Tag: apple

Sluggish new Mac

Recommendations for Macs that have plenty of memory and should otherwise be performing beautifully. I’m looking at you, Chrome 👀: 

  • Restart weekly.
  • Pare down extensions in browsers, especially Chrome.
  • I know I just said pare down extensions, but there’s a really cool extension for Chrome called OneTab. You can use it to quickly send all your tabs to a single page of links. And you can share those pages to yourself so you can open them in other browsers. 
  • Try using different Profiles in your browser and switching between them to close windows you don’t need right now.
  • Strongly consider switching to Safari.
    • Try starting mostly fresh, but do configure Profiles first and perhaps export specific folders of bookmarks from Chrome. OneTab can help with this.
    • I just searched “fastest browser 2025” and confirmed my guess that at least a couple people would rank Safari as the most performant and private, at least for Apple users. It’s not ’cos Apple is just better, but they are of course able to optimize for their platform. And they are also making their bones off maintaining privacy, which (to this non-programmer) feels like it cuts back on the cross-page cookie tracking whatever nonsense that is the bane of the modern web. (One of the many banes, I should say.)
  • Check out Activity Monitor on your Mac (in /Applications/Utilities), but when things feel sluggish, look at the Memory tab in there and see what the culprit is. If there is a non-zero number next to “Swap Used:” try closing/quitting as many apps and tabs as you can, and restart.

XR or XS? And what size?

A friend writes:

XR or XS?

Sure! You should get one of those.  😉

All of the new ones are pretty kickass, and all have benefits. The XS (Apple pronounces it “ten-ess”) and its big brother are great, with two cameras on the back, but the one everyone is talking about is the XR. Comes in cool colors!

I’d look real hard at that one. The XS Max is nice but kind of enormous; I already have enough discomfort with the 8 Plus in a jeans pocket.

If you like two cameras (and I do, a lot) or a somewhat better display with richer blacks, get the XS. If you just want a kick-ass phone with amazing battery life at a good value, get the XR.

Does storage matter? 64 GB XS at $999 vs. 128 XR at $799

Fantastic question: I do like the 256 GB (gigabytes) in my 8 Plus. It’s a wee gluttonous, but I no longer have to worry a whit about my storage when I’m shooting video. Also, the 8 only came in 64 GB or 256 GB, and 64 was too small for me. So, it depends on your current usage, but I prefer at least 128.

What’s a “widget”?

That’s a reasonable question, given the silly history of the word:

a small gadget or mechanical device, especially one whose name is unknown or unspecified.

If you just want to know how it applies to your iPhone and Mac, skip the first few paragraphs.

In the software world, the story goes a little like this:

Yahoo bought a company years ago, called Konfabulator, who used the term to refer to a kind of mini-app. These little apps would show or do simple things — like weather, a calculator, a clock and calendar, a stock feed, package trackers — any single-purpose kind of information that you’d want to access or manipulate quickly. 

Konfabulator ran their widgets in a dashboard, an overlay on the rest of the stuff on your computer screen. You could have them floating on top or behind, or pop out from the side of your display, I can’t remember all the possibilities.

So Yahoo got ‘em and changed the name to Yahoo! Widgets, and pretty soon everybody was jumping on board. (“Widget” apparently has become a standardized term in software.) Apple put a Dashboard in OS X (still there but probably going away soon), Microsoft called them gadgets in Windows, you get the picture.

This year, Apple introduced a feature into iOS and the Mac, where you can add widgets to your Notifications screen. They are a very cool way to get quick information, and even to add notes and to-do items.

With my Philips Hue lights and the new Hue widget, I can even change the lighting scheme in my home! I just turned my office lights on and the den lights off, in two swipes and one click, without leaving my chair. 

Here’s how to add widgets in the Today view on your iPhone and on your Mac. 

Widgets I like:

There are more on the phone at the moment. We are waiting for Mac developers to release some goodies.

Note: I’ve used my App Store and Amazon affiliate links.

Apple Buys Cue

Bob M wrote:

I had on my list to look more at Cue per your recommendation. Then this happened. I look forward to seeing how it’s integrated into iOS 7.

Ohhhhhhhh that's what happened to them! Thanks for sending me this! I am glad Apple has copped to the importance of making logical connections between our data, and displaying it all at once. Google Now is good, though I can't say it has worked perfectly for me on iOS.

Noelle M, who showed me Cue originally, last week saw they were shutting down, so I went and tracked down Tempo for us.

I like Tempo a lot, and it fulfills most of what I got out of Cue. As Noelle noted this morning, however, it lacks some of the cleverness that made Cue a delight. Package tracking, upcoming travel itineraries, sunrise/sunset. But this is clearly a hot field, sure to attract plenty of heroic developer action in the near future.

Now I get to say one more thing, for the record. I have a pretty good record of picking up on stuff that's primo enough even for Apple.

Check it:

  • October 2008 – I publish this post about how much I like Lala music streaming service. Didn't know anybody else using it.

  • December 2009 – Apple buys Lala music streaming service.

  • 2009 – jjmarcus starts introducing clients to the awesome and free Siri Personal Assistant, putting it on almost everyone's iPhones.

  • 2011 – Apple buys Siri Personal Assistant.

  • September 2013 – jjmarcus posts on Facebook that Apple's apps could stand to be more like Cue.

  • October 2013 – Apple buys Cue.

And Apple is conservative with their cash.

Prepare for iOS 7

iOS 7 should pop up as an available update on September 18, 2013.

The new mobile operating system from Apple promises to be as new, revolutionary even, as the original iPhone. I, for one, am damned excited about it.

So’s ya know, you do NOT have to upgrade to 7 right away. The safe bet is to wait at least a few days, to see if any debilitating quirks squirmed their way through the testing process.

But for all you early adopters…

Let’s do some simple steps to make sure your iPhones, iPads and iPods touch are all ready for Apple’s latest mobile operating system.

Check compatibility

Your device will need to be compatible. Techcrunch has the skinny on that.

Back it up!

On your device, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup (at the bottom).

Swipe to the bottom of the page, and tap Backup Now.

Backup to iCloud

You can also be more thorough by doing a backup using iTunes.

Since you’re also going to update iTunes on your Mac, make sure Time Machine or your backup scheme of choice are working.

Update

Run Software Update on your Mac, from the Apple menu. That will get you the latest iTunes.

Also, tap the App Store on your mobile gadget. Tap Updates, and then Update All.

All set

Now you’re ready. On your device, go to Settings > General > Software Update, and let the crayon-colored magic begin!