Hershey Apple Core

The next meeting of the Hershey Apple Core will be held on Wednesday, May 8, starting at 6:30 PM at The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 4750 Lindle Road Harrisburg, PA 17111. Directions to the meeting can be found on the HAP web site.

This is arguably our most popular meeting of the year when we get to host Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus as our featured speaker. Bob will once again be on his annual Mid-Atlantic MUG Tour, and this time, we are the kick-off group. Bob will be presenting:

Some Cool Stuff I Like (and a few things I hate): From Mac apps, to hardware and software for Mac OS and iOS, apps, productivity tools, and much more. Watch Dr. Mac open the kimono and show you some of the tools he considers beyond excellent.

How can you not want to see that presentation?

We will forgo our usual Q&A session, unless you have some type of tech emergency, to give Bob the full use of our meeting time, so be sure to arrive on time, or better yet, a little early. And we’ll be taking Bob out to dinner after the meeting, so plan to join us to keep the fun and information flowing.

This is a unique opportunity to see a Mac/Apple legend in person.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Bob LeVitus, often referred to as “Dr. Mac,” is a leading authority on the Macintosh, Mac OS X, and other Apple products such as iPads and iPhones. One of the Apple community’s most trusted gurus for over twenty five years, he’s known for his trademark humorous style and unerring ability to translate “techie” jargon into usable and fun advice for regular folks.

A prolific author, LeVitus has written or co-written more than 65 popular computer books, with over two million copies sold worldwide in at least a dozen languages. His recent titles include: iPad For Dummies, iPhone 5 For Dummies, OS X Mountain Lion For Dummies, and Microsoft Office 2011 For Mac For Dummies, all for Wiley Publishing.

For over 15 years Bob has been the Apple technology columnist for the Houston Chronicle, penning the Dr. Mac column on Tuesdays in print and Wednesdays on the Web.

Bob has been published in more than a dozen computer magazines over the past twenty five years including: a three-year stint as Editor-in-Chief of the irreverent and unpredictable MACazine; four different columns in MacUser magazine—Beating the System, Personal Best, Game Room, and the Help Folder (with Andy Ihnatko, and later, Chris Breen). Though best known for his writing, he’s also dabbled in broadcasting with a radio show (Inside Mac Radio, CNET Radio, 2001-2002) and hosted a popular television series (Mac Today, Syndicated, 1992–1993).

In addition to his writing, LeVitus is the proprietor of a personal technology consulting business, providing expert technical help and training to users of Apple products anywhere in the world, in real time and at reasonable prices, via telephone, e-mail, and/or its own unique Internet-enabled remote control software. If you’re having a problem with your Mac or want to learn how to do almost anything with it, point your browser at: http://www.boblevitus.com or give them a call at (408) 627-7577.

Another of Bob’s loves is teaching. He is a popular instructor for the University of Texas Informal Classes program, with courses that include Master Your iPhone, Master Your Mac, Master Your iPad, Making Movies with iMovie, Producing Music with GarageBand, and Learn to Win at Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.

Always a popular speaker at Mac user groups and trade shows, LeVitus has presented more than 200 seminars, workshops, conferences, and training sessions in the U.S. and abroad, including Macworld Expo keynote addresses in three countries, live presentations at countless Apple Stores, and three Geek Cruises. (He also won the Macworld Expo MacJeopardy World Championship three times before retiring his crown.)

Prior to giving in to his obsession with Apple technology, Bob worked in Los Angeles as a so-called ad man, producing television commercials, radio spots, and print ads for Kresser & Robbins and SelecTV. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from California State University and resides in central Texas with his beautiful wife Lisa and Zeke the Vizsla-Wiener dog, with occasional visits from daughter Allison (a celebrated Denver area chef) and Jacob (third-year Jayhawk at KU).

April 10 Meeting: Topics and Demos Too Cool To Reveal

Chuck Joiner — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:35:03 +0000

The next meeting of the Hershey Apple Core will be held on Wednesday, April 10, starting at 6:30 PM at The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 4750 Lindle Road Harrisburg, PA 17111. Directions to the meeting can be found on the HAP web site.

