8 awesome iPhone apps

Posted on July 13, 2015 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

Zach Epstein, over on BGR, has a bad habit of posting lists of cool iPhone/iPad(/iPod Touch) apps that are temporarily free.

Here’s the fine print:

These are paid iPhone and iPad apps that have been made available for free for a limited time by their developers. There is no way to tell how long they will be free. These sales could end an hour from now or a week from now – obviously, the only thing we can guarantee is that they were free at the time this post was written. If you click on a link and see a price listed next to an app instead of the word “get”, it is no longer free. The sale has ended. If you download the app, you will be charged.

Here’s the link to today’s apps:

8 awesome paid iPhone apps on sale for free right now for a limited time

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Who are you and what do you do?

Posted on July 13, 2015 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 Guido Osorio, and I’m a writer from Santiago, Chile. That would be the short, concise version. The director’s cut is that I went to college here for two and a half years until I decided to drop out to pursue my dream of writing fiction for a living. Pursuing is all I’ve done so far though, but I’m getting there.

You can catch Guido’s complete story here: Guido Osorio’s iPhone setup.

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

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July 20th General Meeting

Posted on July 12, 2015 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

 

Join us on Monday, July 20, for the next meeting of the San Gabriel Valley Apple Users Group. The meeting will include our usual presentations covering Apps and Traps; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math apps for iOS and OS X (appleSTEMs); and a Q&A session to address any of your questions about your Apple devices.

This Month’s Feature Presentation

The newest version of OSX replaces both Aperture (the photo editing program for pros) and iPhoto (the photo app for the rest of us) with a new program called Photos. Our talk for this month’s meeting will tell you what you need to know about this new program and how to handle moving your photo library from iPhoto to Photos. These changes can be a bit unsettling, but with help from our knowledgeable presenters, you’ll know everything you need to know to make the transition go smoothly.

Regular Features

Apps and 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. Since this month’s meeting falls on the anniversary of both the first human landing on the Moon (Apollo 11, 1969) and the first successful robotic landing on Mars (Viking 1, 1976), it will cover apps dealing with the Moon, Mars, and spaceflight.

Apple News & Updates – We’ll have news about El Capitan, the latest version of OS X, tips for dealing with malware that might get onto your system, and tips for how to avoid the “spinning beach ball of death”.

The San Gabriel Valley Apple User Group meeting is open to all and is free to the public. Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy the camaraderie of other people who use and enjoy the best computers and mobile devices that money can buy.

See you there!

Our rewarding Monthly Prize Drawing includes a copy of Take Control of Photos for Mac (e-book), a MYBAT iPhone 5/5s case, a $25.00 Apple gift card, and a Kanex 4' Charge and Sync cable with Lighting connector. Don’t forget: members receive one free ticket for our 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 Coco’s Restaurant, 77 N. Lake Ave. (between Union St. and Colorado Blvd., at the southwest corner of Union and Lake).

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10 awesome iPhone apps

Posted on July 10, 2015 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

Zach Epstein, over on BGR, has a bad habit of posting lists of cool iPhone/iPad(/iPod Touch) apps that are temporarily free.

Here’s the fine print:

These are paid iPhone and iPad apps that have been made available for free for a limited time by their developers. There is no way to tell how long they will be free. These sales could end an hour from now or a week from now – obviously, the only thing we can guarantee is that they were free at the time this post was written. If you click on a link and see a price listed next to an app instead of the word “get”, it is no longer free. The sale has ended. If you download the app, you will be charged.

Here’s the link to today’s apps:

The 10 best paid iPhone apps on sale for free today

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Snow in July???

Posted on July 10, 2015 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

 
Size matters!!

Not really computer-related, unless (like me) you need a computer for more-than-basic arithmetic, but it is geeky…

Found this piece, by Rhett Allain, on Wired this morning. He starts:

THERE WAS A bunch of snow in Boston this year—and some of it’s still there. Yes, in July some of the snow has not yet melted. Why? There are a couple of reasons, some of them have to do with physics.

He ends:

But will the Boston snow pile melt? Sure, it will just take time. Hopefully it will melt before the next snow storm.

Oh. My. God.

In between, he does a great job of explaining the wherefores and whys in an amusing fashion. Check it out: It’s July. Why on Earth Is There Still Snow in Boston?

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Did You Know?

Posted on July 10, 2015 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

Time to replace your computer?

Unless there’s something really special about your place, your home network could be faster, and faster is always better!

In 9 Quick Ways to Instantly Speed up Your Home PC Network, Andy Betts provides a lot of good advice, and he explains the whats and whys. Most of the suggestions are pretty straightforward, and working through the list will get your network into optimal shape.

Click the link, head over to MakeUseOf, and get started.

Graphic from the article

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Should I Change My LastPass Master Password?

Posted on July 8, 2015 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

LastPass breach

You may recall the LastPass breach news from last month. If you’re a LastPass user, you got the e-mail from LastPass advising users:

…that the company had detected “suspicious activity” on LastPass servers, and that user email addresses and password reminders had been compromised.… no encrypted vault data had been compromised, but since the hashed user passwords had been obtained, the company advised users to update their master passwords, just to be safe.…

So, what’s a LastPass user to do? In a word, read. Ryan Dube has an in-depth, but easy to understand, article on MakeUseOf that gets into the hack itself, why the LastPass system is so secure, and whether you should change your master password.

Read it: LastPass Is Breached: Do You Need To Change Your Master Password?

Graphic from the article

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Scareware: Not As Frightening as It Sounds

Posted on July 8, 2015 by SGVAUG BlogMaster

:::sigh:::

The bad guys obviously have too much free time on their hands:

…What happens is that you visit a Web site and seemingly have your browser maliciously frozen. You’ll find that you can’t quit, nor can you navigate away from the page by clicking the Back button.

Next, a page or pop-up appears telling you any of a number of stories (often tailored to your location), perhaps that your Mac has a problem or has illegal material on it, or that your data has been encrypted by some malevolent entity.…

Yeah, right! Don’t believe a word of it.

Randy B Singer has a great article on TidBITs, explaining what’s going on and how to cope. Read it now, and you’ll not only be prepared if something like this happens, you’ll learn a lot of interesting stuff.

PYBT: Scary Internet Scam Becoming Disturbingly Common.

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Who are you and what do you do?

Posted on July 6, 2015 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 Richard J. Anderson. I’m originally from Philadelphia, and now live in New York City. By day, I’m a Web Producer for a specialty publisher focused on medical journalism. By night, I write about technology and culture for Sanspoint.com.

You can catch Richard’s complete story here: Richard J Anderson’s iOS and Mac setup.

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

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Who are you and what do you do?

Posted on June 29, 2015 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 Grigory Antsiperov, and I’m a first year Economics student at Moscow State University.

You can catch Grigory’s complete story here: Grigory Antsiperov’s iOS setup.

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

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