South Essex Apple Link is an Apple user group run by enthusiasts with a collective deep understanding of the Apple technologies and its user community. SEAL welcomes Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV users across the whole of Essex and surrounding areas.
We are currently meeting online every four weeks, for more details see our About page.
Next meeting: Friday 13th June 2025 Online
We started off the June meeting with a detailed discussion of Apple’s many announcements at their World Wide developer conference. These included:
Upgraded MacBook Airs with improved battery life, faster graphics and some reduced prices.
The sneak preview of the new Mac Pro with a radical new cylindrical design and greatly improved performance.
Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks with upgraded Finder, Maps, iBooks and many other enhancements.
New versions of iWork including a full web version.
iOS 7 with a new look and sweeping changes and improvements.
iTunes Radio, Apple’s streaming music service with a free (advertising supported) option.
Following the discussion members brought along apps, hardware and tips for our first “Show and Tell” session:
John kicked us off with Drafts, an inexpensive app for iPad which allows you to quickly enter text and then decide what to do with it later. Each time you open the app it presents a new page ready for you to type with no distractions. A version of Drafts for iPhone and iPod Touch is also available.
Ben brought along a classic clamshell iBook to show us, this was Apple’s portable alternative to the original colourful iMac. Ben is a Mac collector and plans to regularly bring classic Apple products to show us.
DavidK showed 7 Little Words, a free (with in app purchases) iOS game which challenges you to put together 7 words from a selection of tiles with 2 or 3 letters on each. There is a new puzzle every day.
DavidB then suggested Clueless Crossword Party for iOS, a crossword game with no clues, instead numbers in some of the squares indicate which have the same letter.
To complete the trilogy of iOS games, Denesh suggested a classic game of Solitaire.
DavidB also mentioned that he’d spotted a smudge on pictures taken with his iPhone 5 which couldn’t be removed by cleaning the lens. This seems to be a known issue that’s been widely reported. David visited the Apple Store who promptly replaced his phone.
We ended the meeting by answering questions on iOS backup and Finder shortcuts, find these on our Q&A June 2013 page.
These questions were asked at the July meeting:
A. We recommend that Mac users do not need to install security or anit-virus applications. No viruses (malicious programs which spread without user interaction) are currently known on the Mac. There are a few trojan and malware programs which try to trick you into installing them but these can generally be avoided by using good internet security practices, We’ve included some suggestions below. PC Advisor has an article explaining why Macs are rarely affected by Malware and don’t need anti-virus products.
On-line security good practice suggestions:
If you would none the less like to run anti-virus software or are concerned about passing on Windows viruses (which don’t affect the Mac) to friends (for example by forwarding an e-mail that may have a Windows virus attached) a free option is the open source ClamXAV. This can scan your system for Mac and Windows viruses and trojans and scan new files as they are created. While ClamXAV is available in the Mac App Store, the version from the developer’s web site is more fully featured.
Q. I’ve run a disk speed benchmarking program on my 2009 iMac, what results should I expect?
A. Hard drive performance results can vary quite a lot based on the particular drive, computer and also how the test is performed (for example the size of the file and the testing program used). The person who asked this question had used Blackmagicdesign Disk Speed Test which is available on the Mac App Store. As a rough idea, the maximum throughput you should expect on a 7200RPM 3.5” hard drive of the type fitted to the iMac is about 120MB/s (this is from a review of one of the recommended drives on StorageReview.com) however this is in ideal conditions (the slowest performance noted on the same drive is about 60MB/s) and with a modern 2TB drive. Older and smaller drives will tend to be slower.
If you’re concerned your hard drive is running slowly then the ideal way to benchmark it would be to compare your results against someone with a similar system.
These questions were answered at the June meeting:
A. Hold down the command (
) key while double clicking on the folder, this causes a new Finder window to open displaying the contents of the folder you clicked on. This can be very handy when organising files.
Q. How do I set up iCloud backup on my iPad, iPhone or iPod touch?
A. It’s important to backup your iOS device (iPad, iPhone or iPod touch) so that if it’s ever lost, damaged or stolen you can recover your data. Backing up to iCloud is a quick and easy way of saving a copy of your data to Apple’s servers and works even if you rarely connect your device to a computer.
For iCloud backup to work it must be enabled, your device needs to be connected to power (charging) and must be on a WiFi network. Bear in mind that if you tend to charge your device where there is no WiFi then this method won’t work.
A second option is to backup your device using iTunes when it’s connected to your computer with a cable. Apple has an article explaining the pros and cons of these methods.
Setting up iCloud backup
On your device:
Further details of what is backed up and how to restore your data can be found in Apple’s iCloud: Backup and restore overview article.
The May meeting took place in the new venue which along with the interesting topics and discussions during the evening was well received by all attendees.
The evening started off with some club announcements:
Next up was Apple related news and discussion. News items consisted of:
Next up was a feature presentation by club member Ben, on DJing on a Mac. He demonstrated the application called djay by algoriddim for this.
The in-depth demonstration included Ben mixing through some 80s and 90s music to show the powerful features of the application and how to achieve required results.
