Mac Forums Sunday Chat

[Slydude]

Join me at 7:00 p.m. US Central Time tonight (Midnight GMT) for the Mac-Forums video chat. In this week's forum roundup we'll look at faded printing, preparing Macs/IOS devices for sale, and picture attachments in Mail. In our IOS roundup we'll look at activating closed captioning, and controlling how long deleted emails remain in the trash. If time permits I'll include a few other tidbits.

Show Notes

If you're wondering what the Get and Cloud icons mean in the iTunes Store or you're looking for a way to restrict/reduce data use quickly or temporarily, give this thread a read. As usual Moderator Raz0rEdge gets right to the point in post #2.

If your having trouble with printouts that look faded compared to what appears on screen have a look at this thread. Some of the proposed fixes are as basic as changing the type of ink used or thoroughly exploring the printer driver settings. One idea not mentioned is the prospect of modifying color profiles.

If you are having trouble deleting attached photos in emails give this thread a read. Cutting to the heart of the matter the solution may be as simple as clicking just immediately right of the image/phloto before hitting the delete key. Thanks to Jake a.k.a MacInWinn for that tip.

How to reset your Mac and prep it for sale / giveaway.

Controlling How Long iCloud Emails Stay in the Trash

Activating Closed Captioning On Your IOS Devices - It's a simple fix if you need this feature and of course it's in the Accessibility features.

Want to know how much of the sun will be obscured at your location tomorrow? Enter your Zip Code into this site. If you're outside the US visit the site anyway. There's some great information for eclipse buffs. For safety reasons, you don't want to look directly at the sun while photographing it. If you want to know why see this link. This is a bonus link that didn't get included in the show. I talked about safety but didn't include that link in the screencast.

This NASA site has very basic tips for using your smartphone to photograph the eclipse. There's also tons of other clips related information including links to a live streaming option. These tips are a bit more specific.

Need some iPhone eclipse photography settings give this a quick read.

One more source for a live stream of the eclipse.

 

[chscag]

And maybe how to take safe photos of the total eclipse tomorrow?

 

[Slydude]

And maybe how to take safe photos of the total eclipse tomorrow?

Good idea. I'll dig up some good suggestions.

 

[chscag]

Also... there are several web sites that are going to broadcast the eclipse live. Don't have time right now to list them here, but will when I get back later.

 

[Slydude]

Thanks.

 

[chscag]

Here's one: https://www.slooh.com. Also, I'm sure there are others - like the National Geographic Site, etc.

 

[Slydude]

Thanks fro that link Charlie. Looks like one well worth including. I found a similar link on the NASA site as well.

 

[Slydude]

Join me at 7:00 p.m. US Central Time tonight (Midnight GMT) for the August 27, 2017 Mac-Forums Video Chat. The show lineup is up in the air a bit at the moment but we will include some tips for iTunes gift cards (including avoiding scams). Of course we'll have the usual forum roundup. As time permits I'll add a more complete rundown as we get closer to showtime.

Show notes with links will be available by this time tomorrow evening (7;00 pm, Midnight GMT)

 

[chscag]

Hey Sly...

Hope the weather cooperates with you. Looks like all that rain and misery is starting to move into southern LA. Most of southern LA is below sea level - not good. We have some friends in the Houston area that we haven't heard from and praying that they are safe.

 

[Slydude]

Hope your friends are OK. One of my brothers is in the Houston area. Got a text from him this morning. It started raining in his area sometime yesterday morning. He has gotten a bit of water in his garage but nothing in the house so far.

Hope to get it in tonight since the rest of the week may be a bit iffy.

Weather Channel is projecting that the rain will start for us sometime later today and vary from 50 - 100% chances of rain for most of the rest of the week. The estimates have changed two or there times since yesterday.

Show Notes

Beware of malware claiming that your iPhone has a virus. At present, unless you are running a jailbroken iPhone, this appears to be malware and not a virus. Don't call the number on the screen. This information may also prove helpful. As usual when discussing these issues beware that some sites/writers use the terms virus and malware interchangeably. Lifewire has a good overview of the apparent state of IOS security.

