Author: John Clark

Happy almost-summer, Mac Doc followers! Who knew that Colorado was going to become the Pacific Northwest? C’mon sun, you can do it!!

My big news, first off, is that I’m leaving the country on a much-needed vacation, for almost the entire month of June. Don’t despair, I’ve spoken to Chris Kennedy, of Apple Core Technologies in Montrose, and he’s more than willing to help cover for me while I’m away. His email and phone number are available on his webpage, but here’s his number if you just want to make note of it quick while you’re reading this: (970) 901-3051. Also, if you’re in need of help from an Apple-certified hardware repair center, I recommend Simply Mac in Grand Junction. Here’s a tip about Simply Mac though: if you call, don’t bother leaving a message for their service department, as they’re so busy that they rarely return phone calls (in my experience). Instead, call their main number and see if you can make an appointment through one of their sales people. Better yet, just make note of their hours and head to GJ with you know they’ll be open.

I’ll be back in the office on July 1, refreshed and ready to help with anything I can. Where am I headed for vacay, you ask? My wife Mallory and I are headed to Italy for more than two weeks of bike touring, followed by sightseeing excursions in Florence and Amsterdam! I am so ready for a vacation…

As for the rest of the summer, I plan to move into the phase of my recorded video classes, starting with the Photos program. I’ve gotten a ton of great feedback on my first video that I shared awhile back, and am excited about doing more!

In the meantime, keep being vigilant about avoiding all those phishing scams and other hoaxes flooding the tech world these days. In essence, don’t believe any alarming message you get about your computer, etc, especially if the message contains threatening language about “locking you out of your account” or “not being able to recover some of your data”. The scarier the claim, the more likely it is that’s is a scam. Maybe someday the powers that be will actually start trying to do something about all these scams, but in the meantime, be careful out there!

Thanks, as always, for supporting the Mac Doctor.

My first video class is ready!

Happy Spring, Mac Doc followers! When last I wrote, I said not to mention the ‘D’ word, but the winter we’ve had has almost banished that awful reality from our minds. It’s simply astounding that we could have such opposite winters one year after the other. With the promise of a nice, wet, green spring on the horizon, let’s move on to the first Mac Doc news in quite some time…

As the headline above makes clear, I finally have my first video class available. I’ve decided to make this one free, to give you all a chance to see if the concept, and my style, will work for you before I start making more. All future videos will only be available on a pay-to-view basis. I’m still working out those details, but I hope to be able to offer a subscription version as well. Anyway, here are the details about this first class:

Class #1; A Mac Overview, is a almost 70 minutes long, and gives you a thorough walk-through of the basic Mac interface, focusing primarily on the Finder, where you’ll learn how to navigate your Mac, with side-trips to the menubar, Dock and System Preferences.

You’ll need this password to view the video: stevejobs

Feel free to share the link to the video, along with the password, but please urge anyone you share it with to sign up for this email newsletter as well, if only so they’ll be notified when new classes are available!

Probably the best part of this whole new approach to doing classes is that you can download the video, making it possible for you to watch at your own pace, whenever you want, over and over again if you want as well. What could be better, right?

Please let me know your thoughts about this first class. I want constructive criticism, because I know it will only make future classes better.

Thanks, as always, for supporting the Mac Doctor.

Enjoy!
John

[Apologies for the deafening silence here for so long! I’m about to move this to a new platform, but in the meantime, here’s my latest update!]
Happy June, Mac Doc followers! Man oh man, what a spring we’ve been having! Let’s not even mention the ‘D’ word, but instead enjoy these gorgeous days while they’re here, and dream of the healthy monsoons to come… 😊 

Many of you have been asking what’s happened to my classes. Well never fear, I have a new plan! I continue to be swamped with my usual Mac Doctor business (as the tech world gets crazier and more complicated by the day!), on top of the responsibilities that come from all the other hats I wear, so I’m feeling the need to make some changes.

What I’ve decided to do is to continue to do a class or two, a month, probably alternating between Ridgway and Montrose. There may be months that I don’t do a class at all though. Of course, I’ll continue to do presentations at the monthly Mac User Group meetings for much of the year as well. [As a reminder, those meetings are held at the Montrose Proximity Space at 7 pm on the second Thursday of every month. Attendance is free, but membership is encouraged, at only $12/year or $18/year for a couple.]

What I’m really excited about, however, is that I’ve decided that the best approach for many of my recurring classes is to make recordings, here in my office/studio, lasting an hour or hour-and-a-half, post them online, and offer subscription access to them. To test out that approach, I’m going to make one for Photos first, and hope to complete that soon.

