Category: TechBrew

TechBrew – Audiobooks – March 8, 2021

The Technology of Audiobooks
A fast growing tech industry!
Curious to learn about what goes into creating a great audiobook?
As the lines between an audiobook and an ‘audio production’ are starting to blur, we have someone who is on the front lines and behind the scenes to help us understand how they are made.
We will get a rare opportunity to learn more about an ambitious project – a full-cast production that required a cast of nineteen different narrators (in addition to music and sound effects).
In the audiobook world, Eric Jason Martin is an award-winning and highly sought-after narrator, producer, and recent author. He’s the voice to more than 300 audiobooks (including the voice of Jack Reacher in Cleaning the Gold).
Tonight, Monday, March 8, 2021 @ 5:45pm we welcome Eric for a lively Q&A on a topic he knows better than most. I hope you can join us. Agenda below.
Our in-person TechBrew will resume as soon as it is safe to do so, but for now, we will continue to host our Virtual Techbrew on Zoom (link below).
When? Monday, Feb 8, 2021 – 5:45pm – 6:45pm (see schedule below)
Where? – Zoom Meeting ID: 874 1931 7071 PW: 123456)
Agenda:5:45pm to 6:00pm – Login, get your gear set-up and network with others in the session6:00pm to 6:30pm – Q&A with Eric Martin6:30pm to 6:45pm – Networking
Stay safe and I look forward to connecting on Monday!
Brian Schwartz, TechBrew ‘BrewMaster’ and Softec Ambassador
TechBrew is always free!
However, donations are always welcome. In return, you get a big shout out and the opportunity to speak about your company or idea for 1 minute.Make a Donation
Have you joined our meetup group yet? Stay up-to-date on all of Softec’s upcoming events at https://www.meetup.com/Softec

What's new in TechBrew?

Like a TED talk with Beer!  TechBrew has been a Softec staple for over ten years.  With two locations you are sure to find a TechBrew that matches your schedule and is conveniently located.

SMV TechBrew Reboot

The Santa Maria TechBrew was recently rebooted with a new day and location.  Occurring on the 4th Monday of each month, you can find us conveniently located right off of Betteravia, in Santa Maria at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company in the attached Me-N-Ed’s restaurant area.

Schedule

SLO TechBrew – 2nd Monday of each month at 5PM – SLO Grillhouse
SMV TechBrew – 4th Monday of each month at 5PM – Figueroa Mtn

SMV Tech Brew – April 2017


Last night the SMV Tech Brew at the Moxie Cafe was a standing room only event with every chair filled. The crowd came together to hear Brian Beaton PhD, and Bruce Burton from Cal Poly’s California Cyber Training Complex talk about the upcoming California Cyber Innovation Challenge in June. Included in the audiences were students from Orcutt Academy that are considering building a team for the competition.  With over 40 people in the audience we were at capacity.

SMV Tech Brew – Jeff Barnes

Last night about 25 people came together for a presentation from Jeff Barnes. The presentation started with a trip down memory lane talking about the evolution of CafeFX in Santa Maria. This was capped off with the demo roll that included many of the feature films that CafeFX during its 18 years in Santa Maria.
As always Jeff was a good storyteller and he made the presentation fun to listen to. The second half of the presentation was on Lytro camera technology and it is a real game changer. The data depth was amazing and the file sizes involved are just crazy but so are the abilities to edit after shooting. While Jeff went well over my head several times the parts I understood were amazing and the others probably was too. Jeff intended to get to the application for VR for this technology but we ran out of time. We are currently discussing with Jeff a possible second Tech Brew so we can finish our look at this subject.
On a personal note my son Ryan attended with his son Zeplen so here is a picture of three generations at a Softec meeting. For those that have been with Softec for a long time you might remember that my mother used to do guest check-in during the late 90’s so this makes it 4 generations of Softec in our family.

VR Demo @ Santa Maria Tech Brew

Well after a few problems with scheduling caused by storm related power outages we got our sneak peek at an innovation in VR being developed by Trevor Orrick. This was the first time the device has been seen outside of the development team so it really was an exclusive sneak peak and the tech is very cool.
Their innovation is the control mat that you stand on to control the action within the VR environment. 
During the demo the group could see on the monitor what the person wearing the headset was seeing and the quality of the images was remarkable. The headset was another company’s product supplemented by the mat control developed by Trevor’s team.

After a short talk the group got to try the device and here is Tim Williams CEO from Digital West giving it a try.  I tried this for the first time and it was disorientating but I am sure with some time that I would get better.
It was a great event with about 20 people attending.
 

TechBrew – New Digs @ the SLO Grill House

We are loving our new place the the Grill House in Downtown SLO.
The room in the back is the perfect size to fit out growing group.  With several Large LCD screens, shelter from the upcoming winter rains, and no road noise – this is the perfect place abd we have the event to recover from those terrible Mondays!
Visit our TechBrew page to learn about the next presentation.

Tech Brew Recap – Oct 2015

If you missed last night’s Tech Brew you missed a great networking event. With an estimated 70+ attending some of us heard about wireless technology but Softec has some logistics to get straight for the new location. In the back of the room it was impossible to hear the presentation but we will figure that out for future meetings.
softec-tech-brew
The new location is great and the crowd was overflowing into the other parts of the restaurant. If you missed this one you missed a good one.