Gizmoe

Here is your Christmas edition of Gizmoe!

Gizmoe will also be posted on our website

www.seniornet.co.nz Welcome on-board to the Lincoln and Districts SeniorNet Learning Centre our newest Learning Centre to open their doors! The Mayor of Selwyn officially opened the Centre on the 27th November and despite Christmas being just around the corner the enthusiasm was so high that classes started the week following. Well done Lincoln and Districts thats the spirit! Thanks to Canterbury SeniorNet for the advice given to the budding tutors. Two other new Learning Centres will be opening their doors early in the New Year, Ill keep you posted. Special offers for SeniorNet members This edition of Gizmoe highlights three terrific offers exclusive to SeniorNet members, all three represent great savings compared with the normal retail prices. Be sure to take advantage of these offers from our Partners - Noel Leemings, TelstraClear and InkPost. Send a card and be in to win a Samsung TV Be sure to read the article about the Freeview then go online and send a Christmas card to a friend family member youll then go in the draw to win a 50 inch Samsung TV. You can personalise the card and its easy to use. Huge thanks SeniorNet would simply not exist without hundreds of volunteers freely giving their time to help tutor and run the Centres throughout New Zealand. I sincerely thank everyone for the huge time and commitment undertaken to make SeniorNet a success. In addition my thanks to a supportive Federation Committee and in particular Ian Turner for the marvellous work he does as Chairman. Put your feet up you all deserve a rest over the break! All the very best for a very Happy Christmas and safe holidays.

Grant Sidaway Executive Officer SeniorNet Federation

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YouTube is it for You!

When YouTube was started, by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, they likely had no idea their creation would be so popular, well maybe they did as in November the following year Google Inc. bought them for $1.65 billion. Back in January this year YouTube announced that it has now reached 4 Billion video views per day and 1 hour of video uploads per second. That is the equivalent of more than half the world population watching one video every day.

South Korean rapper PSY's "Gangnam Style" has become YouTube's most viewed video of all time. YouTube says in a posting on its Trends blog that "Gangnam Style" had been viewed 805 million times as of Saturday 24th Nov, surpassing Justin Bieber's "Baby," which has had 803 million views. Heres the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 Not your style? Hardly surprising if it isnt. For whats its worth heres my list of all-time favourites to date: 1. The sneezing baby Panda 2. Granny hits car 3. Driving in India http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzRH3iTQPrk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZy105010SI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM

Is this your Christmas present? to yourself maybe

For many of us the camera inside a mobile phone is good enough for general photography it captures the moment and because its built-in you dont need to carry another piece of apparatus with you. However, that said, I have been impressed with a new camera entering the market the Lytro. The Lytro camera lets you create living pictures that you can endlessly refocus after you take them. Share your pictures online, and your friends can instantly refocus them just like you do. This camera is its the first consumer camera that records the entire light field all the ray Light traveling in every direction through a scene instead of a flat 2D image.

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By capturing the light field, you can do amazing things - like refocus pictures after you take them. Tap the touchscreen on whatever part of the picture you want to bring into focus or, once a picture is imported into your computer, click to refocus. I cant find them available in New Zealand yet but in the States they retail for US $399.00. Heres a link for more information https://www.lytro.com/

A great mobile phone at a great price from TelstraClear

Doro PhoneEasy 410GSM Special price $115.00 (RRP: $249)

Features include: Easier to read display (large font and characters) Easier to understand and use Better adapted to the user Easier to hear (HAC Hearing Aid Compatibility) Easier to handle Large separated buttons

Simply visit www.telstraclearshop.co.nz and click on Mobile Scroll down the page and you will find the Doro phone in the Easy to Use section. When you add the phone to your basket enter the following voucher code to get the special price of $115.00: seniornetdoro

Connecting to a Wi-Fi network

Going on holiday or just nipping down the road take the internet with you! Whether you are traveling, having lunch at a local coffee shop or working from your sofa at home, you can access the Internet by connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot.

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Wi-Fi hotspots are created by broadcasting a shared Internet connection from a device called a router. This shared connection can generally be accessed by computers and most mobile phones located within a radius of about 70 metres from the router (depends on topographical and weather conditions). Some Wi-Fi hotspots are free such as at most Public Libraries, McDonalds Restaurants, and many cafes and bars.

