Category: Macintosh

Macintosh

MacTraders closed

by straitmacvp2 Comments on MacTraders closed

The only Macintosh specialty shop on the Olympic Peninsula, MacTraders, closed on November 13, 2020. Employees of MacTraders were mainstays of Strait Macintosh User Group at various times over the past six years, and the store’s closing is a genuine loss to the community.

You can read about the closing on their site: https://www.mactraders.net.

That leaves the nearest Macintosh specialty shop in Victoria: ReStart. ReStart is an Apple authorized reseller and an Apple premium service provider. Unfortunately, the border with Canada is still closed, but someday you will be able to hop on a ferry and visit the store in Victoria.

More practically, the nearest Apple Store, via the Kingston ferry, is the Apple Store at Alderwood Mall, in Lynwood. A bit farther away, also by the Kingston ferry, is the Apple Store in University Village, Seattle. The University Village store also features a living tree, growing through the roof.

If you don’t like ferries, but are fond of spectacular bridges, the Apple Store Tacoma Mall, in Tacoma, can be reached without a sea journey. It is a 90 mile trip, one way. If you drive around via 101 and I-5 to avoid the bridge, it is almost exactly 100 miles, one way.

Macintosh

One more thing…

by straitmacvp

Back when Steve Jobs was CEO of Apple, he was famous for adding a “One more thing…” to his keynote addresses. Often, these were new products or services that took people completely by surprise, leading to the birth of a new industry: see if you could “predict” what Jobs was going to announce by tracking contracts for electronic components, or manufacturing and shipping contracts.

In the Year of the Pandemic 2020, Apple is reviving this tradition with One more thing, scheduled for Tuesday, November 10, at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. (Note to Apple publicists: just call it Pacific Time. Assume your recipients have electronics that can adjust automatically between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time, and just call it: Pacific Time.)

Exactly what Apple will announce is not known at this time. However — everyone will be shocked, stunned, and amazed if Apple doesn’t introduce one or more computers based on their Apple Silicon processors, a break from the Intel processors they’ve been using since 2006.

Speculation is leaning toward the introduction of one or more laptops, as the low-power, low-heat processors would bring obvious benefits to battery-powered laptops. But a few of us, at least, would like to see an 🍎Si-powered Mac mini that would allow you to conduct low-cost evil software experiments with the new macOS 11, Big Sur.

Oh, yeah: Apple will probably announce the release of macOS 11 Big Sur.

Macintosh

Drive-in WiFi hotspot finder

by straitmacvp1 Comment on Drive-in WiFi hotspot finder

Washington State has been working on improving access to the Internet, in part as an incentive to growing the local economy and, more recently, as a means of helping residents work, shop, and attend school remotely during the pandemic. One key initiative is adding more public WiFi hotspots.

The state now has an interactive map for finding WiFi hotspots:

Washington State Drive-In WiFi Hotspots Location Finder
Clallam public WiFi hotspots, from the Washington State interactive hotspot location finder.

On the one hand, Clallam County, in particular, is not heavily covered by WiFi hotspots. On the other, it has more than one might expect, given that the county is decidedly not urban.

Sorry, no WiFi hotspots at Lake Crescent or Hurricane Ridge or Dungeness Spit. The eagles and elk and seagulls need to do more lobbying.

Macintosh

Apple special event: September 2020

by straitmacvp1 Comment on Apple special event: September 2020

Apple is hosting a special event on Wednesday Tuesday, September 15, 2020, at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. They’ve not released one shred of information on the topic. The logo for the event,

Infinite loop Apple logo

is an infinitely-looping ribbon that forms the Apple logo. This is also a nice pun on the formal address for Apple’s old headquarters, 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California.

Speculation, based on next to nothing, suggests it might be focused on a new Apple Watch and a new iPad Air. Exactly how a looping blue ribbon relates to watches or iPads is unknown. It is also speculated that Apple will announce formal release dates for macOS 11 Big Sur, iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14.

You can watch the event by going here:

https://www.apple.com/apple-events/

or by using your Apple TV and the Apple Events app to watch it on your TV.

Macintosh

Free book on Zoom

by straitmacvp

Take Control Books, a highly recommended vendor of electronic books on “things computer,” and “things Macintosh” in particular, has a free new book: Take Control of Zoom Essentials. Given how much of life this year is spent in Zoom conferencing, this book is highly recommended.

It is essentially a condensed version of their longer, more comprehensive (and not free) book, Take Control of Zoom. The longer book is far more detailed, and recommended for those who want to host Zoom meetings, or use Zoom for teaching, consulting, or business.

Some of the topics covered in Take Control of Zoom Essentials:

  • What Zoom Can Do
  • Get Set Up with Zoom
  • Upgrade Audio and Video
  • Improve Your Video
  • Look Sharp
  • Identify Yourself
  • Join a Meeting
  • Adjust the View
  • View a Shared Screen
  • Interact in a Meeting
  • Stay Safe in a Meeting
  • Share Your Screen

The book is available in PDF (Acrobat), ePub (Apple Books), and Mobi (Kindle) formats. And — free.