Join us for our first in person meeting Thursday, January 6 at 3pm at the Venice Library on the island. Go to our Facebook page for more info.
Welcome to our website! We now meet at 3pm the first Thursday of each month (except Memorial and Labor Day) on Zoom. We have some great speakers. and would LOVE to have you join us and our next meeting. Newcomers are always welcome!
We start with an open question and answer period for about 30 minutes with Scott Rhude, owner of Scott's Computers, and Bruce Brunette, our President. All questions are welcome, including those about smart devices such as smart phones, iPads, etc. We then have an invited speaker. We have free WiFi for our meetings. Also, here's a link to our facebook page. Please join and then make comments or suggestions.
Membership is only $25 per year and could save you much, much more than that with our helpful talks and Q&A sessions. There is a $5 voluntary donation for guests when we meet in person so please feel free to invite your friends. The best buy is to become a member! Our prizes sometimes include gift certificates for some of our great Venice restaurants. ONLY members are eligible for the door prizes. We are generally done by 4:45 or so. We enjoy helping each other with questions and sharing tips.
For some fun and interesting info, please check out Bruce's business facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pg/realtorboomerbruce/posts/
Past Meetings:
December 7. Rob Truman did a great job December 7 showing us how we can cut the cord, save money and still get the programs you want. He also has a great website with lots of helpful articles. Check him out at www.geezertek.us/about . Some of his suggestions include using an antenna to get free broadcast channels, using paid sites such as Netflix, and getting free programs with Pluto and Peacock, although with ads. He personally uses YouTubeTV and also likes it for their free DVR. For more info he recommended http://www.cordcutting.com .
November 2. Judy Taylor did a great overview of social media and how we can best use it. This included Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and others.
She also showed us how we can use all of the free resources from her group, APCUG, the Association of Technology and Computer Group Users. Since Venice Tech has a paid membership, all of us have access to their website www.apcug2.org. Check out their very helpful tips for Windows, Android, Apple and Chromebooks. No password needed.
June 1. Jim and Chris of Geeks on Tours shared some of the great apps they use for travel planning. Mymaps, for example, lets create and save custom travel maps. Roadtrippers gives you ideas for fun things to see and do along the way.
May 4. Bruce showed many of his Realtor secrets and how we can research the market ourselves as well.
April 6: Scott did a great job with the many recent tech changes. Big new is that Apple has a new, fast computer chip. There was also important Windows news he shared. The meeting was recorded in the Zoom Cloud and you can see it by clicking below.
Venice Tech Meeting April 6, 2021
March 2: Jim and Chris, Geeks on Tour, showed how to use all the super features on Google Photos. You can see their slide presentation at www.geeksontour.com/clubs. Then click on our March 2 meeting.
To see a recording of their presentation go to the link on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/VeniceTechnology
February: Internet safety and security with Chuck Walker, Alliance IT. For more details and the presentation slides go to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/VeniceTechnology
January 2021. The Wonderful World of Widgets with Bill Crowe.
December: Bonnie Hammer helped us to use Facebook easier and better.
November: Bruce shared his apps, including his favorite Keep Notes.
October: Bill Crowe have us some great advice on how to use and manage our books and music on our devices.
September: First Zoom meeting. Scott updated us on all the PC and Apple changes the past few months.
April, May, June, July, August: Cancelled due to Covid virus.
March 3
Melanie Odom, Venice Reference Library, did a great job on March 3 showing us how to use all of the free genealogy resources. Just go to www.scgov.net/library, click on Digital Library, then Genealogy. The Library has special versions of Ancestry and Family Search that can only be used when in the library. They have many more resources available than the commercial versions.
When at home, you can access Heritage Quest and American Ancestors, which specializes in New England. You will need to input your library number to gain access.
In addition to Melanie, the Venice library has Genealogy volunteers that will be glad to help you. They are there Monday all morning and afternoon, Tuesday morning, Wed afternoon and Thursday afternoon.
February 4
Scott did a super job showing us how we can get lots of TV content by having just high speed internet and apps such as Netflix and Hulu. He introduced us to Pluto TV, a new app with lots of free programs. Only tradeoff is that there are commercials.
