• Meeting and Q&A with Harry
• Annual Report
• Elections
• Approval of proposed bylaws changes
• Presentation to be determined
Minutes for December, 2022
by Madelyn van der Hoogt, Secretary
There was no meeting in December 2022.
MAGIC Musings
Greetings to all our MAGIC members and Happy New Year! Imagine that: We made it through a very tough 2022 and we — and all our devices — are still functioning!
Our first meeting of the new year will be Wednesday January 18 at 4 p.m. via Zoom. You will receive the Zoom link by email the day before. You will remember that our board has decided to continue meeting via Zoom this year because it has worked well for the past two years and it eliminates the need for us to pay rent for a physical meeting space. And it also eliminates the need for all of us to drive, park, etc. in order to be together for MAGIC meetings.
We do hope to have at least one in-person gathering sometime during the year — perhaps even a summer picnic — so we may renew our acquaintances. I would love to hear from you about whether you'd like something like that. We will have time during our January 18 meeting to discuss the year ahead and what you'd like to see.
You will also recall that our board decided that all our meetings this year will be a question-and-answer format. We have a very successful Q&A session last October and we think that using it every month will allow all our members to bring up their individual issues, questions and concerns and hopefully get answers from our experts. But in order to make this work, we need you to send in questions in advance so the experts have time to research answers. So, please send in your questions before January 18 to our email address .
At this meeting the board will ask members to approve some bylaw changes we have created to bring our organization up to date in how we operate today. The bylaws are available for you to review at the MAGIC web site: www.whidbey.com/magicmug
Thanks for your continued interest in and support of MAGIC and I look forward to a great year ahead.
Harry Anderson
MAGIC President
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.
Big Sur 11.7.2 and Monterey 12.6.2 bring a slew of security updates to older Macs
by Michael Simon, macworld
macOS 13.1 may be getting all the attention, but Apple hasn't forgotten about its older operating systems. Alongside the first major Ventura update, Apple also released updates to Big Sur (11.7.2) and Monterey (12.6.2) that contain a slew of important security updates. Apple appears to be done releasing updates for the two-year-old Catalina.
To update to the latest version of Monterey or Big Sur, head over to System Preferences, click Software Update, and then Install Now. Several of the updates are serious flaws that could lead to arbitrary code execution. Many of the security updates are the same across both operating systems, but there are three that are just for Monterey.
macOS Ventura 13.1 with Freeform, iCloud Advanced Data Protection now available
by Michael Simon, macworld
Apple released the first major update to macOS Ventura, version 13.1. It brings bug fixes, security updates, and several features that aren't in the initial release.
Freeform app: The main new feature in macOS Ventura 13.1 is the Freeform app. Announced at WWDC, Freeform is a whiteboard app for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac that lets you work across devices and share sketches, notes, files, web links, documents, photos, video, and audio in real-time.
Advanced Data Protection for iCloud: Adds more than 20 data categories protected using end-to-end encryption, including iCloud Backup, Notes, and Photos.
AirTag sounds: Users with an AirTag can now locate it from a short distance away by clicking a "Play Sound" button in the Find My app.
Home app: Brings a new architecture for the Home app with improved performance to make the app "more efficient and reliable."
Additionally, Apple's release notes state that macOS 13.1 brings the following improvements:
Improved search in Messages allows you to find photos based on their content, like a dog, car, person, or text
Participant Cursors in Notes allow you to see live indicators as others make updates in a shared note
Fixes an issue that causes some notes not to sync with iCloud after updates are made
Fixes an issue where you may lose keyboard and mouse input in some apps and games
When will macOS Ventura 13.1 be released? Apple released the official version to the public on December 13.
How to install the macOS Ventura 13.1 update
An internet connection is required to install the update. To install macOS Ventura 13.1:
Click on the Apple menu and select System Settings.
Select General in the left sidebar.
Select Software Update in the main section of the window.
The Mac will check online for any available updates. If the update is available, a description will appear. Click on the Update Now button to start the installation. The update will download to your Mac and the installer will run. The Mac will need to restart to complete the installation.
Apple Books launches AI-narrated audiobooks initiative
by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5mac
Apple Books has launched a new initiative to expand the number of audiobooks available on its store. It is inviting independent writers and larger publishers to opt-in to have their written books converted into audio form using AI voice synthesis models.
Apple announced the scheme towards the end of last year, and — as noted by The Guardian — the first AI-narrated books are now available to download in the Apple Books Store.
