December 9, 1998: Websites for Seniors
January 13, 1999
Mel Cerier (cerierM@world.std.com) spoke on Guide Lines for Buying vs. Upgrading Your Computer.
February 10, 1999
Jonathan Alsop, Director of Web Services at The World, spoke on The Search is On! Search Engines and the Internet .
March 10, 1999
Dr. Arthur Obermayer spoke on Building Communities on the Internet.
April 14, 1999
Howard Chen of Microsoft spoke on Windows 98, and why win95ers should upgrade.
May 12, 1999
Walter Bender (walter@media.mit.edu) of the MIT Media Lab spoke on interactive multi-media interaction to provide personalized information to the user.
June 9, 1999
Special Meeting at the Charles River Public Internet Center
September 8, 1999
Nancy Johnson and Brenda Goldman of the Newton Public Library spoke about their new Information Technology Training Center.
October 13, 1999
Panel Discussion by GBSCG members on fixing a computer, including first aid, places to have a computer repaired, discount on the book "The Secret Guide to Computers", and a discourse on the BIOS.
November 10, 1999
Ralph Johnson spoke on designing your own web site.
December 8, 1999
We had a panel discussion on search engines. Panel Members were Bob Bowers, Eve Welts and Charlie Moir.
January 12, 1999
John Blank discussed the design of databases and demonstrated one that he designed.
February 9, 2000
Brenda Loew spoke to us about e-commerce and the pitfalls to watch out for when shopping on the Internet.
March 8, 2000
Simson Garfinkel, well known computer journalist for the Boston Globe, spoke on Internet Privacy and Security. He is currently writing a book on this topic.
April 12, 2000
Don Page, Manager of Peripheral Devices at the Microcenter in Cambridge, talked about high capacity storage devices that can be used not only for backing up a computer, but also for archival storage.
May 10, 2000
Shawn P. Day of Digital Broadband Communications, described his company's project of providing broadband access to all Massachusetts schools and town offices.
June 14, 2000
Our last meeting of the year was "Fun With Your Computer" run by Eve Welts. It combined demos of games and other fun things to do with your computer with refreshments and a chance to talk with other members. Channel 4 was also present to record the proceedings.
September 13, 2000
George Martins, assisted by Charles Moir and Garry Ziffer, presented a lot of interesting freebies available on the Net.
A copy of the handout given to attendees of the meeting is available elsewhere on our Web Site.
October 11, 2000
Representatives from CompUSA came to tell us about the latest in hardware and software available at their stores.
November 8, 2000
Sarah McLaughlin and Dan Buryj of the Charles River Public Internet Center explained how to use Trellix for designing a web page.
December 13, 2000
Panel Discussion by Earle Barcuse, Charlie Moir and Garry Ziffer on "CLEANING UP YOUR COMPUTER".
January 10, 2001
John Blank reviewed and demonstrated Palm Held Computers.
February 14, 2001
John Harvey, Bill Carruthers and Tony Salades of the N.E. School of Photography spoke on digital image capture and manipulation.
March 14, 2001
Bill Weiss, Jr. spoke on viruses, scams and hackers, including a historical survey.
April 11, 2001
Paul Roberts of Newtonville Camera talked about the uses for which digital and film cameras are best suited and why and how to take advantage of the features of each.
May 9, 2001
Charlie Moir gave a presentation on having fun with your computer - online
June 13, 2001
John Stroiney from Microsoft spoke about the new features in Windows ME.
September 12, 2001
Panel discussion on Personal Computer Maintenance. The discussion included virus protection, cookies, web bugs and other related hazards.
October 10, 2001
Betty Goldberg explained the workings of eBay.
November 14, 2001
Arsen Eskaryan, Manager of Data Imaging Products at the Micro Center, gave a presentation on scanners, both flat bed and film., as well as a demo of actual equipment.
December 12, 2001
Mary Kerr, former travel consultant, talked about accessing travel information on the Internet.
January 9, 2002
Matthew Barmash from Microsoft spoke on Microsoft's new operating system, Windows XP.
February 13, 2002
Eddie Medina from the Boston Globe spoke on present and future developments in news reporting on the Internet.
March13, 2002
Jack Christin, from the Massachusetts Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division, talked about Internet con artists and how users can protect themselves.
