FPCUG Notes for January 2020 Editor: Frank Fota ([email protected])

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (7:00 PM - Falmouth Firehouse, Butler Road): -- Wed, Jan 1: Happy New Year! -- Tues, Jan 9: Board of Directors (BoD) Meeting (Patty Davis, Presiding) -- Thu, Jan 11: General Meeting. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Coordinator, ReBecca Bennett and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Assistant, Diann Drew of the disAbility Resource Center will discuss Assistive Technology for the deaf and hard of hearing and how to get a Service Dog. The public is invited and refreshments will be served. -- Tues, Jan 14: All About Your Computer (Robert Monroe) -- Wed, Jan 15: Experimax Workshop – 1865-106 Carl D. Silver Parkway -- Mon, Jan 20: Martin Luther King Day -- Thu, Jan 24: Windows All Workshop (Jim Hopkins) – weather permitting 😊😊

TOP TECH OF 2019 In a CNET video review, Jason Hiner lists 44 outstanding products in five popular categories in tech: mobile; home entertainment; computers; smart home; and software, apps, and services. A video montage is embedded in the article linked above.

1. Mobile. CNET names the Motorola Moto G7 as a great budget phone. Their high-end nominee was the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 for its of style and substance. On a personal note, pardon the pun, the Note 10 was not prone to spontaneous combustion. Based on the additional features and a price drop, the iPhone 11 was noted in the middle. 2. Home Entertainment. Two TVs led this category. The TCL 6-Series image and color quality rival that of much more expensive televisions. The LG OLED B9 presented unmatched contrast and viewing angles. Other leading products in this category include the Visio SB36512-F6 soundbar, the Apple TV 4K, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, the Onkyo TX-NR696 (audio receiver), and Sony’s WH-1000XM3 (over-the-ear headphones). 3. Computers. The two-in-one HP Spectre x360 13 laptops and 7 were top picks. The HP Spectre x360 13 has a 10th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and ran for more than 10 hours in CNET tests. The 2019 Surface Pro 7 adds USB-C and Wi-Fi 6. Other products mentioned in this category include the Dell XPS 13, Oculus Quest, Apple iPad 10.2-inch, Sega Genesis Mini, GoPro Hero 8 Black, Dell G5 15, Acer Aspire 5, Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XA, Nintendo Switch V2, and the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. 4. Smart Home. The Google Nest WiFi mesh router offers easy installation and high speeds. The Wyze Cam got the nod this year with a $30 price tag and features that rival $200 cameras. Other products mentioned in this category include: the Cree BR30 Floodlight LED, Ecobee Smart Thermostat, Google Nest Hub, Wyze smart light bulb, Amazon Echo Dot with Clock, Google Nest Mini, Arlo Pro 3, and Amazon Echo Show 8. 5. Software, Apps, and Services. Two services stood out this year; the Apple Arcade ($4.99/mo) and Disney Plus ($6.99/mo). Apple Arcade offers more than 100 games for use on Apple devices. Disney Plus offers an extensive library of movies and shows. CNET selected noted YouTube TV and Sling TV in this category as well. 1

ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY RECAP

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FPCUG OFFICER ELECTION The FPCUG Board of Directors (BoD) is looking for a few good men (and women)  Elections for FPCUG Office will be held at the March 10, 2020, General Meeting. Consider running for office and making a difference. One Director, one Trustee, and all of the Executive Officers (i.e., President, Vice President, Secretary, and the Treasurer) will be elected/reelected at the March meeting. Contact Patty Davis ([email protected]) or a member of the BoD if you are interested in serving in one of these positions.

HOUSE PASSES ROBOCALL BILL Writing for INFOPACKETS, John Lister says, “The House of Representatives has now passed the proposed Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act by an overwhelming 417-3 margin. It now has to pass the Senate, which is highly likely as the current bill is the result of negotiations between politicians in the two houses.” The bill is long overdue and critics are already saying that it does not go far enough (e.g., overseas robocalls). What does the bill address? Spoofing – Phone companies will be required to develop call authentication technology that will block calls from spoofed numbers. One Ring Scams – The FCC will have to develop techniques that prevent or block calls that terminate after a single ring. The scam here involves the victim unknowingly returning a call to a paid premium number or at international rates. The bill also includes increased penalties for violators.

BLUE ORIGIN CLOSER TO MANNED SPACE FLIGHT Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin has flown commercial payloads aboard its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle for the ninth time. The New Shepard vehicle launched from Blue Origin facilities in Culberson County, Texas. TechCrunch writer Darrell Etherington says that continued performance of the New Shepard vehicle, “…is a key step as it readies the spacecraft for human spaceflight.” Blue Origin will eventually fly paying space tourists and other commercial astronauts. Six people can fit in the Blue Origin’s capsule. The date for passenger flight has not been determined. A video of the most recent Blur Origin’s launch and landing is linked to the image at left.

