Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

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  • Hapy and his friend Denise are coming to visit this weekend. That should be some fun since we haven’t seen them since the fall. It is a good time for them to get away from Vermont! I know they will welcome our weather here.

    The President came to Key West this week so I had to take some time off to join the peaceful protest with a few hundred others. Our theme was One Human Family which is also the official adopted slogan of Key West. This little visit must have cost a few million for what seemed like a photo op. There were hundreds of motorcycle police from as far away as Miami leading a big motorcade. We all wore black (in the hot sun I might add) and carried signs and rainbow flags. Some local teachers brought their students who arrived to cheers from the crowd. The older students held signs about gun control and made me very proud of them and their teachers!

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don and Emily

  • What is new in iOS 11.3

    At the end of March Apple released updates to all four of its operating systems, but iOS 11.3 was the most notable. It boasts a variety of new features and other changes—you can think of it as the midpoint update between iOS 11’s first release and iOS 12, probably coming next September. All remaining updates to iOS 11 are likely to be minor maintenance updates.

    iPhone Battery Health

    The most anticipated change is the Battery Health feature that Apple promised to add in the wake of revelations that the company was quietly reducing the performance of older iPhone models (starting with the iPhone 6) to lessen the chance of unexpected shutdowns with weak batteries. You find the new Battery Health screen in Settings > Battery > Battery Health, and Apple explains it in detail here.

    If your iPhone battery is ageing, you may see a lower maximum capacity, and if your iPhone has shut down because of a weak battery, the screen will tell you that performance management has been applied. You can disable performance management if you prefer the iPhone shutting down to degraded performance, but it will turn on again the next time your iPhone shuts down. Finally, if your battery is bad enough, the screen will recommend replacement. Also, note that iPads running iOS 11.3 can better maintain battery health when they’re plugged into power for long periods of time. Be sure to upgrade if you have an iPad that stays plugged in all the time.

    Data & Privacy

    We haven’t yet seen this, but Apple says that iOS 11.3 (and macOS 10.13.4) will display a new privacy icon whenever Apple asks for access to personal information, as it might do to “enable features, secure Apple services or personalize an iOS experience.” The icon should be accompanied by detailed privacy information explaining the situation. In an era when every company seems hell-bent on collecting and exploiting our personal data, it’s nice to see Apple increasing the transparency of its data collection practices.

    Safari

    iOS 11.3 tweaks Safari in several small ways that make it easier to use and more secure:

    • Autofill now inserts usernames and passwords only after you select them on Web pages.
    • Autofill now works in Web views within other iOS apps.
    • Safari warns you when you interact with password or credit card forms on non-encrypted pages.
    • Safari now formats shared articles sent via Mail as though they were in Reader mode.
    • Favorites folders now show icons for the contained bookmarks.

    Other Improvements

    Apple made lots of other minor improvements in iOS 11.3. You can see a full list in the release notes, but those that we find most noteworthy include:

    • iPhone X users get access to four new animoji: a lion, dragon, skull, and bear.
    • iOS 11.3 adds support for the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) standard, which provides more accurate location data to emergency responders when Emergency SOS is triggered.
    • Podcasts now plays episodes with a single tap, and you can tap Details to learn more about episodes.
    • Apple Music now streams music videos uninterrupted by ads.
    • Apple News has improved its Top Stories feature and includes a new Video group in the For You collection.

    iOS 11.3’s improvements may not change the way you use your iPhone or iPad, but they’re welcome nonetheless, and Business Chat and Health Records should become more interesting as additional institutions sign on. And, of course, anyone with an older iPhone should check the Battery Health screen right away.

  • Apple Watch Series 3 is on my Wrist

    I have been a fan of the Apple Watch since the first one came out. I hadn’t worn a watch since I was 12 but I have had one on my wrist since the Apple Watch was introduced. The Series 3 Apple Watch with cellular has become an essential tool for me.

