In 2012, Appsterdam hosted a week long alternative WWDC conference. We had some awesome speakers, lunch, coffee and wifi. It was such a success last year that we are doing it again, but bigger and better! Plans aren’t finalised yet, but here are some of the things you can expect to see:

• Location – We loved being at Stackmob last year, but we’ve moved to SF State within a block of Moscone
• Speakers - Check them out!
• Keynote breakfast – Food, chat and live blogs
• Free Lunch!
• Co-working – Wifi, coffee and peace

http://altwwdc.com

Play Geese Squad. Our newest is available on the App Store. To coincide with our press release we’ve  made the app free for the weekend. Spread the word.

#Honk, if your playing it.

Wintertime is approaching, eh? So it is time for the Canadian Geese to start their migration south. Canada’s favorite goose has to get ready to fly in formation. So the older birds teach the younger birds about the benefits of flying in the ‘V’ formation. To gain speed and lift, the birds take turns leading the flock. The ‘V’ formation also allows geese to rest in flight while the lead bird takes on the strain.

You are the lead bird guiding your flock to their winter home in the south. Help the geese fly in formation, collect coins and avoid obstacles.

#Honk, if your playing it.

Wintertime is approaching, eh? So it is time for the Canadian Geese to start their migration south. Canada’s favorite goose has to get ready to fly in formation. So the older birds teach the younger birds about the benefits of flying in the ‘V’ formation. To gain speed and lift, the birds take turns leading the flock. The ‘V’ formation also allows geese to rest in flight while the lead bird takes on the strain.

You are the lead bird guiding your flock to their winter home in the south. Help the geese fly in formation, collect coins and avoid obstacles.

A few of our clients looking for a domain name have seen Premium Domain names listed on the search results.
Below are a couple of videos to explain what those are.

Register on Manage your domain here!

I began to write a response to an article entitled Holy Cow! Yet Another App To Find Viruses On Your Mac (and they want money) by Jeff Mincey when it dawned on me that I should post my response here.

I do agree with the general gist of his article, however there’s more to the issue than whether we Mac users need Anti-Virus software and whether we should pay for it. Notwithstanding all the years we have suffered through Norton et al, virus tools which would disruptively scanning any foreign media we interested into our Macs in the Classic days. They were simply blocking to people’s productivity and many dupes paid big bucks annually to maintain a virus definitions subscription. That along with the pricey subscription Windows users must pay. (Many more of them would dismiss the dialog to stop the virus scan.)

The real problem is that with a Windows PC you can contract a virus simply by turning the computer on and using it (or so it seems.) In 25 years of support Macs and PCs,  it has become clear that Mac users have had practically nothing to worry about. (It got so bad that we don’t support Windows at all any more.) In the years I’ve been around, there have been around three to five actual threats. (I will see if I can list them at the end.)

With the sleepy time experience of using Macs, many users don’t even know their computers password – even worse many users have nothing entered in their password field. They blindly hit the “Enter” key (aka the “Whatever” key) and accept any annoying authentication box that opens up. So the latest barrage of exploits are taking advantage of many Mac users trusting nature. I would argue that even products like MacKeeper are exploiting users as we speak – promising to fix your unbroken Mac.

Hey mac users!  - If it ain’t broke… don’t fix it.

Hey Window’s users! – By all means possible, install that update, fix your firewall and maintain your virus definitions.

Sorry, I’m back…

So Yes, Virginia – you can share an contagious email with your defenseless Windows colleagues. Yes, you can accidentally install malware by clicking on an installer and entering your password. (That’s how 700,000 Macs got infected recently. The users had to authenticate the installation. Later it was discovered that users with loose (default) Java settings could get infected without approving the installation.)

If you don’t know your admin password – you need to run antivirus software on your Mac.
If you don’t know what your email password is because it “just works“, then you need to run antivirus software.
If you don’t know what your DNS settings are – your need to run antivirus software (and run the DNS check ).
If you don’t know how software is installed;
If you  don’t know how to install and run a script;
if you don’t know your SSID or WPA2 password;
if you don’t know how to configure a wireless printer;

You need to be running AntiVirus Software.

And you should pay for it! Paying for software will keep the developers fed and interested in helping you. Even if you paid $100 per year. You’re not going to like my bill if I have to come and fix your Mac. A Good Mac technician will cost you $100 to $300 per hour and it’s going to take several hours (days) to fix your Mac. You can find most Mac antivirus apps on the app store – and you can install it on all your own Macs. C’mon Apple made that part easier for everyone.

OK Kids! Recess is over.

Recommended Solutions

On a regular Mac:
VirusBarrier Plus (there is a free version)
Mac’s do have ClamAV installed and there is a free client app… but it’s rocket science if you don’t understand (sorry NASA)

On a Server Mac:
VirusBarrier Mac
Spamassassin
clamAV
freshclam
mailbfr
amavis

Working with Cory Silverberg (and Fiona Smyth and Zab Typography by proxy) we have crafted an eBook format and companion web site for “What Makes a Baby“. The book has been available via Cory’s Kickstarter campaign and will soon be available on Apple’s iBook Store and on Amazon for Kindle Fire (and some Android tablets.) Of course you can also buy the beautiful Hardcover Edition on the web site.

For iPad What Makes a Baby on iBooks

Here’s Cory’s own words:

What Makes a Baby is my response to the fact that books about where babies come from leave many of us out. They tell a nice story (mommy + daddy + intercourse = you!) but the truth is that more and more of us are acknowledging the help we get to bring children into our lives. That help might be a doctor, fertility clinic, adoption or foster agency; it might be a turkey baster and a friend; it might be a sperm donor or a surrogate. What Makes a Baby helps parents tell children a story about where they came from that isn’t just true for them, but true for everyone.

