A major ongoing concern of the OMUG directors is the matter of future presentation topics of interest to our members. A number of quite interesting ideas have been suggested, and are summarized below, with brief comments.

As interests, of course, continue to evolve, we would like to solicit further suggestions from any who have thoughts on the subject. This is, after all, your user group, and we wish to address topics of interest to everyone who can be present (hint: come to the meetings!).

At the very bottom of this page you will see an "e-mail us" graphic. Clicking on it will bring up a blank e-mail message all ready for your thoughts and suggestions. Just add your two-bits worth and send it off to us -- it won't even cost you a stamp!!

And now, with no further ado, here are the topics:

MacXware (Located right here in Omaha, MacXware is a Macintosh-only software vendor. They make a number of interesting and useful programs for the Mac, including software to do backups, manipulate graphics, capture images and video from your Mac's screen, and more. They also sell font collections. We would like to get them to come to a meeting, present previews of some of their products, and perhaps provide one or two items for review which could be raffled off.)

D.T.'s -- Self-Publishing Books and Magazines (Once you've created a masterpiece using Pages, your word processor or another sort of program, how do you get it into D.T. format [that's "Dead Trees," for those who haven't heard the term before, i.e. published in paper form]? Well, you print, collate and bind the copies, of course! Want to learn how?)

SmartHouse with your Mac (Not everyone can afford two to twenty thousand dollars to computerize the operation of their home, from lights, thermostats and security to entertainment. However, with an affordable [usually under $200] interface unit and a bunch of X-10™ or other brand control modules it can be done on a shoestring. You can tell your friends "Bill Gates has got nothin' on me! I not only have a smarthouse like his, but I own a better computer, too!" You'll be exaggerating a little about the first part <grin>, but no OMUG member will dispute your second!)

Fun Stuff (Sure, we've discussed useful, powerful and protective software for your Mac. But what about stuff that's just plain fun? Why not take a look at games, puzzles and other software that aren't about anything but just having a good time with your Mac? Want to do Sudoku, outdo Windows at solitaire, or revisit classic arcade games with your Mac, or perhaps recreate the original Spirograph™ toy to make moire patterns? A lot of it is completely free, and it's a great way to blow an hour or three. Nobody ever said the Mac couldn't be frivolous...!)

Music On The Internet (finding Lyrics, mp3's, Internet Radio, etc. through the Internet)

Podcasting (what it is, who does it, how you can do it, what you need to do it yourself)

Open Source Software (what is this -- full-fledged, often commercial-grade programs created and released for free use by a committee? Applications pretty much equivalent to Microsoft Office and others -- and you don't have to pay a dime? Where is this stuff coming from, and do we want it on our Macs?)

Electronic Newsletters and Mailing Lists (What they are, where to find them, how to make your own and why, etc.)

Scripting (AppleScript [and other scripting environments] how to use it on your Mac or on the Web, what you can do with it and where to learn how, how to find out if your applications are compatible, etc.)

Digital Scrapbooking (Take your hobby of making scrapbooks into the digital age -- create your own custom page layouts, add your own digital graphics, photographs, and even -- for the non-hardcopy version -- your own digital music and videos to your scrapbooks.)

Webcams and Other Internet Video (Streaming, Webcams out there on the Web, Setting up your own [where and where not], webcams and security, etc....)

Electronic Books (eBooks, eBook Reader Devices, Audiobooks and more; ePublishing, SelfPublishing, Books-On-Demand, etc....)

ICQ (chatting, filesharing, etc. -- the internet's not JUST the World Wide Web....)

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