Monthly Mini-Bytes - October 2021

 

The New MacBook is So Pro! In what seemed like a year, which is good since it has been almost exactly a year since Apple announced their own line of chips, the big red ball of fruity has intruduced the immensely powerful 14 and 16 Inch MacBook Pros with the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. These chipsets are game changers, and probably the biggest leap Apple has done in tech since the iPhone. Apple claims that on these new MacBook Pros you can edit multiple 8K ProRes streams at a time. What?! That may sound like gibberish to you, and it is, but that type of power wasn't even possible a couple of years ago, let alone in a portable computer. Both models have an array of ports, including HDMI and SD card slots. Just know that the M1 Max is more "Pro" than the M1 Pro, which of course makes no sense. Maybe they should have just called it the M1 Max Pro AppleTV Plus Texting & Web. It's just a thought. To learn more about the new MacBook Pros visit: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/

iPhone 13: Is it worth the upgrade? No. Not really. It's faster and Apple touts "more better and bestest," but it's such a mild update to the 12 that if you are on a 12, there's no compelling reason to move... except for one: Cinematic Mode. This feature is available on all flavors of the iPhone 13 and, in basic terms, "pulls focus" automatically. This means, when enabled, the iPhone will focus to what it believes to be the prominent subject in a video. It's neat, and if you are shooting a lot of video with your iPhone it is a really slick feature. If you are interested in Cinematic Mode, definitely go for the iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max to take advantage of the better camera set. Now, if you are still on an iPhone 5 or 6, yes, you need a new phone. I liked the size of my iPhone 5 and for those like me the iPhone 13 Mini will fit the bill... or the pocket. In fact if you are on an older phone and need to upgrade, only upgrade to an iPhone 13. Don't go for a 12, 11, or another. As a general rule, when it is time to upgrade, go for the latest model, which is of course the iPhone 13 (Pro, Max, Mini, etc.). To learn more about the new iPhones, visit the Pros at: https://www.apple.com/iphone-13-pro/ or the Regular and Mini at: https://www.apple.com/iphone-13/

Take the Phishing Test

Email and text phishing scams seem to be ramping up lately. There are so many that it's hard to keep track. From subscribing to the philosophy of "Trust No One" to marking almost everything as junk, it gets a little tiring, but it is necessary. To test your Phishing savvy, Google and Jigsaw came up with this neat quiz. It's a great way to test your internet street smarts. Just be sure to use a fake email address for the test. It's not necessary to use your real one. To take the quiz, visit: https://phishingquiz.withgoogle.com