SAMSUNG’S 108 MEGAPIXEL SMARTPHONE CAMERA SENSOR Samsung is betting that the megapixel count will boost phone sales. They are partnering with Xiaomi to market the ISOCELL Bright HMX, 108-megapixel 1/1.33″ sensor. The megapixel count does not equate to great photographs. Google has proven this with their Pixel smartphones. Writing for SlashGear, JC Torres says, “…having more megapixels doesn’t hurt, especially if you have the technology and software to make good use of that.

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It definitely makes for good marketing.” By default, the sensor will compress 4 adjacent pixels into one. This will theoretically result in better and brighter images. Samsung has been criticized for its less than stellar low-light and night time performance. Both Xiaomi and Samsung believe that more pixels will result in better low-light and nighttime images.

UPDATES TO END IN JANUARY FOR MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS If you rely on Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) to protect your Windows 7 PC, consider another anti-virus program or upgrading to Windows 10. Corporations will be able to purchase Extended Security Updates for 3-years. However, MSE will not protect computers after January 14, 2020. Consumers cannot purchase ESU support. Security Week Contributing Editor, Eduard Covacs, quotes BornCity saying, ‘…companies that have many Windows 7 machines can continue protecting their devices with a Microsoft solution, namely System Center Endpoint Protection (SCEP). SCEP will receive updates until January 2023 but, unlike MSE, it’s not a free solution.’

AMD RYZEN 9 CPU TAKES WPRIME 1024 BENCHMARK RECORD wPrime is a multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors (i.e., it tests processor performance). Writing for Tom’s Hardware, Zhiye Liu says, “Overclocker Jordan.Hyde99 overclocked his Ryzen 9 3900X to 5,625 MHz on liquid nitrogen and finished the wPrime 1024M benchmark run in 35 seconds and 517 milliseconds to take the crown away from the Core i9-7920X.” The Core i9-7920X, overclocked to 5,995 MHz, performed the same task in 35 seconds and 693 microseconds. The feat is more impressive when you consider it was performed at a slower clock speed (5.8%). AMD has come a very long way to compete head-to-head with Intel.

A REASON TO CONSIDER THE GOOGLE PIXEL - FEATURE DROPS If you own an iPhone, you are familiar with the upgrade and update cycle. New phones are released in September each year along with upgrades of the operating system (iOS). There are occasional incremental updates to iOS but, significant upgrades are released annually. Google is planning to upgrade incrementally each quarter via “feature drops.” The drop days may vary at first but scheduled feature drops are expected in the future. Writing for Gizmodo, David Nield says, “This has been unofficially happening for some time, with features like Night Sight rolling out independently of Android updates and Pixel launches, but now Google wants to put everything on a more formal footing.” Google says that the Pixel you own will get better over time. The updates are expected to get bigger with periodic Pixel feature drops. Google bought the Android Operating System in 2005. Since that time, innovations to the Android Operating System appear first on Google smartphones. Some of these innovations are exclusive to Google Pixel users. The cost of Pixel smartphones has dropped recently and if Google is expected to compete, the price needs to be competitive and the feature drops newsworthy. 4

MACBOOK PRO VERSUS PIXELBOOK GO

Staff Writer Adam Ismail at Tom’s Guide, ditched his MacBook Pro for a Google Pixelbook Go for a month. He concluded he wouldn’t buy one. Google’s latest Chromebook came equipped with an Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $895. Mr. Ismail says, “I published countless deals posts during Black Friday weekend from the Pixelbook Go, and used it in place of my work machine, a Dell Latitude, any chance I could get. I really enjoy doing my job on this thing.” The decision point for Mr. Ismail was the Pixelbook’s usefulness outside of work. Unlike the MacBook Pro paired with an iPhone, synchronization between the Google Pixel 4 smartphone and the Pixelbook Go was minimal. Setup prompted questions about the way apps were displayed on the desktop. Mr. Ismail notes, “Some present as Chrome tabs, while others appear in separate windows, with no explanation for the distinction.” The hardware on the Pixelbook Go is one of its strong points. Paired with the Google Chrome operating system (OS), however, the Pixelbook struggled to perform image or audio editing tasks. Photoshop, a staple of image editing for more than 30 years, does not run on the Chrome OS. Mr. Ismail used Photopea as an image editing alternative. While the ability to run Android apps on a Chromebook sounded “…good in theory,” most Android apps are not designed for presentation on a Chromebook desktop. Mr. Ismail tried a few apps (e.g., Spotify) and ended up removing them and the Google Play Store. He found the use of the Pixel Go “…thoroughly enjoyable” but added, “The quality of what Google’s built feels almost wasted on the limitations of the operating system it’s chained to.”