Here’s where I need some help from you all again. My thoughts are to either charge a one-time fee per recording (say $20), which would give you something like a year of access to each class, and/or to charge a higher fee (say $50-75/year) for access to all class recordings. I would guess that I’ll eventually have a dozen or more recordings available. I plan to cover: Photos, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Safari, Mail, ‘Security Essentials’, Facebook Marketing, Mac Basics, iPhone/iPad Basics, etc. Feel free to suggest others, and do let me know your thoughts about the different pricing models and costs.

Please get back to me with your feedback on this idea. I’ve mentioned it to a few of you, and had universally positive response. I think it’s a great way for folks to be able to go over the content at their pace, while allowing me to cover topics in a more organized (uninterrupted) fashion. I’m very excited about the idea!

In the meantime, here’s the brief June schedule:

• Thurs., June 14th, from 7-9 pm at the Montrose Proximity Space, the monthly Black Canyon Mac User Group will hold their regular meeting. I’m not able to attend this month’s session, so I’m not sure what the topic will be at this point, but you can be sure it will be fun and informative! This event is free, and there’s no need to RSVP.

There won’t be any other classes this month, as I plan to focus on producing my first couple of recorded classes. Stay tuned for news about that, and with any luck, I’ll have at least one to share with you by the end of the month!

Thanks, as always, for supporting the Mac Doctor!

Best,
John

Greetings folks! I can’t believe it’s October already, but what else is new?

Getting straight to the point, here are my October events/classes:

Thursday, Oct. 12th, from 7-9 pm at Montrose Proximity Space, at the monthly Black Canyon Mac User Group meeting, I will be covering the latest operating system updates for iPhones/iPads & Macs. iOS 11 for your iDevices, and “High Sierra” (10.13.x) give us lots to talk about! Admission is free.

Saturday, Oct. 14th, from 10 am -2 pm at the Sherbino Theater, as part of Weehawken Creative Arts’ ongoing “Business of Art” series, I’ll be offering a class titled: “Grow Your Business Online”. Cost is $40, and you’ll need to register with Weehawken to sign up.

• This 4-hour intensive will cover everything from A to Z in the world of online marketing. We’ll start by making sure you have claimed your business on Google Maps, which will then enable you to post photos, price lists, menus, etc, as well as build you own free website and possibly begin advertising on Google search. Instructor John Clark has recently gotten certified by Google as a “trusted verifier”, meaning he can bypass the annoying postcard requirement for verifying your business with Google if you haven’t claimed it as of yet. There will also be instructions for getting listed on other online resources such as Apple Maps, Yelp & Trip Advisor. Apps such as Google’s “My Business” and “Google Primer” will also be covered, demonstrating the ways in which you can manage your business listing from anywhere.

Thursday, Oct. 19th, from 3-5 pm at Montrose Proximity Space, I’ll again be doing my “iPhone/iPad Overview”. Remember, this class is no longer free; it costs $20 like my other classes.

• This class will give you an in-depth review of all the tips & tricks you need to get the most out of your iPhones and iPads. As I mentioned above, there’s a brand new operating system, iOS 11, that just came out, so if you want to learn what all the fuss is about, join us!

Happy Labor Day folks!

Thank you all for your patience with the lack of classes over the last two months. It was a crazy summer for me, and I needed to clear my calendar of anything I could, in order to keep up with everything else!

I’m coming to you this month with a bit of a new approach. I’m going to offer just one class a month, one in Ridgway, and one in Montrose, plus there will be occasional extras from time to time. I’m going to give you the topic, location and date/time here in the newsletter, and then have a link to get all the details on my blog at https://macdoktor.net. This will save me a bunch of time every month, and hopefully make this email more readable. So, without further ado, here’s are my September classes:

• Tuesday, Sept. 12th, from 7-9 pm at Montrose Proximity Space, at the monthly Black Canyon Mac User Group meeting, I will be hosting a lively Q&A session. Bring all your nagging questions and comments. Admission is free.
• This isn’t a “class” exactly, but more of an opportunity to ask questions about things that may have been annoying you for awhile, or that you simply don’t understand. Bring any and all questions, and come prepared to learn some things!

