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Airplay Mirrors Your Laptop to TV

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        Airplay, one of the new features in Mountain Lion, will mirror your laptop to your TV through Apple TV.  John Carter sends this link to an article to explain Airplay.  

         John explained, “I have a 70" TV, so I can sit 10 feet away and it will look no smaller than my MacBook Pro two feet away from my face.
        "All the websites that talk about Apple TV haven't given me enough information in a real world way that made me feel good about spending $100, so I just bit the bullet and bought it as a trial. I then learned very quickly how easy it was to set up (for me). Most people I know would have thrown it across the room almost right away. And now the problem I have is that I can't find the tiny remote.”
        Will you demo this for PMUG? “No, a TV is needed and one with an HDMI input.”
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Print to your iPhone, iPad, or Kindle . . .

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        A notice from BlueSquirrel announces a nifty program:  Anything you can print, you can take with you on your iPad, iPhone, or Kindle.  Print directly to your iPad and have it with you, even when you don't have an Internet connection.  Read about it here. Let us know. I use BlueSquirrel's ClickBook a lot for making booklets, but this is a new feature for someone with iPad, iPhone, or Kindle to try out.

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Try a New Browser?

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Jim Hamm bravely steps forward to try a new browser and tell us about it.  He announces, "A few days ago I installed a new browser on my Mac: Maxthon. I tried it to see if it would use less memory than Safari does after spending time on the web. My initial impression is that it does. I like it fine, but can't say that I like it better, overall, than any other browser. I tend to switch browsers occasionally, and they all seem quite satisfactory to me, except I feel Safari tends to hog memory more than other browsers.        "Then, tonight, I read this review from Macworld about Maxthon for the Mac. Also, Maxthon is available for the PC as well. Click here. If interested, you might give Maxthon a try to see what you think."

        Keep us informed on how it goes. 
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Who Inherits Your eBooks?

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        Here is an interesting article discussing who owns your ebooks and digital music when you pass on. Jim Hamm writes, "I hadn't even thought of this till I read this article. As the article points out, both Apple and Amazon, for example, only grant you 'nontransferable' rights to use digital data — all that music and ebooks you bought, you don't own. If this is of concern to you, one way around this restriction would be to purchase CDs for music and printed books.
        "If you choose to continue the digital life (as many of us will — it's so easy and convenient), leave the passwords for your computers and tablets and Kindles where your heirs can find them. Perhaps in your cookie jar — kids know to look there first."  And here Jim leaves us with ideas to ponder — and his grin! 
 

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Java Fix Doesn't Work (Updated 8-31)

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  We start out with the latest warning on Java, received at 3:20 pm Friday, 8-31.  Jim Hamm brings us up to date.  (Then read the rest of this for the background of this huge issue.)         "Now this is amazing. A few hours after Oracle issued a patch for the security flaw in Java, another exploit has been found. This has been forwarded to Oracle, but since Oracle never comments on these security breaches they didn't say anything. It doesn't appear the hackers have found this opening yet, but after they read this article, they'll probably start trying.          "Although our risk of hacking might be small, I think it's best to disable Java. I did so a long time ago and haven't missed it yet."         You saw this here on 8-27.   Here's a warning from Jim Hamm,  "If you've still got Java enabled in your browser, now's a good time to disable it. Another vulnerability with Java has surfaced. Take a read on this. In Safari, Java can be disabled in Preferences > Security > uncheck enable Java."         With another notice of a potential malware risk from Java 7 Jim sends this link.   The last paragraph in the article states, "Mac owners can disable the Java plug-in from within their browsers, or remove Java 7 from their machines. To do the latter, select 'Go to Folder' from the Finder's 'Go' menu, enter '/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/' and drag the file '1.7.0.jdk' into the Trash."         Here's a quick test to see if Java is disabled in your browser, from our eagle-eyed Jim Hamm.  He tells us,  "Just click here and if the box comes up empty, you're okay — Java is disabled."         And, Jim sends the latest:  "Here's an article describing how Oracle knew about the Java vulnerability to a malware attack since early April. And, moving right along at a snail's pace, Oracle doesn't plan a fix till October. Given Oracle's slow response to acknowledging and fixing malware attacks, it's a wonder any developer use Java at all."         We were surprised to see a fix announced here this afternoon, (Thursday, August 30).  Keep us informed on the latest and we'll pass the word along!  !           A hot topic: this just out an hour ago, (8-31)  and recommends you turn Java off or delete it.  

