• Harry Anderson will conduct a ZOOM meeting to include Q&A
• "Staying Safe" with Robert Elphick
Location:
Online with Zoom - Contact for inclusion in the meeting.
Minutes for MAGIC October 20 2021 meeting
The October meeting of MAGIC was held per Covid rules via Zoom. There were about 23 people in attendance/on line with us.
President Harry Anderson called the meeting to order at 4:03.
BUSINESS MEETING
Our treasurer, Gary McIntyre, announced that we have a balance of $8679.59 in our bank account. Harry reminds everyone to feel free to go to our MAGIC website if you wish to make a donation.
Note that these minutes will no longer include details of the presentation, as these can be viewed on the MAGIC WEBSITE (http://www.whidbey.com/magicmug/index.html)
This year we will have one more Zoom meeting in November. Robert will be presenting "STAYING SAFE" on Mac security.
JAN, FEB & MARCH we will continue with our Zoom meetings.There will be a board meeting soon to talk about when we can get back together face-to-face. We have two possibilities for future meetings: Pacific Rim Institute and Freeland Trinity Lutheran Church. We will decide which facility will be best.
ZOOM RULES: Harry asked us all to put ourselves on MUTE for the presentation. Please do not interrupt the speaker, but rather your questions can be sent via CHAT. The rest of the meeting will be recorded. People can stop their own video if they do not wish to be recorded.
PRESENTATION
Board member, Ron Sharp gave today's KEYNOTE presentation: "FINDING STUFF" Using the Finder Window is one way to find all your files. Another way to search is from Spotlight search. His presentation shows a lot of details about preferences and settings to make the most of your search. Be aware that you can search all mailboxes in Mail and you can search for Photos various ways in the Photo app. Ron also demonstrated how to find things using Time Machine.
Q & A
Q: I've lost photos because I thought saving them on CDs is permanent, and now I know it is not. What to do?
A: CDs can fail. To be sure you do not lose stuff you should have two or more copies.
Q: My Time Machine says it is full and wants permission to remove data - does it remove the oldest data first? Will I lose my older image files?
A: You could lose image data if the only version is in the Time Machine. In order to be sure you do not lose it, You probably need to get a larger back-up drive. If you had a 1TB drive, go to at least a 2TB. Or an even larger one and then you can copy your current Time Machine files onto it and then make it the active Time Machine disk, It will and then add the new ones. (This saving of photos issue is rather complicated and will most likely be the topic for our January meeting.)
Q: I bought a new Mac book Pro with the M1 Chip. Now Apple keeps trying to take control. I hit System Preferences and Privacy wants me to say okay to Apple to save my information.
A: In Apple ID you have ability to turn on and off iCloud. Go to System Preferences and click on Apple ID (A decision was made to contact Ron and get together to talk about this problem.)
Q: Holding up a bluetooth keyboard that she got at one of our Holiday parties. She wants to know if it takes a battery?
A: No battery. Try plugging into a different USB port, if that doesn't work, it's dead and is worth just what you paid for it, Zero!
Q: Sherry Thatcher switched to Consumer Cellular but in the transfer, she only has about a quarter of her contacts in What's App that she had on her old phone, and her old phone is gone.
A: It was suggested she contact What's App.
Q: I lost two app icons on my iPhone. One is Contacts the other is FindMy. If I go to the search function over to the left of all the apps I can search for Contacts, for instance, and see it there and use it, but cannot get its icon to show on the main part of the phone. It was the only icon in a folder and I tried to delete the folder and I think the icon got deleted also.
A: Try turning your phone off and back on and see if that helps. Also check all the folders and see if it might have gotten into another folder.COMMENT: I tried both suggestions. Turning off and back on did not change anything. I checked every folder and there is no Contacts in any folder. It's only showing on the left side when I search for it.
