This month, we came back to AI.  This time we were not looking at how it works, but rather how we can make use of the plethora of AI tools that are already available either as standalone AI apps or integrated into software and systems that we already use.  Quite a bit of the meeting was taken with live demonstrations.  As well as the presentation, I am providing the demo script to show what we looked at. Click on presentation or demo script to access them.

We discussed password security and password managers in March 2023.  Two years later and it was time to cover this important topic again.  Did you know that the average internet user has about 100 different accounts.  The presentation covers poor password management, how passwords are stolen;  good practice in managing your passwords and how password managers can help.  To see the presentation click here.

At our February meeting, Dave Waymont gave a talk entitled "Quantum Algorithms".  This was a follow up to the talk at the Maths and Physics meeting entitled "Qubits and how to make them".  Dave's presentation showed us how the characteristics of a Qubit could be translated into Quantum circuits with various Quantum gates (everything now has Quantum in front of it), and thereby perform calculations.  The number of algorithms which run faster on a quantum computer is (currently) very limited.  A super talk and we all went home to rest our brains!

The intended title and subject of the topic was "fix-it" software for Windows (10 &11).  However, a bit of investigation revealed that the market for problem resolution applications has hugely diminished both because Windows 10 & 11 are far more robust than earlier versions and contain all the utilities needed to resolve and avoid most problems.  The presentation gives an overview of common  Windows problems and provides links to a few of the websites describing how to go about their resolution.  We also went over recommended maintenance actions.  The presentation can be seen by clicking here.

In this, the 3rd session we have had on the history of computing, we covered events that primarily occurred in the 1980s or later, albeit with lead into the story where it helped.  The main topics were personal computing in the UK, the IBM PC and compatibles, operating systems, the RISC architecture and ARM, World Wide Web and a mention of AI.  Obviously, this breadth sacrificed depth somewhat.  The slides can be seen by clicking here.

The title says it all.  We covered the computer developments that occurred or at least started in the 1960s and 1970s.  Really, it was only a glimpse into what was going on in this period that laid the foundation for much of the computing we know today.  If you would like to see the slides, click here.

We covered the history of computers up to the end of the 1950's. There is so much information on this topic that I had to restrict myself to significant milestones.   I intend to cover the period 1960 on across the next two meetings.  You can see the presentation by clicking here.

The topic of this month's meeting was the use of computing in medicine.  It is an absolutely huge topic and we could only really skim the surface, dipping in a few areas.  What I found fascinating in researching the topic was the degree to which advanced computing techniques are very much in use today. ​If you would like to see the slides used please click here.

This month we looked at Smart Homes.   What is generally meant by a Smart Home; what sort of functionality and capabilities are available on the market; who sells what; integration and problems.  ​If you would like to see the slides used please click here.

This month's topic centred on NFC, the technology used in bank cards, passports and mobile phone payment systems.  We started with the more general Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), looking at its development and capabilities before diving into NFC and its applications. If you would like to see the slides used please click here.