FirstTech: your solutions oriented technology specialist.

aevans — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:22:05 +0000

As part of FirstTech's commitment to our community, we are donating $5 for every AppleCare purchase to the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women (MCBW) through Mother's Day.

MCBW is a well-established, membership organization with 90 member programs located throughout Minnesota with a strong history of effectively carrying out programming that advances women's safety and security. MCBW has existed for almost 30 years as the state's primary voice for battered women.

Priority goals of MCBW include:

To build capacity of advocates, system personnel, and others to better meet the needs of all individual women who have been battered and their children and to effect political and social change to end violence against women. To serve as a reliable resource to members, the community, and the public in Minnesota on all aspects of domestic violence.
To create connections and build relationships that promote shared understanding, trust, and engagement in the movement to end violence against women.
To change the societal values and structures that foster violence against women by promoting community support for challenging those values and structures.
To promote public policy that supports all battered women and their children and holds batterers accountable. To build a healthy and sustainable organization that responds to member needs and leads state-wide efforts to end domestic violence.

To learn more about the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, CLICK HERE.

The Flashback Trojan–and what to do about it.

aevans — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:24:35 +0000

Trojan-Downloader:OSX/Flashback.C poses as a Flash Player installer and connects to a remote host to obtain further installation files and configurations.

So what do you need to know about the Flashback malware that's been in the news lately? News reports suggest that up to 600,000 macs might be infected by this malware. A couple bits of information.

First off, it's not a virus. A computer virus is a small piece of malicious software that can spread from one computer to another without any intervention or action from the user. This is a piece of malware that get's installed on your computer by visiting a website that hosts the program. If you haven't visited one of these sites, you cannot get this program.

Apple has a knowledge base article with more information.

So what does this software do if it manages to find it's way onto your system? So far it only intercepts your search results in your web browser for their financial gain. But it does have a mechanism for downloading more software, so it's important to remove it.

April 12 update: Apple just released a Java update that removes this malware. Just click here. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5242

So how do you check if you have it? Kaspersky has a free flashback removal tool that will check for an infection as well.

One last step for everyone to do is to run Software Update (found under the Apple menu on your Mac) and run any Java or security update you see there. This will prevent you from ever being infected by this malware (and always a good idea to make sure you are up to date).

Apple Launches New iPad

aevans — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:33:58 +0000

Apple launched the new iPad, the third generation of its category-defining mobile device. The new iPad features:

Retina display with 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution with 3.1 million pixels for sharp text and fine image detail
A5X chip with quad-core graphics
5-megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for amazing still photos and 1080p HD video recording, and a front-facing FaceTime camera for video calling
Dictation for writing email, sending texts, creating notes, and searching the web
Ultrafast wireless up to 4G LTE*

*Supported on AT&T and Verizon networks in the U.S., and Bell, Telus, and Rogers networks in Canada

Apple said the new display would be sharper than the high-definition television set in the living room, and show more saturated colors than previous models. A graphics chip with four processing "cores" will drive the screen.

Prices aren't changing from the previous models. They will start at $499. Versions capable of accessing cellular networks will cost $629 to $829.

iPad 2 16GB W-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models are still available at new lower prices.

In their announcement, Apple said the new iPad will be available on Friday, March 16.

Apple Completes iLife for iOS with iPhoto, Updates iMovie, GarageBand, and iWork for iOS

Apple introduced iPhoto for iPad and iPhone and released major updates to iMovie and GarageBand, completing the suite of iLife apps for iOS.

Each app takes advantage of the stunning Retina display on the new iPad.

iPhoto includes breakthrough Multi-Touch features, so you can use simple gestures on your iPad or iPhone to sort through hundreds of photos and find your best shots, enhance and retouch your images using fingertip brushes, and share photo journals with iCloud
iMovie now gives you the ability to create amazing Hollywood-style trailers as you record HD video on your iPad and iPhone
GarageBand introduces Jam Session, an innovative and fun feature that allows a group of friends to wirelessly connect their iOS devices to play instruments and record music together live
iLife apps: Available on the App Store for $4.99 each
iWork apps: Available on the App Store for $9.99 each
Free software update available for iMovie, GarageBand, and iWork for iOS users

Apple also updated the iWork apps—Pages, Keynote, and Numbers—to take advantage of the Retina display. The update also includes 3D charts, new builds and transitions, and support in Pages for landscape orientation on iPhone and iPod touch.

