Info Manager

Info Manager for May 12, 2003

[*]   SuperCard updates 'almost every component'

[*]   NetZero and Juno now for Mac.

[*]   MacTech

[*]   New Authorized User Group Signature Graphics

[*]   Glass Bead Software releases SnapMail 4

[*]   Apple release Mac OS X 10.2.6

[*]   iTunes Music Store

[*]   Rivals to Apple Music service

[*]   New iPods

[*]   "This is True"

[*]   Microsoft creates "Athens" for future PCs.

[*]   Two-Thirds of Americans on the Internet

[*]   Difusi Corp to do "The Great Mac Giveaway"

[*]   Virtual Mac

[*]   Tidbit: Jaguar at William & Mary

[*]   UG Leadership Conference Announced

[*]   Rewriting History

[*]   User Groups Can Win a Pass to an O'Reilly Conference

[*]   MS Antitrust case heats up again

[*]   Dell Computer wants to drop 'computer'

[*]   AOL, MSN & Yahoo have joined to fight spam

[*]   A spam win and a loss

[*]   Eudora Filters (for Windows)

[*]   EarthLink to offer anti-spam e-mail system

[*]   *TenLinks: Free CAD, CAM, CAE Software

[*]   Paper like way to display text

[*]   DiskWarrior 3.0 for Mac OS X released

[*]   REALbasic update

[*]   Sonnet offers iTunes Support Center for older Macs

[*]   Is TiVo NeXT?

[*]   The Digital Storytelling Festival

[*]   Quotes of the week: Murrow; Carroll; White
 

SuperCard updates 'almost every component'

One of the stories I missed last week. Dennis Sellers talks about the new SuperCard in an article with the above title. It is good, that someone is still developing what started out as a clone of Hypercard. To bad it isn't Apple. Full story at:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/

NetZero and Juno now for Mac.

I got an email from NetZero telling me that it is now available for Mac OS X.
      (About 4 years ago, I expressed an interest in the dialup service. Now that I have Cable, I am no longer interested, but maybe you will be.
      According to the web site at http://www.netzero.net/, the basic "Platinum" service is $9.95/month and an enhanced faster service for $5 more. They claim to compress and decompress parts of a web page to speed things up.
      The same company also owns Juno so the same situation is true for them as well.
      Note, when I enquired, both companies were offering FREE Internet hookup. They no longer have that option. But if you need dial-up, they should be considered. See:
http://www.juno.com/

MacTech

I got an e-mail from the folks that publish MacTech Magazine. They are promising that it has been reborn and more relevant than ever to new and experienced programmers. The also have a special subscription offer. This has always been one of the best publications for those developing on the Mac. Unfortunately, I only understand about half of it. I am sure you can do better. You can see the offer at:
http://www.mactech.com/welcomeback

New Authorized User Group Signature Graphics

The new graphics include a new font and a new look. There are in three different sizes. Your group must sign new signature guidelines as well. The EPS files are available via the Apple Sales Web. Your Ambassador can sign on at:
https://asw.apple.com/

Glass Bead Software releases SnapMail 4

The new version includes support for OS X. This is a terrific e-mail program for the small office. I have reported on previous versions here. SnapMail 4 was completely rewritten for OS X. It uses TCP/IP networking, supports Rendezvous and one-click "SnapBack" replies and has a spelling checker that checks while you type. It is compatible with Systems going back to OS 8.6. More details at:
http://www.glassbead.com/

Apple release Mac OS X 10.2.6

Last Tuesday, Apple posted its update to Mac OS X 10.2.5. It is now version 10.2.6. According to Apple, the 10.2.6 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for: Address Book, Graphics, Printing, OpenGL and PC Card and USB hub device compatibility. Just use the Software Update Control Panel to get it. Although it might be wise to check out what is being said at MacFixIt to make sure you don't get hit by any of those "arrows"
http://www.macfixit.com/

iTunes Music Store

As you probably know by now, Apple had a very successful first week of operation for their music store. They sold over one million songs. It will be really interesting to see what the sales figures are for the holidays when they have release iTunes for Windows and have those potential additional customers. It would seem that a billion dollar annual sales figure would not be out of the question. But we shall see. (or use iTunes 4) More information at:
http://www.apple.com/music/store/

Rivals to Apple Music service

Several companies have already noted Apple's success with the iTunes Music Store. Some of those preparing to compete are: Pressplay and MusicNet, Listen.com Inc.'s Rhapsody, (set to be acquired by RealNetworks Inc.), Musicmatch Inc.; FullAudio Corp.; and Echo Inc., a music venture backed by Best Buy Co., Borders Group Inc., Virgin Entertainment Group Inc. and other retailers. But other bigger companies are planning their own service as will. Those include AOL, Microsoft's MSN, and Amazon.com Inc. This came from the Wall Street Journal on May 8th. So you can check it out from their web site if you are paying the bill.