• Thursday, Sept. 21st, from 3-5 pm at the Montrose Proximity Space, I’ll be offering a new class: “Keeping Things Organized On Your Mac”. Cost is $20, and please contact me to sign up.
• This new class is the result of my inquiry earlier this summer about ideas for classes you might be interested in taking. The idea will be to help you better understand where everything lives on your Mac, as well as how to better organize it using all the tools at your fingertips: folders, special locations, tagging, etc.

• Saturday, Sept. 30th, from 10-noon at the Ridgway Library, I’ll be bringing back my “iPhone/iPad Overview”. This class will no longer be free however; it will cost $20 like my other classes.
• For years, I offered this class for free, every other month at the Ridgway Library. Then they told me they couldn’t afford to pay me to teach computer classes any longer, so I had to stop. I’ve had enough requests for this class however, that I’ve decided to bring it back as a paid class. This time around it should be pretty fun, as Apple’s brand new iOS update, iOS 11, will have just come out later this month. There will be tons of new things to learn about, so join us if you can!!

Give me a call at (970) 417-8434 if you need more info. I do need you to sign up ahead of time for any class you hope to attend.

Hope to see you at a class sometime soon!

Mac news – August 2017

Greetings, and a belated happy Colorado Day to you all! I want to thank everyone that weighed in after last month’s email with your suggestions for class topics, locations and times. It was all quite helpful, and I’m excited to get back into action with some new topics, but alas, I’ve decided to take another month off.

August is shaping up to be almost as busy as July, and since I’m on a much-needed vacation right now (back next week), I figured it would be better if I focused on enjoying the rest of the month, getting caught up on things, then be primed & ready to hit the ground running in September.

In the meantime, I’ve been reminding folks that a one-on-one session of just 30-60 minutes can be a lot more productive than trying to follow along in one of my 2-hour classes, especially if you’ve ever felt like you get lost too easily in my classes. Let me know if you might be interested in trying that approach instead, as I’ve found it to be much more helpful (and less frustrating!) for many of my clients. Just so you know, I charge $60/hour, and make house calls! 😁

First Generation 9.7-inch iPad Pro For Sale

Having just upgraded to Apple’s newest iPad Pro (the 10.5-inch model), I have last year’s model to sell to some lucky local looking to upgrade themselves. This 9.7-inch model has a whopping 128GB of storage and includes the Apple Silicone case and Smart Keyboard, just like you see in the photo above (sorry, I’m keeping the Apple Pencil to use with my new iPad 😜). It also has almost 6 months of AppleCare+ warranty left! The entire package cost me more than $1200, including AppleCare, and I’m asking just $600. Give me a ring, or drop me a line if you’re interested. First come, first serve!

Thanks for your patience on classes; I think you’ll be pleased with some of the offerings I’m planning for September!

Have a great rest of your summer, and get out there & enjoy the wildflowers!!

John
(970) 417-8434
macdoktor@gmail.com

Greetings followers! 🤓 Happy summer to you all. The 4th of July is upon us, and I’m afraid that means it’s all downhill from here. Just kidding. 😁 There’s plenty of summer left, and it’s going to be outstanding, eh?

July is another extremely busy month for me, and I’ve spent the whole weekend trying to figure out what to teach, and where to host whatever it is I decide to teach. I guess you could say I’ve got a bit of “teacher’s block”!

You see, my classes have tended to be sparsely attended as of late, and I’m not sure if it’s just that everyone’s busy, or that I’m not mixing it up enough with my class topics. So this month I’d like to ask all of you:

• What would you like to see me offer in the way of classes? More of the same (Photos, Backups, Online Security, iPhone Photography, etc.), or is there something I haven’t covered yet that you’d like me to offer? Please, respond to this email and give me your thoughts!
• Where & when do you prefer to attend classes? Montrose, Ridgway, Telluride? Weekday evenings (and if so, which evenings are best for you?) or weekend days, or perhaps I should be exploring more in-depth online classes?? (If I did that, they would be significantly more expensive, just as an FYI.)

Over the years, I’ve had folks ask if I could teach more advanced topics like Photoshop, Lightroom, WordPress, etc, but I’ve always felt that it was unlikely enough of my clients would be interested in classes like that. Am I wrong?

In short, I really need your help, all of you, in order to figure out the best direction to go with my classes at this point. Honestly, the venue opportunities have changed this year, so one of my biggest challenges is figuring out the best place to host classes going forward.

Thank you all for taking the time to give me your thoughts, if you can. I’d really like to make sure I’m serving your needs to utmost, and I can’t do that without some input from you!! The sooner you respond, the sooner I can schedule a couple of classes yet this month, so don’t delay!

