Category: Past Meetings

Discussion topics included increased hacker activity, scam emails, Rules in Apple Mail and ad blocking in Safari, as well as Time Machine backups and Carbon Copy Cloner.

[Pictured]: Long time AMUG member, editor and webmaster Ken Driver, who is moving out of Sydney, was presented by treasurer Barbara Watson with a much appreciated farewell gift from the club and a card signed by all present at the meeting.

Robin presided over the Q&A session and after the supper break, discussions included Reflector 3 screen mirroring app for Mac, macOS Mojave beta version and the Transit app for iOS.

As advised in the July meeting post, the AGM normally held in August was deferred to later in the year.

Robin ran the August meeting. Q&A included discussion on how to select and send photos via Mail or the Messenger app, from an iPhone.

After supper, Robin talked about and recommended Carbon Copy Cloner.

A small but enthusiastic group of 10 members attended the July meeting, run by Robin Workman. Q&A topics included macOS High Sierra and its incompatibility with some older apps as well as the way it writes to hard drives differently. Alternatives to retain functionality of older apps were suggested. Another question asked and answered was about backing up Contacts from an older iPhone and restoring the data to a different, newer iPhone.

Fees and the future of the Club

Treasurer Barbara Watson gave an overview of income and expenditure to date and the club’s current bank balance. Barbara explained that, in order to continue holding our monthly meetings at the UNSW, we must pay Public Liability Insurance (currently approx. $1,300 per year, paid up to March 2019). Expenditure has exceeded income during the past financial year and the bank balance is slowly being depleted.

The group discussed the future of the club and the consensus was, those present want the club to continue and agreed to retain the annual membership fee of $48 p.a. All present and recent members are urged to renew their membership ASAP to support the club ongoing. Download Renewal Form (PDF 133K).

It was also agreed to defer the AGM (typically held in August each year) – date to be confirmed – to allow further discussion and involvement of members who were away in July. To comply with Fair Trading conditions as an Incorporated Association, we are required to have a properly constituted committee, including at least a President, Secretary/Public Officer and Hon. Treasurer.

A small but enthusiastic group gathered for the June meeting in our usual venue. Thanks to Serge for hosting the meeting. An uncooperative digital projector disrupted the flow several times, but we still managed to discuss and find answers to a number of Mac user issues.

Robin and Serge ran the Q&A session.

Discussion among members present included…

• Apple’s discontinuation of the AirPort range of wi-fi routers and new, high powered third party alternatives
• Internet dropping out due to neighbourhood wi-fi overload
• FLAC high quality audio format and options for conversion to iTunes compatible formats
• Checking your Password security and a website that estimates how long it would take a computer to crack it
• Review of Dashboard Widgets in mac OS X.

The main raffle prize of a 1TB USB3 portable backup drive was won by Gabby Zipser.

The meeting was run by Robin Workman. Some interesting questions about scanning and printing were raised and answered by the small group of committed attendees.

Everyone in attendance won a raffle prize.

Next meeting: 7 May 2018.

At our March meeting, there was some discussion in the Q&A session about Time Machine, among other topics.

For the raffle, first prize was a car camera, won by Roger Williams. Additional prizes were two SD cards, and a $ 30 Apple card.

Robin gave an interesting demo of a music application called iReal Pro that simulates a real-sounding band for accompaniment to keyboards, etc. This app also lets you collect chord charts from your favorite songs for reference.

Our first meeting for 2018 (no monthly meeting is held in January).

Serge ran the Q&A session.

Robin did some demos and showed us intriguing pictures from ‘Scultpure by the Sea’, exhibited annually along the Bondi Beach to Tamarama Beach coastal walk.

Ken showed a selection of short ‘How To’ videos from the Apple Support Channel on YouTube.

The main prize was a 4-station USB desktop charging station.

Next meeting: Monday 5 March 2018.

Our ‘Christmas’ meeting and the last one for 2017. Attendees enjoyed some special treats in the supper break.

Kath Harding won the main prize, a 1TB USB 3.0/USB-C portable hard drive, valued at $100.

Robin Workman gave a demo of Mac Mail, using “Rules” to filter out unwanted messages and to manage Inbox folders, including automatic removal of messages after certain periods of time etc.

Next meeting Monday 5th February 2018.