I imagine you will not be carting your clunky desktop computer with your, but instead your portable laptop, notebook, or netbook! Heres how to connect on a Windows Operating System. 1. Click the Network icon located in your computers notification area, is generally found at the bottom right had corner of the screen. The Network icon resembles a series of vertical bars. This area is often called the System Tray.

Network Icon

2. Click the name of the Wi-Fi connection to which you want to connect.

Click on the name of the network then click connect

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3. Click the Connect" button. 4. Enter your network password or access point name in the provided field. This step is only necessary if you are attempting to access a Wi-Fi signal that is password-protected. Depending on the type of security the Wi-Fi hotspot uses, you may also be prompted to enter a username and password. 5. Click the type of network with which you are connecting. Options include "Home," "Work" and "Public Location." 6. Click your preferred automatic connection setting. Available options include: Never connect automatically Always connect automatically Connect automatically except when roaming

If you expect to access this Wi-Fi connection regularly, and if the signal is broadcasted by a trusted source, click "Always connect automatically" to avoid having to enter a password every time you access the connection. 7. Click Continue to complete the configuration of your Wi-Fi connection. And then youre done! If youre on a plane or in a hospital, you should disable your wireless receiver. Or if youre riding in a train or car and you know theres no wireless signal, youll increase your battery performance if you disable the wireless receiver. Hit Fn+F2 and itll toggle wireless on and off. (Practice it a few times so you can recognize how the icons in the system tray appear, so youll know to switch it back on if you ever disable it by accident.) Not every laptop with Windows uses this keystroke, but most seem to. Connecting to a Wi-Fi with a Mac Operating System. Remarkably similar to the above instructions for a windows system except for the first step in which you should: Click on the Wi-Fi symbol on the toolbar at the top of the screen. The Wi-Fi symbol looks like a radar icon and is located to the left of the date and time on the top of the screen. Then select the Wi-Fi network you would like to connect too. You will see it is here you can turn on or off Wi-Fi on your Mac as per the reasons outlined above.

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Click on the Wi-Fi Symbol

If you have other portable devices such as an iPad, an Android device or a smartphone these too can be connected to Wi-Fi networks each have their own unique ways to connect but the fundamental process is the same: Ensure Wi-Fi is enabled on the device Select the Wi-Fi network you wish to connect with Turn off Wi-Fi on the device when not in use to conserve battery

A few words on safety when using Wi-Fi 1. Be aware that you're never secure. Mostly Wi-Fi hot spots are always unsecured connections, so you and potential hackers are operating in the same network bubble. It's not hard for someone to tap into your activity and grab your personal information. Even if a hot spot requires a password or guides you through a log-in screen, you could still be still at risk. 2. Use the built-in security tools. Mac OS X and Windows have built-in security features that you should take advantage of. Turn on your firewall (through security settings) and check off "Block all incoming traffic." This setting will keep most of the villains out. Disabling file sharing is also an essential security measure. 3. Protect your passwords. Hackers can recover saved passwords from your Registry or install keyloggers, which make your keyboard activity available to them (including passwords you type in). Install a program like LastPass, a browser add-on that stores your passwords in the cloud - you'll never have to type a thing and passwords won't be saved on your computer. 4. Look for the padlock. Web sites that use HTTPS encrypt all your activity, so anything you do on that site is private. Look for a padlock in the address bar, or simply check the URL for "https://..." Not all Web sites do this, but you can download HTTPS Everywhere, a useful add-on that will force an encrypted connection on many popular sites. 5. Check the network name. In an attempt to trap you, hackers could set up false networks like "FREE Public Wi-Fi", or "open to all FREE." Check with the venue's employees to confirm the name of their network. 6. Use common sense. You should treat all open networks as a security risk. Don't do any banking, online shopping, or other activities that would expose your private information.

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The Meaning of Wi-Fi Sowhat does Wi-Fi stand for? This from Phil Belanger, a founding member of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi doesn't stand for anything. It is not an acronym. There is no meaning. Wi-Fi and the ying yang style logo were invented by Interbrand. We (the founding members of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, now called the Wi-Fi Alliance) hired Interbrand to come up with the name and logo that we could use for our interoperability seal and marketing efforts. We needed something that was a little catchier than "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence". Interbrand created "Prozac", "Compaq" "Oneworld" and many other brand names that you have heard of. The only reason that you hear anything about "Wireless Fidelity" is some of my colleagues in the group were afraid. They didn't understand branding or marketing. They could not imagine using the name "Wi-Fi" without having some sort of literal explanation. So we compromised and agreed to include the tag line "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity" along with the name. This was a mistake and only served to confuse people and dilute the brand. For the first year or so (circa 2000) , this would appear in all of our communications. Later, when Wi-Fi was becoming more successful and we got some marketing and business people from larger companies on the board, the alliance dropped the tag-line. This tag line was invented after the fact. After we chose the name Wi-Fi from a list of 10 names that Interbrand proposed. So "Wireless Fidelity" - what does that mean? Nothing. It was a clumsy attempt to come up with two words that matched Wi and Fi. That's it.
So we were smart to hire Interbrand to come up with the name and logo. We were dumb to confuse and water down their efforts by adding the meaningless tag line.

