PC Community Main Meeting
7:30 - 10 pm Friday December 2, 2011
Calvary Baptist Church 28924 Ruus Road, Hayward California
December 2, 2011
The meeting was called to order at 7:37 p.m. by President Chuck Horner. Harold Smith at the ticket table has 3" x 5" cards to write questions for discussion/answers at the end of the Meeting. We have two first-time visitors.
Del Parton described the current Clubhouse facility, which is in a two-car garage. They are setting up and have their electricity and other infrastructure in. They are currently short of monitors and are looking for donations, preferably flat-screens.
SIG Announcements:
The Hardware SIG has been canceled tomorrow night.
The Windows 7 SIG will meet at Bud Gallagher's at 1 p.m. on the 10th, the customary second Saturday after the main meeting.
The Spectacular Linux SIG will look at the Linux Mint 12 distribution. Mint has done a better job than Ubuntu in creating a user-friendly interface. The SIG will not meet Christmas Eve or New Years Eve. Stay tuned for 'December' date clarification. Be sure you're on Jan's e-mail list if you want to get updates.
Mobile SIG is on vacation over the holidays and will start again the 3rd Monday in January.
Go to the PCC Web site if you want to contact a SIG leader and/or ask to be put on a mailing list to get information for a specific SIG.
Nominations for the Board of Directors election were closed. Ballots were distributed and explained. Diane George and Del Parton volunteered to count votes.
Presentations:
Diane George presented Ultrabooks, which have specifications defined by Intel.
Intel has invested heavily in development of Ultrabooks, small light competitors to tablets.
Intel is further optimizing future generations of processors for this platform. Ultrabooks have SSD drives, which are typically smaller than those of current laptops. With successive developments, the Ultrabooks will use less and less power. Diane will put the PowerPoint of this presentation on the PCC Website. You will find several links to sites with ongoing updated information about ultrabooks.
One advantage of SSD is that they are instant-on. On the other hand, SSD memory is still relatively expensive.
David Graham pointed out that battery memory improves with "indexing." Indexing means to charge the battery fully and run it down to 10 % three times in succession.
The question came up about whether or not it is safe to move a laptop while it is on. Diane pointed out that because an SSD (Solid State drive) has no moving parts, the risk is less than with a mechanical hard drive. It is also better to unplug a laptop and let the battery run down to 10% occasionally.
Election Results:
After the break Chuck announced the 2012 PCC Board of Directors. They are: Jan Fagerholm, Sally Holt, Chuck Horner, Elsie Smith, and Bayle Emlein.
Why, asked Jan Fagerholm, are we suddenly seeing Ultrabooks? Look at the tablet market: No Intel tablets. Intel is running to catch up in the market place. After the processors have been modified to use less power in future generations, battery life will be less disappointing.
Jan showed a Windows Tablet that has a tab interface similar to upcoming Windows 8. One can download EasyBits to try out the interface.
Sally mentioned a TigerDirect Black Friday sale that included a tablet and a computer. If they have something you want, these sales are worth the trouble of following sites and newspaper announcements.
On his Android phone, Chuck has been using an app called GoRequest for Hayward community access. He uses ColorNote for a notepad. He also has a voice recorder app and is enjoying the app for his local newspaper. Everyone appreciated the spray-can graffiti app. Chuck liked QuickOffice on the Palm platform and is looking forward to trying it out in Android.
Jan acknowledged Chuck's contributions to the community, which were recognized by Chuck's designation as a Hometown Hero. Several newspaper stories covered his graffiti abatement efforts which have saved significant amounts of money in the city budget by reducing the need for clean-up.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
The next meeting will take place at the same time and location on January 6, 2012.
Bayle Emlein, Secretary
