SLO Bytes Newsletter - April 2013 - PUSH Article Descriptions

10 Ways Your Smartphone Camera Can Make Life Easier by Guy McDowell, MakeUseOf.com (approx. 1,272 words). Since 2005 no one has asked “does our phone have a camera on it?” Why take a point-and-shoot digital camera on vacation, all you need is a decent smartphone to take your vacation photos.

Amazing Tale of a Satisfying Call to Tech Support by Judi Shade, Mac Monday Volunteer, Hilton Health Island Computer Club, SC (approx. 511 words). Judi recently acquired a Dell laptop with Windows 7 to start working on a database project that could only be accessed on a PC and used through Internet Explorer. She also needed to print various pdf files. She’s a long-time computer user (PowerMac) and has two HP printers. This article covers her trip through HP’s outsourced tech support.

Android Phone Tips & Tricks by Sandy Berger, CompuKISS (approx. 1,118 words). Android phone and tablet users will find their devices more customizable than Apple devices. That’s a good thing, as long as you know some of the basics and this article will help our readers with tips and tricks for their Android.

The Demise of the Digital Camera by Jerry Schneir, Member, Los Angeles Computer Society, CA (approx. 1,156 words). You only have to look at any party or gathering and see that the majority of the picture taking is being done by the guests with “smartphones.” Relatively few cameras appear at these gatherings so you might ask why? What has happened? What is happening to fuel this dramatic change?

Enjoy Your CD-ROM/DVD Drive by Jim Cerny, Director, Sarasota PCUG, FL (approx. 813 words). Almost all computers have a CD-ROM/DVD drive (I will call it a “CD-drive”) into which you can insert a computer disk (CD or DVD) for all sorts of reasons. Some new computers and all touch-pads do not have such a drive, they expect you to load things onto them by using the internet or another computer. Now that the “cloud” exists via the internet, I suppose the days of the CD disk are numbered, but I still believe that CD drives will be around for many more years to come.

External Storage by Dick Maybach, member, Brookdale Computer UG, NJ (approx. 1,432 words). Although we use external storage much less than in the early days of home computing it is still an essential technology for backing up internal hard disks, exchanging files among different computers and expanding storage capability. The increasing size of files has made obsolete many older technologies, and those that are still attractive fall into four types: electronic, optical, magnetic, and Internet.

Giving Internet TV a Try by Gene Olson, member, ICONPCUG, NY (approx. 483 words). After getting the Cable bill, I wanted to reduce the rates by having Internet TV (and cutting out Cable). After reading about “Satellite Direct,” which seemed like it was better than other Internet TV software, Gene bought it. He does NOT recommend using a regular credit card. This article covers and Pros and Cons of his choice.

Have you disabled or removed Java from your computer? by John Pearce, President, Pikes Peak Computer Application Society, CO (approx. 356 words). How many times have you talked about the problems with Java in your group? Perhaps your members will pay attention to what John has to say.

Holy cow! Is this a virus? by Linda Gonse, Editor/Webmaster, ORCOPUG, CA (approx. 589 words). Linda recently added a second external drive to her computer system. She uses one for backups of InDesign files and the other one for Acronis True Image system backups. Oops, when browsing through the files she saved to the drives she found something peculiar.

If you agree, check the square box! by Ralph Smoyer, VP, Lehigh Valley Computer Group, PA (approx. 419 words). If you agree to the following list of items please place a check mark in the small square box. How often have you seen this line before? Ralph has seen it many times and checked the box at least one time too often.

Interesting Internet Finds by Steve Costello, President/Editor, Boca Raton Computer Society, FL (approx. 174 words). More internet websites from Steve. Are you sending these articles on to your program chair – they might work for a meeting. I’m using some of them at my meeting next Wednesday.

Misery from Social Media by Greg Skalka, President, Under the Computer Hood UG, CA (approx. 1,577 words). Does Facebook make you miserable? I know I get depressed when I think about all the time people waste on social media sites, spending hours looking at what other people are doing or raising imaginary crops on Farmville. I get perturbed when I read about those bird-brains that spend all their time tweeting their every action, and the twits that follow them. I’m not sure what is higher on the worthless scale in that case, being the tweet-er or the tweet-ee (at least the tweeter is writing something).

Organizing and Backing Up by Diane Fahlbusch, President, ICON PCUG, NY (approx. 1,883 words). We all have LOTS of files saved to our computers as well as on other hardware, such as MP3 players, camera cards, thumb drives and CDs/DVDs, and the cloud. The problem with having lots of hard drive space and cheap mass media storage is that, well, we use them…a LOT, and often store way too much. The first problem is finding the files you want quickly when you want them amidst all that you have.

