a client who didn’t have it all set up for themselves by the next time I talked to them.

The most likely reason one wouldn’t opt to buy the Eeros is a dislike of Amazon owning the cloud control of one’s internet connection and home network. In which case, while I haven’t gotten hands on the D-Link Covr pack recommended by that article, but they say it’ll cover up to 6,000 sf.

I do know and deeply love their “Also great” pick, the nerdier, not-drop-dead-simple Synology. The Synology is also the only one of these systems I can recommend in a business environment, as it is more configurable and flexible, and offers possibilities for remote access.

The Wirecutter ranks Google Wifi as lesser, but I think it’s well worth considering if one has any toes dipped in the smart-home pool. I had previously disregarded the units not because they’re not great, but because they offer just slightly less performance than their competitors. But they recently released the Google Nest Wifi models, which have better specs. You can get the pack called “Google Nest Wifi Router and Point” — the Point being both a mesh wifi access point and a smart speaker a la Alexa but using the very good Google Assistant — or you can just get two of the Router units, which offers better performance and no microphone.

Separate point because I can’t help myself: I really enjoy the smart-home stuff, and most recently we invited a couple of Apple HomePods into the family. We love them almost as much as the dog. I’ve also tried and really liked the Google Home, Home Hub screen, doorbell, and other Assistant devices. I know the Amazon Echo system is popular and very capable, but all the tech reporting around them gives me privacy concerns that I don’t (currently) have about Apple or Google.

Turn on Find My… iPhone, iPad, or Mac

Here’s the full page about enabling Find My iPhone, Mac, and other devices. In short:

On iOS

  1. Tap Settings > [your name] > Find My
  2. Ensure Find My iPhone says “On”
  3. If you’re asked to

On Mac

  1. Click Apple menu  > System Preferences > iCloud
  2. Turn on Find My Mac

Notes

If you don’t have Location Services turned on on your device, you’ll be instructed on doing that.

In iOS 13, Apple squeezed two apps into one: Find My Friends and Find My [Gadget] are now Find My. Here’s the icon you seek:

Also in iOS 13, Apple enabled Offline Finding, which gives you a chance of pinging it when there’s no Wi-Fi or cell signal. Apple’s full post on lost and stolen Macs.

And, hoping you never need it, here’s how to locate a lost or stolen device.

Turn on iCloud Backups

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
  2. Turn on iCloud Backup.

That’s it. You can read there that backups will occur when the device is “connected to power, locked, and on Wi-Fi.”

If Backups are already on, the screen should show a “Last successful backup” at least within the last day. If it doesn’t, tap Back Up Now.

More info, for those interested:

Here’s the kinds of information it backs up.

Almost every normally used device needs more room to backup and store photos than the 5 GB that Apple includes with every free iCloud plan. Fret not: you can buy more iCloud Storage.

Many, many Mac users assume that iCloud backs up their Macs. It absolutely, categorically does not.

Every Mac or PC user should have a cloud-backup service such as Backblaze. Individually owned computers can use the Personal Backup product, while any owned by an organization can be under the Business Backup plan. [Those are affiliate links.]

Businesses might have their mobile devices signed into iCloud accounts under the user’s organizational email address. The user should know that the organization owns every bit of information on that device.