FEBRUARY 2011 that I find interesting. A link and a headline would work just as well.

Meeting Notice I see no reason for us not to go All meetings, June through paperless. November, will be at the Grande Prairie Library at 3479 W 183rd St., Apple’s Revenue Hazel Crest. The December meeting will be held at the Apple’s revenues are up 83% from Homewood Public Library. last quarter that’s $183 for every $100 they made last quarter. Walter Palmer, Editor Details here and elsewhere: http://www.macworld.com/article/1 SSMUG’S SEMI-ANNUAL 59363/2011/04/apple_2q_earnings_ 2011.html#lsrc.rss_main MEETING WAS HELD AT

THE APRIL MEETING. Goodbye Apple Discussion, Hello Apple Communities

2011 Budget - proposed The Apple support fora Apple Receipts Discussions have been given a Dues 750.00 facelift and are called Apple Interest 4.00 Communities. The essential Total receipts 754.00 functionality seems to be unchanged, although the indexing Disbursements seems a bit clearer making them a Administration 25.00 bit easier to get around in. Look at Capital purchases discussions.apple.com/i#52C3057 Copies: newsletters 150.00 Copies: postcards 165.00 and see what you think. Misc. 50.00 Instructions are at Door prizes 90.00 discussions.apple.com/.webloc. Holiday Party 100.00 Donations 100.00 Screenshots from Apple follow: Postage 140.00 PO Box 44.00 Total disbursements 864.00

EDITORIAL

Budget: I would be happy to stop publishing the newsletter and post

links to stories on the SSMUG website. We all have internet anyway? Right?

I don’t have any independent sources for news and I am simply re-printing versions of news stories

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This is a picture from a company called Tinhte by way of one of my regular sources. Notice that the running program icons have a small picture of what the program is doing. Looks good.

Infinite Loop rates rumors from I know these are small, but the Tinhte as “accurate” – for rumors, should give you some idea of what that is. the changes look like. New Hardware WWDC 2011 Square Will be held June 6 – 11. If you don’t have your ticket, you aren’t going because it sold out in nine hours. Apple customarily makes its Spring product announcements at WWDC.

Mobile Me and iWork Discounts Disappear

April 19, 2011 – Discounts for Mobile Me and iWork for new Mac buyers were removed over night April 18 – April 19. Infinite Loop thinks/hopes this presages an update or maybe, Mobile Me becoming free.

This issue is full of rumors about This is not an Apple product but Mobile Me becoming a free rates top billing. This is a small service. When the rumors become square device that fits in the this strong I tend to seriously earphone jack of an iDevice. With believe them. To publish this it, anyone can accept credit card newsletter, I read a lot that never purchases. The only charge is a makes it into the newsletter, so my 2.75% transaction charge. The gut is pretty well educated. account is free, the device is free. Square is going to make a ton of iOS 5? money. The URL is www.squareup.com. “One more thing…” You can buy the device at an Apple Store, or

2 The Apple Store. Either brick and connection technology, developed mortar or online. The cost is $9.95, by Intel with collaboration from but you get a $10.00 rebate from Apple, that combines data, video, Square. Presumably, when you sign audio, and power in a single up with Square. You can order it connection. Based on the PCI from Square (see URL above) if Express and DisplayPort you are willing to wait 2 – 5 for the architectures, Thunderbolt allows device to arrive. You’ll have to for high-speed connection of wait that long for Square to verify peripherals such as hard drives, your bank account anyway. RAID arrays, video-capture solutions, and network interfaces, “A bear can make money, a bull and it can transmit high-definition can make money, a pig always video using the DisplayPort looses.” protocol. Each Thunderbolt port also provides up to 10 Watts of iPad2 power to connected peripherals.”

Thinner, faster, and lighter, which is predictable these days (see below). (Each new Apple product these days is thinner and lighter than the previous version.) MacUser Faster, by actual measure.

Two cameras for Face Time.