A NEW CHROMIUM-BASED EDGE BROWSER VIA WINDOWS UPDATE Beginning January 15th, 2020, Microsoft will begin updating Windows 10 with the new Chromium-based Edge browser. Google released much of the Chromium code as open source in 2008. Chromium was developed shortly thereafter. Chromium was used in the development of many browsers to include Google, Vivaldi, Opera, Yandex, Brave, and others. Writing for ZDNet, Mary Jo Foley says, “The Chromium-based version of Edge will not be tied to Windows operating system releases moving forward, as officials have said. Microsoft will be making the new Edge available automatically via Windows Update for all PCs already running Windows 10 1709 or newer.” Since updates to Chromium Edge will not be tied to the feature updates of Windows 10, they will occur frequently (i.e., every 6-weeks). Security updates will be pushed to users as needed.

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CES 2020 PREVIEW The 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will occur in Las Vegas from 7-10 January 2020. The products fall into traditional categories like those mentioned in the first-page article “Top Tech of 2019.” CES is traditionally computer oriented. However, you can expect to see smart devices, apps, and services as well. Writing for CNET, Senior Managing Editor Dan Ackerman says, “Besides new laptop designs, updated favorites and ever more powerful gaming PCs, we expect to see new components from some of the companies that power modern tech, such as Intel, AMD, and Nvidia.” You should expect new display designs including flexible, folding or hinged screens. Expect to see AMD powering more devices at CES. The PlayStation 5 and Series X are both powered by AMD. You will likely see a multitude of new CPUs and GPUs. The quality, performance and availability of large OLED and HDR-capable displays are driving innovations in computer display manufacturing. Expect to see higher monitor refresh rates (needed for electronic sports) and display resolutions.

NOTE… the FPCUG does not endorse products or services of any kind .

EVENTS IN COMPUTER HISTORY (Paraphrase and additions to the Iceni Technology Blog by Iceni Technology Contributor Rebecca Coe and historical data from the website http://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/)

-- Jan 1 -- Computers continued to work and the world did not end on January 1, 2000, as some feared might happen due to the year 2000 bug. The Year 2000 bug was predicted to wreak havoc with IBM computers using a two-digit year date stamp.

-- Jan 1 -- Hewlett Packard was founded in a garage in Palo Alto, CA by Bill Hewlett and David Packard (1939). The company remains in Palo Alto in much nicer buildings.

-- Jan 2 -- , , and Monte Davidoff announced Altair BASIC (1975). It was Microsoft's first product (as Micro-Soft). Altair BASIC was the start of the Microsoft BASIC product range.

-- Jan 3 --

Apple Computer, Inc. was incorporated (1977) by Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak.

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-- Jan 4 -- The HP-35 was introduced by Hewlett-Packard (1972). It is the first scientific handheld calculator and ended the reliance on slide rules. The HP-35 was named for its 35 keys, weighed nine ounces, and sold for $395.

-- Jan 7 --

Ivan Sutherland introduced the Sketchpad submitting his Ph.D. thesis to MIT (1963). Using the Sketchpad, a user could create and manipulate graphical figures with a light pen. Mr. Sullivan’s thesis is the basis for later graphical user interfaces and is considered one of the seminal papers in computer science.

-- Jan 7 -- Commodore International released the Commodore 64 (1982). It featured a 6510 processor, 64KB RAM, 20 KB ROM and Microsoft BASIC for $600.

-- Jan 9 -- Apple introduced iTunes (2009) at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, for organizing and playing digital music and videos.

-- Jan 12 -- In Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, the fictional HAL 9000 computer became operational. In the 1968 movie, the computer states, "I am a HAL 9000 computer, Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12, 1997." The fictional HAL will soon be 21 . In reality, no sign of a super-intelligent, human-like HAL computer is in sight.

-- Jan 15 -- Ralph Baer patented the first video game system (1968). His “Brown Box” system, wrapped in brown tape to simulate wood veneer, was licensed to Magnavox and after being renamed the Magnavox Odyssey, the console was released to the public in 1972.

-- Jan 15 -- On Jan. 15, 1990, AT&T experienced serious long-distance telephone connection problems due to a computer glitch (i.e., a cascade switching failure).

