Newsletter Editor:
| Date: | 16 March 2022 |
| Time: | 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. |
| Place: | Zoom |
| Presentations: | • Meeting and Q&A with Harry • "Preferences" by Gary McIntyre |
bt Penny Holland, MAGIC Secretary
The February meeting of MAGIC was held per Covid rules via Zoom. There were about 20 people in online attendance.
President Harry Anderson called the meeting to order at 4:00.
BUSINESS MEETING: With several board members absent, including our Treasurer, there was no financial report. Our balance should be not too different from last month.
Note that MAGIC minutes will no longer cover details of the presentation, as this can be viewed on the MAGIC WEBSITE
http://www.whidbey.com/magicmug/data/zoom.html\
Go to the Home Page of MAGIC and click on the Zoom meeting link.(It usually takes a couple of days after the meeting to get the presentation up-loaded to the webpage.)
Harry announced that Gary McIntyre will give the March Presentation on Preferences. And he reminded us of the Zoom rules: Please do not ask questions during the presentation, but send your question via CHAT. Harry will either interrupt the presenter, if appropriate, or will call on you later.
TODAY'S PRESENTATION given by Ron Sharp:
Managing Photos.and Tips for Sorting Photos.
For further information on Photos, note that last Feb, 2021 Ron did another presentation on Photos.
Q&A
Question: I take both raw and regular photos. Where do the raw photos go?
Answer: They go into the photo library along with the "normal" photo.
Question: I have a newer computer and can't find my old photos from iPhoto?
Answer: You should find a folder called iPhoto listed in the albums on the left side of the window.
Question: Is there an icon on the Mac that will get rid of duplicates?
Answer: No, you do need to get a Duplicate Finder app to sort through your existing photos. When you import photos the Photos app will ask you if you want to import duplicates, so you can avoid duplicates when adding new photos.
Question: Is there a way to make an original photo come in at fewer megabytes? If I'm taking raw photos?
Answer: Some digital cameras have settings to change the size. The iPhone 12 and newer has the option to take RAW format photos. The RAW format creates very large file images but offers more detail when enlarged. Set your iPhone Camera the way you want. Once a photo has been taken you can reduce the file size by making the image smaller, and Photos doesn't have an easy option for that unless you use the "Share" option for emailing photos it will give size options. Also the Preview app can be used to change an image size.
Question: I scanned old albums onto a flash drive. How is the best way to import them?
Answer: It depends on the format they are in. They are probably jpegs and can be imported into the Photos libary.
Question: What happened to the photos I had originally in iPhotos?
Answer: These should have automatically been imported into Photos. There should be a folder called iPhoto that shows in the left column of the Photos app. All of your photos should be there.
Harry asked the general membership to give ideas of future presentations they would like to see.
Trish suggested,Syncing the calendar to iPhone and iPad.
Another wanted to know how to work with Family Sharing.
From the question of how to go from Apple Mail a POP account, to an iMap account, Harry suggested we do a presentation about email in general. (You cannot simply change your current POP account to an iMap.account.) On this same topic, someone wanted ideas on how to set up an email account so you don't get too much junk mail in your regular account..
One person asked for a presentation on how to clean up and fix an old mac that is misbehaving.
Someone ask for information on downloading Printer/Drivers. ("I have to use my old printer driver to clean my new printer head when they act up from time to time.") Maybe we should do an entire program on printers. (Including the setting up and use of an air printer.) [THis is on the schedule for April]
Many thanks were given to Ron for the excellent presentation.
With no further questions being posed, Harry adjourned the meeting at about 5:00.
Our next MAGIC meeting is on the third Wednesday of March (the 16th), via Zoom.
Minutes for Magic Zoom meeting, February 16, 2022
by Harry Anderson, MAGIC President
No Musings this month.
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.
There are no updates this month.
by Glenn Fleishman, macworld
A cable with a USB-C plug at one or both ends often reveals little about what it's capable of doing. Despite guidelines for labeling set by the USB-IF (the USB trade group) and Intel's Thunderbolt division, you can wind up with multiple USB and Thunderbolt cables and adapters without a great idea of what they do.
USB 2.0 and 3.0's Type-A connector and Thunderbolt 1 and 2's Mini DisplayPort-like plug offered fewer options. The biggest difference was between USB 2.0 and 3.0—but you could quickly tell if your hard drive was constrained to the 480 Mbps speed of USB 2 or operating under the higher 5 Gbps overhead of 3.0.
