Info Manager

Info Manager for January 13, 2003

[*]   Beginning of the End of Freedom

[*]   Calling the mothership

[*]   User Group University

[*]   Apple announcements

[*]   More on Expo

[*]   In the UG Lounge

[*]   Netter's Dinner

[*]   Deborah Shadovitz

[*]   eMac Special

[*]   News You Can Use
 

Beginning of the End of Freedom

Randy B. Singer reported in the Mac EvangeList on this article from the Indymedia Victoria web site. It seems that Microsoft is promising that its new product 'Palladium' will assure 'security' and 'copyright protection' on the internet. It is a scary read. This system would cause a centrally controlled, hardware based blocking of websites that it deems to be 'insecure' and thus not approved. Randy also mentioned better known sources in his e-mail:
zdnet.com
microsoft.com
cam.ac.uk
(BTW - Randy B. Singer was co-author of some of the Macintosh Bible editions.)
Read it for yourself at: http://victoria.indymedia.org/features/technology/

Calling the mothership

Another issue came to light from Randy in the same EvangeList digest. This one involved Microsoft imbedding a program into Windows XP that attempts to contact Microsoft during normal computer usage. This was discovered on a PC using a product called ZoneAlarm, that notifies the user about connections that are attempted during normal usage.
Read this article at: http://www.hevanet.com/peace/microsoft.htm

User Group University

I attended my third UGU this year on Monday before Expo. (I have been at half of them.) It had a number of interesting sessions. Including a discussion of making CDs of the month done by Cowtown MUG's President Lesa Snyder. (One group to which I am a member.) An audience member there pointed out that people who produce shareware CDs should be careful to be sure that the author has given permission for that type of distribution
      Another session I attended, was concerning talking your friends to "switch." This one was given by Lynda Fudold. I think this would have been a much more useful discussion if it had focused on solving conflict instead of the "switch." That just made it to focused. But that said, I felt that Lynda was the best presenter I heard there. Unfortunately, I can't find Lynda's contact information.
      The Campus User Group folks ran a segment in the afternoon where the classmates were divided up into about a dozen groups. Those groups were to answer questions involving common user group issues with-in the group. Then they were to do a presentation to everyone else. I think that this was one of the best format and similar activities have been done in the past. However by limiting the presentation to 3 minutes after pretty limited discussion before hand, really did a disservice to those who need the assistance the most. Hopefully in the future it will be allowed more time. I also attended a session on resources for MUGs. Those I will go into at a later date. After I get my notes cleaned up. However, I don't recall any that I haven't mentioned in the past here.
 
AACUG Regional Director, Dan East, has posted photos from Macworld. He writes:

"The Mid-Atlantic Macintosh User Groups Team (MaMUGs) has posted photos and an iPhoto slide show from MWE and UGU in San Francisco this week. So great to see so many user groups there! Thanks so much to everyone who participated... Best regards, Dan"

GO TO: Photos with Thumbnails
GO TO: Quicktime Movie (Rather large and slow loading!)

Apple announcements

I suppose by now that everyone has heard of the 12" and the 17" Powerbooks. They are really cool and the commercial shown during the keynote is funny.
      But other announcements were made as well. "Airport Extreme", which give you 802.11g compatibility for even faster connectivity and the ability to share a printer via its own USB port.
     The free Apple web browser "Safari" and a presentation package called "Keynote" ($99). Apparently so called because Steve Jobs has used it for his Keynote presentations over the last 2 years. Both of these new products make Apple a little less dependent on Microsoft. That of course is good and bad.
     Then, there were the upgraded products, new versions of iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes and iDVD. All but the last one will remain as free download. All are OS X only. The iDVD will come with the other three for a $50 fee. The package is being sold as iLife. Final Cut Express was also announced for those who don't need the power of the full version. ($299 price) Of course, details on those are available at Apple.com.
Direct links are available at both the User-Groups.net site, or in the MUG News at:
http://www.aacug.org/MUG/

More on Expo

There were a lot of product announcements during the show. But the floor itself seemed to be quieter than the last few shows I attended. The only booth with a line was the one for Intego. Intego produces virus and Internet protection software. (NetBarrier, VirusBarrier, etc.) But what was drawing the crowds was an offer of a chance at winning a $55,600 Hummer II. There was about a 30 minute wait for a chance at spinning one or more wheels.
      Corel had a nice hands-on classroom to let people try out their graphic software. Most of the major vendors had sit down areas for presentations. I watched Filemaker, Suitcase and Excel among others.

