Monday, February 13th, 2012

Wooden iPad Cases from Beacon Case

Online Task Management with Evernote and Wunderlist

There are a couple of presentations scheduled for the February 13 TMUG meeting.

Jeff Hobble and Matt Winslow of Beacon Case visit TMUG

First off is a presentation by the local craftsmen / entrepreneurs from Beacon Case who have developed durable and elegant cases for iPad 2 & Kindle Fire. Jeff Hobble and Matt Winslow will talk about the cases, their story, and what they are doing to make a difference by helping fund waterprojects around the world. Each case is constructed of a faux leather cover and a Baltic birch plywood & cherry wooden frame. And for every Beacon Case sold, $5 is donated to fund clean water projects. They have set a goal to fund 12 water projects this year, at ~$5,000 each.

These days many people use more than 1 electronic device to keep themselves organized. There may be 1 computer or more at home, another at work, an iPad, phone, or portable computer in between. And it’s likely that they are connected to each other via the “cloud”. Smythe Richbourg will compare and contrast 2 applications / services that excel in the management of tasks and lists.

Evernote, based in Mountain View, CA and Austin, TX, has been around for a number of years. They have developed the Evernote app that run on Mac, iOS, Windows, Android, WebOS, & other platforms, plus Safari, Chrome, & Firefox browsers. And they have a cloud service that allows users to sync their data between their various computers & devices. 6Wunderkinder is a Berlin, Germany based company, founded in August, 2010. Their premier app is Wunderlist, an easy-to-use task manager which runs on Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, & the web. and it’s free.

Smythe has used Evernote for a long time, but he has been intrigued by Wunderlist. Come to the meeting to find out which he prefers and why.

Are you interested in being a TMUG leader? TMUG’s bylaws specify that annual elections are held in March. The nominating committee is searching for candidates for the 5 officers: President, 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice president, Secretary, & Treasurer. If you would like to serve, contact nominations at tmug dot org. (See the TMUG Bylaws for descriptions of the officers’ responsibilities.)

A regular feature of each TMUG meeting is our always informative Q&A session. If you have a question that you can’t find an answer to, ask the group. Someone at the meeting probably has an answer. TMUG member & Mac consultant Bob Chandler will be there to moderate the discussion. If you are a TMUG member, remember to get a ticket for the door prize drawings, too. There are a variety of cool prizes, including jump drives, T-shirts, & Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs, A Biography.

Are you registered for the Forum at TMUG.org? If you are not, we would like to know why. Is registration confusing or difficult? Do you read the forum topic posts & replies without logging in? Are forums just not for you? Do you bemoan the loss of the TMUG-list? We will have a discussion & how-to session about the TMUG Forum at the January meeting. Bring any questions & comments you have – pro or con. The Forum is a service of the TMUG Community… and we’d like for TMUG members to use it.

Have you entered TMUG’s MacBook Air membership contest? The contest has 2 purposes – we are celebrating and promoting TMUG’s new web presence and we are having a membership drive. The winner of the contest will get a new Apple 11″ MacBook Air (or Apple product of equivalent value at the end of the contest). Don’t forget to sign the contest logbook at the meeting to get credit for your attendance!

The contest is similar to the iMac giveaway contest we held 3 years ago. Members get points for renewing, attending meetings, & participating on the forum. You’re not a TMUG member? Join or renew your membership now to start earning points. Details are published on the MacBook Air Contest web page, along with a member point tally table. Check the contest entry log to confirm your points updated on the regular meeting day.

Keep checking TMUG.org, or our presence on Google+, Meetup, Twitter, or Facebook for updates & details. We hope that all TMUG members & other folks in our community will participate in the forum at our new home. Forum subscribers may opt to receive email notifications when a topic or reply is posted on the forum.

TMUG meetings are open to the public – you don’t have to be a TMUG member to attend. The same applies to participation on the TMUG forum, but a TMUG membership will grant you greater access to our services, including entries in our MacBook Air contest and our monthly door prizes. And it will likely give you a warm feeling inside, too. Join TMUG or renew your membership for only $35 for a full year. You may pay with cash, check, or most major credit & debit cards at a monthly meeting. (We are using the Square card reader for iOS for card payments, which will send you a receipt by email. TMUG absorbs the transaction fees using this card payment system as a convenience to members.) If you can’t make it to a meeting, you may also join or renew by mail by completing a membership application and sending your check to our PO box.

Be sure to join us at Caldwell Hall on the NCSU campus on February 13, 2012!