Wrap Up - Association of Personal Computer User Groups

Transcription

ISSN: 1535-3710
Volume 17
Issue 1
First Quarter 2006
In This Issue
Be an APCUG Advisor...............3
President’s Message ...................3
Annual Treasurer's Report ........4
OLS report for 2005 ..................4
Posting Messages on WebBoard .5
APCUG Technology Committee .7
2005 Newsletter Contest .............8
Web Site Contest .......................9
Contest Winners Websites ..........9
Jerry Award ..............................11
PUSH Editorial Committee ........16
Stamping Out Spyware! .............16
Giving vs Taking ........................17
Happenings in Region 6 .............18
Everything Wireless...................19
Secretary Report .......................21
Bytes of Law..............................22
In Defense of Uploading .............22
CES 2006 - The Year of the Gadget.. 24
Diablo Valley PC Users Group ...26
Attorney’s Advice ......................27
2006 Annual Conference Review 28
What Works - Region 1 ..............30
& Computers, Too! ....................30
Preparing for Windows Vista .....31
Vista Preview.............................31
Sarnia Computer Users' Group ..32
PC Club Of Toronto ...................33
Where can you find meeting ideas? . 34
January - March 2006
Wrap Up
by Don Singleton
We got a bit behind in publishing APCUG Reports
last year, and I would like to apologize to our readers for that. The October-December 2005 issue was
printed in time for copies to be made available at
the 2006 Annual Conference, but for reasons beyond our control it not only did not get mailed in
time to reach the membership before the Conference (there was a lot of Conference information in
that issue), it did not even get mailed until after the
conference was over.
I am the new Editor of APCUG Reports, and I pledge
to do a much better job this year. Since the OctoberDecember 2005 issue was just being mailed, and
since I did not have the opportunity to announce
the deadlines until after the conference, I did not
feel I could get the January-March 2006 issue out as
soon as I wanted. Therefore I set a February 15 deadline for an absolutely drop-dead deadline that issue.
Any copy received after the deadline will go in the
April-June 2006 issue. Absolute deadlines for future issues will be April 1, July 1, October 1, and
January 15, 2007.
An issue will be sent to the printer no later than the
second day after the deadline, and the issue should
be online at the APCUG WebSite two days after that.
I urge UG officers to check the WebSite for the new
issue, and when it appears, send a link to it to other
officers in your UG, and urge them to check it for
ideas you might want to try in your UG.
APCUG Reports Page 1
APCUG REPORTS is published quarterly by the
REPORTS Editor: Don Singleton
Association of Personal Computer User Groups,
[email protected]
Inc. (APCUG) to inform and educate officers of
Publication Guidelines
member user groups. It shares information about
Articles should be limited to two pages (approxithe activities of APCUG and related opportunities
mately 1500 words). Text may be in almost any
for the benefit of APCUG members.
format but preferably in Microsoft Word or plain
Unless specifically stated otherwise, the opinions text.
that are expressed in any article or column are those
Submit articles with the intended issue date in the
of the individual author(s) and do not represent an
subject line to [email protected]. For example:
official position of, or endorsement by, APCUG.
REPORTS Q3 2006. Please include your name,
APCUG is an independent, non-profit association User Group name, and an e-mail address where
and is not affiliated in any way with any vendor or you may be contacted.
equipment manufacturer.
Submission of Articles
Copyright © 2006. All rights reserved.
The absolute deadline is shown below; copy received after the deadline will be considered for the
Officers & Board of Directors
next quarter’s issue. We request that copy be [email protected]
mitted at least two weeks before the deadline shown
President: Ken Bundy
below, in case we need to contact you about
Vice President: Don Singleton
changes..
Secretary: Jim Evans
Treasurer: Steve Peyrot
Issue
Copy Needed Deadline
Q1 = Jan/Feb/Mar
Jan 31
Feb15
Peter Hess Peggy Ireland
Q2 = Apr/May/Jun
Mar 15
April 1
Tom Jones Ash Nallawalla
Q3 = Jul/Aug/Sep
June 15
July 1
Ira Wilsker
Q4 = Oct/Nov/Dec
Sep 15
Oct 1
Board of Advisors
Unless protected by copyright, all articles published
[email protected]
in REPORTS may be reprinted. User Group ediChair: Judy Taylour
tors should give proper credit to the author.
Vice Chair: Bill James
Secretary: Charlotte Semple
All articles submitted for publication in REPORTS
are subject to editing. Each issue of REPORTS
Jay Ferron Art Silverglate
focuses on User Group management issues,
Dave Gerber David Steward
achievements and events of member groups from
Gabe Goldberg Roger Tesch
the 14 APCUG Regions, and updates from APCUG
John Hirsh Melvin Weekley
directors, advisors, and committee chairs.
Bob Kwater Cheryl Wester
Rod Rakes
Committees
On Line Services ..........................Rich Schinnell
Publications .................................. Don Singleton
Community Service ...................... Art Silverglate
Elections ..............................................Bill James
Alliances .. David Steward, Patricia Hill, Cheryl Wester
AoI and Bylaws ....................... Charlotte Semple
Technology ...................................... Roger Tesch
Membership .....................................Judy Taylour
Meeting Planning.........Peggy Ireland, Caryl Hall
APCUG Communications
Website: http://www.apcug.net
Board of Directors: [email protected]
Board of Advisors: [email protected]
Individual Officers:
http://apcug.net/APCUG/management/index.htm
Be an APCUG Advisor
President’s Message
Bill James, Region 6 Advisor
Chair, Nominating Committee
by Ken Bundy
As an Officer of a User's Group you are familiar
with the day to day operations of your club. You
probably also are aware of how difficult it can be to
keep you club vibrant with programs that interest
your members. Membership for most clubs has been
declining. The APCUG works hard to provide you
with the tools to make your club successful. This is
done through the volunteers that make themselves
available as members of the Board of Advisors
(BoA). Each year the APCUG looks for volunteers
to fill these positions. Solicitations will go our later
this year. So what is the BoA and what does it do?
The BoA is a fifteen member body (Regional Advisors) elected by the APCUG user groups for a twoyear, staggered term. One half of the BoA is elected
each year.
One of the primary duties of an Advisor is communicating with the User Group Leaders in the region
that you are assigned. When possible the advisor is
assigned to the region where they reside, but that
this is not the case if there are two or more people
on the board from the same region. It really does
not matter what area you are from, you can still communicate with the leaders in the region. The monthly
NOOZ that is sent through e-mail is the primary
means of communicating to all the Presidents, editors, and APCUG Reps in the region that you are
assigned. If you are fortunate to be the advisor in a
region that you reside, you might visit them. Most
clubs are very happy to have you drop in on their
meetings. Again the emphasis is on communication
how ever you are able to achieve it.
Welcome to 2006 ! Recently, while attending
the APCUG Annual Conference, (my first, by the
way), I was asked several times about APCUG’s
plan for the new year. My answer was always
the same: “We’re going to improve our service
to our members”. This doesn’t mean we’re going to necessarily implement new features and
programs, but it does mean we’re going to work
very hard to improve the services and benefits
we already offer you as our members.
If your User Group is doing well…we want to
know about it. Let’s get up and share your success stories with your fellow members. If your
User Group is having problems, be it membership, meeting attendance, program ideas or whatever, we want to know about that, too. I can almost guarantee you that some other member has
had a similar issue, and solved it. Our
function…our mission…our only purpose in life
is to give you the means to obtain that solution.
Still another goal for 2006 is to help you with
Community Service ideas, and to showcase your
projects. I’ve heard from some User Groups that
they don’t enter our yearly Jerry Awards because
they didn’t think their project was really good
enough, or they assumed that “The same groups
always win”. This year will be different…I promise. If you’re not reaching out to your community, now’s the time to act. Let’s get out from
behind our computer screens and help in the community. Besides the great feeling you get from
There are other duties being an advisor, such as athelping others, your projects help your User
tending monthly online meetings and contributing
articles to the Quarterly APCUG Reports newslet- Group bringing publicity, funding, and members.
ter describing your region's activities. If you are interested in promoting User's groups, then perhaps
taking an Advisor role is for you. As an Advisor you
are the most visible connection the APCUG. Helping User's groups be successful is very rewarding.
Solicitations for BoA vacancies will go out in August. As chair of the nominating committee I would
pleased to have you as a candidate.
Watch for some very exciting announcements for
the coming year. We’re already planning next
year’s Annual Conference….with some very cool
ideas to implement. And our entire Community
Service function will be re-targeted.
We’re here to help you…as a User
Group….succeed. After all, it’s what we do.
APCUG 2005
Annual Treasurer's Report
As announced during the APCUG Annual meeting
during the 2006 APCUG Annual Conference in Las
Vegas, I am hereby providing the 2005 Annual
Treasurer's Report for APCUG. Because of the logistics of posting memberships, registrations, and
the costs of the conference itself including materials, services, shipping, rentals, and travel, it is quite
difficult to have a true end of year report just hours
after the actual end of the year. While I did my best
to provide all attendees a good ball park estimate of
where everything stood, I am providing a final report of our 2005 finances with this issue of REPORTS. During the next few weeks, I will be finalizing the income and expenses associated with
the actual conference itself and I will be able to report on income and expenses related to the conference which will affect the 1st Quarter report which
I will provide you in the next issue of Reports.
One important piece of information which I need to
share with everyone within APCUG is as follows. I
am sad to inform the membership that effective Jan5,
2006, our former Administrative Assistant Ms.
Sharon Fry, did tender her resignation to me right
after the 2006 Annual Conference. I do wish Sharon
the very best in the future. At the present time, the
entire Board of Directors is in the process of seeking a replacement for Sharon. An email blast was
issued in early January to all member user groups
within APCUG. We received numerous resumes and
letters of interest from many folks. Interviews will
take place in February. In the meantime one of our
former Administrative Assistants Joyce Guasch has
"un-retired" for the next few weeks and will fill in
until a new person is hired. By the next issue of
Reports, I should be able to inform member groups
as to the outcome of the selection process.
For our Financial Report, I provide the following:
Collectively in our Savings and Checking Accounts
(including Money Market) for both Bank of America
and US Bank, APCUG has total assets in the amount
of $179, 488.01
Beginning January 1st and ending December 31st,
2005, we had net income in the amount of
$79,918.02 and total expenses in the amount of
$68,912.10 (factoring in interest from bank accounts). We therefore have a net profit for 2005 in
the amount of $11,005.92. Please note that much
of the $11K net income was derived from conference charges not being costed in 2005 but in 2006
as a result of when the conference takes place in the
year. Final adjustment to both income and cost relative to the 2006 conference will transpire by 1st Qtr
2006. We should also expect some lower revenue
by having only 3 general sponsors this year.
If you would like any additional information relative to this report or any other aspect to the Treasury of APCUG, please feel free to email me at any
time.
Steve Peyrot
Treasurer, APCUG
[email protected]
OLS report for 2005
by Rich Schinnell
The On Line Services committee has had a busy
2005. The elections were conducted via VoteNet
and the results show that our member groups will
participate in on-line voting. There were very few
glitchs and the 35% turnout was better than the paper ballot years. A very nice feature of using VoteNet
was the ability to send out reminder messages to
those who had not voted. http://www.votenet.com
is their web site. They provided the service at a
discount to APCUG as a promotion. At the end of
the election, we were able to extract a listing of the
groups that had/had-not voted which was provided
to the BoDA members to find out why some of the
groups did not vote.
The annual conference web site was created and
designed by Ken Bundy and served the conference
and alliances committees very well. The registration and payment routines had a few minor glitch's
but all in all a very successful conference registration process. The results of the Newsletter, WebSite
contests, information from the training sessions and
the proceedings are available on the apcug.net web
site at:
http://www.apcug.net/events/
conference06/conf06files.htm
Posting Messages on WebBoard
by Don Singleton
APCUG Vice President and Editor
I have been hearing that people are not certain how
to use various features on WebBoard, so over the
next few issues I will take different features and
try to cover them in detail.
email is the way to communicate with others.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Tom, Dick and Harry could
communicate together? Well, with WebBoard they
can. I created a special conference on the APCUG
WebBoard called “test”, and I posted a message in
it using each of the three ways.
