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Apple Education Discount Now Requires UNiDAYS Verification!

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The little loophole is now closed – Apple education discount now requires UNiDAYS verification!

Here is what you need to know…

 

Apple Education Discount : Formerly Based On Trust + Audit

For many years now, savvy parents and techies have counted on the Apple education discount to get some financial relief on Mac computers and iPad tablets.

Ostensibly limited to teachers and staff of educational facilities, as well as college and university students, the Apple education discount programme was based on trust.

Anyone can go to the Apple Education page, and order a Mac computer or iPad tablet with (usually) a 10% discount. Apple doesn’t even ask you to prove your qualification for the education discount.

Instead, Apple performs random audits. If you cannot prove that you are an educator, or a college/university student, then they have the right to charge your credit card for the education discount you (illegally) received earlier.

 

Apple Education Discount Now Requires UNiDAYS Verification!

Sadly, it appears that Apple is moving away from the trust system, and is requiring verification through UNiDAYS in certain countries.

  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • South Korea
  • Spain
  • Malaysia : Started on 15 December 2021
  • United Kingdom

Unlike the earlier Apple education discount programme, UNiDAYS verification greatly limits those who qualify for discounted Apple Mac computers and iPad tablets :

  • Students who are 16 years and above
  • Must be currently enrolled in the Sixth Form, a college or a university
  • Must have a personal institution email address (.edu email, for example), or a credit card-style student ID, issued by the school / college / university

The Good

Signing up for UNiDAYS has some advantages. It gives you access to discount programmes for other companies.

And students who sign up for UNiDAYS will get a free Apple Music student subscription in certain countries, which may even include Apple TV+ access!

The Bad

Parents cannot sign up and purchase for their children. Each student must sign up for their own UNiDAYS account.

If UNiDAYS cannot automatically verify your student credentials, it has a manual process but that could mean several days of delay to verify your account.

The Ugly

The UNiDAYS verification process blocks parents of younger students from getting the education discount.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents are forced to purchase tablets and laptops for their children’s online classes. While not entirely legit, the Apple education discount has helped many parents alleviate the high cost of providing each child with a tablet or computer.

While this verification process will help Apple cut down on fraud, I wish they would take the opportunity to open up the education discount programme to younger students.

That would really be a win-win situation – parents get a small but much appreciated discount, and Apple gets a head start on developing the next-generation of Apple users.

Until then, parents of younger children can “work around” this limitation, by asking a college / university student to help them make the purchase.

 

Countries Where Apple Education Discount Do Not Require UNiDAYS!

This switch to UNiDAYS verification for the Apple Education Discount programme appears to be a gradual process.

For now, these countries still do not require UNiDAYS verification :

  • Australia
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • China
  • Hong Kong
  • Ireland
  • Japan
  • Mexico
  • New Zealand
  • Philippines
  • Russia
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • United States

So parents of younger children in those countries can still get the Apple Education discount, without jumping through the UNiDAYS hoop.

Pro Tip : When purchasing any Mac computer or iPad with the Apple Education discount, make sure you grab all the accessories you need at the same time, to get the discount as well.

 

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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macOS Monterey Memory Leak : Solutions You Can Try!

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macOS Monterey continues to be plagued by an insidious memory leak problem that Apple does not seem able to fix.

So here are a few workarounds that you can try!

 

macOS Monterey Memory Leak : What’s Going On?

Ever since it was released on 25 October 2021, macOS Monterey has been plaguing users with an insidious memory leak problem.

And even as Christmas approaches, Apple is still unable to fix the problem. Here is what we know so far…

It Gobbles Up Insane Amounts Of Memory

The memory leak quietly eats up insane amounts of memory, creeping up on users without warning.

A single affected app like Firefox can gobble up almost 80 GB of memory. Even a critical macOS process like WindowServer can end up using 24 GB of memory, while the Mail app can use more than 100 GB of memory!

