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iPad 4 For Sale

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        John Carter announces that as soon as his iPad Air 2 arrives he will release his iPad4 for sale for $375.00.   He says, "There are minor dents and scratches, and it is fully functional. This includes Logitech Ultrathin keyboard cover, the original box and power adapter included for both iPad and keyboard.  It's  updated with iOS 8.1, and it's reset to factory defaults." You can call John at 928-458-0570 or email him at john@jrcarter.com  and he'll be happy to give you more details. 

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Macworld Expo Mothballed

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        "Following on the heels of the demise of the Macworld magazine is the announcement that the Macworld Expo is also gone. More info here. The first Macworld Expo that the wife and I went to was in February, 2008. This is where Jobs introduced the Macbook Air. I, of course, hurried home, bought one, and haven't looked back. 

        "The internet has changed many things in our lives, some for the better and others not so much. I'll miss both the magazine and the Expo," writes Jim Hamm. 
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Installing Yosemite, Continued

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         Jim Hamm's done it, too.  He tells us,  "I just upgraded to Yosemite and it took a loooong time to download -- something like 12-14 hours! First time it ever took this long to do an upgrade. I guess Apple's servers were overloaded and slow. I just let it crank all night and finished the install this morning. 

        Here John Carter steps in with his comment, "It didn't take that long for me.  I upgraded four computers.  Each one took less than an hour.  But then, I have SSD on all my computers."
        Well, Jim has more to say,  "My first impressions: it's as though someone took a paintbrush and went over all the icons and colors and made a slight adjustment in tone, color and looks. I didn't look and say "wow! this looks great." Nor did I say Yuck! It's OK as far as I'm concerned. There are some significant improvements over Mavericks, which I'm sure I'll experience and appreciate as I further use this new version of OS X.
        And John interrupts with this, "My first impression was, “Retro!” Meaning that the design looks like they went back to the 40’s and 50’s for the simplest appearance. Must be a lot of old people doing the design work. "
       Summarizing his impression Jim Hamm concludes with, "Should you upgrade to Yosemite? Here is an article that explains nicely whether the upgrade is right for you, and details some of the improvements. Definitely worth a read."
       Thanks to these two "early birds" for getting Yosemite and doing a quick report for the rest of us! 
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Yosemite is HERE!

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        You've heard about it, but John Carter has done it!  Here's his report on updating his operating system to Yosemite 10.10. (Remember to click on each illustration to enlarge it, then click to go back to this report. And if this whole thing is hard to read do Command and the + to enlarge the page.) John says, "Everything changes appearances.  Here's what my HOME page in Safari looks like: 

"I have set it that way because I don't want to see ANYTHING on my homepage.  You might have your home page to see something like this:  

"The address bar at the top doubles as a search bar.  You do NOT need that Google search bar in the middle of your page to do a search.  But if you insist, either type in google.com in the address bar or click on the home icon (if you have your one page set to google.com.) 
     With the update to 10.10, Safari (and all other Apple apps) also gets updated, and the default search engine for Safari is now DuckDuckGo.  It's a much safer way to browse the Internet because it doesn't track what you do.
       And notice that the Favorites Bar is gone.  When you click in the address bar, it comes back looking like this: 


There's all my favorites.  The icons with smaller icons in them are folders.  Look at the Entertainment icon.  It is a folder with multiple icons in it.  When I click on that icon, I then see this:  
And there's all the websites that I have saved in that folder.

