Welcome to the January 2008 edition of the HAL-PC/HALNet monthly eBulletin. If you wish to stop receiving these bulletins, send an email to e-bulletin-off@hal-pc.org. This month: In Memoriam: Ralph Roddy, Winter General Meeting, News for HALNet Users, Clear Lake, SIG News, Class Listing, Volunteer of the Month, Magazine.

IN MEMORIAM

HAL-PC WINTER GENERAL MEETING

Saturday, January 26, 2008
Our Winter meeting will be held at Headquarters on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 10:00 am. Suite doors will open at 9:00 am for coffee, pastries and fellowship. Lunch orders will be accepted from 9:00 - 10:00 am for delivery from Antone's at the lunch break.

THE PROGRAM:
 9:00 - Suite Doors Open
10:00 - Ron Gore: Preventing, Recognizing and Recovering From Identity Theft
11:00 - Marie Jones: Tax Preparation Software
11:30 - SimDesk (Presenter to be announced)
Noon - Door Prize Drawing (members only)

Lunch - ordered in from Antone's - place your order by 10:00 am!

12:45 (time approximate) - Rick Archibald: Linux for Cowards 2008
Tax Preparation Using Linux (Presenter to be announced)

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
We need volunteers to assist with member registration, lunch orders, coffee making etc! If you would like to help out, please contact Marilyn Gore.

NEWS FOR HALNet USERS

hal-pc.net
halnet.net
halnet.org
halnet.us
halnet.biz

For example, if your userid is 'bob', you are currently using the email address 'bob@hal-pc.org'. You can now also use 'bob@halnet.net', 'bob@halnet.org' or any of the other new domains as aliases for your primary email address. All these aliased domains will be filtered through Postini if your hal-pc.org email account includes Postini filtering. All email addressed to these aliased domains will automatically be routed to your primary hal-pc.org mail box.

1. Go to the User Account Login Page and login with your HALNet user id and password
2. In the upper left corner of the client administration page you will see a button labeled 'Referrals'. Click it
3. The Referrals information page tells you how the program works. At the top of the page you will find the following words:
   
   ----------------------------
   Highlight this url, copy it and paste it into an email to your friends and neighbors. Tell them to follow the link to sign up for HALNet service.
   
   https://office.hal-pc.org/halnet/referrals/join1.php?more_time=XX
   ----------------------------
   
   This is a specially-generated link to the online signup page that is keyed to your HALNet account. Be sure to tell your friend to follow that link to sign up so you will get credit.

COMING AT CLEAR LAKE

Digital Photography SIG - Saturday, January 19, 9:30 am - Steven Whatley, HAL-PC Member, presents "Photography at NASA's JSC"

General Computer SIG - Saturday, January 26 - 9:30 am. Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle columnist, "Running Windows on a Mac Computer"

Computer Investing SIG - No meeting in January
Friday, February 1 - 1:00 pm: Steve Morehouse, SIG Leader, "Recap of 2007 & Goals for 2008"

Camcorder & Video SIG - No meeting in January.
Saturday, February 2 - 9:30 am: Jim McClure, HAL-PC member, "Sharing Your Videos on Houston Media Source Channel 17"

SIG NEWS

NEW SIG! - Web Marketing (Search Engine Optimization)
The Web Marketing SIG helps people who want to promote business and other activities over the Internet. We focus on techniques and practices that allow prospects to find your web site. Presentations cover all aspects of Internet marketing from planning and building to optimizing and promoting your site for search engine discovery. Because this environment is dynamic, maintenance and enhancement of your site is required to maintain rankings. This SIG is the place to learn about and keep abreast of these important dynamics. To stay current with the latest information, join SIG leader Gerald Zimmerer every 1st and 3rd Wednesday starting in January from 7:00 - 9:00 pm, and check their web site for notes, history and current activities.

