Recently we took care of a new client that had some Macintosh Service issues. Our expert staff took care of them just like we normally do, and to thank us they sent the following hand written note.

Click on the image below to see it full size!

MacMedics Seeks On-Site Mac Techs/Consultants for DC Area

There are lots of ads for PC/Mac support jobs advertised here on the Internet. If you look closely, many of them are “contract” or part-time jobs that don’t have benefits. Some of the ads also don’t identify the company that’s hiring, or clarify exactly how much Windows work you’ll really be expected to perform (if you’re a Mac Wizard we’re guessing you’d like to be working on all Macs!).

MacMedics, an award-winning Apple Authorized Service Provider, Apple Authorized Value Added Reseller, and Apple Certified Members of the Apple Consultants Network, with offices in Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia is seeking more on-site Macintosh consultants to join our Washington area service and support team. As a full-time MacMedics Macintosh Consultant/Engineer, you will be directly involved in providing and recommending Macintosh service and solutions for our thousands of on-site Macintosh clients. Some of the markets we service are: graphic design/advertising agencies, in-house advertising departments, video production houses, educational institutions, enterprise environments, as well as Federal, State, and local government agencies.

The functions of this position would include on-site Macintosh hardware and software consulting/troubleshooting, networking, cross platform integration, and data backup & server configuration. Qualified individuals must have extensive knowledge of Mac OS X and long-term experience with the Macintosh product line with a strong emphasis on the use, configuration, and troubleshooting of graphic design applications. Several years minimum of professional Macintosh experience, and expertise of Adobe products and font management is essential. Apple certifications are desirable.

A strong compensation package with performance incentives, a MacBook Pro computer, and Apple iPhone (with plan) are all provided. Other valuable benefits such as company-paid Apple and Adobe training and certification, low-cost heath/dental insurance, and a 401k plan with company matching are also included.

If you’re a Mac expert interested in being part of a well-established consulting company and making new and exciting things happen, you’ll love working with MacMedics! If you’re being held back, finding yourself doing more Windows work than you were planning on, tired of red tape and politics, and you want your efforts and contributions to count for something, then this position would be perfect for you! If you’re an under-appreciated/under-paid Mac fanatic, then MacMedics is where you need to be!

You can learn more at http://www.macmedics.com/jobs

If you are having trouble with getting Dropbox to sync, you may need to delete its preferences. This sounds simple and obvious, except that Dropbox is apparently too awesome to just keep its prefs in an XML plist in ~/Library/Preferences like any other app.

Instead, it creates a ~/.dropbox folder and puts all its config in there. Dropbox says to just empty the contents of the folder, but I actually had to delete the entire folder. Once that’s done, relink your account and all should be happy.

~/.dropbox is an invisible file, so to show it in 10.8 you have to use the Go menu item then select “Go to folder”, then type in “~/.dropbox”

Note: MacMedics is furnishing an iPad mini as a door prize for this event.

The Greater Baltimore Chapter, Adobe InDesign User Group is hosting The 2013 Adobe Create Now World Tour at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

This is your chance to attend the Adobe-sponsored event “Create NOW World Tour” with Terry White and Pariah Burke at the The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Parsons Auditorium, Laurel, MD on Monday, March 4, 5:30–9:30 p.m.

Join us as these two internationally known industry experts share how the Adobe Creative Cloud is revolutionizing creative workflows in digital publishing, web, photography, and video. Learn how these advances will impact you, and get an inside look at how you can enhance your productivity. Stay a step ahead, see new products, and win prizes.

This is a FREE event, but seating is limited to 150 attendees.
To register, visit: http://createnow-baltimore-dc.eventbrite.com/ .

About Our Speakers:
Terry White, Worldwide Evangelist for Adobe®, is flying in for this special event. @terrylwhite

Pariah Burke, Adobe Community Professional | Boston, is a creative professional trainer and a design, publishing, and digital publishing workflow expert who connects creative professionals around the world.
http://iamPariah.com
@iampariah

Agenda:
5:30–6:30 p.m. Check-in, refreshments, and networking
(Please bring your printed EventBrite ticket with you for speedy check-in.)
6:308:00 p.m. Adobe Create Now Keynote and demos by Terry White
8:008:15 p.m. Short break
8:159:15 p.m. Creative Professional Workflows with Pariah Burke
9:159:30 p.m. Prize drawing and Q & A session

Organizers: This event is a combined effort of the Adobe CreateNOW team, Baltimore InDesign User Group, Annapolis Adobe Multimedia User Group, and Central Maryland Adobe User Group.

Food: Light refreshments will be served.

More Reasons to Attend: We will have lots of giveaways, including licenses to CS6 Design & Web Premium as well as Creative Cloud Memberships. The first 100 attendees will receive a gift bag from Adobe.

