On August 20 the members of the Philadelphia PowerBook Users Group (PPUG) will hold their Summer Spectacular Festival meeting. PPUG founders Jason O’Grady (PowerPage.org), Rob Parker and Bob Snow will be joined by Youngmoo Kim for a discussion of the latest developments in mobile computing, and, of course, Lion. Guests are welcome and members can bring items to sell or swap.

Be there.

http://www.ppug.net/

(Thanks to founding member, Apple Ambassador and long-time Macworld user group staffer David Berg for this tip!)

On August 16, the Diablo Valley Macintosh User Group (DVMUG) and the Rossmoor MAC Users Group (RMUG) will jointly host their most recent Film Fest in the deluxe settings of the Peacock Theater, Walnut Creek, California.  Come for the films, stay for the wine-and-cheese awards ceremony in the adjacent Fireside Room.  Peter Weiler’s planning means that all will go smoothly, from expert judging to Food SIG Leader Anne Griffin’s specially selected cheeses. If you have been to one of their Film Fests before, you already know why you want to attend this one. If not, come for a great evening of film, fun and friendship in an elegant setting.

Learn about the Diablo Valley Macintosh User Group.

http://www.dvmug.org/

Learn about the Rossmoor MAC Users Group.

http://web.me.com/ophyllis/rmug/Welcome_to_RMUG.html

Check out the DVMUG/RMUG Film Fest Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=238365576186941

Capitol Mac Users Group’s June meeting featured Allan Doehler from Drobo, whose team offered a live demo of what Drobo products can offer. Interestingly, Nancy Gravley, CapMac’s president, had entered Drobo’s 100 Drobos contest, offering 100 Drobos for the best idea for using Drobos to improve education, foster the arts and change the world. The company received lots of wonderful ideas and public voting reached more than 1.25 million votes, but four stood out, with Nancy’s idea the second highest of the top four vote getters. CapMac’s presentation earned 368173 votes and a fourth share of those 100 Drobos. Congrats to Nancy and Capitol Mac of Austin!

Her plan:

http://www.capmac.org/drobo/Who_We_Help.html

Why Should Voters Support Capitol Mac’s contest entry?

http://www.capmac.org/drobo/CapMac_+_Drobo.html

About CapMacUsersGroup:

http://www.capmac.org/drobo/About_CapMac.html

On July 13, Portland Final Cut Pro members were present as Red Giant offered a look at Cosmo, Looks 2 and Magic Bullet Suite 11, followed by Warren Schultz of RVI Media and Dean McCrea of TRL Media who offered a first look at Apple’s recently-released Final Cut Pro X. Next week, the group will participate in a panel discussion about the impact of consumer demand on any time, anywhere video.

Attend, network and enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pdxfcpug/106488416092860

The Final Cut Pro User Groups Network is well known for their wildly popular SuperMeets. If you have not been able to take part in a SuperMeet, there is now an FCPUG Network SuperMeet YouTube channel, so that you can catch some of the best presentations from past events in London, Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Learn from the best.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FCPUGSuperMeet

(Thanks to BOSFCPUG President Daniel Bérubé for this tip!)

Interested in Apple history? More than ten years of magazines, posts and associated materials from the British Apple Systems User Group (BASUG/Apple2000), some never seen outside of the UK, are now available for download. In Seattle, the Living Computer Museum hosted the inaugural meeting of the Seattle Retro-Computing Society. Add in a video on an early prototype, and long-time fans will find much to bring back good memories.

Visit.

http://a2central.com/category/user-group/

Terry White, president of MacGroup-Detroit and one of User Group University’s favorite presenters,  reports that this summer’s Photowalk, organized by Brian Stone, was one of the best. The offerings were exceptional and the winners worth viewing.

Check ’em out by reading Terry’s post.

http://macgroup.org/blog/2011/07/11/congratulations-macgroup-summer-2011-photowalk-contest-winners/

The Internet Macintosh User Group of Australia (iMug) has an illustrious history, yet they are always looking forward, even while honoring the past. Their Museum Collection of essays on the history of computing are a fun look back. Their meetings are even more fun, as they pursue the best of what’s new and wonderful. This month’s get-together features Synergetic’s Arjun Xavier, providing an expert overview of cloud computing, and well-known professional photographer Peter Walton’s insights on the hardware, applications and techniques that can make a photograph a classic in the highly competitive field of stock photography. Ross House in Melbourne on June 28: be there!

Visit the iMug Museum Collection.

http://www.imug.com.au/museum-collection/

Learn about iMug.

http://www.imug.com.au/index.php

The newest edition of Spotlight from AppleUsers.org, the Australian volunteer team that represents more than 30 user groups, includes a preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X, covering announcements from Apple’s WorldWide Developers Conference 2011 (WWDC) Keynote, ten years of Apple retail stores and other recent Apple news. This issue is now available for free in PDF format and can be read using Adobe Reader or Preview under Mac OS X, Adobe Reader for Windows and now in iBooks on the iPad, iPhone and iPad touch.

