not a product, and those of us who bought in back in 2000 will be
traumatized. For about a day…read on…
A Forum for Personal-Computer Users — February, 2006
February Program: OpenOffice.org
Monday, February 6, 2006 at 7:30 PM, UAW-Local-14 Hall, Jackman & Northover (between Laskey & Alexis Rd), Toledo, Ohio.
In
This Issue ...
TPCUG Data
From the Prez
Minutes
Treasurer’s Report
Membership Expirations
Computer Investing Group Meeting
Fearless Forecasts for 2006
TOLTBBS Information
TPCUG’s
Website:
http://www.toledopcug.org
Coming Meetings: Monday,
March 6, April 3, Mai 1, Jun 5, July 3, August 7, August 28, October 2, November 6, December 4.
Officers
President: Floyd Miller
Vice-President: Rick Snyder
Treasurer: Steve Tryc
Secretary: Sándor Halász
Standing Committees
Computer Shows: Steve
Tryc
Librarian: Open
Membership: Roy Ballogg
Programs:
Lester Miller
Public Relations: Lavern & Eugene
Curtis
Complaint Dept.: Helen Waite
SIG Leaders
Internet SIG: Jim Bell ............ 419-877-1109
Statement of Intent: The Toledo PC Users’ Group is a not-for-profit corporation, formed to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information regarding the use and enjoyment of personal computers.
Affiliations: TPCUG is a member of APCUG (Association of Personal Computer User Groups), which provided the APCUG logo.
Meetings:
Meetings are generally held the first Monday of each month, at
UAW-Local-14-Hall, 5411 Jackman Rd., Toledo, OH. In the event of
emergency, members may be reached during meetings at a pay phone in
the hall, 419-473-9571.
Visitors are always welcome at monthly
meetings!
Executive-Board meetings are generally held
after the regular monthly meetings.
Membership: Dues are $25. per year. To obtain an application, call any officer or member.
Moving? Notify the Membership Chair to redirect your newsletters.
Copyright 2006: The Toledo PC Users’ Group, the publisher of this newsletter, is a not for profit organization. Although it asserts a copyright for the newsletter, permission is granted to reprint this publication in whole or in part for any noncommercial use, with credits acknowledged.
Newsletter Deadline is the 15th of each month. All members are encouraged to contribute articles and reviews for this newsletter. Submissions may be made by email to the editor.
Advertizing: Business cards (2”×3½”) will be run in three issues for $5. Commercial ads: $10 for ¼ page; $20 for ½ page; $30 for ¾ page; $40 for full page. Larger ads are run in two issues from a graphics format, JPEG or GIF or … Members may place free ads for the sale of computer-related personal items on a space-available basis. Contact editor for details.
Production Notes: This newsletter was compiled in Open Office 1.1.5 and Notepad.
TPCUG Mailing List: If you are on the Internet, keep in touch with club doings by subscribing to the TPCUG mailing list: Send e-mail to “tpcug-request@toltbbs.com” with only “subscribe tpcug@toltbbs.com” in the body of the message. You will then receive communications sent to the list through e-mail.
Here we are well into winter with the traditional January thaw behind us. Hopefully the temperatures will not match those of December so that the next fuel bill will not bankrupt us.
Thus there is time for a wondering mind (I think I have one left to wonder). I was thinking about pulling the plug on my computer, firing my ISP, forgetting about all those favorite web sites, shutting off all the e-mail with all that spam, forgoing all those funny e-mail jokes, inspirational messages, etc., no more Google, E-bay and on and on. Come to think about it that “black box” and that “one-eyed monster” (monitor) takes a lot of time and talent to keep up with all that flows through its innards—the programs, the updates, the digital pictures, spam blockers, spyware blasters, antivirus programs, the manuals, PC publications, etc, etc.
We could go to the library in search of the information we need. We could dust off the old typewriter and write letters and type business documents. We could watch a lot more television with all the mind-numbing programs. So with all vacuums they get filled with something. And so our lives would change or regress to the time before computers—the good old days.
Then there came a spike of new consciousness and I said to myself “Not for me!!” Though the computer is the best of all worlds and at the same time the worst of all worlds, I still want to be connected to a WORLD-WIDE WEB. I want to be connected to friends on line. I want a whole host of information available at the click of a mouse. I want to pay e-bills on line. I want to shop e-Bay as well as other auction sites. I want to be connected to my banks. I want to attend the ToledoPCUG meetings, I want to be a part of the Internet SIG. I want to keep track of the markets. I want to deal with an on-line broker, and the list goes on and on and on until my computer has become “my right hand”. Separate me from my computer NO, NO NO, NO!!! AS I KICK AND SCREAM!!!
To help make this all delightful and possible all we PC-USERS’-GROUP Members need each other and the programs that such a group makes possible. We've come along way from those Radio-Shake days of Jim Dunmeyer's BBS in the 80's to the new servers and a new look to be for Jim Bell's ISP Service.
Let's get a new vision for the ToledoPCUG that helps us be all we can be as we sit down and turn on our computers. See you Feb. 6th same time and place, as always:
“Visitors are welcome and members are expected.”
Your Prez,
/Floyd L. Miller
There was a presentation by Lester Miller, from videotape, of Windows XP s upkeep-software, but with only six members present, no meeting.
