What’s on your mind?

[goldmac2006]

Can't go wrong either way. Probably best to save some money and grad the 15p, especially considering the implementation of Apple Intelligence so far.

Still watching the eBay watchlist for it… and avoiding any shady sellers. Thanks for your advice, though.

Other than that, as a former Apple technician how was it like to work with Macs? Planning on becoming an Apple Genius as one of my potential career paths while working on a computer engineering degree after I finish my nasa internship which ends next Friday.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Does anybody have any exciting apple purchases coming up?
I myself am on a tight budget lately due to some larger purchases BUT if I could I would buy the M4 Pro Mac Mini in a heartbeat. My M3 Air (16gb Ram + 512gb SSD) is sluggish when it comes to pentesting labs/VMs.

I need to replace my 2018 Mac Mini this year as it’s struggling with photo editing in particular.
But with my 5 year fixed mortgage rate ending this month, it will be a tight year.

 

[KaliYoni]

Planning on becoming an Apple Genius as one of my potential career paths while working on a computer engineering degree after I finish my nasa internship which ends next Friday.

What is the career path for Apple Store Geniuses? My impression is that it's essentially a retail job that would top out somewhere in the Apple Store division. Wouldn't somebody with a (associate's, bachelor's, master's, doctorate?) computer engineering degree and a prestigious internship be vastly overqualified and underpaid in that position?

 

[rm5]

Whenever I go months away from Piano, I instinctively start with no. 16 in C Major - such a great way to get the hands going again.

I believe it was a piece composed specifically for warmup, similar to how thunderstruck by ACDC was a warmup for Angus Young.

Edit: I was wrong, no 16 was NOT composed specifically for a warmup (verified via chatGPT). Not sure where or even if I heard that before, but thought it was the case. Anyway, my hands jump to that one right away.

Interesting! Which No. 16—out of which book? Who wrote it?

Does anybody have any exciting apple purchases coming up?
I myself am on a tight budget lately due to some larger purchases BUT if I could I would buy the M4 Pro Mac Mini in a heartbeat. My M3 Air (16gb Ram + 512gb SSD) is sluggish when it comes to pentesting labs/VMs.

I was thinking about getting a (used) Magic Keyboard for my iPad. I found several in the $70-100 range that are in decent condition. I don’t know if I’ll end up doing this though. I’m in no rush to need it. More of a nice-to-have so I don’t need to lug my Lenovo laptop to class. I’ll probably get it when I get my next paycheck.

Do you play any classical or are you primarily Jazz focused?

I perform jazz primarily, but I want to hopefully perform other stuff on my recital next year.

I can do the classical thing, too. I’ve also done MIDI orchestration and such with sample libraries. I don’t focus as much on it, honestly because I just don’t have the time. Would love to get back into both those things at some point.

 

[VisceralRealist]

Does anybody have any exciting apple purchases coming up?
I myself am on a tight budget lately due to some larger purchases BUT if I could I would buy the M4 Pro Mac Mini in a heartbeat. My M3 Air (16gb Ram + 512gb SSD) is sluggish when it comes to pentesting labs/VMs.

I don’t have much of a tech budget right now either, but I’m planning on getting a new phone this year for the first time since 2022. Depending on what this rumored "slim" phone turns out to actually be like, I’m looking at the upcoming iPhone Air. It seems like exactly what I want in a new smartphone (larger screen, but not as heavy). I might also upgrade my MacBook Pro to a model with the Nano-texture display (which would be my first computer purchase since 2021).

In the meantime, I'd love to build a new gaming PC, so not sure I will prioritize that instead. 🤔

 

[goldmac2006]

What is the career path for Apple Store Geniuses? My impression is that it's essentially a retail job that would top out somewhere in the Apple Store division. Wouldn't somebody with a (associate's, bachelor's, master's, doctorate?) computer engineering degree and a prestigious internship be vastly overqualified and underpaid in that position?

Apologies for the misunderstandings! End goal is to be a computer/software engineer at Apple Park or NASA, y’all. I only consider  store if other NASA internships through MUREP and STEM Gateway i don’t get accepted to; as a last resort. I can’t do  store forever only temporary 🤷‍♀️

 

[rm5]

Apologies for the misunderstandings! End goal is to be a computer/software engineer at Apple Park or NASA, y’all. I only consider  store if other NASA internships through MUREP and STEM Gateway i don’t get accepted to; as a last resort. I can’t do  store forever only temporary 🤷‍♀️

I know quite a few people who worked as Apple Geniuses, or otherwise provided Apple tech support. Not sure if it helped them later on, but definitely seems like a popular thing to do as an intermediate step into a more advanced role, either in STEM or completely outside.

