Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Farewell Tech Tails

    Dear Tech Tails Readers, Did you know that we have been sending Tech Tails since 1999? I have been with Small Dog since…

  • The autumn colors here are really brilliant now. I took my drone out last night to take some pictures of the fall foliage from above. I think I will have to ride down to Quechee Gorge this weekend to fly it down the gorge for some pics. Speaking of Autumn, my daughter and her husband, Ismae,l are celebrating their 20th Anniversary up at the Prickly Pond where I was the officiant at their wedding. I think they are the 2nd longest lasting couple of the dozens I have married. Artie and Dawn seem to be the longest as they celebrated their 26th this week, too!

    We have a long list of stuff to do as we get ready to head down to Key West. We are jamming medical appointments, car service appointments and farewell dinners in between boxing stuff up and getting the house ready for our winter tenants.

    Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don & Emily

  • Getting Started with Apple Pay

    I love using Apple Pay to pay for stuff in stores or online, to send money in Messages and to pay for subway rides and gasoline. With Apple Watch it feels like magic, and people are still amazed when I just wave my wrist in Starbucks or at the subway. As I talk to customers about Apple Watch, iPhone and iPad, I always talk about Apple Pay and how it is the right way to pay. So many customers, however, have just never set up Apple Pay or Apple Pay cash. They have all that convenience and yet they are not taking advantage because of a perceived barrier to getting started. So, I thought I would outline just how to get started.

    You will need the following to get started:

    1. Your eligible device: Apple Pay works on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and your Mac (I’ll bet it comes to HomePod soon.)
    2. A supported credit or debit card from a participating card issuer
    3. The latest version of iOS, watchOS, or macOS
    4. An Apple ID signed in to iCloud (note it says signed in – the most common failure for Apple Pay is that the Apple ID is not signed into iCloud- Make sure that you sign in to iCloud on all your devices. On your iOS device, you need to set up Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode. On your Apple Watch, you need to set up a passcode. If you sign out of iCloud or remove your passcode, all credit, debit, prepaid and transit cards will be removed from that device.)

    If you want to use Apple Pay with more than one device, you need to add your credit or debit card to each device. After you set up Apple Pay on iPhone or Apple Watch, you can use your cards on the web in Safari, on some Mac models, while signed in to iCloud. On Apple Watch Series 3 and later, and iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus and later, you can add up to 12 cards on a device. On earlier models, you can add up to eight cards on a device.

    In the United States, you can also send and receive money with friends and family using Apple Pay and use Apple Pay Cash on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. And you can make payments to participating businesses in Business Chat on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

    You can also add store cards, boarding passes, movie tickets, coupons, rewards cards, and student ID cards to Wallet.

    Add a card on your iPhone

    • Go to Wallet and tap + to add a card.
    • Follow the steps to add a new card. If you’re asked to add the card that you use with iTunes, cards on other devices, or cards that you’ve recently removed, choose them, then enter the card security codes.
    • Tap Next. Your bank or card issuer will verify your information and decide if you can use your card with Apple Pay. If your bank or issuer needs more information to verify your card, they’ll ask you for it. When you have the information, go back to Wallet and tap your card.
    • After your bank or issuer verifies your card, tap Next. Then you can start using Apple Pay.

    Add a card on your iPad

    • Go to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay.
    • Tap Add Credit or Debit Card.
    • Follow the steps to add a new card. If you’re asked to add the card that you use with iTunes, cards on other devices, or cards that you’ve recently removed, choose them, then enter the card security codes.
    • Tap Next. Your bank or card issuer will verify your information and decide if you can use your card with Apple Pay. If your bank or issuer needs more information to verify your card, they’ll ask you for it. When you have the information, go back to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay and tap your card.
    • After your bank or issuer verifies your card, tap Next. Then start using Apple Pay.
    • Add a card on your Apple Watch*
    • Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, and go to the My Watch tab. If you have multiple watches, choose one.
    • Tap Wallet & Apple Pay.
    • Follow the steps to add a card. To add a new card, tap Add Credit or Debit Card. If you’re asked to add the card that you use with iTunes, cards on other devices, or cards that you’ve recently removed, choose them, then enter the card security codes.
    • Tap Next. Your bank or card issuer will verify your information and decide if you can use your card with Apple Pay. If your bank or issuer needs more information to verify your card, they’ll ask you for it. When you have the information, go back to Wallet & Apple Pay and tap your card.
    • After your bank or issuer verifies your card, tap Next.

    Add a card on your Mac

    • To add a card to Apple Pay, you need a MacBook Pro with Touch ID.
    • On Mac models without built-in Touch ID, you can complete your purchase using Apple Pay on your eligible iPhone or Apple Watch: On your iPhone, go to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay and turn on Allow Payments on Mac.

