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Getting to Know Mountain Lion

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        Want to find out more about Mountain Lion? The talk given by John Carter and Art Gorski at the September general meeting has been prepared as a PDF file for your edification.

        The file can be reached by going to the PMUG's website, hover on Benefits, and click "Tips 'N Tricks" in the menu that pops up. Then scroll down and look for "Getting to know Mountain Lion." Right click on the link to download the PDF file to your computer or just click on it to view in the browser. 
        John Carter says, "This isn't everything you need to know about Mountain Lion. There are some 200 new features in Mountain Lion. You can find out about all of them by doing a search in a browser (with Google, Yahoo, MSN, or whatever), but it will take some detective work and patience to get through them all."  (Sounds like fun!) 
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Look at that Battery

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        “Let’s take a look at that battery,” advised Kyle on the phone.  Doing a Google search for “Mac swollen battery” brought up a lot of articles and many youtube videos about the problem.  An expert was needed. 

Yesterday’s trip to the MacMedia store www.macmediainc.com  in Peoria we found Kyle to be a very helpful man who patiently explained the situation.  He installed a new battery.  We were advised to let the MacBook Pro battery run through a full charge cycle at least once a month.  
         When we got home we found an article http://macformat.techradar.com/blog/how-to-extend-your-macbooks-battery-life going into detail.  “A charge cycle is completed when you use up the full capacity of your battery and then recharge it. This need not be in one go: if you run your battery down to 50% and then recharge it, you’ve completed half a charge cycle. Do so again, and you’ve completed a full cycle. The lithium-ion polymer batteries used in modern MacBooks should be able to go through 1,000 full cycles and still hold 80% of their original full capacity. If you don’t unplug your MacBook very often, we recommend setting a monthly iCal reminder to run down its battery before giving it a full charge.”

        Don and I were happy doing business at MacMedia, Arizona’s largest privately owned Apple retail specialist which provides both in house and on-site repair services, as well as sales.   Yesterday the Arrowhead Apple Store was crowded with customers and geniuses, and you could hardly walk through the aisles. At MacMedia the store is large and displays lots of Apple merchandise.  And we decided to get that new MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion, too.  Kyle deftly transferred everything for us, and we can recommend him to you.  

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Introducing You to Linux

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        John Carter would like to introduce you — and your PC friends, too — to Linux at the next scheduled meeting of the joint PMUG/PCS SIG, September 29 from 1 to 3 PM in the Founders Suite at the Prescott Library.

        What's Linux?  John explains, "Linux is an alternative operating system, and it is free as are the majority of the applications that run under Linux. There are several distributions of Linux, so many in fact that it can be very confusing to figure out which one to use." 
        John will demonstrate several of the different distributions and "try to show how easy Linux is to use and manage, depending on which distribution you choose. Whether you are interested in using Linux or not, this is a must-attend SIG so you won't be left wondering what the fuss is all about."

Apple $ Statistics

       "Who would have imagined this about Apple just a few years ago? The annual revenue from just the iPhone is larger than all of Microsoft," exclaims Jim Hamm.   

        "Click here for another article. Apple's market cap makes it the most valued company of all time. I suspect Apple shareholders are pretty happy about this.
        "Oh, why wasn't I smarter and bought Apple stock about 10 years ago?"
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Apple's Challenges

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        "With an anticipated huge demand for the iPhone 5 (probably to be announced on Sept 12), it's possible Apple may run into component supply problems. Here's an article with more comments on this potential issue. Another interesting aspect of this is Samsung is a major supplier to Apple, while at the same time they're in a bitter dispute and lawsuit on patent infringement by Samsung on the iPhone. Is this perhaps akin to the old saying: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? And here Jim Hamm closes with . . . (of course) . . .(grin).

Address Book Problems with iOS6

       Here's a definite concern, from Prez Art Gorski.  "For those of you with FaceBook accounts, and getting ready to upgrade to iOS 6 when it comes out, here's something else to worry about. iOS 6 will have the ability to sync your Contacts with your FaceBook friends. This is a two-way sync, so your Contacts (Address Book on older Macs) will potentially get a bunch of new information added. The problem is that FaceBook is scheming to increase the use of useless Facebook.com email addresses, and will send them to your Contacts. 
Check out the story for the details.  See here.


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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.