Improve your iPhone Security by more than 1 Million Percent?

I like using the Simple Passcode option on my iPhone, but I've always been kind of bugged by the idea that there are only 10,000 possible passwords under that scheme. Since it's always 4 numbers, lots of people tend to use a month/day combination which makes guessing a fairly easy task for many people. Is your first digit 0 or 1? Do your 3rd and 4th digits add up to no more than 31? Is your combination your birth year? Last 4 of your phone number?

If you would like a longer simpler password, here's a cool and easy trick I just learned:

1. Open Settings on your iDevice and go to "Touch ID & Passcode."
2. Turn off "Simple Passcode"
3. Next, change your passcode to something longer, using all numbers.
4. Enjoy your new improved security!

Look what happens when you get to the lock screen now! Instead of needing to enter your long password with the keyboard (really kind of a drag) you just punch it in on the keypad (not too shabby!) The only difference between this and the simple passcode option is that you need to tap the "OK" after entering your code.

OK, I lied. The only difference is you have to tap OK, and your password is now more than 111,000%  harder to crack! (Assuming you have used 7 digits.) You've gone from 10,000 combinations to 11,111,110. Add one more digit and you've increased the number of combinations to over 100,000 which is more than a One Million Percent increase!

I really like the idea that the length of my passcode is no longer known. While I'd never recommend a 1, 2 or 3 character code, a would be thief/hacker would have to try all of them in order to rule them out. They also need to try all the 5, 6, 7 and so on combos, thereby increasing the amount of time it will take to unlock your phone.

Yes, you may have set your phone to erase all data after 10 failed passcode attempts, so perhaps you're not too worried. Then again, you may have a kid or a wise guy friend who just loves wiping out all your data every so often. Me? I'd rather not have to restore from a backup. And if you're one of those people who says "Back… what?" or doesn't know how to restore from a backup or one of those who knows how long it takes to restore from a backup, maybe you would like to make your password a little bit longer and less obvious than a sentimental date.

Teach your iPhone to Speak Correctly

If you use Siri to make phone calls or send text messages (and if you don't, why don't you?) it can be infuriating to hear the way she mangles some people's names, or even worse, refuses to call them until you say the name her way.

Let's say I have a friend named "Jimmy Kao." Every time I would ask Siri to "Call Jimmy Kao" she said, "I don't see Jimmy Gow in your address book. Perhaps you mean Jim Franklin?"

Yeah, Siri. Right. That's what I meant to say… not. So I got stuck asking her to call "Jimmy Kayo." I didn't like that, because I kept forgetting to say his name wrong, so I changed his nickname in my address book to "Jimmy Gow." Then Siri understood what I said, but also started referring to him as "Jimmy Gow" in print, like in texts and emails. But, no longer, thanks to this somewhat hidden-but-kind-of-obvious trick:

One day I said, "Learn to pronounce Jimmy Kayo" and Siri said, "OK, How do you pronounce the name (Jimmy)? and I said "Jimmy." Siri said, "OK, thank you. Which pronunciation should I use?" and there were 3 sounds for me to playback and choose from.

Next Siri asked "OK, How do you pronounce the name (Kao)?" and I said "Gow," and there were 3 sounds for me to playback and choose from. One of them sounded pretty close to what I wanted and I chose it.

What happened next was so cool! While she spoke the words "Thanks for correcting me on that, Rob. I'll pronounce it as 'Jimmy Gow' from now on," what it said on the screen was "Jimmy Kao."

Now Siri speaks my friend's names properly and spells them properly too, no matter how they're spelled or pronounced.

…and, with a last name like "Falk" I really appreciate being able to teach her the right way to say it.

Is (Battery) Life Letting you Down?

It seems that many people are disappointed in the decreased battery life in the recent iOS7 upgrade. Looking at it through my rose colored, Apple fan boy glasses, I see it differently. I don't see the battery life decreased as much as I see the functionality of the iPhone increased. Background updating of my favorite news and weather apps means I spend less time waiting for updates when I run the app. The 3D effects aren't really "functionality," but I'm enjoying them. Location awareness in so many more apps makes their results more relevant, but also draws more power. Notifications and Push technology suck down the juice, but I like finding out right away when Amendola or Gronkowski are healthy, and I love knowing when "Rain is Imminent!" I like talking to Siri, but she wears down the battery too.

Unhappy with the time between charges?

