Monday, September 29, 2014

Macintosh Malware

OS X iframe malware injected into
Yes, it's true, Mac's don't get viruses.

But viruses are a small part of a larger security issue known as malware which is malicious software. And Macs are susceptible to malware. Malware is software that seeks to harm your computer. Computer viruses, just like real life viruses, attach themselves to something else to reproduce. Computer virus replication doesn't require any action by the user. But, other forms of malware, such as trojan horse software, does require action. Generally, a trojan will masquerade as something beneficial, such as a software or plug-in upgrade.

First Hand Experience

A lady at this morning's Tech Coffee showed me a problem with Safari on her Mac. Last night, she thought she was installing a Flash update, but it turned out to be something else. It was malware that injected an iframe in her home page, We tried different things to block, avoid, or fix the issue without any success.

Her malware in the iframe would pop-up another window, when clicked on, asking to install more malware. It was an endless circle.

We discussed different ways to fix the problem. Googling for anti-virus software brings up more bad actors than good ones. That's when we realized the best way to find Mac software was to look for it in the App Store. After some more discussion, we realized that she doesn't really need anti-virus software. She only needs something to clean up her mistake. Besides, it's been my experience on the Mac, that anti-virus software tends to get in the way more than it helps.

Her next step is an appointment, tomorrow, at the Genius Bar. In the mean time, she won't be logging into her bank account.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Personal Digital Emissions

We, as individuals, are responsible for our own personal emissions.

Emissions like sound (how loud we speak or the noise we generate) and smell (cologne, body odor, cigarettes, etc.) are obvious. But, over the past 20 years a new category has emerged: personal digital emissions. In the mid-1990s I began teaching time management training classes. While researching time management strategies I read two excellent books that addressed information overload: Data Smog and Information Anxiety. A lot of our digital emissions causes and is caused by stress.

Digital emissions are the electronic information we emit. There are two types, passive and active.

The passive emissions aren't a big problem. These are the digital emissions such as my phone checking a mail server for new e-mail. These emissions usually interact with other devices or servers.

Rather, it's the active emissions – our emissions that interrupt someone else – which quickly get out of control. So much so that I feel it necessary to post this reminder. Every e-mail and text message sent, and every phone call made, will be an interruption in someone's day. It's worth taking the time to think before acting. Is your digital emission urgent and important enough to justify interrupting someone? Frequency and timing are a factor, too. Equally important is your response to someone's digital emission. Did you take the time to fully read and understand before responding? I just made this mistake, myself, last week, when responding to an e-mail from a friend and professional colleague. Good etiquette, clear communications, and time management techniques are important work and life traits.

I've seen people load up on app after app and tool after tool thinking they've found the silver bullet for time management. Truth be told, it's not the tools that make or break us. Rather, it's our own personal habits and self-discipline. You shouldn't need to worry about forgetting the things you need to do. Instead, you should simply organize in a way so tasks and events come in front of you at the appropriate time.

Here's some advice for refining your digital emissions.

Texting Etiquette

Sending multiple text messages, on the same topic, within a minute or two, is annoying. At least I find it annoying. My phone will ding and vibrate so I'll pull it out of my pocket to read the message. I'll either respond or not and then put it away only to pull it out 30 seconds later when the next message arrives. You may be lying in bed with nothing to do when sending your text message, but what's the recipient doing? Are they working, driving, or in a meeting? A simple text message can be distracting. Multiple texts in a short period are very distracting. Many times the sender only needed to wait 60 seconds to collect his or her thoughts to compose a clear message. Don't text me: "It's Jane's birthday next week," followed 30 seconds later with, "What do you think we should do?" followed another 20 seconds later with, "Are you there?" Please don't ask me to respond, with a sense of urgency, to something that's not pressing.

On a low level, SMS text messages may be limited to 160 characters. But this is no longer an issue since wireless carriers can seamlessly stitch together multiple texts into a single message. So please collect all your thoughts on a single subject into a single text message.

I have a name for this type of texter. I call them the, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" texter. Or, more formally, I refer to it as the "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Look at me! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy. Pay attention to me! Daddy! Daddy!" texter.

