How to browse the web anonymously (Updated October 2018).

If you like your privacy, you better think twice about which browser you use to to access the internet.  Web browsing can be a very scary thing.  Websites track your surfing session.  Social networks, search engines, your Internet provider, even the government may be tracking you online as well!  They may be collecting what they consider valuable marketing data, or trying to prevent potentially dangerous criminal activity, regardless, what you do online, in the so called privacy and comforts of your home, sadly folks, is anything but private!  For this post, I've gathered some tips and tricks to help you browse anonymously, should you care to.

Do you ever wonder about the ads you get on your Facebook page, or other sites you visit?  How they are seemingly tailored just for you?  Well, THEY ARE!  Your searches, and the sites you visit get captured (via cookies and other browser tools) to help the sites you visit to understand your online “tendencies”, which is for nothing more that their benefit.  To help avoid sites knowing "who you are", or better, who your computer is, one thing you can do is use anonymous proxy software.  What is proxy software?  Anonymous proxy software is a great way to mask, or hide your IP address online.  However, even using this type of software, there is still plenty of information about your Web-surfing habits stored on your computer — which could also be viewed over a network, say, at the office or by your IT department (that's right folks)

Thankfully, its very easy to manage your privacy settings right in your Web browser, unless the company you work for does not give you admin privileges, which you need to make changes to your browsers settings.

A great thing to do is to disable the cookies in your browser.  A browser cookie is a tiny text file that gets stored on your computer.  It has information about where you've been online, your passwords, and other information as well.  You should also delete your browser history to make certain to cover your tracks! Every major browser, from IE, Chrome, Safari or Firefox allows you to delete your browsing history.  All you need to do is go into the Options or Settings on your favorite browser and you'll see how this is done.  In Safari, Apple makes it very easy.  Click the History Menu option and you'll see a menu like the one below pop up.

You'll click the Clear history option (last item you'll see on the pop-up menu), then a window will appear like the one below.

From there, you can decided if you’d like to clear the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all history.  I recommend doing this weekly, and choosing the all history option. 

Another tip...Turn off Auto-complete functionality on your browser. If Auto-complete is turned on, someone could jump on your computer, type in a few letters of a Web Address (URL) bar, or in a search engine and any recent places you've visited could be automatically filled in!  And NEVER click "Remember my password" for any private or financial institutions (or anything else for that matter, see my blog/post about 1Password).  Doing so could grant a hacker access to your most precious information.

Ok, there is another, very easy thing you can do.  Most browsers allow for private surfing.  If you are a Safari user, click on the File menu option, and choose New Private Window.  Enabling this feature will stop your browser from saving any history, search queries, cookies or passwords.  

Ok, now let's discuss search engines.  If you think the web is a great place to search for things, you are correct!  I don’t believe what you search for should become the property of the search engine you use!  So what are your choices?  Try using the DuckDuckGo search engine.   DuckDuckGo is an Internet search engine that protects searchers' privacy.  DuckDuckGo distinguishes itself from other search engines by not profiling its users and by deliberately showing all users the same search results for a given search term. DuckDuckGo emphasizes getting information from the best sources rather than the most sources, generating its search results from key crowdsourced sites such as Wikipedia and from partnerships with other search engines like Yandex, Yahoo!, Bing, and Yummly (taken directly from their web page!).

Finally and sadly, you may (or may not) have heard that Facebook shares your Web-browsing history it collects with advertisers to display more targeted ads — yes, even on non-Facebook sites you visit. Thankfully you can opt out of this within Facebook's Privacy settings.

Speaking of Facebook, how on earth does Facebook know to show you ads for your local gym or supermarket? In part it's because your computer's unique Internet Protocol (IP) address, assigned by your Internet provider, which reveals your geographical location. Unfortunately, even if your computer generates a different IP address every time you boot up or log online, this number (e.g. 220.165.119.12) still tells your general location.  There are a slew of solutions that allow you to hide your Internet connection, allowing you to remain anonymous while online.  One solution is to use a free "online proxy servers" to conceal your identity. Simply point the Web address (URL) to the proxy server and surf right from its website (for help with this, check out proxy.org for a list of great options).

