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What's Happening

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         Get the idea that your hour-long TV news program has not covered all the world news that’s happening?  They’ve put in some cutesy pieces to lighten up the otherwise bad news from here and there?  The Internet to the rescue!
        Go to www.onlinenewspapers.com  and you’ll see this.  (Click to enlarge, click again to return to this view.) 

It’s interesting to see their take on news happening in other nations of the world. It’s even interesting to see the ads on their websites!   
        See the latest Apple news?  http://www.apple.com/hotnews/    And at the bottom of that page see Recent Press Releases.  There’s a link to the side to click for iTunes Movie Trailers.  When you click on the little RSS button it takes you to NetNewsWire so you can keep informed, along with the other sites you want to keep current.  
        How are the 400+ Apple stores doing?  https://www.apple.com/retail/storelist/  Scroll through the list of the states for the city you want to check out.  On the right side near the top choose a country or region:  16 nations have Apple stores.  The largest store in the world is in Amsterdam, according to Wikipedia. The first glass staircase got design patent in 2002 in the U.S. 

        What’s the government up to now?  http://www.usa.gov The US Government’s official web portal.  Click to contact Federal Government Agencies;  State. Local, & Tribal Governments; or Contact Elected Officials -- from President to local elected officials. You can subscribe to e-mail updates.  

        Look here for lots of news. http://www.thebigproject.co.uk/news/  This site has worldwide news in English, along with 15 in “Europe - Original Language.”  There’s Miscellaneous News with listings of News Aggregators and Blogs, News Podcasts:  BBC, CNN, Guardian, Financial Times, NPR, and Voice of America.  Under Minorities: 4 links, even Children’s News with 4 links, Good News with 3 links.

        Foreign nations’ links: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.  At the bottom is a list of 7 Newspaper Archives’ links.
       Here at  http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html   lists the US newspapers by states.  Then scroll down to their listings of world newspapers by area, then 63 national news sites (The Arizona Republic link is on this list),  and 24 Worldwide News Sites.
         In closing:  what about the weather?  You can scroll clear around the globe, and way up and way down.    http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?brand=wxmap&query=34.664902,-112.293999&zoom=5  Choose Weather Stations view, Radar, or Satellite views.  Fascinating!  
        Keep learning:  it’s fun, it’s productive, it’s Mac! See you at the next PMUG meeting.  Bring a friend! 
        This was today's handout at the June PMUG meeting,  by Elaine Hardt.
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What's File Sync -- and Why Should I Care About It?

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       David Passell sends some links to info about file sync.        https://www.dropboxatwork.com/2014/05/what-is-file-sync/#.U6OElyVai9Y.email  
        Then there's this additional . . . "this was sent via http://addthis.com. Please note that AddThis does not verify email addresses."  And then,  "make sharing easier with the AddThis Toolbar:http://www.addthis.com/go/toolbar-em And finally,  "To stop receiving any emails from AddThis, please visit: http://www.addthis.com/privacy/email-opt-out?e=ROQqiz.dD4wggiKcP4oqi2GBKps

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A Must-Have iOS App

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        "How many times have you wanted to access a file that is on your computer (Mac or PC) from your iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone? Even if it was only once, you know how frustrated you got because it just didn’t seem like it would be possible," begins John Carter.  
        Now, John offers some helpful info. "Enter FileBrowser from Stratospherix.

        "FileBrowser is the original and best file manager and viewer for iOS 7. FileBrowser can view, copy, move, upload, download, stream, and manage files between computers, servers, NAS drives and cloud storage in any direction. You don’t need to install any other software - FireBrowser will scan and locate computers on your network and connect in seconds, and will connect to cloud storage quickly, too. You can even use FileBrowser to quickly access all your photos and music on your iOS 7 device. Everything - all in one place!
        And John concludes with, "Get a full review of FileBrowser in the App Store. This is something you won’t want to pass by. Don’t let the $5.99 price tag let you miss out on this must-have app."
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Some Specific Malware Emails

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        "Of course you already know not to click suspicious emails so you don't end up with a virus or some other malware. Following are some examples that Greg, a blogger I follow, wrote and shows some of the suspicious emails he and his wife have been recently receiving. As he says, just be careful."  And thanks to Jim Hamm for this new alert. 

        Just a warning . . .I’ve been getting a lot of dangerous emails and I wanted to be sure that everyone was on the lookout for them.  They masquerade as Wal-Mart Gift Cards, Chili’s Coupons, or Red Lobster, etc. or even Free iPhones.  Because the fact that there’s usually something funny about the wording or phrasing of the message, the biggest giveaway is the email address shown at the upper left.   In this case, it’s ‘info@pigduke.com’.     Do you really think that Wal-Mart is going to have an email address with ‘pigduke’ in it?  (Click to enlarge these screen shots, then click the PMUG newsletter tab to revert back.) 
Walmart Trojan
Here’s the exact same email, but from ‘info@nesssos.com.'
Walmart Trojan2
And here’s what looks like a Delivery Notice from the US Post Office. Do you really thing the US Postal Service would be using a United Kingdom email address?
USPS Trojan
What do you think is going to happen if you try to print that shipping label? And why would you need to print a shipping label to PICK UP a package, anyway?   And note that apparently you can go to ANY Post Office to pick up your package.   So check those email addresses, and Let’s Be Careful Out There.
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Security Precautions for Protection

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        "If you should decide to use two-step verification as a further protection from ransomware and other malware, here is an article with details on how to go about setting this up," writes Jim Hamm.  
        And John Carter sends this advice:  "If you get a notice from USPS to click on a button to open a shipping label to print, don’t.  Any email is safe to open. Just don’t click on anything unless you have verified what you are clicking on." 

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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!  
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                          This is today's handout, 5-17-14 at PMUG meeting, by Elaine Hardt