-- Jan 16 -- Apple launched the Macintosh Plus on Jan. 16, 1986. This third Macintosh model released débuted at an introductory price of $2,599. It was the first Mac model to contain a SCSI port that allowed users to hook up external devices such as tape drives and hard disks. It was also the first Mac that could run the System 7 OS. 7

-- Jan 18 --

Time Magazine’s first cover dedicated to video games was printed with the title "Video Games Are Blitzing the World." (1982)

-- Jan 19 -- Apple launched the Apple Lisa (1983). Lisa" stood for "Local Integrated Software Architecture." It was also the name of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' daughter. Lisa was the first commercial computer with a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Prior to this point, computers were text-based. The final revision of Lisa (Lisa 2/10) was modified, rebranded, and sold as the Macintosh XL. Working Apple Lisa computers are and collectible. A working Apple Lisa can fetch $2,500 on eBay.

-- Jan 19 -- Launched in 1989, the Macintosh SE/30 was powered by a Motorola 60030 CPU, had 128Kb RAM, a built-in hard drive and a 1.4Mb floppy that could read PC disks. The Macintosh SE/30 sold for 2 years (1989-1991). It was the fastest and most expandable of Apple’s black and white compact computers.

-- Jan 21 -- The domain twitter.com was established (2000).

-- Jan 23 -- Robert Noyce conceived of the idea for a practical integrated circuit on Jan. 23, 1959. As a co-founder and research director of Fairchild Semiconductor, Robert Noyce was responsible for the initial development of the silicon mesa and planar transistors, which led to commercially applicable integrated circuits. In 1968, Noyce went on to found Intel Corp. with Gordon Moore and Andy Grove.

-- Jan 24 -- Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh 128K (All-in-One Computer) on Jan. 24, 1984. Initially released as simply the “Apple Macintosh,” the Macintosh 128K was the first mass-market personal computer featuring an integral graphical user interface and mouse. When the Macintosh 512K was released, it was renamed the Macintosh 128K, to differentiate between the two. The Macintosh 128K was discontinued in October 1985. It originally cost $2,495. 8

-- Jan 25 --

Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann filed patent #2,455,992 describing one of the first computer games, an artillery simulator, played on a CRT Jan. 25, 1947.

-- Jan 25 -- A robot killed a Michigan autoworker. 25-year old Robert Williams was the first human to be killed by a robot. The accident at the Ford Motor Company resulted in a $10 million dollar lawsuit. The jury deliberated for two-and-a-half hours before announcing the decision against Unit Handling Systems, a division of Litton Industries. It ordered the manufacturer of the one-ton robot that killed Williams to pay his family $10 million. The robot was designed to retrieve parts from storage, but its work was deemed too slow. Williams was retrieving a part from a storage bin when the robot's arm hit him in the head, killing him instantly. In the suit, the family claimed the robot had no safety mechanisms, lacking even a warning noise to alert workers that it was nearby.

-- Jan 26 --

Lotus 1-2-3 was released Jan. 26, 1983. IBM now owns Lotus. The Lotus 1-2-3 program was known as the IBM PC’s first “killer application.” A killer application is defined as being so essential that it proves the core value of some larger technology that consumers would buy just to run the application (e.g., the IBM PC and/or the IBM OS/2). Lotus 1-2-3 had a spreadsheet, basic database and integral graphing/charting.

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-- Jan 30 -- Vista and Office 2007 were both released on January 30, 2007. Vista was not well received. It was found to contain bugs that users and IT professionals believed should have been eliminated during the development process. Office 2007 received generally positive reviews.

-- Jan 30 -- The Commodore 128 was released (1985). The Commodore 128 was the last machine Commodore Business Machines (CBM) released commercially. It was discontinued in 1989. Due partially to strong competition in the personal computing market by IBM and Apple, the company went bankrupt in 1994.

-- Jan 30 -- Jerry and David’s guide to the World Wide Web (better known as Yahoo!) launched (1994). The name “Jerry and David’s guide to the World Wide Web” refers to founders Jerry Yang, who resigned in 2012, and David Filo. The name was changed 3 months after launch to Yahoo! The yahoo.com domain was created in 1995.

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Who's Who in the FPCUG

Officers Office Name Email Address President Patrice Davis [email protected] Vice President Roger Schirmer [email protected] Secretary Frank Fota [email protected] Treasurer Rick Neil [email protected]

Directors and Trustees Office Name Email Address Directors Josh Cockey [email protected] Ed Alexander Robert Monroe Trustees Johnny Creech [email protected] Kay Pollock Bill Williams "Agent of Record"

Chairmen & Representatives Office Name Email Address APCUG Representative Frank Fota [email protected] Newsletter Editor Frank Fota [email protected] Webmaster Josh Cockey [email protected] Publicity Representative Carolyn Fota

Special Interest Workshop Leaders Office Name Email Address Technology Josh Cockey [email protected] Windows Jim Hopkins [email protected] Windows 10 Ed Alexander [email protected]

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