Just add it to you smart TV as an app or download it on a computer or pad. Then use Roku to connect to your non smart TV. Lots of movies, TV series. In regards to new TV's, he likes the Vizio brand because they are now the only one offering wireless access to any device.
January 7, 2020
Phil Sorrentino, past President of the Sarasota Tech Users Group, shared his ideas on how to best organize all the many photos we have taken, both on our computers and in the cloud.
December 3, 2019
Kate Lippincott, the Tech expert at the Venice Library, led us on a step by step instruction on setting up our mobile device with eBooks and FREE online magazines. We then get free access to Overdrive, Flipster, Cloud Library, Hoopla and others. Once you download the library app, you can use all. Just go to your app store and search for Sarasota County Libraries and download. When you are in the app, select Digital Library and select the app you want. Then just sign in with your library account number and your pin, same one you use to check out a book. The library pays for these apps so you don't need to!
November 5
Scott Rhude gave us great advice on how to avoid getting scammed or attacked while surfing the internet.
October 1
Cyra Rodriguez, Manager of the Sarasota T Mobile store gave us an update on all the new phone and plan options available to us.
September 10.
Scott did a great job updating us on all the Windows and Apple changes over the summer.
May 7
Our meeting was very enlightening: Protecting our Grandkids from Online Predators. Our presenter was Kelly Marsh, who is an expert in this area. She manages the website and all social media for the Sarasota Academy of the Arts. It is important for us to realize how youngsters are very vulnerable to online predators who pretend to be a teenager.
April 2
Brendan Driscoll, the Tech manager at the Jacaranda Library, wias our speaker. His topic will be How to Use and buy Smart TV's. Almost all new TV's are smart today so it is important to understand your options. He gave us lots of good hints and tips.
March 5
Many cheers to Nancy Savenko who did a presentation on emails on March 5 when our scheduled speaker Brendan Driscoll had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. He is back to normal now and will be doing our April 2 meeting on Smart TV's: How to use them and how to buy what you need. They can be confusing, so this is a great chance to understand them better. Brendan will also be doing the Q&A, so bring lots of questions on smart phones, computers, Alexa, etc.
February 5
Roland Marcotte, Assistant VP of the Venice Island Library, did a fine job of showing us all of the great, FREE digital products the library offers. (Scott Rhude, our VP, was scheduled but has a health issue that he needs to deal with.) Just sign into their website using your library card number. Flipster, for example, offers over 50 magazines, including the current issues. Freegal offers you 5 free songs per month. You can also download many ebooks. To find out how to do that, just talk to any of the librarians and they will be glad to sit down and walk you through it. You are paying for this service with your real estate taxes, so take advantage of it!
January 8, 2019
Bill Crowe, Vice President of the Sarasota Technology Users Group, gave his presentation WHAT CAN YOUR BROWSER DO? We all use a Browser to access the web. Bill gave us many tips and tricks that can make this easier, more secure and faster, including info on tabs, favorites, and bookmarks.
December 5. We had our annual Holiday Party with our usual Q&A. Scott Rhude, our VP, will then told us about a charity that he is passionate about. Hope for Justice works around the world to save young girls from human trafficking and slavery. Please consider making a donation.
This was our last meeting at Bay Indies. As of our January 8 meeting, we will be back at the Venice Library on the island, where we had been for years. The new library has wonderful facilities and is just a short hop over the bridge.
November 6: Dr. Susan Schnack, Audiologist, updated us on all the major improvements that have been made in hearing aid science, including preventative actions we can take to avoid hearing loss. Some standard medicines for example are known to cause hearing loss. She also told us about the many new technologies available, including those that help with smart phones and wireless hearing for audio, TV and theater.
October 2. Hewie Poplock gave us lots of great suggestions on how we can stop paying companies like Comcast for our entertainment by using a digital antenna and online services like Netflix. You can see his slides by clicking here.
September 11. Scott Rhude, our VP and resident tech Guru, will update us on all the many changes that have occurred over the summer for our computers and devices. Our tech devices are like speeding trains we have to keep up with!
