September 16, 2004

Here are the names and email addresses of the people attending the meeting last night

NOTE: eMail addresses removed to prevent SPAMMING.

Brian Lackey
Jacqueline Carter
Jean Poland
Bob Poland
Catherine Houck
Gordon Richardson
Myrna Miller

A number of computer issues were discussed.

Myrna Miller

I'd like to thank Myrna for taking minutes in my absence.
Pat Davis, Secretary

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November 16, 2004

Paul, THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE MINUTES AT THE NOV. MEETING.
I don't have emails for Bill McCloflin, Paul Richardson, Dan Rickter
WHEN YOU ARE THROUGH READING THE MINUTES PLEASE RESPOND TO THE PIZZA QUESTION FOR THE DEC. MEETING. Please respond by Sat., Dec. 11.

Myrna I hope you are feeling great again.
The meeting was opened by Brian at 7:00 PM.
Paul reported that the opening and closing bank account balance was $1,627.93.
The following were in attendance:
Bill McCloflin - New member
Dan Rickter - First time visitor
Paul Richardson
Pam Stevens
Brian Lackey
Lynn Root
Gordon Richardson
Paul Carlstedt

Brian reported on a new iPod with large memory and color screen. This would be good not only for music but photos. Cost $500-$600. Brian introduced the main topic of the evening - Digital cameras. - CCD, charged coupled device. The more sensors the higher the megapixel rating. 2.0 should be the lowest considered. Can range up to 10 for big $$$ - Memory card, removable for storing pictures, making prints, and transferring to your computer. It is recommended to get a fire wire or USB 2.0 adapter to plug the card in for transfer to a computer. - Delay between pictures is another important specification. It can range from 20 seconds down to less than a second. Flash shots can increase time. - Optical zoom should be as high as you can afford. Range is from 3X to 10X. - Brian showed three of his cameras. A Canon Rebel EOS with 6.2 mp, short time between shots (less than a second) and interchangeable lenses, an Olympus and another.
It was decided to meet in December and have pizza and drinks. An e-mail was to be sent out requesting desired toppings. Too few responses and we may cancel the meeting.
I have copied Brian so that he can correct errors.

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December 15, 2004

FCMUG's Christmas Party was a gastro success. Thank you Brian Lackey and Paul Carlstadt for bringing the pizza bread sticks and beverages, napkins, plates, cups and anything I've forgot to mention.
The meeting was called to order about 7:30 pm by Brian Lackey, President.
Treasurers report:
opening balance 11/15/04 $1,678.56
additions and subtractions
Dues will be collected in January...$24.00 for year
Apple Pin Sale 5.00
Software Sale 1.00
Allnutt Room Rent -15.00
Projector Rental -25.00
Closing/Opening bal. 12/15/04 1,644.56
There were fourteen Mac users present.
The Meeting began with introductions and a poll to find out how many attendees were running OS 10 - 10.3.6. It was easier counting to find out how many were not running OS 10 - 10.3.6 (only 3 0f us were not running OS 10). Brian announced the following:
Apple has released Mac OS X 10.3.7 via Software Update utility. Key enhancements include improved AFP support for saving documents with long file names, improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers, improved KFireWire device compatibility, and updated Preview application, and improved compatibility for third party applications. The 10.3.7 update is recommended for all users of Mac OSX 10.3 "Panther". It also includes all previous standalone security updates.
iTunes Phone- Apple and Motorola working together to make a cell phone.
Could be released at the San Francisco Mac Expo in January 2005.
RAM -Crucial.com, Macsolutions.com, Apple (expensive)
Create your own custom web portal using Yahoo
Calendar
Reminders from calendar
News
Stocks
Weather
Package tracking (UPS, FEDEX, Airborne, USPS)
Mapping like mapquest
TV listing
Movie Listing
Sports scores

THINGS TO DO WITH GOOGLE:
Search for pictures using Google.
Click the pictures tab and there are your pictures based on your search. Using Google as a calculator. How many feet in a mile? 6 times 2.75?

FREEBEES- OR ALMOST:
128 MB SD $1.95 Memory Mac Connection.Com
4 in 1 Card reader (USB 2) Macmall.Com
Wireless Router Belkin. $-0.05 after $50.00 rebate MacConnection.com Syntax USB 400 Wireless LAN Adaptor Free after rebate Windows only RSS (Really Simple Syndication) www.Newsfirerss.com

RSS:
reads website news
catalogs the website
spacebar will scroll
January is Membership dues month $24.00 for year
January program ---questions and troubleshooting hardware........
February ---Excel presentation.....
Hope to see you on January 20.
Submitted by
Pat Davis, secretary

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June 16, 2005

June 16th Fort Collins MACINTOSH Meeting
A treasurer report for given and we have a balance of $1534.71
INTEL CHIP
Apple® announced plans to deliver models of its Macintosh® computers using Intel® microprocessors by this time next year. Macintoshes have not been able to break through the 3 GHZ.

BACKUPS
We had a short discussion on backups.
» Online products for backup (MAC account)
» Backups to external devices
Different methods were discussed for backups
» Everything on your machine with a date
» Only files etc. that have changed from the original backup with a date.

E-MAIL ACCOUNTS AND FOLDERS
When searching for a provider they may sell the phone-line modem, DSL or cable modem and also be the Internet service provider (ISP).
A home computer may be linked to the Internet using a phone-line modem, DSL or cable modem that talks to an Internet service provider (ISP).

