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Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Troubleshooting, Friday Favorite

Friday Favorite: Mac HelpMate

I'll open this Friday Favorite with a caveat -- Mac HelpMate is not an app that just anyone is going to want to license. However, if you're a Mac consultant and/or do system support for many Mac users, this is an application you should consider.

Mac HelpMate is the brainchild of Dean Shavit, an Apple Certified System Administrator based in Chicago, Illinois. Dean's goal in producing Mac HelpMate was to eliminate many of the issues that Mac support professionals deal with when trying to perform remote support tasks for their clients. What are those issues? Usually, they consist of trying to reach the end user's network through a maze of firewalls and routers. For example, one of the major issues with Apple's Back To My Mac remote access and control technology is that it doesn't work with many cable or DSL modems that don't support UPnP (Universal Plug-and-Play) or NAT-PMP (NAT - Port Mapping Protocol).

Mac HelpMate provides zero-configuration remote access through a proxy server run by Shavit's company, eliminating the hassles of trying to talk clients through configuration of their Macs and network hardware.

Continue readingFriday Favorite: Mac HelpMate

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Enterprise, Apple

An Introduction to Apple Certification

ACTC CertificateI spent three days in a class last week learning about Leopard. It probably sounds a little strange that a guy who works day in and day out on "nothin' but Macs" would be taking a class to learn more about the Mac operating system, but I did it for a reason - I am an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) and I need to keep my certification current. Within a few weeks, I'll be taking a certification exam to prove that my brain absorbed some of the course content and my years of Mac experience really have turned me into a Mac guru.

Not many people know about the certifications available to Apple professionals. Certification has a number of benefits to independent consultants and wage slaves alike, including recognition of professional competency, credibility with clients and employers, and the ability to publicize your certifications on Apple's website. For those of us who are Apple Consultant Network members, we can have clients referred to us by the Apple Stores.

Over the next few weeks, I'll post several articles about the different types of certifications available to you, how to become certified, and why you might want to consider getting certified. Read more after the break.

Continue readingAn Introduction to Apple Certification

Filed under: Hardware, OS, Software, Apple Professional, Apple

Guide to becoming a Certified Mac Professional

If your love of Apple's products is evolving into a desire to work for or with them to some degree, informit.com has a nice roundup of the various Apple certifications one can earn, ranging from consulting, system administration and even getting trained to train. The individual articles provide nice summaries, as well as a few gotchas, for each of the certifications, as well as links to Apple's official sites. This is a nice starting point for making that leap from 'living room Mac nerd hobbyist' to 'paid corporate Mac nerd.' Scoring that choice parking spot, however, is an entirely different certification altogether.

Tip of the Day

To get an instant map to any address, just go to your Address Book and right click on the address field of any one of your contacts and select "Map Of." The address will then be revealed in Google Maps on Safari. You can do the same if a data detector determines there is an address in an e-mail in Mail.


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