*Updated Section*
Or, you may wish to download Virtual Private Network (VPN) software that encrypts your browsing sessions.  The browser-independent Hotspot Shield from AnchorFree (anchor free.com), for example is available for Windows, Macs, iPhone and Android channels all Web activities through a personal VPN and secures Internet communications by turning all HTTP traffic into the safer HTTPS (which is what your bank uses for a safe connection). You can purchase an ad-supported free version and a beefier "elite" option ($72/year) with more bells and whistles.  Another great VPN option is ExpressVPN (my choice), you can choose a monthly plan, or pay yearly (a smarter option) for $99.84 a year.  ExpressVPN allows 3 devices to connect at the same time, which is great for families.  If you have a larger family, you can purchase additional subscriptions for additional devices.  Additionally I'd like to share a link from the ExpressVPN site (shared so kindly by Constantina White, who does web research at the site TechWarn.com.  Here's a link to the article https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/6-search-engines-abuse-your-privacy/

*Updated Section*

Another VPN to check out is SurfEasy, (there are 3 payment options: free, $3.99 a month and $6.49/month; surfeasy.com), the best most secure option is the $6.49/mo, which allows up to 5 devices connected at once, plus torrent protection (for those who use it), as well as connection to 12 additional countries.  Your browsing session is handled through SurfEasy's fast and secure private proxy network. Your IP address will be masked throughout your browsing session.  Similar to ExpressVPN, the SurfEasy VPN that can protect not only computers, but your iPhones, iPads and even Android devices as well!  You may also wish to check out Tails (tails.boum.org), which can be downloaded and installed onto a USB stick to run independently of the computer's original operating system. Similar to SurfEasy, it allows you browse the Web anonymously, on virtually any computer as all connections are channeled through the earlier mentioned TOR network.

Similarly, Tor is free software that protects you against Internet surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy. TOR is short for "The Onion Router" — which gets its name for its "layered" approach to the encryption process — TOR (torproject.org) provides online anonymity as the software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers to conceal your location as well as your online browsing patterns.

It is crazy how much information gets collected about us online, and if you didn’t realize how unsafe your browsing was, hopefully this blog clued you in.  You may choose to do nothing, just be aware that you are being "followed" and "watched".  There are things you can do, and things I hope you do to help protect yourself.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to me for assistance!  

Until next time, best to you and your devices.  And Safe Browsing to you all!

Mac Location Services

How to know which apps are using location services on your Mac!

As our reliance on our devices has grown, so to has grown, our devices need, to know our location.

If you are like me, you want to know when your  Location data is being used by your Mac. If you enable the Location Services menu bar, you’ll be able to see when any app is accessing your private location data, making it possible to lock down any apps you don’t want using it. The following is a quick “how to” to get the Location menu bar notice working.  

First, launch System Preferences (on your Mac) and click the Security and Privacy icon.

Next, at the bottom left, click the lock so you can make changes to this page.  Once you’ve done that, click on the Privacy tab (highlighted in red), then the Location Services in the left-hand pane. In the windows on the right (under Enable Location Services) Scroll down to the System Services area and click on the Details button.

Next, click on the checkbox next to “Show location icon in menu bar when System Services request your location” and then press the Done button.

In the picture below, the location icon is enabled on the toolbar as I was using the Maps app.  By clicking the arrow, you are shown which apps are accessing your location via the location data services.   

If your goal is privacy,  you can completely disable Location Data or simply disable it for that particular app (in this case Maps).  Just know, if you do that, your Mac won’t be able to help you if and when you need directions.

I hope you've found this little “how to” has been helpful.   If so, please share it with your friend, co-workers and whomever else you may think can use it!   Until next time, best to you and your devices!

Best new features of iOS 9

Hello and thanks for reading my blog that covers some of the best new features in iOS 9.  So let's dive right in here, and these are in no particular order, just some of my favorite newbies.  


