AIMUG

May 13, 2012

Notes from the May 5 AIMUG meeting

First, I must apologize for not sending out the customary meeting invite for the 5 May AIMUG meeting. In the handoff from John, I fumbled the ball. We did hold a meeting, but many of you apparently thought there would be no meeting; we had a very small group.

As usual we had a good discussion of current events (plans for the Apple World-Wide Developers Conference planned for mid June, latest rumors, experience with the new iPad, etc.) and we went around the room. Topics discussed (sorry … I didn’t note who said what) include:

- We talked about converting 8mm movie film to DVD capable and editable formats. One of the members suggested FotoBridge as a convenient place to get these conversions done.

- We discussed how to deal with unwanted eMail messages. One of the members suggested that sometimes using the “Unsubscribe” link on unwanted emails is a bad idea. Mass eMail “bad actors” often send messages to thousands or millions of random addresses. When you respond in any way, including the unsubscribe link, you confirm that your address is alive and your address may be sold to other bad actors. However, if you are receiving email from some reputable business you have done business with, then using the unsubscribe link should be OK.

- Scott mentioned that we used to have a “bounce” option in our email systems which allowed us to refuse an email such that the sender thought it had been bounced by the email system as invalid. This function is no longer standard in Apple Mail, but you can add the equivalent. This link gives a tutorial on how to add a Bounce Service to Apple Mail. This also has the benefit as giving a quick example on how the Apple Automator tool can be used to add capability to your Mac.

- One of the members mentioned AllAboutFiles (99 cents on the App Store) is a nifty tool to get an idea of what is occupying space on your Mac hard drive.

- One of the members mentioned MashDuo as a good tool for eliminating duplicate tracks in your iTunes.

- Scott demonstrated using RedLaser (free from the iTunes store) to read bar codes from products to look up details and prices.

- Steve mentioned using a menu bar app called Caffeine (free in the App store) to temporarily keep his Mac from going to sleep, iStumbler (free) to find available WiFi networks, and Wi-Fi Diagnostics (built-in tool in Lion, but hidden) to monitor WiFi signal strength and noise.

Steve Gaul

April 14, 2012

Apple Security

Apple has begun to ask iOS device owners for the answers to security questions as part of an effort to beef up Apple ID security. iPhone users began widely reporting the change on Thursday, though the changes actually began happening sometime in the last 24 hours. Not all iOS users have seen the request pop up yet, however, leaving some confused about whether the prompt is legitimately from Apple.

For more on this.

Apple has posted a "Flashback Malware Removal Tool" along with another update to the Java installation.

You can find the malware tool here.

This tool is also installed with the Java update which you can get through the "Software Update" tool found under your Apple menu. You can read more on this here.

Steve Gaul

April 7, 2012

April 7 Meeting Tidbits

•      -PhotoSendr
       Francesco Bertocci, one of our own, has recently released his app, Photo Sendr on the iTunes store. The app allows you to send multiple photos from your iPhone in one email rather than having to send each photo separately. The app is $0.99--go try it out and leave a review! PhotoSendr on iTunes.
  
  
•      -A Tip for a Hard to Read Screen
       If you're having trouble reading or seeing things on the screen of your Mac, here's a quick fix: hold the Control key and scroll up on your touchpad or mouse. This will zoom in on your screen. You can move around your zoomed screen by moving the mouse. Control+Scroll down will get you back to your regular screen.
  
  
•      -Tech Education Opportunity for Kids
       InternalDrive Tech Camps is a company that runs Technology Camps for kids aged 7 to 17 in over 60 prestigious universities across the country including MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, etc. Students can take week-long courses on subjects ranging from Robotics and Programming, Game Design, Movie Making and Film Editing, Web Design and 3D Modeling, and lots more.
       Your friendly WebMaster, Katherine Gaul, will be Directing the iD Tech Camp at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
       As a side note, working for iD is an amazing experience for any tech minded person over the age of 18. You can apply here.

Katherine Gaul
Webmaster

April 1, 2012

AIMUG Meeting for April 2012

To all,

The next meeting of the AIMUG will be held on Saturday, Apr 7th, beginning at 9 AM. It will be held at the Latter Day Saints church, 177 Miantonomi Ave in Middletown RI 02842. The building will be open at 8:30. The meeting will begin at 9 AM and end about noon. As always, members are free to come and go as their schedule permits. The door prize will be a portable speaker for any MP3 device (iPad, iPod, iPhone, etc.)

The new iPad (Retina screen) will be on display and discussed. Michael S will discus Passwords and the many options for safeguarding them. iPhoto for the iPad will be demonstrated as well as many other new apps. As always, we will go around the room for questions.

As this will be the last e-mail notification of the meeting, we will finalize the Group's website and discuss how to get all your AIMUG news in the future.

March 12, 2012

Looking for a Used iMac (Intel processor)

To all,

One of our senior members (would you believe 92!) has decided that her 10 year old iMac needs to be upgraded. I am helping her find a used iMac with at least an Intel processor so that we can upgrade it to a fairly new operating system. She is willing to pay in the range of $500-600. Any member thinking about upgrading their current desktop should contact me with the specifications of the one they would be willing to sell to her. Please e-mail the group.

March 8, 2012

News about Quicken on Lion

I just read an article saying that Intuit has modified Quicken 07 to run on Lion for those wrestling with this upgrade. If interested, you can read the article here. I do not use the application so can provide no insight in the matter. Good luck!

March 8, 2012

Updates, Updates, Updates!

Nearly all Apple products have updates today. Desktops and portables have updates to iTunes and associated applications; mobile devices (iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch) have an update of the iOS to 5.1; and the AppleTV has a major format change update.

Busy, busy, busy!

March 7, 2012

Keynote address announcing new iPad

In case you have not followed today's news, Tim Cook announces a new iPad and AppleTV which can be watched here. In addition, Apple released an iOS update for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch and an excellent version of iPhoto for mobile devices.

March 2, 2012

To all,

Should be a very interesting AIMUG meeting tomorrow (rain or shine!)

- We will again focus on the AppleTV with a demo and discussion regarding what might be released next week.

- Will do a status check on the new website and look for volunteer contributors

- We will also have a presentation on Passwords which certainly was a hot subject last meeting.

- The next OS Mountain Lion will be discussed and the impact of rapid changing operating systems

- iCloud seems to be generating lots of questions and problems

- A look at the new Messages application and how it might be used.

Remember that the door prize will be an AppleTV (sadly not the rumored new model)