Topic: CarPlay: integrating your auto with your iPhone

My primary mode of transportation is my bicycle and I was without any car for a few years. I decided last June to join the ranks of electric vehicle owners. I was curious what life would be like living with an electric car in a home where I cannot charge it at night. I also got tired of depending on friends to drive me whenever we had plans out in the suburbs, so I ended up getting a 2021 Nissan LEAF SV Plus. I am no automobile enthusiast, but the technology in new cars intrigues me, including Apple CarPlay which came with my car. In this presentation, I will briefly explain how CarPlay allows an iOS device to integrate with my car. To do this, I intend to use my iPhone while using Zoom on my iPad to demonstrate the CarPlay technology. Please feel free to interrupt me with any questions you have.

BIO:

Stan Horwitz is a long-time Mac user and evangelist, going back to around 1986. Stan’s first Mac was a used Mac SE, circa 1987. Stan currently has a Mac mini M1 at home with a 2019 MacBook Pro, plus a 2015 iMac in his office at work. Stan lives with his cat Darwin in Philadelphia’s Art Museum area and he works at Temple University as a full time computer systems manager in the Information Technology Services department.

Topic: Free Apps with your macOS

Have you ever looked through your Applications folder and also within it, your Applications/Utilities folder? Apple provides you with several powerful apps for free. This presentation will look at a few of the free utilities.

QuickTime plays videos but also lets you record your screen and edit video clips

Activity Monitor shows you how your computer resources - CPU, RAM, etc - are being used

Preview opens pdf and image files but also lets you edit images and annotate pdfs

And a few more, maybe.

BIO:

Bob has been around forever ;-) He retired from Lockheed-Martin in 2009 and stays out of trouble with volunteering at Bryn Mawr Hospital and the Bryn Mawr Fire Company. Oh, and he was MLMUG Treasurer for a few years many years ago and is currently MLMUG Webmaster and Newer User's SIG Co-leader.

The Barton household has several iMacs and MacBooks, none of them recent (no need to fix it if it is not broken). Bob's last repair job was putting a SSD in an old 17 inch iMac - the kind you use a credit card on to spring the faceplate latches.

Topic: The M1 chip –it's affect on the industry and it's affect users

Our main presenter will be long-time MLMUG member Mark Bazrod who will discuss Apple’s M1 chip, what it is, what makes it different from the Intel 386 chip, its development, Apple’s Silicon Strategy, why it's so great, its effect on us users of all Apple products, its possible effects on the computer industry, and more.

BIO:

Mark is currently MLMUG Secretary and has been Newsletter Editor since 2004. He also has been President and Treasurer and a Board member. He has many times been a presenter to both MLMUG and Macs@PACS, and has written more than 200 monthly columns for our Newsletter. Mark bought his first Apple computer in 1978 and currently uses a 2021 M1 Mac mini as his main computer), but finds he uses his iPad almost as often. He has been involved in leasing computers since 1968 and has been active in the leasing industry associations. His company was one of the first to lease computer software back in 1992. He is sort of retired, but is busier than ever.

Topic: Converting Analog Memories to Digital Dreams

We all have physical photographs, perhaps even old video tapes or slides that someone in our family has taken in years gone by. Perhaps those memories are locked away in photo albums or in storage in a box somewhere. How do you share these memories with your family without tearing your hair out? Aric Pedersen, the President of PMUG, has the answers since he successfully completed several analog-to-digital conversions projects for his family. Join us as we learn about some surprisingly easy ways to turn the physical into digital.

BIO:

Aric Pedersen is PMUG's President, and has worked for many years in the technology sector. He has used Macs primarily since 1990. Aric can often be found answering questions on the PMUG help list while he waits for the world to return to something like normalcy. He currently resides in Florida.

