My nephew, Tyler, starts University classes next week. I love to see how people view and use technology from all different angles. Because I do what I do, most of my insight is from the perspective of business. I asked Tyler to give us some computer use and buying advice from a student's perspective. With school already in session for some, and starting soon for the rest of us, now's the time to start thinking about your student's technology needs.
Posts filed under Opinion
Taking Advantage of the Weekly $0.99 iTunes Movie Rental
I don't know many people who don't like a good movie (at least once in a while). I also don't know many people who don't like a good deal on a movie, especially if you can watch it on demand.
Did you know that iTunes offers a weekly $0.99 movie rental via the iTunes Store? If you haven't stumbled across this feature yet, you've likely missed out on some great movies at great prices! Here's how it works and where to get it.
Separating Work from Play Using Multiple Accounts
If you're like me, you're easily distracted. I could be in the middle of writing a proposal or reading a news article, and be completely thrown off track when a new message or tweet arrives. Sometimes these distractions are work-related, but a lot of times, they are personal in nature. It can really have a detrimental affect on your productivity when you're trying to get work done. Along the same line, when it's personal time, you should be able to leave work behind.
What makes this most difficult is that the line between work and play has been severely blurred. My Mail app has both work and personal accounts as active accounts. The same applies for Messages, social networks, etc. Sure, I could disable my personal accounts while I'm working and my work accounts when I'm at home, but that can be a massive pain (and a very manual process). Here's a tip that could minimize that hassle.
Reader Question: Best Bag/Case for Your MacBook Pro
Today's Tech Talk post comes from a reader: "Hi Kevin, I just bought a brand new MacBook Pro. What bag do you use to carry yours in?" Great question! Too often, people focus solely on the computer and not at all on how to carry and protect their investment.
I have three bag/case recommendations for you. Before diving into what they are and why I like them, keep in mind that this is coming from a guy's perspective. Also remember that when choosing your bag/case, you probably want to choose something that includes form as well as function. Keep in mind what you do, who you are and your workflow. There are very specific reasons why I chose the bags I did. They fit my personality, lifestyle and movement.
My Top 5 Recommended Technology-Related Podcasts
Subscribing to podcasts are a great way to learn a new skill or to improve a skill you already have. If you're looking for ways to improve your approach to gardening, for example, you may want to subscribe to the "Gardening Tip of the Week" podcast. As a reminder, podcasts are (for the most part) free. Very few podcasts are a paid subscription.
When it comes to improving your technology skills, there are a number of podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis that help to keep my ear close to the technology rail. While giving you a list of all the tech-related podcasts I subscribe to would be information overload for you, I will give a my top 5 podcast recommendations.
Apple Updated Their iPods and We Shouldn't Discount the Significance
After 3 years of iPod silence, Apple finally announced new versions of the popular music-playing device this week. The new iPod Touch, iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle come in some amazing new (and vibrant) colors with some really nice hardware improvements.
The hardware improvements and new colors are nice, but that's not what has me excited about these upgraded devices. When most people think about the iPod, they think about playing music, but these devices do so much more. In this post, I will ignore the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle (not that they aren't great devices) to focus on the new iPod Touch and how it can change the way you work and play.
Protecting Your Data with FileVault Disk Encryption
I'm going to tell you a little secret. This is a secret that very few people know, and once you know this secret, it may scare you a little. In fact, it may scare you a lot. OK, ready? Here we go...
Your Mac isn't as secure as you think. Gasp! Sure, you have a password on your account so that people can't casually log in under your profile, but believe it or not, it's super easy to bypass that password. There's a publicly-documented way to change a user account's password, and once a password has been changed, anyone could have access to anything and everything stored within your profile. While I'm not going to share with you how to change someone else's password (not everyone needs that kind of encouragement), I will share with you how to prevent others from being able to change yours.
