President’s Column – March 2015, Space Coast PCUG, FL by Dan Douglas (approx. 707 words). Lots of historical information in this article.

Tablets for Mobile Computing – New to some; Useful for most by Phil Sorrentino, Member, The Computer Club, FL (approx. 1535 words). When most of us think about Mobile Computing, we probably think of Laptops. Laptops are relatively light, making them fairly portable, and are battery operated, making them just right for mobile computing or computing “on-the-go.” Now that Tablets have come on the scene, it appears that they may be ready to take over some of the computing tasks previously done by laptops.

Tech Support Scam – Received a Tech Support call lately? by Phil Sorrentino (approx. 1170 words). This is a very nasty, and possibly costly, scam. It preys on people’s concern that their computer might be running slow or might be infected with a virus or some other type of malware….

Technology Trends for 2015 from CES by Sandy Berger, CompuKISS (approx. 480 words). Every year at CES, thousands of new products are exhibited and major trends start to appear. This year was no different. Sandy include a few of the trends in her article.

The 2014 Tech Review by Diane Fahlbusch, President/editor, ICON PCUG, NY (approx. 1071 words). Each year brings new technology, whether they are “toys” or “tools,” as reincarnations or completely new inventions. This article will let you take a walk through 2014 with Diane.

The Tip Corner – January 2015 by Bill Sheff (approx. 1494 words).

Thunderbird Saved My Bacon by Bob Woods, Webmaster, Under the Computer Hood UG, CA (approx. 1408 words). We recently needed to execute a factory restore to prove one of our touch screen laptop computers had a hardware failure in the touch screen. We knew it had failed, but you’ve got to jump through all the hoops to convenience first-tire warranty repair technicians (sign). Then we needed to reinstall all the applications and redo settings. Along this week-long process, we discovered by wife’s favorite email client, Incredimail, was no longer a viable solution. Enter Thunderbird.

The Tip Corner – December 2014 by Bill Sheff, Lehigh Valley Computer Group, PA (approx. 1052 words).

Travel Routers by Dick Maybach (approx. 1438 words). A travel router is a small, inexpensive wireless router that provides many functions. A typical unit is a TP-Link TL-MR3020, which costs less than $40.

Traveling with Technology by Jim Cerny, 2nd VP, Sarasota TUG, FL (approx. 975 words). So, you have a trip coming up, maybe you will be doing planes, trains, and automobiles. Or maybe you are going on a cruise and you are wondering if you should take your computer, iPad or iPhone with you. Well, the answer is, yes.

Using the Internet by Jim Cerny (approx. 1111 words). The Internet is an almost unlimited source of information, news, entertainment, help, and, well everything. Most people, including you, probably have no problem using the Internet, but sometimes it is good to review some Internet-related terms and some basics. If helps us use the Internet even better.

Windows 8/8.1 Corner – Advanced Functions – Power Menu by Rosita Herrick, Sarasota Technology UG, Florida (approx. 321 words). What you get when you right click on the start icon.

The AMD A10-7800 CPU by Daniel Woodard, Member, Dayton Microcomputer Association, OH (approx. 1745 words). If your computer bogging down, perhaps not powerful enough to handle daily tasks or games? Recently processors began arriving that combined both a traditional CPU and video card (GPU) into one unit. The recently released AMD A10-7800 is one of these, called an SPU, or accelerated processing unit.

Are You Safe from a Cyber Attack? by Lou Torraca, President, The TUG-MOAA User Group, HI (approx. 933 words). Lou always enjoys reading the “what happened in history” emails he gets about once a month, so he was reminded that September had a profound effect on the way we treat our personal technology (that’s September 2001).

CEAInnovate! by George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society, AZ (approx. 1,399 words). George attended a program put on by CEA, the parent organization that produces CES. The program included a session called Technology Trends to Watch in 2015. It covered some of the hottest subjects today: 3-D printing, the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics, Digital Health and Entertainment.

Computing – Yesterday and Today by Phil Sorrentino, Member, The Computer Club, FL (approx. 937 words). Yesterday, circa 1965, computing was mostly programming to solve simple problems, to do simple accounting like running a payroll, to match items from a list, and maybe even to print results on multi-colored, fan-fold, wide computer paper. (I bet some of you even remember that kind of computer output.)

