Washington Apple Pi

A Community of Apple iPad, iPhone and Mac Users

February 2014 General Meeting

Secure clouds

Dr. Strangeglove or:
How we learned to stop worrying and love the cloud

Speakers: Larry Kerschberg, Roy Wagner and Travis Good

February 22, 2014, 9:30 a.m., George Mason University

Slides from presentation (23 megabytes, PDF format)

Recent revelations about surveillance programs, and major commercial data breaches, have given us pause as to how to protect our digital information while still enjoying our digital lifestyle. One important aspect is the safe and secure use of cloud services such as iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, and similar offerings.

We will focus on Apple's iCloud service which provides the glue across all of our Apple devices. Specifically, we explore the iCloud System Preferences, the iCloud Keychain (new to Mavericks) and iPhoto.

For those concerned with privacy protection in the cloud, we discuss and demo:

The February meeting will be held at our usual location, the Enterprise building, Room 178 on the George Mason University campus in Fairfax VA. Check back closer to the meeting date for any updates or changes.

Once again, we will attempt to stream it over the Internet: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wap-general-meeting.

George Mason University Essential Information

The meeting will be held in Enterprise Hall, Room 178.

Address: 4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA (near Rte 123 and Braddock Road). Directions and Map: http://www.gmu.edu/welcome/Directions-to-GMU.html

Here is a campus map with annotations (PDF, 2.8 MB). Interactive map of campus: http://eagle.gmu.edu/map/fairfax.php

Important Parking Information: Two Options, Paid and Free

The Shenandoah Parking Garage (formerly the Sandy Creek Parking Garage because it is located on Sandy Creek) is fee-based facility. It is more convenient and closer to the meeting location. The Pi will subsidize the facility's parking fee by providing vouchers for donation request of $4.00.

If using the parking garage, park in Visitor's area; i.e., the lowest level. Take the elevator to the third floor (Campus Level), and exit along the sky bridge.

After the meeting, exit the garage using the exits marked for Validated Tickets. Your parking ticket goes in first. Then the validation ticket goes in next. If you have any problems, there is a speaker box for calling the parking lot attendant at the checkout point.

Free parking in Lot A (see map below)

Park as close to Mattaponi River Lane as possible, then walk north along that road toward the main campus buildings. The sidewalk route takes you directly to the side of Enterprise Hall, on your left. The meeting room is located on the second floor, accessible via outside stairs or via an elevator on your right as soon as you enter the building through the doors behind the outside stairs. We will endeavor to have signs posted to help guide you to the right location. It is at least a five-minute walk from Lot A and up a slight incline. We will be using a golf cart along the route, to offer rides to those who want or need a lift.

Handicapped Parking: There are three handicap parking spaces next to Enterprise Hall that can be used by members, on a first come first served basis. Have your Handicap Sticker showing on the dashboard or on the rear-view mirror.

George Mason University map