Dec 11 - eBay, Santa, and Christmas Treats

Bob Bell, a frequent eBay user, provided tips for buyers and sellers, noting a number of pitfalls to avoid.



On behalf of the Club, Santa presented gifts to volunteers.



And we enjoyed seasonal treats, and warm apple cider during the break.

November 13 - Green Computing

Joe Raby of PC Components Canada, Bowmanville, described how today's computers and components require less power and are becoming more recyclable.

October 9 Meeting - D-Link

A presentation by Adam Arruda, a Consumer Product Specialist with D-Link, covering the different technologies available in the D-Link Routers as well as some of the new technologies released to the consumer market in 2008 (i.e. NAS and IP Cameras).

Also, Ed demonstrated his installation of Mandriva on a loaner PC he offers to club members - to become more familiar with Linux.

Microsoft Home Server and Creating Your Digital Home - September Meeting

 Jacqueline Hutchinson (MVP), led her audience through the steps she took while performing a fresh install of Microsoft Home Server in her home, following by a live demonstration of features like, media streaming, computer backups, network health, guest accounts, and remote access. Two lucky members won personal copies of Windows Home Server.

Jonathan Weston - Current Technology Update - June 12

Jonathan Weston, of ComputersPlus inWhitby, not only provided members with an excellent slide presentation, he also brought many samples of the "latest and greatest" hardware items from his store. Do we need to keep up? What will it cost to do so? He had all the answers.

• eeePC - only 2 pounds and about $400 (flash hard drive)
• Processors – How many cores are enough? Will AMD ever catch Intel?
• Memory – Do I need to upgrade to DDR3 memory? No! Not yet!
• Video Cards – The battle continues to see who is fastest…Nvidia or ATI
• Motherboard - most bang for the buck
• LCD Screens - mmmm - 24" Samsung!
• Peripherals - what's popular?
  

Dave Swain read a wonderful bedtime story, courtesy of Microsoft - "Why is There a Server in Our House?"

For more photos, see Ron's album.

May Meeting - Durham GPS - All the Latest Technology

Micheal Cammock of DurhamGPS described the newer features offers by today's portable GPS devices. Most important amongst them is the acccuracy and clarity of voice directions, along with easy updates to maps. He cautioned against mounting suction cup units on the window; it blocks vision and advertises to thieves.

Ed chaired the 2008 Election of Officers. Volunteers make this club funtion at its best.

For more photos see Ron's album.

April 10 - Printer Ink... more expensive than champagne

Chris Schulz from Island Inkjet shared what he’s learned about inkjet printers and how to maintain them.

Chris showed how to save money by having your old cartridges refilled, or by using generic ink jet products.

When you calculate the cost of what a few ounces of ink cost, you would be shocked to find that it’s more costly than the most expensive champagnes. Chris explained how print heads function, how they fail, and how to prevent such failures.

More Photos - Ron's Picasa Album

Oshawa Library - Gizmos and Gadgets: Technology Expo for Seniors

Our club was represented at the April 2nd. Technology Expo by Dave Swain, John Sylvestervich, Anne Delong, Linda Netten and Dan Delong. Dave and John answered questions about building and running computers. Anne demonstrated music and genealogy programs, along with Skype video calling (with husband Dan at home). Linda showed off the club web site and explained the many benefits of joining the club. John also gave away some free Linux distros and some publications.

Securing digital Memories, Backup, Backup and then Backup Again!

Les and Deb from the Computer Mechanics shared their knowledge about data recovery and some software that has worked for them. They discusssed external hard drives versus DVD’s and the benefits of using both, as well as Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems.
Internet based photo albums will secure your family pictures off site. And for those who experience hard drive failure, solutions for recovering data were described. They both feel strongly that if data is being lost you’re losing your family memories as well. http://www.thecomputermechanics.com/

Jan 10 Meeting - Yoggie Pico Security Device

Representatives from Gentek, a Toronto firm specializing in VOIP and security, demonstrated several models of the Yoggie Pico all-in-one, Internet, security device that includes 13 security applications. Yoggie Pico is a USB (single computer or five computer) protection against all forms of sniffing/attacking/spoofing/etc. that a user might encounter. Since the device is a Linux computer itself, it does not impact performance. Software updates, antivirus and spam databases are updated automatically. The built in firewall prevents both incoming and outgoing nasties. And, it offers its own parental controls and log records. When unplugged from the computer, Internet access is not allowed - period (unless the user knows the device disabling password).

Ron posted photos here: January Club Photos