Info Manager

Info Manager for July 21, 2003

[*]   AACUG Back on Capitol Hill: Protecting Your Children

[*]   Software on any chip?

[*]   New Fast Memory Chip

[*]   New "old time radio drama"

[*]   Aladdin

[*]   Searching

[*]   Buy.com to have music store

[*]   MYOB customers get free consultation

[*]   Speaking of accounting

[*]   Space photos of earth

[*]   Shorten those URLs

[*]   (MWX) Macworld Creative Pro Reports

[*]   (MWX) 1200 Lumen Projector breaks $1,000 barrier

[*]   (MWX) High Capacity Storage

[*]   (MWX) Soundtrack becomes standalone product

[*]   (MWX) 24/7 Music for the taking

[*]   (MWX) Software for this millennium

[*]   (MWX) No, OS X is not Windows. Is it?

[*]   (MWX) Panther on "Ancient" Macs?

[*]   (MWX) Animation for the Rest of Us

[*]   (MWX) More to come...

[*]   Bye Bye Wi-Fi?

[*]   The G5 advertisement

[*]   Microsoft warns of widespread Windows vulnerability

[*]   AACUG, UG Academy at Macworld

[*]   Apple Earnings

[*]   Quote(s) - Hartley, Hubbard, Wilde, Roosevelt
 

AACUG Back on Capitol Hill: Protecting Your Children

By the time this issue arrives, AACUG's safe netting advocates will be back on Capitol Hill. This time, rather than the war against spam, they'll be meeting with the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and LiveWWWires, the creator of a new internet safety program called "Missing."
      Veteran Technology Teacher and AACUG Safe Netting Advocate Joe Showker was one of three middle school administrators in the U.S. to deploy and test the program for a full semester at Montevideo Middle School in Rockingham County Virginia. "Missing" is an interactive game which pits students against a myriad of internet criminals, stalkers and crafty imposters to find their missing schoolmate.
     "It's the most engrossing software product I've ever seen in the classroom," Showker says, "For the first time I see students emotionally involved in finding their friend, and actually learning the ropes of safe netting!"
      After meetings at the offices of IDSA, the entourage will continue to the offices of Congressman Robert Goodlatte (R, VA) for a press conference on gathering financial grant support for distribution of the programs into schools. AACUG's immediate goal will be to assist in placing lab kits (15 computers per kit) into as many as 100 middle schools. For a look at Showker's installation see: 
http://www.aacug.org/safenet/missing/

Software on any chip?

According to Dean Takahashi in the San Jose Mercury News, Transitive Technologies is trying to make it so software written for Macs and PCs can be used on the other machine without rewriting the application. They say they hope to have a product announcement by the end of 2003. For some reason, he feel that it will be possible to have a translator, but not an emulator that will do the work and enable native processor speeds on the other processor. Sound far fetched to me, but he may get it to work. Full story at:
http://www.bayarea.com/

New Fast Memory Chip

Electronics manufacturer Toshiba and chip maker Elpida Memory plan to produce a memory chip for digital home appliances that will be eight times quicker than today's fastest chips. The XDR DRAM is scheduled to be mass produced in 2005.
      The new chip running at 3.2 gigahertz will be able to handle video data and could be used in home network servers, mobile systems and next-generation video-game machines. Sony has said it plans to use the chip in the successor to its PlayStation 2. Now this could be a nice match for the G5, don't you think? Story at:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/

New "old time radio drama"

The Associated Press ran a story about Jeff Adams who is creating radio dramas. His stories are short, 3-8 minutes in length, but they do give the feeling of the old shows. You can listen via the net or download and burn to a CD. See his site at:
http://www.ixaudio.com/

Aladdin

Aladdin has introduced three new products this summer. Aladdin released Internet Cleanup for Mac, a new volume of Ten for X Utilities (so now two volumes are available), and a new version of Spring Cleaning. Truly nice products. They are also offering user group members 40% off all purchases in their store. This is in addition to any other offer that might be going on. You will just have to enter a code in the order form to get the discount. The discount won't show up until you hit the "apply" link. AACUG members check the members area, others, ask your user group officer for the code.
You can obtain the online form for your UG web page at: http://www.aladdinsys.com/support/usergroups
Meanwhile, check out the new products at:
http://www.aladdinsys.com

