Tip, Tricks and Articles for iPad, iPhone, Mac
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Well, it has been a long, painful road - one that is not quite ended yet.

But it looks like we are almost there.  

We now have NBN installed at the iTandCoffee shop.  It is a cable connection through Telstra, and the speeds that we now get are sooooo much better than before.

It took 7 months from order to installation.  It was supposed to be completed by the start of March this year. 

From the first appointment when no-one from NBN turned up, to the second when the technician turned up well after the arranged time and couldn't complete the job, through the subsequent 3 months of postponed appointments, each month without explanation.

Finally, we had technicians turn up in the second-last week of June.  

These technicians seemed to have no awareness of the problem that had prevented the install in March, so came unprepared and had to come back a second, then third day!  

We had thought that we were finally getting our installation earlier in June, when an NBN team was digging up the concrete outside the shop and installed a box on the wall.  Alas, it was not ours - it was our neighbour's.

So the concrete had to be dug up a few weeks later for our own connection.  

When I asked the technician why the two addresses were not done in one go (as one would have thought would be the most sensible, cost effective approach), I was told that it was must have been because I didn't have my order in early enough!

Visible smoke came out ears at these words!  The poor technicians who must face frustrated customers like me.  

What concerns me (and I know also concerns others I speak to) is the waste of money from the repeated mis-communication and poor co-oridination.  

I hear stories like my own from so many other clients and subscribers.

Do you have your own NBN story?  And, if you have NBN, is it better or worse that your old internet connection?

I am happy to report that the speed of the iTandCoffee Shop's NBN internet connection is MUCH better than it was - downloads are about 7-8 time faster than our ADSL connection, and uploads are about 30-40 times faster.

Fingers crossed that this continues.

At a recent Keeping Kids Safe on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch information session run for parents at a local school, one of the parents asked if parental controls can be set up on an Android device.

For those of you with such devices (or with kids using these devices), here are some articles that discuss how to set up parental controls on these devices.
​

• Get control of what your kids can see on their Android tablet or smartphone
• Set up parental controls on Google Play - Google Play Help                                                                                                                       

You may have seen reports in the press last week about a lady in Melbourne who was scammed out of $46,000 when she fell for a phone scam.  

Details are reported on the Victoria Police website:  Police warning re iTunes card scam. Here is an extract from the article.                                                

It's iOS and MacOS (or OS X) update time again!

Apple has released important updates to all its operating systems for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch.  It contains a security patch that we should all install as soon as possible.

The update blocks a potential vulnerability that could leave devices open to attack via the Wi-Fi chip in the device (as well as fixing some other 'bugs').           

How to apply the update

​For instructions on how to update your Apple devices, see this article from Macworld.

• Apple releases iOS 10.3.3, macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and watchOS 3.2.3 updates - Macworld Australia

Should you Update?

This may be the last iOS 10 update (with iOS 11 due for delivery in spring).  If you have a device that is not going to be eligible for upgrade to iOS 11, this may be the iOS version that you are stuck with forever!

• Here are the devices that can/can't be upgraded to iOS 11 (from ComputerWorld).​​

There are some reported shortcomings of this release, which need to be weighed up against the advantages of applying the security patch on older devices.

• Apple iOS 10.3.3 Bugs and problems with Safari, Mail and Music | Forbes

What if your device won't allow you to update?

​Something to keep in mind if you have an older iPhone that is 'stuck' forever on iOS 9 is that you won't be able to update your device to 'patch' this security vulnerability.  

This could leave your device open to attack when it is searching for a Wi-Fi network.  It might be time to think about an upgrade to that old phone (or at least leaving your Wi-Fi turned off unless you really need to use it).

iTandCoffee schedules regular 'Helping Hand' sessions, where you can do your updates to your iPad, iPhone or Mac at iTandCoffee, using our internet. We will have someone there to give you a hand if you get stuck.  (You can even make your photo book at iTandCoffee during these session times.)

iTandCoffee Club member can attend these sessions FOR FREE*.  For non-members, cost is $35 per session.  See the upcoming dates below.

* The number of free sessions available to members depends on the membership plan.  

For anyone in business, it is well worth knowing about the fantastic support that your local council offers for your business.

In particular, our local Boroondara council provides the opportunity for FREE On Demand workshops for Boroondara businesses, on a variety of topics.

iTandCoffee in Glen Iris will host two of these Boroondara council On Demand workshops during August.

Facebook for Business: Tuesday August 8th, 6:30-8:30pm 
Instagram for Business: Thursday August 31st, 6:30-8:30pm
LinkedIn for Business: Tuesday October 3rd, 6:30-8:30pm
Where: iTandCoffee, 34 High Street Glen Iris. 
Light refreshments provided

If you run (or belong to) a small business in Boroondara, come along to learn about using Facebook and Instagram as great marketing tools for your business.

Places at these FREE workshops are strictly limited, so book early to avoid missing out.

At the July Free Friday, during the information session on 'The Cloud' and 'iCloud', we touched on the topic of using iCloud to share albums of photos.

We didn't have a lot of time to cover this in any detail during this session, so this week we have included a couple of Handy Hints for club members - one for Mac, and one for iPad and iPhone - on how to use iCloud Shared Albums.

An iCloud Shared Album is an album that you create in the 'Shared' area of your Photos app on the Mac or iPad/iPhone.

This 'Shared' area is an area of your iCloud that you can choose to 'turn on'.  If you don't see it, you may not have chosen to enable it.

Albums that are created in this area can be then shared with other iCloud users, or even with those who don't have iCloud.

The great benefit of iCloud Shared Albums is that, by just adding photos to a shared album, others you nominate will be able to see the photos - without you have to text, email or use other ways of 'messaging' the photos to them.  