MACINTOSH OPERATING SYSTEMS
A Poll was taken on what operating systems people were presently on. One person was on OS9 and the rest of the group was on OS10

ICAT
ICAT for the internet is free. Used for text message, audio and video chats. Transmit any kind of file, and when you send photos, they display right in the Message window. ICAT is similar to INSTANT MESSAGER and can be used between PC and MACINTOSH users. It is a good way to transfer large files between users rather than using an internet/e-mail connection. PRINTER SHARING

We had a brief discussion on printer sharing on a network.

iPhoto
Apple's iPhoto is a convenient application to use to organize and edit your digital photos, but it restricts you to having to keep all of your photos in a single library. When your photo collection begins to grow, having all of your photos in one library can become unwieldy. iPhoto Library Manager alleviates this problem by allowing you to keep multiple iPhoto libraries in different places on your computer (or even on an external drive or networked volume ) and switch back and forth between them. It also provides at-a-glance information on each of your libraries and allows you to copy photos directly from one library to another, or even merge entire libraries together into one. Also it was brought up about displaying pictures on a HP Palm.

INK CARTRIDGES
We had a brief discussion about recycled ink cartridges that could purchased on the web at a various number of companies. One was TECKWORKS. It was also discussed that some of the office supply stores will provide free paper for the return of ink cartridges.

EXTERNAL STORAGE DEVICES
We had a brief discussion about new storage devices the size or a credit card that would hold 30 GB.

Converting VHS tapes to DVD or DV
One member wanted to convert there old VHS tapes. Capture the video to the computer as MPEG-2 using hardware capture devices that convert the VHS to MPEG-2 as they capture and then author and burn a DVD. A one-hour video is captured and compressed to MPEG-2 in one hour,
Hardware boxes can convert from analog-to-MPEG boxes can deliver very good quality, in part because the analog source video does not have to be converted to DV before being encoded to MPEG.
The recommend idea was to record the VHS tape to a DV recorder camera. DV files take up lots of space.

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October 20, 2005

The Fort Collins Mac Users Group Meeting was called to order by Brian Lackey at 7:13.
There were eight members in attendance.
Paul Carlstedt gave the treasurer's report:
20-Oct-05
Opening Balance 9/16/05 1,491.14
Additions / Subtractions
Allnutt Room Rental                    -15.00

Closing Balance 10/17/05 1,476.14

Brian continued with a demo of EyeHome by Elgato Systems
Eyehome Media Center: Cost about $100.00 / TiVo
- iTunes, iPhoto, Movies, Web
      *iTunes
Playlists by Genera, Artist, Album, Playlist, Smartlist, Song
      *iPhoto
All photos in pictures folder,
All iPhoto Albums and Library
Can do slide show with music
      *Movies
Movies in your movie folder
Formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (DVD), MPEG-4, DivX, 31VX (AVI), XVID (AVI)
      *Web
Uses Safari Bookmarks
Can type using T9 on your remote (takes a long time)
      *Connectivity
Composite
Video (R/W/Y)
Optical
S-Video
Ethernet 10/100

Pros:
Once hardwork is done, movie menus are nice. Especially if you have kids
Aliases of media to another location/drive is supported
Can use multiple Macs as long as software is loaded
Auto finds Macs

Cons:
Movies not converted will not play. (.mov, .dv)
Cannot search other music while song is playing
Photos with music is convoluted
Menu can be slow
Remote is toy-like
Cannot use multiple outputs
EyeHome app must run at all times
The only Mac media center out there

Brian discussed having one remote control for an entertainment center ( I would sure like that). The remote he would recommend is a Harmony Remote can check it out at www.Logitech.com

One member suggested watching a movie to get away from your computer or perhaps watch it on your computer..."Pirates of Silicon Valley".

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45
Respectfully submitted
Pat Davis, Secretary

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November 17, 2005

The meeting minutes follow:
11/17/05 Meeting
Convened at 7:07 by Brian, Eight members present.

The treasurers report showed an opening balance of $1,478.14, expenses for meeting room of $15.00 for Allnutt and closing balance of $1,461.14.

Brian passed out the newsletter. Also on the web page.
Brian suggested that we look for a new meeting place that has Broadband capabilities. Also no cost, coffee and light supper.

Possible programs:
Scrapbook Pam March
Illustrator Mary Ann ?
iPhoto Paul Feb or Apr

A wide ranging discussion followed
New printers are supplied with half the normal ink supply. Ink is a money maker.
Ink Jet copies cost 12 cents Laser copies cost 2 cents.
If you are looking for a new Mac, wait until after Mac World in min Jan 06.
The application Keynote is not as user friendly as MS Power Point.

Robert passed out commands for SAFARI and OS X Finder. They will also be available at the December meeting.

One or two other items that I can't decipher from my notes.
Paul, (fill-in note taker)

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December 15, 2005

The meeting minutes follow:
Fort Collins Mac Users Group
Minutes for the December 15, 2005 Meeting

Twelve members and visitors were present to enjoy the snacks and discussions:
**Reducing fonts in WORD
**ISP what they offer, which are preferred, are they necessary with DSL
**VOIP protocol
***Meeting on a new day, the most popular choices were:
2nd Thursday
1st Tuesday
4th Tuesday of the month.
***Meeting Place:
preferably no rent
offer of broadband connection