Hunterdon Computer Club

At the May meeting, it was pointed out that all photographs of club activities can be viewed by going to the club website. Click on Photos and that will direct you to the Picasso web site to view the photos. They are organized by year.

A club member brought his newest prize to the meeting, his Apple Ipad. It was new and he was still exploring its features. The Ipad connects wirelessly to the Internet, email, and can download music. Its battery can be charged and lasts for about 10 hours, but the battery cannot be replaced. It is advertised for sale at $499 for 32G of memory. It doesn’t have a camera or a DVD drive but can transfer data to the computer. You can use a flash drive with it. The manual is only online.

A member made a suggestion that everyone get their email through Gmail since it is free and you will not have to change your email provider if you switch network providers or the network companies merge. Gmail also offers a number of attractive features. Yahoo is very good, but it charges for certain features.

Most email providers will forward your email to another email provider. You can also get your own domain name and forward your email through that.

Presentation: FCC and the Internet, Lon Hosford, Presenter

The FCC is an independent government agency which is in charge of radio, TV, wire, satellite, and cable transmission. It handles license applications, complaints, regulation development, regulation implementation, and hearings, among other things. It is organized by many bureaus, such as the Enforcement, International, Media, Wireless, Public Safety and Homeland Security, and Wireline Competition. There are also ten different offices under the FCC.

The FCC is a government agency and, as we know, a government agency’s goal is to set the rules and regulations. At issue now is Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is the idea that requires Internet providers like Comcast and AT&T to treat all content sites and platforms equally and not provide tier service or provide a different quality of service for a different fee.

Back in 2005, AT&T said they were going to charge differently for different levels of service. In 2007, there was a complaint against Comcast alleging that it was slowing down its upload speeds to manage the traffic on its network. Comcast said it was necessary in order to manage its network capacity. Comcast voluntarily stopped this practice, but sued the FCC.

Also at issue is that the FCC wants to switch broadband service, such as DSL, from Title I regulation, to Title II regulation under rules which were designed to govern dial-up services and regular home phones. The carriers feared that more FCC regulation would prevent them from dealing with growing demand, providing increased speed, change pricing and require them to share their network.

The FCC is tied into many of the major bills that are being passed by Congress. The FCC says it wants to move forward in the 21st century, in economic opportunity and providing new jobs. But this means more intrusion into one’s personal life, through healthcare bills, energy bills, public safety, homeland security, financial bills, education, job applications, public affairs, and so on. Everything you do will be reported on the Internet. It is very true that with all the new programs and the new FCC regulations, Big Brother will be watching YOU.

In looking into the latest information on Comcast’s case against the FCC’s plans for further regulation, it seems Comcast won its federal appeals case in April. The court ruled the FCC had overstepped when it cited Comcast in 2008 for slowing some customers’ Internet traffic. The federal court decision last month cast doubt that the FCC even had jurisdiction to regulate ISPs or the Internet’s content.

The following comment came from a review of the appeals court’s decision:

“In a huge win for the free market and limited government, a federal appeals court today put a halt to the Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to exert its authority over the Internet and its power play to regulate the companies who provide access to it.”

In June the HCC program will be E-Mail Tech., Offerings and Hazards. John Warsinski will be the presenter. Come to the meeting and hear his talk.

Lon Hosford, President of the club, was welcomed back after his absence from the club meetings in the last few months. Lon is running for Congressman from the 7th Congressional District in New Jersey and said there were events that he could not miss on earlier club dates. The members of the club all wished Lon success in his run for election in November.

Lon reviewed that our club’s Yahoo Group, Hunterdon Computer Club, is available for emails to other members and what is posted there is sent to all club members signed up on the Yahoo Group site. If you want to have a discussion with one member only, send your email directly to the club member’s personal email, not through the club’s Yahoo Group. The Yahoo Group site is very valuable for getting help from club members when needed or advising or sharing information with everyone signed up from the club.

At our next club meeting in May, Lon will present a program on the FCC’s impact on the Internet. The Library of Congress is archiving all Tweets back to 2006. Be aware that all that information is stored and what you publish will always be available. You can send a Tweet as public or private. A public Tweet can be seen by everyone, a private Tweet can only be read by certain people. Law enforcement is monitoring all public social networking sites.

If you want to Google for certain information, use quotes before and after your search criteria. You will be surprised at the specific information that will come up. This is particularly useful when hunting for a job or conducting research.

Q & A

Q. While visiting a relative recently, I used her computer and her Will Generation software. In composing my will, I entered all my personal information as requested. When I went on-line for definitions of the legal terms, the web browser went down by itself. Is there a possibility that my personal information was taken after the software went down?

A. If she was connected to the Internet through a router, there is less of a chance that could have happened.

Q. Is there some diagnostic to see if there is some software for the computer that will determine if there is something on the system?

A. Look into the ShieldsUp website, http://www.grc.com/intro.htm, for security related software that you can download to inspect your system. A security clean up can by done but several anti-virus programs need to be run because some programs find some problems that others do not. You need to delete one anti-virus software program before you can install another. Avast software can scan for viruses before it boots up Windows. This software can be found at http://www.avast.com/index . If you are doing your own security clean up, do a mirror image of your computer files before you start because there are risks involved.

Q. Does anybody want a presentation to learn to use MS Word 2007?
A. This is a good topic, but the topic needs to be refined because there is so much to talk about. There is a link in Word 2007 that allows you to find out how to use 2007 if you were used to using 2003 for those who are having problems now.

Q. If Word 2003 did everything you needed, why should anyone update?
A. There is a need to learn Word 2007 when the company has updated their software to 2007 and others are using it.

There is a 2007 add-on that allows you to restore the functioning of Word 2003 to Word 2007.

Q. Does anyone recommend buying a MAC?
A. They are very good computers, have good, user friendly, and free software. Less USB ports are available on the machines. Many people like them. Look for them at their stores in the malls.

Next week the Trenton Computer Festival will be held at the College of New Jersey campus on April 24 and 25. The Information Technology Professional Conference will be held on Friday, April 23. The keynote speaker is Richard Stallman who is considered the originator of the free software movement. His topic will be “Free Software, Free Society” and he will be speaking on Saturday, April 25, at 2:35 p.m. There also will be vendors selling hardware and software. This is the oldest computer show in the country. There is free paring and a parking garage available for visitors to the show. Two-day admission tickets are available for $12 in advance and $15 at the gate. Sunday-only admission is $10, also at the gate. For more information or to purchase advance tickets, go to the Trenton Computer Festival’s website, http://www.tcf-nj.org/ .

Presentation: Computer Logic Circuits, Glynn Gillette, Presenter

Glynn gave us an interesting presentation on the technology of the basic operation of a computer using his very detailed and well done slides describing the basic gates and how they function, such as AND, OR, NOR, and including memory configuration. He said that digital counting is based on numbers 1 to 10. Binary counting is 1s and 0s. This binary counting makes up the switches which when turned on and off make the computer work. He demonstrated this thesis by passing around a box that had a series of switches. When the switches were lined up in the right configuration, a red light would light up. It baffled all of us until one young visitor to the club got the right combination and the light lit up! Glynn explained that it is the same with the computer, when the right switches are in place, the computer works properly.

Glynn said technology is what people don’t understand. When this is explained you will have a general idea that operating a computer is primarily a bunch of switches that turn on and off to make the computer work. Thanks to Glynn for putting this presentation together and for giving us a lesson in the computer’s basic operation.

Come to the club meeting next month on May 15 to hear Lon’s presentation on the FCC’s Impact on the Internet