• Meeting Intro with Harry
• Q & A with the "A" Team based on questions emailed prior to meeting as well from the audience
Location:
by ZOOM on-line
MAGIC Minutes for April 17, 2024
by Wendy Shimada, MAGIC*
The meeting was called to order by President Harry Anderson at 4:03 pm, with 17 members attending. Treasurer Gary McIntyre provided Harry with the club's financial statement as he was unable to attend the meeting. MAGIC is in good financial shape, with a balance of $9709.40.
Today's educational topic is How to Use Launchpad and the Finder, presented by Ron Sharp, followed by Q&A with the experts. Next month's meeting format will be an hour of Open Q&A Session so please either send in your questions ahead so that the questions can be researched or you can also ask them at the meeting. June 19 meeting will be Robert's presentation on the basics of iMovie. As no members had any general questions or comments about MAGIC, the presentation began.
After Ron's very interesting presentation, Robert Elphick and Ron Sharp answered a number of members' questions.
Robert also shared that he had made a couple of updates to the website, prompted by a question he had received from a member. You can now click on links in the monthly newsletter written by MAGIC members - that will take you to a stand-alone web page of the article for download and storage. Previously only the articles linked from the Outside sites had hot links to the full article. It will make accessing all topics easier. The MAGIC authored articles can all be found in the "Trick & Tips" section of the MAGIC website at https://www.whidbey.com/magicmug/data/tricks.html. The meeting concluded at 5:29 pm.
If you have any questions that you would like answered at our May 2024 meeting, you may send them in advance to our MAGIC email.
MAGIC Musings
Greetings, MAGIC Members. Tis May on our beautiful Rock. Tulips are blooming and my apple trees have blossoms — they just need those pollinators so I will have apples in August! It looks like our week ahead will be sunny and bright, which will be a welcome change from our recent dampness. I look forward to seeing many of you at our May meeting on Wednesday May 15 at 4 p.m. via Zoom. This month will be a general Q&A session, or as I like to call it “stump our experts.” We will really need your questions —whether tough or simple — so please start writing them down now. Remember that you may submit your questions in advance via email, but our experts will also take questions from anyone attending the meeting. Feel free to email questions to magicmug@whidbey.net or have them ready to ask on the meeting day.
Here is the schedule of presentations at our meetings from through the summer:
May 15 — Q&A session with our experts
June 19 — Making movies in iMovie with Robert Elphick
July 17 — How to use the Dock with Gary
Aug 21 — Synching all devices with Ron
See you on May 15 at 4 p.m.
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 software updates to report this month
Why you should expect a new M-series Mac chip every year
by Ed Hardy, cultofmac
A recent report that the Apple M4 Mac processor will launch this fall — only a year after the debut of the M3 — met with some surprise and skepticism. But it shouldn't have — Apple's goal to refresh the chip line every year is ambitious but achievable.
Just because Intel can't bring out new generations of its processors annually doesn't mean Apple and TSMC can't.
Apple M4 Mac processor in 2024, M5 in 2025, etc.
Apple began transitioning away from Intel chips in late 2020 with the M1. This was followed by the M2 series, which began in mid-2022. Then the first M3 versions premiered in late 2023. With roughly 18 months between M series refreshes so far, it's understandable that there'd be some skepticism that the M4 will launch a year after the M3.
But that's reportedly Apple's goal.
"Apple has been trying to move its Mac chip upgrades to an annual refresh cycle — like the iPhone — and, if all goes to plan, that will start in 2024," said Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter.
Gurman's sources inside Apple allow him to make generally accurate predictions about the company's upcoming products.
Offering annual Mac processor upgrades is an ambitious proposition. It's a goal Intel couldn't match. In fact, one of the reasons Apple dropped Intel processors from macOS desktops and laptops is that multiple years often elapsed between new generations of its Core chips, even though the company regularly pumped out small tweaks to its designs. And sometimes the improvements between generations proved minor.
Making M series more like iPhone chips
The idea that Apple will bring out new Mac processors annually shouldn't meet too much skepticism because, as Gurman noted, the company introduced a new generation of iPhone chips every year for more than a decade.
