______________________ All Mac users should be aware that when they install Google Chrome on their Mac, additional software is installed that is able to conduct automatic updates. In general, this is a Good Thing™, except for two things. 1. The user isn't notified that the software is being installed, nor given the option to decline.…
John Martellaro
John Martellaro was born at an early age and began writing about computers soon after that. With degrees in astrophysics (B.S.) and physics (M.S.), he has worked for NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Apple. At Apple he worked as a Senior Marketing Manager, a Federal Account Executive and a High Performance Computing manager. His interests include chess, science fiction and astronomy. John is the host of the TMO podcast Background Mode.
Articles by John Martellaro
Windows 10 Users Will Be Able to Watch Apple's September 9 Event
Good news from Apple's invitation. The key here is a technology issue. Apple has been using an Internet technology called HTTP live streaming or HLS. The Apple devices listed above support that, but Windows and IE never have. In Windows 10, Microsoft added HLS support to its Edge browser, and so that's why Apple's invitation…
Amazon's Failed Fire Phone Was Too Creepy for Customers
In August of 2014, I reviewed, in healthy detail, the Amazon Fire Phone. Even though it was missing some key features, like Google Maps and hardware encryption, I found it to be a solid smartphone with good looks and a good looking GUI. What quickly doomed the Fire Phone was the creepy factor of a…
Dozens of Projects That Let You Do Real Science on Your Mac
Black hole depiction. Image credit: Shutterstock Of course, there is the computational science that real scientists do on Macs. That could include scientific visualization tools, either commercial or developed in-house, typical computational languages, such as Fortran or Python or a host of other technical software tools. However, all that work is beyond the scope of this…
OS X: El Capitan's Deletion of "Repair Disk Permissions" Could Impact You
The high level explanation for this analysis comes in the public beta release notes under Notes and Known Issues, Other: System file permissions are automatically protected, and updated, during Software Updates. The Repair Permissions function is no longer necessary. This change will generally go unnoticed by most average users except for the absence of that…
How to Create Colored Backgrounds for Playlists, Albums in iTunes 12
______________________ The setting to be used is iTunes 12 > Preferences > General. Unfortunately, iTunes gets to choose, it seems, the background color based on some key color of the item's art. Sometimes it can look really nice, like my iPhone's playlist for walking, shown below on iTunes 12 on a Mac. This color generally…
Just Mobile Lounge Dock for Apple Watch Brilliantly Sidesteps Typical Problems
An Apple Watch charging dock should try to avoid classic problems with cable management, mobility, Apple Watch attachment, viewing angle and stability. The Just Mobile Lounge Dock brilliantly sidesteps or solves all the problems seen in other charging docks reviewed to date. Just Mobile Lounge Dock As I have reviewed these Apple Watch charding docks,…
What You're Not Doing with Your Mac Matters a Lot
There is something magical about the story I'm going to reference below. I hope it will shake you out of your doldrums and inspire you. What's up here? You'll see down below. Image credit: Shutterstock Having worked in astrophysics, then the aerospace industry and finally the computer industry, I am well aware of all the…
Apple Appears to Be Asleep at the Wheel
In several notable cases, Apple appears asleep at the wheel. Image credit: Shutterstock. Apple's executive team of senior vice presidents calls all the shots. While there may be many distinguished and capable (ordinary) vice presidents, sometimes a few get into trouble by believing they have more authority than they really do. The VP job is…
How to Delete Flash From Windows Running on Your Mac
__________________________ I'll start by assuming you've launched Windows 7—which is what most people are using—as a virtual machine in, say, Parallels Desktop, VmMare Fusion or VirtualBox. (Of course, this how-to works for a straight-up Windows installation in Boot Camp on a Mac or any PC.) 1. Come back to this article in your Windows browser…
Customers report: Apple Pay on Apple Watch is Magical
Wristly had over 1,000 respondents in its poll of Apple Watch users in the US and the UK. The analysis revealed several fascinating things about Apple Pay on the Apple Watch. 80 percent of Apple Watch owners have used Apple Pay. Apple Pay is typically used first in a retail environment instead of an in-app…
You Will Want Lynktec's New Apex Electronic Stylus for iOS