But with USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 (and now Thunderbolt/USB 4), it's more confusing since they use the same connector. Just look at the following illustration about USB-C options created by Intel to inspire positive feelings about Thunderbolt and tell me that it fills you with information rather than dread.
by Glenn Fleishman, macworld
macOS Monterey ups the game for the Preview app in a subtle way: you can better control over PDFs. In Big Sur and earlier releases of macOS, you had to rely on Adobe Acrobat or another PDF-editing program to set controls.
Now, Preview in Monterey correctly lets you create an owner/permissions password and pick which elements of a PDF may be modified and whether it may be printed by those who receive the PDF. You can also set a separate user/open password that must be entered when opening a PDF to view or act upon it; previously, this password was the only option available in Preview.
These changes also explain why Monterey disabled File > Export as PDF: Apple now better observes the permissions embedded in a PDF. Before Big Sur, you could choose File > Print and then Save as PDF to get around these restrictions. In Big Sur, Apple blocked that pathway, but still allowed File > Export as PDF. In Monterey, PDFs locked against file modification or printing can neither be printed nor exported to create an editable file.
Let's look first at PDF passwords and then at content-level permissions.
Set an owner and a user password
Monterey changes up the PDF permissions game, starting with the Save dialog. Before Monterey, Preview let you set a password when you used File > Save As for a PDF file or chose File > Export as PDF. However, this password only controlled whether someone possessing it could open the file. Any additional file controls had to be set in another program.
By adding PDF-level permission control to Preview, Apple also had to update how you set a password for the file.
When you choose File > Duplicate and then save the file, choose File > Export > PDF, or File > Export as PDF, or hold down Option and choose File > Save As, Preview's options in the Save dialog no longer include the password fields, replacing them with a Permissions button.
Click this button, and you can separately set Require Password To Open Document at the top and Owner Password at the bottom. The password that opens a file doesn't allow its possessor to modify a PDF's permissions—only the owner password has that privilege. (Apple calls it the "owner" password; Adobe, the "permissions" password.)
Save a file without clicking Permissions, and all permissions are available, and no password is required to open the PDF.
Click Permissions, and you must set an owner password and pick among the permissions described in the next section. An owner password is always required to set a user password, even if you enable all permissions.
Choose permissions
The PDF format lets you share a file with other people that preserves its exact appearance at the time of creation. But you may not always want people to have the ability to manipulate the file. Adobe, the format's creator, provided several different settings. Preview for Monterey supports limiting:
Apple also lists changing document attributes, like the creator or keywords, but this permission cannot be set or modified as a separate item in the permissions list.
You can set these permissions at the time you initially save or export a PDF. You can also choose File > Edit Permissions later as long as you have entered or possess the owner password.
If you haven't opened the file by entering the owner password, choose Tools > Show Inspector, click the lock icon at the top to display the Encryption view, and click the lock icon to the right of Unlock as Owner. Enter the owner password. You can now click the Edit button to the File > Edit Permissions dialog.
View permissions
When you open a file in any fashion—with no password, a user password, or an owner password—you can use the Inspector palette's Encryption view to see what permissions are available to you, and to enter the owner password if you have it.
by Allie Sullberg, themarkup
There is an estimated $12 billion market of companies that buy and sell location data collected from your cellphone. And the trade is entirely legal in the U.S.
Without legislation limiting the location data trade, Apple and Google have become the de facto regulators for keeping your whereabouts private—through shifts in transparency requirements and crackdowns on certain data brokers.
Specifically, the app stores have cracked down on data brokers that market software development kits (SDKs) to app developers—like X-Mode (now known as Outlogic), which has come under scrutiny for selling data to military contractors. It's common for app developers to embed SDKs to add features to their apps without having to build them from scratch, but these SDKs specifically were designed to send app user location data to brokers.
But experts and location data industry workers tell The Markup that the moves have been insufficient; there are plenty of loopholes in Apple's and Google's policies that allow location data to still be collected, even without using those SDKs.
"The challenge, and this is a challenge with data brokers in general, is that you're playing whack-a-mole, where these companies have many different vectors through which they get people's sensitive information," Justin Sherman, a cyber policy fellow at the Duke Technology Policy Lab, said.
by Roman Loyola, macworld
Apple revealed the new 14- and 16- inch MacBook Pro laptops at its "Unleashed" event. The new laptop features a new redesign with smaller bezels, a new display, new ports, new Apple silicon, and more. Here are the key details on the MacBook Pro. You can order the new MacBook Pro laptops from Apple, but check third-party retailers for special price deals.
by Roman Loyola, macworld
Apple equips its Macs with Thunderbolt ports that are compatible with USB-C. A new MacBook Pro comes with either two or three of these ports, depending on the model you pick. A new MacBook Air has a pair. A 24-inch iMac comes with two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports; some models also include two USB-C ports. You probably have devices that use USB-A, Thunderbolt 1, Thunderbolt 2, DisplayPort, HDMI, or something else. How do you connect these devices? With an adapter.
