A Visit to the International Space Station

        "Ever wonder what it would be like to live 200 miles above the earth in the International Space Station? Here is a 25-minute video that tells and shows you what it's like. Very interesting, very complex, and wouldn't be for you (or me) if you were even slightly claustrophobic. Take a look." This invitation is from Jim Hamm, and it's finally getting viewed and posted here. 

        In her final days as Commander of the International Space Station, Sunita Williams of NASA recorded an extensive tour of the orbital laboratory and downlinked the video on November 18, 2012 just hours before she, and 2 others departed in Soyuz spacecraft for a landing in Kazakhstan. 

Happy New Year!

Dear PMUG Members,
The PMUG Board would like to extend its sincere wishes for a Prosperous and Happy New Year to all the members.  We truly hope to see you all in 2013. 

Given a lot of hard work, time, and know-how, our PMUG website is easy to navigate, and is looking good, thanks to Mary Ann Clark.  Note that on the home page www.pmug.us you can click RSS which takes you to NetNewsWire.  Here you can select both this newsblog;http://pmugnews.blogspot.com and the PMUG website so you can keep up with the latest additions.  Try it, you’ll like it.
     Our thanks to PMUG secretary Bobbie Pastor for the above announcement.  See you all on January 19 for our first meeting of 2013.

An Assortment of Top Tips

        Here's a bunch of tips that you'll want to try!  Jim Hamm writes, "For your possible interesthere's the top tips in 2012 for OS X per the osXdaily newsletter." 
        Here's a few titles: Tips for maintenance,  Command line tricks  tips to free up disk space, How to speed up an older Mac,  Protect Mac from viruses, trojans and malware,  11 must-have free apps,  Keyboard shortcuts for iTuness,  How to navigate the Mac OS X Dock, and 43 gorgeous secret wallpapers in Mountain Lion.  

Virus Affecting PC and Mac

        John Carter gets our attention with this!  "There's a particularly nasty virus associated with the email that supposedly comes from UPS. The virus actually causes the mouse on a Mac to freeze up after about 15 seconds, you then have to reset the mouse, and it freezes again 15 seconds later. 
        "But this can only happen if you have a Windows machine on the same network as your Mac. Once the virus hits Windows, it infects all machines in the same network, including the Mac.

        "The moral of the story is do not run Windows without fully protecting the Windows OS with an A/V program - like AVAST. The Windows OS also needs Malwarebytes and SpyBot Search & Destroy software installed and running all the time in addition to AVAST."

iPhone App Shows the Prices

        Going shopping?  Jim Hamm passes on helpful info.  "Here is an app for the iPhone or an Android phone that you might find handy: ShopSavvy
        "When in a store, say, looking at a product possibly to purchase, you can use this app to scan the bar code and it will show prices of local retailers as well as on the internet to compare to the price in the store you're shopping in. Best Buy, for example, was matching internet prices before Christmas, but I'm don't know if they plan to do this all the time. Wouldn't hurt to ask if you're shopping in Best Buy."

Make iPhone Apps Easier to Read

        "Here's a tip on the iPhone that might be helpful, if you're not already aware of it," Jim Hamm says.  "If, say, you're having trouble reading phone numbers on your iPhone Contacts list, here's how to get the numbers bigger and easier to read: go to Settings > General > Accessibility > turn on Zoom. Now, when you open Contacts simply use three fingers and double-tap the screen. Immediately the numbers become larger. Double tap again to reduce back to normal size. This even works on every screen on the iPhone -- at least every one I tried."  
        Jim continues,  "Along this same vein, while you're in the Accessibility mode on the iPhone, you can set the font size in Large Text to be much larger automatically in five apps:  Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Messages and Notes. You can pick the size of the font you want."

10 Tips for the iPad

       "Here's an article that lists 10 useful tips for your iPad," announced Jim Hamm.  He goes on to say, "Also, if you have an interest, you can subscribe to a daily email from this site which has tips on a variety of topics."  
        And you'll probably remember that our November 19 posting here there's a brief mention about Ben from Brooklyn and suggests you might like to subscribe to his email, "Here's the Thing."  

Let There Be Music

         "If you like to listen to internet radio while on your computer, here's another way to locate and play a radio station in iTunes," begins Jim Hamm.  

        He goes on to be specific:  "First, open this URL, enter a ZIP code, or radio station call letters, or type of music. Do a search. Pick a station. For example, I entered our ZIP code in Scottsdale and picked an AM station in Phoenix, AZ that plays 'oldies', clicked the small lightning icon in front of the station. It automatically downloaded the URL stream in the downloads folder to the right of the Address Bar in Safari. I clicked this download and it opened iTunes and added the radio station to 'internet songs' in iTunes. Now when I want to listen to this station on my computer I just open iTunes, click this station and listen away."
       Does it always work this way?  Jim answers, "I've found, however, that not all radio stations are broadcasting in a format that is, I assume, compatible with iTunes since they won't load. I'm going to experiment  more to see if I can find what causes this anomaly.
        "Another alternative, and perhaps simpler, in your iTunes Library select Music, then Radio, and pick a radio station from the list. I'm listening now, for example, to a station in Boston broadcasting Celtic music."
        He closes with,  "iTunes is available for Windows as well as OS X. Here's more info on this."

Comparing PC & Apple

        "Here is an interesting article from PC World." states Jim Hamm.  He extrapolates, "Apparently this means that Apple might have an opportunity to move into the small business arena, which traditionally has been dominated by Windows. Apple, for whatever reason, has never been a factor in the business arena. 
        "As a side note, I was in a small business yesterday and the gentleman was accessing his computer. I asked what OS was he running? He said Windows XP, which was released 11 years ago! Our dentist, the VA, and so on, still use Windows XP. Microsoft is going to have a hard time moving these businesses to Windows 8."
        A statistic from that article catches our attention: In a survey of 45,000 PC World magazine readers the majority prefer Apple laptops. 

Watch Out for Roaming Charges

        The article about unexpected charges to smartphone users caught my attention.  An email to Jim Hamm gives us his take on this potential problem.  "Years ago when we first got a cell phone and had to be aware of possible roaming charges while traveling in the US. Now we are on AT&T and roaming may be a thing of the past -- at least for us. If AT&T doesn't have a signal in a particular area, then we just don't get service and can't make a call. I'm not sure what the situation may be for Verizon."  See the article here

More About Library Access to the Internet

        John's found out more about accessing the Internet at the Prescott Public Library.  His complete report has now been posted to the PMUG website.  Take a look at the details he explains under Benefits > Tips 'N Tricks.  You'll also find there his slide presentation to the PMUG/PC meeting a few weeks ago.  A big thanks to John Carter! 

Check Out PMUG's Website

       Given a lot of hard work, time, and know-how, our PMUG website is easy to navigate, and is looking good, thanks to Mary Ann Clark.  Note that on the home page www.pmug.us  you can click RSS which takes you to NetNewsWire.  Here you can select both this newsblog http://pmugnews.blogspot.com and the PMUG website so you can keep up with the latest additions.  Try it, you'll like it.  

Bookmark This NOW: System Status

        Probably this will be the handiest website for you to bookmark!  Jim Hamm strongly suggests, "Here's a site published by Apple that will alert you to a known problem with a particular Apple System. 
        "Let's say, for example, you're having a problem with iCloud Mail. Is it your computer, or ? A quick check of this site will alert you if it is a known problem that may be system-wide. If there's no alert showing, then take a closer look at your computer."  
        He closes with this, "You might want to bookmark this site -- it could be helpful."  But as soon as you view that site you WILL see its usefulness.