First, Phone number lookup - Don't you wish your phone could identify everyone that calls you, even those people NOT in your contacts?  Well now it can!  If you make or receive a call and that phone number is not in your contacts, but happens to be in an email sent to you, your Phone can label it with the contacts name!  Simply turn the "Contacts Found in Mail" setting on (found in the Mail, Contacts, Calendar Setting, see directly below).

Searching Settings - Now you can search through the setting to find the exact setting you are looking for, rather than swiping up and down to find something.  Simply swipe or pull down in the Settings app and the search window appears!

In-App searches - Once your favorite Apps have been updated to iOS 9, you'll be able to search through them for any information you'd like out of them.

New in Photos, the Selfie Album - Now you can view all your selfies easily in the new Selfie Album thats been added to Photos.

New way to Navigate Photos - Now you can slide through your pictures by swiping your finger left or right along the bottom pane of pictures.

New Notes App (that is actually useful)! - Though very late to the game with these updates, the new features in Notes are welcome and long overdue.  Now you can sketch in a note, and pictures to notes and even create folders.  


iCloud Drive App -  Now the iCloud Drive has been added as an App and you can view, text or email files directly from your iCloud drive.

Reach Contacts directly from Spotlight search - Now in Spotlight if you type the name of a contact, you can call or text them directly from the search results, you don't have to dig through your contacts app!

Nearby suggestions in Maps - New to Maps gets the ability to search for nearby suggestions like Food, Drinks, Shopping, Travel, Services, Fun Health and Transport!

New keyboard - Now you can finally "Know" if you are typing in Caps or not.  The keyboard will capitalize a letter when you press the arrow key once, it will be lower case in all other instances!  Yeah!

Siri - Siri has been upgraded dramatically!  Not only can she launch apps, or create texts, she can even play the "hottest" songs from 1967 if you ask!  And the 6S, hands free Siri is tremendous!  Now you can say "Hey Siri" without having to be plugged in and the personal assistant works!

Those are my favorite new features, if you've got some not listed here, by all means send them along!  Hope you enjoyed and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Until next time, best to you and your devices!

The best way to purchase your new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus is...

Earlier this week, Apple announced a slew of new products, including their latest iPhones, the 6S and 6S Plus. The iPhones can be preordered starting September 12th, and they will be widely available on September 25th.  With the same storage options as the iPhone 6, the 16GB iPhone 6S starts at $199 on-contract, and 64GB and 128GB versions can be yours for $299 and $399, respectively. The larger iPhone 6S Plus will run you a bit more, starting at $299, and is also available in 64GB and 128GB flavors ($399 and $499, respectively) as well.

But Apple wants these prices to be a thing of the past, as the major carriers have done away (for the most part) with traditional two-year contracts and are moving toward 24-month payment plans. This way, instead of paying a large chunk of the cost of the phone up front when you sign a new contract, the carriers (AT&T and Verizon etc.) spread that cost over the life of your plan. So earlier this week, Apple jumped into the fray with The iPhone Upgrade Program.

The program is down right fantastic!  First and foremost, you'll be able to get a new iPhone every year, that's right, every year!  Second, the iPhone is unlocked — allowing you can choose which carrier you'd like to use!  That's right folks, unhappy with your carrier, leave-em!  Third,  you'll pay for the phone with low monthly payments, instead of paying the subsidized cost of the phone up front. And finally, the Upgrade Program comes with AppleCare+.

Not sure if you agree, but this is an AWESOME plan, and something that's long overdue!  That sounds like a decent deal, especially with the inclusion of AppleCare+.  Too compare and show you just how good this plan is, I'm going to break it down and see how it stacks up against the major carriers, using the base iPhone 6S and all the 24-month plans as my reference.

The iPhone Upgrade Program is nothing more than a 24-month installment plan. Once you've paid 12 monthly installments as part of that agreement, you'll be able to swap your phone for a new one. Just remember — this essentially resets the clock on the 24 months, meaning that you're now starting another two-year agreement. Apple has yet to share information on whether (or how it will be done) you can opt out of that 24 month agreement.