Respectfully submitted by Sándor Halász, secretary
With no income or expense the balance remains the same, $1340.32
Steve Tryc, treasurer
Expiration in March:
1594 Henry Geiger
1653 Laverne Curtis
1672 Norman Richardson
February 4, 2006, Saturday, 2:00 PM–4:00 PM
Heatherdowns Library, 3265 Glanzman Road, Toledo, Ohio 43614. 419-259-5270
Cost: FREE
Screening with Prospector
Can you find good stocks to buy, do you know where to look, and do you know what to look for? BI's Stock Prospector is the most customizable way to find new companies to invest in. It screens stocks using BI's Online Premium Service company data. And it works smoothly with BI's stock study software.
No registration, no fees; just come to learn.
For more information on the computer group, to add a friend to our mailing list, and to send ideas of possible programs, please contact Donna Bardis at (419) 517-3279 or pbardis@pop3.utoledo.edu
February 9, 2006, Thursday, 6:15 PM–8:15 PM
Wood County Library, 251 N. Main St., Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Cost: $15
We will cover many things including
Come and learn how this essential tool can help you to become a more informed and better investor!
Event Contact: Raj Padmaraj, rpadmar@cba.bgsu.edu
Your registration should be postmarked by February 2, 2006.
Event Registrar: Marilyn Adams, o2bnobx@earthlink.net, Telephone:
419-865-6061
You may use the registration form found in the Fall newsletter which was mailed to you or go on line & print it out. Go to our website, click on ValueLine Plus, and click on NW Buckeye Registration form. Website address is http://www.betterinvesting.org/chapter/nwohio
March 17–18, 2006
Kellogg Center, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, Michigan
Register by February 15 for the best deals!
For details on program, hotel, and registration form, go to http://www.betterinvesting.org/chapter/article/semich/3234
By Rick Altman, Altman Digital Communications
I want a piece of the action. I want the opportunity to make embarrassing predictions, be ridiculed by our peers, and live in shame until next January. Here, therefore, is our annual contribution to the landscape of bold, prophetic statements that will surely come back to haunt us…
1. Microsoft has trouble with Office 12
The new version of Microsoft Office will not be plagued with bugs or security vulnerabilities. It will install without incident and run with acceptable or better performance on a majority of Windows boxes. The pundits will laud it and we commentators will speak of it, how the new interface will greatly improve productivity through all of the applications.
But the public will not embrace it. More set in their ways than any other type of PC user, daily users of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have spent the past 48 to 60 months likening these apps to their toasters or microwave ovens: not every task is easy, but the mechanics of using the appliance is a no-brainer. That will not be the case at first with the freshly designed Office 12, and many will find themselves retreating to Office 03 to get today's project out the door "until I have time to sit and play with it". We all know when that time comes—December 32.
Consequently, Microsoft will consider a compatibility mode to keep the new Office from becoming shelfware.
2. Corel products trade places
The Corel Graphics Suite (aka CorelDraw and PhotoPaint) will play to increasingly narrow niche markets, but Paint Shop Pro will hit its stride. It will become the most prominent alternative to Adobe Photoshop and work its way into more and more bundles with digital camera manufacturers.
PhotoPaint will begin to lose its identity and Corel officials will talk seriously about moving PSP into the CGS bundle.
3. Two lenses are better than one
The CES show in early January scooped me on this one: cameras with two lenses. Kodak debuted this at CES with a single 5MP sensor being mated to a pair of lenses, one fixed at 23mm and the other a 37-117mm zoom. My prediction was going to be that this would appear in 2006; now we will forecast that it will become commonplace this year.
4. Hand-held movies in high-resolution?
iPod devotees already speak of watching movies in their hands, but it is not my contention that you will ever watch feature-length movies on your iPod or mobile phone and actually enjoy it. We're getting closer, though: the digital videos that we create at our PhotosToMemories web site will all play quite well on video-enabled handhelds, only requiring about 30MB apiece.
But that's not the same as watching a two-hour movie on your phone, and we know it. Technology cannot create comfort or compensate for lack of same, but there is no reason why your phone cannot be the movie player. A two-hour movie can be delivered in satisfactory 4:3 resolution in about 2GB and many phones, music players, and Palm devices can routinely accept a file of that size. What we will see in 2006 is the widespread support for those devices to connect directly to a television for playback.
5. Batteries…oy vey…
Whenever Prediction No. 3 becomes a reality, this one will be about six weeks behind: Batteries for handhelds will need to be about twice as good as they are now. Or the entire industry goes to hell!
6. Whither TiVo
Perhaps the most painful prediction in multimedia for
2006 will be our beloved TiVo, which will continue to fight to gain
traction…and lose the battle. TiVo will become a technology,
not a product, and those of us who bought in back in 2000 will be
traumatized. For about a day…read on…
7. Television…directly to your PC
The networks will deliver us from our trauma by offering services whereby you can subscribe to a television show and have it automatically download to your PC, with no restrictions or DRM issues. With relatively simple software, and more notably coöperation from the networks at a level not seen before, entirely new life will be breathed into the Windows Media Edition and to PCs billing themselves as media centers.
Before the year is over, I will walk into a house that I have never been in before, take out my mobile phone and wirelessly play a network broadcast on the television there.
8. Every company will see the light…
…and train all of its employees so that nobody delivers obnoxious and annoying presentations and commits Death by PowerPoint ever again.
Well, seven out of eight won't be too bad.
Copyright 2006, All rights reserved. R. Altman & Associates. Article reproduction coördinated by Steve Bass, author of PC Annoyances Second Edition: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things about Your Personal Computer, O’Reilly Press.