        I used to be able to right click on an item in the Favorites Bar and an option list would pop up. That doesn't happen anymore. If I want to change what's in my favorites, I have to edit bookmarks. Another way to access Favorites is to Show Bookmarks. That opens a sidebar with everything in it - which takes up more space.
       I don't like this way of doing things, but for people with sight problems, this is great.
       If you don't want to deal with the changes in Safari, use Firefox or Chrome. But I guarantee that one day those browsers will also change dramatically.
        Things change. We either get used to the change, learn what's new, or lay down and let the world go by. Changes like this are actually beneficial to keeping our brains in shape. So it's best to let change be our daily lesson or find another way to communicate with the world - like go back to books, pen and paper.
        The irony of it all is that this kind of change makes me feel like I am back in school. Every year is another grade to pass. I actually like it. It's a challenge. The only way out of this is to move in to an Amish village.
        Noteboom Productions has a full video tutorial for Yosemite along with 20+ other very useful tutorials just for the Mac and iOS available in a subscription package (various rates apply). The tutorials are all online - nothing to download. There are lots of short videos on specific topics on the web. Study the tutorials, come to the PMUG meetings and SIGS, get comfortable with the changes, then do the update. Or just stay with what you have for the next five years. Frankly, if need to use your computer, eventually you may be forced to update because websites and applications will change to adopt to the new operating system and leave the old one in the dust.
        Be brave. It's the only high we have left that's legal. Be curious. It burns more calories than sleeping. Be unafraid. Fear is the ego's only tool that keeps you in the dark. - Psychology 101.
        For what it’s worth, here is a free online text tutorial that will help you get ready to do the update to Yosemite: tuts+
It doesn’t tell you how to download and install Yosemite. To do that, just open the App Store, click on the appropriate link, and just take all the defaults when it asks for information. Tuts+ has a lot of other free tutorials that you might find helpful.
        Oh, yes. You WILL need to know your Apple ID and password as well as your computer login password. If you don’t know these things, call Apple Support. If you are out of warranty, it will cost you only $20 to get all the help you need. If you want my help, it will cost you $45/hr for a minimum of two hours."  And here John Carter smiles as he leaves us with all of this to ponder.  
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Flashlight App Alert

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     "If you've installed a flashlight app on your smartphone you might want to take a look at the following video," declares Jim Hamm.  He continues, "And here are the Android apps SnoopWall.com checked.  No apps listed for iOS as yet, but if you have a flashlight app installed on an iPhone you might check the size of the app, as mentioned in the video.  The cyber crooks are getting ever more devious in their malware." A Cybersecurity Threat That Could Be Lurking On Your Phone

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Testing Your Internet Connection

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        Here's some food for thought from Jim Hamm:  "Do you occasionally like to test your internet connection to see if you're getting close to the download speed you're paying for? I do, too. One test you might try using is: http://speedof.me/ .

        "This one relies strictly on HTML 5 and no Flash or Java is needed. It will work on just about any smartphone, tablet or computing device. You might give it a try." 
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Buying a Used iPhone?

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        Alerting us, David Passell says, "With people always on the lookout for 'bargains' here is something to be aware of when buying a used iPhone from eBay or other not-Apple sources. Buyers of second-hand iPhones can now more easily check that the previous owner still doesn't have control over the device."  Read about it http://www.zdnet.com/apple-releases-activation-lock-status-checker-for-used-ios-devices-7000034285/ 

An Apple Watch in Your Future?

       Jim Hamm wonders, "Is there an Apple Watch in your future? Here and here are two articles from the watch newsletter 'A Blog to Watch.' The author of this newsletter writes articles about watches, and in the first article above he discusses the launch of Apple's Watch, and in the second he does a review after some hands-on time with the Watch.

        "Does he like it and will he buy one? I'd guess so, based on the following statement he made:  'I think it is important to state here and now, that for the money, the Apple Watch is going to be a force to be reckoned with.'" 
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Beat Storage Devices: USB Flash to RAID

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        David Passell relates this helpful info:  "While the cloud has appeared just in time to offer free and easy access to gigabytes of storage space, some people like to keep their data close to hand. Here are some of the best storage devices money can buy that will help you keep your data safe."  http://www.zdnet.com/best-storage-devices-from-usb-flash-drives-to-raid-units-7000023992/ 

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Pay by Credit Card?

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        The eagle eye of Jim Hamm found this and he says, "By October 2015 all of our magnetic-stripe credit cards should be replaced by EMV-enabled cards, also referred to as "chip and PIN" cards. Here is an article with details about how these new cards work, and some possible vulnerabilities. One aspect of the new cards is that banks are now shifting the onus to us -- the customer -- for any fraudulent use of  a credit card. Now, most banks limit our responsibility to $50.

        "Another aspect the author mentions about the use of these new credit cards is the following statement, which I find...what's the right word -- amazing, disheartening?"
        "Preventing card fraud is a good thing, in theory. But researchers at the UK’s Cambridge University warn that EMV has not reduced fraud in countries that have implemented it. Instead, they say, banks have used EMV to shift liability for fraud losses onto consumers."

About the Demise of Macworld

        Jim Hamm found this interesting,  ". . . here are comments by Jason Snell and the demise of the print edition of Macworld.  I am really sad to see the print edition go.  I am not a fan of digital magazines."  Look here.  (sent via his iPad this time!) 
       He adds by saying, "If you were a reader of the Macworld magazine, as I was, you are no doubt saddened by its demise, as I was. Here is an article by Chris Breen wherein he pays homage to the writers that were laid off."