2013.07 News: Are You Smarter Than Congress?

You're probably aware that the approval ratings for Congress are now down in the single digits, below used-car salesmen and only slightly higher than child molesters (but closing in fast). Maybe you've even joined in the new national sport of scoffing at their cluelessness and ridiculing their ineptitude.

Well, don't let it go to your head, bub! It's entirely possible that you are engaging in practices just as stupid as Congress when it comes to your computer passwords. Read this article from Infoworld's Robert X. Cringely and ask yourself whether your password selection makes you smarter than a Congresscritter.

For further grins on the subject, treat yourself to a stroll thru the top 25 passwords used on the Internet, as described by PCWorld's Jared Newman, who mercifully follows up his chortling over their transparency with some helpful hints on how to do it right.

And, in case you, as an Apple loyalist, couldn't bring yourself to view something from PCWorld, you at least owe it to yourself to review this hilarious bad example that Newman quotes from Mel Brooks's movie Spaceballs.

2013.07 Tip: Immediate Gratification

During the Q&A section of tonight's meeting, someone asked what the differences were between the Mail program that comes with the latest version of the Mac operating system (10.8, Mountain Lion) and earlier versions. We went to Mail's "Help" menu and chose "What's New in Mail?"

to provide some answers.

One of the new features discussed was how to make a sender a VIP and it contained a clickable link

with instructions for doing so. As the demo guy, I clicked on that link, then followed the instructions to use a test e-mail from SWAG Secretary Holly McEntee as the springboard for designating her as a VIP. And that's where we left it at the meeting.

The gratification came when I got home and fired up Mail. Lo, there was a new "VIPs" mailbox in my sidebar, with a sub-folder for Holly within it, and all previous messages from her moved into it.

Bear in mind that this was my desktop computer, my iMac, not the MacBook Pro laptop on which I'd done the demo. Apple synced my 2 Mail programs up for me automatically.

2013.07 Tip: Mac Help for Mom

As recommended by Holly McEntee at tonight's SWAG meeting: simple explanations for how to use Macintosh features may be found at the Mac Help for Mom website.

2013.07 Offer: Free Apps, Free Games

Apple's App Store (no, the "App" stands for "application", not "Apple") turns 5 this week, and they're celebrating it by making 5 apps and 5 games available for free download.

The catch? They're only available for 5 days.

2013.06 News: Inventor of Computer Mouse Dies

Douglas Engelbart has died at age 88. He is best known as the inventor of the computer mouse, but he didn't stop there.