If you're planning to buy a new 24-inch iMac, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, make sure you set aside a considerable amount of cash for the adapters you need. Apple doesn't include any in the box, except for a power adapter.
Your best bet is to get a combination dock, like the Satechi Slim Aluminum Type-C Multi-Port Adapter ($60 on Amazon). It connects via USB-C, and includes a USB-C pass-through port, two USB 3.0 ports, and an HDMI port with 4K (30Hz) support. With this, you don't have to carry around multiple adapters.
If you don't want a dock, or you can't find a dock with the mix of connections you need, Apple or another company probably has an adapter for you. We've come up with this guide to help you sort out what you need, and we link to the appropriate adapter in the online Apple Store or on Amazon.
Be sure to check the return policies; sometimes adapters from third parties don't work. Read user reviews whenever possible, and read the specifications to make sure the adapter can do what you need it to do.
by MacRumors Staff
Apple in September 2020 unveiled a redesigned iPad Air with an edge-to-edge 10.9-inch display, Touch ID power button, an A14 Bionic chip, new color options, and more.
Features
iPad Air, Apple's redesigned 10.9-inch iPad Air is the middle-tier iPad
The iPad Air is Apple's mid-range tablet and the current model features a new design with flat edges, the A14 Bionic chip, a USB-C port, Touch ID, a range of color options, and more.
Announced in October 2020, the iPad Air is now the oldest iPad in Apple's lineup and it is reaching the end of its product cycle. Apple does not seem to update the iPad Air regularly, leaving up to two and a half years between upgrades, but there are clear signs of a new model arriving very soon. This means that now is a not good time to buy the iPad Air and most customers should wait for the new model to launch in March.
The iPad Air is Apple's middle option in the iPad lineup, but for those who want a smaller tablet, there is the iPad mini, which still offers an all-screen design and USB-C, but in a much more portable form factor. Users who are looking for a more affordable option should consider the ninth-generation iPad. Starting at $329, the iPad offers many iPad Air features, such as Touch ID and a Retina display, but at a significantly lower price that balances functionality and affordability.
On the other hand, for iPad models with a larger display, a more powerful chip, and additional, high-end features, there is the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro takes the iPad Air's features to the next level, adding the M1 chip, up to 16GB of memory, an Ultra Wide camera and a LiDAR scanner, Face ID, ProMotion, a mini-LED display panel on the 12.9-inch model, and more.
by Michael Simon, macworld
Apple adds a fifth American Siri voice option that isn't explicitly male or female.
When iOS 15.4 lands on your iPhone in a few weeks, there will be a load of new features to sift through: Face ID with a Mask, Tap to Pay, new emoji, and Universal Control on the iPad. But there will be one smaller change that's just as meaningful: a new Siri voice.
Released as part of the fourth iOS 15.4 beta, the new voice is simply labeled America (Voice 5). But when you listen to it, you'll notice that it's somewhat androgenous and difficult to pin down as explicitly male or female. As part of its continued push for diversity, Apple told Axios that it hired "a member of the LGBTQ+ community" to record the new Siri voice. Here's how the new voice sounds:
It's not clear whether the new American voice will come to the other language varieties as well. Apple offers five American voices and just two on than any other language
"We're excited to introduce a new Siri voice for English speakers, giving users more options to choose a voice that speaks to them," Apple said in a statement. "Millions of people around the world rely on Siri every day to help get things done, so we work to make the experience feel as personalized as possible."
Apple last year removed the default female voice in iOS 14.5 and added three new voices, including two options recorded by black actors. At the time, Apple said the voice options were "a continuation of Apple's long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion, and products and services that are designed to better reflect the diversity of the world we live in."
by Jason Cross, macworld
Everything we know about Apple's next budget iPhone.
In 2020, after a four-year wait, Apple finally updated the iPhone SE to… the iPhone SE. Hanging on to the same name is a little confusing—Apple differentiates the new model when necessary by calling it the 2nd-generation iPhone SE, but most people either call it the iPhone SE (2020) or iPhone SE 2.
