This entry talks about useless clickbait, but there are some useful tips on screenshots at the end. First, the useless clickbait.
While reading news stories on my iPad, I was presented with two different advertisements offering bizarre suggestions for how to block advertisements on my iPad. Yes, advertisements on how to block advertisements.
These useless advertisements had one real purpose: they were designed to make me curious, and click on the advertisement — in order to see more advertisements. I did not click on the ads.
But I did take screenshots, because they were funny. The first ad:
Ad blocker? Carpet cleaner? Finger exercise pad? We may never know.
Let us give this some thought. This illustration is suggesting you can block ads by:
Turning your iPad screen down and pressing it into your carpet. This works: you won’t be able to see the ads! Or anything else, but yes, you won’t be able to see the ads!
Or another possibility: this is a still image, but it might require more action. You might want to rub the iPad back and forth across the carpet. If there is any sand or grit on the carpet, it might scratch up the screen, which will make the ads harder to see. This could be considered an ad blocker of sorts. Also: a great way to damage your iPad.
Yet another possibility: this could be part of a larger image, and if you were to zoom out, maybe you would see the user crouched down like a sprinter, waiting for the starting gun to fire. The iPad itself is serving as a starting block, or, to stretch a point, an ad blocker.
As it seemed unwise to click on the link (not to mention silly), we may never know exactly what was intended.
The second ad:
Here’s how to block ads on your iPad! Or is it even an iPad?
The first thing to note is that this is explicitly PAID CONTENT. Some entity paid to insert this advertisement into a news page, and again, is advertising a way to block advertisements. But consider:
Is this even an iPad? That looks like a USB-C port in the center, but none of the iPads with USB-C ports have a bottom edge that looks anything like this.
Exactly what is the Q-tip doing? Is it removing gunk from the USB-C port? Maybe the USB-C port has ear wax? It isn’t clear how that can block ads.
Maybe the Q-tip is inserting ear wax into the USB-C port to block ads? You wouldn’t expect iPads to promulgate ads through a USB-C port, but then you wouldn’t normally stick a Q-tip in them, either.
After giving this photo several days of thought, the ear wax removal explanation seems to work best, even though it makes no sense. Again, it seemed unwise to click on the ad, so the explanation will remain a mystery.
Screenshots? You can take screenshots on an iPad?
One question you might have: how do I take a screenshot on an iPad? Apple has a support document that describes the process (it is easy): https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210781
Another question many people have: where does the iPad put the screenshots? The support document reveals this tidbit, too, at the bottom of the page.
While it is a little trickier (you need to make a change to the Watch settings on your iPhone first), you can even take screenshots on your Apple Watch: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204673
This Apple Watch screenshot shows the current time, including seconds, and (the four corners, top to bottom, left to right) a button for recording voice memos; a weather forecast with temperature range; a button for Strava, an app to record walks, runs, bike rides, etc.; and a button to display Activity (steps, exercise, stands). In the interior, the upper icon in the center will display blood oxygen level, the one on the right displays the current tide at Dungeness Landing, the bottom center shows the time in London, England, and the one on the left triggers the Breath app, which guides you through breathing exercises. There are millions of possible ways to customize the Apple Watch, most of them far less complex.A more simplified Apple Watch screenshot showing date, time, outdoor temperature and weather, location, and a view of what the earth would look like at that moment from space. The icon at the top is subtly suggesting that the wearer should be in bed.
The past 30 years has seen an interesting storyline with respect to web browsers. The first web browser I used was a terminal program that read World Wide Web pages as text. The first GUI web browser I used was Mosaic, back in 1993, created by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois. Netscape Navigator followed this in 1994, and was quite fancy compared to Mosaic. I played with Microsoft Explorer when it came out in 1995, but a) it required Windows and b) it was very buggy.