New iPods

Hold up to 7,500 Songs, yet Lighter than Two CDs ... Last week, Apple today introduced its third generation iPods, one of which holds up to 7,500 songs in a box that is lighter and thinner than two CDs.
      The new iPods are available in three models: a 10GB model for just $299 (US), a 15GB model for $399 (US) and a 30GB model for $499 (US). More information at:
http://www.apple.com/

"This is True"

This is True is a weekly newsletter available either as a basic free e-mail or for $20 a year with more stories. These are the stories you wonder about them really happening. Check it out at:
http://www.thisistrue.com

Microsoft creates "Athens" for future PCs.

Microsoft has a new prototype PC they call "Athens", developed in conjunction with HP. Microsoft has finally gotten the message that the software and the hardware work best if developed together. Full story at the Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/

Two-Thirds of Americans on the Internet

CyberAtlas is reporting that according to a Harris Interactive survey 66% of adult Americans use the Internet. This shows and increase of 10 million from November 2001.
      Fifty five percent of these access the Internet from home, while 30 percent surf at work. What is amazing, is that almost 25% of adults say they will never get on the net. They see no purpose for it in their lives. Full story at:
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/

Difusi Corp to do "The Great Mac Giveaway"

at the San Francisco show... Difusi (maker of Speaker Grilles), had announced last winter that the Great Mac Giveaway would be held in New York City this summer. However, with all the confusion with the show in the Big Apple, they are now postponing it to January. Get all the details at:
http://www.difusi.tv/greatmacgiveaway/

Virtual Mac

I believe I reported on this one once before, but can't find it in my notes. Here is an organization dedicated to emulating a 68000 processor in current Macs. Wonder if it will let me run Bill Atkinson's "Alice". Full details at:
http://www.vmac.org/

Tidbit: Jaguar at William & Mary

AACUG member Joe Showker reports that William & Mary, a well known university in Virginia is recommending Jaguar and either ibook or imac for incoming freshman. His daughter will be a freshman there in the fall... she already has a new iBook.

UG Leadership Conference Announced

Apparently it has been decided to hold a half day conference this summer in New York. So it will be called the "User Group Leadership Conference" (UGLC) instead of UGU. One would suppose this is because of a decrease in planned attendance for the show. In any case, it will be held at the New Yorker Hotel as in previous years. Adobe will present the lunch and then workshops and discussion sessions will follow with a pizza party as the closing act. It is open to user group officers and board members and other volunteers. There is NO per-group limits and the hotel is offering a special discount package as well. The fee is $30 until May 30th. After that the price goes up to $50. Space is still limited, so get your registration in. Register for the UGLC at:
http://www.mugcenter.com/uglc/

Rewriting History

Europa Universalis II, a new game from MacPlay offers you the opportunity to rewrite history. Relive the years 1492-1792 and lead one of 90 different Nations, including China, Britain, and the Cherokees, to world domination. This real-time strategy game includes 9 gameplay scenarios, over 500 historical missions, and more than 200 random events that affect gameplay. You can engage in trade, diplomacy, and warfare with other Nations and decide what type of government your Nation will have. And when you're done kicking the computer's butt, you can take on up to 7 friends on a LAN or over the Internet. The game ships this week.
http://www.macplay.com/games/europauniversalis2.php

User Groups Can Win a Pass to an O'Reilly Conference

Enter your group to win one pass to the O'Reilly Open Source Convention at the Portland Marriott Downtown, Portland, OR on July 7-11, 2003. The lucky winning group will be given a "conference sessions only" pass to attend the conference, valued at $1095.00. The winner will get access to all conference sessions July 9, 10, 11 including keynotes. Admission to Exhibit Hall and on-site evening events as well as conference handouts (excluding tutorial materials). Email your entry to Marsee Henon at marsee at oreilly.com. Deadline for entries is May 21, 2003. In the subject line of your email, please say "Raffle Entry." (phone number must be provided).
http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/

MS Antitrust case heats up again

Massachusetts and West Virginia have refused to settle the anti-trust case against Microsoft. They filed court papers last Monday arguing that the sanctions agreed to in November by the Department of Justice (DOJ), 17 states and Microsoft are inadequate to restore competition in the software industry and correct the effects of Microsoft illegal behavior.
      So, the saga continues. (IMHO - I think they are right.) Full story
http://www.infoworld.com/

