A Special General Meeting of SNEB was held on on 20th March 2024 and was well attended. Thank you to those who were able to attend.
** There was a near unanimous decision to WIND UP SeniorNet Easten Bays (SNEB) at this SGM (the first of two that the law requires).
Should any financial member not present at the meeting have any objections to the decision to wind up SNEB, please let these be known in writing to the Committee, within the next 30 days. Email address: easternbays@seniornet.nz
Briefly, we have been trying to get classes up and running but due to lack of tutors we have had to send our members to other SeniorNet classes and remain ready to continue to do this after May 3rd.
At this, the motion to wind up SNEB - SeniorNet Eastern Bays - will again be put, for the second and final time. If this is again passed, the dissolution of SNEB will be complete.
However, the Committee and Members will be on hand to continue to assist existing members to relocate to other SeniorNets and related organisations as follows:
If you are joining any of these SeniorNets please let them know you are from Eastern Bays SeniorNet so that they can charge our account.
Also let us know which Centre you have joined by emailing: easternbays@seniornet.nz Thanks. Cut-off date for this offer is: 31st May 2024.
Mac Senior Net Auckland - https://www.macsnrs.org.nz
Meet: The Courtyard Room, The Community of St Luke. 130 Remuera Rd, Remuera.
The Social Room, Te Tuhi Centre for Arts, 3 Reeves Road, Pakuranga
SeniorNet Eden-Roskill: www.seniornet-eden-roskill.org.nz
Meet: Mt Eden Senior Citizens Club, 487 Dominion Road, Mt Eden (Opposite Potters Park)
Pakuranga SeniorNet: www.senpak.nz
Meet: St Andrews Church Hall, 11 Vincent Street, Howick
Courses held at Cascade Storage Facility, 12 Ben Lomond Crescent.
In October, Pamela Kay presented "How to maximise the use of APP's". A very interesting topic. So many Apps which we can use in our daily lives which can help us. This is a topic which will be covered again in the New Year.
In November, we had a guest speaker, Mr Gary Harrison, presented 'Verdict on Mt. Erebus crash'. Gary, had assisted Justice Peter Mahon at the time. A very interesting topic which was delivered to members and many other guests. The presentation was followed by a special end of year morning tea
As part of Netsafety Week 2023 which runs from 24-30 July, Netsafe and Chorus are pleased to launch a Scam and Fraud Prevention video presentation created with seniors in mind, featuring NZ Anti-Fraud Award winner and Netsafe 'Scambassador' Bronwyn Groot and Netsafe's Chief Online Safety Officer Sean Lyons.
This is the first initiative as part of a partnership to create online safety resources for older people, so they can enjoy the benefits of technology while being confident and safe online.
Watch this video and share it with older friends and family members, for tips, advice and resources on how to avoid being scammed online.
You'll also find other helpful tools and resources on the same webpage, including a PDF version of the Little Black Book of Scams which is free to download, print and keep on hand for reference, and the CheckNetsafe tool, which tells you if a website or link is likely a scam or legitimate.
Top tips for older people - Netsafe - social media and online safety helpline
The post-Covid era for SNEB started at the July Monthly Meeting with a talk by Robert Herbert, Corporate Client Manager of Computer Recycling. Their factory is in Penrose but they also have many collection points in Auckland and elsewhere. They also stage many collection days at various places and dates up and down the country .
As Robert said, their aim is to recyle "anything with a plug", which includes any and all types of IT gear but also common household items and EV batteries. A star machine at Penrose is the "BluBox", which can recycle a wide range of items.
I got the overall impression of an intermediate-sized firm doing its very best for the recycling effort in a country that, despite its official rhetoric, is still not totally committed to the problem.
Wayne Power
The Central SeniorNet Website for all New Zealand:
A very handy governmental website for all Seniors (whether members of a SeniorNet branch or not):
For now: Just send us an email to easternbays@seniornet.nz
Guest Speaker Alan Cobcroft talked about Family Research and Genealogy and how computer technology has changed the way we undertake this work and what support is available.
Alan's first encounter with a working computer was back in 1969 at High School, using punch cards, the same year man stepped on the moon.
This early experience set a career working with computers which has had a number of transformative evolutions to bring us to our present day.
Computers have always been a tool in his life, operating, and programming, servicing, and now simply just using them.
Alan first became interested in his larger family when he attended a family reunion celebrating 200 years in Australia in 1990.
The family chart printout covered the length of the large hangar containing some 5,000 Australian relatives, it had him curious as to how so many people were related.
Computers have been good at keeping records, Family Trees, Written histories, and scanned photographs. Life became busy and it wasn't until 2014 he took the option to retire from work and had a hobby he could now get his teeth into.
At that very time Genealogy (Family History) was also going through an evolution, Genetic matching, digitisation of records, collaboration online, cloud computing.
He is a committee member of the Genealogical Computing Interest group and the Online DNA Interest Group both here in NZ, also a volunteer with the NZ Society of Genealogists & Billion Graves. Come and meet Alan. Hear how one can trace families. Learn how we can record about our families before it is lost.
The "Computer Hope" people have kindly supplied their free guide to the most often encountered Icons, Symbols and Buttons here. This is also a seperate page on the main menu (in blue at left).
If you have your phone's serial number and IMEI number, you should call your service provider immediately, and give them these numbers. They will block the device from their network and other networks, similar to stopping a credit card when your card is lost or stolen.
These numbers are easy to find: just key in these digits to your phone *#06# and long digit codes for the serial number and the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) will appear on the screen.
The IMEI is a 15-17 digit number that allows networks to identify a phone and get information on what type of phone it is, including where it was manufactured and its model.