General Meetings
Once a month, on the 4th Saturday, we hold our General Meeting for Pi members. This interactive Zoom meeting is open to all Pi members. Most meetings are also publicly live-streamed on the Pi's YouTube channel and available for later playback. Videos of individual presentations below can be played directly using the player to the right of each presentation. A YouTube list of all General meeting videos can be found here (opens in a new window).
Like other Pi gatherings, General Meetings are posted to the Pi calendar (members only) and announced by specific postings on groups.io (members only) which generate emails to those choosing to receive them. Details and member access information for the General Meetings are in the postings and the emails.
Like other Pi gatherings, General Meetings are posted to the Pi calendar (members only) and announced by specific postings on groups.io (members only) which generate emails to those choosing to receive them. Details and member access information for the General Meetings are in the postings and the emails.
Our Next General Meeting: February 28, 2026
Earlier Meetings and Videos (if available)
Backup Strategies for the Mac, January 2026
Paul Chernoff & Sam Knutson
Paul Chernoff & Sam Knutson
|
|
Dan Hoffman discusses his experiences with Smart Cities,
November 2025
November 2025
|
|
David Pogue discusses his new book: Apple: The First 50 Years,
October 2025
October 2025
What's New From Apple! September 2025
Digital Defense: Protecting You & Your Apple Devices in the Age of Hacks and Data Requests, August 2025
The State of AI: Professor Cameron Nowzari (GMU), July 2025
From Skeptic to Strategist:
How AI is Reshaping Education, Work, and Life, June 2025
How AI is Reshaping Education, Work, and Life, June 2025
|
Video Part 1 ⬆️ Video Part 2 ⬇️
|
2025 in Tech: What Fresh Hell is This?, May 2025 (hybrid)
Trends in Local Frauds & Scams, April 2025
More With Photos, March 2025
Apple Photos Has Grown Up, February 2025
|
|
We, Too, Are Made of Water, January 2025
|
|
Welcome NCA-MUG Members, November 2024
Jennifer Wilcox -- Cryptology & Advancing Technology, October 2024
Aaron Davis -- What's New from Apple, September 2024
Sarah Al-Ahmed -- Beyond the Pale Blue Dot, August 2024
Gabe Goldberg & Dr. Janani Perera -- Buying and Using Hearing Aids,
July 2024
July 2024
|
|
This is our long-planned session about hearing aids. If you're an experienced hearing aids user, or a less experienced user, or someone who's headed for hearing aids, or someone who's only used airpods and wants to know more, this will be a very useful session. We'll start with Pi Board Member Gabe Goldberg discussing the buying process, lessons learned from his experience, and then hear from audiologist Dr. Janani Perera, who'll talk about the fitting process, as well as hearing aids tech trends.
Rob Pegoraro -- The Current Tech Landscape, June 2024
|
|
Rob Pegoraro, former Washington Post technology reporter and now a free-lance technology journalist, will visit Washington Apple Pi in June. While we can't promise this, it is pretty much a sure thing that Rob will talk about the rumor, sound, fury, and hype behind Artificial Intelligence (AI), which proponents and publicists have promised will revolutionize your pillow, your tooth brushing, your ability to see space and time and possibly thought, and make you really want to use that new AI-powered hand soap. Since this is Washington Apple Pi and not a gardening club, he will probably also talk about how Apple intends to use AI, and if he doesn't intend that, ask. Rob brings together that rare blend of tech enthusiasm, tech skepticism, and literacy that make him well worth listening to -- and reading.
Ginny Bixby -- Local Journalism, Stories & Trends, May 2024
|
|
Bixby previously worked as the city reporter for The Daily Progress, a daily newspaper in Charlottesville, Virginia. She covered the city government and other happenings in the city, and led the publication's coverage of the Confederate statue removal in July 2021. Bixby focused on how the historical landscape of the city affects its present day existence, especially in regards to racial segregation.
Her reporting has been picked up by state, regional, and national media - including The Washington Post, the Associated Press, and US News and World Report. And Bixby was interviewed on NPR's Here and Now and on LBC Radio in London, UK about the removal of Charlottesville's Confederate statues.
