Thanks to everyone who joined us last time.

We started out the meeting by getting two new laptop computers connected to
the library’s wireless network.

We talked about the audio and video services that are available on the
Internet. The general term for these services is a Podcast. Podcasts are
audio or video files created by individuals and uploaded to the Internet.
Essentially, anyone can now create their own talk radio show or even be a
radio disc jockey. And with a little bit more investment in time and money
they can do their own video programs. You can visit individual websites and
download the individual segments or shows.

What is much more convenient is to have an aggregator. The aggregator that
we talked about was iTunes. I do not recommend iTunes for Windows because
it slows your computer down. The program works but it is not very
efficient. I’m using iTunes but I’m not satisfied with it and I do not plan
to install it on my laptop to demonstrate directly, so what we did during
the meeting was to use http://www.logmein.com in order to control my home
computer and demonstrate some of the podcasts that I subscribe to. When I
find a better aggregator, I will let you know.

There are also many sources for conventional TV programs. What we
investigated was:
http://www.ABC.com
Here you can watch many of the Primetime programs the day after they aired
on regular TV. This is excellent when you are following a series and happen
to miss an episode. The other television networks have similar offerings.

Many of the newer computers that our club members have came with the Windows
XP Media Center Edition. The Media Center is additional software that
allows your computer to work like a Tivo, IF you have a TV tuner installed
on the computer. This software allows you to pause live television, take a
break, and resume watching where you left off. Then, you can skip
commercials.

During our meeting I talked about the Hauppauge 150 TV tuner. You can often
find it for about $50.00 after rebates. After the meeting I found that
http://www.compusa.com has the HCR 1600 for $70.00 after rebates:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=343496&cmid=dsr&re\
f=dsr
This is a TV tuner that not only allows you to receive the standard
channels, but will also pick up the over-the-air digital channels. This is a
very good price for a HD TV tuner, but I’m not sure how good the digital TV
reception in our area will be.

They say, “beware the ides of March.” So, to honor the March 15th meeting,
everyone is welcome to join us for lunch. The location for lunch is still up
for discussion, but CiCi’s had been our usual destination.

At this Thursday’s meeting, I plan to demonstrate voice recognition in
Microsoft Office. With a cheap headset, it allows you to dictate into your
computer and the office applications convert your voice to text and
commands.

I will also give you some insight to the Microsoft meeting that I attended
today in Grand Rapids, where they demonstrated Microsoft Vista. We had a
theater full of techies and the reception was not warm.

We should also have time for questions. I hope to see many of you there.

Cheers,
Rob

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