Last year, Lynktec improved on its original battery powered electronic stylus by including a rechargeable battery. TMO gave it a 5 out of 5 rating (in the old review rating system), and you should check out that review for all the technical details. On Aug 13, Lynktec relased an improved version that's lighter, has a…
How Apple Leaves Money on the Table and Still Flourishes
A question then arises. When Apple made this design and business decision, was it because Apple's executive team, led by Steve Jobs back then, believed in the importance of the customer experience or because Apple was trying to maximize revenue? After all, previous experience with the Macintosh showed that a closed system would probably suffer…
The Classic Macintosh GUI and its Evolution With the Internet
_______________________ This question and many more have been addressed in a brilliant essay by Adam Baker, previously with Google, Marketcircle, BlackBerry and Apple. The low-key title “The Post-Mac Interface” belies the amazing depth of thought and research that went into this brilliant work. The Macintosh GUI in 1984. (From the Baker article.) Exhibiting considerable insight,…
OS X El Capitan's Split View Is Just Plain Silly
The refinements can take several forms. More refined security, networking, and user interface elements combined with code tweaking foster a better experience and performance. From what I've seen so far on my MacBook (with a 10.11 beta), El Capitan will be great. See: “Important New Features Make OS X El Capitan Not Just a Tune-up.”…
How to Pre-authorize Your iPhone to Use Apple Pay
This handy trick, quietly introduced in iOS 8.3, can speed up your Apple Pay experience. Or help quite a bit when you know you'll be one-handed at checkout. ________________________ Many Apple customers with an Apple Pay-capable iPhone have been making successful purchases since October 2014. Even so, there's no doubt that the new Apple Watch…
Important New Features Make OS X El Capitan Not Just a Tune-up
OS X El Capitan. Image credit: Apple This column typically selects a single notable article, from all the week's news, to showcase, explore and comment on. However, this week, it became clear that several important new features of OS X El Capitan are coming to light and being assessed. It's all coming together into a…
The Legacy Internet is Out of Addresses: What Apple is Doing
The original Internet address space, referred to as IPv4, provides for 232 (4.29 billion) addresses. You've probably seen examples of those addresses on your Mac and iPhone, for example, 192.168.1.1, where each of the numbers can be from 0-255. With the Internet of things, the proliferation of small Internet devices and the adoption of smartphones…
OS X: How to Create Custom Radio Stations in iTunes 12.2
_______________________ The Apple reference document I'm using is HT204944, dated June 29, 2015. 1. If a item is already in your library, select the song or the album and look for the three dots (…) to its right. It will look like this for a song Or it will look like this for an album:…
How the USB-C Port on the New MacBook Helps the Battery Life
There have been vociferous complaints about Apple's new MacBook thanks to its single USB-C port. However, it turns out that having only one port helps the MacBook in a very important way. How's that? Allow me to explain. _____________________ When one is on the go, generally, the only thing that gets connected to a modern notebook…
OS X: How to Use Separate Spaces with Multiple Monitors
______________________ This story started when I did a clean install of Yosemite on an external drive. When I fired up my Mac Pro from that drive, I noticed that each of my two monitors had a menu bar. One was dimmed, and one was not. If I clicked on the display with a dimmed menu…
How to Determine Which Charger and Which Connector Goes With Each MacBook Model
There is now a dizzying array of power adapters, wattages, Magsafe connectors (original and version 2) and connector types (“L” and “T” shapes) that go with each MacBook Air and Pro model. John Martellaro helps sort it all out. ________________________ Apple has provided an impressive tech note, HT201700, that tells you how to match your…
How to Prevent Your Apple Watch Display from Timing Out and Going Dark [UPDATED]
One of the great annoyances of the Apple Watch and watchOS 1.0.1 is the 18 second display time out. There's no setting to define how long the display will remain lit, and it always goes dark at just the wrong time, especially when demoing or timing events. Here's a workaround. _________________________ The Apple Watch display…
Pluto Safari iOS App Lets You Experience the July Flyby
After a nine year journey, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will arrive at Pluto on July 14. The Pluto Safari iOS app from Simulation Curriculum has all the details: news, the spacecraft's timeline, current location, various views from different locations and a countdown timer. Here's a quick look at this terrific free app. ______________________ This iOS…