And Yes, that's really Scott below! He has been growing his beard to get donations for a great charity that rescues children from slavery in the far east. Check it out by searching for Beard for a Cause on Facebook.
June 5. Bonnie Hammer did a great job of showing us how to take super photos and also how to manage them on our devices. Here is a link to her presentation.
May 1. Hewie Poplock, long time Florida computer group speaker, did a nice job of sharing his favorite websites with resources for seniors and others. This included free university courses, free tutorials on all subjects, and many other great sources. Click on this link to see the full list.
April 3. Brendan Driscoll, Jacaranda Library, showed us his favorite smart phone apps and answered lots of our phone questions.
March 6. Scott Rhude gave us lots of GREAT info on how we can cut our Comcast bill down from over $200 to $69, just like he did, and still have access to lots of entertainment options. Scott just has high speed internet and uses it with products like Netflix and Hulu. He recommends an internet speed of at least 50.
He also told us about two free web sources of network TV, music and movies: Pluto TV and OK TV. Pluto includes live network shows, sports, music and movies. All you do is download their app on a laptop or tablet to have free access. To send it to your TV, you will need either a smart TV or an added device such as Apple TV, Chromecast, or Amazon Fire. OK TV is a web site, so no app is needed. The tradeoff on both is that there are commercials, but you are saving lots of money as a result.
You can also get free local TV stations by buying an antenna to pickup the free digital signals that stations are required by law to provide.
February 6. Brendan Driscoll, the reference librarian at the Jacaranda Library did a wonderful job of showing us how we can get lots of free resources online with our library card. In the library, they also offer several free classes on iphones and ipads, Android phones and pads, Internet 101 and many others. There is also free tax prep assistance there now.
To access online freebies, go to www.scgov.net/libraries and then click on Research Help and More. There are many resources, including the following; Fliptster for magazines, Mango for learning a language, Freegal for music (with 5 free downloads per week). You will need your library card number to sign into those sites.
You can also use Ancestry.com, but you need to be in the library to do that. Brendan is also available to answer any computer or smart phone questions.
January 8, 2018. Cameron Mengel gave us some very valuable info and advice on cell phones and carriers. He is the Mgr of the Best Buy Mobile store in the Sarasota Square Mall and carries all major phone brands, including Apple, Samsung and most carriers. Motorolla, for example, has a new smart phone that is about half the price of Apple and Samsung yet has most of the same functions. He also told us how we can save money by not being on a contract.
2017
December 4: We had our fun Holiday Party with great munchies catered by Buffalo Bill's, along with our usual Q&A.
October, November. Bill Crowe, computer expert and long time member of the Sarasota Tech Users Group, told us about some amazing smart phone apps to improve our health and wealth.
September 11. Cancelled due to Hurricane Irma
June 5. Bonnie Hammer, Adjunct Professor at the Ringling College of Art, gave a super useful presentation on how to use our smart phone to take and edit amazing photos. You can see all her tips by clicking here.
May 1. Lois Prentice, direct from the Microsoft UTC office, gave us a great overview of Windows 10 features and tips. She said that each of us can get one hour of free consulting at their office. Just mention to her that you are a member of the Venice Technology Users Group. Another great benefit of being a member!
April 3: Cameron Mengel did a great job explaining all our cell phone and cell carrier options. He is the manager of the Best Buy Cell Phone store in the Sarasota Square Mall and carries all brands. He is very knowledgable on both Apple and Android phones and all carriers. He gave us his totally unbiased advice plus answered lots and lots of our questions. His email is cameron.mengel@bestbuy.com
March 6. Scott gave us great tips on how to improve the performance on our PC's. If you have a slow PC (or a constipated one as Scott calls it!), here are steps you should take every day when you first turn it on.
1. Check for windows updates. 2. Use the Disk Cleanup utility. 3. Use the Defrag utility. 4. Clean out your browser history. Contact Scott if you don't know how to do those steps. He also said it is critical to use a quality virus protection product, such as Trend Micro, the one he recommends. Don't use Windows Defender, the one that is included in Windows 10. He also suggested using a Solid State Drive, SSD, to increase performance and reliability.
