YMUG Newsletter – 2015/06/12
OS X AND MAC STUFF
You may have missed that earlier this week Apple held its annual World Wide Developers Conference. The next version of OS X will be out this Autumn and will be ‘called’ El Capitan, named after a famous landmark in California. Here’s the official Apple announcement:
http://www.apple.com/uk/pr/library/2015/06/08Apple-Announces-OS-X-El-Capitan-with-Refined-Experience-Improved-Performance.html
And a discussion from Ars Technica:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/06/apple-unveils-the-next-version-of-os-x-el-capitan/
As speculated, Apple is working to improve OS X’s performance over introducing new features. If your machine can run Mavericks or Yosemite then it can run El Capitan. Here’s a list of compatible devices.
http://osxdaily.com/2015/06/09/os-x-el-capitan-system-requirements-compatible-mac/
One of the changes that might turn out to be really good is a new graphics handling routine called Metal. Gamers will be pleased.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/06/08/apple-introduces-metal-for-mac-promises-huge-leap-in-graphics-performance
I suppose I should mention Apple’s upcoming music streaming service. I’ll wait for my son’s verdict before I even think of trying it. Oh poop, that means there will be changes to iTunes soon. Sigh.
http://www.apple.com/uk/pr/library/2015/06/08Introducing-Apple-Music-All-The-Ways-You-Love-Music-All-in-One-Place-.html
This is a good article about Smart Folders; what they are, how to set them up and some excellent suggestions of Smart Folders you might want to have. This explained a lot that I hadn’t grasped before.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-smart-folders-need-mac-set/
Soon there will be a browser accessible version (i.e. no separate app required) of Skype for everyone to use. The beta version is out if you’d like to give it a try.
http://www.cultofmac.com/325173/skype-for-web-lets-you-chat-away-without-a-download/
iSTUFF
At the WWDC Apple announced the newest iteration of iOS.
http://www.apple.com/uk/pr/library/2015/06/08Apple-Previews-iOS-9.html
iOS 9 promises to focus on performance over features and if your iDevice can run iOS 8 then it can handle iOS 9. Here’s a list of compatible devices.
http://osxdaily.com/2015/06/10/ios-9-compatibility-supported-devices-list/
One of the new options will be split-screen multi-tasking. It doesn’t seem necessary to me but then I don’t use iDevices much.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/06/08/apple-unveils-ios-9-with-smarter-siri-new-search-screen-more
Also the Newsstand app will be replaced with one called News. So I can avoid Eastenders stories in the future. Sounds good.
http://www.apple.com/uk/pr/library/2015/06/08Apple-Announces-News-App-for-iPhone-iPad.html
Oh, and Apple Pay will be coming to the UK real soon. Be ready to stand behind people waving their watches at the cash till.
http://www.apple.com/uk/pr/library/2015/06/08Apple-Pay-Coming-to-the-UK.html
It sounds like iOS 9 will take advantage of ‘app thinning’ which helps both speed and storage.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/06/app-thinning-will-be-a-major-boon-for-8gb-and-16gb-iphones-and-ipads/
Be very wary of pop-ups in iOS Mail that ask you to enter your details.
http://www.macrumors.com/2015/06/10/new-ios-mail-bug-icloud-passwords/
File under possibly useful: how to add text to your iPhone shot videos using iMovie.
http://osxdaily.com/2015/06/06/add-text-to-video-imovie-iphone/
This is cute: someone has done a mock-up of what the iPhone might have looked like if it was introduced in 1987.
http://www.appleworld.today/blog/2015/6/8/if-the-iphone-had-been-created-in-1987
WWW = WEIRD, WONDERFUL AND WHY
I have no idea why but Apple is sending vans around the US and the UK to create its version of Google’s street view. Time to close the curtains again.
