Atari Bay Area Computer Users Society

December 2009 Meeting Postponed

2009-12-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

Due to a scheduling conflict, the December 2009 ABACUS originally planned for Saturday, December 5th has been postponed until Sunday, December 6th. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

June 2009 Meeting CANCELLED

2009-06-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

Due to an unresolvable scheduling conflict, the June 2009 ABACUS meeting has been canceled. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

April 2008 Meeting Postponed

2008-04-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

In case you happen to visit this blog, I'd like to remind you that the April 2008 ABACUS meeting has been postponed for one week. The meeting, which was scheduled for Saturday, April 5th, will now be held Saturday, April 12th. This is due to another Sinasohn scheduling conflict. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

- Warren

October 2007 Meeting POSTPONED

2007-10-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

In case you happen to wander by here, I thought it best to post a reminder that the October 2007 ABACUS meeting has been postponed by one week. The meeting, which was scheduled for Saturday, October 6th, will now be held Saturday, October 13th. This is due to a scheduling conflict. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

- Warren

June 2007 Meeting CANCELLED

2007-05-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

Due to a scheduling conflict, the ABACUS meeting on June 2, 2007 has been cancelled. The next meeting is planned for August 4, 2007. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

- Warren

Update to the A.B.A.C.U.S. main Web site

2006-09-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

I've just brought the events page on our main Web Site up to date. It can be found here.

- Warren

Recap of August 2006 A.B.A.C.U.S. Meeting

2006-08-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

A quick recap of our August meeting: Warren started the meeting with a Web-based animation showing a standing lenticular cloud. He did this because the desktop picture on his computer shows a spectacular lenticular cloud over Japan's Mt. Fuji. Roger then pointed him to a Fark.Com Photoshopping contest that used that very picture. Warren also showed a site called Gmaps Pedometer, which lets you calculate distances on a Google map by drawing a line over your route.

Roger then directed Warren to look at a Web site called Blogging Baby. Roger is now blogging there for money! (Don't quit your day job, Roger.) Warren used this as a cue to start a short discussion of blogging services, as our newsletter editor, Del, wants to stort his own weblog. Warren followed this with a quick and incomplete demo showing how he uses a post editor called Ecto to post entries to ABACUS's weblog.

This was followed by the main event where Warren showed Photoshop Elements 4.0, with emphasis on two new features, the Magic Selection Brush and the Magic Extractor. Both tools allow you clip out parts of a digital photo so they can be rearranged or pasted into another photo (as in the Fark.Com contest mentioned above). He had some trouble with this demo (SOP for an ABACUS presentation) because his mouse was misbehaving. Roger saved the day by loaning Warren a very nice Logitech Trackman trackball to replace the ailing mouse. In response to a question by Phil, Warren also repeated part of a previous demo on how to assemble a panorama from several digital photos, with tips on how to get the different photos to line up properly.

After he completed the PE 4.0 demo there was still plenty of time left, so Warren showed several tunes he had composed using Apple's GarageBand software. This led into a discussion of music videos, which led to a discussion of YouTube, a popular video hosting site. Roger directed us to a startling YouTube video by the musical group OK Go. Warren then mentioned a competition between several bloggers to see who could post the cheesiest music video found on YouTube. He first showed a tongue-in-cheek video of William Shatner singing (o.k., reciting) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Unfortunately, he followed this by finding a video of David Hasselhoff singing Hooked On A Feeling. Due to this unpleasent incident, the meeting was hastily adjourned and hazardous materials teams were called in to decontaminate the attendees, the Sinasohn household and the surrounding neighborhood. The EPA is still evaluating whether to designate the area a Superfund site (O.K. I'm kidding about the last two sentences!).

Links for all of the items mentioned above can be found on our main site, here.

Photoshop Elements 4.0 at the August 2006 Meeting

2006-08-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'll be demonstrating some of the new features in Photoshop 4.0 at our next meeting, Saturday, August 5, 2006 at Roger's place.

- Warren

Laptop Info Requested For June 2006 Meeting

2006-05-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'd like to pass on a request from Del, our newsletter editor. He and his wife Billie are still planning to purchase a laptop computer for her use. He would like to spend some time at the upcoming June meeting (Saturday, June 3, 2006) getting advice about what model he and Billie should buy. Yes, I know we discussed this a bit at the last meeting, but Del feels he still doesn't have enough information to make a purchase. So put on your laptop thinking hats and be prepared to tell him what you know. Billie may also be there. Thanks.