This month’s topics are just too cool and too exciting to announce. We’re afraid you couldn’t handle the stress of waiting, so you’ll just need to come and be amazed. What you can count on will be information of interest to iPad users, photographers (amateur or better), Mac users and anyone interested in doing more with their Apple gear. Yes, that means YOU!

As always, there will be the always-essential Question and Answer session that often morphs into a presentation all its own, and the Meeting-After-The-Meeting dinner. Spring should be arriving any second now, so come out and celebrate with your friends from HAC.

March 13 Meeting: Audio/Video Workflows and Managing The Information Flood

Chuck Joiner — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:37:42 +0000

The next meeting of the Hershey Apple Core will be held on Wednesday, March 13, starting at 6:30 PM at The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 4750 Lindle Road Harrisburg, PA 17111. Directions to the meeting can be found on the HAP web site.

As requested at an earlier meeting, Chuck will spend a little time demonstrating the workflows, software and services he uses to produce the MacVoices audio and video shows. Some of the tools included will be Final Cut Pro, Sound Studio, GarageBand, Blip.tv, Libsyn and more.

The bulk of the meeting will be spent talking about managing the information flood that we all face every day. With overwhelming amounts of email, a deluge of news, a plethora of social networks demanding attention, and more, we are all struggling to keep up. Will talk about strategies, tools and methods of dealing with this constantly growing problem. Whether you are a novice, intermediate or expert, there will be something for you to take away and implement.

Of source, all your questions will be answered in our Q&A session, and your hunger fed if you join us for the Meeting-After-The-Meeting Dinner.

Spring isn’t here yet, so no excuse to not come out and enjoy an evening with your tech friends at HAC.

February 13 Meeting: Macworld/iWorld 2013 and CES Wrap-Up, New Gear and More

Chuck Joiner — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 01:17:25 +0000

The next meeting of the Hershey Apple Core will be held on Wednesday, February 13, starting at 6:30 PM at The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 4750 Lindle Road Harrisburg, PA 17111. Directions to the meeting can be found on the HAP web site.

This month’s meeting will feature Chuck Joiner and Joel Persing discussing their adventures at Macworld/iWorld 2013 in San Francisco. Coming at the topic from two different angles, they will talk about conference sessions, cool new products and what they brought home with them. A week earlier, Chuck was at CES in Las Vegas, and will do a little compare and contrast between the two shows, talk about what he saw there from both the Apple and non-Apple standpoints, and more.

Yes, we will do our always popular Question and Answer Session, and work up everyone’s appetite for our Meeting-After-The-Meeting Dinner. No blizzards scheduled, so come out and enjoy an evening with your tech friends at HAC.

No January Meeting – Next meeting is February 13: Macworld | iWorld Wrap-Up, New Gear and More

Chuck Joiner — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:56:54 +0000

Sorry folks, but due to schedule conflicts, there will be no January meeting. That just means more to talk about and catch up on in February, since by then we will have both Macworld | iWorld and CES in the rearview mirror, with lots of great topics, products and activities to catch up on. We don’t know exactly what we will be showing off because we haven’t gotten them yet, but rest assured there will be plenty of news and gear to satisfy.

Of course, we’ll catch up on your backlog of questions in our Question and Answer Session, and dine together on Valentine’s Day Eve in our Meeting-After-The-Meeting Dinner.

Mark your calendar now to be sure you don’t miss the first HAC meeting of 2013.

December 12 Meeting: Tonya Engst of TidBITS and Take Control, and Holiday Gifts

Chuck Joiner — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 23:20:54 +0000

The December meeting of the Hershey Apple Core will be held on Wednesday, December 12, starting at 6:30 PM at The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 4750 Lindle Road Harrisburg, PA 17111. Directions to the meeting can be found on the HAP web site.