http://www.appleworld.today/blog/2015/6/10/want-to-pose-for-apple-maps-heres-where-theyre-grabbing-photos
There’s a website that can identify birds from photos! Very cool
http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/07/cornell-bird-photo-id/
I probably would buy this: a super-heated knife that toasts bread as it cuts. That is just really slick.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/05/toasting-knife/
HTC put out some photos showing off their new smart phone. Funnily enough, the photos were taken with an iPhone.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/06/08/htc-uses-photos-taken-on-an-iphone-to-show-off-its-new-24k-gold-one-m9
There really is a vacuum cleaner museum.
http://www.cultofmac.com/325865/yes-there-is-a-vacuum-cleaner-museum-and-it-does-not-suck/
June 12th is the 163rd day of the year and is Loving Day (in the USA) and the international World Day Against Child Labour.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to: Anthony Eden (b 1897, d 1977), Irwin Allen, disaster film producer (b 1916, d 1991), George HW Bush (b 1924), Anne Frank (b 1929, d 1945), Trevanian (b 1935, d 2005 . . . he wrote The Eiger Sanction), Chick Corea (b 1941), Mark Calcavecchia (b 1960).
Rest in peace these folks who died on June 12th: Jimmy Dorsey (b 1904, d 1957), Nicole Brown Simpson (b 1959, d 1994), Gregory Peck (b 1916, d 2003),
Some notable events that took place on June 12th: Rebels from the Peasants’ Revolt arrive in Blackheath (1381), Joan of Arc and a bunch of soldiers capture Jargeau (1429), the Battle of Ballynahinch (1798), eighty are killed in the Armagh rail disaster (1889), Anne Frank receives a diary on her thirteenth birthday (1942), the Jewish ghetto in Brzezany, Poland is liquidated by Germany (1943), Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage (1964), the US Supreme Court declares interracial marriages legal (1967), the ‘Son of Sam’ killer is sentenced to 365 years in prison (1978), Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia (1991), Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman are found murdered outside her home, OJ Simpson is later acquitted of the crime (1994), Queen Elizabeth reopens the Globe Theatre in London (1997).
FUNNIES, ETC
“Humanity has been around for at least some 5,000 years or so, and I doubt that the basic challenges as confronted are any worse now, or alas even much different, from what they ever were.” — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a graduation speech at his granddaughter’s high school
“Slave owners were very good Christians and good people. They weren’t terrible, rotten, horrible people. And that’s how I see gay people.” — Idaho state Rep. Paul Shepherd
“Leave science to the scientists.” — Rick Santorum, on the Pope’s statements about climate change. Pope Francis holds a master’s degree in chemistry.
Dave Clarke, a faculty member at Britain’s Sheffield Hallam University with specialties in investigative journalism and UFOs, used the Freedom of Information Act to get a London Metropolitan Police document prepared after the 1997 Heaven’s Gate suicides. American TV shows and movies such as Star Trek and The X-Files, the document said, “draw together the various strands of religion, UFOs, conspiracies, and mystic events and put them in an entertaining storyline.” Why is this a police matter? “Obviously this is not sinister in itself, what is of concern is the devotion certain groups and individuals ascribe to the contents of these programmes.” Apparently police officials feared science-fiction fans might get so worked up as the millennium approached as to reduce Britain to anarchy. A Scotland Yard spokesman noted “We have no knowledge of this.” (AC/London Telegraph)
A waitress at a Waffle House in Macon, Ga., called police to report that another employee, a man, had told her he was going to “pleasure himself” (as local TV stations put it) — and did. She had just finished with a phone call, so she used her phone to take video of the act as the man sat at a table, in his company uniform. According to the resulting report from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, “She stated that as she was recording him, she was telling him the whole time that she was recording him and he was a pervert. She stated that he responded by saying he wasn’t a pervert, he was just a freak.” The video was “somehow” posted to social media, the waitress said, and it went viral; when Waffle House corporate offices saw it, the male employee was fired. When he learned a warrant was issued for his arrest, Emanuel Williams, 36, already a registered sex offender, turned himself in. Meanwhile, the Macon-Bibb County Health Department wasn’t terribly concerned. “Food safety in a restaurant is the same principles of food safety that you should practice when you’re handling food or cleaning surfaces in your own home,” a spokeswoman said. “You should learn how to properly wash, rinse, and sanitize your equipment, your utensils, [and] how to hold things at the proper temperature.” (RC/WMGT Macon, WMAZ Macon)
Siri tells (pretty lame) dance jokes: http://www.cultofmac.com/325953/siris-dance-jokes-are-only-one-step-up-from-dad-puns/
This morning I was sitting on a bench next to a homeless man, he said: “Last week, I still possessed all. A cook, cooked my meals, my room was cleaned, my clothes were washed, pressed, I had a roof over my head, TV, INTERNET, I went to the gym, the pool, the library, I could still go to school.”
