We will be presenting the updated Bylaws and Policy Manual at the next General Meeting December 8th. All members are encouraged to review these documents and attend the meeting to provide your input or discussion regarding these changes. We will be voting on formal adoption of the Bylaws and Policy Manual at this meeting.

2016-proposed-bylaws

2016-proposed-policy-manual

2015 Income Report

2015 Balance Sheet/Fund Balance

From the Petaluma Argus-Courier

29 Oct 2024

Berkeley: The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley has archived the personal papers, articles and photographs of Penngrove resident Anthony Tusler. The items were added to the library’s Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement archive. The Tusler Collection reflects his 40-year leadership in shaping the disability rights movement. Tusler’s oral history and transcription is in the DRLIM archive, along with his writings, editorials, protest buttons and beggars’ cards, papers, photography negatives and other items.

“It’s humbling to be a part of Bancroft Library’s collection,” said Tusler. “And to think our fight for civil rights joins the papers of Mark Twain, and the nugget that launched the Gold Rush.” Tusler’s work is also featured in two disability rights exhibits in Berkeley. “Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights” is on display through Dec. 18 at the Ed Roberts Campus above the Ashby Bart station, 3075 Adeline St., Berkeley. “Nothing About Us, Without Us: 25th Anniversary of the ADA is on display through Feb. 12 at the Doe Library on the UC Berkeley campus.

Photos for Mac and iOS: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider
O’Reilly Media, Inc
ISBN: 978-1-491-91799-2
312 pages, including a 12-page index
US $29.99
All levels
October, 2024
Rating: Excellent

Photos for the Mac and iOS were a complete puzzle to me. I replaced iPhoto for Photos when I updated to Yosemite OS X 10.10 as it is part of the operating system. I usually like to try new things, and after all, the Keynote Demo I watched showed some neat features, like its speed and sleek design, that I was eager to try. Much to my surprise it was a completely different interface from iPhoto and I was disappointed to see that it didn’t allow the use of third party apps for tweaking my photos. I muddled through as best I could until I was offered the opportunity to review Photos for the Mac and iOS: The Missing Manual. I hoped this would be the solution to my muddling through frustrations so that I could finally enjoy using Photos.

Lesa Snider has the ability to make complicated topics easy to follow and apply. She is thorough and is a good fit for The Missing Manuals series of books. This was the most enjoyable book I have ever reviewed and I have reviewed several, including another by Snider. She not only offers clear, easy to follow instructions for navigating Photos for the Mac and iOS but she goes beyond by giving helpful key shortcuts on every page. The beautiful colored graphics throughout the book make it uniquely beautiful.

The first third part of the book deals with the basics for getting started with Photos, such as importing pictures and videos, viewing and organizing your images, finding pictures, etc. About 50 pages are dedicated to improving your pictures. The latter was appreciated because I was able to understand what each of the editing tools does instead of guessing. It’s not exactly Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, which sells for $150, but for a free app with a Mac, you can’t beat it.

I decided to look into using folders, which was completely new to me. My Photos Library has over 8,000 photos and a little album organization was called for as there were too many I’d created on a whim. The author covers how to create folders, use folders, and add and remove items from folders. I spent time organizing and creating folders and now it’s a pleasure and a time saver to look for albums and photos.

When I came to the section for Slideshows and Movies, I felt very comfortable since I have created many slideshows in iPhoto. The book completes covering the app with a chapter on Printing Your Photos, Sharing and Exporting, and Creating Custom Books, Calendars, and Cards.

I have an iPad, an iPhone, and an iPod touch; knowing the differences between Photos for the Mac and how it behaves in iOS makes this book an excellent reference for anyone using Photos.

Conclusion: As I followed along it was quickly apparent that I will now have a much more favorable experience with Photos. The book is an excellent reference that explains just about anything anyone would want to know about the first version of Photos. The book strikes a good balance between providing enough basic information for beginners and providing detailed information for the advanced users.

Update: As of this writing Apple released El Capitan for the Mac and has added the use of third party apps and extensions for editing photos in Photos. This is truly welcomed. The iCloud storage prices have also been upgraded from 20 gigabytes for $0.99 to 50 gigabytes for $0.99 a month, plus 500 gigabytes for $9.99 a month and 1 terabyte for $19.99 a month. All plans still get 5 gigabytes free.