In the Apple Books app, AI audiobooks are tagged with a "Narrated by Apple Books" subtitle.
Interestingly, Apple is targeting specific genres for this initial rollout. Each genre of book is accompanied by a particular AI voice. Fiction and romance books are narrated by "Madison" and "Jackson'." Non-fiction and self-development genre books will be narrated by "Helena" and "Mitchell."
Other genres of book like science fiction or thrillers are not currently supported.
You can hear samples of what these AI voices sound like here. Although you can probably still tell that the audio is generated rather than recorded by a human, they are very convincing and even higher fidelity than the quality of the realtime machine learning synthesised voice used for Siri.
Generation of the audiobook is not an automatic one-button-press affair. In fact, Apple says it can take about a month for a submitted book to be made available in synthesized form. It seems like Apple and its partners are manually reviewing the generated AI tracks for quality assurance before publishing, at least in the early stages.
The transformation into an AI-narrated audiobook is done on a wholly opt-in basis. The author must own the rights to produce an audiobook version, and (for now) the source book must be written in the English language.
If an Apple Books AI narrated version is created, authors are allowed to produce a human-narrated version later, and can freely generate other audiobook versions with other distributors.
AI narration is particularly appealing proposition to small independent writers, who do not have the capital to pay for human talent and the associated recording process required for classical human book narration.
MacBook owners can now claim payout in class action lawsuit over Butterfly Keyboard issues
by Filipe Espósito, 9to5mac
Back in 2022, a class action lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Jose, California, regarding the Butterfly Keyboard in MacBook models introduced between 2015 and 2019. The lawsuit was settled in November after a judge approved a proposal by Apple to pay owners of affected MacBook models, and now those customers are being contacted to claim their payout.
How to get paid for having a MacBook with a malfunctioning keyboard
An email sent to these customers details that Apple has agreed to pay $50 million into a Settlement Fund. After deducting attorneys' expenses, service awards, and other fees, the funds will be distributed among the members of the class action lawsuit. However, the payout varies depending on each class group.
For instance, owners of MacBooks that have had their keycaps replaced will be paid $50. Those who have had the entire keyboard replaced will be paid $125, and users who have had to order a keyboard replacement more than once can earn up to $395. It's important to keep in mind that the Mac must have been taken to Apple or an authorized service provider to be eligible for the payout.
A Settlement has been reached with Apple Inc. ("Apple") in a class action lawsuit alleging that the "butterfly" keyboard mechanism in certain MacBook laptops is defective, and can result in characters repeating unexpectedly; letters or characters not appearing; and/or the keys feeling "sticky" or not responding in a consistent manner.
Apple denies all of the allegations made in the lawsuit, denies that any MacBooks are defective, and denies that Apple did anything improper or unlawful. The proposed Settlement is not an admission of guilt or wrongdoing of any kind by Apple. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California approved this notice.
Another detail about the lawsuit is that it only covers MacBooks purchased in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, or Washington. If you have an eligible MacBook, you need to submit an application by March 6, 2023, through the KeyboardSettlement.com website in order to get the payout.
If you want to exclude yourself from the class action lawsuit, you need to do so by February 10, 2023. And if you do nothing, you won't get paid either.
The Butterfly Keyboard disaster
The Butterfly Keyboard was first introduced with the 2015 MacBook as a solution to make the computer even thinner. However, after it was put on the market, many customers were frustrated as the Butterfly Keyboard had many malfunctions, such as keys repeating unintentionally or even keys that stopped working.
Even with all these problems, Apple expanded the Butterfly Keyboard to the entire lineup of MacBooks, including the MacBook Pro and then the MacBook Air. In 2018, Apple finally announced a repair program that allowed owners of affected MacBooks to replace the keyboard for free if needed.
It took almost five years before Apple brought back the classic keyboard, now called the Magic Keyboard, to the MacBook. A series of class action lawsuits were filed in a number of US states, alleging that Apple knew from internal testing that the keyboard design was faulty yet released the machines anyway. Apple tried and failed to have the lawsuits dismissed.
How to make iCloud more secure with Advanced Data Protection
by Ed Hardy, cultofmac
Apple recently added end-to-end encryption for more types of iCloud data. Now, you can turn on Advanced Data Protection to encrypt iCloud Photos, Notes and more. Activating this new security feature is easy … once you find the switch buried in Settings.
