Category: Columns
Technology Drivers March 2017 What came first– the social egg or the technology chicken? It is patent that the two exist in a feedback loop, the societal context engendering technological change and the technology, once sufficiently widespread, radically altering society. While one can argue that the first society was agrarian, it was so only in the sense that there was no hunting, and gathering could be done with little travel, for Eden was already planted. The technology of the hunter-gatherer…
In spite of its salacious, click-bait title, and apparently being written by fictitious baseball player Sidd Finch*, I read an article entltled How to Not Write Like an Asshole last year. In it, the author proposes that the way to become a great writer is to copy great writers. “When I say you should copy great writers, I mean you should literally copy their best work, word-for-word, and preferably by hand. This process is called copywork and it’s mind-numbingly simple. You barely have…
NOTE: The article below was featured in my Working Smarter for Mac Users newsletter this week and is excerpted from my soon-to-be-released eBook, Working Smarter for Mac Users. It’s a delightful little ditty with a tip that can save you countless hours. ‘ Better still, the more you use this tip, the more time you’ll save. And, as you’ll see, it couldn’t be easier. And, last but not least, if you read all the way to the end, there’s a free gift for you! All…
Hello blog-readers! This entry starts with a short tip on drive failure rates that could be useful the next time you buy a hard drive. That’s followed by an excerpt from my new eBook, Working Smarter for Mac Users, an excerpt virtually guaranteed to make you more productive. Onward! Drive Failure Rates I don’t know how many people use Backblaze for their offsite backups, but it’s probably a lot (and it includes me). What I do know is that they had 73,653 hard…
This month on Open Apple, we round out the year with our annual tradition of sitting around a virtual table with some friends of the show, discussing whatever comes to mind. Mike and Quinn are joined by Jeremy Barr-Hyde, Jorma Honkanen, Kate Szkotnicki & Chris Torrence. We have a really fun mix of Apple II fans from all walks of life and all parts of the world this month. Sit down with us as we discuss our history with the…
As a first-time self-publisher, I’ve been reading a lot about building an email list and attracting new fans. And it turns out one of the big trends in marketing on the Internet today is to give away up to 95% of your content. I’m not sure how true it is, but I’m ready to give it a. try. All you have to do is sign up for my newsletter and I’ll give you not just one, not just two, but…
The Spy (metaphorically) pens this on Wednesday, February 1, 2017. Those two are the most commonly misspelled and mispronounced words on the calendar. That’s English for you, though. After all there are more than twenty correct pronunciations of the letter combination “ough” in English. No wonder students from other countries have such a tough time learning what we native North Americans absorb and store in our memories from infancy. Memory and storage have come a long way from the industry’s…
I’m so happy to have finished Working Smarter for Mac Users. All of the chapters are in production and the final iBook, Kindle, Nook, PDF, and print-to-order versions should be available by the end of February assuming no major hiccups. Now, I’ve got some very good news for you: You don’t have to buy my book. I know it sounds crazy but I want everyone to see it so I’m going to give away all or most of it right here in…
The Drop III Inches podcast returned this month with their first episode in 3 months. According to the posting on the Drop III Inches blog, We’re back, with an episode that was three months in the making. Mike and Paul talk (in November 2016) about the state of things in our Apple /// worlds, and then speak at some length with Don Burtis (in December 2016), who designed (among many other things) the Microsoft SoftCard III. Don Burtis, who is probably most…
I am now accepting a limited number of new consulting clients… If you need help with your backup strategy or execution (or anything else on your Mac or iDevice), I’m happy to say I’m once again accepting new consulting clients. I’m pretty stoked because several of you have asked about it and I’ve had to turn you down. But, now that I’ve finished writing Working Smarter for Mac Users (in production; watch for it this March in fine eBook Stores everywhere) I…
Pre-Order Working Smarter for Mac Users Today and Save Up to $20 I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve finished the writing portion of Working Smarter for Mac Users. All I’ve got left is a final edit and production. So, if all goes well it, should be available in the iBook Store, Amazon.com (Kindle Store), and elsewhere by the end of February. In celebration (I don’t know about you, but I’m celebrating!), I’ve got a special deal for you: From now until the day it…
I began 2017 with a pair of columns reminding users that their hard drives are going to fail—absolutely and positively—and that the question isn’t if they’re going to fail, it’s when they’re going to fail. And, I urged them to back up their data or risk losing it forever. If you haven’t seen the columns already, you really should; you can find them here: Resolve to Back Up Your Mac in 2017 (Dec 28, 2016 ) & Backups on a Budget (Jan 04, 2017). Go…
The MacCast, a pod cast for Macintosh geeks has released episode 202 of their pod cast. The Adam Christianson produced podcast goes over their favorite products and stories of 2016 in this episode. The MacCast is an members only pod cast which is available in either 6 month or annual memberships. The memberships are available through The MacCast website. To listen to the current MacCast episode, check out The MacCast website at: http://www.maccast.com/2017/01/03/maccast-members-202-favorite-things-of-2016/
Sierra’s problems as of version 10.12.2 appear to have been ameliorated on most fronts of specific concern to the Spy. The missing system calls that prevented Online Bible from being run have apparently been resolved, and the product is relatively stable on other fronts as well. Your kilometerage may vary, however, so install with caution, having previously cloned a backup of your boot partition. He is not at this point yet prepared to endorse Safari, however. For several versions now,…
This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Glenda Adams, better known on the Apple II as The Atom. She was a cracker of some note back in the 1980s, and she shares great stories with us of her exploits in boot tracing, cracking, and distributing software in the glory days of the Apple II BBS scene. We talk about the journey from programming to cracking, and back to programming again. We talk about the politics of the Apple…
I’ve always been obsessed with finding the fastest, easiest, or most elegant way of doing something, so many of my favorite Mac (and iOS) apps are simple, inexpensive utilities that help me do one thing better, faster, or more elegantly. I added a dynamic duo of such utilities to my Mac productivity arsenal earlier this year; today I wouldn’t want to use my Mac without them. MOOM = MOVE AND ZOOM WINDOWS MOUSELESSLY Moom is a $9.99 app that manages windows…
The latest version of The MacCast Pod Cast has been released. According the the curator of the pod cast, Adam Christianson, this episode talks about the following: Air Pods have arrived… sort of. Microsoft boasts about Mac switchers. Apple cannibalization and magic. MacBook Pro battery issues prevail. Update on Accessibility with Shelly Brisbin.” To listen to the latest episode of The MacCast pod cast, check out their website at: http://www.maccast.com/
Chris torrence has announced the availability of the latest rendition of his Assemnbly Lines Pod Cast. Edition # 41 covers ProDOS 2.4.1 and the Bitsy Bye disassembly. You can listen to the Assembly Lines Pod Cast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_6P_a5C4Z0 or by subscribing to Chris Torrence’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrnCRkPLoXXzTtWX9dBJsnA
The crew over at RetroMacCast have released another rendition of their RetroMacCast pod cast. In this edition, James and John talk about “dollhouse Mac, Chiat Day 20th book, iPod socks, and iMac prop. Rick walks us through using Zip disks with classic Macs, and news includes Designed by Apple, Get A Mac, and top 15 Apple ads.” For more on the RetroMacCast or to listen to the latest episode, go to: http://retromaccast.ning.com/
It’s traditional that I write at least two gift guide columns toward the end of each year and this year was no exception. In fact, this year I recommended more cool products in my three gift columns than ever before. Rather than sending you all over the Internet to read them, I’ve summarized or pasted all of the salient details (and more—including pictures!) below. So, without further ado, here are this year’s picks for the best gifts to get for…
