Phil Goodman discusses Travel tech (and some tips).By Phil Goodmand & Ben Levy

The second meeting this month will recap WWDC 2020. This year, WWDC will be virtual starting on June 22 and we will have a review of the announcements that evening. This will be all about what's coming in the next versions of macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and tvOS!

Ben, Pat, Phil (and possibly a few other guests) will review their favorite utilities for macOS. There are so many things that make things easier on your Mac to do things you normally can't do or things that would take so many more steps. You'll love this meeting!

So, we're all experiencing a new world. We're all at home and depending more and more on our computers and devices for contact with the outside world. What issues and difficulties are you experiencing now that your life at home is revolving more and more around your Mac, iPhone and iPad? How are you communicating with others? How are you shopping? …

The new iPhones are here...and, better yet, iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 are here!! We'll go over iOS 13 and iPadOS 13's new features that will blow you away, make things easier to do and provide you with the ability to do things you never could before on an iPhone or iPad. This will be a great meeting!! This is our first meeting following the release of A…

Once again, Apple has chosen the morning after our monthly meeting to make new product announcements. So, we won't be able to review the presentation in detail but we can speculate on what will be coming out based on reports in the Apple industry. So come on by and we'll let you know what YOU will NEED to know about the new software and how it will…

There were so many great topics to talk about last month from Ben's list that we didn't get a chance to cover all of them. We'll continue with a flood of info based on questions LAPUG members have submitted and we'll also cover some of the latest info going on in the Apple world. Of course, come prepared with new topics you would like us to discuss…

Our content this month is drawn from your questions and requests. We will look at: 1. Mail application choices for macOS and iOS 2. Death of Bento, other options 3. Photo organization for iOS 4. Maintenance Tools on macOS Malwarebytes TechTool Intego Net Barrier & Virus Barrier Disk Warrior EtreCheck Little Snitch Apple Disk Utility 5. Digital paym…

Do you know about some of the hidden and less obvious features in macOS? Some features have been around for years and some are relatively newer but, in both cases, there are some powerful gems that aren't talked about that much that can really help you be more productive on your Mac. This month, we'll expose many of these and teach you how to becom…

Photography on iOS has completely changed the game in the photo world. The phrase "the best camera is the one you have with you" takes on a completely different meaning when your iPhone's camera is always within arm's reach. Not only will we go over all the ins and outs of using the Camera app, but we'll also review getting images in and out of you…

New iPhones and new Apple Watch! We'll have the run down on all the new stuff. And, to make things better for all of us, macOS Mojave, iOS 12, watchOS 5 and tvOS 12 are all out. We'll have devices that are running all of them and we'll demo it all and review all the new features. This is one of the big events of the year for LAPUG so you won't want…

The new MacBook Pros have been released! If you’ve been following the saga involving Intel’s latest processors, Coffee Lake, you’ll know that Apple hasn’t had any mobile products using these CPUs — until now! The cool thing is not only are they faster but Apple has included a quad-core processor (i7) for 13” MacBook Pro models and, for the first ti…

This month, we'll review some iOS apps you know are there but you may not use to their fullest -- or at all. We'll review and go in-depth into Wallet, Files, Maps, Messages, News, Podcasts, Voice Memos, Compass, and more. Of course, there are some third-party apps that duplicate many of these features and we'll talk about some of them, too. Also, y…

The Engineers in Cupertino have been busy and Developers are now busy writing and rewriting apps to take advantage of the new features announced in macOS 14 Mojave, iOS 12, watchOS 5 and tvOS 12. We will discuss what was announced, perhaps take a look at some early beta features just generally roll around in all the new sweet code! Bring your quest…

The days of packing toiletries and clothing and being on your way are gone. Today’s travel brings concerns for security and convenience that never existed before, including the ever-present need for power! How do you prepare, what do you have to bring with you and how can we best advise clients with simple preparations and tools that ease the burde…

This month, we’ll review the latest updates from Apple’s recent Education event including the new iPad as well as the interesting software Apple is working on for classroom and student management. Along with that, new versions of iWork have been release with Education in mind and we’ll go over some of those new features, too. iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.…