Searching

Our friends at Neat Net Tricks* have let us know that now there is a web site for searching Google. Can you imagine that? See it at: http://google.indicateur.com/index.php3
Research Buzz even has their own way to shrink Google URLs for those e-mail messages to members and friends at: http://www.buzztoolbox.com/
Melissa Data will let you find ZIP codes, city names, locations, and more including calculating the distances between ZIP codes. See it at:
http://www.melissadata.com/Lookups/index.htm

Buy.com to have music store

Buy.com is planning on following in Apple's iTunes Music Store's footsteps. They do have a problem though, they haven't yet signed any contracts with the major labels. See the full story at: http://www.siliconvalley.com/

MYOB customers get free consultation

MYOB US, Inc. is sponsoring a free one-hour on-site professional consultation to new purchasers of MYOB AccountEdge for Mac or MYOB Plus for Windows small business accounting and management software. This consultancy is to help get the user setup so that they can then use the software. I suspect that in actuality, it will take more than one hour to get the user up and comfortable, but at least the first hour is free. Story at:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news

Speaking of accounting

BTW - if anyone cares, Intuit is looking for Beta testers for the next version of QuickBooks. They are particularly interested in users of OS 9.2.2. That story is also at MacCentral:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/

Space photos of earth

These is an extraordinary web site that lets you click on a map and keep drilling lower and lower into the US until you can actually view buildings. This is all done with satellite photos and is really impressive, although there are gaps in the landscape. See it at:
http://terraserver-usa.com/

Shorten those URLs

This can be done at a number of web sites including http://www.tinyurl.com. Here is a web site that lists most if not all of the possible ways to do it:
http://notlong.com/links/

(MWX) Macworld Creative Pro Reports

from Fred Showker, New York

Lynn, here are but a few of the items I'm building into my 2003 New York report -- there are a number of others which will be posted to the UGN and AACUG along with photos later this week. It's been too hectic: getting back on Friday, and then preparations for meetings in Washington D.C. on Monday morning.

This year's New York Macworld marked a dramatic, and to some, disappointing departure from the Macworlds we've known and loved in the past. However I'm not quite as negative about the show as almost everyone else I talked to.
      Schmoozing in the User Group lounge, talking to many other UG attendees was like attending a funeral, listening to the same obituary again and again. Even the speakers and presenters were showing a decidedly negative posture to the event -- very unprofessional poor taste for those of position.
      Yes, it was about a third of the size -- Javitz blocked off where the underpass usually connects north and south halls. Yes, there were many fewer exhibitors -- few of them offering any theatrics or excitement and fewer still offered anything other than paper handout and a card swipe. Quark, Adobe, and the other "big" creative players were conspicuously missing from the floor. Adobe was downstairs running special sessions in conference rooms but not displaying product on the floor. Some of the usual big-time players either had tiny booths, were part of a shared booth or were absent. A Microsoft Office demo CD was found in many show bags, and two MSN costumed butterflies greeted you at the door with an MSN CD and that was it for Microsoft. LaCie who is used to 40 x 40 booths giving away automobiles was sharing half of a 10 x 10 booth with someone else.
      Yes, you could paint a pretty dismal picture, IF you wanted to -- but I felt differently. While others bragged about "doing the show in two hours," in my two days on the floor I still didn't get to thoroughly visit all the booths. It was an excellent show for actually seeing and learning something. You could easily hold intelligent and uninterrupted conversations with the exhibitors in their booths. I got good demos and satisfying attention from literally every booth I visited -- for the first time you didn't have to fight through a throng of people to see the product! Yes, there were fewer exhibitors, but you could spend more time, and have a better experience with those who were there. I thought it was an excellent show. Bravo.

