How to Sell Your MacBook Pro

How to Sell Your MacBook Pro

Do you own an older MacBook Pro? Perhaps your MacBook Pro is not functioning correctly, or you want to upgrade to a new Mac. You like that feeling of owning a new Mac that is an improvement over your older model. You desire a selling process that is simple and effective, but you also want to ensure that any of your data does not end up with someone else. You also wish to receive the best price possible for your MacBook Pro. You could sell your Mac on an auction or retail site, but you are unsure that you can obtain the optimum price for your Mac. How do you proceed?

There are specific steps that you should perform to prepare your MacBook Pro. The first essential step is to create a backup of all the files on your Mac. If you do not know how to do this, the Apple website provides you details about making a backup of your files. Backing up your files is a critical step because you do not want to lose your files when you erase the hard drive.

The second step is to sign out of iTunes. This is an important step and it works for all MacOS software.

The third step to take is to sign out of iCloud. As you proceed through this step, the system asks you to save a copy of your iCloud data on this computer. You can do this because you are erasing your hard drive eventually. Your iCloud data stays in the iCloud.

The fourth step involves signing out of iMessage. The fifth and sixth steps require resetting NVRAM and erasing the hard drive, and reinstalling macOS.

You can also sell your iPhone for cash, sell your old iPhone, and sell your other Mac computers. You need to choose a site that is simple yet gives you the best price for your Mac! The best sites ask a few simple questions relating to the features and condition of your Mac device and provide you a quick quote.

No more iTunes in the New Mac Fall Software Update

No more iTunes in the New Mac Fall Software Update

The newest version of the Apple operating system was just announced to be released in the fall. It is called Catalina based on the Catalina Islands off of the South Carolina coast. One of the big changes coming to the mac in the fall is the separation of the iTunes application based on function. The app will now be split into three apps: Music, Podcast, and TV.  The iTunes app has been available to the mac since 2001. Device management capabilities will now be housed in Finder which was different than before where it was controllable through iTunes.

Apple Music

This app will now hold everything to do with the music and also has adopted the same logo as the old iTunes. The music app has been designed for apple music but still retains the older features for non-subscribers. Your iTunes music library will be accessible through the Music App.  Now all of your Music will be in one spot, organized by artists, albums, songs, playlists, and recent additions via a new menu in the sidebar.

Apple Music subscribers will also see “For You”, “Browse”, and “Up Next” .

The Itunes Store to purchase music will still be available. You can also still import music from third-party sources like from CDs.

Apple Podcasts

The standalone Podcast app will replace the podcast function in iTunes. The “Listen now” feature will be how you continue to listen to podcasts as well as see if a new episode was released, and a spot for new recommendations.

There will be a Browse Tab that shows picks from Apple Editors plus podcasts focusing on current events, New & Noteworthy selections, Curated Collections, Categories, and more.

The Library will contain all the podcast you have subscribed to as well as episodes you’ve downloaded for offline listening. The podcasts will be sorted into Recently Updated, Shows, Episodes, and Downloads.

Apple TV

This new app will include a “Watch now” feature offers personalized recommendations of things that you might want to watch along with keeping track of shows that you’re currently watching through an “Up Next” feature.

You can start a show on any other Apple device and then pick it up on any other device now that the  TV app is available on your Mac. The app has a Channels feature, that allows you to subscribe and watch subscription content right in the Apple TV app, and later this year, the app will also house Apple TV+ content.

Another feature houses all of the TV shows and movies that you’ve purchased from iTunes, along with Movies, TV Shows, and Kids tabs for both discovering new content and making movie and TV show purchases or rentals.

 

A Bluetooth flaw allows most Apple devices to be Tracked

A Bluetooth flaw allows most Apple devices to be Tracked

A flaw was just discovered in bluetooth that would allow a bad actor to track a wide range of devices. These devices include  iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches.  Other devices are any laptops running windows 10 and fitbit wearables. However Andriod devices are not at risk.

A reported by TNW, Boston University researchers, Johannes K. Becker and David Starobinski,  discovered the vulnerability.

Researchers from Boston University (BU) have discovered a flaw in the Bluetooth communication protocol that could expose most devices to third-party tracking and leak identifiable data […]

The vulnerability allows an attacker to passively track a device by exploiting a flaw in the way Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is implemented to extract identifying tokens like the device type or other identifiable data from a manufacturer […]

To make pairing between two devices easy, BLE uses public non-encrypted advertising channels to announce their presence to other nearby devices. The protocol originally attracted privacy concerns for broadcasting permanent Bluetooth MAC addresses of devices — a unique 48-bit identifier — on these channels.

