The recent wave of bad Apples

Recently, we placed a call in to Apple Support and requested to speak to a senior-level support executive to discuss some issues, for which we've been noticing more and more incoming calls from Apple owners.

Below is a summary of the three most-prevalent Mac-related problems and when appropriate, the response from the very professional and knowledgeable Jonathan at Apple. It is worth mentioning that Jonathan confirmed that these issues are some of the most common calls he currently receives at Apple Support.

iWeb Replacement in the Film / TV / Entertainment Industry

Finally, a solution to replace iWeb with iPhoto's Journal feature, available on Apple iOS:

In this posting, we are providing a step-by-step tutorial for using the Journal feature to easily publish photos, text, etc using Apple's iPhoto iOS App for iPads/iPhones. However, if you don't have an iOS device, or just want to keep using iWeb to make all of your site changes, you are going to need to set up hosting with an entirely new company & reupload/move your website to their servers (yes you can cancel your subscription with Apple and keep your site). Apple inexplicably recommends GoDaddy for this, but we can certainly provide support and other recommendations- just give us a call if you need any help.

We believe this will meet the requirements of photographers, designers, and artists working within the entertainment / advertising / commercial film & television businesses who have been searching for a replacement to the ever-popular Apple iWeb photo publishing/sharing software previously provided with MobileMe. In transitioning to iCloud, subscribers are informed that as of June 2012 Apple will be sunsetting iWeb.

All you’ll need is an Apple mobile device, the $5 iPhoto App and an iCloud account. In fact, as of this writing you cannot create or edit your journal on a computer or via iCloud’s website - only on iOS meaning only on your iPad or iPhone. The app autosaves everything as you create & edit, in real time; however, any edits you make to individual photos in the iPhoto app reflect in your published Journal online.


For an example website with three separate Journals, click here.

Epson WorkForce 545/645 Series incapable of printing its own User's Guide

A retired Fire Dept Battalion Chief called me recently to help out with a few computer problems, mainly related to the new fully-featured Epson printer/scanner/fax he'd just purchased. I'd assumed he needed help installing it, but when I got there he'd already had that covered. His (odd, I thought) request was to help him print the detailed User's Guide to the printer, which (despite the inclusion of a "quick start guide" and a full-color brochure hard-selling the printer he'd just bought) was not included. 


We went to the support site, and found a link to the User's Guide. The manual looks like this but you can't print it! You'd have to expand all the little +'s and expand some more and some more and click print on each individual page in order to accomplish this. 

So I called Epson to request that they email us a PDF file, or some printable version, and the kind voice of Sanj from Pakistan told us over the speakerphone, "No, there are none, and please you should check the installation CD". When I explained that the CD only contains an HTML link (to the same page linked above) and no actual file for the guide, he asked why Chief wanted to print a 100+ page technical user manual...

He's interested in all the detailed features and in learning about the Epson product so he can access them, naturally. 

So why then does he not visit our site and search for it that way?

Because he likes to read the actual manuals, and print things out; that's a reason he bought a printer.