Posts in the “apple” category

Dateline August, 2025: My “Back To Now” mindfulness reminder app is once again available on iPhone/iPad devices.

It was driving me crazy that the quality of the songs I was streaming from a website known as Bandcamp sounded better than the quality of the songs I was playing from my iTunes (now Music) collection. In my case, I recently bought a Marian Call CD named “Something Fierce”, and had imported the songs from that CD into iTunes. But the songs I streamed from Bandcamp sounded better than the songs I imported from the CD; how could this be?

I dug into the problem and found two simple fixes, both in iTunes. In this article I'll show you how to make those fixes to dramatically increase your iTunes sound/music quality.

I recently bought a new iMac, and it came with a “Magic Mouse 2,” which is like the original Magic Mouse, but this one has a built-in battery. (It would have been nice if the documentation mentioned that, but that’s another story.) Once I figured out that you could charge it, I quickly wondered, “How long do you need to charge the Magic Mouse 2?”

iPhone/iOS FAQ: How do I delete/remove/uninstall iPhone applications?

When I learned how to move iPhone app icons around, I also learned how to remove iPhone apps. Here’s a short tutorial on how to delete iPhone apps.

iPhone FAQ: I have an iPhone app in a waiting state; how do I get it to finish installing or updating?

iPhone ring length FAQ: Can I change the iPhone ring length, or number of rings? My iPhone doesn't ring long enough, and often goes to voicemail before I can get to it.

After digging into this, yes, it looks like you can change your iPhone ring length, and there are at least two ways to do this.

Changing iPhone ring length - Option 1 (The safe way)

First, the safest option is to call AT&T customer service, or visit an AT&T store, and they can do it for you.

If you want to make a backup copy (an ISO image) of a CD or DVD on a MacOS system using the Unix dd command at the Mac Terminal command line, I’ll demonstrate the process in this tutorial.

Step 1: Insert a CD or DVD

Assuming that you’re using an external CD/DVD drive, the first step is to connect your drive to your computer, and then insert a CD or DVD. If you insert a movie or music CD and an application automatically starts playing, quit that application.

Apple mission statement: To the best of my knowledge Apple has never published a “mission statement,” but I enjoyed this quote from Tim Cook of Apple regarding Apple's business philosophy, which is essentially their mission statement:

iPhone/iOS FAQ: How can I check how many “minutes used” and “minutes remaining” I have on my iPhone plan (with AT&T or Verizon)?

As I was digging around for some other information I just saw how to check my AT&T iPhone minutes used. Since the iPhone operating system (iOS) is supposed to be the same across carriers, I’ll assume this works for Verizon as well as AT&T.

iPhone FAQ: How do I copy and paste on the iPhone, iPod, or iPad?

With the new Apple iPhone 3.0 operating system, iPhone users can finally copy and paste content. Here's a quick summary of how the iPhone copy/paste feature works.

November 19, 2019: Version 1.1 of my Back To Now “mindfulness reminders” app for iOS was just released on Apple’s App Store. Since it’s officially a Valley Programming product, you can read more about it on my Back To Now v1.1 support page on ValleyProgramming.com.

I haven’t watch all of this video yet, but from what I have seen, it appears that Steve Jobs secret passion was Japanese art.

Today I learned that when you’re using the MacOS Message application, after you type a first line or paragraph, you can start a new line or paragraph by typing [alt][Enter] instead of just [Enter]. If you type [Enter] you’ll send your message, but the [alt][Enter] keystroke combination lets you add new lines and create a new paragraph.

I was just looking at this iMac design page, and saw this nice graphic on, “The evolution of iMac.” Makes for a nice retrospective.

~ a post from 2014

One lesson learned from Apple recently is that if your products stagnate people will start to look around, and when they do that they may spend their money elsewhere.

As just one small example of this, iOS got boring for me, so I started looking around and bought an Android tablet instead of a new iPad. These days the Mac and macOS feel stagnant — or worse than that, moving in the wrong direction by removing features like Spaces — so I’m looking at desktop alternatives as well.

2018 Update: As a result of macOS moving in the wrong direction (IMHO), I now have have a laptop and desktop that run Linux Mint.

iPhone apps FAQ: How do I move iPhone apps or app icons? (Related: How do I move iPod or iPad app icons?)

I'm a relatively new owner of an Apple iPhone 3G, and last night, quite by accident, I learned how to move iPhone apps (applications) from one place to another on the iPhone screen. The technique to move an iPhone app is a bit of fun; here's how you do it.

In this article Steve Sinofsky talks about Mac computers potentially using ARM processors, based on his history with Microsoft and Windows RT:

“The biggest ‘if’ at all is whether such a device is or would be called Macintosh and the implications of that path. Of course when we named Windows RT there was no debate about using ‘Windows’ in the name as everything had Windows in it for us (Windows NT, Windows Embedded, Windows Media Center, Windows Tablet PC, Windows Server, Windows CE, Windows Phone) and they rarely shared more than the name Windows. But is Macintosh a brand, a set of specific capabilities, a form factor, or what? I’m excited to see as Apple holds all the cards and can choose as they wish.”

In this article, Jon Gruber shares some benchmarks that show that a 2020 iPhone SE ($400) is faster than a 2019 MacBook Pro ($3,000) in single-threaded performance.

Just before beginning this hellaciously long drive to Alaska, I stopped in a used bookstore to sell 250 of my favorite books (that were too heavy to fit in my RAV4), but in the process, I bought one more: an old copy of Guy Kawasaki’s, The Macintosh Way.

I was going to wait to read The Macintosh Way until I got settled in Alaska, but I’ve had some down time the last few days — waiting out some brutal Canadian winter weather and waiting for new winter tires to be delivered — so I cracked it open.

Tonight, on page 123 — right before some Iditarod sled dogs started barking like crazy at feeding time in the parking lot — I read a few lines from Mr. Kawasaki that succinctly explain Apple’s marketing and public relations approach:

There’s a big difference between advertising and PR. Advertising is when you tell people how great you are. PR is when someone else says how great you are. PR is better. (This is Jean-Louis’ insight.)

A short video where Steve Jobs talks about marketing.