(MWX) 1200 Lumen Projector breaks $1,000 barrier

Most user groups lament they can't afford a projector because the cheapest one is around $2,000 --- well, not any more! At the Adobe breakfast, an Epson spokesperson (didn't catch her name, and she didn't have a business card) told us about the new, a 1200 Lumen Projector for just $999. I was a little confused, thinking this was an exclusive UG deal, until I arrived at the booth to discover it's actually retail! WOW.
      Dig up some of those jars of money in your back yard -- you may just be able to afford this projector!
      Once I got past the arrogance and poor boothmanship of the Epson projector division people, I tested the PowerLite S1 and it looks like the perfect unit for your group's presentations. I'm probably going to buy one myself so I can upgrade from the old Proxima for my "Safe Netting" presentations. Sorry to say, none of the booth people knew the URL, so, you'll have to check your local retailer, ask AACUG about member purchases, or go digging for info at http://www.epson.com/

(MWX) High Capacity Storage

If you went to New York looking for storage, you certainly picked the right year. All over you could find killer deals on 120, 150, 200, and 300 gigabyte drives at amazing prices. The best I saw was $120 for a 120 gig drive -- but the vendor was questionable -- a short distance away was the highly respected LaCie, featuring a 125 for $189.
      Many new configurations could be found like WiebeTech's new BayDock FireWire Storage System, which allows users to install one, two or four removable drives within one enclosure. Each drive is supported by an independent FireWire 400 bridge for high performance. Each bay may be optionally equipped with an "InfoTray" intelligent LCD indicator, providing the user with immediate visual access to vital drive health information, such as temperature, time in use and other information. This all seems rather ho-hum until you realize they're talking capacities up to 1.2 terabytes! Price points are set between $139.95 for a user configurable single BayDock and $3995.00 for a 1.2 terabyte Quad BayDock preconfigured with InfoTray intelligent removable bays, individual FireWire channels and capacities of 300GB per bay.
www.wiebetech.com

(MWX) Soundtrack becomes standalone product

Soundtrack, the royalty-free music production tool previously available only with Final Cut Pro 4, will be available in August as a standalone product for $299 (US). Soundtrack includes more than 4,000 royalty-free, professionally-recorded audio loops and sound effects, giving creative professionals such as video editors, DVD authors and web developers a powerful and easy-to-use tool to create high-quality music scores. Soundtrack scales to meet the needs of audio producers, DJs and remix artists who start their projects in Soundtrack and then migrate to a digital audio workstation, such as Logic or Pro Tools, for the rest of their work.
      Soundtrack also ships with over 30 professional, high-quality audio plug-ins from Apple and Emagic. Plug-ins like Platinum Verb, SpectralGate, Multiband Compressor and AutoFilter, enable users to combine effects with individual tracks to create sophisticated audio. Furthermore, Soundtrack's support for Mac(R) OS X's Audio Units plug-in architecture allows users to further expand their capabilities with additional third-party audio effects developed through Apple's open-standard plug-in format. Check out the details at Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/pr/ and
http://www.apple.com/soundtrack

(MWX) 24/7 Music for the taking

Many online music fans are paranoid of all the spyware and being tracked by online music vendors or by the very P-2-P software they use.
      Some MP3 fans however have discovered that free music is everywhere with no possibility of others' prying computers and eyes. Some users merely run digital FM signal into their Macs, tune in a high-quality local digital FM radio station and punch "record". Later they come back with easily available music editing software and break the "tape" into separate songs -- or merely edit out the trash between songs leaving a lot of hours of listening. What could be more easy?

Ambrosia Software has made that a little easier with their free program called WireTap 1.0.0. This MacOS X 10.2 program allows you to record any audio playing on your Mac, saving it to a file for later listening or processing. This allows you to record news from Internet radio stations such as the BBC News, sound snippets from your favorite DVD movie, record the audio from a game, or even iChatAV conversations.
      WireTap works using a simple tape recorder-like interface. Simply click the record button, and any audio playing through your Mac will be recorded to disk. WireTap can record any sound that is playing regardless of the source, so RealPlayer, iTunes, DVD Player, Windows Media Player, etc. are all supported. WireTap will be coming to a future version of Ambrosia's fantastic (and highly recommended) video/screen capture product Snapz Pro X. But for the time being, at least, WireTap is a completely free
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/freebies/