We have a number of conferences in the APCUG For Tom I logged onto the WebBoard at
WebBoard. Each Region has its own conference,
http://webboard.apcug.org:8080/~apcug
where the Advisors usually post their monthly and clicked on the conference I wanted to post to,
NOOZ articles, as well as responding to questions then clicked Post in the title bar, and filled in the
posed by members in their regions. In addition there
are a number of conferences that are region independent such as APCUG Community Service,
APCUG Computer Refurbishing, APCUG Members Tips and Ideas, APCUG Membership Benefits.
A few others were created, like UG President, UG
Program Chairman, User Group Management,
User Group Meetings, but they have not gotten any
traffic, although there are 27 messages in UG Web
message, and clicked the Post box. This is the norMaster, and 4 in User Group Newsletters.
mal way most people post messages in WebBoard,
There are three ways to use WebBoard. Consider but the real power of WebBoard is that there are
three hypothetical members of your user group, other ways to do it.
Tom, Dick and Harry. Tom is just barely learning
Remember Dick. He prefers news groups. So I set
how to use the Internet. He knows how to use a
up Outlook Express to access the WebBoard conweb browser, sort of, and as far as he really knows,
ference as if it was a UseNet News Group. I clicked
that is what the Internet is. He has heard of email,
Tools, Accounts, News, Add. and filled in my name,
and plans to learn how to do it some day, but not
today.
Dick spends several hours a day in his News
Reader, reading messages (articles) in UseNet
Newsgroups, plus going to the private News Servers for many of his major hardware/software products. Of course he knows about the web and email,
but he seldom uses either one - he is too busy reading the news groups.
Harry is an email expert. He participates in at least
a dozen mailing lists, plus exchanges email messages with many different friends. If he does not
have at least 100 messages in his email box when
he logs on (two hours since the last time he was
logged on) he thinks something is wrong. He’s email address, set the News (NNTP) Server address
used newsgroups once or twice, and of course has to be webboard.apcug.org, and checked the box
surfed the web. But as far as Harry is concerned, that says my news server requires me to log on.
I then filled in my user nameand password. I clicked
the box that said to remember my password, since
no one else is likely to use my computer.
I told it I would like to review a list of the available news groups, and I clicked to subscribe to the
Test group, since I wanted to post a message in
that conference.
Then on the main Outlook Express screen I clicked
on the apcug.test group,
and clicked New Post,
and posted a
message using
the
News
Group (NNTP) interface.
So Tom can use the browser interface, and Dick
can use the News Reader interface. What about
Harry, who prefers email? Harry will have to use
his browser first, and logon to WebBoard, click
“More” in the top bar, select Mailing List from the
list of options, and then click in each box for conferences he wishes to receive messages from, just
as if they were from a mailing list program. He
should also notice the email address of the mailAPCUG Reports Page 6
ing list. For example, to email a message to the
test conference, it should be sent to
[email protected]
Note that WebBoard uses the apcug.org domain
name. The primary APCUG website is at
apcug.net, and the domain names for the email
addresses of APCUG Board members is apcug.net,
but WebBoard uses apcug.org.
If we look at the Test conference with a browser Messages posted by a browser or the NNTP interwe will see 3 messages.
face don’t show that graphic.
If we look at the message posted by the email message, we even see a graphic in the upper right cor- If you have not yet signed up to use the APCUG
ner that looks like a postal imprint saying it was WebBoard, I urge you to go to:
sent by the email interface.
http://apcug.net/services/webboard_signup.htm
for instructions, and then to actually signup go to:
http://webboard.apcug.org:8080/~apcug
As an APCUG Member Group you can even get
your own WebBoard.
APCUG Technology Committee
by Roger Laurel Tesch, Chair
Committee Members: Roger Tesch - Chair, Bill
James, Alicia King Padgett-Townsend, Rich
Schinnell, Don Singleton, and Melvin Weekly
The Technology Committee's main objectives are:
1.
To explore and report on new technologies
available.
2.
To advise and report to the board of possible
implementation of new technologies.
podcasts or video recordings of future events. New
technologies to explore for APCUG are digital
media like podcasts, blogging, XML, RSS feeds.
We could create blogs for different topics and also
invite guest speakers on finance, leadership, and
other things. Blogs could be promoted through
NOOZ and Reports. We could have podcasts of
RT sessions from the annual conference and some
of the regionals for people who are unable to attend or who want to listen to them again.
In 2005, the committee discussed documentation
of APCUG's servers and programs. We would like
Some of the ways to accomplish this include the to get articles on technology to share through Reports, PUSH, and the website. This would include
following:
how to use the WebBoard. We also discussed up1. Share articles with the user groups through grading WebBoard. Version 8 adds RSS feeds,
APCUG Reports and PUSH.
whiteboard, and a number of other features.
3.
To advise the On Line Services Committee.
2.
Write articles on gadgets, RSS, blogs, documentation on WebBoard, etc.
3.
The committee noted that APCUG and user groups
may want to look at developing a Continuation of
Work with the On Line Services Committee Operation Plan or Risk Management Plan. APCUG
to establish, and annually update, a technol- and many user groups have been impacted by hurricanes, tornadoes, and other disasters this year.
ogy plan.
The annual conference had a break-out session on
podcasting for user groups, which was well atIn 2005, the committee started to look at doing tended.
podcast recordings of some of the break-out sessions at the recent conference. However, there was
Press any key...
not enough time available to prepare for this. Durno, no, no, NOT THAT ONE!
ing 2006, the committee will pursue making
4.
Update the portal technology content.
2005 Newsletter Contest
Small Groups
1st Place – Broward Personal Computer Association, Inc.
2nd Place – Arizona Society for Computer Information, Inc.
3rd Place – Southwest International Personal Computer Club
Honorable Mention – Computer Users of Erie
Medium Groups
1st Place – Twin Cities PC User Group
2nd Place – Big Bear Computer Club
3rd Place – Los Angeles Computer Society
Honorable Mention – Big Blue & Cousins
Large Groups
1st Place – Alamo PC Organization
2nd Place – North Orange County Computer Club
2nd Place – Melbourne PC User Group
3rd Place – Tri County Computer Users Group
Charlotte Semple – 3rd Place Medium Group
Los Angeles Computer Society
Honorable Mention – Danbury Area Computer Society
All of the groups that participated in the contest
will receive certificates of appreciation.
1st Place winners will receive plaques and 2nd and
3rd Place and Honorable Mention will receive certificates.
The participation certificates, plaques and prizes
will be mailed to the address provided on the entry
form. Groups will also receive a compilation of
their scores, as well as a list of all of the scores to
see where they placed.
1st Place winners will receive Adobe Creative Suite 2
2nd Place winners will receive CorelDraw
3rd Place winners will receive Microsoft Publisher
& Jasc Paint Shop Pro
Dave Steward – 1st Place Large Group
Alamo PC Organization
We almost doubled the groups that participated in
last year’s contest. Thanks to the 2005 Newsletter
& Web Site Contest Committee: Judy Taylour,
David Steward, Charlotte Semple and Don Singleton. And another BIG THANK YOU to the Newsletter Contest judges: Gabe Goldberg, Matt
McCann and Gene Barlow.
I see no reason
why anyone would want
a computer in their home.
Kenneth Olsen
Founder of Digital Equipment
Jim Sanders – 2nd Place Large Group
North Orange County Computer Club
Web Site Contest
Small Groups
1st Place – Fredericksburg PC Users Group
1st Place – Amador Computer Users Group
2nd Place – Santa Barbara PC Users Group
3rd Place – Princeton PC User Group
Honorable Mention – Santa Clarita Valley PC Group
Medium Groups
1st Place – PC Community
2nd Place – Kentucky-Indiana PC Users Group
3rd Place – Tacoma Area PC Users Group
Honorable Mention – Diablo Valley PC Users Group
Large Groups
1st Place – Tampa Bay Computer Society
2nd Place – Sunflower Computer Club
3rd Place – Tucson Computer Society
Bayle Emlein – 1st Place Medium Size Group
PC Community
Honorable Mention – Computer Club of Oklahoma City
All of the groups that participated in the contest
will receive certificates of appreciation. 1st Place
winners will receive plaques and 2nd and 3rd Place
+ Honorable Mention will receive certificates. The
participation certificates, plaques and prizes will
be mailed to the address provided on the entry form.
Groups will also receive a compilation of their
scores, as well as a list of all of the scores to see
where they placed.
1st Place winners will receive Adobe Creative Suite 2
2nd Place winners will receive Adobe Acrobat (full version)
3rd Place winners will receive Microsoft Frontpage
& Jasc Paint Shop Pro
We almost doubled the groups that participated in
last year’s contest. Thanks to the 2005 Newsletter
& Web Site Contest Committee: Judy Taylour,
David Steward, Charlotte Semple and Don Singleton. And another BIG THANK YOU to the Web
Site Contest judges: Marcy Gunn, Jen Clausen,
David Steward and Judy Taylour.
Seen on a T Shirt
"I'm a bomb squad technician.
If you see me running,
try to keep up."
Judy Lococo – 2nd Place Medium Size Group
Kentucky-Indiana PC Users Group
Contest Winners Websites
by Judy Taylour
Here's something I put together regarding winners
of the website or newsletter contest. I got the info
from newsletters I received or visiting their
websites. Visited all of them tonight and its amazing that most of them don't have the logos on their
websites, etc. [ Editor’s note: Did you not get the
award logos? I prepared individual award graphics for each award, which included an Adobe Illustrator file of the award graphic, which can be
used to generate the graphic in any desired size,
format, and resolution. It also included a jpg and
a transparent gif version of the graphic, for those
that do not know how to use an AI file. If you did
not get your files and if you want them, email
[email protected] and tell me which contest
(newsletter or website) and what level you won.]
Fredericksburg PC Users Group Newsletter,
Electronically Speaking, February 2006
www.fpcug.org
1st Place, 2005 Web Site Contest, Small Groups
and appreciate his help and advice, since I took
this over. It is my opinion that Bob's setup of our
User Group information, of which I changed very
little, was a major factor in attaining the 1st place
award.
I would like to thank all those of our group who
contributed reviews, minutes and articles, as in
Josh Did It
going over the judging criteria used, it is clear to
me that those contributions and their timeliness was
We all know we had a great webpage but Josh
another major factor.
Cockey, our Webmaster, achieved something never
before accomplished in the history of FPCUG. He The layout and presentation section of the criteria
was recognized by APCUG as the FPCUG is really the only major portion of the credit to
Webmaster of the First Prize for websites in the which I can lay any claim and it is only because of
small groups division.
the input received by all of you, that I can so readily
and consistently produce a quality newsletter.
When you see Josh, please compliment him on this
outstanding accomplishment.
I can only hope that you will all contribute content
and that in the future we will be able to grow
Broward Personal Computer Association
enough to win a similar award for the Medium
C:\BPCA Newsletter, February 2006
Group and hopefully someday the Large Group
http://www.bpca.com
1st Place, 2005 Newsletter Contest, Small Groups categories.
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR by Steve Costello, Once again thank you to all who have made this
Director/Editor BPCA
an enjoyable and award winning experience in my
short time as Editor and thank you in advance for
It is with great pride that I announce that the
what I am sure will be another great year to come.
C:\BPCA News has won 1st place in the Small
North Orange County Computer Club
Group category of the APCUG Newsletter ConOrange Bytes New Magazine
test for 2005.
http://apcug.net/events/conference06/results/
APCUGNewsletter2005.htm
The APCUG 1st Place Award logo appears on the
first page of this edition.
1st Place Winners are also receiving a copy of
Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium, a Certificate of
Appreciation and a Plaque.