The application is available on Mac OS X, iOS for iPhone and iOS for iPad (a snip at the prices) and can be downloaded via the following Mac App Store and iOS App Store links:
djay for MacOSX by algoriddim - £13.99
djay for iPhone by algoriddim - £0.69
djay for iPad by algoriddim - £2.99
The second presentation of the night was given by club member David. He gave an explanation about Newsreaders and then gave a walkthrough and demonstration of Feedly which one may use in any browser, in Feedly for Safari via an extension, Feedly for iPhone or Feedly for iPad
Not only does Feedly display the information in an attractive yet intuitive format, it also keeps the necessary data synchronised across all the devices you use to access the news feeds.
The night closed with the interactive Q&A section - attendees helping each other by answering questions posed by other attendees.
The next SEAL meeting will be on Friday 14 May at the current new venue:
The Wick Community Centre
Silva Island Way
Salcott Crescent
Wickford
Essex
SS12 9NR.
Some of the links in this article redirect you to the Mac App Store and iOS App Store via affiliate links. Please note that SEAL is a promotional partner with the affiliate network TradeDoubler and any sales via these links benefit SEAL at no extra cost to the purchaser, and provide a way for readers and members to support the club.
At this month’s busy SEAL meeting we only had time for one question:
Q. When I attempt to start Open Office after downloading it from the Internet, I get the message “Open Office can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer” and it will not start.
A. This message comes from Gatekeeper, the anti-malware feature that Apple introduced in Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion. By default, Gatekeeper only allows apps that have been downloaded from the Mac App Store and those that come from identified developers to open. Apps that come from developers who have not registered with Apple and signed their app with a developer ID (i.e. the developer is unidentified) display the message above when double clicked and will not open.
In this case, Open Office is not signed with an Apple developer ID so it is prevented from opening by Gatekeeper. If you are confident that you have downloaded a genuine copy of Open Office from the official web site then you can override Gatekeeper and let Open Office start. To do this:
1, Control-click or right click on the Open Office icon.
2. Select Open from the top of the context menu that appears.
3. Click Open in the dialog box that warns you that Open Office is unidentified.
4. If prompted, enter your administrator user name and password.
OS X will record that you trust the app and from then on you can start it normally without warnings.
Apple’s About Gatekeeper support article explains the system in more detail and includes information about the options available for it in System Preferences.
The April meeting was another successful one and another meeting where we welcomed new members.
The evening started off with some club announcements and details:
Next up was Apple related news and discussion. News items consisted of:
Next up was a Tips & Tricks presentation by club Chairman Robert, on Recording Audio on a Mac - audio that is being played on the computer in any application, be it a browser (running YouTube), or a VoIP program such as Skype, DVD player, microphone or even a game.
Robert explained and demonstrated doing this using an application called Audio Hijack Pro by Rogue Amoeba. The in-depth demonstration and tutorial showed the powerful features of the application and how to achieve required results.
One of our members produces music and she quickly showed a piece of music where she had grabbed some sound with extreme clarity using Audio Hijack Pro to integrate into it.
Robert mentioned another application, WireTap Studio by Ambrosia Software, however this is has big limitations on OS X 10.7 and above and he mentioned that AudioHijack Pro was easier to use.
The application is a free download and the unlicensed version allows up to 10 minutes of recordings. The licensed version with unlimited length recordings costs just US$32 (approx £21)
The second presentation of the night was given by club member David. He gave a walkthrough and demonstration of the recently introduced Apple ID two factor authentication (also called two-step verification)
It was explained that this two factor authentication was only for your Apple ID (when needing to change any details such as email address, or credit card details) and not for when using your Apple ID to sign in to iCloud or make App Store or iTunes purchases. It is there to protect unauthorised changes to your Apple ID (which could affect everything you use your Apple ID for - purchases, etc).
As this is an option (at no charge) on your Apple ID security, you need to switch it on manually within your Apple ID account if you wish to use it.
David demonstrated the process of setting it up and showed the different options available, needing to select two of the three to set up two factor authentication: email, SMS and Recovery Key.
An important point made was that the Recovery Key should be kept separate from other passwords. A number of club members use the 1Password password manager and David explained that if one uses 1Password for all login details then the Recovery Key should not be stored in that application - storing both ‘factors’ of the authentication in the same place would in effect render it useless as anyone who could gain access to one’s 1Password details would then have the ability to change the details in the Apple ID, in this instance. It was advice well-given.
Apple themselves have a support page for two-step verification at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5570
The night closed with the interactive Q&A section - attendees helping each other by answering questions posed by other attendees.
The next SEAL meeting will be on Friday 10 May at the new venue:
The Wick Community Centre
Silva Island Way
Salcott Crescent
Wickford
Essex
SS12 9NR.
A couple of questions were answered at the SEAL meeting this month:
A. Fields in a Microsoft Word are elements that can be inserted into a pre-written document that contain information that will change. One class of fields are form fields, they allow a user to fill in information without changing the pre-written document. There are different types of form field such as text, tick boxes and drop-down selections.
