New place, more focus!

We have moved around quite a bit over the ten years we've been meeting. Fom bookstores to coffee shops to the alehouse where we've been for the last few years. One thing we've never really had was a place where we could easily share a presentation. We've done it a time or two, at a Panera or at the Bear Rock, but having to lug in equipment, find an outlet, and compete with the overhead loudspeaker and piped in music has made for less than stellar sharing at times. It was easy when the group was 5-10, but with the high visibility and growing popularity of mobile applications and hardware, we've got a lot of potential members who just won't get much from sitting in a restaurant chatting over pie. They want information, they want and need to concentrate and actually learn something. And, despite my love for sharing over a pint in a loud, public place, I enjoy this type setting, too.

Chuck Nall mentioned a few meetings back getting into the McKinney space at American Tobacco in Durham, and I encouraged him to follow up. He met with the folks there, and we're now on their calendar on the third Monday at 7 pm for the foreseeable future.

Ch-ch-ch-changes
So, what does this mean for the group? Well, first off, we won't need to poll the group about whether or not we're meeting. Unless there's a weather-related emergency or actual armed insurrection in progress, you can safely assume that we will meet. You are still encouraged to bring any and all manner of gadgets to share, but, due to the overwhelming success and requests from friends and members of other groups, I am changing the focus of the group, yet again, to be more iOS centered. It's been moving that way for a while, and I can't think of many meetings in the last few years where everyone there didn't have some type of iOS device - either iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

Don't think that we're not interested in other tablets, phones, or the oddities we find on craigslist or eBay, though. While the main focus will be iOS, we (and by we, I mean I) will still encourage and bring in folks who have any type of portable tech. It's too rich a field to not keep up with it.

While we still have a presence on yahoo groups and this blog, I have added us as a meeting attached to the Triangle Macintosh Users' Group on meetup.com. This was not strictly out of a financial thing (it costs $12 a month to host a group on meet up, but additional meetings are free for existing groups), but also to bring those members more into contact with TAPIT. There are a lot of iOS users in TMUG who do not avail themselves of the resource that TAPIT is, and I want to change that.

Also, being able to have a real presentation means we can start getting more input from others who really want to get into iOS in a big way. By this I mean developers and programmers, and by that I mean swag - something that used to be a part of every meeting but died with the tech bubble back in the early '00's.

So, rather than heading to the Carolina Ale House next month, grab a white bag of grub from a fast food joint and head over to the new location, ready to be involved in discussion and actually learning, rather than shooting the bull. We'll do some of that afterwards at Mellow Mushroom or Tyler's or something, I'm sure!

New Toys!

In last night's meeting, we had several fun items that different folks had brought to share. Here is a partial listing, which Alan sent this morning (thanks, Alan!)

Toshiba Mobile Monitor
This is an 14" DisplayLink flat panel that folds into a sweet padded carrying case. It attaches to your computer via USB. It's not supposed to support Macs, but Alan had no problem connecting it to his MacBookPro using the generic DisplayLink drivers.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS
This health monitor will show your heart rate, altitude, GPS location, and other metrics, allow you to post to Facebook, the Garmin site, and many, many other things. Works when running, cycling, or even during interval exercises.

Downcast and Podcaster
These two iOS apps allow you to manage your podcasts independently from iTunes and the iPod app. You can download, delete, playback (at various speeds), create playlists, and otherwise access your podcasts without having to sync with your computer. Pat is using Podcaster, and has for several years, and Smythe is a new Downcast user.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Some new wireless goodies to share

I recently bought an iSpot from Clear. I've been trying it out in various places around the Triangle, and have come to really enjoy having it. I may just drop my unlimited iPhone data plan and go to $15 and use this everywhere. The iSpot, as the name implies, only works with Apple's "iDevices" - the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. As many as eight can access Clear's "4G" network (WiMax) over a single connection.

The second item is the Tunebug Shake. This is a BlueTooth speaker that attaches to your bike helmet (or skateboarding/snowboarding helmet), creating a resonating chamber that fills your world with music, but allows you to hear sounds from outside, like traffic and such. I've tested it a little with my bike helmet, and it's pretty nice.