I have already received my copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium and am looking forward to
exploring the included software: Adobe Photoshop
CS2, Adobe Illustrator CS2, Adobe InDesign CS2,
Adobe GoLive CS2 Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional. Version Que CS2, and much more.
This award is a great honor and I wish to thank our
previous editor, Bob Dooley, as I have based my
editorship on his fine newsletters of previous years
2nd Place, 2005 Newsletter Contest, Large Groups
www.noccc.org
President's Message, Elise Edgell
Congratulations Jim Sanders, Ted Littman, and
everyone who writes articles and reviews for the
Orange Bytes for winning 2nd place at the APCUG
contest. We are in the "large groups" category and
the competition is stiff. I am particularly impressed
with the quality of our publication because, unlike
the past members who were instrumental in the
publication for years, our Jim Sanders has NO
newspaper or other publication background. He
did not even know how to use PageMaker when
he volunteered to become the OB editor. Now he
is learning and using InDesign.
Have you ever TRIED
taking candy from a baby?
Jerry Award
This year we have three catorgories,
Windows operating system, we will also reload the
OS. Otherwise, Linux/Open Office can be used.
The results of our work are seen in school comOngoing
puter labs for rural Iowa schools, local boys and
A program run by, or in association with, the User
girl's clubs, and e-mail capable units in nursing
Group. The program should have been in existhomes.
ence for a more then a year.
Computers, which are to old to find uses for or
New
which cannot be refurbished, are stripped down for
That is a program run by or in association with the
useable parts and all metallic parts are recycled.
user group. The program has to have been in existence since December 2004.
2005 Accomplishments:
How
This category requires you to provide documentation on how you run your program.
· Provided equipment for a computer lab for a rural school district hit hard by budget cutbacks due
to local factory closings.
•
Where did you get the idea?
•
How did you find the resources, space, money,
etc
· Supplied several other school districts with computers to increase their computer resources without large procurement costs.
•
What documentation did you create or find.
•
What software, if any is used in the program
· Shipped dozens of older computers in conjuncand where did you find it.
tion with Firestone Corporation to Liberia.
How do you publize your program?
· Supplied miscellaneous other non-profits with
How do you plan do make the information computers for back office use including Habitat
available to other groups that may be inter- For Humanity, local drug counseling agencies,
ested?
church run day-care centers, non-profit child
mentoring groups, etc.
•
•
Now for the awards:
Ongoing:
Third Place goes to
The Central Iowa Computer Users Group
Computer Refurbishing - Recycling Old
Computer Kindly (R.O.C.K.) Project.
Additional information available at http://
www.ciacug.org/rock.htm.
The ROCK project refurbishes computers and provides them to 501(c)3 organizations as well as
schools, churches and government agencies. Donations are received from local corporations as well
as individuals. Requirements for donations are
listed on our web site. Volunteers supply all of our
labor. The donated machines are tested, cleaned
and have their hard drives reformatted. We then
reload them with DOS. If we have the license for a
· Provided computers to missionaries in New
Guinea.
We have been able to refurbish up to 1,500 computers per year. We have been using two classrooms
in an old school, but last year our landlord changed
from the school district to a non-profit management organization. This plus the cost of replacing
the heating/cooling systems has caused our rent to
skyrocket over 50% during the last two years. We
have always done our work for free, but have been
asking for a $5 recycling donation per monitor. This
helps us cover the cost of the occasional non-working CRT which must be properly disposed of per
Iowa DNR and EPA guidelines. Occasionally we
also hold a "garage sale" to sell off old components and assist with the rent
Second place goes to:
Sarasota PC Users Group
Sarasota PC Refurbishing Project
First Place goes to:
The Phoenix Project
The Phoenix Project in association with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) and
the Cristina Foundation has refurbished computers in Maryland since 1991. In that time with a
volunteers we have refurbished over 15,000 computers that have been donated free of charge to
schools in Maryland and persons in need. We have
also donated to Ronald McDonald House in Baltimore and community centers in Baltimore City and
county.
The mission of The Phoenix Project is to provide
working computers to public schools and commuThe Sarasota PC Refurbishing Project began in nity organizations that are educating Maryland's
August of 2003, under the direction of Roger Leer. children, youth, and adults. One of Maryland's eduRoger's vision was that the project would refur- cational technology goals is to equip every student
bish donated computers and provide them to local with a computer. The minimum standard is five
not for profit organizations and to individuals in students to one computer. This project is assisting
need of a computer, but could not afford one. To in this goal, particularly in less advantaged areas
start this project Roger began holding three hour of the State.
Saturday morning classes at the Sarasota County Accept computers of Pentium 3 or higher from
Technical Institute. Over a period of 25 months corporations and government;
we have held 103 refurbishing classes, refurbished
240 computers, and performed 1000 hours of com- Provide tax incentives through the National
munity service (includes refurbishing, installation, Cristina Foundation, the Maryland national parttrouble shooting, and instructing). In June of 2005 ner;
Roger Leer suffered a heart attack and underwent Refurbish computers and guarantee that they are
successful bypass surgery. His back-up leader in proper working order;
David Winkelman, was then established as project
Provide operating systems and software on each
leader.
machine;
Organizations that have received donations are
Girls Inc. (an organization that provides after Provide free computers to public schools and comschool education in day to day skills for high risk munity organizations with education programs;
girls), The Women's Resource Center (provides Assist in student and teacher training, including
training to at risk women looking for work), training experience for computer repair technicians
Suncoast Center for Independent Living (provides working on certification.
services to the physically impaired), Coastal Behavioral Health Care (provides mental health care PARTNERS:
to the needy), Every Child, Inc. (after school edu- The National Cristina Foundation
cation to children living in the Sarasota Housing
Project), Children's Cancer Center (provides care The Maryland Department of Health and Mental
services to needy children withcancer and their Hygiene
families), and some donations to needy individu- The Phoenix Volunteers, winners of the Governor's
als who need a computer but can not afford one. 2001 Volunteer Award
Dave Gerber, Sarasota PCUG
Vista Volunteers of America
Senior Cybernet
Towson University
WJZ-TV
CPU is attached to a monitor, keyboard, mouse,
and/or printer, as needed to solve the problem.
Because RAK is operated at no cost to the recipient, spare parts are essential to make the event viable.
Computer systems are also built and donated for
worthwhile causes such as a local museum, a learnThird Place goes to:
ing disabled child, etc. It is difficult to keep the
Tulsa Computer Society - HelpingTulsa Project necessary equipment on hand to perform RAK
While I was helping the Superior Pawnee Com- because TBCS members often donate the necesputer Society in Nebraska October get their com- sary spare parts to RAK attendees as well as other
puter refurbishing project off the ground, we worthy causes. Often the supply does not keep
needed to build an Image Machine for each of their pace with the demand. Funding for this additional
volunteer workers, so they could work at home equipment would be helpful.
during the winter when the snow might make it
difficult for them to come to a central refurbishing The Tampa Bay Computer Society is currently prelocation. But we did not have enough 8 Gig Hard paring for the 22nd "Random Acts of Kindness"
Drives, so I developed a new machine that pro- Computer Clinic. By partnering with local librarvided all of the capabilities of the original Image ies, civic groups, computer user groups, and the
Machine that we use 99% of the time, and used a national Random Acts of Kindness Foundation,
much smaller hard drive. The machine I developed members with the necessary expertise repair comin Nebraska has gone through several subsequent puters for those in need.
revisions. When working in the field one very sel- Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) is an event that
dom has a need to come up with a custom configu- has been celebrated worldwide for the past eight
ration of the software on a system (something the years. The major objective is to perform small acts
full Image Machine could do, but which the ma- of kindness for others in order to uplift them. It is
chine from Nebraska could not do), but the worker hoped that some of the recipients will be moved to
in the field sometimes needs to be able to check pass similar acts on to others.
something on our HowTo documentation, or he
may need some drivers that are not on the Win- A day is scheduled at a community venue and the
dows CAB files, and he may not have access to event is publicized in the local media. Attendees
the internet to find those drivers. The new Road register online. Our crackerjack troubleshooting
Warrior design addresses those needs, and an up- team uses email to perform "triage" on their probdated Road Warrior B, released in August 2005, lems. A plan of attack is devised to correct the
added back the capability of installing a custom problems. Any software that may be needed to corconfiguration of the software on a system, so now rect the problem is downloaded prior to the day of
Road Warrior can do everything the old Image the event.
Machine could do, plus several other features it The team of troubleshooters may assist 3 to 6
did not have.
people per hour and accommodate walk-ins when
How
Tampa Bay Computer Society
Random Acts of Kindness Project
Approximately 80% of the people being served are
seniors, many on limited incomes. To make the
clinics as accessible as possible for them, they are
asked to bring only their CPU to the event. Their
time permits. The problem computers are attached
to the appropriate equipment, the problems diagnosed, and the repairs made on the spot when possible. The few people who have problems that are
unsolvable by the technicians receive suggestions
for their solution.
Over 250 computers have been repaired during the
5 years that our clinics have been conducted. Future RAK Clinics are currently being scheduled.
Tampa Bay Computer Society works in association with Random ACTS of Kindness
HOW
Cajun Clickers Pet Rescue
This project gararned the highest point total!
We all know the devastation hurricane Katrina
caused in human suffering.
But animals also suffered especially to pet form
dogs, cats, birds and compantions of all kinds.
People would refuse to leave their condemned
homes if they could not take their pets with them.
In some cases of the elderly a pet was their only
companion and a reason to live. The Cajun clickers in association with Depratment of Agriceture,
Human Society and ASPCA requesting assiatncw
with pet rescue, set up a lab to keep a list of pets,
owners looking for pets, blogs, websites, etc to help
reunite pets with owners.
New:
Third Place goes to
The Phoenix Project
who have NMSS. So that they could get onto the
internet to correspond with family, friends and other
NMSS clients. To keep up with medical advances
and schedule appointments, etc. There are medicines for NMSS but they tend to cost between 10,
to 15 thousand dollars a year for the clients. So
extras like a computer can be out of reach for many.
With the help of the Phoenix Project a volunteer
who comes to the MS office once a week we have
been able to restore, with additional donations, over
45 computers in 2005. All of the computers came
with network cards but no modems the NMSS society purchased the modems and operating systems.
We install modems because not all clients can afford Cable or DSL. By installing modems we give
them an option to get on the Internet as inexpensively as possible.
We also have set up with the NMSS a training center where we will be able to train other non-profit
workers in using Windows, Office (Word. Excel,
PowerPoint and Outlook) and computer maintenance for the non-techie. Most non-profits either
send workers to a 150-200 dollar or more, a day
training class in the above we will be offering workshops in those areas for much less. Just the cost of
printing training materials and lunch.
Computers Assisting People
Though CAP has been refurbishing PCs for the
Cleveland community for 10 years having helped
over 250 local non-profit organizations ( http://
www.capinc.org/caporgs.htm ) with over 10,000
PCs and uncounted numbers of printers and other
peripherals and has established dozens of computer
labs with Internet connections in all 21 Wards of
the city, we were faced with a new situation this
year.
Hundreds of prisoners were being released back
into the community due to shortages of jail space
In April 2005 after viewing the Coffee With seg- and other reasons. Most were residents of 3 or 4
ment on a local newscast in Baltimore WJZTV "tough" Wards in the city.
channel 13. The project was called by a staff member from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society We knew that without proper training and oppor(NMSS). They had been given a donation of 25 tunities many of these men (overwhelmingly male)
working computers that wanted to give to clients would end up back in prison. We also quickly
learned that most of these men are not "joiners"
and would not take advantage of some of the government programs (such as school classes) that
were available to them.
CAP worked with local groups such as SAVE-AVIP and Community Re-entry to provide a training and work environment where these men could
come in and learn some skills without all the formalities of some of the government programs.
Total tax returns prepared
Electronically filed
301
194
64% of the total
Stay tuned to web site, as there will be changes to
the Jerry awards for 2007.