There are some people who I don't even want to text with. Three texts, about the same nothing, all within 90 seconds is a bit too much. Take a deep breath and gather your thoughts instead of texting me your stream of consciousness.

E-mail Etiquette

We've all read an e-mail and forgotten to respond. But, some people are terrible at managing their e-mail.

Some people are notorious about going off half-cocked. Or, even more annoying are the partial and vague responders. These people seem to lack communications skills across the board. When corresponding with these people, I'm very careful to only put one action item per e-mail. When asking them multiple questions via e-mail, I list each in a numbered bullet format. Yet, still, they'll partially respond thinking they'll get back to my other questions later. But, they have no time management system for doing this. They'll read an e-mail now and neither respond nor write down the task, and then forget about it. You don't need to respond to every e-mail, only the ones you intend to.

As a general rule, when someone sends me an e-mail with multiple topics and questions, I'll copy and paste each item and write my response below it. This makes my responses clear and it helps me ensure that I didn't overlook any items.

Do you think we'll finish this product on schedule? What about the budget?
Have we finished the security and privacy evaluation?

My response:

>Do you think we'll finish this product on schedule? What about the budget?
Yes it'll be on time but the budget funding source is still in question. I've reviewed the schedule with the team and they're comfortable that we'll deliver it to QA by the deadline. I met with the comptroller and he had a concern about source of the funding. He'll be meeting with the CFO to ask for more direction on the funding and get back to us by Monday.

>Have we finished the security and privacy evaluation?
Yes. I've attached the approved risk evaluation. Both our security consultant and in-house counsel have signed off on it.


Remember in elementary school when we had to respond to a written question by including a portion of the original question in our answer? That wasn't sadistic punishment, rather it was to develop our communications skills.

Once last point is to consider is using the To and CC lines appropriately, especially if you omit a salutation in your e-mail.

Whew, now I feel better.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

iPhone Backup Bug Report


The mere process of writing this bug report blog post has helped me run down different troubleshooting options. It's become a personal sanity check ensuring I've carefully reviewed alternatives before claiming, "it's not working."

Bug Report Summary

Two iPhone backups (iTunes and iCloud), from the same device, are missing. 

1. I backed up my iPhone via iCloud and iTunes.

2. I restored my iTunes backup to a replacement iPhone.

3. After completing the restore, I noticed discrepancies on my iPhone (detailed below). I decided to try the restore again, but both backups were missing.

I expected, after getting a replacement iPhone, that both my iTunes and iCloud backups would be available to restore from. When I look at my iCloud account (on my iPad), I see two iPhone backups, yet they're both inaccessible from my iPhone.

Bug Report Details

On Monday, I took my iPhone 5 to the Apple Genius Bar because it would kernel panic almost daily. The Apple Genius diagnosed it as defective hardware (bug_type 110 - CRC error).  He ordered a replacement iPhone 5 for me since it's covered under my AppleCare warranty. It arrived yesterday.

I backed up my defective iPhone via iTunes before going to the Apple Store to pick up the replacement iPhone. To be on the safe side, I also backed it up to my iCloud account.

I picked up my replacement iPhone 5 and brought it home. I couldn't immediately restore it from my iTunes backup because the replacement iPhone was running iOS 7 out of the box. I upgraded it to iOS 8 which took about 45 minutes. Then I restored my backup from iTunes which took another 45 minutes. Nothing unusual there.

When the restore was complete I noticed a serious discrepancy. iTunes reported 4.65 GB free on the iPhone, but my newly restored iPhone 5 self-reported 16.4 GB free.

iCloud Backup Inaccessible

At this point I thought I had two options. First, I could try resetting and erasing my iPhone and restoring it from my iCloud account. After all, my most recent backups to iCloud and iTunes were only a few hours old. But, for some reason, iCloud reported "Last Backup: Never" on my newly restored iPhone.

My iPhone can't see my iCloud backup...

... yet my iPad sees both iPhone backups in iCloud.

iTunes Backup Missing

My second option was to restore from my iTunes backup since my iCloud backup wasn't available. I tried to access my iTunes backup on my MacBook Air but that's gone missing too. iTunes reports: "Your iPhone has never been backed up to this computer."

