Info Manager

Info Manager for May 26, 2003

[*]   Installing a hard drive in a 12" PowerBook

[*]   Spanish site tops iTunes deal

[*]   More on Broadband ISP List

[*]   This Old Mouse: What's a megapixel?

[*]   IMHO - Broadband vs. Dial-up

[*]   802.11g draft to reduce through put to 10 Mbit/Sec

[*]   FCC Asks for More Wireless Bandwidth

[*]   Welcome OxMUG

[*]   Where's the Extension Manager???

[*]   OS X screencapture now improved

[*]   Keep them in stitches...

[*]   Super Scooper

[*]   Opera v6.02 released for Mac

[*]   Happy Anniversary Apple Retail

[*]   The Missing Sync

[*]   Squeeze more space into your iPod

[*]   Quote of the week: Goethe
 

Installing a hard drive in a 12" PowerBook

This has step by step directions with photos in how to do it. See the site:
http://deafchurch.net/hdswap/

Spanish site tops iTunes deal

According to an article on CNet, there is a loop hole in Spanish law that makes it legal to setup an online music service. Puretunes.com has done just that and is charging a flat fee to download MP3s from it's web site. The lowest rate is $3.99 for 8 hours. A 48 hour and a monthly fee is also available. See the story at:
http://news.com.com/

This Old Mouse: What's a megapixel?

So many people have been asking which digital camera to buy, how many "megapixels" do I need, and "What's a megapixel?" Well, you would need to read an entire book to get the real, in-depth answers to these questions, and after that you'd still be in a quandary about which camera to buy. I'm going to share some quick, simplified, rules of thumb for making your own decisions, and get the digital camera that's just right for you.
http://www.aacug.org/MUG/showker/pixels.html

More on Broadband ISP List

Richard wrote from Tyler to say that the list I mentioned last time was hardly "definite" since it didn't include Cox Cable in his area. Indeed, it doesn't appear to include cable much anywhere. So the list can only be used as a guide. We must understand that it isn't all inclusive.

IMHO - Broadband vs. Dial-up

We are having a good discussion on the UG mailing list on this subject. Several members have pointed out that a dial-up account can cost as much as a dial-up account with the expense of an additional phone. Another person pointed out that the broadband connection allows the users to have more than one computer connected and that the connections are always on, giving quicker access to information. (Thus switchboard.com may be faster than going to the phonebook.)
      Another pointed out that the cost of broadband is worth the decrease of friction between family members who wish to use the phone. Of course, there are some that feel like that dial-up is all they need. And that could be true for them.
      I want to thank Hank, George and Richard for contributing to that discussion and encourage you to sign-up and participate. Subscribe at:
http://ellington.nmailer.com/mailman/listinfo/info

802.11g draft to reduce through put to 10 Mbit/Sec

Computer World has done a story on what will probably be the final standard set by the IEEE for Wi-Fi's (Airport). In order to get error correction and security included, the rate was reduced from 54Mbit/Second to between 10 and 20 Mbit/Second. That is still more than 2 times the old value, but no where near the original 54 Mbit/Sec that was promised. Full story at:
http://www.computerworld.com/

FCC Asks for More Wireless Bandwidth

Bill Austin sent me this. It appears to be a press release from Senator Barbara Boxer (D) of California. In it she praises Chairman Powell of the FCC for making a request that she and Senator George Allen (R-VA) had proposed in a bill earlier in the year. In any case, it is good that more spectrum is being considered. Once you add video to the mix, a larger spectrum will definitely be needed. You may need to search for the story since this is in a forum.
      BTW - The web site in general looks pretty interesting for those interested in WLAN. See it at:
http://www.wireless--lan.com/wlanforum.html

Welcome OxMUG

I'd like to welcome the Oxford Mac User Group!
The Oxford Mac User Group formed just over a year ago, based in the historic University city of Oxford in the United Kingdom. There is a lively emailing list, providing very good buddy help, meeting are on the second Tuesday of the month in Oxford. Visit them and say hello
http://www.oxmug.org/

Where's the Extension Manager???

One blatant omission from OS X has been sadly missed by many: The Extension Manager. Well, now you can have it back. Enter Alfred -- the easy to use, customizable, universal plug-ins manager. Just like the Mac OS 9's Finder and Extensions Manager, Alfred is here to take care of Mac OS X to install, remove and manage any kind of plug-ins like screen savers, preference panes, fonts... or anything else.
Main features include:

• Easy plug-in installation and removal.
• Dedicated user interface synthesizing installed plug-ins.
• Useful plug-in management functionalities.
• Customizable rules.
• The batch lists now support file drag and drop and copy/paste.