Meetups are neighbors getting together to learn something, do something, share something…just what NCMUG has been doing for years. Now we are going to bebroadening our horizons by becoming a Meetup Group and reaching out to a wider range of people to expand our membership and offer more support to the digital community,while staying close to our roots with the Mac and iOS platforms.

We will be providing information about Meetup and how it offers the opportunity to share many things NCMUG now does, including meeting and SIG information,announcements, memberlist conversations and online membership renewal with a wider audience, but still keep NCMUG a volunteer, member-driven group. Early adopters can go to www.Meetup.com, click on Tech and set your limits for 10 to 25 miles from where you live and find the NCMUG group or go to http://www.meetup.com/North-Coast-Macintosh-Users-Group/.

We will no longer be supporting the lending library. It is difficult to get new and up to date content for the library so Wayne and Charlie are spending way too much time andenergy moving books around that very few members are borrowing. The library will be open for the last time at the August meeting, and members are welcome to take home any books that they might find useful. The books that remain after the meeting will be donated to the Sonoma County Library System for book sales.

BRING YOUR LAPTOP, iPHONE or iPAD to the meeting so you can get acquainted with all the features of Meetup and how we will be using it.

*** One lucky person who attends the meeting will WIN a $50.00 gift certificate from Best Buy.***
(must be present to win)

Got digital photos on your iPad, iPhone or camera and want to do use them creatively? Speakers for June 16th will be Lorel Kapke describing self-publishing of family photos, cards and books and Francesca, a Walgreen representative, demonstrating store services available for making customized projects.

Lorel’s presentation will focus on the importance of scanning and saving our pre-digital “old photographs” between the years 1900s — 1980s.

She bring photo books, photo cards, self-publishing books from Apple, Blurb, and CreateSpace.

Please bring in your own examples to share with folks!

Rohnert Park Senior Center
6800 Hunter Drive
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
7:00- 9:00 p.m.

(as always please bring your empty ink containers for NCMUG to donate to Operation GOALS)

PDFpen is your all-purpose PDF editor on Mac and iOS. TextExpander saves you time typing with a customizable library of keyboard shortcuts on Mac and iOS. See what these apps are all about, and what’s new in the latest versions.

Maia Olson has worked with Smile for 6 years demoing at Macworld, writing for customer support, marketing, and PR. She volunteers at App Camp For Girls, and collects artistic and outdoor activities.

You can catch her occasional comments on life and everything on Twitter @maia_olson.

North Coast Mac Users Group
General Meeting: Tuesday, May 19, 2024
Rohnert Park Senior Center
6800 Hunter Drive
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
7:00- 9:00 p.m.

Grace Cheung-Schulman, leader of the Photograph SIG, and Wayne Till, leader of the Genealogy SIG, will talk about how they use digital technology, and will share and demonstrate many of the useful tips and resources available free for everyone to use.

Grace Cheung-Schulman, NCMUG Board member since June 2024 and founder and leader of the Photography SIG, is a Jill-of-all-trades. Since she retired from her career in music directing and non-profit administration in 2024, she has been busier than ever. When she is not working in her water-efficient “ food-forest” garden and taking care of rescued pets, she volunteers as a photographer and works in information management and marketing communication for some 5 non-profit organizations. She will be sharing with you many of her favorite art, education, and photography Internet resources.

Wayne Till, leader of the Genealogy SIG has been an NCMUG member since 1989 and has served on the NCMUG board for 15 years. He has been retired for 15 years and remains active as a docent at Shollenberger Wetland Park, a player in the Petaluma Pongers group, and as an amateur genealogist.

Rohnert Park Senior Center
6800 Hunter Drive
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
7:00- 9:00 p.m. ]]> http://ncmug.org/april-21st-general-meeting-the-digital-revolution-and-what-it-means-to-me/feed/ 0 http://ncmug.org/sid-lipton-honored/ http://ncmug.org/sid-lipton-honored/#comments Sat, 04 Apr 2024 16:52:31 +0000 http://ncmug.org/?p=2402 The Petaluma Argus-Courier reports that NCMUG member Sid Lipton was presented with the 2024 Petaluma Community Awards of Excellence Service to Seniors honor last week, for his 15-plus years of volunteer work toward Petaluma’s elderly Community.

Sid Lipton

Please see the full article at the Argus-Courier website