Client Alerts
We periodically send out Client Alerts to keep Call Andy! clients apprised of important Mac-related news. Feel free to peruse our back archive.
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2/4/2007
Call Andy! Turns 10!
It's hard to believe it, but January 26 marked the 10 year anniversary of Call Andy! Macintosh Consulting. A lot has changed since I started. I want to take a moment to celebrate the occasion and reflect on where we started and where we are today.
First the history
Back in December of 1997, I had been running Creative Talent, Inc. and ImaginEvents for 13 long years - a business I had started when I was 24 years old. I had grown CTI to over $750K a year, but we were bleeding money, the event business had proven to be nothing but stress 24x7, and I knew I needed to make a change. I had started to computerize CTI in 1989, initially with a borrowed Mac Plus from a printer located in our building. I remember taking that machine home, setting it up on the dining room table and diving into Macintosh for the first time.
As I realized the power that having a Mac on everyone's desk could have in my business, I created my first network, first with three Mac Classics... Then six SE/30s,... Then six 7100s and a Radius clone for me with a (very cool) rotating Radius display. Meanwhile I was running the business on Filemaker solutions (thanks Dana!) that I had written. When I started to fix issues for other people, I knew I had developed an expertise in keeping Macs running well.
My friends were recognizing that I could be happier "doing Macintosh", but I didn't really know how that would translate into a paycheck. By chance, my friend Sue Werner introduced me to Tony Kaszowsky who had been a Mac consultant prior to going to work full-time for a client. Over dinner, Tony explained what a Mac consultant did, gave me some pointers and I suddenly had a very attractive new career option!
So, by December of 1997 it was clear that it was time for CTI to go. I will be forever grateful to my Dad who spent seven straight 18-hour days working with me to dismantle my company of five employees and 12,000 square feet of theme scenery and office equipment, as well as 13 years of accumulated files and stuff. I had already created the Call Andy! identity for a consulting letter I had drafted commenting on the Mac support for the design department where my friend Karen Capland was working. One week later, Ronnie Komarow referred me to Manulife Financial and I spent my first day as a Macintosh consultant.
Today
Flash forward 10 years. (Imagine Wayne and Garth providing the sound effects...) I've been speaking at Macworld for seven years. We've gone from OS 8.5 to OS 10.5, PowerPC to Intel, Apple Computer to Apple, Inc., iPods, iPhones, Xserves, Apple Stores and the Mac nearing 9% of the market and climbing. The nice thing is that I don't go to cocktail parties and hear the "Isn't Apple going out of business next week?" question anymore!
BzWorks, Inc., our sister company specializing in FileMaker development, was born in 2006 and has two products in the pipeline. (< href="http://www.bzworksinc.com">www.bzworksinc.com)
I was asked to serve on the ACN Advisory Council in 2006, working with Apple on how to make the Mac consulting community even better.
Brendon Randall joined Call Andy! as a Systems Engineer in February. Brendon has seven years of IT support experience, having worked at "From the Top," a top-rated NPR show. He's been a terrific addition, and I couldn't imagine a better person to work with on a daily basis.
Today we have over 100 small business and residential clients, and a solid reputation in the Macintosh community.
Many thanks to all of you who have contributed to the success of Call Andy!. We look forward to working with all of you in the future!
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12/17/2007
QuickBooks Data Loss
We have become aware of a serious problem involving QuickBooks 2006 and 2007 for Macintosh. Apparently, a programming error at Intuit is causing the QuickBooks 2006 Auto-Update feature to erase the machine's entire Desktop.
Based on Intuit's assertions, there is a Terminal command that can be run to prevent QuickBooks' auto-update feature from running and allow you to run QuickBooks safely.
In any case, before attempting this fix, Remove all folders and files from the desktop and move them to the Documents folder inside your Home folder. Do not store any documents on the Desktop until this issue has been resolved.
Unless you are totally comfortable in Terminal, please call us tomorrow for assistance with this. If we have access to your machine, we can do it remotely for you. Otherwise, we can schedule a visit to make this change.