There were lots of Mac web browsers, such as MacWeb (1994), OmniWeb (1995), Cyberdog (an extraordinarily innovative web browser from Apple, in 1996), Opera (1996), iCab (1998), Mozilla (based on Netscape Navigator, 1998), Safari (2003), and then…
Firefox, introduced in 2004, offered an “extensible” framework through plug-ins. Plug-ins had to follow certain protocols, but could be written by anyone. Initial plug-ins did useful things (checked to see if page links were valid, for example), but they soon ventured into the frivolous (changing the default language of a page to something random, or played Pong, with or without human help, etc.). Plug-ins proved to be very popular, so popular that users complained that they were slowing down Firefox, usually because users added far too many plug-ins, making visiting a web page a battle between plug-ins doing time-consuming, and frequently competing, things.
Soon, other browsers started allowing plug-ins, though some, like Apple, were very cautious, stressing instead speed, privacy, and security. More competition arrived in the form of AOL Explorer, Camino (an offshoot of Mozilla and Firefox), and, in 2008, Chrome.
Chrome was interesting as it was built using WebKit, the same framework that is the foundation of Safari. As Chrome was published by Google, and Google, though their search engine, had a vast knowledge of how the World Wide Web worked, developers soon found Chrome very attractive, and Chrome gradually gained an ever-growing market share. Meanwhile, Safari, expanding out from the Mac to also incorporate iPhone and iPad, rapidly became the most popular browser in history.
Firefox, once the darling of web developers, fought to keep its market share. Adopting some of Apple’s goals, Firefox started emphasizing speed, security, and privacy. But Chrome kept gaining market share, especially after it was released on Android, and it gradually displaced Internet Explorer on Windows. Microsoft tried a comeback, releasing a new browser, Edge, based on Apple’s WebKit, in 2015. This didn’t make much of a dent, and Microsoft released a new version of Edge, built on Google’s Chromium, in 2020.
Meanwhile, Firefox continued to decline. A few weeks ago, this snippet appeared on Slashdot:
Is Firefox OK?
The answer is: no. Firefox is still plunging in popularity.
For what it is worth, I have installed on my Mac Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge (yes, there is a Mac version). The three I used the most are Safari, Chrome, and Apple’s Terminal, for looking at obscure and technical things.†
Firefox, if it isn’t dead yet, is at most a footnote of a bygone era.
† To use Terminal as a browser, launch it, then type in:
curl [URL of site]
as in:
curl https://strait-mac.org
Expect pages and pages of hypertext to flow past at high speed, interspersed with things you can read in English.
The Tuesday, June 21, meeting was all about getting help. Getting help is one of the main reasons people join computer user groups: they have a computer, smartphone, or smartwatch, and want to do more with it. Or they tried doing something and ran into a dead end. Or they know how to do something but have this nagging feeling that there is a better way to do it.
Once upon a time, computers came with extensive printed documentation. Microsoft Office for Macintosh 4.2, released in 1994, came with an entire box of documentation that weighed more than some Macintosh computers. After years of use, many users still had shrink-wrapped copies of the thick, printed manuals. The users never read the manuals, never used the built-in documentation, and never learned much about the programs, either.
The Microsoft Office printed documentation used to weigh more than many of the computers that used the programs.
Today, users can get advice (good and bad) from blogs, YouTube, online help forums, consultants, and documentation built into the operating system and applications. There are a wealth of sources, but — how do you distinguish good help from bad?
We also talked about Apple’s keynote offered at WWDC22 (World Wide Developers Conference 2022). Apple introduced some new products and gave previews of forthcoming versions of macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS.