With no further questions being posed, Harry adjourned the meeting at 5:15
Respectfully Submitted,
Penny Holland, Secretary
MAGIC Musings
by Harry Anderson, MAGIC President
That old saying goes, "necessity is the mother of invention." And, in 2021, necessity caused MAGIC to be very inventive. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, our MAGIC group was forced to suspend our in-person meetings at the Unitarian Church in Freeland where we had been meeting every month for a number of years.
We had no gatherings from March through December 2020, and our only means of communication were our newsletter and our web site. There was more than a little concern that we might not be together again for a very long time.
After I joined the board and was named president, we made the decision to see if meeting virtually using Zoom technology would work for us. I already had a Zoom subscription for work I did with my church and another group. I volunteered to set it up for Magic.
We had our first Zoom gathering on Jan. 27, 2021. It was an informal session with lots of Q&A. I remember distinctly how glad everyone was to see each other again, even if it was on a MAC screen. The consensus was that we should resume monthly meetings via Zoom until it was safe to meet in person once again. Magic bought a one-year Zoom subscription of its own. Of course, way back then, everybody thought the pandemic would be over by early summer. It wasn't, as we know only to well.
But the invention that flowed from our necessity was the ability on Zoom to record our presentations and post them our web sites so all of us can view them whenever we choose. And, in my humble opinion, the presentations this year have been nothing short of terrific. Here is a reminder:
February: The photo app by Ron Sharp. March: MAC security by Robert Elphick. April: Time Machine by Ron Sharp. May: Cameras by Robert Elphick. June: Hot Apps by Ron Sharp. July: Apple Watch by Gary McIntyre. August: Sharing between devices by Robert Elphick. September: Updates by Gary McIntyre. October: Finding stuff by Ron Sharp. And, coming up on November 17: Staying safe by Robert Elphick and Gary McIntyre.
I hope you agree that is a very impressive list of presentations. And I invite you to review the recordings of all them on our MAGIC web site.
Our meeting on Nov. 17 will be the last for this year. December's meeting has traditionally been a social gathering but because we aren't meeting in person yet we thought it best not to have a Zoom meeting next month. And, as a reminder, the board has decided to continue holding Zoom meetings in January, February and March next year. We will assess the pandemic situation before March 31 and decide how to proceed.
I look forward to seeing you on Zoom on Nov. 17.
Note: This Software Update section of the newsletter lists the most relevant Apple updates. Not all updates are listed for all products. Additionally, I'll add other pertinent updates on occasion.
Apple releases HomePod 15.1.1 Software with bug fixes
by Jos… Adorno, 9to5mac
Apple is releasing HomePod 15.1.1 Software to all users today. This update comes a few days after the company seeded version 15.1.1 of tvOS.
Today's build is 1A2591. It's not yet clear what is changing with this version, but it's probably just bug fixes, as with tvOS 15.1.1.
Also this week, Apple launched three new colors of the HomePod mini which ship with version 15 of the software. With version 15.1, Apple finally brought support for Lossless quality and Dolby Atmos to the original smart speaker.
At 9to5Mac, we conducted a few tests trying to stream in Dolby Atmos with a pair of HomePod mini speakers, but Apple Music didn't show the toggle of "Dolby Atmos," only "Lossless." Not only that but Apple's release notes also make clear that the HomePod mini can't play Spatial Audio, except if you connect them to the Apple TV…
If you haven't yet tried out these new features on your HomePod, just make sure it's updated and follow these steps:
Open the Home app
Click in the Home icon on the top left corner
Choose "Home Settings" then click on your profile
In "Media," click on the "Apple Music" tab
Toggle on "Lossless Audio" and "Dolby Atmos"
You can find it here with everything new with HomePod Version 15.
macOS Monterey is now available, here's why you should update
by José Adorno, 9to5mac
After four months of beta testing, Apple has officially released macOS 12 Monterey to the general public. This update brings a refined macOS Big Sur experience, and even though the main feature of this version, Universal Control, is still nowhere near launching, there are several new features worth trying.
Here's everything new with macOS Monterey that should make you want to update your Mac now.