This is a serious problem and causes what could be permanent data loss. We are collecting information right now. If you are running QuickBooks 2006 or 2007 for Macintosh only, please email me immediately!
QuickBooks Data Loss UPDATE
Intuit has removed the offending update that was causing the damage. You can read more at MacFixit.com.
Additionally, if you have been affected by this updater, you may be eligible for a free data recovery by Drive Savers- please contact us to find out more.
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11/26/2007
Hard Drive Issue
Design Tools Monthly has published a report from data recovery company Retrodata in the UK describing a trend of failing Seagate hard drives in some MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Minis that lead to complete data loss. Below are the details on the issue from RetroData as well other links describing the problem:
- This notification may affect any Apple product that incorporates a 2.5" hard drive.
- It has come to our attention from the sheer volume of this particular drive needing for recovery that they have a critical manufacturing flaw.
- The faulty drives are all Seagate 2.5" drives that are manufactured in China, with a Firmware revision of 7.01. They are also all SATA interface. No other drives seem (at this stage) to be affected.
How to determine if your drive is one of these mentioned:
- In System Profiler, look under Serial-ATA for the Revision, which shows the firmware of your hard drive. If yours is indeed Revision 7.01 you should back up your data immediately.
Retrodata is large receiving quantities of these drives for recovery, and nearly all display the same cause of failure. The read/write heads appear to fail mechanically, quickly causing deep scratches to the platter surface, and rendering the drives practically unrecoverable.
Should you have one of these drives in your system, we believe the problem is serious enough to warrant copying all your data off the drive and replacing it with an alternative drive, or a retail-version Seagate drive.
Retrodata believes that any sizeable manufacturer would by this stage be aware of such a problem and issue a product recall notice, or an offer to have the drive exchanged for a suitable alternative at their own expense.
This issue has now been recognised in the following publications:
We have confirmed this issue with at least one client at present. If you have a machine with one of these drives AND you've checked to see if you have a possibly affected drive, please contact us IMMEDIATELY to discuss backup and replacement options.
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10/26/2007
Leopard arrives
As you've probably heard Mac OS 10.5 Leopard will be released tonite. I just spent a week in Santa Clara, CA at Apple Tech Camp getting an in-depth technical look at our new OS, and it's pretty cool. There are over 300 new features in Leopard including Quick Look, Spaces and Time Machine as well as improvements to Mail, the Finder, the Desktop, Safari and Parental Controls.
So you're probably wondering what our recommendation is for when you should consider upgrading?
As is our usual advice, we're recommending that all our clients wait until Leopard is updated to 10.5.1 and we've had an opportunity to see how it will affect your workflow.
Why? Leopard is a major upgrade. We don't know what applications and hardware will have problems initially with Leopard until they're updated to work correctly. This isn't just a minor concern and one that could drive an expensive service call and a roll-back to 10.4 to correct the problem.
If you have a spare, non-production system that's capable of handling the upgrade you can install it on that system and take it for a test drive. The minimum system will be a G4/867Mhz with 512MB of memory and a DVD drive for installation.
If you'd like more information on Leopard's new features, please take a look at the 300+ new features on Apple's site.
An open letter from Andy Espo
A close friend of mine just received Client Alert #8 and called me with some questions. In discussing it with him, I thought I should follow-up with each of you clarifying my earlier comments.
Over the years I've installed many solutions for clients, some simple others a bit more complex with each one having it's own unique challenges. When evaluating a client for an operating system upgrade, I like to take a well thought-out and structured approach to ensure a stable and reliable result. I prefer a gradual and cautious approach to ensure that if issues arise I have the time to help each of you properly. My client alert was intended to share the amazing week I had at Leopard training and to highlight how many useful new features Apple's new operating system has. Because of the advanded training I attended, I now have an enhanced understanding of how to apply Leopard and Leopard Server to your needs.