February 6. Kelli Tarala, Enclave Security, gave us great advice on how to stop the bad guys from hacking our devices. Enclave has numerous national and international clients who rely on them for computer security. Her BIG advice was to never use public Wifi because it was reported in Venicethat crooks have been using those to get into devices. She said it was like "liking the handle" in a public bathroom! We should also make sure our home wireless routers have a secure password. NEVER us the one that came with the router. Kelli also likes password programs such as Lastpass that securely remembers all your user id's and passwords.
January 9. Scott shared all his tips, tricks and favorite apps for iPhones and iPads. He especially likes the Waze app for directions, which is available for both Apple and Android products.
December 5. This was our annual Holiday Party with snacks and soft drinks. Scott also updated us on all the benefits of Microsoft 365, including 1TB of date and free use of most MS programs.
November 7
Rino Landa, Reference Librarian at the Jacaranda Library, gave us lots of very valuable tips on how to use Facebook. He especially recommended that we check all of our facebook settings, such as privacy, notifications. It was also noted that you can now send audio or video clips using facebook messenger. Rino teaches many free classes at the library. Also check out the free magazines and ebooks on their website: Sarasota Libraries
October 3
Scott gave us some great suggestions on how and why to backup your documents, photos, and videos. We should have both an external drive and cloud storage for our backups. We should copy and paste files, rather than dropping and dragging them. We can also use the auto backup utility in Windows 10. Good clouds to use are the iCloud, Microsoft's One Drive, and Google Drive. Microsoft just reduced the price so that you can get 1TB, 1000 MB, for $6.99 per month. That includes all of the Office 365 products for up to 5 devices.
September 12
Bonnie Hammer gave us lots of good advice on how to take great photos with our smart phones.
June 6
Scott's topic was "Does your Browser Suck?" He gave us lots of useful tips on using our browser. His favorite one is Mozilla Firefox, even for Apple computers. He definitely does NOT like the Microsoft Internet Explorer or their new one Edge. He recommends that we update Flash whenever prompted to do so. It is safe and necessary for browsers.
May 2
Jeanne-Marie Story from the Jacaranda Library showed us how to read free eBooks and magazines on our computers, phones and pads. She recommended the free 3M reader app instead of the hard to use Overdrive app. To download, go to www.ebook.3m.com and click the link on the link for the device you are using. When you open the app, click on the Florida link, then Sarasota Libraries. You can use the same library ID number and password that you normally use. To read magazines, go to www.sclibs.net, click on the Web Resources link, then scroll down to the Flipster link. They have a large selection of current and past magazines.
April 4
Over 75 of us heard Scott Rhude give lots of valuable info on how to use the many features of Windows 10 and why we should all switch to it from Windows 7 or 8. He said we should not use the built in Mail app, but rather a Google or Yahoo mail portal. He also prefers the Firefox browser rather then Internet Explorer or the new Microsoft Edge browser.
March 7
Touring author Abby Stokes got rave reviews as she simplified how we can best use our computers, smart phones and tablets. She showed us, for example, how to save phone battery life, how to customize our settings, how important it is to put a password on our phones, and many other great tips. All of these and many more are available on her website www.askabbystokes.com Be sure to check it out!
Februrary 1.
Scott Rhude showed us how we can get lots of TV programming without paying a bundle to your cable provider. We can use a digital antenna ($40 to $100) to get local stations free thanks to a law that requires them to broadcast digitally. Your reception and type of antenna is determined by your location. Signals come from North Sarasota and Ft. Myers. Then, by just having an internet service, you can get lots of TV and movies for about $10/month from Netflix, Hulu, or Roku. You will also need a device such as an Apple TV, Google Chromecast, or Amazon FireStick.
January 4, 2016
Bonnie Hammer gave an informative presentation on Smart Phones on how to setup contacts and sync them to the cloud along with many other useful features. You can see her full presentation by clicking on this link.
December 7, 2015
We all had fun at our Holiday party with snacks and soft drinks. Mortgage Broker Tony Moore shared his top 10 ways to improve your credit score and why it is important to do so. Bruce entertained us with his guitar playing and singing of Baby Boomer songs.
