Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Terminal Tidbit

    Track your OSi Layer 3 Packets with trace route command. Ever wonder where your internet data goes before it hits it’s destination?

    Well you can find out with the “traceroute” command.

    Let’s say for the sake of this Tech Tails we want to see all the router stops along the way to Google.com. Well, the most basic way is to open the terminal app and type

    traceroute google.com

    And the results you will see are a list of the DNS entry, outside IP address, and time between each hop along the way to the destination server.

    Great info is that if you have a “network black hole”, there are just missing packets of data.

  • Don't forget to update

    We have all seen that persistent little message while using are devices. “An update is available, would you like to install it now?”. We are bombarded with these messages in what seems to be the worst possible times. And what do most of us do? We choose to install later but never end up getting around to actually installing that update.

    Why should we?

    We have all heard the rumors that Apple’s updates make our devices slower. Well, sorry to break it to all you naysayers but the truth of the matter is that updates are actually made to improve on our experiences. There are a lot of talented engineers working around the clock to produce that update. Updates fix bugs and add new features. The problem that exists is that most of us wait to install that update until we don’t have any other choice, devices get so out of date that they lose normal functionality such as navigating the web safely. When we finally run that update so much as been changed and improved on that we respond by thinking the update has broken our devices. However, if we all just update as soon as updates are available the changes we would see on our devices would not be as drastic because we would experience the incremental changes that are affecting our devices software through each update. In other words, higher frequency in which we update our devices the less dramatic the changes we would notice.

    So next time you see that little message pop up on your screen, don’t panic. It is there to help you improve your user experience and to make your device operate correctly in the long run.

  • Hello, Tech Tails readers!

    Summer is indeed in full-swing here in Vermont! I can’t recall the last time we had such a longstanding heat-wave like the one we’re currently in. Perhaps it’s a “grass is always greener” mindset, but I remember backpacking through the Nevada desert a few years back being slightly more tolerable than these last few days! Alright, maybe that’s an exaggeration. I shouldn’t complain, though. Any time spent near one of Vermont’s many riverside swimming holes, lakes (basically ponds), or friends’ swimming pool is time well spent.

    While trying to beat the heat last week, I finally found some time to configure the Philips Hue lights in my apartment to my liking. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Philips Hue is seriously cool. And the plethora of apps out there only further tweak the experience, (I found a particularly nice one that essentially puts your Hue lights into a sort of “disco” mode). While I enjoyed finally getting them to my liking, I had that moment of realization that I can only assume every Philips Hue owner has had- “I need more of these”. Fortunately for all of us Philips Hue lovers, Small Dog always has a great selection of Hue bulbs, light-strips, and my favorite model: the Go. The Go is a rechargeable wireless Philips Hue light that can add a hint of colorful ambience to any room in the house. My favorite thing to do during these summer nights is taking my Hue Go light to the back porch with a good book, set the soft color change interval time to 2 seconds and enjoy the atmosphere. Ahhhhh….

    Anyway,

    We’ve got some great content for you this week and I do hope you enjoy it. Let us know if there’s a particular subject you’d like to see discussed in the next edition of Tech Tails!

    Thanks again, friends!
    Connor “Disco ain’t dead” McGinnis
    connormcginnis@smalldog.com

  • A first look at Mojave

    I swore I was going to wait for the third developer beta to upgrade my Mac to Mojave but I could not resist….

  • A First Look at Mojave

    I swore I was going to wait for the third developer beta to upgrade my Mac to Mojave but I could not resist….

  • It has been hotter and more humid here in Vermont than in Key West this past week but it looks like it is going to cool off a bit this weekend; at least at night where sleeping temperatures will get down to the low 50’s again.

    I was showering this morning and glanced out the window that overlooks my backyard garden and spotted some critter eating Grace’s lettuce. It seemed too big for a rabbit but sure enough when it lifted its head it was an enormous rabbit having breakfast in the garden. Gotta love this country living!

    I hope you have a great weekend!

    Thanks for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don & Emily

  • A Quick Photo Tip

    If you’ve ever photographed a sheet of paper or some other rectangular object, the image may have come out skewed because you inadvertently…

  • Messages in the Cloud

    When Apple first announced macOS 10.13 High Sierra and iOS 11, one of the promised features was Messages in iCloud, a way of syncing your conversations in Messages via your iCloud account. Despite the fact that Messages already tries to sync its conversations between your devices, this feature proved difficult for Apple to deliver, and it didn’t appear until the recently released macOS 10.3.5 and iOS 11.4.

    The idea behind Messages in iCloud is that it, as the name suggests, stores your conversations and their attachments in your iCloud account, rather than on each device individually. That’s a win because it can offload non-trivial amounts of data to iCloud, freeing up more space on that 16 GB iPhone.

    Because the primary source of Messages data is in iCloud, the conversations should also sync perfectly and more quickly than in the past, something that was often frustrating when conversations didn’t quite match up across device. (iOS 11.4 also fixes a bug that could cause some messages to appear out of order.) Even better, deleting a conversation or attachment on one of your devices deletes it from all of them.

    The main thing to be aware of before enabling Messages in iCloud is that it does count against your iCloud storage space. That said, if you back up your iOS devices to iCloud, removing Messages data from each device—such as your iPad and iPhone—and storing a single copy in iCloud should result in less overall iCloud usage. (And, realistically, if Messages in iCloud would make you need a higher tier of iCloud storage, you were probably going to need to upgrade soon for other reasons anyway.)

    I have been testing Mojave Mac OS 11.4 (and my apologies for the mis-spellings last week. It really is Mojave not Mohave!) and one frustration that I have is that Apple seems to have eliminated support for Jabber in this version of messages. I am hoping that it gets added back in later beta versions but I now have to run another Jabber client and have settled upon Astrachat.

    Enabling Messages in iCloud is simple.

    On the Mac, open Messages > Preferences > Accounts and select the Enable Messages in iCloud checkbox.

    In iOS, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud, and turn on Messages.

    There are three quirks to be aware of:

    *You won’t be able to enable Messages in iCloud unless you’ve enabled two-factor authentication for the Apple ID associated with your iCloud account. It’s a good idea for security reasons anyway!

    *On the Mac, in the Messages account preferences, there’s a Sync Now button you can click if, for some reason, Messages hasn’t synced automatically. We don’t yet know if or when that will be necessary.

    *When you first enable Messages in iCloud in iOS, you may see a note at the bottom of the screen saying that uploading to iCloud requires the device to be plugged in and connected to Wi-Fi. That’s necessary only for the first big upload.

    Should you wish to turn off Messages in iCloud, be aware that it may take some time for each device to download all the messages.

    For most people, Messages in iCloud is a no-brainer. Its syncing works the way you’d expect, complete with quick updates and universal removal of deleted conversations. The main reason you might not want to enable the feature is if you have only the free 5 GB of iCloud storage and aren’t interested in paying for more space.