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Beware Limitations of Find My Mac

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Sep 072013

When Apple introduced the free Find My Mac feature in 2011, Mac users who forked out a hefty sum for their MacBook Pros and iMacs were elated.

Mac owners’ thinking was that any thief making away with their precious Mac computers would soon be caught saving them the anxiety and stress over losing a valuable device.

Sweet relief.

As Wodehouse fans would recognize, it was like Bertie Wooster escaping the dreaded shackles of matrimony one more time! 😉

Alas, there are few perfect solutions in life.

Not So Fast

While the Find My Mac feature (which needs to be configured before the theft via Apple’s iCloud and Location Services) has some benefits, it’s by no means certain that it’ll get your stolen Mac back.

First, let me list some of the advantages of enabling the Find My Mac feature as soon as you get your new or used Mac.

If your Mac is stolen, there are four things you can do provided the Find My Mac feature has already been enabled:

1. Play a Sound on the stolen Mac
2. Display a message on the Mac
3. Lock your Mac
4. Erase all the contents on the Mac

While there are benefits to these four measures, they’re not the same as getting your pricey MacBook or iMac back.

But you can at least ensure that your precious data does not fall into the wrong hands and compound your distress.

Limitations of Find My Mac

The biggest limitation of Find My Mac is that it gives you only an approximate location. Continue reading »

Parallels Access Debuts to Positive Reviews

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Aug 282013

Parallels Access to Access Mac or PC from iPad For $80 a year, you can access all the programs on your Mac or PC remotely from your iPad with the new Parallels Access service.

Parallels Access has received favorable reviews from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The $80 annual fee is a sticking point though with reviewers from both publications.

Parallels Access is said to be easier to use than competing offerings like VNC Viewer and Screens.

Parallels Access for the Mac is already out while the PC version is in beta.

Three caveats – First, your Mac or PC cannot be used while the iPad is connected to it; Second, the service requires a high speed connection for the iPad (apparently, 3G barely makes the cut); The Mac or PC should be on and awake (the computer can’t go to sleep) for the iPad to be able to connect to it..

Visit the Parallels Access page to know more about the service.

Gold Gimmickry Won’t End iPhone Fatigue

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Aug 202013

Say what you will but I think a lot of consumers in North America and Europe have developed iPhone fatigue.

iPhone upgrades increasingly bring few substantive improvements to justify their premium prices.

Apple has relied on gimmickry like Siri voice control (introduced in the iPhone 4S) or the anodized aluminum case (in the iPhone 5) to push its upgrades to an adoring fan base.

Even on the important issue of screen size, only with the iPhone 5 did consumers get a larger 4-inch screen. Samsung Galaxy S II, introduced 18-months earlier, debuted with a 4.3-inch display. And the follow-on S III and S IV came with 4.8-inch and 5-inch displays respectively.

So far there’s nothing to indicate that the next generation iPhone, scheduled to launch on September 10, will come with anything but modest improvements and gimmickry like a gold-color option.

Consumer expectation in the meantime has skyrocketed with every new version of the iPhone.

While Apple’s loyal fan base is happy enough to buy the new iPhones, discerning consumers like yours truly have sat on the sidelines.

I purchased the iPhone 3G, skipped the 3GS, bought the iPhone 4 and yawned over the 4S and iPhone 5.

Picky consumers like me have developed iPhone fatigue, seeing the modest improvements in the new iPhones unworthy of an upgrade.

Plus, we’ve been put off by the half-baked gimmickry like Siri.

I suspect one of the reasons iPhone is losing market share is that there are a lot of picky consumers like me in North America who feel they’re getting taken to the cleaners by Apple.

Losing Share Continue reading »

Apple Still King of Smartphones in U.S.

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Aug 082013

Forget all the strum und drang about how Android is make chutney out of Apple’s iPhones.

Sure, Android smartphones are clobbering the iPhone in Asia and elsewhere but in America the iPhone is still the favorite of subscribers.

A new survey by comScore shows that Apple’s share of smartphone subscribers was nearly 40% at the end of June 2013.

Top Smartphones in U.S. June 2013

iPhone’s marketshare in the U.S. actually increased by 0.9% after Samsung launched its top of the line Galaxy S4 smartphone (Galaxy S4 was launched in March and started shipping in April).

Carrier subsidies and low prices of older generation iPhones (iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S) is helping Apple mount a stiff challenge to Android smartphones from Samsung, HTC and LG.

Samsung took the second spot with 23.7% marketshare (up 2% from the preceding quarter).

HTC came in third third, accounting for 8.5% (a drop of 0.5%) of smartphone subscribers.

Top Smartphone Platforms

By platform, Android continues to be the leading software backbone for U.S. smartphone subscribers.

Keep in mind that Android phones are sold by multiple vendors while the iPhone is offered only by Apple.

Top Smartphone Platforms in U.S. June 2013

At the end of June, Android accounted for 52% of smartphone subscribers in the U.S., a figure unchanged from the previous quarter.

Apple iOS grew a modest 0.9% to take its share of the smartphone platform to 39.9%.

Apple’s gain came at the expense of Blackberry, which is currently in its death throes.

A mere 3.1% of U.S. smartphone subscribers owned phones powered by Windows software suggesting that Microsoft is facing an uphill battle with consumers.

How to Find Details on Every Apple Product

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Aug 052013

There are several hundred thousand apps in Apple’s App store.

But there are few real, must have gems.

I’m glad to inform you that Mactracker is one of those rare gems.

Mactracker app Provides Details on All Apple Products

Free App

Mactracker is a great free app on the Mac App Store that provides details on everything you wanted to know about almost every Mac that’s Apple has launched over the last three decades.

The app provides details on processor, memory, storage, display, graphics, model introduction and discontinuation dates, original prices, a brief history of the product and more on Mac computers dating back to January 1984.

Macintosh, iMac, iBook, PowerBook, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, Mac Pro Server and MacMini, yes, the Mactracker app covers all of them.

It also has a feature called This Mac that provides key details about the Mac on which the app is installed.

Besides computers, Mactracker provides a wealth of information on new Apple products like iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV, TimeCapsule and long obsolete devices like Newton PDAs, LaserWriter printers, QuickTake cameras and OneScanner.

If you’re a Mac fan like me, you’ll love to dig into the brief biographies of the various Apple products from years past.

I strongly recommend the free Mactracker app.

By the way, Mactracker is also available for the iPhone but I’ve checked it out only on my iMac.

Android Clobbers iPhone on Marketshare; So Why is Apple Still Smiling?

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Aug 012013

For every iPhone that Apple sold in the second quarter of 2013, nearly six Android smartphones were sold in the same period.

According to market researcher Strategy Analytics, global shipments of Android smartphones in the second quarter of 2013 hit 182.6 million units.

Smartphone Shipments Q2 2013

Android accounted for nearly 80% of the smartphone market, up 10% from the second quarter of last year.

While shipments of Android smartphones were going gangbusters, Apple’s iPhones were seeing a much modest growth.

Shipments of Apple’s iPhones in the second quarter touched 31.2 million units, a modest increase of 5.2 million units over the second quarter of 2012.

Apple’s share of the smartphone market in the second quarter was 13.6%, down by 3% over the corresponding period last year.

If the second quarter smartphone numbers tell us anything, it’s that the battle will be between Android and Apple’s competing iOS mobile platform.

The other players will be merely also-rans!

Smartphone Marketshare Q2 2013

Why Do Android Phones Sell?

There are two main reasons behind the humongous shipments of Android smartphones:

1. Android smartphones are generally cheaper compared to iPhones. Continue reading »

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