During the discussion with my friend, he asked if my opinion of slowly upgrading to Leopard was shared by other consultants. I explained to him that my primary goal is to work with each client to ensure a smooth transition, and that the issue is not if our clients will move to Leopard, but when. Time is needed to evaluate the changes in the new OS. For example, I obviously haven't had a chance to test how external VPN clients will work with different routers, or what compatibility issues, if any, you may have with scanner or printer drivers.
At the end of the day, know that as your consultant I'm looking at these issues and many others on your behalf. I know we'll be talking in the coming weeks about planning this upgrade for you.
As always, please remember if you have a question you can always.....Call Andy!
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9/19/2007
The New Call Andy! Website
After 9 years, the Call Andy! website has a completely new look. Redesigned by our own Brendon Randall, the site features enhanced descriptions about our company's services as well as useful links and tools. You can now find your IP address, easily get to Speakeasy's speed test and find other Mac-related resources. And not to worry… VR Andy has made the trip to the new site as well!
Please take a look and let us know if you have any comments or suggestions. As always, you can find it at www.callandy.com
Apple Battery Tips
Jim Lafave, Sr. Systems Engineer at Apple recently sent this regarding maximizing the battery life of your Apple products and I thought it was worthy of distribution:
Paying attention to just a few common sense pointers will pay off when it comes to longer battery lifespan for your iPhone, iPod, laptop, etc. and Apple recently posted a few very informative web pages that I thought everyone would appreciate:
Learn how to maximize the lifespan and battery life of your iPod, iPod nano, or iPod shuffle
Learn how to maximize the lifespan and battery life of your iPhone
Learn how to maximize the lifespan and battery life of your Apple notebook
20% of MS Office Sales are to Mac Users
In an September 11 article on CNet, Ina Fried wrote about sales of Vista and Microsoft Office. One very interesting tidbit was the following:
While much of the sales were for the new Office 2007, Swenson said just over 20 percent of all boxed copies of Office were Office for Mac. Swenson credited the large number of people switching to Macs as part of the reason for the spike in Mac Office sales.
"If I buy a new PC I can reuse old Windows software," Swenson said. But, if someone is switching from a PC to a Mac and wants Office, he said, "you have to buy new software."
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7/9/2007
Unless you've been living in a cave for the last 4 months, you've by now heard about Apple's new iPhone, and based on the number of calls I've received this week, there are lots of questions out there. I'll try to answer a few of your questions here:
1. Does it work?
The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. The biggest complaints have revolved around activating the phone through AT&T the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone. Even the most critical pundits are crowing about how innovative the interface is and how well it works.
2. What are the limitations?
There are several:
- The exclusive carrier is AT&T, so if you're on another carrier you'll need to get out of your current contract and switch to AT&T.
- Compared to Sprint and Verizon's EVDO data network, the speed of the AT&T EDGE network is considerably slower, and not just by a little; 8-10kbps for EDGE vs. 275-375kbps for EVDO. In practice, EDGE often feels like dialup while EVDO feels like slow-ish DSL. If you're a large user of data services, this speed hit could be a deciding factor for you. This will most certainly be upgraded in the future, but there's no telling when.
- There is currently no ability to write actual applications for the iPhone. Developers can write small applications that will work through the built-in Safari browser, but these are very limited in functionality. If you're currently using applications on a smart phone like a Treo (Password Wallet, TipMe, etc), there is currently no analogue in the iPhone.
- Will it work with my software? As long as you're using Apple's Address Book and iCal to store your contact and calendar data, this information will sync with the iPhone. Software that supports Sync Services to share this same data, such as Entourage will also work. Currently, Now Up to Date and Contact (NUDC) is not Sync Services aware and will not sync with the iPhone. The new replacement application for NUDC, codenamed Nighthawk is in development and will provide Sync Services support.