The major carriers offer the option of paying the remaining balance of the value of the phone if you want out of their agreements early, and each has its own structure for when you can upgrade. For instance, AT&T will let you upgrade your phone after 18 months, Sprint will let you upgrade whenever the latest iPhone is released, and T-Mobile will let you upgrade after 12 months. Verizon's payment plan is, far and away, the worst here — allowing you to upgrade only after your iPhone has been paid off in full.

The next feature is HUGE!  Apple is selling you an unlocked iPhone as part of the Upgrade Program, which allows you to take it to any of the four major carriers for the service. You shouldn't have a problem bringing the phone to any of the carriers for activation, and it means you can jump from one to another if need be.

Buying an iPhone through any of the carriers, however, removes this luxury. Only Verizon sells unlocked iPhones and when they do, the installment plans they offer are most certainly not applicable.

The picture above shows Apple's new program, and where the value truly comes from. A 16GB iPhone 6S will cost you $32.41 per month, and prices scale up accordingly with bigger storage options as well as the iPhone 6S Plus. A fantastic part of this plan, is that it includes the $129 cost of AppleCare+, which gives you a two-year warranty and allows for two full replacements of the phone if you accidentally damage it (at a $100 per replacement fee). The installment plan is financed by a loan from Citizens Bank, which means you'll likely have to pass a credit check before you get your phone. You also have to schedule an appointment to buy your iPhone in-store — the iPhone Upgrade program will not be offered online.  

Here is where you need to be careful...the carriers are all advertising monthly payments lower than what Apple tells you up front for the 16GB iPhone 6S. Verizon's 24-month payment program and AT&T's "Next 18" 24-month plan each cost $27.09 per month. T-Mobile’s standard 24-month program costs $27.08 per month, while its "Jump on Demand" option, which lets you upgrade up to three times per year, costs $27.00 per month. And Sprint's "iPhone Forever" program is quoted at $22.00 per month. But these prices Do Not include insurance, and this is the key.  When the carriers insurance gets added in, each of the carriers' payment plans — except for Sprint's — winds up being $2 or more a month MORE than Apple's.

To me, the ultimate attraction of the new iPhone Upgrade Program is that it includes the AppleCare+, which  outside of the program  costs $129 for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. AppleCare+ extends the iPhones hardware warranty to two full years, but the real value comes from accidental damage coverage. The AppleCare+ coverage allows for two instances of accidental damage, but the replacement fee is $99. That's far better than paying the full cost of a new screen or an entirely iPhone if you drop (or bend) your phone, but it's not necessarily cheap.

The carriers offer an numerous insurance options, but even the lowest levels all bump the monthly price of their installment plans up over the price of Apple's new iPhone Upgrade plan. Buying the carriers insurance will not only allow you to replace your phone if it's damaged, similar Apple Care+, but also if it's stolen or lost. You pay a lot more for this, though — the deductibles are usually $175 or $200, considerable higher than Apple's $99 replacement fee.

My final thoughts here...Apple's plan is cheaper than the comparable option offered by the major carriers, and you get an unlocked iPhone out of it as well. AppleCare+ does not cover your iPhone if its lost or is stolen, and you won't pay as much to replace your iPhone, should you happen drop and break it. If you're not concerned with insurance at all, it's probably worth your time to seek the payment plans from the carrier of your choice. But, if you want the new iPhone, a decent level of insurance, and don't want to sign a traditional two-year contract, Apple's new iPhone Upgrade Program is the best option around.  

Look for more news on the latest products out of Cupertino to follow soon!  Thanks for reading, and until next time...best to you and your devices!

The Case for securing your passwords using the "1Password" App

How many of you have your passwords stored on your iPhone within the Notes App?  Even better, stored as a Contact?  Wait, better yet, you store your passwords in a book, that you leave in a drawer in the kitchen, or by the computer?  Then to make matters worse, you decide, screw it!  There are way too many logins that require passwords, I can't keep my passwords straight, I have to keep resetting them, so I'll just use the same password for everything, that will be easy!  Sure, and it will make a hackers life easy as well!  They will jump for joy if they ever get their hands on your password, it will open up Fort Knox for them!  

