Answers...

to commonly asked questions.

AppleTV

How can I get my pics over to my TV?

Hi Scotty
Would it be possible for me to book an in person home visit and you can show me how to set up something so I could view pictures on my iPhone on my Sony TV?

That’s probably so simple but eludes me.
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Certainly can do that. Two possibilities to make that happen.

1. Your tv may already support airplay. Airplay is the technology Apple uses to push pics over to a tv.
2. You could just get an AppleTV ($150) which along with giving the ability to stream every type of content channel out there, also allows you to send pics and vids over. It also allows you to just log in to your iCloud Photos without even using your phone.

Old AppleTVs don't have an App Store.

I can’t get YouTube TV to add to kitchen TV. This is the older Apple TV and I can’t tell how to “add” Apple TV.
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I seem to recall the older AppleTV you are now using in the kitchen may be too old to have access to the App Store. Back in the old days (appletv version 1) only a few applications were allowed onto the older devices. Mostly big apps of the day. Ie: Netflix, ESPN, Disney+, etc…. However as streaming evolved, the older appletvs software development was abandoned as the newer applications like Peacock, Paramount, YoutubeTV, SlingTV, etc… need more horsepower than the older version appletvs could provide.

In short, the kitchen AppleTV is very likely too old to run apps you’d like to have.

Streaming to a Sony tv without airplay?

My impression is that now Apple is offering a streaming service,
comparable to
Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. My Sony “smart tv” will stream all the aforementioned
and much more. From what I’ve been able to understand,
Apple TV can be streamed on Samsung TVs
but for some reason not
Sonys. As there are a couple shows streaming on Apple TV that I’d like to try,
was wondering if it will ever be available to us
Sony owners………
Thanks,
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Sounds like what you are referring to is Airplay. It's true that some TVs (LG, Samsung, etc…) support airplay without any additional hardware, it is very common for Sony to go their own way. Airplay is not standard so it's not guaranteed to be available within all tvs yet. Google also currently has their own version of casting video from a mobile device to a tv.

It's extremely doubtful that Sony would ever push an update out that would allow for Airplay support. So the next way to push the AppleTV channel content (or any video from an iOS device for that matter) over to your tv might only be through a video cable. Apple's article on the process can be found here.

Is AppleTV worth it vs SmartTVs?

Scotty one of the MAIN things I meant to ask you about was Apple TV and if and how I can view it on a 5 year + Sony Bravia “smart television”? I have no trouble streaming Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc, but would really like to at least try Apple TV....
Any possibility?
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I really like the AppleTV. All you need is an HDMI port and wifi. SmartTVs are horrible interfaces. Very un user friendly. I just bought a new tv on Black Friday and really tried to use the smart apps (built in Netflix, Hulu, etc…) I lasted 2 hours before I plugged my AppleTV back in. You need one AppleTV per television in your home if you want the same experience on each.

What happened to my AppleTV?

Scotty, I was attempting to show Tommy the ABC news  and after It came on I hit the menu button to go back to show him the slideshow. The screen went blank, I could hear the commentator . Have tried everything I know to get a picture back but cannot.
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Probably a very simple issue.  Be sure that on your tv you have selected the correct input.  On your televisions remote (the black one) you will want to hit the “source” button located in the middle of the remote.  In your case it is HDMI 4.  That is the input your AppleTV is on.  You should then be able to navigate around the AppleTV.  You may have to hit a button on the apple remote to make sure the AppleTV is awake.  You can also tell it’s awake by the glowing white light on the front.

AppleTV update failed

The printer will not scan using image capture while being hooked up to the apple router. I have to plug it directly into the back of the computer and it works just fine. Ironically, the printer will not print unless plugged into the apple router. Will not print at all while plugged into the back of the computer. I have been changing it back and forth to do each task.
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Sounds like there was an issue with the AppleTV update. Try restarting your AppleTV by going to Settings/General/Restart. If that doesn’t resolve the problem you may try resetting the device entirely. Settings/General/Restart. You will have to log back into iTunes, netflix etc.. but your Apple TV should show back up on the network afterwards. Your AppleTV would also have reverted to it’s default name on the network “AppleTV”. So you can always go back and rename it in the settings.

If neither of these work then you can reset the AppleTV by holding down menu and the down button on the remote for 6 seconds. The AppleTV’s indicator light will blink. Unplug the device then plug it back it. Do this only if it’s acting very stubborn.

It’s common to see older printers (and some new ones) get confused about what node of a multiple node (repeaters) wireless network to join. Playstations and Xboxs will also do this. You could:

A: unplug all the airport expresses in the house then run the wireless setup wizard once again on the printer and it will only have one device to join. Then plug all the repeaters in the house back in.

B: Leaving the device plugged in to the Apple Router, delete the printer then re-add it. It’s possible the printer is added in a different way and image capture is not looking for it via wifi. Delete the printer in system prefs and re-add it and try image capture again. Avoid using the HP Scan or other proprietary scan software. Stick with image capture. The problem is not image capture. It’s the way the printer is added to in printer preferences I’m betting.

I’d go with trying B first. Anytime you are troubleshooting printer problems, the first thing you always do is delete the printer and re-add it.

