Capital Apple 2014-08
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The official journal of the Wellington Macintosh Society Inc Volume 31.08 – August 2014 Come to one of Apple Reports Third Quarter our meetings Record Sales of iPhone, Mac Wellington Monday, 25 August 7.10pm - 9.30pm Apple’s recently completed third fiscal quarter Subject: iTunes – (ending in June) produced revenue of US$37.4 Managing Devices billion and net profit of US$7.7 billion, up from US Kapiti $35.3 billion and US$6.9 billion in the Monday, 1 September 7.10pm - 9.30pm corresponding quarter last year. Subject: iTunes – Managing Devices A highlight of the results was a third quarter record iPad Group* for unit sales of the iPhone (35.2 million, up from 33.8 million last TBA year) and Mac (4.4 million, up from 3.8 million last year). Apple’s Help Desk* recent price reduction on the MacBook Air in particular appears to Lower Hutt have been popular. Saturday 13 September iMovie Course* TBA The picture wasn’t as rosy for the iPad: unit sales were 13.3 million, down from last year’s 14.6 million. This is the second quarter in a row See page 2 for more which has seen a decline in iPad sales. details of meetings *Please register by emailing [email protected] On the bright side, revenue continues to climb for the iTunes Store (including App Store), Software and Services. Where to find us Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings are held at MacKenzie room of the conference centre at St John's church, corner of Dixon St and Willis St, Wellington. Kapiti meetings are held at the Kapiti Uniting Church, Raumati Road, Raumati. The President Writes p2 Mac performance upgrades p7 INSIDE Thunderbolt Docks p4 Helpful Tip p7 Favourite Apps p6 Committee Contact Details p8 CAPITAL APPLE – AUGUST 2014!! ! ! ! ! ! PAGE 1 The president writes ... The help desk is an opportunity to get assistance with any topic you would like to cover, assuming we can find a tutor who can help you. We can often arrange one on one tuition, but sometimes need to organise people into small groups if we have several people wanting to cover the same topics and not enough tutors to go around. Topics can range from basic use of the Macintosh David Empson or iPad through general technical assistance to [email protected] specific help with some advanced software. Registration is required, and space is limited so Hi folks. get your booking in early. To register, email Shane Gordine at Wellington Meeting [email protected]. Please include details about Our main meeting in Wellington will be held on what you would like help with, and let us know Monday 25 August, in the MacKenzie Room of the what computer or other devices you want to bring. conference centre at St John’s in the City, 129 Dixon St, Wellington, from 7.10pm. New Committee Member The meeting will start with a Q&A session for I’m pleased to report that we have gained a new those who have any technical issues. It would be committee member. Victor Diem volunteered to join appreciated if questions could be emailed in advance the committee, and has been appointed as of our to [email protected] so we can plan ahead. July meeting. We’re looking forward to his input to Following Q&A we will have a light supper then the give us some fresh ideas for the society. main topic. Tonight’s topic is “iTunes – Managing Devices”. We will look at many aspects of using iTunes, Apple and Product News particularly with an iPhone, iPod, iPad or Apple TV, and working with the iTunes Store and App Store. MacBook Pro updated Other aspects can be covered if time permits. Apple has released minor updates for the 13” and 15” MacBook Pro with Retina Display. All Kapiti Area Meeting configurations gain a CPU speed boost of 200 MHz The Kapiti meeting will start at 7.10 pm on (e.g. 13” models start at 2.6 GHz instead of 2.4 GHz). Monday 1 September, at the Kapiti Uniting Parish, All 13” models now have 8 GB of memory in 27 Raumati Rd. standard configurations (with a custom build option The topic of this meeting is the same as the for 16 GB), and all 15” models now have 16 GB. Wellington one: “iTunes – Managing Devices”. The high end 15” model (with larger solid state If you would like to receive e-mail drive and dedicated GPU) has dropped in price by announcements about upcoming Kapiti meetings, NZ$200: it now starts at $3499. please contact Hamish Turnbull In addition, Apple has reduced the NZ price of [email protected]. the old-style 13” MacBook Pro by $200, now starting at $1499. (This