Show all posts by user

Re: Apple Store item update message: "we could not complete your purchase" - 4 weeks ago

Took me a while to figure this out. The problem happens depending on which network I'm on, wired vs. wireless. I generally operate with a direct ethernet connection, but switching to my primary wireless network generally fixes the app update issue you describe. SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Using an Older Printer on an M1 MBA - 7 weeks ago

Terrific suggestion; it worked! Thanks very much, Ombligo. SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Using an Older Printer on an M1 MBA - 7 weeks ago

Hi Friends, Just bought my wife a new M1 MBA for Christmas. We've got a Brother MFC 7360N printer which serves us well, but it doesn't look like Brother has a compatible driver for this printer. We don't need the multifunctions, just straight printing. Is there any way to print from the new MBA to this printer with a "generic" driver? Thanks for any suggestions you may have

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Wonky Time Machine Backup: What to Do? - 7 weeks ago

Hi Friends, Just now, I got a system notice that Time Machine was unable to back up to the designated disk. This had happened a few weeks back, and I reformatted the disk and started over with a fresh TM backup. Everything seemed to be working fine. This morning, the disk came up as "read only." So, I ran disk utility and all appeared to be okay. But, the status was still "re

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Car Folks: Buying a Used Prius - 8 weeks ago

Thanks for all of your thoughtful replies. More info: As a musician, I've always driven a hatchback form of vehicle for the utility in loading gear. I love wagons, small vans, and hatches. I'm not quite ready to ditch ICE yet. While I don't often take long trips, I do have range anxiety about going all electric. I don't like spending a ton of money on cars, so the $15k cap is pretty f

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Car Folks: Buying a Used Prius - 8 weeks ago

Hi Friends, Presently driving a 2008 Mazda5, which I love, but I've had it for 10 years and I'd like to replace it. I've been thinking of looking for a Prius V 2015-2017 below $15k. Never having owned a hybrid, can you please help me with important considerations for this purchase? Thanks in advance, SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Photography Folks: Need Lighting Kit Recommendations - 3 months ago

Sorry pc (I was hoping you'd weigh in). Here's more detail: This will be shot indoors. The room has 3 windows and good natural light. I have a medium-pale grey painted wall in place to shoot against if needed. There is electrical access. I'll be shooting three individual people, one at a time. I don't think I'll need to light the background, but I'm uncertain of this. There is a diff

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Photography Folks: Need Lighting Kit Recommendations - 3 months ago

Hi Friends, I've been tasked with shooting my kids' school portraits this year using my Sony A6000. So, I went to Amazon to find lighting/background kits. Looking to spend about $100 or so, maybe a bit more. I came away with more questions than answers: Should I get a 2 or 3 light kit Light boxes or umbrellas Bulb wattage: saw single bulb per stand kits vs. multi bulb per stand kits Wha

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Drum Notation App? - 3 months ago

Thanks very much. I'll check that out. I also found GrooveScribe, an online alternative that does most of what I want: GrooveScribe

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Drum Notation App? - 3 months ago

Hi Friends, Looking for a simple, intuitive drum score writing app. Just want to notate a few bars of various beats. I've got Logic, but that doesn't seem to have the capability I need. I tried iWriteMusic on the iPad, but that was confusing, to say the least. Has anyone found something that they enjoy using? SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Download YouTube Videos: Best Way? - 4 months ago

Super helpful, folks. Thanks! SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Download YouTube Videos: Best Way? - 4 months ago

Hi Friends, I need to download about twenty or so YouTube videos for a project. What is the easiest way to do this? Thanks, SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Best Keynote teacher: Apple Keynote Club - 4 months ago

Cool; thanks! Over the years I've used Keynote occasionally to make video animations. This is very useful info.

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: What Happened to Rockford on Prime? - 6 months ago

Too bad, I've been watching Rockford there, as well. One of the best written shows, as I still remember the episodes and characters decades later. Guess I'll have to hook up that free Peacock device that Comcast sent me. SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Strange Small Electronics Project: Can You Help? - 7 months ago

Thanks for the very helpful suggestions!

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Strange Small Electronics Project: Can You Help? - 7 months ago

Hi Friends, For a prop, I'm looking to build a small plastic box with a belt clip. Box will have 9v powered LEDs in bezels on the front face and an external on/off switch. Adding some sound (beeps or buzzes) would be great but is not essential. I used to build stuff like this back in electronics class, but I have no idea where to start now. Happy to purchase a pre-made solution if som

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Temporarily Muting System/Application Sounds - 7 months ago

Thanks for your response. No, not coming through GV, these are email and various calendar app reminders mostly. I was hoping to do this on a system wide basis as opposed to app-by-app, since the turning on and off will be frequent.

