Info Manager

Info Manager for JULY 7, 2003

[*]   Macs bring higher bounty for Hackers

[*]   [TOW] iChat easy Peer to Peer Transfer

[*]   Meeting Topics

[*]   "2 PC Makers Given Credit And Blame In Recycling"

[*]   "Material Helps Bits Beat Heat"

[*]   "Spammers are luring kids into their World Wide Web of lies"

[*]   "Apple Stores have taken business from dealers"

[*]   Netscape 7.1 now available

[*]   Horrible News!!

[*]   MacHack to become "ADHOC"

[*]   Web site of the week: Cows with Guns

[*]   iTunes songs in Windows?

[*]   You can sell almost any thing on eBay

[*]   The Boss Improves Palm Support

[*]   Apple IIe in your Palm???

[*]   PageSpinner spins up version 4.5

[*]   Excellent G5 expose...

[*]   Quotes: Hepburn; Buscaglia; Kissinger; Jefferson
 

Macs bring higher bounty for Hackers

If you don't get the InfoManager in your email, and you can't get to the web site, on Monday, here's what happened:

According to a number of "rumors" from around the web, hackers in tomorrow's "Hacking Challenge" who attack Macs will get 5x points more than Windows. Unfortunately for Mac system admins, Mac OS (and Unix) systems have been designated as being worth 5 points, 5 times as many as Windows (1 point), and 2.5 times more than Linux (2 points) -- which has a lot of web administrators really worried.
Too bad they don't target spammer servers. They could get their kicks and do something constructive at the same time!
Wired says:
DHS: Mass Hack Attack Sunday - Hackers are preparing to unleash a coordinated attack against government and corporate websites on Sunday, say officials at the Department of Homeland Security. The hackers, they say, are tipping their hand by displaying typical pre-attack behavior. http://go.hotwired.com/

[TOW] iChat easy Peer to Peer Transfer

This week's "Tip of the Week" prize goes out to AACUG member Bonnie Miller from Big Rapids Michigan. She writes:
I discovered that you can transfer files easily with iChat! I thought it would be difficult, but the trick for uploading a file to someone you're chatting with using iChat, is to simply drag and drop the file to the text box and hit the Send button. Magically, the messaging utility will take care of the transfer! There's my tip for the InfoManager
Congratulations, Bonnie.
(She wins her selection of books from the AACUG bookshelf. You are encouraged to post your own tips and discoveries to the InfoManager and a prize if your tip is selected as the "TOW" ... go to the info manager's input page

Meeting Topics

Our friend Patrick Douglas Crispen, of the Tourbus.com* newsletter, caught my attention last week with an article about the United States Supreme Court upholding the
      Children's Internet Protection Act. This act, among other things requires libraries that accept Federal funds to provide filters for Internet connected computers to protect children from things that some people think would be harmful. This usually means porn. The various library associations, (I belong to the Special Librarian's Association), have been opposed to requiring the Librarians to become censors and policemen. So in the Tourbus, he provided pointers to a web site that contains a PowerPoint presentation on why Librarians have held that opinion. It is called "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly -- How Internet Filters Work, How They Don't Work, and How Students Bypass Them." But what I want to point out here that there are a number of PowerPoint and PDF files here that are for the taking. They could provide your group with some terrific presentations and get some great discussion going. Some of the topics are:

• "Computer Care 101 -- Keeping Your Computer Healthy"
• "Computer Care 102 -- Top 10 Troubleshooting Tips & Tricks for Teachers"
• "Google 101: Stop Searching and Start FINDING"
• "Google 201: Advanced Googology"
• "Viruses, Cookies, and Spam ... Oh, My! How to Protect Your Computer from the Internet Nasties and How to Fix What's Bugging You on Your PC or Mac"

"The Internet TOURBUS Guide to the Most Useful Sites in the World"
(Note to all those Prodigy Refugees out there. Yes, this is the same fellow that talked about squirrels in the Macintosh Bulletin Board over 10 years ago.)
See all these and more at: http://www.netsquirrel.com/classroom/