While there are other 'cloud storage' options for your photos, the benefit of iCloud Shared Albums is that it is integrated with your Photos app - so that you can see all photos in one app, instead of having to use different apps (as would be the case if you share photos using another cloud service).

Members can find out more about iCloud Photo Sharing by selecting the below buttons.  Not yet a member of The iTandCoffee Club?  Find out more here ».

Handy Hints - iPad and iPhone 

• Creating an Album in Photos on your iPad and iPhone
• Sending an individual photo from the Photos app
• Send several photos from the Photos app
• Saving photos and documents received in Mail on the iPad and iPhone
• Separately control focus and light in the Camera app
• Scan your credit card and avoid typing in the details
• Taking better photos with your iPhone and iPad
• Camera and Photos: Quickly taking a photo on your iPhone or iPad
• Accessing the Camera App from the Lock screen
• How to see your iPad and iPhone photos presented on a map
• Getting edited iPhone (or iPad) photos across to your computer using iCloud Shared Streams
• iOS 10 - Accessing the Camera App from the Lock screen
• iOS 10 - Draw and write on photos + a new 'Edit' symbol
• Separately control focus and light in the Camera app
• Hiding photos from your timeline in the Photos app
• How to access 'edit' options for photos on your iPad and iPhone
• Search for your photos by location, date, object and more
• Tag your Favourite photos and view all of them in one place!
• Getting back a photo or video that was accidentally deleted
• Taking better photos with your iPhone and iPad
• Sending an individual photo from the Photos app
• Importing iPad and iPhone photos to a Windows computer
• How can I delete photos from my iPad and iPhone in bulk using a Windows computer?
• Deleting iPhone and iPad photos in bulk using a Mac
• Take a photo while you are videoing
• Take a photo of whatever is on your screen - screenshots
• Saving a photo you see in Facebook on your iPad or iPhone

Blog articles - iPad and iPhone

• My first iMovie video on my new iPhone 6 Plus!
• Do you hate having to scan and send documents?
• Password Keeper apps for iDevices
• A great app for tracking data usage on your iPad and iPhone
• Have you discovered 'app extensions'?  Here are some really great extensions for the Photos app.
• I seem to get two copies of photos on my iPhone when HDR is on
• How can I print several photos on a single page from my iPad or iPhone
• iOS 9 offers a new way of deleting photos in bulk from your iPad and iPhone
• Great slideshows for learning all about taking and managing photos on your iPad and iPhone
• Are your 'bursts' of photos causing your iPad, iPhone or Mac to 'burst its storage banks'?
• One of the most important things to do to take a good photo 
• Trying out some interesting new Photo Book options
• Can I change the date of a photo so it appears in the correct Year in Apple's Photos app?
• How to add music to a Photos slideshow when you have Apple Music
• How Apple's Photos app 'saved the day'!

So many people I speak to tell me that they use the same password for more than one of their online accounts - their Mail, their iCloud/Apple ID, their PayPay, their eBay.  Or they use only a couple, or minor variations of the same password.

They tell me that this is the only way they can remember passwords.  In many cases, this password is also very simple and easy to guess.   

My advice is always to reconsider this approach, and to tighten up their security - advice that I know is rarely heeded.  It is all just too hard.

An article that I saw last week re-iterated the serious danger of using one password across all your online accounts.  It is worth reading, then considering whether it is time to get to work on updating those passwords.

Here is the article:

• ​This is what can happen if you use the same passwords over and over

Due to popular demand, we are going to re-run on a workshop that we have run previously on the topic of passwords.

At our next Free Friday for iTandCoffee Club members* on August 25th at 12pm, the topic will be 

What a great turn-out we had for the July Free Friday for iTandCoffee Club members.  Thanks to all of you for coming along.

The video of the 1-hour information session is now available in the Clubhouse area, for iTandCoffee Club Plus, Online and Premium members.

Just this week, iTandCoffee presented at a Tourism conference in the Yarra Valley, Victoria.  During the presentation, we raised the question with delegates "How safe are your files and photos".  

Are you backing up your precious files, especially those photos?  

Please don't wait until a major disaster to think about protecting your 'digital life'!  Make sure you are backing up to somewhere - and do it now!

In the past week, Google has released an exciting new tool that is worthy of consideration when looking at whether to backup to a physical device, or to a 'cloud' service (or both).  

This new product allows you to choose to back up some or all of your computer's files and folders to your Google 'cloud'.

The great thing about this new service is that you don't need to choose to put your folders and files in a particular area on your computer for the backup to work.  

You can leave them exactly where the are, and just 'tell' the Backup and Sync Tool which folders should be backed up.

Here is an article that describes this new tool.  

• How to use Google Drive's new Backup and Sync tool  

​I'll be looking into this one further over the next few weeks, to see if I add another layer of 'protection' for parts of our business and personal digital life.

Your iPad and iPhone has some special features that can be activated by 'double-pressing' or 'triple-pressing' on the Home Button.

Here are some past Handy Hints on the topic of the Home Button, and all the different things it can do.

• Special Tricks for your Home Button
• Are you hating the new 'Press home to unlock' feature of iOS 10? Here's how to go back to the 'old way' of unlocking with your fingerprint.      
• My iPad just got stuck - how to fix a mis-behaving iPad or iPhone!     ​
• How do I 'Force Reboot' on an iPhone 7?             ​

For many people that we see at iTandCoffee, the 'double-press' or 'triple-press' actions are quite difficult due to the speed with which this multiple press must be performed.

It is possible to adjust a Setting, allowing for slower 'multiple-pressing' of the Home button.

This Setting is an Accessibility feature, found in Settings -> General -> Accessibility.

There are a couple of sections in Accessibility which deal with how you 'Interact' with your device.  Under Interaction, you will find the Home Button option.