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Temporarily Muting System/Application Sounds - 7 months ago

Hi Friends, I've begun recording interviews through my iMac using Google Voice into a Rodecaster Pro board via USB. While recording, I'm occasionally hearing various beeps and chimes, notifying me of events. I put notifications on "Do Not Disturb" and turned the "alert" volume all the way down in System Preferences. But still, I'm getting interrupted by sounds from th

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

The poor state of Mac email clients - 8 months ago

I rely heavily on email, but the state of Mac email clients is sad. I’d been an Apple Mail user for years. But it was somewhat buggy and unreliable, so I switched to Airmail. Airmail was working well for me, until recently. I like being able to see if an email has been read, and I love the global delayed send feature (delays emails for xx seconds after you press the send button). But now,

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: What are songs with that "haunting" quality about them? - 8 months ago

This one has been "haunting" me since the 80s, and I don't think it will ever stop: The Church, Under the Milky Way

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: New ISP in the House: iPhone SE Much Slower than Desktop - 8 months ago

Thanks for the tips. I switched the modem to 5ghz and my device speeds improved dramatically. But, I've got an Xbox 4 that doesn't seem to like 5ghz. I tried to set up a guest network, but this router Arris SBG5680 does not show that option in the menu system; although, there are online references to this feature being available in this modem. Is is possible that xFinity is blocking me

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

New ISP in the House: iPhone SE Much Slower than Desktop - 8 months ago

Hi Friends, After years of slow DSL, we finally upgraded to 200 mbps cable service. On my desktop Mac wireless, I get 150-195 mbps very consistently. On my iPhone SE and my iPad, the speeds are significantly lower, between 8 and 20 mbps. I'm not sure if that is the best I can expect on those devices, or if I need to change something in my setup on the mobile devices. Thanks for any

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Use DSLR/Mirrorless camera as Zoom webcam for MAC OS - 9 months ago

I was looking for a CamLink as that seems to be the first choice. But those are out of stock everywhere and way marked up everywhere else. What options are you exploring? QuoteGareth That guy sounds like he's trying to have a conversation in a library (whispering). I couldn't keep watching it, and I actually managed to find a couple options for "capture" cards I'm going to try ou

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Giving Photoshop the boot - what are your preferred alternatives? - 9 months ago

I've got CS6 running under 10.14.6 and the whole suite works okay, except for Audition, which Apple killed with a recent incremental OS update. Seeing the writing on the wall, I'm trying the Affinity Photo (and Affinity Designer) demos. Designer is a lot easier for me to use when compared to Illustrator. Just more intuitive all the way around. I struggle with Photo as some very key featu

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Web Hosting 101: Dedicated Server Questions - 9 months ago

Yes, Wordpress with some video content. QuoteM A V I C What are you hosting? Eg, is it a static site, WordPress, video heavy...?

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Web Hosting 101: Dedicated Server Questions - 9 months ago

Hi Folks, I'm presently hosted at HostGator and was using the starter plan with $7/mo approximate costs. Typical web traffic has been 100-500 visits per day. Recently I posted something which caused my traffic to spike to 10k visits the first day and then 18k+ visits the next day. HG did not like that and shut down the site. In order to reopen, I had to purchase a Virtual Private Server

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: What are you finally getting around to doing? - 10 months ago

Removed, reset, and regrouted large soapstone pavers on the front porch. Halfway there with that one. Also, I downloaded the 90 day free trial of FinalCut Pro X. Learning that in contemplation of ditching Premier Pro CS6. Same thing with Affinity Designer and Illustrator CS6. And, I'm reviewing/cataloging the digital family video collection using a really cool app called Cinematica: SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: Looking for a screen recorder with small area capability - 10 months ago

Capto is very good, especially if you want to record system audio as opposed to microphone audio: SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: What do we like for screen recording - 10 months ago

I tried changing S&P permissions for Voila, but that did not work. Pretty sure that a recent Apple "update" to Mojave broke a bunch of audio stuff. Recently, I've lost Audition, Voila, and now Amadeus. https://community.adobe.com/t5/audition/adobe-audition-cs6-quot-cannot-be-opened-quot/m-p/11032207#M21896 I was able to purchase Capto for $17, and it does exactly what Voila

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals

Re: What do we like for screen recording - 10 months ago

Thanks for your replies. Just found there is a successor to Voila called Capto. Used the demo last night and it will capture screen recordings with internal/system audio. SR

by steveroberts - Tips and Deals