Tabor Consulting Group

04/24/2019

I'm an Apple guy, but not militantly so. For me, I want my technology to work, and while all hardware and software are vulnerable to problems, I've had fewer problems out of my Mac and my iPhone than I've had out my Windows PCs and Android phones.

That having been said, nothing is perfect, and there is always room for improvement. So here is my 2019 list of things I'd like to see in the Apple Ecosystem.

1. Sharing... The ability to share items for viewing and editing with other apple ids.
1. This feature is already working in iWork apps
2. Share Notes
3. Share Reminders - Already there, and can add by siri... cool
4. Share Contacts
5. Share "Groups" of any of the above.

2. Notes
1. Cards or Sticky Note style squares
2. Color Coding
3. Sharing/Collaborating note group or individual note

3. Apple HomePod
1. Intercom and broadcast
2. Establish a direct two-way audio connection with another HomePod in iCloud account
3. Users could allow another apple ids to establish a direct two-way audio connection with one or more of their HomePods

4. Shortcuts...
1. Trigger shortcut based on location entry and exit
2. Trigger shortcut based on time (cron style)
3. Trigger shortcut based on remote web hook or api call (and allow for some data to be passed in that call)
4. Trigger shortcut based on NFC
5. Trigger shortcut cased on HomeKit sensor or device
6. Allow shortcuts to set target for playback of audio (airplay 2)
7. Allow shortcuts triggers on HomePod or CarPlay to bypass authentication on iPhone
8. Allow shortcuts more detailed access to HomeKit Devices

5. CarPlay and Maps
1. Allow Siri or CarPlay requests to bypass authentication on iPhone when connected to CarPlay
2. Allow return of visual responses to CarPlay display (Find my friends location)
3. WEATHER APP
4. Weather data in maps (real time precipitation radar data)
5. Warnings about driving into weather such as fog and precipitation
6. HomeKit app to control Scenes and Devices
7. Shortcut app to invoke shortcuts

6. HomeKit
1. Automation based on more granular detail for sensors, i.e. Temperature ranges,
2. Multiple If/and conditions for automation (could be in conjunction with shortcuts app)
3. Trigger shortcut cased on HomeKit sensor or device
4. Setting to allow device to be control without authentication on iPhone

7. iCloud/Drive
1. True API access to iCloud data to read and write things like reminders and notes from third party web applications.

8. Siri
1. Fully pause audio playback before listening for speech after invoking siri. If listening to any kind of spoken word on iPhone speakers (audiobook, news, podcasts, talk radio, etc) Siri will often pick up words from the speaker audio into the query, those creating a bad or confusing query to siri.
2. Find my friends. I'd like to get audio feedback when asking about a friends location, and address or distance based on context of the question
3. Better contextual awareness when asking about a business (location, phone number, hours etc).

9. iTunes/Apple Music/Books
1. The ability to upload audiobooks (m4b) files to iCloud drive, and stream them back on multiple devices and HomePods, saving progress.

02/14/2018

Here's an iTip:

Right now, while everything is working at your home or office, take a picture of your Router and Modem with your phone. This way is something stops working you can refer back to that picture and compare the lights on your Router and Modem from a known working state. It may not tell you much, but your IT guy will thank you for it later. ;)

03/09/2017

This is a public service announcement from the Tabor Consulting Group...

There is NO reputable company that cold calls you about suspected problems with your computer or smartphone.

There is NO anti-virus program that requires you to call a number and give remote control of your computer over to someone.

Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc, etc do NOT have people just waiting around to "fix" your stuff.

If you see anything that prompts you to call someone, or if someone calls you, ignore it or hang up... YOU ARE BEING SCAMMED.

03/01/2017

There are people in life who help you. But then there are some to whom you are forever indebted, happily. :) To that end, and unbeknownst to her, I am promoting my wife's Kickstarter.

I live in a home of fabulous books. Books for reading, books for decorations, books to store information, and books used as construction material. They are all part of the Book Mistress's empire. It's her world, and I'm just allowed to live in it.

In a high-tech world, there is something special about holding a handmade book. It gives a sense of reality, a touchstone, to a simpler world that isn't something of the past, but something of the present, and very much of the future.

Please take a moment to visit her Kickstarter, and if you see something you like, consider pledging for it. I can personally assure you that it's all handmade (in the dining room).

Finally, please share this post. It's not going to get you into heaven, make you lucky, or cure someone of cancer, but it will make a wonderful lady from Tennessee very happy if a lot of people see her work. Thanks.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/579868740/make-100-hand-bound-books-and-book-jewelry

100 hand-bound books, tiny to tome and medieval girdle books in between. several geek covers inc. HP, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr. Who!

11/27/2015

I am now very impressed with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Specifically with the “Doze Mode” battery saving feature.

The idea behind Doze on a phone is that it’s a deeper type of sleep. Android uses sensors on the phone to try and determine if the device has been left in a manor where the user is not going to come back to it immediately. For example, leaving it face down on a table, as opposed to keeping the phone in your pocket.

Once Android realizes that the user isn’t coming back soon, it will dramatically slow down notification polling, using the network, it turns off wifi and bluetooth, etc, etc. The end result is a device that sips tiny amounts power, and thus uses less battery. When the user picks up the device, everything goes back to normal.

I didn’t think a lot about this when I first read the “What’s New” feature of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Multi-day battery life has never been important to me. I have to sleep at night, and I’m disciplined enough to plug in my phone before I go to bed, so if my battery gets me through a single day I'm fine.

My “wow” moment with Doze Mode came over the Thanksgiving holiday. I've been testing Android 6.0 Marshmallow on an HTC One (M8), switching back and forth between it and my iPhone 5s as my daily driver. Wednesday morning I took the HTC One (M8) off it’s charger and brought it into the office, but I accidentally left it there using my iPhone over the holiday. Friday morning I come in and find the phone sitting on my desk where I left it. Of course I assumed that after 48 hours the battery would be dead, but much to my surprise when I picked up the phone it had an astonishing 87% battery remaining.

As I mentioned, because I charge my devices every night the important part of the battery too me is getting through a single day, something this very HTC One (M8) struggled with on Android 5.0 Lollipop when I carried it daily late last year. Even with the phone just sitting around, I could barely get 24 hours out of a battery on Lollipop. So for this device to go 48+ hours, there really must be something to Doze Mode in Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

10/26/2015

Did some password cracking today at the behest of our fine local Government. It's a little disconcerting when you learn that people who SHOULD know better use passwords like "shirt".

10/15/2015

Our new lab is coming together quite nicely.

10/05/2015

At this point I'm ready declare Google Hangout as near useless. I've been fighting with it for 2 hours trying to integrate it into a client's web project.