The January CMUG meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at the library's new Miller Branch in Ellicott City.
    Topic: Did Santa bring you a tablet or e-reader for Christmas? This month's meeting will focus on tablet computers like the iPad and Android-based tablets, and also talk a bit about e-readers like Amazon's Kindle line and Barnes & Noble's Nook line. If you have one of these, you might want to bring it to show off. Regardless, bring your questions!
    Note date and location change! We had expected to meet at the East Columbia library on Monday, January 16, but it turns out we were given that date in error. The 16th is Martin Luther King Day, and the library is closed.
    Instead, we will meet on January 18 in the very spiffy new Miller Branch, which only opened in mid-December. The new library is right next to the old Miller Branch, on Frederick Road, sort of back behind the Crab Shanty Restaurant on Route 40. Use this Google Map to find directions to the Miller Branch.
    We will be in the Patapsco Room at the Miller Branch. When you walk in the main entrance of the library (which is on the side away from Frederick Road), you'll find the three meeting rooms are down the corridor to your left. We are in the Patapsco Room, which is the second (middle) room.
    Hope to see you on Wednesday, January 18, at 7:30 pm in the Patapsco Room at the new Miller Branch!

We had a very festive December meeting, with our usual potluck supper. Thanks to everyone who brought a delicious contribution, and especially thanks to Sumi Kinoshita for pulling everything together, buying and cooking the ham and beef, and also organizing the leftovers so they could all go home with someone!

Mark your calendars! The February meeting is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, February 15th, 2012, at the East Columbia Library.

Mark your calendars! The March meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 22, 2012, at the East Columbia Library.

Snow Cancellation Policy: Now that we are meeting at the East Columbia Library, CMUG's cancellation policy follows that of the Howard County library system. If the libraries are closed because of the weather, or close early, or cancel evening events, then we won't have a meeting. (This is mostly because it's too cold to have our meeting outside!)
     So, how do you know if the Howard County libraries are closed? The simplest way is to check their website at www.hclibrary.org.
     Also, check the CMUG website. We'll try and get a note up on the home page.

The November meeting discussed online shopping, especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Thanks to member Phil Krug for his research and for leading the discussion.

Thanks to Dave Methvin of PC Pitstop for speaking at our October meeting. Dave showed off a prototype of a Windows 8 tablet, and discussed where Microsoft is taking Windows 8 for PCs, tablets, and phones.

The June meeting included our annual Officer Elections, according to the CMUG bylaws. Officers listed below will serve from July 2011 to June 2012.
    Our new CMUG officers are:

• President: John Weske
• Vice President: Larry Medoff
• Treasurer: George Coffin
• Secretary: Phil Krug

Thanks to the officers who served from July 2010 to June 2011: John Weske, Larry Medoff, Sumi Kinosita, and Phil Krug. Special thanks to outgoing Treasurer Sumi Kinoshita for her dexterous handling of CMUG's checkbook.

Thanks to Andrew Rein for his presentation at the June meeting on Picasa, and how he uses it to organize, manage, edit, and share digital photos.

Thanks to John Weske for his presentation on mapping and related websites at the May meeting.

Thanks to Charlie Snyder for his presentation and discussion on his genealogical research at the April meeting.

Thanks to George Coffin for his discussion of his experience using Windows Home Server at the March meeting. It serves as a central backup for other PCs, can act as a media server, and you can access it remotely over the Internet.

Meeting Location
We usually meet at the East Columbia Library, which is at 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia, MD 21045. It's about 3 miles from the Bain Center, but only about a mile from Route 29. Here's a Google Map you can use to find your way.
    Go in the main entrance of the building, and the meeting room is on your right before you get to the library space proper.

The last few issues of the CMUG Megaphone are available here in PDF form: June 2008, May, April, March, February, January 2008, December 2007, November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, and January 2007.
   Since we have the space, I've also put the PDF files for the 2006 issues of The Megaphone online: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, and Dec.