Hard Drive Utilization (Rule of Thumb)
When it comes to keeping your computer running smoothly, there's one thing that should be easy to do... don't fil up your hard drive (or SSD, if you happen to be so lucky to use one). Most people don't consider a full hard drive a real problem, but in reality, it can really halt your ability to get things done. Here's why.
Get the Most Out of Your Google Searches
Some say that the only difference between a "geek" and a "normal" computer user is that a geek knows how to search the web better. To a certain extent, that's true. Google has been around for a while now, and despite how good you think you might be at searching the web for answers to life's questions, I guarantee I can make your life just a little easier if you apply what I'm about to teach you.
There are many (many) more ways to use Google outside of this list, but this is a great start using some of my favorite search features.
The Cost of Not Updating Software
There are many reasons why technology is constantly changing... we're (hopefully) consistently learning new and better ways to do things, hardware continues to improve at a rapid pace and new software is made available regularly to reflect the advances in hardware and our understanding. It's the software updates that I wanted to talk about here. Specifically, why it's important to stay current with your software.
Winners of the WWDC Design Awards
Last week, Apple held their annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. I've been to several of these conferences, and Apple puts on a great show. The sessions of packed full of valuable technical information. For developers, it's like Christmas.
Not only is it a great opportunity for developers to learn from each other as well as Apple Engineers, but it's also a great chance for developers to show off their stuff. Participating developers can submit their applications for review. On the second day of the conference, Apple holds a "Design Awards" event to showcase the best of the best. In some cases, the best comes from large, International development houses. In other cases, it's literally a guy in his garage with a good idea.
Reader Question: The Most Effective Way to Change Your Email Address
Today's post comes in response to a recent reader question: "Don't launch but I've been using my AOL email address for many years, and now find it somewhat difficult to use. My family also makes fun of me for using it. What is the best way to change it to something else so that I don't miss email?"
When it comes to changing your email address, there is the right way and the wrong way. I see people doing the wrong way all the time, and it results in confusion and usually lost emails from friends, loved ones and coworkers. Here are some tips to changing your email address the right way.
Pull the Plug on Conference Spam
When you attend a conference or event for work, you're always required to register for that event using specific personal information... name, address, email address, etc. A lot of times, these conferences will also have some sort of vendor fair where vendors can show off their goods and services. These vendors almost always offer some sort of SWAG (Stuff We All Get) to entice you to stop and listen to what they have to say (pens, stress balls, t-shirts, etc). Seems harmless enough, right? The problem is that in order to get the free stuff, they swipe or scan your attendee badge. In the process of doing this, they are getting the personal information you used to register for the conference.
At first, this may not seem like a big deal. The conference ends, you go home and life is good... until you start to receive all the spam associated with the vendors who scanned your badge at the conference. While I have posted tips to reduce the amount of spam you get (click here), this situation can be completed avoided from the beginning. Here's how.
Notes From the WWDC 2015 Keynote
Apple officially only holds one public event (in the form of a conference) a year, so when WWDC (World-Wide Developer's Conference) rolls around each June, it's usually a big deal with lots of big announcements. Today's event, held at San Francisco's Moscone Center, is no different. There has been a lot of speculation that announcements at today's event will surround products like Apple TV, Apple Watch, various cloud-based services and more.
Although Apple has announced that they will be live-streaming the event from Apple.com as well as on Apple TV, we all know that these events can be lengthy (90 minutes or more). Here is a summary of the event.
6 Techniques Guaranteed to Improve Your Presentation Slide Deck
Whether you’re in the business of giving presentations, or you only do so on occasion, the following is information that will definitely benefit your ability to create stunning slides. I sit through enough presentations to know what works, and what doesn’t. What do I use as a gauge? My attention. If a presentation can hold my attention for the duration, then I know the presenter has done a great job.
The one thing that most people overlook when presenting is that you are always selling something. You may not be selling a physical, salable product or service, but at the very least, you are selling your ideals and your principals to those in attendance. Having said that, it's important to do your best when preparing to give your presentation. Below are 6 techniques that I use when creating my presentation slide decks.
