Monthly Mini-Bytes - April 2024

 

Finally! New iPads May 7th After releasing the most expensive pair of ski goggles known to man, Apple finally took some time to update their line of iPads. The announcement was supposed to be in March, but they have scheduled an event for May 7th. Rumors are the iPad Pros will be getting the M3 chip, an OLED display, and the camera will be moved on the front. Wow... Yeah... That's it. So, if you already have an M1 iPad Pro there's really no reason to upgrade. The big news is they may be announcing a new 13 inch iPad Air. That would be interesting as it will be less expensive than the iPad Pro of the same size. It won't have the OLED screen, but at that size I don't know if it will really make a difference. Oh yeah, they are also going to come out with the third generation of the Apple Stylus... uh... I mean Apple Pencil. Sorry, Steve. From what I am reading it doesn't seem like these iPads will be a reason to dump yours and run out and get a new one. If your iPad can run the current iPadOS 17, has decent battery life, and does what it needs to for you, then I say save your money. To learn more about what may be announced, check out this article from MacRumors: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/23/apple-event-let-loose-may-7/

Cox Mail Transitioning to Yahoo If you are a long suffering Cox Email user, then there is some good and bad news. Cox will be dumpingtransitioning their email service over to Yahoo. This means that your Cox email will be hosted by Yahoo, be available in the Yahoo Webmail interface, and you will need to re-add your Cox mail account by choosing Yahoo when you add it to your Mac, iPhone, or iPad. They are rolling this out little by little, but expect to be notified over the next couple of months. But will it be better? Yes. Cox has long neglected their email infrastructure and Yahoo has a much more updated system. You will still maintain the Cox email address so that's also good -- you won't have to go around associating accounts with a new email address.

Software as a Service

It used to be if you wanted a piece of software, you purchased it, installed it, and used it until a new version came out. But now it's 2024 and if these greedy corporate overlords can dip into your pocket month after month for your money, they're gonna do it. And that is what they call Software as a Service (SAAS). It's a catchy name for the fact that if you want to use software like Microsoft Office, Adobe anything, Quicken, or Quickbooks you need to sign up for a subscription. Then month after month you are billed, and because of this the inevitable small price increases aren't as noticeable.  Is there an upside? Yes. As a subscriber you will always have access to the most current version of the software, and have the ability to contact the company for support. For businesses this is a good thing, but for consumers the monthly bills on top of every other subscription can be cumbersome.

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