Of the three morning sessions that were offered, I elected to go to the session on Blogs in which long-time CCS member Joe Nowak held a question and answer session.

This session was so well attended that President Al Cheeks was forced to move it from the small classroom, where it was originally to have been held, to the auditorium. This writer guessed the attendance to be at somewhere around 100 people for just this session.

Q: How do I search for blogs?

Q: Are they free.

A: Yes, most are.

Q; Are they private?

A: No, they are generally open to the public, however there are some that can be made private, for things like family blogs where users would need a password to access the blog.

Q: Are reader comments permitted in blogs?

Joe also posts blogs for the South Suburban Chapter, the West Side Chapter, and the Digital Imagery SIG.

Q: How does the information flow? Can you give us a broad overview of blogs in general?

A: The blogs are a no-brainer way of building your own website; a place where you can rant about whatever you want. Some people have a political issue; they can write about it there. It alleviates the necessity to understand how to create a website yet it gives anyone the opportunity to create his or her own very basic site on the web.

Joe then changed streams and went to Google. Google has the ability to set your own personalized page. A Google account is required; it is free. Joe’s is set up with the Weather, a Quote of the Day and a Word of the Day. Some of the features of Google that Joe demonstrated were:

Moon.google.com  shows a view of the moon and where we have landed.

Suggest.google.com will give you a list of the most popular searches.

On the Google page, click on More to get more options; things like groups, catalogs, and advanced web search features. Google also has a feature that lets you check the weather for a particular area by typing in weather:60611. Substitute your zip code for weather for your area.

Serenity movie:60611 will give you all of the movie times and theaters where the movie Serenity is playing in zip code 60611. Simply substitute the movie name and your zip code for the information about your choice of movies in your area.

Maps.google.com will not only show you street maps like other mapping programs, it also has a Satellite view as well as an overlay view (Hybrid) that overlays the street names onto the satellite maps shown. Satellite view works for most, but not all, of the United States.

One of Google’s newest offerings is Google Earth (earth.google.com) Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.

The hour went by quickly and Joe ended his session by inviting everyone to stop by his blog, have a look around and make a comment. This writer found the session to be very informative and I personally encourage everyone to stop by moon.google.com. Take a look at the detail and be sure to zoom in as close as you can for a good look at what the moon is made of.

In their Worms and Viruses section there is a rather lengthy explanation section on many of the virus types and how to eradicate them. There is also information on where to get drivers and other information from many hardware and software vendors. Smart Computing also offers a completely free tech support service by calling 800-368-8304. This phone number is answered in Lincoln NE and lets subscribers and non-subscribers alike get help with their computer problems. While SC does not guarantee they will always be able to solve problems, they certainly will do their best to do so. If they can help you, it’s an astonishing benefit, open to any caller.

Attendees were also able to order subscriptions to the magazine and many in attendance did subscribe.

Those who did not subscribe at MX-IV, but who still plan to do so, are encouraged to call Smart Computing to subscribe and, when they do, to mention CCS. For its part in referring new subscribers to Smart Computing,

CCS receives one free subscription for each five paid subscriptions that the magazine receives. That should mean some nice drawing prizes at future CCS events.

MX-IV continued the proud tradition of CCS Users Helping Users, and the volunteers who helped make the Expo a success are to be heartily commended for their participation. It is the volunteers, the people like Al Cheeks, Joe Nowak, Jerry Sass, Stan Hungness, Beata Kernan, and all the others giving that most precious commodity, personal time, who help the Chicago Computer Society thrive and survive. As has been mentioned, MXV is already in the planning stages. Please, step forward now and lend a hand.