Click for Presentation Materials:

Digital Frames  (ppt)  (pdf)           Skype  (ppt)  (pdf)

Automobile GPS  (ppt)  (pdf)

Dick Curry’s Helpful Websites  (ppt)  (pdf)

Digital Picture Frames, Skype and Automobile GPS Units

Meeting Overview

Computers & Technology Group Co-Chairman Phil Goff opened the meeting at 9:00 am. Executive committee members in attendance were Dean Steichen, Phil Goff, Floyd Skelton, Dick Curry, Jack Bevis, Dick Chaffee, Ollie Greenlee, Lo McCarley, Chris Satterthwaite and Vic Moore. Total attendance was 66.P

Phil explained that he has taken over our website from Floyd Skelton and has rebuilt it. He demonstrated how it works. It will always be available at this address,  sir-web.org/computer.

Phil said that he had been in contact with Don MacGregor of the State SIR organization. It seems that Don is impressed with the success of our group and would like to do an article on us. Phil told him it would be OK if other Branches downloaded our presentations and shared them with their groups. He did ask that others reciprocate.

He announced that he has arranged for a presentation for March on How to digitize LP records and make audio CD’s.

He has received emails suggesting topics for future presentations, including: Selling on eBay, Universal remotes, and Surround sound systems. These all are good ideas. Presenters are needed.

In regard to the Emergency Records Organizer CD that he handed out last month, he explained that you have to copy it to your hard drive before it can be filled out. When complete you burn a new CD.

Phil’s final announcement was that a replacement is needed to take over Frank Crua’s job of maintaining the membership list and producing the nametags for our meetings. (During the course of the meeting Derek Southern volunteered.)

The volunteers for this meeting were: Refreshments; Bill Phelon, Coffee Masters: Vic Moore and Chris Satterthwaite, Setup Chairman; Lo McCarley with Don DeGraf, Jack Kearney and Bill Turnquist.

Today’s program consisted of four parts:  Dean Steichen presented “Digital Picture Frames” and “SKYPE,” Phil Goff presented “Automobile GPS Units,” and Dick Curry led a Q&A session on computer questions.  A summary of their presentations follows.

Digital Picture Frames (DPF) by Dean Steichen

DPF’s allow you to see and show your pictures without a computer. It is fun to do and not expensive. You can get a smaller unit for $70. For $150 and up you get a larger screen and more quality and features.

Just as in buying a computer you consider screen size and resolution. They support most of the common audio and video formats (JPEG, MP3 etc).

DPF’s have some internal memory, support memory cards and connect to your computer by USB connections.

Dean said that Fry’s had 15 or 20 of them on display recently to help choose a model.

He also commented on the recent news article about some DPF’s being infected with the “Insigna 10” virus. This isn’t common but to be safe when connecting to the computer turn off “auto run” and scan for viruses.

Video Conferencing with SKYPE by Dean Steichen

Skype is a form of instant audio and video communication. In its basic form it is free.

You need a computer at each end with high-speed Internet connection. Each person needs a webcam, microphone and speakers.

The software is a free download from Skype.

An appropriate webcam costs between $35 and $65. Be sure that the webcam includes a microphone. Dean doesn’t recommend a cheaper webcam.

(Note that audio only communication is also possible without the need for the webcam.)

Automobile GPS Units by Phil Goff

Phil Goff first explained that the presentation had been prepared by Frank Crua who was unable to attend today.

This presentation covered the small portable units not the much more expensive built in variety.

These things are amazing and fun to use. They cost on the order of $200 + compared with $2000 + for the built-ins.

Map updates are sometimes required. These are $60 or so.  Ones for the built-ins are $250 or so.

Major recommendations: Get the larger 4.3” screen. Get “text to Speech” so that street names are spoken.

Phil thought that Garmin had the best database and the preferable unit. Best Buy has display units set up.

Start up takes maybe 2 minutes to power up and load the satellite locations.

Q&A Session by Dick Curry

He said that Langley Erickson (Branch 146) a long time member of the computer group had recently passed away.

Dick first showed a number of slides listing websites that he thought would be of interest to the group. Topics included passwords, utilities to outsmart hackers, disk cleanup utilities and a number of others. These slides are available on the website.

Question. Why do I get slower download rates with my wireless modem when at the library than with my internal modem at home?

There is no setting on your computer that is causing this.

Your Internet provider in general holds down rates. But in this case it is probably caused by the library dividing bandwidth among a number of computers that they have in service.

One Question involved what to do when you get a message telling you to choose a program association to open a file. In Windows explorer go to tools/folder options/file type list/pick one.

Dick went on to say that Windows Explorer is a powerful tool and discussed the several ways that it can be opened and used as a roadmap to locate your files.

TUT The Ultimate Troubleshooter available from the “answersthat work” website was discussed. It was again recommended.

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