Hello All,
This is a re-post of the message that I received today from SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG, regarding their free Wednesday webinars.
Ralph Sutter

October 25, 2023
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
Securing Your Android Phone
Bill James, Vice President
Computer Club of Oklahoma City
 
Consumer Protection Issues in Online Bill Payment
Chuck Bell, Programs Director, Advocacy
Consumer Reports
 
iPhone Security
Jerry Rogan, Past President
Sunland Springs Village Technology Group
 
Register here:  https://forms.gle/k1J8jRhC4NLhXjZ68
 
APCUG values your privacy. We only collect and store the personal data needed to give you the best service and will not share that information. Please read the registration form questions carefully before answering them. Be aware of autofill.
After you click Submit, you will receive a pop-up acknowledgment (see below) of your registration; you will receive the encrypted Zoom link on October 24 after registration closes at 6 pm Pacific Time.

Securing your Android Phone. In a world increasingly reliant on mobile devices, ensuring the security of your Android phone has never been more critical. It is essential to protect our personal information and data. Join Bill as he gives us tips on how to be more secure when using our Android phones.
 
Consumer Protection Issues in Online Bill Payment. Consumers pay the majority of their bills automatically and/or online now. Still, they can face various risks to the privacy and security of payments, including scams, hacking, and identity theft.
 
New technologies such as encryption and multi-factor authentication have been deployed, but they are not easy for consumers, especially the digitally disconnected. In addition, many companies are starting to charge "junk fees" just to make a bill payment.
 
What are the trends and friction points for improving consumer protection in this challenging new landscape?
 
iPhone Security. Apple does a tremendous job of keeping us as safe as possible, but many settings on the iPhone are left up to us, as users, to set up. This presentation covers many of those settings with step-by-step instructions. Don't be a victim; be proactive; it's easier than you think.
 

Hello All,
This is a re-post of an e-mail received today from SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG
Ralph Sutter
----
October 11, 2023
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
OUR NEED TO RETHINK FRAUD IN AMERICA
A webinar by Kathy Stokes, Director
Fraud Prevention Programs, AARP
 
SECURING YOUR COMMUNICATIONS, EVENTS, FILES, AND ONLINE ACTIVITIES
WITH PROTON
John Kennedy, Webmaster
East Central Ohio Technology User Club (ECOTUC)
 
Register here – https://forms.gle/r4xc3KpnEjgxKyMRA
 
APCUG values your privacy. We only collect and store the personal data needed to give you the best service and will not share that information. Please read the registration form questions carefully before answering them. Be aware of autofill.
After you click Submit, you will receive a pop-up acknowledgment (see below) of your registration; you will receive the encrypted Zoom link on October 10 after registration closes at 6 p.m. Pacific Time.

 Our Need to Rethink Fraud in America. The October 11 presentations had been confirmed, but you never know what will happen. On Friday, at 6:47 ET, I received this email from Chuck Bell from Consumer Reports: “I am so sorry, but believe it or not, I just got invited to attend an event at the White House at this same time.”  What a hoot to be bumped by the White House.;-) Chuck will be with us at our October 25 WW.
I attended the Fraud Watch AARP webinar on rethinking fraud in America; at APCUG’s September board meeting, I mentioned it was a video I thought all groups should use for a meeting. Since the alternates on my Cybersecurity Awareness Month contact list weren’t working at almost 5:00 Friday night my time (Chuck and I had exchanged another email and had a phone conversation). I sent John and Bill the link to the webinar video and suggested we use it for the first presentation. They agreed. I know you will enjoy it and learn a lot of interesting and important information regarding fraud victims. I recently gave my Cybercriminals are out to get us presentation, and after a statement, I remembered I should rephrase it.
 
Fraud has reached a crisis level in the US. Millions of victims are losing billions of dollars every year to the hands of transnational criminal enterprises. As a society, our tendency to blame the fraud victim for experiencing the crime has led to us deprioritizing it. In this webinar, AARP will discuss the nature of victim-blaming in our country and how changing this narrative could lead to a fundamental transformation in how we combat fraud.
 
Securing your Communications, Events, Files, and On-line Activities with Proton.  And you can too, with no cost to you. Join John Kennedy as he shares information about what everyone gets with the free versions of Proton’s family of protection software. This includes protecting your email with Mail, scheduled events with Calendar, files with Drive, Internet traffic with VPN, and all your passwords with Pass. And all for free.  You’ll also learn about upgrade options if you need additional services.

Hello All,
The link below explains the differences between the various M.2 drives

https://pcpepper.com/sata-vs-msata-vs-ngff-m-2-vs-nvme-pcie-m-2-which-is-the-right-ssd-for-me/

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
This is a re-post of an article received today from SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG
Ralph Sutter
---
September 27, 2023
IT’S ALL ABOUT APPLE
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
Jerry Rogan, Past President, Sunland Springs Village Technology Group
iOS17, Intro to Some of the Features that Make it a Desirable Upgrade
 
Joe Dietz, Member/Instructor, Central Kentucky Computer Society
Accessing Your iPhone/iPad Apple iCloud On Your Windows PC
 
Brooke Thomas, President, Central Kentucky Computer Society
How to Make and Animate a Memoji
 
Register here - https://forms.gle/WQhVB4Z676dXor859
 
APCUG values your privacy. We only collect and store the personal data needed to give you the best service and will not share that information. Please read the registration form questions carefully before answering them.
After you click Submit, you will receive a pop-up acknowledgment (see below) of your registration; you will receive the encrypted Zoom link on September 26 after registration closes at 6 pm Pacific Time.

iOS17 doesn’t seem to have any sweeping changes, as we have seen in some past updates; however, the new features and enhancements make it a desirable upgrade. There are over 300 enhancements. Apple seems to focus on communication apps like Messages, FaceTime, Voicemail, and Phone. You will learn about some of these changes and changes to other apps that are equally appealing and intuitive to use.
 