Additionally, the Baltimore InDesign User Group will be conducting a special raffle in support of their chapter. The raffle is open to everyone and will include a free license to Adobe InDesign CS6, a 2-day training certificate from Zenith Technology Institute | Ledet Baltimore ($795-995 value). We would like to thank MacMedics being our 2013 cosponsor.

BIDUG would like to thank our chapter sponsors, Adobe and all of our cosponsors for their continued support in providing valuable prizes for our raffle. These prizes are made possible through the generosity of the following cosponsors:

• MacMedics ( http://www.macmedics.com )

• Zenith Technology Institute | Ledet Baltimore ( http://www.ztinstitute.com | http://www.ledet-baltimore.com )

Adobe and Check-In Tables: Please bring your EventBrite ticket when you check in. Registration will be located in the cafeteria of Building 1 across from Parsons Auditorium.

Session Abstracts

Adobe Keynote—Create Now with Terry White: Terry will cover some of the most exciting features of the Creative Cloud, including the ability to publish your content and designs to an iPad, the web (using HTML5), and other mobile devices.Terry will cover the following topics:

• Adobe Creative Cloud for Teams
• Adobe Ideas (a touch app for iPad)
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe DPS Single-User Edition
• Adobe Photoshop | New Features for Cloud Subscribers
• Adobe Muse | Rich, Dynamic Websites without Code
• Adobe Edge Animate | Creating Interactive HTML5 Content
• Adobe Edge Code | Code the Web
• Adobe Edge Reflow | Design the Responsive Web

Creative Professional Workflows—More Value in the Creative Cloud with Adobe Community Professional Pariah Burke will extend what was covered in the Adobe keynote and do a “deep-dive” demo on creative workflows with Adobe Creative Suite applications that are available to Creative Cloud members.

Donations, sponsorships, and volunteers are always welcome.

See you March 4th!

Apple Increases iPad with Retina Display Capacity to 128GB

Apple today announced a 128GB version of the fourth generation iPad with Retina display. The 128GB iPad with Wi-Fi and iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular models provide twice the storage capacity of the 64GB models to hold even more valuable content including photos, documents, projects, presentations, books, movies, TV shows, music and apps.

The new 128GB versions of the fourth generation iPad will be available starting Tuesday, February 5, in black or white, for a suggested retail price of $799 (US) for the iPad with Wi-Fi model and $929 (US) for the iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular model. All versions of the 128GB iPad will be sold through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

Call or email your local MacMedics office to reserve yours!

MacMedics gets calls from Mac users all over the country regarding data recovery projects that were from hard drives that were once installed in Apple Macintosh computers from the early days of the Apple platform.

Old Macs with old operating systems such at System 6, System 7, System 8, and newer OS version such as OS 9 and 10 are no problem for us.

Many data recovery firms offer recovery for older files that are no longer accessible, but they often charge regular data recovery rates to help you obtain and convert your files. MacMedics has much more reasonable prices, as most data recovery cases cost no more than $199 (some cases are less depending on the situation).

Recently we recovered long lost (from 1994/1995) college papers, poems, and stories from a dead PowerBook 520C. Our client needed writing samples from her college studies that she had not been able to access for over 7 years, since the computer had died. The PowerBook had been thru five moves, including two that were out of the country. She had hung onto the old PowerBook hoping that someone would be able to recover the data for her at some point. MacMedics to the rescue!

We were able to pull the info off of her old PowerBook’s SCSI 2.5″ hard drive the same day and email all of her files to her as she moved out of town once again.

Step 1: Get the hard drive out of the dead PowerBook

Step 2: Take the 2.5 SCSI hard drive and install it into an enclosure.

Step 3: Transfer that info over to a beige desktop G3.

Step 4: Remove that hard drive out of the G3 desktop and hook it up via a FireWire dock for IDE hard drives to a MacMedics data recovery workstation.

You can read other stories of super old files being brought back from the dead by MacMedics by following the links below:

http://www.macmedics.com/blog/2009/06/30/macmedics-saves-data-off-dead-mac-ii-ci-and-upgrades-client-to-powermac-5200120/

Apple has determined that certain Seagate 1TB hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems may fail. These systems were sold between October 2009 and July 2011.

MacMedics, an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) will replace affected hard drives free of charge. Please check your iMac’s serial number to see if you qualify.

http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/

If you need your data transferred from your old hard drive to the new one, we will perform that for only $99.

Also, if your iMac does NOT have a Time Machine back up, you can buy a new Time Machine drive from us, and we’ll go ahead and run a backup for you for $40. That way, your data will be entirely backed up BEFORE we do anything with your iMac’s old hard drive that will need to be sent back to Apple.

If your iMac’s Seagate hard drive has “failed” and you also are eligible for this Apple Service program, MacMedics can put your failing hard drive into our Data Recovery program for $199. You can opt to have that recovered and repaired data dropped into a folder on your new hard drive at not extra charge. You can also have us “migrate” the recovered and repaired data back onto your new hard drive for an additional $99.