Unless you have been keeping an eye on memory usage, you will only realise this is happening when you get the warning that “Your system has run out of application memory” with a request to Force Quit apps you are not using.

It Appears To Be An OS Issue

This Monterey memory leak affects many different apps with no obvious culprit in sight :

  • Internet browsers like Firefox and Safari
  • Apps like Tweetbot and Final Cut Pro
  • macOS features like Control Center, Mail and Finder
  • macOS processes like WindowsServer

That strongly suggests that it is an operating system issue, and not a bug in any particular app.

It Affects Intel + Apple Silicon Models

This Monterey memory leak problem is not platform-specific, and affects both Intel and Apple Silicon models.

So you are not going to be able to “escape” this memory leak problem by upgrading to the new M1 Pro / Max-powered MacBook Pro laptops.

 

macOS Monterey Memory Leak : Possible Solutions

Unfortunately, Apple still does not seem to be able to plug this insidious macOS Monterey memory leak. So here are some solutions that may work for you…

Revert To Standard Mouse Pointer

One of the new features macOS Monterey is the ability to change the mouse pointer’s size, as well as its outline and fill colours.

However, the developers at Mozilla discovered that using a non-standard mouse pointer in macOS Monterey causes a large memory leak!

This memory leak is not limited to Firefox, but occurs anytime the non-standard mouse pointer changes its look, like when you mouse over a button or a text field.

To fix this, you will need to revert to a standard mouse pointer, and here’s how to do that :

Step 1 : Go to Settings and select Accessibility.

Step 2 : Tap on the Display option, and select the Pointer tab.

Step 3 : Move the Pointer size all the way to the left (Normal).

Step 4 : Click on the Reset button to the right of Pointer outline colour and Pointer fill colour.

Step 5 : Restart your Mac, and fingers crossed – this fixes your Monterey memory leak problem!

Relaunch Finder

If you notice Finder using a prodigious amount of memory, that memory leak happens when you use the Find (⌘ F) feature in to search for files.

The easiest way to prevent this memory leak is to avoid using Finder’s Find feature. Try using the Search option on the upper right corner.

But once you get a Finder memory leak, you must relaunch it to release the leaked memory…

Option A : While in the Finder window, click on the Apple menu. Then press and hold the Shift key and click on Force Quit Finder.

Option B : Click on the Apple menu. Click Force Quit (Command + Option + Escape). Then select Finder and click on Relaunch.

Limit Use Of Control Center

Some users have reported that the Control Center can use upwards of 20GB of RAM, but most users fortunately do not encounter such terrible waste of memory.

This memory leak is easily reproducible – every time you use a control, it uses a little more RAM but does not release it.

Unfortunately, there is no way to release the leaked memory short of restarting the computer. So the best way to avoid this memory leak is to limit the use of Control Center.

Restart Apps Whenever Memory Use Is Too Much

Well, this seems obvious, but I have to throw it in anyway.

If any app, whether it’s Safari or Final Cut Pro starts using way too much memory, just close and reopen it. That should quickly recover the leaked memory.

Of course, this is only a stopgap solution until Apple releases a fix for this truly pesky memory problem in macOS Monterey…

 

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer /  PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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How To Fix NAS Connection Failure In macOS Catalina!

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One of the issues you may face after upgrading to macOS Catalina is a sudden failure to connect to your NAS. And no matter what you do – you just can’t access your NAS!

Fortunately, we have the solution for this problem. Here is our guide on how you can fix the NAS connection failure in macOS Catalina!

 

The macOS Catalina NAS Connection Issue

After upgrading to macOS Catalina, you may experience a sudden and persistent inability to connect to your NAS.

When you try to access your NAS, it will say Connection Failed. And nothing happens when you click the Connect As… button – you don’t get the usual security pop-up to log into your NAS.

This is beyond annoying, because you have now lost all access to your NAS on macOS Catalina.

It is definitely a macOS Catalina issue because if you try using a Windows PC or an old macOS system, you will have no issue accessing the same NAS.

