April Meeting - Batteries…You won’t leave home without one!

Marc Dupuis, from Batteries Expert in Bowmanville, shared his knowledge about batteries. As he pointed out, we are surrounded by batteries... from our watches and cell phones, to our cars and computers.

Marc explained the principal of how a battery works, the different types, and how to maintain them for a long life.

Besides batteries, Marc is involved in LED lighting and solar/wind energy.

A Look at the Unexpected - Data Protection

At our March Meeting, Joe O'Hara, of Canadian Data Protection, talked about backups. As he pointed out, sooner or later, you WILL lose data. It may be because of hard drive failure, laptop theft, fire, vandalism, virus, or you might inadvertently delete some critical item. A good plan includes a strategy to protect data and enable recovery in the event of disaster.
His clients run the gamut of industry sectors: financial institutions, insurance agencies, tax preparers, accountants, retail operations, consultants, and others... including small home businesses. Joe pointed out that all data is stored in two physical locations, all in Canada.

So You Think You Are Secure

Robert Spruce, of Computer Troubleshooters [ http://www.ctoshawa.com ], provided detailed advice about keeping your computer safe and maintaining data back-ups.
A few of his favourite online places:
http://www.hoax-slayer.com
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/
Theft of personal identities and corporate data has become a huge problem, costing in the trillions, and endangering national security.

Digital TV Reception Over the Air

Able TV and Antenna Service (Whitby) demonstrated some free and some cost efficient methods for receiving many high definition digital channels with an antenna and (if needed) a tuner box. Televisions made within the last three years will likely already have a built-in digital tuner, requiring no more than rabbit ears to pull in nearby channels.

Santa, attracted by an abundance of Christmas goodies, and an opportunity to thank our club volunteers, presented gifts.

Jasper Baarbe asked members to view and vote for a YouTube video he produced along with his brother. Votes may yeild a scholarship from the Fraser Instutute. Go to "Balance: The Economic Tightrope". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbI1aNDYgQI You may vote if you are logged into a YouTube account.

Windows 7 by Microsoft - November Meeting

Damir Bersinic, of Microsoft, is thanked by Program Director, Jason. Damir not only provided a highly detailed look at Windows 7, but stayed throughout the meeting to assist with advice and answers to the "bug session". Shown above are two lucky winners of Windows 7 Ultimate.

October 2009 - High Definition Television - HD TV

Representatives from Best Buy and Geek Squad covered the newest HD television choices, along with installation options and cautions. Club members probed further with numerous questions concerning reliability, image quality and costs.

Photo: Ron Locke

Sept 10 Meeting - SketchUp & NoScript

Jasper demonstrated his extensive knowledge of Google's free version of Sketchup, and taught a novice user how to make a 3-D, textured and shaded object - in this case, a chair. Google Earth contains an option to turn on 3D objects created by SketchUp artists, making exploration of cities populated with Sketch-up architecture much more exciting and explanatory. The SketchUp Warehouse contains many pre-drawn drag'n'drop objects, saving a lot of time when, say, filling up a room with furniture. Mike followed with NoScript, a Firefox add-on for blocking JScript activity on web sites, except where permitted by the user.

Identity Theft - August 2009 Meeting

Howard Haslett is a Risk Management and Identity Theft Specialist working with PPL Legal Care of Canada, along with his wife Jacqueline.

• What is Identity Theft?
• Is it a crime in Canada?
• Are you at risk?
• Types of Identity Theft
• High tech and low tech examples
• Why worry about Identity Theft?
• Why are you at risk?
• Breaches of information
• Laws to protect us
• What can you do to protect yourself?

April 9 mtg. - GOOGLE Night - Part I

Five club members presented an overview of many Google features - leaving a goodly number of Google possibilities still untouched. For this reason, we may follow up with a presentation of the remaining items at a future meeting - a GOOGLE Night Part II.

Gizmos and Gadgets Technology Expo - Oshawa

Promoting our club - several members at the Gizmos and Gadgets Technology Expo, Oshawa Public Library - March 24, 2009. Visitors were shown digital imaging, tablet computing, the Linux operating system, Vista, and music recording software.

During one of the break-out sessions, we demonstrated the use of web cameras for Skype video and voice communication, as well as direct voice calls (with Skype) to landlines from a home computer.