The following Special Interest Groups have specific programs posted for their upcoming meetings. Please refer to the SIG Calendar for a complete listing of HAL-PC SIG meeting dates and times. If you are interested in starting a Special Interest Group that is not currently on our calendar, contact the Vice President for SIGS

COMPUTER INVESTING SIG: Fridays -- 10:00 am (NOTE NEW TIME!!!):
See the SIG web page for up-to-the-minute program notes.

TC USERS GROUP: Thursday, January 10 -- 7:00 pm

Dave Dyer will discuss Finding Big Winners Early. Dave will describe the factors he looks for in aggressive growth stocks and review some of his past successes and failures. Dave will also discuss some stocks he currently likes with some details on why he thinks they may be big winners. Dave is an independent investor and frequent contributor to BizRadio. He is the editor of the weekly MoneyMan.com Market Newsletter and publishes his own newsletter, Dave Dyer’s Pick of the Week. He also teaches in the BizRadio Learning Center and provides regular radio commentary.

BASIC INTERNET: Friday, January 11 -- 6:00 pm - The Basic Internet SIG meets just before the regular Internet SIG. We will discuss the web based e-mail that is provided on the Home Page.

DATABASE & GUI DESIGN SIG: Saturday, January 12 -- 9:00 am
We are continuing our trek into Codesmith and netTiers. This month, you need to bring your computer with you. We will be installing the VMWare player and getting the VM that I have created set up on your machines. I am sure Joe and/or Carl will also have some information for us about VS 2008 also. It is looking really good for taking our development capabilities to the next level. SIG Website.

C# SIG: Tuesday, January 15 -- 7:00 pm
Zain Naboulsi, a Microsoft Developer Evangelist based in Dallas, will be giving a presentation entitled "A Tour Around Visual Studio 2008."

SAMBA & OPEN NETWORKING STUDY GROUP: Saturday December 1 & 15 -- 2:00 pm In June we decided to expand the scope of the Samba Study Group SIG to include hybrid & open (source) networking. Currently we are working on VPN's using various gateways (aka "routers") & firewalls.

DIGITAL IMAGING SIG: Saturday, January 19 -- 1:00 pm
The SIG will be doing a 3 month series on photographing children. We have a number of children that are going to be coming in for the event and if you have children or grand children that you would like to bring for it, they are welcome also. The January meeting will be shooting in the home or studio. We will be using the SIG room to do the shooting. I will be bringing some things with me, including a standard portrait background and lighting equipment. So, if you have a Nikon DSLR or film SLR, you will be able to use the Nikon CLS (Creative Lighting System) equipment along with me. I have to get a copy of ALL photos taken. I have promised all of our models that they would get a CD with all the photos. So, I will have a card reader at the meetings so I can copy the photos taken. Be sure to tell your friends that are interested in portrait photography about this.

WEB DESIGN: Tuesday, January 22 -- 7:00 pm
January 28 the web design SIG continue our discussion on basic techniques for creating professional and captivating websites. We will talk about what constitutes "good design" and the design process by walking through the steps that professional designers use to develop great websites. The topics will focus on texture, typography and imagery with a brief review of October's discussion on colors and composition.

LINUX WORKSHOP: Wednesdays -- 6:00 pm Installations & hands-on problem solving every Wednesday except when HAL is closed. This is an informal meeting where knowledgable HLUG members help each other & beginners one on one. Dinner after at Biba's West Grey 9:30pm.

Upcoming Classes - HAL-PC Headquarters

Check the Class Calendar for the latest additions to the schedule

JANUARY VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH

January's HAL-PC Volunteer of the Month is Jim Ward. We want to express our appreciation to this long time HAL member and dedicated volunteer for keeping us informed of the illness and recent passing of Ralph Roddy. Thanks, Jim, for all you do for HAL and all you did for Ralph.

THIS MONTH'S MAGAZINE

Look for informative articles in the HAL-PC Magazine online
If you did receive your Winter edition of the printed magazine, please phone the office! You may need to update your address information, or renew your HAL-PC membership!