Accessing Your iPhone/iPad Apple iCloud on your Windows PC. You will learn how easy it is to access and download your photos, notes, and other information in your iCloud to your Windows PC. No more emailing those things to yourself.
 
How to Make and Animate a Memoji. You will learn the steps to make a Memoji that resembles you, your personality, and your mood to send in Messages. We will make a Memoji sticker, and then we will record audio and facial expressions with facial recognition.

Here are my Notes from the SLOBytes Photo Group Meeting of 09/10/2023
TOPIC: Close-up Photography

Ralph Sutter opened the meeting with close-up images taken using a Sony A7iv camera, Zeiss 4.0 24-70mm zoom lens and a Vello 2x teleconverter.
Using the 2x teleconverter made it difficult for the autofocus to produce sharp images. In his last image, Sutter switched to a Vello 3x converter, connecting the camera to a 26" monitor to aid in focusing. That produced a noticeably sharper image. During the Second Session, Ralph shared a slideshow of his August kayaking trip to the San Juan Islands. View it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ES840b2Pm6o

Alan Raul shot a variety of closeup images with his Leica Q3.
He then took more closeup images using his Sony A7iv with a new Sony 70 - 200 F4.0 zoom lens.
He then added a new Sony 2x teleconverter and shot more images.
All JPG's from both cameras were directly from the camera (s) WITHOUT any software modifications.
Alan Raul's current gear consists of the following:
https://www.dpreview.com/members/9828863162/gearlist

Kaye Raul began close to home, sharing images of vases,orchids and household items.

John Waller followed suit offering details around his BBQ pit and crisp images of dog fur before showing a stunning closeup of the moon taken with a 500mm lens and a 2x extension tube.

The next meeting will take place on October 8th, 2023, beginning at 2:00 pm via Zoom The topic will be Try a new technique or refine a known one, demonstrating how to accomplish it

The meeting schedule for the remainder of 2023 is as follows
  November 12
  December 10

See the Links page; https://www.slobytes.org/digital/links.html for tutorials and other resources

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
This is a re-post of an e-mail that I received today from APCUG, SLO Bytes' parent organization
Ralph Sutter

AUGUST 30, 2023
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
ABCs and XYZs of AI (Artificial Intelligence)
with Adam Drake
East Central Ohio Technology Users Club
 
AI Roundtable
THIS IS WHERE WORKSHOP ATTENDEES PARTICIPATE ;-)
How are APCUG groups using AI?
How are APCUG group members using AI?
Please share what’s going on with you or your group
 
Register here – https://forms.gle/BwVB19sSpYP4zhZT7 
 
APCUG values your privacy. We only collect and store the personal data needed to give you the best service and will not share that information. Please read the registration form questions carefully before answering them.
After you click Submit, you will receive a pop-up acknowledgment (see below) of your registration; you will receive the encrypted Zoom link on August 29 after registration closes at 6 pm Pacific Time.

 
ABCs and XYZs of AI (Artificial Intelligence). It’s all you’ve heard about on TV and the Internet for months. Artificial Intelligence. All we hear is “AI” this and “AI” that.
Is AI a good thing or a bad thing?
Are computers and robots going to be taking over, or can this process be of any good for humans?
Will AI allow computers to think for themselves and no longer be programmed by humans?
We all need to know more about Artificial Intelligence and its meaning. It’s happening all around us, and we need to understand what’s going on.
 
Adam Drake, ECOTUC Vice-President, will do just that with his presentation on Artificial Intelligence at our Wednesday Workshop on August 30. Along with giving us more information about this topic that he has studied, he will do a live demonstration of ChatGPT and show us how it works and what it can do for you.

Hello All,
This is a re-post of an e-mail that I received from Judy Taylour of SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG
Ralph Sutter

AUGUST 9, 2023
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET

Surge Protection and AC Wiring Problems
John Krout, Potomac Area Computer Society
 
What You Need to Know about SD Cards
Hewie Poplock, Central Florida Computer Society and
Sarasota Technology Users Group
 
Register here – https://forms.gle/QizVGJSmptRr8eaV6

APCUG values your privacy. We only collect and store the personal data needed to give you the best service and will not share that information. Please read the registration form questions carefully before answering them.
After you click Submit, you will receive a pop-up acknowledgment (see below) of your registration; you will receive the encrypted Zoom link on August 8 after registration closes at 6 pm Pacific Time.
 
What You Need to Know about SD Cards. SD cards are small portable memory storage devices used in digital devices such as cameras, smartphones, and tablets. They come in various sizes and capacities and use flash memory technology to store data. SD cards are compatible with a wide range of devices and can be easily removed and replaced. There are different types of SD cards, each with a different capacity limit, and they can be protected by a password or encrypted for increased security. This presentation explains the various symbols on SD cards, what they mean, and which ones to use in your device.
 
Surge Protection and AC wiring problems. A surge protector works by detecting a voltage spike, aka surge, and sending that spike to Ground. A very common wiring mistake is failure to attach the Ground wire to the proper prong in a 3-prong socket, which disables any surge protector connected to an ungrounded socket. Doing so also voids any warranty for surge damage to your computer and other gear attached to the surge protector.
 
This presentation will show you the proper wiring on a 3-prong socket and discuss examples of two homes where the majority of those sockets were miswired. Those homes were built 30 years apart. The presenter's son diagnosed and fixed the miswired sockets in both homes.
 
You will learn how an inexpensive device can report whether or not any 3-prong socket is properly wired or not. If your 3-prong socket is properly wired, then your surge protector will work well. If not properly wired, then it is time to hire an electrician to fix the socket.