The December Meeting will host discussions on Holiday Gifts plus will have hilites from Comdex, courtesy of Roger Tesch.
The November will be the MPCUG's Annual Meeting! We will elect a full slate of officers.
The meeting topic is planned to be on Home Networking, with a panel of local experts who will be contrasting their experiences, successes and problems. Home Networking is most advantageous for sharing Cable or DSL Modem Internet Connections, Printers, and Disk Drives. Come see the best ways to do it!
CTH Technologies was a NO SHOW, but we had a wonderful presentation by Michael Bryant from Sonic Foundry. He demo'd Sonic Foundry's Vegas, Acid, and Sound Forge, editing, creating, and manipulating both music and video. The products are fantastic and the demos were amazing!
...Was a business meeting.
Various discussions and local demos...
Our July 11th Meeting will NOT feature Motient, a wireless network. They cancelled due to a "reorganization" that somehow does not allow the planned presenters to do that type of activity any longer. We were gratiously given a little more than two days notice on this cancellation. I'll bet that Motient has great SERVICE on their products, too!
Date: Wed 6/13/2001
Time: 7:00 PM
Topic: Office XP
David Severino will be presenting
Microsoft Office XP. He is a Channel Marketing Representative
from Downers Grove, IL covering Microsoft's Midwest District.
The Midwest District is comprised of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
Microsoft Office XP simplifies productivity by bringing the most strategic and common tasks to you, the user!
Microsoft's popular Office suite just got even better. Here are some of the new benefits you'll find in Office XP:
Ever thought there were features in Office that would help you, but didn't know how to find them? Task Panes help you get the most from the product. These frames open up on the right-hand side of your document to show you additional commands and features relevant to what you're doing. In Word, for instance, a Reveal Formatting Task Pane lets you clear formatting for selected text and see exactly where all formatting effects begin and end.
Get information when and where it's needed. Smart Tags are small menus that provide speedy access to relevant information by providing quick access to relevant functions, such as applying formatting, correcting formula errors or customizing auto-correct features to your personal uses. In addition, when you hover your cursor over a name or a date, you'll get a menu asking if you want to add that person to your Outlook contacts or send them an e-mail or get an address.
Speech recognition You'll learn how you can dictate text to your computer instead of typing it. In addition, you can speak commands to your computer to have it perform functions.
Recover from Disaster Going beyond auto-save, Office
XP provides the option to automatically save a document, spreadsheet
or presentation at the time an application stops responding, so
you don't lose a moment's work.
We'll also cover tips and tricks for working smarter with Word,
Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint, Outlook and (time permitting) FrontPage.
While you're waiting, you can test-drive Office XP Professional for 30 days. Try before you buy! Details can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/office/trial/default.htm. Trials are also available for the new releases of FrontPage, Visio, Publisher and Map Point.
You don't have to call ahead or register-simply show up and
experience the newest version of Microsoft Office.
A representative from Home Automation Essentials will be talking
about a variety of topics including:
Home automation is
the integration of technology and modern conveniences in your
home for intelligent living.
Home automation can be as simple as an additional phone line for high-speed Internet services, or controlling a light or an appliance in your home.
Most home automation installations start with a Structured Cabling System in a new home or remodeling project. Structured Cabling is the most important factor for future proofing your investment. Most homes built today are obsolete when the owner walks through the door for the first time. With a Structured Cabling system in place you open up many possibilities in your home. One possibility is a computer network for sharing printers, scanners and other devices. Or maybe whole house video so you can play a movie in one room and watch it in several locations. You may want to have a satellite system, cable TV, or just a simple antenna for local stations or all three systems. A video camera can be used to monitor a baby's room or at the front door to see who is calling. Many homes today have an office, which may require a high-speed Internet connection like ISDN, DSL or cable modem. How would you like to listen to music in the kitchen when your stereo system is located in your family room? All of this is possible with a Structured Cabling System in place.
You then can take Home Automation to another level by adding a Security System or controlling lights or electrical appliances by just walking into a room. Voice activation systems are available for someone who would like to venture into a higher level. You may want to turn lights and a TV on from your cell phone so your house has the appearance of someone being at home. Turn the heat or AC on early because you are getting home from a trip sooner than expected. Have your lawn watered automatically sensing when Mother Nature has not supplied enough moisture to nurture the grass. The possibilities become all most endless.
At Home Automation Essentials we strive to match the right technology with the homeowner while keeping possibilities open for today and tomorrow.