Q&A
Apple World Wide Developers Conference Keynote highlights: introduced M2 versions of MacBook laptops, no M2 MacMini; iOS updates for devices to increase collaboration between devices; multiple open windows on M1 iPads akin to what can do on the Mac; iPad is not a laptop but flexible; did not announce dates for releases – available later this year (reflects complex OS in time of disruption and evolutionary nature of collaboration); naming new OS for Mac “Ventura”; developer conference not aimed at consumers but 20M registered developers; Keynote aimed at mid-range techie or developer, anyone can learn something, visual presentations of how things will work; lecture on how to code this includes visuals; in-person 20,000 at last conference, virtual conference has 10,000,000+ per session, reflects democratizing process of technology
Photos end up in the cloud if set to synch; Photos App on Mac or iPhone has access; cache a limited number on the iPhone up to 5GB for free but can purchase more space; Mac has access to everything, helps to know when the photo was taken, meta tags help to find things; can type in a category and Photos will go find photos with that image; good guesses based on generic terms; can add metadata and will find like-type photos, face feature in Photos is powerful; can look by location if use iPhone with location services turned on; note – photos with regular camera may not know location
Wireless for charging? Expect some cables in the future since wired charging is more efficient then induction charging by 60%; radiant energy a problem; a microwave is a Faraday Cage to protect people from radiation; healthcare concerns with iPhone – super magnets and pacemaker not a good combination – may reprogram the pacemaker so do not carry phone in shirt pocket if have a pacemaker
iPhone 8 shows on Bluetooth when I have iPhone XS; when I lose connection with Bluetooth, and creates a new connection and uses a new name to distinguish
iPhone 13 camera quality vs iPhone 12 camera – Lawrence can tell the difference in quality; iPhone 13 super wide angle lens, FaceTime camera follows face as person moves; video makes a difference; new capability and camera improvements with each new generation
Plant identification, if you take a photo of a plant, is built into Photos
Business meeting
President – Sabrina
Welcome to the new participant
The library will be open for meetings after remodeling in 2 years
Consider alternative spaces
2 presentations best in-person: diagnostics, basic computer literacy
Quarterly in-person meetings at different churches
First Security Bank may be available on Saturdays
Treasurer – Annalee’s
After Zoom $63 expenditure Balance is $1,609.60
How to get Help with Apple devices
New York Times and Washington Post articles on how to help someone while both talking on the phone – this is difficult to do
Get help from younger relatives
Help is built into macOS and iOS, in the Menu bar, context sensitive, table of contents – may be on the machine or may be online (need Internet connection)
Describing what needs help with –
What kind of device do you have? To identify, go to Apple menu, select About this Mac for basic information, select System Report – will see what hardware is available, network, software, installed applications in alphabetical order with version and how obtained, can sort by kind (e.g., 32-bit, Apple silicon, Intel, universal, etc.)
Apple may ask you to send them the system profile – type of machine, operating system, serial number
Support tells if covered by Apple+, can get topics for help.
macOS Help – Application-specific Help (e.g., Pages); Help in Terminal, e.g.,
man ls
provides a manual for the ls (list) command. For example,
ls -al
shows a listing of all files in a directory, including invisible files, along with file permissions, the owner of the file, and the date it was last touched
iBooks Help – Apple iBookstore is a source of free books, e.g., Apple Watch User’s Guide, works on any Apple device, and is searchable, as well as books for purchase
Strait Mac Website discussion board – search existing topics, add new topic, ask questions, share the information with everyone, others can add to the conversation; a collective knowledge base
Printed documentation – for example, Apple Watch documentation a thin sheet of paper; people not using the printed documentation; manuals not used by most people; Take Control Books a good resource with a large selection of topics, well-written; they keep the information current, a series of illustrated steps; multiple formats available; example: Find My and Air Tags; can use Find My and CarPlay to find car
Apple’s Watch documentation barely scratches the surface of what an Apple Watch can do. Making it even more of a challenge, the “manual” is printed in tiny, sans serif type, that is more gray than black.