Easy solution: Decrease the functionality.

First, take care of basics, and get rid of the stuff you really don't need:

• Have the phone lock sooner.  Go to Settings > General > Auto-Lock and set the interval to a shorter time, such as 1 Minute.
• Don't automatically update Apps! Go to Settings > iTunes & App Store and turn off the toggle for Updates.
• Disable the parallax effect that gives the home screens that 3D look. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion.
• Turn off the Background App Refresh for the apps that you don't need updating all the time. Settings > General > Background App Refresh.
• Turn off AirDrop. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and select the toggle in the Control Center.
• Disable all of the Notifications that you don't really care about. Turn off the stock ticker. Go to Settings >Notification Center.  Change Alert Style to None. Turn Badge App Icon off. Turn Sounds off.
• Dim your screen some. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and slide the slider in the Control Center.

Situationally, there are more fixes:

• Turn off Bluetooth when you're not using it. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and select the toggle in the Control Center.
• Turn off the GPS if you're sitting in one place all day. Turn it on when you need them. Go to Settings>Privacy>Location Services
• Turn off Wi-Fi if you don't use it. Go to Settings>Wi-Fi
• Even if you do use Wi-Fi, turn off "Ask To Join Networks" and you'll save a bit. Go to Settings>Wi-Fi
• If you have low cell tower signal, think about using Airplane Mode. The phone uses a lot of power trying to stay connected, and if you have less than 2 bars or dots, chances are you're missing calls anyhow. Turn off Airplane Mode to make calls or check for emails.
• If instant email is not a priority, change email from Push to Fetch and set the Fetch interval higher. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars >Fetch New Data and turn it off. Scroll down and choose a new interval. The longer the interval, the more battery saved.
• If you listen to Music, set the Equalizer to Off. Go to Settings >Music >EQ and tap Off. Any other setting uses more battery.

If you're not using a car charger, you're crazy, and if you haven't invested in a charger - or at least a USB cable - for work, do so!

And finally comes the brutal but honest truth: If you want a phone with a battery that lasts all day, it's easy:

• Stop using email.
• Stop surfing the web.
• Stop checking and updating Facebook.
• Stop tweeting, Vining, Pinning and Instagramming.
• Stop taking pictures and videos.
• Stop watching Youtube, Netflix, Vimeo.

I promise that if you use your phone as a phone only, you'll have plenty of battery life.

Here's that real life advice I promised: Stop wanting to have your cake and eat it too.

One Less Mac Mail Peeve

In Apple Mail, hovering over an e-mail address in the “To” or “From” field shows a drop-down arrow that you can click to reveal a hidden menu. From that menu, you can copy the email address to your clipboard.

The peeve? It copies it like this:

Juan Sirrakah <juan@whodat.com>

...which is kind of a pain when you just want to copy an email address and paste it somewhere besides another Apple mail message address header.

So, if you'd like it to copy and paste just this:

juan@whodat.com

...do this:

Quit Mail, fire up "Terminal^†," and paste this into it (all on one line, no returns):

defaults write com.apple.mail AddressesIncludeNameOnPasteboard -bool NO

and then hit"enter/Return." Now run Mail and try it out. Cool?

To change the behavior back:

Quit Mail, fire up "Terminal" and paste this into it (all on one line, no returns):

defaults write com.apple.mail AddressesIncludeNameOnPasteboard -bool NO

and then hit"enter/Return."

For the most part, your Mac will do anything you want it to, you just need to know how to ask. If you are having trouble communicating with your Mac and you wish it would listen to you a little better, give me a call.

The White Collar Handyman is also The Mac Whisperer. There are no bad Macs... only inexperienced owners! ;-)

^†found in your "Utilities" folder. Don't be afraid, Terminal doesn't bite!

Trouble viewing PDFs in Firefox?

Last week's hint on resolving Safari's issues with PDF's evoked an outcry from some frustrated Firefox users who were also having problems seeing PDFs in their browser.

Here's one way to overcome Firefox's reluctance to properly display PDFs.

1. In Firefox, type ⇧⌘A or choose "Add-ons" from the "Tools" Menu
2. Once that page loads, clcik "Get Add-ons" on the left side of the page.



