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General Discussion / Re: PDFs of APCUG's Webinars Held 08/19/17

« Last post by dickJ on August 22, 2017, 04:16:18 PM »

I found Brown's one on Security useful, but only after a lot of searching to find what to click to get to it!
dickJ

General Discussion / PDFs of APCUG's Webinars Held 08/19/17

« Last post by rsutter on August 21, 2017, 02:35:02 PM »

Hello All,

If you missed the APCUG VTC webinar on 08/19/17 or would like to relive the experience, you can download the presenters' PDF files from https://apcug2.org/apcug-2017-summer-virtual-technology-conference-vtc25/

Ralph Sutter

General Discussion / September 3rd Second Session Topics

« Last post by Alan J. Raul on August 20, 2017, 11:41:07 AM »

Bring your smartphone, tablet and laptop with you to the September 3rd second session. We will then break into small groups and attempt to answer your questions about your specific device.

Contact Alan directly alan at alanraul.com or reply to this BB posting to suggest additional topics. We will try and match you with a person with the skillset you require to assist you at the meeting.
This list will be updated as more topics are suggested.

1. Create a bootable USB Linux flash drive
Bring a USB flash drive of 2GB or greater – the faster the better
Specify the Linux distribution you want to have installed
2. Create shortcuts on your Laptop or tablet which go to your preferred webmail provider i.e. Charter, Yahoo, etc. in lieu of using an e-mail client.
3.

General Discussion / Re: iPhone SE Deals

« Last post by Alan J. Raul on August 20, 2017, 11:25:51 AM »

If you have a AT&T service it's a no-brainer. Verizon or another carrier is a definite PIA and is not recommended as Ralph points out.

In our group... Pete and I who both have AT&T phone service transferred to the new phone without problems. I have 4 other friends with AT&T who purchased this phone without problems.

The moral of this story... read the fine print.

General Discussion / Re: iPhone SE Deals

« Last post by rsutter on August 20, 2017, 09:36:25 AM »

Hello All,
Yesterday, my wife decided that it was time to replace her iPhone 5 with a newer model. She opted for the 32Gb iPhone SE. We purchased it from Best Buy for just under $200, a substantial saving from the $399 list price. She was told that it was a prepaid phone. We took this to mean that we bought it outright instead of making 24 monthly payments.
The phone came with do it yourself activation instructions. However, since Verizon, our service provider, had an office on the way home, we decided to stop in and confirm the steps necessary to substitute this new phone for her old phone in our Verizon Family Plan.

We learned that doing so wasn't that straightforward. In order to activate the new phone, we had to sign up for 6 months with a new plan. The new phone would have a new phone number. After 6 months, we could change that number to the number of her current phone. The minimum monthly plan for the new phone is $40. The cost of the new phone is now $440 ($200 plus 6x$40)
If we chose to deactivate her original phone, we could do so for up to 90 days for a savings of $60(3x$20). Verizon doesn’t allow deactivation for more than 90 days though the salesman suggested that they might make an exception for us.

My wife wouldn’t deactivate her current phone number. Too many people contact her routinely on that number. Maintaining her current phone number active until it could be transferred to the new phone 6 months later adds $120 (6x$20) to the overall cost of phone replacement.

BOTTOM LINE COST for going the route of the iPhone SE prepaid phone $560 and substantial inconvenience.
We opted to purchase the iPhone SE directly from Verizon at the list price of $399 paid over 24 months at 0% interest.

The moral of the story is that the $200 iPhone SE deal is only a deal if you don’t mind getting a new phone number. Keeping your old phone number is possible but takes 6 months and comes with substantial increased costs.

Ralph Sutter

General Discussion / Planned Obsolescence

« Last post by Alan J. Raul on August 19, 2017, 11:52:43 AM »

I was looking for ideas for our next photo assignment and came across this article. It’s an interesting read… enjoy.

http://www.usrepresented.com/2017/03/27/planned-obsolescence/

General Discussion / Anti-virus firms are offering decryption tools for victims of some ransomware.

« Last post by Doug on August 17, 2017, 10:19:04 PM »

LambdaLocker ransomware victim? Now you can decrypt your files for free. There is hope for some victims of ransomware.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/lambdalocker-ransomware-victim-now-you-can-decrypt-your-files-for-free/

General Discussion / FREE 2017 APCUG SUMMER VIRTUAL TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE Aug 19 at 10:00 AM

« Last post by rsutter on August 15, 2017, 09:07:08 AM »

Hello All,

Our parent organization, APCUG, will hold another webinar on August 19th beginning at 10:00 Pacific Time
Register for this free event at https://apcug-summer-2017-vtc.eventbrite.com
The two track event features the following topics

TRACK 1
10:00 AM PT - Pi-hole by Don Arrowsmith
Pi-hole is a LAN-wide ad blocker that runs on a Raspberry-pi. If you're sick of ads all over the web pages you look at, tired of auto-starting audio and video ads, and disgusted at pop-up and pop-under ads every time you click a link, then you need a Pi-hole. It will eliminate all of those annoyances from every device on your LAN without having to make any configuration changes to those devices. The software is free and runs on a Raspberry Pi, a small, inexpensive system about the size of a deck of cards. If you have been wanting to learn more about hardware like this, it'll also be an educational tool. Don will run through the entire process of getting the software and hardware, installing everything, integrating it into your network, and maintaining it.

