A video of the Keynote speech at MacWorld Expo is available on this link. http://events.apple.com/edgesuite.net/0901ouabdcaw/event/index.html
The Google program Picasa was a favorite of Zee Hamm when she had a PC. She really missed it when both she and Jim switched to Macs. It's finally been released for the Mac. Here is one link to an article: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2009/01/05/macworld-ars-google-officially-releases-picasa-for-mac
and the other article is http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10130501-12.htm?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
The Ambassador's section of the PMUG website has been updated. Go to www.pmug.us and click on Benefits, then Ambassador Website. Remember to check on our PMUG site for stuff on sale.
http://macworld.appletell.com/
http://www.macworld.com/topics/macworld_expo.html
"If time and inclination permit, here's an opportunity to while away an hour." — Jim
If you write for yourself, for others, for amusement, or for publication you might enjoy visiting the Writers’ Networking Group that meets in Prescott Valley at Windsong Villas, behind the Good Samaritan facility on Windsong Drive. We meet on Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m. There’s no cost, no obligation. More info? Contact Elaine Hardt at mailto:edpr@commspeed.net
Member John Carter forwards to us the following warning from http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2008/12/hackers-create-secure-sockets-liar.html
"Hackers create Secure Sockets Liar: You know that comforting little padlock icon at the bottom of the browser that lets you know you're on a secure, encrypted connection to a bank, merchant or whatever? It's been picked. An international team of security researchers announced today that, with the help of 200 PlayStation 3 consoles strapped together into a poor man's supercomputer, they had exploited a known weakness in a cryptographic algorithm called MD5 and created a rogue Certification Authority able to forge the certificates used to authenticate Secure Sockets Layer connections (the padlock thingie). In theory, similarly skilled evildoers could steer users to phishing sites that not only looked legit but also appeared to be properly secured. In practice, the evildoers still have some tech work to do to catch up with the white-hat guys, and the exposure of the vulnerability should be enough to encourage the remaining real Certification Authorities using the MD5 function to switch to something a little sturdier. So no need to panic, but also no time to relax. Said cryptography expert Bruce Schneier, 'This is good work, great cryptography. I love the research, but this doesn't matter a whit. There are half a dozen ways to forge certificates and nobody checks them anyway.'"
Just received from De Prez, Jim Hamm a message of deep regret that Dan and Erica Simpson are asking to be relieved from PMUG responsibilities. Dan's job will involve travel in the new year and he writes that he will not be able to give the attention PMUG needs. They will not be able to continue hosting the SIG, nor serving as Webmaster and Ambassador.
Our musical prez, Jim Hamm wants you to know about a radio website you can listen to while you're on your computer. He tells us, "It's like having interactive satellite radio on your computer. The list of channels is even like an XM or Sirius listing. You can select a channel, type in a song or name of performer. Go to www.theradio.com . Very nice, particularly since I enjoy music."
Anyone from PMUG going to Macworld in San Francisco might want to check this out. Erica Simpson sent the info to De Prez Jim Hamm, and Jim wants you all to know about it:
"Dear Erica, You are receiving this email because you have attended an Adobe User Group Breakfast in the past. Register now for the 2009 Adobe User Group Breakfast. Space is limited; two representatives per user group please. Got to: http://www.acteva.com/go/adobe Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2009 Location Address: Moscone South Hall, Room 310 San Francisco, CA 94103 Breakfast schedule: 7:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. - Registration & Door Open (Continental Breakfast) 7:30 a.m. - Presentation begins 7:30 - 8:30 am - Dave Helmly 8:30 - 9:30 am - Terry White 9:30 am - Q&A and raffle 9:45 a.m. - Program ends NOTE: if you do not arrive by 7:30 AM, you will automatically forfeit your confirmed reservation for the breakfast. Remember to bring your Acteva confirmation email with you. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Happy Holidays and I look forward to seeing you in January! All the best, Carmela Z. Robertson, CMP CZ Productions"
Maybe you saw it already, but breaking news is Apple bails on Macworld Expo after the '09 show, and Steve Jobs will not be presenting at that event. Phil Schiller will be presenting.
