CapMac November 2002 Meeting Notes

CapMac Meeting Report for November, 2002

The CapMac November 14 meeting began with a welcome from President Midge Kocen and then elections for 2003 Officers were underway. Over 50 people were in attendance, with several new faces in the crowd. After ballots were completed and handed in for counting Glenn Chase provided a status report on CapMac Online Services. Our blue and white G3 server has been fitted with a gig of RAM, internal 60 and and 80 gig IDE drives attached to a Sonnet Tempo card, and configured with Mac OS X Server 10.2.2. With the help of CapMac member Andrew Bateman the G3 was installed in the server room at San Marcos Internet. SMI has agreed to host our server at a significant discount, enabling us to offer our online services at no cost to CapMac members. The server is currently undergoing final testing to provide capmac.org email addresses and personal web space for CapMac members, and beta testers are needed to help make sure that everything works as planned for the public rollout. Beta tester application forms were handed out at the meeting for members who are eager to assist in testing. Those who could not attend are welcome to send an email to Glenn Chase for more information. As soon as the beta program is ready to launch those who have volunteered to assist will be contacted via email, and participants will be provided access to a private beta testers area of the CapMac forums to post bug reports.		Glenn Chase provides an update about the CapMac server which will provide capmac.org email addresses and personal web space for members.
CapMac members and visitors listen to the club update
iPhoto is Apple's unique and powerful application designed to help you manage your "digital shoebox" of images		Glenn then explained that planning is underway for CapMac to launch an "Adopt-a-School" type initiative to provide assistance to schools with Macintosh computers that need help. After speaking with Eric Lloyd, the Apple Account representative for AISD, and Scot Meyer, Apple Systems Engineer, we learned that there are plenty of opportunities to provide help which would be eagerly welcomed. Glenn was careful to point out that we would provide help within all parameters established by AISD, which might limit things like hardware repairs. Glenn and Mark Millard will explore the details involved in setting up this relationship, and report back at the next meeting. Providing community service is an important aspect of qualifying as a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, and after finally receiving notice from the IRS that CapMac has attained this status we are eager to preserve it.
New vendor offers on the Special Deals web page were then highlighted, with a reminder that current members only are entitled to the discount codes and ordering information which are listed in the Members Only area of the CapMac Forums. It is our intent to make sure that the savings realized from our vendor discounts more than make up for the annual CapMac membership fee. It was announced that the CapMac Spring Swap and Sale will be held in February, with the exact date to be announced soon. The kind folks at the Business Success Center have offered us the use of a conference room for the event, so start putting together the things you would like to sell or swap. Previous CapMac "garage sale" events have brought out great bargains and many rare and unique items, so plan now to clean out your closets and hunt for bargains. Watch our web site for the exact date and further news.		Plans for the next meeting were then discussed, with Glenn noting that our January 9 meeting will be held while Macworld Expo in San Francisco is underway. We plan to replay Steve Jobs' keynote speech on our video screens with an open discussion and question and answer session afterwards. Glenn sought a volunteer from the audience who will be attending the Expo to provide a live report via telephone to answer questions and answers from the audience. Nancy Carroll Gravly, new CapMac member and author of the "Computing With Bifocals" column for The Mac Observer web site offered to help out if her schedule permits.
Jeff Hussey, AppleCare Austin iPhoto Readiness Engineer, presents iPhoto to CapMac	Jeff Hussey, iPhoto Readiness Engineer for AppleCare in Austin, provided our feature presentation about getting the most from Apple's digital photography application iPhoto. Jeff spent an hour stepping through the basics as well as pointing out how to integrate third party editing software like PhotoShop Elements to touch up digital images before printing or publishing them to web pages with iPhoto. Jeff answered many questions, and offered a number of helpful tips, as well as handing out a sheet of useful web site links. He also pointed out that iPhoto books make great Christmas presents but recommended that orders be placed early to allow plenty of time to be processed and shipped. A CapMac member thoughtfully brought along his iPhoto book with pictures from a trip to Holland to share with the audience.
After Jeff's iPhoto presentation election results were announced. CapMac's officers for 2003 will be: President: Glenn Chase Vice President: Alan Combs Treasurer: Midge Kocen Secretary: Jack Jordan Directors at Large: Mark Millard, Tom Straus, and Ken Uecker Midge presented Mark Millard with a "Volunteer of the Month" award for his many contributions to CapMac, among them writing and distributing the press releases and proofreading the web site content.	Jeff shows an example of the linen-bound book you can create to order using iPhoto.

Helpful links from the handout Jeff provided to meeting attendees after his iPhoto presentation: Camera and Printer compatibility - www.apple.com/iphoto/compatibility iPhoto FAQ - www.apple.com/iphoto/faq.html Scripts - www.apple.com/applescript/iphoto Tips - www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/06/08/iphoto_tips.html Burn CDs - www.elgato.com/freeStuff/toastExport.html iPhoto Librarian - homepage.mac.com/scrufmeister/iPhotoLibrarian.html Free Tutorial - www.atomiclearning.com/freeiphoto.shtml

Our monthly open Question and Answers session then commenced, with several printing issues in Mac OS X getting particular attention. For questions which received no clear answer Glenn recommended that the questioner post their query to the CapMac Forums for additional attention and followup. Raffle prizes were drawn, and attendees were reminded of our December 14 meeting presenter, "Dr. Mac" Bob LeVitus, who will present his annual "State of the Macintosh" address. Bob was CapMac's very first speaker when the group was formed in 1993, and over the years has always been a staunch supporter and frequent presenter with his unique brand of technical savvy and humorous insights into the world of Macintosh. We look forward to seeing you there, and hope you'll make a point of bringing a friend!