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Half of American Adults Have Been Hacked

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       Yes, there's more about hacking!  Jim Hamm alerts us, "I just read the following article wherein it is estimated half of all American adults were hacked this year! Hacking for ransomware or credit card or other personal information has become big business, it seems. Why is this so? The article succinctly puts it as follows: '...we're increasingly moving our lives online'...

     "I think this will be a fact of life for everyone who shops on or uses the internet."  See the short article and a 2 minute video here. 
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Ransomware Attack: What To Do

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      " Here is another article discussing what to do if your iPhone or iPad is hacked for ransomware."  And, of course, Jim Hamm immediately gets our attention.   "Unfortunately, hacks such as this are becoming more frequent as the following quote from the article mentions:
        'Database breaches are becoming far too common, with eBay, Adobe, Yahoo, and Target all falling victim in recent months.'
          Jim's advice is, "It seems the best thing to do to prevent this is to switch to a two-step verification process on your device.....

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Warning From CableONE

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        Another phishing scam has surfaced.  David Passell sends a copy of an email from CableONE, instructing customers to "please disregard any mail you receive that contains the following message, as it is a phishing scam:  'Your account is due and needs to be upgraded immediately.  Please review billing details and upgrade or we will disconnect you from services.'"   It goes on to detail a false link that is NOT a CableONE webpage.  Here is more info from Cable ONE  Cable ONE Support Site

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More to Say, More to Write

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          Ah, technology!  Ah, new developments!  Ug, new acronyms and new terminology! 
         Off hand, do you remember what JPEG stands for?  What about DSLR?  What about …..?
        Mac to the rescue.  When you click on the Dictionary icon in the Dock here’s what comes up.  
        I expected Apple to provide answers to my growing list of acronyms, but did find some help by clicking on Wikipedia.  The Dictionary didn’t know, neither did the Thesaurus. 
        Click on Dictionary, look at the top menu. Click on Services and see some unexpected categories you can view.  (Remember to click on the little screen shots here to enlarge the size.  Then click on it again to shrink it back and come back to this page.)

        Add to iTunes as a Spoken Track.  Make New Sticky Note.  Summarize. 

        Check out Preferences.  Drag reference sources into the order you prefer.  You can even choose the type of pronunciation you wish to see. 

        I did find www.acronymslist.com  and a list of medical acronyms http://www.medindia.net/acronym/index.asp 
        Heard of Slovoed Dictionaries?  It offers a FREE dictionary of the month.  and can be viewed in Mac App Store.  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slovoed-dictionaries/id524941905?mt=12  

More to Say, More to Write!
       So, you wrote something nice TO your mom for Mother’s Day, or you wrote something nice ABOUT your mom for your kids and grandkids. It’s so nice to write with Mac.  And you can print out the size of type that makes it easy to read.  But now, here comes Father’s Day.  Time to turn on your remembrances and your creativity again.
       Looking at an old photograph might stir up some memories.  Nifty to have so many pictures on your computer. Jot down your first ideas for your first draft.  (It’s not done yet!) 
        Writing about a hunting trip sounded promising.  But the first draft on the computer had too many “said” and “asked” words.  Go to Dictionary, and Thesaurus. Look at all the words to choose.  
      Go back to that draft of your writing and click somewhere on it. 

       Then do Command + F  to bring up Find and Replace.  I entered “said” and my happy computer put a nice yellow box around each instance of this word, one at a time.  I could choose which to delete and replace with a suitable synonym.  
        Another time, I wanted to write a fictional piece for some young cousins.  Going to Google, I typed in puzzle and then images.  I scrolled through a lot of clip art and photos until I found one to use.

  I’ve mentioned before, I use bluesquirrel’s program ClickBook for Mac to make booklets.  It shrinks down the type size and picture size to fit the page.  You have over 100 layouts to choose from.  www.bluesquirrel.com  
       You’ll have fun writing with Pages.
       Check our newsblog regularly to see all the info that’s being added.
       Keep up the good work.  See you next time.  Bring a friend!  
* * * 
                          This is today's handout, 5-17-14 at PMUG meeting, by Elaine Hardt 

Computer Getting Hot?

