The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group President's Update Lyn Goodall president@melbpc.org.au |
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CES and APCUG
One of the biggest consumer electronics and technology shows (CES) was held in
Las Vegas in January. Visitors from all over
the world attend this showcase event for new technologies
and innovatory gadgets.
Bill Gates gave his final keynote address as Microsoft's chairman and used it to
herald the "second digital decade".
His predictions included computer users throwing out keyboards and mice and
interacting differently with future PCs that
may be built into furniture.
Ash Nallawalla attended the CES and also attended as our representative to the
Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), held in tandem with CES.
Ash, an executive member of APCUG, exchanged news, views and ideas with world
leaders of other user groups.
Make sure you're at the February monthly meeting to listen to
Ash as he tells us what it was like to be part of the APCUG Conference and also
the CES - the Greatest Show on Earth!
Newsgroups
Newsgroups can be used to share a wealth of knowledge on a myriad of topics.
They can also be used
to conduct general discussions, ask questions and engage in on line
communication with people interested in similar things to
you. Messages in newsgroups (NGs) that start with melbpc. are only visible to
Melb PC full and Associate members. All other NGs can be read the world over.
Melb PC maintains a group of "private" newsgroups for members - and we recently
created a new one - melbpc.computing.novices-help. The purpose of this
newsgroup is to:
- encourage learning by supporting,
aiding and assisting those either
new to computers, still learning, or
revisiting the basics of computing
- encourage members to ask, with confidence, basic and any other questions and for them to receive prompt answers
To read newsgroup postings
you will need a program called a
newsreader. Whatever newsreader you decide to use, you must configure your
newsreader and enter the ISP's news server. Melb PC's news server is news.melbpc.
org.au and your e-mail address is the one you use for your e-mail.
To set up a News account for Internet Explorer users - open Internet Explorer
and click on Tools>Mail and News>Read Mail to open Outlook Express.
Click on Tools>Accounts, select the News tab and Add>News. Enter the Display
Name you wish others to see when making your postings and click Next. Enter your
email address and click Next. Enter the server name as news.melbpc.org.au and
click Next.
Click Finish and you'll have successfully set yourself up with a News account.
If you have any
difficulties please contact the office.
For more information on Newsgroups and how to
access them please see
http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2203/2203article11.htm — Bob Thomas, March 2002 PC Update. The FAQs also
have information on accessing newsgroups at
http://www.melbpc.org.au/faq/newsgroups.htm.To access Browser read newsgroups please see
https://wss.melbpc.org.au/webnews/.
Melb PC Newsgroups can be a great source of information for your own and other
members' learning. We trust that you'll have fun using them.
Membership and marketing
Our focus on membership continues. We're developing information to send to local
businesses to form mutually beneficial alliances.
This year I've again selected "The President's Twelve" photographs from those
entered during last year's Melb PC Photographic Competition.
The "twelve" will be exhibited at Chadstone and it's also hoped that they'll be
used to create a Melb PC Calendar that will be made available to members at the
end of the year. The Calendars will also be useful as promotional material for
the club.
Thank you to all members who participated in last year's competition.
New look PC Update
Your committee is delighted with the new look PC Update. We've tried to make the transition as seamless as possible,
so you the readers,
can just sit back
and enjoy the new magazine.
Our new Editor, David Hague, is aiming to give you more beginner articles and
more current PC information while still ensuring that you get to read about
what's going on at your club. We hope
that you'll enjoy the new magazine and we'll look forward to your feedback and
suggestions to continuously improve this service.
Your committee welcomes the chance to provide you with more information (please
read http://www.melbpc.org.au/committee/ regularly for committee reports). We
also welcome all feedback - contact me at
president@melbpc.org.au or the office on (03) 9567 8000.
Reprinted from the January / February 2008 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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