Topic: News for Mac IT Pros

5/3/06- Chicago, IL

MOST Training & Consulting, a nationally-recognized provider of Mac OS X IT workshops is pleased to debut their new support software, Mac HelpMate, a collection of command-line utilities and open-source tools with a user-friendly interface. What once required minutes or hours of typing in the Terminal can now be accomplished in a matter of seconds. Mac HelpMate cleans up trash files, cleans out caches and removes unwanted log files. It detects files that are eating up free space, as well as runs low-level S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic reports to preemptively detect hard disk failures before data loss occurs. Maintenance tasks may be scheduled to run automatically, while notifying the user via the Finder or Growl when completed. Mac HelpMate contains over 200 individual command-line functions all in an easy-to-use GUI. It can also act as a multicast ASR server for mass deployments (10.4 only). This is a real asset for large corporations or educational institutions needing to deploy many Macs. But Mac HelpMate's ground-breaking feature is Mac HelpMate Remote, a screen-sharing/control ability which requires zero configuration on the part of the user. No port forwarding or walking clients through network preferences is necessary, and firewalls, routers and NATs are no longer an obstacle, allowing for remote help in all situations, including airplanes, hotspots or even cell phone connections. All Mac HelpMate network traffic is secured with an encryption method stronger than SSL (the same technology used to process credit card transactions).

"We got rid of the slow and mediocre Netopia eCare remote control software and replaced it with a very cool new program called, “Mac HelpMate.” It's not only faster than eCare, it does a lot more," says Bob "Dr. Mac" Levitus, Head of Dr. Mac Consulting. "I can now offer my clients on-demand help wherever they are, whether or not I have set them up with Remote Desktop (which is slower) or Timbuktu (which costs them money) and it is so simple," says Allen Hancock of Baton Rouge, a certified member of the Apple Consultant's Network. "I love that they can download a 1 MB file, open it, and two clicks later give me full, secured access to their computers. . . It is also nice that Mac HelpMate doesn't install anything that can't be removed by throwing away the application!"

The application itself is free, and available at: www.machelpmate.com. In order to utilize the remote control function, an annual subscription fee of $600 is required, a fraction of the price of other remote administration solutions for Mac OS X. Members of select Macintosh professional organizations such as the Apple Consultants Network (ACN) are entitled to a discounted subscriptions available through each organization's website. Mac HelpMate Professional also allows the user to personalize their copy of Mac HelpMate with their own URL and graphic. This makes Mac HelpMate a perfect calling card for consultants and support professionals. The program can be left in the client's dock, providing instant support when necessary. Mac HelpMate also allows clients to directly email their techs, a great solution if there is a problem with an e-mail program or mail server.

Developed as a way to assist support professionals with their frustrations and needs, Mac HelpMate was designed by longtime Mac user and Mac support professional Dean Shavit, who has access to a network of other Mac support professionals. “I've used Mac HelpMate with almost all my clients, and while many of them have used Timbuktu or PC anywhere before, they are all shocked at the speed and the ease of use of Mac HelpMate,” reports Andrew Zipkes from dataLAB in Brooklyn, NY. Mac HelpMate is also a Universal binary, with one version supporting Mac OS 10.3 & 10.4, with compatibility for 10.2 and 10.1 forthcoming. Allan Hancock of Baton Rouge sums it up best: “It is amazing how fast I have come to rely on Mac HelpMate.”

Media Contact:

For more information on Mac HelpMate or MOST Training and Consulting, Please contact Gabriel Caskey, Sales Manager, Gabriel [at] Macworkshops.com or call 773-506-2100 x128.

Lately, I've been spending a fair amount of time with an old friend, an iBook G3 700 I purchased in July of 2002. I always loved the form factor of the 12 inch iBook, and, even though my primary 'book is a MacBook Pro dual 2.0 ghz, my previous 'book was a Powerbook G4 12 inch 1.33 ghz that I also loved. Using the iBook is a blast; it's nice and fast due to the fact that I'm running Jaguar on it, Mac OS X 10.2.8. With Tiger on it, it's OK, but bogs down sometimes. Jaguar feels more spritely.

