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/