The HomePod is finally a reality. Apple's smart speaker is more than just a speaker. It recognizes the environment where it's placed (near a wall, in an open area, in a room with another HomePod, etc.) and it adjusts the sound it produces based on its surroundings. The addition of Siri and the ability for it to be a hub for Apple's HomeKit makes th…

All about iCloud and Apple IDBy Phil Goodman & Ben Levy

Recent Apple news plus: iOS has so many millions of apps available in the App Store and you're probably using a few. But, there are so many that you may not know about. This month we'll go over some of the best apps you're not using or that you haven't even heard of. This may turn out to be one of the best meetings of the year!…

The new iPhone X is here...and it's so cool! We'll have a few on hand to demo and we'll discuss how this new model has been redesigned. No home button -- no problem. No Touch ID -- no problem. Full-screen graphics! And more! We'll also talk about advances in iOS 11 along with new features to come in iOS 11.2 (currently in beta testing). And, of cou…

iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra have been released! This month, we will spend out time going in-depth with both operating systems and we'll review some hidden features that haven't been talked about very much. This is going to be one of the big meetings of the year!By Phil Goodman & Ben Levy

Once again, Apple has scheduled an announcement for the morning following our meeting. But, this time around, we have a pretty good idea of what's coming. We'll spend our meeting talking about new hardware and software and provide a little preview of iOS 11 and tell you what you're going to be in for. This will be great! And, of course, we'll go ov…

We’ll talk over the latest news in the Apple world for Mac and iOS, as well as the following topics: 1. Need a new router? Are Apple’s products End Of Life? How do I know what to buy? 2. Where can I ACTUALLY put folders? Can I put them in the Applications folder? 3. How to determine which album a photo is in and which photos are not in any albums i…

What's on your iPhone / iPad? There are so many apps avaialble and we all love to discover new ones from each other. Let's spend some time at at our next meeting going over any must-have and newer applications you've discovered. We've got some new favorites to show you and we'll leave the connection to the projector open for you to show off the one…

As expected, Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) brought not only announcements of new macOS, iOS, tvOS and watchOS, we also got new some new hardware announcements. Some are for immediate availability and some for for later this year. We'll have a complete rundown of all the announcements and we'll also discuss some other features and pr…

We've had a slew updates recently for macOS, iOS, tvOS and watchOS. We'll spend some time talking about not only some of the cool new features in macOS and iOS, but we'll also cover the significant new Apple File System (APFS) that snuck in right under your nose in iOS 10.3. This is a precursor of things to come in macOS and you should know what it…

A little early spring cleaning and some amuse-bouche! What are we talking about here? This month, we'll cover some really important techniques for cleaning out your Mac of old crud, how to restore some of the zip it used to have and how to maintain it better. There are a lot of quick and simple things you can do to free up space and get your Mac's …

Allison Sheridan, from the NosillaCast podcast, will be at our meeting to present a few great tidbits when it comes to managing and editing photos on your Mac. Adobe Photoshop is the big 800 pound gorilla but it's probably overkill (and way too expensive) for most normal folks. There are other alternatives out there and Affinity Photo is one of the…

Happy New Year! CES will have just wrapped up the before our meeting and we'll cover some interesting product announcements that might interest Apple users and portable computing enthusiasts. The Apple Airpods are starting to trickle in and we'll have some on head to demo and show you how they work. We've talked about Siri on macOS and iOS in the p…

The new MacBooks are here, the new MacBooks are here! Well, some of us have received the new MacBook Pro with TouchBar and we'll spend some time talking about it. For those of you that want to know what having a TouchBar is like, we'lll also talk about a utility that will simulate that for you on your existing Mac. We're going to continue our discu…