We currently expect the new iPhone SE (which may be called the iPhone SE Plus, iPhone SE (2022), iPhone SE (3rd-generation), or iPhone SE 3) to be released in the first half of 2022, likely at Apple's spring event. Here's a summary of all the latest rumors, leaks, and other information we've been able to gather about the next revision of Apple's most affordable iPhone.
by Jason Cross, macworld
Here's what you can do about that significant Other filling up all your iPhone storage.
I'm sure this sounds familiar: You're trying to install the latest iOS 15 release (iOS 15.3), back up and upgrade to a new iPhone, or download that cool app your friend told you about, and your iPhone says the storage is full.
You've already deleted every app you don't think you need, and there's still not enough space. So you open Settings, tap General, then iPhone Storage and, sure enough, your iPhone is full. Worst of all, a huge chunk of it is just listed as "Other." What's that supposed to mean? How do you get rid of it? The Other storage section is mysterious and confusing, and there's no one answer that works for everyone, but hopefully this guide will help you deal with this problem.
How to view your iPhone storage
To see how much storage all your apps and data are taking up on your iPhone's storage, open the Settings app, select General, then iPhone Storage. Up top you'll see a bar graph showing your total iPhone storage and which types of data are filling it up. Beneath that you'll find a list of applications on your phone and how much room they take up, both for the app itself and its stored data.
by Graham Bower, cultofmac
The Blood Oxygen app is not for medical use. So what exactly is it for? Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac The blood oxygen sensor featured in Apple Watch Series 6 and 7 is "not intended for medical use," Apple says. That seems odd, considering that low blood oxygen is a serious medical condition. If the watch's monitor is not for medical use, then what exactly is it for?
In this post, we'll look at what blood oxygen is, how Apple Watch measures it, how the device compares to medical-grade alternatives, and what you can actually use it for.
This post contains affiliate links. Cult of Mac may earn a commission when you use our links to buy items.
What is Blood Oxygen and why does it matter?
The Blood Oxygen app on Apple Watch Series 6 and 7 checks your oxygen saturation level. This is sometimes informally referred to as "sats." It's a measure of how much oxygen your blood is carrying from your lungs to the rest of your body. In combination with the nutrients you eat, oxygen provides the fuel that powers literally everything your body does: from moving your muscles, to growing your toenails, and even reading Cult of Mac.
In healthy adults, blood oxygen saturation is normally between 95% and 100%. If it goes below this level, your body won't be getting all the oxygen it needs to function correctly. This condition is known as hypoxemia, and it's usually accompanied by shortness of breath.
How does Apple Watch measure blood oxygen saturation? Oxygen is transported in your blood using a protein called hemoglobin in red blood cells. When there's plenty of oxygen, it looks bright red. As the oxygen is used up, it turns purple-blue.
This is why your arteries, which carry freshly oxygenated blood from your lungs, look red. Whereas your veins, which return the blood once the oxygen is used, look blue. It's also why the Apple Watch Blood Oxygen app displays animated red and blue lines, although these appear to be just for decoration.
Apple Watch uses a method known as pulse oximetry to estimate how much oxygen your blood contains. It does this by checking the color of your blood. To measure this, a red light shines against the skin of your wrist and a sensor detects the light reflected back.
How accurate is Apple Watch Blood Oxygen sensor?
The most accurate way to measure blood oxygen saturation is with a sample of blood from your arteries. This is known as arterial oxygen saturation or SaO2. (The "a" stands for artery.) But you need a doctor or nurse to take the sample, and a lab to process the results.
Apple Watch, like all pulse oximeters, does not look at your arteries. Instead, it measures something slightly different: SpO2. The "p" stands for peripheral, because it looks at capillaries — tiny blood vessels at the periphery of your body. This is like monitoring car traffic that comes off an exit ramp to figure out how busy the highway is.
SpO2and SaO 2 are similar metrics, but have different medical applications. SaO2 is used for diagnosing anemic conditions, while SpO2 is used for continuous monitoring, during surgery and emergency care.
Wizard Sez: I was disappointed to buy an Apple Watch 7 hoping to get accurate Oxygen readings only to find out from this article that it does not. I also have a finger oximeter and it often differs the Watch reading. Apple should point this out in their advertisements.
by Zac Hall, 9to5mac
During the 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award last night, Apple Originals were recognized with four SAG Awards thanks to CODA and Ted Lasso.
Although Apple didn't provide a statement about the winnings, the company writes in a press release that "CODA makes history as the first film with a predominantly Deaf cast to receive the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, and lead actor Troy Kotsur becomes the first Deaf actor to receive an individual SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role."
