Welcome

Welcome To The Southwest Technology & Computer Conference

June 27 - 29, 2014

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Southwest 08 Vendor Information - Pinnacle Systems Unveils Webinar Series

Live, Interactive Webinars Focused on Ensuring High-quality Video Editing and Sharing Experiences for End Users

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., September 26, 2008 - Pinnacle Systems, Inc., a part of Avid Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: AVID), today announced a series of free Pinnacle Life webinars designed to help users optimize their video editing and sharing experiences with Pinnacle Studio™ version 12. The monthly series of webcasts will premiere September 30th with a webinar on how to master Pinnacle Montage, a unique theme-based Pinnacle Studio feature that can be used to edit movies with up to 181 video tracks in minutes.


Pinnacle Life Interactive Webinars http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/PinnacleLife/webinarintro
will be live streaming events that highlight the various innovative features included with Pinnacle Studio version 12 and how they make it easy to quickly create and share professional-looking videos. Specialists will be available during the webinars to help beginners and experienced users gain new skills that will make their video editing experience even more rewarding.

Each live webcast will be about one-hour long and will include a 15-minute real-time demo on the subject of the webinar. By using a live camera feed and screen sharing, rather than static slide presentations, Pinnacle Studio version 12 users will be able to see the various features and capabilities that are being demonstrated right on their own screen. Demonstrations will be followed by an interactive Q&A session with questions submitted prior to the webinar or during the live event.

For the Pinnacle Life Interactive Webinars http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/PinnacleLife/webinarintro,
attendees will be shown how to quickly create entertaining, multi-track videos. With the Pinnacle Montage, professional high-end effects and animation capabilities are available in automated templates that are easy-to-use. Photos and video clips can be combined and up to 181 tracks can be overlaid to enhance a video with titles, sounds, music, transitions and other effects-all without the time-consuming
and complex task of having to drill into the various video tracks. Future webinars include:

· Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Plug-ins-a webcast to show users how to optimize the highly acclaimed professional video tools included with Pinnacle Studio Ultimate version 12: Boris Graffiti for innovative title and graphic animation, Magic Bullet Looks for professional film styles and proDAD VitaScene for sophisticated effects and transitions with key frame control.

· Photo Editing and Slideshow Creation-a webcast that shows users how to remove red-eye; rotate and crop images; adjust lighting, brightness, contrast, to optimize the quality of their photos using the photo editing features available with Pinnacle Studio. Attendees will also learn how to animate their photos with pan-and-zoom to create engaging slideshows. In addition, this session will include information
on how to import photos. With Pinnacle Studio's expanded format support, users can now import photos in Photoshop's native PSD format and the GIF format.

Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Future webinars will be available in additional regions, including some countries in Europe.

Videos of the Pinnacle Studio webinars will also be available on-demand 48 hours after each event on the Pinnacle Life Page http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/PinnacleLife/
of the Pinnacle Systems website to enable users to view them at their convenience.

For tips, tricks and techniques on all Pinnacle solutions go to Pinnacle Life http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/PinnacleLife/.

Andy Marken
Marken Communications
3375 Scott Blvd. #108
Santa Clara, CA 95054
(408) 986-0100

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Heard from a 2008 attendee


Words of encouragement.

You along with all of your helpers have done a great job on the Southwest Computer Conference recently held in San Diego. It was the most enjoyable I have ever attended. Everything was wonderful. Each workshop I attended was quite interesting, informative and well presented. The meals were especially good this year and I was overwhelmed with the welcome bags and the prizes that we all received. I am looking forward to attending next year and have already told a bunch of people about what a great time I had. I'm sure some of them will attend next year.Thank you both for all the effort, time and work that you put into making it all happen.Be sure to count on me to help out in any way I am able in the days preceding the conference. It is so enjoyable to do so.

--Ann MartinSeniors Computer Group

Monday, September 22, 2008

SW2008 Vendor Information

Hi SW2008 attendees, here’s information about some of SW’s vendors.

SAVE THE DATE – May 29, 30 & 31, 2009

The contract has been signed and I am already receiving registrations. We’ll be at the Town and Country again with the same room rate - $119. Please check out the website for up-to-date information.


Computer Outlook Radio Show

One of John Iasiuolo’s co-hosts, Dave Ciccone of Mobility Today (www.MobilityToday.com) has started a petition to gather signatures in support of John’s show. He thinks that the show should be broadcast on one of the satellite stations and made available to those listeners. Many of us frequent listeners certainly agree with him.



With that in mind I ask for your help in making this happen…please sign the petition and maybe pass it on to your friends – business associates – club members and family – this would really be great for John and the computer community.