Contact your local MacMedics office if you have questions or concerns.

Pro Tip: When disconnecting your computer system from power, unplug everything attached to your network, even the COAX cable from your cable or satellite box as that appears to be #1 surge source (based on past repairs). In regards to power surges, if your power DOES goes out (or starts to flicker), disconnect from power, as surges can also occur when the power comes back on as well!

10/13/2012 Billy S. Chester, MD 5 Stars

This place was great, the employees were all very helpful and kind, and went over and above what was expected. My computer died on me, and they were able to salvage the hard drive, back it up on an external drive, and lend me a computer for a week… all within the span of about 4 hours. I needed to have all this done because I was traveling for work the next day. The price was reasonable, and the owner, Dana, actually stayed a solid 2 1/2 hours past their closing time to wait with me as the external drive was backed up. He’s a very smart man, kind and considerate, and I will recommend this place to anyone who ever has any issues with their apple products.

Thanks a ton Dana, you rock!

9/24/2012 Michael F. Glen Burnie, MD 5 Stars

I called the day prior to my visit and left message. My telephone call was promptly returned in a short time period. I was having a problem with my MacBook with it not powering up or charging properly and was told to stop by during office hours. when I got to the store I was featured with a smile and told a technician works come out and help me and with seconds a representative by the name of Chris came out to assist me.

Chris quickly diagnosedthe problem I was having and fixed it immediately. He then took the time to show me a few things about Apple technology that I was not even aware of.

These guys are the next best thing to going to a Apple store which I’m sure had I went I’d still be waiting for my computer instead of writing this review right now. two thumbs up!

Hurricane Sandy will most likely hit the Mid-Atlantic area (MacMedics territory and from the looks of it we will be ground zero!), and it will likely destroy some data in some way.

Here in the Mid-Atlantic area, MacMedics clients and friends should un-plug their computer and remove and store back up hard drives in a dry place if you’re not going to be around when the rain and wind hits us.

Power surges via power lines and lightning hits via Comcast’s network seem to be the leading cause of damages to our client’s Macintosh computers.

Pro Tip: When disconnecting your computer system from power, unplug everything attached to your network, even the COAX cable from your cable or satellite box as that appears to be #1 surge source (based on past repairs). In regards to power surges, if your power DOES goes out (or starts to flicker), disconnect from power, as surges can also occur when the power comes back on as well!

This might also be a good time to enhance your back up plan by adding an off-site back up. MacMedics is a Mozy partner, so click here if you’d like to sign up for that. We also are a partner for CrashPlan Pro, please click here for that link.

For our friends and clients in the Mid-Atlantic region, MacMedics recommends that you back up your hard drive via a “clone” use Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner, as that way you can “test” your back up to insure you have a good, bootable copy.

Take that back up put it in a Ziploc bag and have it ready to go with you, if you should need to evacuate. Also, hurricanes bring the rain with them, so plan ahead to protect your computer AND your back up. If you have to leave, put a garbage bag over your computer. If you have a light roof leak, that might be enough to save your computer.

The important thing is to PLAN AHEAD. Your back up is not complete if it’s not:

1. Automatic
2. Redundant
3. Off-Site

Here is the official Federal Emergency Check List for businesses:

• Conduct a room by room walk-through to determine what needs to be secured

• Obtain plastic to cover electronic equipment in the event of roof leakage

• Move electronic equipment away from windows

• Elevate electronic equipment off of the floor in the event of flooding

• Back-Up your systems and if possible store your back-ups off site

• Protect business records

• If you plan on being out of your business for an extended period, consider shutting down unnecessary electric breakers in the event of power surges

• If possible shut off gas valves leading into the business

• Consider alarm systems may not function during extended power outages.

• Remove valuables and cash to a safe location

• Move company vehicles to an area safe from flying debris and falling trees. Make arrangements with nearby parking garages to house vehicles if possible

• Remove expensive items from display racks, particularly near windows.

• Consider window breakage

• Understand your insurance policy and keep it in a safe location

• If you have a number of employees, establish a phone tree to distribute information

Here’s a few more tips from MacMedics:

1. If you do not have Ultra Call Forwarding, be sure to forward your business phone lines to your cell phone BEFORE you lose phone and/or power to your phone system.

2. Your alarm system should contain a small back up battery, but you can exten that greatly, by plugging your alarm system into a high capacity UPS system.

3. If your server is not set to Auto Restart after a power failure, it’s not to late to turn that on.

We have tons of posts on Time Machine and we even have a free White Paper on it If you’d like a copy, let us know. If you’re not using an automatic backup, your data is at risk!

P.S. If you are going to be where the hurricane is, then you DO need to go get a Ziploc bag right now, and put it with your iPhone. That way if you get caught outside or you’re checking out the surf at the beach, your iPhone is protected. Take my word for it, and you’ll thank me later!!