Topics

1

Tech / Affinity offering 90 day free trials + 50% discounts

« on: January 19, 2021, 10:50:06 AM »

If any of you have been toying with the idea of trying out Affinity Photo or Publisher or Designer, now's your chance. They're offering 90 day free trials AND 50% off all their apps.

I have and use Affinity Publisher (use it instead of Adobe InDesign) and have Affinity Photo, though use it less than Lightroom/Photoshop. Affinity is a pretty capable replacement for Photoshop though - and at $34.99 CAD for a perpetual license it's a steal. (presumably US prices are even less...). I'm very happy with Publisher; it definitely serves my needs and I've used it for at least the last three years, for 50 page yearbooks for a camp and many, many newsletters for a dental association and the historical society.

https://affinity.serif.com/

2

Tech / Silly spam emails during COVID-19

« on: April 27, 2020, 10:13:54 AM »

Let's have some fun and post the silliest spam emails we've gotten lately. (These weren't in my inbox - a client received these). Do remove any unsafe web addresses (leave off the .com)

The Illuminati are on WhatsApp! I had no idea it was so easy to join!

Reply-To: greatilluminatitemple03(at)aol.com

Hello, Do you want to join the great Illuminati brotherhood to become rich, famous and protected in life, join us today and kick out your financial problems, And also stay protected aginst corona virus .  if you wish to become a member of the Illuminati CONTACT US NOHW email: greatilluminatitemple03@aol.com or contact via whatapps : +13235084782

Warren Buffett wants to give you money! (and so do the IMF, the UN and WHO, according to emails received this morning)

Hi,

My name is Warren E. Buffett an American business magnate, investor and philanthropist. am the most successful investor in the world. I believe strongly in‘giving while living’ I had one idea that never changed in my mind ? that you should use your wealth to help people and i have decided to give {$1,500,000.00} One Million Five Hundred Thousand United Dollars, to randomly selected individuals worldwide. On receipt of this email, you should count yourself as the lucky individual.

Your email address was chosen online while searching at random. Kindly get back to me at your earliest convenience before i travel to japan for my treatment , so I know your email address is valid. Email me.(scottoffice0011@yahoo.co.jp)

Thank you for accepting our offer, we are indeed grateful You Can Google my name for more information: Warren Buffett OR You visit my website https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

God bless you.
Best Regard
Mr.Warren E. Buffett Billionaire investor

(visit my website…the wikipedia page. That, and the email address, and the sign-off.)

And if you DO get scammed, we have your back. Just don't tell the FBI. Or anyone else.

Dear Beneficiary

The International Monetary Fund Annual Compensation from USA. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is compensating some scam victims and your email address was found in the scam victims list. This Money Gram®?office has been mandated by the IMF to transfer your compensation to you via Money Gram®?

Money Transfer.

However, we have concluded to affect your own payment through MoneyGram®?Money Transfer, 3000.00 pay day until the total sum of $1.5 Million United States is completely transferred to you the receiver. We cannot be able to send the payment with your email address alone, we are hereby needed your information to where we will be sending the funds.

Here is the information to pick up your first payment of $3000 through Money Gram store close to you.

Money Reference Number (REF): 638 330 30
Sender's First Name: John
Sender's Last Name: Fleming
MTCN:# 638 330 30 (Track the MTCN by visiting:::::::::https://secure.moneygram.com/track)

You Can Text or Call once you fill below Information
Receivers name)............
(Country)..................... ..
(Address)..................... ...........
(Phone Number).....................
(Occupation ).....................
(Your Age).......................... ........
(ID copy)............. ..................
(Your Email Address)...................

NOTE: That your payment files will be returned to the IMF within 24hours if we did not hear from you because this was the instruction given to us by the IMF office here in USA. We will start the transfer as soon as we received your information. You are hereby warned not to communicate or duplicate this
message for any reason what so ever because the US FBI is already on trace of the criminals from Africa.

NOTICE: To text or call this office for any question.

Sincerely,
Mrs.Esther Jessica
Manager Director for Money Gram California USA.
Office Tel: +18672922178 Text ME on Whats app +18672922178
Email:estherjessica220@gmail.com

(note: the phone number is a mobile # for the Northwest Territories, Nunavut or the Yukon.)

3

Tech / Don't upgrade to Catalina if...

« on: October 15, 2019, 05:21:16 PM »

...you use Photoshop and/or Lightroom CC or Classic - or the older standalone versions. Seems even the non-perpetual license versions are having issues (some of them fairly serious, depending on what you're trying to do): https://petapixel.com/2019/10/08/dont-update-to-macos-catalina-yet-if-you-use-photoshop-or-lightroom/

https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/10/08/minor-lightroom-and-photoshop-bugs-pop-up-in-macos-catalina

ADOBE are telling people not to upgrade yet...

