This month, for the first time in quite awhile, we will proceed without the services of our resident guru, Dean Hoffmann. Our meeting night falls on his and wife Jackie's wedding anniversary and showing his good sense he has chosen to spend it with her rather than with us. I'm sure you all will join me in wishing Dean and Jackie many happy returns. I don't know the number of the anniversary but it's got to be up there (Dean is older than he looks.... or acts). In his stead member Dave Glassman will give a talk on his recent Mount Everest Base Camp Trek seen through video and photos. He will be glad to talk about how to organize, edit, add voice over and adding music to the video. As a preview of some of the wonderful photography we will see take a look at the Photo of the Month at the end of this epistle.
Here is some info on the Apple Logo that I found interesting:
Apple's first logo featured Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. It looked like the cover of a seventh grade English textbook ? that is, a seventh grade English textbook that my great-grandmother might have used. Luckily, Steve Jobs and co. decided to go in a different direction soon after launching the company, hiring designer Rob Janoff to design a logo that would highlight Apple's unique appeal: color graphics.
The new rainbow-colored, apple-shaped logo did just that and went on to serve as a welcoming beacon as consumers tepidly entered the digital age. Remember the colorful Macs of the 1990s? They almost seemed to be screaming, "Don't be afraid ? we're friendly! We promise!"
As tech consumers evolved, so did Apple's logo. After the short-lived black apple iteration, the silver apple emerged, reflecting the ultimate Apple user experience: clean, smooth, and seamless. Today, for many consumers, the silver apple is synonymous with quality.
The door prizes for this month's meeting will be chosen from the following (not all will be awarded):
? Hard Drive Dock
? Portable External Hard Drive
? Speaker/Stand for iPad or iPhone or iPod
? NetPlug 200 (lets you use your house's wiring as an ethernet connection)
? Rechargeable Batteries and Charger
The usual rules apply; each paid membership will receive one raffle ticket but additional tickets can be purchased at the cost of $1 or 6/$5.
Only one prize per membership still applies.
Only one prize per membership still applies.
See you on Wednesday,
Pete
Below are some articles you may find of interest:
Browsers for Macintosh
After posting the article about the demise of Camino, I wondered how many browser options we still have beyond the big three.
How to Troubleshoot 4 Mac Problems
During the life of a Mac there can be problems with the computer. This article on Lifehacker is entitled "How to Troubleshoot the Four
Most Common 'Oh Sh*t' Mac Problems."
Themes Back on the Mac
Interacto Labs Inc. has announced Flavours 1.0.8, a Mac application to change the OS X appearance.
Easy Way to Resize Photos For Email or Web : Image Resizer Deluxe
Image Resizer Deluxe - Easy Way To Resize Photos For Email or Web MADE IN AMERICA Lifeware Solutions has rolled out a major update to Image Resizer Deluxe 1.1 for Mac. The application provides powerful tools to quickly resize and rename large numbers of photos to reduce their size, and make them ready to be sent over email or posted on the web.
Draw this App --An Innovative Way to Learn How to Draw
*Draw this App* turns your iPad into a virtual studio that will
improve your drawing skills using metrics to track progress. Think you can't draw? Peterson Hamilton thinks otherwise. The Toronto based designer and developer has created an iPad app that challenges the user using similar technique to learning how to write cursive so that anyone can hone their drawing skills. Drawing is a different way of thinking, that most people haven't refined, and aren't able to fully access. --
from Canada
USB Super-BluDrive for Mac
The USB Super-BluDrive is a lightweight, portable, slot-loading
drive that connects via USB and can play and record CDs and DVDs as well as play commercial Blu-ray movies directly on the Mac with the included software.
Safenetting : Spam, Phishing, Breakins, Hacks, JUNE
User Group Network UGN Safenetting and Cybercrime report
As we've said many times before, hacks and breakins will eventualy overtake the worst of the spam and phishing, leaving only the most irritating spam. This whole Iranian elections has become a cybercriminal's mecca (no pun intended) and is dominating the news channels on hacking. This week's Safenetting evils are :
* Phishing attacks on Iranian Gmail users jump before Iranian election * Canada a landing pad for foreign hackers, report finds
* Bethenny Frankel may be a victim of Twitter spamming
* Google: Thousands of gmail accounts hacked in Iran
* Ticketmaster warns phishers using tickets as bait * Brazil is one of the top countries for phishing
* Little thumb drives now a big security threat
* Vanity Scam Strokes Egos to Steal Info
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????* A sobering day
iOS 7 Compatibility Chart
Cult of Mac has posted a chart, not only showing what iOS devices can run iOS 7, but also what features will NOT be available on the earlier models.
iOS 7: Siri
This Apple Insider article called: 'Inside iOS 7: Siri gets smarter
with new system controls' lets us know about some of the new commands available to Siri users.
Enolsoft Free YouTube Downloader
Enolsoft Co., Ltd. has announced Free YouTube Downloader HD, its free YouTube video downloading app for Mac OS X. Users can easily batch grab and save online YouTube videos, HD videos and HTML 5 videos. Just drag-n-drop the YouTube video URLs to the app's interface; the added YouTube videos then will be downloaded automatically. This update resolves the YouTube video downloading failure issue caused by certain changes of the YouTube website.
Beginning of the end for Amazon Affiliates
If you happen to have Amazon ads on your web site, as we do, and you've been in the Affiliates program, then today's news may not come as a surprise. However, if you haven't been following the sales tax discussion, then you should be aware that today, Amazon announced Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, or Rhode Island ... along with California if their web tax law passes -- affiliates will
be cancelled. You're off.
This could add the largest US state to many smaller states that have now received similar letters -- and most importantly, Amazon has already begun the termination process for its North Carolina web publisher "associates." It seems likely that with the budget pressure in almost every U.S. state, the same language will still appear in many other states' budget bills without warning.
When California and Texas fall, Amazon will probably feel compelled to shut down the Associates Program all together. End of an era.
Letter from Amazon today:
"In addition, if at any time following your enrollment in the
Program you become a resident of Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, or Rhode Island, you will become ineligible
to participate in the Program, and this Operating Agreement will automatically terminate, on the date you establish residency in that state. In addition, you must promptly notify us in writing of your Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, or Rhode Island residency, which you may do via the Contact Associates Customer Service form available here."
More: Amazon is big loser in Web Tax Grab
At the federal level, Illinois' own Dick Durbin is leading a
national effort to change the way sales and local taxes are collected from online purchases. He's suggested a web of complicated regulations on small businesses, all in the name of "tax fairness." But back in Illinois, politicians have already tried to tap into the Internet tax
base - without much success.
??????????????????????????????????????Amazon Drops Illinois Affiliates To Avoid Web Tax * http://tnw.co/ghypsY
Why is Amazon Supporting an Internet Sales Tax? * http://thebea.st/16NIbcr
Default Folder X 4.5.9
Software has announced the immediate availability of Default Folder X 4.5.9. This release makes its award-winning utility for enhancing Open
and Save dialogs compatible with Apple's newly announced Mavericks release of OS X. It also fixes issues with full screen mode and tagging
on Mac OS 10.8 and 10.7. Honored with Macworld Magazine's Editors' Choice Award for Best System Enhancement Utility, Default Folder X makes Open and Save dialogs 'work the way they should.'
Photo of the month:
From David Glassman's Everest Trek