    What do I use it for? Well, here’s a short list:

    • Control my HomeKit gear – open and lock the door, adjust the thermostat, turn on the lights
    • Keep track of my sports scores – “Hey Siri, What’s the Cubs score?”
    • Get text messages and respond
    • Answer and make phone calls without my iPhone
    • Embarrass me by only occasionally meeting my move, stand and exercise goals
    • Check my heart rate
    • Open my hotel room door at Hiltons or Starwood
    • Go swimming
    • Wake me up with alarms while traveling
    • Carry my boarding passes when traveling
    • Pay for stuff with Apple Pay
    • Siri settles trivia disputes
    • Reminds me of meetings and calls
    • Send Apple Pay cash to my granddaughter
    • Get the news
    • Know the weather
    • Summon a Lyft or Uber
    • Give me directions – great for the directionally challenged, like me
    • Scan my email
    • Lock and unlock my car
    • Play music to my Beats X while I am chilling in the hammock
    • Control my Apple TV
    • Track my sleep
    • Keep track of my to-do list

    Of course it can do a lot more but these are the kind of things that I use my Apple Watch for each day. It has become an essential part of my digital life.

    Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular is packed with features to help you stay connected, be more active, and listen to your favorite music. Cellular is the ultimate expression of Apple Watch, giving you the freedom to go with just your watch. Track your run with built-in GPS and never miss an important call. Hang out at the beach and reply to a message. Or book a ride home. All without needing your phone. With faster performance, a barometric altimeter, and watchOS 4, Apple Watch Series 3 offers you the flexibility to go anywhere.

    Cellular really makes the difference. Now, I am free to roam without my iPhone in my pocket. It uses the same cell phone number as my iPhone so the connection is seamless. It uses the built-in cellular capability whenever it is not connected to your iPhone or Wi-Fi. Setting it up is easy and most carriers only add a small monthly fee.

    Apple Music customers can stream 40 million songs right to their wrist. You can listen to Beats 1 or any other Apple Music Radio channel with the new Radio app and the Music app has a new UI and automatically syncs curated playlists to Apple Watch. The watch can’t hold too many songs but as long as you are on cellular or Wi-Fi you have access to Apple’s enormous music library

    Apple Watch Series 3 is the fastest Apple Watch ever with a dual-core processor delivers up to 70% faster performance, faster app launch times, and an overall smoother user interface. The Apple W2 wireless chip delivers up to 85% faster Wi-Fi and is up to 50% more power efficient

    Apple added a barometric altimeter which measures elevation gain for outdoor workouts, such as running, hiking, skiing, and snowboarding. You get more Move and Exercise credit for moving uphill – which might be handy in Vermont. It also tracks how many flights of stairs you climb during the day.

    The Apple Watch Series 3 is swim proof (water resistant to 50M), so you can leave it on when you’re in the pool or the ocean and it has this cool little water expulsion system using the speaker to push out any water from the speaker.

    watchOS 4 makes the Apple Watch tick. The Siri watch face intelligently updates throughout the day, showing what you need when you need it. Smart activity coaching can help you close your rings every day (if only). The Workout app makes it easier to do multiple workouts in one session, and there’s also a new workout type—High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). The updated Heart Rate app shows additional insights—while you’re resting, walking, or in the recovery phase after a workout. It also serves sleep monitoring apps that can give you some insight into your sleep patterns.

    I highly recommend the Apple Series 3 watch with cellular. We have them in stock at all locations!

  • Android vs iOS

    There is a huge divide between many users of Android devices and iOS users. This divide is also often huge between Windows and Mac OS users. Being able to dual boot on Macs with Bootcamp, it’s been much easier for folks to transition to using Apple software and hardware, and this has potentially reduced the divide. This is perhaps not true for Android to transition to iOS.

    If anything, many users of iOS switched after years of loyalty partly because of price and partly for the features related to cloud sync and specific apps available only on the Play store. Apple has fought hard to push the idea that iOS devices are the only ones to invest in, regardless of the cost vs features because of the high quality design and solid warranty as well as the ability to integrate perfectly with the Apple ecosystem. It only makes sense that they would consider Mac users with Android devices to be black sheep of a sort, and I’ll admit they’ve still done remarkably well letting Google services login and sync and re-allowing a lot of Google apps on the App Store (after the Apple Maps vs. Google Maps fiasco they didn’t have much choice) and Apple allowed Google Drive and Docs/Sheets/Slides even though they compete with iCloud and iWork apps as much as Office 365 and OneDrive do.

