The main presentation at the Jan 25 meeting is titled iCloud Demystified, to be presented by George Wilde.

iCloud Computing?  What is it?  What can you do with it?

Apple’s current cloud computing and cloud storage service, called iCloud, is a replacement for Apple’s previous MobileMe service. iCloud has well over 700 million current users and consists of many parts – some of which are free and some of which come at a cost. Because iCloud has evolved in multiple directions since the time of MobileMe, you may find that some features you liked previously are still there, perhaps under another name. Also there are many new features – some of which you might like and others that you might hate. You may already be using some of the newer features of the iCloud system without even knowing it. Because you’re a Mac or iOS user you probably can’t avoid using at least some of the iCloud services, so you’ll want to understand the implications of using all of the various iCloud services.

At our upcoming meeting I’ll show you some of the most useful features and help you get started on adding any that you’d like to try. There will be time for your questions as you discover how to use iCloud effectively.

The Dec 28 meeting will open with the Beginner’s Q & A at 6:30, followed by our traditional pizza party starting around 7:30. There will be door prizes (Best Buy gift certificates) for those attending the meeting, so make your plans to attend now!

Apple TV(by Don McAllister via Screencastsonline)

The Apple TV is a digital media player that allows consumers to use an HDTV set to view photos, play music and watch video originating from limited Internet services or a local network. The current version (4th generation) includes a Siri remote and comes with an A8 chip and 32 or 64 GB processor. Don McAllister says: “Apple’s hobby finally makes the mainstream with the launch of the new Apple TV. In this episode, I take you through the setup and explore some of the basic features of the new device.”

In addition, we expect that Tom Thorpe will be continuing his series of presentations with a discussion of USB.

Don’t miss the meeting! See page 2  of the newsletter for details.

Everyone agrees that computer backups are a good idea, but not everyone does them. You have to decide what kind of backup or backups you want to do, which software to use, and what kind of hardware to use for the backups. My presentation will explain the different types of backups—clones, simple data, and versioned data. We’ll look at 3 software apps as well as various types of hardware to use. Hopefully when I am done those who aren’t doing backups will feel comfortable to get started doing them.

                                                                                                                  Joan King

There will be no SBAMUG meeting in November. The next meeting will be December 16. It will be the annual Q&A/Pizza Party. The December/January newsletter will be published in early December.