 

[goldmac2006]

I know quite a few people who worked as Apple Geniuses, or otherwise provided Apple tech support. Not sure if it helped them later on, but definitely seems like a popular thing to do as an intermediate step into a more advanced role, either in STEM or completely outside.

Many folks who worked in Apple stores also got promoted to Apple corporate, ngl.  has seasonal jobs available for Apple Store should you need a summer job as a backup, especially if I don’t get into another NASA internship after I finish mines this month.

 

[The Clark]

I worked as an Apple Tech earlier in my career. Was lots of fun.

 

[The Clark]

Interesting! Which No. 16—out of which book? Who wrote it?

Should have specified, Mozart haha.

 

[The Clark]

Still watching the eBay watchlist for it… and avoiding any shady sellers. Thanks for your advice, though.

Other than that, as a former Apple technician how was it like to work with Macs? Planning on becoming an Apple Genius as one of my potential career paths while working on a computer engineering degree after I finish my nasa internship which ends next Friday.

Oh sorry, didn't see this until now.

It's a fun gig.. Apple hardware can be a bit of a challenge to work with if you come from a PC background, but I always enjoyed it. I got my ACMT before getting hired and that helped a lot. If you're doing an intership with NASA you may be overqualified.. even the most experienced technicians are severely underpaid IMO. That's why I moved to enterprise IT, wanted more money. If money were no object, I'd have easily stayed a Mac Tech. There is something oddly satisfying about taking something that's broken, and repairing it to like new condition - esp. when it's an Apple product.

 

[rm5]

Should have specified, Mozart haha.

Ah, cool!! When I was really young, I'd pick out melodies from Mozart pieces. And Beethoven and Bach, too. But a lot of Mozart. That's pretty much what got me going 18 years ago.

These two pentatonic scale exercises (attached) are excellent, too. I use them every day—highly suggest you do the same if you want to improve your technique. Major, minor, and diminished scales are important, too, don't get me wrong—but these are just really great. Do both without taking your fingers off the keys.

I'm in the process of writing out a series of worksheets with explanations of how these exercises work (and possibly videos to accompany them). I've also derived a third exercise based on the first one, which I need to write out, too.
I just don't have the time to focus on them now that the new term has started. And I also don't really know how to use Dorico's Frames feature yet (transitioning from Sibelius Ultimate to Dorico has been a bit tricky—the two programs work VERY differently).

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

I used to think that two-stroke outboard motors were the most evil piece of technology, designed by the devil himself, to drive one to insanity.
I am now firmly convinced that their place has been taken by overlocker sewing machines...

 

[goldmac2006]

I worked as an Apple Tech earlier in my career. Was lots of fun.

Oh sorry, didn't see this until now.

It's a fun gig.. Apple hardware can be a bit of a challenge to work with if you come from a PC background, but I always enjoyed it. I got my ACMT before getting hired and that helped a lot. If you're doing an intership with NASA you may be overqualified.. even the most experienced technicians are severely underpaid IMO. That's why I moved to enterprise IT, wanted more money. If money were no object, I'd have easily stayed a Mac Tech. There is something oddly satisfying about taking something that's broken, and repairing it to like new condition - esp. when it's an Apple product.

That is the reason why I considered it as one of my choices. I would choose to fix up Macs, iPhones and iPads as I spent over eleven years reading everything on Apple products, troubleshooting them, and even hacking my iPhone XR with Nugget to trick iOS 18.2 to enable Apple Intelligence capabilities. I never cut open a iPhone or Mac to replace a part, though I have the tools not the parts to do so.

Though my internship with NASA is paid based on our standings in the program, we do not get the stipend until we complete all the phases, my position is hybrid. IT is a great choice for me; and to bring back to the current state, my last phase in person at NASA we will be building, fixing up and programming rovers. It’ll be less on the home office side and more on departmental spending on infrastructure projects to get the rover parts, getting them built and working. I have three eleven hour shifts and a half day shift next week in a NASA sponsored facility where three groups of interns from three different universities will work together to build the rover, go on trips and survey engineering facilities and laboratories, seminars and research projects. But bro, how’d you get your Apple certification as a technician before you worked at an AASP? I thought they had you do it during your training. I am interested in getting one in addition to my certification in Autodesk fusion, Microsoft Office and one other IT related certificate. Just in case 😎

 

[scubachap]

I used to think that two-stroke outboard motors were the most evil piece of technology, designed by the devil himself, to drive one to insanity.
I am now firmly convinced that their place has been taken by overlocker sewing machines...

Oh my God, outboards and overlockers in one paragraph... utterly triggering...

One of the worst feelings is having surfaced from a dive into a windy overcast, rolling grey sea (it having been bright, blue and calm when you rolled in) to see while you're bobbing up and down trying not to take too much seawater onboard, the dreaded outboard engine cover off and a couple of confused people bent over it. And one of them is holding a spanner...