See you folks at 7 PM Monday at Carolina Ale House in Briar Creek.

February 15th is App Night

I've not posted here in quite a while. The group is still meeting monthly, as we have since May of 2000. We've moved back to the Panera at Briar Creek, due to the excessive noise at Carolina Ale House. We still have about half-a-dozen folks each month. About half are iPhone/iPod Touch users. The rest are equally divided between Palm and Blackberry models.

I'm seeing much more interest in people wanting to get together to share apps. This is the way it usually happens: I am talking with a friend or two, and one of us mentions a new app they like. Another one then chimes in that they have one, and soon, other folks have joined the conversation, and everyone is on the app store, downloading a new treat. I've seen it happen over and over.

So, I'm wondering if we should all rally together and have an App Night. Since all smartphones are now app phones, the floor is open to all platforms. We'll be meeting this coming Monday (15 February 2010) at the regular place (Panera Briar Creek) and time (7 PM), and will just all share different favorite apps. Don't think your favorite isn't cool enough - everyone will have one that someone else will think lame, so don't worry about it. If it's useful or fun for you, we need to see it!

See you there!

Oh, and if you're a Twitter user, we're tweeting at @TAP1T.

Summer on the Patio

For the last two months, we've been meeting at Carolina Ale House in Briar Creek. The change of venue has been a lot of fun. Panera food and Wifi is OK, but the vibe at CAH makes for more one-on-one and smaller breakout sessions. It's truly a user-helping-user group.

Tonight, we had quite a cross section of the industry. A new person came, who is an iPhone developer, but there were only two other iPhone/Touch users! The rest were Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, and Symbian. Later, a couple of CrackBerry addicts wandered in as well. There was a Kindle DX, we looked at Presto, a Linux quick-boot install. Alan showed how you can actually shell into a teathered Pre from the Mac terminal. We showed Mark/Space's Fliq and QuickOffice for the iPhone as well.

Pat mentioned that, since May will start our tenth year, we should think about a celebration of some kind. We'll have to discuss what kind of geekery we can get up to in the next few months. It's sure been a lot of fun!

If you've not been to a meeting in a while, you need to check out the new venue - with Monday Night football starting up, though, we may have to give it a pass. We'll see in September. See you then!

Moving locations

Tonight's meeting was great! Even though it was a bit smaller than it's been of late, we looked at a wide variety of software and hardware of interest to everyone there. Phi showed Bento, both on the Mac and the iPhone. Thwarted by an unfriendly network, he couldn't show syncing, but we found out many of the features of this syncing database. The interest in syncing data lead to talks of lists. I re-visited SplashShopper (which everyone thinks has a limiting name: it's so much more than a shopping list minder!). We also looked at three iPhone battery/case solutions: The Mophie Juice Pack, the Case-Mate Fuel, and the Tekkeon myPower. We also looked more closely at the WiFi settings, and how to sync when the infrastructure works against you.

We've been fighting the wireless at Panera for a while, so I've decided to move the meeting across the street to the Carolina Ale House. For those coming from I-540 or from Raleigh via 70, pass the exit into Briar Creek proper, and go to the very next street west on the right, Skyland Ridge Parkway, just beside the Best Buy. Turn in, and you'll see the Carolina Ale House immediately to the right.

For those coming from Durham on 70, turn in at the light, and turn left across the traffic at the first break in the median. You'll see it on your left.

We'll try to grab a table in the non-smoking section, immediately to the left inside the door, at least until January when the new NC SmokeFree law goes into effect and the whole place will be smoke-free. Every time I've been there, that's the most full section already.

Our July Meeting will be at the Ale House, and will hopefully feature a demo of the Palm Pre. Seven PM, 20 July 2009. Be there.

July Meeting called off - see you all in August!

There were many folks who could not make the July meeting for various reasons, so we're putting it off until the third Monday evening in August, which is the 18th! See you all there, with all your shiny new tech toys!