Soundbyte 300 – February 2020

ChristopherNews, SoundByte

Welcome to the three hundredth edition of Soundbyte!

Here’s to another 300! ?

In this issue:

  • February Meeting
  • Meetings in 2020
  • The iPad turns 10
  • Catalina News
  • New iPhone rumours
  • Social media privacy and alternatives
  • Reflections on Aperture
  • Offers for Apple User Group Members

February Meeting

Our next meeting is on Monday February 10. Our topic this month is Back to the Mac. Is it time to upgrade to Catalina? Is your Mac ready and what’s in this latest update anyway?

We will start the meeting with Newsbyte and end with a raffle. This month we are raffling a Newer Tech Universal Drive Adaptor, an ideal addition to your Mac repair toolkit. We’re adding a SanDisk 240GB SSD to compliment it as well.

Meetings in 2020

Please find below our planned meetings for this year!

Our 2020 meetings

The iPad turns 10

Amazing to think, but the iPad was revealed 10 years ago in late January. What a revolutionary product. Tablets had been tried before. Microsoft decided they were the future and failed with their awkward PC based slates. Instead Apple scaled up the iPhone with enough differences to make it both superior to the iPhone and MacBook for certain tasks. The iPad never lacked computing power, and the later models rivalled or surpassed MacBook Pro for speed. But has the software functionality kept up at the same pace? John Gruber thinks not and has posted an article saying it has some way to go still. Read it here.

Steve Job unveils the iPad in 2010

Catalina News

More news on macOS Catalina, this time a scurrilous rumour. Testers have found a ‘Pro’ option in a beta of macOS. This might be a way to turbo boost your Mac’s Intel chips (like the old PC 486s). Read more here, although there is no indication really on when this might be released.

We are up to version 10.15.3, so the third update to Catalina is now released. Surely it is time to upgrade now if you haven’t? Well, I’m not going to tell you to upgrade, instead, I have to tell you: there’s a new guide on how to downgrade a new Mac back to Mojave if disaster strikes and you need to downgrade back to this older version of macOS. Read on here for a guide I hope you never need to use.

Remember to join us on the February 10, for our Back to the Mac session, to learn more about upgrading to Catalina.

New iPhone Rumours

Rumours of a replacement for the iPhone SE

It is not really a rumour that there will be new iPhones this year. But it isn’t every year that Apple releases a ‘budget’ iPhone. The first one was the colourful iPhone 5C, but the most loved one was the iPhone SE. Rumours are that a new version is in the works.

Speaking of rumours, do mobile phone masts cause cancer? It is an important question, because 5G has much shorter range than 4G and 3G. This means many more mobile phone transmitters will be needed. So, do they cause cancer?

The answer is no. Read more here.

Finally, Apple has released a guide on sharing photos on iCloud. Read it here.

Social Media privacy and alternatives

Social Media brings people together, but most social media companies make money by selling people’s data to advertisers. We know that Apple claims to be different. They offer iMessage, but this only works on Apple devices. We have to use alternatives to reach others, like Google and FaceBook. Is there any alternative that doesn’t involve sharing your preferences and profile with the advertisers?

If this matters to you, read this BBC article to learn about what you can do to hide from the aggregators, advertisers and trackers.

An electric car for the rest of us?

Honda’s first serious electric car goes on sale very soon. There is a je ne sais quoi about the design which has car lovers smitten, But just like some of Apple’s products, the priorities of the design do not conform to the rest of the car industry’s. It might be worth a look if you’re in the market for a new car.

Reflections on Aperture

As we quietly celebrate our 300th issue of Soundbyte, lets take a moment to reflect on Aperture. Apple’s professional level photo management software finally hit the dust with the arrival of macOS Catalina. Some of the creators of Aperture have decided to talk about what it was like building it. It might be surprising.

Offers for Apple User Group Members

Here are the latest offers, collated by Apple User Groups, for our paying members. Find the discount code and details on our website:

  • Special Offer – Dan?s Tutorials: 25% Discount
  • Special Offer – Eve Products: 25% Discount
  • Special Offer – TechTool Pro 11: 50% Discount
  • Special Offer – AgileBits 1Password 7: 25% Discount
  • Special Offer – Eltima Software: Up to 60% Off OS X Apps
  • Special Offer – EverWeb by RAGE Software: 50% Discount 
  • Special Offer – Opus ][ Complete Collection: 25% Discount
  • Special Offer – Que Publishing Products: 35-45% Discount
  • Special Offer – Take Control Books: 30% Discount on All eBooks
  • Special Offer – Teams ID, a Password Manager for Teams: 33% Discount
  • Special Offer – TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals: Get a free month of tips and articles!