From Jim Hamm, "Here's more speculation on the next iPad. There's not many areas in the U.S. that have LTE coverage yet, but eventually it will spread and the next iPad is said to be able to connect to it. The download speed of LTE is about 7 times faster than 3G. So, if you're pleased with 3G speed now (I am), you are really gonna be happy with LTE. Prescott finally got 3G coverage from AT&T about a month or so ago. About time, too. Verizon has had 3G for a long time.
"Smart move by Apple, if it happens. As LTE spreads across the U.S. many people who presently own an iPad 1 or 2 will get the hots to purchase the iPad 3. I know someone, and it ain't me. However, when LTE comes to the Valley area I, ahem, might have to reconsider...(grin)..."
And here Jim renders his closing words (for now), "If the next IPad supports LTE, then I suspect the next iPhone release will too. And so the cycle continues, and Apple's bank account gets bigger and mine gets smaller...(grin)....."
How to Display Images
Have you ever had anyone tell you this: “Hey! The picture you sent me doesn’t show up in my mail!” They could be using Thunderbird. John Carter offers this solution: "Direct them to this link and it will tell them how to configure Thunderbird to display images.
"However, it could be that what you did was take a screenshot (saved to the clipboard instead of to the Finder) and pasted it into your e-mail from the clipboard.
'I have been in the habit of taking screenshots on my Mac using Shift-Command-Ctrl-4. This saves that selection to the clipboard. Then I paste the contents of the clipboard into an e-mail message.
John explains, "When taking a screenshot, what gets saved to the clipboard is a PNG formatted image (the default format), and that shouldn’t be a problem, but what gets pasted into the email message is a TIFF formatted image. Isn’t that nice! Thunderbird will not display a TIFF image! So when I do that, anyone using Thunderbird (my wife, when she is using her Linux PC) won’t see the image. There may be other mail apps that won’t display TIFF images. Mac Mail will.
"Mozilla’s explanation for not displaying TIFF images in Thunderbird is that TIFF is the only image format that gets transmitted as one large packet. All other image formats get broken up into smaller packets. Mozilla chooses not to waste time collecting such large packets.
"There is a preference that can be set that tells OS X (any version) to collect screenshots as JPG instead of the default PNG (see this), but even though that is done, when you paste a screenshot image from the clipboard into Mac Mail it always converts the image format to TIFF. And this only applies to clipboard images taken with screenshots. Other clipboard images, like when you copy a file to the clipboard, are not so affected.
Ready for John's how-to! "So here’s the easiest way to include a screenshot in an e-mail:
1. Take the screenshot using Command-Shift-4. This saves the image to the Desktop in JPG format (the default).
2. Use one of the following three ways to get the image into the message:
a. Copy (Cmd-C) the file, then paste (Cmd-V) the image into the message body
b. Drag the file into the message body
c. Click on the paperclip icon in the Toolbar and select the file.
"And remember, don’t include a TIFF image in an e-mail message. Any other image format is okay."
And here's John's final touch: "From a Mac point of view, the best solution would be to not reformat a clipboard screenshot into a TIFF when pasting into an e-mail message."
Routing and Other Info
Wonder how messages are sent across the Internet? John Carter recommends this week's Tech Tuesday that tells about routing and ICP/IP. He declares it's a good instructional article, but I found the layout on the page frustrating. John is going to email the writer and hopefully by the time you look it up it will have a more professional look.
Digital Books vs. Traditional Books
Printed books have a growing competitor in ePub or digital books. Helping us keep informed about this we hear from Jim Hamm. He asks, "Want to download and read a book on your Mac? The TidBITS Newsletter brings forth an ePub reader for the Mac. Here's two articles that offer more info on this." This one is from Macworld.
Here's a video talking about the publishing of e-books, as compared to traditional books. Jim comments,"I found it interesting to hear how the two models compare, particularly from the perspective of authors."
Lion Update to 10.7.3
Got Lion? You'll want to read Jim Hamm's experience with the latest update. "If you're running Lion and plan to do the update, be aware that when clicking software update you may automatically get the Combo Updater (CU) instead of a regular update — at least that's what I think happened to me. The CU measured 1.32GB, which is a big download, and much bigger than what I would think a 'regular' software update would be. It took me one hour to do the update, and I've got a high-speed Internet connection.
"The CU is what various blogs are recommending as the way to do the update and avoid problems that some people are experiencing with this particular update. My update turned out fine and I'm running with no problems," Jim concludes.
