Fareham — Feb 13th 2016
The start was delayed due to some technical problems connecting to the Wifi.
John explained that the Maps app had first appeared with iOS 6 in 2012, and before that, the original default app for iOS devices was Google maps. John started with the basic features, Map view, Satellite view, 2D, 3D and zoom, however, the current location couldn't be accessed on the school internet. He then showed that the globe is displayed when fully zoomed out, and half-shaded to show the nighttime area - perhaps a useful check before Facetiming or Skyping someone in Australia. Next, a feature called Flyover Tour gave a 3D bird's-eye view flying over a city, pausing at important landmarks. This feature is available for nearly 200 cities throughout the world. A close look at London in 3D mode showed Big Ben with the actual current time, and also the London Eye rotating - a clever animation!
Finally, John demonstrated how to plan a route, whether walking or driving, and he also explained how to keep it in the iPad's memory, so that you could take it off-line.
After the break, Stuart gave a comprehensive overview of how to rip the contents of a DVD onto a computer. First, he made it very clear that it was illegal to copy a DVD or CD. Even though the software would enable him to make his own personal lower-quality copy of a purchased DVD to view it on his tablet or smart phone, he would still be infringing the copyright.
It is a slow process, so it would be preferable to have a computer with a fast CPU and also with plenty of RAM.
'Ripit' was the easiest ripping software to use, and when finished, it simply puts the Disc image into a folder on the computer. Another one was 'Mack the Ripper', and this could also be used to separate (or demux) the Audio and Video. In order to rip a Blu-ray disc, you would need 'Make MKV', and this will create a full-size MKV container with all the files but without any degradation. Stuart also mentioned that it's possible to run Blu-ray discs in a Mac's optical drive if the right software is used.
After ripping, the files will still need to be converted into a compressed format such as H264, which could make the file size considerably less than the original, and 'Handbrake', or 'Mpeg Streamclip' would be able to do this. Some software can rip and convert in one go, however, there's no such software for Blu-ray discs.
There wasn't enough time at this meeting for general Q&As.
The next meeting will be on Saturday 12th March at 10.30am.
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