November 2, 2015
Gretchen Miscik, Apple expert, gave her very informative presentation on the iCloud and answered many questions about iPads and iPhones. She further recommended Apple settings, such as Keychain, that remembers passwords. Also the Find My Phone app that can pinpoint your phone's location on a map. She is available for private or group consultations. Her contact info is on our Links We Like page.
October 5, 2015
Scott Rhude shared his recent experience with his customers who have upgraded to Windows 10. About half had some problems, especially with older printers or software. He recommended that you bring your PC into his shop and he can check for possible issues before you do the upgrade. He demonstrated some of the new features of the O/S.
September 14, 2015
Bonnie Hammer, Ringling College teacher and long time Sarasota Tech Users Group instructor, gave a great presentation on how to best use our Facebook accounts. Her suggestions on how to set our privacy settings were especially helpful. To learn more, you can attend one of her classes. Check out her website at www.hammerized.com
June 1, 2015
Scott Rhude gave us the following great ideas on how to protect ourselves from internet dangers:
Don't include your name in your email address, use Mozilla Firefox browser instead of Chrome, ask your credit card company to send a text message code when you sign in to your account, don't post pix of your trip UNTIL you return. Also when calling your credit card company, use the number on the back of the card, NOT a number from a Google search, which may be a scammer.
May 4, 2015
Barbara Wolfe, Sarasota Technology member, introduced us to many of her personal favorite Android apps, many of which also work on Apple devices. As an Android user, she loves the Google Calender and Gmail. Here's some of the other ones:
GoodRx - It saves you money by giving you the lowest prices at local pharmacies.
Mycar locator - great for finding your car in big parking lots
Best Parking - gives you the lowest prices for parking lots in large cities.
Photo Transfer - lets you easily transfer pix to and from all your devices.
BookBub - gives you a daily customized email w free and low priced ebooks
April 6
Scott Rhude shared his favorite apps for his iPhone. These were Waze, Comcard, Spotify, Gyft, youtube, Handyman, Instagram, Netflix, Camera+, Summer Wifi, and Refly. He also just found out that by this summer the Apple TV will include the option of getting 25 local channels for only $30 per month. This could be a great alternative to Comcast.
March 2, 2015
Scott Rhude did a great job of showing us how to make sure that we don't lose our valuable data by doing proper backups. These backups can be stored in the cloud or on other devices, such as backup disks.
January 5, 2015
Mike Hutchinson, the President of the Sarasota Technology Group, shared with us all the classes and other resources their group offers. He also gave us many helpful ideas on how to improve our PC speed by using Defraggler and Revo Uninstaller. You can get the links to these programs and to the Sarasota Technology Group website at Links we like.
December 1, 2014:
This was our annual Holiday party with lots of snacks and socializing. Entertainment was provided by Glenn Gary and Bruce Brunette. Glenn is the owner of the Cabaret of Magic in downtown Venice and did a great job of amazing us with his act. Bruce has a musical group, Bruce and the Boomers, and sang and played his guitar, doing a selection of fun Baby Boomer songs.
November 3:
Bill Crowe, a Sarasota PC Users Group presenter and 34 year IBM veteran, did a super job showing us how to use the many features of the iPad and iPhone. He explained many helpful features, including the new Airdrop app. Check out his Apple and Android battery saving tips in our Free Downloads link.
October 6:
Scott Rhude showed us how to save money by streaming our TV and movie content instead of having a subscription with Comcast, Verizon or Driect TV. He explained several ways to do this using a powered digital antenna and a streaming device such as Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Chromecast.
September 8:
Scott Rhude did a great job of updating us on all the changes made over the summer to Windows 8 and the new Apple iOS.
July, August: Summer Break
June 3:
Dr. Susan Schnack did a highly professional job of educating us on hearing science, including preventative actions we can take to avoid hearing loss. Some standard medicines for example are known to cause hearing loss. She also told us about the many new technologies available, including those that help with iPhones and wireless hearing for audio, TV and theater.
