Road to Macstock 2017

Source: MacVoices #17142: Road to Macstock: Melissa Davis and Jodi Spangler On Delivering Remote Support

#SeniorMoments

Macstock 2016

Here is a Flickr album of my Adventures at Macstock 2016 and of touring downtown Chicago. My feet have *almost* forgiven me. I'll write more about this wonderful experience soon, so stay tuned!

I'm Speaking at Macstock!

I'm speaking at Macstock this coming July! I am so excited. I'm giving a joint presentation with Jodi Spangler and then we are doing a Deeper Dive to go over more details. The name of our talk is called "Senior Moments. It will be about working with senior citizens and some of the challenges we all face when helping one another.

Look! They even put me on their website! Go check out the speakers page here: http://macstockconferenceandexpo.com scroll down to see the list of all the awesome people I'll be sharing a stage with at the conference. I'm really looking forward to seeing my friends and I hope you can join us!

Upgrade Your Car With ZUS

Mother's Day isn't far off and I have a terrific gift idea! If the mom in your life is anything like me she may have any one or more of the following: an older or aging car, a habit of losing her car in a parking lot or parked on the street far away, and a smartphone or tablet that's running low on juice (because she just shot a bunch of home movie and photos). Sound familiar?

ZUS to the rescue! Thanks to a review unit from nonda.co, this handy new gadget has given my 13-year-old car a bit of an upgrade. ZUS plugs into the cigarette lighter port and converts it into a 2-port charging outlet for USB-powered devices. I love how each port is illuminated so I can find them easily in the dark. It's also built with military-grade materials so I don't have to worry about it melting or malfunctioning in the desert temperatures where I live. Not only does this thing charge our smartphones AND tablets quickly, it also helps me locate my car!

Imagine you're on a road trip with the family and your destination is an amusement park with one of those huge parking lots. I always have so much anxiety worrying about finding my car when we get back. Recently, I took the kids to the Children's Museum downtown where parking was a huge challenge because of the need to park so far from our destination. In these scenarios, I used to whip out the Notes app and jot down the row number or some kind of description or snap a photo – all while trying to keep my wiggly kids from having a meltdown because it's taking Mommy too long. Now I can park my car quickly and worry-free because ZUS will help me find it. When it's time to walk back, my kids love helping me find our car with the ZUS iPhone app because it gives us a compass to follow. If for any reason it can't pinpoint your location as you park your car, the app lets you know and directs you to snap a photo of the area surrounding your car. (So far in testing it out, it's only happened once during our current road trip.)

Another great feature in the ZUS app is the ability to set a parking timer right there as soon as you park. We've definitely been in that situation many times where we had to concern ourselves with a parking meter ON TOP OFF trying to remember at which meter we've parked! Two problems solved with one ZUS!

My family and I have travelled across the country and back several times and I can already see how handy ZUS will be for future road trips to come.

I really think this would make a fantastic gift for Mother's Day on Sunday, May 8th, 2016. When you buy a ZUS directly from nonda.co, use this 10% off promo code (valid until March 31, 2016)

SMM-AKZUSSUMMER16

If you're reading this after Mother's Day, then Father's Day next on the gift list! Check it out using my affiliate link and thanks in advance for supporting my blog!

Many thanks to nonda.co for the opportunity to review ZUS for my readers!

Help for Heartbleed Heartburn

Have you heard about the Heartbleed Bug in the news? You may have seen its logo plastered across your screen at some point. I wonder if sales of antacid are on the rise right about now because I bet it's causing a lot of heartburn lately. If you are not overly concerned with this news at the moment, I'm not here to send you into a panic, but identity theft can really take its toll if you're not prepared. I know from experience and it's not the sort of thing I wish on anyone.

It's a whole lot easier to float down the river in a boat without a hole in the bottom of it! Managing your login credentials and maintaining good passwords helps you stay aware and on the lookout for anything nefarious. I know too many people who use the same password, or a variation of it, over and over again because when given a choice between security and convenience, most will choose the latter.