Live Text feature is here
One of the best features available with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 has also arrived for macOS Monterey users. Live Text function gives users the ability to interact with text in photos, such as copy and paste, lookup, and translate.
During the beta testing period, this feature was only available for M1 Macs, but then Apple also brought this function to Intel Macs as well. It's very handy when trying to copy text from an image, and you can learn more about it here.
AirPlay comes to Mac with macOS Monterey
With macOS Monterey, AirPlay lets your Mac be an AirPlay destination, so you can quickly play content from your iPhone on your Mac's display
For the first time, the Mac can be used as a speaker for multiform audio, just as the HomePod can. AirPlay works both wirelessly and wired using USB. A wired connection is useful when you want to ensure that there's no latency or you don't have access to Wi-Fi. Learn more about this feature here.
SharePlay also available on Mac
While SharePlay got delayed with the original launch of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and tvOS 15, it managed to launch with macOS 12 Monterey and versions 15.1 of all the other operating systems. With SharePlay, here's everything you can do:
Watch together: Bring TV shows and movies to your FaceTime call
Listen together: Share music with friends
Shared music queue: When listening together, anyone in the call can add songs to the shared queue
Share your screen: Bring web pages, app, and more into your conversation
Synced playback: Pause, rewind, fast-forward, or jump to a different scene while in perfect sync with everyone else
Smart volume: Dynamically responsive volume controls automatically adjust audio so you can hear your friends even during a loud scene or climactic chorus
Multiple device support: Connect over FaceTime on the iPhone while watching video on the Apple TV or listening to music on the HomePod
Connect through audio, video, and text: Access the group's Message thread right from the FaceTime controls and choose the mode of communication that matches the moment
Redesigned Safari on macOS Monterey… but not so much
The biggest and most controversial feature on macOS Monterey is a redesigned Safari. Apple really pushed this new look during the WWDC21 keynote, but as the betas went by, the company slowly started to bring back the regular Safari design.
By the time the company released macOS Monterey, users from macOS Big Sur will still find the same design they are familiar with. But it's possible to try the new look. Also, there are still new things with Safari, and you can learn more about it here.
Shortcuts app on the Mac
Apple also added the Shortcuts app to the Mac. During the WWDC21 keynote, the company called it "the future of automation on Mac," as these are the first steps of a multi-year transition.
With Shortcuts, Apple is replacing Automator in the coming years. The app on the Mac looks similar to Shortcuts on the iPad. You can build new shortcuts, access existing shortcuts, and more. The Shortcuts app on the Mac also integrates with Spotlight, appears in Finder, supports multitasking, and increases with the Menu bar, and you can learn more about it here.
Wrap-up
There are still many more features waiting for users with macOS Monterey. The operating system also has a few things that got delayed, such as Universal Control. Do you want to know whether to upgrade to macOS Monterey? Read these stories below:
The new MacBook Pro has an evolution of the year-old Apple Silicon, bringing both more computing power and graphical ability to the new models. Here's how the M1 Pro and M1 Max compare against the original, and how it impacts the Mac lineup.
Apple's introduction of new Mac models using M1 chips, including the 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, heralded a sea change for the company, as it transitioned away from Intel processors. The launch, which would start a two-year schedule for Apple to shift its entire Mac product line over to, was a resounding success, with Apple's new chip faring extremely well against its competition.
Photographers create Monterey landscape wallpaper for macOS users who missed it
by Filipe Espósito, 9to5mac
Apple traditionally introduces a bunch of new wallpapers with new versions of macOS, and although macOS Monterey comes with an abstract image that represents the place, there are no landscape backgrounds this time. With this in mind, Andrew Levitt and his friends decided to create their own Monterey landscape wallpaper for macOS users who missed it.
Levitt and his friends' work became known after the photographers recreated default macOS wallpapers, which are all from places in California. This year, however, macOS Monterey has no landscape wallpaper to be recreated — so they had to shoot their own.
While this may sound easy, the group of friends went to Monterey in California to see what exactly they were going to take pictures of for a brand new wallpaper. The default macOS Monterey wallpaper is inspired by a local submerged canyon, which makes it nearly impossible to take pictures there.