Adobe breaks flash for some macs in recent update

I am so sick of Adobe’s crap. It’s a back and forth battle. Adobe writes crappy software. Apple blocks it from being run on Macs. Adobe updates it, Apple blocks it again several months later and the dance continues. Here’s the latest issue. Adobe has pushed out a bad update inside its latest flash update. Here’s the admission and the workaround:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/6285851

Resetting original AppleTV

Quick question.    Was gonna pass down my MacBook to my mother in law.       What do you recommend I replace it with?     

Thanks

JB
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Depends of course on what you're looking for.  Want to be more mobile?  The macbook airs are getting a little cooler and faster.  Although I still think they are overpriced.  You could save a little money by skipping the top of the line retina MacBook pro and just get the lower end macbook pro with a CD drive.  

All of this is moot because Apple will be announcing new stuff next week.  So don't buy anything yet.  Wait until next week and see what they have to say.  Monday June 10th 10am Pacific time.

Finding your passwords

Scotty:
I keep getting messaged from Mobile me that I need to upgrade my calendar.  BUt when I try to do it , it says I need to upgrade to snow leopard. 
DO I need to do this? If so Do I need appointment with you or is this something I can do without screwing up my mail and calendar (I am headed out of town MOnday am for a week of work and cant afford t loose anything)?
Thanks
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You will want to make sure all your devices are updated to 4.2 for iPad and iPhone and it is preferable to have 10.6.6 on your Mac. However, 10.6 is not absolutely necessary. You would just have to add the calendars back in manually. I would say for now, if it’s working ok for you and you are heading out of town, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It can wait until return. 10.6 makes it easier but like I said, you can do it without it. Just more steps.

AppleTV making weird noises with HDMI Switch

what is the difference between the i3, i5, and i7?
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Speed.  How many sets of instructions can be executed at one time. Number of cores (orbrains) per chip.  Overall though the difference is on such a small scale considering your needs, I think you'll be happy with either of them.  Maybe aim for the Core i5.   I know you work in iPhoto quite a bit. If you were a heavy photoshop user or final cut user then you may be a little more in the market for the i7 but overall I think the middle line would be a great choice. Here’s a great article comparing each.Core i3 vs i5 vs i7: Intel's Processors Explained If you want to get crazy detailed you can check out the Wikipedia page dedicated to the subject here: Intel Core - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Logging into AppleTV with your Apple ID

Yesterday I was fooling around the IPad and some how took the color away ?????????  I  know it can not be hard ,but of course I can not remember how I did it everything is in pretty colors other the faces which are black and white or with no face at all.
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Sounds like you may have accidentally turned on one of the “accessibiltiy” features. To solve this, go to the Settings panel on the iPad. (the gears). Next select “General”. Now choose Accessibility at the bottom. Finally toggle on/off “White on Black”. That may solve your problem on the iPad.

AppleTV says it's full (first gen)

I am working on a 50th birthday photobook in iPhoto to give to husband for Christmas.  Although I copied the photos that I want to use in the book into iPhoto, I cannot print the book unless the source disc is in my computer.

The problem that I am having is that I have another disc with photos (that the Queens papparazzi kids sent me) and I want to use some of those photos in the book as well.  But I can only insert one disc in at one time.  I have tried to copy the Queens student photos to your disc and vice cersa, but it will not allow me to"modify it".  Is there any other way or can you send me another disc that can be modified?

Scotty, do you have any suggestions?

Thanks so much -

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After a disc is burned, it is rendered as “read only” meaning that you can’t add anything to it. It’s sounds, however, like you may be going about this the wrong way. There is no reason I can think of that the disc should be required in order to print or use the pictures. It’s most likely that the photos may not actually be in iPhoto. You may want to first drag the folder or pictures from the disc to the desktop to be sure you’ve actually copied it to the hard drive. Next, eject the disc and then drag the folder on the desktop to iphoto. That should ensure that the pictures actually live locally on the drive and are not merely referenced to the disc.

I can see no reason that iphoto would not have actually copied the pictures the first time unless there is some form or copy protection on them but that seems highly unlikely.


iTunes LP and Extras gone from the new AppleTV

How long should it have taken the computer to back-up? I finally unplugged it at 1:15 and it said I was supposed to eject the disk in FINDER before disconnecting and Finder would try and repair any damage that was done...ugh.

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That’s a common warning you will see when disconnecting a storage device like a hard drive or USB key from your mac. The proper way to disconnect a storage device is to drag the icon to the trash. You’ll notice that the trash can turns into an eject icon. You did not do any damage. As for how long time machine takes to back up, that will vary depending on the last time you backed up. Commonly, plugging that TM drive up every day or so will only take a few minutes to complete the backup but in your case, where you went more than a week I’m guessing, it can take longer. The first backup can take hours.

Nothing to worry about.

Syncing AppleTV with multiple iTunes libraries

Sometimes Apple strikes out. While I don't agree with AppleTV being on the list and I do secretly wish I had a Cube, it's pretty much dead on otherwise.