As a result, several have become A+ certified and
one has started a computer repair business and has
hired several other ex-prisoners to work for him.
The city is safer and these men are providing valuable contributions to society rather than being a
problem.
We have now started targeting returning soldiers
from Iraq who now want more than their factory
job.
The Rockport Computer Users' Group
The Rockport Computer Users' Group entered into
a partnership with the local AARP representatives
and Tax-Aide to provide income tax preparation
for residents of Aransas County, Texas.
The partnership involved allowing the AARP TaxAide group to use the computers in the Rockport
Computer Users' Group meeting room. The meeting room has 5 computers setup for use by the community. The computers have broadband internet
access and all have printers with them. Rockport
Computer Users' Group set up 3 of the computers
to be used for income tax preparation 2 days a week
(Monday and Tuesday) from 9 am until 1 pm, beginning on February 1, 2005 and continuing until
April 15, 2005.
The Tax-Aide preparation program allowed their
volunteers to input a persons tax information, calculate the taxes, print all needed forms and file refunds electronically. The program is offered to
residents as a free service. From February 1 through
April 15, the Tax-Aide volunteers worked at the
Rockport Computer Users' Group a total of 21 days
and eight (8) counselors spent 430 hours. The final data is :
People helped
435
Marian Radcliffe
The User Group Network (TUGNET)
New Project -- Honorable Mention
Since the invention of the
microprocessor, the cost of moving
a byte of information around has fallen
on the order of 10-million-fold.
Never before in the human history
has any product or service gotten
10 million times cheaper -- much less in
the course of a couple decades.
That's as if a 747 plane,
once at $150 million a piece,
could now be bought for
about the price of a large pizza.
Michael Rothschild
PUSH Editorial Committee - 2005
by Judy Taylour
In the past 12 months, over 120 articles containing plication Society; Dorothy Alexander, Sarnia CUG;
114,404 words were sent to APCUG-member Chuck Guion, Rockport CUG; Bonnie Home, San
group editors. They were from 200 words to 2,231 Jose IBM PC Club; Deforrest Home, San Jose IBM
words and ran the gamut from Would You Like an PC Club; Cheryl Wester, APCUG Advisor; Lou
Internet Can Opener? to Does Microsoft Listen? Torraca, The TUG; Joe Schmitt, Tampa Bay Comto Browsers, Doohickeys, Doodads & Gizmos and puter Society; Frank Collingers, Orange County
everything in between. Most of the articles are IBM PC Users' Group; Bettie Cummings Cook,
not platform-specific and they are geared each SW Indiana PCUG; Joe Shipley, Phoenix PCUG;
month for novices to more experienced computer Dr. Herbert A. Goldstein, Saraosta PCUG; Dennis
users and usually from 700 or less words to over Schulman, Tampa Bay Computer Society.
1,000. When I'm out cruising the 'net looking for
I have made many editor name and/or e-mail adpossible articles, it's great to see the PUSH articles
dress changes throughout these 12 months, but
included in many user group newsletters or with
there are still some user groups that don't have an
their own link on a group's Web site.
editor listed in the APCUG database or the e-mail
A BIG THANK YOU to the following authors for bounces. Presidents & APCUG Representatives:
their great articles: Rob Rice, Computer Club of please check your group's database information to
Oklahoma City; Vinnie Labash, Sarasota PCUG; ensure your editor's name and e-mail address are
Linda Soloski, Greater Tampa Bay PCUG; Ira correct or send me the information and I'll be happy
Wilsker, APCUG Director; Jim Sanders, North to input it.
Orange County Computer Club; Bob Elgines,
A big thank you goes to Lois Prete - she is responColorado River Computer Club; Gabe Goldberg,
sible for uploading the articles, descriptions and
APCUG Advisor; Pim Borman, SW Indiana
zip files to apcug.net.
PCUG; Greg West, Sarnia CUG; Jack Wilfore,
Hilton Head Island CC; Linda Gonse, Orange
County IBM Users' Group; Don Singleton,
Stamping Out Spyware!
APCUG Director; John Brewer, Computer Club Help Promote UG Member Awareness and Action
of Oklahoma City; Sue Crane, Big Bear Computer
by Linda Gonse, Editor & Webmaster
Club; Dave Gerber, Sarasota PCUG; Brian K.
Lewis, PhD, Sarasota PCUG; Don Cummings, Orange County IBM PC Users' Group
Fresno PCUG; Vic Laurie, Princeton PCUG; Lynn (www.orcopug.org )
features an anti
L. Kauer, Saginaw Computer Association; Mike spyware graphic on the
Borman, SW Indiana PCUG; James Katz, Capital group's website that is
PCUG; Richard O. Johnson, TUGNET; Wayne available for all groups
Steen, Quad-Cities Computer Society; Bud to use in their newsletBondietti, Modesto PCUG; David Garcia, Little ters or websites. "Help
Blue PC Club; Phil Shapiro, Capital PCUG; Gary Promote UG Member
Bentley, SW International PCC; Timothy Awareness and Action in Stamping Out Spyware! User
Everingham, TUGNET; John Pearce, Pikes Peak Group Newsletter Editors and Webmasters: You are
Computer Application Society; Siles Bazerman, encouraged to use the graphic in your newsletters or
Orange County IBM PC Users' Group; Berry F. on your web pages to promote our members' awarePhillips, Computer Club of Oklahoma City; Frank ness and action in a common effort to outlaw these inPetrie; Sherry Zorzi, Cajun Clickers; Steve Bass; vasive and disabling programs on our computers. We
MUST reclaim our right to privacy and the right to welGene Barlow; Larry Horn, PC Users Group of New come only those we can see, know, and trust into our
Jersey; Greg Lenihan, Pikes Peak Computer Ap- computers and into our private lives."
Giving vs Taking
by Don Singleton, Director, APCUG
Membership in your local User Group offers a
wonderful opportunity to learn more about computers. With practically no effort on your part, other
than attending a meeting, you can sit and watch a
very good program, presented by a knowledgeable
speaker, and frequently you also get an opportunity to participate in a raffle or door prize drawing
where you have a chance to win a nice program
for your computer. Even if you don’t want to come
to meetings, membership gets you a copy of the
monthly newsletter, which contains information
about upcoming meeting programs, some of which
you may decide you want to attend. It also contains technical articles, reviews, and other news to
read at your leisure.
ing place for a SIG, advertising for the newsletter, etc.)
Trying out a new computer program, and then
writing a review of it for the newsletter, sharing
what you liked and did not like about the program,
so that other members can benefit from your experiences.
Spending a little time in a one-on-one basis with
a new member who just got a computer, or who
just got a new program for his computer, and who
is completely lost trying to figure out how to make
it work.
Helping out in your user group's Community
Service program. And if your user group does not
have a Community Service program, check out the
article about the Jerry Awards in this issue for ideas,
and start a Community Service program in your
But your local User Group also offers an opportu- user group, such as refurbishing old computers to
nity to get a lot more out your membership than be donated to some worthy non-profit agency, or
you can possibly get by being passive. It offers the other worthy recipient.
opportunity for you to become an active particiSpending a few hours sitting in a booth at a
pant, and give something of your self (time, effort,
computer show, telling people that stop by the
knowledge, etc.) to benefit others. The inner satisbooth what your local User Group has to offer.
faction and rewards one gets from helping others
are truly amazing.
Presenting a program to your user group, or to
another user group in town.
People frequently point to the 80/20 rule, which is
found in many aspects of life; for example, 20%
Speaking to a class in the public school sysof the people in an organization will do 80% of the tem, telling them how computers are used in real
work, while the remaining 80% of the people col- life, and possibly sparking that interest that encourlectively do 20% of the work. Well, there is a fur- ages them to work harder to learn how to use comther application of the 80/20 rule: the active 20% puters, or speaking to a group of public school
doing the work (Givers), are getting 80% of the teachers, teaching them things they don’t know
pleasure out of the club, and the passive 80% (Tak- about computers, to better enable them to teach
ers) get only 20% of the pleasure.
their students.
I encourage you to think about this for just a few
minutes. Is there something that you could do to
help others, so that you can see whether or not I
am right? You will certainly see that the returns
from investing that effort to help others far outweighs the investment. Can you give just a little
bit of your time, doing whatever you do best? Perhaps that is:
Making a few phone calls to try to arrange
something we need (speakers for a SIG, a meetJanuary - March 2006
Leading, or helping to lead, a special interest
group, enabling UG members interested in a particular subject or program, to get together and share
their experiences with others that have that same
interest.
Spending some time adapting computers to aid
the handicapped, so that a quadriplegic confined
to bed or a wheelchair, and totally dependent on
others, gains some control over his own life,
whether it is something as simple as being able to
turn the TV on and off without help from someone
Happenings in Region 6
else, or whether it is a powerful as being able to
Bill James, Region 6 Advisor
communicate his thoughts, wishes, and ideas, when
previously he may have been unable to seriously There were seven attendees from Region 6 at the
APCUG Annual Conference. Sid Bratkovich, Assocommunicate with the outside world.
The elected officers, and the Special Interest Group
leaders are all wonderful people, since most of them
are Givers, rather than Takers. It is a real pleasure
interacting with this group of generous UG Members, and they do a number of things to help make
their UG successful for the rest of the membership. But they can only do so much. There are many
things that could be done, but are not currently
being done, and I would be willing to bet your UG’s
President cannot in good conscience ask these Givers to give even more. Not that they would not accept the responsibility; they probably would, but
he/she would run the risk of burning them out.
What your President needs is a few more people to
become Givers.
ciation of Personal Computer Users; Michael Moore,
Bowling Green Area Microcomputer UG; Al Cheeks
and Scott Corley, Chicago Computer Society; George
Harding and Robert Sanborn, Indianapolis Computer
Society; John Hirsch, Milwaukee Area IBM PC Users Group's; Robert Clyne, South Eastern Michigan
Computer Organization and Judy Lococo.
The Bowling Green Area Microcomputer Users
Group continually strives to make a difference in its
community and the world around them. The group
raised money to provide computers to the victims of
Katrina. A request for help was sent to all BGAMUG
members, and within minutes contributions and
pledges were being made. In the end the group raised
over $900. The groups' generosity is well known
through its community outreach by maintaining the
If you would be interested in helping your local Abel Court Computer Lab. Their involvement with
this project has earned them the prestigious APCUG
User Group in any particular way, please let your
Jerry Award in 2004. The lab affords residents comPresident know. Things get pretty hectic at a meet- puter resources and education. This is a wonderful
ing, so just mentioning your interest runs a risk community outreach project. You can read more about
that he/she may forget it when someone after you the lab and the BGAMUG on their website
brings up something else entirely. But if you would www.bgamug.org
write down your name, phone number, and the
particular skills you have which you think your
local User Group might be able to use, and perhaps an indication of the amount of time you would
be able to devote each month, and either bring this
to a meeting, or mail it to your President, he/she
will do everything possible to match you up with a
job you can handle, and you can start reaping the
rewards of being a Giver.
The Chicago Computer Society (CSS) has converted
it newsletter to an electronic format for their members. The publication is typically is a 32 page publication. The publication is sent to members in Adobe
.pdf format and is called eHard-Copy. Charlie Sickels,
the publications editor treats it readers with a selection of PUSH articles from APCUG in addition to
articles from it members. The CSS is planning for
another Expo in September, 2006. This one should
be bigger and better.
And if your UG President can’t find enough to keep
you busy, contact [email protected], and I bet Region 6 APCUG Renewals as of January, 2006: the
Ken can find some committee in APCUG that could Bowling Green Area Microcomputer Users Group;
really use your help.