Any of this sound familiar?  All to familiar to me.  When I come upon a client that still stores their passwords in a location I mentioned above (or something similar), my heart aches for them.  G-d forbid someone breaks into your home, or steals your device(s), the first place they will look is one of the places I mentioned above!  So what is there to do, you ask?  How on earth can I remember all these passwords, there is too many.  There are numerous options for password storage, the one I'm going to discuss is the 1Password service and app.  

I've been using 1Password for about a year now (you can click the link to take you to their site).  https://agilebits.com/onepassword  I have the app on both my iPhone and iPad.  1Password uses the concept of a "vault" to store all your passwords (it can even be used to store credit cards, drivers license, passport numbers and other important personal information).  One of my favorite features is that it can sync your "vault(s)" using iCloud.  That way, if you have multiple devices (like me), you use one master password and can access your "vault" on any of your devices.  The following is straight from the agilebits web site "1Password uses the best available encryption from well-trusted and scrutinized cryptographic libraries. It is designed in accordance with the recommendations of the cryptographic research community.  It is designed so that if anyone (including us) were to get a hold of your 1Password data, there is no feasible way for them to decrypt your secrets without knowing your Master Password. We’ve even designed 1Password to make things extra difficult for automated tools that might try guessing your Master Password."  
In terms the rest of us will understand, it's pretty darn secure!  Another of the features I truly adore is that it will create passwords for you if you are having trouble coming up with a good one.  It's a fabulous feature, and the best part is, you won't have to remember the crazy password it creates for you, as its stored within the app for you!  

When you enter an existing password that you use, 1Password will scrutinize it for you and let you know if it's weak, ok, or strong, another great feature.  

So, how much is this tool you ask?  The app itself comes in a free version, and a $9.99 version.  If you are just looking to store passwords, the free version will be more than suitable for you.  The $9.99 version let's you create multiple vaults and even share those vaults amongst your family, should you choose to do so.  

So don't wait another moment folks, if you aren't using a tool like 1Password, and you're still using the same password for multiple sites, or storing them in really insecure places, it's time to step up and lock those passwords down! Go to the App Store on your iPhone or iPad (you can even download 1Password for Mac, that is more intricate and does cost $49.99), download 1Password and start securing your present and future!

Once you've downloaded, if you need assistance with 1Password, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, via email (geoff@themacmentor.com).

Here's to a safe and secure future!  Have a wonderful weekend, and a fantastic Labor Day Holiday.

The new Photos App for Mac.

I've been using the new Photos App for a few months now, here are three things that  you should know if you plan on using the new Photos App.

• If you use the iCloud Photo Library feature, which syncs all your photos across all your devices — you'll almost certainly need to buy more iCloud storage to take advantage of it.

• All the photos you take with your iPhone or import into the new Photos app are backed up to iCloud and shared seamlessly across your devices. Using it is a fantastic experience.

• If you don't want to try iCloud Photo Library, you can keep using the new Photos app as an iPhoto replacement, but you'll be stuck with the old My Photo Stream feature (and its restrictions) for syncing photos across your devices.

As simple as the new Photos App is, the devil is in the details, and there are quite a few details here. Some familiar features have moved or changed, and in classic Apple fashion, some have also been completely removed. Here are some things to be aware of.

How the new Photos App works

If you’ve been using the iCloud Photo Library beta for your iDevices (it came out with iOS 8), you’ll be familiar with how Photos for the Mac works. Rather than the "My Photo Stream" feature, which pushed 1,000 photos across your Mac and iOS devices, everything you shoot on your iPhone will be uploaded to your iCloud. Now, when you open up Photos on your Mac, you’ll see everything you've shot on your iPhone in a manner that’s almost identical to what you see in the Photos app on your iDevice — all your pics are organized by date and location. You can zoom out to a year overview or zoom in and see any particular photo or video. 

You can have every pic in the cloud...if you so desire...