Of course, one of the criteria for the new wallpaper was to shoot something that looks like an official Apple wallpaper, and this was one of the most difficult tasks. According to Levitt, there are many obstacles in Monterey that would result in distractions when looking at the image.
Luckily, they found a great spot and succeeded in creating a beautiful dynamic landscape wallpaper in Monterey.
The wallpaper is available for download on Levitt's website. There's a static version and a dynamic one that changes based on the time of day.
Application memory error affecting many Mac apps; Intel as well as M1
by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5mac
cWe reported yesterday on a Mac application memory error that I first saw with the Mail app on my new M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro. Searching Twitter revealed other apps were also exhibiting the same behavior, which appeared to be mostly Apple's own apps.
However, it's now clear from the growing number of reports that a very wide range of apps are affected, and that it happens on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs …
Background
From yesterday's report:
A number of Mac users are seeing an error message: "Your system has run out of application memory." The error is caused by an app using gigabytes worth of memory - reporting more usage than the Mac has, until it eventually crashes. Culprits include Mail and Final Cut Pro.
The exact behavior varies. In the worst of cases, a user cannot change focus from the alert window, requiring a forced restart.
Dismissing the window achieves nothing as it will immediately reappear.
Growing reports of application memory error
While the early reports I spotted named first-party Apple apps like Mail, Final Cut Pro, Music, and even Finder, it has become clear since then that a great many other apps are suffering from the same issue.
While some have seen it during Monterey betas - and some report instances on older macOS versions too - the majority of reports follow users updating to macOS Monterey 12.0.1.
"Just started seeing this after Monterey upgrade (12.0.1). MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2018, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports). 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7. 16Gb."
"Back when macOS 12 was in beta, songPop 2 did the same thing."
"Same problem here with Mac Mini i5. Alway Excel the causer, cant even add a single line."
"I had it yesterday (16-inch MBP M1 Max, 64GB RAM, 4TB SSD). I quit most apps normally, with no forced system restart, and haven't seen the issue today. … Needless to say, a disconcerting message on a machine with 64GB! Here's to a hopefully fast fix."
"Happened like 6 times in DaVinci Resolve since getting Monterey/M1 Max."
"Got that and Mail was using 50GBs. M1 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar."
"Same here. M1 MacBook Air 16GB ram. macOS 12.0.1. Mail, as well as Pages and Keynote eating high 80GBs and 90GBs of memory when the alert started showing up. Needless to say, the exact same machine, running same software under same workloads never produced this alert under macOS 11. And I have over 600GB of free disk space (on 1TB drive), so not an issue with low swap space."
"It's happening to me with Safari 15 on an Intel MacBook Pro."
"Every day. Pages using 30+ GB of Application Memory. MBA M1 Base Model."
It should be noted that older reports could well be cases of an app legitimately running out of RAM.
The record appears to be one 9to5Mac reader who showed a screengrab of SourceKitService showing 308GB of usage on a 64GB machine! Examples where the usage exceeds the physical memory could be an error in the number displayed, or might be legitimate, with the apps using disk swap space.
New USB-C logos may finally lead Apple users to the right cable
by Jason Cross, macworld
The problem with USB-C (technically "USB Type C" but nobody calls it that) is that it's one connector with a lot of great properties (bi-directional, symmetrical, slim, locking) that supports a lot of technologies but mandates very few. When you see a USB-C port on a device, you don't know what does and does not support it. Can you charge your device there? Is it data transfer only? How fast? What about DisplayPort?
Buying cables can be just as bad. You may have no idea if a cable supports power delivery, or if it does what the wattage limits are. You don't know if that USB-C cable supports faster data transfer speeds. And if you have Apple gear, where Thunderbolt compatibility is often key, there's a whole other layer of specifications to worry about.