New Apple TV Supports 1080p HD

Apple announced a new Apple TV that supports 1080p programming including iTunes movies and TV shows, Netflix, Vimeo, photos, and more in HD.

Apple TV also has a new user interface, which is available to current Apple TV owners as a free software update on March 16th

Apple the Apple logo Apple TV, FaceTime, iCloud, iMovie, iPod, iPod touch, iTunes, iWork, GarageBand, Keynote, Numbers, Pages are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc, registered in the U.S. and other countries.

Trade in your iPad

aevans — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:37:59 +0000

Trade in your iPad for a FirstTech credit—and use that credit towards a purchase of the New iPad or any of our Macs.

Use the value stated above as an estimate. We’ll need to see your iPad to confirm its condition. Your iPad should be in good condition, meaning it’s fully functional but not necessarily brand new out of the box. We also need a working AC adaptor and cable.

Questions? Call us at 612-374-8000 and we'll be happy to help.

Thunderbolt—and why it’s important.

aevans — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:23:51 +0000

By Fred Evans

Apple introduced a new connector on Macs last year called Thunderbolt. For most people it was just a new name for the old Mini Display Port connector. And why not? It looked the same and all the mini Display Port cables and monitors plugged into it worked just like they did before. But hidden underneath the same small port is a truly fast and versatile new expansion technology.

Apple and Intel developed Thunderbolt with the idea to make a new standard for a very fast input/output technology supporting just about any type of device you can plug in, not just monitors. Thunderbolt technology is amazing—the speed and versatility (supporting high-resolution displays plus high-performance data devices through a single, compact port) make it clear that this is the next generation I/O technology available today.

It is important to note that the Thunderbolt port is backwards compatible with the Mini display Port. So any monitor or adapter you have plugged into your old Mac with a mini Display Port will continue to work just fine in your new Thunderbolt equipped Mac. But it's important to note that the reverse is not true. Thunderbolt devices will not work with older mini Display Port equipped Macs.

How fast is this new technology?
How about 20 times fast than USB 2.0? Or 12 times faster that FireWire 800? Thunderbolt uses two independent 10Gbps channels so you can daisy chain multiple devices to the same port without slowing down or needing a hub or a switch.

So all that sounds good, but what can you plug into this amazing port today? Let's take an overview of what's available to order today.

Current Apple offerings
Apple’s stunning 27" Thunderbolt Display features the same high quality LED display, FaceTime camera and MagSafe power connector as the previous 27" mini Display Port display but adds more expansion capabilities. You get another Thunderbolt port for adding more Thunderbolt devices, three USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The essential Thunderbolt Cable is needed for all other Thunderbolt solutions.

Store solutions from LaCie and Promise Technologies
Promise makes their Pegasus RAID systems with storage capacities from 4-12TB and starting at $1149.00 for the 4TB solution. LaCie makes both their Little Big Disk and their 2Big RAID drives in Thunderbolt versions. The Little Big disks come in both spinning hard drive versions of the lighting fast SSD drive version. The 2big RAIDS range from 4-8TB and start at $649.

Sonnet Technology makes a very useful adaptor for Thunderbolt. They have their Echo ExpressCard/34 Thunderbolt Adaptor allowing ExpressCard/34 devices to plug into your Thunderbolt ports. There are a variety of ExpressCard/34 solutions that work with this adaptor including FireWire 800 adapter, ESATA cards and memory card readers.

There are many more products announced that will start shipping soon. We'll cover those in future newsletters as they become available.

