• cloud,  Mac Security,  Swift

    Configure Amazon SNS for Mac and iOS APNs Development

    Amazon SNS makes implementing Apple Push Notifications (APNs) a breeze. This might seem like a longer article but it’s really not as many steps as it seems (although buttons on web pages move around a lot so ymmv for specific words in button names). There’s a few main steps that we’ll go through: creating a cert in Keychain, generating a Push Notifications cert with the appropriate bundle ID and team ID, and adding an application instance. Notice that these are different for Mac and iOS so if doing both use iOS and if doing one for each, use the appropriate entry. Create a Cert in Keychain First, we’ll create a…

  • cloud

    Setup Google Cloud Functions

    Google Cloud Functions provide a streamlined method for running a simple micro-service leveraging custom functions as well as SDKs for any Google service that can be imported into your script. Currently, node.js is the only non-beta language you can build scripts in. Permissions Before you setup Google Cloud Functions in your G Suite domain, first provide the account of a developer with the appropriate permissions, identified in the attached screen.  Enable The SDKs You Need G Suite has a number of features exposed to their API by importing SDKs into projects. As an example, the Admin SDK provides us with endpoints and classes that make developing micro services to perform…

  • cloud,  Mac OS X,  Mac Security

    Reset Connections To ApplePay and Health With ckksctl

    I’ve seen a few issues now where ApplePay and Health stopped working properly on a Mac and iOS device and when you fixed one, it seemed to wreck the connection with the other. Turns out that the information on a local system is managed with the new(ish) ckksctl command. Using ckksctl is pretty straight forward. First, let’s look at what’s on the Mac, using the ckksctl command with the status verb: /usr/sbin/ckksctl status There will be a section for ApplePay and another for Health. Here, if the services are configured, you should see the following in that section: CloudKit account: logged in Now, let’s force a pull of what’s in…

  • cloud,  Mac OS X,  Ubuntu,  Unix

    Scripting Instances On Google Cloud From A Mac

    Over the users I’ve written a good bit about pushing a workload off to a virtual machine sitting in a data center somewhere. The Google CloudPlatform has matured a lot and I haven’t really gotten around to writing about it. So… It’s worth going into their SDK and what it looks like from a shell using some quick examples. For starters, you’ll need an account with Google Cloud Platform, at cloud.google.com and you’ll want to go ahead and login to the interface, which is pretty self-explanatory (although at first you might have to hunt a little for some of the more finely grained features, like zoning virtual instances. The SDK…

  • cloud

    HuffPost Article On Cool Things To Do With Google Drive

    I’ve been a huge fan of Google Apps for awhile. For this piece, I got a bit more specific and tried to focus on Google Drive. Obviously, there’s a lot of tie-ins with Google’s other products, given how much integration there is there. But, what I did here was really focus on the Google Drive bits. Hope you enjoy it! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-edge/22-cool-things-you-can-do_b_9843122.html

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

    Huffington Post Article: 20 Cool Things You Can Do With Box.com

    My latest Huffington Post article, Twenty Cool Things You Can Do with Box is online here. It begins: If you are looking for a secure and uncomplicated and file sharing service, you will find box.com to be a wonderful way to share files from any device. Today, it is easier than ever for businesses to operate globally regardless of how large or small they are. This is because of the digital age that makes works products easy to share or transfer. Here are twenty cool things that you can do with box.com. For more, click here.  

  • Apps,  cloud,  iPhone,  Mac OS X

    10 Cool Things You Might Not Know You Can Do With Dropbox Article On Huffington Post

    My latest Huffington Post article is up; this one on 10 Cool Things You Might Not Know You Can Do With Dropbox. A sample of the article: You lіvе in an аgе whеn you wаnt (and ѕоmеtіmеѕ nееd) tо access іnfоrmаtіоn аt аll tіmеѕ. Thіѕ іnсludеѕ yоur оwn dаtа аnd fіlеѕ — text dосumеntѕ, рhоtоgrарhѕ, vіdеоѕ, music and mоrе. Thаt’ѕ whу ѕеrvісеѕ lіkе Drорbоx is so popular wіth thе соnnесtеd gеnеrаtіоn. Free оf сhаrgе (wіth a раіd uрgrаdе орtіоn), Dropbox lеtѕ уоu uрlоаd уоur files tо fоldеrѕ ассеѕѕіblе аnуwhеrе thеrе’ѕ аn Intеrnеt connection. It еlіmіnаtеѕ thе hаѕѕlе of еmаіlіng уоurѕеlf attachments аnd runnіng іntо size limits. People can use Dropbox…