Washington Apple Pi

A Community of Apple iPad, iPhone and Mac Users

June 2017 General Meeting

iCloud and tying things together

with Joe Kissell, live from Paris

June 24, 2017, 9:30 a.m., George Mason University

iCloud, Apple’s collection of online services, ties all your Apple devices together, allowing you to sync information instantly and share data with your family. But iCloud can also be opaque, weird, and finicky. It can be hard to figure out what’s possible with iCloud and what’s not, and how exactly to do the things that are possible. In this remote presentation, Joe Kissell will share insights from his book Take Control of iCloud, offering tips and answering your questions. Among other things, he’ll talk about using multiple iCloud accounts (or Apple IDs) for different purposes, how family plans work, and what sorts of things you shouldn’t even bother trying with iCloud.

Take control of iCloud

Joe Kissell is the author of more than 60 books on tech topics, most of them involving Apple products. And, as of May 1, he became the owner and publisher of Take Control Books, which he purchased from Adam & Tonya Engst.

We will also have our famed Question and Answer session, and an eclectic set of prizes to give away (if we remember to bring them).

And now for something completely different: YouTube Live Streaming!

Due to technical details far too detailed and technical to handle in the available space, Washington Apple Pi is going to try to stream the meeting using YouTube Live Streaming, instead of our previous technology, which consisted of a very talented artist drawing quick, sequential sketches which were then shot on a QuickTake 200 camera and stitched together into a stop-motion film. Go ahead and laugh, but really impressed people in 1997.

Try this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeX9TuhjBL7n1HGlHOaNCmQ (but only during the meeting).

The General Meeting will be in our usual location, Enterprise building, Room 178 on the George Mason University campus in Fairfax VA. Check back closer to the meeting date for any updates or changes.

George Mason University map

Enterprise Hall, our normal meeting place, is #16. Click on the map for a much larger version of the George Mason University campus map.

George Mason University Essential Information

The meeting will be held in Enterprise Hall, Room 178.

Address: 4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA (near Rte 123 and Braddock Road). Directions and Map: http://www.gmu.edu/welcome/Directions-to-GMU.html

Interactive map of campus: http://eagle.gmu.edu/map/fairfax.php

Important Parking Information: Two Options, Paid and Free

The Shenandoah Parking Garage (formerly the Sandy Creek Parking Garage because it is located on Sandy Creek) is fee-based facility. It is more convenient and closer to the meeting location. The Pi will subsidize the facility's parking fee by providing vouchers for donation request of $4.00.

If using the parking garage, park in Visitor's area; i.e., the lowest level. Take the elevator to the third floor (Campus Level), and exit along the sky bridge.

After the meeting, exit the garage using the exits marked for Validated Tickets. Your parking ticket goes in first. Then the validation ticket goes in next. If you have any problems, there is a speaker box for calling the parking lot attendant at the checkout point.

Free parking in Lot A

Park as close to Mattaponi River Lane as possible, then walk north along that road toward the main campus buildings. The sidewalk route takes you directly to the side of Enterprise Hall, on your left. The meeting room is located on the second floor, accessible via outside stairs or via an elevator on your right as soon as you enter the building through the doors behind the outside stairs. We will endeavor to have signs posted to help guide you to the right location. It is at least a five-minute walk from Lot A and up a slight incline. We will be using a golf cart along the route, to offer rides to those who want or need a lift.

Handicapped Parking: There are three handicap parking spaces next to Enterprise Hall that can be used by members, on a first come first served basis. Have your Handicap Sticker showing on the dashboard or on the rear-view mirror.