VPN Vulnerability

This past year we haven't traveled or had the necessity of using a VPN on public wifi, but with the vaccine inoculating more people, that, hopefully, will soon change. In times past I've used a VPN often, and have purchased several. This article discusses a vulnerability in several VPNs, most of which are free. Should you have an interest in reading more about this, following are a couple of links to take a look at:

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/privacy/2021/03/21-million-free-vpn-users-data-exposed/

https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/report-free-vpns-leak/#Timeline-of-Discovery-and-Owner-Reaction

I don't like the concept of using a free VPN -- or a free "anything", for that matter -- as how can one expect a company to provide an expensive service for 'free'? I purchase any VPN I use, and do not pick an obscure VPN, as most of the ones in the article are. I read reviews of any VPN I'm interested in.

Anyway, if you do use a VPN, be cautious in what you use.

Jim Hamm

Free Up Space in Gmail

If you use Gmail, it's amazing how quickly old emails can accumulate and take up storage space you might need for new emails. For your possible interest, here is an article discussing how to delete old emails you no longer need and free up space.

I've used this technique often, and it is nice how easily one can delete old emails and free up space.

Jim Hamm

Apple on Mars?

Apple on Mars? Well, somewhat. Read this article, "The CPU from Apple's iMac G3 is powering NASA's Perseverance rover." I once had a G3 and liked it. But it got too old and slow, and couldn't keep up with the times, so I had to move on. But, as the following article mentions, NASA is more interested in reliability than in speed, and this CPU apparently is quite reliable, especially for a technology that is 23 years old.

Can't imagine the technology it takes, though, to control and communicate with a mobile unit that is 139 million miles from earth.

Jim Hamm

https://www.engadget.com/nasa-perseverance-powerpc-750-171516292.html

Two-Factor Authentication


Two-factor authentication is a feature that secures your device from being accessed if it is lost or stolen. It is also a great hindrance for anyone with diminished mental acuity. So this should only be enabled if you still have a sharp mind and a good memory. If you don’t enable two-factor authentication, then you probably should chain your mobile device to your body, right?

Once two-factor authentication has been enabled and active for two weeks, it cannot be undone. Not even by Apple.

Wait! It can be undone. However, the only way to deactivate two-factor authentication is to deactivate the device. This means restoring it to its factory settings - and it wipes the device clean. When you turn it back on and set it up again, do not enable two-factor authentication.

John Carter Sr.

macOS Big Sur

I had an unusual experience last eve in doing an update to Big Sur, which I've had installed since it came out, with no issues. I clicked the update, and it said downloading Big Sur, at a 3.86 GB download! Hmmm? Then, at 400 MB down it stopped downloading. Wouldn't budge. So I closed the window, clicked update again, and the download started over. After about an hour I completed the installation, again, of macOS Big Sur on my 2019 MBA.

This morning, Big Sur opened up and works just fine again, as it did before the update. Just an 'interesting' experience, if that's the correct word.

Jim Hamm

Apple Safe Browsing

At some date in the future we will get to iOS 14.5, according to the following article:

https://the8-bit.com/apple-proxies-google-safe-browsing-privacy/#htg=1498271

What is really interesting in the article -- to me, anyway -- is the approach Apple will take to help us have a safer browsing experience. Take a look and see. Kinda neat! Of course, Google isn't too fond of this idea, as it would much prefer to follow what you're doing and showing you some ads.

Another approach to browsing the web is to use a search engine that doesn't track your browsing, such as DuckDuckGo. On the other hand, here is a contra thought: right now the web is free, and is paid for, I suppose, by ads directed to people. Block the ads, and revenue goes away. What might this mean to us long term, I wonder?.

Jim Hamm

Sophos Home Free is Now Available for Big Sur

For those of you who have been using Sophos Home Free as their preferred app for protection against viruses, malware and hackers, it is now available for Big Sur - even the M1 machines.

https://home.sophos.com/en-us/download-mac-anti-virus.aspx

The comparable Sophos Home for Mobile in the App Store requires a Sophos Premium account. But ...

The free Sophos Intercept X for iOS and iPadOS is in the App Store. This app contains many features, such as Wi-Fi security, Secure QR code scanner, Authenticator, and Password Safe.

If you don’t already have a Sophos account, there’s no charge and no pain in creating one. With a Sophos account, you can monitor all of your devices with a browser from anywhere.

And there is a free Sophos XG Firewall for home users - but it runs on a dedicated computer. Perfect if you have an old spare computer.

https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-xg-firewall-home-edition.aspx


John R Carter Sr



Zoom

Due to the pandemic, virtual programs, such as Zoom, have become quite popular. For your information, following are some notes on Zoom, and some tips here.

Jim Hamm

Zoom just got a pretty significant update. The new features include:

  • Virtual receptionist: The Zoom Rooms Kiosk Mode is now available, and with it comes a virtual receptionist who can greet you or your guests safely using Zoom Rooms.