And I'm seeing some reports of the perpetual license version of Lightroom (6.14) having some issues as well: can't quit unless you force quit.* And if you keep doing that, eventually your catalogue will likely be corrupted. So not a good idea to update to Catalina unless you want to replace LR standalone with something else. Of course - you also can't reinstall as the installer and uninstaller is 32 bit, so if trying to continue using LR 6.14, you should make sure you have a complete cloned backup at all times.

*Someone at DPreview reports "Uninstalled/deleted Adobe application managers and all outdated remains (hundreds of files). Now, LR starts with an Adobe warning for AAM update, but passing to open LR, everything is fine, even quitting LR is now works normally." So...potentially workable, other than the issue of never being able to reinstall it should things go sideways.

And Office 2011 doesn't work either. And Sony and CaptureOne aren't on the bandwagon quite yet either:

https://briansmith.com/mac-os-catalina-warning/

Think I'll be waiting a while on this one - got too many big projects on the go as it is. The MBP is running Mojave - the iMac is still running High Sierra. Unusual for me to be more than one release behind, but I don't have time to troubleshoot right now.

4

Tech / Jony Ive leaving Apple

« on: June 27, 2019, 07:06:32 PM »

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48795057

Lots of changes in the past few months...sure hope Apple finds someone with vision and creative spirit to continue pushing it to innovate.

And yeah...that stand for the new Apple monitor is rather ridiculous at $1K US.

Still wish they'd come up with a Mac Pro for normal humans with normal wallets - upgradeable, good solid specs, and doesn't cost the earth. I like my iMac fine, but would love to be able to add another drive or two, without having a forest of them (and a USB hub) on my desk.

5

Tech / Anyone happen to have a DB15 to VGA adapter they don't need?

« on: June 06, 2019, 07:27:29 PM »

The local historical society (of which I am secretary and for which I am leading a major digitization project) has an old Quadra that can read old zip disks (SCSI connector, Mac formatted disks...so a bit stuck there) and NO monitor. Can't seem to find one - at least not one we can afford. So...wondering if anyone here has an old DB15 to VGA connector kicking around in a dusty corner somewhere? Happy to pay shipping and a small fee. The alternative is eBay and the shipping everyone is charging is just stupid.

6

Tech / Two-factor verification & Mojave & iOS 12 - warning

« on: December 13, 2018, 02:18:16 PM »

Just a warning if you haven't enabled two-factor verification and don't want it (as I don't - it's a royal pain, IMHO) - do NOT enable it. Once you do, if you're running either iOS 12 or Mojave, you're stuck. You cannot turn it off. My sister did it (not realizing you couldn't turn it off) and we just got through setting up her new iMac and doing various things to iPhones and iPads attached to her Apple ID, and by the end of it, we were both ready to throw all hardware out the window. Every time we turned around we were being asked to enter another *&^% verification code. Now, there is a somewhat ominous bit in the Apple article about features that require it, but I haven't encountered any with iOS 12 installed - haven't updated to Mojave. I find this most intrusive on Apple's part - I suspect that the only way you could back out of it now is to abandon your existing Apple ID and using a new one*, which for anyone with any sort of purchase history with Apple, isn't going to be a good option.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915

I really, really, hate that companies seem to think they can take all security decisions out of our hands in the name of "protecting" us. /end of rant.

*But only if you create it with iOS 10.3 or earlier, or OS 10.12.3 or earlier - if you do it in anything more recent, you're stuck with 2FA whether you like it or not.

7

Tech / Black Friday/Cyber Monday software & tech deals

« on: November 22, 2018, 12:12:36 PM »

For those of you looking to cut the Adobe cord, Affinity Photo is available right now for 30% off. It's a Black Friday deal - isn't clear how long it goes for. I've already got Affinity Publisher (beta - and will buy when the final version is released) and was hoping they'd have a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal for Affinity Photo, so had waited, and for once, my patience paid off. It's a good deal normally - and an even better deal now. Perpetual license is $49.99 US - less 30%. So $34.99 USD. Available either directly from Affinity, or from the app store. I figure it's better to buy from them directly as then they don't have to pay the Apple store fee.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/

ON1 (raw editor) has a deal for those upgrading, but can't see one for new purchasers - yet. Will post any other interesting things I come across.

8

Tech / Mojave and apps that don't work - a solution

« on: September 27, 2018, 06:59:57 PM »

https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/open-apps-wont-work-mojave-photoshop-3684425/

Good thing to know - I haven't installed Mojave yet, and probably won't for a couple of weeks due to various other commitments and work in progress, but should one of my 238 applications decide to fall over, there may be a fix.

9

Tech / Affinity Publisher beta now available!

« on: August 30, 2018, 12:14:40 PM »

Apparently this just came out today - it was simply chance that had me check their website today. For those of us who are not enchanted by Adobe's subscription model, capable substitutes for Photoshop (there are now several very promising options - including Affinity Photo), InDesign, Lightroom, Illustrator, Acrobat etc. are all welcome.

https://www.techradar.com/news/serif-affinity-publisher-is-out-in-beta-for-those-seeking-an-adobe-indesign-alternative

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/publisher/

Downloaded it to give it a spin when I have a moment. Here's hoping! (especially as all of CS6 is not 64-bit, and that's going to be an issue soon too...)