Dell Computer wants to drop 'computer'

According to a number of stories, Dell wants to become know as more than a computer company. Therefore they want to be come Dell, Inc. instead of Dell Computer. (Might help their stock.) Full story at:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/3865736.html

AOL, MSN & Yahoo have joined to fight spam

I don't know about MSN, but in my mind at least, Yahoo and AOL helped to grow spammers. So it is kind of nice to see them finally realize that it is costing them resources and customers. So now they are going to try to keep spam out of the estimated 200 million e-mail accounts they control. Hopefully it will be a successful effort. Full story at:
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/21372.html

A spam win and a loss

Earthlink, promising to go after spammers have had a win and a loss this past week. The win was a $16 million dollar judgment against a spammer. The loss is a law suit being filed against them for patent infringement dealing with their new spam killing service that uses a white list to approve email coming to subscribers account. It will be interesting to see how this goes. Full story at: http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=801764 and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Eudora Filters (for Windows)

The web site has a number of filters for getting rid of spam. They are for the Windows version of Eudora, but it shouldn't be difficult to rework them for the Mac version. Check it out at:
http://www.cecilw.com/eudora/

EarthLink to offer anti-spam e-mail system

The new system will require the user go approve e-mail before it is delivered. This should help its 5 million subscribers to virtually eliminate spam. Now, maybe AOL will follow suit. Full story at the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

*TenLinks: Free CAD, CAM, CAE Software

This is from our friends at the Research Buzz newsletter. TenLinks announced last week the launch of FreeCAD.com, a searchable subject index of free CAD, CAM, and CAE programs.
      Programs are gathered under nine categories, including CAD Services, Macintosh, and Parts and Libraries. There's also a category for general purpose CAD programs. * From Research Buzz Full details at:
http://www.freecad.com/

Paper like way to display text

The Boston Globe reported on 5/8/03 that EInk has displayed a prototype of a flat screen that is only about three hairs thick. This will make newspaper/books possible that are easy to carry and can be refreshed with new material. Sounds really interesting. Like most new display technology, it is black and white only for now. Full story at:
http://www.boston.com/

DiskWarrior 3.0 for Mac OS X released

That says it all. The ultimate directory repair program now for Mac OS X. Full details at:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

REALbasic update

According to a press release, Real Software has released version 5.1 for Mac and version 5.0 for Windows. They are claiming that the new version improves product reliability ad performance. Read all about it at:
http://www.realbasic.com/

Sonnet offers iTunes Support Center for older Macs

According to Peter Cohen at MacCentral, Sonnet is setting up for their upgrades to help us run iTunes and connect to iPods on older Macs. All the way back to PowerMac 9500s. Catch the story at:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/

Is TiVo NeXT?

Business 2.0 is making the interesting suggestion that Apple take over TiVo. The author, John Battelle makes a strong argument that it would be good for Apple, TiVo and the personal video recorder industry. Maybe do for it what it is currently doing for the download music industry. Read it at:
http://www.business2.com/

The Digital Storytelling Festival

Thanks to Eduard Uzumeckis for alerting us about this wonderful event! This three-day showcase will take place June 12-14, 2003, in Sedona Arizona. It will feature ground breaking projects created and implemented in a variety of areas of Digital Storytelling -- recognized as a creative movement that uses digital technology to create media rich stories to impart meaning. It is successfully being used in areas of education and training, entertainment and creative design, personal and legacy storytelling, community building and corporate identity through branding and marketing.
      The list of confirmed Festival presenters and performers reads like the who's who of digital media: Carroll Parrott Blue, creator of "The Dawn at my Back: Memoir of a Black Texas Upbringing"; Mike Bonifer, creator of the all digital feature documentary, "Finding Bill Murray" which will have its world premiere at the festival; Russell Brown, Adobe Systems; Jonathon Delacour, award-winning photographer, author and pioneer in the online journalist community of Blogging Kit ; Joe Lambert, Executive Producer of Oxygen Media and many others.
      It's going to be fantastic! Plan your vacation now...
http://www.dstory.com/

Quotes of the week: Murrow; Carroll; White

"Always listen to the experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it."
      - Robert A. Heinlein (one of my favorite SF authors)

"The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it."
      - Edward R. Murrow

"One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' was his response. 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter.'"
      - Lewis Carroll

"People never grow up, they just learn how to act in public."
      - Bryan White

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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