I thought that was a mistake, so I checked my MacBook Air's hard drive under "~/Library/Application Support." Guess what? The iPhone backup that I just restored from is really missing from my hard drive. It's as if I restored the iPhone from the backup and then it self-destructed.

Another odd thing is my newly restored iPhone reports 0 songs. Ok, that may be possible since I subscribe to iTunes Match and my music may all be sitting in iCloud. While that could be part of the discrepancy, it doesn't explain why iTunes reports that the iPhone has several hundred songs on it.

Has double redundancy failed me? I'm getting a bad feeling that my iTunes restore may have corrupted my iPhone's file system and I've run out of iPhone backups.

Perhaps it's my own fault for not following the 3–2–1 rule of backups:
3 backups
2 media
1 off-site

Monday, September 22, 2014

Replacing the Legend at Apple

Apple HQ: 1 Infinite Loop
My uncle's worked on Wall Street for half a century. There are two pieces of advice he's repeatedly told me. "Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered," and "You can't replace the legend."

It's the advice about replacing the legend that's interesting. When the legend leaves a great company, things change, almost always for the worse since the legend can't be replaced. Ford at Ford, Dell at Dell, Gates at Microsoft, Perot at EDS, Hewlett and Packard at HP. There's no shortage of great 20th Century companies whose best days are behind them. Companies tend to decline when the founders relinquish control.

This begs the question I've been repeatedly asked over the last three years, "How will Apple do without Steve Jobs?" Is Apple so different that they can transcend this pattern? After all, it's crystal clear that Steve Jobs was the leader who made Apple great. He founded the company and created the personal computer era for the first decade. Then the Apple board of directors pushed Steve out under direction from then CEO, John Sculley. During the decade that Steve was gone, the company came within 90 days of bankruptcy. Steve returned. Apple fans call it the Second Coming. It's crystal clear that Steve made all the difference. Not by going after marketshare. Rather, by creating great products and answering the fundamental question, "Why?" as in, "Why are we doing this?"

Steve's Greatest Invention

What was Steve's greatest invention? It wasn't the Mac, iPod, or iPhone. Steve always believed his greatest invention was Apple, the company. Steve's focus was simply on creating the best possible customer experience, from womb to tomb. Initially, Apple employees learned this by osmosis. When Steve returned to Apple, he made sure this cultural thinking was instilled into the DNA of Apple.

Steve focused on nearly every aspect of Apple. This worked well before the iPod and the iTunes Music Store. Since then, Apple's operations have become almost overwhelmingly complex.

The logistical coordination for Apple to ship their products requires a herculean effort. Tim Cook is certainly the person to manage this. He did an outstanding job as COO. Now, as CEO, he's changed some of Apple's processes to fit his style. Steve relied on small teams. Tim, on the other hand, now cross-coordinates large teams when designing and building new products. These teams have a long term focus on financial discipline.

Steve had the vision. Tim made it happen. I think Tim had the insight of seeing the operational mistakes Steve made. This weekend showed that Apple is still plagued by the same high-quality problem. They simply can't make enough of their products. But, only time will tell if Tim can succeed Steve. The success of the  Watch will be a crucial indicator.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Pulitzer Prize for Coding and Blogging?

I've debated whether coding is art.




Blogging, on the other hand...

The Question is Begged

Why is there no Pulitzer Prize category for blogging?




Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Heads Up: Package Delivery

UPS: We Love Logistics.
I'm wondering why package delivery services don't offer heads up delivery notifications, out of the box. They already provide automated status updates, so this idea seems like a natural evolution.

Generally, when I'm tracking a FedEx or UPS package, I can provide my e-mail address or cell phone number to receive updates. FedEx and UPS are good about customer service. In my experience, they (especially FedEx) have frequently attempted a second delivery at my request. I realize that UPS is much larger than FedEx, but we're talking about moving bits, not boxes. Since I've already provided my contact info for tracking status updates, why not also send a heads up notification? UPS/FedEx Driver in your area. Please expect delivery within the next 90 minutes.

Today's UPS Story

After putting more thought into it, I realized that my heads up solution seems more than doable. Obviously, I missed a UPS delivery, today. I called UPS to hold my package at the local UPS facility. Then I tweeted them about my heads up idea. They misunderstood and tried to help me get my package, not realizing that I'd already arranged that. Ok, fair mistake – I appreciate the help.

UPS suggested I sign up for My Choice. I gave that a go, but the sign up process wanted to confirm my cell phone number billing address to verify my info. Unfortunately, I tried to sign up with my Google Voice phone number, so I gave up. Too much friction and not the best UX. Perhaps I'll try signing up later. In the mean time I had two options. First, I could wait for UPS to redeliver my package tomorrow. That option might cost the driver an extra five minutes worth of his time. Instead, I chose the second option and decided to go to the local UPS facility and pick it up. It's worth the 32 mile round trip drive rather than sitting around tomorrow.

Apple Pay Rejection Leads to Bigger Question







Innovation Chasm

Hard copy print out of the Internet with yesterday's news.




Thursday, September 11, 2014

One Million and Counting

Sometime in the past week my blog crossed over one million page views. I have to admit, as a casual blogger, I'm impressed with that stat.

It seems the secret to blogging is to write prose that's clear, concise, and to the point. For that, I use the Hemingway App. I also blog about things that interest me without caring too much about popularity. These days, interesting means blogging about Facebook privacy issues or Apple. To be honest, I did design my top post, Car and Life Insurance, to be interesting to Google, too. Like the Jerry episode ("The Pilot") on Seinfeld, my top blog post was about nothing. It simply hit on some keywords. But that was years ago. Since then, Google's refined their search algorithm.

Hacker News picked up The Tricks I Learned At Apple, which was my first surprise hit. It showed me that an average Joe can occasionally write something popular. linked to my second most popular blog post which was about Apple's logo, so that obviously helped traffic. And, finally, ReadWrite featured the $5,000 Security Breach, which happened this past spring.

Fact or fiction, everyone loves a great story. Let's see how long it takes me to reach 2,000,000.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Apple Rant™ – The Failure of Technology



Apple Watch


Apple Epidemic




Duplicated iOS Note of this blog post draft.



Apple Epilogue


Monday, September 8, 2014

Tomorrow's Apple Keynote: What to Expect

Tomorrow is Apple's Keynote. New iPhones are a given. They'll probably introduce mobile payments too. Then there's the talk of an iWatch. Most people don't wear watches, so could it really be a big deal? My thinking is, "Yes."


The iPod was a pivotal change for Apple. Steve decided to build a product for the right reasons: to make something he loved that would be better designed and integrated than any before it. Obviously it was a success. Then, in typical Apple fashion, after starting with well over 90% market share, they let it erode since they moved on to the next thing. Here are two key points. Apple doesn't go after market share for market share sake. Also, the iPod was about listening to music and, at the end of the day, it was only an entertainment product.


Next came the iPhone. Before the iPhone, getting apps, ring tones, wallpaper, etc., on to your mobile phone was a lousy experience. Plus, the wireless carriers dictated what could go on a phone and how it could be used. Remember the Rokr E1? Apple partnered with Motorola to put iTunes into a phone. But it wasn't an Apple product. One key limitation was that its firmware restricted it to only holding 100 songs. Other carriers placed similar restrictions on their phones such as not allowing tethered syncing. Rather, they wanted their users to transfer files and photos over-the-air so they could charge them for data usage.

An iPod owner could go days, weeks, or months without using their iPod, but iPhone owners use their phone every single day. For many of us, it's the last piece of technology we touch when going to sleep and the first thing we touch before getting out of bed.


While we may need to communicate every day, we need to live every second. What if the iWatch has the ability to monitor our health in a nonintrusive way? So much can be told just from our basic vitals like our heart rate, temperature, respiration, and sleep cycles. As a runner, I've worn a heart rate monitor for nearly every one of my runs over the past 20 years. It gives me an absolute indication of my effort level based on my health. If I'm coming down with something or it's a hot day, or I'm dehydrated then my heart rate monitor indicates that. But, I only wear it when I'm running. What's going on with my body the rest of the day?

Twenty years ago, I didn't carry a mobile phone. This afternoon, I ventured a block away without my iPhone. I knew I'd be gone for only a few minutes. Yet, as I crossed the street, I seriously considered going back to get it – not that I was expecting any calls, e-mails, or texts. I simply felt unconnected. Could an iWatch become so ingrained into our health that we'd feel exposed without it?

Sizzling Customer Service

One thing I absolutely love is excellent customer service.

This afternoon, I had lunch at a place that was rather slow, plus I found a wire brush bristle in my sandwich. I've been here several times before and today was the exception. The owner offered free cookies. Mistakes happen – it's what's done to make up for them that sets great businesses apart from mediocre ones.

Tonight, I went to a Home Depot I'd never been to before. As I walked out I saw a Sizzler restaurant on the other end of the parking lot. I hadn't been to a Sizzler in years and it pulled me in. An employee saw us walking up to the restaurant and held open the door. The manager behind the counter was extremely courteous and the wait staff was very friendly. There was an obvious pattern of top notch training in customer service. On top of all this, the restaurant looked brand new as if it were opening night.

There's something very pleasant about great customer service when your hungry. It's the polar opposite of hangry.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014


Kickstarter Meetup at 3RDSPACE: "The video is key."

Go Lean, Kick Start

When launching a startup, go lean. Brant Cooper describes this technique in his New York Times bestseller, The Lean Entrepreneur.

When launching a product, crowdsource. Most businesses design, build, and market a product hoping it'll sell. Crowdsourcing, on the other hand, cuts the risk. Crowdsourcing entrepreneurs build a prototype first. Then they sell it before mass producing it. The lean startup method is the opposite of what happened in the Dot-com era. In the late 1990s, VCs funded many businesses based solely on an unvalidated idea.

3RDSPACE Kickstarter Meetup

I co-organize a monthly Kickstarter Meetup at the 3RDSPACE coworking location in University Heights. I've seen people launch projects that fell short of their fundraising goals. I've also seen teams make their goal and then discover they severely underestimated their costs. Crowdsourcing isn't an alternative to entrepreneurism. Crowdsourcing is entrepreneurism, done smartly, with all its risks and rewards.

Biggest Kickstarter Ever

Coolest Cooler's clear rewards.
The biggest fundraiser on Kickstarter is Coolest Cooler. It ended four days ago after raising $13,285,226. I've learned some important techniques while participating in our Kickstarter Meetup. The key to launching a successful crowdsourcing campaign is the video. Don't be cheap and don't put the word Kickstarter throughout the video. If Kickstarter doesn't accept your fundraising campaign you can try another crowdsourcing platform. Also, don't make the rewards confusing. If you're making software, don't give t-shirts as rewards. You're in the software business, not the t-shirt business.

The two leaders in crowdsourcing are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Since these are new businesses, they're still working out their rules. The key difference between these two companies is that Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing campaign. If you don't hit your fundraising goal then you don't get any of the funds, but with Indiegogo, you do. So, be careful about your reward choices. If you decide to raise $15,000 on Indiegogo but only get $1,500 in pledges can you still deliver your rewards, profitably?

Crowdsourcing isn't the be-all and end-all of startups. Its key benefits keep entrepreneurs focused while validating their ideas. A good story and clear message will go a long way to bring a product to market while minimizing risk and out-of-pocket costs.

Monday, September 1, 2014

CityLite: From failure to success in a year

This morning I discovered that a product I bought last week, CityLite, had been a failed Indiegogo project. When the CityLite campaign ended, earlier this year, they had raised only $4,606 of their $80,000 goal. Somehow, this went from a failed (or perhaps abandoned) campaign in Denmark to a product I bought in Solana Beach last week. That's not bad considering some fully funded crowdsourcing projects, like Tile, can take a year to deliver.

Tomorrow, I'll post what I've learned after being part of a team that runs a Kickstarter Meetup series.