Terry White's Tech Blog

May 23, 2023May 22, 2023

The Most Significant Update to Photoshop in 20 Years

Fasten your seatbelts, Adobe Photoshop enthusiasts! Ever since we embraced the Creative Cloud subscription model in 2013 – yes, a thrilling decade has flown by – Adobe has been faithfully delivering updates, making your Photoshop experience smoother and more efficient. However, brace yourselves, because today’s update is a game-changer, ready to send shockwaves through your digital design journey. This is not just an update – it’s a jaw-dropping revolution!

Introducing Generative Fill

In March this year, Adobe released a public beta of its generative AI technology called Firefly. You can check out Firefly at firefly.adobe.com (there is a waitlist to get access to the site and we’re working hard to clear the backlog as soon as possible). While the website is fun to play on and allows you to generate images via any text prompt that you can dream up, bringing that technology into Photoshop takes Photoshop to the next level.

April 17, 2023April 18, 2023

How to Store and Backup Your Photos Like a Pro

Now that my network upgrade is complete (see my Networking gear guide here to see every item I put into my new server racks), it’s time to focus on something I’ve been putting off for way too long. It was time to replace my 2012 Mac mini Server and Drobo 5D. During the COVID-19 pandemic Drobo went M.I.A. They had no products in stock, and it was reported that calls were largely unanswered.

While my Drobo and Mac mini running Mac OS X Server Sierra 10.12 was working fine, I knew I was living on borrowed time. I feared that getting a replacement would be difficult or impossible if my Drobo had some mechanical failure.

Time to upgrade to a NAS (Network Attached Storage)

I had been researching solutions from Synology and QNAP. As much as I pride myself on being tech-savvy, it wasn’t easy trying to distinguish which one was better and which product in their respective product lines would be best for me.

February 27, 2023February 11, 2024

How I Solved My WiFi Nightmare

I have 1GB Internet (1200Mbps down/35Mbps up), and when everything went downhill, this was the **AWFUL WiFi speed** I started getting.

I’m not an IT guy. I have had to learn about networking out of necessity, not out of desire or fascination. I view a home network as something that should just work, and you shouldn’t have to think about it day-to-day, just like your refrigerator. You open it and expect things to be cold. You close it and forget about it. You don’t spend hours trying to optimize it. You don’t look for Facebook groups looking for support because it either works or doesn’t. There isn’t much in-between. If it doesn’t work, you get it repaired, replace it, and then forget about it again. In my opinion, a WiFi network should be the same way. You never know how much you depend on your WiFi and internet until it dies!

One day my WiFi just went to hell

January 23, 2023January 22, 2023

Take advantage of Siri Shortcuts

Most of you know I’m a fan of smart home technologies. I spend a lot of my spare time thinking of new Automation ideas. However, not every device or application is compatible with smart home systems. For example, Apple HomeKit has no category for robot vacuums. I still can’t believe that robot vacuums aren’t a supported HomeKit category, but it’s not. This means I can’t create a HomeKit automation to vacuum based on certain conditions like “start vacuuming after the last person leaves the house.” However, my latest robot vacuum, the Roborock S7 MaxV does support Siri Shortcuts.

Siri Shortcuts are awesome

In the case of the Roborock vacuum, I can simply say, “Hey Siri, vacuum the family room.” The vacuum will start and head to the family room to complete the task.

January 16, 2023January 15, 2023

I put two of the newest smart locks to the test

I went from being apprehensive about adding a smart lock to my smart home to having one on every entry door. I’ve tried a few different models and just finished comparing two of the latest and best, especially if you have an Apple HomeKit smart home.

Level Lock+ vs. Schlage Encode Plus

These two locks have the latest and greatest technologies in them. Rather than write it all here, I put together this short video review/comparison. Watch til the end to see which one I choose as the best smart lock available today. Check it out:

The Bottom Line

Smart locks have come a long way over the years, and 2023 promises to be a great year for smart homes in general as the new Matter standard starts to bear fruit.