(MWX) Software for this millennium

We all had a hearty laugh at Terri White's comment during this year's New York Adobe presentation -- "Use some software for this millennium..." (Stabbing away at Quark) and it made me think of Sherlock compared to DEVONagent.
      If the G3 is "ancient" (to quote our friend David Pogue) then Sherlock must be really ancient -- then DEVONagent is definitely the information finding tool of the next generation.
     DEVONagent simulates the behaviour of a human web surfer scanning the Internet for a specific piece of information. Technically, DEVONagent uses a variety of searching techniques and collects the results from major search engines. Then it visits all the found web sites, downloads, analyses and weights them to find the most relevant pages, eliminating information junk (empty pages, HTTP errors, sites that don't contain the search phrase, similar or duplicate pages, or pages with too little information) automatically on-the-fly. The new "crawler" scans through lists of pages and reports seeking only those dealing with what the user is looking for. This is especially useful for anyone visiting the same pages over and over again. The final results are presented by DEVONagent in a plain list, sorted by decreasing relevance, together with a first summary of all paragraphs that DEVONagent thinks are the most relevant to the query.
      A second, more spectacular view shows a list with the most important topics related to the query and a digest instantly created for selected topics or based on the query. Ocurrences of the selected topics words are highlighted, the digest is editable and can be saved as plain text or RTF.
      Both views, page list and digest, are easily accessible through tabs below the toolbar. Also, selected pages can be exported as HTML, plain text or RTF/RTFD. In almost all cases, the results filtered and weighted by DEVONagent are much better that those returned by the standard search engines. Additionally, DEVONagent stores all or selected results in a searchable, freeform database and knowledge manager. A double-click on any link opens the pages directly in an integrated web browser built upon the fast and rock-solid Safari engine (including Java, JavaScript, Plug-Ins and all the rest).
http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonagent.php

(MWX) No, OS X is not Windows. Is it?

While Andy, Bob, Scott, and Shawn continue to gush and wet themselves over X's GUI decorations, others like Bryan Derman have noticed a suspicious "Windows-ish" trend.
      At Macworld (er, uh, "Creative" whatever) in New York we heard Mac presenters using the same Windows phrases they made fun of yesterday -- navigaing X's folder/columns interface like any self-respecting Windows user.
      Thank goodness there are programs like FolderControl! This utility automatically sizes and arranges your Finder's folder windows into configurations you define. So if you don't like the endless Windows columns of files, you can easily use different preference configurations to control which folders participate in the processing - how folder windows are sized, both vertically and horizontally - how sub-folder windows are arranged, relative to their enclosing folder - how various folder-window attributes, such as sorting and view kind, are set - setting the permissions on the files that control these capabilities. But since the most popular setup configurations are pre-defined, most users can use it without any further configuration.
      FolderControl requires Mac OS X 10.2, and you can download a trial version, or purchase the real thing for $21.95 (It's free to current FolderControl licensees!)
      Whew. So, OS X users can now enjoy the same interface features we Mac users have enjoyed for years.
http://www.derman.com/

(MWX) Panther on "Ancient" Macs?

Imagine the contrast: you sit through the User Group session where the UGAB is drawing a line in the sand separating the Mac "haves" from the Mac "have-nots" (making some attendees comment later they felt "dejected" by the UGAB) -- then watch the next speaker shoot down an attendee's question (to get a laugh) calling the attendee's G3 "ancient" because "it won't run OS X" -- then you walk into a booth to play with Panther blazing away on a Pizmo! Don't let them make you feel bad because you can't afford the latest and greatest Mac to run OS X -- you may be able afford to get your Mac "Reloaded"
     Outside, in the real world, we see a product so radical that Apple Computer visited the booth with a cease and desist to stop running Panther on (black) G3 Pizmos, and the BW/Beige G3s!
      VaaaaVoooom... more amazing was seeing Panther opening windows, and launching programs seemingly faster on the Pizmo than it appears on even the newer G4 and 5 machines. Isn't that interesting? Better yet, when you upgrade your "ancient" Mac, they throw in the latest OS X. So if you're thinking of switching, but thought you were one of the "have-nots" definitely check out:
http://www.fastmac.com/

(MWX) Animation for the Rest of Us

I spent quite a bit of time chatting with Jonathan Hollinger and Tristan Perich, two highly talented up-and-coming Mac programmers behind Loud, Inc. Their new products Stop-Motion Studio and Stop-Motion Junior are fantastic new offerings for anyone who wants to do stop-motion animation (Claymation) but balked at the complexity and tedium of it all. These packages capture each 'take' leaving a ghost for positioning the next 'take' making it ever so easy to film stop-motion. A click gives you a playback for proofing and returns to production mode. Jonathan showed me a series of "Mr. Bill" style movies made by his 10-year old brother that knocked me out! If you want to get into animation, or want to introduce it into the classroom then definitely check out
http://www.loudinc.com

(MWX) More to come...

