Apple Store subscription for Magic Piano by Smule a fake

Today I received an email for an Apple Store subscription for Magic Paino by Smule. Since this is a scam variation I'd not seen before I thought I'd share.

The email is a scam designed to get you to cancel by clicking on the link. The email is not real. It isn't from Apple. It's a fake.

Remember, often the only thing that is protecting you from you from these scams is how willing you are to click on the link. Don't do it.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
IT support.

Watch out for bait and switch which is very common on eBay

You're looking for a product on eBay but what can make it harder, is the old bait and switch technique. For example if you search for "earbud bluetooth" and then sort by "Price + postage - lowest first", you'll see quite a few low priced items.

Let's take the following item.

As you can see, there's a price range of $1.00 to $9.49. The $1.00 is to get you to see the listing by getting their item listed higher in the list. The $9.49 is for the black or white coloured bluetooth earbud. The $1.00 it is a set of cheaper wired earphones. Nothing to do with bluetooth at all. A fudge to get the listing higher in the list if the list is sorted by price.

I'm a bit surprised that eBay tolerates this bait and switch tactic of sellers. It really is annoying and such a time waster. Since eBay is unlikely to do anything about these types of ads (they're often included in their suggestions section as well) then I suppose it really is up to buyers to choose a  different supplier that doesn't use the bait and switch tactic. The good thing is it's easy to do. Just use the heading information to do another search query. There's usually quite a few sellers selling the same product.

Of course at some point I suspect the ACCC should get involved as this isn't the type of behaviour we expect from retailers in Australia.

Kelvin Eldridge

iMessage on iPhone has serious design flaw causing messages to never be received.

A person who had recently obtained an iPhone found they weren't receiving text messages from some of their friends. These friends also had iPhones. With a little investigation it was found the problem is with iMessage, when the recipient of the message turns their data off.

For example, person 1 turns off their data on their iPhone as they've reached their monthly limit and don't want to incur excess data charges. Person 2 sends a text message using their iPhone. The message is sent using iMessage (you can tell as a blue bubble appears for the message) but the message is never received. The message just vanishes. The only clue the sender might twig something hasn't worked, is the message icon on the iPhone has a red exclamation mark. The problem is as soon as you go to see what the red exclamation mark means by opening text messages, there's no information and the red exclamation mark disappears. The iMessage that was sent but not received doesn't indicate any failure. It looks like it has been sent and received.

This means that if you have an iPhone and sent a text message to another iPhone, and iMessage is used, you won't necessarily know if the person received the message or not, if the person turns off their mobile data.

There's a few ways around this problem.

1. If you can send unlimited text messages with your plan you can turn of iMessage on your iPhone. That means every message is then sent as a SMS text message. The bubble around the text appears green.

2. If you know a person who is likely to turn their data off, after sending the text message as an iMessage (the message appears in a blue bubble) press and hold on the blue bubble. You'll then see an option to send the message as text (not an iMessage). This option will send the message again. From that point on any message you send to the person will go as an SMS text message and they'll always receive the message whether they turn their data off or not . Keep in mind picture messages require data but here we're discussing text messages.

3. Turn off iMessage if you're not sure a person will receive the message and turn it back on after sending the message. For example you know a person regularly runs out of data.

Whilst in an ideal world we'd all have unlimited data and this wouldn't be a problem, the reality is, different people have different plans. You can't anticipate what plan another person has, but you can determine what you do.

I don't currently have an iPhone, but in the past when I did, I decided to simply turn off iMessage as iMessage caused a number of problems. This is not a problem with Android mobile phones as they don't have iMessage. However, if a person transfers to or from using an iPhone from or to an Android, they won't know these problems exist and won't realise they're not receiving text messages.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
IT support.

How to delete your Uber account.

I set up an Uber account but never ended up using it. Now it's asking for a new credit card so I decided to delete the account. To my surprise there's no option on the website if I log into my account to delete the account.

It turns out if you're using the website you need to submit a request and reason for deleting the account. However in your app you can delete your account. I decided to reinstall the Uber app and delete the account using the mobile app. That meant it was done and no confirmation back from Uber was required.

To delete your account open the Uber app, select Settings, Privacy, then Delete your account. You're then prompted for your password. Once deleted your account will be deactivated immediately and permanently deleted after 30 days. Select the reason or Other, then click Delete. After your Uber account is deleted you can delete/uninstall the Uber app. A confirmation email was received from Uber.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
IT support.

How to check the battery on your iPhone, iPad and macOS devices.

It never ceases to amaze me how information we could use, is so often hidden from us. With all the issues around Apple slowing down devices reportedly over ageing batteries, I started to wonder if you could easily check the battery of your devices.

