• Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    A Well Caffeinated Command Line

    One of the big things in OS X Mountain Lion is how the system handles sleeping and sleeping events. For example, Power Nap means that now, Push Notifications still work when the lid is shut provided that the system is connected to a power source. This ties into Notification Center, how the system displays those Push Notifications to users. Sure, there’s tons of fun stuff for Accessibility, Calendar, contacts, Preview, Messages, Gatekeeper, etc. But a substantial underpinning that changed is how sleep is managed. And the handling of sleep extends to the command line. This manifests itself in a very easy to use command line utility called caffeinate. Ironically, caffeinate…

  • Mass Deployment,  personal

    A Little Bit Of What I Do

    People often ask me what I do for a living and my answer is usually that I get paid to play with computers and manage people who play with computers. But if I were to drill down, I really do a lot of different things (as you can probably tell if you’ve seen a lot of my posts). But one of my favorite things to do is unwrap tons of shiny new computers and put them into the hands of students. The potential, the excitement, the smiles make much of the other stuff worthwhile. You actually get to feel like you made the world slightly better. We usually refer to…

  • Mac OS X

    Changing How OS X Handles Archives

    When you open a dmg or zip file (which we’ll refer to as an “archive” in this article), a tool called Archive Utility is opened briefly to extract the archive and then by default create a folder in the same directory the archive was located. After extracting the contents of the archive, the archive is left as-is, showing the new folder in a Finder screen. This type of workflow works for a lot of people. But not all. This is why Apple built a Preference pane for the Archive Utility. To access, simply open Archive Utility, click the Archive Utility menu and click Preferences. You then see the Archive Utility…

  • Articles and Books,  iPhone

    iPads In The Enterprise Training From TrainSignal

    TrainSignal, a popular site for computer based training videos, has built a course for iPads in the Enterprise. As a technical reviewer, I’ve had a chance to check out all the content, and it’s a good overview of what it takes to deploy iOS in enterprise environments. The course covers Apple Configurator, iPhone Configuration Utility and other tools common in such a deployment as well as the general concepts that those not yet familiar with iOS should get before embarking on such a deployment. The course is narrated by and developed by John O’Neill Sr., who brings a really upbeat and refreshing tempo to the table. To access the content, check…

  • certifications,  iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    10.8 ACTC Exams Now Available

    The Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) Exams are now available. Since the brutal murder of the ACSA, the ACTC is now Apple’s highest level of certification. The server is much easier, but somehow many of the questions are a little harder than they were. Overall, I felt the exam was a great gauge of technical know-how, even if there were a couple somewhat esoteric questions. Anyway, click below to open the Apple IT Certification page:  If you have a 10.7 ACTC then the 10.8 combo updater can be taken. If you qualify for said exam, you should have gotten an email with a special code to use on the IBT…

  • certifications,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    Apple Pro Training Series for ACTC

    Arek Dreyer and Ben Greisler have been at it again. The latest editions of the Apple Training Series books are now out, providing a guide to getting certified with OS X Server. I haven’t gotten mine yet, but I suspect that the book, as with the previous books, will be excellent. To quote the book description: The only Apple-certified book on OS X Server on Mountain Lion, this comprehensive reference takes support technicians and ardent Mac users deep inside the server for the latest operating system, covering everything from networking technologies to service administration, customizing users and groups, and more. Aligned to the learning objectives of the Apple Certified Technical Coordinator…

  • Football

    35 Football Phrases That Sounded Dirty To Me…

    The football season is basically over for me. The University of Georgia was a good five yards from playing for the national title, but we won our bowl game. And the Vikings are now out of the playoffs having been crushed by the Packers while Christian Ponder was out. The time around New Years is always my favorite football time of the year. I end up watching a lot of football. It’s the best time of the year to see teams from different conferences play each other who normally maybe don’t. And it’s the time of the year that the sportscasters are so busy at work, they don’t really think…

  • Active Directory,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Windows Server

    Configuring Windows 2008 As An NTP Server

    When you’re configuring a Mac to leverage an existing Windows infrastructure, having the clocks in sync is an important task. Luckily, Windows Server has been able to act as an NTP server for a long time. In this article, we’ll look at configuring Server 2008 R2 to be an NTP server for Mac and Linux clients. Note: Before you get started, or any time you’re hacking around in the registry, make sure to do a backup of your registry/SystemState! To enable NTP on Windows Server, open your favorite registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpServer. From here, enter a key called Enabled as a dword with a value of 00000001. The NTP Server should…

  • Mac OS X

    AFP548 Sponsoring MacIT

    MacIT is coming up in just a month and if you haven’t already gotten tickets or made plans to attend, you should really think about it, as it’s bound to be yet another quality IDG event. What reminded me to post that? Well, I received the following in an email from AFP548, who’s now a MacIT sponsor! MacIT 2013 AFP548.com is sponsoring MacIT, to be held Jan 31 – Feb 2 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. MacIT is the largest gathering of Apple enterprise professionals in the world. 3 days of intensive training, discussions and social networking presenting topics of interest to tech professionals managing iOS and OS…