The last meeting for the Hutt SIG should be interesting.
No cake, but we will have Google's recently announced ChromeOS to demonstrate. This is Google's cloud-based operating system that is expected to be released next year.
Also Picasa 3.5, with face recognition (a new feature in Picasa, which has had face detection for some time). Many people are of the opinion that Picasa's face recognition is one of the best performing implementations, even beating iPhoto. Picasa runs on Windows, Linux and Mac, so no excuses for not attending this meeting.
If time permits, a quick look at Microsoft ICE, an excellent tool for automatically stitching images together (useful for panoramas). Microsoft research is producing a range of very useful and interesting image manipulation tools, ICE is just one of several initiatives from Microsoft in this area.
See you there!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wgton meeting, 16 december 2009
Ah... the Christmas party, and Roger's cake.
Yes, it's that time again (as if you didn't already know). There will be the usual goodies: wine, grape juice etc for refreshments.
In addition, Nathan Mercer from Microsoft will talk about the company's latest version of Office, called Office 2010. How does it differ from Office 2007, I hear you ask? Obviously, you will need to come along and find out -- that is, if you haven't already been sufficiently enticed (or bribed, if you prefer to look at it another way). If you were present at the meeting last month, when Richard gave us a refresher course on Office 2007 and even earlier versions of the software, you will have a head start with the comparison, so I hope to see you there.
Yes, it's that time again (as if you didn't already know). There will be the usual goodies: wine, grape juice etc for refreshments.
In addition, Nathan Mercer from Microsoft will talk about the company's latest version of Office, called Office 2010. How does it differ from Office 2007, I hear you ask? Obviously, you will need to come along and find out -- that is, if you haven't already been sufficiently enticed (or bribed, if you prefer to look at it another way). If you were present at the meeting last month, when Richard gave us a refresher course on Office 2007 and even earlier versions of the software, you will have a head start with the comparison, so I hope to see you there.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wgton meeting, 18 November 2009
We had hoped to have a presenter for tomorrow's meeting but he does not currently have the time to be able to fully prepare his talk. That will now take place early next year.
Tomorrow's meeting will probably become another brainstrust, where members' computer problems are discussed and (hopefully) solved.
Come along and see what eventuates.
Tomorrow's meeting will probably become another brainstrust, where members' computer problems are discussed and (hopefully) solved.
Come along and see what eventuates.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Hutt meeting for Monday 9 November 2009
Roger will repeat the presentation he gave at St Giles last month about his favourite web sites and the advantages of bit-torrenting movies and other very large files.
If you missed the Wellington meeting last month, don't miss this one.
If you missed the Wellington meeting last month, don't miss this one.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wgtn Meeting for 21 October 2009
Roger Currier will visit some of his favourite Internet sites like "The Box" for downloading movies and other forms of entertainment.
This will be a fascinating presentation so make sure you come along to St Giles on Wednesday evening.
This will be a fascinating presentation so make sure you come along to St Giles on Wednesday evening.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Hutt Meeting for Monday, 12 October 2009
David Edwards will repeat his discussuion of Windows 7, which he gave at the Wellington meeting recently.
If you missed that meeting, make sure you attend this one, as David's talk was excellent
If you missed that meeting, make sure you attend this one, as David's talk was excellent
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Wgtn Meeting for 16 September 2009 - amendment
Ian Godfrey will talk about VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) at tonight's meeting, so for those of you interested in the topic, make sure you attend the meeting.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wgton meeting for 16 September 2009
Ian Godfrey, a long time member of the club, will talk at this month's meeting. Ian used to run the original hardware SIG that involved designing circuits and printed circuit boards so he has a wealth of experience in computing.
This should prove to be an evening of more than usual interest so do come along and hear what Ian has to say.
This should prove to be an evening of more than usual interest so do come along and hear what Ian has to say.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Wgton Meeting for 19 August 2009
A technician from a local computer hardware retailer was approached to address this month's meeting but, sadly, he is too busy with other matters. As a result at the time of writing nothing has been officially organised for the meeting but don't let that deter you from attending.
What eventuates might turn out to be a very pleasant surprise!
What eventuates might turn out to be a very pleasant surprise!
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Hutt Meeting for 10 August 2009
Arthur Harris will talk about wxPython, the GUI for the programming language Python, which allows one to create Windows lookalike applications from Python code.
Those who attended Arthur's Powerpoint presentations of Python at both Moera and St Giles will know just how passionate he is about the language, so do come along and show your support on Monday evening at the Moera Community House. The meeting starts at around 7:30 pm.