To close out the year, our very special guest will be Tonya Engst. Tonya spends her days immersed in Apple technology, serving as editor-in-chief at TidBITS Publishing, which she co-founded. She works behind the scenes on the TidBITS Web site (Apple news for the rest of us) and on the front lines of the Take Control ebook series (highly practical, tightly focused ebooks about technology, mostly Apple-related), where she thinks about the big picture, edits many ebooks, and occasionally gets to write one. One of the most influential women in the Apple technology world, Tonya will visit us via Skype to talk about a book she is working on, her perspectives on ebooks, and will answer questions from the audience.

With whatever time is left in the evening, we’ll take a look at some ideas for holiday gifts for the Apple lover on your list.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from Tonya, and to get together with your HAC friends for one last harrah before the holiday season overwhelms us (and just in case the Mayans were right about December 21.)

November 14 Meeting: iPad mini, Kindle PaperWhite, and Mac Maintenance

Chuck Joiner — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:48:32 +0000

The November meeting of the Hershey Apple Core will be held on November, October 14, starting at 6:30 PM at our new meeting place, The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 4750 Lindle Road Harrisburg, PA 17111. Directions to the meeting can be found on the HAP web site.

Apple has once again given us a new piece of hardware to talk about: we’ll show you the iPad mini, talk about what it offers to those interested in a tablet, and how it measures up to its full-sized brother. Man does not live by iPad alone…or does he? We will also have a Kindle Paperwhite on hand for you to evaluate and contrast and compare from the ebook-reading perspective.

Then, because it has come up so often in the past, we’ll have an organized, easy-to-follow discussion of what you need to do to keep your Mac performing at peak efficiency. A little effort on the maintenance front can go a long way to preventing large issues, and make your Mac feel stable and secure. Find out what utilities and procedures you need to put in place to keep your Mac humming.

As always, we’ll have our entertaining and informative Question and Answer Session, veer off-topic at least a dozen times, and then go out for dinner in our Meeting-After-The-Meeting gathering. All your friends at HAC are expecting you, so come on out!

October 10, 2012 Meeting: Catching Up (Again) with iPhone 5, iOS 6, Mountain Lion, Upgrades and New Hardware

Chuck Joiner — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 15:27:55 +0000

The October meeting of the Hershey Apple Core will be held on Wednesday, October 10, starting at 6:30 PM at our new meeting place, The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 4750 Lindle Road Harrisburg, PA 17111. Directions to the meeting can be found on the HAP web site.

As a result of Chuck’s emergency-induced no-show last month, we’ll be catching up on some of Apple’s newest stuff, including the iPhone 6, iOS 6, OS 10.8 Mountain Lion, some new hardware (and maybe even some non-Apple hardware), and more.

And if you thought you missed your chance, you didn’t: Chuck was busy this summer cleaning out, and he’s got hardware and software he no longer need. Maybe you can use some of it? Come ready to pillage. (Sorry, no previews – you have to be there to take advantage of this, and Chuck does too.)

Questions and Answers, the always fun, nourishing and non-fattening Meeting-After-The-Meeting Dinner and a fun night with your tech friends at HAC.

We’ll see you there!

September 12, 2012 Meeting: HAC Rides Again! iPhone 5, Mountain Lion, Upgrades You Need and More

Chuck Joiner — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:33:44 +0000

The September meeting of the Hershey Apple Core will be held on Wednesday, September 12, starting at 6:30 PM at our new meeting place, The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 4750 Lindle Road Harrisburg, PA 17111. Directions to the meeting can be found on the HAP web site.

We’re back from our summer hiatus, and Apple is helping us celebrate with a special announcement earlier in the day. Will it be the iPhone 5 or something else? We’ll discuss what is revealed in San Francisco, show you some key aspects of Mountain Lion, look at one of the best hardware upgrades you can make, and more.

Also, Chuck has been busy this summer cleaning out, and he’s got hardware and software he no longer needs. Maybe you can use some of it? Come ready to pillage. (Sorry, no previews – you have to be there to take advantage of this.)

We know you’ve been holding your questions for the last three months, so we will have our always informative Question and Answer session, and celebrate the return of HAC with our Meeting-After-The-Meeting Dinner.

HAC is back, and we hope you will be too.