Download and read this special edition of the Spotlight today:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9660392/appleusers-spotlight/014-spotlight-jun11.pdf

Learn about appleusers.org:

http://www.appleusers.org/about/

(Thanks to founder and editor Nicholas Pyers for making these resources available to the community!)

SF Cutters, known for strong support of media makers, has announced that they will be setting up film screenings at the San Francisco Apple Store on Stockton. These gatherings will be free, open to the public and focused on member screenings of reels and work. Need a media expert? Contact SF Cutters. Love their meetings? Don’t worry: these screenings will be in addition to, and not replace, regular meetings.

Check out a great reel and expert media skills.

http://www.sfcutters.org/pages/services.htm

(Thanks to Ambassador Claudia Crask for this great tip!)

The North Coast Mac Users Group (NCMUG) will be celebrating this October, as they mark the 18th year for their popular Macintosh Computer Expo, second only to Macworld as the largest expo of its type in the San Francisco Bay area. Mark your calendar for October 1, and plan to join thousands of Macintosh enthusiasts at the Petaluma Community Center for the workshops, vendor displays, fun, raffle and networking that are the hallmarks of every MCE. If you attend once, you’ll be back for more.

Save the date:

http://ncmug.org/maccomputerexpo/

Learn about North Cost Mac Users Group:

http://ncmug.org/

(Thanks to President Lorene Romero for this excellent tip!)

Groups often complain that events happen far from their doorsteps. For folk in the U.S. and Canada, there is probably a Maker Faire within driving distance. What’s a Maker Faire? It’s an opportunity to network, create, showcase and offer hands-on interaction with the ideas and creativity of users in a region.  As O’Reilly’s site says, “Maker Faire offers the opportunity for us to see ourselves as more than consumers: we are productive; we are creative. Everyone is a maker and our world is what we make it.” Find a Maker Faire in North Carolina on the 18th. Find one in Vancouver and Kansas City on June 25 – 26th. Detroit, New York, Fort Wayne and more will have Maker Faires in the months to come. No Faire in your area? O’Reilly’s site shows you how to become a host.

Meet folk like yourself for a great experience:

http://makerfaire.com/

(Thanks as always to long-time user group supporter Marsee Henon of O’Reilly for this wonderful tip!)

KansasFest, the 22nd annual convention dedicated to the Apple II computer, returns to Kansas City, Missouri. Join enthusiasts on Tuesday, July 19, 2011, through Sunday, July 24, for six days and five nights of sessions, demos, announcements, contests and camaraderie. This year’s keynote speaker will be Bob Bishop, co-founder of Apple’s R&D lab alongside Steve Wozniak and creator of many popular Apple II programs and articles. Want to know how to put your Apple II on a LAN? Need to build an MP3 expansion card? Want an opportunity to show off (and play with) unusual hardware and software? KansasFest is the place to be!

Listen and learn:

http://www.kansasfest.org/

(Thanks to Ken Gagne for this tip.)

On Thursday, June 23, the Final Cut Pro User Groups (FCPUG) Network will host their world-famous SuperMeet in London, the largest gathering of Final Cut Studio, Avid and Adobe editors, HDSLR filmmakers and digital content creators and Gurus on the Planet. Network over Cocktails, learn new techniques, hear from experts in the field and be part of their world-famous raffle, as you celebrate the second anniversary of the London SuperMeet and the tenth anniversary of FCPUG SuperMeets.

Be there:

http://supermeet.com/

Stay current with FCPUG activities:

http://twitter.com/#!/fcpugnetwork

(Thanks to Dan Berube of the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group and FCPUG for this tip!)

In Jack Hennessy’s June Cambria Computer Club (CMUG) newsletter and mailing, he included an interesting web site that provides links to an extensive range of OSX subjects, including shortcuts, security, Apache, PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, HTML, CGI, encryption, UNIX, newsreaders, command line interface, software, hardware and so much more. What a treat!

Check it out:

http://www.magicpubs.com/mac/macosx.html

Visit the Cambria Computer Club’s Macintosh User Group:

http://www.cambriacomputerclub.org/MacNotes.html

(Thanks to Jack Hennessy for this cool tip!)

The Chicago Apple User Group is very proud to bring Apple Systems Engineer Dave Marra to Chicago for a June 1 event that is open to the public: everyone is invited to attend. Dave is nationally known for his dynamic delivery style and exciting demonstrations, conducting thousands of technology presentations, keynote addresses and workshops for schools, Mac and PC user groups, businesses and other professional organizations across the United States and Canada. Needless to say, this meeting should be dynamite.

Attend.

http://www.chicagoapple.org/