Insanely bad: Ten Apple duds of the decade | Mac | Macworld

AppleTV not showing in iTunes

Scotty
I need to know how to delete something in a drop down below the tool bar
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I'm not sure I understand what you mean.  I assume you mean you've moved something very low on the desktop that has accidently moved behind the dock.  There are a few different ways to get to this data to delete it.  

1.  You could select any item on the desktop then hit "tab" until the item you'd like to delete is highlighted.  Next you'll hit command (apple key on older computers) + delete to move it to the trash.
2.  Another way would be to open a finder window and go to the users folder then to your user name folder then to the desktop folder.  That item will be in that folder and you can drag that to the trash.
3.  Another way would be to move the dock to another side of the screen from the dock system preference pane inside system preferences.  

Hope that helps.  

AppleTV taking a while to sync and wireless printer

Hi, Scotty-

Perhaps you have a quick answer as to why I can get streaming audio on my macbook and desktop Gateway with no problem but on both computers the video stops and pauses long pauses on any site I go to, even one I've bought the teaching sessions for and now cannot access them. I've unplugged the router and Linksys and rebooted everything.....going on for a long time. I have cable RR. What do you suggest?

Hope your business is going well.

Thanks,

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You said the magic word. “linksys”. Linksys routers are very unreliable. See my very first post in the answers section here.
linksys sucks | networking | Sells Consulting

That being said, there could be other forces at work here. The next thing to check is the speed of your network. A slow internet connection could lead to studdering video. Use time warner’s own speed test. Generally speaking you’ll want to see around 4 megabits download and between 250-300kbps upload. 4 megabits is 4000kbps. Here’s the link to test your connection speed. http://speedtest.twcnc.com/

If your speed seems good, then you may want to next go back to the router. Linksys could be the problem. it may be time to get a new one. You could also directly connect to the router via ethernet and if you still have the issues, then it’s not the wireless portion of the router.

AppleTV won't login to iTunes Store

Hi Scotty,

I had a question for you, I am debating on the iphone (AT&T)  vs. the blackberry storm (Verizon)  I know you are a Mac guy and I love my Mac but I am hearing such conflicting things I don't know what to do.  I want the ease of apple, but not the headache of ATT.  I am hearing that by using gmail and google calender I can sink wirelessly thru the blackberry and my mac.  What do you think???  Should I set up a gmail account and get rid of Mac.com??

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There’s a lot that can be said here. The iphone is the best device I’ve ever owned. It changes the way I run my business. I can’t say enough good about how much of a game changer it is. On the other side however, ATT is horrible. Dropped calls every day. But I don’t use my iphone as a phone. That’s one of the least important things to me. I’m in the minority here I know. Typing is no problem on the phone. It just takes getting used to. The network is the problem. The day Apple pulls the plug on ATT and adds another provider, people will abandon ATT like rats on a sinking ship. Not much good can be said about ATT. There is a sense that Apple is also frustrated with them as well. But overall, the iphone can not be beaten in every other category and I am willing 10 times out of 10 to put up with the network issues to be able to use the phone. It’s that good.

Now, Blackberry will have two options to sync. Pocketmac or the Missing Sync. Pocketmac is free and Missing Sync is around $40. Neither is as good as just using iTunes or having a mobileme account with an iPhone but if you are going to use your blackberry then yes, you can use google calendar to sync across multiple devices as well. It’s just a lot easier on the iphone.

Pairing Remotes with AppleTV


Doing a little research on LaCie.
What do you think of the LaCie Little boy portable backup?



Lacie drives are great.  My personal favorites.  If you don't really need the convenience of portability, you'll save a lot of money by getting an external but overall the lacies are highly recommended.  Just delete all the software off of it and let time machine handle the rest if backup is your primary goal.

AppleTV not showing

Question: what's the best anti virus software for leopard macbook pro laptop?  Should I get a firewall software as well considering leopard has one?  Sorry 2 questions.

Currently there is really no need for anti virus software on the Mac. Yes, it’s true. We are just not a big enough target yet. The windows world is a very different story. However, there are some things we, as mac users, still need to keep in mind.

1. Don’t click on links inside emails that you are unfamilar with. While most phishing scams are there to get you to run an .exe or executable file on your system, Mac don’t run those. But we still need to have common sense. If you get an email from Bank of America saying your account has been compromised or something along those lines, don’t trust that. Type in the url web address yourself then check your account settings.

2. In the windows world, the general rule is also to never open attachments. This is not so much the case on a mac but it’s still not a good idea to forward things blindly to other users because, while macs don’t yet get viruses, malware, or spyware, we can transfer them to other windows users.

3. While Leopard has a built in firewall that does a great job, it can also cause more problems than it solves if turned on. Turning on a firewall blocks traffic accross certain ports on your computer. This means ichat video could stop working, audio within certain programs could cease, iTunes music store could stop working, etc.... The best way to protect yourself from the outside world is to live behind a router. Since your router hands out a different set of IP addresses called a subnetwork, 192.168.1.x for example, that is essentially a firewall in itself. The main IP address given to you by your internet service provider is assumed by your router and that’s as far as it goes.

It’s sort of like this. I may find out your street address and see your house, but if you’re in the basement inside a closet, I can’t see you.

This image is a theme.plist hack