Central Kentucky Computer Society; Chicago ComNote: I originally wrote this article for a Daily Reports issue many, many, Comdex's ago (I think it was
1996), and it has been run a least once in APCUG
Reports (October, 2000), and with some modifications
it was run at least twice in the Tulsa Computer
Society's newsletter (May 1997 and July 2000). But I
think it is worth running it again.
puter Society; Delta Computer Club; Fox Valley PC
Association; Henry Ford Village Computer Club;
Kentucky-Indiana PCUG; Midland Computer Club;
Saginaw Valley Computer Association; Sandwich
Computer Users Group; Southeastern Michigan Computer Organization; Southside Computer Club; and
the Southwestern Indiana PC Users Group.
Everything Wireless
by Ron Feiertag
The conference began with welcoming remarks
from CTIA's President and CEO, Steve Largent.
Before leading this association, he was a sports hero
and was inducted into the NFL's Hall of Fame. He
was later elected to Congress. He told us about
ways in which wireless technology makes meaningful differences in people's lives. One example
is Amber Alerts that can be received on cell phones
to save children. Another example was the help
that wireless companies provided in response to
the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. He said that
wireless companies moved in quickly to return
service to their customers. Some companies, such
as T-Mobile, let people make free phone calls during this emergency. He also introduced the keynote speakers whose speeches were spread over
the course of three days.
Wireless is hot. The one device that many of us
never leave home without is the mobile phone,
which now is also a platform for wireless computing. Instead of being tied down to our desks, wireless computing lets us have computational power
and Internet connectivity at our fingertips anytime
and anywhere. CTIA explained it this way: "In the
past two decades we have seen the mobile phone
transform from something that took up the entire
space of a car trunk to something that is the size of
a credit card and weighs no more than a few ounces.
We have experienced the functionality of mobile
devices grow from being capable of just receiving
text messages to being voice-enabled to now where
they can perform all the duties of any desktop comIn her keynote speech, Nokia's Mary McDowell
puter. Wireless has not just enhanced our lives but
said that her company already shipped their one
has changed the way we live forever."
billionth hand set. Despite that success, there is a
CTIA used to be known as the Cellular Telecom- need for additional improvements including more
munications and Internet Association, but now it choices for users, more support for attachments so
describes itself as "CTIA - The Wireless Associa- that you could edit your PowerPoint presentation
tion." From September 27 through September 29, on a mobile device, better security, better brows2005 I was among the people who learned about ers, and cost effective roaming, especially in Asia.
everything wireless at CTIA's Wireless I.T. & EnIntel's Sean Maloney said that Internet access is
tertainment Conference in San Francisco, Califorthe killer ap for cell phones. In the future we can
nia. This article contains highlights of what I
look forward to streaming television content on
learned there. If what you read here appeals to you,
handheld devices.
you could attend their next conference from April
5 through April 7, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada. More The Chairman and CEO of RealNetworks, Rob
information about the conference in April appears Glaser, discussed business opportunities in the moin the final paragraph of this article.
bile space. He spoke of the willingness of mobile
customers to pay for premium services. CompaTo prepare for this conference, each attendee was
nies like his have made integrated billing easy for
given a large and detailed conference guide, a small
these premium services that carriers promote. The
and handy pocket guide, and a magazine called the
problem that companies face is that there are so
Mobile Solutions Guide. This magazine's articles
many different types of handset operating systems
briefed us on the state of the industry. For example,
to program for. Three types of premium services
an article by Andy Seybold said that in the United
are providing computer games, music and video.
States there are more wireless telephones than
He showed us how the same computer game from
wired telephones, and the percentage of wireless
his company appears on three different platforms.
telephones is expected to grow every year. This
The least capable platform shows a skier and snow.
magazine also had fifteen case studies. Each case
A better platform also shows trees and the best platstudy was a concise description of how each
form also shows clouds.
company's wireless products helped one of its customers to be more successful.
Trip Hawkins from Digital Chocolate said that the
mobile phone is the social computer. It helps people
stay in touch with friends and helps with their social life. Companies see the mobile phone as the
world's smallest retail store.
Edgar Bronfman Jr., the Chairman and CEO of
Warner Music Group, said in his keynote speech
that because there are two billion mobile phone
subscribers in the world today, this conference is
becoming the music industry's most important conference of the year. Speaking of one step that his
company is taking, he said that Madonna's newest
song is going to the cell phone as a ringtone before
her record is released or played on the radio.
give sports fans a very easy way to find out what
the score is and what are the latest plays. At this
panel, people in the audience were invited to ask
questions by sending wireless messages to the
moderator.
The exhibit hall had so many companies that the
expo area took up two floors of Moscone Center.
Here are some highlights:
OQO was showing their ultra personal computer.
It is hand held, wireless, runs Microsoft Windows
XP, and has a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard
despite its small size. UTStarcom has a product
called the PPC6700 that looks similar but its nickAt his keynote, Sprint's Len Lauer said that Sprint name is the Geniusphone, its operating system is
is focusing on keeping things simple. Their equip- Microsoft Windows Mobile, and it includes a camment is simple to use and to personalize and there era and flash.
is one price for "all you can eat." He said we have
DigitalWireless took a different approach. Instead
the power to connect, the power to access, the
of using a standard computer keyboard, its Fastap
power to share, and the power to change lives.
mobile phone's keyboard has the letters arranged
In addition to keynote speeches, there were panel in alphabetical order. Its users can send e-mail and
discussions organized around three themes: mo- have full Internet access.
bile enterprise, mobile entertainment, and emergImpatica's Showmate allows an audience to view
ing opportunities in wireless. For example, one
a PowerPoint presentation without anyone having
topic of a panel discussion was "Taking Wireless
to carry around a laptop computer. Showmate is a
Gaming to the Next Level" and Gerard Wiener was
small device that can connect a BlackBerry
one of this session's speakers. He is the Director
handheld to a projector to display PowerPoint
and General Manager of Nokia's Games Business
slides, including transition effects and animations.
Program. His title alone makes it clear that gaming is an important part of Nokia's strategy. He said SMS.ac provides the technology that enables text
that Nokia already has a gaming community of and multimedia communication. Their web site
about 500,000 people. By having members of this www.sms.ac/billofrights has a Mobile Consumers
community rate games, they know which games Bill of Rights that I found especially interesting.
to promote to the general public. Game play that
Comverse provides its subscribers with avatars,
lasts for about five minutes was likened to a quick
which are customizable characters that users can
snack. It can be a refreshing change of pace.
change to indicate their moods and interests. These
Another panel explored the issue of wireless secu- avatars are used as wallpaper, signatures for SMS
rity. Virus writers are paying attention to wireless, text messaging and Caller ID. Comverse also althe adware of some companies keeps track of what lows people who use camera phones to store and
wireless users are doing without the permission of share their photos using LifeLog.
the users, and wifi access points are often unsecure.
Xringer provides ringtones and graphics for cusAt the lifestyle marketing panel I heard wireless tomers of AT&T and Cingular. A customer can sedescribed as the third screen, after television and lect a different song for each colleague, friend or
the computer screen. Businesses are attracted to family member who could call.
wireless because companies want to be on the platAginteractive is the mobile group for American
forms that people want to use. Wireless devices
Greetings. It acts as a conduit between content pro- ence who had a cell phone and who had problems
viders such as Sports Illustrated and carriers who getting on the network.
can arrange to use that content on their mobile
Wireless computing and mobile communications
phones.
will certainly become increasingly important. I
ShortsTV has short films for mobile devices.
think that the very best place to learn about the
future of wireless and how it can contribute to your
The Enpocket Dating Engine allows users to search
future will be at the CTIA Wireless 2006 Conferfor dates based on their preferences and then mesence in Las Vegas next April. More information
sage each other using a mobile phone.
about this, including how to register for it, can be
Mobile Data Doctor helped anyone at this confer- found at www.ctia.org.
Secretary Report For Annual Meeting
Jim Evans
[email protected]
paying by check or credit card. When paying by
credit card, you will be directed to the APCUG
Store where you can pay securely. In the Store, you
Currently, APCUG has 323 member groups. We
will need a profile, which you can create if this is
have 299 groups with full membership and 24 asyour first time. If you already have a profile, for
sociate memberships. In 2005, 22 groups did not
example from when you registered for the 2006
renew, but there were 14 new groups who joined,
Conference and you forgot your login / password,
for a net loss of 8 groups. A breakdown of groups
you will see options for retrieving them. The login
by region is below.
that your group has for the CDB / APCUG MemRegion
Associate Full
Total bership Database, can not be used at the Store.
1
3
21
24
When you pay by check, you will need to send a
2
0
19
19
copy of the form and your check to:
3
1
22
23
4
2
18
20
APCUG
5
2
36
38
3155 E. Patrick Lane, Suite 1
6
1
19
20
Las Vegas, NV 89102
7
1
15
16
If you need paper invoice, we will be sending them
8
5
26
31
shortly.
9
4
27
31
10
0
28
28
Speaking of the APCUG Membership Database,
11
4
38
42
we encourage groups to keep their information up
12
0
17
17
to date. If your web site address has changed, mail13
1
8
9
ing address changed, e-mail address changes or
14
0
5
5
officer changes; we want to know. You can change
Total
24
299
323
the information on-line whenever you need to. If
you have lost your directions, user id or password,
As of the Annual Meeting, 108 groups have
send a request to [email protected] and it will be
renewed for 2006. Groups are continuing
sent to your group’s President or APCUG Repreon-line. Groups can renew at
sentative. In the request, please include the full
http://www.apcug.net/contacts/forms/
name of the group and its location. It is also helprenewal_application.htm
ful if your group’s web site is current with the
names of your officers and their e-mail addresses.
When you renew on-line, you have the option of Thank you, see you next time!
Bytes of Law
In Defense of Uploading
By Rollie Cole
Lately, I have been encouraged to see vendors offering higher and higher broadband speeds, at least
in urban areas. (And there are some fixed wireless
providers and others actually trying to reach out to
less populated areas.) My cable speed has doubled
over the last year, for instance. Some areas in the
Verizon part of the world are even being offered
consumer level prices for fiber to the home at
speeds more than twice as fast as mine (and beyond). The city of Muncie, Indiana is working on
using fixed wireless to offer 30 Megabits of service both ways to everyone in the city's service area.
vices do exist for running mailing lists or operating web sites, some of them even free to the operator and the users. But all of these that I have examined impose constraints on the subject matter and
size or frequency of the operation (and the size of
messages and pages) and upon what the service
provider can do with the operation that are more
restrictive than a pure "you must operate lawfully"
would require. In a free speech country, we ought
to be a bit concerned about that. Also, personal
computer users like to "roll their own." Imagine if
you were prevented or forbidden from driving your
own car and required to use public transit, along
with all the restrictions imposed on transit riders
(no smoking, no loud music, etc. - it is hard to "sing
along with the radio" when riding a bus or train).
Second, users might have much more to upload if
the capacity were there. A local software executive asked me why his mother would ever need
broadband. I told him one word - "grandkids." I
am convinced users would share more perfectly
legal photos and videos if the process of doing so
were easier, faster, and cheaper. Here again, there
are commercial services that will host such items,
Email, especially with attachments, can grow to especially photos, but consider again public transignificant size, but often the terms of service put sit. The terms of service are always more restricspecific or unspecific limits on the size of emails tive than the law would allow, and often more exand the number that can be sent during a given pensive, especially if the user discounts the cost of
period of time. The stated purpose is to stop the computer and hard drive already purchased.
spamming and the transfer of malicious or unauThird, one can imagine a range of commercial serthorized material, but to me it appears way too
vices that could make use of two-way high speed
overbroad for its purpose.
communications. Private music lessons are one
Of course, most web viewers do download way example. In order to check or demonstrate finger
more than they upload. They surf web sites full of placement and intonation, one needs video at sufpictures, sounds, and video, they subscribe to mail- ficient speed and resolution to accurately reflect
ing lists where they respond to way less than every such things. Consultation on home repair or garmessage, and they do not run their own web serv- dening could be another. Perhaps the homeowner
ers or their own mailing lists.
and the consultant could email pictures back and
forth using existing systems (assuming they did not
But it is hard to know what might happen (what
run afoul of email message size limitations), but
"1,000 flowers might bloom") if ordinary users
real-time exchange would be so much more valuwere not prevented (by low upload speeds) and
able. Here again, the bandwidth needs to support
prohibited (by explicit or implicit terms of service)
the resolution necessary to spot fungus on a plant
from using higher upload.
or a crack in an appliance. Security monitoring,
First, more might run their own mailing lists and using low-resolution black and white cameras is
their own web sites. A variety of commercial ser- already being done over the web - but it requires
To me this is all great news. But it is tinged with a
worrisome note for those of us who have grown
up in the "personal" computer movement. All of
these services, with the exception of Muncie's, offer much faster download than upload. In addition,
many of them contain terms of service that prohibit or discourage uploading
higher upload speeds to be able to use high-resolution, color cameras for such work. Telemedicine
in the home is another service that could work if
high-speed, color signals could be sent to and from
the home. (Many of the largest image files used
today are medical images - x-rays, cat scans, etc.)
for download of content they control, rather than
upload of content they do not control.
