Newsletter
| November 2009 | Issue 330 |
VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY, ST. AUGUSTINE CENTER, ROOM 410
MEETING STARTS - 09:30 -- NOVEMBER 14th
UPCOMING MEETING
NOTE: IN ROOM 410 !
MAIN MEETING TOPIC: FLIP ON VIDEO EDITING
For our November meeting the Steering Committee discussed the possibility of doing a presentation on video editing. We have never done one previously. John M suggested we do a presentation on the Flip camcorder and its video editing software. As often happens to steering meeting suggesters, the suggester gets drafted to do the presentation. So, this month John M will have the presentation honors.
In case you didn't know, the Flip is one of the more popular ``low priced'' video cameras on the market. In 2007 it was the most popular low priced camera on the market. It can be purchased for under $200. What made it popular is that it included simple operation and easy to use editing software with features that enabled it to do some simple editing functions.
This presentation comes just in time for the Christmas season. After the presentation you may be inclined to purchase a Flip before Christmas and present it as an ``open me first'' gift so you can capture those precious Christmas day moments.
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1) If you are a member and did not attend the December 2008 meeting, then you likely missed out on getting one of the end of year club flash drives with embedded software as a Christmas gift. If so, and you would like one, contact John D to make arrangements to get yours. The flash drives will normally be available to members at our regular monthly meeting.
2) Club membership entitles you to receive a hard copy of the newsletter and access to our email list server, which is run for the benefit of our members. Please do not hesitate to post club and computer related notices and problems to it. If we can't solve your problem remotely, we can be alerted to it ahead of the monthly meeting where more hands-on may help resolve your problem.
3) A few of the regular attendees usually partake of lunch at the Country Squire Diner in Broomall near the intersection of Routes 3 and 320, and recently at the Campus Corner Restaurant near the intersection of Routes 30 and 320 just off the Villanova University campus. So, after the meeting, why not join us? It's an opportunity to get more help and to discuss our common interests.
4) It's that time of year again -- Club Membership Renewal time. Please give your dues to our treasurer, John D, at the meeting or mail checks to his address as indicated on the back cover. Checks should be made payable to: MLCUG.
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Attendance:
13 people in all attended the meeting on Saturday, October 10th.
Main Meeting Q&A:
We began last month's meeting with our normal round of questions and announcements. Among the questions and announcements, Ed C sought help with his Yahoo access and AT&T connectivity problems; Rich T showed us his USB powered laptop cooling pad; John M showed us an inexpensive MSI Wind bare bone small form computer that can run Linux, Windows, or Mac OS; Layton sought help with his erratic accessibility problem of websites and was advised to try troubleshooting the problem using Windows NSLOOKUP command to see if his name server is returning an IP address; Pat S wanted to know about lossy and lossless CD ripping and whether a power line adapter (PLA) could be networked by plugging it into a surge protector (it can't, it must be plugged into a non-filtered outlet); Marty C gave us a quick update on the legal issues related to his Mayo Productions website and spoke about his new notebook and his Vista learnings; Don W commented on his concerns related to my AVG 9 posting on the club's list server; Ted K noted his habit of archiving versions of applications; and Tom J spoke about how he discovered that his OTA (over-the-air) TV reception was being affected by the nearby proximity and operation of a new compact florescent light bulb.
Main Meeting Program:
This month's main meeting topic was titled Catenna2. The presentation was given by Peter who spends part of his summer on Bois Blanc Island at the top of Lake Huron and not far from Mackinac Island. Peter described to us the secluded nature of his family's summer hide-away and how modern day technology has progressively come to the island. His presentation focused on his family's endeavors to bring hi-speed Wi-Fi to their summer cottage. What is unique about their Wi-Fi service is that it establishes a wireless connection to their service provider over a distance of about 2.7 miles between Bois Blanc Island and Mackinac Island. The service is then available to members of his household through a router that has been modified to serve as a wireless repeater.
A summary of that presentation can be viewed on the club website at:
http://www.mlcug.org/Cantenna/cantenna2.html .
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I thought I would include a section on web links related to some of the subjects we discussed during our round table discussions and presentations. Hopefully, readers will find these links of value.
High gain (24dBi) directional parabolic antenna for Wi-Fi on 2.4GHz
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Free Video Editing Software
References:
http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/top-5-free-video-editing-software-review.html
Of the 5 mentioned on the website above, one is no longer what I consider free software. The top software according to this website...
