Mini'app'les

the Minnesota Apple Computer Users' Group, Inc.

Newsletter Archive

by Joel Gerdeen

For the last 36+ years, the Mini’app’les User Group has distributed a newsletter.  Many people have contributed to what is now our documented history.  I just finished scanning the last issues and converted all to text in a PDF format.  You can find them all under the Newsletter section of this site.

Please review and let me know of any problems such as miss-scans or rotated pages.  Occasionally during the Summer months, the July and August issues were combined.  I have scanned all issues that I had access to.  If you have other issues of the newsletter, please contact me  and we can arrange to include them in this archive.

We are also looking at a way to add a search capability or a method to index this information.

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Mini’app’les Meeting, Tuesday Feb 17 at 7:00 p.m., Q&A at 6:30 p.m.

by Tim Drenk

The next Mini’app’les meeting is Tuesday, February 17th, the third Tuesday of the month, at the Hackfactory (3119 E. 26th Street Minneapolis, MN 55406). At 6:30 p.m., members of the board and other knowledgable people will be available if you have specific questions you would like answered. We will do our best to address your question and help you troubleshoot the issue.

Just when you think you have iCloud figured out, Apple adds iCloud Drive. At 7:00 p.m., after looking at some recent news and articles, we will talk about what iCloud Drive, if you should use it, and how it compares to other similar cloud file storage services. We hope you can join us to see if this service is valuable to you or not.

We look forward to seeing you there.

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ViewExif to view exif metadata of photos on iOS

by Pete Bockenhauer

viewexif

ViewExif is an iOS extension which allows you to view exif metadata of photos.  Exif metadata is data about the photo like dimensions, taken date, ISO speed, F number, exposure time, focal length and more.  It will add a button to your share sheet in not only the Photos app but any app that displays photos.  Since Apple does not give up this information directly in the Photos app, this is a handy extension to have.

Download ViewExif for free

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View current playing iTunes track in the menu bar

by Pete Bockenhauer

quicktunesI typically play music while I’m working on my Mac.  I have the ability to keep iTunes open all the time and in the foreground (I have 3 monitors), however it still seems to always get covered up by another window.  I can use the MiniPlayer, but I don’t like it sitting on top of any of my windows and I can never seem to find a good spot for it to sit on my screen.  There are a bunch of iTunes menu bar apps that allow you to see the current playing track, but they require you to first click on the menu bar icon.  I wanted to be able to quickly just glance up to the menu bar without clicking on anything and see the current playing track.

After a bit of searching, I came across an old app called QuickTunes.  It lives in your menu bar and simply displays the current playing track and artist.  If you click on the menu, you can control iTunes functions like Play, Pause, Next, etc.  From the menu you can also select “Play Another By This Artist”, “Play Another In This CD”, and “Play Another In This Genre”.  The app also has a floating window similar to the MiniPlayer, but not as useful or good looking (remember how old this app is).

After a couple weeks of use, it hasn’t crashed on my Yosemite Mac and does exactly what I wanted it to do.  System requirements listed on the site say iTunes 4.7+ and Mac OS 10.3+.  So who knows if it will continue to work with new versions of OS X, but it’s lasted this long so I’m hopeful.

Download QuickTunes for free

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Article: iPad Air 2 Review: Why the iPad Became My Main Computer

by Tim Drenk

Federico Viticci at MacStories.net has an interesting article about how he uses an iPad Air 2 as his main computer for both work and fun.

I’m typing this article on an iPad Air 2 using Editorial in portrait mode. This has become my favorite way to “create and consume content” and it’s a good demonstration of the iPad’s raison d’être for someone who also owns an iPhone and a Mac…

…I can write blog posts, respond to emails, look up recipes, prepare for podcasts, and watch videos while I hold my iPad upright as a book and it feels great. This isn’t just a marvel of engineering – it’s a profound approach to truly personal computing. I have a 10-inch display that’s always connected to the Internet and can come with me anywhere. Isn’t that awesome?

There’s more, however, to the iPad Air 2 than its profile and heft (or lack thereof).

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