"2 PC Makers Given Credit And Blame In Recycling"

The New York Times on June 26th, says that a report issued by the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition, talks about the way that Dell and HP handle their recycling efforts. Dell is criticized for using prison labor to separate the parts of a computer. HP is given higher marks.
Full story at: http://www.nytimes.com/

"Material Helps Bits Beat Heat"

In an article with the above title, MIT's Technology Research News magazine tells about a new method for cramming more magnetic bits into a small space on a disk. It seems that researchers from the University of Delaware, the French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS), and the Independent University of Barcelona (UAB) in Spain have discovered a way to shore up magnetic energy that promises bits only a few nanometers across-the span of a few dozen hydrogen atoms. This would mean that it would be possible to store more than a trillion bits per square inch. So we may have that wrist watch super computer yet.
Full story at: http://www.technologyreview.com/

"Spammers are luring kids into their World Wide Web of lies"

This article in the Nashville Tennessean newspaper, really isn't about spammers so much as down right criminals. (Although I know that some people say there isn't any difference.) Here, an e-mail with a subject line that reads: 'Win a Free PlayStation 2' gets the kids attention. Then when they click on the link, the link sends them to a porno site via a rerouted 900 number. When they try to click out, they get more windows and more charges. Of course, they would be embarrassed to tell their folks that they saw those pictures and the charges would go through on the bill. The story gives some tips, but the biggest one is: "But since nothing is foolproof, the most important way to protect kids is to talk to them about spam and make them aware of what can happen when they open unsolicited e-mail. Parents should warn against sharing any personal information, including name, address, phone number, name or location of their school or their parents work address or phone number - and especially credit-card numbers.
Full story at: http://www.tennessean.com/

"Apple Stores have taken business from dealers"

Are we really surprised at the above headline from the Chicago Sun Times? Hardly.
      Since Apple is not increasing market share, those sales have to be coming from some where. However, I have seen dealers take advantage of the Apple Store as a place to show their clients hardware without having to put up the expense them selves or even requiring their clients to make an additional 30 mile trip to their own office. (The one I have in mind, really doesn't have a retail outlet.) Apple claims that they need their own stores to survive. After all if they went out of business NONE of their independent resellers would survive.
Full story at: http://www.suntimes.com/

Netscape 7.1 now available

Microsoft may have quit upgrading Internet Explorer for Macs but Netscape is still going at it. To see what's new go to: http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/browsing.jsp
To download it go to: http://channels.netscape.com/

Horrible News!!

Casady & Greene, one of the oldest companies in the Macintosh market, is shutting down after 19 years, according to Bonnie Mitchell, Casady & Greene's VP of Public Relations. The newest products were not enough to support the company. C&G distributed games and utilities from a number of different developers, but nothing sold as well as Conflict Catcher did in the Mac OS prior to OS X.
      I often used them as an example when I asked other vendors for a "meeting-in-a-box" presentation for a club member to do. Of course, Bonnie took it one step further and actually made it a "party-in-a-box" by including candy, leis and other trinkets. Both the company and Bonnie will be missed by MUGs all over the country. While the software is being returned to the developers so that they can support and sale the products, not every developer is yet listed on the C&G web site. Hopefully we will see Bonnie with another company soon. Best wishes to all the great folks at Casady & Greene.

MacHack to become "Advanced Developers Hands On Conference"