10

Tech / We've moved to new software! (Obviously...)

« on: May 30, 2018, 07:58:03 PM »

We'll be posting various tidbits about the new board software shortly, but the really important thing is that you will have to reset your password; the old passwords were not migrated (the conversion script doesn't do that - something to do with the hashing...).

Simply hit "forgot password" - you'll get an email pretty much immediately, and then reset your password. You can use the same one you were using before if you wish - just make sure it's a secure PW and not one you use for every other site in creation.

Also, you may need to edit/re-upload your avatar - those got left behind. Signatures with HTML in them or BBCode may need some attention as well. And definitely let us know if you need help for any reason.

If you do not receive an email re: the password reset, please let us know - we can check/change the email associated with your account (or reset your PW for you).

We'll be posting various tidbits about the new board software shortly, but the really important thing is that you will have to reset your password; the old passwords were not migrated (the conversion script doesn't do that - something to do with the hashing...).

Simply hit "forgot password" - you'll get an email pretty much immediately, and then reset your password. You can use the same one you were using before if you wish - just make sure it's a secure PW and not one you use for every other site in creation.

Also, you may need to edit/re-upload your avatar - those got left behind. Signatures with HTML in them or BBCode may need some attention as well. And definitely let us know if you need help for any reason.

If you do not receive an email re: the password reset, please let us know - we can check/change the email associated with your account (or reset your PW for you). You can email us via the "contact us" link on the home page - https://techsurvivors.net

Lots of changes still to come - we're working on various themes (you can try those out via your profile - they're all still works in progress, so bear with us!) and still learning our way around too.

11

Tech / Welcome to the new software!

« on: May 28, 2018, 09:38:04 PM »

Hope you all enjoy exploring our new forum software. Please make sure you reset your password; you can use the old password again, but you have to go through the reset process before posting because the board migration doesn't migrate passwords. You'll also have to re-upload an avatar or choose one of the existing ones; we had enough issues with migrating everything that a few things we just decided not to try to make work - old avatars were one of them.

If you're wondering why the posts from the last few weeks all look like Kimmer made them, that's because we had to copy and paste them over here - they will be fixed over the next few days to show the original posters. There has been about 3 weeks since we got the old boards migrated into the new forum software and started work on it; we also had a couple of detours into other software as well that didn't work out. One can't just migrate a few threads over after the fact, unfortunately - it's a rather involved process. (the databases are quite different)

Enjoy!

12

Tech / iTunes, No longer working

« on: May 28, 2018, 07:07:01 PM »

I'm having a problem with my wife's Mac Book Pro running OS 10.13.4, this is a late 2003 model, 2.3 Ghs core i7.
My problem is that iTunes quit working, was getting the beach ball, removed all preferences I could find and installed on them on a separate drive, once this was done I “safely removed” the hard drive and tried running iTunes, now all I get is a blank screen, I can still see finder and it shows that iTunes is running but is not. No beach ball, but no action on iTunes. Can I just remove the iTunes app and redownload the app???

13

Tech / Testing our new forum

« on: May 15, 2018, 11:07:16 PM »

This is just a test post...

14

Tech / TS move to new hosting is complete - if you see this....

« on: May 06, 2018, 08:45:11 AM »

Site has moved and propagation of DNS looks pretty complete, but sometimes local caching, your ISP’s own DNS or other things may be getting in the way.

Various potential fixes - please Google if you need instructions- my iPad is the only device still seeing the old site for now and I find posting links etc. tiresome on it!

Dump browser cache (with Safari you’ll need to enable the Develop menu - why they put it there is beyond me)
Restart browser
Restart computer
Flush DNS cache in terminal

If that doesn’t work, change your DNS settings in Network settings to use Google DNS, at least temporarily. Network->advances
DNS->change to 8.8.8.8 and on the second line, 8.8.4.4, then apply. Pretty much guaranteed to work.

See you on the new hosting!!

[PLEASE STOP POSTING IF YOU CAN STILL SEE THIS POST.]

15

Tech / TS is moving to new hosting

« on: May 05, 2018, 03:39:26 PM »

We're in the midst of a move to new (cheaper, better) hosting and since we've already moved the forums to the new hosting, PLEASE STOP POSTING IF YOU CAN STILL SEE THIS POST. If you post anything now, it won't be on the forums once the DNS points to the new hosting - which I'm hoping will be some time today (Saturday) or Sunday.

Stay tuned. When this post is gone, you're on the new hosting. (I'll also post to the forum on the NEW hosting so if you see that post, you're good to go!)

Please dump your web caches if you're still seeing this as time goes by - I'm not sure when Kris will do the DNS reset, nor how long it will take to propagate. Officially they always say "24-72 hours" but in reality, these days, it's more like 2-3 hours once that DNS setting is changed at a domain registrar.