XCOM Meeting 26 July 2010

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Contents

meeting called to order

by Smythe at ~7:30 pm at City Beverage, Durham.
present:

  • Smythe, President
  • Duane, 1st VP
  • Allen, 2nd VP
  • Chips, secretary
  • Cort, treasurer
  • Fred Lampe, past treasurer

August Meeting Program

  • Smythe's Apple Store mgr Bill Atkinson suggested making a preso of "career opportunities at Apple Stores"
  • Smythe will do a follow-up to his Keynote preso from July (since there were projector problems)
  • Chips' Tips
    • Chips has done a quickie tip / hint before the break at a couple of meetings earlier this year.
    • He would like to continue his "Chips' Tips" as a regular meeting item.
    • (lack of internet access may preclude a tip preso)
    • Followed by a door prize drawing.
  • Q&A
    • moderated by Bob Chandler

September meeting

  • an iLife app
    • e.g. iWeb or GarageBand or iDVD

future Program

  • start having a "conversation starter" before the break
    • e.g. "the favorite Mac or iPhone app you are using right now"

Future Meeting Programs suggestions

  • forum / survey / form applications
    • WordPress
    • VanillaForum
    • formsite
    • Survey Monkey
    • Zoomerang
  • 5 minute member presos (???)
    • volunteers needed


older / previous meeting suggestions:

  • TMUG.org website – what's there & how to do it…
  • create your own website
    • web host
    • tools / apps
  • Internet Radio
    • (iTunes, Slacker Radio, Last fm, Pandora, AOL Radio, SOMA FM, station websites, etc)
    • This covers both the Mac and iPhone/Touch devices.
  • TV / movie / cable alternatives for your Mac
    • Slingbox (um hmm…) - Duane
  • alternatives to MS Office
    • open Office, NeoOffice
    • Pages, Nissus Writer, Mellel, WriteRoom, Mariner Write
  • screen capture
    • Grab. Cmd-Shift-3, SnapzPro,
  • another sit & share?
  • social networks - LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Plex, etc
  • a swap meet...?
  • games demo?
  • no contact yet Mark Williams, founder of Modality. Smythe sent them another query.
  • Photoshop or another photo editor? probably not.
  • remote connection apps: e.g. Back To My Mac, GoToMeeting, WebEx, Glance
  • Remote Presentations?
  • Remote access?

other ideas posited to the general list in mid-January `09:

  • Remote presentations (Glance, WebEx, GoToMeeting, BackToMyMac)
  • Web and iPhone/Mac note syncing programs (SyncBook, SyncNotes, EverNote, Fliq)
  • Social Networks - in real life (LinkedIn, Flickr, TweetUps, Forum software)
  • Intelliscanner - Paul Scandariato (He wrote back - not until summer or fall)

digital photography follow-up:

  • camera options & choices
  • iPhoto `09
    • facial recognition
    • Geo-location
  • web photo storage
    • Flicker
    • Smug Mug
    • Picasa
  • photo stitching w/ DoubleTake
  • photo editing
    • Preview
    • GraphicConverter

Treasury & Membership Reports

  • Members in good standing:, with renewals due, in grace, & recently expired.
  • There were ~54 in attendance at the July 13 meeting – ~42 members & 12 guests; 3 renewed & 1 joined at the July meeting; 3 renewals were mailed to the PO Box.
  • Money
    • Wachovia checking $3,978.22
    • Petty Cash $ 100.00
    • Uncleared deposit $ 35.00
    • No uncleared checks
  • Expenses
    • Reimbursed Smythe $94.07 for door prizes
    • Paid USPS $70.00 for annual PO Box rental
  • Southeast Voice and Data
    • Received a payment due reminder for this month's server co-location service.
    • I called their accounting department and they agreed to cancel the invoice and close our account.
    • Apparently the previous accounting person had quit and left a large stack of uncompleted tasks.
  • [reported by Chips & Cort, as of 7.26.10]

New Business

MacHighway

  • Received an invoice to TMUG for $4.95 for our 2nd month of web hosting service, so we should discuss whether we want to use their service going forward.
  • The invoice is due 8-9-10.

Old Business

Square

    • No change in the message on our account which says that our activation is 90% complete, and once it's complete, they will send the dongle.
    • Cort has applied for an account using their point-of-sale device
      • Square "dongle" plugs into audio port of an iPhone OS device
      • transaction fees are less than VISA / MC
      • ties into an established bank account
    • We can use it for memberships & raffles
      • We discussed adding a surcharge for members to use the service; e.g. $1.50 for a $35 membership
      • We decided on no additional fee to be charged to member / buyer

"TMUG West"

    • Scott Ragland came [to the May XCom mtg] to represent a group of TMUG'ers & tmug-list subscribers who are interested in having "TMUG West" meetings.
    • Another meeting day / week is preferred to not compete with TMUG's regular monthly meetings (2nd Tuesday)
    • Find a place that's convenient, good parking, inexpensive, has WIFI

Expression Engine

  • Allen gave those present a brief intro to Expression Engine at the May 3 XCom meeting
    • He has created a "demo" website at TMUG
  • PayPal account
    • We have an account which has been dormant for several years. It appears to be a standard business account, but we should change it to a non-profit account (if that is possible) to secure reasonable transaction rates:
      • - no monthly fee
      • - 2.2% service charge and $.30 per transaction
    • A few members have asked if they can pay their dues by PayPal. Do we want to pursue?
    • Smythe & Trish have talked with Jeff Gordon to get the login info & transfer the details
    • Cort will complete the follow up & will try to transfer account to a non-profit
  • formsite.com
  • Smythe suggests that we plan a local Apple expo
    • early 2010 (Jan - Feb)
    • get local Apple retailers, i.e. Ten-Plus, Best Buy, Apple, etc
    • need to get volunteers to help
  • Allen & Smythe will follow up with John May about using Point-in-Space to host tmug.org.
  • Allen wants to use the mailing labels to send out "We missed you at the last meeting" to encourage more participation from our membership.
  • Recommended by Smythe or Allen to ask the members what they want to see raffled and what price for tickets.
  • we need to update the tmug.org domain whois info
    • the technical contact is still listed as Paul Lemieux
  • Smythe suggests that we should blog Q&A each month
    • we need to identify someone to do it
  • TMUG server
    • [from Oct `08 - ] Stefan has talked with MacHighway. One of the issues is that they don't use a Postfix email / Cyrus for IMAP system. (no new info)

meeting adjourned

at ~8:50 pm by Smythe.


Velomac 15:18, 27 July 2010 (EDT)

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