In reading Adam Engst's report of MacHack 2003, I came across this item in TidBITS:
      "In fact, the conference organizers have decided to acknowledge the expanded scope of the conference next year, renaming it the Advanced Developers Hands On Conference (ADHOC) and adding more sessions on Unix, Palm, and other platforms. The hack contest will also be changing somewhat, as the people who have run it for the last 17 years move on to other interests. But despite the name change and the expanded focus, I'm confident the basic experience won't change much. That's because unlike every other industry conference, the people organizing the sessions, papers, and other events are themselves long-time attendees. First and foremost, it's a conference of the developers, for the developers, and by the developers, to paraphrase the Gettysburg Address. Look for ADHOC next year, tentatively scheduled for July 21st through 24th, 2004, but subject to change as necessary to avoid other trade shows."
      My first reaction was, how dare they get away from the Mac. Then I stopped to think. Mac OS X is Unix, (regardless of what the owner of the copyright says). And Palm OS is tightly connected to the Mac. So why not accept them into the same conference. It still sounds like it would be fun to attend. Just wish I was a programmer. Details about the new conference at: http://www.adhocconf.com/ (BTW - This year's MacHack CD is still available.)
For this year's details go to: http://www.tidbits.com

Web site of the week: Cows with Guns

This one is so funny!! Apparently it has been around for at least a little while as one of my co-workers had already seen it.
Check it out at: http://www.shagrat.net/Html/cows.htm

iTunes songs in Windows?

According to a member of the InfiniteLoop mailing list, it is possible to play the .m4a files in the Windows environment. QT6 for Windows will play it if you change the extension to .mp4. However, it is also possible to get Windows Media Player to play them as well. The WMP will actually recognize the .m4a extension.
      As he says, "I haven't tried any of this myself (don't shoot, I'm only the piano player!) but have it on good authority it works." Thanks to "bigtoot".
It requires the 3ivx D4 codec, which is available at:
http://www.3ivx.com/download/index.html

You can sell almost any thing on eBay

Of course that is not true as eBay won't allow some things, but of what they will allow it is amazing what will sell. In an Associated Press article, it is mentioned that a Wisconsin Rapids mad has sold what he calls the "world's largest french fry" for $202.50. It was 6 ² inch's long. The auction had 19,272 hits compared to the 18,435 residents of Wisconsin Rapids. Another restaurant in the same town claimed that they actually found an 8" fry. So the record is available to be broken.
      What is surprising is that these are frozen fries, not fresh made. I found this story from the Wisconsin Rapids paper about the auction: http://www.wisinfo.com/

The Boss Improves Palm Support

Dennis Best Design has released an update for Studio Boss, bringing it to version 4.0.1. Studio Boss is a utility designed for managing clients and projects. The update features improved Palm and PDF support and has been getting a bunch of accolades on the web
Get the details and pictures at Get the details and pictures at
http://www.aacug.org/MUG/index.html

Apple IIe in your Palm???

Apple IIe fans may be in luck: according to PalmApple, a PalmOS-based emulator is coming to the PalmOS. The emulator currently emulates the 65C02 CPU, 64K of RAM, 40x24 text mode, and more. Now I ask you... what could be more exciting than carrying around an Apple IIe in your pocket?
      The Apple IIe was first released in January 1983. It went on to be one of the most successful Apple computers ever.
      Now you can have it in your Palm. www.palminfocenter.com/ Check it out at
http://palmapple.sourceforge.net/

PageSpinner spins up version 4.5

A new version of the HTML Editor for Macintosh has hit the streets enhanced for OS X, with an improved editor, support for syntax color coding of PHP, JavaScript and CSS, Text zoom, a recent file menu and built-in file transfer functions. Also included in the package is SpinPHP, a tutorial with a collection of useful PHP examples which helps you to learn PHP with PageSpinner.
http://www.aacug.org/MUG/

Excellent G5 expose...

While the smoke is still settling from last week's announcements from Apple -- so far, Digitmag of the UK has one of the best articles I've seen on the new products. They've included information andcomments from a variety of sources. Pay particular attention to the comments of Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research
http://www.digitmag.co.uk/

Quotes: Hepburn; Buscaglia; Kissinger; Jefferson

"Acting's just waiting for the custard pie. That's all."
      -- Katharine Hepburn

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. And swing!"
      - Leo Buscaglia

"The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it's their fault."
      - Henry Kissinger

"Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
      -- Thomas Jefferson

pau
 
    * To subscribe to the Tourbus newsletter go to www.tourbus.com

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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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