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 - 1/21/Y2K ... MacWorld Attendance; SPAM a new approach; Translate your e-mail; HP's new scanners for Mac; Copyright; DMV Privacy Act **** MacWorld Attendance Well, looks like the press for once over inflated Apple news, while there was record attendance at MacWorld Expo this year, it was "only 85,000". Still fantastic! Comdex attendance was at over 100,000. So on the basis of how many attended Expo, Apple should have 40% of the market. Also realize that some of the people that would have been at Expo actually had to attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas which traditionally comes the week after Expo. **** SPAM a new approach I bet you've tried filters, changing email addresses, pulling out your hair, but still it finds you. Here's new way. Set up a free account at http://www.msgto.com/ and tell them who you want to receive e-mail from. Anyone sending you emailing you is required to respond to a simple test before the mail goes through. The idea is that a human will have no problem, but a bulk-mail-bot will not be able to respond to the test, which will cause cause the spam to be filtered away from your account. I haven't checked it out yet, but would be interested in hearing from others who have. **** Translation via email I know you can always go to babblefish.com, but this is a new service that translates e-mail. Compose email in your native language and it will translate to English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese. In the CC address of your email, you include the address for language conversion that's listed at http://www.t-mail.com/. Of course, this is a machine translation, not unlike the babble fish, so it handles only the text and no person other than who you send the message will read the file. Something else to check out. **** HP Scanning is Back on Macs MacWeek was reporting on 1/17 that HP is reentering the scanner market for Macs. They quit producing scanners about two years ago that would work with Macs. Just in time to see the iMac take off and increase Apple's sales tremendously. So within the next couple of months you will be able to get a $500 scanner from HP. Their current Windows products are priced from $100 to $900. Welcome back HP. **** Copyright infringement via linking Upside has a good article and opinion piece about three recent court cases that if left to stand will limit what links people can put on their web sites. __ I previously mentioned that case of the Mormon church asking a Utah federal court to stop church critics from posting links to unauthorized copies of church materials. Another case involved a site that reviewed other sites and provided links to those sites. (Sounds like iReview). The judge in the Utah case ruled that every time some one loads software into their computer (here html code) a copy is made therefore it is a copyright violation. The people providing the link were responsible for that violation. The other cases are also given more detail so check out the story **** The San Jose Mercury News has a good article on the 1994 Federal Law (most people aren't aware of it), that is suppose to stop states from selling information contained in your DMV file. It certainly is the first step to maintaining some privacy. It is an interesting read. 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. 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