Again, happy summer. Hope to see you at a concert in the park sometime this month in Ridgway.

Another month has rolled on by and summer is drawing nigh… 🌞 This is going to be one crazy busy month for me, so I’m only teaching one focused class the whole month, but I also want to share info about another fun iPhone Photography class I’ll be doing at the Ah Haa School in Telluride on the first of July.

On to the details (however meager they may be 😁)…

Class list for June 2017:

• Thurs., June 8th, from 6-8 pm at the Montrose Proximity Space, by continued demand, I’ll be revisiting Apple’s “Photos” program. Cost for this class is $20.
• Sat., July 1st, from 10 am to 2 pm at the Ah Haa School in Telluride: “iPhone Photography”; a four-hour intensive exploration of everything you need to know to get the absolute best photos possible out of your iPhone! Cost is $65 for this 4 hour class; sign up with the Ah Haa School.

Please do let me know if you plan to attend either of these classes; if I get enough commitments ahead of time, I don’t have to send out a nagging reminder!

 First up, on Thursday, June 8th from 6-8 pm at the Montrose Proximity Space, by continued demand, I’ll once again be covering Apple’s new “Photos” program for Yosemite, El Capitan and Sierra. Most everyone who has ever used a Mac is thrown off by the switch to Photos, but it’s actually quite a powerful upgrade from iPhoto. Of course, there’s a whole new interface to learn too! If you’re running Yosemite, El  Cap, or Sierra on your Mac, you’ll want to take this class to learn all the ins & outs of the new program. Please, do let me know if you plan to attend. Cost is $20.

 Then, a month from today, on Saturday, July 1st, from 10 am – 2 pm, at the Ah Haa School in Telluride, I’ll be teaching “iPhone Photography”. This stimulating class, presented by the Ah Haa School, will be an intensive exploration of iPhone photography. As the quality of cameras in smartphones like the iPhone increases, it’s easier than ever to always have a great camera with you. But wait, you say, why are my photos always blurry, or just so-so? It’s mostly because you need to learn how to use the device properly, and there definitely are tricks to using the iPhone’s camera! So sign up for this class, and learn how to start getting really good photos out of your iPhone. As a bonus, we’ll spend some time learning about the dozens of powerful camera apps available for your device, from the Instagram craze to the more techy HDR realm, and everything in between. Registration is $65. Sign up with the Ah Haa School if you’d like to attend.

I hope your June won’t be quite as busy as mine, and that you get out & explore this beautiful area a bit, take in some of the Thursday concerts in the park (Ouray in June, RIdgway in July, Paonia in August) or any of the hundreds of other fun things our region has to offer!

Apologies to anyone that may be wondering what happened to the class newsletter this month, but I’m afraid I had a bit of a ‘perfect storm’ of circumstances (including two different commitments that involved travel), that combined to keep me from posting this until today. Thanks for your patience!!

I will reiterate my big news from March one last time, that the Ridgway Library is no longer able to offer my free last-Wednesday-of-the-month classes. Don’t worry; even though I won’t be doing those specific classes for free any longer, I will continue to offer lots of classes, and some will be free, so be sure to read the fine print on every class. The number of venues I will be teaching at continues to grow, and I’m excited about that. Lastly, I’ve only got a couple of things on the docket for May, due to the confusion that led to the lateness of this email.

As spring turns to summer, there’s so much going on that it’s hard to squeeze in a lot of classes!

On to the details…

Class list for May 2017:

• Sat., May 20th, from 1-4 pm at the Ridgway Library: “iPhotography”; a three-hour, in-depth exploration of intensive covering everything you need to know to get the absolute best photos possible out of your iPhone! Sign up with Weehawken Creative Arts. Cost is $35 for this 3 hour class.
• Thurs., May 25th, from 6-8 pm at the Ridgway Proximity Space, by continued demand, I’ll be revisiting Apple’s “Photos” program. Cost for this class is $20.

Please do let me know if you plan to attend either of these classes; if I get enough commitments ahead of time, I don’t have to send out a nagging reminder!

 First off, on Saturday, May 20th, from 1-4 pm, at the Ridgway Library, I’ll be teaching “iPhotography”. This stimulating class, presented by Weehawken Creative Arts, will be an intensive exploration of iPhone photography. As the quality of cameras in smartphones like the iPhone increases, it’s easier than ever to always have a great camera with you. But wait, you say, why are my photos always blurry, or just so-so? It’s mostly because you need to learn how to use the device properly, and there definitely are tricks to using the iPhone’s camera! So sign up for this class, and learn how to start getting really good photos out of your iPhone. As a bonus, we’ll spend some time learning about the dozens of powerful camera apps available for your device, from the Instagram craze to the more techy HDR realm, and everything in between. Registration is $35.. Sign up with Weehawken if you’d like to attend.

