Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

KB Dog

  • Single User Mode Commands

    Back in the old days of computing, you had no choice but to navigate through your file system using what is called a terminal. That was before the time of GUI or graphical user interface. This is the most basic form of interacting with your machine, this is an art. For a while now, my fellow techs and I would occasionally write a terminal article teaching you some of the simple commands.

    By entering Single User Mode you can give basic commands to the UNIX shell of the Mac OS just as if you were typing on an old UNIX terminal. This is NOT to be confused with the Terminal App in your Utility folder. Single User Mode and Verbose Mode are only available upon boot-up by holding special keys to get to the UNIX shell.

    Now you may ask why do I need to learn this? Well, it is what divides the average user from the power user. It is one of the most powerful tools a user has in their arsenal, it cuts right through the pretty wrapper of macOS GUI. Single User mode has a plethora of uses, including troubleshooting. Let’s say your Mac will not complete its login, OH NO!! With the power of UNIX, you can troubleshoot part of the issue using this handy tool! Let’s get started.

    First, boot your Mac and hold the Command and S keys, you are going to see a bunch of crazy lines of text than just a blinking curser. Type ‘df -h’ this will get a read-out of the disk space and amount used. Many times your Mac may not boot because your drive is filled to the max. This means the filesystem has no space to make the temporary files it needs to function. We always recommend that you leave at least 10% of your drive’s capacity vacant. That means if you have a 1TB drive you need 100GB free.

    With the ‘df-h’ command you can see you if you have enough space or if your drive is more stuffed then Uncle Phil around the holidays. But you have enough space, now what? Maybe your filesystem has become corrupted, no, not the type of corruption that we see in our nation’s capital. Trust me, your computer can be trumped by corruption and that is not locker room talk! So before you tweet to your buddies in an angry rage, try running ‘fsck -fy ‘which is a file system repair. Now before you try any of this BACK UP YOUR MACHINE, there is no confirmation or undo in single user mode, it is all or nothing.

    Another command you can use is ‘config’, which will give a list of your internet interfaces, i.e. wlan0 or eth0. It will also tell you if you have what is called an IP address which looks like this 192.168.1.xxx the xxx are your subset that gives you your address. If your mac is getting an IP address and you still get no interwebs the issue might be with your web browser or router so what is the next step? The ping command to the rescue! It works like this, you type ‘ping’ and then the web address i.e, ping google.com. If you have an IP address and cannot speak with the outside world your DNS setting not be working or your router could be broken.

    When navigating in single user mode it is easy to get confused and lost, so you can use the ‘pwd’ command or present working directory, to give you the ‘you are here’ or if you want to see what paths you can take try the ‘LS’ command. This will list the next paths you can take in the directory. I can’t go into all the uses of the single user mode, I would need a book for that and I have computers to fix. But, hopefully, I leave you today knowing a little more about single user mode.

  • Life's a Beach

    Call it what you will. “Beachball of Death”, “Pinwheel of Patience”, “Rainbow Wheel”, “Color Pizza”, “The Waiting Pie” (Yes, these are all names I’ve heard), we as mac os users are familiar with the dreaded and colourful menace. A few times a day I receive concerns from Mac users that there may be an issue with their machine as the pinwheel spins constantly. To be fair, a machine that displays the pinwheel for more than a handful of seconds may be trying to tell you a number of things.

    If you’re attempting to open an application and your Mac pinwheels for more than a few seconds, try clicking on the Desktop. Most of the time that will free up your cursor and allow you to navigate to the Force Quit menu to shut down whichever application is gunking up your performance.

    Should you see the pinwheel seemingly out of the blue, (eg. on startup), it could be indicative of full storage. It’s recommended you leave at least 10% of your storage disk free. In the About This Mac submenu, you can monitor your available and used storage space on your machine. If there is only a few Gb’s available, it may be time to do some deep cleaning. However, if you see plenty of storage available and your machine constantly pinwheels, it may be indicative of a hardware issue. In which case, you could take a trip to one of our locations to get it looked at.

    Lastly, one of the most common instances of pinwheeling rests in browsing the Web. Safari is one app that often calls up the pinwheel when it’s dealing with a problematic web page. Typically you can fix this by hitting the ‘x’ symbol in the web address field to stop the page from loading or just close the window altogether.

  • Happy December, Tech Tails readers!

    We’ve got an informative edition for you today, and I want to lead off by talking about Apple’s ForceTouch Trackpad. A lot of you may own a Mac with one of these handy innovations attached to it, and if you do, you may have noticed that the TrackPad DOES NOT click when the computer is turned off. This has actually caused a few customers to believe they picked up a defective unit, and even freaked out a couple of our technicians at first! To me, this is still a bizarre concept, but a very cool one that makes me wonder about the future of keyboards and other input devices.

    How does Apple do this? Using a Taptic Engine, the ForceTouch Trackpad creates the illusion of movement by generating feedback based on the amount of pressure you’ve applied. Unlike the previous design, which used a “diving board” design, these models are completely solid state, meaning the parts do not move. Now, this is not news to us, we have had this technology for a couple years now. The thing that WAS new to us was Trackpad issues being related to a user account. Our technicians were baffled to find the Trackpad of a MacBook mysteriously misbehaving ONLY when used by the primary user account. This issue was resolved by reinstalling the operating system. In the past, with “diving board” design trackpads, we would have never tried this measure to resolve such an issue.