Create a Christmas cards to send on the Freeview website.

Our partners Freeview have made a great site where you can create your own Christmas cards plus have a chance to win one of ten 50 inch Samsung TVs.

Off you go, heres the link http://www.sharesomelove.co.nz/ Dont forget if purchasing a Freeview box from our other partner Noel Leeming will mean significant discounts on both the purchase and installation of the box

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Make Christmas wish list using Pinterest.

Pinterest is a virtual pin board. It allows you to organise and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse boards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests and then RePin onto your own board. Simply click on an image to find out more. Images from websites other than Pinterest can also be added to your personal board. People use boards to plan their weddings, design or decorate their homes and gardens, share their favourite recipes or perhaps be inspired to travel to new destinations. Pinterests uses and categories are continuing to expand and it is now even being used as a recruitment platform. Your Pin Boards can be viewed by anyone who chooses to Follow you on Pinterest, just as you can view the likes and interests of others. What a great way to get (and give) inspiration for those special gifts a Christmas. Just browsing through the hundreds of beautiful photos is a delight. Take a look at www.pinterest.com Go to the About drop down menu, click on help and follow the Get Started instructions. Give it a go its free but be warned it could be addictive! Pinterest background Development of Pinterest began in December 2009, and the site launched in March 2010. On 16 August 2011, Time magazine listed Pinterest in its "50 Best Websites of 2011" article. By December 2011, the site became one of the top 10 largest social network services, according to Hitwise data, with 11 million total visits per week. In January 2012, comScore reported the site had 11.7 million unique users, making it the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark. Most of the site's users are female.

Noel Leeming Super Deal

Here is a super deal available to all SeniorNet members. The popular FUJIFILM Z700EXR COMPACT digital camera has been drastically reduced in price to just $113.85 (including GST). This is a super price for a super camera.

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12 Megapixels Super CCD Sensor 5x Optical zoom 3.5 Touchscreen LCD HD Video Capture 16.7mm slim body YouTube & Facebook easy uploads

To take advantage of this offer you will need to take the flyer attached to this newsletter into your nearest Noel Leeming Store be quick as stocks are limited.

Learn to play the Guitar using Skype

Are you living out of town or in a rural area, even overseas and cant get to a good Guitar Teacher? Its time to pick up that guitar and start having some fun! Reg Keyworth, is a Pro Guitar player. Reg can teach you live, online, in real-time via Skype from his studio in Auckland. Hes got over 35 years playing experience and has worked with many prominent international artists. Take a look at his website. www.guitarlessons1-0-1.com You will need an internet connection- preferably broadband, a webcam and speakers, plus of course a Skype connection. You can pay as you go or book a few in advance. Its a fun way to learn the guitar and an innovative use of Skype. Well done Reg!

Spending too much on Ink?

Print for less with an Exclusive InkPost Smart Print offer for Senior Net members! MFC-J430 Wireless All-in-One + Fax
Print, scan & copy up to A4. Auto Document feeder for multi-page copying & scanning Wireless Network. Page 9 of 10

Buy the J430 printer for only $50

then print up to 300 pages/month for only $16/month
FREE 24 month warranty on printer Guaranteed NZs lowest cost home & small business printing Higher volume printing options available Free Delivery Nationwide
If you are happy with the printer youve already got but you feel you are still paying too much for your ink cartridges then try this offer from InkPost: All SeniorNet members get an additional 10% discount on top of the standard InkPost discounted prices: 0800 465 767 To take advantage of these exceptional offer s call

Gizmoe schedule for 2013

There will be six editions of Gizmoe in 2013. The proposed delivery dates are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 15th February 18th April 7th June 15th August 10th October 6th December

End of Newsletter

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