Overlockers - as you say probably worse, my partner bought one a while ago and I've been given the totally unwanted job of threading the damn thing... OMG, I now lose my temper as i sit down to the wretched machine... You spend an hour getting it threaded up only to find it delivers a cats cradle of knotty misery, that requires a rethread. I've told her that going forward she can only sew with red, yellow, green and blue thread so you can actually work out where everything goes...

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Oh my God, outboards and overlockers in one paragraph... utterly triggering...

One of the worst feelings is having surfaced from a dive into a windy overcast, rolling grey sea (it having been bright, blue and calm when you rolled in) to see while you're bobbing up and down trying not to take too much seawater onboard, the dreaded outboard engine cover off and a couple of confused people bent over it. And one of them is holding a spanner...

Overlockers - as you say probably worse, my partner bought one a while ago and I've been given the totally unwanted job of threading the damn thing... OMG, I now lose my temper as i sit down to the wretched machine... You spend an hour getting it threaded up only to find it delivers a cats cradle of knotty misery, that requires a rethread. I've told her that going forward she can only sew with red, yellow, green and blue thread so you can actually work out where everything goes...

Our overlocker was like that. I would thread it, it would sew one line, and break one of the threads on the next one.
Took it to a shop, who said that a needle was bent. Replaced the needles, took it home, same problem.
Found a different shop, 45 km away. They found that a bit was loose, adjusted it, tightened, it has been perfect since.
So good, I had to go and get a couple more spools of thread today.

As for outboards, did you know you could get a diesel outboard? That doesn't vent underwater, but has a 4 inch exhaust, no muffler. You could hear it from 10 km away, over the water.

 

[scubachap]

Our overlocker was like that. I would thread it, it would sew one line, and break one of the threads on the next one.
Took it to a shop, who said that a needle was bent. Replaced the needles, took it home, same problem.
Found a different shop, 45 km away. They found that a bit was loose, adjusted it, tightened, it has been perfect since.
So good, I had to go and get a couple more spools of thread today.

As for outboards, did you know you could get a diesel outboard? That doesn't vent underwater, but has a 4 inch exhaust, no muffler. You could hear it from 10 km away, over the water.

Ha, yes - its all about tension (in both senses of the word) and unfortunately I reckon that shop is a bit far for me if it's just 45km from you . To be fair to the wretched machine - once you've got it running it's generally OK but it doesn't get used enough so it always feels like a 'factory reset' when you come back to it.

I've heard of diesel outboards but never been near one - sounds like it would draw attention though. Just thing to annoy all the floating gin palaces at 6am on Sunday in the Marina...

 

[The Clark]

That is the reason why I considered it as one of my choices. I would choose to fix up Macs, iPhones and iPads as I spent over eleven years reading everything on Apple products, troubleshooting them, and even hacking my iPhone XR with Nugget to trick iOS 18.2 to enable Apple Intelligence capabilities. I never cut open a iPhone or Mac to replace a part, though I have the tools not the parts to do so.

Though my internship with NASA is paid based on our standings in the program, we do not get the stipend until we complete all the phases, my position is hybrid. IT is a great choice for me; and to bring back to the current state, my last phase in person at NASA we will be building, fixing up and programming rovers. It’ll be less on the home office side and more on departmental spending on infrastructure projects to get the rover parts, getting them built and working. I have three eleven hour shifts and a half day shift next week in a NASA sponsored facility where three groups of interns from three different universities will work together to build the rover, go on trips and survey engineering facilities and laboratories, seminars and research projects. But bro, how’d you get your Apple certification as a technician before you worked at an AASP? I thought they had you do it during your training. I am interested in getting one in addition to my certification in Autodesk fusion, Microsoft Office and one other IT related certificate. Just in case 😎

Sorry for late reply. I got covid a few days ago and have been in bed ever since.

I made a video detailing my experience here:

Basically, these days you can no longer achieve it without working under a AARC (Apple Auth. repair center) to my knowledge, at least here in Canada.

I'm glad I got it though, because it's what helped me break into enterprise IT. My first role was as a Mac System Admin which was tons of fun, but the company only allowed 1 WFH day so it wasn't sustainable for me and I left after a couple years.

 

[goldmac2006]

Sorry for late reply. I got covid a few days ago and have been in bed ever since.

I made a video detailing my experience here:

Basically, these days you can no longer achieve it without working under a AARC (Apple Auth. repair center) to my knowledge, at least here in Canada.

I'm glad I got it though, because it's what helped me break into enterprise IT. My first role was as a Mac System Admin which was tons of fun, but the company only allowed 1 WFH day so it wasn't sustainable for me and I left after a couple years.