So what should you do?

 

The Cause Of The macOS Catalina NAS Connection Failure

From what we can tell, this issue is happening because Apple apparently dropped support for SMB1 and SMB 2.0 in macOS Catalina.

With many NAS defaulting to SMB1 for compatibility reasons, users will immediately lose the ability to connect once they upgrade to macOS Catalina.

 

How To Fix The macOS Catalina NAS Connection Failure

The key is to set your NAS to use SMB 3.0 or later. This should not be a problem if your NAS is less than 5-6 years old, because SMB 3.0 was introduced in 2012.

In our guide, we are going to use the screenshots from our Synology NAS. But it should be similar in concept to NAS from other brands like QNAP and WD :

  1. Log into your NAS
  2. Go to Control Panel > File Services.
  3. Under the SMB section, click on Advanced Settings.

  1. In the Advanced Settings pop-up, you will find that the Maximum SMB protocol is probably set to SMB1.
  2. You need to set the Maximum SMB protocol to SMB3.

  1. Now, this is not necessary, but while you are here, you might as well just set the Minimum SMB protocol to SMB2 and Large MTU.
  2. Then click Apply at the bottom of the Advanced Settings pop-up to save the settings.

  1. If it works, you should be able to connect to your NAS after you log out of your NAS. However, in many cases, you need to take an additional step by manually connecting to your NAS.
  2. To do that, you need to select Go > Connect to Server… in Finder.
  3. Then key in smb://ServerName/ (in our example, smb://DiskStation/) and click Connect.
  1. This should finally launch the security login pop-up, where you can key in your Name and Password to log into your NAS.

After logging into your NAS, you should have no issue accessing your NAS. You can also drag and add your NAS folders to the Favourites list in Finder.

 

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macOS Catalina – Don’t Upgrade Until You Do This First!

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macOS Catalina (or macOS version 10.15) is coming in October 2019, bringing with it a slew of really nice improvements and new features.

However, unlike earlier macOS releases – you need to prepare for macOS Catalina, or you could run into trouble right after the upgrade!

 

macOS Catalina Requirements

Before we start, make sure you have one of these systems – macOS Catalina will only run on these Mac computers.

  • iMac Pro : All models
  • iMac : Late 2012 or newer
  • Mac Pro : Late 2013 or newer
  • Mac mini : Late 2012 or newer
  • MacBook Pro : Mid 2012 or newer
  • MacBook : Early 2015 or newer
  • MacBook Air : Mid 2012 or newer

 

macOS Catalina – Don’t Upgrade Until You Do This First!

Unlike earlier versions of macOS, Catalina drops support for 32-bit apps. Therefore, you must check if you are still using any 32-bit apps before you upgrade.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to check for 32-bit apps in macOS :

  1. Click on the Apple icon on the top left of the task bar.
  2. Select About This Mac from the pull-down list.

  1. In the Overview screen, click on the System Report… button.

  1. When System Report loads, select Software > Applications from the column on the left.
  2. It will now take a minute or two to scan all of your apps.
  3. Once it loads, you can scroll through all of your apps to look for any that have their 64-Bit (Intel) status marked No.

  1. However, an EASIER method is to locate the 64-Bit (Intel) column, and click on it to list all those marked No at the top.As you can see, quite a number of applications, including those used to setup the actual apps, are still 32-bit apps.

  1. Now, you need to uninstall all those 32-bit apps and replace them with 64-bit versions. Otherwise, they will all fail to work once you upgrade to Catalina!

 

Why Do You Need To Run This Check Again?

You need to find out what 32-bit apps you are still running, because they will NOT work after you install macOS Catalina.

You will need to upgrade these 32-bit apps with newer 64-bit versions, BEFORE you upgrade to macOS Catalina.

 

Can’t I Upgrade My Apps After I Upgrade To macOS Catalina?

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It is possible to remove your 32-bit apps and install their 64-bit versions after upgrading to macOS Catalina.

