User group Newsletter Editors: Utilize this content in your newsletter -- PLEASE ... reference The User Group Network _ / _ UG Network Channel _ / _ NEWS_/ _ Info Manager The Info Manager is looking for your rumors and tidbits... give him a post! ...or subscribe... see subscription notes below Info Manager - 1/14/Y2K LaCie; Corel; Expo Attendance; UG Academy Awards; Apple Palm, iCar?, more (2K01-14.html) **** LaCie At MacWorld Expo, LaCie announced four new disk drives for the Mac. A combo USB and FireWire hard drive, a 37 GB FireWire drive and two faster SCSI CD-RW drives. The first, a "PocketDrive" has both interfaces so you can switch between computers and comes in 6 and 18 GB version. ($399 and $749 respectively). They also announced a 37 Gig Firewire only dirve that will sell for $659 with cable and powersupply. They also announced a 12x4x32 SCSI CD-RW drive. It is a SCSI-2 drive that has a 4 MB buffer and can write an full CD is about six minutes. (ESP $459.) A second similar CD-RW drive will have an estimated price of $549, other details were not immediately availble. See www.lecie.com for more info. **** Corel Goes Light I guess Corel learned how popular a product can be when it is given away. (i.e. WordPerfect). At MacWorld Expo, they announced a light version of CorelDraw 8 that can be downloaded from their web site unitl March 10th. So, go pick it up and see if you think it would be worth buying to getting the additional features. Download <http://www.corel.com/draw8mac_le>. **** Expo Swells Mac World Expo was reported to have 115,000 attendees this year. If this is true, it is undoubtedly due to the addition of a Saturday where locals could come without missing work. (Note: Comdex is usually around 100,000). The previous record was in the neighborhood of 75,000. This years crowds are expected to be nearly as large as COMDEX. Vendors are reporting record sales at their booths. Again: "Wish I was there" [Editor] Mr. Info Manager: I was there, and while we had a great time at all the user group events, parties, and schmooz-fests, the show floor was NOT my idea of a good show! Isles were so jambed with people you could hardly get through, let alone try to talk with any of the booth people. __ I went fully intending to buy a color printer, a NiKon digital camera, and video/voice conferencing software -- however I came home empty handed. It was so crowded I couldn't even get in to any of the booths to see product. I had a better time, and discovered more at the User Group Breakfast vendor tables than the rest of the show. __ I'm hoping someone has a show where you can actually discover, learn about, and demo new products. Fred **** Congratulations! to all those User Group Academy winners. Visit the Awards Gallery and check out what other groups are doing. Who knows what ideas you can steal. Uh, I mean borrow. __ Double congratulations to the Grant winners. So many groups doing so much good. And already plans are being made for more grants for next year. (Wish I could have been there to hear the Woz. Never got to meet him.) More info **** Apple Palm? The Register is quoting Taiwan source as saying that an Apple Palm device has started coming off the assembly lines. They also quote Steve Jobs at MacWorld as saying "we've been working a lot with these guys". So maybe we will hear something at MacWorld Tokyo. More info < http://www.theregister.co.uk/000108-000002.html> (requires free registration) **** The iCar See it at: <http://www.chris3d.com/pictures/icar.html> **** Adios Ben Ben Waldman, has moved on from the Microsoft's Macintosh business. He will now be the VP of the Mobile Device Division. We will miss his MacWorld presentations and more importantly his support of the Mac in the Microsoft world. He does have his work cut out for him in the mobile device unit. So thanks and good luck! **** Web site of the week: <http://www.thestinkers.com/> dedicated to the worst movies of all time. Sig of the week: "I have in irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it." --Abraham Lincoln **** Don't forget Any suggestions for topics and reports of rumors are always welcome. Please me know at the address below. Thanks ... the Info Manager invites you to use all or part of his column in your user group newsletter. Please let him know at rumormangr@aol.com and if possible send an electronic copy for the old scrapbook. pau Subscribe to Rumors@lists.user-groups.net DIGEST VERSION: rumors-digest@lists.user-groups.net (recommended) rumors-on@lists.user-groups.net for more information go to: http://www.user-groups.net/ugcommunity/subscribe.html 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. UG Network Channel _ / _ NEWS _ / _ UG Library _ / _ UG Bookshelf To Advertise or become a sponsor -- Contact Jennifer -- Press Releases for publication -- should be directed to: UGNN News Desk at: UGNN News Desk. Article Reprints -- User Group Network Affiliates may reprint articles as long as full credit is given. Other Non-profit or non-commercial publications should contact us. The UGNN cannot guarantee accuracy or timeliness of articles. Many have been forwarded to us by field correspondents, or press release services. All care is taken to assure the accuracy of URLs and email addresses. Some items may be 30 to 60 days old. The User Group Network is an affiliate of the News-Serve Network - inquiries: The UGNN News Desk . . . All commercial names herein, including publication, product, and company names are assumed to be the registered trademarks of their companies. UGN, UGNN, UGNet News, UG Idea Exchange, are all trademarks for The User Group Network, copyright 1997, all rights reserved. Copyright 1999, The User Group Network, http://www.user-groups.net/News-Service.