Windows Movie Maker
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx
Apple iMovie
http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/
NOTE: Free with every Mac
Wax (Windows)
http://www.debugmode.com/wax/
Zwei-Stein Video Editor 3.01
http://www.thugsatbay.com/tab/?q=zweistein
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Gigabyte vs Gibibyte
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte
http://www.macworld.com/article/142471/2009/08/snow_leopard_math.html
The gibibyte (a contraction of gigabinary byte, pronounced GIH-bee-byte) is a standards-based binary multiple (prefix gibi-, symbol Gi-) of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The gibibyte unit symbol is GiB.
1 gibibyte = 230 bytes = 1073741824bytes = 1024 mebibytes
The gibibyte is closely related to the gigabyte, which is defined as 109 bytes = 1000000000bytes, but has frequently been used as a synonym for gibibyte in some contexts.
Snow Leopard's new math (edited, ed.)
Posted on Aug 27, 2009 5:11 pm by Jason Snell, Macworld.com
Why is this important? It has to do with how you define a kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte. Believe it or not, these words have had two meanings for a long time. The first meaning relates to computer science. Everything in computer science is about binary exponential counting. Like this:
2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048
Do those numbers look familiar? There's a reason the iPhone comes in 16GB and 32GB models. Now think about this amount: 1024MB of RAM. That's what we could call 1GB. Thinking in binary exponential terms, one gigabyte should be made up of 1024 megabytes.
But here's the catch--and the source of the second meaning for those terms. Most non-computer types don't think in terms of 1024. They think in terms of nice, round decimal numbers. And 1000 is a nice, round decimal number. BTW, hard drives have been sold on this basis for years.
So you've got two groups, each using the same word to mean different things mathematically. Which is why, until now, when you go to your computer and check the size of your hard drive, you'll see that your ``250GB hard drive'' claims to have a capacity of 238GB. Which is it?
There are, believe it or not, now two sets of entirely different terms for these two ways of thinking. For example, a gigabyte, or GB, is now defined as 1,000 bytes cubed, or 1,000,000,000 bytes. A gibibyte, or GiB, is equal to 1024 bytes cubed, or 1,073,741,824 bytes. The same rules apply for megabyte and mebibyte, which are defined as 1000 bytes squared and 1,024 bytes squared, respectively.
Wake up, you in back! Here's where Apple with their new Snow Leopard OS comes in. In previous versions of Mac OS X, Apple used the 1024^3 definition of GB. Rather than keep that math and start calling it GiB, Apple has started using the 1000^3 definition. Will Microsoft and Linux follow Apple's lead?
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Hamachi VPN
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamachi
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/VPN.html
Hamachi is a zero-configuration virtual private network (VPN) shareware application capable of establishing direct links between computers that are behind NAT firewalls (routers). It establishes a secure connection over the Internet that very closely emulates the connection that would exist if the computers were connected over a local area network. Hamachi is currently available as a production version for MS Windows and as beta for Mac OS X and Linux.
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Enter from the ITHAN AVENUE main gate, then proceed to the upper level of the 2-level parking building adjacent to the St. Augustine Center, on the Ithan Avenue side of the building.
NOTE: maps on our web page - http://micug.org/
MLCUG LISTSERV: for members only...
OUR WEB PAGE: http://mlcug.org/
PUBLICITY: Position OPEN!
VILLANOVA SPONSOR: Prof. Frank Maloney, Dept. of Astronomy
ANNOUNCEMENTS & REMINDERS
LAST MONTH'S MEETING
ROUND TABLE LINKS
SOFTWARE WORTH A LOOK
TERMINOLOGY
WEB SERVICES
DIRECTIONS FOR ST. AUGUSTINE CENTER MEETING ROOM
Meetings are in the St. Augustine Center at Villanova University. The regular monthly sessions meet in Room 110.
MLCUG Meetings 2009 Steering Committee Meetings
November 14 November 18
December 12 December 16
January 9 January 13
EDITOR: John W. Deker, Jr. 2210 Lantern Lane, Lafayette Hill, PA 19444-2211
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MLCUG STEERING COMMITTEE;
PRESIDENT: John Deker 610-828-7897
TREASURER/SEC: John Deker 610-828-7897
WEBMASTER: Peter Whinnery 610-284-5234
AT LARGE: Tom Johnson 610-896-2434
AT LARGE: Wendy Emery 215-765-3328
V.PRESIDENT: Al Gottlieb 215-793-9725
DATABASE: Layton Fireng 610-688-2080
AT LARGE: Nelson Schrock 610-834-0117
AT LARGE: John Murphy 610-935-4398