June 30, 2022June 30, 2022

Solar + Battery Storage = Power Grid Independence

Two Enphase IQ 10 Batteries were installed in my garage

Those of you who have been around me or this blog for the past few years know that I’m a fan of tech, green energy, electric vehicles, and of course solar power. At the end of 2019, I went solar and documented it here. My electric bill dropped by more than half and I’ve been very happy with my system. No complaints. It just works! However, there was something that I knew I would ultimately want to complete the system and I mentioned it back then. battery storage!

A solar system without battery storage will only go so far

Solar only, no battery storage. Excess power is going back to the grid

June 6, 2022June 5, 2022

My Switch To Mirrorless Wasn’t Planned, But It Is Complete!

I bought my first “serious” Mirrorless camera three years ago when the Nikon Z6 came out. I bought it mainly because I like new tech and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Back then the mere mention of Mirrorless brought Sony to mind. Sony got a big jump on the industry. However, the handwriting was on the wall. Soon all manufacturers began their transition from DSLR to Mirrorless.

My former camera was the legendary Nikon D850. An amazing camera body and in my opinion one of the best cameras Nikon ever produced. Since I already had a D850 I chose to get the Z6 over the Z7. Again, I wasn’t planning on switching at the time. Nikon made it really easy to start using their Mirrorless cameras because they included an (FTZ) adapter that made it possible to use your existing F-Mount Nikon lenses with no loss in quality. This was probably the biggest thing they needed to do if they ever hoped to get people to consider or move to mirrorless. Bodies come and go, but people hold on to good glass (lenses) for years and years.

I started using the Nikon Z6 Mirrorless and I never stopped!

March 21, 2022March 5, 2024

My Live Streaming Studio Setup – 2022

2022 UPDATE: Not a lot has changed since my 2021 setup/post. I switched my main camera to a Sony ZV-E10, my demo computer is now a 2021 16″ M1 MacBook Pro and I’m using Restream.io to multicast each stream to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Behance. Ok let’s get to it:

Last year when I did this post I started it by saying “as we look to the end of the pandemic” and a year later I could say the same thing. Either way, live streaming is definitely something that is here to stay. Even as live in person events start to make a slow comeback, they are agumented by live streaming for those that aren’t quite ready to go to in person events again. Live streaming is a big part of my day job. I live stream multiple times per week as part of my job at Adobe. I stream live Adobe tutorials regularly to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Behance as well. Since this is what I do for a living I’m always looking to improve my production values.

I have been tweaking my dedicated live streaming studio since 2016. Being a photographer I’ve set up a few photography studios and no matter how you equip your studio you can always find more gear that you want and ways to improve it. I’ve been building out this live streaming studio since May 2016. I have everything I “need” to do my streams, but I’m always looking out for ways to improve upon what I have or make it easier to do my streams.

As with a photography studio, your streaming setup can be very basic or very elaborate

Continue reading “My Live Streaming Studio Setup – 2022”

March 14, 2022March 18, 2022

Get The Last Business Card You’ll Ever Need

Popl and Tap Tag Digital Business Cards with embedded NFC tags and QR Codes

Gone are the days of big in-person conferences and meetings where you’d pass out dozens of business cards. Well at least for now. I do miss in-person events and hopefully, we’ll be able to see each other in person again soon. When we do, I won’t be carrying a ton of business cards like I used to. I’ve got one digital business card that should last forever.

My Digital Business Card Is The Last One I’ll Ever Need

Instead of getting paper cards printed and knowing that if anything changes on them I’d have to dump (recycle) them and get more printed, I had a digital card made instead. This digital card has an NFC chip in it that can be scanned by any modern smartphone.

Instead of giving you a card, I would wave my digital card near your smartphone and a notification would pop up for you to tap. Once you tap it, all of my contact/social media information would load in your browser with the option to save me to your contacts.

March 10, 2022March 9, 2022

Do You Need A New Mac Studio? Maybe

Apple just took the wraps off the first new Mac in years. The Mac Studio aims to fill the place between the Mac mini and the Mac Pro. Based on the newest Apple Silicon chips M1 Max and brand new M1 Ultra makes this new Mac the fastest Mac available to date. I really like the specs and the design. Having had Mac Pros in the past, a Mac mini Server, and iMac 27″ desktops, this is a great fit for the intended audience.