We can save you some time. Here's how and why you should activate it.
New critical iCloud encryption
Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is all about encryption. This converts data into a form that can only be unlocked with a passcode. The user is the only one with access to that passcode. Without it, not even Apple can decrypt a file.
Encryption isn't new to iCloud. Previously, Apple's cloud-storage service offered end-to-end encryption for 14 data categories. Thanks to Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, that number increases to 23.
Perhaps most notably, that includes images stored on the service. Apple dropped its controversial plan to scan users' photos for child sexual abuse material. Instead, it gives users the option to block anyone else from ever accessing them.
The new Advanced Data Protection for iCloud feature is part of iOS 16.2, macOS Ventura 13.1 and iPadOS 16.2. That said, it is currently only available in the United States. Apple promises the feature will start rolling out to the rest of the world early this year.
How to activate Advanced Data Protection for iCloud
Turning on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is easy. Finding the switch is not. It's buried deep in the Settings app. Here's a step-by-step guide to locating it on an iPhone or iPad. The macOS process is very similar.
Open the Settings app.
Tap your name near the top of the screen to open Apple ID settings.
Then tap on iCloud.
Tap on Advanced Data Protection
This opens a screen with an overview of the new privacy feature. At the bottom, tap on Turn On Advanced Data Protection.
Important: Set up Account Recovery
Encryption is for keeps. If you lose/forget your Apple ID password, everything you encrypted will remain locked away forever. Begging Apple to help recover the only pictures of your newborn baby won't help, because Apple doesn't have the passcode.
That's why Apple's encryption system for iCloud requires you to set up a method to recover your account. Setting this up is as complicated as activating Advanced Data Protection gets … which isn't very complicated.
You have two options:
You can name someone as your Recovery Contact that can "generate a code from their Apple device to help you get your data back," Apple says. That person cannot access your data without you.
Alternatively, your iPhone can generate a 28-character Recovery Key that you can use to give yourself access to your account.
Data types protected by Advanced Data Protection for iCloud
It's important to know what types of iCloud data are encrypted once you turn on Advanced Data Protection — and which aren't. Activating the feature will turn on encryption for:
Device and Messages backups
iCloud Drive
Notes
Reminders
Voice Memos
Photos
Siri Shortcuts
Safari Bookmarks
Wallet Passes
iCloud already offered end-to-end encryption on a variety of other data, including passwords in iCloud Keychain and everything in Health data. Switched on by default, you cannot deactivate it.
But not everything in the cloud-storage system is encrypted. As Apple notes, "The only major iCloud data categories that are not covered are iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar because of the need to interoperate with the global email, contacts, and calendar systems."
WIZARD SEZ: 'member what I said about clouds? There ain't no such thing as perfect encryption! Be careful what you put in any cloud.
7 macOS Ventura features that will take your new Mac to the next level
by Roman Loyola, macworld
Whether you have a new Mac or just got around to updating your old one, macOS Ventura has a lot of new features to get to know. Regardless of whether you're a veteran or a new Mac user, these new features are ones you'll want to take advantage of. Here are seven of them that your Mac will be better off using.
1. Use your iPhone as a webcam
Did you get a new iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Apple Studio Display? Brace yourself, because here's an unfortunate truth about those machines: the built-in FaceTime camera is a disappointment. But if you have an iPhone 11 or later, you can skip that camera and use a new Ventura feature that lets you use your iPhone as a webcam with Continuity Camera.
While you might know the Continuity Camera feature from previous versions of macOS, in Ventura, Apple has expanded the feature with iPhone webcam support. You can mount an iPhone to your Mac or place it on a stand and Ventura automatically senses the device and wirelessly connects to it. You can then use your iPhone's camera in FaceTime and other apps on your Mac.
With an iPhone as a webcam, you'll also be able to use Center Stage to keep you in the center of the frame, as well as Portrait mode. If you're using an iPhone 12 or later, there's a Studio Light feature that uses the iPhone flash to provide better lighting. And finally, a nifty Desk View feature creates a two-shot view, one of the person, and another of the desktop in front of the Mac, which is handy for demos.
2. Show live Captions in FaceTime calls
If you're having a difficult time hearing the person you're having a FaceTime call with, you can use the Live Captions feature in macOS Ventura. When it's on, the spoken words of the person you're talking to are transcribed in a window on the right side of the FaceTime window.
