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How to calibrate MacBook Pro Liquid Retina XDR (MiniLED) Displays with i1Display

There’s no point getting one of the new MacBook Pro with the Liquid Retina XDR (MiniLED) Displays if it’s not calibrated accurately. The good news is that out of the box, these displays are very accurate. The default profile is the P3 gamut capable of displaying HDR content to 1600 nits (brightness).

For my photography workflow, I need the much narrower sRGB colorspace at around 160 cdm (luminance). The nice thing about the display settings control panel in Monterey is the luminance is fixed so you can’t accidentally bump the brightness key.

Here is a good discussion on what’s changed with these displays and Monterey OS and a good run through on Youtube:

The delta-E on my display was a very good 0.8

Nov 08, 2021 | Categories: Tech | Comments Off on How to calibrate MacBook Pro Liquid Retina XDR (MiniLED) Displays with i1Display

Migrating to a new MacBook Pro 16 inch M1

After the excitement of getting a new Macbook, the practical issues of moving all the applications, data and settings from an old Macbook is largely undocumented. Here’s what I did:

  • The old Intel-powered Macbook Pro was updated to Monterey 12.0.1
  • The new M1 Macbook Pro had 12.0 and needed to be updated. I created a temporary account and then used that to update it to 12.0.1 so the versions of the two Macs were identical
  • Started the Migration Assistant app on both devices after connecting the two with a Thunderbolt 3 cable
  • It took less than 15 minutes to transfer 200GB of data and the new MacBook was ready
  • Before logging into the new Mac, sign out of a few licensed apps so they can be activated on the new one…
  • Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office, Photomechanic, PDF Expert
  • Now login to the new Mac and re-authenticate into iCloud as required
  • If you have apps that require extensions like Softraid and Rogue Amoeba, you’ll need to change the Security Policy to allow third party extensions to run. Follow the instructions after restarting the Mac while holding down the Touch-ID button
  • Now re-login to the new Mac and login to the apps that you logged out of on the old Mac

I found an issue with the Spotlight index on mail messages. I had to disable and re-enable the index to get it all working.

Enjoy your new Mac!

Oct 30, 2021 | Categories: Tech | Comments Off on Migrating to a new MacBook Pro 16 inch M1

Noisy and nosey Netgear routers

If you run your own DNS server like pihole, you can see in the logs that Netgear routers wants to contact a couple of Netgear servers hundreds of times a day.

Netgear has been silent on why they need to do this in public forums. Pihole has a pretty simple way to block this request using per-client blocking.

Sep 12, 2021 | Categories: Internet, Tech, Tutorial | Comments Off on Noisy and nosey Netgear routers

Tips on switching NBN ISP if you have a FTTP Gigabit plan

It is not as simple as just ordering a new plan. While the NBN supplied termination device (NTD) has four data ports, UNI-D 1-4, and theoretically can have four separate ISPs providing simultaneous services, this doesn’t work if one of the services is at gigabit speed, such as a 1000/50 plan.

NBN won’t allow you to order two gigabit services, so if you currently have a gigabit service and want to switch to another ISP, you have three options. Downgrade your existing service to something not faster than a 100mbps; order a new service not faster than 100mbps, and then upgrade that after the initial gigabit service is disconnected; or “churn” by replacing, rather than adding, your existing gigabit service.

If you choose the first or second option, you will have more than one service with one being gigabit. This is a problem. If you try to have more than one service active, by connecting it to a router or computer, NBN will terminate one of the connections and prevent the disconnected service from connecting. In my situation, I actually had 3 services connected. Two 100/20 and one gigabit. I couldn’t get multiple services working concurrently if one of them was the gigabit plan. NBN just won’t allow it. Practically, this means that it’s impossible to test and compare ISPs concurrently if one of them is at gigabit speed.

 

Sep 11, 2021 | Categories: Design, Internet, Tech | Comments Off on Tips on switching NBN ISP if you have a FTTP Gigabit plan

Enpass is my pick for password manager

I’ve used quite a few password managers. I was an early adopter of 1Password in 2007 and have been using these managers since then. With version 7 of 1Password, the developers moved to an annual subscription revenue model and the Safari browser extension from version 6 stopped working with Safari version 13 in mid 2019. Since I use Safari, I needed to find an alternative. I looked at Dashlane and Lastpass. Password managers do the same thing. They create random passwords for web sites and some apps, and recall them when needed. Newer features include the ability to generate one-time passwords so you don’t need to use an app like Google Authenticator.

I ended up settling on the Enpass manager. It has all the core functions. Works on Macs and iOS devices. But importantly, because it is available for purchase as a lifetime licence, without an annual subscription. A licence is now A$115, it was cheaper in 2019. But I think it’s still better value as I have two iOS devices, and two macOS devices I actively use. And a few more that are less often used. By comparison, this would cost US$40 a year, and LastPass would be $54. Enpass is cheaper.

Here’s a review: https://au.pcmag.com/password-managers/4371/enpass-password-manager. If your needs are simpler, and you only use Apple devices and software, the built in Keychain is going to get a nice upgrade in macOS Monterey. This will give you password management, but probably not one-time passwords.

Aug 30, 2021 | Categories: Reviews, Tech | Comments Off on Enpass is my pick for password manager