Author: xzhang

I recently purchased an iPhone 7 with the Product Red branding. It took a little convincing, but my wallet and I eventually came to an agreement about this. It had been a while since I last upgraded my phone, and the iPhone is the industry standard. And it’s red!

Product Red is an initiative that started 11 years ago, with a goal of engaging companies that sells consumer goods to raise funds to fight AIDS in Africa. Product Red products have a distinctive red branding, and a share of the proceeds go towards the Global Fund.

When Apple announced that they were to ship out iPhones with the Product Red casing, the overall sentiment was that the phone looked good. Real good. Almost makes you wanna trade in your Android good. And if you were already an iPhone owner and was looking to switch to a newer phone, it’s hard to look away and consider otherwise.

Apple has a very rich history with the Product Red initiative, having had branded various iPods with Product Red beginning in 2006. The new iPhone, however, is the biggest slab of red Apple has released so far, and really, it brings up the question: why aren’t there more Product Red phones elsewhere on the market? The only other phone that was ever shipped with Product Red branding was the Motorola RAZR (remember those things?), a decade ago.

Sure, Product Red has its fair share of criticisms. It is, in the end, a marketing ploy, and Apple smartly released this phone a few months before the announcement and release of the next iPhone to drive sales and push out soon to be obsolete hardware from their supply chains. But try and think of the last major product that pledge to donate a portion of the proceeds to any charity of any kind. Unfortunately, they’re few and far between.

Understand that, in today’s world, where the internet should be considered (and is, in some places) a utility, and where our phones and laptops are the main proponents of the internet, it only makes sense that we should demand more products that gives back, even if it’s just a little bit, even if it’s just a marketing ploy. Considering the already questionable ethics of how these devices are produced to begin with, it’s the least that we, as conscientious consumers, can do.

From time to time, you may find yourself in a situation where Wi-Fi isn’t working for you on your computer whilst on campus. This is a quick and basic guide to helping you getting back online.

Disconnect & Reconnect

This is the easiest method to execute. While holding the Option key, click on the Wi-Fi icon in the Apple Bar. You’ll see something like this:

Click on “Disconnect from eduroam”, and the Wi-Fi icon will dim immediately. Seconds later it will reconnect, provided you are on campus where your computer is picking up eduroam. This will solve the majority of issues that are related to connectivity.

Deleting the Eduroam Profile

This will be a multi-step, but simple process. Begin by opening System Preferences, and click on Profiles button.

In the Profiles menu, select the Eduroam profile, and hit the delete key on your keyboard.

The system will prompt you if you are sure you want to remove. Confirm the removal.

Once the profile is removed, consult this article to set up Eduroam on your laptop. This method will solve a vast majority of authentication related issues, particularly after a password reset.

Rearranging the Order of Preferred Networks

There will be times that your computer, for one reason or another, is configured to connect to the UMASS network over the Eduroam network. Whereas the Eduroam network is secured, and does not require a log in each time you connect, the UMASS network is not secure, and will prompt for log in information, preventing usual network access.

To change this, first open System Preferences, and then click on Network.

Once in the Network menu, hit Advanced.

In the Advanced menu, under the Wi-Fi submenu, make sure that UMASS is underneath eduroam. This tells the computer to attempt to connect to eduroam before attempting to connect with UMASS.

Hit OK, and close the menu. The computer may prompt you if you wanted to apply the settings – hit Apply.

Gathering information for UMass IT

If any of the methods above did not work, and our consultants are not able to resolve your issue over email, we may ask you for certain technical info, such as BSSID, IP address, and MAC address. Most of the info we ask can be easily retrieved when you click on the Wi-Fi icon while holding the Option key.

Hope this information was helpful!

The first iPhones came out in 2007. At that time people had Blackberrys and Palm PDAs – phones that came physical keyboards and a stylus. These iPhones were immediately praised for its aesthetics, but criticized for its limited functionality. As development that expanded functionalities of these iPhones took off, so did the phone itself. After wrestling the market with traditional styled PDAs, iPhones and Androids began leaving its competition in dust.

Jump forward to today. The new MacBook Pros now come with a touch strip (marketed as Touch Bar) in place of the function keys that reside in the first row. While they haven’t gone away, Apple decided that a touch strip would enable a more dynamic style of computing. Of course, Apple detractors look at this as a sign that Apple is running out of ideas and resorting to gimmicks.

I recently got my hands on one of these MacBook Pros, and yes, there are obvious shortcomings. Though the computer is beautifully engineered and designed, it’s questionable that the Touch Bar itself isn’t high definition (or retina display, as Apple would’ve marketed it). As far as using it, it does feel a little weird at first, since you don’t get a tactile response as opposed to using any other key on the keyboard, but I’ve gotten used to it. There are also some minor design flaws that might be of annoyance, such as the volume and brightness adjustment bar not being the most intuitive, the fact that I’ve managed to press the power button a couple times when I meant to use the delete key, and that some functions that the Touch Bar is largely advertised for are sometimes buggy, particularly when scrubbing through a video – so much for Apple’s reputation when it comes to quality control.

But it’s obvious to see why Apple might envision the Touch Bar as the next evolution in laptop computing. It’s clear that they don’t believe in a laptop/tablet hybrid ala the Surface Pro – not even Microsoft themselves are buying into it as much. But the dynamism that the Touch Bar offers, or perhaps more importantly, has the potential of offering, is way more appealing. And though the Touch Bar may seem limited in terms of functionality and usefulness, it’s a little like the original iPhone: a lot of it depends on the software development that follows.