To activate this feature, go to System Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions (Beta), and then in the "In-App Live Captions" section switch on Live Captions in FaceTime.
Live Captions also works outside of FaceTime. For example, you can use it while watching a video that doesn't have captions. But as it says in the name, Live Captions is in beta, which means you could run into bugs, inaccurate captions, and other quirks.
3. Unsend Messages and emails
Okay, so you may not need to use this feature right away, but it's happened to all of us—we send an email or text to the wrong person, make a silly typo, or just wish we could immediately take back the note we just sent. Finally, you can unsend messages in macOS Ventura.
In Messages, right-click on the message bubble, and then in the pop-up that appears, select Undo Send. You have two minutes after you send the message to unsend it. Once it's unsent, the message will be deleted but the recipient will see a note saying that the message was deleted. This feature is also available on iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 and only works only when everyone involved is using iMessage. A text message sent from an iPhone to an Android phone or another non-Apple device cannot be unsent.
In Mail, after you send an email, you have 10 seconds to unsend it. At the bottom of the Sidebar, an Undo Send link appears and you can click it to undo the sent email. Get more details on how this feature works. This feature is also available in iOS 16 for iPhone and iPadOS 16 for iPad.
4. Quickly lift a subject from the background in photos
If you've been spending lots of time in an image editing app to remove the background in a photo, then you'll love how much of a time-saver this feature is. This feature automatically selects the subject that you want, copies it, and then you can paste it anywhere.
This feature is available in both the Preview and Photos apps that come with macOS Ventura, and it also works in Quick Look when you select a file in the Finder and press the spacebar to see a preview. All you have to do is point the cursor over the subject, right-click it, and then mouse over Copy Subject in the pop-up menu. Ventura senses the subject and shows you what will be selected with a glowing outline. Then you actually click the Copy Selection command, and you can then paste it into a new image.
This feature is also available in iOS 16 for the iPhone and iPadOS 16 for the iPad.
5. Password-protect Hidden and Recently Deleted photos
If you use Photos to manage your pictures, the app allows you to hide an image from your feed if you right-click it and then select Hide Photo. It gets placed in a Hidden photo album, but before macOS Ventura, anyone who has access to your Mac account can open that album.
Finally, in Ventura, the Hidden photo album-as well as the Recently Deleted folder-can be password-protected. To turn this on, go to Photos > Settings > General, and in the Privacy section, check the box for Use Password. Now, when those albums are accessed, you'll need to enter your user password or use Touch ID. Just don't forget it.
6. Play background white noise
White noise can help with your concentration, especially if you're in an area with a lot of distractions, or it's dead silent. With macOS Ventura, you can have white noise play from your Mac, and you can turn it on and off as you like.
Go to System Settings > Accessibility > Audio. Scroll down to the Background Sounds section, and you can flip the switch to turn it on. You can also choose the type of sound you want to play and adjust the volume. After it's all set up, you can turn it on and off in the Control Center. Learn more about this feature.
7. Kill time with the Clock app
The Clock app that is on iOS and iPadOS is finally on the Mac. It works just like it does on the iPhone and iPad, so it's all very familiar. You can set timers and alarms, and track different times all over the world in a beautiful interface that lets you see time zones in locations all over the world. And it also works with Siri on the Mac, so you can use voice commands instead of opening the app.
Other great macOS Ventura features
Apple has included a lot of great features in macOS Ventura, including iCloud Shared Photo Library, Stage Manager, Safari Passkeys, Advanced Data Protection, and more.
Seeing low-quality previews in iCloud Photos? Here's how to get the full-resolution media
by Filipe Espósito, 9to5mac
With iCloud Photos, iPhone, iPad, and Mac users can store all their photos and videos in iCloud so that they are always kept synchronized between all devices, while also being backed up automatically. However, Apple also lets users remove the original files from the device in order to save storage. But how does this affect the quality of the media you see in the Photos app?
Download Originals or Optimize Storage
If you're an iCloud Photos user, there are two options available in the Photos app settings: Download Originals or Optimize Storage. The first option, as the name suggests, will simply back up all your photos and videos to iCloud, but every file will also be stored locally on your device.
The benefit of choosing Original Download is that you'll always have a copy of all your photos and videos with you. This means that even when you don't have a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, you can still check your entire photo library. However, turning this option on can end up filling up your device's internal storage pretty quickly.