11:00 AM PT - Home Automation Security by Bill James
Are your worried about home automation devices listening in on your conversations? Wonder if your devices can be hacked and don’t know how to keep them from being hacked? Many smarthome devices are designed to be easy to use but don’t come with a ton of security features – what should you do? Bill will answer these questions and more in this presentation, maybe making it a little bit easier to take the first step to automate your home and get a better price for it when you sell.

Noon PT - Finding Tech Information on Medium.com by Kathy Jacobs
Medium is a large site for writers and readers. The platform is built to make it easy to share stories about almost anything. This presentation will introduce you to the basics of Medium's interfaces (app and website) via the introduction to some of the best tech publications on the site. You will also learn:
How to search for publications, articles, and writers on topics of interest to your club
Navigating the 3 basic kinds of articles in the Medium universe: Stories, responses, and series
Tagging on Medium
Writing responses that will get read
Connecting with authors and publication editors

TRACK 2
10:00 AM PT - GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) - Why You Shouldn’t Get Lost! By Bill Hobbs
This presentation includes information about GPS and other systems. He goes over GLONASS, Galileo, etc., history, signals, accuracy, and errors involved in the global navigation systems. In addition, he will demonstrate how to calculate location and time using a very simplified system.

11:00 AM PT - Chromebooks are for Seniors by Ron Brown
Are you looking for a computer that isn’t complicated to use? How about one you can’t ruin by making a mistake from the keyboard? No maintenance, malware, trojans, and viruses, no subscription cost and it’s always up-to-date with web technology? The Chromebook is for you!

Noon PT - Ideas for Revitalizing Your Computer Club by Judy Taylour
Is your group suffering from?
Officer / leader burnout
One, two, or three officers are in charge of everything
They have done everything for years
Lack of volunteers
Reduced membership
Same person / people always give presentations
Presentations don’t meet members’ needs
Newsletter editor retired – no one wants to learn a desktop publishing program
Webmaster moved away – no one knows how the website works
This presentation offers ideas you might want to try to revitalize your group.

Ralph Sutter

General Discussion / Notes from the Photo Group Meeting of 08/13/17

« Last post by rsutter on August 14, 2017, 12:02:52 AM »

Hello All,

Here are my notes from today's meeting of the Photo Group

TOPIC Books
Alan Raul opened the meeting with a collage of images shot at the Phoenix Bookstore. Alan captured images of books from many different genres and then built a slide show from them using the software program, Proshow Gold, http://www.photodex.com/proshow/gold

John Waller followed with shots of texts offered at the Santa Maria Public Library.

Ralph Sutter showed messages conveyed either by text or by visual images from his recent travels.

Kaye Raul shared scenes featuring the library of her mother

Bob Styerwalt displayed some of the books found in his personal library. The categories included volumes on travel, history, religion, classics, reference materials and technical volumes. Like Alan and Ralph, Bob used Proshow Gold to present his images.

Following the display of images, Kaye shared an article that predicted how new technologies would reshape our lives, rendering obsolete many current devices and behaviors. This resulted in lengthy conversations, so much so that we chose Obsolescence as the focus topic for the September meeting

NEXT MEETING Sunday, September 10th 2017 @ 2:00 pm

LOCATION:
Home of Connie and Ralph Sutter
498 Hansen Hill Road
Arroyo Grande, CA

Map at www.slobytes.org/digital/sutter-map.html
Dashcam video at www.slobytes.org/digital/images/dashcam-to-photo-group.mp4

TOPIC: Obsolescence
The topic for the Sunday, August 13th meeting will be Obsolescence
Share images that capture objects or practices whose relevance is behind them.

Here is the meeting schedule for the remainder of 2017
September 10
October 8
November 12
December 10

See the Links page for tutorials and other resources; http://www.slobytes.org/digital/links.html
Link to Notes of Prior Sessions; http://www.slobytes.org/digital/notes.html

Ralph Sutter

General Discussion / iPhone SE Deals

« Last post by Alan J. Raul on August 10, 2017, 06:30:53 PM »

Best Buy
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/at-t-prepaid-apple-iphone-se-4g-lte-with-32gb-memory-prepaid-cell-phone-space-gray/5792701.p?skuId=5792701

Boost Mobile
https://www.boostmobile.com/?INTNAV=TopNav:iPhone#!/shop/phones/apple-iphone-se/features/Gray,32GB/

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