Regular Hours

Extended Hours: Evening or Weekend consultations can be scheduled, when available, for an additional 50% surcharge.

Examples of urgent inquiries include hard drive failure, potential data loss, failure to start up, network failure, or other issues impacting business operations.

They have completely dominated the new market, selling over 40 million iPads since spring of last year.

A story was posted recently on CNET about the tablet that Microsoft was working on when Apple released the iPad.  While Apple's designers and engineers toiled away in secret for years until the iPad was ready, Microsoft's own tablet team worked on a folding two-screen design called Courier. But Microsoft canceled their tablet project in April 2010, conceding the market to Apple's just-released iPad.

One paragraph in the CNET story about Microsoft's Courier had me laughing out loud.

Since Apple's iPad had not yet been released, Microsoft didn't have a reference design from which to blatantly copy derive inspiration. So, trying to do something original with their digital tablet, they sought advice from the makers of paper notebooks!

The Courier group wasn't interested in replicating Windows on a tablet. The team wanted to create a new approach to computing. The metaphor they used was "digital Moleskine," a nod to the leather-bound notebooks favored in the design world. In fact, according to a few team members, a small group [...] flew to Milan, Italy, to pick the brains of the designers at Moleskine to understand how they've been able to create such loyal customers.

"Moleskine was interested but a little perplexed," said one executive who worked on the Courier project.

I laughed at the thought of Microsoft's bungling designers showing up at Moleskine, the makers of fine paper notebooks, and asking with quiet candor, "what's your secret?"

The iPad comes with an unlimited number of blank, college ruled, or grid-lined pages – it's your choice, starting at $499.

Our working relationship is inspired by other couples whose livelihoods are integrated. As we grow into the next phase of PsiMac, we are empowered by those around us and by our joined strength and love.

I recommend waiting a few weeks for the service to be brought online and tested under the load of millions of users.  There's no rush to upgrade unless you want to help Apple troubleshoot the new system.  The existing MobileMe service will continue to be operational for the next nine months.

iCloud requires all of your Macs to be upgraded to Lion, and iPhones and iPads to iOS 5.  These are major upgrades; care must be taken to ensure they go smoothly.

If you are excited to upgrade and wish to experience the new features of iCloud, Lion, and iOS 5 – and you don't mind the occasional hassles of being an early adopter – please get in touch with PsiMac to schedule a consultation to discuss the upgrades.

Digital life means living with omnipresent technology. To benefit from your relationship with technology, you need to have backups.

If you don't want one flipped bit cramping your digital style, then you need to back up that bit and all the other ones.

And zeros.

Apple promised to make this easy when they announced Time Machine five years ago. They further simplified it by making it wireless when they announced Time Capsule almost four years ago. Before that time, it was necessary to physically plug in your backup.

I know.

As easy as it is to connect a small portable hard drive using a single FireWire or USB cable plugged into your Mac, people don't do it. Knowing this, Apple made one that doesn't need to be plugged in.

But too many people still don't have a backup, or not until it's too late.

Put another way:

People, don't do it.

Don't put your digital life at risk by failing to back up!

PsiMac offers PsiBack, an offsite backup service that securely backs you up to a remote location, automatically.

Contact PsiMac now to schedule a backup consultation.

"I want to put a ding in the universe."

With his characteristic audacity, Jobs had the courage to believe that the very reins of the universe could be held by a mere mortal.

Long time Apple people may recall the Knowledge Navigator concept video from 1987.  In this rather audacious yet provocative thought exercise, Apple envisioned a future scenario that would have been hard to imagine for anyone other than science fiction authors.  They demonstrated, with the clarity and style of Apple, a "Personal Digital Assistant" able to organize and enhance your life by interacting with you in normal conversation.  The scenario imagined by Apple over two decades ago was predicted to occur in the lifetimes of those watching: September 2011, to be exact.

Yesterday, they finally made it real.

The announcement of Siri, a feature unique to the iPhone 4S, happened within days of when the demonstration video imagined it.

How poetic that the passing of Steve Jobs came on the cusp of the culmination of his life's work.

Steve, may you rest in peace, and may you get that chance to put a ding in the universe.

Click the image above to view the article as a PDF file, or view the online edition of the full August 2011 edition of Home.

How often this should be done depends upon the pattern of usage.

Macs that operate as servers – for example, sharing files, sharing music, sharing other media, or sharing printers – should be shut down rarely; whereas most Macs should be restarted regularly. Many Macs are only restarted when software updates require it, or when improperly forced due to freezes or other failures. But restarting your Mac regularly is good maintenance.

When a system is running continuously, performance tends to degrade over time. Whether related to thermodynamic entropy or memory leaks, this is observable and measurable in normal use, so in practice it is advisable to restart as often as every week. To promote reliable operation, restart proactively. This will preempt freezes and crashes which could otherwise lead to data corruption and overall system degradation.

To Restart, click the Apple menu at the top left of the screen and choose Restart (or Shut Down).

Most Macs, iPads, and iPhones should be configured to go to sleep after a short period of inactivity, or when the cover is closed, which is the default setting. If you are expecting to be away for longer than a few days, it might be a good idea to shut down.

If the Mac is unresponsive, it is advisable to attempt to regain responsiveness so that the system may be properly restarted. If the system is unresponsive for longer than fifteen minutes and is determined to be frozen, then the system may be forcibly restarted by holding down the power button until the power is interrupted and the system goes dark and silent. Wait ten seconds, and then press and release the power button to start up the system normally.

The power button on the system should never be used to forcibly shut down the system unless it cannot be shut down normally (by using the Restart or Shut Down command in the Apple menu).

By jailbreaking, you take security, stability and support into your own hands.