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MacStrategy Blog Postings
29th April 2021 - Personal Statement by Graham Needham (BH)Due to a major change in personal circumstances there will be significant changes to my online presence: Social Media I'll be mostly withdrawing from personal social media. Do not try to contact me on social media. Use my personal contact details instead. Burning Helix I… (read full blog posting)
8th December 2020 - Getting An Error Message Trying To Update Mac App Store Applications by Graham Needham (BH)
With Apple's release of their new operating system macOS 11 Big Sur there are problems for users running older versions of macOS where they are unable to update their Apple Mac App Store applications (e.g. Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageB… (read full blog posting)
27th March 2020 - Freebies and special offers for creatives/Apple users during the Coronavirus pandemic by Graham Needham (BH)
The coronavirus (COVID-2019) pandemic has caused a lot of grief for some creative people so I'm maintaining this blog listing via MacStrategy. I will keep updating it as often as I can. If you have any contributions/corrections/updates don't hesitate to… (read full blog posting)
13th February 2019 - Apple, macOS, 32-bit apps, Adobe Creative Suite and Java by Graham Needham (BH)
Contributing to MacInTouch recently spawned a slew of questions and answers regarding Apple, macOS, 32-bit apps, Adobe Creative Suite and Java including some incorrect information. So I decided to tidy everything up into a quick, simple b… (read full blog posting)
25th January 2018 - Apple Is Gutting macOS Server by Graham Needham (BH)
Apple announced on 24th January 2018 that they were going to gut their macOS Server product - I mean, they are literally taking out all the stuff that makes it a "server" product! The followi… (read full blog posting)
12th October 2017 - Microsoft Office 2011 For Mac End Of Support by Graham Needham (BH)
Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac became end of life on 10th October 2017 - there will be no more security updates for this version of Office! This includes all editions of O… (read full blog posting)
26th September 2017 - macOS 10.13 High Sierra and macOS Server 5.4 by Graham Needham (BH)
Apple released their major Mac operating system software upgrade, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and newest macOS Server on 25th September 2017. If you wish to jump in immediately and install macOS 10.13 High Sierra, you do so at your own risk as an early adopter - this is a major upgrade to… (read full blog posting)
19th September 2017 - iOS 11, watchOS 4 and tvOS 11 by Graham Needham (BH)
Apple will be releasing the major software upgrade, iOS 11 for iPhone / iPod / iPad today, 19th September 2017. There are also watchOS 4 and tvOS 11 (gen 4 or later models only) upgrades being released today. If you wish to jump in immediately and install iOS 11, you do so at your own … (read full blog posting)
16th May 2017 - Is Apple going to make two-factor authentication for Apple IDs mandatory? by Graham Needham (BH)
We received the email pictured below from Apple today (16th May 2017): Basically, on 15th June 2017 app-specific passwords will be required for third party software produ… (read full blog posting)
9th May 2017 - The big move by Graham Needham (BH)
We must apologise for the lack of recent updates. MacStrategy is owned and maintained by Burning Helix. Burning Helix was primarily based in the United Kingdom and also has an office in Prague in the Czech Republic (both countries are i… (read full blog posting)
21st June 2016 - The confusing world of Adobe Acrobat by Graham Needham (BH)
Adobe has always had a professional (Pro) and basic (Reader) version of their Acrobat software. In fact, on Windows, there are three versions with a Standard and a Pro version. Mac users used to have a standard version back in the day too, but that option is no more. Then there's the naming sche… (read full blog posting)
10th February 2016 - Sparkle update vulnerability by Graham Needham (BH)
There is a reported and confirmed security vulnerability in the Sparkle update mechanism which is used by many third party (non-Apple) software applications… (read full blog posting)
7th December 2015 - Linking To The Apple iTunes Store by Graham Needham
Things have changed in the world of iTunes Store links and not for the better. Traditional iTunes Store album/single links no longer work properly - if you sell music on the iTunes Store you will most likely be losing sales! Old style iTunes Store links no longer go… (read full blog posting)
4th March 2015 - The FREAK Attack Security Vulnerability by Graham Needham (BH)
Web sites/servers and web browsers have the ability to communicate securely with each other over HTTPS (the padlock icon usually appears in your web browser when you are connected securely). Unfortunately, old versions of this technology that are susceptible to attack are present in many web sit… (read full blog posting)
25th September 2014 - The Shellshock Security Vulnerability: Quick And Simple Info by Graham Needham (BH)
UNIX based operating systems have a component called Bourne Again Shell (Bash for short). On the 25th September 2014 a major security vulnerability was reported to have been discovered in this component. The following are known to be vulnerable: OS X UNIX LINUX… (read full blog posting)
10th April 2014 - The Heartbleed Bug: Quick And Simple Information by Graham Needham (BH)
When a computer or smartphone needs to talk securely to a server/web site it establishes a secure (encrypted) connection between it and the server/web site. To put it in simple terms, both ends (your computer/smartphone and the server/web site) use special security software (e.g. SSL) to create … (read full blog posting)
28th March 2014 - Microsoft Launches Office For iPad by Graham Needham (BH)
On the 27th March 2014 Microsoft finally announced Office for iPad (iOS). Depending on who you are this may sound like brilliant news but frankly Microsoft are late to the g… (read full blog posting)
27th June 2013 - Did Amazon (UK) Just Make You A Criminal? by Graham Needham
So, Amazon UK launched their AutoRip service in the UK this week. Basically it's an automated service where you buy some music from Am… (read full blog posting)