However, you may have trouble removing all of the older components, if the old 32-bit app used an installer.

So we highly recommend that you uninstall all 32-bit apps, and install their 64-bit versions… BEFORE you upgrade to macOS Catalina.

 

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The Ultimate Apple Pro Display XDR Configuration Guide!

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The new Apple Pro Display XDR is the pinnacle of Apple display engineering. But before you splash out thousands of dollars for it, do you know which configuration you really need?

In this configuration guide, find out options you have and what you should choose for the ultimate Pro Display XDR monitor! We even created a special infographic to help you make that choice!

 

The Apple Pro Display XDR Monitor

The Apple Pro Display XDR is a new 6K IPS display that is designed to complement the new 2019 Mac Pro workstation.

It boasts a 32-inch panel with a 6K resolution of 6016 x 3384 pixels, and Extreme Dynamic Range (XDR) capability with 576 local dimming zones!

Of course, HDR monitors have been around for some time now, with 384-zone models being introduced last year.

On top of that, it delivers 1000 nits of sustained brightness, with a peak brightness of 1600 nits! It also boasts dual ambient light sensors, to ensure an accurate viewing experience in any ambient lighting condition. Kind of like BenQ’s Brightness Intelligence Plus technology…

 

Why You NEED The Apple Pro Display XDR Monitor!

The Apple Pro Display XDR is the ultimate display for hardcore Apple fans, and graphics professionals who believe it’s the Viagra they need to perform at their very best.

It is designed to do two things – give you an ultra-premium 6K display experience, and the Tim Cook-anointed right to thumb your nose at the 99.9% hoi polloi.

Because when you have the Apple Pro Display XDR, you know you have proven your worth.

You are the TOP 0.1%. You are the BEST graphics designer in the world. The ULTIMATE Apple fan.

 

Apple Pro Display XDR Configuration Options

Don’t bother explaining to the ignorant rabble (or your boss) why you NEED the Pro Display XDR. Focus on what options you should select.

Standard vs Nano-Texture Finish

Everyone knows that graphics designers lose their eyesight after years of peeking at pixels. Remember how many times you mistook the glare off your display as an actual light flare?

To avoid that kind of problem, you can now pay Apple $1000 to etch a nano-texture pattern on your Pro Display XDR!

Our Verdict : The standard finish is for cheap schlubs. Go Nano-Texture, or go home!

Pro Stand / VESA Mount / Handheld?

The Pro Stand ($999), of course! It does everything a good monitor stand has been capable of doing for the past several decades, but with the flair and price tag that only awesome graphics designers like you understand.

The VESA Mount Adapter ($199) lets you hook up the Pro Display XDR onto walls, multi-monitor stands, or if you are really cheap – onto a non-Apple monitor stand.

But if you employ slave labour, you can always go old-school and have your slave hold it (FREE!). Remember – the Pro Stand does not support Siri… YET, so the slave route is the only way to control your Pro Display XDR by voice commands.

 

The Apple Pro Mug XDR Infographic

To make the choices simpler to understand, we created this special infographic, which uses an Apple Pro Mug XDR analogy to translate all those technical gobbledygook into something professional graphics designers can understand at a glance.

If you walk around with a standard finish, everyone’s going to know you are just another 0.1% wannabe. SHOW the world you are part of the REAL 0.1% with that matte nano-texture finish!

The Pro Handle will let you take the Apple Pro Mug XDR to the limits. Fill it with super-hot coffee or liquid nitrogen – all without fear of injuring your hand!

And the Pro Handle has special magnetic connectors, so you can easily detach the Pro Mug XDR, to attach it to a separate Pro Handle! Now you can share your drink without sharing the same handle! How hygienic!

If you must opt for the Universal Sleeve, tell people you are not being cheap – you are just being environmentally-friendly. Cardboard is recyclable and the Universal Sleeve does not use rare earth magnets!

 

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