Soundbyte 363 – May 2025

ChristopherNews, SoundByte

Welcome to Soundbyte! In this issue:

Annual General Meeting

Please join us on Zoom this Monday, May 12 at 7:00 pm BST, for our Annual General Meeting. 

This will be a paid members-only meeting. As many members as possible must attend as we will be electing a new committee. There is much to discuss about the year ahead and what it should look like. Take part and help us set LMUG’s future direction! We will start the evening with our usual NewsByte presentation.

Check the email this newsletter came in for the Zoom link to the meeting. You can also find the link in our Slack Meetings Channel. 

You can now follow the London Mac User Group on Bluesky! Come and say hello 👋 over there 👉🏾 https://bsky.app/profile/lmug.bsky.social. Read more about it here.

Where do MacBooks come from?

Apple didn’t invent the laptop, but as meticulously described in Apple Design, they perfected it. The 1991 PowerBooks 100, 140 and 170, were the first portable computers that would be recognisable today as a laptop. What Apple perfected was the ergonomics. Every laptop before it had the keyboard at the front and then computer/battery, then the screen. Apple swapped these around, pushing the keyboard back and creating room for a palm rest. Then in the middle of the palm rest, they added a pointing device (invented in World War 2!). Every laptop maker eventually followed the same design. Have a look at this restospective below from Luke Miani:

As we know, Apple has refined the MacBook’s design over the years. New materials, keyboards, batteries and processors. Every now and then, one of these tweaks makes a very good value MacBook, ensuring it stays relevant and usable for many years. Have a look at one such, rather old MacBook, that many still seem to be using today. [Note that once out of support, even if your Mac has good performance, you will need to hack your Mac to run later operating systems. MacWorld has a guide here]. But back to that video about the goldilocks MacBook:

Contemptibles

Apple is fighting a rearguard action against competition regulators trying to create holes in the garden fence for other companies to get fairer access to Apple customers. Some of this regulatory concern is around interoperability. For example how Apple AirPods seamlessly connect to Apple Devices, while competitors have to force users to open settings, find bluetooth, select pairing and just have a worse experience. Another area is around the App Store and here, Apple have recently lost a major case in the US resulting in immediate enforcement. Some Apple executives risk prosecution for contempt as part of this. Read about it in detail on Daring Fireball.

What the ruling means is, Developers like Amazon can direct users to buy their products from their own stores rather than through Apple. If you have bought a product from Amazon before this might not sound like a bad idea, especially if there is a sale on. Apple have fought tooth and nail against it, however. Depending on your point of view, Apple either wants to prevent fraud and ensure convenience for Apple users or to preserve Apple’s hefty commission on millions of purchases, boosting their services revenue each quarter. We have to wait and see if other regulators around the world follow suit, as Apple won’t. Apple have enabled this liberalisation of the App Store in the US only.

Apple Watch hits its 10th year

Can you believe it? The Apple Watch was released 10 years ago. As with most Apple innovations, the competition misunderstood it. It didn’t have days or weeks of battery life, just a day. It didn’t have many specialist features like GPS. Instead you could buy it in 18-carat gold? Huh? What Apple perfected (again) was the design, which many watches since have copied. A big high colour screen with a side button, a crown that rotates to manipulate the display and Apps to do…things. Well it took a while to figure out which apps suited the Watch apart from time keeping, but they got there. What Apple achieved in the meantime wasn’t so such competition with the existing smart watches, but dominance of the whole luxury watch market for many years with timeless designs and high end materials like titanium, ceramic and gold. Have a look at this retrospective memory from Cult of Mac.

Why is your Wifi slow?

Apple Design, you know, sometimes undermines the function with its form. The Mac mini is a good example. All Mac minis have struggled with Wifi. It’s the cute metal case covering the little antenna (unlike the large antennas in MacBook screens!). But did you know there are many other things that can interfere with your WiFi signal? Before investing in new router equipment or digging holes for Ethernet, start here with some tips from Craig Neidel:

Music to my ears!

One of the things people love about Macs is how they can get the job done, but not get in your way. “It just works”, can mean that your Mac is there in the background, quietly connecting and powering everything, while you get on with your work: building, creating, designing with professional tools. That’s the dream. I had a sense of that looking at the workflow in this master musician’s London studio. Spot the Mac in the background, silent in the background, ready to mix all the recordings into songs when needed.

And for a bit more fun, have a look here for what might be the best Mac for a mobile music studio:

Is Lightroom still the best for Photos?

Speaking of professional tools, it seems that many photographers have defaulted to Lightroom for their main photo editing. Is it really still the best today? Have a look at this detailed review by a professional. The the right answer is to make your own mind up based on what you need:

Master your email

If you have a recent Mac, iPad or iPhone you may have noticed the categorisation features in Apple Mail. This includes some common sorting like transactions and updates. But did you know you can customise these to optimise Mail for your particular needs? Have a look at this detailed guide from Cult of Mac.

Could your second car be an e-Bike?

If you are lucky enough to own a second car; when you come to replace it, might you consider an e-Bike? Many in London appear to have done so. On my commute through leafy South London I see many parents with children on the back or in a box in front of their electric bikes. The best (safest) e-Bikes can cost the same as a second-hand car, but the running costs are dramatically lower. Where streets have been calmed, as many in London have, they can be lot of fun too. Innovation and Invention in e-Bikes has raced ahead with smaller more powerful motors, more efficient batteries and longer range. Have a look at one of the state-of-the art machines that have come out this year, competing with small cars for your personal mode of transportation.