Friday Evening Wrap-up

A birds eye view from atop the suite roof during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)



























Austin Dillon (3) beside Ryan Truex (83) during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Brad Keselowski (2) qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Good morning from Bristol

Today is Nationwide qualifying, the race, the cup cars were able to get in a short practice as well. Tomorrow the weathermen in Bristol are calling for a 100% chance of rain. Ugh! See a few of this mornings captures.

Danica Patrick (10) during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Saturday, Mar. 15, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Denny Hamlin (11) during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Saturday, Mar. 15, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Kyle Larson (42) during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Saturday, Mar. 15, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Good morning from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Saturday, Mar. 15, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Early Friday Photo Journal for the 54th Annual Food City 500 - NASCAR Spring Cup Series

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Jeff Hammond and Kenny Wallace during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Danica Patrick (10) car damage during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Danica Patrick (10) just out of the car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Jeff Gordon (24) leaving pit row during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Meticulous R&D on tires during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

Kyle Busch (54) about to take the Skittles car out during practice for the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race, on Friday, Mar. 14, 2014, in Bristol, Tenn. (Photo by @EricBarger)

iCloud vs iTunes App Store Part 2: What families should know

iTunes Store, App Store, and Mac App Store accounts should be setup on a different email address and should be shared by the family. I believe this isn't exactly allowed by the Apple User Agreement but I know it works and would almost be impossible to enforce. If you don't share this account with the family, you run the risk of purchasing the same Apps multiple times. In order to purchase a song or app one time, you need to share this account. 

A family can share the iTunes account

Of course there are times when this is not advisable. One day your children are going to grow up and leave the nest. They may should have their own iTunes account instead of sharing the family account. Remember, it should not be the same ID (email) as any iCloud account. Never break that rule. 

If your marriage is on the rocks, maybe it would be a good idea to separate out the iTunes account. I can see the iTunes Library going to one spouse in future divorces as more and more money gets tied into the Apple Eco System. 

There is currently a ten iOS device limit for an iTunes account. If you have more than 10 iOS devices tied to one account, which sounds crazy but a family of four could easily exceed, it may be good to divide the family up into two accounts. These decisions will have to be made by you. For the most part, one iTunes account per family should work just fine.

There is a five Mac limit for your iTunes account that gets tossed in here as well. You can authorize up to five Macs (Mac Book Air, iMac, etc.) to play your iTunes content and no more. If you plan on selling one of your Macs, you must go into iTunes and "De-authorize" that computer before wiping the hard drive and selling the computer. You may forget to do this or your hard drive may crash leaving you without a way to "de-authorize" the account. in that case, you get a one time per year magic Mac eraser. You have to "de-authorize" all of your Macs at once, not device specific like the iOS devices, and then "re-authroize" the Macs you want.

Confused yet? It gets worse. There is iTunes Match to deal with and AppleTV's. I *think* there is a five Apple TV limit to your iTunes account but there is some people that swear it works against your iOS limit. I just don't know because if you add all my iOS devices in combination with Apple TVs, I don't come close to ten. So beware.

It's gets even worse. If you decide to associate an iOS device to an iTunes account and then decide that was a bad idea and try to associate that iOS device with another iTunes account, you will have a 90 day wait period to complete before you can authorize that iOS device on the new iTunes account. Aggravating to say the least.

It is a confusing mess that is hard to keep up with but if you follow the rule that everyone has their own iCloud account and everyone shares an iTunes account on a different email/identity then you should avoid most problems. Have fun!

iCloud vs iTunes App Store: what families should know

The time has come when more than one person in a household has an iOS device. A couple of iPhones, iPods, iPads, Macs, etc. What do you need to know about iCloud, iTunes Store, App Store, and Mac App Store? A lot unless you are made of money and love chaos.

Each person should have their own iCloud account

I make no guarantees regarding the legality of what you are about to read. In fact, some of this may go against past, present, or future Apple User Agreements. I am not aware of any problems arising from these setups but it is better to state this up front.

It is more complicated than you may at first think when it comes to setting up accounts with Apple for all the different services and stores. I am going to help you understand what you are doing before you do it so you don't cuss yourself years later for not doing things differently.

Lets get Eric's rule of iCloud memorized. Every person needs their very own iCloud account. There are no exceptions to my rule. A husband and wife should NOT share an iCloud account. A single person, teenager, whatever, must have their own iCloud account. iCloud controls a lot of person and device specific details that should not be shared between people. Email, documents and data, Keychain, Find my iPhone, Photo Stream, Photo Stream, and Photo Stream.

If you snap a photo it goes directly to your photostream unless you have this option turned off. Most people have Mac's that import the Photostream photographs to their iPhote library in order to backup their iOS device photographs. In this day and age, it is best to keep your photogaphs seperated from your parents, spouse, or children. It just gets messy and you are exposed to double the information and it will cause you to go crazy. Of course, for those celebrities taht love to take photographs of themselves in the bathroom mirror in less than appropriate clothing, this should not come as a surprise that you need your very own iCloud account.

Next blog, setting up iTunes Store, App Store, and Mac App Store accounts.

1Password: Secure Your Digital World

1Password @1Password is the most trusted name in Password Storage Programs and for good reason. Their software suite is unrivaled in the category. It enables users, people like you and me, to never remember hundreds of passwords. It allows you to remember only one password, which is the key to as many passwords as you can stand. Sound exciting? It gets even better. These people are walking Einsteins in the cryptographic world. You should read their blog if you are the least bit interested in how secure your data is.

1Password Lock Screen

One way to get your data into 1Password is to manually enter in the user names, passwords, web site addresses, etc. The alternative way is to just visit the web sites as you normally would and 1Password will collect your login data for you automatically. Going forward, you make just two clicks of the mouse, and it will take you to the site and log you in with ease.

Passwords can be custom or randomly generated up to 50 characters in length. You now can have a different password for every web site you visit. Amazon.com gets hacked? No problem. Log in and change your password and know you are safe. 

I have been using this program on my Mac, iPad and iPhone and have enjoyed its features. The 1Browser on iOS is a great experience and not awkward like I expected. It has managed to replace Paypal and Amazon's apps on my iOS devices because with 1Browser, I get the normal web viewing experience with automatic login.

It doesn't stop at login information. It will store just about anything including credit card information, passports, identity information, etc. You can get a 30 day free trial, and if you decide to buy there is a 100% money back guarantee. I doubt you need 30 days or your money back after using this program.

Data is sync'd via numerous methods, DropBox being the most popular, across all of your devices if you desire this method. It is compatible with Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, etc.

All you have to do is remember one password, and I believe we can all manage that.

Box Culvert Lifting Pins Best Practice

Precasters perform dangerous life threatening tasks every day. Each day we get a little more comfortable standing near a 56,000 lb. piece of box culvert suspended in the air or standing next to a 17,000 lb. transport bucket holding freshly mixed concrete ready to empty into a form you are standing next to. Why is it that we take lifting so lightly? You have your material certifications and safe working loads (SWL) for your lifting anchors. The SWL far exceeds your products weight and there is an additional 4:1 built-in safety factor.

Read more here: http://www.ericbarger.me/technical-writing/technical/box-culvert-lift-pin.html