Monthly Mini-Bytes - February 2025

 

Did You Get Your 1099 from Apple? Testing... It's probably the most arduous, time consuming, and thankless tasks in all of technology, but it is by far the most critical. Testing software and hardware is important as a market failure could destroy a company's reputation. It's not fun work. It's hard, tedious, and with update after update it is seemingly never ending. It is a high overhead cost for any company. So, how does a corporation like Apple short cut the process to try to save some cash? They introduce the Public Beta. Beta testing is an important process of the whole testing procedure. It gets the software or hardware out to a trusted group of people to use it in the real world. Even with the best internal testing methodology, the Beta always unveils issues. The Public Beta is a different thing. Apple releases unfinished and seemingly lightly tested software temping users with "early access" to features. These features are buggy and could compromise the daily use of your iPhone or Mac. We have never advocated putting any Beta software on a phone or computer that you rely upon. And then comes Apple Intelligence: This has been in a Public Beta since the Fall, but with the latest updates Tim Cook and his merry band of developers have automatically enabled Apple Intelligence making any user of a compatible Mac or device a Beta Tester. Well, boo Apple. Apple Intelligence is not ready. Apple admits that it isn't ready by continuing to have it as a Public Beta. It's not cool to enable a Beta Test for your entire user base. Do the work. Test Apple Intelligence, and when it is ready, release it then. If you have a Mac or iPad running an M-Series processor or an iPhone 15 Pro or newer you, will need to go and turn off Apple Intelligence in Settings. If you want to avoid having it auto-enabled in a future update, just choose a different language selection for English under Siri Requests. It only works with American English. I use British English to get around this myself.

It's Printer Season! With macOS Sequoia your beloved old printer may no longer work with your Mac. Choosing a new printer can be confusing and getting the wrong one will guarantee unwanted frustration. Here are our tips for choosing a good one: The Black and White Laser Printer Black and white laser printers are the simplest and most reliable printers that you can buy. They aren't sophisticated or sexy, but they will print page after page with the least amount of headaches compared to just about any other option. If you print high volume and don't need color, definitely look at one of these. We really like the models from Brother. Photo Printing If you print lots of photos, you want a printer that is designed for that task. A general purpose inkjet will be fine, but it won't have the resolution or color depth of the dedicated photo printers. The Epson Expression series is worth a look in this category. The Color Laser Printer Easily the most expensive option, the color laser printer is more reliable than an inkjet, but cannot print photos as they usually don't have the resolution needed at the more consumer-focused end. They will not dry out if you leave for that three month trip to Antarctica. But they will be more expensive to maintain when it becomes time to replace toner. Check out the options from Brother if you are looking for one of these. The Inkjet Printer These are the least expensive and least reliable printers. They will use a ton of very expensive ink, and the nozzles will dry out if they are left idle for any period of time. Try to get one on sale and avoid spending more than $150. They tend to break, so why shell out the big bucks for something that you'll have to replace in two years anyway. Both Canon and Epson have some decent models. In our experience Staples seems to have the best prices and selection. They are a good place to start. Once you figure out the model you want, you can price shop against Office Depot, B&H Photo, Best Buy, etc.

Apple Introduces the Stripped Down iPhone 16e

iPhone prices have gone through the roof! I know they always talk about the "adjustment for inflation" malarkey, and it may even be true. But spending $1500 on an iPhone (after AppleCare+, accessories, snacks, etc.) is still a lot for a phone. Yes, it's a mobile computer. Yes, you can shoot and edit Hollywood-ish level video on it. But for a lot of people that want the latest chip, but will never use the advanced camera features, MagSafe accessories, or that weird camera button, it's one to consider. That is where the iPhone 16e comes in. It's an iPhone that does iPhone things at a price that is $400 less than a 16 Pro. You only get one camera and it lacks many of the other features, but it still comes with the latest chip and even Apple Intelligence for you aspiring Beta Testers. If you are in the market for a new iPhone, just need the basics, and don't want to spend MacBook Air money on a phone, check out the 16e here: https://www.apple.com/iphone-16e/

The Micro-Byte - February 2025

 

Getting the Most Out of AI: The Prompt

Like it or not Artificial Intelligence is here and it is rapidly changing the face of computing. Whether you use it at work with the likes of the Adobe creative apps, interact with a chatbot at your favorite website, spend casual hours with ChatGPT, or try to untangle that thing that is Apple Intelligence, you cannot escape the AI revolution. But it's not a bad thing. At the end of the day it is just another tool to help make queries and tasks faster and easier. One of the keys to doing this is understanding how to interact with AI, and this requires learning how to create a proper prompt. The Prompt is the question or task that you craft to set any AI out to complete what you want it to do. It is not different from assigning homework to a student or directing an employee to do this, that, or the other thing. Its complexity is in its simplicity. Crafting a prompt incorrectly can mean you just get a pile of misinformation. Here are a few tips to help you on a path to being an expert prompter: Use Proper Language As language and writing have both devolved thanks in part to texting and chat apps, the time has come again for speaking proper English. Write in clear and complete sentences with good structure. Keep it Concise One of the things that many of us learn early in our careers is executive-level communication. Executives don't have time to go through and read a lengthy email. It needs to be brief, to the point, and clearly state the expectations on what is needed. You can find many books and tutorials on executive communication. Any one of these can help you in being better at prompts. Be Clear on the Output State exactly what you want in the prompt. Don't be vague. If you are clear on the output, it will make it easier to re-prompt the AI if you don't get what you want. Direct It Where to Look If you are searching for information on a medical issue, be sure to direct the AI to look in places where you trust like medical journals or research studies. If you don't the AI may grab data from discussion forums or conspiracy sites. No matter what it is, tell the AI the types of sources that you want it to draw from so that you get a better response. Audit the Answer When you get the response from the AI your job is not done. It is imperative to visit the links from the sources presented and to do your own research based on keywords. I often receive wrong answers and when I challenge the bot, I oftentimes get a spiral of increasingly wrong answers to the point where I abandon the thread. AI is not foolproof or correct all the time. Artificial Intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it is not fully self-driving. You cannot take your hands off the wheel. You need to prompt effectively and then audit the answer. Even with this, AI is an incredible time saver, especially when using it as an internet search engine. Happy Prompting!