The easy way out for Apple users is to buy Apple's own branded cables, which tend to support all the power and data transfer needs of its own devices. But Apple's cables are expensive, only come in white, and only come in two lengths: 1 meter and 2 meters.
USB-IF to the rescue (sort of)
The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) seems to have recognized what a mess this is and will address it with a set of new logos (shown below). A USB 4 cable will proudly say "40Gbps" in the logo, and a cable that supports the USB Power Delivery 3.1 specification will have either 60W or 240W displayed, to show which of the two maximum power ratings it supports.
Certified cables will display these logos on their packaging or possibly on the cable itself, or on the company's product page on their website. It's a good thing to look for if you're buying USB-C cables, but it only goes so far for Apple users.
When it comes to charging, you want a USB-C cable that supports Power Delivery at the highest rates. Apple's power adapters top out at 96W, and while that is only used on certain 16-inch MacBook Pro models, the 61-watt and 45-watt power adapters are strong enough that you want to make sure your cable's up to the task.
Similarly, Apple's support of high data transfer speeds means that a USB 4 cable with support for 40Gbps is highly desirable, too. We covered this when USB 4 was announced, but the USB 4 standard basically brings the spec up to Thunderbolt 3 performance levels. Apple only just recently started officially supporting USB 4 in Macs with the M1 chip, but the company has supported Thunderbolt 3 for years, which means you need a 40Gbps cable with a Type-C connector.
In other words, if you have Apple stuff with a USB-C port on it and you want to buy a third-party cable that is likely to work with all your current and future Apple stuff, looking for that 40Gbps and 240W logo is a really good idea. You're only going to see that 40Gbps logo on USB4 certified cables, which means it also supports DisplayPort 2.0, so you should be covered for all your Apple peripheral needs, including monitors. While USB 4 certification is not technically the same thing as Thunderbolt 3, the whole point of USB 4 is to essentially raise the minimum bar to the level of Thunderbolt 3.
Of course, the problem with these logo programs is that they're never mandatory and can take a while to become commonplace. And they only ensure that a cable's design meets certain requirements, not that the cable will be durable or flexible or doesn't get too hot when charging. A cable that does not carry these logos could be great, and a cable that does carry them might work well but falls apart after just a few months. Still, some assurance is better than none, and we would recommend that if you're buying a non-Apple-brand USB-C cable you look for these logos.
Here's what's new with the redesigned Safari in macOS Monterey and how it works
by Michdael Potuck, 9to5mac
Apple features a redesigned Safari with macOS Monterey but as it happens, the biggest UI change isn't seen with the default version. Let's jump into what's changed, what's new, and how Safari in macOS Monterey looks and works.
Apple made its way through a lot of Safari iterations during the macOS Monterey beta period and it even changed from the 12.0 build that comes installed on the 2021 MacBook Pro to the official Monterey public 12.0.1 release.
As you upgrade to iOS 15, iPadOS 15 (and macOS 12 Monterey by the end of the year), you're going to see references to iCloud+. You might even already be an iCloud+ subscriber! That's because iCloud+ is Apple's new name for what you get if you pay for additional iCloud storage for yourself and up to five family members, which has been possible for a long time.
iCloud+ comes with some new features as well, namely iCloud Private Relay (still in beta), Hide My Email, and Custom Email Domain, along with expanded HomeKit Secure Video support. Three tiers of iCloud+ match up with the previous storage tiers:
50 GB for $0.99 per month gets you all the iCloud+ features plus HomeKit Secure Video support for one camera
200 GB for $2.99 per month gets you all the iCloud+ features plus HomeKit Secure Video support for five cameras
2 TB for $9.99 per month gets you all the iCloud+ features plus HomeKit Secure Video support for unlimited cameras
We expect that most people will subscribe to iCloud+ largely for the extra storage—Apple provides only 5 GB of iCloud storage for free—but once you're paying for more storage, the other new features are welcome. Let's look at each.
Compared: New AirPods vs second-generation AirPods
Malcolm Owen, appleinsider
Apple has launched the latest update to the AirPods line, with the third-generation model offering Spatial Audio support alongside design refinements. Here's how the new personal audio accessories fare compared against its predecessor, the second-generation AirPods.