Her reporting has been picked up by state, regional, and national media - including The Washington Post, the Associated Press, and US News and World Report. And Bixby was interviewed on NPR's Here and Now and on LBC Radio in London, UK about the removal of Charlottesville's Confederate statues.
Jim McLean: AR/VR/Mixed Reality,
Generative AI & Metaverse Spaces, April 2024
Generative AI & Metaverse Spaces, April 2024
Roy Shrout: Drones Are Everywhere, March 2024
|
|
Drones can be found in almost every city and county in the United States. As of December 31, 2023, The FAA's database includes 790,918 drones, roughly divided between commercial and recreational drones. So how do you keep a level of safety for all these users as they interact in the National Air Space, and what is happening with all the drone video and pictures? To enhance safety in recreational drone use, the FAA's TRUST (The Recreational UAS Safety Test) requires a safety and aeronautical test, that more than 650,000 users have passed prior to flying their drone. The FAA added more requirements for commercial users. Roy will talk about all the current concerns with flying these drones, including privacy and even national security issues.
Roy Shrout worked for Fairfax County for more than 31 years starting in the Public Safety Communications Center as a 911 dispatcher moving up the ranks assuming the lead role as Squad Supervisor in 2001. He moved to the Office of Emergency Management in 2003 and was promoted to Deputy Coordinator in 2006. Mr. Shrout served as the situation unit leader for the national capital region (NCR) Emergency Operations Center (EOC) management team that was deployed to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He also served as the chair of the National Capital Region Operations Center Committee, where he implemented several regional Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) programs to help with information sharing and situational awareness for planned events and infrastructure emergencies. He authored a white paper on Situational Awareness in the National Capital Region and served as the co-chair for a regional Situational Awareness working group that was tasked to identify essential elements of information, review existing technology, and process and then develop recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness for regional information sharing.
Mr. Shrout served as the Program Manager for the implementation of the Fairfax County Public Safety Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program which includes Law Enforcement, Fire and Rescue and Emergency Management. The program was formally adopted by the Board of Supervisors on May 21, 2019. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Shrout also received approval by the Board of Supervisors to expand the program to include additional County agencies such as Parks, Public Affairs and Public Works thus setting the stage for Fairfax County to become one of the first "All County UAS programs."
Roy Shrout worked for Fairfax County for more than 31 years starting in the Public Safety Communications Center as a 911 dispatcher moving up the ranks assuming the lead role as Squad Supervisor in 2001. He moved to the Office of Emergency Management in 2003 and was promoted to Deputy Coordinator in 2006. Mr. Shrout served as the situation unit leader for the national capital region (NCR) Emergency Operations Center (EOC) management team that was deployed to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He also served as the chair of the National Capital Region Operations Center Committee, where he implemented several regional Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) programs to help with information sharing and situational awareness for planned events and infrastructure emergencies. He authored a white paper on Situational Awareness in the National Capital Region and served as the co-chair for a regional Situational Awareness working group that was tasked to identify essential elements of information, review existing technology, and process and then develop recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness for regional information sharing.
Mr. Shrout served as the Program Manager for the implementation of the Fairfax County Public Safety Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program which includes Law Enforcement, Fire and Rescue and Emergency Management. The program was formally adopted by the Board of Supervisors on May 21, 2019. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Shrout also received approval by the Board of Supervisors to expand the program to include additional County agencies such as Parks, Public Affairs and Public Works thus setting the stage for Fairfax County to become one of the first "All County UAS programs."
Jennifer Wilcox: Sharing the Burden
(Women in Cryptology), February 2024
(Women in Cryptology), February 2024
This Enigma machine and many variants were used by Germany throughout World War II to send encrypted military and diplomatic messages. Cracking such coded messages was a critical step in the Allied victory over the Axis in Europe. Photo by Lawrence I. Charters, taken at the National Cryptologic Museum.