- Warren

About the April 2006 Meeting

2006-03-30T01:14:00.000-08:00

For the upcoming April 2006 meeting, Roger will be demonstrating video editing on his recently built (and finally working) Windows computer using Pinnacle Studio 9. No, we're not fooling.

-Warren

No A.B.A.C.U.S. meeting in January 2006!

2006-01-06T23:15:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder: By executive fiat, Roger declared at the December 2005 meeting that A.B.A.C.U.S. meetings will be every other month from now on. Since all attendees were agreeable to this, and constituted a quorum of the membership, the resolution passed by acclimation. We decided to do this, in part, because the July meeting usually conflicted with Independence Day, the September meeting usually fell on Labor Day weekend, and, most importantly, the November meeting and the Vintage Computer Festival usually collided.

This means that the next A.B.A.C.U.S. meeting will be Saturday, February 4, 2006 (provided we can all get past Groundhog Day). Subsequent meetings in 2006 will take place in April, June, August, October and December. There will be no meetings in January, March, May, July, September or November. More details can be found at main A.B.A.C.U.S. web site, at least once I've finished updating it!

See you February 4th.

- Warren

Just a reminder - meeting is this Saturday, 12/10

2005-12-09T02:16:00.000-08:00

I think we've finally gotten that straightened out. The December A.B.A.C.U.S. meeting will be this coming Saturday, December 10, 2005. Apparently, Del (our newsletter editor) was ill and unable to get the word out. Tony Cesnik will be demonstrating his new NEX game console. Please visit our website for more details, directions, etc.

-Warren

Breaking! December 2005 meeting MAY be postponed

2005-11-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

(I always wanted to use 'breaking' in a post title. It makes me feel like I'm writing for the Daily Kos.)

I just found out that our December 2005 meeting, scheduled for this coming Saturday, December 3rd, may be postponed. Apparently, Roger is attending a wedding (no not his own!) that Saturday.

I have not yet confirmed this directly with Roger. If this is true, the December meeting will likely be held the following Saturday, December 10th.

More details as I get them.

No ABACUS Meeting in November 2005

2005-11-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

Just a gentle reminder for those of you who've strayed over here: There will no ABACUS meeting in November 2005. Many of the usual suspects (at least Roger, Phil and I) will be here instead. Our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, December 3rd at Roger's house.

-Warren

We Have A Winner!

2005-10-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, folks, the winner and new champion of the First Annual Informal A.B.A.C.U.S. Weblog Editor Competition is ecto, for being able to create a post that looks exactly like one entered through the crappy Blogger interface. ecto also got extra points for ease of set-up and for having an RTF editor mode, as well as one for HTML. I know where I'm going to spend my money!

Let's hear a big round of applause for the winner!

Testing 7 - 8 - 9!

2005-10-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

This time I'm testing yet another client-based weblog editor, ecto. Let's see how it works.

Testing 4 - 5 - 6!

2005-10-16T00:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, now I'm attempting to use another weblog post editor, Frequency. MarsEdit generally worked okay, but wouldn't handle post titles very well. Let's see if Frequency does any better.
P.S. No, Frequency works no better in that regard than MarsEdit. I gather there's some common problem interfacing with Blogger's API. Also, Frequency does not appear to save copies of your posts on your own computer, whereas MarsEdit does. Feh!

-Warren

Testing 1 - 2 - 3!

2005-10-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

What I am testing here is software called MarsEdit, which is used to edit weblog posts. I'm trying it out to see if I can use it to save a draft of a given post before I post it to the ABACUS weblog. The Blogger software used for Blogspot weblogs is notorious for eating a post that one has worked upon for hours, and I wanted to see if there was a way to at least keep a copy of the post, in case I needed to recover it later. Hope it works.

-Warren

May Meeting

2005-05-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Roger will likely be showing his new Dell laptop at the May meeting tomorrow(Saturday, May 7 at 1 PM). Phil may also discuss his recently purchased iMac Mini.

No meeting in November

2004-11-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

Remember that due to the Vintage Computer Festival, there will be no meeting in November. Instead, come down to the VCF and go retro!

I Just Couldn't Help Myself...

2004-10-19T02:05:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I've already gotten onto Blogger, changed the template and messed with the colors. I wanted the blog to more closely resemble our main web site. More later...
-Warren

Welcome to the new ABACUS web log!

2004-10-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here we all are in the October meeting and we've just created an online journal! Woohoo!

Present at meeting:

Phil
Warren
Ed
Del
Roger
Jared (asleep)

Good meeting!