I think personal computer users should have a
strong preference for upload capacity as near equal
to download as feasible and for allowing as many
sources as possible to transmit lawful content via
Fourth, one could imagine a public extension of the system.
consultation or regulation. If the city is doing a
Personal computer users of the world, unite!
building inspection for instance, it may not want
to rely on the building owner to hold the camera, NB: APCUG's charter prohibits it from taking pobut it could send a junior examiner to the site, who sitions on items of public policy - but it is allowed
would direct the camera at the direction of a more to pass on such statements from both member
senior examiner back in the inspection office, in groups and individual personal computer users
order to get building inspections done faster, bet- (such as reporting survey results, whether of groups
ter, and cheaper. One could imagine the same for or individuals). In the "good ol' days" groups like
fire exams, food service exams, child care exams, the Capitol PC User Group took strong stands on
etc. as well as intake interviews for social services such items as copy protection that hurt honest usand preliminary screening of job applicants, (where ers, and even developed a "computer user bill of
many firms already use telephone interviews).
rights." Maybe it is time our groups, and the individuals in our groups thought about such items
Budding musicians, artists, and moviemakers may
again. We are facing strong forces that seek to conwant to display or distribute their wares (or infortrol what we can view on the Internet at the same
mation about them, such as samples, thumbnails,
time as they (and others) seek to take away our
or trailers) via the Internet, and would also benefit
control over what is done with our own PC's and
from higher upload speed and capacity. Of course,
our own private data. A stand that all legal bits,
these are only a few examples of what spreading
whether from us or to us, ought to receive equal
significant upload capacity to homes and other
treatment, and/or the treatment we choose to give
smaller sites might call forth.
them, is only a start on the issues for those of us
This issue is related to one being debated in Con- who to seek to keep the personal in personal comgress - how much control over content should be puting.
given to those who install and own the means of
Roland J. Cole, J.D., Ph.D.
transmission. In the case of cable companies, we
Executive Director
have given them almost total control, apart from
Software Patent Institute
requiring a few "local access" channels. In the case
5315 Washington Blvd
of telephone control, we have given them almost
INDIANAPOLIS IN 46220-3062
no control (only the unlawful may be prevented or
317-727-8940; [email protected]; www.spi.org
prohibited, what the law calls "common carrier status."). The Internet, after a few early attempts to
limit it to "research purposes," has been closer to
Programming today is a race
the telephone end of the spectrum rather than the
between software engineers
cable end. But now that cable companies and telestriving to build bigger and better
phone companies are becoming more directly inidiot-proof programs,
volved, most of them are expressing a strong prefand the Universe trying to produce
erence to move to the cable end of the spectrum.
bigger and better idiots.
They want control over most if not all of the conSo far, the Universe is winning.
tent that flows across their means of transmission,
Rich Cook
just as they want the bandwidth to be used mainly
CES 2006 - The Year of the Gadget
by Tom Jones, APCUG Board of Directors,
APCUG Rep and Past President for NEOPC
[email protected]
The Consumer Electronics Show is billed as the done while you surf the
biggest trade show in Las Vegas. I'm not sure what web. You may have
other city could host a bigger show, though. CES seen the Roomba before
is
certainly
big
- that little round robotic
enough. The official
vacuum that cleans your
statistics are impresrug for you. Now they
sive. Just over 2500
also have the Scooba
vendors and over
that looks similar, but it
150,000 attendees
is for hardwood, tile, or
were registered to atlinoleum floors, and it will scrub-mop and dry them
tend this year. The show covered over 1,670,000 for you. You can use it while you sleep at night, or
square feet of floor space, plus a lot of outside ex- while you are off to work, or just in the other room
hibits filling a couple of big parking lots. They watching TV or surfing the web. Did you ever go
use all of the Las Vegas Convention Center space - to a sporting event and want to see an instant rethe North Hall, the Central Hall, and both floors of play like you can on your TV? Well, now you can
the new South Hall. But that is not enough, so take your Bushnell binoculars with the built-in inthey also use the Sands Expo & Convention Censtant replay feature that
ter, the Hilton Hotel Convention Facilities, the Recaptures what you are
naissance Hotel Convention Facilities, and dozens
watching in the binocuof suites at Alexis Park (for the high-end home thelars and replays if for
ater products).
you (and the buddy in
the seat next to you) on
CES has a history of being the place to go to see
a small LCD screen that
new and innovative products. In fact, some of the
products shown here are not even in production flips up from the binoculars.
yet. They may be just being shown by their inventors looking for investors or venture capital to bring
their products to market. In past years, CES was
the first place to see such items as VCRs,
camcorders, CD players, DVDs, Satellite Radio,
HDTV, X-Box, Plasma TVs, etc. I didn't see any
"big" announcements of new technology this year,
but I did see a lot of improvements on many of the
innovations of past years, and I saw a lot of great
"gadgets" this year.
How would you like to have a gadget from Cool-it
Systems that plugs into
any USB port and keeps
your soft drink or beer
can cold for you while
you work on your PC?
Or, perhaps you could
get some housework
Have to be somewhere
and don't want to miss
your favorite TV show?
Now you can watch that
TV show live anywhere
on your cell phone from
MobiTV.
Take a pleasant ride on your bicycle in the summer, and capture the view with a handle-bar
mounted video camera.
Then, when the weather
is bad, you can play the
video back and watch it
while you ride your exercise bike that adjusts
the settings automatically to replicate the ride you video recorded. Have
you learned to snowboard, but don't have snow
enough of the year
where you live? Now
you can get a motorbike
that you ride standing
up sideways, and balance and steer just like
a snowboard.
A keyboard with oversized keys may be just
right for young children
or maybe even senior
citizens who can't see
the small print as well
any more.
How about a wireless
HP laptop with a builtin
connection
to
Verizon's network?
You can surf the web
anywhere your cell
phone works. Dell expects to have one out
soon, too.
Want a mouse pad that
looks nice on your expensive office desk?
Maybe the Mouse Rug
is for you. It looks like
a small Persian rug.
They have even smaller
matching rugs to use as a coaster for your coffee
cup as well. All of these, and many more gadgets,
were there at CES to examine or play with.
There must be thousands of TV screens and monitors all throughout the CES exhibits, but I don't
think any of them were the old type with a picture
tube. LCD, Plasma, and DLP are the big three now,
and they were plentiful in a wide range of sizes.
The North Hall was dedicated to everything associated with vehicles, so there was a great array of
audio and video systems for cars, trucks, and even
golf carts. The smallest LCD I saw was one that
fit in the gas cap door of a Cadillac EXT. I guess
that was so you didn't miss a scene of your DVD
movie while you stopped to fill up the gas tank
(which you have to do
often on those big
SUVs). On the big side,
Samsung seems to go
the furthest in size.
They had an 82" LED
based LCD and an 82"
standard LCD, a 102" Plasma prototype, [102 inch
plasma] and an 80" Plasma production model.
One of the hot topics this year is the battle for the
next PC optical disk format. We started out using
the audio CD format, which could store up to 700
megabytes of data. DVDs soon became available
that store up to 4.7 gigabytes. Many companies
have a dual-layer version that stores over nine
gigabytes. Now we have two competing formats
for the next version of optical storage. Both use a
blue laser (CDs and DVDs use red lasers) with the
dual-layer technology to be able to pack more info
on each disk. Blu-ray uses a new technology to
store up to 50 gigabytes (most only get about 25
gigabytes, though, due to problems getting the two
layers to work right). HD-DVD also uses the blue
laser and dual layer technology to get up to 30
gigabytes per disk, but is considered more reliable
than Blu-ray because they used an existing technology instead of a new technology to manufacture the disks. Blu-ray was developed by Sony
and is backed by Dell, HP, Hitachi, Philips, Pioneer, Sharp, Samsung, TDK, Columbia Tri-Star,
MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, and Disney. HDDVD was developed by NEC and Toshiba, and is
backed by the DVD Forum along with Time Warner
(Warner Brothers, HBO, New Line), Universal, and
Paramount. At CES, the HD-DVD announcements
included the upcoming release of a bunch of titles,
including "Batman Begins," "Braveheart," and the
Harry Potter series. Blu-ray was vague about its
announcements, and it seems they still have a few
"bugs" to work out yet to be sure that a disk recorded on one vendor's product will play back on
another vendor's product. Almost all of the HDDVD players will also play standard DVD disks.
Samsung had been saying for months that they were
going to be able to make a drive that would play
both new formats, but they sure didn't have one at
CES, and it sounds like the biggest stumbling block
is not technical, but legal. It seems that, for now,
there are licensing agreements in place that prevent a dual-mode player. Leave it to the lawyers
to slow down technical progress.
You might remember, or have heard of, the old
Commodore computer company. They introduced
the VIC-20 and the Commodore 64 at CES shows
over 20 years ago. A Dutch company now owns
the Commodore brand, and they were at CES this
year, featuring a GPS unit based on Windows
Mobile and set-top media player. It's not your
father's Commodore, I guess.
Diablo
Valley PC
Users
Group
California
The DVPC is the largest computer user group
in Contra Costa County in the San Francisco East Bay
area. DVPC members represent a wide variety of users, with ages that range from teenagers to our many
valued retirees. They range in experience from PC
While on the subject of computers, I should com- novices to consultants and computer industry leadment on the CPU battle between AMD and Intel. ers, from simple users to power users to hardware
AMD has talked about their new Live! brand of and software designers. Their members use equipment
products and how it will help get all of your elec- that runs the full gambit from legacy systems to the
tronic stuff in the home working together with your latest and hottest Intel Pentium and AMD systems.
PC. CES was their chance to show off how these Check out their website at http://www.dvpc.org/ and
things work and they expect to be shipping large you will find …..
numbers of these units by midyear. Not to be outdone, Intel unveiled not only a new logo at CES,
but they also now have a new processor / chip set
for the digital home. Intel calls this new platform
Viiv, which, coincidently, rhymes with Live! AMD
has made great strides against Intel in the past
couple of years, and has even outsold Intel in certain markets (such as home computers) for over a
year now. Intel still leads market share overall due
to the large volume of business sales that have historically been Intel based, but that could change.
AMD processors typically out-perform Intel now
in most head-to-head tests, and they work with
many other vendors chip sets, while Intel seems to
want to make all of the major chips that go inside
the PC, making their motherboards often more
expensive. In this battle, I hope the customer wins!
If you have an apple
and I have an apple
and we exchange these apples
then you and I will
still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea
and I have an idea
and we exchange these ideas,
then each of us will have two ideas.
DVPC NEWS ITEMS
News items, including new features on the DVPC web
site and in the Diablo Blue newsletter, SIG meeting
changes, and other information of interest to DVPC
members can be found on their DVPC News page.
The topics listed below have hot links to the particular topic.
Use Google to Search the DVPC Web Site
Interactive Calendar
DVPC Has This Is True® Stories
DVPC Has Virus Notifications
Special Raffle Promotion
Interested in starting a new SIG?
