Menu Close

mashby

The personal blog of Michael Ashby

Month / October 2017

Retro vintage apple computer wallpaper
October 31, 2017

My iMac Is Now Obsolete

Just a few weeks ago I wrote about how my 27″ iMac was still going strong and running the latest build of macOS. I’m still impressed by how long this computer has held up and continues to perform. Well, I learned today that Apple has declared it to be obsolete. 🙁

All this means is that Apple won’t offer repairs and replacement parts, which really isn’t that big of a deal since I would go to a 3rd party repair place or do the repair myself. Once the Apple care warranty expires, going direct to Apple is my last resort.

Continue Reading

RSS
October 24, 2017

Does Anyone Use RSS Anymore?

Back-in-the-day, RSS or News Feeds were all the rage. I, for one, have been using them since the early 2000’s and it’s my daily source of news via Fever. It’s the app I I switched to it back in 20131 when Google killed it Reeder service. With the #1 feed reader dead, it seems like […]

Logo of the Jolly Roger Telephone Co.
October 23, 2017

Jolly Roger Telephone Co.

Oh man, I wish I had thought of this. Jolly Roger Telephone Co. is a service that allows you to forward telemarketers to their AI bots which attempt to keep them on the line for as long as possible. Brilliant. At $2 per month, I’m actually tempted to try this service out. Especially after listening […]

Selfie of me on my 5th birthday
October 21, 2017

So, This Is 50

On Wednesday I hit a milestone birthday — I turned 50. The words feel strange in my mouth (and under my fingers), even though I haven’t hesitated to tell anyone who asks. In fact I almost respond as if I’m asking a question back. Them: “Oh, is today your birthday? Which one is it?” Me: […]

October 14, 2017

Siri vs Alexa

I’ve just recently stumbled upon comedian James Veitch and I am completely smitten. His ability to integrate technology bits into his performances are just spot on. If you like the video above, I recommend his TED talk This is what happens when you reply to spam email and More adventures in replying to spam.

macOS High Sierra Promo
October 12, 2017

Upgrading To macOS High Sierra

It’s been awhile since I did a post regarding a macOS upgrade. In fact, it’s been GASP 4-years, so I thought it might be fun to take stock and do a deep dive on how I did the upgrade. So let’s get to it!

The Boot Disk

For starters, I downloaded the new OS and created a bootable install disk on a thumb drive. This way I didn’t have to perform multiple downloads for each machine and I could have a boot disk handy in my “jump bag” when I travel.

On the day that the new macOS was available, I downloaded it to my laptop and then followed the guide on 9to5Mac.com to create the disk on a new 8GB thumb drive I bought from Amazon. The 9to5 guide was great for people who aren’t that comfortable with the Terminal due to the fact that they had a drag-and-drop style that saved a ton of typing.

Continue Reading

October 10, 2017

One Month Facebook Free

It’s now been over a month since I deleted my Facebook account and I thought I’d take a moment to share a few thoughts and experiences that I’ve had over the past 30+ days and take a moment to reflect.

I Don’t Miss It

I had a routine where I would go to Facebook at least once-a-day just to catch up what my friends and family were up to. After deleting my account, I thought that I might miss that part of my routine but surprisingly have not. If anything, I’ve reached out via text messages or other formats to keep in touch and I think I like it better. It’s more direct and more focused. I’ve even gotten on the phone a few times. 😯

Continue Reading