ApplesBC – Vancouver Macintosh User Group

The Vancouver Macintosh User Group will hold their monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 5th at 7:00PM.

This is a big meeting for the club as it’s also our Annual General Meeting (AGM). We hold our AGM every March.

Normally, at the AGM we have a presentation for the first half of the meeting and the second half of the meeting is spent electing a new Executive committee.

This year however, we have a lot to talk about and to decide. At the January and February meetings, we have extensively discussed the future of the club. This is because almost the entire Executive team is stepping down this year. After many years of service the current Executive feels it’s time to move on and for the club to have a change of leadership.

Over recent years, the club members have, for the most part, been reluctant to commit themselves to assuming positions of running the club, so the Executive has remained unchanged, but with the Executive stepping down this year, if the club is to continue in it’s current form, a new Executive is a necessity. Without a functioning Executive, the club cannot continue.

At the February meeting, the members had an unofficial vote on whether or not they wished the club to continue, and it was decided almost unanimously to continue. But without a functioning Executive, the club cannot continue, whether members want it to or not.

So, the club needs a new President, Vice President, Treasurer, Membership Director and Secretary. It’s a tall order but if the current membership steps up to the challenge, the club can continue to provide interesting and informative presentations for years to come.

Finally, a plea. This is your club, and as such, the club needs you to attend this meeting and to lend your support by volunteering to shoulder some of the load in the running of the club.

Without a full Executive at the end of the AGM, we have no choice but to begin to work on closing the club down, after 34 years.

The Vancouver Macintosh User Group will hold their monthly members meeting on Tuesday, February 5 at the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 7:00 PM.

This month we’re going to be continuing our discussion on options for the future of the club.

We will also have some technical stuff to talk to everyone about as usual.

Hope to see you all there!

The Vancouver Macintosh User Group will hold their monthly members meeting on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 7:00 PM.

This month we have the first of our early bird raffle prizes to give away in anticipation of our main raffle prize which is presented at our AGM at the March meeting.

The meeting topic this month is various utilities and apps that you might find useful. We also have some free copies of the apps that will be presented to be given away as a part of our regular monthly raffle.

So mark your calendar, this is a different time for our meeting, we normally meet on the first Tuesday of the month but in January, the first Tuesday was January 1st and we didn’t want to pry you away from any New Years celebrations you might have had going on.

See you on the 15th!

the Vancouver Macintosh User Group will hold their monthly members meeting on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 7:00 PM.

In addition to our annual ‘Pot Luck” dinner that we all look forward to, we have a very interesting presentation lined up for you.

The subject is taking photos in a totally new way, with a very novel twist. It has long been known that the camera does not have the broad range of sensitivity to colours and shades as does the human eye. Since photography began we have had to make do with what our cameras and film, or digital output can provide, yet it never matched the view that we saw when we took the photo.

A new technique has emerged that allows us to retrieve all that has been missing from our photos, and long-time member Anthony Maw will introduce to us how this can be done, without buying a new camera.

Anthony will demonstrate how to accomplish this, both with the camera and with the software for the Mac that puts the photo together with all the glories we saw when we snapped the image.

So, put a big X on the calendar reserving December 4th to see this presentation and participate in our wonderful Pot Luck Supper.

Our November meeting much received positive feedback with full credit going to Stephen Cheung of DMAC, and David Lai of Broadway Camera.

Stephen is a member and long time supporter of ApplesBC. He took us through some of the new products, like the iPad Mini that he had with him. He covered many bases and  described how his team can update your two year old Mac with a combination Flash Drive, together with a large hard drive that will dramatically speed up your Mac.

David Lai topped off the meeting with suggestions about how to decide what should be considered when making a camera choice. Such as, a six to ten megapixel camera is all that anyone needs in his opinion.  David is a very advanced photographer and uses for most of his work, a ten megapixel camera.

Stephen surprised us all by offering a 20% discount on many items on his shelves, to all who attended. We realized that many of you were unable to attend and as a result asked Stephen if he could extend his offer. Stephen agreed and will extend his generous offer to any club member who would like to take advantage of this.

To do so, just send an email to Stephen Cheung , mention that you are a member and would appreciate the opportunity to participate.

Stephen will email to you the discount card that you can print off and bring to his store in Richmond.

His address is: Lansdowne Centre Mall - 224- 5300 No.3 Road Richmond, BC
Please note that this offer expires on November 30.

The Vancouver Macintosh User Group will hold their monthly members meeting on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at the Vancouver Maritime Museum at 7:00 PM.

This month we are fortunate to have Stephen Cheung from DMAC (a Richmond BC based Mac reseller and distributor) joining us to show us all the latest and greatest products from Apple.

We’re doubly fortunate in that the second half of the meeting is going to have a digital photography theme with David Lai of Broadway Camera coming to talk to us about the latest trends in digital photography.

The meeting starts at 7 PM sharp and runs until 9 PM. We’ll have the usual raffle and the coffee break in the middle so that we can all socialize with all our friends.

New members are more than welcome.

Hope to see you there.

VP Liz Winterford opened and hosted this evening’s second gathering of this new fall season. After announcing the night’s agenda, she introduced a club director who spoke to the future direction of the club and specifically, what members would like to see as presentation and discussion material for upcoming meetings. Members showed strong support for conducting a survey wherein members outline subject material they prefer to see on the club’s monthly agenda. This info will be considered by the Club’s Executive and planning will proceed on that basis. As well, Lynne Henderson, the ABC News Editor noted that she would very much welcome submissions for the monthly newsletter and encouraged members to write on Apple-Mac related subjects of interest to them. This was an excellent session and well worth the time spent in discussion.

As for the night’s presentations, Liz kicked it off with a detailed overview of Crossword Light a free crossword app from the iTunes App Store. Liz mentioned the nice graphics and the simplicity of use. It shows hints, clues and errors and will even show you how much progress you are making. This app is receiving some very good reviews. It is a light version of the full-blown Crosswords from Stand Alone Inc. which sells for $19.99. Check it out if you love words—it is resplendent in its reach.

Next up was Markus Fahrner this time to open our minds to set up our Macs to do more on their own. In effect, Markus drew our attention to IFTTT - if this then that. Essentially, by using this “service” it “lets you create powerful connections with one simple statement”; “this” refers to the Trigger and “that”refers to the Action. For example you could have your Mac check the weather and if it finds it is about to snow – the “this trigger” then the app could be set up to send you an email – the “that action” to alert you to get home sooner because of the upcoming foul weather. Use your imagination here and get your Mac or iPad to do more for you by creating unique tasks for your lifestyle. If you are interested further in this underrated app just go to IFTTT and sign up or, read more about it at such sites as LIFEHACKER.com.

Hi all, it’s back to school time for the kids and back to ApplesBC time for the rest of us.

September 4 is our first meeting of the post-summer session and it begins at 7PM sharp at the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

This time David Bailie is going to give us all an overview of the new features of Apple’s latest Operating system OS X Mountain Lion.

We’ll have the usual Q&A session and the usual intermission as well.

See you all there.