Black Friday

Bill McKinnery gave an overview of Black Friday, its history and suggestions for finding the best prices, at yesterday's CCH.  His slides with notes are attached below.

Slides:  Black Friday Slides

Cybersecurity

October is Cybersecurity Awareness month.  This past Friday, Ted Steinhauser gave a presentation on Cybersecurity at the first session of the CCH for 2024-25.  His slides and a two-page handout are available in the links below.

Slides

Handout

Electric Vehicles -- One Year Later

One year ago, Bill Altman gave a presentation on electric vehicles, on the technology and not focusing on one brand.  It's been a year and he gave another presentation on what has happened in the industry and lessons learned.  There has been a lot going on.  He also invited owners of EVs to provide their thoughts and comments.

Video Recording:  EVs - An Update

Slides:  EVs - An Update

 Office Suites

Brian Osgood gave a presentation on Office Suites on April 26.  Most of us are familiar with Microsoft 365 but there are free alternatives - i.e. Google, LibreOffice, and Apple. His 25 minute presentation and slides are available below.

Video recording:  Office Suites

Slides:  Office Suites Slides

 Woodworkers Guild Technology SIG

On April 12, Charlie Bess gave a presentation on the Technology SIG.  Charlie focussed on the various flexible manufacturing technologies and what is being taught at the Sun City Woodworkers and Model Makers Guild. Topics included:  Flexible manufacturing; 3D printing; CNC; Laser cutting and engraving.  He also discussed training in Sun City Woodshop and lessons learned.

Unfortunately, the video recording was unusable but the slides presented are located at this link: Slides

 Improving PC Performance

Does your old PC seem sluggish? Or maybe your new PC is not optimized for performance? Either way, Phil Blecker gave a talk about how to improve/optimize your PCs performance at last week's CCH. There were several positive comments and if you missed it (or want to hear/see it again) click on the link below.

The recording the session is at: Recording

The slide is located at: Slide

Music from the Internet

On March 8, Frank Sincaglia gave a presentation on music from the internet.  He presented a review of the many different services available to listen to music from the internet, discuss choices based on users musical preferences with pros and cons of convenience, flexibility, costs, content etc. and demonstrated with a live stream from different sites.

To view the recording of this presentation, click here: Recording

The slides are available at this link:  Slides

 Cutting the Cord

Toni Valenstein and Brian Osgood lead a panel discussion on Cord Cutting on Feb 23,2024. They discussed the systems they use as well as some alternatives, the costs, and options. This was not a how-to discussion per se but more a discussion of the options. While there are many options to consider, the Computer Club does not endorse any one option over any other nor does it sell any services to cut the cord.

The recording of this discussion is located at: Recording

The slides are available at: Slides

 Artificial Intelligence -- What's Next?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the latest buzzword - e.g. appearing in the Samsung ad for their latest phone -- S24 Ultra with AI.

But what is it? And where is it going? To find out more come to this week's Computer Club Hour this Friday (Feb 9, 10 am in Pinckney Hall) where Maureen Kilcoyne will present a discussion on AI - What's Next?

The recording of this lecture is available at: Recording

The slides are available at: Slides

Google Apps

Google Apps provide a FREE alternative to other office suites plus much, much more. Whether you are a PC, Apple, or Android user, these apps are available for you. (You don't need a Gmail account to create a Google Account. You can use your non-Gmail email address to create one instead.) Bill Altman presented an overview of Google apps.

The recording of this presentation is available at: Google Apps

The slides for this presentation are available at:  Google Apps

Amateur Radio - What it is and How We Use Computers

The Computer Club Hour presentation this past week (Friday, Jan 12, 10 am, Pinckney Hall) was “Amateur Radio, What it is and How We Use Computers.” The PowerPoint presentation includes several videos of computer programs showing the operation of a radio. Ken Finke was the major presenter with assistance from Harve Hnatiuk and Ed Stratton.

The recording of the presentation is located here: Amateur Radio Recording

The PowerPoint slides are located here:  Amateur Radio Slides