That means it already designs a new CPU core every year. Now that both Mac and iPhone processors use the same CPU core, each new design can go into the M series just as it's integrated into the A series for iPhone.
The earlier delays can be chalked up to growing pains as Apple learned about making its own Mac processors.
With TSMC expertise, of course
A-series and M-series processors carry the Apple name, and the chips are designed in Cupertino, but they are produced by TSMC using technology the chipmaker develops.
The Taiwanese foundry generally has been able to shrink the components of Apple's A- series chips every couple of years, allowing the devices they power to work faster while generating less waste heat. Recently, the M series also benefitted from that expertise.
TSMC went from a 7nm production process in 2018 down to the current 3nm process that debuted in the A17 and M3 in 2023. This autumn, the A18 and M4 are expected to be made with an improved version of the 3nm process, but Apple's 2025 chips should be manufactured with a 2nm process.
Today's M3 already makes Macs very fast. Annual M-series updates should keep Mac at the forefront of computer performance. Assuming Apple and TMC can meet that goal, of course.
Stop using these stupid, stupid passwords immediately
by Ed Hardy, cultofmac
Some people simply can't stop using stupid, weak passwords. An analysis of the phrases used to secure various accounts in 2023 finds that "123456" was used 4.5 million times, making it the most popular. And the rest of the top 10 are all easily guessed, too.
It's World Password Day, a good opportunity to change the horribly weak ones you're using now. Especially as Apple makes it easy
Stupid passwords that crooks can guess in less than a second
Using a weak account password makes as much sense as posting your credit card number on a sign in your front yard. Using an easily guessed word practically invites crooks to steal from you.
And yet, researchers at NordPass found no shortage of terrible passwords in the company's list of 2023's most common ones. The list includes a ton of entries that can be guessed in less than a second, like "password," "111111" and "admin."
In four out of the five years this annual study has gone on, "123456" was ranked as the most common password. In the one exception, "Password" held this not-so-noble title.
Streaming video seems to make people impatient with passwords. Compared to other popular websites, NordPass found that people choose the weakest passwords to secure accounts on these services.
Password managers offer more security
People choose terrible passwords because they're easy to remember. But a password manager takes the hassle out of using strong passwords. These applications also make it easy to avoid another common problem: reusing passwords. Utilizing the same password — even a strong one — on multiple websites is a big no-no.
Luckily for Apple fans, iPhone, iPad and Mac all come with a password manager built-in for your safety and convenience. Apple's iCloud Keychain can suggest strong passwords, share them across a user's Apple devices, and automatically fill them in on websites and applications. It also makes it easy to find out if a user's passwords showed up in data leaks so they can be changed.
If that's not enough, Apple is working to kill the password completely and replace it with passkeys that depend on biometric security.
Apple believes in 'transformative power and promise of AI'
by Ed Hardy, cultofmac
CEO Tim Cook is very enthusiastic about the artificial intelligence features coming to iPhone, Mac and iPad. On Thursday, he spoke glowingly about Apple's unique advantages in this area, and talked about the "transformative power and promise of AI."
iOS 18, macOS 15 and iPadOS 18 are all expected to include new AI features when they launch this autumn.
Tim Cook talks up Apple's AI advantages
Apple has yet to make any significant AI announcements, even as rivals like Microsoft, Google and Samsung have rushed products to users. The result has been accusations that the iPhone-maker missed the boat.
Thursday's call with analysts and investors after announcing quarterly earnings was an opportunity for Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri to reassure the world that Apple is all in on AI.
Not waiting for a question from an analyst, Cook started the call by saying:
"We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI. And we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apple's unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration, groundbreaking Apple silicon, with our industry-leading neural engines, and our unwavering focus on privacy, which underpins everything we create."
During the call, there were frequent questions about AI. In response to one of these, Maestri said:
"We are obviously very excited about the opportunity with Gen AI. We obviously are pushing very hard on innovation on every front and we've been doing that for many, many years. Just during the last five years, we spent more than $100 billion in research and development."
To be clear, the CFO didn't say that $100 billion had gone into AI research. That's the company's R&D total.
