Making us aware of the latest precautions for malware prevention, Jim Hamm sends this: "Click here. This newsletter is oriented to PCs, but the information contained in this article is relevant to Macs as well." The writer speaks about a February security conference, and goes into some detailed explanations and tips. Social-engineering threats are rapidly growing. He declares that the number one delivery method of a hack is a ZIP file. He also relates his conversation with a hacker.
Thanks, Jim. This looks like an article we all need to read and heed. We might do our PC friends a favor by sending this info on to them right away.
iPhone Camera Tips
"If, like me, you use your iPhone camera all the time," Prez Art Gorski gets our attention, here are "useful tips you should know."
How to Improve Security
Here's more good info on security from Jim Hamm: " Here is an article on how to improve the security of your Apple ID."
New Trojan Targets Mac
Keeping a lookout for computer security Jim Hamm shares this, "Here is an article about a new trojan targeted at the Mac. The key point here to observe is not to install anything from a popup box. Always go directly to the appropriate website from your browser to update/install anything."
Shopping with iPhone at Walmart
"Here is an interesting article about how the iPhone may be used, in the future, when shopping at a Walmart store," says Jim Hamm. It's taking the idea of self-checkout to another level in 200 stores in the U.S. as a start.
You Can Send to Kindle
" Here is a browser extension for Firefox and Chrome that enables one to send web articles, emails, etc., to any Kindle device for reading later. The article states an extension for Safari is coming soon," Jim Hamm informs us.
Learn About Social Media
Bobbie Pastor reminds us about a presentation on Social Media to be held this Saturday, March 23. Vice Prez Dave Rothgery announced it at our PMUG meeting last Saturday. "Introduction to Using Social Media for Business" It is hosted by SCORE at the Prescott Adult Center. http://www.scorenaz.org/score-workshop-13c.htm You can pay at the door.
You'll be briefed on info on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest. Note, Howard LaPittus is the man to call if you have questions. That email is scoreoffice@scorenaz.org
Look at Templates, Also See Videos
The following was March's handout at PMUG. Have you looked at Pages Templates lately? This is Pages ’09.
In Pages > File > New From Template Chooser look at the choices. Click to open and bring up the samples on the screen. Take a look and see what you’d like to try. (Click to enlarge, then click again to go back to this page.)
Notice in Pages > Share. See these possibilities:
Then take a glance at the resources under Help, shown in this screen shot below. Looks like Help might help!
Some of the following links employ Adobe Flash. If you encounter one, you should open that link using Google Chrome instead of Safari.
Videos and PowerPoint presentations that might be interesting to see:
http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html Views of famous site
25 presentations of famous architecture of the past and present
Over 50 presentations of geology, from rocks on earth to rocks in outer space.
Baedeker.com provides 3D views of the world’s most famous buildings and places. (Requires Flash)
Download Google Earth for Mac, PC or Linux. Zoom from space to street level and tour the world.
Tourism gallery with 7 links.
In Showcase, learn about US presidents and tour their birthplaces, the ocean, the moon, art museums, baseball stadiums, world skyscrapers, soccer stadiums.
A monthly newsletter with illustrations. The latest is Google Earth 6.2 with features of street view, driving directions,etc.
Videos of animals by categories.
Earthquakes around the world, prepping for disasters, self-defense, top 10 trips to take this spring.
For amazing videos of volcanoes, click here.
30 famous historical figures when they were young.
Life history of world famous people in various spheres of life
Have you found something interesting on the Internet lately? Want to share ideas?
Hope to see you next time.
PRACTICAL. INTERESTING. MACINTOSH!
Compare Smartphones
Read about the latest smartphone, thanks to John Carter who sends this info: "Samsung announced its Galaxy 4 yesterday. Yes, it's a tiny bit larger (5" long instead of 4.8"). Yes, it is thinner (slightly). Yes, the display is fantastic and the new user interface is WOW! Yes, the 13-megapixel back camera and the 2-megapixel front camera can take photos and videos simultaneously.
"Wow! That's a lot of Gee-Whiz! But, is it 100% compatible with iCloud, iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie? I don't think so." John's pronouncement: "The battle is on for the best smartphone."
Mountain Lion 10.8.3 Released
Look at the list of the fixes and improvements for Mountain Lion that are posted at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5612 Let us know how Mountain Lion is going for you.
Save $$$ -- Be Happy!
Want to save money on Apple products? Look what Prez Art Gorski found, "A little known fact is that you can buy Apple refurbished products at the Apple Store at a nice discount. I've done this myself. Now Apple has a refurbished products store on eBay, where not only is the shipping free, but it looks like there is no sales tax charged as well. Happy shopping!" http://stores.ebay.com/Refurbished-Outlet
What a deal! One year warranty, like-new condition, comes with manual, cable, and the final quality inspection by Apple. This site has 21 products listed as of today, 3-9-13. Positive feedback for the last 12 months is 99.7% for the seller. Take a look. Thanks, Art.
Shortcuts on How to Find It
Prez Art Gorski to the rescue of most of us! He writes, "This article shows you how to customize Spotlight and use keyboard shortcuts to make finding stuff on your Mac much easier." (Yes, many of us appreciate that word EASIER, don't we!)
Cathode « Secret Geometry
"For all you really old-school computer users, here's an alternative to the Terminal application that's a lot more fun to use," announces Prez Art Gorski. Here's the link http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ The FAQ concludes with, "If you're a geek who wants to go down the rabbit hole, try Cathode."