Quick Start Guides by Peachpit Press were good, then Pearson Publications bought this and did not update, more print-oriented than electronic, check publication dates
Questions/Comments
Discount code for Take Control books in the Discussion Forum
Use of AirTag to find a car? Cars are a Faraday cage, so do not get electrocuted. Air Tag has trouble getting through the metal, so not as accurate as CarPlay; the phone connected by Bluetooth can be used to establish location
Notification when using SMUG Discussion Board – set up when you get on the Board
M2 iMac not discussed; M2 Mac mini not discussed during World Wide Developers Conference; perceived increase in speed; trade-off processing power for ease of use
Apple is cautious about timelines
Dell is 8 months late in release
Google’s new phone is late in release
Searching for Help
Do not be overly specific and do be accurate (watch out for autocorrect unintended changes)
Terminology matters
Online help forums are not moderated and subject to trolls, may get bad advice, out-of-date advice, and check the dates information was posted
Apple Genius Bar is a good source – Apple Stores located at Alderwood Mall, University Village, Tacoma Mall, Southcenter Mall, Bellevue; Support things Apple currently sells; help is of good quality; do not talk down to people, explain what they are going to do before they do it
Consultant – may not have expertise, just claims to, may suggest things that are dangerous, do not give them a password – type in your own
The MacTrader owner is doing work; see the Website for contact information
Possible to get bad advice from books, forums, and consultants
Next month, potential topics
Basic photo editing
Clearing out downloads
System Services – basics
.PDFs in Books – how to sort and delete
Save to Files – how to find, organize
Clipboard
Apple TV – basics
Comments and Questions
Community Service classes in-person quarterly – computer literacy in September; maintenance of equipment; accessibility features; diagnostics
Next Door reformatted the post so it does not require a subject
E-mail common mistakes: no subject, forgetting to attach an attachment, use of cc: and bcc:
Discussion of StarLink and speed – download (faster) vs upload (slower) speed
Limited options on the Olympic Peninsula
The casino has a tower for 5G service
Wireless Broadband 5G in big cities may come here eventually
Next month
General Housekeeping: cleaning out downloads, files
We didn’t have a meeting in April because someone wasn’t here. Where they were is something of a mystery, with the only clue being the photo posted as the April 2022 website entry.
We (we?) had been planning to talk about accessibility, but this will require more planning. Accessibility is one of those topics where most people think they don’t care about the subject.
“Accessibility? What do I care about accessibility?” they say, as they squint at the fine print through glasses, raise the volume on their iPhone, and accidentally drop their cane into a mud puddle.
But these same people don’t think of headlights, taillights, horns, brakes, seatbelts, electric ignitions, heated seats, tinted windows, sun visors, electric windows, etc., as “accessibility” accommodations. We use accessibility accommodations all the time, but call them conveniences, safety measures, or just common sense. We (we?) need to give this topic more time, and one of us (us?) will be too busy over the next month.
So, we talked about passwords and password managers. Most people (yes, most) have terrible passwords and terrible password management. Password managers are designed to do exactly what the name suggests: keep track of your passwords. Newer ones go beyond this basic task to also critique your passwords (“Sorry, but ‘password’ is a terrible password”), and tell you when you’ve reused passwords (“You’ve used ‘Yevette’s Secret’ six times already!”), and tell you when passwords have been compromised (“Every password you’ve ever used on Yahoo has been hacked”).
Because we (we?) are cheap and don’t want to buy a password manager just for demonstration, or show off our own passwords (nope), most of the presentation will be on the password manager that comes with your Mac, Keychain Access, plus the password manager built-in to Safari.
Q&A
Experiment with Zoom Whiteboard
iPhone slow download speed – distance from cell tower affects this, cellular traffic may saturate bandwidth; news companies video now on YouTube and this could be busy; iPhone may not be on home network or home network is slow, complicated to troubleshoot; check General Settings and see how much space is available on the iPhone, if short on storage space this slows down the iPhone
If t=you move out of state, can a person maintain SMUG membership? There will be a few in-person sessions for things that cannot be done on Zoom; we will continue Zoom for things that do not require rebooting a machine; Lawrence is a member of Washington Apple Pi and attends Saturday 6 am PT meetings once a month
Automatic updates – are there days of delay from the time of release, and when the update is available?