Be patient a little longer
Analysts and representatives of institutional investors kept trying to pry specifics about Apple's AI plans out of the two executives, but they stayed deliberately vague.
In response to one such attempt, Cook said:
"I don't want to get in front of our announcements, obviously. I would just say that we we see generative AI as a very key opportunity across our products. And we believe that we have advantages that set us apart there. And so and we'll be talking more about it and as we go through the weeks ahead."
Apple will almost certainly get very specific about the plans for artificial intelligence features coming in iOS 18, macOS 15 and iPadOS 18 at WWDC24. AI is likely to be a major focus of the company's developer conference in June, including major changes to all the standard iPhone apps.
In addition, there's the possibility that there might be a preview of some AI upgrades at the May 7 "Let Loose" product launch event. New iPad models are reportedly on the docket, and Apple might be ready to talk about how well they'll run new artificial intelligence features in iPadOS 18.
With car junked, Apple robots could be Cupertino's next moonshot
by David Snow, cultofmac
An Apple robot probably won't look much like this Classicbot toy.
Photo: Classicbot
Teams in Cupertino are working on Apple personal home robotic devices, including a mobile robot and a table-top device with a moving display, according to a new report.
These early efforts toward Apple robots could constitute future revenue sources now that the Project Titan car sits on the scrap heap.
Apple home robotic devices could become future revenue source
If Apple can make headway on robotics for home use, it could take advantage of evolving artificial intelligence to create viable products for consumers, according to a new Bloomberg report.
Apple reportedly prioritized three areas for future growth with its executives before the car project crashed in March — automotive, mixed reality and the home. With Apple car dead and Vision Pro launched, the smart-home market would appear to be a ripe target.
Of course, it's not yet clear if the mobile Apple robot and table-top device will become viable products, the report noted. And it could take years for Vision Pro to turn big profits.
Apple car project helped launch other initiatives
Even though Apple won't bring a car to market, the project spawned positive effects — and they continue to reverberate at the company. The neural engines found in Apple's chips started with the car, as did virtual reality aspects of Vision Pro. And the car's OS, made for robotic operation, continues to influence Apple's work in home robotics, too.
Bloomberg's sources said the device with a robotic smart display, having come and gone from the product roadmap in recent years, is more developed than the mobile Apple robot, which might be something like a glorified Roomba or Astro.
The work is considered to be in the early research phases. Apple did not comment for the story. But the development appears to be under the auspices of the AI and machine-learning group in Apple's hardware engineering division.
Another secret Apple facility
Bloomberg's report referred to a "secret facility" near Apple Park in Cupertino that looks like a home interior. It's for testing products designed for home use. Recent explorations have involved a smart-home hub with an iPad for a display. And then there's the table-top device with the robotic display.
Apple's hardware engineering chief, John Ternus, and members of the industrial design team first got into the table-top device with robotic display a few years ago. At that point, it was about getting the display to mimic a person's moving head while they engaged on a FaceTime call, and to lock on one person even on a group call.
Bloomberg's sources cited various reasons the Apple robotics project did not advance more rapidly. Those include doubts about market viability, technical problems related to balancing the robotic motor on a stand, and executives' disputes over whether to advance or scrap the project.
The report also cites Apple's current employment ads for robotics-related roles.
Are you seeing the spinning beachball a lot?
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If your Mac is running slow, there are a few things you can do to speed it up and better understand what's slowing it down.
It's not just that your Mac is old — although that is an important factor. It could be that you don't have enough memory, especially if you like to use Google Chrome. You may have a bunch of apps running in the background. There also might be dust in the vents, keeping your Mac from running nice and cool.
Check out our latest video or keep reading to learn why your Mac is slow and how to speed it up.
Apple's new Manuals, Specs, and Downloads page is a great resource
by Jason Cross, macworld
One page to find everything you need to know about your Apple products.
Apple has launched a new page for customers that brings together a lot of separate elements across its website into a single resource.
The new Manuals, Specs, and Downloads page will help you find all the info you need for any of the Apple products you own. It's organized by product category and includes tech specs, user guides, info pages, and repair manuals (when applicable) for Apple products going back decades-even including tech specs for the old iMac G3.