    The takeaway from a repair like this: you can never be too sure! As service providers, we are constantly learning. New OS features new repair guides, and all the parts and tools that are constantly evolving. If you’re experiencing some type of issue with your Mac, never rule out the possibility of software corruption. You would be surprised what elements of operation it can impact, especially if you consider the new class of Macs are dealing with these days.

    Ever had an issue that appeared to be hardware, but ended up being resolved without repair? Let us know!

    Patrick McCormack
    patrickm@smalldog.com

  • Show Me The Cash!

    My granddaughter Khadija is away at college at Boston University and from time to time she will hit her gramps up for some…

  • The Magic Of The Trackpad

    No doubt at some point in your digital past, you’ve been prompted to provide an ‘e-signature’ on a document. Something these prompts may…

  • It is hard to believe that we are already into December. It seems that the older you get the faster that time flies on by. That is why I am a firm believer in Grace’s motto which she reminds me of every time I complain about being old – More Fun! Life is truly short and we have to make the best of each day.

    Working at home can get pretty lonely but every now and then Jezebel will come and put her head on my lap and basically say – time for a walk, Don. She so loves the dog park here that she pulls and drags me and whimpers all the way from the car to the gate. Once there, she has to greet each and every dog and in just about 10 or 15 minutes is so tired from running around that she is ready to go back home. The dog park is pretty popular right around sunset so that is where we head most days, skipping the huge sunset tourist party at Mallory Square.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don, Emily and Joanne

  • Pioneer Rayz Plus Earbuds

    Starting from the iPhone 7 Apple has changed the users’ lives. With the phones now having one port for external connection, it makes it hard for people to charge their device and listen to headphones at the same time. Of course, there are adapters to enable the impossible, but who wants to keep up with an extra piece of object? If anyone is in the market for headphones that not only let you do both and also have smart functions you should definitely check out the Rayz Plus by Pioneer! You can charge and listen with no adapters. Did I mention these in-ear earbuds are also noise cancelling? This has got to be the best feature available in earbuds. If you have a snoring partner or loud co-workers, just pop them in, play some music and turn on noise cancelling.

    These earbuds have an incredibly good noise cancelling feature, you will forget someone is sleeping next to you or the distracting office chatter around you. They are perfect for conference calls too. With hear thru mode, it lets in ambient sounds through your noise cancelling so that you are aware of your environment. The earbuds pause when you remove both of them and during a conversation, the microphone will automatically mute when you are not talking. Aside from volume buttons, and the play/pause, it also has a button called the smart button, that activates noise cancellation, play music, or open your Phone app. There is even an app in the app store (Rayz) available to help calibrate the headphones and customize settings for the smart button. These are must-have earbuds!

  • Setting Up Your New iPhone

    Despite pre-ordering my iPhone X at the exact moment they started taking orders, I’ve only had my new phone for about two weeks. It seemed those who ordered directly with Apple, rather than direct with the carrier, got them significantly faster. None the less, it’s finally in my hands. This new phone upgrade is the first time I have ever moved my data wirelessly, which is pretty remarkable considering this is my seventh iPhone! I have always done the traditional back up via iTunes and then my photo back up to Photos. This process took hours and hours and I’d inevitably lose an entire evening to syncing, updating, backing up and troubleshooting. Have I mentioned enough how much I love using iCloud?

    In addition to the benefits of iCloud back up ( when it all works as it should! ) Did you know that iOS 11 now also has a hidden trick to make your phone upgrades even more seamless?

    If your old iPhone is running iOS 11, you can use Quick Start, a new iOS 11 feature that makes the transfer easy. Just turn on the new iPhone, set it next to the old one, and tap Continue when asked whether you want to use your Apple ID to set up your new iPhone. An animation appears on the new iPhone for you to scan with the old iPhone—once you’ve done that, follow the rest of the instructions to enable Touch ID or Face ID and then restore your data and settings from your most recent iCloud backup (you can update the backup first if necessary). Leave the two iPhones next to each other while data is being transferred, and if possible, keep the new one plugged in and on Wi-Fi after setup so it can download your apps, photos, and music. Once you have done this you will be ready to start using your new phone in just a few minutes! Less than 30 minutes after I had gotten my new phone, I’d transferred information over and started the download from my iCloud back up. I was able to use the new phone immediately but had to hit the road before all my apps and photos downloaded. During the day I was not on wifi so I will say some apps didn’t work just yet. However, unlike upgrades of the past, I was not tethered to a computer and endless updates. When I returned home at the end of the day to wifi again it took less than 30 minutes everything updated and downloaded. This was by far, the easiest phone upgrade.

  • Show me the Cash!