Because of this, Apple also offers the Optimize Storage option. When this option is enabled, the Photos app will eventually remove the local version of your photos and videos from your device to save storage. In other words, you may need an internet connection to open your photos and videos stored in iCloud.
Your library will still be there in the Photos app, but the media will only be downloaded from iCloud when you choose to open them.
Low-quality previews in iCloud Photos
Recently, some users on Reddit raised a discussion about the Apple Photos app showing low-quality previews for media stored in iCloud Photos. While this isn't exactly a new "feature," it seems that Apple has indeed further reduced the resolution of the previews (especially for videos) when you don't have local files downloaded to your device.
In the past, the Photos app used to download the original image or video from iCloud when that media wasn't available locally. But since we now have things like ProRes 4K videos or ProRAW images that result in really large files, iCloud shows users a lower-resolution version of that media.
This has both positive and negative points. The good part is that these lower resolution previews are downloaded faster than the original files, which is important when you don't have a fast internet connection available. But the downside is that the quality is considerably worse than the original media.
How to get full-resolution media in the Photos app
If you really want to get the original media from a photo or video stored in iCloud, there are a few things you can do. The first and most obvious is to switch to the Download Originals option. But this, of course, requires that your device has enough free space on the internal storage because it will download your entire library.
But if you just want the original version of a specific media, there's a simple trick to force the app to download it instead of the lower-resolution preview. Simply tap or click the Edit button, and then the app will download the full-resolution media from iCloud. After that, you can exit Edit mode and the original media will still be there for a while.
When it comes to photos, zooming in on the images is sometimes enough to force the Photos app to download the original media, so that you can see all the details. But keep in mind that this is a temporary solution, and the original media will be removed from the device after a while.
And if you're on a Mac, you can also export the original media by clicking the File menu and then Export > Export Unmodified Original. This option will also ignore any edits and filters that you have applied to that photo or video.
You can check the difference between a lower-resolution preview and the original media in the screenshots below (click on the images to expand them):
Seeing low quality previews in iCloud Photos? Here's how to get the full resolution media
Seeing low quality previews in iCloud Photos? Here's how to get the full resolution media
Feature request
Personally, I believe Apple should add an option to let users choose if they want to always see iCloud Photos media in full resolution. More than that, I would also like to see the Photos app let users keep or remove specific media from local storage.
Here's how much iPhone 14 Pro always-on display drains battery with/without a background [Video]
by Michael Potuck, 9to5mac
Since Apple's iPhone 14 Pro landed with the company's first-ever always-on display, a lingering question has been how much battery the feature drains. In a detailed new test, PhoneBuff has compared how much the iPhone always-on display drains battery with and without a background compared to turning the feature completely off.
Apple originally launched its take on the always-on display for iPhone 14 Pro with colored backgrounds showing up which felt it's a bit much for some people.
With iOS 16.2, Apple pleased those looking for customization as you can opt to disable the wallpaper and notifications for the always-on display. That results in a more subtle - and Android-like - always-on experience.
iPhone 14 Pro always-on battery drain results
As it turns out, after 24 hours of testing, the iPhone 14 Pro always-on really doesn't use much battery.
Always-on with wallpaper = 0.8% more battery drain per hour
Always-on without wallpaper = 0.6% more battery drain per hour
An important detail to remember is that would only be the case if always-on was truly always on, which it isn't. Your screen goes still goes fully dark when:
Your iPhone is lying face down
Your iPhone is in your pocket or bag
Sleep Focus is on
Low Power Mode is on
Your iPhone is connected to CarPlay
You're using Continuity Camera
You haven't used your iPhone for a while (your iPhone learns your activity patterns and turns the display off and on accordingly, including if you set up an alarm or sleep schedule)
Your iPhone detects that you moved away from it with a paired Apple Watch (Always-On display will turn on when your Apple Watch is close to your iPhone again)
But in the worst-case scenario, always-on could use up 20% battery in 24 hours if it was on the whole time.
Another interesting comparison was the iPhone 14 Pro vs the Galaxy S22 Ultra for always-on drain and they both ended the 24-hour test with 84% charge after starting with 100%. Check out PhoneBuff's full video for all the details:
iPhone 14 Pro long term review: Still worth the upgrade
Andrew O'Hara, appleinsider
In our long-term review of the iPhone 14 Pro, we differentiate between Apple's marketing machine and nice-to-have features.
With the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, Apple introduced plenty of new features. We have a new, faster processor, satellite connectivity, improved thermal performance, and more.