This update focuses on making the application more user friendly, adds numerous new features. Alfred 1.5 requires any computer running Mac OS X 10.1 (Puma) or later and can be downloaded
Direct Download:
http://www.inferiis.com/download/Alfred-1.5.dmg.gz
More info: http://www.inferiis.com/

OS X screencapture now improved

ScreenShot Plus, from PiDog Software, is an enhancement to Mac OS X's built in screencapture tool normally accessed by pressing shift-cmd-4. ScreenShot Plus is activated by pressing shift-cmd-2 and uses Apples screencapture tool to do the capture. Users can toggle between area selection mode and window capture mode by pressing the space-bar. Once a capture has been made, you can scale the image and choose between several formats making ScreenShot Plus a must-have tool for anyone posting screenshots on the web. The latest version uses Apple's Quartz rendering engine to scale images, resulting in the smoothest captures available. ScreenShot Plus is $5 shareware and can be Downloaded at
http://www.pidog.com/screenshotplus/

Keep them in stitches...

File Stitcher from Pariahware, enables Files to be Merged Quickly and Easily! This MacOS X utility gives you an easy way to merge files together. Simply drag and drop files onto the File Stitcher icon and click the button in the main window. File Stitcher is shareware and only costs $5.00 to register
Thumbnail: http://www.pariahware.com/clip/th_FSScreenShot.jpg
Screen Shot: http://www.pariahware.com/clip/FSScreenShot.jpg
Direct download: http://www.pariahware.com/files/FileStitcher.sit
or visit:
http://www.pariahware.com/filestitcher.shtml

Super Scooper

iScooper enables users to automatically download and browse batches of pictures much faster and much more conveniently than they can with conventional web browsers. iScooper is designed to work with web pages that contain many links to pictures--for example, a celebrity web page that contains several links to photos of the celebrity. iScooper can take a web page like this and automatically download all the linked photos on it. Once they've been downloaded, they can easily be viewed in a full-screen slideshow right from within iScooper. Mac OS X - free trial, $19.95 to register
http://inventive.us/

Opera v6.02 released for Mac

Opera has released a new version for the Mac and has promised version 7 soon. After Apple released Safari, it appeared that Opera would drop their Mac version. But they now say they are able to use more code from other platforms and thus can continue development. Full story at:
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1008771.html?tag=fd_top

Happy Anniversary Apple Retail

Last week marked the second anniversary of opening its first retail store in May 2001. Since then, Apple has opened 57 retail stores in 26 states, hosted over 15 million visitors and sold over $650 million of products through its retail stores. More than 1,100 Apple employees work in Apple's retail stores and there is an Apple store location within 15 miles of 90 million people in the U.S. During the next 12 months Apple plans to open 20 more stores, including three new high profile stores in Chicago, San Francisco and Tokyo.
http://www.apple.com/retail/

The Missing Sync

Enhanced Mac OS X Support for Palm OS Handhelds -- Macintosh users can now mount the SD or MMC card loaded in the handheld on the Mac OS X desktop to move files, backup data, and more. The Missing Sync also gives Mac users something Windows users don't have - integrated support for photos and music. Import and Export images to your handheld from within iPhoto. View your pictures with SplashPhoto by SplashData - included with purchase. Treat your Palm OS handheld as a source in iTunes. Load your SD or MMC card with songs, then listen to them on your Tungsten T with AeroPlayer by Aerodrome Software - included with purchase! Demo version available, just $29.95 for the full download from:
http://www.markspace.com/

Squeeze more space into your iPod

Ovolab's new AAChoo AAC converter for the Mac easily converts all your MP3 songs to AAC, the new high-quality compact audio format at the core of MPEG-4. With a simple drag-and-drop interface and complete control over every encoding parameter, Ovolab AAChoo can rip any audio file or movie soundtrack into MPEG-4 format. Every music maniac can quickly convert his entire library, keeping song tags and folder hierarchies unaltered, as well as automatically updating the iTunes Music Library. Best of all, you can encode all the songs on your iPod with a single click, freeing space for more songs while maintaining an excellent sound quality. Download it now at:
http://www.ovolab.com/aachoo/

Quote of the week: Goethe

"If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that."
      - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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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