Apple’s Pages word processor doesn’t support form fields. When you import a Word document which has them into Pages it warns you that these fields could not be imported with the message: “Import warning: An unsupported field wasn’t imported.”
In most cases you can still go ahead and fill in the form using Pages, the design of the form will make it clear where you should enter your answers. If there’s a place where you need to enter a tick, see the question below for how to do so.
If it’s not clear how to fill in the form or you think there might be options you are missing a free alternative is to use Open Office to open the form. Open Office is an open source suite of office applications which is available for the Mac. Open Office Writer, its word processor, does support form fields in Word documents.
Q. How can I type symbols and accented characters which aren’t shown on the keyboard?
A. A variety of key combinations can be used to type many common symbols and accented characters on the Mac. The easiest way to see what options are available is to enable to Keyboard Viewer. To do this:
Open the keyboard viewer window and try holding down the different modifier keys (Shift, Control and Option) on your keyboard to see the symbols you can type. Remember that you can use combinations of modifier keys such as Shift and Option together.
As an example, if you want to type a tick symbol you’ll see that if you hold down the Option key, a tick appears in the v position on the keyboard. So to type a tick, simple press Option+v. Try holding down Shift and Option and look at the k position, you’ll see an Apple logo. To type that at any time you need it just press Shift+Option+k.
You may notice that when you hold down the Option key some of the symbols are highlighted in orange. This indicates that those combinations initiate typing an accent. For example Option+U shows an orange highlighted umlaut symbol (two dots above the letter). To type an accented character press the key combination for the accent you want, release the keys and then type the letter you want the accent applied to. For example, to type ö, press Option+u and then type o.
On Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) and later, there is an alternative method of typing accented characters by holding down the letter you want to add the accent to. This opens a pop-up showing the available accents which can be selected by typing the associated number.
These keyboard shortcuts work in almost every Mac application.
Following an excellent demonstration by club member Ben R, David B has produced two Aperture 3 Tips & Tricks videos based on Ben’s presentation.
Subjects covered in SEAL Aperture 3 Part 1 are:
Creating a Project
Viewing Project Images
Adding Adjustments
Using Adjustments
Subjects covered in SEAL Aperture 3 Part 2 are:
Retouch and Clone Tool
Using The Loupe
Brush in Colour
Using Vignette
Adding GPS Data
There were four questions from the SEAL club meeting earlier this month.
Q. How can I save my web site created in RapidWeaver on my Mac to preview in a web browser?
A. Here are step by step instructions:
Q. How can I stop my web site on the Internet being indexed by Google?
A. If you have a web site on the Internet, Google and other search engines will automatically add it to their indexes so people can find the site in search results. If you’re not ready to promote your site, you might want to stop search engines from listing it.
To do this you need to create a file called robots.txt and upload it to your web site. Search engines check this file before indexing your site to see what, if any, pages they should index.
These instructions will stop all search engines (which respect the robots.txt file) from indexing all the pages on your site:
If your site is already appearing in search results before you upload the robots.txt file it will take a while before the listings start to disappear.
For full details on robots.txt and other ways you can configure it (for example to block indexing of only certain pages) are available on The Web Robots Pages. http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html
Once your robots.txt file is installed you can make sure it’s working with the Robots.txt Checker. http://www.frobee.com/robots-txt-check
Q. How can I rename an existing OS X username and the Home Directory?
A. Apple themselves provide instructions for this at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428 - please ensure you make a backup of your computer and especially the user account on the computer before tackling this.
Q. How would I access my 1Password details from someone else’s computer, for example from a friend’s computer or if I am abroad in a hotel or something?
A. Agilebits, the makers of 1Password have provided an excellent solution for this called 1PasswordAnywhere. You just need a browser, an Internet connection and for your 1Password datafile to be stored in your Dropbox account. Alternatively you could store a copy of your 1Password datafile on USB storage. Full details are at: http://help.agilebits.com/1Password3/1passwordanywhere.html
The March meeting was well attended with some new visitors in the audience chatting with our enthusiastic club members. New visitors and new skills are always welcome at our club.
Apple related news and discussion. News items consisted of:
Feature presentation given by club member Ben, provided us with a deep look into Aperture, far deeper than some had ever dared go before.
We were shown how to lighten and enhance colours in an image, how to repair and lose blemishes in a photo - for example, a spec of dust on your lens by using the retouch tool the image was transformed from spoilt photograph into a stunning panoramic view of a coastline. The use of ‘Presets’ was also very interesting.
We were shown many great features of Aperture. ‘Lift & Stamp’, where you lift ‘Metadata’ from one photo and apply it to another. How to enhance the colour of the sky or the trees and grass, ‘Crop’, ‘Straighten’ and ‘Sharpen’ tools, the use of ‘Keywords’ in Aperture, all were of great interest.
We all thank Ben for the demonstration of an impressive application that clearly has so much to offer for under £60 and hope that Ben will provide us with another demonstration of the many features within Aperture.
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The night closed with the interactive Q&A section.
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The next SEAL meeting will be on Friday, April 12