You might want to wait. With WWDC coming up on Monday, June 10, we think that Apple will most likely announce updates to its current product line. So if you can hold off on buying that new MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, you should.
Adobe announced this week that Creative Suite 6 is going to be the last boxed version and all of Adobe’s design products will henceforth be available only through its subscription service, Creative Cloud.
Creative Cloud pricing varies as follows:
COMPLETE INDIVIDUAL
Complete package: $49.99 per user (one-year subscription commitment). If you are currently a CS 3 or later user, you can get Creative Cloud for $29.99 per month for the first year.
Single app: $19.99 a month (one-year subscription commitment).
BUSINESS AND EDUCATION USERS
Separate packages exist for businesses and education at discounted rates.
Businesses: $69.99 per month, per user Team edition, which includes 100 GB of cloud storage per user for file sharing and collaboration. For businesses using CS3 or later, Adobe is offering a special offer of $39.99 per user per month.
Students and Teachers: $29.99 per month, but Adobe is currently offering a special for $19.99 per month, which is good through June 25, 2013. Education Teams have an annual plan for $39.99 per person per month.
More information on purchasing Adobe Cloud products can be found through Adobe’s site here.
Don’t hesitate to contact us to help set up Adobe Cloud for your home or business, or help you transition to the Cloud subscription service.
Apple released updates to Safari today that allow users to enable the Java plug-in on a per website basis. We generally recommend that users keep Java disabled, but in the event that you do need it, you can now choose when you want to use it.
When using Safari 6.0.4 (Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8) and Safari 5.1.9 (Mac OS X 10.6), if you should go to a site that attempts to load a Java applet, a dialog box will appear on your screen to ask if you want to block or allow the Java applet. You can also view a list of websites that have attempted to load Java applets by going to Preferences in Safari, clicking on the “Security” tab, and then clicking “Manage Website Settings…” You can then choose to block or allow these sites to use Java plug-ins.
There’s also a Java for OS X 2013-003 update that provides improved security by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_45. Per Apple’s notes:
“On systems that have not already installed Java for OS X 2012-006, this update disables the Java SE 6 applet plug-in. To use applets on a web page, click on the region labeled “Missing plug-in” to download the latest version of the Java applet plug-in from Oracle.”
I’ve had a couple calls from clients (can you say alliteration?) about a sudden drain on their iPhone 5 battery. In both cases, the users noticed the drain after updating to iOS 6.1.3. I took a peak at the Apple support boards and it seems like some other users are experiencing similar issues.
We’ll keep an eye out for a statement from Apple on the issue, but in the meantime, here are some simple tips to follow to get the most out of your iPhone battery:
1. First, take a look at your usage. Settings icon > General > Usage. Scroll to the bottom and find “Time since last full charge,” and you’ll see 2 things: “Usage,” which is the amount of time your iPhone has been up and in use since its last full charge, and “Standby,” which is the amount of time your iPhone has been powered on since its last full charge.
2. Turn off push notifications (unless you really need them). Settings icon > Notifications. Look at the items “In Notification Center” and click on the ones that you don’t need push notifications from. Slide the “On” to “Off.”
3. Turn down the brightness on your screen. Settings icon > Brightness & Wallpaper. Move the bar closer to the dimmed sun icon.
4. Turn off location services that you don’t need. Settings icon > Privacy > Location Services. Go through all the applications that you don’t really care about (does IMDb really need location services on? Fruit Ninja?).
5. Go through at least one charge cycle per month. Apple defines this as charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down.
Above and beyond all this, you can always pick up a mophie juice pack air, which is a case that gives up to an additional 8 hours of talk time on 3G (10 hours on wifi).
Another round of security updates were released by Apple a couple of days ago, and clients have been asking if they should update. Yes, yes, please!
The iOS 6.1.3 update fixes a bug that could allow someone to bypass the the passcode (and also adds improvements to Maps in Japan) . The Apple TV 5.2.1 update fixes a number of security issues that are addressed by Apple here. The Hulu interface has also been redesigned so users will see this after the update.
We always encourage our clients to contact us if they are unsure about an Apple (or any other) software update that has been released. A lot of calls and emails have come in regarding the security update that was released by Apple last week, and we just want to say, yes, please download Java for OS X 2013 and Mac OS X v10.6 Update 13. More information can be found on Apple’s site here.
Security updates should almost always be run, but this update is particularly important because it disables the Java plug-in on all Mac browsers. Apparently, hackers used a hole in Java to infect the employees’ machines at Apple (more info on this story here).
Last week I appeared on Jim Blue’s radio show “Keeping Technology Simple,” where Jim and I discussed the popularity of Apple products. We also talked about the increase in the numbers of businesses switching from PC to Mac, the main maintenance issues that confront our clients, as well as why we strongly recommend preventative maintenance visits. Have a listen here for our February promotion!
Happy New Year from all of us at Need Mac Help! We know many of our users received (or purchased) an iPhone 5, iPad or iPad mini, and/or MacBook Pro over the holidays. So what else could you possibly need, right? Well, here are a few ideas that might inspire…
We wanted to reach out to our Need Mac Help clients and the greater New York City community with some information on aid organizations that are helping residents that have been impacted by the storm. If you are a NYC resident who has not been impacted by the storm, these links can also provide ways you can help locally.
Please feel free to contact us if you have recommendations of any local organizations that can help or use help.
NEW YORK CITY WIDE ORGANIZATIONS
ORGANIZATIONS BY BOROUGH:
BROOKLYN
BRONX
MANHATTAN
QUEENS
STATEN ISLAND
NEW JERSEY ORGANIZATIONS:
So we’re wondering if Apple is going to unveil not just one but TWO new minis tomorrow: an iPad mini AND an updated Mac mini. We obviously don’t know for sure if Apple is going to debut a smaller iPad (or if it will in fact be called an iPad mini), but the rumor mill has produced photos of a supposed iPad “mini” surface, as well as part numbers for an iPad “mini” with 12 different configurations in 2 colors. And, well, the invitation for the media event tomorrow, Tuesday, October 23rd sure does hint at it: