Apple MacPro 1.1 – Part 3.

So I have a working MacPro, Acer monitor, Apple keyboard and mouse.

Now onto speeding the MacPro up.  I have thought long and hard at what I can do to make an old Mac a bit more snappier, increase the RAM, add an SSD or even change the processor.

First I decided to look at the RAM, as the MacPro only had 1GB in the form of two 512MB sticks. The MacPro ran fine with the 1GB, but I knew I needed a machine with a bit more grunt due to the size of my iTunes library amongst other things.

Now Apple say the MacPro 1.1 can max out at 16GB of RAM, and to be fair this may be enough, however I wanted to push this MacPro to be the best I can get.

So I reviewed the RAM options I had.

eBay was the best source, I found some stupidly cheap RAM which ‘works’ on a MacPro….. Wrong, it didn’t! Luckily I managed to get a full refund!

I then researched the ram a little more and found I needed, specifically, RAM with a large heatsink. So back I went on eBay to find the best deal possible……

If anyone reading this is looking at getting RAM for their MacPro then, make sure you get the following:

PC2-5300F 667 MHz DDR2 Fully Buffered (FB) DIMM RAM

So after a week of searching and watching I found some great bargains, a total of 22GB (2x 1GB, 2x 2GB, 4x 4GB) for £130.00.  Now this may seem expensive, but I assure you, its not compared to some of the RAM I looked at.  Komputerbay had some great deals, but I also picked up the 2x 1GB on eBay for 99p so that was a great saving.

That gives me a grand total of 22GB of RAM and boy does she move!

So that basically is the RAM sorted. I expect I will bump it up a little more, swapping the 2x 1GB and 2x 2GB RAM for 4x 4GB making a total of 32GB RAM.  However the MacPro runs as fast as I need it too and I need to consider other upgrade options like a Solid State Drive (SSD) or swapping out the Graphics card and the internal HDDs.

Let me know if you have any questions or advice.

Ciao

iOS 8 Update.

The question I always ask myself is, do i need this update? I leave it for a week or more so I have time to read up and evaluate it, see what the issues are and if they are resolved.  However with iOS 8 I am going to jump right in….

Released on the 17th September 2014, the update came with lots of media attention as normal.  People were getting ready to queue for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on the 19th September 2014 (UK time). As expected there was a rush on the Apple servers, many people were not able to upgrade and many had problems.  This is exactly the reason why i leave it a few weeks but today is the day.

With the amount of space that is needed, an estimated 5GB, to allow us to download iOS 8 it is easier to download it via a PC or in my case a Mac. Please may I just say this is not space required for the download, it is space to be able to download iOS 8.

This excerpt from macworld.co.uk confirms the space required:

Based on last year, we expected that iOS 8 would be about 700MB, although at the time it was recommended that you have 3GB free.

Unfortunately it’s iOS 8 turned out to be even bigger and greedier. iOS 8 is 1.1GB and requires a massive 5.8GB of storage to be free before it can install. This is because it downloads a compressed file, unpackages it and then installs it. You need the space for the unpacking and the update. It also needs enough space for iOS 8 itself.

Obviously I need to tell you all to backup, to your computer if you have not done so already.

Below confirms some of the new features in iOS 8.

iOS 8

This update contains hundreds of new features, including the following:

• •  Messages improvements
•         ◦  Tap to Talk to send your voice, a video or a photo with just a swipe
•         ◦  Group messaging options to name a conversation, add a contact, remove a contact or leave a conversation
•         ◦  New details view with Do Not Disturb, location sharing and attachments view
•   •  Photos improvements
•         ◦  Smart editing tools to adjust light and colour with a swipe
•         ◦  Fine-tune controls to adjust exposure, brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows and more
•         ◦  Search by date, location or album name, or use smart suggestions
•         ◦  Smart albums for Slo-mo videos, Bursts, Panoramas and Time-lapse
•         ◦  Third-party photo filters and editing tools supported directly in Photos
•         ◦  Your photos and metadata from iPhoto will be migrated to Photos. Books, Journals and Slideshows will be converted to albums containing only photos. iPhoto for iOS is not supported on devices running iOS 8 or later.
•   •  Camera improvements
•         ◦  Time-lapse mode
•         ◦  Capture timer
•         ◦  Adjust exposure with a simple nudge to lighten or darken a photo prior to capture
•         ◦  Burst mode on front-facing camera on iPhone 5s
•         ◦  Panorama for iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display
•   •  QuickType keyboard
•         ◦  Predictive typing personalised to your writing style, and customised based on the recipient and the app
•         ◦  Predictive typing is available in English (Australia, Canada, UK, US), French (Canada, France, Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish and Thai
•         ◦  Third-party keyboard support
•   •  Health
•         ◦  New Health app with easy-to-read dashboard of health and fitness data
•         ◦  Ability to share health data with apps to provide a more comprehensive way to manage your health and fitness
•         ◦  Add a Medical ID with information about allergies, medical conditions and more, with the option to make this accessible from the Lock screen
•         ◦  Available on iPhone and iPod touch
•   •  Family Sharing
•         ◦  Share iTunes, iBooks and App Store purchases with up to six members of your family.
•         ◦  Pay for family purchases with a single credit card and approve purchases by children with Ask to Buy
•         ◦  Easily share family photos, a family calendar, locations and more
•   •  iCloud Drive
•         ◦  Store all your documents in iCloud and access them from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC
•         ◦  Share the same file across multiple compatible apps
•         ◦  Edits you make on one device update on all your devices automatically
•   •  Continuity features so your iPhone, iPad and Mac work together more seamlessly
•         ◦  Handoff to continue what you’re doing as you move from one device to another
•         ◦  Make and receive calls and send and receive SMS or MMS messages on your iPad or Mac
•         ◦  Instant Hotspot to automatically use your mobile connection to get online with your other devices
•         ◦  AirDrop compatibility with OS X Yosemite
•         ◦  Available on iPhone 5 or later, iPad (4th generation), iPad Air, iPad mini and iPod touch (5th generation)
•   •  Spotlight improvements
•         ◦  Displays suggestions from Wikipedia entries, places nearby, films (US only), popular web sites, App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store
•         ◦  Safari also supports Spotlight suggestions alongside Top Hit and search suggestions
•         ◦  Supported for local languages in US, UK, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland
•   •  Mail improvements
•         ◦  Easily jump between drafts and your inbox with a simple swipe down on the draft
•         ◦  Intelligent suggestions for Calendar events and Contacts
•         ◦  VIP threads
•   •  Siri improvements
•         ◦  Improvements to responsiveness, reliability and accuracy
•         ◦  “Hey, Siri” option to initiate Siri using just your voice when your device is plugged in
•         ◦  Streaming voice recognition
•         ◦  Works with Shazam to answer “What song is playing?”
•         ◦  Purchase content from iTunes Store
•   •  Safari improvements
•         ◦  DuckDuckGo search engine support
•         ◦  Private browsing per tab
•         ◦  Subscribe to RSS feeds in Shared Links
•         ◦  Use Camera to scan and enter credit card info
•   •  Maps improvements
•         ◦  Flyover city tours
•         ◦  Maps place cards in Phone and Contacts
•         ◦  Inline map view and travel time notifications for Calendar events
•   •  App Store improvements
•         ◦  New Explore tab for easier category browsing
•         ◦  Top trending searches displayed in Search tab
•         ◦  Scrolling search results
•         ◦  App video previews
•         ◦  Editors’ Choice badges
•   •  Quick access to key contacts in multitasking view
•   •  Interactive Notifications for Messages, Mail, Calendar, Reminders and enabled third-party apps
•   •  New Tips app to help you do more with your iOS devices
•   •  iBooks app built into iOS, now with auto night mode and new organisation for book series
•   •  Podcasts app built into iOS
•   •  Battery usage by app
•   •  iCloud Keychain can use saved website passwords to easily sign in to associated apps
•   •  FaceTime Audio call waiting
•   •  Rich text editing in Notes
•   •  Peer-to-peer AirPlay discovery and playback
•   •  Enterprise features
•         ◦  Expanded data protection to Calendar, Contacts, Messages, Reminders and Notes in addition to Mail and third-party apps
•         ◦  Per-message S/MIME email controls
•         ◦  Improved UI to make it easier for users to understand the remote management of their device
•         ◦  Automatic reply for Exchange
•         ◦  Free/busy lookup for Calendar invitations
•         ◦  MDM Managed books can be automatically pushed to users
•   •  Accessibility features
•         ◦  Redesigned Zoom with one-handed control and multiple zoom modes including picture-in-picture
•         ◦  Built-in timer and Touch ID support for Guided Access
•         ◦  Speak Screen to read out contents of the screen via gesture or Siri command
•         ◦  VoiceOver improvements including Alex voice option and Braille input support
•         ◦  Multi-device support for MFi hearing aids to seamlessly switch from one paired iOS device to another
•   •  Features for China
•         ◦  Vector-based maps
•         ◦  Turn-by-turn navigation
•         ◦  Lunar calendar support
•         ◦  Improved predictive input
•         ◦  Improved weather data
•   •  Expanded language support
•         ◦  Dictation support for 22 additional languages: Croatian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese
•         ◦  New keyboards for English (India), Bengali, Filipino, Marathi, Slovenian and Urdu
•         ◦  Hindi localisation
•         ◦  Definitions of a selected word for additional languages: Russian, Portuguese (Brazil), Thai and Turkish
•         ◦  Spanish-English bilingual dictionary
•         ◦  Spell check for Turkish
•         ◦  Hebrew language support for Text to Speech and VoiceOver
•   •  New developer capabilities, including
•         ◦  Extensibility, giving apps new sharing options and the ability to create widgets, photo filters and editing tools in Photos, and third-party keyboards
•         ◦  Metal, a new graphics technology for game providers to bring console-class 3D games to mobile devices
•         ◦  SpriteKit and SceneKit for improved 2D and 3D games
•         ◦  HealthKit, so health and fitness apps can share their data with each other
•         ◦  HomeKit, a new way for you to control supported devices in your home using Siri
•         ◦  Touch ID support so you can sign in to third-party apps with just your fingerprint
•         ◦  CloudKit, offering a complete and scalable back-end solution, helping developers eliminate the need for writing server code and maintaining servers
•   •  Bug fixes

Some features may not be available in all countries or all areas.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

First attempt at iOS 8 hasn’t faired well, failed to install and has left me with a dead phone.  I shall try again….

