Happy New Year!

It’s 2017 and next week it’s already time for the first examug of the year – and it’s going to be another great one.

Date: Tuesday 10^th January

Time: 6.45pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

www.examug.org.uk

Note for the second time, we are trying the new start time! 6.45pm moving 15 mins forward as a result of discussions at the AGM back in August.

We have a jam packed meeting planned, starting with a talk on Spotting Scams and Managing Your Security. 

We are going to cover:

How to spot scams (and how most of them work!)

What to do if you are unsure.

Top tips to avoid falling for them.

Advice on managing passwords and improving your security.

After the break we have a presentation on Getting More From Maps. Whether it’s Google Maps or Apple Maps, mapping solutions offer many powerful features and we guarantee you’ll learn something new about them during this presentation. Whether you are simply planning a route, or looking for an interesting restaurant in a distant city – we have you covered!

As normal we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

Hope to see you there.

Graham

examug Chair

web: www.examug.org.uk

twitter: @examug

We have a great one  planned this year!

Everything you need to know is below:

2016 Christmas Social

• Exeter School Cricket Pavilion, Victoria Park Road (EX2 4NS).
• Tuesday 13^thDecember
• 7pm start (raffle at 8pm) – finish around 10pm
• BYODaSS (Bring your own drinks and savoury snacks). We will provide the sweet treats. There will be a prize for the best dish so bring enough to share a little around, and since there is an oven, hob, microwave, fridge and freezer you might want to get creative (or just buy a party food pack from Tesco!).

Cost: £0!! It’s free.

The pavilion is off Victoria Park Road (it’s towards the bottom end of the road on the left hand side as you drive down the road from the Magdalen Road end – just before the NHS centre). There is plenty of parking (just drive through the gate in the wire fence). The examug Elves may also even decorate it a little to make it a little more festive than last year!

As well as the raffle, there is going to be Christmas songs, and the famous examug quiz (with prizes!).

You don’t have to attend for the whole evening you can just pop in and out as you please. It would be nice to see you.

Plus, of course, there is our amazing raffle, with a chance to win an awesome iPad Mini 4 for £2!!

2o16 Christmas Raffle

5th Prize: £10 App Store Voucher

4th Prize: The amazing Anker pocket speaker (back by popular demand!) https://www.anker.com/products/A7910011

3rd Prize: An awesome laptop/iPad bag

2nd Prize: The 60W Anker Powerport (the only charger you’ll ever need!) https://www.anker.com/products/B2123211

1st Prize: A Gold 64GB iPad Mini 4 (the latest version) – http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad-mini-4/

That’s right! The latest iPad mini could be yours for just £2!!!

As always; tickets are £2 each or 3 for £5 (or even 6 for £10…) – the prizes this year are flat out stunning!! Do take a look at the associated websites.

Please remember all the money raised go to the group, we remain non-profit making, run by volunteers, and supported by members like you!

The draw will take place at the Christmas social and so if you would like a raffle ticket you have two choices.

1: Come along to the examug Christmas Social and buy some!

2: Email the group (or Graham directly)/follow the instructions in the various emails.

What are you waiting for? Have you seen the prizes! Buy some tickets…(please; if you want to…).

It looks like the weather is about to turn chilly, but the sunny days were great while they lasted!

On the positive side the next examug meeting is just around the corner and we have a great one planned. Plus we have news of our amazing 2016 Christmas Raffle.

Date: Tuesday 8^th November

Time: 6.45pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

Note the new start time! 6.45pm moving 15 mins forward as a result of discussions at the AGM back in August.

We have a jam packed meeting planned, looking an extended look at Apple’s latest and greatest OS. We are going to cover macOS Sierra. Whether you are just starting out or seasoned Mac veteran, we guarantee you will learn something new.

We are going to cover:

• The best new features.
• Our favourite hidden/less obvious additions
• Potential issues and how to overcome them

It’s going to be an insanely great meeting! Lots to cover, and as always, we would welcome you thoughts on macOS, bring along your experiences and prepare to share them if you wish.

After the break we have two options. We are running our final prosumer photo session – this time on the awesome Capture One (https://www.phaseone.com/en/Products/Software/Capture-One-Pro/Highlights.aspx). Capture One is photo editing software that offers digital photo import tools, raw camera file conversion, DNG support, image adjustment, and some organizational features. Also featured are tethered shooting, a live monitor view, and focus tools. Capture One is all about the photography and just the photography: There’s no face recognition, maps, Web sharing, or book printing here!

And if that doesn’t appeal we have another option: “I didn’t know you could do that” a whistle-stop tour of macOS and iOS10 focused on highlighting some of the amazing bitesize features you probably didn’t know existed (for example, did you know if you hold the a key down you get a list of the ‘versions’ of a, á, æ, etc, etc!).

As normal we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats but the big draw is the 2016 Christmas Raffle!

