Who are you and what do you do

Posted on May 8, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

At The Sweet Setup:

Every week we try to post a new interview with someone about what software they use on their Mac, iPhone, or iPad. We do these interviews because not only are they fun, but a glimpse into what tools someone uses and how they use those tools can spark our imagination and give us an idea or insight into how we can do things better.

Today’s victim, er, interviewee:

My name is Jowanza Joseph, and I’m a software engineer at OneClickRetail, a business intelligence company based out of Salt Lake City. I’m also an active blogger on my website, and I write a weekly newsletter about photography, technology, and cool internet content.

You can catch Jowanza’s complete story here: Jowanza Joseph’s Mac and iOS setup.

“Back issues” can be found here: Sweet Setup Interviews.

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cyberBOLO

Posted on May 7, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

Be on the lookout…

Three New Threats!

Today we have three new iOS/macOS cyber threats that have been discovered out in the wild.  Or in other words… about 30 seconds worth of Android malware adventures.

 
Handbrake gets hacked

Popular video format converter Handbrake was recently hacked. Downloading the hacked copy will cause all sorts of mischief on your computer. For more information about this threat and how to deal with it checkout the link below.

https://www.macobserver.com/news/psa-video-converter-handbrake-compromised-malware/

 
 
Russian-backed Windows malware gets ported to the macOS

Be very careful if you use Flash- but why would you want to use such a festering pit of bugs and malware? There is a bit of malware that does a good job of pretending to be an update for Flash but it really is just a delivery mechanism for a variety of security exploits. Originally a Windows-only bit of malware, the authors have now ported it to macOS. Information about this exploit and how do deal with it can be found at the links below.

And remember – never ever do an update for any software that does not come directly from the company that made it. 

https://www.macobserver.com/news/russian-backed-flash-trojan-ported-macos/

https://9to5mac.com/2017/05/05/windows-backdoor-malware-disguises-itself-as-adobe-flash-on-macos/

 
 
Nasty Mac malware bypasses Gatekeeper

Those malware developers keep getting smarter. One of them has gotten ahold of a valid Mac developers certificate and they are using that to get their malware past Gatekeeper. This is serious. Check out the link below to find out more about this threat and how to avoid it.

https://9to5mac.com/2017/04/28/mac-malware-dok/

 
 
Be careful out there – there’s lots of snakes hiding in the grass.

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cyberBOLO

Posted on May 7, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

Be on the lookout…

Aren’t you glad you don’t use Android?

 
And now for something completely different.

Here’s a report that shows that there are something like 8,400 new Android malware instances every day, i.e., one every 10 seconds! Keep that in mind when you get an announcement of a new Mac/iOS malware threat perhaps once per week. And when people ask you why you use an expensive iPhone rather than an inexpensive Android phone, you now have the definitive answer.

More information at the link below.

Stay safe out there.

https://www.macobserver.com/analysis/antivirus-firm-claims-theres-new-android-malware-every-10-seconds/

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Who are you and what do you do

Posted on May 1, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

At The Sweet Setup:

Every week we try to post a new interview with someone about what software they use on their Mac, iPhone, or iPad. We do these interviews because not only are they fun, but a glimpse into what tools someone uses and how they use those tools can spark our imagination and give us an idea or insight into how we can do things better.

Today’s victim, er, interviewee:

My name is Jordan McMahon, and I’m a personal trainer by day, but spend most of my time as a freelance writer. I’m currently publishing weekly articles on how I’ve used technology to overcome my struggles with ADHD on Medium.

You can catch Jordan’s complete story here: Jordan McMahon’s Mac, iPhone, and Watch setup.

“Back issues” can be found here: Sweet Setup Interviews.

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May 15th General Meeting

Posted on May 1, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

 

An Introduction to iCloud

Not a cloud in the sky! Where’s my data??

Regular Features

Apps & Traps – Our essential monthly feature on interesting new products and services for iOS and OS X, brought to you by Dave Whitby.

appleSTEMs – Warren James presents interesting Apple science, technology, engineering, and math software.

appleCore – Everyone says that iOS and macOS are intuitive and easy to use. If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Although iOS and macOS are easy to use after you’ve learned how to use them, actually learning to use them can be a bit confusing. Often, basic things are not explained because it is assumed that you already know them. We all know that that’s not always the case. So now the SGVAUG presents an on-going series of short talks about the core elements of iOS and macOS so that soon, you’ll be able to tell everyone, “Of course iOS and macOS are intuitively obvious”.

