Date
16th June 2026
Place
Bishop's Stortford Social Club
Apologies for Absence
Carolyn, Keith
Present
Ken, Chris, Tim, Jo, Pat, Bruce, Maureen, Alan, Graham, Robin, Paul, Chantale
Biscuits
McVitie's Milk Chocolate Hobnobs
Minutes
Ken
Minutes of group meetings are now on the website in a Bento grid layout. This was seen as an improvement. The Group page on our SiteWorks site still needs much improvement. Maureen said that those launching the site had done a good job in a short time.
A minor typo in last month's minutes was corrected.
Minifacts
chris
Chris bought some factoids to the meeting.
According to a recent study 95% of data breaches were caused by human error such as poor passwords or falling for what should be obvious scams.
A modern phone is far more powerful than the computers that took Apollo 11 to the moon.
Some important computer systems used by Government organisations still rely on floppy disks.
Screen Casting
Maureen
Maureen has made a helpful short video on how to cast from phone to TV.
Password on M&S App
Pat
Pat was struggling with the M&S app, which has been getting slower and slower. Others in the room have also been experiencing problems with the site or app. The problem was probably at M&S's end so the advice was to try again in a few days (or use the phone).
Connecting Canon Camera to Phone
Bruce
Bruce has resolved his difficulty linking his Canon camera with his phone. An app update was the answer.
AI Vaccine
Maureen
The BBC has reported that the first vaccine designed by AI has been successfully created.
Fingerprint Logon
Chantale
Chantale wants to set up fingerprint recognition. There seems to be a problem with the phone. The advice was to use a pin if necessary.
IT Champions
Maureen
The IT Champions scheme at Bishop's Stortford Library now only offers two sessions per week. They'd like more volunteers. You can volunteer here. Robin commented that they need phone and tablet expertise more than computers these days.
u3a Let's Talk Tech
Maureen
A recent LTT talk was about food technology. The group watched part of a video showing modern robotic food manufacture and serving. For Let's Talk Tech information and videos or PDFs of previous meeting see their Facebook group or Siteworks page.
One-time Code
jo
Jo has returned to ancestry.com after some time. They no longer seem to use a password but send a one-time access code.
Ken commented that this was in line with a general trend to move away from using passwords to authenticate users.
Scammed - resolved!
Alan
No further money has been taken from Alan and it appears that the scam has been stopped, although eh is unable to recover money lost. The scammer was in Cyprus and it appears that the ""£1 GiffGaff Membership" offer Alan accepted was never genuine.
Phone Case
Chantale
Chantale's phone case does not allow her to get at a control on the side of her phone. Use of a sharp knife was suggested.
Raspberry Pi
Paul
Paul deferred hos demonstration of Raspbeery Pi in action, and gave his apologies for next month as he is getting married. The group congratulated him and wished him well.
Yubikeys
Ken
Ken has bought Yubikeys to improve security of his important sites. When configured properly it is impossible to login to the sites without being in physical possession of the devices, which operate by being plugged into a USB port or touched against the back of a phone. He was disappointed to learn that they cannot be used to secure a Microsoft account when being used to log in to a computer.
Once again a lengthy and somewhat confused discussion showed that we need to look at the subject of Passkeys in more detail.
Apps v Websites
Graham
Graham asked why companies often promote their apps in preference to their websites, when he normally finds the sites easier to use. It's largely because they have more control over an app and can target customers better.
Browser Cache
Chantale
Chantale noticed that a suggested solution to an earlier problem had been to clear the browser cache. The group explained what the cache is and demonstrated how to clear it in Chrome. She was warned not to delete all browsing history as she would lose saved passwords and form data.
AI
Alan
AI is costing a great deal of money and seems to be leading to price increases.. Ken wondered if there isn't a bubble happening.
Hotel Booking
Graham
Graham said that booking sites such as booking.com and trivago claim to save money but it's often cheaper to book direct with the hotel.
Projector
Robin
Robin has a projector that has a failing lamp and the cost of replacing it is not proportionate to the value of the projector. He contacted W Austin Electronics who sell a large range of refurbished projectors on eBay.
Ken needs a projector for a local branch of Friends of the Samaritans so thanked Robin for the information.
Cloud Storage
Chantale
Chantale has several Cloud Storage locations but has been warned that her Google account is running out of space. Should she pay for more? She was advised that the culprit is likely to be photos and videos taken on her phone or received on WhatsApp that are automatically stored by Google. She should use the Google Photos app or site to delete things she doesn't want and to move things she does want to another storage location.
Android for Car
Robin
Robin has bought an inexpensive smart phone as he needs it to use Android Auto's stanav in his car.
Summer Break?
Ken
Maureen pointed out that the group's page on the u3a website says that the group does not meet in June, July, August or December. It was agreed that we will meet in July but not August and that a decision on December will be made nearer the date, although it's likely thatwe will not meet.