If you have a credit card, you should be used to the idea of change by now. Your credit card has an expiration date on it and each time they issue a new one, even though the number may remain the same, the security code on the back changes. Websites or software products with login screens like those used for banking, payroll access, insurance, healthcare, etc. require a periodic password reset in order to access it, but there are a lot of websites that do not require this and so people become complacent. Of course changing your password is not the be-all-end-all, but it certainly helps to thwart attackers. You lock your home and car while away, so why leave the all the keys under the door mat? A thief will likely check there first. If it becomes public knowledge that you stash your keys under the potted plant next to your door mat, ya might want to change your locks and start keeping your keys a little closer from now on.

I'd like to take this opportunity to educate you on how you can strike a balance between security and convenience, so pop some of your favorite flavored chalk or antacid and here we go:

Get a Password Manager

Now, I just told you not to use the same password for each site which I know sounds like a tall order, but what if I told you that you could memorize just ONE really, really good master password, hide it really, really well and let that be the key that securely stores and unlocks all the other keys? Doesn't that sound much easier than having to remember or write down a bunch of stuff only to forget where you put it or maybe later not be able to tell if you wrote the letter 'O' or a zero. Six times over? Remember though, keep this master key close because it's the key to your city. If you suspect it has ever been guessed, change it and guard it closer.

The app I've chosen to invest my security in over the past several years is 1Password by AgileBits. It has worked so well for me and my family that I am using it with more and more of my clients. It saves so much time and energy when they put it to use. When threats or security maintenance protocols create the need to change passwords, using this password manager makes it easier to document and store the new information, securely. Everything you enter into this software is for your eyes only unless you decide to share it with someone you trust who also has 1Password so they can lock it away in their own vault. This is extremely helpful for use in families and between colleagues. You can use iCloud or your own secured Wi-Fi connection to sync between devices so that your information is not intercepted while syncing.

At the time of this posting, there is a sale on 1Password and I highly recommend that you have the latest version. If you still have the older version, now is the best time to upgrade because they've added a lot of new features. There is one app that will work on your iPhone and/or iPad and another app that works on your Mac. You sync them with each other and all your information is secured on all your devices! While both pieces of software are on sale right now, it's really worth the price when you see what all it can do. The developers are constantly polishing this app and they stay on top of all the security risks so you don't have to. All you have to do is click these links and the App Store on either iPhone/iPad or Mac will take care of the installation process. It's very easy.


1Password for iOS on iPhone/iPad/iPod touch

1Password for Mac OS X







Learn How to Use Said Password Manager

Once you've installed 1Password, my good friend, Don McAllister, at ScreenCastsOnline has kindly published his instructional video tutorial for free. You can watch it right here. If you like his method of instruction, you should really consider subscribing to his other videos! A free trial membership is available.

Lists of Sites That Have Been Affected

If you've ever signed up for any of the services listed below, you need to change your password. It doesn't matter if you signed up and then never used the site again. If you're like a lot of people, you may have used the same password there that you use in other places. That makes you more vulnerable because that's what hackers will assume when they target you. Just go to the site and change it anyway. Be sure to use the auto-generation tool in your password manager so that you're using a password you'll never use anywhere else. Don't worry about memorizing it because you'll just copy and paste it when needed. If your password is ever extracted somehow, like in the case of a bug like Heartbleed, the fact that you can change it and update your login credentials more efficiently WILL keep you safer. If you plan on abandoning an online service, just be sure no personal or financial details like a credit card are linked to the service in question and if you really do not plan on using it, maybe now is the time to close it off.

Here are some of the big ones I could find where you should change your passwords because they have been patched by now:

Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest
Tumblr
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
GoDaddy
Intuit Turbo Tax
Dropbox

If you use any of their related services like Gmail or Yahoo Mail, for example, you should change your passwords at their websites first and then don't forget you need to make that same password change in the settings on all the devices you use to access that service. For example, if you change your password for Google's Gmail service, then you need to plug that same new password into the Settings section on your iPhone, iPad and/or Mac. Using 1Password makes this easier because you just copy and paste it into the boxes calling for it.

Sites With More Complete Listings:
The Heartbleed Hit List: The Passwords You Need to Change Right Now
Here’s A List of Websites Allegedly Affected by The Heartbleed Bug (updated)

What is the Heartbleed Bug?