I asked him, “What happened Drugs, Alcohol, Female Games????”
“No, no, nothing like that, … I got out of prison.”
(I think I’ve used this one before. I think. This is only going to get worse. Sigh.)
Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A mobile phone on a bench rings and a man picks up with the speaker phone on and begins to talk. Everyone else in the room stops talking.
MAN: ”Hello?”
WOMAN: “Hi Honey, it’s me. Are you at the club?”
MAN: “Yes.”
WOMAN: “I’m at the shops now and found this beautiful leather coat. It’s only $2,000. Is it OK if I buy it?”
MAN: “Sure, go ahead if you like it that much.”
WOMAN:”I also stopped by the Lexus dealership and saw the new models. I saw one I really liked.”
MAN: ”How much?”
WOMAN: “$50,000.”
MAN: “OK, but for that price I want it with all the options.”
WOMAN: “Great! Oh, and one more thing… I was just talking to Kate and found out that the house I wanted last year is back on the market. They’re asking $980,000 for it.”
MAN: “Well, then go ahead and make an offer of $900,000. They’ll probably take it. If not, we can go the extra eighty-thousand if it’s what you really want.”
WOMAN: “OK. I’ll see you later! I love you so much!”
MAN: “Bye! I love you, too.”
The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are staring at him in astonishment, mouths wide open.
He turns and asks, “Anyone know who’s phone this is?”
Four old retired guys are walking down a street in London . They turn a corner and see a sign that says, Old Timers Bar – ALL DRINKS 10p.
They look at each other and then go in, thinking, this is too good to be true.
The old bartender says in a voice that carries across the room, “Come on in and let me pour one for you! What’ll it be, gentlemen?”
There’s a fully stocked bar, so each of the men orders a pint of bitter. In no time the bartender serves up four frothing pints of bitter, and says, “That’ll be 10p each, please.”
The four guys stare at the bartender for a moment, then at each other. They can’t believe their good luck. They pay the 40p, finish their pints, and order another round. Again, four excellent pints are produced, with the bartender again saying, “That’s 40p, please.”
They pay the 40p, but their curiosity gets the better of them. They’ve each had two pints and haven’t even spent a £1 yet.
Finally one of them says, “How can you afford to serve a pint of bitter as good as this for a 10p a piece?”
“I’m a retired tailor,” the bartender says, “and I always wanted to own a bar. Last year I hit the Lottery Jackpot for £25 million and decided to open this place. Every drink costs 10p. Wine, liquor, beer. It’s all the same.”
“Wow! That’s some story!” one of the men says.
As the four of them sip at their pints of beer, they can’t help noticing seven other people at the end of the bar who don’t have any drinks in front of them and haven’t ordered anything the whole time they’ve been there. Nodding at the seven at the end of the bar, one of the men asks the bartender, “What’s with them?”
The bartender says, “They’re retired people from Yorkshire . They’re waiting for Happy Hour when drinks are half-price”
Rest in peace Christopher Lee, Ron Moody and Ornette Coleman
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