Dr. Schnack received her Doctorate in Audiology from AT Still University, Arizona School of Health Sciences. Dr. Schnack worked at both the VA Hospital in Washington, DC and a private practice 2 blocks from the White House where she was the Audiologist for the Secret Service, CIA, FBI and even 3 past presidents!
May 5:
Our speaker was Kelli Tarala, owner of Enclave Security, who will gave us some invaluable suggestions on how to protect your data from
hackers. Most people think it’s just the big companies that are targeted,
but everyone is at risk.
Also, are you having trouble remembering all your passwords? Kelli showed us LastPass, a free SW program that remembers
all your passwords and automatically logs you into websites. It can also protect you from cyber attacks by generating highly
secure passwords. It's a wonderful tool that she uses with all her
clients. You can get it free at www.lastpass.com
April 7:
Our speaker was Chuck Mason, who showed us how to easily edit
our photos using FastStone, a free program. We learned how to
crop, straighten, color balance, sharpen, remove unwanted objects, and selectively lighten and
darken parts of the same image. The Clone and Heal tool, for example,
can make you look much younger! This free application can be downloaded at www.faststone.org
March 2014 Meeting:
Scott Rhude did a great tutorial on the new Windows 8. This new operating system is totally different than Windows 7 and has a big learning curve. He gave us tips that will save us lots of time and frustration.
February 3, 2014 Meeting:
Steve
Burnett again demonstrated all the great features in iPhones and
iPads. He connected his iPhone to our projector so we saw it all
in real time on the large screen. He did a great job and
got rave reviews from the largest crowd we have had in years.
January 6, 2014
Our speaker, Scott Rhude, showed us the best way to backup our valuable photos and data. He recommended the use of a USB drive, which come in many capacities. He said NOT to use the included backup SW because it compresses your data. Delete that SW from your backup disk first. Then use copy and paste to copy your files to the backup disk. He further recommended that we have 3 different backups. An example would be your backup disk, a DVD and a cloud site, such as Google Docs or Dropbox.
December 2, 2013
Our speaker was Tami Petzer, Professer at Florida Gulf Coast University and social media expert. Her topic for us was: "Staying in touch with your kids and grandkids using social media such as Facebook and Skype." This was a very relevant subject for this holiday season. Tami does extensive consulting and we were fortunate to have her for our speaker. You can access her facebook instructional videos by sending her an email at tamiseo@gmail.com
November 7
Scott Rhude discussed how to better manage your email accounts. Microsoft has created lots of confusion by forcing all hotmail, live, and msn accounts into Outlook.com He also gave suggestions on how to better use your gmail, Verizon and Comcast accounts.
October 7
Chuck Mason showed us how to edit your digital photos using FastStone, a free program, Ninety percent of the digital photos you take can be dramatically improved with the simple-to-use tools in the FastStone Image Viewer program.We learned how to crop, straighten, color balance, sharpen, remove unwanted objects, restore damaged photos, enhance portraits, and selectively lighten and darken parts of the same image. The Clone and Heal tool, for example, can make you look much younger. This free application also organizes your pictures, emails correctly sized images, applies borders and text on photos, and can make your picture look like a painting. It can be downloaded at www.faststone.org
September 9
Scott Rhude did a presentation on how to best create files and manipulate them to make it much easier to find your data. This is a basic function that we all learned how to do better.
June 6:
Scott Rhude, our VP, showed us how to save money on your Cable TV or Direct TV bill by using our computers. You can use your internet connection to access web services such as Netflix, Hulu, and many others to watch movies, TV series, documentaries, etc. Some people have dropped cable TV totally and just use Netflix at $7.99 per month for example. The tradeoff is you don't get TV or sports live.
May 6
Steve Burnett was back for another great presentation of iphones and ipads. He demonstrated all the great features in tablets and smart phones.
April 1
Kelli Tarala, Enclave Security, introduced us to LastPass, a free SW program that remembers all your passwords and automatically logs you into websites requiring one. It can also protect you from cyber attacks by generating highly secure passwords. It's a wonderful tool that she uses with all her clients. You can check it out at www.lastpass.com
March 4
Drew Carney, owner of Gulfcoast IT Services in Venice, did a presentation on how to use smart tablets and phones.