After living with the iPhone 14 Pro every day for the last few months, we wanted to revisit our review to see what features wound up not much more than hype and which ended up as truly useful.
Always on display
One of our most asked-for features preceding the iPhone 14 announcement was an always-on display. It was a possibility with the iPhone 13 Pro, but it was apparently scratched at the last moment.
While testing competing Android handsets, it had always been one of the few features we wished Apple would take and expand upon. Apple delivered and even improved upon the always-on display post-release.
Smartphone sustainability is at an all-time high, Apple in the lead
by Amber Neely, appleinsider
A new report shows how Apple continues to go above and beyond its direct competitors when cutting its carbon footprint.
Sustainability is a big deal to Apple, which is why it stands head and shoulders above its competition when implementing environmental-forward initiatives.
As Counterpoint Research notes, about 80% of a smartphone's carbon footprint is in its production, and companies can take measures to help reduce the strain manufacturing puts on the environment.
But those aren't the only places where a company can make changes, either. Manufacturers can also make a difference by creating products that have a longer lifespan, are easier to repair, and can be either reused or recycled once a consumer is done with them.
"Each [smartphone manufacturer] has its own vision and overall approach toward sustainability," Counterpoint Research writes." Apple's vision seems to be clearer than its competition and its actions support the said vision."
The report highlights how Apple has taken strides to keep its manufacturing process green while also working to keep older models of phones functional for longer.
Samsung came in second and scored highly in repairability, energy efficiency, and after-sales networks.
The report also suggests smartphone makers can up their sustainability scores by forging partnerships with reputable resellers and third-party repair companies.
By giving customers easy ways to repair a broken device or trade in an old device when it comes time to upgrade, companies can work to keep devices out of the landfill.
In 2020, Apple became a carbon-neutral company. Apple senior vice president Lisa Jackson has noted the company achieved this not only through purchasing carbon credits, but by prioritizing clean energy.
The Cuptertino-based tech giant has also made great strides when it comes to recycling components for reuse. Apple uses Daisy, a recycling robot, to strip 1.2 million iPhones for parts each year.
In 2016, Apple joined a global initiative called RE100, in which they sought to shift entirely to renewable energy. In the spring of 2018, Apple announced their data centers, retail stores, and the Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino all ran on 100 percent renewable energy.
Congratulations — you got a new iPad! Whether it's the entry-level iPad that brings the essential features to an affordable price, the iPad Air with the powerful M1, the pocketable iPad mini or the top-of-the-line iPad Pro, you'll want to set up your new device with the least amount of fuss.
We're here to help you do just that with a ton of little tips and tweaks that will make sure you're off and using that new iPad as quickly as possible. From backing up your old iPad (if you had one already) to getting up and running with a brand-new iPad from scratch, we've got you covered.
Your iPhone's Contacts App Is More Powerful Than Ever with These Killer New Features
Justin Meyers, gadgethacks
In the past, Apple never really put much work into its Contacts app for iPhone, making the tool much less useful than its Mac and iCloud counterparts. But now the Contacts app for iOS is a force to be reckoned with. Packed with new features (some hidden), it's finally good enough to beat all of the third-party contacts apps that previously reigned supreme.
The Contacts app for iPhone was always a bare-bones version of what it should have been, but on iOS 16 and later, Apple finally utilizes the full capacity of its own Contacts Framework. Before iOS 16, the last prominent feature the Contacts app saw was way back on iOS 10 when emergency contacts could finally break through Do Not Disturb mode.
If you haven't been using Apple's Contacts app on your iPhone beyond adding basic contact details, it's time to dig in because you'll actually want to use it more with all the features listed below. The new features below also work for iPad on iPadOS 16.1 and later. They will also work on macOS 13 or later, though many were already available on earlier macOS versions.
Whether you have a relatively ancient iPad or are a tech-junkie demanding the newest of the new, you won't be missing your laptop when you're on the go with these iPad keyboards.
If you write or work on the go, having a portable tablet and top-of-the-line keyboard is important.
Decisions, decisions. The Apple iPad keyboard market is inundated with choices, and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
It all depends on the iPad owner's interests. If you know up front that you're a little clumsier than most, there are keyboards that also function as protective cases.
You also should decide whether the keyboard materials are important to you and whether you prefer a quieter or noisier clacking sound while typing.
Additionally, not all keyboards have the desired ports or are compatible with Bluetooth.