Check out personal video recorders, the hard-disk based systems that supplant VCRs. They are commonly used to store multiple simultaneous shows, or to supply realtime delay or pause and "instant replays" while the show is live. These are computer based (either Linux or NT, depending on the brand). We will perhaps have a section on hacking them to expand their capabilities. The names brands on these are TiVo, ReplayTV and Microsoft Ultimate TV. The presenter will be Joel Tynan from American TV West.
Quicken 2001 from Intuit
Matt McCann has been involved with user groups, since he started the user program at Parsons Technology in 1993. Prior to starting the user program, Matt also had duties in the technical support department and the quality assurance department at Parsons Technology. With his blend of humor, energy and knowledge of the computer industry, Matt is one of the most requested speakers on the user group circuit. Matt travels to over 100 user group meetings a year, currently showing off the great features in Quicken Deluxe from Intuit.
Quicken 2001 Deluxe helps you better manage the 7 key areas of your finances: Banking, Investing, Taxes, Planning, Loans, Insurance, and Spending & Saving. It's packed with powerful features and enhancements that let you see the complete picture of your finances, including
...the February MPCUG Meeting
Most of us enjoy capturing our good times in pictures or video and then sharing and reliving them with family and friends, which is probably why digital photography and digital video have steadily grown to become two of the hottest arenas in personal computing today. Anyone with a 300Mhz or faster Pentium PC, an SVGA graphics boards, 32MB of RAM, and at least a gigabyte of free disk space is prepared to join the ranks of those who are discovering the simple and inexpensive joys of digital photography and video.
MGI Software, one of the world's leading digital media companies, will be featuring its award-winning products presented by David B. Whittle, author of "Cyberspace: The Human Dimension" and named by Working Woman magazine as "one of America's most original technological thinkers." Dave will introduce exciting new MGI products and demonstrate the flagship PhotoSuite and VideoWave products.
MGI
PhotoSuite is the best-selling digital photo product on the market--your
complete PC photography solution. This quality software enables
even novice users to get the most out of any scanner or digital
camera. It's the fastest, easiest way to capture, touch up, transform,
organize, create, show, and share your photos. Enjoy a creative
freedom you've never had before. Turn your photos into greeting
cards, personal calendars, postcards, invitations, certificates,
web pages, collages, family letters, business cards, report covers,
posters, magazine covers, sports cards, ads, and much, much more.
In addition, it enables you to manage your pictures with suburb
album management features and then share your favorites easily
via e-mail, web pages, slide shows, or by printing them easily
and quickly in a variety of formats.
MGI
VideoWave is the market leader in consumer digital video--a winner
of TWO PC Magazine Editor's Choice awards. With VideoWave, you
can now turn your computer into a personal video studio. With
a video capture adapter costing between $50 and $250, you can
convert videos from your camcorder tapes or videotapes into files
on your hard disk. MGI VideoWave lets you quickly and easily capture,
edit and produce videos on your computer. Aimed at the non-technical,
general business or home user, MGI VideoWave takes a fresh approach
to video production by eliminating the traditional timeline interface
used by other products. Its unique StoryLine for video composition,
powerful editing functionality, real-time preview, and MMX support
let you combine moving pictures, animation, graphics, photos,
sound, music and narration to "tell a story" in video.
You can produce videos in AVI, QuickTime, MPEG and Internet streaming
video formats for playback on computers, the Internet or output
back to tape.
Other MGI products to be presented
include PhotoVista and Soft DVDMAX. Find out more about how MGI
Software is changing the way you picture the world by attending
our next user group meeting. You will come away from this meeting
entertained and informed. Dave will provide time for an open Q&A
period and will bring valuable door prizes, informative handouts,
and product for sale you can take home with you at especially
low user group prices for those wishing to purchase this outstanding
product at the meeting. See you then!
About The Company
MGI Software is one of the world's leading digital media companies.
The company's early focus on delivering digital media editing
technology to the mass market has led to leadership in the digital
imaging and video editing market, with more than 26 million units
of its PhotoSuite, VideoWave and Live Picture products shipped
in retail and OEM channels spanning 25 countries. MGI Software
broadened its market to business and online users of photography
by acquiring the assets of Live Picture and expanded its technological
leadership to encompass all digital entertainment media, including
television, movies, and music, with Pure DIVA and the acquisition
of Zoran's SoftDVD business. Through its ever-growing network
of partnerships with major consumer electronics manufacturers,
computer hardware and software vendors, photo retailers and the
entertainment industry, MGI Software is uniquely positioned to
take advantage of the revolution shaping our digital lifestyles.
The Company has offices in North America, Europe, Pacific Rim
and Japan. MGI Software is publicly traded on The Toronto Stock
Exchange. For more information visit http://www.mgisoft.com.