Here are some links to easy-on-the-eyes articles if you want to educate yourself further on what this bug is and why it's important to act. It's a lot of information to digest and even then it still might not make sense, but I tried to pick articles that explain it a little easier than most.
Heartbleed, the new OpenSSL hack: How does it affect OS X and iOS?
Heartbleed: What You Need To Know About The Security Fiasco In Three Minutes Or Less

Check Your Router

Apple made a statement quoted here saying Apple products are not affected. If you have an Apple-branded router used to connect to your modem , e.g., Airport, Airport Extreme or Time Capsule, it is not affected. Linksys routers are also not affected according to their statement issued here. I'm not yet sure about Netgear or other companies. If that changes, I'll update this post. If you use a router other than those who've already issued statements to get your wireless devices connected to the internet, contact the company who makes it to find out if they've issued a patch. If so, change your passwords.

There is a password used to manage the device and then there is also a password used to connect to the device. You may have given the latter password out to family and friends who have visited your home and connected to your Wi-Fi. You'll need to give them the new password when they visit next time. I've found it helpful to write or print out the password (so it's legible) and tack it to the fridge or someplace accessible so you can just hand it to your guest and they can enter it in their device. (Just don't forget to put it back!) If the manufacturer has not issued a statement saying their product was affected, just wait. Unless you registered your warranty with their site, you'll need to check this on your own as it's unlikely you'll get an email about it.

Additional sources for this post:

Heartbleed — What's Next? Check Your Clients, Routers, Virtual Machines And VPNs
Heartbleed Bug Affects Gadgets Everywhere

'Heartbleed' Bug in OpenSSL Puts Encrypted Communications At Risk

Disclaimer: I was not compensated to write this, but I am using affiliate links for the app downloads.

Macworld iWorld 2014 Wrap-Up

Join Michael Portis and I in our Macworld/iWorld 2014 Wrap-Up discussing what and who caught our eye at the Expo this year.


Products Reviewed
Square Jellyfish
PoweRocks
Pocket Tripod
Contact Patch
Studio Neat

and a BIG personal thank you to:
Michael Rose
Jack Hollingsworth

If you would like to join our community, please visit http://smartphone-photographers.com/ 

Evening, Javelina!

All this time living in Arizona, I have never seen Javelina up close, until now. I was leaving a client’s home Thursday night and it was around 7:45 pm. I was accelerating up a small hill when I had to hit the hooks as they were just congregating in the middle of the road! They scurried up the side of the road and continued their little meeting and I just had to stop the car and marvel at them. It was really hard to photograph what I was seeing with just my iPhone. It didn’t help that I was kinda of scared that they might charge me or that a car could come up behind me at any time. Instinct told me I should not get out of the car, but I admit I was very tempted! I decided they were a safe enough distance away from my car, so I took a deep breath, picked up my iPhone with one hand while rolling down my electric window and keeping my finger on that window button, my left foot on the clutch, right on the break, paused the podcast I was playing, brought up the camera, enabled the flash while trying to reach up with my thumb to tap the screen in an attempt at focusing on the peccary then snapped 2 photos. The super bright flash from my LED flash startled them and they began scurrying away. The photos I captured were pitch black and I was disappointed that I couldn’t capture the moment. I rolled up my window, put the phone back in my dash, engaged in first gear and slowly drove off in amazement of having witnessed these nocturnal animals. I was glad I got to see them with my own eyes.

While organizing my photos for this evening, I decided instead of discarding these back blobs that I’d try and edit them in iPhoto. It turns out I was able to get something out of one of them and as you can see here, you can almost make out the shapes of the Javelina. You can make out 3 or 4 of them in the shadows.

This is what I absolutely love about smartphone photography: the thrill of the moment. Your heart beats in your chest and you feel alive in the moment.

So many times I feel guilty because I am always snapping photos of every little thing. “Melissa, how can you be present in the moment when you’re always behind the camera?” Well, maybe everyone’s way of being present is just not the same. I felt very much alive trying to capture this moment. Not only was I present then, but I can recall that moment now any time I like and feel a sense of pride. Is this not being present in the moment?

Watering Hole

Big Girl Steps

Yesterday I bought my very first luggage set, ever! I've never in my life actually owned a suitcase. In the traveling I have done, it's always been with backpacks and duffel bags — diaper bags even.

This is major big girl stuff right here!

