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2024-10-28 MUGOO Zoom iMeeting

Started by AdminMan, October 08, 2024, 01:59:28 PM

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AdminMan

We still cannot have in-person meetings at the library. So we will use Zoom.

Date: Monday Oct 28, 2024
Time: 7:30 PM ET  You can join the Zoom meeting starting at 7:20.

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Although Zoom works in many browsers we STRONGLY recommend using the dedicated app on your device with the largest screen for the best experience.
You do NOT need a Zoom account to join a meeting!
If you need instructions, go here: https://mugoo.com/index.php/Main/UsingZOOM

Agenda:

0 - Group chin-wag during log on                                                                           7:20 - 7:30
                                                                           
1 - News and Views - Members' new tech arrivals                                                  7:30 - 7:40

2 - Duck Duck Go Browser update                               with Graham Fawcett          7:40 -  7:50

3 - UPDF app -                                                              with Ross Slade                   7:50  - 8:30

4- Group chat - Apple's latest technology enhancements                                        8:30 - 9:00                               

Unfortunately, no after meeting wings or desserts at the Royal Oak, but feel free to prepare your own snacks and share them with us on screen!

Did you miss a meeting?
Sign up for emailed meeting notices! https://mugoo.com/index.php/Main/MeetingReminders

Don't forget the Ottawa Public Library!
Even though we are unable to meet in person at the library, the OPL still offers a wealth of services you can access online. Go to https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en

DavidR

#1
1 - News and Views - Members' new tech arrivals
LeRoy just purchased a new iPad Mini with the A17 Pro chip.  The AI Clean Up function in Photos is fascinating, like magic.  It will remove distracting objects and matches the features of some paid retouch programs but is now built in.

Ross has a 2nd gen iPad Pro which no longer supports the latest version of iOS.  He is considering whether to purchase another iPad Pro, an iPad Mini or iPad Air.  He also showed us his ColorWare Apple Pencil No. 2 which looks just like an HB pencil for a retro look https://www.colorware.com/p-1466-colorware-apple-number-2-pencil.aspx?c=variant-15y.  Ross also mentioned that he likes the new iPhone mirroring feature in Sequoia.

Laurence purchased an iPhone 16 Pro Max https://www.apple.com/ca/iphone-16-pro/.  He was wowed by the photo text lookup feature while at a gallery in Toronto.  He enjoys the 5x optical zoom and even 25x digital zoom is quite sharp.  The iPhone camera capabilities are now so good that he might sell his Sony camera gear.  AIso, it was less expensive for him to lease the new 16 Pro from Bell than to stay with his former 15 Pro plan.

Ross observed that the image quality of the 15 Pro and Canon R5 are quite close.  The 16 Pro supports a new jpeg format, with a smaller file size for 48 mp images.  Images can also be saved in Raw format.  Portrait mode can now be used with none-facial subjects.

2 - Duck Duck Go Browser update - with Graham Fawcett
At the September meeting Graham had provided an overview alternate web browsers to Safari, including DuckDuckGo the browser app which has a number of privacy features https://duckduckgo.com/app.  He indicated that he would use DuckDuckGo for the next month and share his experience.

Graham reported that it did perform as expected and was effective at intercepting and removing email trackers.  However, he found it difficult to change habits and would fall back to Safari for banking.  You can create any number of distinct email addresses for use with different services, as a security precaution.  Depending on your preferred habits, it may or may not be appropriate.  It does not have the same depth of Search as Google.  He is now using DDD for independent searches or when requiring a unique address for an online forum.  Graham is also looking at the Brave browser https://brave.com/download/

3 - UPDF app - with Ross Slade
Ross has been using various Adobe products since 1983.  These include Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, Lightroom and the bundled subscription pricing has become increasingly expensive.  A number of products in the suite he does not use so Ross has been seeking less costly alternatives.

He is still very pleased with ON1 for his photo editing which has been the topic of several MUGOO presentations.  UPDF https://updf.com is a possible replacement for Adobe Acrobat and is part of the International PDF Consortium.  It's a Chinese product which may be a security concern for some but otherwise has an attractive feature set and pricing.

The product is is available across different OS platforms, with up to 4 devices and an associated cloud service.  UPDF Pro is $40 US/year, $70 (one time) and $79/year with AI assistant and up to 6 devices.  The Artificial Intelligence is powered by GPT-4.

PDF editing tools include extract, sort, split, crop, scan a page, editing watermark, text, image, header/footer, signatures, Excel to pdf, Powerpoint to pdf (PP is less used now than it used to be), export, redact, some functions by batch, Bates numbering for legal work.

Ross gave a PDF demo to illustrate some of the capabilities ... sticky note, highlight, strikethrough, text comment, squiggly, text box (wraps within the box), callout is handy if you are sharing a document with someone else, pencil, erase, copy, shapes, measurement tool, attach a file to a file, stickers, signature.

Prepare a Form was taken out Acrobat and is in UPDF.  You can also organize pages to rearrange the order.  Batch features allow you to apply a watermark or background to a number of pages.  Graphic text can be OCR'd.

What was truly amazing is that UPDF can provide an AI summary of the PDF document and identify candidate questions.  An associated Mind Map capability follows the thought streams within the document.  Even with an Italian PDF, the AI summary is in English.  As another example, Ross was able to make detailed callout notes on an architectural drawing.

Any non-protected pdf can be later edited, unless it has been significantly compressed.  These documents will open in any PDF program because of the open source consortium standards.  This can totally change your interaction with documentation that someone else has sent you.

There are other PDF products out there, but probably not as full featured.  This does everything Ross wants at a good price point.  You can view his presentation deck at https://mugoo.com/bigfiles/2024-10-28_UPDF_Presentation.pdf
       
4- Group chat - Apple's latest technology enhancements
Due to the time, this topic was deferred to a subsequent meeting.

5 - In-Person Gathering on November 19th
Our Zoom iMeetings have been good during the pandemic and many of us like that we don't have to drive at night and can include participants outside of Ottawa.  However, we have been missing the in-person social element.  As a remedy, we are scheduling a get-together at the Royal Oak across the parking lot from Centrepoint Library on Tuesday November 19th from 1:00 to 3:00.  This is separate from the iMeetings with no agenda, just an opportunity to hang out.