I'm excited about my hybrid position at NASA! We work remotely two-thirds of the time, and the remaining third, which is coming up next week, is when we meet in person. I’ll watch your video tonight—I didn't realize you run an Apple YouTube channel. I'm curious about how you obtained your Apple technician certification. Btw i must figure out how to get one in the States, as that's where I'm from.

I hope you get well soon, bro. By the way, sorry to bother you, but next week marks the end of my in-person internship. Work has scheduled us for eleven-hour shifts from Tuesday to Friday, with a half-day on the last day. If you have an Apple Watch, could you share how you charge it? I need to figure out how to make it last through a long day and night shift, as I’ve never worked overtime before. Any tips from early morning and overnight work Apple Watch users are welcome!

 

[Apple fanboy]

I'm excited about my hybrid position at NASA! We work remotely two-thirds of the time, and the remaining third, which is coming up next week, is when we meet in person. I’ll watch your video tonight—I didn't realize you run an Apple YouTube channel. I'm curious about how you obtained your Apple technician certification. Btw i must figure out how to get one in the States, as that's where I'm from.

I hope you get well soon, bro. By the way, sorry to bother you, but next week marks the end of my in-person internship. Work has scheduled us for eleven-hour shifts from Tuesday to Friday, with a half-day on the last day. If you have an Apple Watch, could you share how you charge it? I need to figure out how to make it last through a long day and night shift, as I’ve never worked overtime before. Any tips from early morning and overnight work Apple Watch users are welcome!

It doesn’t take long. Just plug it into an outlet when you’re not active, like lunchtime or when at your desk if the battery doesn’t last.

 

[goldmac2006]

It doesn’t take long. Just plug it into an outlet when you’re not active, like lunchtime or when at your desk if the battery doesn’t last.

Glad I’m bringing my keychain Apple Watch charger. But when we go in person it’s semi sedentary so we have part office, three breaks for lunch, breakfast and dinner and most activities are hands on. Fixing up LEGO rovers, going to industry labs and engineering firms and seminars. I have to get on the company bus on Tuesday morning around 5, arrive to work at eight and our shifts on Tuesday to Thursday end at seven. I have my alarm set for 4 in the morning on Tuesday morning to get ready and get to the bus pickup location, so I’ll charge while getting a light quick breakfast and glass of water and put it on when I load my suitcase up in the car. Then charge again at lunch break and after my shift when I finish evening workout.

On regular workdays I would charge twice before bed and while getting ready in the morning before the start of work. @Apple fanboy what series is your Apple Watch, for reference please?

 

[Apple fanboy]

Glad I’m bringing my keychain Apple Watch charger. But when we go in person it’s semi sedentary so we have part office, three breaks for lunch, breakfast and dinner and most activities are hands on. Fixing up LEGO rovers, going to industry labs and engineering firms and seminars. I have to get on the company bus on Tuesday morning around 5, arrive to work at eight and our shifts on Tuesday to Thursday end at seven. I have my alarm set for 4 in the morning on Tuesday morning to get ready and get to the bus pickup location, so I’ll charge while getting a light quick breakfast and glass of water and put it on when I load my suitcase up in the car. Then charge again at lunch break and after my shift when I finish evening workout.

On regular workdays I would charge twice before bed and while getting ready in the morning before the start of work. @Apple fanboy what series is your Apple Watch, for reference please?

AW SE. I charge at night and it lasts all day even after 4 years.

 

[goldmac2006]

AW SE. I charge at night and it lasts all day even after 4 years.

First gen Apple Watch SE?! I’m surprised you are still using it and it’s capped at watchOS 10.
Is the battery health still good and do you sleep track with your Apple Watch? How many hours do you work each day?

BTW I got results from the battery life, many Apple Watch Ultra users who left suggestions on how they charge their watches suggested me to do my twice charging routine and a battery endurance test: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/33680975/

 

[rm5]

Watch this whole video! I don't think I've shared it here yet, but this is just amazing. This is where I got the 7, 9, 11, etc. against 4 thing from. Anyway, this is what's on my mind after rewatching it again!

 

[Apple fanboy]

First gen Apple Watch SE?! I’m surprised you are still using it and it’s capped at watchOS 10.
Is the battery health still good and do you sleep track with your Apple Watch? How many hours do you work each day?

BTW I got results from the battery life, many Apple Watch Ultra users who left suggestions on how they charge their watches suggested me to do my twice charging routine and a battery endurance test: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/33680975/

I’ve never bothered with sleep tracking. Never seen the point.
I use it mostly for fitness and Apple Pay. Usually I’m up between 5am to 6:30am depending on if I’m WFH or not.