- The iPhone calendar application doesn't fully support multiple calendars like iCal does. When configuring iTunes to manage your iPhone, you select which iCal calendar new events created on the iPhone should be added to. Therefore, events created on your iPhone will only be entered into the specific calendar selected. Additionally, there is currently a bug within this limit, causing the iPhone to automatically add events to your last created calendar regardless of selection if you set iTunes to "Sync All Calendars" with the iPhone. The only workaround for designating a specific calendar to add iPhone events to is to choose to sync "Selected Calendars," and manually choose all of your calendars.
- There is currently no support for Java and Flash content on websites
- There's currently no cut, copy or paste
- Currently there's no "alpha-jump" in the contacts view, so scrolling through a huge contact list is slow and difficult to do if driving, etc. You can jump to the beginning of any letter in the alphabet, but if you've got lots of contacts starting with that letter, start scrolling!
- There is currently no support from AT&T for corporate iPhone plans. Because the iPhone is targeted as a consumer device, plans and activations are tied to individuals, and as such, can pose headaches for organizations with existing multi-user/line contracts in place. At the moment, the only solution for organizations wishing to issue iPhones to employees is to devise some method of reimbursement, as well as to plan with the administrative overhead of reconciling individual billing for anyone using an iPhone.
3. Are you and Brendon using the iPhone?
No. We'd like to, but Call Andy! runs on NUDC (see d above), so we can't run iPhone yet.
4. Should I get one??
If you're using Address Book and iCal and have a reasonable number of contacts (like under 250), you're a great candidate for iPhone. Please read the FAQs and limitations listed on the websites below.
For the record, Apple has sold somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million iPhones in its first week. It's most important to note that Apple is currently positioning the iPhone as a consumer device, not a business device so there are many users whose needs currently can not be met with the iPhone. The smart money is that this will change also, but there's no time-line at this point. Please call us before you purchase an iPhone to discuss how it can be integrated into your workflow.
For more information:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/iPhoneCenter.html
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/often-asked-iphone-questions/ -
5/24/2007
Call Andy! Expanding
Call Andy! Macintosh Consulting has recently hired Brendon Randall as Systems Engineer. Brendon brings years of industry experience as both an independent Apple Consultants' Network member, and as the IT Director of a 20+ person company. His particular areas of expertise include client and server work, Windows integration/switching, and creative/audio Pro Apps.
Existing clients will continue to work primarily with Andy, although it may be that in special cases they also work with Brendon for scheduling reasons. New clients may be directly referred to Brendon for the same top-notch service Call Andy! Macintosh Consulting brings to all work.
Welcome on board, Brendon!
Andy to serve on Apple's ACN Advisory Council
In the fall, Andy was asked by Apple, Inc. to serve on the ACN Advisory Council. The council is comprised of 9 ACN members across the US and is a volunteer member committee that meets regularly to discuss ACN and Apple-related issues. The Council has made a notable contribution to the continued development and success of the ACN program by representing the interests of its members to Apple and by serving as a focus group for program management.
No more pager number
In the "antique technology going-away" department, I will be canceling the "pager" number that many of you may have. Considering that I rarely receive "pages", it been barely used over the past few years. If you have an emergency, please call my cell phone listed below.
Presentations & Seminars
Andy has been a Macworld Speaker for over 7 years. Please feel free to check out our library of past presentations & seminars from Macworld and other events.
Newbies
& Switchers: Getting Started With the Mac
How
the Pros Troubleshoot the Macintosh
How
to Call Tech Support - and Win!
Useful Links
We've collected a number of useful links that you can use below.
- BzWorks, Inc. - our sister company, specializing in custom FileMaker systems design & implementation. Also home to AdBz and ArtBz, 2 industry-specific business management packages.
- Apple - home page of our favorite company
- Versiontracker - Mac software repository
- BMac - the Boston Macintosh Users Group
- Why Use Cat 6 Wiring? - We recommend only using Cat 6 data wiring for your home or office. This handy article explains why this is such an important choice.
- DriveSavers - we hope you never have to use them, but in the event of a hard disk failure, malfunction, or damage, they are your best chance to recover valuable data.