Apple News & Updates

Q&A

Our rewarding Monthly Prize Drawing includes a $25.00 amazon.com gift card, an Insigna 2400 mAh mobile battery, and Joe Kissell’s e-book, Take Control of iCloud. Don’t forget: members receive one free ticket for the drawing. Bring a guest and get another free ticket! Support our group and increase your chances of winning some goodies – drawing tickets are $1.00 each or six for $5.00. The odds are great that you can be a winner!

The meeting will be held in the Donald Wright Auditorium, at the Pasadena Public Library Main Branch at 7:00 p.m. Following the general meeting, we have our informal Meeting after the Meeting at Conrads, 861 E. Walnut St. (at the NW corner of Walnut and Lake).

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Were You at the Meeting Last Night?

Posted on April 18, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

If not, you missed a most informative Safari and lots of great Q&A.

At Conrads, discussions including Cheers and Final Jeopardy; the library’s sound system; boots and the Titanic; Saturn’s moon, Pan, and Cassini; Wally’s invention on Dilbert; and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen were heard around the tables.

That’s my story; I’m sticking to it!

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Who are you and what do you do

Posted on April 17, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

At The Sweet Setup:

Every week we try to post a new interview with someone about what software they use on their Mac, iPhone, or iPad. We do these interviews because not only are they fun, but a glimpse into what tools someone uses and how they use those tools can spark our imagination and give us an idea or insight into how we can do things better.

Today’s victim, er, interviewee:

I’m Stephen Biggerstaff, a freelance iOS Developer from sunny Scotland.

You can catch Stephen’s complete story here: Stephen Biggerstaff’s Mac and iOS setup.

“Back issues” can be found here: Sweet Setup Interviews.

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Who are you and what do you do

Posted on April 10, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

At The Sweet Setup:

Every week we try to post a new interview with someone about what software they use on their Mac, iPhone, or iPad. We do these interviews because not only are they fun, but a glimpse into what tools someone uses and how they use those tools can spark our imagination and give us an idea or insight into how we can do things better.

Today’s victim, er, interviewee:

My name is Steve Cholette, and I am a full-time Fire Fighter/Paramedic for a suburb city near Detroit, Michigan. I have been an Apple fanatic for quite some time and I use my setup for home/hobbies.

You can catch Steve’s complete story here: Steve Cholette’s Mac, iPhone, and Watch setup.

“Back issues” can be found here: Sweet Setup Interviews.

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Did You Further Know?

Posted on April 4, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

Sir Tim is also not content to let (wonderful as they might be) matters lie. From Wired this morning:

…When Berners-Lee created the web, it was a decentralized platform. Anyone could publish a website and link to any other site. But as the web has grown from an obscure research-sharing tool for the scientific community into a global medium for commerce, communication, journalism, and entertainment, the power dynamics have shifted. Today, huge companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Netflix dominate the web. These corporate giants enjoy an enormous amount of control not only over what people see and do online but over users’ private data. These days, Berners-Lee is working to reverse that trend as the co-lead of the Decentralized Information Group at MIT’s Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (CSAIL).

On the better web Berners-Lee envisions, users control where their data is stored and how it’s accessed. For example, social networks would still run in the cloud. But you could store your data locally. Alternately, you could choose a different cloud server run by a company or community you trust. You might have different servers for different types of information – for health and fitness data, say – that is completely separate from the one you use for financial records.

“It’s kind of like when you had floppy disks and you had one disk for the application and another the storage,” he says.…

Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the Web, Plots a Radical Overhaul of His Creation has the whole story.

N.B.: Wired has a massive bug up… about ad blockers. If you want to read the article, you have to disable ad blockers to do so. You’ve been warned.

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Did You Know?

Posted on April 4, 2017 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

The inventor of the World Wide Web, as opposed to the inventor of the Internet, is alive and well and being richly-rewarded for his pioneering efforts: Sir Tim Berners-Lee is this year’s recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, the computer-geek equivalent of the Nobel Prize. From CBSNews.com today:

…Starting in 1989, Berners-Lee began working on ways digital object could be identified and retrieved through browser software capable of rendering graphics and other images.

In August 1991, he launched the world’s first website.

Besides coming up with the web’s technical specifications, Berners-Lee “offered a coherent vision of how each of these elements would work together as part of an integrated whole”, said Vicki Hanson, president of the Association for Computing Machinery.

In an even more significant move, Berners-Lee decided against patenting his technology and instead offered it as royalty-free software. That allowed other programmers to build upon the foundation he’d laid, spawning more than a billion websites today that have helped lure more than three billion people online.…

PYBT for the complete article: World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee wins Turing Award, the “Nobel Prize” of computing

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