2 Hours later and I have lost my backup, as its upgraded from iOS 7 to iOS 8, so I have to re download all my apps and log in to all of them again. What joy! No SMS messages amongst other things.

I have never had a problem before however, this time its been hell and I expect it will be for a few more weeks to come.

Goodluck!

iPhone iOS 6 Update

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:
Maps
Apple designed vector based maps
Turn-by-turn navigation with spoken directions on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (2nd and 3rd generation)
Real-time traffic information
Flyover for photo-realistic, interactive 3D views of major metro areas on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation), and iPod touch (5th generation)
Local search results with Yelp photos, ratings, reviews, and available deals
Siri integration for requesting directions and finding places along a route
Siri improvements
Sports: scores, player stats, game schedules, team rosters, and league standings for baseball, basketball, football, soccer and hockey
Movies: trailers, showtimes, reviews and facts
Restaurants: reservations, reviews, photos and information
Send a Tweet
Post on Facebook
App launch
Eyes Free in supported automobiles
Local search available in Siri supported countries (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
Additional country and language support for Canada (English and Canadian French), China (Mandarin), Hong Kong (Cantonese), Italy (Italian), Korea (Korean), Mexico (Spanish), Spain (Spanish), Switzerland (Italian, French, German), Taiwan (Mandarin), US (Spanish)
Supported on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation) and iPod touch (5th generation)
Facebook integration
Single sign-on from Settings
Post from Photos, Safari, Maps, App Store, iTunes, Game Center, Notification Center and Siri
Add location and choose audience for any post
View up-to-date Facebook profile photos and contact information in Contacts
View Facebook events and birthdays in Calendar
Like content and see your friends’ Likes in App Store and iTunes Store
Shared Photo Streams
Share selected photos with the people you choose
Friends can view shared photos in Photos app, iPhoto and Apple TV
Friends can like and make comments on individual photos
Passbook
One place for boarding passes, store cards, movie tickets and other passes
Barcode display for boarding flights, buying coffee, getting into movies and other actions
Passes displayed on Lock Screen based on time or location
Passes can be automatically updated
Supported on iPhone and iPod touch
FaceTime improvements
FaceTime over cellular support for iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (3rd generation)
Receive FaceTime calls, sent to your iPhone number, on your iPad and iPod touch
Phone improvements
Do Not Disturb to suppress incoming calls and notifications
‘Reply with message’ option when declining a call
‘Remind me later’ option based on time or location when declining a call
Mail improvements
VIP mailbox to quickly access mail from important people
Flagged email mailbox
Insert photos and videos when composing email
Open password protected Office docs
Pull down to refresh mailboxes
Per account signatures
Safari improvements
iCloud tabs to see open pages on all your devices
Offline Reading List
Photo upload support
Full screen landscape view on iPhone and iPod touch
Smart app banners
JavaScript performance improvements
App Store and iTunes Store improvements
Updated store design
iTunes Preview history
Complete my season
Complete my album
Game Center improvements
Challenge friends to beat high scores and achievements
Post high-scores and achievements to Facebook and Twitter
Friend recommendations based on your Facebook friends
Accessibility improvements
Guided Access to limit device to one app or restrict touch input on certain areas of the screen
VoiceOver integration with Maps, AssistiveTouch and Zoom
Support for Made for iPhone Hearing Aids for iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S
Improved privacy controls for Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Photos and data shared over Bluetooth
Reminders can be reordered in the Reminders app
Custom vibrations for alerts on iPhone
Clock app for iPad
Clock alarm with song
Search all fields in Contacts
Automatic movie mode for improved video sound quality
Definitions of a selected word for Chinese, French, German and Spanish
New keyboard layouts for French, German, Turkish, Catalan, Arabic and Icelandic
Keyboard shortcuts shared across devices via iCloud
Bluetooth MAP support
Global network proxy for HTTP
Features for China
Baidu web search
Sina Weibo integration
Share videos to Tudou
Share videos to Youku
Improved text input for handwriting and Pinyin
Bug fixes
Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas.

Have a good look at your phone, it’s a good update.

Ciao

The New Evernote Smart Notebook by Moleskine – Available Today!!!

The New Evernote Smart Notebook by Moleskine | Evernote Blogcast.

I gotta get me one of these, and it includes the Premium Subscription for 3 months totalling £8.97, so in fact you are paying only £11.02 for the Moleskine Notebook!!!!

I am somewhat dubious as surely it will only be useful if you do drawings and such like because other than that you can do the rest straight on the app??? Please tell me if I am wrong. 🙂

Ciao

Back To The Future Mac Icons!!! BRILLIANT

I had to upload these courtesy of iFab.