However, BLE tried to solve the problem by letting device manufacturers use a periodically changing, randomized address instead of their permanent Media Access Control (MAC) address.

The vulnerability discovered by BU researchers exploits this secondary random MAC address to successfully track a device. The researchers said the “identifying tokens” present in advertising messages are also unique to a device and remain static for long enough to be used as secondary identifiers besides the MAC address.”

Basically, it is possible to link the current address to the next one and therefore identify as the same device. This allows someone to be able to track the device indefinitely. However only at the short range of bluetooth signals.

The researches  have propsed a solution.

To protect devices from address-carryover attacks, the researchers suggest device implementations should synchronize payload changes with MAC address randomizations.

With Bluetooth device adoption growing at a massive scale, they caution that “establishing tracking-resistant methods, especially on unencrypted communication channels, is of paramount importance.”

They didn’t explain if Apple would even be able to fix this vulnerability and implement this change in an over the air update. However in the meantime there is a simple workaround.

“Switching Bluetooth off and on in the System Settings (or in the Menu Bar on macOS) will randomize the address and change the payload.”

If you want to read the full paper that contains the findings, you can read it
.

Apple Issues Silent Update that Removes Zoom’s Hidden Server

Apple Issues Silent Update that Removes Zoom’s Hidden Server

Apple has recently silently released an update to Mac users that removed a security vulnerability in the platform Zoom. Zoom is a popular video conferencing platform with over 4 million users across 750,000 companies using the platform around the world.

The vulnerability allowed websites to automatically add users to video conferences without their permission. Jonathan Leitschuh explained in a public vulnerability disclosure that, “any website [could] forcibly join a user to a Zoom call, with their video camera activated, without the user’s permission.” Even if a user uninstalled Zoom the undocumented web server remained installed on the computer. This allowed Zoom to reinstall without any user interaction or approval.

Apple’s update to resolve this issue does not require any user interaction and is deployed automatically. Zoom also released their own updated app that should fix the vulnerability as well as allow you to manually uninstall Zoom completely. Apple’s update is said to protect all past and future uses of the app for its users.

The update will now prompt the user whether or not they want to open the application or not. This is different than before where Zoom would open automatically.

Apple Recalls older 15inch MacBook Pros

Apple Recalls older 15inch MacBook Pros

Apple announced on June 20th that they are now doing a voluntary recall of older generation 15inch MacBook Pros. These MacBooks were sold between September 2015 and  November 2017.  These Macs may contain a battery unit that may overheat and pose a fire risk.  The units at risk can be identified by their serial number.   Apple won’t release the exact number of laptops that were affected and bought.  But they claim that only a small number were purchased during that time frame. It is a serious issue and should not be ignored so if you or a friend has an older laptop definitely look into the recall in more detail.

If your MacBook Pro fits these credentials you can check your serial number and see if you are eligible for a replacement battery.  Just visit apple.com/support/15-inch-macbook-pro-battery-recall .

Apple is asking that if your laptop is one of the affected units to stop using the MacBook until you get it fixed. Even though Apple is providing free replacements of the battery free of charge, to get it fixed you will need to send it to one of Apple’s repair centers. This will mean you won’t have a laptop for 1 to 2 weeks since that is the amount of time Apple claims it will take to fix.  Also, Apple will not extend the warranty of your laptop either.

This is a serious issue though so you shouldn’t allow the fact that you might not have a laptop for a few weeks prevent you from looking into if your laptop contains one of these affected batteries.

This recall does not affect any other MacBook Pro units or Mac notebooks.

 

App Store offers 10% more

App Store offers 10% more

If you are an Apple user, adding money to your iTunes and App Store accounts may end up benefiting you in the long run. On Sunday, March 10th, Apple launched a promotion allowing customers to obtain a 10% bonus when adding to their Apple Funds. This bonus will be valid until March 14th, 2019 and is being offered to customers adding between $1 and $200 to their accounts.