Unveiled at the "Unleashed" Apple Event on Monday, the new AirPods are the third iteration of Apple's wildly popular wireless earphone range. Arriving two and a half years after the last update to the range, the third-generation benefit from a variety of changes.
While the new model has some big boots to fill, Apple also fits in the latest version as a mid-range model, as it continues to sell the second-generation version. Here's how the new models fare.
7 Best iPad Widgets for Your Home Screen (iPadOS 15)
by Ashleigh Page, iphonelife
Craft the home screen of your dreams with these handy iPad widget ideas.
iPhone widgets are cool, but iPad widgets are even better. Why? The iPad's larger display means you can add more detailed widgets that show inspiration, updates, and needed information from your apps without ever leaving your Home screen. We've tested the most popular options and created this roundup of some of the most fun and useful widgets for your iPad Home screen.
iPhone Icons: Home Screen & Control Center Symbols & Meanings (Updated for iOS 15)
by Connor Carey, iphonelife
What do all the iPad and iPhone symbols and icons mean? Learn about iPhone symbols at the top of the screen, iPhone Control Center icons, and even new iPhone icons from iOS 15.
If you've ever wondered what the iPhone symbols on top of the screen (in the status bar) or in the iPhone Control Center are trying to tell you, then you've come to the right spot. Apple uses iPad and iPhone status icons and symbols to show a lot of information in a very small space. Here are iPhone symbols and their meanings explained; your guide to the most common iPad and iPhone status icons.
How to Change Text Size on iPhone for Individual Apps (iOS 15)
by Erin MacPherson, appleinsider
Increase text size for apps on iPhone with this new feature in iOS 15
Sure, you can adjust the text size for your entire iPhone, but what if it's just one or two apps that are hard to read? Thanks to iOS 15, now you can decrease or increase text size for one app or several instead of changing font size across all apps! We'll walk you through setup and text size adjustment on iPhone for individual apps.
Before you can adjust text size on iPhone for each app, you'll need to add the Text Size adjustment feature to the Control Center on your iPhone. Once you've done that you can move on to the next section to learn how to change font size in apps!
Open the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap on Control Center.
First, make sure the Access Within Apps toggle is enabled. The toggle will be green when enabled.
In the Included Controls section you'll see items that are already available within your Control Center.
Scroll down to the More Controls section to see additional features available to add.
Tap on the green + icon next to Text Size.
Text Size will now be available when you open the Control Center on your iPhone.
Once you've completed these steps, you can exit Settings and move on to the next section to use this new iOS 15 feature to adjust app text sizes.
Now that you have access to Text Size in the Control Center on your iPhone, let's learn how to change text size on iPhone for each app that's hard to read.
First, open the app for which you want to change text size.
Open the Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen. For iPhones with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
Tap the Text Size icon to adjust font size.
If the All Apps icon is blue, tap the [This App] Only icon. The name of the app will change depending on which app you're adjusting at the time.
Use your finger to move the slider up or down to change font size for the app. The more white bars, the larger the font size.
Look at the top of the screen for a preview of the actual size of the font.
When you're finished, tap a blank part of the screen to exit, then do so once more.
Now you know how to change text size for iPhone apps individually! Just repeat these steps while in each app to customize the text on an app-by-app basis.
Apple execs detail Apple Watch Series 7 design and watchOS 8 improvements in new interview
by Chance Miller, 9to5mac
The Apple Watch Series 7 features a new industrial design with a focus on larger 41mm and 45mm sizes. In a new interview with the Independent, Apple's Alan Dye and Stan Ng talked more about this new design, how watchOS is optimized to take advantage of the larger displays, and more.
