Author Archives: web

Computer Services for Seniors

As our population ages and technology expands, the need for help for our senior population to understand the use of all the new gadgets available becomes increasingly important. Our August 2019 meeting will feature a panel of three speakers with 20-30 minute presentations on topics of help for seniors with the new technology. A Q&A discussion will follow.

Jayant Kashyap, Google
The anatomy of today’s Jeeves – smart assistants and their potential

We are witnessing a marked transition in computing as people increasingly interact with non-traditional computers (aka. smart ‘insert-term-here’). What does it take to build a viable system to support such engagements; how is it impacting the people from around the world? And where do we go from here?

Jayant is a Software Engineer at Google, and has been working on Assistant since moving to the Bay Area earlier this year. Prior to moving here, he helped build an enterprise supply chain tracking system for Google.

Ryan Kawamoto, Senior Planet @Avenidas
Aging with Attitude 

Senior Planet is an award-winning program that helps those aged 60 and older use technology to connect, learn, and grow. His presentation will describe the epic new partnership between Avenidas and Older Adults Technology Services.

Ryan Kawamoto, a Bay Area native, is the Regional Director for the Senior Planet @Avenidas. He provides operational and administrative assistance while also maintaining the center’s technology courses. Ryan is the former Executive Director of Yu-Ai Kai Japanese American Community Senior Service of San Jose and the former Chair of the Aging Services Collaborative of Santa Clara County. 

Mick Fitzgerald, Anew Vista
Online Service Marketplace Networks – The Next Big Thing

Empowered with knowledge, experience, and wealth amassed over decades, older adults are poised to take the lead in driving the development of the next wave of consumer technologies.  They comprise the largest and fastest growing consumer segment.  Demands for continually improving wellness and lifestyle product/services and primary health care at home are transforming older adult households.  AnewVista is working with household consumers to shape daily living systems and transform lifestyle technologies.

Mick is CTO and founding partner at AnewVista. He leads the technology and development roadmap. He has developed systems and startups in robotics, sensors, and AI – from lab to market – spanning several industries and academia. 

As usual, the meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto and begins at 7PM. We will be meeting in the Conference Room on the second floor.

For those who enjoy the schmooze, we will have our usual no-host pre-meeting dinner at 5:30PM in the Bistro Café on the first floor of the lodge.

NOTE: This meeting will be available online via ZOOM.
The online session will start at 7PM.

To join the Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/907374383

To participate by phone, dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 907 374 383
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a58fvHPfC

Random Access

Once again we have no outside speaker this month so all members are invited to come and discuss problems and learn about new techniques. 

The following two presentations have been scheduled:

1. Using a SmartPhone in a Foreign Country – Christie Bilikam
2. Microsoft Surface Pro 6: Pros and Cons – Maurice Green

If you would like to make a presentation on a topic, please let us know and we will schedule it.

We would also like to have a discussion about possible future topics for our meetings. If you know someone who would be a good speaker on an interesting topic, we want to hear from you.

As usual, the meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto and begins at 7PM. We will be meeting in the Conference Room on the second floor.

For those who enjoy the schmooze, we will have our usual no-host pre-meeting dinner at 5:30PM in the Bistro Café on the first floor of the lodge.

NOTE: This meeting will NOT be available on ZOOM.

Random Access

We have no outside speaker this month so all members are invited to come and discuss problems and learn about new techniques. If you would like to make a presentation on a topic, please let us know and we will schedule it.

We would also like to have a discussion about possible future topics for our meetings. If you know someone who would be a good speaker on an interesting topic, we want to hear from you.

As usual, the meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto and begins at 7PM. We will be meeting in the Conference Room on the second floor.

For those who enjoy the schmooze, we will have our usual no-host pre-meeting dinner at 5:30PM in the Bistro Café on the first floor of the lodge.

NOTE: This meeting will NOT be available on ZOOM.

The Doctor is In
Sue Kayton

Our guest speaker will be Sue Kayton, The Computer Doctor.

Topic of Discussion: New Windows Update policy and Demo of Office 2019.

She will bring her usual wisdom and humor and answer your computer questions.

As usual, the meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto and begins at 7PM. We will be meeting in the Library/Card Room across the hall from the Lodge Room.

For those who enjoy the schmooze, we will have our usual no-host pre-meeting dinner at 5:30PM in the Bistro Café on the first floor of the lodge.

NOTE: This meeting will NOT be available on ZOOM.

Topic: Picking the Best Backup Approach

Speaker: Gene Barlow, User Group Relations (via Skype)

Backing up your hard drive on a regular basis is the most important process that all end-users must do on a regular basis to protect their computer from a crash or virus attack. Anti-virus utilities are not always completely reliable for this protection. Only a good backup can protect you 100% from a total loss of your computer system. Unfortunately, there are many different backup approaches that are promoted as being all you need to do. Most of these approaches provide only a partial protection of your system. However, there is one backup approach that is the best and the one you should be using.

This presentation will describe the four most popular backup approaches used today and tell you the strengths and weakness of each approach. After attending this presentation, you will be able to determine what is the best backup approach you should be using. We will then describe this approach in detail, so that you understand the best way to use this best backup approach. We represent Acronis and their True Image backup utility to the user group community. This product will provide you all of the popular backup approaches, but their incremental backup image approach is the best way to go. Again, how to setup and use this best approach will be covered in this presentation.

To help you get started doing excellent backups, we offer those that attend this webinar this Acronis True Image product at half the normal retail price. We also provide our customers with our exclusive True Image Starter Guide, which makes installing and setting up this product easy to do the best backups possible. In addition, we will help you with question or problems as you use this product for months to come. You do not want to miss this excellent presentation on Picking the Best Backup Approach.

Gene Barlow is the best known presenter to user group audiences. In the early 80’s, when the IBM PC was first announced, Gene managed the User Group Support organization for IBM and helped hundreds of user groups get started. For this he is often called the Father of PC User Groups. He has presented to thousands of user group audiences over the past 35 years. His presentation style is informative, yet easy to follow for even the most novice users. You will find him one of the best presenters you have heard. We are pleased to bring you this excellent presenter and presentation on a topic that he is well known for. Make sure you attend this presentation.

As usual, the meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto and begins at 7PM. We will be meeting in the Library/Card Room across the hall from the Lodge Room.

For those who enjoy the schmooze, we will have our usual no-host pre-meeting dinner at 5:30PM in the Bistro Café on the first floor of the lodge.

NOTE: This meeting will NOT be available on ZOOM.