February 4
We tried something different in February. Instead of a speaker, we brought in our laptops and had a great PC lab. Scott showed how to improve performance by doing a weekly disk cleaning and defragging, which we did at the meeting. He also showed us a program that allows Windows 8 users to have a more familiary interface.
To do a Disk Cleaning in Windows 7, click on the start button, then All Programs, then System Tools. Click on Disk Cleaning to start the process.
For a defragging, you can use the Defrag utility in the same System Tools folder. However, it takes a very long time to process. Scott recommended a free defrag program from Auslogics that is much faster and easier to use. Here's the link to the free download: http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/
January 7
Scott Rhude's presentation was all about PC Safety and Security. We learned how to best protect ourselves from all of the nasty viruses and bugs just waiting to infect our computers. He discussed the differrences between Windows 8 vs Windows 7. Windows 8 comes by default in all new pc’s and is also available in some phones. It is radically different than Win 7.
2012 Meetings
December 3 Holiday Party
We had a great time at our annual Holiday party. Ann Dodderidge arranged for some wonderful food and drinks and we all provided the camaraderie. Santa provided some great door prizes such as gift certificates for restaurants and Staples and an external backup drive.
November 13 Board Meeting
Scott Rhude agreed to be our Vice President with Ann Dodderidge offering to head up our new Membership Committee. Ann will also make sure meeting announcements are put in the Venice Gondolier each month. We discussed ideas for 2013 speaker topics, such as Facebook, Data Backup, Google Calender and Contacts, Computer Safety and Security, and Smart Phones and Pads. We're always open to members suggestions for topics and speakers.
November 5 Meeting
Steve Burnett demonstrated all the great features in tablets and smart phones. He connected his iPhone to our projector so we could see it all in real time on the large screen. He answered lots of our questions and we also discussed the differences between the Apple device and the Android ones.
October 1 Meeting
Kelli Tarala, a principal consultant and co-owner of Enclave Hosting in Venice, gave a very informative talk about the "the cloud" and how to use many of its great features. As a consultant, she has assisted banks, Department of Defense contractors, health insurance companies, law firms, and local, state, and tribal governments. We got lots of great advice from her.
June to September: Summer Break
May 7 Meeting
Dean Cochran's topic was "Selling on the Internet". He discussed eBay and Craig's List and had handouts with step by step instructions so that members could go home and list an item. Craig's list is best for large, local items like furniture and is free to list on their website. Ebay charges a small fee for each item sold. We also had some great door prizes, including gift certificates from Scott's Computer World, Office Depot, Big Daddy's and Gold Rush BBQ.
April meeting
Our speaker was Scott Rhude, owner of Scott's PC World in Venice. Scott has been working in PC support and sales for over 25 years and is a great resource. His January presentation was a big hit and his April topic was on Internet Safety and Security. We learned how to protect yourself from the many, many bugs out there trying to infest your computer.
March Meeting
We had a great speaker with Phil Sorentino, past president of the Sarasota PC Users Group. He gave a very informative talk on smart phones, including info on tablets. We all learned a lot and understand our phone choices much better now.
One good suggestion Phil had was to make sure your smart phone has the WiFi feature turned on all times, especially at home or office. That way you won't use your phone data usage, so could get by with a lower cost plan. Your download speed will be higher also.
March Board Meeting
We had a board meeting before the regular meeting to elect Bruce Brunette as the new president with Ann Dodderidge dropping down to vice president. See the Contact Us link for the names of other club officers and board members.
Ann deserves a HUGE thank you for having served as president the past 4 years. She has been a dedicated servant for our club, spending many hours behind the scenes. THANK YOU ANN!!
Our speaker was Scott Rhude, owner of Scott’s Computer World, and our Vice President. Scott’s Topic was PC Safety and Security, so you learned how to best protect ourselves from all of the nasty viruses and bugs just waiting to infect our computers. He also covered Windows 8 vs Windows 7. Windows 8 comes by default in all new pc’s and is also available in some phones and tablets. It is radically different than Win 7 and a pain to learn.