Same price

There were rumors of some iPad2 flaws. First the screen was a bit off color, which was, in the past, Ports: Left to right: Ethernet, caused by the glue that holds the Firewire 2, Thunderbolt, USB, screen on being not quite dry. This USB. goes away. AJA, Blackmagic, Promise There was also talk of there being Technology, and Matrox have all light ‘leakage’ around the screen. announced devices that support There was no probable cause given. Thunderbolt.

Your editor’s new iPad2 does not iPhone 5 have either problem. As this is written in April, there MacBook Pro are rumors that the iPhone 5 will be delayed until fall. Of course, there Thinner and Lighter, but then we are rumors that there will still be a could have predicted that. June introduction.

Thunderbolt (Infinite Loop) Sony CEO Howard Stringer appears to have confirmed Thunderbolt is a new interface that an earlier rumor that an upcoming is faster than and will work with iPhone 5 will have an 8MP digital USB. It works as a “daisy chain”. camera with a sensor made by Sony. “Thunderbolt (previously called Light Peak) is a new peripheral-

3 Tim Cook from Apple has said that Rumors mention a June he didn’t want people to have to be announcement of Lion and iMac. rich to afford an iPhone. There have also been reports of a “Two iMac? iPhone” policy – two models, one less expensive than the other. There were rumors of an iMac introduction in April, which have There are serious rumors that the died away. Your editor’s guess is new iPhone(s) will have larger that any new iMac will be released screens by eliminating the margin with Lion, which seems to have hit around the screen and the home some last minute glitches. There button. was talk of a “Gold Master” (The master copy they make the others To me, this points to a Fall 2011 from.) Then there was Gold introduction – these rumors Master2, then a developer’s release. surfaced in February and that is a Apple seems to be having trouble short time span for Apple to get with the last few bugs. these things to market. That goes for the cheaper iPhone as well. FLASH: As of April 19, supplies of iMacs are reported be shrinking. Sources more “in the know” than Usually this means that Apple is your editor feel that because there clearing the shelves for a new are limits on “smaller, thinner, and model. lighter” Apple has decided to group the iPhone with the iPod with a fall Software introduction. Lion Preview Usually rumors start 8 -10 months before introduction. These started Pictures from World of Apple, later. Also, Apple may have been comments by me. forced to do something it does not like to do – respond to market Basically, it looks like iOS. Your pressures. Apple designs something editor’s guess is that new Macs of and says “Here it is. We don’t care all kinds will have touch screens what the other companies are because that is the environment that doing.” This has paid off over the iOS is designed for. past seven or eight years, but now they have entered the world of cell phones, which is much more competitive.

As reported in these pages in past issues, Android and now HTC’s Thunderbolt have been outselling the iPhone. The installed base of “All My Files” the iPhone is greater because they had a head start, but the others have done good design work. That means that the (probably) iPhone 6 and the iPad 3, will have to be “stunners”. So far, other tablet computers are not as good, especially for the money, as the iPad. Give it six months and who knows? “Launch Pad”

4 I hope that Mac OS handles log add-ons. How many “goodies” files differently than it does now if were sold shows up on their program icons are going to be on evaluation. “We don’t require it” the desktop. Which means we don’t require it but we don’t promote people who don’t sell enough goodies either. This is from personal experience. Ed.)

