Lock Up Your Passwords

Safe practices on the internet require that you use multiple long and strong passwords which are hard to break and also hard to remember. Password vaults allow you to generate strong passwords and store them in an encrypted file under a single master password. They also allow you to store other sensitive information.

We will introduce the topic with a description of some of the currently available password vaults and some of the significant differences between them. Then our featured speakers, Megan and Alex from Agilebits in Canada will do a Skype presentation about their product, 1Password. For a brief introduction to this product, check out the video below.

The meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Meeting registration starts at 7PM in the Lodge room on the second floor. The featured talk begins at 8PM.

All members and guests are invited to attend a NO-host dinner prior to our general meeting. Dinner will be at 5:45 PM at The Bistro located on the ground floor of the Elks Lodge.

Sound Engineering: From Vinyl to Digital Editing
Fred Catero, NARAS

Recording legend Fred Catero has worked with some of music’s greatest stars. Beginning his career at Columbia Records in New York during the early 1960’s. Many of the records he made are now considered classics. [Read more…]

The meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Meeting registration starts at 7PM in the Lodge room on the second floor. The featured talk begins at 7:15 PM.

All members and guests are invited to attend a NO-host dinner prior to our general meeting. Dinner will be at 5:45 PM at The Bistro located on the ground floor of the Elks Lodge.

Devoxx4Kids: STEMing the kids at an early age
Arun Gupta

Devoxx4Kids USA wants to get kids excited about technology with the hope that many of them will become producers of technology in future. We conduct a variety of hands-on workshops where children build computer games, program robots, build circuits, program micro-controllers etc. and have fun. . [Read more…]

The meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Meeting registration starts at 7PM in the Lodge room on the second floor. The featured talk begins at 7:30PM.

All members and guests are invited to attend a NO-host dinner prior to our general meeting. Dinner will be at 5:45 PM at The Bistro located on the ground floor of the Elks Lodge.

Members’ Presentations

Using Social Media: Facebook, Twitter & Skype

Christie Bilikam and Aldora Lee

Upgrading Your Computer with an SSD

Maurice Green

The meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Meeting registration starts at 7PM in the Lodge room on the second floor. The featured talk begins at 7:30PM.

All members and guests are invited to attend a NO-host dinner prior to our general meeting. Dinner will be at 5:45 PM at The Bistro located on the ground floor of the Elks Lodge.

Members’ Presentations

Virtual Computers: An Overview
Bill Young

Building a Website with WordPress
Maurice Green

What is a virtual computer and why would you want to use one? Bill Young will describe the installation of a virtual computer into a real computer. He will discuss the many different virtual computers that are available and demo the useful features of VitualBox, a free virtual machine from Oracle.

The SPAUG website is built with WordPress, the most popular content management system (CMS) for building websites. Maury will demonstrate both the simplicity of building a WordPress site using a “local host” and the great variety of functions and styles which can be included in the site.

The meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Meeting registration starts at 7PM in the Lodge room on the second floor. The featured talks begins at 7:30PM.

All members and guests are invited to attend a NO-host dinner prior to our general meeting. Dinner will be at 5:45 PM at The Bistro located on the ground floor of the Elks Lodge.

A Slice of Pi

Maurice Green, PhD

Over the past 10 years we have seen a burgeoning interest in small microprocessor boards which can be programmed using a variety of software. They are being used by engineers for prototyping, by artists and by “do-it-yourselfers” for a wide variety of projects from music synthesizers to robotics. It is almost a “return to the future” similar to the early years of computing in the 1970’s.  Two of the most popular units have been the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi. Costs are in the $25-$50 range and much of the software is open source, making them easily accessible to students, experimenters and professionals alike. Microsoft has recently announced that there will be versions of Windows 10 available for both the Arduino and Raspberry Pi 2.

Maury will compare the two systems and then demonstrate the installation and programming of a Raspberry Pi system.

Tips and Tricks

This month’s meeting will feature short talks by three of our members:

• Android Smartphone Overview (Christie Bilikam)
• Introduction to Google Docs (Stan Hutchings)
• Using Irfanview for Your Images (John Sleeman)

The meeting will be held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Meeting registration starts at 7PM in the Lodge room on the second floor. The featured talks begins at 7:30PM.

All members and guests are invited to attend a NO-host dinner prior to our general meeting. Dinner will be at 5:45 PM at The Bistro located on the ground floor of the Elks Lodge.

Living Through the 20th Century
Nat Landes

The 20th Century saw major breakthroughs in technology, from radio to television to computers, and multiple wars. Our former SPAUG Treasurer, Nat Landes, lived through it all.  Come join with other SPAUG members as we help Nat celebrate his 97th birthday. He will regale us with stories of all the changes in technology and computers he has seen. [Read more…]

Living Through the 20th Century
PART 2
Nat Landes

A continuation of the talk from the July meeting which was interrupted by the birthday party for our former SPAUG Treasurer, Nat Landes.  He will describe for us many of the changes in technology and computers he has seen. [Read more…]