Customize the Text on Your PC (Windows 8/8.1) by Rosita Herrick, Sarasota Technology User Group, FL (approx. 157 words). How to customize the size of text on your PC.

Downloading, Purchasing and Installing Apps (Windows 8/8.1) by Rosita Herrick, Sarasota Technology User Group, FL (approx. 433 words). In addition to being a computer OS, Windows 8.1 is blurring the line between the old ways of working on a computer and the access to information used by tablets and smart phones. The distribution of apps that perform individual tasks is one of the ways.

Everything Google by Jim Cerny, 2nd VP, Sarasota TUG, FL (approx. 691 words). Why consider Google at all? Google never seems to sit still. They are constantly offering new free tools and actively improving the ones they already provide. Using what Google has to offer has many advantages, his article covers some of the “pluses” in his book and he’s sure there are many more.

Interesting Internet Finds – December 2014 by Steve Costello (approx. 349 words)

Interesting Internet Finds, November 2014 by Steve Costello, (approx. 370 words)

Calibre, featured open source software of the month – October 2014, by Geof Goodrum, Director, Linux Support, Potomac Area Technology and Computer Society, VA (approx. 582 words). A review of Calibre, a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books.

Mac Tips of the Month – December 2014 by Ernie Cox, Jr., Member, Computer Club of Green Valley, AZ (approx. 79 words). 5 tips for Mac users.

Memory Cards by Dick Maybach, Member, Brookdale Computer Users’ Group, NJ (approx. 1,324 words). USB memory sticks and Secure Data (SD) cards are the most convenient media for transferring data among computers. Both are compact, inexpensive, and rugged and have capacities p to several Gbytes. Above this, you have little choice but to use a considerably larger, more fragile, and more expensive external hard disk.

New and Handy Tools in Word 2013, by Nancy DeMarte, 1st VP, Sarasota TUG, FL (approx. 944 words). Each time Microsoft issues a new version of its Office suite, bugs are fixed and upgrades done. Office 2013 (called Office 365 for those with a subscription) is no exception.

Nibblers by Jeannine Sloan, Ambassador for Friendship Village, Twin Cities PC Club, MN (approx. 1367 words). Polifier, FactCheck, Politics and Psychology, Microsoft Does Some Things Right, Mosaically, Ancient Incans Earthquake Proof Walls and more in this article.

Playlists – Tips on how to build one, or many by Phil Sorrentino, Member of The Computer Club, FL (approx. 1048 words). Playlists are pretty basic. They are just a group of the tunes that you would like to listen to, in a sequenced list. And, the mechanics of creating the playlist are pretty straightforward because the music player guides you through the process.

Predictions, Perceptions and Protestations by Greg Skalka, President, Under the Computer Hood UG, CA (approx. 1580 words). We have completed another revolution around the sun from an arbitrary starting point, and so begins a new year. Growing up in the 1960s and 0s, the year 2015 seemed like a far-off and futuristic time. I imagined back then that in 2015 people would live in space (true for the ISS astronauts) and other planets (not true for humans, but at least we can drive our RC cars on Mars).

Review - Dashlane’s Free Automatic Password Changer is a Game Changer by Bob Rankin, Ask Bob Rankin (approx. 763 words). The “best practices” for password security are 1) make your passwords long and obscure; 2) never write them down where they can be stolen; and 3) change them every 30 days. Unfortunately, all of that is so difficult that it seldom gets done.

Review - The HDR Book, 2nd Edition by Rafael “RC” Concepcion, reviewed by Mark Mattson, Editor, Computer Users of Erie, PA (approx. 627 words). For those of you familiar with Kelby Training and Photoshop User magazine, RC Concepcion is most likely a familiar name. He is also an accomplished photographer and instructor. He brings his experience in these fields together in this second edition of his popular book dealing with one of the hottest styles in digital photography, that of HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography.

Review - The Adobe Photoshop Lightoom 5 Book for Digital Photographers, reviewed by Mark Mattson, Editor, Computer Users of Erie, PA (approx. 638 words). Lightroom has become, in the few short years since introduction, one of the most-used digital imaging applications on the market. Not only is it an organizational tool and image catalog, it allows you to make highly sophisticated edits and adjustments to your images outside of traditional image editors, such as Photoshop.