The promotion can be found on the iPhone by visiting the app store and clicking on the account icon in the top right corner. After clicking on the“AddFunds to Apple ID” tab located right above the“SignOut” tab, customers will be brought to a list of possible dollar amounts to add to their accounts ranging anywhere from $10 to $100 including the option to choose an unlisted amount by clicking on the tab labeled“Other”.All preset amounts include information regarding how much of a bonus would be received if the amount was added to their accounts(by adding $10 a $1 bonus is added, by adding $25 a $2.50 bonus is added etc.) and the same information is added to the“Other”option once it is picked and a dollar amount is added. The process works similarly on a MacBook with the main differences being that customers seeking out the promotion need to click on their icon at the bottom left corner of the app store and click on the link entitled“ViewInformation” in the upper right hand corner of the screen in order to add additional funds to their Apple accounts and get the bonus. 

This promotion is beneficial to Apple customers who find themselves generally spending a decent amount of their money on apps and music through both the App store and iTunes store considering it allows customers to buy more with less of an impact to their own personal funds. 

The promotion is available to Apple customers only in the United States, however similar promotions have been offered in various countries including Germany where Apple is offering a 15% bonus with the addition of funds to Apple accounts instead of a 10% bonus.  

 

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Apple Stands By Malala Fund

Apple Stands By Malala Fund

 

Malala Fund's Network
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/07/apple-supports-malala-fund-expansion-in-latin-america/

Apple launches a collaboration between its 10 Apple Developer Academies in Brazil and Malala Fund to help progress girls’ education opportunities. The Malala Fund in Latin America is working to provide safe, quality secondary education and opportunities for girls. It will also offer grants to local advocates in Brazil. The advocates at Apple will join Malala Fund’s network of Gulmakai champions and implement projects all over the country. These projects  will feature a design to empower girls, inspire teachers and policymakers to develop their skills through programs, and positively affect school enrollment efforts and advocacy for education.

Malala Fund’s Network

Malala Fund’s network will be challenging the creativity and innovative minds of Apple Developer Academy students and Brazilian alumni. It will also give them the chance to collaborate with Malala Fund to develop and design apps that enhance the education opportunities for girls. This challenge will motivate the students to find ways to better enable Malala Fund’s network of Gulmakai champions around the world.  It will also help Malala to communicate and share best practices in a secure environment.

The Apple Developer Academy’s developers in Rio met Malala Yousafzai on Friday. They spoke with her when she was there to visit the students. She was there to discuss how important the developers are to the fund’s mission to provide education opportunities to girls all over the world.

Apple became Malala Fund’s first Laurete partner in January. Apple did this by enabling the Malala Fund to increase the amount of grants awarded by its Gulmakai Network. They will also fund new programs in India and Latin America. This is with the goal in mind of enhancing the opportunities for secondary education for over 100,000 girls.

Dating back to 2013, more than 3,000 students have gone through this experience at Brazil’s Apple Developer Academy program.  Moreover, there are 500 other students that are currently enrolled in 10 sites. The sites are all across Brasilia, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo. The scholarship winners include the seventy-five Brazilian students who were present at the Worldwide Developer Conference. For more information on Apple’s support of Malala’s fund, click here.

Rumors Of New Apple ARM-Based Mac

Rumors Of New Apple ARM-Based Mac

According to DigiTimes , Apple is releasing a new ARM-based Mac product. This new ARM-based Mac product will likely be manufactured by Apple’s long time supplier, Pegatron. This rumor came  from a report on project “Kalamata.” “Kalamata” proposes that Apple is expecting to release ARM-based Macs in the future. The new Mac will include the use of a touchscreen, SIM card, GPS, compass, and water resistant feature that differ from the previous Macbook and Macbook Air.

http:/https://www.apple.com/mac/

 

The rumor, however, fails to comment on the use of the screen size, processor design, format, or keyboard, which implies that the new ARM-based Mac is similar to an IPad. The new Apple product, recently code-named as “Star,” will possibly be the project name under which Apple will release it’s ARM-based product. This ARM-based Mac will likely be similar to an IOS notebook. 

Pegatron’s Mac Prototypes 

Furthermore, prototypes for the new ARM-based product are underway. They will reveal the use of an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), similar to Apple’s Intel-based Macs. This suggests that an IOS ARM-powered Macbook will be Apple’s next move. Although DigiTimes did not release details  about Apple’s new project, it is likely that Pegatron will continue manufacturing these products. Pegatron will also ship these products to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. 

http://digitimes.com/pegatron

Rumors about Apple’s ARM-based products, however, started speculating in 2010. Apple made efforts to expand their CPU design group in 2010. Expanding the CPU design group involves poaching and new acquisitions for Apple. Nonetheless, Apple’s efforts to launch new products like the ARM-based product continued until 2017. In 2017, Apple released a report that they were planning to cut back on Intel. Therefore, other reports show a similarity in performance between the MacBook Pro of single-core performance and the multicore performance. However, the multicore performance includes the original 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. 

