The May CMUG meeting will be held on Thursday, May 17, 2012 at the East Columbia library.
    Our topic will be Cool Websites, and we're asking CMUG members to bring a URL to share.
    Also, please note that new library rules require us to end our meeting before 9 pm. We will discuss this at the shortened meeting!
    Hope to see you on Thursday, May 17, at 7:30 pm at the East Columbia library.

Interested in other computer user groups in the area?

• Columbia Area Linux User Group........www.calug.org
  a friendly informal group of Columbia-area residents who share an interest in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in general, and Linux in particular
  meets on 2nd Tuesdays in Columbia Gateway
• Crabby Admins.............www.crabbyadmins.org
  the Baltimore/DC chapter of the League of Professional System Administrators
  meets on 1st Wednesdays in Columbia Gateway

Thanks to Mark Parker from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) for speaking at our April meeting. Mark discussed how UMUC supports students remotely with online writing tools, and also answered a raft of questions about how the university operates and how classes are handled remotely. Thanks you, Mark!

Mark your calendars! The June meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 21, 2012, at the East Columbia Library.

Thanks to Dr. Jeff Tjiputra from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) for speaking at our March meeting. He talked about the Cybersecurity program at UMUC, and answered questions about how the courses at UMUC are structured. The meeting delved into topics ranging from wireless networks and repeaters to color printers.

Our speaker at the February meeting was Beth Tribe, who is an IT Specialist and Instructor with the Howard County Library. Her talk was on E-readers, and was titled Everyone Has an Ereader But Me. She brought a whole zoo of E-readers, and discussed pros and cons of the numerous models currently on the market.
    The library in Howard County offers free one-on-one instruction for people with new E-readers, including tablet computers that you want to use to read eBooks with. See this webpage for more info.
    Thanks to Beth for her thorough discussion, and for answering questions until well past her bedtime!

The January meeting discussed tablet computers. Thanks to member (and Treasurer) George Coffin for demonstrating his iPad. Thanks also to Larry Medoff and Paul Demmitt for chiming in on their own experiences with (respectively) an Android tablet and an iPad.

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!

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.

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.