Aric's presentation charts are HERE

Topic: The Metaverse – Understand and Experience the Future of Computing

When one of the top Fortune 500 companies changes it’s name – people notice. But owning the name “Metaverse” doesn’t mean you’ll own the space. This session will discuss what the “Metaverse” is, the major players, industry impact, technology components, Next-gen user interfaces, virtual currency models, and more. We’ll also explore a few selective Metaverse worlds and tools to get YOU IN the virtual worlds. Of course, we’ll also discuss the position of current and future Apple devices and services. Get ready and fasten your seatbelts – it’s going to be a bumpy - and fun session.

BIO:

Fran Rabuck, CWNA,RFID Fran’s career and experiences began in the early days of the first generations of Metaverse technologies and computing. His early experiences include: text adventures with Colossal Cave, Natural Language AI interactions with Eliza, Data Analytics with a slide rule, creating silent - but color video with a Kodak Super 8 camera using pixilation, massive data storage with paper tapes and punched cards, interactive gaming (pong) on Odyssey and Atari systems. He was known to be the first on his block to work with interactive TV and Pen (then crayons) with the Winky Dink show – sometimes without the plastic screen. He was even an early user of cloud computing - we called it Timesharing in that era. Through the next few decades , he became an early adapter and avid emerging technology specialist with a career of leading organization research efforts and early development of pilot applications. Fran is a frequent speaker/writer, advisor and judge at major technology industry events. He is best known for his engaging conference work in developing and managing future technology demonstration exhibits and workshops for organizations like Comdex, RoboUniverse, World Future Society, RFID Journal, FIATECH, ECC, CII, Smart Geometry and Bentley Systems. His experience and work with components of Metaverse technology include presentations and development in: AR/VR/XR, Head Mounted Computing devices, Gamification systems, 3d Printing and Video , Mobile & Wireless systems, Collaboration Systems, and AI/Data Analytics. Today, Fran eats cereal for breakfast, but spends late nights snacking on new tools and software to gather and understand data and other technologies in AI and Data Analytics, and connecting the dots of the Metaverse components. Daytime work includes working with Facility Managers and Organizations with Agile Handover for total silo integration and collection of Infrastructure Asset data, and the visualization of Digital Twins. He also supports the Association of Facility Engineers as a consultant and Associate Editor for the Journal.

Fran's presentation charts are HERE

Topic: Digital Stars

Astronomy and computers have been intimately connected since the abacus was used to perform astronomical calculations in the 17th century; each has fostered the development of the other. One example: the first image sensors that eventually became the ones in your iPhone were first developed in the 1970s to capture deep-sky images from the big research telescopes.

"Digital Stars" will cover just a few topics from a long list. Examples are the use of computers in astronomical research (how to find out what stars are like on their insides, and why they sometimes explode); planetarium applications you can install on your iMac; image processing (why published NASA photos are so beautiful); public on-line resources (how to predict bright satellite passes in your sky; daily gorgeous photos of everything in the cosmos; downloadable Hubble pics and movies); citizen science (how anybody can make discoveries on their home computers from the Big Data sets); public remote access (how to take a picture with a big telescope in Europe while staying at home with your desktop Mac); et many al. Keith urges members to tell him their preferences on which topics they are most interested, and other topics that could be added (there are many!).

BIO:

Keith earned (or at least received) an M.S. in astronomy from Steward Observatory/University of Arizona about 24 (Martian) years ago. He's worked in planetariums around the country, most recently at Rowan University in Glassboro (from which he retired in 2016). His first attempt to use a computer in astronomy was a program he wrote to determine the positions of celestial objects in the night sky; it was written for the TI-59 programmable calculator, and was stored on four small strips of magnetic card a bit smaller than a stick of gum.

He served as a night assistant at the 36-foot radio telescope in Tucson while attending graduate school; this entailed entering bootup commands in a PDP-11 computer using toggle switches, which allowed the computer to read in a larger set of instructions from a paper tape, which finally made the computer capable of operating a magnetic storage disk about 18 inches across. The second year, we got a 300-baud telephone modem to send the data from the mountain to downtown Tucson...sometimes (Send it via the Internet? What's that?!).

