SoundByte 342 – August 2023

ChristopherNews, SoundByte

Welcome to SoundByte! In this issue:

August Photo-walk

Mark your diaries! This August we are eschewing our regular meeting for a summer Photo Walk around London at 7pm on Thursday, August 10th.

We will start our walk from the new Apple Store in Battersea Power Station. We will meet from 6:30 at the Apple Store inside the Power Station shopping centre and start walking at 7. We will walk across the Thames ending at Victoria Station.

Come along with your best camera (even if that’s an iPhone). Fingers crossed for good weather!

15 Years of the App Store

The App Store is 15 years old! Can you remember the first app you downloaded to your iPhone? You don’t need to! Open the App Store and click your Profile to access your account. Click Purchased and scroll to the bottom. Sadly my first app was FaceBook, but my second was Super Monkey Ball. One of my important early apps was File Magnet for accessing my documents. Have a look a Stuff’s retrospective here.

In some unwelcome news, Apple is increasing iCloud pricing by an inflation busting amount! Maybe it’s time to delete some of our unused apps or unwatched movies. Read more on 9to5mac.

The Future of Movies

Don’t believe your eyes! The Future of movies is here. We have gone beyond green screens to huge video projections and that’s before the increasing realism of computer generated graphics. Have a look below at Cleo Abrams exploration of what’s happening.

Back on terra firma and rooted to the ground, there’s a new tech history movie coming. Given the genre, keep your expectations low, but this time we’re not looking at a fruit, but a berry. The Blackberry or ‘crackberry’ to its fans, was the go to device in business at a certain point in time, before a certain idevice we know was launched. Have a look at the somewhat madcap trailer below:

Time for a Mac upgrade?

Apple isn’t alone in reality distortion field marketing, but they still do it. They make creatively curated graphs and comparisons for each keynote. Some of the criticism they get is unfair. You will likely be unimpressed if you upgrade your Mac every year, but do it every 3-5 years and you will likely feel a big difference. In any event, Linus Tech Tips below, took a torch to Apple’s claims on the M2 Mac Studio, have a look:

This, however is no reason to avoid buying a new Mac if you know it’s time for an upgrade. When doing so, make sure you are careful how much RAM you buy as you can’t upgrade this later. As time goes on we are learning more about how the M-series chips use their RAM. Have a look below at some advice on what to avoid, especially if you’re a professional:

If you have an older Mac and you’re not upgrading, you might be juggling your Mac Oses around to find one that works well on your machine. Have a look at Mr Mac’s guide for what works where. Our Technical editor notes:

Fun Hardware Info
As of 5/1/21, Apple had released over 150 different Intel Model Identifiers.

  • Most Supported Mac =

MacBookPro9,1 (15-inch Mid 2012) – 10.7.3 – 10.15 = 9 OS Versions

  • Least Supported Mac =

MacBook1,1 (13-inch Core Duo 2006) – 10.4.6 – 10.6.8 = 3 OS Versions.

Make the most of time – calendar tips

The humble Calendar app on your iPhone or iPad is not so humble. It’s packs a number of features and integrations that might not be obvious on first or second glance. Have a look and see what you can learn from Proper Honest Tech:

Issues with Canon printers and Android TVs…

There are some serious issues to be aware of this month. Most of us are not sitting in a walled garden or on an island. Apple don’t make printers and many other TV streamers are cheaper than the Apple TV.

The first issue affects Canon Printers with WiFI ability. The issue comes when it is time to dispose of the printer. Factory reset will not wipe your WiFi settings, putting your home security at risk should someone else get your old printer. Read on for what to do, on Ars Technica.

Next, in an example of cheap tech really being too good to be true, Linus Tech Tips talks below about the perils of super cheap Android TV streamers. There’s a nasty catch If you have one, watch below:

Photograph the Milky Way?

Finally, there are two weekends coming up, on the 12th and 19th August, where the Milky Way will be in prime position, over the UK, around midnight. I have never seen the Milky Way and maybe with our light pollution, that’s no surprise here in London. But if the night is dark and clear where you are, it might be worth a try. What amazing camera might you need for this? Just a recent iPhone. Have a look at this YouTube Short below on how to do it below:

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