If know update is available, can force the update; releases for automatic update are staggered since 2 Billion devices need to be updated, takes 2-3 days if do not prompt for it; do not turn off automatic updates; it is a good idea to turn on automatic updates; Apple pushes out profiles of things with bad behavior so this is not allowed, independent of other types of updates; more secure to stay updated; machine turned off will not receive automatic updates, need to leave on 1-2 times a week all night so get the updates
Astound is Wave Cable under new management, no change in how well it provides service (pained cries of anguish)
How to get the weather for the local area? iPhone iOS13 on weather app is purchased from Dark Sky; go into preferences to set for local weather; sets preference to local location and the app drops the preference, old iOS means no current support; Dark Sky app shows local weather and has a wonderful interface; older app based on Weather.com sold to IBM and degraded performance; do not pay for weather app since data comes from NOAA and belongs to the public
Music downloaded from a site – how to remove it from a computer? If downloaded from Apple App Store or Amazon, the download is put into the iMusic directory by default; use Spotlight to find a title in .MP4 or .MPA format, if downloaded from a site, the file may be in the Download Folder or a Music folder
Business meeting
President Sabrina
Lawrence is back from vacation with his 4-year-old granddaughter
Library resuming in-person meetings, Library meeting room reserved for September for a demonstration, not sure what people will be willing to do at that time – depends on risk level; could move to fellowship hall at Trinity UMC for more space
Zoom during winter when the sun goes down before the meeting is over, and whenthe weather is a barrier to driving
Potential SMUG Community service offering: Computer Literacy for Seniors – what devices are capable of; Mac and PC; hold on a Saturday afternoon in a larger space
Alternative – half of the year meet in the morning, half of the year meet in the evenings
Variety of Zoom and in-person options
SMUG $1,762.62 balance – Church room rental estimated at $60 for Fellowship Hall; may waive this for a community event
PIN 4 digits 10K combinations – fraction of a second to break this
PIN 6 digits 1M possible combinations – fraction of a second, so Apple has created an option that bricks the phone after 10 successive failures to type the correct PIN
8-character passwords (upper and lower case letters, numbers, etc.) 208 billion tries to break vs 15-character passwords 4.63 octillion tries. If use upper and lower case takes longer to break, special characters increase security even more since much harder to break; longer is more secure – try memorable phrases for long passwords, examples:
Jonathan Swift invented Yahoos
Sequin is obsessed with lavender
This way to the Irrigation Festival
Do not set a password that requires several changes of keyboard; use upper and lowercase characters, use spaces, should be memorable but not tied to you or anything about you
Guideline: For every site, use a different (unique) pass phrase; use a password manager to maintain this
After 10 tries, the iPhone is bricked; no one can get into it; FBI news conference complaining about Apple
Example of Solar Wind incident: auditors wanting an easy way to monitor machines, but “easy” was also a vulnerability
Example of target population: if a hacker breaks into the IRS due to a simple password and compromises tax returns, the hacker can take over the identity of millions of people, and take out loans, raid bank accounts, etc.
1Password demonstration – gives critique of password and site security; have this on every device and synced through iCloud; stores many kinds of information (e.g., SSN)
Demo of 1Password with screenshots of various messages. Note the circular icon on the right that rates the password
1Password is an annual subscription, highly recommended, easy to use, and gets to set up in a way that makes sense to the user
LastPass – first year got hacked and information stolen; much improved since then
Two-Step (Two-Factor) Authentication
Enter User Name, Enter Password, then the user is sent a code to the registered phone (or may designate another device) to enter in
Apple offers this for AppleID; a new Mac knows if you have an iPhone, and the user will be asked to enter the code sent to the iPhone; Google uses two-factor identification; Apple Watch can be used to log in to a desktop computer
Apple – silently sends information about bad websites (XProtect); Safari will not allow you to go to a known hacked website (e.g., Russian sites stealing credentials)
Keychain Access – on computer, Spotlight can find it (Cloverleaf command key and space bar is the shortcut to bring up Spotlight)
Navy Federal Credit Union has very good security; it will offer to send a code to phone, text, or e-mail
Use of Keychain allowing program to set a password – do not know what it is on Phone the way can query it on a Mac; cryptic list: login, local, system, system roots; shortcut is hold down command key then press space bar; Keychain can be put on the dock; Keychain can create a secure note as local item, synch to iCloud and on all devices
