August 17, 2018

New iMac 27″ and HomePod

This morning I ordered a new iMac 27″ to replace my aging 2011 iMac. The reason I wanted to upgrade the old one was simply because of software upgrades. I cannot upgrade my iMac to Mojave and for me — being able to upgrade your OS is of paramount importance, especially for a developer.

2018 iMac 27″

In addition to that, I also added a HomePod. The reasoning is that since I am already spending a gazillion dollars (actually $3000) on a new computer, I might as well go ahead and make it worse by adding a HomePod for a Gajillion more dollars (actually $350). Neither of these two things are as important as what my old iMac will do.

Update: I’m adding a snapshot of what the configuration consists of.

via Apple

I am selling it to someone with a computer that is five years older than my old iMac. For him, this will be an upgrade and since he is an older gentleman — the bigger screen will help his vision problems. That is what makes all of this worth it to me. I do like helping folks when it comes to computers.

If history is any indication, my review will probably be something like “Wow. This is cool.” I know. I am a deep person. Don’t judge me.

Update: 08.21.2018 – HomePod arrived today. Sounds incredible!

Using Do Not Disturb to Curb Telemarketers

Anyone who knows me knows that I loathe telemarketers. In fact, I recently wrote about it here.

I’m not sure what made me think of it but yesterday, I reached an epiphany. It made me look a little deeper into the feature in iOS called Do Not Disturb.

Do Not Disturb in iOS 12

What I found interesting was the Allow Calls From and how it lets you decide who can call you while this feature is active. I got a call from a friend this morning so that tells me that this is working perfectly. I am allowing calls from my contact list which is exactly what I want. I won’t really know until this afternoon when telemarketing calls are abundant whether it outright blocks the calls or if they still “ring.” I’d rather them just be sent to voicemail. Maybe that feature will be in a future version? Hopefully.

I’ll keep you posted.