OS X / macOS has allowed for the use of Services for years. These programs are little snippets of code that add additional features to various programs. Which services you see depend upon which programs are installed and to some extent what type of data is selected. See this thread. This article is a bit old now but covers the basics.

Got an iPhone / iPad with a limited data plan? You may not realize that when you do a web search Safari "preloads" the first web page in the search results so it's available faster if you choose that page. While this is convenient, if you don't use the first page you're using data unnecessarily. You can of course turn off preloading.

Tips for redeeming iPhone gift cards.

Apple's tips for avoiding iPhone gift card scams. This Apple page notes that some users are getting calls asking them to pay utility bills, credit cards, etc. with iTunes gift cards. The calls ask victims to purchase iTunes cards at a local store then call a certain number and provide the redemption codes. This is of course a scam. Apple / iTunes gift cards

[FONT=&quot]can be used ONLY to purchase goods and services on the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, or for an Apple Music membership.[/FONT]

Emphasis mine

 

[Slydude]

Join me at 7:00 pm Central Time (Midnight GMT) for the weekly Mac-Forum video chat. The forum roundup will include how to change your Mac's default mail program, thoughts on copying the iPhoto library and perhaps some thoughts on High Sierra and support for SSDs. Our IOS tip will show you how to use the timer function to stop audio/video playing after a specified amount of time. This version has a video demonstration at the end covering the Mail and iPhone / iPad timer shut off tip at the end of the show.

Show Notes 9/3/17

If you don’t like Mail, the built-in email client included with OS X, you can choose a different default email program. The process is, as member Raz0rEdge points out somewhat less than intuitive. Here’s a summary of his solution and you only have to perform these steps once>

1. Install and configure the program you would like to use. Skip this step if you have a program already set up.
2. Launch the Apple Mail app.
3. Go to Preferences and select the General tab.
4. The first drop down menu says “Default Email Reader” select the mail program that was just installed.

If you are copying a photo library from a drive back to the Mac have a look at this thread Post #4 mentions using the merge option to consolidate libraries.

If you are encrypting a hard drive with FileVault, don’t be surprised if the mouse and keyboard become unresponsive during the encryption process.

If you routinely play media on your IOS device and want it to turn off after a specified time give this process a try;

1. In the Utilities folder on the iPhone / iPad open the Clock app.
2. Go to the Timer section and create a countdown timer that is longer than you need. If, for example, you fall asleep after 30 minutes set it a bit above that.
3. Tap the "When Timer Ends" option to Stop Playing.
4. Start the timer then start the youtube video playing.

If the video finishes before time runs out you can select another video. If you select a video longer than the timer allows or is part of a playlist the video will stop playing.

With the impending release of High Sierra and change to the new file system (APFS) there are a number of questions. This thread may help you get up to speed on some of the APFS issues. It is not limited to use on flash / SSD drives. There are several references in the thread. This Apple document gives you a few tips on preparing for APFS

Need to transfer messages from your phone to a Mac PC or other phone. Give these tips a try.

The Apple Discussions forum has set up a new forum support area (community) devoted to Apple ID questions.

Just for fun: Siri sings Bohemian Rhapsody!!

 

[Slydude]

Join me at 7:00 p.m. US Central Time (Midnight GMT) for the Mac-Forums video chat. In our forum roundup we'll look at AppleCare+ restrictions, the need to backup your computer before taking it for repairs, exporting Calendar backups and more. We'll also quickly look ay what I expect from the upcoming Apple Media event on 9/12/17

 

[chscag]

Hey Sly....

You might want to mention the new standard for Apple Care. It appears the old Apple Care is no longer available in the US and Japan. Apparently, Apple is only selling the newer Apple Care Plus which has to be purchased within 60 days. That's a big change and worth noting.

It also means that all the discounted Apple Care sellers can no longer sell the standard Apple Care. B&H Photo in New York no longer offers it with a purchase of a new Mac. Only the newer Plus is available.