Here is the link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/computeroutlook/signatures.html



John’s Roboform discount expires September 26 – hopefully you let your members know about the discount.



AiSquared

I talked at length at SW with the Ai Squared rep and their involvement with user groups. They weren’t sure that UGs was the way to go with their product. The presenter put me in contact with another person at AiS and during the summer we exchanged e-mails on AiS providing a discount for ZoomWare, review copies and a PIAB. Bayle from PC Community in Hayward and Jim from the Glendora Seniors Computer Club were kind enough to help with the PIAB by providing information they thought their groups would like to know about the product (they both attended the workshop and loved it) and some Q&As that could be included on the CD. A few weeks ago, AiS sent some SW attendees (don’t know why they didn’t send it to all) the discount offer as a trial run and I sent it out to the APCUG-member groups last week. AiS followed that up with a discount offer to all SW attendees with a different coupon code. Please let me know if you did not receive the offer. And, if you did, please forward it to your members. Bayle has scheduled the PIAB for her November meeting (hope it’s finished by then J. The review copy e-mail will be going to APCUG editors this week. Whenever SW gets a discount, etc., I always share it with the APCUG-member groups.

www.aisquared.com



LapWorks

Jose has almost completed his PIAB on laptop ergonomics. As soon as it’s available, I’ll let you know so you can schedule it for your group. I’ve seen a preview and it’s really going to be first class and quite informative. He’ll send along a script, product for raffle, brochures, and discount information. I’m telling my students that I think it’s OK for them to buy a laptop as long as they also buy a wireless keyboard and mouse plus a laptop desk and give them a handout I put together from Jose’s script – he’s offered them the discount, too. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the only way using a laptop as a primary computer is ergonomically correct. www.lapworks.net



Seniors Service America

Reminder! Help is available for PC refurbishing projects

Gabe Goldberg / ssa@gabegold.com

As most SWCC attendees heard at the conference, I'm helping a DC-area

organization that helps "civic engagement and employment opportunities

for adults over the age of 55 who wish to re-enter the workforce".



One initiative we're pursuing is helping these folks get and use computers. Money is available -- as seed funding for new projects, as grants to help existing projects ramp up, as awards for successful and valuable projects, etc. We're looking beyond simply providing computers, considering also supporting delivering and installing computers, providing training and ongoing support, helping with connectivity, etc., perhaps structuring a "computers on wheels" program modeled after Meals on Wheels, a successful and widespread support service for seniors.



At the conference, I collected contact information for many groups/projects/individuals and have followed up with these.



But several people took my card to contact me and haven't yet done so. If you have a refurbishing project or would like to start one and we didn't talk at the conference, please contact me. If we talked at the conference and you promised to get in touch after event, PLEASE do so.



Komputers4rKids

Do you want to involve your members in a win-win situation? Have Komputers4rKids come to your meeting with a truck to pick up your members’ and families & friends electronic equipment (advertise in your local newspaper). You benefit the organization and it can be a fund raiser for your group. Get in touch and let them know you attended SW. They picked up two trucks full of electronics from TUGNET and sent them a check. I just about cleaned out one side of my garage last Friday and took all the computer equipment to them in Long Beach (I didn’t get any $$ but sure like the looks of my garage). Marian Radcliffe and I attended Terry Currier’s meeting in Orange County, drove up to Long Beach and dropped off the stuff – the GrammyMobile was completely full!!

www.komputers4rkids.org



Symantec

Over 130 computer club members in the LA area will attend Norton Night tomorrow at Symantec’s Culver City building. We’ll be having dinner, presentations, a tour of one of their labs that hasn’t even had a press review yet, door prizes, raffles, etc. At SW, both Jerry Clarke and I talked (separately) with the Symantec rep. They realize their anti-virus reputation is not the best and think that computer clubs might be the way to get the word out about their new 2009 anti-virus product. Hopefully they will come up with a PIAB that we can show to our members. When I talked with the rep at SW, she thought they also might be putting on presentations – more about that later if it they want to go that route. Instead of that, they offered Norton Night, open to LA, Orange & Ventura county groups – within a reasonable driving distance of Culver City.



See you in San Diego next May,



Judy

Friday, September 12, 2008

Roxio Buzz 2 Lite

While looking for an easy way to create YouTube videos/slideshows i cam across a product from Roxio which fit the bill.
The product "Roxio Buzz2 Lite" is available for down load from >

The free version of Roxio Buzz Lite supports Windows Media Video, AVI, MPEG-1, QuickTime, and Divx.

A full version is available for $29.95 and supports Direct video Capture from DV camera or Webcam.

The slideshow video below was created and posted to YouTube with the program.