February 2012 From the Prez

February 2012

Greetings GMMUG-

As usual, I’m running later than planned with my Ramblings this month. Our next meeting, this Tuesday, February 7th, is our usual Q&A, and the Monday meeting (the 20th) will be on working with video, converting DVDs and other sources you legally own to formats compatible with other devices, presented by Jesse Dodd. In addition, Jesse is going include a bit on putting together a slide show in iPhoto and exporting it to DVD.

The rumor mill is busy these days, with talk of a new iPhone, a new iPad, and some sort of Apple-branded TV. Of all these, I hope Apple can find a way to give us all an alternative to the cable company and satellite providers. The current Apple TV is nothing too interesting the way it is.

The big Apple news this month, to my way of thinking, is their quarterly results. Apple’s results were described along with so many superlatives I couldn’t help smiling. Apple’s cash reserves are now just shy of 100 billion dollars. Revenues increased 73% over the year ago quarter; sales of iPhones increased 128% over the year ago quarter; IPads climbed 111%; Macintosh sales increased 26%; and iPods declined 21% (who needs an iPod when you have an iPhone?). Apple’s first quarter with Tim Cook at the helm: so far, so good.

One of our members has some interest in learning about Aperture. If there’s a member who uses the program and would be willing to write a little review for the next newsletter, that would be most welcome. I am interested in its strengths as compared to iPhoto and other software programs that can be used to organize a photo library.

Here’s to the start of another busy week-I’ll look forward to seeing a bunch of you in a couple days!

Andrew