 

[Slydude]

Hey Sly....

You might want to mention the new standard for Apple Care. It appears the old Apple Care is no longer available in the US and Japan. Apparently, Apple is only selling the newer Apple Care Plus which has to be purchased within 60 days. That's a big change and worth noting.

It also means that all the discounted Apple Care sellers can no longer sell the standard Apple Care. B&H Photo in New York no longer offers it with a purchase of a new Mac. Only the newer Plus is available.

I have that thread bookmarked as one of the topics. I had not realized that this change had occurred till I looked at the forum thread related to this and went to the Apple site to check.

I'm glad you mentioned discounted AppleCare offerings. I hadn't really thought about this drawback to the shift to AppleCare+. Kind of a big deal since these vendors sometimes offered AppleCare at a significant savings.

 

[Slydude]

Join me at 7:00 p.m. US Central Time (Midnight GMT) for the Mac-Forums Video chat. Our forum roundup will include a word of caution about the latest version of iTunes, deletion of Time Machine backups, and a few other tidbits. Of course our Apple news will look at the announcements from Apple's 9/12/17 event, release dates for High Sierra and IOS 11 and whatever else comes to mind.

Show Notes
Security experts are urging people to update their Bluetooth enabled devices to guard against the BlueBorne vulnerability. Theoretically this vulnerability could affect a variety of Bluetooth-enabled devices (printers, phones computers, smart TVs, etc). This vulnerability could allow hackers to spread this vulnerability from device to device without the owner’s knowledge. This vulnerability is considered serious because it could spread without users clicking a compromised link or being on the internet. It's estimated to potentially affect up to 8 billion around the world, and that's because it's got the capability to infect Window, Linux, Android and iOS devices prior to iOS 10, It is noteworthy that this vulnerability could affect Windows, Linux, Android, and IOS devices with operation system before IOS 10. This illustrates the importance of keeping operating systems up-to-date.
See here. Additional link inn thread.


One of our forum members is looking for an application that controls the volume of sounds in software such as games. During the course of the discussion the concept of in app purchases was discussed and what happens when a demo period expires. Specifically, the question what whether an app would automatically bill a users credit card when a demo period has expired. While in app purchases are common on IOS devices this is not usually common on the Mac. If you are concerned that this might happen open the App Store on your mac and set the preferences to ask for your password before completing a purchase. See this forum thread (bad link removed).


There have been a number of important changes introduced to the recently released iTunes 12.7 released this week. These changes affect how IOS apps are managed, ringtones, and several other issues. See Kirk McElhearn summary here and a somewhat more detailed summary in TidBits. Changes include the following:
1. iTunes University content has been moved to two different places depending upon whether it’s part of a collection or part of a public course.
2. Ringtones are not manned in iTunes anymore.
3. Internet Radio has been moved.
4. IOS App Store is no longer managed in iTunes. IOS apps are now managed on the devices not in iTunes on a Mac/Win PC. This could be an issue for people with limited connection speed or data caps. It could also mean longer times when needing to restore your device.


Apple’s thoughts on adapting to the changes


Mac-Forums Blog post summary of the September 2017 iPhone event.


Link to Apple’s September 2017 Keynote Address Links to device specific specs / information can be found by following the Learn more links on this page. The order / release dates are as follows:
iPhone X Pre-order 10/27/17 Available starting 11/3/17 Available in 64 GB and 256 GB configuration
iPhone 8 Pre-order 9/15/17 Available starting 9/22/17 Available in 64 GB and 256 GB configuration
Apple Watch Order 9/15/17 Available starting 9/22/17
AppleTV 4K Order 9/15/17 Available starting 9/22/17
IOS 11 Available 9/19/17
[FONT=&quot]watchOS 4 Available 9/19/17 macOS will be available on 9/25/17[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]

TidBits summary of the Apple Event[/FONT]


iPhone feature comparison page.