Some pages include links to software downloads like EFI and firmware updates (for older Macs) or things like the Pro Display XDR calibrator software. The Software category is for downloads and manuals for Apple's consumer, professional, and productivity software.
It should be noted that info like Tech Specs pages have not been updated to include features added post-release. For example, iOS 17.2 added support for Qi2 wireless charger support for all iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models, but their specs pages only lists original Qi support up to 7.5 watts.
WIZARD SEZ: We hava also put the link for the "Manuals, Specs, and Downloads" page into the Tricks and Tips Page of this website.
Finder views leaking memory
by Robert Elphick, MAGIC *
Many members use the Finder's Icon or Gallery views to browse Quick Look thumbnails of images, movies or other files. If you do, you might have stumbled into persistent effects on the amount of memory used by the Finder.
It is most notable when you have folders with hundreds of files, browsing them causes the memory used to climb steadily into GB. Close those windows, and the Finder doesn't return that memory as it should, and will only take more next time.
The only way to recover it is to relaunch the Finder from the Force Quit Applications window (or Cmd+ Opt+Esc).
This is a memory leak that has persisted across several versions of macOS. Until Apple gets round to fixing it, you might prefer to use alternatives offered by apps such as GraphicConverter's Browser.
2024 iPad Pro: Everything you need to know about Apple's next flagship tablet
by Martyn Casserly and Karen Haslam, macworld
The current iPad range is one of the most populated we've seen. It includes two iterations of the standard iPad, the iPad mini, the iPad Air, and the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, so there's plenty to choose from. It seems Apple isn't stopping there, though; rumors suggest it could be adding an even larger iPad Pro to the line-up. Here's everything we know about the next-generation iPad Pro.
Use your iPhone to find and change passwords that hackers stole
by Ed Hardy, cultofmac
If hackers steal the passwords you use to log into websites, your Apple device can warn you and help you change them.
It's World Password Day, and that's a good opportunity to do something you've probably been procrastinating about: Replace your website passwords that hackers stole because of some company's lax security. Fortunately, your Apple devices make it easy to find out which of your passwords leaked so you can change them.
Fix a potentially serious problem now, before something bad happens..
iPad lets Ukraine fly Soviet-era planes into combat
by Ed Hardy, cultofmac
iPad goes into combat in Ukraine fighter jets.
Photo: Ukraine Air Force
Ukraine's Air Force needs to launch modern U.S.-made missiles from Soviet-era fighter jets in combat. The surprise solution to the disconnect? iPad.
Apple tablets reportedly give the vintage aircraft the ability to control a variety of weapons systems supplied by Western countries after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
iPad goes into combat in Ukraine
The Ukrainian Air Force gave The Telegraph a video of one of its pilots using an iPad in the cockpit of a Soviet Su-27 fighter.
The tablets reportedly make it possible to deploy U.S. AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles against Russian radar systems. They also give pilots control of French Hammer precision-guided bombs and U.K. Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
The Ukrainians "have a lot of the Russian and Soviet-era aircraft," said William LaPlante, U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, last week. "Working with the Ukrainians, we've been able to take many Western weapons and get them to work on their aircraft where it's basically controlled by an iPad by the pilot. And they're flying it in conflict like a week after we get it to him."
Old and new
The Su-27 isn't a decrepit relic of a bygone past. True, it went into service in 1985, but it's a twin-engine, supersonic, super-maneuverable fighter jet that's still in service in Russia, China and elsewhere. However, it wasn't designed to control missiles and bombs supplied by a range of countries supporting Ukraine's efforts to defend itself against the Russian invasion.
Updating older aircraft with modern electronics is standard practice. The process doesn't usually involve simply strapping an iPad into the cockpit, though.
Surprise! Apple sets May 7 event to launch new iPad Pro and iPad Air
by Ed Hardy, cultofmac
Apple just invited the world to a May 7 product-launch event with the theme "Let Loose." As an Apple Pencil is prominently included in the invitation's image, there's no doubt that two much-rumored new iPad models are on the agenda.
What is surprising is that there'll be an event to announce the products, not simply a press release.