Alan Dye serves as Apple's vice president of interface design, while Stan Ng is the company's vice president of product marketing. Ng explained in the interview that the key for Apple was making the Apple Watch Series 7 display bigger, while also not compromising other aspects of the wearable:
"The size limits the amount of information that, that can be shown and so every single pixel counts," Ng said. "The re-engineered display on Series 7 is a major technical innovation. Growing the display is such a huge benefit to users, but only if it doesn't compromise any other part of the experience, such as comfort or aesthetics or battery life or band compatibility."
"We did this by integrating the touch sensor into the OLED panel allowing the height of the product itself to remain the same," Ng revealed. "So, to all intents and purposes, we've been able to expand the viewable area without significantly growing, to overall case size."
Dye went on to explain that Apple's goal was to take advantage of the larger display by making the watchOS experience "more clear and more accessible."
"We knew this was an opportunity to optimize the design of the entire experience. So, we went about over the past couple of years reconsidering and recrafting every element, making hundreds of really small but we think important and impactful changes to make the UI to work in harmony with the new display design and making the UI even easier to use."
One of the ways this manifested turned out to be the addition of an on-screen QWERTY keyboard for the first time on an Apple Watch:
"Since the first Apple Watch, text input has been critical and a huge challenge," Dye said. "We always wanted a QWERTY keyboard and this new display enabled that and enabled it in a way that we think we could deliver the feature in incredibly usable and powerful way. Designing the new keyboard was really quite a challenge. So, we made some important decisions. One thing we did was we removed the bezels from the keys, those little outlines to help make it feel a little less cramped. And to imply that precision isn't critical with your taps because of the intelligence behind the keyboard."
The full report goes more in-depth on some of the smaller changes throughout watchOS 8 for the new Apple Watch Series 7. You can read it on the Independent website as well as in Apple News here.
Apple TV+ Guide: Here are all the Apple TV shows and movies available now
by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5mac
Apple TV+ offers exclusive Apple original TV shows and movies in 4K HDR quality. You can watch across all of your screens and pick up where you left off on any device. Apple TV+ costs $4.99 per month. Here's every Apple original television show and movie available now on Apple TV+, as well as the latest trailers …
Apple TV+ content is available exclusively through the Apple TV app. You can watch on your Apple TV set-top box, iPhone, or iPad as you might expect.
But you don't need the latest Apple TV 4K to enjoy Apple TV+. The TV app is also available on other platforms like Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Sony PlayStation, Xbox, and even the web at tv.apple.com.
Apple TV+ offers original comedies, dramas, thrillers, documentaries, and kids shows.
For your $4.99/month subscription (learn how to save money), you can watch all of Apple's originals — as listed below. You can download to watch offline too. Apple is adding new content every single month.
While it may not be obvious how to close or force quit apps on the Apple Watch, watchOS 8makes it easy with just a few button presses — here's how to do it.
Even though there's not much reason to close an app on your Apple Watch unless a cloud service that the app relies on is nonresponsive, the process is simple enough to do.
How to close Apple Watch apps in watchOS 8
Press the Side Button
When the list of open apps appears, swipe to the left on the app you wish to close
Tap the Close App icon that appears
The Side Button is the oblong, slightly raised button just below the round, raised Digital Crown.
Occasionally, you might find that you have issues with an Apple Watch freezing or behaving incorrectly. In these cases, you'll want to force-quit the app, rather than just closing it following the methods listed above.
How to force close Apple Watch apps in watchOS 8
Open the app that is not working correctly
Hold the Side Button until the Power Off appears
Press and hold the Digital Crown
This will force close the app in question. To reopen the app, tap its icon on the Home Screen.
How to switch Apple Watch apps to List View in watchOS 8
by Amber Neely, appleinsider
By default, Apple Watch uses a "honeycomb" view to browse installed apps, identified only by their icons. However, there is a more straightforward List View option. Here's how to turn it on.
You may find it challenging to select the apps you want via the honeycomb layout, or you may not always be able to immediately recognize apps by their tiny icons.
Whatever the reason, it's easy to switch to an alphabetical list view in watchOS 8.