2016 Christmas Raffle

Wow – it’s a very special one this year with some truly amazing prizes!

5th Prize: £10 App Store Voucher

4th Prize: The amazing Anker pocket speaker (back by popular demand!) https://www.anker.com/products/A7910011

3rd Prize: An awesome laptop/iPad bag

2nd Prize: The 60W Anker Powerport (the only charger you’ll ever need!) https://www.anker.com/products/B2123211

1st Prize: A Gold 64GB iPad Mini 4 (the latest version) – http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad-mini-4/

That’s right! The latest iPad mini could be yours for just £2!!!

As always; tickets are £2 each or 3 for £5 (or even 6 for £10…) – the prizes this year are flat out stunning!! Do take a look at the associated websites.

Please remember all the money raised go to the group, we remain non-profit making, run by volunteers, and supported by members like you!

The draw will take place at the Christmas social (more details will follow soon – but the date is fixed for December 13^th from 7pm)

If you would like a raffle ticket you have three choices.

1: Come along to the examug November meeting and buy some!

2: Come along to the examug Christmas Social and buy some!

3: Option three is for existing members only and sent via email.

Well, that might be the end of Summer, but it’s not all bad news. Our September examug meeting is just around the corner.

Date: Tuesday 13th September

Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

www.examug.org.uk

(And Paypal have finally sorted our account – if your membership is up you can now pay again via our website).

We have another great meeting planned – but things are a little in flux. Apple are hosting a special event on the 7th Sept. Depending on their announcements we may change around a few of the talks. We will let you know ASAP.

We hope to start with a demo os iOS 10 – the changes, the new features and our opinion on whether or not you should upgrade.

And just like last time, after the break we are giving you an option:

Option 1: It’s the final part of our Prosumer Photography trilogy. Kris will be demonstrating Capture One.

Option 2: iOS Apps for exploring the countryside. You might think getting your iPhone out on a nice walk is the worst possible idea! And you might be right!!! But there are some nice applications which can enhance a nice walk, including apps that help you identify everything from flowers to birds from their song!

More information to follow soon!

Rumour has it the Azores High (a high pressure area in the atmosphere bringing summer weather) is heading our way! And if that’s not sunny enough, the next examug meeting is just around the corner.

Date: Tuesday 12th July

Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

www.examug.org.uk

(And Paypal have finally sorted our account – if your membership is up you can now pay again via our website).

We have another great meeting planned. It kicks off with Darren and me presenting on Using a stylus with iOS. Can they be used to take notes? To journal? To mark up documents? Is it finally time to ditch pen and paper? We will attempt to answer all these questions and more!

After the break we are giving you an option:

Option 1: Following on from last meeting and part two of our prosumer* photo special trilogy, John will be presenting on HDR photography – including the amazing Aurora HDR and Dark Table. If you are a keen amateur or more of a photo-pro we guarantee you’ll learn something new, and hopefully help you on your way towards taking even better photos! Our final photo special is planned for September to complete the trilogy.

Option 2: At member’s request I will be presenting on iOS Apps for Kids. Whether you have kids, grandkids or are just interested in how iPads are revolutionising learning and playing for pre-teens, this will be the talk for you. I will cover a range of different apps, from safe apps to watch videos, to literacy and numeracy games.

Plus there is our Member’s Slot – if you want to talk about how you use your Apple kit, send us a photo of your setup and you’ll have the floor for up to five minutes. It would be great to see how members use their devices and to share experiences. We are limited to one per meeting, but if you are keen please let us know.

And finally we have some more Apple merchandise direct from California as raffle prizes!

Hope to see you there!

*prosumer – a person who buys electronic goods that are of a standard between those aimed at consumers and professionals.

Special thanks for Alan for sharing his thoughts on two great pieces of kit for iPhone photography at our last meeting.

More info below:

LENS AND TRIPOD  –   maker YOPO –  available online from Amazon – COST around £30.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/YOPO-iPhone-Camera-Kit-12x-Telephoto/dp/B00QBV9SDM/

Yoko and other lenses

http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/iphone/best-camera-accessories-for-iphone-3640313/ 

MICROPHONE – maker iRIG (MIC CAST) – online seller www.inta-audio.com – COST £27

Review: http://www.gadgetreview.com/irig-mic-cast-review

With WWDC on the 13 June, we should have some great stuff for you all for our July examug meeting.

Who knows what treats await; iOS 10, macOS 11, or something else…

Things come around fast and next week is the May examug meeting.

We have another great meeting planned, it’s another photo special with both our talks coming direct from member requests.

• Date: Tuesday 10th May
• Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm
• Location: ISCA College, Exeter

This month we are zooming in on photo editing apps.

Kris will be comparing the On1 Suite of Photo Editing programs to Google’s Nik Suite (now available free) and he’ll show what can be done with a few clicks to mitigate digital disasters, to brighten up the bland, as well as how to improve your masterpieces.