What to expect at the Apple May 7 iPad event
Tuesday's official invitation doesn't use the word "iPad," but there's an Apple Pencil front and center of the invite, which doesn't even qualify as a hint. As Apple tablets are the only devices that support this stylus, putting one in the invite is a clear statement of intent.
And we don't have to guess what models are on the docket. Many leaks point to a 2024 iPad Pro that will be the first with an OLED (short for organic light-emitting diode) display. In this type of screen, each pixel glows on its own, leading to a bright, even image with strong contrast. Supposedly these will go into both the 13-inch version and the 11-inch one.
OLED screen panels don't need backlights, so they're thinner than traditional LEDs. This will reporedly allowed the designers of the upcoming iPad Pro to make the tablet significantly slimmer.
Also supposedly coming soon is the first 12.9-inch iPad Air. The previous largest version of the midlevel tablet includes a 10.9-inch display. A recent leak indicated this will be a mini-LED screen, not a traditional one.
Both tablets are expected to use an Apple M3 processor.
New Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard, too
The stylus prominently in the invite has a second meaning, too — this one even more obvious. Multiple leaks indicate that a replacement for Apple Pencil 2 is imminent along with the new iPad models.
And Apple CEO Tim Cook threw in his own very broad hint in a post on X (formerly Twitter) by telling his followers to "Pencil us in for May 7! ✏️"
Pencil us in for May 7! ✏️ #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/1tvyB7h450
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 23, 2024
A recent leak indicates Apple has been testing a stylus that works with the Vision Pro headset. Perhaps the third-generation Apple Pencil set to be unveiled at the May 7 event will offer visionOS support, and not be limited to working with iPad.
In addition, a redesigned Magic Keyboard for iPad has also been the subject of leaks. It supposedly will come with a larger trackpad and an aluminum top case that makes it look more like a MacBook. We might see it in early May, too.
How to watch Apple's May 7 iPad event
Apple scheduled the May 7 iPad event for 7 a.m. Pacific (10 a.m. Eastern). That's hours earlier than usual — such events typically start at 10 a.m. Pacific.
It will stream at apple.com or via the Apple TV app.
With this event, Apple will give the 2024 iPad Pro and iPad Air a strong launch. That's in contrast to the M3-powered MacBook Air models that it quietly introduced in March via press release.
Want better iPhone photo quality without taking up lots of storage? You're not using your 48MP camera properly unless you use this HEIF Max tip
by John-Anthony Disotto, imore
When the iPhone 14 Pro launched in 2022, there was lots of excitement for the upgrade from a 12MP camera sensor to a new larger 48MP one. This camera improvement then made its way to the regular iPhone 15 alongside the new 15 Pro models in 2023. But did you know you're not actually taking photos in 48MP on the best iPhones unless you turn on a specific setting?
Well, now you do and this quick tutorial will show you exactly how to turn on 48MP photos on the iPhone — but with one crucial setting applied. You'll be taking advantage of the HEIF MAX file format to get more details without using huge amounts of storage required by ProRAW.
Here's how to enable 48MP HEIF Max photos on iPhone
ProRaw images take up a lot of space — Apple says a ProRAW 48MP photo taken on an iPhone 15 Pro Max is approximately 75MB. That's where HEIF Max comes in, allowing you to capture more details than a regular iPhone image without taking up insane amounts of storage space — a HEIF Max image is approximately 5 MB.
Using 48MP HEIF Max is great for amateur photographers wanting to take higher-quality point-and-shoot photos without delving into the world of professional RAW photography. Here's how you can add the setting to the Camera app.
iPhone 15 HEIF Max 48MP setting
Open Settings
Select Camera, then Formats
Enable ProRaw & Resolution Control
Change Pro Default to HEIF Max
You'll now find a HEIF Max toggle in the Camera app. When this is enabled the 1x camera will capture at 48MP. This does not work for Night mode, flash, macro, or Live Photos. The HEIF Max shooting option is available on the iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Capturing in 48MP, what's the difference?
A post by Marco Nero on the Digital Photography Review forums gives great insight into the differences between shooting in 48MP HEIF on iPhone 15 versus 24MP JPEG photos.
