The Philadelphia Area Computer Society meets monthly
at the Giant Food Store in Willow Grove, PA. PACS is a computer
user group where members fix problems, share knowledge, and learn from
each other. All platforms and levels of experience are supported.
Guests are welcome to attend.
NEXT MEETING:
February 20, 2010
Dave Marra
Introducing Mac OS X v.10.6 Snow Leopard!
The upgrade to Apple's most successful operating system ever, Snow
Leopard builds upon a decade of Mac OS X innovation with hundreds of
refinements, new core technologies and out-of-the-box support for
Microsoft Exchange, all engineered upon a rock-solid, 64-bit
foundation. Snow Leopard features a more responsive Finder;
significantly faster built-in applications; a Dock with Expose
integration; Safari 4, the world's fastest web browser; QuickTime X, to
easily view, record, trim and share video; and much, much more!
Discover Mac OS X v.10.6 Snow Leopard today - the world's most advanced
operating system, finely tuned.
Dave will be presenting Mac OS X Snow Leopard with a special
emphasis on its cross-platform capabilities, including support for Boot
Camp, native Microsoft Exchange services integration and 64-bit
application support.
As a Senior Systems Engineer for Apple, Dave Marra has conducted
hundreds of technology presentations, keynote addresses and workshops
for schools, Mac and PC user groups, businesses and other professional
organizations across the United States and Canada. Certified as both an
Apple Certified Technical Coordinator and an Apple Certified Systems
Administrator, his specialty areas include digital multimedia, internet
technologies and Mac/PC integration. Dave's web site is www.marrathon.com. More information about Apple can be found at:
www.apple.com
Print and post an
announcement for the February meeting.
Far McKon speaking in January, 2010
David Soll being introduced in October, 2009
Bill Degnan of VintageComputer.net speaking in May, 2009
Brady Bunner of LANtek speaking in March, 2009
Dava Marra of Apple speaking in February, 2009
Jody Gibney of Symantec speaking in January, 2008
Steve Deming of Microsoft speaking in December, 2007
Fundraisers for PACS:
Newly added as a PACS fundraiser is an ebay link that will provide a referral
fee to PACS for anyone who wins a bid or opens an ebay account. All PACS
fundraisers have been consolidated in a new web page.
Show that you belong to PACS:
PACS caps, shirts, mugs, and other items are now available for sale thru
Cafe Press.
PACS is a member of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups.
APCUG promotes and assists computer user groups worldwide. More
information is at the
APCUG website.
PACS members get a 35% discount off the list price of any Peachpit book. At checkout, before entering your credit card number, enter the user group coupon code UE-23AA-PEUF (case-sensitive). This
coupon code is an exclusive offer that may not be used in conjunction with any
other coupon code.
Webucator offers onsite, instructor-led, and self-paced online training courses in a wide variety of computer topics. Classes include Adobe, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Java, Crystal Reports, .NET, XML, SQL Server, Microsoft Excel, Access, and others.
AGI Training offers training classes for
design and creative software. AGI classes include Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, InDesign, CSS, Silverlight, and Expression. They also publish the
Digital Classroom book series.
WHAT'S NEW AT PACS:
Have you been missing the Security SIG?
With so many concerns we computer users have about programs we run and web sites we visit, an active Security SIG is just what we need. It is being reactivated again with Ken Fox as leader. The first meeting will be in January 2010 at 1:15 in the Willow Grove Room following the main meeting. Check out the writeup on the PACS Groups page for the types of session topics that are being considered. Bring your specific areas of interest to the meeting to help steer the SIG's direction. This is not being geared to a particular platform so Mac, Linux, and Windows users are all welcome.
Ken Fox is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP). He works as a Senior Applications, Security, and Forensics Analyst at The FCS Group, Inc.
Do you offer computer services as a business?
PACS would like to make it easier to connect members offering such services with members who would like to hire them to add hardware, install software, form a home network, troubleshoot, etc. PACS will be adding a web page to its site listing members who are available for these types of projects. If you offer such computer related services, please send a message to the webmaster with your proposed listing. The rules will be: a) Listings will be restricted to current PACS members. A listing will be removed if the membership lapses. b) Listers with websites will be expected to provide a reciprocal link to PACS. c) There will be a statement that PACS does not endorse the capabilities of any lister and does not assume liability for any services performed by any lister. d) Listings will be limited to 1000 characters. e) There will be no charge to be listed. f) All charges for services will be negotiated between the parties involved. There will be no fee due PACS for any service arrangements.
Is a month too long between PACS meetings?
A bulletin board is being added to the PACS web site to let members discuss problems, etc. in the intervals between regular meetings. Look for a link to "Forum" on the pacsnet.org navigation bar above to check it out. Guests can read all posts but only registered users can add new posts. You can easily register when you need to - it involves chosing a screen name and providing your name and email address. You can optionally add much more to your profile including a photo, your location, interests, etc. One thing you might want to adjust in your profile is your time zone so that posting times agree with your local time. The software in use is phpBB and has many more options than we know how to use. Please consider this a work-in-progress.
NEW MEETING LOCATION!
PACS now meets at the Community Center at the Super Giant Food Store in Willow Grove PA. This site has many advantages for PACS including being close to public transportation.
Download info from a main meeting
We try to get copies
of a presenter's slides, notes, and handouts although it's not always
possible because of a company's legal restrictions. Use the Downloads link from the
Resources web page or
go directly to the Downloads page.
Promote PACS!
Check out John Davey and Reed Gustow
doing a promotional spot for PACS. Feel free to embed this clip from viddler.com on
any web site that you maintain.
