It’s been a scorching summer so far and it’s about to get even better! It’s been another year with examug, and our Summer Social and AGM are coming up fast.

Tuesday 14 August.

Starting at 7pm and with no set finish time. Pop in for a brief drink and chat or stay the whole evening for a bite to eat.

We have decided to go back to the Imperial, Exeter (The Imperial, New North Road, Exeter EX4 4AH. https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/devon/the-imperial-exeter).

The pub has some parking, but you can park on some of the streets nearby too (and after 6pm most is free), it has a large private garden and for those wanting to eat, it also has a fairly typical menu and a varied drinks menu (ranging from local real ales, to fancy cocktails).

Menu here:

https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/food

The AGM will run from 7:30-8:00. This will be a brief meeting; a chance for members to put their ideas forward and help shape examug for the next year or so. Items for discussion will include:

The Committee
As a member this is your chance to get involved with the committee. Come and have a go if you want, we would very much welcome more support and involvement.

Accounts
A brief review of the current state of affairs, including expenditure and cash in hand. It is also an opportunity to suggest some items you want to purchase in order to enhance our meetings. This includes suggestions for raffle prizes (at previous AGMs ideas like healthy snacks, name badges and library were put forward and accepted).

The Group
A review of what and how we do things.

Future Events
Suggestions for activities, talks, visits/trips, speakers, etc.

Anything else?
Additionally, please do let me know if you wish to add an item for discussion or make a suggestion.

The social aspect of the evening will be the main part of the evening and a chance to chat, drink and socialise!!

There will be no presentations or talks, but there is WiFi access and in the past members have brought iPads or laptops to discuss Apple things or other cool items/software.

You could pop in for a quick drink or stay all evening, have a few drinks and a bite to eat. It is all very flexible.

We really hope you can make it. It should be an enjoyable evening.

We hope you are all enjoying the marvellous weather we’ve been having. And the outlook is about to get even brighter; it’s examug on Tuesday. Slightly later than normal but it will be worth the wait!

• Date: Tuesday 17 July
• Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm
• Location: ISCA College, Exeter

Hello all,

The snow may have (mostly) melted and the rain has returned, but on the plus side it’s examug next week!

Date: Tuesday 13 March

Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

We begin with a look at getting more from your photos on iPhone and iPad.
From MEDIOCRE to MASTERPIECE
Photo-EDITING APPS for iPhone & iPad

It’s often said, good photography is……

20%: Camera & Lens
20%: Knowing your Camera
20%: Good Composition
20%: Preparation & Good Luck
20%: GOOD EDITING

Kris will be looking at EDITING apps from Apple’s App store that are either FREE or CHEAP. Apps from Google, Adobe and others and how they compare with Apple ‘PHOTOs and each other.

After the break we will have a look at Podcasts. We will be exploring the various apps for iOS and giving our hints and tips on getting the most from them. Plus we have some recommended podcasts that will soon become part of your daily listening routine. Listen to the radio? You’re going to love this! Everything across the range: news, fiction shows, comedy, and sports.

Plus we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including some new Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

Hope to see you there, and bring a friend!

Graham

examug Chair

web: www.examug.org.uk

Hello all,  

Happy New Year! Here’s hoping for a happy and healthy 2018, and it all starts with our first examug meeting, and it’s next week!!

Date: Tuesday 9 January

Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

We begin 2018 with a brief look at Google’s ‘office’ apps. Our take on Docs, Sheets and Slides; who needs Word, Excel or Powerpoint or even Pages, Numbers and Keynote? The Google apps are free, and we will discuss what this means (leaving it up to you to decide if you are willing to pay the ‘price’ for using such applications) and we will give our take on their features, advantages and limitations. We will describe our experience of using the apps as our main office suite and even dipping into ensuring access to the created documents remains as secure as possible. The Google applications have certainly come a long way and offer many unique and useful innovations. If you’ve discounted them in the past, maybe it is time to look again! We guarantee you’ll learn something new, no matter your experience!

After the break we will have the final, final (!!!) part of our Take back Control series, finishing off Settings on iOS.  Ideally, bring your iPhone or iPad to follow what’s going on in the presentation, and like last time, it will be great for beginners, and the more advanced.  We will continue our step-by-step walk through of all the options you have at your finger tips. You may even find out how to sort out some long held gripes about things you thought you had no control. Even if you missed the first part you’ll definitely get loads of useful hints and tips from this session, whatever your level. In fact we think this session is an ideal one to bring a friend along with you, they will get a good flavour for the group and learn something new!  Plus it will be demoed on an iPhone X – and we will be sharing our thoughts on Apple’s latest, greatest and most expensive phone ever!

We have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

Hope to see you there, and bring a friend!

Graham

examug Chair

web: www.examug.org.uk

Hello all,  

It’s November already, halloween is over, Christmas is coming, Apple have released their new iPhone X and a week on Tuesday is our November examug meeting.

Date: Tuesday 14th November

Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

We have the final part of our Take back Control series, finishing off Settings on iOS.  Ideally, bring your iPhone or iPad to follow what’s going on in the presentation, and like last time, it will be great for beginners, and the more advanced.  We will continue our step-by-step walk through of all the options you have at your finger tips. You may even find out how to sort out some long held gripes about things you thought you had no control. Even if you missed the first part you’ll definitely get loads of useful hints and tips from this session, whatever your level. In fact we think this session is an ideal one to bring a friend along with you, they will get a good flavour for the group and learn something new!