Photography on your iPhone

aevans — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:53:35 +0000

A slideshow of Paul's iPhone photography

Paul Grubb, Apple Product Professional at FirstTech, is uniquely suited to speak on the subject of iPhone photography. In fact, given his 15 years experience working in videography and photography and his extensive Apple training, this guy could teach a class on iPhone photography. Actually he does.

In this free one-hour class, Paul will walk you through practical ways to shoot with your iPhone, giving you tips and tricks for taking pictures worth sharing. He will also have real-time demonstrations of his favorite free and purchased iPhone apps. Paul sums up the class this way: “If you’ve ever wanted to get more out of your iPhone photography, this is a great way to explore the possibilities.”

“Photography on your iPhone” came about because Paul saw the quality of the camera iPhone 4 and 4S has. “Now finally the iPhone is as good a digital camera as most out there,” says Paul. The iPhone 4S comes with an 8 megapixel camera, a custom lens for sharper images, an advanced hybrid infrared filter for more accurate and uniform colors, a responsive sensor to capture low-light images and an image signal processor that means zero shutter lag. Paul says “I also subscribe to the notion that the best camera is the one with you.”

iPhone Photography Tips
There is a range of photography apps that can take you beyond the standard iPhone camera app. Paul recommends the paid app Hipstamatic, part of the retro trend in photography. “What it does really well is give you lots of options, a lot of different feels, allowing you to experiment.” The variety of camera components—film, lenses, and flashes—that exist within Hipstamatic is where things really start to get fun. You can select different combinations of these components, giving your image an assortment of looks.

Another Paul favorite is Photosynth, from Microsoft, designed for shooting wraparound panoramas. The app allows you to stitch together your photos in real time by moving the phone to different angles and areas and tapping the screen to capture a particular viewpoint. Afterward, the resulting panorama can be navigated by swiping the screen to move around the scene.

Adobe Photoshop Express for iPhone brings photo editing basics—like cropping and exposure adjustment—to your iPhone, while also letting you get creative with photos with a bunch of impressive effects. One benefit of Photoshop Express is that it lets you edit any photo on your iPhone, rather than just those taken through the app. “I can edit and process the image right on the iPhone without going into the computer,” Paul adds.

You have two opportunities to take Paul's class in March:

Click to register for Paul’s free iPhone photography class on Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 1:00 p.m.

Click to register for Paul’s free iPhone photography class on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 1:00 p.m.

MacBook Special Buys!

aevans — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:49:50 +0000

Quantities on some models are limited.

Apple Announces New OS: Mountain Lion

aevans — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:30:10 +0000

Today, Apple released a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the ninth major release of the world's most advanced operating system. Mountain Lion brings popular apps and features from iPad to the Mac and accelerates the pace of OS X innovation. Mac users will be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store in late summer 2012. If Lion was OS X with a few iOS flourishes, Mountain Lion is OS X with a head-to-toe makeover. The changes are wide-ranging: iCal, iChat, and Address Book have been renamed to Calendar, Messages, and Contacts, Reminders and Notes have been pulled out made into their own iCloud-enabled apps, and there are new iOS-style Share buttons with Twitter integration throughout the system. It's a comprehensive set of changes—let’s take a look.

iCloud
When you sign in, the system will merge information stored locally with what you've already uploaded to iCloud. Using iCloud's automatic setup, you can sync a slew of essential functions across your PC, iPhone and iPad, including mail, messages, contacts, reminders and calendars, among others, and you can opt into each thanks to a series of checkboxes. A quick click on the usage meter at the bottom of that screen lets you manage the content you're storing the in cloud.

Messages
Lets you send "unlimited messages to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac, right from your Mac." In a nutshell, then, the app breaks down whatever divide previously separating the Mac from iOS, allowing you to jump into a conversation on any (Apple-made) device. Using the service, you can send messages, documents, HD videos and photos (up to 100MB apiece) to one person or several, using phone numbers or email addresses as points of contact.

Reminders
Simple concept: the app helps make and track to-do lists. Nicely pairs with iOS, syncing your reminders and lists across your various iDevices.