Utilitiy City! This month, we'll spend some time talking about some of our favorite utilties that make life eaiser on macOS. Of course, there are a few popular ones like 1Password and TextExpander but there are so many more very powerful utilities that aren't as well known. We'll show you what you've been missing that will save you lots of time whi…

macOS Sierra is here. Apple has been working hard at releasing a new operating system and there's lots to learn and lots to like. First off, it's now called macOS Sierra (Apple has dropped the "OS X" moniker). Since there are some Macs that can run El Capitan but now can't run Sierra due to some changes in the OS, we'll go over all the system requi…

Become that power user you've always wanted to be! You know how to flex your Apple muscle when using certain apps...but what about the app you use the most...the Finder? Getting around the Finder and taking advantage of the many power user features will be some of the focus of our next meeting. Many long time Mac users still do things the same way …

-- Some more info about what we know about macOS Sierra and iOS 10. -- With iOS 10 allowing users to remove built-in apps from their iPhones & iPads, it might be a good time to start looking at alternative apps that can replace or enhance what Apple's built-in apps (like Mail, Safari, Notes, Weather, Stocks, etc.) do. -- We'll review some tips and …

The Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) kicks off on the morning of our June meeting. That means that the Keynote announcements made that morning will be fresh in our minds and we'll be excited to talk about them. New OS for Mac and iOS? Absolutely! New laptops and desktops? Maybe.... and maybe even more... We will spend our time analyzin…

We've got a variety of Mac and iOS Apps to talk about this month. These are apps in categories such as Scanning, Screen Sharing, Alarms, Online (Mac & Other) Communities, and Food among others. We'll also have some in-depth discussion on really taking advantage of online storage like Dropbox, iCloud Drive, SugarSync, etc., to maximize access to you…

40 years! On April 1, Apple celebrated their 40th anniversary at a great bash on their campus with Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe broadcasting live from the party. In its 40 years, Apple has created lots of products that have really changed the world and inspired other companies to copy or follow -- Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iPad. They've also created a few p…

These are a few of my favorite things...my favorite iOS apps! At almost each meeting, we get asked about an app that does this or an app that does that or whether we know about an app that does something specific. Although Ben, Pat, and Phil do indeed buy and test lots of apps, many LAPUG members do too. So, our next meeting will be your opportunit…

For photos and music, we've got Apple's Photos and iTunes but what about a library for your videos? Over the years, you've probably collected a bunch of videos (maybe even some of Ben's fun videos shown at meetings) and you might not have an organized way to access them. With iPhones, iPads and Apple TV along with other TV accessories like Amazon F…

A brand new year with a new set of resolutions. Maybe it's time to really learn about some of the cool stuff that's buried in OS X El Capitan or iOS 9. Maybe it's time clean off your desktop and make your Mac a little zipper. Maybe it's time to setup a second, offsite backup (what...you don't have a backup at all?...). Maybe it's time to really tak…

We've talked so much about security and passwords and the importance of using a password manager rather than that little black book or the Post-It notes you stick near the computer (you're not really doing any of that, right?). Well, the time has come. This is a MUST ATTEND meeting to finally get your head around using a secure password management …

Lots of new stuff from Apple this month...we'll be showing and talking about the new Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, new iMacs, and, of course, the new Apple TV. We'll demo the new Apple TV and we'll go over the setup process including the using App Store. If you don't yet have an Apple TV, come see what it's all about. If you have one and are cons…

OS X El Captian is here! For those of you keeping score, this is officially version 10.11 of the venerable Mac OS. It promises to be an exciting (free) successor to Yosemite and most reviewers have noted it's faster, cleaner and more refined. Rather than going to a whole new name, Apple selected "El Capitan" to reflect that it's a better version of…

The new iPhones are here...the new iPhones are here. Well, if you were to look at them, you wouldn't see anything new -- except for the new Rose Gold color. But, as Apple has said, "the only thing that has changed is everything". With the new, really cool 3D Touch, a new 12 MP camera, Live Photos, 4K video, the faster A9 processor, and more, the ne…

Practical security changes you can make TONIGHT that will make you safer. Recommendations have changed for how to protect your data and we’ll go over the latest recommendations as well as the latest concerns for Mac and iOS with an emphasis on giving you control and clear ideas of what to do. And, of course, we'll go over some other current events …