  • Use your phone as the in-room controller: Rather than touching a shared controller, you can now pair your iOS or Android mobile to get access to all room controls via the app, including the ability to start or join a meeting along with full audio, video and participant controls.

  • Share a whiteboard to Zoom Chat: If it’s a personal Zoom Room, you can also send it to your chat groups.

  • Meeting reactions: Rooms and Zoom for Home devices will now receive and show meeting reactions.

  • Real-time transcriptions: Noisy room? Rooms and computers now have real-time transcriptions, so you won’t have to miss an important update due to external noise.

  • Hands-free controls: A future update will also add more access to hands-free voice commands, including Alexa control.

Apple Financials

Following is a summary of Apple's financial performance for their first quarter -- amazing! I tend to think of Apple as a computer company. As you look at the numbers, you will see that only 8% are Mac-related. I wish I'd bought a million $ of Apple stock about 10 years ago.

Jim Hamm

Apple released their holiday (1st) Quarter financials Wednesday night. With revenue hitting a staggering $111.4 billion and a $28.8 billion profit for the three months, Apple's financial performance broke through even the most optimistic projections.  Apple experienced double-digit growth in each of their business sectors and throughout the world. I am old and have been in the Apple business for a long time.   I distinctly remember an Apple Specialist conference many moons ago when John Branden, then the head of the sales channel but new to Apple, proudly got on stage and said "team, Apple may become a $5 billion company this year..." with such enthusiasm that I thought it was a lofty goal.  Over 20 times that in a quarter is lofty!  Apple told us this week that they now have over 1 billion iPhones and 1.6 billion devices in use around the world.  WOW! Truly a remarkable achievement.

Yes, the release of the iPhone 12 drove this sales achievement, but to set this kind of record in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century is just phenomenal.  Yes, the first quarter is Apple's strongest, accounting for about 30% of annual sales.  iPhone growth of 17% year-over- year, with $65.6 billion in iPhone sales, was well beyond what anyone was expecting.  With Apple retail stores closed in many areas of the world this quarter becomes even more remarkable considering the impact of the pandemic.

Services, which includes the App Store, etc was up 24% at $15.8 billion.  To put that in some perspective, the Apple sector that sports over 65% margin and does not involve manufacturing, posted more revenue in one quarter than companies like General Mills and Netflix did in a year.  On an annual basis that is more than Disney, Facebook and Caterpillar and could place just Apple's service sector in the Fortune 100.

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Last year we saw the resurgence of the iPad after some decline in year-over-year sales.This quarter iPad saw growth in double digits with revenue of $8.4 billion  versus just $6 billion in the same quarter last year. The Mac was not too shabby either, improving on last year's 0.2% growth to about 18% growth on $8.7 billion in sales.  Wearables which include Apple Watch, AirPods, etc. increased revenue from $10 billion last holiday season to almost $13 billion this year.

"This quarter for Apple wouldn't have been possible without the tireless and innovative work of every Apple team member worldwide," said Apple's Tim Cook. "We're gratified by the enthusiastic customer response to the unmatched line of cutting-edge products that we delivered across a historic holiday season. We are also focused on how we can help the communities we're a part of build back strongly and equitably, through efforts like our Racial Equity and Justice Initiative as well as our multi-year commitment to invest $350 billion throughout the United States."

Apple's Board of Directors declared a $0.205 per share dividend payable to shareholders of record on February 8th. Of course, with a great quarter like this a bunch of folks followed the adage "buy on rumor, sell on news" and Apple stock went down initially, but I am pretty confident that the analysts that have raised their price targets on AAPL will be right in the long term.

Apple continued its pandemic-trend in not releasing any forecasts for the next quarter but CFO Luca Maestri said Apple expects revenue growth to accelerate year-over-year in the 2nd quarter.

Congratulations to the entire Apple team for a remarkable job!

Apple's iMessage

If you use Apple's iMessage, you may want to read the following article about the security of iMessages:

https://www.howtogeek.com/710509/apples-imessage-is-secure...-unless-you-have-icloud-enabled/

Now, you might have a question on the difference between a message sent on iMessage vs a text message.

In that case, you might want to read the following article: https://appletoolbox.com/imessage-basic-guide/

As for me, I hardly text at all, so it's no concern to me of the idea that someone at Apple has the ability

to read an iMessage if iCloud is turned on. But that may be a concern for some people.

Jim Hamm

Difference Between MS Word, LibreOffice Writer, and Pages

What’s the difference between MS Word, LibreOffice Writer, and Pages?

For one, creating paragraph styles in either Word or Writer actually works. Creating paragraph styles in Pages doesn’t work - AT ALL!

So if you’re a technical person like me who likes to prepare documents with paragraph styles, you’re not going to have any fun with Pages unless you stick with the paragraph styles that Apple provides - which are very limited in scope, function, and utility.

And Apple has no idea that attempting to create a new paragraph style based on an existing one does not work as you expect it to, so don’t even bother. Use Word or Writer.


John R Carter Sr