Monthly Mini-Bytes - August 2023

 

Clutter in Your Photos Database Photos is a great app. It consolidates all of your pictures in one place, makes them searchable, easy to share, and with iCloud Photo Library takes the stress out of transferring photos and videos from your iPhone. But with convenience comes clutter. I took a look and I have 27,000+ photos in my Photos app. I don't take a lot of pictures, but WOW did that thing fill up. And a ton if it is garbage. Photos of cabinets, garage doors, broken gates, an old air conditioner, the shower before we re-grouted the tile, gas pumps, and all types of random uselessness fill it up. Sure most of what is in there are great memories, but so much is just junk. I bet I'm not the only one, so here are some tips to clean out the garbage. The Photos app has several different sorting features so you can quickly find photos that you no longer need or want. You can access these sorts from the left-hand column, or using the View -> Photos drop-down menu. Places: Select this sort to find photos by where they were taken. It's a simple way to drill down to those photos of a long completed construction site and just get rid of them. It also allows you to discover photos from trips and events that you can group into albums or share with family and friends. Duplicates: This sort is self-explanatory. This will show you all the duplicates and allow you to unburden your database of the additional clutter. People: Well, this one could be kinda harsh, but if you want to search and delete photos related to a specific person, this is where you can begin. But the good news is that digital clutter doesn't make your computer slower or your phone heavier. It's just clutter and sometimes cleaning it out can be a good thing.

System Updates Are On the Horizon Along with the announcement of new products, Apple will also be releasing the latest versions of its iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS. That's a lot of OSes! As always we do not recommend being an early-adopter. Despite the desperate pleas of your computer and devices, wait a few weeks before updating.

New iPhones On The Way

It's that time of year again and Apple is set to announce a whole host of refreshed products on September 12th. This means if you are in the market for an iPhone or Apple Watch we would recommend waiting to see what they will have to offer. It will also mean that older models will still be available at a lower price. Outside of the new iPhones and Apple Watches, no one is expecting anything else, although I wouldn't be surprised if they announce the iMac with the M2 Chip.

Monthly Mini-Bytes - July 2023

 

You Don't Have a Virus The scammers are out in force and they want you to know right here right now that you have a virus and you need to call their fake Apple number right away or all of your data will be deleted, your car won't start, and all the food in your fridge will go bad. Pop-ups, emails, and texts are their weapons of choice and they desperately want you to think that you have a virus so that they can take your money. Yes, there are Mac viruses, but they are extremely rare as they are incredibly difficult to create and all involve granting permission to your computer or device. It's so much easier just to trick you into thinking that you have a virus. One of the most popular ways they can trick you is to get you to sign up for notifications in Safari. These notifications can then look like they are coming from your system and will keep popping up tempting you to click on them. At that point you can be lead to fake websites, offers for software, or any number of troubles. To remedy this, let's just get rid of all Safari notifications. Here is what to do: Open Safari and go to the Safari drop-down menu next to the Apple in the upper-left. Choose Preferences or Settings (it's different depending on the version). Select Websites and on the left column scroll down to Notifications. If you have any then remove them all. Uncheck the option at the bottom to allow websites to ask. They can mind their own business.

A Quick Word on A.I. The most powerful people in the world are those that work in marketing. They can bend, shape, and twist the truth until we all read from the same script as they pry us away from our money. A.I or Artificial Intelligence is just the latest case of calling something one thing that is merely something else. Good thing you found this article. The A.I. of today is not true Artificial Intelligence. First, all current A.I. is based on binary computers. That's right. The supposed A.I. of today can only see things as black or white, yes or no, one or zero, or any similar absolute. It cannot extrapolate based on the complex quantum possibilities that the human mind can do in a few milliseconds. Current A.I. is nothing more than a sophisticated search engine. It's just a data query that can only search and create output based on what a human has programmed into it. Yes, A.I. is limited to how it is programmed by a person, and people are fallible, biased, and oftentimes don't share the same perspectives as another sitting just next to them on a bus. Don't get me wrong. A.I. has some interesting applications and it is an advancement that can be ground breaking, but It's not the real deal. Not until we are able to perfect quantum computing will we even be in the realm of possibly creating a sentient machine. Until then we'll have to be happy with A.I. self-driving cars creating a traffic jam as they can't figure out what to do next as they weren't programmed that way.

The New M3 iMac May Be Here Soon

Apple is set to announce a whole host of new devices in September and one of them may be a refreshed iMac with the new M3 chip. This is a big deal, since the current iMac is one of the last machines to run the M1 processor. If you are in the market for a new iMac and you have the luxury of waiting, we recommend that you wait until September to see if the new machine is unveiled.