is the model with optical drive, hard Lower Hutt Help Desk drive and without a retina display.) The next help desk will be held at a member’s residence in Lower Hutt, from 1 pm to 4 pm on Old versions of Skype are no more Saturday 13 September. Full details will be supplied As warned recently, Microsoft has pulled the plug when your registration is confirmed. on older versions of Skype. This means older Macs are no longer able to use Skype at all. continued over page CAPITAL APPLE – AUGUST 2014!! ! ! ! ! ! PAGE 2 SinceThe president writes The president writes my email alert a couple of weeks ago, the When... ...Apple released iOS 6 about two years ago, situation has changed: Microsoft have relented the corresponding iTunes update dropped support slightly and have reinstated support for OS X 10.5.8 for OS X 10.5 (Leopard). (Leopard) on Macs with Intel processors, but they The timing is right for the next release of iTunes to didn’t go as far as reinstating support for Macs with drop support for OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). PowerPC processors. Mac users running Snow Leopard must not rush For OS X 10.5.8 or later on an Intel Mac, you can into upgrading to iOS 8 on their iPhone, iPad or iPod get the correct version of Skype by visiting http:// Touch, because it is likely that doing so will render it skype.com and following the Downloads link. It impossible to sync that device with your Mac. It is works out which version of OS X you are running. not possible to reinstall an older version of iOS, so if If you are running an older (unsupported) version you have updated your device, the only way to of Skype, its built-in update mechanism will offer to reinstate the ability to sync with your Mac will be to download the correct version for your operating upgrade the Mac to OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later, or system, or at least a new enough version which will replace your Mac with a newer model. work (which may then want to update again). At Since new iOS devices come with the latest present, the supported versions of Skype for each OS version, this will also mean Snow Leopard cannot X version are as follows: sync with new iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch models. OS X 10.5 (Leopard): Skype 6.3.0.604. At a minimum, wait until after the iOS 8 launch OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard): Skype 6.15.0.334. day so you can confirm whether or not the new OS X 10.7 (Lion): Skype 6.15.0.334. iTunes version will work on Snow Leopard. OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion): Skype 6.15.0.334. OS X 10.9 (Mavericks): Skype 6.19.0.442 (or later). Later OS X versions I don’t expect any compatibility problems Next iPhone and iOS 8 coming soon between the iTunes update, iOS 8, and OS X 10.7 The rumour mill is pointing to September 9 (Lion) or later. (September 10 NZ time) as the likely date for Apple’s Looking ahead, it is harder to predict how long media event announcing the next iPhone models Apple will continue to support OS X 10.7 and later and the launch of iOS 8. The date should be versions, because they were released more confirmed a week earlier, when Apple sends out frequently than the preceding few versions. media invitations. I’m hopeful that Apple will continue the pattern If that date turns out to be correct, the usual of supporting each OS X version with security and timing for iPhones being available in the first group Safari updates for about four years after that of countries (including the US) would be Friday version was introduced. That would mean OS X 10.7 September 19. Apple has been accelerating the gets security updates until mid to late 2015, after international roll-out in recent years, and it is which one version would be dropped each year. possible that they will be available in New Zealand It is possible that Apple will stick to a “three sooner than was the case with previous models. versions at once” pattern, in which case OS X 10.7 If the pattern holds, iOS 8 should be released for will get its final security and Safari updates about existing iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch models around the time OS X 10.10 is released (this October). If September 17 or 18 (NZ time). Apple decides this based on usage levels, then Web It is most likely that other upcoming new statistics point to this being likely, since OS X 10.7 is products (including new iPads and OS X 10.10 used on fewer Macs than OS X 10.6, 10.8 or 10.9.