    My granddaughter Khadija is away at college at Boston University and from time to time she will hit her gramps up for some bucks. I am happy to help, because as I tell Grace, what exactly do I work for if not to help out my granddaughter! But that’s not the story, when Khadija asked me for $20 I asked her how to send it to her and she uses Venmo. That’s what I did but then I told her Apple Cash is coming out and the next time I am only sending by Apple Cash!

    With the latest release of iOS11.2 for your iPhone and iPad, Apple has activated Apple Cash which is a really easy way to send money to friends and family. It is basically an App for Messages and it works really well. But even better you can just ask Siri. I just said “hey Siri, pay Grace a dollar” and just like that I virtually took a dollar out of one pocket and put it in another.

    You can connect Apple Pay Cash to a credit or a debit card but if you use a credit card you will be dinged the 3% fee. Use your debit card and there is no fee!

    But let’s review how to set up and use Apple Pay Cash. Step one is that you have to be sure to upgrade your iPhone or your iPad to the latest iOS – iOS 11.2. To do that, simply go to Settings—->General—->Software Update and check to see if you are current.

    You do have two-factor authentication turned on, right? You need that for so many features that just about everyone should have it active. If not go to settings—>iCloud—>Password & Security—->Two Factor Authentication and follow the instructions there.

    Okay, so you have iOS 11.2 and Two Factor Authentication, what now? Now open the Wallet app. At the top you will see a brand spanking new Apple Pay Cash card. Click on that and hit continue to activate your Apple Pay Cash card. This card is really important. This is where you will receive any money that others send to you. It will be stored in your Apple Pay Cash card and can be easily used to send cash to someone else, to pay for goods or services using Apple Pay or you can transfer it to your bank account.

    Once your digital Apple Pay Cash card is set up, you will be asked to pair a credit or debit card to the new service. I put in one of each but a debit card makes the most sense since you do not get charged the 3% fee. If you put in more than one you will be asked each time to choose which card you want to use, which is another step.

    Once you have added a card and agreed to the terms and conditions you will be asked to verify the card by entering in a code that will be sent to you automatically. Now, you can add some cash to your Apple Pay Cash card if you wish. That makes sending money a couple clicks easier but it is not necessary.

    If you click on the “i” button on the Apple Pay Cash card screen you will get your information screen which will tell you your balances, have buttons for adding money or transferring it to your bank, etc. It also has a tab to review your transactions.

    To send money to a friend you can simply ask Siri in the Messages app, open the App drawer and choose the Apple Pay icon. Remember that both parties must have iOS 11.2 installed for person to person payments to work. So, that means no sending bucks to Android users.

    When you tap on that icon you will get a pop-up to ask you how much you want to send. Your friend will receive a pop-up to accept. Once you verify the transaction using your fingerprint or in the case of the iPhone X it is super easy – just look at your iPhone and bingo! you have sent the cash.

    Your friend has instant access to the cash in their Apple Pay Cash card which they can use for Apple Pay or to send on to someone else. If you want to transfer the money to your bank account you tap on Transfer to Bank and then add your bank account’s routing number and account number. These transfer requests can take up to 3 days so they are not instant.

    You can set up your Apple Cash Card as your default payment in Apple Pay if you find that you have a lot of good friends sending you cash all the time. If you are going to send or receive more than $500, Apple Pay might require that you verify your identity with social security number, DOB or even your driver’s license.

    Regardless, I think that at least for the millions that use iPad and iPhones Apple Pay Cash will be the easiest way to send money and should give PayPal and their peer-to-peer cash system, Venmo, a run for the money, so to speak.

  • Dear Friends,

    I know it is getting close to the holidays as Hapy posted his list of beer pairings for Christmas songs. It is hard to know it is Christmas down here in Key West other than the houses with over-the-top lights and decorations and of course, the lighted boat parade coming up this weekend. I laugh at the faux snow.

    I keep discovering great new websites that offer valuable services. When I went out to San Francisco I discovered Turo to rent a fancy car and then, of course, Hapy said he used it all the time. We were looking for a new dog sitter so Grace and I could ride the motorcycles up to Ft. Myers to catch the new Star Wars on IMAX and I discovered Rover.com which is a great resource for dog walking and dog sitting.

    Speaking of Star Wars, we brought in some Star Wars collector edition drones at around $150 over Emily’s strenuous objections (she is not a fan of drones). I hesitated to buy any for Key West because drones are basically illegal here because everywhere is close to the airport on our 2 mile by 4 mile island. But surprisingly we have sold all that we have sold here in Key West for gifts and none in Vermont. Go figure. If you are interested in getting one of these cool drones in the special edition singing box please, please call or email Emily!

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive features the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. It has a 2.8GHz I7 processor, 16GB of ram, 256GB SSD drive and 2GB of VRAM in Space Gray. This is one of the units that has a bad shipping box but perfect contents. There are just 6 of them left so it is definitely first come, first served for this special. We are bundling this MacBook Pro 15-inch with AppleCare+ which extends your warranty to 3-years, provides 3-years of Apple tech support and with a deductible covers 2 incidents of accidental damage. Normally this MacBook Pro with AppleCare+ would cost $2679.98 this week, while supply lasts, Kibbles & Bytes readers can buy this bundle for $200 off at $2479.98.