System roots certificate for commonly used sites – computer sends password as a complex number formed from user name + password; make user name less common; sends certificate for the type of program + user name + password as a long stream of numbers; receiving site recognizes the certificate and matches in order to let in account
login – account
Local items – things stored on computer, Get Info – can show password for the account if enter computer password to get Keychain access to this information
Username may be different for different accounts
macOS is built on UNIX; the computer considers itself to be a user called Root. If you have admin rights, you can access this. Apple does not allow you to log into an account as Root, so you cannot get into other accounts on a machine – used to be able to do this until about 15 years ago
Monterey – Apple ID – iCloud (sync Keychain, mail, contacts, calendar; not photos unless purchase extra storage; may need extra space for mail if you have a large volume)
iPhone 6 – end of life
iPhone X and up have a security chip to protect from people trying to break in, and get automatic updates
Switch from Keychain to OnePassword is manual; keep both. If set up using Keychain (runs all the time), the password will be stored automatically when creating an account. Keychain on the desktop is different; when on iOS, get Safari Web passwords
Use of biometrics – use the appropriate password after confirming who is asking to share the password by fingerprint; the password is the backup when the touch interface is not working
Admin password – Do not lose this; keep on OnePassword so have it wherever you are on any device you have with you; example of having password not recognized – might be too short or two long, might not match what thought entered – a space or something else because something is touching the keyboard; keyboard errors more likely in winter due to static; electrical impulse can add to password without user knowing
Most common mistake – using the same password for more than one account; if hacked at one account and reuse that password, hackers have access to multiple accounts; Yahoo account has released over 1 B accounts to hackers on two different occasions; Yahoo has had three owners in the last 4 years
Keychain is free; part of macOS and iOS
1Password is a subscription – has more safety features
Go into the store and start a new account, then want to get rid of it; how to delete it? Log in, go to account, delete the account; dormant accounts are a risk; if a hacker gets access to it, they can do a lot of damage to your reputation by pretending to be you; go into profile to delete an account
Unsubscribing from spam only confirms you are a real person; do not do this; mark as spam to train Apple Mail and Google Mail, and it will send to the Spam folder, and increases the spam score for that; need to provide feedback
Unsubscribing from known sources is fine
Can decrease the amount of e-mail from a merchant by specifying a digest
Went to a site and was not allowed to automatically save the created password; mid-range vendors hard hit by robots have increased security by preventing stored passwords from being used; want the user to type the password
Remember this password – it will auto-fill and log in based on what is stored
Safari – preferences, new feature “Passwords” which flags easily guessed passwords and stores the Web passwords, can delete it, different from KeyChain, old password -> new password will grade how secure the new password is;
Laptop – needs a very secure password; small and portable, since easily stolen; 15-20 character passwords are essential
Local desktop – does not have to be as secure; if you forget this after 3 guesses, Mac adds a delay which is twice as long every time you use it
Autofill only remembers the last one that is successful; KeyChain will list changed passwords; it cannot print
Next meeting
June – Apple TV is a $149.00 device; account with YouTube TV changed monthly to Google, not WAVE/Astound or Comcast; unlimited recordings; think about how to demo; can add HBO+ or another service; can get TV with this built in
July – Accessibility
August – WordPress to run the Website; manage using a Web browser
Q&A
Gmail problems – open and blank content then fills in after several minutes, this is a bandwidth issue, must have all information before it fills in the screen
Pass the Net Neutrality Act to get better service from ISPs
WWDC is short for World Wide Developer Conference, and the 2022 edition will be virtual, starting with a keynote at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on June 6.
While the Developer Conference is aimed at programmers for the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Macintosh, HomePod, etc., the opening keynote usually generates quite a bit of news with short presentations on where Apple is in the marketplace and some announcements of new and different things. Plus: there are demos of new technologies, with a random game or two thrown in.
