SLO Bytes Newsletter - February 2013 - PUSH Article Descriptions

2013 International CES, Lou Torraca, President MOAA, HI (approx. 1,003 words). Another great CES article by Lou – the word is Innovation.

Take Control of Your Fonts, Nancy DeMarte, Regular Columnist (Office talk), Sarasota PCUG, FL (approx. 998 words). You know you are becoming a real techie when you start to question standard (default) settings on your computer and you don’t need to accept Microsoft’s default fonts.

Connecting Things to Your Computer – The USB Port, Jim Cerny, Director, Sarasota PCUG, FL (approx. 910 words). Printers, cameras, flash drives – is there any limit to what you can connect to your computer? This article looks at how to connect all those wonderful devices to your laptop or desktop.

Backup and Restore – A very useful Windows 7 feature, Phil Sorrentino, Member, Sarasota PCUG, FL (approx. 1,117 words). We all know how important it is to backup up our computers but many of us don’t start doing it until we’ve had a HD die and lose everything. Phil shows us how easy it is to create a system image or just backup data.

Camtasia Studio 8 for Windows, Iris Yoffa, member Tucson Computer Society, AZ (approx. 574 words). Have you enjoyed watching high quality instructional videos on YouTube? Very likely they were created with Camtasia Studio by TechSmith. If you are inspired to create and share digital tutorials, you should be very interested in this application.

Digital Photography, Dick Maybach, Brookdale Computer Users’ Group, NJ (approx. 929 words). As you probably know, a digital camera is far more complex than its small size indicates. Some models have multiple processors to handle the demands of image processing, especially when making movies and photo sequences. If your members are into digital photography they will enjoy reading this article.

Got Windows 8?; Barney Babin, member and instructor for XP, Vista, Workshops and Win 7, Cajun Clickers Computer Club, LA (approx. 1,620 words). Many people have a new operating system on their computers – Windows 8. Barney shares a few tips that will assist us in becoming familiar with the new operating system.

HDTV – What to Buy, Sandy Berger, Compu-KISS (approx. 805 words). For those of you who are thinking about buying an HDTV this year, Sandy’s article is a quick recap on the specs that you need to know about.

How to Use the Microsoft Word 2010 Quick Parts; Mike Layton (approx. 383 words). Learn how to use the Quick Part Gallery where you can create, store, and find reusable pieces of content, including AutoText, document properties, etc.

Interesting Internet Finds, Steve Costello, President/Editor, Boca Raton Computer Society, FL (approx.258 words). More interesting Internet sites from Steve.

Interesting Sites to Visit on the Internet, Nancy Preffitt, member, ICON Users Group, MO (approx. 366 words). Nancy’s interesting sites include info on No time to read?, An old game in a new technology (Yahtzee), Medication Interaction, Amazing Old Photos and Trying to pick a good move.

Is Technology Turning Us into Couch Potatoes?, Sandy Berger, Compu-KISS (approx. 873 words). I bet this article will hit home with many of your members – 50 years after the TV remote control was produced by Zenith, how many technological advances have made us lazy or have actually given us more reasons to get off the couch.

Jabra Supreme UC, George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society, AZ (approx. 297 words). This product is a Bluetooth-enabled headset that fits comfortable on your ear. It has the advantage that it is a hands-free device for phone calls.

Living in the Past? Computing in a Software Museum, John Davey, Workshop Leader, Cascading Style Sheets Workshop, Philadelphia Area Computer Society, PA (approx. 1,205 words). At a recent meeting of his UG, John realized he does his computing in a museum. It’s not his hardware, it’s his software.

Marble, Cal Esneault, VP, leader of many Open Source Workshops & SIGs, Cajun Clickers Computer Club, LA (approx. 411 words). Marble is free educational software that gives a virtual atlas to help students, educators, or anyone interested in geography. You can download it directly from the Ubuntu Software Center.

My First Steps in Windows 8, Tom Kuklinski, President, Computer Users of Erie, PA (approx. 943 words). In this article, Tom hopes to give you a little insight into Win 8.

Outlook.com, Lyn Page, Newsletter Editor/Webmaster, Crystal River Users Group, FL (approx. 562 words). Microsoft has upgraded Hotmail and Windows Live to a new Outlook.com cloud e-mail service. Lynn’s accounts were recently upgraded and since it’s always hard to make changes, this article will let you know what she has seen.

Performance, Capacity, Ports..Tablet discriminators, Phil Sorrentino, member, Sarasota PCUG, FL (approx. 1,239 words). Performance, capacity and ports – sounds like something you might think of when you are considering a vacation cruise. But they are the tree technical things to consider when contemplating acquiring many new devices. These three things should be considered, especially when you are planning to buy a tablet, a computer, or even a TV.