Women played a large, but rarely told, role in WWll cryptology. College women were recruited from math departments at colleges around the
country to learn cryptanalysis. Thousands of other women joining the Army and Navy were assigned to code work operating machines that broke enemy codes or transmitting coded messages to Washington. This is their story, as presented by Jennifer Wilcox, National Cryptologic Museum.
The National Cryptologic Museum is one of the hidden gems of the DC area. Located in the former Colony Seven Motel, just outside the gates of Fort Meade, it is a free museum with exhibits covering the entire history of codes and code breaking, from ancient times to the present, with a wide assortment of artifacts inside the museum as well as several aircraft outside that were used to gather signals intelligence. The history of modern cryptology is closely tied to the history of electronic computing, and microcomputers.
National Cryptologic Museum website: https://www.nsa.gov/museum/
country to learn cryptanalysis. Thousands of other women joining the Army and Navy were assigned to code work operating machines that broke enemy codes or transmitting coded messages to Washington. This is their story, as presented by Jennifer Wilcox, National Cryptologic Museum.
The National Cryptologic Museum is one of the hidden gems of the DC area. Located in the former Colony Seven Motel, just outside the gates of Fort Meade, it is a free museum with exhibits covering the entire history of codes and code breaking, from ancient times to the present, with a wide assortment of artifacts inside the museum as well as several aircraft outside that were used to gather signals intelligence. The history of modern cryptology is closely tied to the history of electronic computing, and microcomputers.
National Cryptologic Museum website: https://www.nsa.gov/museum/
Video Editing From Soup to Nuts, January 2024
|
|
Andy Ihnatko: Returns to the Pi!, November 2023
|
|
Carrie Kerskie: Protecting Your Assets From Identity Theft, Oct. 2023
|
|
Aaron Davis: What's New From Apple!, September 2023
|
|
Joe Kissel: Take Control of Your Digital Legacy, August 2023
Phil Shapiro: Digital Storytelling on YouTube -
no fancy hardware or software, July 2023
no fancy hardware or software, July 2023
|
|
Rob Pegoraro: TikTok & Digital Privacy, Family Tech Support,
Broadband Access Gets Better, June 2023
Broadband Access Gets Better, June 2023
David Pogue: Artificial Intelligence Gets Real, May 2023
|
|
Kate Howells: Planetary Science, Exploration, Advocacy, April 2023
|
|
DeMario Phipps-Smith: The News Literacy Project, March 2023
Fighting Misinformation: Teaching People the Skills They Need to Find Credible Sources
|
|
Shira Ovide: Tech in Transportation, January 2023
Whether and How Driverless Cars, TVs, Micromobility Solutions, Hyperloops, Uber, Etc. Can Solve Congestion, Road Safety, and Pollution/Climate Change
|
|
AR, VR, Mixed Reality, Metaverse, by Jim McLean, November 2022
George Mason University (hybrid)
AR, VR, Mixed Reality, Metaverse, by Jim McLean, November 2022
George Mason University (hybrid)
|
|
What's New in MacOS Ventura, October 2022
|
|
Apple Updates the Pi on All Things Apple, September 2022
Podcasts and Shortcuts, August 2022
|
|
Even Earlier Meetings with external links to videos (V)
Online Safety: Not only for Seniors!, July 23, 2022 (V)
Rob Pegoraro reviews personal technology in 2022, June 25, 2022
Cryptocurrency: Scams and Trends, May 21, 2022 (V)
Insights into the Africa Tech Scene, April 23, 2022 (V)
Maryn McKenna: Animals, Antibiotics, and the Future of Medicine, March 26, 2022
Avenza Maps and Virginia State Parks - John Krout, February 26, 2022
Even Earlier Meetings with external links to videos (V)
Online Safety: Not only for Seniors!, July 23, 2022 (V)
Rob Pegoraro reviews personal technology in 2022, June 25, 2022
Cryptocurrency: Scams and Trends, May 21, 2022 (V)
Insights into the Africa Tech Scene, April 23, 2022 (V)
Maryn McKenna: Animals, Antibiotics, and the Future of Medicine, March 26, 2022
Avenza Maps and Virginia State Parks - John Krout, February 26, 2022