Side-by-side comparisons show the 48MP HEIF Max images have much more detail than the 24MP photos perfect for cropping into an image to get closer to a subject. Nero says, "The overall performance and resolution makes it possible to capture images with plenty of finer detail for cropping. And the lack of annoying artifacts means the images look more like they were shot with a dedicated camera instead of a smartphone."
In a first, Apple Watch AFib History gains special FDA qualification
by David Snow, cultofmac
For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) qualified a digital technology — Apple Watch's AFib History feature — for a special research program. AFib, or atrial fibrillation, is a type of abnormal heart beat associated with heart attacks.
Apple Watch's AFib History now qualifies for FDA's stringent Medical Device Development Tools (MDDT) program. The program says which tools research sponsors can choose from to help develop and evaluate medical devices.
Apple Watch AFib History feature qualifies for FDA MDDT program
FDA first approved Apple's AFib History feature just before it came out in 2022, after a clinical study showed it worked. And since then, plenty of anecdotal evidence of Apple Watch's usefulness as a heart-health tool has come along, including stories of lives saved thanks to its warnings.
Wednesday's news from FDA qualifies AFib History for a more specialized use in assessing AFib data in clinical studies related to developing and evaluating medical devices.
Specifically, AFib History now qualifies "to assess atrial fibrillation (a type of arrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat) burden estimates within clinical studies through the Medical Device Development Tools (MDDT) program," FDA said.
However, real-world use of the feature may be limited. That's because of Masimo's lawsuit over Apple's use of pulse oximeter technology, used by the AFib History feature. Apple turned it off in current models on sale, Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2.
Here's how FDA describes the feature and its qualification:
The first digital health technology qualified under the MDDT program, providing a non-invasive way to check estimates of atrial fibrillation (AFib) burden within clinical studies.
Designed to be used as a biomarker test to help evaluate estimates of AFib burden as a secondary effectiveness endpoint within clinical studies intended to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of cardiac ablation devices to treat.
Designed to be used throughout the clinical study, both before and after cardiac ablation devices, to monitor a study participant's weekly estimate of AFib burden.
Apple TV+ shows and movies: Everything to watch on Apple TV Plus
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 $9.99 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 $9.99/month subscription, 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.
Apple Watch immediately dials for an ambulance the moment an elderly man is hit by a car
by by Tammy Rogers, iMore
If you don't live in the UK, you might not be completely aware of the rules of a British roundabout. They're actually very simple — you have to go around them clockwise, no matter which way you're going. No skipping the roundabout, you have to go round — skipping or cutting a roundabout can end up like this accident in Shropshire in the UK.
Tony Jauncey was walking through Kidderminster when he was crossing the road by a mini roundabout — and someone who evidently wasn't entirely sure of the rules of the road cut the roundabout and hit the pensioner, sending him careening over the car bonnet. There's CCTV footage of the whole accident thanks to the Shropshire Star — and a word of warning, even if you know that Tony makes it out ok after a trip to the hospital, it's not a nice watch.
Apple Watch calls an ambulance
Thankfully for Tony, his Apple Watch was at hand to help out. He was unable to do anything — "I was lying in the road, I was unable to move." The Apple Watch, detecting his fall, immediately dialed UK emergency services, sending them a GPS location so that they could find the location of the accident without Tony having to do anything as he lay on the road.
Proving that there is still good in the world, some passing nurses helped Tony get into a comfortable position as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. Tony was seen at Russell Halls Hospital nearby, where doctors treated him for his "life-changing injuries." Suffering from a "broken collarbone, cracked ribs, and bruising on his right leg", Tony is now on the mend.
The best Apple Watch and its litany of sensors have helped loads of people — the beginning of every Apple Watch keynote will tell you all about that. Crash Detection, Fall Detection, and Heart rate monitoring have all been instrumental in saving lives. On his experience with Apple Watch's life-saving potential, Tony is very thankful for the automatic calling of the ambulance service, saying "The modern technology and the capabilities we have are just incredible and may have saved my life."
I do not know how to use TikTok but I can write in cursive, do long division, and tell time on clocks with hands.