White iPhone

By the time you rad this, or shortly after, those of you who are eligible Mail could use a makeover, in my may buy a white iPhone. Your opinion. Application interfaces are iPhone may then show every not “eye candy” – in most cases fingerprint and bit of dirt it has anymore, they are the application. encountered. Most programs have gone as far as they can go when it comes to basic Android Phones are Ahead function and what is left is how well they do it. That boils down to Android phones now have a larger interface. installed than iPhones. Please go to your files and re-read the last Financial newsletter. I suggested this might happen. This is great for those of us As of April, HTC’s Thunderbolt who want iPhones. phone was outselling the iPhone at Verizon. For those who do not Safari update have an iPhone, this is good news, hoping that competition will cause Rumors, and by this time they are a better, cheaper iPhone. pretty solid, say that the Lion version of Safari will include a “Do Apple’s Quarterly Statement (10- Not Track” choice in preferences Q) will be released April 20. which will keep Google, and others, from tracking internet use. Foxcomm announces new factory Most other browsers, except for in Brazil. Google’s Chrome (!) have or are getting this feature. That pretty much says it all. The articles say it is for the iPad. Apple Tracks You Foxcomm, a Chinese company, is Apple’s primary manufacturer. iOS writes a time and location stamp to a file which is transmitted Consumer Alert to Apple when you sync your device. Watch this space for more There have been reports that at details. least one person buying an iPad2 at a California Best Buy was required AT&T to buy T-Mobile (maybe) to buy a $109 extended warranty in order to be able to purchase an Maybe. When Your Editor heard iPad2. Best Buy has announced that this he thought, “Well, there goes this is not company policy. T-Mobile’s attack ads against the iPhone.” Nope, they are still being (Many companies advertise good broadcast. This will probably be prices then the central office puts done until/unless the sale is pressure on its “Indians” to sell

5 finalized. It’s looking like it is Authorized Biography facing tough sledding. The title is “iSteve: The Book of Apple Hires Microsoft Data Jobs”. It will be released in 2012. Center Director (Your editor’s librarian and historian hackles go up when he Apple has hired Kevin Timmons, hears the phrase, “Authorized former General Manager of Data Biography”. To get the subject’s Center Operations for Microsoft. cooperation, the author goes easy Timmons’ position at Apple is not on the subject.) known, but that he will not be filling the position left open by the Kickstart passing of Oliver Sanche, who had been Apple’s Director of Global Kickstart is a website where Data Center Operations inventors in the final stage of development can get funding from Presidential Dinner members of the public.

President Obama invited the heads It works differently for each device, of various tech companies a but one pledges/pays an amount of working dinner a while back – money – the terms vary from Steve was there, Microsoft was not. inventor to inventor, and when the Nor were Dell, IBM, the telcos, device hits the market, the people HP, etc. Of course, if anything is to who have pledged the money are get done, you have to keep the rewarded, usually by one of the group small. Clearly, this was a items they have backed. The group of innovators. Apple, Cisco, inventor gets startup cash and the and maybe Oracle were the only pledger gets one of the “whatever it hardware companies involved. is” at a seriously low price.

Appleseed

Apple has begun a program in which laypeople are allowed to use Apple software before it is officially introduced. After you sign up Apple may or may not

select you for testing. Check at In case you can’t read the captions, www.appleseed.apple.com to see if companies included Facebook, you are interested. Twitter, Google, Apple, Cisco, Oracle, Netfilix, Yahoo, Kleiner, MAC PARAMEDIC Stanford University, and Gaventech. Steve Westly was also (Your editor does not qualify as a there. Zuckerberg sat to Jobs. Dr. Mac, but I can still help) This is interesting since both have been the subjects of theatrical Appleworks and Lion movies. OS 10.7 (Lion) will almost Back to Apple? certainly eliminate the possibility for older programs, AppleWorks Woz has said that he “could see among them, to work. Because working at Apple”. No doubt after several members of SSMUG are Jobs takes a medical leave. Appleworks fans, I thought I would offer the following:

6 First, unless you have a reason to, don’t upgrade. You can simply decide that AW is more important than the possible new features of 10.7, which will probably mostly be interface related, and just don’t buy it. Graphics files can always be saved If you have several computers, and as GIF or JPEG. most of us probably do, just upgrade the newest and leave the others for the Golden Oldies.

Finally, before upgrading, you can use the “Save As:” function to save your files as something either Pages or Word can read.

To Wit: (The following is a lot smaller than I expected, but maybe it will help.) I think that Numbers will import When you save a file, one of the AppleWorks spreadsheet files choices is always, “save As:” This without conversion. Otherwise, you allows you to save a document in can always export as a text (ASCI) some other format than the default file. Anything will import that. (AppleWorks) or in a different place than the place you specified as the default.

Watch for a meeting on the topic.

When saving a word processing file, you have the following choices:

For the Data Base: FileMaker and

Bento (“File Maker Lite”) will accept native AW files

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