I'm so proud of this set of suitcases, especially because they are purple! (to match my laptop, of course) They have spinning wheels on the bottom and two-position locking pull bars. The boys love pulling them across the floor and spinning them around. Right now, Keagan enjoys hiding his toys in them and playing with the zippers.

It wasn't until I got them home that I realized they are made by Oleg Cassini. I personally care very little about brand names and fashion so I had to laugh at myself there. I just care about how durable they look and the set was under $100 so the price was right.

I have a set of purple suitcases! (doing the happy Snoopy dance!)

I also got an "Phone Pod Universal Smart Phone Holder" and I LOVE it! I clip it to Keagan's stroller and he is happy and content to play Angry Birds Space and watch Blues Clues on Netflix!

Ok, so now all I need to do is book our flights and arrange for transportation to and from the airport for us all. sigh. I just want to vomit thinking about the air fare and travel stress but I'm excited to see my family and friends in June and July. I can't believe it's been two years since we've traveled back east. How time flies. Now it's time to fly!

Apple of My Eye

I've been wanting to post this video clip for some time now. It's one of my favorite memories from our cross-country road trip this past summer. It's a little home movie of us and our visit to the Boylston Street Apple Store in Boston, MA. I hope you enjoy it.


Apple Store Visit from TheMacMommy on Vimeo.

One of the many highlights of our cross-country road trip this summer (July 2008) was a visit to the Apple Store on Boylston Street in Boston, MA. Lucian was just learning how to navigate steps so the glass spiral staircase was a real treat! It was lots of fun watching him play with an iPod Touch. Someday, maybe we'll have one of our own.

P.S.
I swear I did not coach him to say "Apple" but I'm hoping Steve Jobs will find it cute anyhow.



Ouch

That would be my poor, pathetic, fried shoulder with 3-day-old sunburn. Let the peeling begin. The other side looks almost as bad.

Of course we lathered our son in SPF 1000, but do you think we put any on ourselves? Yeah, well, there ya have it. I was just trying to be patriotic, ya know?

To my dear cousin Jenny, this is in response to your SPF 0 post. More proof that we are related tards.

My Dad on Father's Day

More Monkey See, Monkey Do
So, what's dinner like with YOUR Dad? Here is a day in my life with MY Dad.
I'm going to get grounded when he finds out about this post, so if you don't hear from me in a while, you'll know what happened.


Father's Day Meal Conversation from TheMacMommy on Vimeo.

Thanks for making me a Mom!
Here is Mr. Davis with Lucian opening his geeky gift from us. Now he'll be able to listen to HIS iPod in HIS car.

(Just to show how much I love him, HE has the bigger of our two iPods. For now. He did earn it though.)

Happy 2nd Father's Day to my wonderful and loving husband. You're such a great Daddy and we love you very very much!
(Even though it was a couple of days ago, I still like to brag to the world just how awesome you guys are.)

Monkey See Monkey Do

Lucian is in that mimic phase these days. Sometimes it's cute. Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's just not funny or cute, it's scary.

It helps that there are times like when he follows you into the bathroom (like all the time) to mimic what you're doing. Like pulling toilette paper off the roll. And repeating the process. Till you tell him to stop. To which command he refuses to obey and then you get mad and then he wipes himself over his diaper and then you laugh.

I swear one of the hardest things about parenting is keeping a straight face.

Road Trip 2008 - post 1

Road Trip!!!!

Well, I had all these great aspirations to chronicle all of the details of our road trip while driving this year from our home in Arizona out to visit my family in Pennsylvania. I was all packed up and organized with technology and even prepared with a spare battery for my laptop. I learned though that I had to conserve on the laptop usage while we were driving because it was a lot of work to keep Lucian entertained in the back seat.

It turns out, Nate did all of the driving for the whole trip anyhow. He was much more comfortable plus I don't think he really likes my driving anyhow. I stayed in the back seat the whole way and tried my best to keep Lucian from being uncomfortable in his car seat. It worked out pretty well. I was really proud of myself for how well we coordinated the space in the back of our little Elantra.

There were a few times when he got a little cranky and then that's where the magic of having the laptop came in handy. I was able to whip it out of the bag and pop in a DVD. It worked out well later in the evenings as we drove because there wasn't the sun glare to compete with the LCD screen backlighting. We brought along an extender audio cable to plug in the cassette tape converter so the sound from the laptop could be piped out through the car's stereo speakers. It worked great! It was like having surround sound in the car. We watched several Muppet episodes from Season 1 (thanks to uncle Dan) and Finding Nemo in its entirety!