With new rumors speculating about the release of an ARM-powered Mac manufactured by Pegatron, it should be exciting to see if Apple will be introducing this new product soon.

 

For more information, click here

Downloading Your Stored Apple Information

Downloading Your Stored Apple Information

Did you know that you are able to view all of your old Apple downloads, such as books and music, as well as past devices you’ve purchased? What Apple doesn’t do is store your personal information such as emails and locations. Aside from downloads, a log is kept about customer support queries for each time you reach out to ask any questions about your device or other Apple products.

Apple’s privacy response explains why they do not store other personal information here:

“Apple has always placed a priority on protecting our customers’ personal data, and we don’t collect or maintain a mountain of personal details about our customers in the first place. There are certain categories of information which we do not provide to law enforcement or any other group because we choose not to retain it. For example, conversations which take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them. Apple cannot decrypt that data. Similarly, we do not store data related to customers’ location, Map searches or Siri requests in any identifiable form.”

How to Download Your Apple Archive:

  • Go to Apple’s Privacy Policy page (https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/)
  • Scroll down to the section titled “Access to Personal Information.” It’s worth reading and says explains that Apple will provide you with a copy of the information it holds if you request it.
  • Click the “Privacy Contact Form” link.
  • Choose your language.
  • Select “I have a question about privacy issues” from the drop-down box.
  • Fill in your first and last name, email, subject and comments. I noted that I was requesting a copy of my personal information in the comments field.
  • Click submit.

After this, you’ll need to wait for Apple’s privacy team to contact you to; they will request some of the same personal information above, in addition to your Apple ID, a registered product serial number and a previous AppleCare support case number in order to verify your identity.

Apple’s most powerful portable machine MacBook Pro has just debuted

Apple’s most powerful portable machine MacBook Pro has just debuted

The new Apple MacBook Pro is an extremely purposeful and powerful tool that is creative and ultraportable with the new design, fundamental qualities, and uncompromising performance. This new product has been reduced dramatically in terms of the overall volume and enhanced significantly in terms of the Retina display and its LED spectrum as well. The new MacBook Pro optimize not only the portability but also the device performance, which marks the milestone in the evolution of MacBook.

Thinner, smaller, and lighter,  the new MacBook came out also with a new thermal architecture

The new ultraportable products are thinner, smaller and lighter compared with previous MacBook products. This powerful device also redesigns the thermal management with thinner and variably spaced fan blades propelling air quietly and efficiently through solid structures.

MacBook Pro is built on groundbreaking ideas and is waiting for yours

The new refurbished Apple MacBook Pro applies a larger force touch trackpad and thus more expansive touch area for users’ gestures. It also updates a refined keyboard design, together with improved dome switches under each key, for more accurate, efficient and optimized responsive gestures.  A new Multi-Touch bar introduces the completely new way to interact and connect with the device in a more intuitive and immediate way. The prior hidden commands are now visible and customizable which are easily operated and accessible now as well. Therefore, each control and operation of the notebook are displayed dramatically and dynamically and thus will improve greater efficiency in your work and study. Furthermore, Touch ID is firstly introduced in the MacBook Pro as well. The new MacBook Pro definitely integrates hardware and software seamlessly and specially. The speakers of the new MacBook Pro has also been redesigned that maximize the air displacement and project high-quality room-filling sound. The core of the new device is updated as a pro-level processor, together with the improved storage technologies, makes every operation and action faster and more efficient

Most colorful and brightest  Mac notebook display ever, MacBook Pro has just debuted

The enhanced Retina display and its LED spectrum projects through a metal oxide backplane that results in brighter, high-contrast and wide-color-gamut pictures.

Sell My MacBook Pros

If you want to save up for the new powerful and refurbished MacBook Pro, sell any of your older generations of Macs. MacBooks, iPhones or any other Apple product! Use this money to save up for the new, powerful iMac Pro! Use Sell My MacBook Pros for fast access to cash to put towards your next big and exciting investment. If you have any questions regarding Sell My Mac Products, call 212-840-0415 or quote here.