People are always asking me: “You have clients? What do you do for them? Oh, you’re an I.T. consultant? What kind of I.T.? What can you do?”
The main thing to take away is that a consultant is someone who has answers in a specific field. People are always trying to narrow down exactly what it is I do and it’s sometimes a challenge for me to sum it up.
Right now, I have a little over two dozen clients that pay me for my knowledge and services. They value my expertise, my resourcefulness, and my advice and they count on me to steer them in the right direction. They pay me because I have answers to questions, and I facilitate what they would otherwise not be able to, or don’t want to put the time into. They pay me also because sometimes it’s more cost efficient, and I’m able to provide solutions at a much cheaper rate than the general consumer would expect from department stores or big business.
I strive to provide a service that’s superior in three main regards:
**UPDATE April 14th: Apple has announced a delay due to a large number of sales in the United States. Whereever the bottleneck, Apple is unable to keep up and is delaying the Canadian (and international) release of the iPad by about a month. It’s been also announced that details of the availability will be made clear on May 10th, so stay tuned for more specifics as they develop.
“A magical and revolutionary product starting at an unbelievable price.” This is how Apple has chosen to market it’s latest invention, the iPad (www.apple.com/ipad). Will it live up to the hype? Nobody can say for certain… but we sure can speculate!
It’s been a buzz for a while, and everyone has been waiting patiently. Unfortunately however, everyone outside the United States has had to wait a little while longer before getting their hands on the device.
When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad in January, he noted that the first wave of devices (WiFi-only) would be available late March. This was eventually pushed back to early April and then set in stone for April 3rd, 2010. The catch was that the WiFi + 3G version of the iPad would be available sometime after the WiFi-only device, estimating about 30 days. At this point, we still had no idea when the device (either version) would become available to the rest of the world, and no intelligence to suggest that a Canadian launch was imminent.
A press release by Apple on March 5th, indicated that the iPad would be available outside the United States near the end of April. Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK are the countries that made the cut for the “outside of the U.S.” list.
Continue reading iPad to launch in Canada on April 24th 2010?
One of the new refinements released with Snow Leopard, was Chinese character input. This does come standard with any install of Snow Leopard, but isn’t enabled – you need to take a couple further steps to have it functioning and ready.
First, you’ll need to make sure you have one of Apple’s laptops that is equipped with the glass trackpad (the one without any buttons), and running 10.6 or later.
Second, open your system preferences, and choose Language & Text option under ‘Personal’.
Under Language & Text, choose the ‘Input Sources’ tab, then on the list on the left hand side, scroll down and choose either Chinese – Simplified or Chinese – Traditional. You’ll notice that when you do this, the right hand side of the preferences window will show “Show/Hide Trackpad Handwriting Control + Shift + Space” no longer greyed out. This is the key combination you’ll use to toggle the handwriting input dialog.
Continue reading Setup Chinese Input on Mac OS X
It’s a documented fact that (and excuse the lack of references, you’ll have to take my word for it) Apple has been on the rise as of late. There are more Macs than there have ever been, and with exciting new announcements about Apple’s iPad, and other looming upgrades to other devices (iPhone, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro), it’s a good time to be an Apple groupie.
 Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard I’d like to shine the light on a release that was made more than 6 months ago, because I’ve recently encountered a few people who were very much of the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” opinion. While in theory, this mentality typically does hold true, in practice it sometimes seems… a little less than practical (har har).
Snow Leopard is/was Apple’s most recent release of their Mac OS X operating system (10.6) that was available to the public as of August 28th, 2009. For those of you who are less familiar with Apple and Macintosh computers, think of Snow Leopard in congruence with Microsoft‘s latest release of Windows, 7.
A new operating system’s (OS) release usually commands a lot of attention; it’s a new and exciting time to marvel at the cool new features, fancy aesthetic renovations, and hopefully added functionality.
Normally, with a new OS comes the need for faster, stronger and better hardware. The new operating system takes up more room, needs more memory, and a faster processor or it doesn’t run properly. This is sometimes a cause for concern. “You’re telling me I need to pay a couple hundred dollars for this new version of Windows that is going to make me want to buy a new computer because my two year old machine all of a sudden doesn’t match up?”
A new OS is supposed to be an upgrade right? Normally an upgrade doesn’t turn into a burden, it’s supposed to make things easier. For some of us, upgrading ram or clearing hard-drive space is an arduous and costly task. If only someone out there would try to break the trend…
Continue reading Using a Mac without Snow Leopard?
Facebook – FREE
 This one goes without saying. You’re probably using facebook, and if you have an iPhone you may as well have the Facebook app so you can respond to messages or view them quickly in a pleasant interface. While viewing www.facebook.com is pretty seamless through their ‘mobile’ version, or even the full site through Safari, the Facebook app sometimes makes it faster and easier to do what you want to do!
