From The Editor and President March 2023

Hugh Macdonald

David Stonier-Gibson is enjoying a nice jaunt around New Zealand so I’m back in the editor’s chair temporarily.

This month, we’ve got a good selection of articles on ChatGPT, space, robots, some little known tips on using Google, and some COVID discussion. There’s also some club based information on Be Connected initiative that the club runs, where you can bring your devices along and get help with them, as well as information about the April monthly meeting. And as always there’s the East SIG Report, filled with valuable information gleaned from that SIG.

So enjoy. David will be back next month.

And now onto presidential matters…

 

In person attendance at monthly meetings

It’s been great the last two months to see people back at Moorabbin for the monthly meetings. I’ve personally found it really enjoyable to catch up with people in person again, enjoy some refreshments (which the club is putting on), take part in the raffle and get to meet the keynote speaker. If you’re looking for something to do next Wednesday night, then please come along.

 

WAFFLE SIG

The Wine and Fine Food Lovers’ Event (WAFFLE) SIG runs every month and in my years as member of the club, I’ve never had the chance to attend one. I did last month, and joined about ten other members for dinner at Fong’s Chinese Restaurant in Bentleigh. The food was terrific and very reasonably priced, and the company was good. So this is another great part of the social experience of Moorabbin monthly meetings, if you feel like taking part.

 

Our use of Google services

On occasion we get members who are concerned about our use of Google services. To allay any concern, the first thing to remember that there is a distinction between consumer Google services that you might use such as Gmail and Google Docs and the services that we use which are provided by Google Cloud. Although the interfaces look exactly the same, the back ends are completely different. Large multinational organisations, major universities, governments and NGOs use Google Cloud for their email and online services like we do. Google Cloud adheres to major international security certifications to ensure your data is protected from any unauthorised access. You can find out more here: https://support.google.com/googlecloud/answer/6056650

 

Our newest group

Our newest group is Sunday Sessions, which is on every second Sunday at Moorabbin from 1pm to 3pm. We cover a variety of topics. Last Sunday we discussed the tools you’d need to get into woodworking, as this is something I’m interested in taking up. Then we got onto discussing NAS (network attached storage) devices and the kinds of file systems you might use and the situations you’d use them in. If you’ve got an eclectic project that mixes any combination of IT, programming, CAD and mechanical engineering then come along, this could be the group for you.

That’s all for this month. Enjoy reading PC Update and I hope to see you at the April meeting!