    Here’s how to add a card to your MacBook Pro with Touch ID:

    • On your MacBook Pro with Touch ID, go to System Preferences > Wallet & Apple Pay.
    • Tap Add Card.
    • Follow the steps to add a new card. If you’re asked to add the card that you use with iTunes, just enter its security code.
    • Tap Next. Your bank or card issuer will verify your information and decide if you can add your card to Apple Pay. If your bank or issuer needs more information to verify your card, they’ll ask you for it. When you have the information, go back to System Preferences > Wallet & Apple Pay and tap your card.
    • After your bank or issuer verifies your card, tap Next.
      Get help adding your card to Wallet. Person to person payments with Apple Pay and Apple Pay Cash aren’t available in macOS.

    Once you have Apple Pay set up you can set up Apple Pay Cash, that will allow you to send and receive money via Messages. One thing to keep in mind with Apple Pay Cash is that if you link a credit card you will pay a fee when sending money from that card, but if you link a debit card you will not be charged a fee. For that reason, I have Apple Pay set up with my credit card and Apple Pay Cash with my debit card.

    Set up Apple Pay Cash and person to person payments

    Now you can use Apple Pay to pay and get paid right in Messages, or by asking Siri. There’s no app to download, and you can use the cards you already have in Wallet. Send money to your granddaughter. Split a bill. Chip in for a gift. Instantly.

    Here’s what you need:

    • A compatible device with iOS 11.2 and later or watchOS 4.2 and later.
    • Two-factor authentication for your Apple ID. Make sure that you sign in to iCloud with your Apple ID on any device that you want to use to send or receive money.
    • An eligible credit or debit card in Wallet, so you can send money.
    • Then you need to agree to the Terms and Conditions. You can do this the first time that you try to send or receive money. You might also be asked to verify your identity.

    After you accept the Terms and Conditions, you can send and receive money with friends and family quickly, easily, and securely right from your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

    Set up Apple Pay Cash in Wallet

    When someone sends you money, it’s automatically and securely kept on your Apple Pay Cash card. You’ll see your new Apple Pay Cash card in Wallet, and you can use the money to send to someone, make purchases using Apple Pay in stores, within apps, and on the web, or transfer it from Apple Pay Cash to your bank account.

    If you’re setting up Apple Pay Cash for the first time, you’ll need to set it up using any supported device where you’re signed in to iCloud with your Apple ID.

    • Tap Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay.
    • Tap the Apple Pay Cash card, then follow the onscreen instructions.
      If you turn off Apple Pay Cash for any one device, you can still use Apple Pay Cash on other devices where you’re signed in with your Apple ID.

  • Dear Friends, Grace and I had a great trip to Chicago to watch a couple of Cubs games. Unfortunately, the Cubbies forgot how…

  • Grace and I are taking our annual pilgrimage to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field in Chicago to catch a couple of the…

  • Are things running slow?

    Does it seem like your Mac is running slowly? It’s always possible that you need more RAM, a speedy SSD to replace a slow spinning drive or even a new Mac. But you might just have a rouge app that’s hogging your Mac’s CPU. Here’s how to figure out if that’s the problem.

    The key is in your Activity monitor bundled right into every Mac. Open your Applications folder and scroll down until you see the Utilities folder. Open that to find and double-click Activity Monitor. Activity Monitor can seem a bit hectic because it lists every “process” running on your Mac. You’ll see processes for activities like Mail and Safari, some apps use multiple processes and macOS itself relies on a ton of processes at once as well.

    Notice in the picture below, at the top of the Activity Monitor there are buttons that provide access to different views: CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk and Network. Those views show the impact each process has on those aspects of the Mac. For now, I’ll focus on the CPU view that’s the default, but if you were trying to figure out why your MacBook Pro’s battery was draining so quickly, you’d look in the energy view for example.

    At the bottom of the CPU view is a graph of CPU load, and numbers that correspond to how much of that load comes from the system and much from the (apps you’ve launched). As long as the sum of those numbers stays under 100% most of the time, you’re probably fine. But if you’re near or at 100%, you’ll want to hunt for rogue processes.

    To identify them, click the % CPU column header to sort the process list by CPU power. If necessary, click again to change the direction of the sort so the arrow next to % CPU is pointing down, so those processes using the most CPU power are at the top. Be aware that the percentages in this column are by core (unlike the graph and numbers at the bottom), so a runaway app on a 4-core iMac could claim to be using as much as 400%in the % CPU column.

    Now watch the list for a while. If one of the processes is sucking CPU power, you’ll see it at the top of the list. If it matches an app you’ve launched, quit that app to give other apps a chance at the CPU. That often solves your problem quickly. In the most extreme case, the process name will be in red, which means it’s not responding, at which point you can force quit it by selecting it and then clicking the X button at the left of Activity Monitor’s toolbar.

    Equally likely, though, is that the top process will be one you don’t recognize immediately, like backupd (Time Machine). mds or mdworker (spotlight), photolibraryd or photoanalysisd (Photos), or kernel_task_ or WindowServer (core mac OS functionality). You can’t (or at least shouldn’t) quit these processes manually, but at least you’ll know that things are slow due to a Time Machine backup running, Spotlight indexing new files etc. If one of these processes has gone nuts, the best solution is to restart your Mac.

    If you can’t identify a single rogue app, or if the slowdown doesn’t seem to be related to any app, you might just need to have your Mac evaluated by a service technician or it just might be time to upgrade to a new Mac