The first meeting of the new year saw 15 of us meet at Sight Life for our second year. We had apologies from Anne, Ian, Jonathan, Christine and Margaret (and my apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone). We welcomed back Phil and it was great to see Fred back after his “health adventures”, and were pleased to welcome Jo and Paul to their first meeting. We wish Paul de Guess all the best as he waits on his heart procedure, hopefully as soon as possible so that he can get back to the group. We say farewell to Ted, John and Elaine but of course they can keep in touch with us on Signal, and of course this website and Flipboard.
Notices:
Meet the Groups is on October 10th at URC in Windsor Place. Our stand is in Meeting Room 1 upstairs – where I think we were last year, and thanks to Yvonne and Stella for helping out behind the table. I think we’ll be able to accept about 4 new members immediately and then it will be necessary to have a Waiting List.
The Christmas Dinner is on the 8th December, and we felt that we didn’t want our own table – we’ll just mix with others!
We should have a meeting on the 28th December, but I suggest we meet on the 21st a little earlier perhaps 1:00pm at the Gatekeeper across from Sight Life, for a bite to eat (maybe) and a social pre-Christmas drink.
Updates:
Sianed and I flew the flag for the group and the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence at the inaugural Cardiff u3a Debate … and we won. I think it was 27 to 14 in favour of our arguments.
I gave a talk to Porthcawl u3a at their annual study day, and based it on the session we had last year on The Apps I use. Here’s the presentation for you to look at – it’s easier to follow than the separate posts in the Forum. I do intend to keep them up-to-date however as I find new apps I like, and I urge you to do likewise. [Please contact me if you have any questions on how to use Forums and Topics.]
What’s going on?
I’d had loads of website problems over the past couple of weeks that had forced me to look at the security of the sites in greater depth, as well as implementing a different back-up strategy. Hopefully, with those in place, life will be a bit calmer for me from now on.
I asked if anyone had a suggestion for a topic for discussion at our meeting on 28th September and Stella suggested Maintenance, a great idea, so that’s what I’ll lead on for that meeting.
I also advised that I wouldn’t be available on the 23rd November for the Presentation session scheduled for that day. I asked how many members had attended the General Meeting in August when Owen Hardy from South Wales Police of the Cyber Crime Protection Unit talked on Security. It appeared that no one had, so I said I’d invite him. [Unfortunately neither he nor his colleague Steve Davies can make it on that day so I’ll be looking for other possible speakers.]
Phil intimated that he would be unable to attend the next meeting as he was going to Bletchley Park – perhaps we might twist his arm to talk to us about his visit?
Lots of new ideas for the newly titled group. I’m tempted by the idea of getting an Apple Watch – that should take up quite a lot of learning time; we’ve invested in some smart technology and hope to be installing solar power and a battery with a gateway to the grid shortly – again some ideas for discussion; and all things “smart” and AI will undoubtedly get an airing.
I then ran through a number of articles I’d posted to the Flipboard magazine. I encourage you to go and look at them, and would be even more encouraging if anyone in addition to Jonathan and Paul would volunteer to be contributors. It’s very easy to add an online article that you found interesting that you think other might like to read.
Members News and Issues:
Jim told us that he’d been “experimenting” with the TfW app to purchase train tickets – he’s normally a bus person. All had gone reasonably well, apart from the fact that the trains didn’t turn up and he’d had to resort to the bus to get him home!
Sianed asked about iPhone batteries. She’ll have to remind me (us) what her actual query was, because I forgot to note it down!!!
Tony asked about battery replacement and performance of old phones. I had to disappoint him by saying that battery charging would improve, but there would be no performance improvement. Beyond a certain age, it was probable that a new machine would be preferable. He also told us about a new internet-only bank account he’d come across, and others in the group also chipped in with ones they’d signed-up for. [Again, I forgot to write these down, so please remind me and I’ll add them to this post.]
David H. told us about the hack of his 23-year Sky account which had needed replacement accounts and new phone numbers. A really unfortunate experience. All is well now, happily.
I showed Jo how to use my “new” discovery on the phone – Reminders. As my memory fails me more and more, this app could be a life-saver. Is that too dramatic?
Renee mentioned something about Libre Office and PDFs – again please help me – what did you say? She also recounted her experience of using the ChatGPT app in a multi-lingual context. As she switched languages it eventually “learnt” and caught up with her questioning – impressive!
Finally, Phil told us about his experience of using the McDonalds app, a bit like Jim’s use of the TfW app, some ups, and some downs. Life will get more and more linked to apps; that’s why digital does really matter.