His last professional use of computers was with two high-power Windows (unfortunately) machines that sent 3D simulations through a sophisticated display up onto the dome of the planetarium...including full-dome movies. After retiring, he's mostly been creating games using FileMaker Pro; his current project is Monopoly, which is an intriguing challenge.

MLMUG's Newer Users Special Interest Group meets from 10 AM to Noon on the 4th Saturday of each month. Go to the Home page for details.

Topic: UNIX, Console and Terminal

What is Darwin? No, not the evolution theory guy.

Darwin is the guts of the Mac operating system. Darwin came to us via Next Computing’s Nextstep operating system which came via the Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) of UNIX.

Normally Mac users do not peek into the UNIX underpinnings. But sometimes useful information can be found and parameters can be changed if you can access some of the operating system. Apple provides two applications, Console and Terminal, to let you do UNIX-like stuff such as looking at log files and sending commands.

Bob's charts are HERE

We will take a look at the history of Darwin, what you can do with Console and a little of what you can do with Terminal.

BIO:

Bob has been around forever ;-) He retired from Lockheed-Martin in 2009 and stays out of trouble with volunteering at Bryn Mawr Hospital and the Bryn Mawr Fire Company. Oh, and he was MLMUG Treasurer for a few years many years ago and is currently MLMUG Webmaster and Newer User's SIG Co-leader.

The Barton household has several iMacs and MacBooks, none of them recent (no need to fix or upgrade it if it is not broken).

Topic: Nick's Tips to a Better Mac

A walk-through of quick customizations for making the most of your Apple Mac computer; unveiling useful settings for your System, Desktop, Finder, and Dock that Apple tends to hide on new macOS installs. Your Mac is very sophisticated, and Apple now (over)simplifies the user interface, but many helpful aspects and features are just waiting to be switched back on.

BIO:

Nick Iacona has worked in creative production for four decades; in multimedia design and in film & video production, where the Macintosh has been his preferred platform. He is also a computer coach for individuals using Apple Mac computers and iDevices, providing personalized support on general computer concepts and best-practices. He holds degrees from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and resides in the western Main Line area of Chester County, PA.

Nick's presentation charts are HERE
Some of the text is small - Use the "+" magnifier icon in the Preview menubar

Topic: What’s Coming In macOS Ventura

Lots of new features are on the way like Lift Subject From Photo, Mail Unsend and Send Later, the Clock and Weather apps, Stage Manager, Continuity Camera and much more.

BIO:

Very brief bio: I founded and own CleverMedia, Inc., the parent company that owns and runs MacMost and a variety of other websites and mobile apps. I have also written a number of computer books, have spoken at many developer conferences, and teach through online courses.

MacMost is a video podcast and blog that teaches you how to use your Mac, iPad and iPhone. At MacMost.com you will find more than 2,000 videos, a weekly newsletter, tips, and recommendations.

I grew up in northeast Philadelphia. My first experience using computers was in school around 1980. My first computer was a TRS-80 Model III that I received as a gift in 1982. I taught myself BASIC in one week and started making games and business applications immediately. In 1983 I began using Apple II computers in high school and got my first Apple computer at home in 1985.

In addition to my work, I enjoy back-country camping, world travel, reading science-fiction and history, movies, urban cycling, and spending time with my family. I am also an ice cream enthusiast.

Topic: Artificial Intelligence

In the last couple of years, artificial intelligence has become capable of astonishing things. A natural language model called GPT-3 can answer general questions, help write software, and generate totally new ideas (such as hilarious plot lines for new episodes of I Love Lucy). AI image generators like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion can create realistic images of just about anything you can describe.

Let's talk about what AI is and isn't, look at fascinating and funny examples of what AI can do, get a basic handle on how it works, and learn how to experiment with AI using free web-based tools.

BIO:

Adam Rice has been using Apple computers since 1980. He was born in the Bay Area, where his parents were briefly acquainted with Steve Jobs through their mutual friend, Steve's Zen teacher Kobun Chino Otogawa. Adam's professional background is in IT and web development. His company, Ask Adam, provides Apple-focused IT services to individuals, families, and small businesses in and around Philadelphia.