The newest Apple Watches have better battery life than we thought
by Roman Loyola, macworld
Among the new features of the Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra, and the Apple Watch SE is a small GPS upgrade that went largely unnoticed until this week. And because of the change, your iPhone's and Apple Watch's battery last longer.
As discovered by outdoor enthusiast site DC Rainmaker, the new watches rely solely on the built-in GPS chip to track workouts and distance. It's a notable change from the older watches, which use the GPS from a nearby iPhone to preserve battery life on the watch. Now, GPS will run solely on the Apple Watch, which means the Series 8 and SE actually have better battery life than before. Despite the new battery-draining functionality, Apple still rates battery life at 18 hours.
This change isn't really a new revelation—it was mentioned during the Apple Watch reveal in September—but DC Rainmaker says an official Apple declaration of this change couldn't be found until now. It was discovered in a footnote at the bottom of a support document on calibrating the Apple Watch for Workout and Activity accuracy.
The change is good news for your iPhone too-anytime iPhone battery life is preserved is a good thing. But it's also nice to see Apple make improvements that aren't obvious but will improve the experience of its devices. It's also another way Apple has improved the battery life on the Watch, even if it's not immediately noticeable. It's similar to when the always-on display arrived with the Series 5 but still offered the same 18-hour battery life.
Apple Watch blood oxygen sensor saves skier's life
by William Gallagher, appleinsider
A San Diego news anchor has revealed how her 16-year-old son's potentially fatal high-altitude pulmonary edema was uncovered by her Apple Watch.
Marcella Lee, anchor on San Diego's CBS 8 news channel, has told viewers how a recent skiing trip to Colorado almost killed her son. Despite the whole family having regularly skied before, and being familiar with Colorado, they initially all experienced high altitude issues.
"We took ibuprofen drank a lot of water to stay hydrated and figured it would just take a couple of days to acclimate," Lee said. "By Friday morning, my 16 year old son said he didn't feel well enough to ski."
"By nighttime when I checked on my son, I noticed his lips were a bit blue and so were his fingertips," she continued. "It was dark and it was late and I couldn't really tell if I was seeing things, if he really was blue."
"And suddenly I remembered my Apple Watch has a feature that measures oxygen saturation," says Lee. "I quickly put the watch on my son and as those seconds counted down, what popped up was frightening 66% oxygen saturation."
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She says that her online research then found a Yale Medicine recommendation that if "blood oxygen saturation falls to 88% or lower seek immediate medical attention."
Lee took her son to the local ER and equipment there confirmed her son's oxygen level was 67%. "Just 1% off from the Apple Watch," reports Lee.
Her son was treated and "within minutes" he was recovering. He remains fine and has returned to school.
"I asked the medical team in Colorado what would have happened had I waited until the next morning, because I thought about just letting him sleep it off," says Lee. "They say that eventually [with a] sustained oxygen of only 66%, [he] could have gone into a coma."
Lee reports that her son was diagnosed with HAPE, High Altitude Pulmonary Edema. "It only affects about one in 10,000 skiers in Colorado," said Lee.
Apple Watch has been credited with saving lives many times, including in December when a UK man learned his heart rate was dropping to 30bpm.
In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a healthy young wife by the name of Dorothy (Dot for short).
Dot Com was a homely woman, large of breast, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.
And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"
And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, dear?"
And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. The sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."
Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success.
Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.
To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew.
It was known as Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew to The People (HTTP).
And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.
And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land.
Indeed he did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drum heads and drumsticks.
And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."
And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known.
He said, "We need a name that reflects what we are." And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.
Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside.
It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE)
That is how it all began.
And that's the truth. I would not make up this stuff.
Malware Examples
by Ron Sharp and Robert Elphick, MAGIC *
Looks very official doesn't it? DO NOT CLICK! This is another scam.
This is a SCAM DO NOT CLICK! Note the senders address - not Walmart
Looks really scary! But it is a scam DO NOT CLICK Just shut down your browser and clear out the history next time you open it.
Did anybody else get one of these?
This is a SCAM including the false serial number DO NOT CLICK! I do not have McAfee so this is easy to spot. When you get a renewal notice, always go to the website of the issuer to be sure it is legitimate.
This is a SCAM DO NOT CLICK! The letter looks legit but the added text at the bottom is obviously there to get around spam filters which makes this a SCAM
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.
