etricities.com

HI Geeks,
We are going to do a Geek South Social for the dinner this month. Essentially we are going to just meet and greet, and talk about the rest of the 2010 year events.

There was a planning meeting done for the January meeting. We laid down tentative ideas and topics. Geeks then had a planning meeting on Saturday 2/13/2010 at the Coffee Haven in Johnson City. Here we laid out the final list of topics/ locations/ date for this wonderful year.

Now to share we all the Geeks what we have in store! For us to do this we would like you to join us to share the knowledge!

Here’s the details…

* Date: February 23, 2010
* Time: 7:00pm
* Location: StirFry in Johnson City, TN
* RSVP: Please add your name to this list if you are going to make it: http://www.mobaganda.com/geeksouthsocialupdated-february232010

Are we starting to pry away from Winter’s icy grip? Maybe for just a little break? We just wanted to let everyone know we are still here and will be having Geek South dinners again in 2010. We hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season! We truly hated that time flew by without even a moment to spare. Our resolution is to do better this year! For starters we want to have a planning session similar to the Leadership meeting of Jan 2009 where the dates and topics are tentatively laid out for the whole year.

The Date/Time and location we are meeting is: 7:00pm, Jan. 26 @ Machiavelli’s in Bristol Tn. If you have topics that you would like to see GeekSouth cover and want to provide some input about dinners and locations or just some general feedback— please be sure to attend!

Here’s the details…

* Date: January 26, 2010
* Time: 7:00pm
* Location: Machiavelli’s Bristol TN
* RSVP: Please add your name to this list if you are going to make it: http://www.mobaganda.com/geeksouth-planning2010

I recently discovered a really cool idea – a Hacker Dojo – in Mountain View CA. Would any of our Geeks be interested in starting one up here in the TRI?

Not since July 17th 2007 has Geek South hosted a thumb smokin’ mobile device show down. We have the new Droid in the hands of a Geek South member who is looking forward to a face-off! So we want you to bring your phone with its fancy apps to join the battle. I know we can round up an iPhone and a Blackberry, but what can you bring to the mix? Be sure to meet us to see tests of the mighty mobile features. We will also have a group discussion of must have apps needed for this new Droid.

Here’s the details…

• Date: November18th
• Time: 7:00pm
• Location: Machiavelli’s in Downtown Bristol, TN
• RSVP: Please add your name to this list if you are going to make it: www.mobaganda.com/geeksouthcellphoneshowdown

In life there are many rivalries that can get the masses in an uproar. Republicans vs. Democrats. Yankees vs. Red Sox. The list goes on and on.

Geeks are not immune. There are hardcore Mac OS fanatics, those who are nutty for Windows, and then there are the Linux fans who think everyone else has left the ranch.

So October 27th come out and show your support for your OS of choice in the GeekSouth OS Death Match. Snow Leopard, Windows 7, and Ubuntu will be represented. If you’ve got something else loaded up you want to show off bring it out.

Here’s the details…

• Date: October 27th
• Time: 7:00pm
• Location: SparkPlaza in Johnson City, TN (see map below)
• RSVP: Please add your name to this list if you are going to make it: http://www.mobaganda.com/geeksouth-osdeathmatch

Everyone is on their own as far as food & drink. Feel free to come early and eat at Freiberg’s German Restaurant which is directly downstairs from SparkPlaza. Or get take-out and/or a 6-pack and bring it on up.

Directions to SparkPlaza:

View Larger Map

UPDATE: Download the Understanding SSL and TLS Presentation PDF

We have a special guest coming down Thursday, August 20th to the Johnson City Country Club (club website, restaurant website)! John Harris is the Systems Admin for the huge Electrical Engineering Dept at VT and also happens to be an avid beer brewer at his home in Floyd, Virginia. He will be doing a two-part presentation on encryption that you can’t miss. To soften the sometimes complex world of SSL, browsers, passwords and more exciting things, he’ll also have some of his famous beer to sample and will be glad to answer questions about his setup.