    That said, it’s always an afterthought to sync with Google accounts and there are some features that do not function properly. It can help to install the Chrome browser on iOS devices and sync that app with your Google account but it’s not the same as having full device sync to Google servers. It was great to see the Files app support Google Drive in iOS 11 and contacts, calendars and email are all able to sync to the stock apps and/or to the special Google versions on the App Store. (Free, very well designed, and let me say, I do love the Gmail and Google Calendar apps).

    After all that, you might wonder – where is all that support for Apple sync on Android? It’s not really on Google for furthering that, iCloud simply doesn’t have full support for Android on purpose and Google has it’s own system for syncing all user data and settings, so effectively there’s no reason for Google to want to add iCloud Sync support since you’ve got all your data on the Google cloud servers. It does make things difficult for folks trying to integrate their Android devices to the Apple biome.

    Could there be some happy medium here? Of course companies want you to jump into their solution full-bore. Look at Amazon with their FireTV, Alexa, Kindle Fire, etc. Or look at Razer, pushing their laptops, external GPU, custom-built towers, peripherals and accessories. Google has done much to give a full solution, with Android-centric Google Home and integration with Chromecast, Nest thermostat, Phillips hue and many other home kit devices.

    If you stay within the Apple Ecosystem, by design everything just works. The hardware and software are optimized to work with one another. Updates and patches are delivered universally across all of your devices and you’re guaranteed a seamless experience. The downside to allowing outside access to this ecosystem is that the variety and vastness of hardware and software is endless. Depending on the Android device you use, you could be on any number of differing versions of Android OS since every manufacturer’s hardware is different and every manufacturer slightly modifies the OS to suit their hardware so opening up a nice, clean, controlled ecosystem to that is difficult to do while maintaining the level of quality that Apple demands.

    We are still in the early days of cross-platform compatibility. Everyone wants their solution to be the accepted standard. Much like any technology development, the fight for 1st place will persist until everyone concedes and accepts the new standard. It’s up to every manufacturer and platform developer to keep pushing and striving to be the best and, by that, natural evolution will develop the best solution for everyone.

  • APFS

    Hello readers! I’m here to talk about APFS and how it affects your user experience. APFS = Apple File System and this file system was introduced in macOS High Sierra, which released in the later half of 2017. Apple has used the same file system known as HFS+ since 1998! That’s 19 years, a very long time in terms of technology. Apple was working on the conversion to APFS as early as iOS 10.3 for iPhones and iPad devices.

    APFS has a lot of benefits, and, if I had to choose, I would say that the main benefit for the average user is that APFS has been designed from the ground up by Apple for SSD’s, which stands for Solid State Drive. SSD’s are the standard for Apple’s Macbook Pro/Air computers. SSD’s are very fast, and with software that’s built for them, they’re capable of even faster computation and data transfers. Another very important benefit that is included in APFS is encryption. Apple always prioritizes security very highly, which I can appreciate from the point of view of a consumer and someone who sells Apple products. Overall I would say APFS is a welcome change from any perspective; developer, consumer, or retailer.

  • Identifying Fake Tech Support

    Today’s internet can be a dangerous place from time to time. We are constantly bombarded with a myriad of advertisements and scams with every page that we visit. Something to be wary of while navigating the world wide web is the existence of fake tech support.

    Fake tech support is just what is sounds like; it is tech support that is malicious in nature and designed to attack vulnerable users that may not have the experience necessary to differentiate legitimate tech support from fake tech support. The identification of fake tech support can sometimes be pretty simple depending on how it presents itself. One way that you can tell the difference is if you haven’t signed up for a company’s tech support service and you are getting a message from that company informing that your device is ‘infected’ or ‘at risk’, chances are you are experiencing fake tech support. It is pretty simple to come to this conclusion. Why would a legitimate company cold-call you or send you the message to tell you that you are at risk? Well, the simple answer is, there is no reason and only a company trying to trick you into thinking that you require their ‘services‘ would do that.

    For example, if you were driving down the road in your car and stopped at a red-light and someone walked up and told you that you need an oil change and they can perform one for you for a good price, would you believe them? Well, most people would not. How would that person know that you need an oil change? The simple answer is, they wouldn’t.

    Being able to make this distinction between fake and legitimate tech support services is a great strength to have as these types of scams are only going to increase in abundance in the years to come. So next time you see one of these messages or get a cold-call about your computer, stop and think about what the intentions of the company are that is contacting you before letting your guard down.