So, there are just some of the items found at Macworld. There are a number of others, and some special stories and photos I'll finish up by next Monday.
      As for the East coast Macworld for 2004, things will be very different. David Pogue predicted it will be very small and Apple won't be there. There were many other predictions and speculations including some doubts whether there would be a Macworld at all. A lot can happen in a year, and IDG could easily cancel next summer's event.
      Apple's booth and entourage at Macworld was indeed smaller but all that I talked to seemed to be higher and more excited than in years past. They too seemed to revel in the opportunity to actually talk with attendees, and make some real contacts. And, the Apple booth was continuously busy and bustling with visitors.
     My prediction is that if Apple and IDG forsake the East coast, it will be a grave mistake. So many people can't afford to fly to the West coast, and many others can't take weekday vacations to San Francisco in January. Quite frankly, I'm looking forward to next summer's Macworld because UGN will be celebrating their 10th Anniversary online, and the UG Soiree will be celebrating its 15th continuous year. It will be a good year for user groups.
Further Macworld coverage will appear at:
http://www.AACUG.org/

Bye Bye Wi-Fi?

According to West Technology Research Solutions (WTRS), ultrawideband (UWB) will eventually beat out both the current Wi-Fi wireless networking standard and Bluetooth, while the open standard ZigBee protocol will enable every system in the house to talk to each other. Interesting, see the full story at:
http://www.internetnews.com/wireless/article.php/2233951

The G5 advertisement

Apple has finally posted the new G5 advertisement. It is in large format, so you should have broadband to view it. What do you think of it? Do you think it will sell any Macs? See it at:
http://www.apple.com/hardware/ads/g5/

Microsoft warns of widespread Windows vulnerability

Once again, Microsoft is saying that their software is subject to security problems. Attackers us a buffer overrun to get access to a computer. Read the full story at:
http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2003/0,4814,83130,00.html

AACUG, UG Academy at Macworld

We were all thankful for the good friendship and camaraderie amongst user group members attending the 14th annual UG Soiree. We all enjoyed good company, good food and good discussions. One topic was the current progress of AACUG's Anti-Spam advocacy project. Another was the re-birth of the "Adopt A School" program and some upcoming features of that program. Joe Showker shared his presentation of the new "Missing" program for schools, and reported on his successful deployment and testing of the program in his Rockingham County middle school. Finally, congratulations go out to Walter Vennell, from The Mac User Group of South New Jersey (MUGSNJ), who won the door prize, picking up two of the latest full game packages from MacPlay.
      We're all looking forward to next year when the 15th UG Soiree returns to its birth place, the "No Name" in its home town, Boston!
For Macworld announcements about UG Academy "Adopt A School" program, and UGN's affiliate updates drive, pick up a copy of the AACUG Macworld sheet - in PDF format -
http://www.aacug.org/MUG/

Apple Earnings

Apple Computer last Wednesday reported slightly higher fiscal third-quarter sales but net earnings fell 41 per cent from last year due to rising costs. The US company reported a net profit $19m, or 5 cents per share, compared with $32m, or 9 cents, in the same period last year. Sales rose to $1.55bn from $1.43bn. Since this was better than expected, Apple's stock rose that day. Click to see the whole story

Quote(s) - Hartley, Hubbard, Wilde, Roosevelt

      "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
            - Lesley Poles Hartley, novelist
 
      "To avoid criticism do nothing,
      say nothing, be nothing."
            - Elbert Hubbard
 
      "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that
      nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
           - Oscar Wilde
 
      "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission."
            - Eleanor Roosevelt

pau
 
* Subscribe to Neat Net Tricks at: http://www.neatnettricks.com/

---

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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