If you use the net today, you rely on encryption. Learn how it actually works from top to bottom. The first part of the presentation is going to be a fast paced breakdown of how the pieces all fit together. The second part is a highly technical and informative overview of the core technologies and concepts behind SSL/TLS encyption. Everyone can learn a lot from the first part, from 7-8pm. The second part is mostly for SysAdmins, web hosts, etc, who really need to know the nitty gritty details from 8-9pm.

Food will be a-la-carte and please do consider donating a couple bucks to the club so we can cover the cost of the room!

On other notes, John Harris is Ben Collins’ step-dad! Come show your support!

UPDATE: Some additions from the presentation

Explore:
Flickr Group: flickr.com/groups/hdr/
Dave Hill photography: davehillphoto.com
Local photo group: phototricities.com

Learn:
Youtube tutorial (CS3): youtube.com/watch?v=CVuDbcAfN_I
Photoshop Cafe tutorial: photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/HDR_ps/hdr-ps.htm

Buy?
Adobe PS Lightroom 2: adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom
HDRSoft Photomatix (free trial): hdrsoft.com

This month’s GeekSouth meetup will happen on July 29th at 7:00pm at the Thunderdome in Johnson City, TN (google map).  Come out, play a few games, and hear Ben Collins talk his adventures in dabbling with amateur HDR.

Ben Collins is a sometimes-photographer at The Bliss Agency, where taking his own images for web design projects has been a huge help.  A couple of his images have been used nationally in print publications for larger agencies.  His only training has been a mentoring under award-winning photographer Malcolm Wilson, a photo journalist and long time graphic designer.  Since then, he’s been exploring and learning as much as he can on his own, mostly in real-world situations where the internet and accidents are his primary teachers.  Lately, he’s been exploring something called “HDR” imaging and has begun to incorporate this technique in his work.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and the idea has been around since the 19th century, when Gustave Le Gray took two images, one of the sky and one of the sea at different exposures.  He then combined the two negatives to make one positive, and voila, a HDR image (source, Wikipedia).  The basic concept is if you take a picture, you have to choose an exposure amount.  If you expose an image for too long, any spot with a lot of light will be “blown out” or just white.  Likewise, any dark area that is not exposed long enough is just black.  The whole idea behind HDR is combining different photos using different exposure to make a single, “dynamic” image.

Ben uses two techniques to explore creating dynamic photos, manual and Adobe Photoshop’s automated process.  The manual process involves layering different images from the same scene with different exposures and then just erasing areas that are over or under exposed.  The automated process is a complex algorithm requiring 32-bit images which are then mathematically combined into a single image which you can then manipulate using special preset modes of HDR imaging.  Ben will demonstrate both processes for GeekSouth.

Please make plans to come out!  Big thanks to Thunderdome for hosting us, Ben Collins for the presentation, and Donna Dingus for getting us organized!

The GeekSWVA group is having a Movie Night tomorrow night, July 7th at 6pm, if you are looking for something to break up the post-holiday week.

They will be showing Office Space, a geek favorite, at the Southwest Virginia Technology Development Center in Lebanon, VA.

Before the movie there will be a discussion of potential upcoming topics for the group.

For those of you who attended the GeekSouth co-sponsored FloatCamp back in March there will be a reunion event this Friday (July 10th).  The event will take place at SparkPlaza in downtown Johnson City, TN and will begin at 5:45pm.

Oh yeah, if you ordered your T-shirt then, this will be the time to pick it up.

Local wine and cheese will be provided, thanks to help from Countryside Winery.  Dessert and other baked goods will also be provided thanks to WM Paul’s bakery in Kingsport, TN.

See www.sparkplaza.com for directions and other information.

Don’t forget about the Forums.  Yes they are still there.  Dave Sieg just posted a job opening there.

There is an RSS feed available for the forums if that makes it easier to follow along.