Those who attended Arthur's Powerpoint presentations of Python at both Moera and St Giles will know just how passionate he is about the language, so do come along and show your support on Monday evening at the Moera Community House. The meeting starts at around 7:30 pm.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Wgtn Meeting, 15 July 2009
Yes, it's that time of the year again: the AGM. However, please don't stay away because you think there is a possibility you might be elected onto the committee. That has all been arranged already. It's business as usual, with the same members deciding to stand for yet another year.
After the election of officers, which shouldn't take long, there will be a Brainstrust. If you have any computer problems that you haven't been able to get answers to elsewhere, now is the time to ask them, so I hope to see you all this Wednesday.
After the election of officers, which shouldn't take long, there will be a Brainstrust. If you have any computer problems that you haven't been able to get answers to elsewhere, now is the time to ask them, so I hope to see you all this Wednesday.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Hutt SIG Meeting Monday 13 July 2009
The July meeting will introduce the latest Ubuntu release - Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) Desktop Edition. If time permits and hardware is available, there may also be a demonstration of the Netbook Remix edition. As many PCs now ship without optical drives, this demonstration will also include booting and running from a USB thumbdrive - very much faster than running from a CDROM.
Ubuntu is steadily maturing and is a viable alternative to other, proprietary operating systems. It looks great, supports most hardware, is continually being improved and is free.
This will quite likely be a different presentation to the Ubuntu demo at Wellington earlier this year, come along and see what has changed. See you there!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Wgtn Meeting for 17 June, 2009
Member Tom Clarke is going to talk about gliding and the role that the computer can play in navigation and other areas.
This is a topic that Tom is very keen about so it should be a fascinating evening.
This is a topic that Tom is very keen about so it should be a fascinating evening.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Wgton meeting for 20th May 2009
Alan Royal has arranged for Nathan Mercer, from Microsoft, to talk about Windows 7. This is to be the successor to Windows Vista and has been receiving glowing reports from a number of sources.
According to Alan, it will run on a system that handles Windows XP satisfactorily -- something that cannot easily be said about Vista.
This should be a fascinating evening so here is your opportunity to find out whether this latest offering from Microsoft is realy "the goods".
My thanks to Alan for organising this evening.
According to Alan, it will run on a system that handles Windows XP satisfactorily -- something that cannot easily be said about Vista.
This should be a fascinating evening so here is your opportunity to find out whether this latest offering from Microsoft is realy "the goods".
My thanks to Alan for organising this evening.
Hutt Meeting for 11th May 2009
Jim Oliver will talk about a topic, as yet to be disclosed, at the next meeting at Moera.
Jim, knowledgeable on numerous computer matters, is always interesting to listen to so come along to the meeting to find out what he has in store.
Jim, knowledgeable on numerous computer matters, is always interesting to listen to so come along to the meeting to find out what he has in store.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Hutt SIG Meeting Monday 13 April 2009
This month's Hutt SIG meeting will be a lively, wide ranging presentation covering several subjects, to a large part determined by the audience's specific interests.
Expect to see videos demonstrating the very latest in image management software (from Apple, no less!), computing interfaces and a demonstration of an interactive 3D desktop with physics. (Bumptop is a commercial product in the early stages of development and will eventually be cross platform).
If time permits, we may be able to cover some other useful desktop utilities, image management and metadata, or micro and nano blogging.
Even though it is Easter Monday, expect to see you all there, especially as the Mythbusters season has ended :-)
Expect to see videos demonstrating the very latest in image management software (from Apple, no less!), computing interfaces and a demonstration of an interactive 3D desktop with physics. (Bumptop is a commercial product in the early stages of development and will eventually be cross platform).
If time permits, we may be able to cover some other useful desktop utilities, image management and metadata, or micro and nano blogging.
Even though it is Easter Monday, expect to see you all there, especially as the Mythbusters season has ended :-)
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Wgton Meeting for 15 April, 2009
Roger will talk about his experiences with Ubuntu, a free and open source Linux-based operating system (OS).
Here is your chance to see an alternative to Windows in action and perhaps encourage you to experiment and see if another OS might suit you better.
Here is your chance to see an alternative to Windows in action and perhaps encourage you to experiment and see if another OS might suit you better.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Hutt Meeting for March, 2009
David Edwards will talk about digital photo frames.
Learn how to smarten up your photos at Moera on 9th March at the Moera Community House.
Learn how to smarten up your photos at Moera on 9th March at the Moera Community House.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Details and Links
Wednesday's meeting covered quite a lot of material, so here are the links and resources mentioned during the presentation. Added bonus: since we didn't have networking available, few videos were able to be shown, these are included here also.