As Dory says in the movie, "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim."



Now, just replace swim with drive and that's what we did.

"Just keep driving. Just keep driving. Just keep driving, driving, driving. What do we do? We drive, drive, drive."

We didn't know for sure how long it would take us to travel out since it was our first road trip with a toddler so we didn't really plan on a lot of sight seeing. It turns out we made the trip in 4 whole days. We left on June 1st and arrived at my Dad's place on the 5th. We made a couple of stops along the way, but for the most part it was just drive, pee, change diaper, fuel up, rinse and repeat. We packed food and snacked along the way. That really saved a lot of time. We basically had a really good breakfast each day and then snacked the rest of the time until we reached our destination.

We made our first stop somewhere in New Mexico. I think it was Santa Rosa. We stayed in a budget motel since it was close to midnight local time. Lucian even got his own queen-sized bed! It wasn't the best of places, the bathroom was icky (didn't use it but for the basics), but we couldn't beat thirty-six bucks for 2 beds and free wifi. I didn't get to use it but to quickly download email messages before checkout, but oh well. The guy who checked us in was really nice. He even spotted us at the Denny's having breakfast the next morning and asked if I was able to connect to the wifi ok. I hope we can find it on our way back or at least something like it.

Our goal was to try to drive all the way across Texas in a day. It worked out really well. We had to stop at CarHenge though. It's one of our favorite little places. If you haven't ever been to it, it's a must see why traveling through Amarillo, Texas.







We pushed on and made it all the way to the edge of Oklahoma by midnight, local time where we stayed with Nate's great aunt. She's 87 and adorable. She stayed up and chatted with us till 3 am. Lucian got his very own, adorable little room. We had breakfast in the afternoon (it was breakfast in our minds yet) at a cute little place called Buttered Bunns Cafe. Commerce, OK is such an adorable little town!







Next stop was Rosebud, MO to stay with Nate's second cousin, LaVon. She is such a cool chick. She's over sixty-five and tech savvy! She even has a few websites she tinkers with. The boys went to bed while her and I stayed up and geeked out together till wee hours in the morning. I'm looking forward to doing more of that with her on the way back. Maybe she'll be feeling better for some picture taking next time too. She's one of my favorite MomsGoneGeek.

I'll end this entry here and pick up next time to post about our next stop in Troy, Ohio to visit and stay with a very good friend. That will require some movie editing and more photos. I'm also collecting more as the days go by. Pretty soon I'll implode if I don't do something with all of it!

Stay tuned for more Road Trip adventures of TheMacMommy and family!

PA or Bust!

Here we come!
We leave morning of Sunday, June 1st. Wish us luck!
We're almost done packing. We have yet to figure out what to wear to my brother's wedding. I think I gained any of the weight Nate just lost. I have no idea what fits and I'm scared to find out. Maybe if I put ribbons on my bathrobe and wear nice shoes with it...hmmm.

We got the car serviced and spent the better part of today cleaning it. It was amazing to see the pile of crud on the seat from where the car seat was installed. We moved it to the other side so Nate will have more leg room in the back for when he's back there. His doctor prescribed a non-narcotic pain medicine that he can take and be able to drive with so we're relieved about that. He's now driven a couple of times and he's a little more comfortable than he's been, so that's a good sign.

We're still plotting our route and we're not sure of where we're going to stop first. It will all depend of course on construction, weather, and Lucian's ability to keep content while strapped into the car seat. Poor little dude. I feel so sorry for him. We've packed several things to keep him entertained. We'll see how it goes.

We have a couple of family members and friends to stay with along the way. We have planned stops so far in Commerce, OK, Rosebud, MO, and Troy, OH before our final destination in West Lawn, PA.

I will try to blog about our experiences along the way if I can. I have no idea what kind of internet connection I'll get or when. This is the first time actually traveling this way with a laptop, so it should be interesting.

Well, we gotta get back to finish packing. That's all for now. Stay tuned!

P.S. If anyone has any suggestions about places to stop, good motels, hotels, etc. please leave me a comment. I will try to read them if I get connected. Thanks!