Apple indicated that the new iPhone 14 Pro I ordered on December 12th would arrive January 5th. Later I received an email indicating it would arrive on Dec. 30. Then I received it December 23rd. Nice. So here are my thoughts on the iPhone 14 Pro.
As you know from my previous newsletter article I was particularly interested in buying a new iPhone to get the telephoto camera option witch is only available on the Pro models. But to start from the ordering process I was at first disappointed with the colors of the Pro models. I know that's an insignificant aspect since you can't see the color as soon as you put a protective case on it. Nevertheless it's an option you have to choose. I chose the gold color even though it just looked like cream, or off white on the website. But in reality I'm pleasantly surprised with it. In the right light it actually looks gold and the band around it is gold. As one hopes with Apple products, it's a very attractive phone.
The setup process was smooth and amazingly quick. I didn't even have to make a phone call to my phone carrier to activate the phone on the new eSIM. (No SIM card to add or swap)
The next thing I noticed was the display screen. Everything looked very clear and sharp. I thought it might be my imagination but it really looks good. I've read since that the screen is OLED instead of LCD which is new and has a higher pixel density making for sharper images.
The phone has a new feature, the screen always displays the time. I wondered, as everyone else did, how it would affect battery life, but it seems to be excellent. It doesn't need charging anymore than my previous phone. I'm not a heavy power consumer so my phone generally goes two to three days between charges.
The camera is also improved and has the capability of 48 megapixel RAW format photos versus the regular 12 megapixels. You wouldn't want to use it all the time because it takes up so much data space but it's great for particular shots. And you will be able to zoom into a 48 megapixel image without loosing clarity.
Other changes are the capability to use 5G phone service for faster data rates. And several emergency features such as the ability to use a satellite for phone connectivity when your mobile service isn't available. Another is emergency crash detection.
So it has been a very good adventure. I have had one continuing issue with the Notification alert sounds for Calendar events that started on my iPhone 11. I've tried numerous procedures but can't get the calendar alert sound to change and it's stuck on the "Noir" sound. Since the new phone has the same issue I have been in contact with Apple and again it turns out to be something they are aware of and is a software glitch that will inevitably be fixed with an iOS update.
You know all the rules: Use strong passwords, don't reuse passwords, keep them safe. You can use a password manager that offers to create strong passwords, store them securely and hopefully make it easy to use them. They will also sync your passwords between your devices. But I have another option for you in light of recent news.
The password manager LastPass was breached recently. If you use this app you need to change your passwords. And that highlights the problem with some of the password managers. They store your passwords in the cloud, particularly to be able to sync them between your devices. But that makes them more susceptible to being hacked.
I prefer keeping passwords out of any cloud service. That means your passwords won't sync between devices and you'll have to keep track of them yourself. So yes, it is a bit more work for you but even with a password manager you have to keep it maintained with updated passwords.
So there are a couple different ways to keep your passwords secure yourself. You can create an encrypted "Disk Image" to store passwords. The Disk Utility on your Mac can create this disk image and works like a connected drive. You eject it to keep it safe. To access anything on the drive you'll need to enter one password that you set when you create the disk image. You can protect a document of passwords even further by using the Pages application for your passwords and "password protect" the document. Then even if you forget to eject the disk image there is still one password protection in place. You put your Pages document in the disk image and when ejected they will be encrypted.
If creating a Disk Image is too technical for you, you could just use a password protected Pages document without storing it in the disk image. At least that will be better than having passwords on your computer that anyone who accesses your computer can read. And they won't be on any cloud service that is a target for hackers. (You could also get help setting up a good password system)
Of course there is the matter of accessing those passwords on your other devices. That's the real challenge. You can keep a list on your mobile devices as the Pages documents again can be password protected and individual notes in the Notes app can be password protected. One challenge is to remember to update the password list on your Mac and on your mobile device each time you change a password. If you do keep a list on your mobile device, you should definitely have a password set to access the device. So no automatic login on your device. Finger print and face recognition are good if you use them.
You can also write your passwords down on paper to save them, and keep them in a safe place. But one problem with that method is updating them all the time often turns your list into a scribbled mess that gets more confusing with each addition.
If that's all too much work and you prefer the password manager apps then at least change your passwords often. If the service gets hacked then you have a better chance of being safe.
A Reason To Stop Worrying - Watch This Whenever You're Stressed Or Anxious:
Creating Professional looking portraits:
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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.