Open House
DVPC Board of Directors
This month’s Computer Puzzle solution
They also have a FAVORITE DVPC LINKS
PAGE with links to:
Information web sites
Neat freeware and shareware
Web sites with lots of interesting links
Companies that sponsor DVPC – support
them!
Plus a listing of the trade organizations
that DVPC is a member of
Madness takes its toll.
Please have exact change.
Attorney’s Advice
This is not really APCUG or
User Group related, but I thought
it was good information,
that our members might fine useful
A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.
1. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on
them. If someone takes your checkbook, they will
not know if you sign your checks with just your
initials or your first name, but your bank will know
how you sign your checks.
2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead,
put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED."
3. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit
card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account
number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last
four numbers. The credit card company knows the
rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the checkprocessing channels will not have access to it.
Unfortunately, as an attorney, I have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month.
Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive
monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA
credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer and received a PIN number from
DMV to change my driving record information
online. Here is some critical information to limit
the damage in case this happens to you or someone
you know:
1. We have been told we should cancel our credit
cards immediately. The key is having the toll free
numbers and your card numbers handy so you
know whom to call. Keep those where you can
find them.
2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen.
This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one). However, here is what
is perhaps most important of all (I never even
thought to do this.)
4. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of 3. Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your
your home phone. If you have a PO Box, use that
name and Social Security number. I had never
instead of your home address. If you do not have a
heard of doing that until advised by a bank that
PO Box, use your work address. Never have your
called to tell me an application for credit was
SS# printed on your checks, (DUH!). You can add
it if it is necessary. However, if you have it printed,
made over the Internet in my name. The alert
anyone can get it.
means any company that checks your credit knows
your information was stolen, and they have to
5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy
contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By
machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card,
the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks
etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and
after the theft, all the damage had been done.
all of the account numbers and phone numbers to
There are records of all the credit checks initicall and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.
ated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I
Also carry a photocopy of your passport when travknew about before placing the alert. Since then,
eling either here or abroad. We have all heard horno additional damage has been done, and the
ror stories about fraud that is committed on us in
thieves threw my wallet away this weekend
stealing a name, address, Social Security number,
(someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped
credit cards.
them dead in their tracks.
6. When you check out of a hotel that uses cards for!
keys (and they all seem to do that now), do not turn Now, here are the numbers you always need to conthe "keys" in. Take them with you and destroy tact about your wallet and contents being stolen:
them. Those little cards have on them all of the
information you gave the hotel, including address 1. Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
and credit card numbers and expiration dates. 2. Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
Someone with a card reader, or employee of the 3. TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
hotel, can access all that information with no prob- 4. Social Security Administration (fraud line):
1-800-269-0271
lem whatsoever.
2006 Annual Conference Review
Jim Evans ( [email protected] ), 2006 Conference Chair, 2007 Conference Co-Chair
230 user group members from the United States, After lunch, the vendor forum was held, and atCanada and Australia attended the conference in tendees had the opportunity to discuss vendor user
early January at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. group involvement with the representatives from
The conference kicked off on a Monday evening several vendors.
with opening remarks by the conference team and
APCUG's President, Ken Bundy.
Chris Pirillo, of Lockergnome fame, talked about
blogging, tagging and
his new mega search
engine, gada.be (http:/
/gada.be ). The evening
closed with the 'Dip
Contest with a Twist',
which provided food,
trivia, prizes and more.
The first full day started
off with a breakfast
sponsored by AMD,
Chris Pirillo
who talked about the
latest trends in microprocessors. After breakfast, attendees could choose
from five different workshops a.k.a. round tables
in two time slots. The workshops covered a wide
range of topics for user group management and
training. Lunch was an opportunity for attendees
to meet with their APCUG Regional Advisor and
other attendees from their region. During lunch,
the newsletter and web site awards were announced
and given out.
Corel at Vendor Forum
In a separate session, CompUSA gave a presentation on their involvement with and support of user
groups. The APCUG Annual Meeting was held as
well. The day wrapped up with the Vendor Faire,
sponsored by CompUSA, where attendees had the
opportunity to meet with all of the vendor sponsors.
Roger Tesch, Peggy Ireland & Ken Bundy
at Vendor Fair
David Steward, Charlotte Semple, Judy Taylour
Wednesday was the next day. Adobe sponsored the
morning breakfast, where they gave an overview
of their Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements software programs. After breakfast, Allen
Wyatt gave a talk on being the reluctant office guru.
Before and after lunch, more workshops were held.
The C-Net sponsored lunch featured reporter Brian
Cooley talking about the top ten products being
released at CES. The day ended with dinner sponsored by Linspire, who gave a presentation on their
full featured Linux based desktop operating system.
Cheryl Webster gave a talk on using Bluetooth enabled hardware. The Jerry Awards were presented
in a separate session. The day ended with lunch
sponsored by Microsoft. At the lunch, Microsoft
showed a preview of the Vista operating system
and discussed their user group program.
The conference was the result of long hours by
many people. First and foremost were our meeting
planners, Caryl Hall and Peggy Ireland, who kept
track of a never ending list of requests and arrangements with the Stardust Hotel. Then there was Ash
Nallawalla, who organized the workshops with the
assistance of Ira Wilsker, Roger Tesch, Cheryl
Webster and Sherry Zorzi.
Aurelia Negrerie from Linspire
The Alliances Committee, headed by Peggy Ireland, recruited all of our fine sponsors. Bob
Coppedge was our on-site Volunteer Coordinator
and the Conference Answer Man. If you had a
question, Bob was your man. Julie Coppedge organized this year's spouse program. Caryl Hall organized and edited the Proceedings Book. Ken
Bundy and Rich Schinnell handled the web site.
Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony
The final day of the conference started with Corel
sponsoring breakfast. At the breakfast, they gave a
Bob Coppendge & Ken Bundy
preview of their newest CorelDraw and
WordPerfect software programs. After breakfast, If you go to:
http://www.apcug.net/events/
conference06/conf06files.htm
you can see the presentation files from the various
workshops, along with the award winners from the
contests, and the Conference Proceeding book.
Aaron from Microsoft at Vendor Fair
Planning is under way for the 2007 Annual Conference, which will be held at the Riviera Hotel
during the first weekend in January. We hope to
see you there!
What Works - Region 1
Free Computer Club Membership for
Hurricane Katrina & Rita Evacuees
The New York Personal Computer User Group
(NYPC) would like to extend a free membership
to anyone who was displaced or severely affected
by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
and for novices to learn how to begin and gain experience and exposure to many varied computer
programs. NYPC holds one large meeting per
month and about 40 Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
such as Digital Photography, PhotoShop, Excel,
Genealogy, Speech Recognition, QuickBooks,
Palm PDA’s, Cell Phones, Wireless CommunicaWe understand that many people from the New
tion, and many more.
Orleans have come to the New York area to stay
with relatives or friends.
NYPC’s Office is at The Hotel New Yorker
481 8th Avenue at 34th Street
NYPC is the Tri-State areas largest computer usLeave a phone message at 212 643-7005
ers group. This is a place for experienced comOr send email to [email protected]
puter users to network with other high level users
For more information look at www.NYPC.org.
& Computers, Too!
13th Annual Southwest User Group Conference
San Diego CA
August 11- 13, 2006
www.swugconf.org
User Group Leadership
Workshops! Personal
Productivity Workshops! Vendor Presentations and Meals! Vendor Faire! Hospitality
Suite! Newsletter Contest! Web Site Contest!
Digital Photo Contest!
Door Prize Drawings!
Networking! T-shirts and Welcome Bags! All this
and more can be found at the 13th Annual SW User
Group Conference.
The conference registration fee is $50 per person,
if paid by July 19. If registered and paid by July
26, the fee is $60; July 27 through the conference
date is $75. Your conference registration fee includes admittance to all workshops & the Vendor
Faire; meals and vendor presentations; a Welcome
Bag and T-shirt.
The conference
will be held at the
Town and Country
Resort & Convention Center, 500
Hotel Circle North,
San Diego. Town
and Country is offering attendees a special group
rate of $99.00, single or double occupancy. To
The conference begins on Friday evening, August make your reservations, call their toll-free reser11 through Sunday, August 13 at the Town and vation number (800-77-ATLAS) by July 19 and
Country Resort & Conference Center in San Di- identify yourself as attending the Southwest User
ego. There will be newsletter and web page con- Group Conference.
tests for all user groups with officers in attendance. Stay at the host hotel and you are automatically
New this year will be a digital photo contest. User entered into a drawing to receive one of your congroups planning to attend the conference are en- ference nights FREE!
couraged to have a digital photo contest and send
Judy Taylour ([email protected]) & Patricia Hill
their winners to compete in SW's contest.
([email protected]) Conference Co-chairs
Preparing for Windows Vista
by Ash Nallawalla
The best way is to become familiar with it. BookIs your user group ready for Windows Vista? Did mark the page http://www.microsoft.com/
windowsvista/ and check it out from time to time,
someone say, "What is there to be ready?" Undoubtas new content will be added all the time. Note
edly, Microsoft will bring out its biggest marketthat there are Server (Longhorn) and Client (Vista)
ing guns when Vista is released, but user groups
editions, which will affect those groups that have
need to start thinking about it.
professional SIGs.
Most of us can remember the major milestones of
Microsoft Windows, at least the ones since Win- In the coming months, the release timeframe of
dows 3.0. My recollection is that MS-DOS lingered Windows Vista will be known and your user group
Board can plan to feature it in your meetings, write
on our members' PCs until Windows 98 was itself
about it in the newsletter, or make a budget allowbeing superseded by Windows ME.
ance for user group PCs. Before too many others
In the Windows 98 days, I remember wondering if say it - Hasta la Vista!
there was still a need to publish articles about MSDOS batch files - which were once a badge of honor
for geeks. More recently, I had to wonder if publishing Windows 98 content would annoy members who used Windows XP. In our case, a current
During the APCUG Conference in January, we
member survey shows that Windows XP is used
were shown a Community Technical Preview
on 78% of member PCs, but Windows 98 is on
33% of member PCs. Similarly, you will need to (CTP) of Windows Vista (pre-Beta 2), which is
keep track of your members' configurations and going to be released towards the end of this year.
Its key themes are:
support earlier versions for some years.
My user group runs training courses. We will need * It will make your tasks safer and easier.
Vista Preview
to make a budget allowance for buying copies of
Vista for all training PCs. Since we make some
money from training, we buy such software. Our
SIGs either share 2-3 PCs in our club rooms or the
suburban SIGs sometimes have their own PC. They
will all ask for a copy to be installed.
* Find information instantly.
* The latest in entertainment.
* New code base.
* Focus on fundamentals.
Newsletter editors will relish the thought of pub- * Improved design.
lishing reviews of Windows Vista, which will prob- Here are some of its highlights:
ably have to be be written by themselves. SIG lead* The user interface (UI) is cleaner and more iners would love to get presenters from Microsoft,
formative. For example, in Internet Explorer 7
but that is unlikely unless you are situated in a major
(IE7) the URL of a phishing site will show up
city.
with a red background to warn you. Certified
OK, it seems that self-help might be the best apgenuine sites will display a green background.
proach. So how can your user group prepare for
* Users now work in low-privilege accounts withVista?
out frustration if they wish to install a new proThere are some hardware requirements to consider,
gram or perform some Administrator-privilege
so your older PCs will probably not work with
task. For such tasks, they can supply the suitVista. If you have the funds, you should plan for
able password and then revert to lower privinew PCs. If you have a Multimedia SIG, you should
leges so that their system is less vulnerable.
* The Taskbar now shows a little preview of the
window each button represents when you hover
over it.
* Alt+Tab (Task Switcher) is now improved with
Flip 3D, a 45-degree rendition of all open windows that you can scroll with the mouse wheel.