Power Dock Pro, George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society AZ (approx. 291 words). When we drive with our mobile device, there’s always the possibility that it will run out of charge and not be usable when we need it most. Power Dock Pro is a solution to that problem – it keeps your iPhone charged and ready for use.

Samsung SSD, George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society AZ (approx. 309 words). The Sold State Disk is growing in popularity as it becomes more available and prices drop. Moving parts in the hard disk are certainly fast, but do not come close to electron movement alone.

Siri Speaks Out!, Sandy Berger, Compu-KISS (approx. 525 words). Sir is the virtual assistant that is available in the newer iPhone and iPads. Siri helps you perform tasks, translates your voice into text, and delivers verbal information. This article contains some interesting things about Siri and also about the people who programmed her.

Speccy: Another Useful Utility, Phil Sorrentino, member, Sarasota PCUG, FL (approx. 1,126 words). Speccy is a useful utility used to provide information about your computer hardware and Operating System. It is very similar to Belarc, a Utility that is fairly well known.

Tablets—a review with random musings, Frank Ramsey, Newsletter Editor, Akron Canton PC Users Group, Ohio (approx. 2,156 words). Frank has fallen in love with tables but that doesn’t mean all tablets are created equal. His table journey has consisted of 16 tablets with something like 10 different models.

The Gadget Corner – Searching for a Good – Cheap Bluetooth Keyboard, Steve Baer, member, Hilton Head Island Computer Club, NC (approx. 1,087 words). Kensington? Logitech? How about one he found that is sold under different names for about $20 from Amazon.

The Mac Corner, Danny Uff, Lehigh Valley Computer Group, PA (approx. 379 words). While many have had Macs for some time, other have gotten their first Mac over the holidays. To those readers, Danny Says – welcome aboard. This article is dedicated to those persons who have gotten a new Mac, but are unsure how to get the most out of it.

The Tip Corner – January 2013, Bill Sheff, Novice SIG Coordinator, Lehigh Valley Computer Group, PA (approx. 1,335 words). Tips include how to Remove Malware, Using the Command Prompt to Reveal Hidden Files, Do you have to defrag a SUB flash or thumb drive?, Android OS, and Tablet Shopping: Accessories Worth Buying.

This and That – Word 2010, Lynn Page, Newsletter Editor/Webmaster, Crystal River Users Group, FL (approx. 280 words). Some great tips from Lynn.

Vidometer, George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society, AZ (approx. 211 words). This is one of the neatest apps for iPhone that George has seen. It uses many of the internal facilities of the iPhone at the same time to record your activity.

Websites to Broaden Your Computer Horizons, Jim Fromm, Editor, MOAA Computer User Group, HI (approx. 519 words). Because of a number of your (I mean us) fall in the senior age group, and because some of you (I mean us) may be thought to lead a sheltered life, Jim thought it was time to offer to broaden your computer horizons. So, he provides us with a laundry list of websites that we can visit and decide ourselves if we want to bookmark them.

Will You Be Texting Your Doctor Soon?, Sandy Berger, CompuKISS (approx. 676 words. Texting has become very popular. We’ve all seen teenagers texting each other but you may be surprised to find that older people are also texting and now even some doctors are using texting to communicate with their patients.

Windows 7 Live, Dick Maybach, Brookdale Computer Users’ Group, NJ (approx. 1,107 words). Over the years, Microsoft has named several offerings “Windows Live,” and the name again returned with Windows 7. However, much of it is available as a no-cost download, rather than being bundled with the installation DVD.

Please Help Me Learn Windows 8, Jim Cerny, Director, Sarasota PCUG, FL (approx. 883 words). Jim recently had his first exposure to the new Windows operating system – Windows 8. He doesn’t like it!

Windows 8 – The Basics, Howard Lewis, Program Coordinator, Midland Computer Club, MI (approx. 923 words). There are a number of significant changes in the Windows 8 interface. Many people say this is the biggest difference in the Windows interface since the release of Windows 95 in 1995 (which is forever in the world of technology). Howard delves into some of the basic Windows 8 usage issues.

Windows Lab – Avoiding Web Ads and Cookies, Penny Cano, member of the Cajun Clickers Computer Club and instructor for the Dumb & Dumber Workshops (approx. 893 words). Web ads often take up half of the real estate on a webpage. Supposedly, they entice viewers into buying the products. IN actuality, they help to financially support the host website. Penny likes to avoid intrusions and shows how it can be done on the two browsers she uses: Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Windows Q&A December 2012, Mary Phillips, Secretary, ICON Users Group, MO (approx. 1,222 words). This Q&A covers are ways you can customize your Windows 7 computer.

These articles have been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).