PSA: Watch out for this sneaky Netflix phishing scam
by Michael Potuck, 9to5mac
Netflix phishing scam
Phishing scams are abundant and one of the latest we've seen is trying to convince Netflix customers their accounts have "expired" with an option to extend their membership for free for 90 days. Here are the details and tips on how to help friends and family stay safe.
As it happens, I've gotten this phishing email twice in the last week. It looks legitimate at first glance with the Netflix branding and app icon.
It's also written quite well without strange wording or major typos. At the bottom, there's a fake disclosure saying it's certified as not spam.
But even if you know how to tell these scam emails apart from legitimate ones, it's nice to be aware of what's floating around to warn friends and family.
Confirming a phishing scam
While the name of the email shows as coming from Netflix, a quick tap or click reveals it's not from a Netflix domain - confirming the scam
Too good to be true offer - this phishing scam says you can claim a free 90-day extension - that's a bit tricky as some streaming services will offer a deal to get you to sign back up, but 3 free months is a bit suspicious
Another red flag, below the "Extend for Free" button says you'll need to enter your credit card
Typically, Netflix accounts don't "expire" but the wording of this scam intends to make users worry>
When in doubt, don't click buttons or links in emails - head directly to the website or service to check your account status by manually typing in the address in your browser.
Scam email. Another evil attempt to get at WhidbeyTel customers
Scam email. Delete. Note the From address - NOT WhidbeyTel
This suddenly popped up on my browser. It is evil, close the window and reset the browser.
This suddenly popped up on my browser. It is evil, close the window and reset the browser. DO NOT CALL THE NUMBER!
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.
Most of you may have read articles about Apple abandoning their electric car project. Many Apple fans were disappointed and there were even news articles that cell phone maker Xiaomi has produced their electric vehicle, the SU7, and has over 100,000 orders. And if Xiaomi can make an electric car why has Apple dropped their car project?
I was looking forward to seeing an Apple car too but I'm not disappointed. I have faith they have chosen a good route. They are not open to discussing their product decisions but here are my thoughts. There are dozens of new electric car makers. Apple has not always focused on being the first to market on a product. They want to be the best. They want to produce the product that everyone wants. So I think they are not interested in joining the rush to produce an electric car. I think they also want to produce an autonomous vehicle. They realized that the technology is not there yet to produce a dependable fully self driving car so they opted to hold off.
In the mean time, other car manufacturers will battle out their space in the market and experiment with self driving technology. We'll see if Apple gets back in the picture when the time is right for their product! But I still don't know why they quit making Wi-Fi network routers!
The computer news magazine MacWorld has a column titled "Mac 911" to help solve problems one might encounter. Mac 911 is a subheading of the "Mac" heading. So if you find yourself dealing with an issue that has you puzzled, you might find the answer in Glenn Fleishmans column Mac 911.
Last month I had an issue that puzzled me. My Time Machine backup quit working and a pop up message said Time Machine could not create a snapshot of the disk. Time Machine uses snapshot records for it's backup system. I researched the internet for possible cause and corrections for this and found some suggestions but failed to solve the problem.
Another good troubleshooting resource is Apples discussion community website. Here you'll find question and answers that the more techie users populate. I didn't find an answer there that worked for me so I paused my sleuthing for a bit while I considered other backup options. But then I remembered the MacWorld Mac 911 column and I emailed the column author Glenn Fleishman on the chance he'd take the challenge and write about this problem in a future article.
To my surprise Glenn emailed me back with a couple suggestions he found. I tried them but was still out of luck. But it did lead me to further sleuthing. I eventually located a discrepancy of my Hard Drive volumes that led to the fix. I could end the article here because the the likelihood that you'll run into such a situation is near zero. But here's the answer for the curious.
I noticed an extra "Data" drive when examining the storage drives with the Disk Utility app. And a curious thing was that there appeared to be very little data on the drive. Then I remembered that a couple months ago I had erased my computer drive and reinstalled the Operating System and all the data. When I did that, the install software gave me two choices of drives to install the new operating system on. After choosing one the installation stalled. I started over and chose the other drive and then it all worked out. I believe the first attempt created to rogue data drive. So I bravely deleted that drive. Now, no lost data and Time Machine works.
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.
