For Refresh Jonesboro 23, Lee Quessenberry will introduce us to the JQuery Cycle plugin. The jQuery Cycle Plugin is a slideshow plugin that supports many different types of transition effects. Effects you can use include pause-on-hover, auto-stop, auto-fit, before/after callbacks, click triggers and much more. It also allows you to define and run your own custom transitions. Lee will present basic functionality as well as show working examples.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP via Facebook.

For Refresh Jonesboro 22, Steven Trotter will introduce us to Hootsuite. Hootsuite is the ultimate Twitter toolbox. With HootSuite, you can manage multiple Twitter profiles, Facebook Pages and LinkedIn profiles, add multiple editors, pre-schedule tweets, and measure your campaign’s success. HootSuite lets you manage your social media experience from one easy-to-use interface (and iPhone app!). You can check stats and analytics right from the dashboard, search Twitter for keyword information, reply and direct message tweeps in your conversation.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP via Facebook.

For this week’s meeting Michael Quessenberry introduced us to Kerkythea.

Michael took our Google Sketchup skills to the next level tonight! He started with a recap of some of the things we learned from the previous Sketchup presentations (using the shape tools, extrude tool, and painting). Once we covered the basics, it was time to get prepared to export our model to Kerkythea, a free rendering software. Michael also showed us some techniques he uses to prepare the model. Next, we learned how easy it is to edit model materials using presets in Kerkythea.

Here are some screen shots from tonight’s presentation:

Michael showed us some cool things you can do with models from the Google sketchup repository.

Preparing “David” for rendering in Kerkythea

Michael also showed us how to use bump mapping to make textured surfaces.

For Refresh Jonesboro 21, Lee Quessenberry will present a brief overview of Drupal with emphasis on version 7, due for a full release later this year. The presentation will be an objective review on the newest features and differences from the current stable release (6.15). For those who attended the “I<3 Drupal” presentation in Fall of 2009, this will be a reflection on topics covered that night. Newcomers needn’t worry as this is a topical presentation. Drupal 7 is still in alpha release and hasn’t been out very long so thorough inspection will be difficult to assess at first glance. Some interesting side notes will include a new hosted service featuring Drupal as a service, as well as a who’s who of famous musicians and notable organizations who are already using Drupal. If you plan to attend, please RSVP via Facebook.

For Refresh Jonesboro 20, Michael will present a continuation of the Google Sketup 101 sessions, Applications of Google Sketchup. In this session we will cover how to take the skills we learned in 101 sessions to the next level. We will learn how to export our sketchups to a rendering software and bring them to life. If you plan to attend, please RSVP via Facebook.

That’s right, 2010 is the “year we make contact”. After attending BarCamp Memphis, we have decided to bring BarCamp to Jonesboro in the Fall of 2010. Obviously details are still coming in, but by the end of the month we plan to have a date in place, 5-6 sponsors on board and a complete website online.

I know, you’re wondering “What the hell is BarCamp?”

A BarCamp is an “unconference” – an open, participatory event where the attendees are the presenters. The first BarCamp was held in Palo Alto, Ca., in 2005. Since then more than 350 cities on six continents have hosted BarCamps. The first BarCamps focused on early-stage web applications, open-source technologies, and open data formats; but the format has been adapted to serve a variety of other industries and issues, including public transit, health care, real estate and political organizing.  – read more at BarCampJonesboro.com

How do I sign up!? When’s it happening?

Whoa! I like your enthusiasm. Well, for now you can sign up to help out as volunteer staff or you can even submit a presentation idea. We are currently in negotiations with a local facility that will work out perfectly as the venue for BarCamp Jonesboro. We have everything settled except for the date. We hope to have the final details ironed out and online by January 1st so that you can get your tickets and pencil the event into your schedule.

Sponsors – We need you.

We already have a few sponsors on board, but we are looking for many more. If you would like to help get the first BarCamp Jonesboro off the ground, please contact us. At the Silver Sponsorship level, we have the following:

More to come…

As details are available you can find them at BarCamp Jonesboro.

For Refresh Jonesboro 19, Michael Quessenberry will treat us to a continuation of his Google Sketup 101 session, Applications of Google Sketchup. In this session he will show us how to take the skills we learned in 101 to the next level. We will learn how to take rudimentary shapes and turn them into buildings, join them into more complex objects and more. We will also learn how to prepare our sketchups for the rendering process that turns our sketches into life-like models. If you plan to attend, please RSVP via Facebook.

For Refresh Jonesboro 18, Christy Wilson will introduce us to the popular blogging platform, Wordpress.  She will demonstrate how easy it is to install, setup, manage and customize your very own blog. Topics will include:

• Install & Setup
• Suggested Hosts
• Posts vs Pages
• Plugins
• Themes
• Customization
• Maintenance

If you plan to attend, please RSVP via Facebook.

We’d like to welcome all Refresh’ers (current, past and future) to our Friends & Family Cookout. We love to try to get everyone out that has ever been to a Refresh meeting or event. We’re hosting the event at our new home at Jonesboro Coworking, in downtown Jonesboro (at Cate Avenue & Main Street). We’ll have burgers, hot dogs and more on the grill, so bring your kids, spouses, significant others or whomever you’d like.

Please RSVP via Facebook so that we can get a pretty close head count for the grill. See ya there!

Here’s an update on the status of things:

• Michael is already working on the phone (we think we found a solution thanks to Craig’s extra BlackJack II and my son’s data plan). The GPS isn’t currently working correctly, but Michael is diligently troubleshooting the problem. We can’t figure out where the limitation is coming from. The coordinates it is feeding back to us are completely inaccurate.
• We purchased an SD card for the camera (found on Craig’s list) and it is ready to be hacked.
• We have located both a parachute and balloon. We will be ordering those tomorrow. The cost is a bit more than we had anticipated, but the parachute is rated for around 10 launches and recoveries so we will have some fun with it over the next year. :)
• We have the payload container, tape, zip ties, twine, etc.
• I am also ordering the battery backups for the cell and camera this week.
• We have also located an external cell booster that Micheal is considering ordering for the project. We are still researching whether or not we will benefit from this.
• We are currently in the negative on funds, so anyone who can drop their funds by the office would be greatly appreciated.

So, that’s where we are now.

Mark your calendars! November 9th at 6:30pm. We’ll have food and drinks on hand. If you’d like to bring refreshments as well, that would be cool too. :)