In the UG Lounge

The User Group Lounge had a number of presenters, including David Pogue, Shawn King, Andy Ihnatko, operators of DealMac and Jason Snell & Jennifer Berger of MacWorld magazine, that I got to see. Among those that I didn't see were: Ted Landau, Adam Engst, Chris Breen. Just not enough time in the day.

Netter's Dinner

This was the 19th meeting of the Netter's Dinner. The person who organize it wasn't able to attend and turned it over to Adam Engst to be the host. As was traditional, Adam asked a bunch of questions just to see how much of a geek we actually were. It turned out one gentleman has 22 hard drives with 3 terabyte of storage space. (He was a video producer.) We were asked how long we had been on the 'net. One fellow started in the 70's on Arpanet. It turned out that the crowd as a whole was pretty geeky. The final question though was what to call the new PowerBooks. (iBooks being called Icebooks and the Titanium's being called the TiBooks.) Giant & Midget were rejected as were about 30 other suggestions before the 12" was called "Snack Tray". Then after a quick discussion it was decided that they should be called Lunch Tray and "Happy Meal". They all had a good laugh over that one. If you are interested in going to the Netter's dinner in New York, keep a watch on Ilene's Hess Memorial List and there will be a link.
Ilene's list is at: http://www.ilenesmachine.com/partylist.shtml

Deborah Shadovitz

At Expo I saw Deborah sitting down at the presenter's station at Aladdin System's booth. She was talking about her old column on MacCentral called MacEfficiency. This was tied in to Aladdin's "10 for X" Utilities, but it was interesting watching her go through her recommendations, including how to use the software. It was obvious that her presentation wasn't as well planned or rehearsed as the 'pros" in the other sessions. But then it was also obvious that it came from her heart and her desire to help the average user. Her old column, while based on OS 9 or earlier, still can be applied somewhat to X and she has it on her personal web site. (BTW - if I was still organizing MUG presentations, I would consider using her columns as a jumping off point for a series for a beginners SIG.)
Catch up with Deborah at: http://www.shadovitz.com/

eMac Special

At User Group University, we got an offer for an eMac for only $675 for MUG members. This is from the Apple MUG Store. Only 75 are offered at this price. You will need the passwords from your MUG leader to get in. 800-844-3599
Here's the web address: http://www.applemugstore.com/

News You Can Use

The InfoManager invites user groups to use his column in full or in pieces in their newsletter. Or add a link to their web site. He would appreciate word that you are doing so however and if you can, please send a pdf version of the newsletter for his perusal. Or provide him with a link. The address is InfoManager@user-groups.net. You can also use that address for feed back
As always, you can use my web form at: http://www.user-groups.net/InfoManager/INFO.html

pau

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Also see: MUG NEWS bursts from the AACUG Mac User Guide (MUG)

Note: Features schedule

The InfoManager invites user groups to use his column in full or in pieces in their newsletter. Or add a link to their web site. He would appreciate word that you are doing so however and if you can, please send a pdf version of the newsletter for his perusal. Or provide him with a link. The address is InfoManager@user-groups.net. You can also use that address for feed back.
Note: Features schedule
1st Monday Vendor of the Month; (VOM)
2nd Monday "InfoManager's Humble Opinion (IMHO);
3rd Monday TBA (What would you like to see?)
4th Monday: User Group Tips. (Send them in)
5th Monday: Nothing extra - my day of rest. ;-)
Of course I could make adjustments to this schedule as I see fit and will take suggestions. Have a great week! Note: In light of the new AACUG MUG tabloid publication, I may be changing the above schedule. Please send me your input.
Pau

The Info Manager is a veteran of the UGN (AOL User Groups Forum) and User Group Network. He's been a supporter and volunteer on many, many UGNet and User Group Academy projects. As a long time user group member, he's served as volunteer from Honolulu to Boston and many points in between. Currently working with the Apple Corp of Dallas, the Dallas Mac Pack, Cowtown MUG of Ft. Worth and TUMS (the Tulsa Users of Macintosh Society) doing newsletter articles and the monthly CD-ROM Update. Post a lead Info Manager should follow up on.

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