Welcome to Soundbyte 306
In this issue
- Tonight’s meeting – Everything Photos
- Apple switches to Arm – what about Bootcamp?
- Inventor of the computer mouse dies
- Accessibility changes in iOS 13
- New Mac Pro accessory…
- Special Offers for members
Tonight’s meeting – Everything Photos
We will be meeting as usual tonight at 7pm on Zoom. Joining details will be in the email this newsletter came in.
Tonight’s topic is group chat about photography. How you store and/or back up photos? How you share photos with people? How photos can be marked up. Taking the best pictures with an iPhone and what’s the purpose of taking photos?
Apple switches to Apple Silicon – what about Bootcamp?
If you attended last month’s meeting, you will know that Apple is planning on switching its processors from Intel computer chips to its own “Apple Silicon” chips based on ARM. The processor (also called central processing unit – CPU) is the brains on the computer, controlling programs, USB ports, CD drives and what appears on screen. Intel CPU chips work differently to Apple Silicon CPU chips. What this means is, program makers like Adobe and Microsoft will need to make updates to their computer programs like Photoshop, Lightroom and Office so they can work at full speed on the new Apple machines.
Apple has promised to keep supporting the existing Macs that most of us own, for years to come. To do this, Apple is encouraging program makers to include instructions in their computer programs for both the Intel and the Apple Silicon chips. But one program, that is important for some Mac users will not work: Bootcamp.
Bootcamp is the software that enables Mac Users to install Windows 10 on their Mac. Some Mac Users need this to run particular Windows programs from their company or need to use other niche tools on Windows. Microsoft does have a version of Windows that might work on Apple Silicon. There are a number of Windows laptops which use CPUs based on the same sort of ARM chips as Apple). But the situation is that Microsoft sells “Windows on ARM” direct to laptop makers, not to the general public. So we are stuck.
Looking over a different garden fence at the Raspberry Pi, which also uses a CPU based on ARM. We can see that in the worst case, one way or another, Windows 10 could be made to work unofficially, on ARM computers, not sanctioned by Microsoft. (Very technical video below!!)
Apple and Microsoft are staying tight lipped on official support for Windows for the time being. When Microsoft has something to announce, it might not be what your think. The rumour is that rather than installing Windows in Bootcamp, Microsoft will let you run Windows from your web browser or an app, for a monthly fee. Watch this space to see how things actually pan out… –
Inventor of the computer mouse dies
Sad news, but the celebrated inventor of the computer mouse has died, aged 91. You can read his obituary on the BBC here.
Accessiblity changes in iOS 13
Apple continues to push forward improvements to accessibility for various disabilities and impairments in iOS 13. Apple has released a website summarising features for vision, hearing, mobility and learning. Make sure you have a look at these, some of the changes make the iPhone easier for everyone (I for example enable larger text to make it easier to read). Click the image above to read it.
New Mac Pro accessory
Mac Pro accessories are infamously expensive. You can buy wheels to enable the computer to be easily moved across the office, but the wheels cost £700. You can buy a matching monitor, but the stand for the monitor costs £950. Given these prices, this new acccesory is positively affordable. A leather bag to hang off the side of the Mac: A bargain at $400.
Special Offers for members
Speaking of bargains, here are the current special offers for Apple User group members. Find the code including how to access these offers in the (paid) members-only section of the website.
- Koingo Software: 20/50% Discount
- Dan’s Tutorials: Update 50% Discount and 30 Day Free Membership
- Eve Products: 25% Discount
- TechTool Pro 11: 50% Discount
- AgileBits 1Password 7: 25% Discount
- MacCleanse 8 Software: 20% Discount
- Eltima Software: Up to 60% Off OS X Apps
- EverWeb by RAGE Software: 50% Discount
- Opus ][ Complete Collection: 25% Discount
- Que Publishing Products: 35-45% Discount
- Take Control Books: 30% Discount on All eBooks
- Teams ID, a Password Manager for Teams: 33% Discount
- TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals: Get a free month of tips and articles!