New Jersey Macintosh users Group
NJMUG Meeting Archive:
January 2024 - December 2024
Older ArchivesJanuary 16, 2024
Meeting Cancelled due to inclimate weather causing library to close early.
February 20, 2024
Apple AirTags, Pika.art, Dream Studio and Blockade Labs
New software and hardware is being released at a record pace and we hope to be able to help you understand what’s available, why it’s important and how to use it.
Mark Astmann showed how to set up and configure Apple AirTags, and showed how to track the item it’s attached to with Apple’s Find My app.
In this month’s Ai installment, Bruce Mittelman showed three apps. Pika.art which allows you to generate and edit videos in diverse styles such as 3D animation, anime, cartoon and cinematic. Dream Studio is used to create
images using the latest release of Stable Diffusion. Finally, Blockade Labs can be used to create entire 360° worlds in just a few clicks.
March 19, 2024
Weather Apps, Best Free Mac Software for 2023, Part 2, Ideogram, Leonardo.Ai, RunwayML and Skylum’s Luminar for iPad
In this month’s Ai installment, Bruce Mittelman demonstrated Ideogram which helps you generate images. He also showed Leonardo.Ai which promises to create production-quality visual assets for your projects with unprecedented quality, speed, and style-consistency. Last on the AI front, Bruce demostrated Runwayml.com which claims it’s an applied AI research company shaping the next era of art, entertainment and human creativity. Bruce also previewed the initial release of Skylum’s Luminar for iPad which brings the power of Skylum’s photo editing to your iPad.
Louis Perez presented part two of the Best free Mac Software for 2023. And the latest on the new DeLorean EV. Here are some of the web sites Louis discussed:
Checking weather is a daily task. With so many weather apps available which is the right one to use? Scott Alenick compared a number of weather apps from Apple, Yahoo, Accuweather, My Radar, Radar Scope, Hello and a few others.
April 16, 2024
Elevenlabs.io, Clipdrop.co, Wasitai.com, the US Justice’s Department’s antitrust case against Apple and Highlights of CES 2024
In this month’s Ai installment, Bruce Mittelman demonstrated Elevenlabs.io which offers text to speech and voice cloning for free. Bruce also showed Clipdrop.co (Swap, Generative Fill, etc.) which helps you create stunning visuals in seconds.
Our resident legal expert Alan Walter walked us through the US Department of Justices antitrust case against Apple.
Finally, Louis Perez shared with us the highlights of CES 2024 including;
May 21, 2024
Luminar Neo, the US Justice’s Department’s antitrust case against Apple and CapCut a free multi-plateform video editor
This was the first time in the last 14 months that we didn't cover any Ai based software at our general meeting. Instead, Bruce Mittelman demonstrated all the new features of Ukrainian based Skylum Software's Luminar Neo on the Mac.
Making up for the meeting he missed in April, our resident legal expert Alan Walter will walk us through the US Department of Justices antitrust case against Apple.
Finally, Mark Astmann showed many of the features of CapCut which is a totally free app that runs on a Mac, PC, iPhone and iPad.
June 18, 2024
Apple’s WWDC 24, Ray Ban Meta Smart Glasses, Hot Summer Gadgets, Manuskript and Libby
Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC 24) was held on June 10th. Bruce Mittelman showed a video highlighting the announcements made and their potential impact.
Bruce also showed his newly acquired Ray Ban Meta Smart Glasses. Louis Perez talk featured hot summer gadgets for 2024 including:
Finally, Mark Astmann showed us Libby, a free app that runs on a iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, PC, Chrome OS and Kindle and allows users to borrow digital content from our public library.
July 16, 2024
iDPRT Bluetooth Label Printer Thermal, Microsoft Surface Laptop with Copilot, Cloud Technologies, and Apple’s Passkeys
Bruce Mittelman showed the inexpensive iDPRT Bluetooth Label Printer Thermal that can be connected using USB or Bluetooth and works any device supporting printing using these protocals.
Something a little different in his Ai tool kit, Bruce just receive the latest Microsoft Surface laptop with built in Copilot and gave us an idea of the latest in PC technology.
Finally, Mark Astmann talked about Apple’s Passkey technology, a simpler and easier way to replace traditional login passwords. Here is the Keynote version of his presenation.
August 20, 2024
Handheld Stabilizer for Pocket 3, Hedra, Sonata, How to sell on eBay, Multiplication Hack, ProNotes.app and Sound Meter.app
In this months jammed packed meeting Bruce Mittelman will show the Handheld Stabilizer, Pocket 3, Z-Axis Damping Shake which reduces the efforts of up and down shaking when filming with a pocket camera like the Osmo Pocket 3.
Bruce will also show the Viozon Extendable Selfie Phone Stand which can used as a copy stand for your iPhone.