How to Find Your Answer
Compliments are due to our webmaster John Carter who also teaches those free SIGs. (What a lot of spare time he has, you must be thinking.) But today John informs us that he's had an "awakening" —there are a lot of answers we can find for ourselves on Google!
Doing a Google search is something we each learn by trial and error. But John's examples can help us get the picture. He sends the following:
Q: How are you sending screen shots in your mac?
Google search: mac screen capture
Tip: Taking Screenshots in Mac OS X - Mac Guides
Q: I’m having trouble understanding the Mac file system.
Google search: mac file system
Tip: Mac OS X File Systems (don’t go here unless you want to be tortured with geek stuff)
But I’m sure you meant how to navigate through the directory structure.
Google search: mac directory structure
Tip: Mac OS X Directory Structure explained
So, next time you see John give him an understanding nod. He is a patient guy, but he does want us to learn!
What Does That Option Key Do?
All I wanted to do was write "jalapeño" to copy a recipe. But where was that tilde? John Carter explained a step-by-step procedure, but then I found and bookmarked this handy chart that shows how the Option Key does a lot of nifty things. Here's a few: ¡ ÷ ¿ ¢ © ü ñ é
Solving Subject Update Questions
"Apparently there are a few people having problems with the subject update. Here's a tip from osXdaily that might be of help if you should run into a problem with 10.7.3," suggests Jim Hamm.
iPhone / iPad Tip
"If your iPhone or iPad's Home Button should become less responsive or 'laggy,'" writes Jim Hamm, "here's a tip on how to calibrate it that might help."
5 Ways to Use an iPad for Photography
It boils down to this:
1. Editing On-the-Go
2. Client Viewing
3. Accepting Payments
4. Handy Tools
5. Marketing
Here’s the full article at DigitalPhotographSchool
"5 Ways for Photographers to use an iPad to Jumpstart their Business."
"You’ve been waiting for a good reason, now go out and buy an iPad!" John Carter exclaims.
"By the way, the iPad camera connection kit (shown in the lower right corner of the image above) contains two adapters. One lets you connect a mini-USB cable directly to the iPad from the camera and the other lets you insert an SD card directly to the iPad. This is a very handy kit to have even for your iPhone 4 or iPod Touch. And of course you’ll also want the HDMI connector to connect your HD video camera directly to the iPad (or iPhone 4 or iPod Touch) or to connect your iPad (or iPhone 4 or iPod Touch) directly to your HD TV.
"With so many connectors to do so many things with, let’s hope that Apple comes out with an iPad that has the ports built in so you won’t need all those gadgets."
It's Coming! It's Coming!
You can tell John Carter is excited. See all the exclamation points! (Thanks, John.)
"The ReRAM is coming!" (Yep! The British have announced it.)
"As early as 2013 you should be seeing a new type of non-volatile (retains data without power) random access memory called ReRAM (Resistance Random Access Memory). Initially developed by HP in 2008 as a Memristor (Memory Resistor), it has now been perfected by the Japanese as the ReRAM (with speeds comparable to DRAM). This device is going to replace every hard drive, flash drive, and solid state drive. The beauty of the ReRAM is that it will serve as both the memory of a computer and the hard drive of the computer — and this means only one device instead of two and no more transferring bits from a hard drive to memory. That boils down to a much faster computer, even faster than having an SSD installed in your computer!"
Lion's AirDrop
John Carter asks, "Do you have Lion installed on your Mac? Have you tried to use AirDrop yet? Are you not even sure what’s its good for? Get a real good explanation about AirDrop here.
"Note: AirDrop is only useful if you are attempting to collaborate with other Mac users in an environment where Internet access is not available.
"As explained by the article in the above link, not all Apple computers running Lion (10.7) support AirDrop. It appears that a Core 2 Duo machine does not. My iMac is a Core 2 Duo. Bummer!
John goes on to explain, "I confirmed this on my own iMac. My MacBook Pro clearly showed AirDrop in the Finder, but on the iMac it was not there, and it also did not appear in the Finder->Preferences-Sidebar window. Here’s what you should see:
"But do not despair, there is a way to enable Airdrop on any Lion machine. The instructions are simple, but you do have to use Terminal and enter a couple of commands, which the instructions make perfectly clear.