 

[Rod]

Just briefly on the topic of iTunes 12.7
We will all be familiar with the window at the bottom of the device Apps tab when syncing via USB. It has a number of apps listed that can have data added by pressing the add button and dragging files to the window prior to sync. I am guessing that this will not be available in 12.7 so how do I transfer files from OSX to iOS apps that depend on that transfer method?

 

[Slydude]

You must have caught part of the show Rod. I usually ask whether folks have questions that I can try to answer. I'm still wrapping my head around the iTunes 12.7 changes so I'm not sure about that yet. I'll see what can dig up about this and post the result in the forum.

BTW can you think of an example app or two just to make sure we are on the same page.

 

[Rod]

Ok, here are a few of them, VLC, Wikipedia, Adobe Digital Editions, Pages, Docs to Go, Movie Pro, Chronical and MS Word. Obviously some can be synced in other ways such as Pages and MS Word but our Hotel Bookings app, VLC and Docs to Go are currently dependant on USB sync via iTunes. What it means is an increased dependence on cloud based services for data transfer. Unfortunately our Nano Hotel Booking app does not play well with iCloud so my alternate option for that would involve MySQL and web hosting to sync iOS devices.


Sent from my iPhone using Mac Forums

 

[Slydude]

Join me at 7:00 US Central Time (Midnight GMT) for the weekly Mac-Forums video chat. We'll have the usual forum roundup, some additional thoughts on AppleCare+, and I'll tell you why I'm holding off on downloading High Sierra when it's released this week. We'll have a few tips for those who have already installed IOS 11. We'll hide the Birthdays calendar and control whether your calls ring on all devices. If there's time we'll add a bonus tip.

 

[Slydude]

Join me at 7:00 p.m. Central Time tonight (Midnight GMT) for the Mac-Forums video chat. We'll have the usual forum roundup. In other areas we'll look at how well Apple's facial recognition on new iPhones handles recognizing younger users. I'll have a few High Sierra tips and demos for those that have already upgraded. Want to see how quickly the new file system copies/moves files? Tune in for a demo.Want to type requests into Siri rather than speaking them? I'll show you how it's done We'll also more High Sierra and IOS 11 demos.

Show Notes

One of our newer members was wondering how to access IOS apps in iTunes to rearrange their order on the IOS device screen. Since Apple has removed apps and their management from iTunes 12.7 you have to take a different approach and manage app placement on the device.

The secret is to manage app placement on the device. Touch the app that you want to move until it starts to "wiggle" and an "X" appears on corner of the app. Without lifting your finger slide the app's icon to its new location then let go. With a bit of practice you can move the app to a different screen. When you're done moving apps tap the Home button to return things to normal.

There is a fairly extensive forum thread devoted to changes, and possible issues, with IOS 11. Currently at five pages, the thread covers numerous questions. You can find that thread here.

Member, and forum administrator, chscag points out that the recovery partition is not treated the same way in High Sierra as it has been in other versions of the OS. Under High Sierra booting into recovery mode using Command + r boots into recovery utilities hosted on a disk image. It includes Disk Utility and a few other utilities normally used in troubleshooting. See this thread.

Kirk McElhearn has his own ideas about whether iTunes has become bloated. He thinks the answer is no. He thinks the performance issues are due to how tightly iTunes is integrated into the iTunes Store. If he's right Apple may have made a mistake moving IOS app management out of iTunes.

Kirk also shares some additional thoughts on why removing app management from iTunes was a bad idea. His concerns are shared by many of our forum members.

Toward the end of the show I include video tips which demonstrate how quickly High Sierra performs some file operation.

I also show you how to change Siri on the Mac so that you can type queries rather than talking to it. This tip is good if you are in situations where talking to your Mac may not be practical.

Siri on the iPhone will translate phrases into other languages but you can't do this yet with Siri from your Mac. I demo the translation feature on both the iPhone and the Mac. Siri on the Mac leads you to web pages with the translation while Siri on the phone pronounces the phrase for you.

I also show you how the new Safari (included with High Sierra) stops most video from autoplaying when you load a page/tab. It works very well though you still need s third-party ad blocker to stop video ads.