We’re hoping that we’ll see a large turnout for this Thursday’s presentation on payment card security. The information (and registration link) is below:

Payment Card Industry Security and Compliance
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Networking: 11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.; Program: 12 – 1 p.m.
Innovation Depot (1500 1st Avenue North – directions)
Free to attend, $10 optional lunch.
RSVP Now!

E-commerce is booming, but merchant banking requirements are getting stricter. Have you heard of PCI-DSS, but aren’t sure if or how it applies to you? Has your merchant bank told you that you needed quarterly scanning and to “fill out this simple questionnaire” that looks like a tax return to you? Did you contract with a security expert, only to find out you don’t speak “Security” and he or she doesn’t speak “English”? This session will be a brief overview to orient you on these issues.

Gary Smith is the E-commerce Manager for American Klassic Designs (AKD) in Montgomery, Alabama. Since 2003, he’s managed e-commerce sites which provide clothing, books, and gift items to employees, members, and fans. His first three e-commerce clients were (and are) in the IT security industry! Current sites that he manages include www.isc2education.org/store (the organization behind the CISSP credential) and www.bonnieplantstore.com.

Come join us at the spectacular Vulcan Park on Wednesday, August 25 (from 6-9 p.m.) to get better acquainted with other Internet professionals in Alabama.

It will once again be free to members (and one of their guests). Non-members can attend for $10.

You don’t want to wait to register for this annual event, so go ahead and do it NOW!

This event will revolve around casual conversations and also include tables with informal discussions on topics of interest. Come and lead or participate in a discussion.

If you’re interested in volunteering to lead one of the tables (or have an idea for a topic), please don’t hesitate to contact any of the members of the board.

Dreamland BBQ and beverages including beer and wine will be served.

Many thanks to Kinetic Communications for sponsoring this year’s summer networking event. We look forward to seeing you on August 25!

Thanks for helping us plan the August meeting! Glen Gordon from Microsoft will join us this Thursday, August 5, at Innovation Depot for our monthly meeting. He’ll will be talking about Visual Studio 2010 for Web Designers!

Glen Gordon is a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft. He brings resources and presentations to developers throughout the Southeast. You can keep up with Glen through his blog or follow him on Twitter http://twitter.com/glengordon

This month you get to help us plan the August meeting! Glen Gordon from Microsoft will join us for our August 5 IPSA meeting at Innovation Depot. He can speak on a variety of topics related to Microsoft products. RSVP for the meeting using the link above and then go to http://bit.ly/ipsa0810 (before Friday, July 23) to vote for your favorite topic.

Glen Gordon is a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft. He brings resources and presentations to developers throughout the Southeast. You can keep up with Glen through his blog or follow him on Twitter http://twitter.com/glengordon

RSVP

The book publishing industry is in the throes of an evolutionary change. The past decade has changed the way information is created, packaged and consumed, while Apple, Amazon and Google battle it out.

Travis Bryant will give a brief overview of the publishing industry in 2010. His presentation also give insights into some of the technology, file formats and eReading devices, as well as trends within self-publishing, book buyers and readers.

This will be a talk for anyone interested in books and the changing landscape for readers. Whether you love your Kindle or consider eBooks to be devil spawn, you don’t want to miss this presentation.

Travis is the Director of Digital Products for Menasha Ridge Press.

The release of WordPress 3.0 is happening any day now, and it is probably one of the most exciting ones there has been in a long time. The biggest thing it is bringing is that the Multi User (MU) platform is finally merging with the standard install, making updates faster for MU users, and expanding the capability for standard users. There are also a ton of other great changes and features coming with the new version, and we’ll highlight them at this meeting. If you are a blogger, designer, developer, or just a fan of open source, you don’t want to miss out on this!

Presentation by: Tom Brander
Thursday, April 8, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
(Networking 11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.; Program 12 – 1 p.m.
McWane Science Center (200 19th Street North – directions)
Free to attend, optional lunch $10

This month Tom Brander, a.k.a. @Dartdog on Twitter, will do a brief Introduction to Pinax. His presentation will cover set up of the current development version of Pinax (pre.9) as of 3/19/2010 and will also give an overview of Django.Tom provides Real Estate Reporting services to banks, realty companies and developers. He is on the Trustee Board of the Alabama Center for Real Estate at the University of Alabama where he also provides consulting services. He creates the following blogs, primarily on Wordpress.com,: http://tbrander.wordpress.com (real estate), http://tombrander.wordpress.com (technical and personal),http://tbrander.appspot.com (computer forensics, hosted on Google App-engine), and http://oswco.com (open source software company, a new venture).

Tom spent 8 years with the Honeywell computer division in sales and tech support on the Metropolitan Life and Bell Labs accounts. He was with Citibank for 10 years, and for another 10 years, he headed up the Information Systems and Communications groups for Compass Bank (now BBVA). He has also served as the Chief Financial Officer for several Birmingham based healthcare related companies.

NOTE: Due to the location of this month’s meeting, you WILL NOT be able to bring outside food in. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Chris Osborne is the Chief Branding Officer for the Birmingham Area Chapter of the American Red Cross. He’ll be addressing how the American Red Cross has to change with the times, trends and population. Osborne will review what they are doing locally, nationally and internationally to solicit support and update media outlets including the role of “new media”. He’ll be joined by the chapter’s marketing assistant Katie Garfinkle.

Some of you may know Chris from his work as an award-winning reporter and videographer at ABC 33/40. Chris was one of the founding members of the ABC 33/40 news team. He has 19 years of experience working in radio and television in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Alabama. Chris was the first Black air personality on WCRK, an AM radio station in his hometown of Morristown, Tennessee.

Three years ago, Chris launched a new career with the American Red Cross as the organization’s Public Affairs Officer for the Birmingham Area Chapter. Recently he was promoted to the senior management position of Chief Branding Officer. In that role, he is responsible for, among many other things, internal/external communications, community outreach, media relations, website/social media content and serves as the agency’s representative with Project SHARE which helps elderly and disabled citizens with utility bills.

Chris is married to his wife “Tiffany” and they have a new son “William Christopher Jr.” who is 7 months old.

We look forward to seeing you there!