24th June 2013 - Quark II: The Empire Strikes Back by Graham Needham (BH)
We recently blogged about … (read full blog posting)
1st June 2013 - The QuarkXPress 9 Saga by Graham Needham (BH)
Quark have been around for a long time and back in the 90s they were the king of Desktop Publishing (DTP) software albeit they were a nightmare company to deal with and they abused their users in so many ways. When Adobe finally killed PageMaker and introduced InDesign it was so bad it was painfu… (read full blog posting)
17th May 2013 - What You Should Really Know About Adobe Creative Cloud by Graham Needham (BH)
On the 7th May 2013 Adobe announced two important changes to the way they will sell their Adobe Creative Suite software: New Creative Suite software will only be available via the "Creative Cloud" which is a subscription b… (read full blog posting)
8th February 2013 - The new Office 365 Home Premium subscription service by Graham Needham (BH)
On the 30th January 2013 Microsoft announced Office 2013 for Windows and new options on their Office 365 service. So what's new/good for Mac users? Firstly, there is no new version of Office for Mac. They did, however, release a free … (read full blog posting)
30th November 2012 - Trying To Install Windoze 8 ESD by Graham Needham (BH)
As I web site developer I need to test web sites using browsers running under Windows. I could get a dedicated PC but I can run Windows on a Mac (there are several ways of doing this and MacStrategy has got an article in the works). So y… (read full blog posting)
25th July 2012 - Apple's Mountain Lion Has Pounced by Graham Needham (BH)
Apple has officially released OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (yes, the "Mac" has now been officially dropped). We've already got some articles about the new OS online already: Mountain Lion Frequently Asked Questions (for UK Users)… (read full blog posting)
2nd May 2012 - Adobe Creative 6 and Creative Cloud by Graham Needham (BH)
Adobe has officially announced Creative Suite 6 aka CS6 which upgrades many individual applications: Photoshop Photoshop Extended Illustrator InDesign… (read full blog posting)
10th April 2012 - The Flashback Malware Threat And Java by Graham Needham (BH)
The recent Flashback trojan that targeted an unpatched (now patched for Mac OS X 10.6 and later) security hole in Java (Java Runtime Edition - JRE) has caused a lot of fuss and a lot of misinformation so I thought it wise to write this blog piece. Firstly let me point out that the malware and attack… (read full blog posting)
17th February 2012 - Apple's Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) Approaches by Graham Needham (BH)
So, we warned you in our … (read full blog posting)
23rd December 2011 - It's Christmas - Download a free iOS 5 for the iPad eBook by Sean McManus
This Christmas, there are a lot of people who are wishing for an iPad in their stocking, so for those that get one (or indeed already have one) here's a free gift that might help them to get the most from it. Sean McManus, author of bestselling book iPad for the Older and Wiser, has created a fr… (read full blog posting)
6th October 2011 - RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011 by Graham Needham (BH)
Steve Jobs has passed away. It is a sad day indeed but not the end of Apple. Everyone here at MacStrategy and Burning Helix Limited send our condolences and best wishes to Steve's family. He was a victim of pancreatic cancer and even in the final stages he was still able to innovate, think diffe… (read full blog posting)
3rd October 2011 - New iPods, iPhones Forthcoming With The Launch Of iOS5/iCloud by Graham Needham (BH)
The time is almost upon us for new goodies from Apple. We have their official announcement tomorrow (Tuesday 4th October 2011) and from that point we should know about new iPhones, iPods, iOS 5 and iCloud. MacStrategy's predictions iPod Touch 5th Generation… (read full blog posting)
18th August 2011 - Apple's Lion Is Out Of The Cage, So Where To Now For Apple? by Graham Needham (BH)
Apple is always trying to move technology forward very fast, so much so, that it is often called "bleeding edge" - in fact, sometimes they are so far in advance that some of us users are the ones that bleed from the cuts. For instance, in just the last few years the following have been removed/disco… (read full blog posting)
21st July 2011 - Apple Releases New Hardware by Graham Needham (BH)
Apple has released a whole slew of new hardware with new MacBook Airs, minis and a new mini Server. In digging through the specifications we've noted some interesting points. Points To Note For The New MacBook Airs Mac OS X 10.7 Lion included as standard. Can boot into Ma… (read full blog posting)
20th July 2011 - Apple Unleashes Mac OS X 10.7 Lion by Graham Needham (BH)
So, Apple's lean, mean Lion is here. We've been putting it through some heavy setup testing so we've written a bunch of articles for you relating to our experiences with it that will help you get started with Apple's latest version of Mac OS X… Brand New Lion Articles … (read full blog posting)
15th June 2011 - Microsoft / Adobe Patch Cycle And Software Updates by Graham Needham (BH)
Microsoft and Adobe have adopted "patch" cycles. This is usually the second Tuesday of the month. Regardless of any "critical security" updates they also have a regular quarterly patch cycle for some of the larger application suites like Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite. Microsoft and A… (read full blog posting)
14th June 2011 - Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Availability by Graham Needham (BH)
So Lion is going to be available directly from the Mac App Store as a download and you can install it on all the computers you own, if you are a "consumer". Sound good? Um, well not for everyone. Firstly the download will be approximately 4GB in size. Even if you have one Mac that could be a pro… (read full blog posting)
13th June 2011 - Notes From The Apple WWDC 2011 Announcements by Graham Needham (BH)
While many sites have reported on the obvious key points of Apple's WWDC announcements we found the following tidbits of information to be of interest: Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) If you are a consumer you can buy Lion once and install it on all your compatible computers… (read full blog posting)
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