Potentially the  most noteworthy feature about the new Photos app is that Apple no longer is using iCloud to simply share your photos across devices — should you  choose, you can now store every image and video you shoot on your iDevice in your iCloud. To assist you without taking up a ton of storage, Apple is also giving users the option to optimize storage on their devices. Rather than locally storing every image in full resolution or high resolution, you can choose to have the full images live in your iCloud; smaller sized, optimized images that take up less storage space will instead be displayed on your iDevices and on your Mac as well.  You can of course download the full size image at any time, if you feel so inclined. Now, if you decide on this setup, you’ll be trusting Apple to keep all the originals safe in iCloud. Thankfully, you can have it set so that the Photos app on your Mac keeps all the original, full-size images stored locally should you so choose. 

Beyond providing a much better way of organizing your photos and videos across your devices, the new Photos app for does much of what iPhoto did — allowing you can make a variety of edits, create calendars and books, use facial recognition to sort photos by the people that are in them, share them with iCloud or across some third-party services, and much much more. Almost every feature in iPhoto is available in Photos, and Apple has, thank g-d, finally fixed its very confusing cloud-syncing solutions in favor of a much simpler and smarter solution.

What’s new?

As I mentioned above, this is a completely new app with changes to both its look and feel, and how you edit photos. But there are a few new features as well.

• If you take pics with an iPhone or iPad (and who doesn't?) , there's now a way to sort between photos and videos from Apple's newer devices. This includes things like panoramics, burst shots, slow motion, and timelapse video. Now you can do it on your Mac as well.

• Apple has changed the shared Activity View to look just like it does on iOS. The difference here is that any shared albums you have with friends now show up in the main source list instead of hidden away. 

• A new auto-crop tool that looks at your photo to figure out where the horizon is, then adjusts it according to the rule of thirds. 

• A new zoomed out view for collections and years that makes thumbnails tiny. You can see what pictures are by clicking, just like how it works on your iDevice. 

• Finally, there's a new square book format if you're printing photos through Apple. 

What’s not in the new Photos App that we are used to in iPhoto?

Almost everything that exists iPhoto exists in Photos, but some features did in fact not make it. Please note, I was using a pre-release version of the Photos App, and things may be added in future releases.

• The star rating system has given way to favoriting photos with hearts.  Never fear, your existing star ratings are preserved from your old photos and accessible through by a simple search.

• iPhoto’s built-in mail tool is thankfully gone, replaced now by sending you to Yosemite’s Mail app. 

• The syncing tools for Flickr and Facebook, gone!  Replaced with the system-wide sharing tools. 

• You can no longer geotag photos, however you can see, sort, and search by where photos were taken.

How does this handle storing photos on my Mac versus iCloud Photo Library?

Either you decide to keep your pics on your Mac, or sync up everything in your Photos library with your iCloud Photo Library. Simply put, that means no selecting certain photos of events to sync up. Power users might hate that, but the feature’s been designed so you don’t have to remember to flag items. It is absolutely worth noting that even if you choose to sync your photos with iCloud Photo Library, you are still able to  keep the original files stored locally on your Mac while having your library mirrored across multiple devices.

Will I need to buy iCloud storage right away?

The new Photos App can be used without iCloud Photo Library, and thus not take up your iCloud storage. You can keep both photos and videos in the Photos app, similar to how you could with iPhoto and Aperture. You can also continue using iCloud’s Photo Stream feature, though it does not store full quality versions of your photos and won't transfer videos. Once you've upgraded to the iCloud Photo Library, your  Photo Stream as you've known it is replaced by All Photos.

If you do want to turn on iCloud Photo Library, the Photos App will provide an estimation of how much storage it will take. If that amount goes over the 5GB of free free storage, you can purchase additional storage, similar to how it's done from your iDevice. Though Apple gives you 5GB for free, you’re sharing that space with your iCloud backups, as well as files you have stored in iCloud Drive. Photos you’ve taken on your iPhone count separately from those backups. 