Good Info on iPhone
A new article has been posted in the PMUG website in the Tips 'N Tricks page (under Benefits) about the iPhone. It's called "How I Use My iPhone." John Carter gives us a quick overview of his experience with the iPhone. This came about as a result of a short presentation that he gave at the joint meeting of PMUG and PCS on February 23, 2013. John says, "Caution! If you don't already have an iPhone, this article may encourage to get one right away."
Evernote Breach
Here's what David Passell passes along today, "I saw this news item, and also received an e-mail from Evernote (which was filtered by cableone's spam filter). I think I used it briefly. Nothing will organize my stuff:). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21644317
The article says Evernote acts like an online personal organiser, with users able to save data such as video clips, images, web pages, notes and itineraries in an external storage system commonly known as the cloud.
Apple's Shareholder Meeting
Keeping an eye out for the latest Apple news Jim Hamm reports, "Here's some of Tim Cook's comments at the Apple shareholder meeting on February 27. One of the attributes of being a publicly held company is that most shareholders are focused on short-term results -- e.g., what did you do for me today? Why is the stock price declining today? Why aren't you paying out that cash you've got as a dividend today?
"A good management team, such as Cook and his team seem to be, focuses on the long term. They aren't, and shouldn't be, concerned or focused on what 'Wall Street' expects earnings to be the next quarter, etc.
"Concern was expressed, as you would expect, about the fall in the Apple stock price. There are methods to calculate whether a stock might have been overpriced, and perhaps Apple was. I didn't bother doing any calculations since to see how unrealistic, if at all, Apple's stock price was since I don't own any Apple stock."
Try the Apple Quiz
How much do you know about Apple? David Passell sends this challenge: "Here is a link to a quiz on how much you know about Apple. After you finish it you could go on to a quiz on E-readers. I won't tell you how much or how little I found I knew : ( . Here's the link: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/other-gadgets/apple-quiz.htm
How to Isolate Java
Jim Hamm grabs our attention with important info on Java. "in case you didn't see it, here is another article discussing Java, and how to remove or disable Java in your browser of choice. Some time ago I had disabled Java in the three browsers I use: Safari, Firefox and Chrome. I happened to be using Firefox when reading this article, so I thought I'd check the Java plug-in. Ouch! Sure enough, it was enabled again. How, I don't know. Perhaps when the browser itself is updated. I immediately disabled Java again.
That's probably why the author of this article recommends removing Java -- because somehow it can become enabled again, which is not a good thing from a security standpoint. Following is a summary from the article on how to disable Java.”
How to isolate Java
Isolating Java means leaving it on your Mac, but removing it from your browser except when you want it to run. Apple now does this by default for all Macs (10.6 and later) and will re-isolate it after about a month even if you've turned it back on. Isolating Java is a bit more complex now that Apple has removed the Java preferences utility from Lion and Mountain Lion.
If you run Java 6 (the Apple supplied version), you need to restrict it on each of your browsers. In Google Chrome, type chrome://plugins in the address bar and click the link to disable Java. In Safari, go to Safari > Preferences and uncheck Enable Java in the Security pane. In Firefox go to Tools > Add Ons > Plugins and uncheck Java Plug-In.
Sleep vs Shutdown
David Passell writes, "In our recent PMUG meeting sleep vs shutdown came up. Here's another take on it: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/powering-down-computer.htm
How to Update to iOS 6
John Carter gives directions, "iOS 6.1.2 update is available. How should you proceed? This notice is going out to a large group of people, and you may get this notice more than once. If you do not own an iOS device, you may disregard this notice.
"First, how often do you perform a backup of your iOS device (iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone)? Did you know that you can backup your iOS device either by connecting it directly to your computer, or by Wi-Fi if you have the option set in iTunes to do a sync with the device over Wi-Fi? For the iPhone and iPod Touch, you can also set an option to automatically sync the device when the device is connected to the computer (this option is not available for the iPad)."
Here's John's next suggestion, "Backing up an iOS device can be done to either a Cloud storage or to your computer using iTunes. Most devices can exceed the free 5GB storage of any Cloud storage, so it's probably best to backup to your computer."
And, now for a caution, "Also, before doing a backup or an update, do an update of iTunes, sync your device, and then perform a backup followed by the update. You should also then perform another backup after the update is complete. The before update is necessary in case something goes wrong with the update process and you need to restore and start over again.
"When you connect your iOS device to your computer, iTunes may automatically start up. If it doesn't, you'll have to manually start iTunes. When iTunes starts, you may get a notice that an update for the device is available. If you haven't done a device backup since the last time you made any changes to the content of the device, you should cancel the update, perform a sync, then perform a backup, and then do the update followed by another backup".
Pay attention to John's warning, "If you find that when doing an update using iTunes that the downloaded file is corrupt (the update is approximately 1GB, and a file this large may not be properly handled), rather than perform the update using iTunes, try the update from the device itself (Settings -> General -> Software Update). One setting in 'Disk Utility' may be the culprit of a corrupt download. That setting is 'Verify Checksums' (open Disk Utility -> Preferences and uncheck that option).
"Even with this option unchecked, the large file might still be corrupt. Another possible cause of a corrupt download is some firewall setting in the Internet modem (unproven). If that happens, then it is really necessary to perform the update from the device itself. To do that, disconnect the device from the computer, power-cycle the device, and then go into Settings -> General -> Software Update. You may even find that the download goes much faster when updating from the device."
Now, a call for patience! John says, "In all, it may take several minutes to do all these steps, so your patience is necessary.
"Following this procedure will ensure that your device will be updated properly and your content will not be lost."
And, in closing John reviews it:
- Update iTunes.
- Sync your device to iTunes.
- Backup your device.
- Perform the update either from iTunes or from the device.
- Backup your device again. (Got it? Thanks to John Carter!)