Louis Perez will discuss How to sell on Ebay. Louis shared the following web resources with us:
Mark Astmann will show us a very interesting multiplication hack for when you don’t have a calculator handy. Mark will also demonstrate ProNotes.app, which makes Apple’s Not'se app even more enjoyable to use by providing a faster and more intuitive way to format your text. Finally, Mark will show Sound Meter, an app for iPhone and Apple Watch which measures the sound levels around you.
September 17, 2024
Apple’s “It’s Glow Time” September Event, Google Lens in Chrome, Ai Model Showdown, Back to School Websites, Winter Auto Tips, and Google Flights Deep Dive
In this months meeting Bruce Mittelman showed a video coveringApple’s September “It’s Glow Time” event where new hardware including iPhone 16 with the new A18 processors, Apple Watch 10, Ultra and SE, AirPods 3, were announced.
Bruce gave us a glimpse of Google Lens within Chrome which can do a variety of things for you like copy and translate text, identify plants and animals and more.
Bruce put a number of Ai models through their paces trying to find out which one performs the best.Louis Perez showed a mixed bag of interesting informative video's. These are links that Louis talked about.
Jerry Gherardi had some tips to ensure your car is ready for the onslaught of winter.
Mark Astmann did a deep dive into Google Flights showing you how to to get the most out of this free service.
The two Google Flights extensions Mark discussed were:
For those who want the Keynote presentation, you can find it here.
October 15, 2024
iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10, Logitech Keyboard for iPad M4, AI Translator, Sweetfull Handwarmers, Cerebras.Vercel.app, NotebookLM, Keeping our Gadgets Going, iOS 18 and Daisy Disk app
In another jammed packed meeting Bruce Mittelman showed some newly acquired hardware including the iPhone 16 Pro Max, an Apple Watch 10, a Logitech Keyboard for iPad M4, an AI translator and Sweetfull Handwarmers whic h keeps your hands warm in the winter.
Delving back into his Ai passion, Bruce also showed two apps including Cerebras.Vercel.app which allows you to voice chat with an AI assistant and NotebookLM which claims to be your personalized AI research assistant powered by Google's most capable model, Gemini 1.5 Pro.
Bruce also showed a few other apps including:Louis Perez discussed how to extend the life of iPhone iPad and iPod.
iPhone
Mark Astmann showed many of the new features of iOS 18 in a short video. Mark also showed the Daisy Disk app for Mac which allows you to find out what’s taking up your disk space and recover it in the most efficient and easy way. showing you how to to get the most out of this free service.
November 19, 2024
New iMac’s, MacBook Pro’s, Mac Mini’s, Amazon's reMarkable Paper Pro Tablet, Recraft AI, Hailuo AI, Piclumen.com, using Wix to create a simple web site, Holiday shopping, Downie and a compact 3 in 1 folding travel charger
This month Bruce Mittelman showed a short video on Apple's announcement of new iMacs, Mac Mini's and MacBook Pro's. Bruce also showed the brand new Amazon Remarkable Pro.
Delving back into his Ai passion, Bruce demonstrated three apps including Recraft.AI which is a premium image generator and editing tool, Hailuo AI which allows you to reimagine video creation and Piclumen.com, yet another AI image generator.
Scott Alenick shared how he created his own web site using Wix which makes web site creation a snap.Louis Perez will discuss Holiday Tech Gifs including:
Mark Astmann will show the in’s and outs of Downie, which allows you to download video’s from just about any Internet site you can think of. Mark will also show a compact 3 in 1 folding travel charger that acts as a mount for your iPhone and can charge it along with your Apple Watch and AirPods.
December 17, 2024
Annual Christmas Party, KLING AI, Graphic Converter and the Best Software and Hardware of 2024
NJMUG’s annual Christmas party was held at this meeting. sandwiches, chips and dip, pasta salad, corn casserole, cheese, fruit, brownies, cookies, all sorts of candy and water.
Bruce showed KLING Ai which claimed to be a next-generation AI creative studio. Bruce also showed Goolges new Whisk which allows you to upload and image and create a sticker, enamel pin or plushie picture that vaguly looks the original .
Louis Perez discussed the most interesting software and hardware of 2024.
Finally, attendees were entered into a raffle for an electronic translator, which Nick Barter won.
Older Archives
New Jersey Macintosh Users Group
"Sharing Knowledge and Building Friendships Since 1984"
Own a Mac? iPhone? iPad? iPod?
Then the New Jersey Macintosh Users Group is for you! By attending our monthly meetings, you'll:
- Learn how to use your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod to their full potential.
- Get the latest information on the newest Apple technologies.
- Learn the tips and tricks of experienced Apple users.
- Get to interact with fellow Mac enthusiasts.
- Get to share your own knowledge with others.
- Cultivate wonderful long lasting friendships.
Become an NJMUG Member
Download our membership application and mail in with your membership dues or bring it with you to any monthly meeting.
Copyright © 1996-2020 New Jersey Macintosh Users Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, Macintosh, the Apple logo and all other images and trademarks are the property of their prospective owners and are hereby acknowledged as such. Advertising provided by: Clifton Insider. Hosting courtesy of MacHighway.com.