appleJAC Users Group

President's Place: November 2015

by Joe Mertzlufft

 

How about our Missouri Professional Baseball teams? For two years in a row, both the Cardinals and the Royals have made it to Post Season. I am more of a Cardinals fan, but will root for the Royals to get their first World Series win since beating the Cardinals back in 1985.

I know we ran out of time during our October meeting since Apple released so many things to us at once. It is hard to fit everything in a two-hour window. By now, I am sure several of you have installed the new Operating Systems and have a few questions for us. 

The Board voted to purchase the new AppleTV as soon as it is available; so, we should see that for the December meeting. If you are interested in the 3rd generation AppleTV, the one the club has used for the last few years will be offered as a deal to one of our members. We may do the same with our sound system, which is also scheduled to be replaced. Be sure to watch the website for details.

The following people won door prizes at the September meeting:

Jim Springs iTunes card

Carole Vranken  iPad Keyboard

Mel Kallal Thumb Drive

Bill Krause iPhone 5 case 

More older iPhone 4 Cases were available for anyone that could use them. The October winner of the iTunes card was again Jim Springs who we featured a couple months ago in the "Member Spotlight”.

Our upcoming November 3, 2015, meeting (see agenda below) will be “iOS9 and MacOS 10.11 El Capitan” to be held at Kennedy Hall @ IC School, 1208 E. McCarty St., Jefferson City. We intend to pickup where we left off last month. George will continue to present iOS9 and highlight some of the iCloud features before the break. After the break, Tom will point out many of the new features of El Capitan. If that isn’t enticing enough, they will coordinate to show off some of the Continuity and Handoff features available using the new Operating Systems.

 

It’s that time of the year again when I would really like to see some new faces get involved with the appleJAC Board. We have elections in December, and we can always use fresh ideas. If you would like to have a great excuse to eat out another night of the month, and chat about Apple’s products one-on-one with the other officers, please submit your name to run for Member-at-Large or some other position. appleJAC’s greatest strength is the diversity of its leadership and membership.

 

 

 

iSkelter Tab: Gorgeous iDevice Lapdesk

a review by Tom Piper

Portable lap desks and trays have been part of my life since my first portable computer (and before, for food, writing, typewriter, crafts and more). iPads and iPhones have increased my demand for laptop convenience, and new products have responded wonderfully.

The iSkelter Tab LapDesk is made to rest comfortably on my lap or can be set on my bed, sofa, desk, or table.Three models are available including the Desk Space, Right WhiteBoard, or Left WhiteBoard versions. All of these are compatible with any iPad, iPad Mini, and most other large or small tablets (as well as any Microsoft Surface tablet). 

The Tab also fits all phones including iPhone 5/6/6+ and all Android phones. The rear mounting slot is thick enough to even accommodate Apple’s wrap-around case and other thinner versions. It measures 15” x 0.75” x 11”, and weights 2.5 pounds. The construction is of natural hand-finished Bamboo, an inset durable acrylic WhiteBoard, beveled edges all around, and a warm smooth overall touch. The rear slot even has a bottom hole for power cord access during use.

This lap desk works great to write on paper (on my left side) and take notes with an erasable pen on the acrylic surface (on my right side) while viewing either my iPad mini 2 or iPad Air 2 and/or iPhone 6+ (on the back side). This makes it very convenient to multi-task in front of messages, movies, productivity apps or anything else. The iDevices are very secure at the back (its unfortunate, but unavoidable, that the Home button is covered in vertical display mode). Overall, it makes for a very delightful and productive experience.

The Tab LapDesk is very affordable at $49.99, and can be found at iskelter.com/lapdesks. This is just one of many fine wood products from iSkelter (iskelter.com) including original laptop computer lap desks designed for today and built for tomorrow. They even provide free US shipping on all lap desks.

In addition, for the home/room/apartment, the Slate LapDesk and Slate 2.0 LapDesk are both two fully functional work spaces that come equipped with out-of-the-box features. They both have a super thick and heavy duty mousepad paired with a display dock made for all phones and most tablets. This Slate LapDesk has a 4.7 Star Amazon rating and has been ordered and loved by thousands of students, professionals, designers, and people who use their laptops.

iSkelter's Slate lap desks also include the SlateGo Mini (for backpacks), SlateGo LapDesk (13”/15”/17” laptops), Hover X Gamer’s LapDesk (largest laptop desks), Caddy device docks (holds drinks, phones, personal items), and cool accessories (calendar, easel, coasters), ranging from $24.00 - $89.99 in price. They even have fine desk furniture for sitting and standing at great prices. All are made of quality long-lasting materials designed for durable and highly-functional use. You can easily see the iSkelter motto is: “Hand-built by people who give a damn”!