Notes
Like its mobile counterpart, the OS X version is designed to look like a legal pad, complete with ripped edges. Apple takes advantage of the additional screen space by adding a search function up top, along with a side column listing all of your notes.

Notification Center
See what’s new with you. All in one place. Something new is always popping up somewhere on your Mac—an email, an instant message, a friend request, a calendar alert, and more. Notification Center makes it easy to stay up to speed, because there’s one place to see everything. Notification banners appear on your desktop and disappear quickly so they don’t interrupt what you’re doing. Swipe to the left, and you’ll see all your notifications in a simple, ordered list.

Share Sheets
When you see it, share it. You’ll find the Share button in many OS X Mountain Lion apps. It’s the new, easy way to spread the word—links, photos, and videos, too. Send links from Safari. Send your notes via Mail and Messages. Post photos to Flickr. Send videos to Vimeo. And tweet just about anything.

Twitter
Tweet right from your apps. OS X Mountain Lion keeps you on top of all things Twitter. Sign in once and you’re all set to start tweeting—and you don’t have to leave the app you’re in. Tweet links and photos directly from Safari, iPhoto, or Photo Booth with the new Tweet Sheet.

Game Center
The Mac is about to go up against iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch—in a friendly Game Center way. Given the success of the app, which boasts some 100 million registered users, it's probably no shocker that Apple's imported the feature along with various other iOS offerings. As you'd expect, if you've used iOS recently, this brings social gaming to the desktop, letting you play against friends, keep track of high scores and carry on voice chats with opponents.

AirPlay Mirroring
This new feature in Mountain Lion is made for an audience. With AirPlay Mirroring, you can stream what’s on your Mac to your HDTV via Apple TV. Show web pages and videos to friends on the couch. Share lessons with a classroom. Present to a conference room.

Gatekeeper
Gatekeeper in OS X Mountain Lion makes the Mac safer than ever. It helps prevent you from unknowingly downloading and installing malicious software. And it gives you control over which applications to download and run on your Mac. Now you can choose from three security options, with the most strict allowing only software from the Mac App Store to be installed. The next step down allows software to be installed from anywhere, but all software must be signed as described above. The final option is to open the gates and allow anything to be installed from anywhere.

There’s a ton of new stuff in Mountain Lion—we’ve just scratched the surface of the developer preview, and we haven't even talked about the new unified search / address bar in Safari, the VIP filter in Mail, or the complete disappearance of Software Update in favor of App Store updates. And that's just the beginning: Apple says that plenty will be changed and added between now and the final release this summer.

But even with all the rough edges and loose ends in the developer preview, Mountain Lion looks like a must-have update to OS X—the combination of Notification Center, AirPlay, and Messages more than makes up for any of Lion’s lingering irritations, and I say that as someone who’s stubbornly remained on Snow Leopard for the past seven months. Apple's not saying how much 10.8 will cost when it arrives, but just like Lion, it'll be distributed exclusively in the Mac App Store.

Clearance Macs

aevans — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:46:56 +0000

All clearance Macs come with a free upgrade to Lion!

Portables

MacBook Pro 13-inch MC700LL/A $1099 SOLD OUT
• 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM 320 GB hard drive

MacBook Pro 13-inch MC724LL/A $1399 5 left
• 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, 4GB RAM 500 GB hard Drive

MacBook Pro 15-inch MC372LL/A $1699 3 left
• 2.53 Dual-Core Intel i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive

MacBook Pro 15-inch MC723LL/A $1999 4 left
• 2.2 Quad-Core Intel i7, 4GB RAM, 750GB hard drive

MacBook Air 13-inch MC504LL/A $1499 Hurry, 1 left
• 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 256 GB Solid State drive

Apple Updates the MacBook Pro

aevans — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:18:52 +0000

Apple has updated the MacBook Pro product line as follows:

13-inch MacBook Pro models feature faster Intel dual-core processors and larger hard drives
15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature faster Intel quad-core processors and updated AMD graphics

Though Apple has improved the specs of these machines, the price remains the same and they are all available now at FirstTech. Read more about the new MacBook Pro...