Overbooked by Greg Skalka by President, Under the Computer Hood UG, CA (approx. 1,294 words). Companies are continuing to develop new and more advanced computer technologies finding ways to innovate on the personal computing platform first released over 30 years ago. Their marketing departments have not been as great at innovation, however, often using derivative and less than imaginative terminology to name and describe these new products and services.

Permissions – Do you have the right ones? by Phil Sorrentino, member, Sarasota PCUG FL (approx. 1,067 words). If you have ever tried to share a folder on one of your computers on your home network, you know how frustrating it can be to get things to work. Well, “permissions” is one of the things that has to be understood and setup properly.

Review: The Artist’s Guide to GIMP, 2nd Edition by Bill Treadwell, member, Big Bear Computer Club, CA (approx. 372 words). GIMP is a full-featured, free, open source software for graphic design and photo manipulation. It contains powerful tools with a large menu of options and submenus. Bill gives GIMP 5 Bears – the best rating from the Big Bear Computer Club.

Review: Kingston HyperX SSD by George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society, AZ (approx. 443 words). SSDs are a wonderful addition to the hardware library of storage devices. They are small, have no moving parts and are much faster than other storage media but they are more expensive and smaller than what is easily available in other media.

Review: The Book of GIMP, A Complete Guide to Nearly Everything by Iris Yoffa, member, Tucson Computer Society, AZ (approx. 710 words). This hefty volume claims to be your source of information and guidance to nearly everything (GIMP). And indeed, at first glance at the Contest in detail, the book does seem to meet the challenge of the sub-title’s boast.

Review: Voyager S3 Drive Dock by George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society, AZ (approx. 385 words). If you have a desktop computer and have had to change or add a new hard drive, you know what a task that is and this drive dock saves you a lot of time and effort.

Short Tips for Saving Clicks in Word, By Nancy DeMarte, Columnist, Office Talk, Sarasota PCUG, Inc., FL (approx. 753 words). Are you becoming fluent with Word 2007 or 2010? Nancy gives us six short tips which can help us complete tasks with fewer clicks.

SkyDrive & Office Web Apps by Lynn Page, Editor/Webmaster, Crystal River Users Group, FL (approx. 1,658 words). With a Windows Live ID you have access to Microsoft’s Office Web Apps. This lets you open, edit and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents online while using SkyDrive.

Sources of support for Linux, open source software by Bill Wayson, Linux SIG Moderator, Channel Islands PCUG, CA (approx. 882 words). An important responsibility of any user of computers and technology is knowing where to get help. Bill discusses some of the places users of open source software can find help and how to identify whether or not the help offered is any good.

The Gadget Corner – A Versatile Android Email Client and a device for Watching Movies in Hotels by Steve Baer, Feature Writer, Hilton Island Computer Club, FL (approx. 1,005 words).

What does that icon mean? by Veronica Valero, member, Golden Gate Computer Society, CA (approx. 1,717 words). When Veronica took a recent airline trip to attend a family meeting, she planned on mass transit during her visit to Seattle. But she almost didn’t get out of the airport because she didn’t correctly interpret airport icons on signs leading to the light rail transport. The situation is no different for computer users since the computer industry has removed or hidden text-driven drop-down menus and replaced them with a plethora of icons that, somehow, magically, users are supposed to interpret.

Who’s Driving this Bus Anyway? by Dave Helmer, Past President and Co-Founder, Computer Users’ Group of Greeley, CO (approx. 856 words). When is the last time you worried about having the latest drivers for your computer? Ever? Never? Yeah, me too says Dave. He has found a program he likes and perhaps you will, too.

Windows 8: Big difference from Win 7, and it works! by Karen Stagg, member, Golden Gate Computer Society, CA (approx. 71 words). Windows 8 is substantially different from previous versions of Windows and, though it requires a learning curve, the tasks is not insurmountable, says GGCS member Ernie Ganas, who helped about 75 guests and members understand the newest MS OS during their February general meeting.

Windows Q&A by Mary Phillips, Secretary, ICON Users Group, MO (approx. 1,000 words). Has your e-mail account been hacked? Mary has some answers for your readers. Downloaded IE 10 and want to go back to IE 9 – Mary tells them how as well as how to create a hyperlink to another page in a document and how to adjust an inserted picture to get it very close to the text in Word or PowerPoint.

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).