How to switch apps to List View on watchOS 8
View the honeycomb app screen on your Apple Watch
Firmly press the screen with your finger until the option to switch your app layout appears
Tap List View
If you find that you don't like the List view, you can revert the changes by following the steps above, and selecting "Grid View"
The oldest computer can be traced back to Adam and Eve.
Surprise! Surprise!
It was an Apple
But with extremely limited memory...
Just one byte
Then everything clashed!
Malware Examples
by Ron Sharp and Robert Elphick *
Scam email, not from MalwareBytes.
Delete emails like this that are not from who they pretend to be.
Clicking on the blue in the top left produces this:
Not a valid sender!
Internet Crime
Any one bothered by internet criminal activity should report it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at this web page. This includes phishing, malware, spoofing, any demand for money.
MacOS Monterey is now available, as of October 26th, 2021. I jumped right on it just out of curiosity. I did read up on it but I was thinking there might be visual design elements to improve the general look. So I backed up my MacBook, cleared my browser history, emptied my trash. Then disconnected the backup drive and went ahead with the Monterey upgrade.
Here are my thoughts after a few days. There are a number of new features but, unfortunately, not much I find very interesting. Meaning features I'm not probably not going to use. Kind of like the Touch Bar on MacBook Pros, not so useful and it's even been eliminated on the new 14 and 16 inch MacBooks. Here is a quick rundown.
Safari has been updated a bit, the big feature is Tab Groups. So when you have a bunch of pages open in different tabs, you can put them in a group. I can't see much advantage to that. You can already save all open tabs into one folder and reopen them all simultaneously.
Shortcuts have been brought to the Mac from iOS. So you can create and use shortcuts on your Mac. It took me over a year to start using any shortcuts on the iPhone and they can be somewhat useful but it's something you have to really work on to understand and set it up before it's useful.
Focus is being called an important addition, but again I don't see it as something I'll use. It's another app you have to set up and then it will turn off notifications and interruptions while you work on something important. But the Notifications are there to remind or inform you of important things. And you have all the control of them already, to turn them on or off for each item and turn banner, badges, and sounds on or off. For instance I have email notifications turned off. I think the default is to be turned on but I imagine a lot of people don't realize how many notifications they can control or turn off completely already.
Quick Note will pull up a note when you simply slide your cursor to the lower right corner of your screen. I might use that, but again "Hot Corners" has always been available and I really never liked to use them. I found it annoying when I moved my cursor a bit too close to a corner of the screen and another window opened up. This Quick Note however is not so aggressive and just pokes it's head up to give you the option to click on the Quick Note.
FaceTime Portrait Mode is a nice feature. It'll blur the background when doing a FaceTime call.
SharePlay is a feature that will let you share your screen and audio from a device like your iPhone or iPad to your Mac.
Live Text is the only feature I think is really great. It lets you copy text from an image and paste it as text. Often I might have an image of a business address or phone number that I snapped a photo of and I'll want to copy it but I can't because it's an image and not a text document. Now I'll be able to copy and paste from images with Live Text.
The good news is that there have been no glitches so far. Apple claims more stability and performance improvements. There are also privacy enhancements. There is an option with Mail to hide your location and an iCloud Private Relay to keep your internet activity private. Private Relay hides your IP address and browsing activity in Safari and protects your unencrypted internet traffic so that no one can see both who you are and what sites you're visiting. So this is worth upgrading for, but I recommend waiting for at least a few weeks, as usual, to make sure any glitches are discovered and corrected.
After upgrading to Monterey I actually thought the colors looked a bit more vivid but have read they are a bit softer. Well, somehow a little different. Maybe I could condense this whole article to "somehow a little different." Ha. But at least you've been introduced to a few new terms! "Oh Swell!"
MAGIC, the Macintosh Appreciation Group of Island County, serves people who use Macintosh computers, software and peripherals. Our goal is to share information and get answers to questions to make us more productive with our use of technology. Our monthly meetings give us a chance to discuss computer problems and share ideas with other Mac users, feature speakers on specific topics, and to keep apprised of Apple news.