In case you missed seeing and hearing this musical group, De Prez Jim Hamm sends us this:
"Here's a picture of most of the Monday Night Bluegrass Band playing at the Acker Musical Showcase this past Friday, December 12, in downtown Prescott. From the left: Charlie, Jim, Bill, David, Elaine. Missing is our fiddle player, Carl. Bill's wife took the picture to send to their children and apparently Carl was too far to the right to be included, or maybe he had just stepped away. We had a good time pickin' and had a nice crowd that evening."
Our annual Christmas Potluck was held today at Manzanita Village Common House, thanks to Art Gorski who lives in this community. De Prez Jim Hamm welcomed 24 PMUG guys and gals to the festive meal. Dan & Erica Simpson donated a Canon Pixma MP210 printer which was won by Bob & Kaye Fleming. One year's free membership in PMUG was won by Helen Blossom and Emmett Buell. We had lots to eat and lots of conversation to enjoy.
After posting here about the amazing panorama photos taken by German photographer Willy Kaemena at the opening of the Apple Store in Munich I found his email address wkaemena@mac.com and wrote, telling him about our Mac blog. Within a few hours he wrote back! He said, "Thanks a lot! I have already 34000 pageloads of that panorama in 3 days. Are you in Prescott? I love it."
Keeping us full of Mac facts De Prez Jim Hamm alerts us to an article on Safari’s new anti-phishing features. Too much to quote here you’ll want to look it up yourself, http://db.tidbits.com/article/9862
Jim checked to see if Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo banks show the Extended Validation (EV) Certificate. Not finding it, he also looked at PayPal and Vanguard Mutual Funds, and the certificate did appear next to the lock icon for both sites.
Now that “phishing” is part of our computer vocabulary it’s a good reminder for us to check the sites we visit on the Internet. Better safe, than sorry. Thanks, Jim for giving us more food for thought.
Are you going to MacWorld in San Francisco in January? Our ever-vigilant gal, Erica Simpson sends us this alert from a MacWorld User Groups volunteer coordinator:
Click on this letter to enlarge it. Roger & Mary Beth Lakner sent it via email this afternoon as a PDF but it needed to be a JPG in order to get it into the blog. Here's how to do that: Drag the PDF out of the email to the desktop. Go to Applications and then open Preview, choose the document, then under File choose Save As. This is where you select under Format to save it as JPG. Thanks to Roger & Mary Beth for sharing their newsy holiday greeting.
John Carter sends this email this morning. What a beautiful photo! This small copy doesn't do it justice. He writes:
"Here's a shot of the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus over Prescott Valley. Taken on December 1 at 6:02 PM with a Canon Vixia HF100. Program AE mode. Location: on Main Street near the Prescott Valley Library."
PMUG members already know to be cautious and careful with email. This morning’s example just came from commspeed.net and in the list of today’s mail it looked official. With asterisks setting off capital letters of IMPORTANT, the title said "Upgrade Notification."
Going to View Full Header revealed the spammers info. I did a Grab (screen shot) of this page and the email letter screen, copied both to an email which I sent to spam.commspeed.net with my own notation, “Go after these bums!”
This is a reminder from "De Prez" about PMUG's Newsletter and Blog: http://pmugnews.blogspot.com/ If you have news, tips, tricks or suggestions relating to Apple, Macs, OS X, your travels, or other items of interest, please send them to Elaine at: edpr@commspeed.net so she can post them to the blog.
Also, it's convenient and handy to set it up as an RSS feed into Mail so that you are automatically notified when a new item is posted to the blog. Just scroll down to the bottom of the blog website and click "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)." This blog is a handy way for PMUG members to communicate with other members with items of interest. -- Jim Hamm