Sarnia
Computer
Users'
Group
Sarnia, Ontario,
* The Sidebar is a toolbar on the right of the screen
Canada
that runs little “Gadgets” not unlike Yahoo
The Sarnia Computer
Konfabulator Widgets.
User's Group (SCUG) began in 1982 with 17 mem* SideShow provides summary information in a bers and today we have over 100 members. Our club
secondary display such as a little LCD screen publishes a monthly newsletter, "SCUG Report", in
and it does not require the main PC to be run- paper form and it is posted on the SCUG website at
http://www.scug.ca. SCUG hosts four Special Interning.
est Groups: Windows, Linux, Digital Photography,
* The Photo Gallery thumbnails display a larger and Genealogy. Each of these SIGs command about
tooltip image when you hover over them. Ed- one-third of our members at each meeting.
ited images are backed up with the original
SCUG is reaching out to the community by offering
negative in case you need to revert to it.
* Media Player 11 now shares the same buttons
as the rest of Windows, so there is less confusion. Its library comes with a great set of album
cover art. Scrolling through large song libraries
is very fast.
* Comprehensive parental controls give you more
granular control over what children can see or
play.
a helping hand these days. We are working with local churches in helping them setup Highspeed
Internet connections and wireless Internet connections. As well, SCUG is working with the local Board
of Education in the Adult Learning Centre, introducing adult computer students to the various aspects of
a Computer User Group. Recently, we were contacted
by the local wildlife society for help with their
website. Their Webmaster took seriously ill and they
had no one to work their site.
* Defender is the new anti-spyware tool that is
now part of Windows.
Our Webmaster immediately jumped in and began
assisting Lambton Wildlife Inc. who is a nonprofit,
* Software Explorers give us more information volunteer, naturalist organization.
about running processes.
As many other computer user groups, SCUG is looking at new ways and means to attract younger com* IE7 shares the same user interface (UI) as does
puter enthusiasts. By branching out into our comWindows Vista.
munity, we feel that the word about our club is spread* You can choose to load several sites in multiple ing. Our club also writes a regular monthly computer
column in a local business magazine that is affilitabs when you start IE7.
ated with the local chamber of commerce.
* The Windows Media Center is digital cableready if you have the appropriate cable card. The essence of SCUG is computer users helping each
No set-top box will be needed and therefore you other with our computer related issues. By branchwon’t get Pay Per View or Video on Demand. ing out, we hope to build the interest of our club to
A picture is worth
a thousand words,
but it uses up three thousand
times the memory.
continue another twenty-five years of helping people,
and to spread the word about the various aspects of a
computer user group within the community.
Gregory West, Editor, SCUG Report
mailto:[email protected]
Personal
Computer
Club Of
Toronto
Toronto, Ontario,
Canada
Mission
Statement
The Personal Computer Club of Toronto is incorporated as a Not For Profit Corporation under the
Corporations Act of Ontario. The Mission Statement of the Club, as set forth in the Articles of
Incorporation, is:
To promote interest in, and the use of, computer hardware and computer software generally;
To foster educational activities; and to organize and sponsor special events;
To encourage public awareness of computer
hardware and software.
The members are made up of people who have the
same interests, questions and concerns. We all have
one thing in common; a desire to network with
people to help us understand, and encourage us in
discovering more about computers; and gaining
exposure to emerging technologies.
Membership
where user groups share experiences and common
concerns.
General Meetings
Every third Tuesday of every month, except August, our Program Manager engages speakers from
nationally syndicated columnists to high profile
representatives of major hardware and software
companies and local experts including our own
members to discuss new products and future trends.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
We host a number of dynamic SIGs led by member volunteers who are knowledgeable in a specific subject. Attendees comprise a subset of our
membership with like interests. A SIG can deal with
individual concerns, questions, and personal experiences much better than a monthly General
Meetings. A SIG Coordinator manages the affairs
of the roster of SIG Leaders and interfaces with a
Facilities Manager. Each SIG meets at a designated
day of a month, except in July and August.
Newsletter
The PCCT newsletter ‘read.me’ keeps members
informed about the activities of the Board of Directors. It features product reviews by user group
members, personal stories of success and failures
relating to personal computer use, and announcements of upcoming presentations in future General Meetings. It also carries professional business
cards of members, a two-months calendar of all
the meetings with location pointers, and a coupon
for free admission to any one of our Club events
for your friends to come and learn what the club is
all about without obligation. Finally, read about the
winners of fantastic door-prizes whose values could
exceed the cost of the annual membership up to
ten-fold!.
PCCT is made up of many different people from
power users who make their living using their computers, to the majority of us, who like computers
but need help in determining what to do, what to
buy and how to use. We all have one thing in common; a desire to network with people to help us
Volunteer Opportunities
understand, and encourage us in discovering more
about personal computers, and gaining exposure Get a chance to update or learn new skill sets. What
to emerging technologies
a wonderful way of opening doors to opportunities for professional growth, leadership and trainMembership Benefits
ing.
A local club with global benefits, the PCCT is a
Online Services
user group in Toronto, Canada. We are affiliated
with an umbrella organization called Association For out-of-town members, and especially those
of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), who can’t come to meetings, the benefits from virJanuary - March 2006
tual contact with one another are immeasurable,
but very real. Online Services consist of APCUG,
Program Manager and SIG Coordinator Web
pages, and two Web forums (mail-lists). These are
covered by the annual family membership fee.
tered user (free) you send questions or answers to
one address, which then redistributes your questions or replies to all registered users of that group.
The mail-lists and their contents are controlled by
a list moderator.
Martin Ross, President
The purpose of the mail-lists can be compared to
[email protected]
virtual SIGs or bulletin board forums. As a regishttp://www.pcct.org
Where can you find meeting ideas?
by Judy Taylour
One place is the Online Newsletter List on the Dell or HP you just bought. It probably came with
website at Push Articles / Online Newsletters:
a slew of programs that you will never use. They
(http://apcug.net/members/newsletters_index_page.htm) were put there so the maker could brag about how
much free stuff they were giving you. Some gift!
Here's a great meeting idea from the New York
If you don't use them, unnecessary programs just
Personal Computer User Group.
gunk up the works, gobble storage space and slow
Cleaning and Degunking Windows with
you down.
Our Panel of Experienced Gunk Busters
As time goes on, even if you are careful, stuff acYou may not have ghosts in your computers but cumulates that you may not need. Do you still have
virtually everyone has acquired computer gunk and drivers for printers that died, or special programs
our panel of experienced Gunk Busters will be here you never used that came with a digital camera
to help.
you lost? These may still be in your start up proAt some point just about everyone has noticed that gram. Go have another cup of coffee while your
computer boots up. Then there are temp files that
their computer starts acting a little weird. Have
should have been removed automatically but suryou noticed that your computer seems to be runvived. Have you noticed that very often in life
ning slower? Or it may be slow to react to your
commands. Your favorite applications don't seem nothing lasts like the temporary?
the same, and some programs may hang or even A recent popular book, "Degunking Windows"
crash your computer, and when you surf the web from Paraglyph Press includes many good and usethose pop-up ads seem like a swarm of gnats.
ful procedures. Many of which you probably know,
but when was the last time you defragged?
In computer time the good old days can be last
month or, if you are really unlucky, last week. Just Some of our Gunk Busters think this book is too
visiting a few innocuous web sites can load up your simple but, hey, these guys are Nerd's Nerds. Our
cookie jar. There are good cookies and bad. You panel will share their favorite Tips, Tricks and Traps
may find it helpful that Amazon recognized your and you get to ask questions.
return and saves you retyping your basic info but
Aren't you glad you belong to NYPC? And if you
you may have hundreds of useless cookies that, at
are not a member yet, hopefully this FREE meetbest, just slow things down and, at worst, phone
home with personal info you would rather keep ing will convince you to join.
personal. The good news is that there are various I've ordered "Degunking Windows" from Marsee
programs that really help in managing and delet- at O'Reilly and my group, the Santa Clarita Valley
ing cookies. More good news, some very good PC Group, will be Cleaning and Degunking Winones are free or low cost.
dows with our very own panel of Experienced
Gunk Busters at our May meeting.
Well, let's take a step back and look at that new
Know Your Region and Advisors For 2006
CHANGES
ARE POSTED ON THE
APCUG
WEBSITE
– http://www.apcug.net
Region 1:
BOA Chair
Region 5
Florida
Region 10
CA >93000
Judy Taylour (2005-2006)
Santa Clarita Valley PC Group
18727 Nadal Street
Canyon Country CA 91351
661 252 8852 (phone)
[email protected]
Dave Gerber (2005-2006)
Sarasota PC Users Group
7424 Cass Circle
Sarasota, Fl 34231
941 929 1823
[email protected]
Charlotte Semple (2006-2007)
Los Angeles Computer Society
3474 Beethoven Street
Los Angeles CA 90066
310 398 5052 (phone)
310 398 7121 (fax)
[email protected]
Region 1
CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT
Region 6
KY, IL, IN, MI
Region 11
CA <93000
Jay Ferron (2006-2007)
The PC Users Group of Connecticut
109 Benham Hill Road
West Haven, CT 06516
203 675 8900 (phone)
[email protected]
Bill James (2005-2006)
Computer Club of Oklahoma City
9209 Forest Cove Circle
Oklahoma City OK 73130
405 739 0035 (phone)
405 641 2334 (cell)
405 732 0028 (fax)
[email protected]
Judy Taylour (2005-2006)
Santa Clarita Valley PC Group
18727 Nadal Street
Canyon Country CA 91351
661 252 8852 (phone)
[email protected]
Region 2
DC, DE, MD, NJ, VA
Region 7
IA, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD, WI
Region 12
AK, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA, WY
Gabe Goldberg (2006-2007)
Capital PC User Group
3401 Silver Maple Place
Falls Church VA 22042
703 204 0433 (phone)
[email protected]
Roger Tesch (2005-2006)
Madison PC Users Group
1918 Greenway Cross Apt 3
Fitchburg, WI 53713-3037
608 271 2259 (phone)
608 271 0190 (fax)
[email protected]
Cheryl Wester (2005-2006)
Temecula Valley Computer User Group,
Inc.
16807 Pfeifer Way
Perris, CA 92570
951 780 8797 (phone)
951 907 5996 (cell)
[email protected]
Region 3
OH, PA, WV
Region 8
AR, KS, LA, OK, TX
Region 13
Canada, Mexico
Bob Kwater (2006-2007)
Dayton Microcomputer Assn. Inc.
2515 St. Charles Avenue
Dayton OH 45410
937 671 6975 (phone)
[email protected]
David Steward (2006-2007)
Alamo PC User Group
5227 Pine Lake
San Antonio TX 78244
210 662 8606 (phone)
[email protected]
John Hirsh (2006-2007)
Milwaukee Area IBM PCUG
4960 N. Wildwood Avenue
Whitefish Bay, WI 53217
414 963 8640
[email protected]
Region 4
AL, GA, MS, NC, SC, TN
Region 9
AZ, CO, NM, UT
Region 14
Non-North America
Rod Rakes (2006-2007)
Gwinnett SeniorNet PCUG
Huntsville PCUG
827 Copper Mist Court
Grayson, GA 30017
678 377 7554 (phone)
[email protected]
Melvin Weekley (2005-2006)
Seniors Computer Group
1951 47th St #61
San Diego CA 92102
619 262 5512 (phone)
619 851 5514 (cell)
619 262 5512 (fax)
[email protected]
Art Silverglate (2006-2007)
Central Maryland User Group
8623 Spruce Run Court
Ellicott City MD 21043
410 206 8627 (phone)
Non-Profit Organization
US Postage
PAID
Las Vegas, Nevada
Permit No. 837
3155 E. Patrick Lane, Suite #1
Las Vegas, NV 89120-3481
Please
Route Newsletter
To Other Officers
Read and
forwarded
Regionals are being organized in
various areas of the country. Check
to see if there is one near you.

Wrap Up - Association of Personal Computer User Groups

Transcription

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