The reason I'm even working with a four-year-old iBook when I have a brand new MacBook is simple, I'm programming my way backward in time in order to support Mac OS X 10.2 for Mac HelpMate, my support application which allows users to share and control their screens through firewalls with no additional configuration. So, right now I've got three 'books on my work table, one with Tiger, one with Panther, and one with Jaguar. Because Mac HelpMate is also a Universal application, it's getting to be really tough to make it work with 10.2.

However, what's really bizarre is the sensation that I'm in the lockeroom of an old YMCA, or even more appropriately, a gym with sparring boxers glistening with sweat and the faint waft of cigar smoke in the backgroud, or trapped in a taxicab on a hot summer day with a driver of unknown ethnicity whose cultural imperatives don't include reglar showers.

I'm pretty used to the "burn-in" smell of a new 'book, that eau de toasty silicon. The MacBook Pro still has a trace of it. The Powerbook G4 has no odor at all. But the iBook G3 positively reeks, reeks like body odor. It still performs as well as it did on day one (albeit with a new logic board courtesy of an Apple repair extension program), but the smell, while tolerable, is downright putrid, rank, and triggers my gag reflex if I hold my nose too close to the keyboard.

For a while I thought I might be suffering alone. I thought maybe, just maybe, my business partner, who'd been using the iBook for the past two years had somehow managed to let a dog sleep on it for an extended period of time or had used it at the gym, or stored it in his laundry hamper.

But yesterday, on a listserv I frequent, there was a sudden burst of activity about smelly iBooks. Evidently, old iBooks don't die, they just start smelling bad, due to heat from the processor somehow causing a chemical reaction with the plastic bottom of the keyboard. The only way to get the sweaty smell to abate, apparently, is to replace the keyboard, not such an expensive repair. It seems, though, that the majority of Mac Professionals with smelly iBooks want Apple to replace the keyboards, as if it were some sort of mechanical defect.

It's actually quite an ingenious strategy. Instead of having the iBooks break down or wear out from old age, or even simply become too slow to be useful, the stink will drive their owners to upgrade, or at least visit a nearby Apple retail store to get a keyboard replacement and have to experience pangs of doubt while waiting to see the someone at the Genius Bar and gingerly testing out a new MacBook, iMac, or Mini.

At any rate, a new keyboard will remove that stink of B.O. as as surely as a stripe of Old Spice deodorant and your four-year-old-iBook will once again have that minty fresh smell it did when you unboxed it. Perhaps Apple should make a committment to spend a little R & D money on olifactory touches as well as industrial design.

Dean Shavit is an ACSA (Apple Certified System Administrator) who leads training sessions for MOST (Mac OS Training & Consulting), and is the author of Mac HelpMate, a unique troubleshooting tool for Mac Consultants and Support Staff. He's also the Editor-at-Large for Open Source for Mac Tech Magazine. If you have questions or feedback you can contact him at dean@macworkshops.com

3/10/2006, Chicago IL. Apple Business Agent Program Director Mimi Basu, who is also the Program Director for the Apple Consultants Network, revealed today at the North Central Regional meeting of the Apple Consultants Network held at Most Training and Consulting in Chicago that the Apple Business Agent Program was now moving from a few select areas of the country to become a nationwide program. The business agent program, which anyone may apply for, features the following benefits for Mac Purchasers:

- Personalized assistance
- Expert technical advice
- Knowledge of industry trends
- Customized, timesaving service

In contrast to the Apple Retail Experience, the Apple Business Agent program is designed to bring the Mac buying experience into the home or small-to-medium sized businesses, much in the same grass-roots manner as other peer-to-peer sales organizations. As it states on the Apple Business Agent Site:

"The Apple Authorized Business Agent (AABA) program provides a unique approach for individuals, technologists, consultants and service providers who want to deliver customized and personalized solutions to their clients. As a Business Agent, you design a business that makes sense for you. One size does not fit all."