Smart Computing Magazine
Morning!
Breakfast was provided by SmartComputing.com and we were treated to a delightful talk by Marcy Gunn, our marketing representative for this fine publication and web site. This is the first time this publisher has been able to provide support for a meal at the annual APCUG event, which reflects a generally positive trend I have noticed this year - that user groups are becoming a more powerful lobby within the PC industry than they were just a few years ago.
Last time I was here in the Fall of 2002, COMDEX was a mere shadow of its former glory, and large vendor support was rapidly drying up. I'm glad to report that a reversal of this trend seems to be underway. APCUG attendence alone is up around 20% compared to last year (from unofficial polling of the officers) and the CES is expected to be the fourth largest convention in Las Vegas this year.
Marcy provided me with so much new information that I really feel we should make their services the focus of our January 25th APCUG showcase. The biggest surprise is the news that SmartComputing is providing a toll-free voice help line where any user, whether or not a member of BGAMUG, whether or not a subscriber to a SmartComputing magazine, can receive support for technical problems related to computers. The phone lines are staffed by knowlegeable techies that have direct access to over 22,000 SmartComputing.com articles and tips. I'm going to give you this number in just a bit here, but before I do I would like to invite those of you who are currently receiving SmartComputing or one of their sister mags, to log on to their web site and look at all of the resources they have. This site is constantly being developed and I was just amazed at how much it has been improved just in the few months since I've logged on. There is a very good chance that someone has run across your problem before and you may find SmartComputing's answer to be exactly what you need to solve it!
Okay, here's the number: 800-368-8304 (more at www.smartcomputing.com)
Most of the participants I spoke with seemed to reserve judgement on this service - it really seems too good to be true. Let me know what your experiences are with this tech support number either here or at webstar@direcway.com.
Another note of interest for both our users and for our new newsletter editor, Mr. Carlisle Barnes: all of SmartComputing.com's 22,000+ articles that have been archived online have been approved for publishing in our user group newsletter. All that is required is a quick call to their PR department. They also publish a separate monthly newsletter containing great tips in Plain English (one of their trademarks) that can be distributed at our meetings. We should never be lacking for technical content again with this wealth of information available for re-publishing.
Many of you know about our "5 for 1" deal with this family of magazines - for each five subscriptions we sponsor, your club receives a one year free membership and subscription, which we often give out at our meetings as a door prize.
In addition to this great program, SmartComputing's Editor, Rod Scher will be providing a personal presentation to the user group that sponsors the most entries into the contest. We acquire additional chances to win the honor of this visit by writing about SmartComputing in our newsletter, on the web site, and by continuing to have members support the magazine by subscribing with your BGAMUG sponsor code, 8343/423 or better, use this link:
https://www.smartcomputing.com/secure/membership.asp
SmartComputing will be at the CES as well, so I'll go by their booth and pick up yet another entry credit!
So there you go! What a great service SmartComputing.com is offering us!
Mike M.
Breakfast was provided by SmartComputing.com and we were treated to a delightful talk by Marcy Gunn, our marketing representative for this fine publication and web site. This is the first time this publisher has been able to provide support for a meal at the annual APCUG event, which reflects a generally positive trend I have noticed this year - that user groups are becoming a more powerful lobby within the PC industry than they were just a few years ago.
Last time I was here in the Fall of 2002, COMDEX was a mere shadow of its former glory, and large vendor support was rapidly drying up. I'm glad to report that a reversal of this trend seems to be underway. APCUG attendence alone is up around 20% compared to last year (from unofficial polling of the officers) and the CES is expected to be the fourth largest convention in Las Vegas this year.
Marcy provided me with so much new information that I really feel we should make their services the focus of our January 25th APCUG showcase. The biggest surprise is the news that SmartComputing is providing a toll-free voice help line where any user, whether or not a member of BGAMUG, whether or not a subscriber to a SmartComputing magazine, can receive support for technical problems related to computers. The phone lines are staffed by knowlegeable techies that have direct access to over 22,000 SmartComputing.com articles and tips. I'm going to give you this number in just a bit here, but before I do I would like to invite those of you who are currently receiving SmartComputing or one of their sister mags, to log on to their web site and look at all of the resources they have. This site is constantly being developed and I was just amazed at how much it has been improved just in the few months since I've logged on. There is a very good chance that someone has run across your problem before and you may find SmartComputing's answer to be exactly what you need to solve it!
Okay, here's the number: 800-368-8304 (more at www.smartcomputing.com)
Most of the participants I spoke with seemed to reserve judgement on this service - it really seems too good to be true. Let me know what your experiences are with this tech support number either here or at webstar@direcway.com.
Another note of interest for both our users and for our new newsletter editor, Mr. Carlisle Barnes: all of SmartComputing.com's 22,000+ articles that have been archived online have been approved for publishing in our user group newsletter. All that is required is a quick call to their PR department. They also publish a separate monthly newsletter containing great tips in Plain English (one of their trademarks) that can be distributed at our meetings. We should never be lacking for technical content again with this wealth of information available for re-publishing.
Many of you know about our "5 for 1" deal with this family of magazines - for each five subscriptions we sponsor, your club receives a one year free membership and subscription, which we often give out at our meetings as a door prize.
In addition to this great program, SmartComputing's Editor, Rod Scher will be providing a personal presentation to the user group that sponsors the most entries into the contest. We acquire additional chances to win the honor of this visit by writing about SmartComputing in our newsletter, on the web site, and by continuing to have members support the magazine by subscribing with your BGAMUG sponsor code, 8343/423 or better, use this link:
https://www.smartcomputing.com/secure/membership.asp
SmartComputing will be at the CES as well, so I'll go by their booth and pick up yet another entry credit!
So there you go! What a great service SmartComputing.com is offering us!
Mike M.
posted by Michael Moore @ 9:11 AM
1 Comments:
At 1:29 PM,
Anonymous said…
BGAMUG has been promoting this magazine for quite awhile. I had been reluctant to get a subscription and would buy it off of the newstand when there was an issue in which I was interested. Then one day I broke down and subscribed.
It is an excellent publication and everyone who is interested in their computer should have a subscription or read a friends copy; then there's the Library, if they have a subscription.
I have been "monkeying around" with computers for a few years and have found many articles that a lot of members would find very useful.
I'm just sorry I didn't subscribe when I first heard the name; but at that time I was receiving two pc publications and wasn't looking for a third. Now, I subscribe to four?
Another Question: Would Abel Court benefit from a subscription to this magazine?
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