"Even after I enabled AirDrop on my iMac which then showed my MacBook Pro in AirDrop on the iMac, when I went to my MacBook Pro and looked at AirDrop, the iMac wasn’t there. So, I decided to do the same two commands on the MacBook Pro and — voila! — the MacBook Pro showed up. I tested transferring a file between the two machines and it worked as advertised.
"So despite the fact that my iMac supposedly does not have the right hardware, the 'fix' made it possible to use AirDrop anyway."
John Carter wants us to know that Prez Art Gorski was co-author on the above. Thanks to both of you!
"Safenetting" Info
The InfoManager site has an article on "Safenetting." It gives info on such problems as malware, virus, clickjacking, worms, hack, warning about bogus "browser update," tax-related scams and malicious QR codes. Take a look and keep informed.
How Best to Complain?
Just suppose there’s something you don’t like. How best to complain and get something fixed? Here’s two issues we’re aware of now.
First issue: David Passell comments on an article from NewYorkTimes, (their link does not come up unless you’re a subscriber), but the writer states “in China, human costs are built into an iPad.” David personally has often felt that “made in China” devalues everything, and he avoids those articles if possible.
From C/Net a writer addresses an “open letter to Apple” admonishing them to force good working conditions across the consumer-electronics industry. She zeroes in on the working conditions at Chinese manufacturers. After detailing some of the concerns she challenges Apple, “We’ll be watching.”
Second issue: Prez Art Gorski sent along a note from a Mac user in California who is irritated with Pages ’09 autocorrect for spelling, so he’s asking for others to write to Apple, with notation “Pages ’09 Complaint” on the envelope. Interested in more details on this, let us know soon.
Making things better is always an interesting challenge!
A View of Privacy and Policy
An outline of some recent changes that affect our privacy on line can be found at InfoManager. Google tracks and logs info you may not have known about. This article gives further links to inform and warn us.
Smart Phone Vulnerability
The smart phone is vulnerable to malware, as they're becoming (or already are) more like a computer than a phone. Helping keep us informed of problems Jim Hamm sends us several links. He points out there are a couple of apps for the iPhone: AntiVirus Lite and Virus Barrier. Jim says at this point he hasn't researched either to see if they would be worthwhile to run.
Here's an article from Gizmodo discussing the VirusBarrier. An article from the NewYorkTimes (1-25-12) writer Kate Murphy claims that an engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute can hack into your cellphone just by dialing the number. He can remotely listen to your calls, read your text messages, snap pictures with your phone's camera and track your movements around town -- not to mention, access the password to your online bank account. The engineer told her it was trivial to hack into a cellphone and that the instructions on how to do it are available online.
Keep up with this sensitive topic. We'll be hearing more . . .
Another Book on Apple
Here's another book on Apple. Jim Hamm passes along this info, "The following summary was provided by the Apple Blog Newsletter. This book, Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired — and Secretive — Company Really Works, by Adam Lashinsky apparently focuses more on the inner workings of Apple, whereas the book by Isaacson focused more on Jobs, as was intended. I'm looking forward to reading it."
New Words to Know
Today's smile comes from finding the "Secrets to Apple Success: Displays" and the article's definitions of the new words to know: Thunderbolt, Sharp's IGZO, IPS In-Plane Switching, Gorilla Glass, and Retina display. Fascinating.
Fascinating Numbers
"If you've been sitting and waiting to read about Internet statistics for 2011, well, wait no more," declares Jim Hamm. He's found a bunch! He sends this link and goes on to say, "I have no idea as to the veracity of these numbers (how do it know?), but it makes for interesting reading — well, for me anyway. Some observations: 18 million people follow Lady Gaga's 'tweetings' on Twitter; Google Chrome web browser has grown significantly — and fast — and is now right behind Internet Explorer in usage; 71% of email traffic is spam (sheesh!); there are over 2 billion people using the Internet! It's amazing how the servers on the worldwide web are able to keep up with all this traffic. Lots of other trivia about the Internet that undoubtedly you'll enjoy knowing....(grin)."
If you're eyes are not glazed over scroll to the end of the site's page to go to statistics of annual summaries for 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Your Photos on Display
Today’s PMUG speaker, Les Stukenberg, photo editor of the Daily Courier mentioned having photos printed at CostCo. From mugs to mousepads, from cards to framed masterpieces your photo can be uploaded to the site, then picked up at the warehouse or have it mailed to you. Read about it here. Thanks, Les, for an interesting and inspiring presentation of your outstanding photographs.Les also mentioned there are videos and photo galleries on the Daily Courier website. Check it out here.