Yes, you can go to the Apple store and see a technician, but last time I enquired the appointment was for the following week.  With a little searching I found software called coconutBattry which can be installed on a MacBook Air. Using coconutBattery you can check the status of your iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air battery. With iPhones and iPad you connect them to your MacBook Air using the USB cable and provide permission.

Be careful installing any software from unknown sources. The software coconutBattery is available from many sites. I decided the only site I could partially trust was the developers own site. Any other site could have a modified version uploaded. Even the developers software can be suspect. In this case I ran a scan using a malware site which checks the software using over 50 anti-virus engines. With the software checked it was then installed. There's now only a small chance the software could be nefarious.

With your iPhone or iPad connected to a MacBook Air via and USB cable and running coconutBattery, you can then select the iOS Device tab and see the battery information. The following is an older refurbished iPhone 4. Whilst the cycle count is above the 500 mentioned on the Apple site, there's still plenty of life in the battery as the capacity is a little over 90%.

The important figures are the cycle count and the percentage of the design capacity. You'll need to check the cycle count for your device.

The iPad and MacBook Air is designed to retain 80% of the battery charge for up to 1,000 cycles. For the iPhone it is 500 cycles. Older devices like the iPhone 4, may have a different cycle count.

The MacBook Air contains most of the information but doesn't include the design capacity. It does let you know in the system information the status of the battery, but the if the design capacity was provided as the full charge capacity is, you could determine the percentage yourself.

Apple does like to hide technical information from users which does make it less confusing. But for those who wish to have more information, since it's so easy to obtain, Apple could easily provide a suitable app. It's a pity they don't.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
IT support.

iPad Air 2 keeps beeping when connected via cable to a MacBook Air.

Connected the iPad Air 2 to the MacBook Air and rather than the usual experience, all the iPad Air 2 would do is keep beeping. I noticed the battery indicator appeared to be going on and off. The prompt to give permission to connect the the iPad Air 2 on the MacBook Air kept looping.

Tried different USB ports in the MacBook Air and even connected the power, but neither of these changes made any difference.

The cable is in good condition so I wondered if perhaps it was a bad connect. I wiped the contacts on the end that plugs into the iPad Air 2, inserted the cable and the problem was solved.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
IT support.

9Now location incorrect for Apple TV as based on IP address from Telstra.

I received a call from a person who was over talking with Telstra. They were based in Brisbane and their Apple TV 9Now app was providing shows from Melbourne instead of Brisbane. They wanted to watch a show on their Apple TV, but couldn't since they could only watch Melbourne shows.

It turns out Telstra had allocated the person's internet service an IP address which appeared to be based in  Melbourne. A check on the internet shows this problem does occur with others. Sometimes a person in Melbourne can appear to be in Brisbane. That most likely means people in other locations experience similar problems.

After considering the options, I thought since they're using an Apple TV, I asked if they also used an Apple Mac computer, which they did.

The solution suggested was to use their Mac to use their browser to go to the 9Now site to watch the show. The Mac should pick up their location correctly and give them the Brisbane shows on 9Now. They could then mirror their Mac on their Apple TV and watch the shows on their larger TV.

This solution solved their problem.

This solution may not always work as it depends on how your browser determines your location. Each browser may use a different approach, or the same approach, to determine your location. I noticed for example on Google Maps in the browser on the Apple MacBook Air, they'd use my mobile phone's location. If we don't know how the location of a device is determined by the software, it really is just a matter of trial and error to see what works.

If you find yourself in this position two other solutions to consider are:

1. Use your mobile phone temporarily as a hot spot and connect the Apple TV to the mobile phone. You'll most likely be seen in the correct location. BEWARE however of data usage. 9Now can use up to 3GB an hour on the fastest streaming high definition. Very easy to go through your mobile data and/or end up with bill shock with high data charges. Use with extreme caution.

2. As a test I decided to see if I could use GPS location faking on an Android mobile phone that was connected to my ADSL service using Wi-Fi (with mobile data turned off). I'm in Melbourne so set the fake location as Brisbane. Went to 9Now using the browser. Clicked on the link "Not in Vic" which rechecks the location and 9Now then saw me in Brisbane. This approach may be useful if you've just missed a show and the show will be on later in another state such as SA or WA. For on demand shows it won't work as yo get prompted to install the 9Now app. The 9Now app doesn't use the faked GPS location so most likely uses the IP address.

Finally, one thing you can try is to turn off your ADSL modem overnight. Some telcos provide dynamic IP addresses and if you turn off you equipment for a suitable amount of time, a new IP address may get allocated. That IP address may then be seen as being allocated to the correct state. For telcos that offer a fixed or static IP address, resetting the modem won't work.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support.