Apple/Samsung Lawsuit

        If you're following the Apple/Samsung lawsuit here's a couple of interesting facts.  Jim Hamm says, Here's one analysis of what the recent outcome of the Apple/Samsung lawsuit and verdict might be for Android devices. The author suggests that Android manufacturers might be pushed into innovating instead of copying, which would be good for all consumers."
        Jim follows up with this: "Is this a telling picture or what? If you were in the jury and saw this, what would you think? Do you suppose a wee bit of copying by Samsung is going on? And this is only the 'outside' copying you're seeing -- not to mention the copying of internal processes. 

"What an ingenious way to present 'just the facts, mam'..(grin)...Got to admire the perspicacity of someone on Apple's legal team."    


Click to enlarge the jpg. 
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Explore How Google Translates

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        Curiosity is piqued by the latest forward from Jim Hamm.  It's supposed to be how to separate a yolk from the rest of the egg, but it's in Chinese, or Japanese, or something that looks like that.  Sure enough, the site http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/cooking/1160651.html  comes up and you can see how she does it.
        But, wait!  Google translate will help.  Go to Google > More > Translate.  Paste into the first box what you copied from that URL.  Up comes the English translation.  You can click on the little icon for sound in the bottom of that first box and hear the woman read it in her language.  (You can type in text or a website address or translate a document by pasting it into the first box.)  Experiment.  And see how cleverly she separates the yolk from the rest of the egg!

Click to enlarge.

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Hearing from the Hales

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        Former PMUG Prez Bob Hale and his wife Sue head for Claremont, California. He writes, "Hope all is well 'on the prairie' and with all of our PMUG colleagues.  Please keep in touch.  We wish you all the best."
        Bob served as Prez from November 2005 until January 2008.  Sue spoke to PMUG, and they hosted a PMUG Christmas party at their home in Prescott Valley.
        He adds, "We have skipped the Lion upgrade, so we're still happily running the venerable Snow Leopard OS's on our Intel iMacs, as are our two sons here."

Textbook or iPad

        "Here's an interesting article comparing the cost of buying/renting physical books for school vs renting or buying them as eTextbooks. A student can save enough over four years to pay for the cost of an iPad. Another advantage of eTextbooks, not mentioned in the article, is how much easier/lighter it is to carry around an iPad versus heavy textbooks. Unfortunately, all publishers don't make their books available as eTextbooks yet.
        "Can't you visualize your six-year-old daughter getting ready for her first day in school and coming up to you and saying: 'Mom, I'm going to school now. I need a new iPad!'...(grin)." This came from Jim Hamm. 

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How the Internet Works

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        In only 3:22 minutes you can see how the Internet works, thanks to a youtube video sent to us from Jim Hamm.  His comments:  "You may have already seen this video of a simple explanation of how the Internet works. If you haven't seen it, take a look, it's very interesting.
        "Some amazing attributes of the Internet to consider. Probably most of us just take it for granted, and don't appreciate that it works, that it's free, and it's fast. You send out a request to view a web page, and that simple request goes thousands of miles to a server located somewhere far away, and the answer comes back in thousands of packets before they're finally put back together and shown on your computer screen -- all in about a second!. 
        "To me, it's simply amazing that somehow the packets can all be put back together again. And remember, that request is moving close to the speed of light, which is about 186,000 miles per second!" 
        Jim's summary: "Just think, on your computer screen those pictures you're looking at, the video you're watching, the music you're listening to, the text you're reading -- all comprised of zeros and ones -- that's what your computer recognizes. Yes, the Internet and computers are simply amazing."  

        When this website comes up note the name of the company, upper left under the title.  You can subscribe to this company's postings.  Next to that says, "63 videos" and you can view their pictorial listings.