In addition, the second season of Ted Lasso keeps showing why the show is so important to Apple as it was awarded Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, while Jason Sudeikis landed the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for the second consecutive year.
by osxdaily
The Apple HomePod Mini and HomePod is quite popular, and for many users it's their first smart speaker. If you're new to these devices, you may be unfamiliar with how some of the basics works, like playing music on HomePod mini.
Considering that one of the main selling points of the HomePod is high-fidelity audio for its size, listening to music with the speaker is a worthwhile feature to understand. We'll walk through music selection and playback using Siri on the HomePod Mini and Homepod. Don't worry, the learning curve is short.
How to Play, Pause, Resume, & Skip Music on HomePod Mini with Siri Regardless of whether you own the bigger, more-expensive HomePod or the smaller, cheaper HomePod Mini, the following steps remain the same since we'll just be using Siri and Apple Music. Here's what you need to do:
Start off by saying something like "Hey Siri, play Ariana Grande." and Siri will start playing a random song sung by Ariana Grande. Of course, you can specify the song instead of the artist's name too. For example, "Hey Siri, play Battle Symphony." Once Siri starts playing a song, you can say "Hey Siri, pause." or "Hey Siri, stop playing." to pause the music playback. To resume the playback, you can use the command, "Hey Siri, resume" or "Hey Siri, continue playing.". If you started listening to a playlist or an album on your HomePod, you can use the voice command "Hey Siri, skip this song." if you want to play the next song. Or, say "Hey Siri, play the previous song." to go back to the song that you were just listening to. Thanks to Siri, you'll find playing music on your HomePod Mini with just your voice is super easy.
Make no mistake, using voice commands is just one of the ways to listen to music on your HomePod. Alternatively, with the help of AirPlay, you can stream audio that's being played back on your other Apple devices straight to your HomePod. For instance, you can check out how to listen to YouTube music on your HomePod using AirPlay from your iPhone if you're interested. The same steps can be used to stream any kind of audio on your iPhone or iPad too.
Although Siri can be used to quickly control the music playback, you're not limited to using voice controls. Both the HomePod and HomePod Mini models have a capacitive top-surface that includes volume controls and supports gestures. You can use gestures like single-tap on the surface to pause/resume playback, double-tap to skip the song, and triple-tap to replay the previous song on your HomePod.
So there you go, you've learned how to use music streaming on the HomePod series, and it's as easy as you'd expect with Siri.
by Penny Holland, MAGIC*
by Ron Sharp and Robert Elphick *
Watch out for the ongoing scams about covid-19. We have learned of a number of spam emails and phone calls offering free covid testing kits that are just trying to get data from you. If in doubt, contact medicare.
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.
by Ron Sharp, MAGIC
Making your computer text a readable size is something we all need occasionally. Here are some steps to follow to adjust your font size. Unfortunately font size needs to be set for apps individually. So I'll start with the Finder app. Yes, the "Finder" is an app and it's the app that displays your Desktop and the Finder window that shows all your files. It's the first icon in your Dock.
Open the Finder window. You'll notice if the Finder window is selected or the Desktop is selected the word "Finder" is in the upper left corner next to the Apple icon. To the right of the that, click on "View" and then select "Show View Options." This is where you can set the font size of files in the Finder window. Sadly, it doesn't change the Font for the items in the left sidebar.
Now select the Desktop by clicking anywhere on the Desktop or by closing the Finder window. Again, click the "View" menu and "Show View Options." Now it will set the size of the text for the files on your Desktop. You can also change the size of the Desktop icons, the spacing of the icons and if you want them sorted by any criteria.
Now let's set the font size for the Mail application. With Mail opened, click the word Mail next to the Apple icon to go to Mail Preferences. Then select the "Fonts and Colors" tab and set your font size. This will adjust the font size for email you send. When you receive an email it is usually displayed at the font size that it was created with. You can adjust the font size of new mail with the double A's in the toolbar. One makes font larger and other smaller. If you don't see the two A's in the Toolbar you can put them there by selecting the "View" menu and then "Customize Toolbar." (Sounds like a similar procedure doesn't it?) then drag the Double A's to the toolbar and close that window.
Now for the other most used application, Safari, the procedure is similar. Use the Double A's to change the text size on a webpage. If the double A's aren't in the toolbar, then again go to the "View" menu and "Customize Toolbar."
Other applications may have a similar text size adjustment. Too bad there isn't one button that you can click to affect all apps that says don't display any text smaller than 12, or whatever. Regrettably not everyone listens to me!
I'll describe text size for iPhone and iPad in a later newsletter.
by Ron Sharp, MAGIC
Creating Professional Looking Portraits:
Scale of the Universe: From Planets to Multiverse
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.