Discussion
Seagate:
http://www.hindesite.co.nz
http://hindesite.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/seagates-hard-drive-debacle/
Copyright:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/17/steal-this-move-pira.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/18/kangaroo-court-a-vid.html
Connections
All about DVI connectors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface
HDMI connectors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI
Source for HDMI and DVI connectors:
(these are all components that I have purchased and used - they all work well)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12837
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8308
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2645
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1501
Setting up the TV
Pixel mapping/overscan:
http://pixelmapping.wikispaces.com/Pixel+mapping+explained
THX Optimiser (included with any Pixar DVD):
http://www.thx.com/home/dvd/optimizer/index.html
Software
Photo viewer:
Picasa http://picasa.google.com/
Video player:
VLC http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
KMPlayer http://www.kmplayer.com/forums/index.php
Video Aggregators:
Miro http://www.getmiro.com/
Vuze http://www.vuze.com/
Media Centre interfaces:
XBMC http://xbmc.org/
MediaPortal http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
Video
Sources of online streaming content:
YouTube http://www.youtube.com
Hulu http://www.hulu.com
Blip.tv http://blip.tv
Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com
Revision3 http://www.revision3.com
Interesting videos:
Bathtub IV http://vimeo.com/3156959
Helpless http://vimeo.com/2482776
Metal Heart http://vimeo.com/2317118
(and anything else by Keith Loutit - uses great music, too)
http://www.break.com/index/amazing-new-water-powered-jet-pack.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0tU3Hy7et8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SftUYBXiVS4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPnIJz8EvFU
Enjoy.
Discussion
Seagate:
http://www.hindesite.co.nz
http://hindesite.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/seagates-hard-drive-debacle/
Copyright:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/17/steal-this-move-pira.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/18/kangaroo-court-a-vid.html
Connections
All about DVI connectors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface
HDMI connectors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI
Source for HDMI and DVI connectors:
(these are all components that I have purchased and used - they all work well)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12837
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8308
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2645
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1501
Setting up the TV
Pixel mapping/overscan:
http://pixelmapping.wikispaces.com/Pixel+mapping+explained
THX Optimiser (included with any Pixar DVD):
http://www.thx.com/home/dvd/optimizer/index.html
Software
Photo viewer:
Picasa http://picasa.google.com/
Video player:
VLC http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
KMPlayer http://www.kmplayer.com/forums/index.php
Video Aggregators:
Miro http://www.getmiro.com/
Vuze http://www.vuze.com/
Media Centre interfaces:
XBMC http://xbmc.org/
MediaPortal http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
Video
Sources of online streaming content:
YouTube http://www.youtube.com
Hulu http://www.hulu.com
Blip.tv http://blip.tv
Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com
Revision3 http://www.revision3.com
Interesting videos:
Bathtub IV http://vimeo.com/3156959
Helpless http://vimeo.com/2482776
Metal Heart http://vimeo.com/2317118
(and anything else by Keith Loutit - uses great music, too)
http://www.break.com/index/amazing-new-water-powered-jet-pack.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0tU3Hy7et8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SftUYBXiVS4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPnIJz8EvFU
Enjoy.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Wellington Meeting Wednesday 18 February 2009
Wednesday's meeting presentation is about using PCs with televisions.
This can be a complicated subject, with lots of ways to connect your PC to your TV. However, the results can be absolutely stunning, and the hardware is now available to make it easy to get very good results.
The presentation will demonstrate (using a modern LCD TV if available) how this is best achieved, what the final result looks like, and what it can be used for.
If you are considering upgrading to a new TV in the near future, you might find this presentation will give you useful information that might affect your choice of TV. If you already have a modern TV, find out what you are missing out on by not already having a PC attached.
Sky? Who needs it!
This will be an interesting demonstration and there will be some entertaining videos throughout.
See you there.
This can be a complicated subject, with lots of ways to connect your PC to your TV. However, the results can be absolutely stunning, and the hardware is now available to make it easy to get very good results.
The presentation will demonstrate (using a modern LCD TV if available) how this is best achieved, what the final result looks like, and what it can be used for.
If you are considering upgrading to a new TV in the near future, you might find this presentation will give you useful information that might affect your choice of TV. If you already have a modern TV, find out what you are missing out on by not already having a PC attached.
Sky? Who needs it!
This will be an interesting demonstration and there will be some entertaining videos throughout.
See you there.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Hutt Meeting Monday 9 February 2009
Monday's Hutt meeting will attempt to answer Perce Harpham's question from a few meetings ago: "How do you find the time?"
It will cover ways of avoiding hours of web browsing yet still ensure that you get information and news on topics of interest to you.
If time permits, there may also demonstrations or discussion on any topics of interest to those attending. The Internets have been very busy so there is a lot to discuss.
See you there.
It will cover ways of avoiding hours of web browsing yet still ensure that you get information and news on topics of interest to you.
If time permits, there may also demonstrations or discussion on any topics of interest to those attending. The Internets have been very busy so there is a lot to discuss.
See you there.
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