April 10, 2002
Andy Trask, of Geek Housecalls spoke on computer slowdowns caused by viruses, lack of memory, hard drive problems etc.
May 8, 2002
Panelists Earle, Eve and and Charlie showed how collectibles or other data can be catalogued and then retrieved via a database or a spredsheet.
June 12, 2002
Sandra Kogan, a Human Factors Engineer at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, described her project of studying ways to make computers more user friendly to seniors.
September 4, 2002
George Martins, one of our board members, spoke on how to make best use of Google, the leading search engine on the Internet.
October 9, 2002
Brian Charlson, Vice President of Computer Training Services, spoke on the use of computers by the blind.
November 13, 2002
Arsen Askaryan of the MicroCenter spoke on the newest computer related products and izmos.
December 11, 2002
Don Levitan presented various approaches to searching the Internet.
January 8, 2003
Andy Trask of Geek Housecalls gave a presentation on Wireless Home Networking
February 12, 2003
Mark McInnes, PC marketing specialist for IBM, spoke on the future of wireless computing.
March 12, 2003
A panel of GBSCG members discussed the uses and abuses of e-mail.
April 9, 2003
Michelle Hache of Plug-n-Play PC Inc. talked about the options for storing documents, data, video and audio files.
May 14, 2003
Paul Roberts of Newtonville Cameras gave a presentation on the latest in film and digital cameras.
June 11, 2003
Lionel Goulet of Computer Help Company spoke on "Why is my computer so slow?"
September 10, 2003
Oren Rosenberg of Elderado spoke on "Computing with Confidence".
October 8, 2003
Phyllis Mays spoke on how to make your own greeting cards using Printmaster and the Internet.
November 12, 2003
Shep Arkin , a retired engineer and leader of the Lexington Senior Center Computer Club, spoke on Quicken.
December 10, 2003
A speaker from Microsoft gave us a presentation on Microsoft Office 2003.
January 14, 2004
Michelle Hache of Plug-n-Play discussed "spyware" and what can be done about it.
February 11, 2004
Andy Trask of Geek Housecalls spoke on "Repair, Upgrade or Replace".
March 10, 2004
George Martins, member of our Board of Directors, spoke on health advice of particular interest to seniors, available on the Internet
April 14, 2004
Garry Ziffer, Eve Welts and George Martins presented a panel on digital photography.
May 12, 2004
Maressa Hecht Orzack presented a program on computer addiction.
June 9, 2004
Ralph Johnston demonstrated projection of stereo images with each viewer having a pair of stereo glasses.
September 8, 2004
Representatives from Sandhills Publishing introduced us to their magazine, Smart Computing.
October 13, 2004
Arsen Askaryan of the Microcenter spoke on the theory and practice of backing up your computer.
November 10, 2004
Joe Mulvey, Deputy Director of Information Technology for the City of Newton, spoke on worms and viruses.
December 8, 2004
Paul Lewis spoke on "Internet Nasties".
January 12, 2005
Dr. Ted Wu of Able Software Corporation spoke on 3D imaging for medical modeling applications.
February 9, 2005
Michelle Hache of Plug-N-Play described how we should "spring clean" our computers.
March 9, 2005
Tom Seamans gave a talk on some of the more advanced features of Word.
April 13, 2005
Eve Welts and Charlie Moir described communication via computer including Instant Messaging and Skype.
May 11, 2005
Lisa Lorgeree of the Sovereign Bank spoke on the ins and outs of Internet banking.
June 8, 2005
Shelby Kashket showed us how the Internet is being used to detect art fraud.
September 14, 2005
Eve Welts and Garry Ziffer spoke on lowering your stress by keeping you computer healthy.
October 12, 2005
Tome Seamans repeated his talk on advanced features in Word.
November 9, 2005
Charlie Moir spoke on the new earth mapping program available from Google.
December 14, 2005
Michelle Hache gave a presentation on "Repair, Upgrade or Replace"
January 11, 2006
John Blank spoke on "What is a data base" and how can it be used to organize personal information.
February 8, 2006
Brian Charleson, Director of the Carroll Center for the Blind, demonstrated methods used in connecting the blind and visually impaired to computers.