"Extensions" Tab

3. Next, type "PDF Viewer" in the search box in the upper right part of the window.
4. Once "PDF Viewer" appears, click on it, and then click on the "Add To Firefox" button.
5. When the pop-down window appears, wait a few seconds and then click "Install Now."
6. Click on the "Extensions" tab on the left side of the page.
7. Look to see if you if you have an Adobe Acrobat plug-in. If you do, click "Disable."
8. Quit and restart Firefox.

Navigate to a page with a PDF, and you should be able to see it now. If you can't see the PDF, please let me know what Mac you're using, what version of Safari & Mac OS, and I'll see if I have any other ideas for you!

How Do I Type That ¶ or ∓ Thingie?

Every once in a while, you need to type a special symbol like § or ¶ or •

Maybe you remember that § is entered by typing Option-6, that ¶ is Option-7, and • is Option-8. Maybe you remember telephone numbers, too. I used to. I don't anymore. I don't know whether it's age, or disuse... I'm hoping the latter. In fact, because I need to use them frequently, I do know ¶ and •, but § took me a little while today, and that's why I want to (re)introduce Mac users to the "Character and Keyboard Viewer."

Language and Text Preferences

Open your System Preferences (Black Apple Menu, Upper left) and choose "Language and Text" from the top row.

Check the box next to "Keyboard & Character Viewer," and at the bottom of the window, check the box for "Show Input in menu bar.

Now, any time you need a special character, or even an emoticon, God forbid, you'll have it at your finger tips.

Character Viewer

When you click on the new icon in your menu bar, you'll be able to choose between the "Keyboard Viewer" and the "Character Viewer."

Open the Character Viewer and you can browse through all the different special characters that are available to you. When you see the one you like, just double click on it, and it will be inserted in your open document.

Keyboard Viewer

If you care to learn how to type it yourself next time, open the Keyboard Viewer. As you hold down the Option, Command, Control and Shift keys, the keyboard on screen will change to show you the characters that can be typed by those key combinations.

(Note: Emoticons probably won't "travel" well. In other words, although you may use them in print documents, chances are they will not show up properly in emails or messages if you are sending them to people in the non-Mac or iDevice world).

Mac OS X Lion and Signing PDFs

Now here's an awesome, but frequently overlooked feature that's built right in to the Macintosh operating system: you can sign PDFs with your actual signature! Did you know that?

How many times have you printed out the PDF, signed it, scanned it, shredded it and then emailed the scan back to the sender? No more. Here's how:

1. Sign your name as you would like it to appear in the document on a plain white piece of paper.
2. Open your PDF with Preview.
3. If you don't see the "Annotations Toolbar, use the menu View > Show Annotations Toolbar (or just type Command-Shift-A)
4. Look for the Signatures pop-up in the Annotation menu that now runs across the top of the document window.
5. Click on that, and choose "Create Signature from Built-in iSight…"
6. Line up the signature with the line in the Signature Capture preview window, and click "Accept."
7. Now, click where in the document you would like your signature to appear.

You can move the signature around, and even resize it. (Unlike resizing many other objects, you don't even need to hold Shift Key down as you resize it so your signature doesn't get all distorted.)

When you're happy, just hit the Enter key, and save the document!

You can store several versions of your signature in Preview, and in the future just choose the one you want to use from the pop-up menu.

How cool is that?

There are many other somewhat hidden features in Mac Lion that can make your life a lot easier. I'll post some here on a regular basis. If you can't wait, perhaps you would like a Lion Lesson or some basic Mac OS coaching. I'm here for you!

iTunes Smart Playlists

If you haven't yet tried the "smart playlist" feature in iTunes, I highly recommend it. Smart playlists automatically update themselves based on rules that are easy to set up. One of my favorite smart playlists keeps 45 minutes of music that is made up 1/2 with songs from my most frequently listened to songs, and 1/2 with songs I haven't listened to in over a month. And, all of the songs on the list have just the right beat for me when I'm out running. This way, every time I run, I have a fresh mix of familiar and old favorites that works just right for me at exercise time. Smart playlist creation is just one of many features of iTunes that I can introduce to you during a one-hour "Making iTune MyTunes" class.

30 Second Skip

The networks and cable companies may not want you to know it, but you can skip 30 seconds ahead on your DVR with one push of a single button, instead of having to fast forward through all those commercials. Once it's set up, you just push the button once for each 1/2 minute you want to advance and, voilá, you're there. It involves programming with "discreet codes" and it's just one of many things that can be done to make your remote control a lot more friendly