        "You may have noticed that your laptop gets a little hot when you have been using it for a while," begins John Carter.  He goes on to give this helpful advice.  "The battery doesn’t like being hot (it can go bad quickly), so it’s a good idea to do what you can to keep your laptop cool.

        "Rock and metal are good conductors of heat. Wood is an insulator. If you are using your laptop on a wooden tabletop, the heat from the laptop is not being dissipated very well, so it would be a good idea to prop up the back side even a little to let air flow get under the laptop. 
        "If you’re using the laptop on your lap, your legs will get warm. Putting a pillow under the laptop to keep your legs from heating up is not the best idea either. 
        "A laptop cooler, one with fans in it, is the best way to keep your laptop cool. A dual fan laptop cooler is better than a single fan cooler. The problem with any laptop cooler is that it needs power, and it gets it from your laptop via a USB port. 
        "For the MacBook Air, you might not have any reason to use such a cooler since they stay pretty cool at all times. But the MacBook Pro (even one with an SSD drive) can get quite hot on a hot day."
        John completes his advice with this,  "For the sake of your battery if nothing else, keep your laptop cool."
        But, John, how hot is hot?  Looking at the iStatPro widget on my MacBook Pro gives me temperatures from 88 degrees in the Enclosure Base #3  to 121 degrees in the CPU Diode! 
        Two shakes later the reply flies in from John, "I would have to check the specs.  It is different for each model.  I would think that if you hear the fan running it's getting too hot." And he comments on the little "legs" under my computer.  "The legs will certainly help to provide air cooling under the laptop."
       Wouldn't it be nice to inform our readers about that iStatPro widget?  Aaaaack.  It's been discontinued. See widgets here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/
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iPad Charger

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         Got an iPad?  Here's a well-illustrated article, 20-pages long, that gives details you need.  
        Jim Hamm informs us, "The charger for the iPad is relatively expensive at $19 if purchased from Apple. Sure, you can purchase counterfeit lookalikes for a much cheaper price. Should you? In a word, NO! The old adage 'you get what you pay for'  is certainly true in this case. Here is an excellent article explaining why you should stick with the genuine Apple iPad charger." 
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Another Search Engine for Privacy

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         Ginger Carlson passes along this information:  "Here's another search engine that is supposed to protect one's privacy that a friend told me about.  I have downloaded it and used it a few times.
        "If you go to www.startpage.com it has a search block and beneath it "Add to Firefox" (which is her browser).  It works for Safari, too.  When I downloaded it I thought the download hadn't worked until I noticed the tiny little "SP" icon on the left side of the address bar."  

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Info on Aviator

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        Jim Hamm shares some new info:  "Are you concerned about security while browsing the web?  Here is an article discussing a new browser: Aviator. And here is another article wherein the author discusses his use of Aviator.
        "If you're all enthused now, here is the website where you can download this browser for either OS X or Windows.

        "I've not tried this browser yet, as we're traveling and it isn't convenient to do so. However, one of these days I'll give it a try -- more out of curiosity than any real concern about browsing the web." 

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Save on MacBook Air Now

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       "I love my MacBook Air," announces Prez Art Gorski.  He then gives the good news,  "And just this week Apple announced new models with slightly different processors that don’t make a big difference in performance. But they dropped the price $100. Everyone selling the older, practically just as good, models are scrambling to unload them at reduced prices. 
        "This article is a great resource for locating the best deal if you’re in the market right now:http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/04/29/deals-save-up-to-200-on-2013-macbook-airs-while-supplies-last-prices-start-at-818 

        Art's final advice, "Want to save even more? Go to the on-line Apple Store and take a look at the Refurbished older models available. They’re even cheaper!"