ApplePower October 28 Meeting

Great ApplePower meeting yesterday (October 28, 2017) featuring member Mike Ring demo-ing his $6 Raspberry Pi and his slightly larger Raspberry Pi with wifi, bluetooth, Ethernet, 4 USB ports and lots more, about $24 with extras, like, for example, a case, extra power supply, and lots more.)

The Raspberry Pi Zero model (above the playing card) is less than half the size of the card. The Raspberry Pi 3 inside the case is just about ¾ the size of the playing card. 

Too bad for you if you missed the meeting. Don't miss the next one.

For more info about our next meeting (date time, place, agenda, etc.), email applepower@ptd.net.

Looking Back

Frieda Simonsen

During these past several months of my ups and downs, I’ve done a bit of

reflecting on my past and, to tell the truth, I’ve been somewhat wistful about

what should have been or might have been. Still, among my pleasures and

treasures are the friends I’ve made and how my horizons have broadened,

thanks to my serendipitous encounter with Apple as far back as 1984.

Among my Apple friends, I was pleased to include Frieda Simonsen. We first met when she became a member of ApplePower.

Whenever Frieda attended our meetings, she had something delightful to show us. Generally, it was something that she had created with the help of her Apple computer, like her beautiful Christmas cards or her gift wrapping paper with the name of the gift recipient gaily emblazoned multiple times on the paper.

Soon our friendship expanded beyond our shared interest in Apple. Although we never

saw each other except at ApplePower meetings, we spoke to each other frequently by

phone and not just about things related to computers.

After a while, Frieda stopped coming to our meetings because her beloved husband

Dick was too ill to drive her from their home in Kempton to our meetings in Allentown.

Still, she remained a loyal ApplePower member and, of course, a dear friend of mine.

Although, as I said before, our telephone conversations were not just about computers, Frieda

frequently phoned me about problems she had using her iMac. As the result of my

helping her solve a truly vexing problem that she was having with her computer, she

sent in a letter to the editor of our newsletter, Apple Update. 

Since I was the editor of the newsletter of the ApplePower user group, in addition to being its founder, out of respect to Frieda, I shamelessly published it. In part, the letter said:

“…I am unable to attend meetings but have bothered Shirley many, many times with

my problems…Always helpful and so patient. She has to live as long as I do or I have

to stop using my computer.”

Coincidentally, Frieda and I were both born in December in the same year and I’m still here. Frieda stopped using her computer September 26, 2017. I shall always miss her.

ApplePower Open House

ApplePower, Apple premier user group in the Lehigh Valley area, invites all Apple enthusiasts to attend an Open House on Saturday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to noon at Lehigh Valley Active Life (formerly Lehigh Valley Senior Center), 1633 W. Elm St., Allentown. It's free!

Highlight of the Open House will be a demo of how to use your Mac, iPad, or iPhone to access and experience free entertainment without getting confused or bogged down with techno-babble. This demo by host, Dr. David Webb, encompasses a huge variety of entertainment—movies, TV shows, video, and more. Watch. Listen. Learn. Enjoy.

Other activities will include a Question-and-Answer session and little-known or never published Mac, iPhone, and iPad Tips and Tricks.

Walk-ins are welcome any time between 10 a.m. and noon but reservations are requested. RSVP via email to applepower@ptd.net or call (610) 967-2020. Come early and, if you are a registered visitor, receive a free gift, compliments of a world-famous high-tech company.

Horrors!

Did you ever have a nightmare so vivid that, when you awoke, you thought it actually happened?

Well, I had one of those…last night.

I dreamed my iPhone was cracked.

When I awoke, I  leapt out of bed, dashed to my iPhone, and checked it out front and back. Huge sigh of relief. It was intact.

Must be something wrong with me that, even when I  sleep, my iPhone takes over such a big chunk of my life.

Who are these women and what do they have in common?

From left to right, these women are Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and Hedy LaMarr, all three who are remarkable for major accomplishments in computer technology.

A  gifted mathematician, Ada Lovelace (December 10, 1815 – November 27, 1852) is considered the first computer programmer. She wrote instructions for the first computer program. She also wrote down her thoughts on how codes could be created to handle letters and symbols along with numbers. Ada was also a compulsive gambler and the daughter of the famous poet, Lord Byron.

Grace Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral who invented the first compiler for a computer programming language. (A compiler is a program that transforms a set of coded instructions into a machine-readable language.) Hopper also developed COBOL which was one of the first computer programs. On the lighter side, she is well-remembered for her humorous demonstration of the length of a nanosecond.

Considered one of Hollywood’s beautiful movie actresses, Hedy LaMarr (November 9, 1914 – January 18, 2000) was also an inventor who, because of her accomplishments,  was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. At the beginning of World War II, she developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes which used technology to defeat jamming of wireless communications by the enemy, Elements of the design are among the most important now incorporated into Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and CDMA technology.

3 Ways to Scroll: the usual and the quicker

Many Mac users scroll a web page by using their mouse to click on the scroll bar and drag the arrow that appears on the bar up or down. But you can scroll faster if you use your keyboard to scroll. Just tap the space bar and the web page will scroll down a page. To scroll up, hold down the shift key while you tap the space bar. Another way to scroll in smaller increments is to tap the arrow on your keyboard that points in the direction that you want to scroll.

February 2017 ApplePower Meeting

The next ApplePower meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 25, 2017, at our usual meeting place, Lehigh Valley Active Life, 1633 West Elm St., Allentown, from 10 a.m. to noon.

Meetings are free and open to all interested persons. RSVP via email to applepower@ptd.net or phone 610-967-2020. Come visit.

Here's the proposed agenda (times are approximate):

10 a.m. - Sign in and socialize, plus a Q and A session. (Here's your chance to mingle with other Apple enthusiasts and to ask and/or answer questions.)
10:15 a.m. - Announcements and commentary.
10:30 a.m. - Computer Horror Story (true story of an non-pro DIY computer repairman)
10:45 a.m. - Awesome Freebies on your Computer, Smart Phone, or Tablet
Noon- Raffle. (Free raffle tickets to all in attendance. Your chances of winning are insanely better than your chances of winning the lottery. Bring a friend and receive an extra raffle ticket.)