 

Parallels 11: Windows 10 on the Mac (and much more)

a review by Tom Piper

I have been using Parallels as my virtual machine to run Windows (and older Mac operating systems) since the early days of version 3 over eight years ago. Every update gets better and more powerful than the one before.

Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac is now the fastest, easiest, and most powerful way to run Windows on my Mac side-by-side with (or on top of) Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan. I can even make Windows invisible while still using its applications, or keep the familiar Windows background and controls on my Mac Book Pro 15” retina or iMac 27” retina.

The very latest Windows 10 runs great on El Capitan featuring Microsoft Cortana, my new virtual assistant (okay, its not Siri, but better than Mac’s voice dictation). They have now also made it easy to get all of my files, applications, browser bookmarks, and more from your PC to your Mac; just by following the setup assistant (drag-and-drop also works great between environments).

Although its not something I usually do, it is possible to reuse an existing Boot Camp installation by converting it to a virtual machine. On the other hand, I do run a wide array of operating systems including Mac OS X 10.7 Snow Leopard (for old apps like AppleWorks) and 10.9 Mountain Lion (earlier app editions), and Windows 7 (older apps). Linux and Google Chrome are also possible, but not in my circle of interest.

I can select productivity, games, design, or development, and Parallels 11 will optimize my virtual machine settings and performance for me. The Parallels Desktop Pro Edition gives my virtual machines even more processing power using up to 64 GB vRAM and 16 vCPUs per virtual machine lets me run even the most demanding applications with ease. 

That was a general overview of the newest Parallels 11. There are a bunch of additional features of great interest including (but not limited to) the following: 

• Copy and paste files or text between Mac and Windows 
• Launch Windows apps right from the Dock
• Single-cloud storage space between Mac and Windows  
• Assign any USB devices to my Mac or Windows 
• Retina Display support for Windows 
• Run Windows in full or split screen
• Windows alerts in Mac Notification Center
• Mac dictation inside Windows applications
• “Reveal in Windows Explorer” in OS X files menu
• Real-time virtual disk optimization 
• Power Nap in Windows
• New Virtual Machine Wizard
• The Presentation Wizard prevents most projector issues
• Drop files onto Outlook to create a new message
• Multi-language Keyboard Sync
• Share Bluetooth between Mac and Windows
• Thunderbolt, Firewire, USB-C, USB 3.0 support
• Work without risk with Snapshots
• Finder Tabs work with Windows apps
• and many more...

Parallels Access is another incredible feature (separate app) that allows for remote entry into either my MacBook Pro (including the virtual machine) or iMac from an iPad, iPhone or another Mac. With just one simple tap on my mobile device, and I’m connected reliably to my Parallels 11-installed computer (or iMac). I can even access it from any other computer (like my iMac or even a public computer) through a browser and my secure Parallels account. Then, I can navigate my hard drive easily to find a file or photo, then copy or open and control it with a tap or mouse click. This is incredible and inspirational remote control!

The Standard Edition (Home and Student use) is available for $79.99 (one-time purchase, no free upgrades) or the same for $79.99 per year (free upgrades). The Mac Pro or Mac Business Edition (for Developers, Designers, Testers and Power Users) is available for $99.99 (1-year subscription). All include a free subscription to Parallels Access, and can be purchased and downloaded at parallels.com/desktop. Either can be downloaded for free for a 14-day test period. 

I highly recommend this product which continues to connect me to legacy Mac files (using older operating systems) and the very newest Windows products (using Windows 10), all with ease and dependability, at a modest price. And, what a delight, to be able to remotely access either of my computers from any of my mobile devices (I can’t wait to use the new iPad Pro for remote control).

 

iPhone 6s Purchase Options

The following first website shows how to buy an iPhone 6s or 6s, plus four other websites which compare carrier plans to purchase one immediately or over time, or lease one:

• apple.com/iphone
• whistleout.com/CellPhones/iPhone-Plans
• 9to5mac.com/best-installment-program
• tomsguide.com/us/best-iphone-6s-carrier
• cultofmac.com/best-way-to-finance-your-new-iphone

Ultimately, the financial impact on your budget is largely the same, it just depends on whether you want to spend the money now or stretch it out over a long period of time (and whether you want to keep the phone to give to others, or trade it in annually for a new one). The choice is still YOURS . . . !!!