Shazam – FREE; Shazam Encore/RED – $4.99
 Shazam is an application that will listen to music that is playing (for about 15 seconds), creating a ‘tag’, and then scour it’s database, and give you an artist, album, and title (if it can find one. So, you’re in a bar, club, or in your car listening to the radio, a song comes on that you wish you knew the title to. Instead of trying to remember lyrics, asking friends, or searching the internet later, just pull your iPhone out, click Shazam, click Tag, and let it do the work for you.
I have a 95% success rate with this, and very rarely is Shazam unable to tag the music that’s playing. This app used to be ‘unlimited’, but recently the free version became a limit of 5 tags per month. Those who ‘purchased’ the app when it was unlimited, still have the benefit of that feature even with updates, but new users have to pay $4.99 for the ‘Encore’ version. They also have a RED version, in case you would like to donate money to help fight AIDS; a worthy cause.
Continue reading 10 Must Have iPhone Applications
I recently had a friend message me asking how to change the default font, and I had to explain it to her quickly. Wouldn’t it be nice if all I had to do was link her to a post on my website showing her detailed descriptions and images, which would in turn save me time, and make the process easier and clearer for her?
Continue reading Change Default Font in Microsoft Word
Recently I was looking to delete some files off my Mac, that were albeit being difficult to find. It was a little challenging, so I thought I’d put together the solution for you all to take advantage of.
As usual, I’ll explain Apple’s Mac OS X platform first. The two functions (searching system files and showing hidden ones) are independent.
 Terminal Application within the Utilities folder (Mac OS X) Continue reading Show Hidden & Search System Files Windows & Apple Mac OS X
 AppleCare Protection Plan I’m going to apologize in advance for the lack of visual stimulus, I don’t have any repair invoices to scan, or any helpful aids to break from all the words. I unfortunately have to fit all my experience on the matter in one post, which is unfortunately going to come close to 2000 words.
If you’re reading this, I will hope that you’re fairly familiar with Apple as a company, and AppleCare as a service. Having spent a couple hundred hours in an Apple store, I can tell you that I’ve had lengthy discussions on the matter, and I’d like to clear the air. I hope that my words can now come as an impartial as I have been both an employee and customer of Apple in the past. I can also let you know that I currently hold no shares of Apple‘s stock (AAPL), so there is no hidden agenda… I promise!
Continue reading The Truth About: AppleCare
 Old White MacBook Cracked Case (bottom) If you purchased a MacBook between the time it was released in 2006, and the latest refresh in November of 2009, you’ve most likely experienced the cracking case. It’s an unfortunate defect that leaves the interior of the computer vulnerable. Liquid, dust and dirt, and even moisture is more likely to sneak it’s way in if you’re not careful. This is something that is uncharacteristic of Apple, but it can’t be anticipated because it’s a result of many months of usage.
The cracking case can occur on the top or the bottom of the interior casing. It’s caused by closing the top of the computer too quickly; repeated attempts will start cracking the case slowly, on top or bottom… or both.
When this started happening, numerous complaints were made about lesser quality and poor craftsmanship to be held responsible, and maybe that was the case. However, after copious amounts of people started coming in to get the repair made (for free if they were still under their limited warranty, or had purchase the AppleCare protection plan), they issued a statement telling all MacBook customers, that they were eligible for the replacement, regardless of their warranty or AppleCare status.
Continue reading Old White Macbook Cracked Case
 iPhone 3GS' Voice Control Screen When I first got my iPhone 3GS, it was a little bit of a mystery to me, all the voice commands that were available. I knew “call”, and “play music”. Some other random ones would swipe across the screen, but still, I didn’t have a complete list, and I wanted one; It took me a little more effort than I wanted it to, so I thought I’d post it here for future use, so it could be easily found.
To activate the voice control screen, simply hold your home button for 3 seconds or tap the middle button on your headphones. Whether it’s on the standby screen ‘locked’, or in use in any app that you’re currently running, it’ll pop up (like you see on the right). Once you hear a tone, the phone is ready to accept commands; be sure to wait for it, or it’ll only listen to a part of what you’ve said, and may misinterpret your command.
Telephone Commands
“Call Marc Cizravi” will look up the name ‘Marc Cizravi’ and dial the number you have listed on that contact profile. The phone will prompt you back by speaking “Calling Marc Cizravi”. Remember that pronunciation is a little robotic. I know how to pronounce my name, but the iPhone mangles it when repeats it back to me – if you sometimes have trouble calling someone with a strange name, try listening to the pronunciation that the phone uses, and mimic that. If you happen to have multiple numbers for ‘Marc Cizravi’, it will tell you that. “Marc Cizravi – Home? Mobile? School?” to which you’ll respond (after the tone) “Home” – and it will repeat back to you “Calling Marc Cizravi, mobile“.
Continue reading Full List of iPhone 3GS Voice Commands
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 Submit Service Request
Filling out a service request is fast and easy – all I need is a brief description of what it is you need done, in which general area of Toronto you’re located, and what kind of time-line you’re expecting. I can usually accommodate requests that are urgent in nature.
Remember, the more information I have before hand – the better I can assist you.
After submitting a request, I’ll be as quick as possible to respond with follow up questions, and to schedule a time to make a service call.
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