After the break we will also give our thoughts on macOS High Sierra (spoiler: we don’t like the name!!). It will get the usual examug treatment, we will give you a run down on the latest features, key changes, things we love and things you might otherwise miss. As always we will try our best to make sure everyone gets something out of it, no matter what their level of experience.

As normal we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

Plus we will have news of the 2017 examug Christmas social and the famous Christmas Raffle.

Hope to see you there, and bring a friend!

Graham

examug Chair

web: www.examug.org.uk

Hello world! 

Where has the year gone? It’s September already, summer is over, Apple have announced their next iPhone and next week it’s our post-Apple event examug meeting.

Date: Tuesday 19th September

Time: 6.45pm* – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

*There’s a lot to cover so we will be starting at 6.45pm.

Despite the extra week, we promise it will be worth the wait! 

There is loads of news to catch up on, a new version of iOS and it’s the third part of out Take back Control series, now on to iOS.  Ideally, bring your iPhone or iPad to follow what’s going on in the presentation, and like last time, it will be great for beginners, and the more advanced.

We will give our thoughts on iOS 11, on both iPhone and iPad. Give our run down on the latest features, key changes (and there are some biggies in this one!), things we love and things you might otherwise miss. As always we will try our best to make sure everyone gets something out of it, no matter what their level of experience.

We are then shifting to an exploration of Settings on iOS. Like we did with macOS we will work through, step by step, the options you have at your finger tips. You may even find out how to sort out some long held gripes about things you thought you had no control.

As normal we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

Hope to see you there.

Graham

examug Chair

web: www.examug.org.uk

More to follow but for now just an early warning that we have had to move our September meeting from the 12th to the 19th.

Time flies and it’s already that time again – next week it’s the May examug meeting, and it’s going to be great!

Date: Tuesday 9th May

Time: 6.45pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

www.examug.org.uk

We have yet another jam packed meeting planned, starting with a presentation on Contacts! The built in Contacts application on the Mac is much more than an electronic address book.

We are going to do our usual examug deep dive into the application.  Starting with the basics, and moving on to exporting, printing labels, sharing appointments, and much much more.

Whether you are a Contacts pro or are new to using the application, we guarantee you will learn something new!!!

The second talk is one of two focussing on System Preferences. We are going to do a step by step walk through of all the options you have at your finger tips.  Everthing from changing your desktop image every few days, to adding a guest account for visitors and much more.  Like the first talk this is one for all regardless of experience, you’ll find out something new.

As normal we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

Hope to see you there.

Graham

examug Chair

web: www.examug.org.uk

twitter: @examug

It’s Spring! Woo hoo!!! It will soon be Summer and even sooner it will be the next examug meeting.

Apologies for the short notice, but due to factors outside of our control we are going to need to postpone our March meeting by one week. Instead of taking place on Tuesday 14th as previously advertised, it will now be on Tuesday 21st. But we promise it will be well worth the wait!

Details below:

Date: Tuesday 21st March

Time: 6.45pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

www.examug.org.uk

We have a jam packed meeting planned, starting with a talk on Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication is defined as: a method of confirming a user’s claimed identity by utilizing a combination of two different components. Two-factor authentication is a type of multi-factor authentication.

So now that’s clear, let’s move on…

Kidding!

As part of our ‘Staying Safe’ series of presentations we will explore the increasing use of 2FA (and that starts by explaining what it is!). With standard security procedures (especially online) only requiring a simple username and password it has become increasingly easy for criminals (either in organised gangs or working alone) to gain access to private data such as personal and financial details and then use that information to commit fraudulent acts, generally of a financial nature.

We will demo some types of 2FA and show you how to turn it on for your important accounts (email, AppleID, etc, etc). By the end of the session you will be both, wiser and safer! It’s a win-win.

After the break we have two options. We are running our final prosumer photo session – this time on the awesome Capture One (https://www.phaseone.com/en/Products/Software/Capture-One-Pro/Highlights.aspx). Kris Frank will be talking on:

– Essential techniques for taking the perfect photo (briefly).

– Essential criteria for choosing good Photo Editing software for when you don’t take perfect photos!

– Why Kris chose Capture One Pro to succeed Apple’s editing program ‘Aperture’ in being his photo editor of choice (and his photo storage program) to help him deal with all his many imperfect photos.

He will giving a demo of ‘Capture One Pro’ in editing some of his summer photos to illustrate what it does better than ‘Aperture’ to improve them (and what it doesn’t) so you can hopefully see whether it is right for your individual needs. He will also cover the all important prices of C1 to buy, or rent monthly (c.f. ‘Lightroom and others).

And finally he will try and answer any individual questions you may have!

If that doesn’t appeal we have another option: “Graham’s Top 10 iOS Games“. The title pretty much says it all! I will demo my top 10 iOS games, everything from short time fillers, to longer experiences to while away the cold winter evenings. Words games, action games, puzzle games and more, we guarantee you’ll see something that sparks your interest. Plus there will be a chance to share some of the games you enjoy.

All that and as normal we have another great set of Raffle prizes, including more Apple merchandise, and some other treats.

It is possible Apple will have one of their Spring Special Events before our meeting. If so this may change the nature of the first talk, but we will keep you informed. If Apple choose to hold their special event on the evening of the 21st March we will show it on the projector just like we have done when this has happened in the past. 

Hope to see you there.

Graham

examug Chair

web: www.examug.org.uk

twitter: @examug