 Then, on Thursday, May 25th from 6-8 pm at the Ridgway Proximity Space, by continued demand, I’ll once again be covering Apple’s new “Photos” program for Yosemite, El Capitan and now Sierra. Many people are getting more than a little discombobulated by the switch to Photos, but it’s actually quite a powerful upgrade from iPhoto. Of course, there’s a whole new interface to learn! If you’re running Yosemite, El  Cap, or even Sierra on your Mac, you’ll want to take this class to learn all the ins & outs of the new program. Please, do let me know if you plan to attend. Cost is $20.

I’m wishing you a splendid spring full of wonderful opportunities for taking pictures with your iPhone! hope to see you at a class sometime soon!

I was trying to think of a good April Fools joke to play here, but then I decided it would be simpler to just give you my class news for the month. You’re spared for another year. 😜

I need to remind everyone that the Ridgway Library is no longer able to offer my last-Wednesday-of-the-month classes for free. Don’t despair; I will continue to offer lots of classes, and some will be free, so be sure to read the fine print on every class. The number of venues I will be teaching at continues to grow, and I’m excited about that.

April is unusually busy for me, so I’m only offering two sessions, but I am bringing back ‘Office Hours’ at Montrose Proximity Space on April 11th!

On to the details…

Class list for April 2017:

• Tues. April 11th, from 1-4 pm: prior to the BCMUG meeting below, at Proximity Space, Montrose, I’ll be holding a bit of a new take on “Office Hours with the Mac Doctor”. This 3-hour block will be available at a discounted rate of $50/hour for BCMUG members, and $60/hr for non-members.

• Tues. April 11th, from 7-9 pm, also at Proximity Space, Montrose, as part of the monthly Black Canyon Mac User Group meeting, it’s a FREE presentation on “Take Control of Your Paperless Office”. Come learn all the latest tips & tricks for going paperless!

• Thurs., April 20th, from 6-8 pm, at the Ridgway Library, I’m revisiting an essential class: “Get Yourself Backed Up!”. If you don’t have a current (and healthy?) backup of your computer, this class is for you!

Please do let me know if you plan to attend the Backup class; if I get enough commitments ahead of time, I don’t have to send out a nagging reminder!

 First, on Tuesday, April 11th, from 1-4 pm at the Proximity Space, Montrose, it’s the return of at Proximity Space in Montrose, I’ll once again be offering “Office Hours with the Mac Doctor” sessions. I will be available to answer your questions, take a look at your wonky Mac/iPhone/iPad, or whatever you need. As I mentioned above, I’ll be charging for this service now, but BCMUG members will get a $10/hour discount ($50/hour). Non-members pay $60/hour. Short questions may not incur charges at all, depending on how complicated the answer is! 🤓

 That evening, Tuesday, April 11th, from 7-9 pm, at Proximity Space, Montrose, I’m going to cover the latest ebook from the good folks at Take Control Books, “Take Control of Your Paperless Office”. This FREE presentation, as part of the Black Canyon Mac User Group’s monthly meeting, will guide you through choosing your tools: scanners and OCR (optical character recognition) software, devices and services for storing scanned documents, and apps to categorize, locate, and view your documents. Then I’ll show you how to convert paper into digitized files and give you ideas for how to organize your workflow. We’ll give away a free copy of the ebook to one lucky attendee, as well as give you a link to buy the book for 30% off!

 Lastly, on Thursday, April 20th from 6-8 pm, at the Ridgway Library, I’m revisiting an essential class: “Get Yourself Backed Up!”. This class will cover all aspects of backing up your devices, from online tools like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, Carbonite and the like, to the best external hard drive options for physical backups. The importance of having good (and redundant!) backups is increasingly critical, for obvious reasons, but less obvious is that a good backup is your best protection against viruses and hackers! Due to popular demand, I will also cover Time Machine, and how to use it, so you can confirm your backups are working! Come learn all there is to know about how to make sure your precious photos and documents are safe for many years to come! Cost for this class is $20. Please let me know if you plan to attend.

I’m wishing you all the best that spring has to offer! Hope to see you at a class sometime soon!