Page 3 - 1908
P. 3
Hello, everyone! Looks as though summer has already read about at least one community
finally arrived. (Having our summer picnic in the pushing back on a cell provider about the num-
air-conditioned comfort of the State Bank of the ber and appearance of these new antennae. As
Lakes this July turned out to be a good thing!) a result, the provider has agreed to paint all their
antennae within the affected community to
And, speaking of our picnic, a big “Thank You!”
to Liz and Fred Barnett, Gail Garling and every- match the color of the light posts they are
one else who brought food to share and helped mounted on. I expect that we will see more ar-
with the set-up and clean-up! Lots of good stuff guments like this as the roll-out progresses.
to eat and lots of good conversation. Mary, you Hardware providers are beginning to roll out Wi-
obviously have trained Fritz well; he is an expert Fi 6 routers (802.11ax in the old nomenclature).
with the vacuum cleaner! They promise much faster data transmission
within your home or business, and some provid-
Looking ahead, we have lots of interesting topics
to address in coming meetings. Thanks for all ers are considering this technology as a com-
your input; Linda Rohlfing and I will be sorting petitor for Internet service, against fiber-optic
through the various suggestions and looking for cable from Xfinity or AT&T. You will need a new
help from our members to serve as presenters. router to take advantage of this higher data
Meanwhile, we are offering a choice of topics for transmission speed within your home network,
th
our August 17 meeting, to be decided at the but I wouldn’t rush out right now and buy one!
meeting by attendees. (Prices on Amazon.com currently range from the
$300s to the $400s.)
Please note that our August meeting will be on
rd
the 3 Saturday of the month; in September and On a national note, I am seeing more and more
October, Liz Barnett has been able to snag the articles that suggest the U.S. is behind the curve
meeting room for the second Saturday. We will in cyber-security. You may remember that
let you know as soon as possible about the date cyber-weapons were stolen from NASA a few
for November’s meeting, so that you can put it years ago, and we are still seeing the repercus-
on your calendar. (Our annual Holiday Party is sions of this theft in new versions of ransom-
scheduled for the second Saturday in December ware targeting large organizations. Meanwhile,
(12/14). questions have been raised about the security
of our electric grid and other national systems
Still not much in the popular or technical press being used to run major portions of our econo-
about Microsoft’s Windows 10 May 2019 update, my. The feeling expressed in these articles is
which I take as a good thing! I’ve updated both that up till now we have not fully comprehended
my desktop and laptop without a problem; hope- the security risks to our key infrastructure com-
fully, you also have had a positive experience if ponents, our secret information and our election
you’ve installed that update. systems and we must make “catching up “a ma-
Cellular providers are continuing the 5G roll-out jor national priority.
in selected areas. Not much in the news about In closing, let me remind anyone still using a
their progress, which I assume is going slowly. Windows 7 PC that Microsoft will terminate all
As you may have read, this cellular service can- support for Windows 7 in the middle of January
not use the 4G antennae already in place. In- 2020 – about five months from now. You will
stead, it will require many more, smaller anten- still be able to use your Win 7 PC after that cut-
nae, typically placed on light posts or other struc- off, but you are advised to avoid using it on the
tures sprinkled throughout the service area. I’ve (Continued on page 6)
3