Crafted for children roughly from pre-school to 8-years-old, What Makes a Baby is written and illustrated to include all kinds of kids, all kinds of adults, and all kinds of families – regardless of how many people were involved, what the orientation, gender identity, or other make up of the family is, or how it came to be that way. It’s a social justice approach to sex education. Like all picture books, it’s meant to be read to a child and gives the adult reader the opportunity to fill in as much detail as they would like.

Written by a certified sexuality educator, Cory Silverberg, and illustrated by award-winning Canadian artist Fiona Smyth, What Makes a Baby is being designed and produced with the help of Zab Design & Typography and will be an exquisitely made hardcover picture book. 32 pages and full color, it will be as fun to look at as it is useful to read.

Found  this blog this morning  so I’m parking it here so it doesn’t get lost on Twitter or facebook

How to contact Microsoft for help

Two words that don’t seem to belong together these days are “Customer” and “Service“. Recently I paid good money to buy a brand new version on Nuance’s diction software – MacSpeech Scribe. Scribe promises to allow you to use the Mac or iPhone’s audio source  to input your verbiage. (Their other apps require a special mike.) Great! So I sent them $80 USD for the digital download and got the software. However when I tried to install the software it asked for a “license.key” file. downloaded the license key from the web site, but the software doesn’t recognize the license. So I open my browser and went to the nuance.com site for support.

After about 15 minutes of thrashing about on circular links I found that there is no way send a simple email to them. Phone support is available Mon – Fri 9 – 5, but in 2012 who needs to call a person to ask a question. Come to think of it, if this company hides behind it’s web site and support forums, what is the likelihood that I would actually end up speaking with someone who works at the company? Since this company seems to like to hide they would most likely use a third party call center. By using a forum to get support, they are probably hoping that the end users would end up supporting each other.

Sure you are trying to keep costs down. That is no excuse for poor customer service. I regularly sell Apple computers to clients and lose money doing it – because it’s the right thing to do. I buy Macs from a distributor who eats up a large percentage of the sales margin and charge shipping to send us the Mac. More often than not my client will pay me by credit card. My credit card merchant supplier takes their percentage and I end up $10 in the hole. BUT my client is happy!!!

Additionally, if a client asks for a product or service that I don’t provide, I often refer them to another supplier who does. I will even help them make the decision about what is the best product to meet their needs. I have even taken clients into a competitors store to help them make the purchase. Apple often has a better deal than I can provide – so I refer the client to buy from Apple directly. Sure you can see that I’m losing money on this engagement, but the client is pleased because they get what the need and deserve.

Recently a client of mine, a expert photographer, referred me to another company where I could buy a “Red” DSLR camera as an Xmas present. The sales rep was helpful and made sure I left with what I needed to make sure that the Xmas day reveal was pleasant. Where the support failed was when I asked the sales rep point blank whether the camera would go on sale before Xmas or during Boxing Week. He told me not to worry, as I was buying the Extended Warranty I would get 30 days price protection. You guessed it! Three days later the camera went on sale for $50 off. Since it was the pre-Xmas week, I figured they would be busy, so I would follow up after Xmas… I had 30 day price protection after all. After Xmas, I contacted the sales rep, who had given me his card, and imagine my surprise when I was told that the price protection was only in effect while the camera was on sale… not before or after but “during”. WTF is the point of the “30 Day price protection” then?

If I tried to evade my clients or provide them with insufficient information I wouldn’t have any clients. In case you’re wondering, I would have called the client and told them to “get in here and get your discount”. I often will tell clients to go to another store, even Apple Retail, if there is a better deal to be had (ask my clients – they will tell you!) Also we don’t hide behind our website. There are several ways to get in touch with us by email, phone, through the Apple Consultant Network site, from Apple (1800 MY APPLE) and our online ticket system. If I don’t answer, leave a message I will get back to you.

If your xxx warrantied product goes on sale at xxx OR any other Canadian retailer and is in stock we will gladly price match the product within 30 days of your purchase. The advertised item must be the same brand and model as the originally purchased product, must be new, factory sealed and subject to manufacturer warranty applicable in Canada. xxx does not price match a competitor’s advertised price for ‘time limited‘ or ‘minimum quantity‘ specials, including Boxing Week prices, nor does it apply to advertising errors,special package prices, restricted offers, manufacturers’ rebates, bonus offers, online auctions or photofinishing.

If you find that your iPhone sounds are too loud, there is a workaround. Normally using the volume control buttons only adjust the ringer volume and has no affect on the “system sounds”. So if the internal volume is too high alerts will be annoying – for instance when you receive a text message alert or unlock the iPhone.

To fix it, open the iPod or Music app (formally iPod before iOS 5) and play some music through the speaker. No matter what the volume is currently set at, make a small adjustment. The system volume will be set to this new setting.

Must be a bug or an over site in Apple’s design, because as far as I know there is no other way to adjust the internal sounds volume. Perhaps some game you were playing boosted the sound (Bad developer! Bad!)

Buck Shot App

Buck Shot App developer Neal Schmidt, tired of issues around supporting the app he created, has sold the app for $16,600 USD on eBay.

Bidding started at $10 and rose to $16,000 before closing today. Mr Schmidt is selling the whole company that is listed as the “developer”. As long as Apple allows the sale – they have the ultimate say over whether an App goes on sale and continues to be available. (Hmm… wonder what it says in the terms and conditions).

This is great news for our fellow developers as it sets a president as to what an App is actually worth in dollars and sense! In real terms, a game is a game but often an App can represent or extend a brand. Then it can be argued that a successfully executed App can create more exposure for companies. Then it’s worth it’s weight in positive spin.