It was 1989. After using Macs at the office for a couple of years, I decided that I needed one at home since I had begun to take outside assignment. So I went shopping.

To be sure, a Mac was pretty expensive in 1989 dollars. There were no budget models, but I shopped around and found a good deal from the same dealer who sold Macs to my employer.

After an afternoon’s consultation, I weighed my options, and I decided to take a chance, expecting that the freelance work would cover the costs. So I made a lease deal for a complete system. I acquired the Macintosh IIcx, an “affordable” alternative to the Macintosh IIx. It was maxed out with 8MB of RAM and a 100MB hard drive. Add to that a 14-inch Apple color display (later referred to as a “13-inch display,”, a LaserWriter NT PostScript printer, and several productivity apps, including QuarkXPress and Microsoft Word. The bill came to $14,000.

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Unlike my previous columns, this article has taken more than a month to write. But it’s not because of fine-tuning the prose. It’s more about events that hadn’t yet reached a successful conclusion.

But let me start at the beginning…

Once upon a time, I would buy a brand new Mac every other year or so. Beginning in the mid-1990s, I added a PowerBook to the mix. In order to help finance the purchase, I would routinely sell my old hardware, and even in the dog days of Apple’s existence, they held their value pretty well.

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Note to Readers

This column was written before Apple released its fourth fiscal quarter financials. With record revenue, Apple’s results were at the high-end of Wall Street expectations. For now, you can read the basics at Apple’s site. I’ll be dealing with that subject in more detail in the next issue.

Revisiting macOS Catalina

So macOS Catalina has been available for nearly four weeks as I write this. A 10.15.1, bug fix update arrived on Tuesday, October 29th, which likely dealt with some of the bugs in the first release.

Now even though the first public beta of Catalina arrived in late June, I didn’t touch it until September 9th (my birthday) because of problems with the third-party software I need to get work done. Since my aging 2010 17-inch MacBook Pro was left behind as of macOS High Sierra, my notebook has been, more or less, living in the past. I no longer had a second computer on which to test things.

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We live in a world where the physical casinos are slowly being replaced by online casinos. In the last 3 years, the revenue made from the online casinos is high and double than the one during the 2010s. And rightfully so. Online casinos have great promotions, a lot of games and excellent policies. NoviBet casino games online, for example, have tons of promotions for new and loyal players. With the rise of online casinos, it is important to choose one that is good and safe. What are some of the things to check when choosing a good online casino?

Read the Deposit and Withdrawal Policy

Deposits and withdrawals are the first things that come to everybody’s mind. A good online casino should have numerous currencies accepted with fast withdrawal periods. Most of the time, users only wait a couple of days before they can withdraw their winnings.

The limits on withdrawals should also be higher – that way the online casinos show that they are very stable with their finances. Usually, lower-tier casinos set low maximum withdrawals as a way to control the money that is pouring in.

Customer Support and Security

The simplest way to test Customer Support is to contact them. There are usually 3 ways to contact Support – phone, email, and live chat. By using the phone service or live chat, you can test how efficient the team is in their job. When contacting them by mail, check how long does it take for them to respond and how good the solution is. You can’t play in an online casino if the Support is not doing their job.

Security is also a major factor in the game. To ensure safety, gambling commissions are always lobbying for the use of modern technology. Make sure that the sites have great encryptions and are perfectly safe to play.

Check Their Promotions

Online casinos use a lot of promotions and bonuses as a way to attract new people on their website. Almost every online casino has a New Player Bonus or a Welcome Offer that is given to newly-registered players. They come in the shape of Free Spins, Free Bets, bonus wins, etc.

Daily, weekly, and monthly promotions are also up for grabs. They are available on certain games and they are really good. Promotions and bonuses are one of the things that put online casinos in front of the physical ones.  Most of the online casinos have Loyalty Programs for its most loyal players on their website. These programs usually hand out Loyalty Points that can be used for various purposes. Some promotions are also available only for the players in the Loyalty Programs.

The more bonuses and promotions an online casino has – the better it is.

Game Quality

There are many game developers, but not all of them are good. Every online casino has its developers listed on their website. Research them and find out just how good and successful they are. The quality and graphics of the games are one indicator. If the games are pleasing and fun to play, then the developers have done a good job.