My sincere hope, now that Amazon has severely changed their cloud pricing, is that Apple, shortly follows suit.  In the meantime, Apple offers four choices of additional iCloud storage (which have vary in price depending on what country you’re in). In the US, at least, it’s 99 cents a month for 20GB, $3.99 a month for 200GB, $9.99 a month for 500GB, and $19.99 a month to jump to 1TB.  Amazon offers unlimited file storage for $60/month!  

Ok, so what’s the plan for iPhoto and Aperture?

Both iPhoto and aperture will live on, for now, though there will be no further developments for either. The Photos App replaces iPhoto, so your library is transferred over. Aperture users, can continue to use Aperture if they want to make more advanced edits. But those edits WILL NOT sync over to the new Photos App, and vice versa.

Do I need to do anything to my photo library on iOS, iPhoto, or Aperture?

Quite simply, no. Apple has made it very easy for you to move your iPhoto or Aperture library into Photos and preserve your edits. However, because Apple changed some of its organizational tools, some things do get lost or changed from your iPhoto or Aperture library. Star ratings get turned into hearts (or favorites), and projects are turned into albums. Some other metadata is retained but will only show up in search. You will need to search for things like color labels and flags if you used them.  If not no worries there. Also, if you’ve added any custom metadata fields to any photos in Aperture, those fields DO NOT carry over.  For iOS users, there’s nothing to do. If you’ve turned on iCloud Photo Library, all your photos and albums will show up in Photos.

Phew!  That's a basic overview of the new Photos App.  I look forward to hearing about your trials once you've made the move...

Good Luck!  And as always...Until next time...Best to you and your devices!

iCloud Essentials Part 1

Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes and Reminders.

iCloud has more than lived up to it's promise of being your personal contents "Master" storage location.  I've been using iCloud since it's public release in October of 2011, and only have the highest praise for it's many services.  This blog, iCloud Essentials Part 1, will cover Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes and Reminders.  It will be followed, in the coming weeks, by two additional blogs covering the other features.

To begin, let's start with why we need a "Master" storage option, and why that should be iCloud (for iPhone, iPad and Mac users especially, iCloud only recently opened up to non Apple users).  In the not to distant past, those of you with multiple devices probably used your computer as the "Master".  In order to get content from the computer to your device(s), you plugged the device in, and synced content through iTunes (and iPhoto).  A very manual, very un-sexy way to share content.  Fast forward to today, now we have a sleek, sexy way for all our iDevices to share content, iCloud.  

iCloud requires a user id and password.  In some cases, it will be the Apple ID you use for iTunes.  In some cases, it will be a separate account.  On your iPhone or iPad, to get to iCloud, you'll go into the Settings App, and click on the iCloud setting.  On your Mac, you'll go into System Preferences, and click the iCloud preference.  On a PC, you'll have to download the iCloud Control panel to access your iCloud content.

On your iPhone and iPad, the Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes and Reminder settings are quite simple.  You either switch them on (green) or leave them off (grey). 

On your Mac, it's just as simple.  You check the settings you wish to use, and leave the settings you are not using unchecked.

You'll notice in my settings, on my iPhone and Mac, I've got the Notes and Reminders settings turned off.  The reason for that is that I use other apps in their stead, so no sense having the settings turned on.

If it's not immediately obvious, you need to be signed into iCloud with the same account information across your devices.  That may seem like a no brainer, but believe me, it has happened on way more occasions than you might want to believe where people have been signed in under one account on one device, and another account on a second device.  Needless to say, those folks had an impossible time sharing their content!  By signing into iCloud with the same account information, across your devices, you have made sharing your content a breeze.  Example:  Enter a contact on your iPhone, and it will appear on all other iCloud devices.  Similarly, enter a calendar event on your Mac and it will be shared across your devices.  

I recently converted a paper using calendar client, who is also a PC, to the iCloud calendar (no names will be given, but you know who you are).  He's been hesitant to make the switch to a digital calendar, but when he saw how easy it was, he's slowly leaving that calendar book behind.

It's that easy.  Flip the switches, check the boxes and share your content seamlessly across your devices, through iCloud.