Then John will demo the excellent Affinity Photo (Photoshop – but without the Photoshop style monthly subscription!) and the mightily impressive Polarr (that’s how it is spelt, that isn’t a typo!).

Plus, as normal, we are running New User Corner again, our special session lasting 20/30 mins going through things with a small group of newer/less experienced users. If you wish to take advantage of this, it will hopefully give you some more individualised 1:1 time.

We have some photo app licences to give away as well as some more Apple merchandise direct from California as raffle prizes!

Hope to see you there!

Spring is in the air and next week it’s that wonderful time again – the next examug meeting (and as always we have a great one planned).

• Date: Tuesday 8th March
• Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm
• Location: ISCA College, Exeter

We have another jam packed meeting planned, with two presentations. To kick off we have….

The Battle of the Notes

Everyone takes notes, but which Mac and iOS note taking application is the right one for you? Onenote, Evernote, Notes, Simplenote or Noteynotenote (OK we made the last one up!). What’s the difference between them, what are their best features and which one is the best? John, Kane, Darren and Graham are going to give a whistle stop tour and give our own take on the best of the bunch. And, spoiler alert, we all have our own favourites! It could get messy…But informative too!

Battling with PDFs

For our second talk we are giving a presentation on managing, organising and editing pdfs. If you’re anything like us you’ll have hundreds of pdfs. Documents downloaded from the web, scans of older paper documents, etc. We are going to show some of the powerful features of Preview, and highlight our top recommended pdf application PDFpen. https://smilesoftware.com/PDFpen

Plus as normal, we are running New User Corner again, our special session lasting 20/30 mins going through things with a small group of newer/less experienced users. If you wish to take advantage of this, it will hopefully give you some more individualised 1:1 time.
And amongst other things we have some new Apple merchandise direct from California as raffle prizes!

Hope to see you there!

Happy New Year!

Time flies, it is 2016 already and the next examug meeting is just around the corner (and as always we have a great one planned).

• Date: Tuesday 12th January
• Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm
• Location: ISCA College, Exeter

We have a jam packed meeting planned, with two presentations. Darren is kicking us off with the main talk on shooting, editing and sharing movies. With the cameras in iPhones and iPads being so capable we are shooting more and more high quality movies. But then what? How can we edit them together? How can we share them with friends and family? What tips do we have when it comes to shooting the perfect movie? We hope to cover all this and more! Whether you are a seasoned Oscar winning director (that’s possible, right?), or are just keen to learn a little more about some of the options available, we hope you’ll learn something from the this talk.

Secondly we will be demonstrating and giving our review of an iPad Pro (with an Apple Pencil). Its features, strengths and drawbacks all with our usual examug flair. If you have a question about the iPad Pro we are your one-stop-shop to the answer.

Plus New User Corner again, our special session lasting 20/30 mins going through things with a small group of newer/less experienced users. If you wish to take advantage of this, it will hopefully give you some more individualised 1:1 time. And as normal we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

New Year’s resolutions – bring a friend! Hope to see you next week.

Wow – it’s a very special one this year with some truly amazing prizes! Just take a look…

• 6th Prize: GorlliaPod tripod and GripTight for iPhone
• 5th Prize: £25 App Store Voucher
• 4th Prize: 20100mAh Anker External Battery
• 3rd Prize: £50 App Store Voucher
• 2nd Prize: Apple Magic Trackpad 2
• 1st Prize: The New AppleTV 32GB

As always; tickets are £2 each or 3 for £5 (or even 6 for £10…) – the prizes this year are flat out stunning!! Do take a look at the associated websites. Please remember all the money raised go to the group, we remain non-profit making, run by volunteers, and supported by members like you!

The draw will take place at the Christmas social. If you would like a raffle ticket you have to turn up!! (Sorry – we have had to remove the PayPal link)

Tuesday 8th December 7-10pm

More info about the Social >>

• Date: Tuesday 10th November
• Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm
• Location: ISCA College, Exeter

We have a jam packed meeting – both iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan (10.11). Whether you are just starting out or seasoned Mac/iOS veteran, we guarantee you will learn something new.

We are going to cover:

• The best new features.
• Our favourite hidden/less obvious additions
• Potential issues and how to overcome them
• It’s going to be an insanely great meeting!

Lots to cover, and as always, we would welcome you thoughts on iOS or OS X, bring along your experiences and prepare to share them if you wish.

After the break we have two options. We are running New User Corner again, our special session lasting 20/30 mins going through things with a small group of newer/less experienced users. If you wish to take advantage of this, it will hopefully give you some more individualised 1:1 time.

Alternatively, we will be showcasing the iPhone 6s – its new features, everything from is the new camera any better and is 3D touch a gimmick or not. We have the answers!

As normal we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

See you there!